Kap & J. Hood

8/30 7 AM: Major Vibes

Hour 1: Major "Vibes" from Halas Hall as the Chicago Bears had their final practice of training camp 2024. Expectations are very high from win totals to winning the division, what are your expectations for the Bears this season? Bears Chairman George McCaskey gave his thoughts on Caleb Williams, the new stadium and Hard Knocks the rated G version. Adam Abdalla was in for J. Hood.

Duration:: 46m
Broadcast on:: 30 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(crunching) - Chicago. - This is your morning routine. - Listen to respect my name. - Cap and G hood. - That's right, that's right, we bad. (laughing) - Watch the show on Twitch. Follow ESPN 1000 Chicago. - Stream the show on the ESPN Chicago app. - And on in there. - 100.3 HD2 and on ESPN 1000 Chicago. Now, no, no, no. David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood. - Good morning, everyone. Bring 'em out, bring 'em out. (upbeat music) - Good morning, welcome to Cap and G hood on ESPN 1000. Hoodies got the day off, start that holiday. We get a bit early. That means I get my guy Adam A. Tom Dalla in for hoodie. Shays in his rightful spot at the EP and the man in charge of everything is Jamor. I'm David Kaplan, 3-1-2-3-3-2-3-7-7-6. If you'd like to ring up the show, Adam, I was at bear's practice yesterday. - Oh, nice. - Let me just tell you something. - Yeah. - First of all, it's the last practice before a league-mandated shutdown for the weekend. Like, you can't work out this weekend. The guys all get the weekend off. Like, almost every guy was out there. I saw standing on the sideline. I think it was Montez Sweat and there was one other player. There's Kevin Beyer. There's all these guys out there flying around and in talking with a couple of players that I'm doing some stuff with this season and in talking with both of these guys, they said the vibe in here is unlike anything they've ever seen around the Chicago Bears. They said, first of all, they love playing for this coach. They love playing for this coach and the vibe in there and the, what's the right way to put this? The optimism they're feeling for where they can go. I'm not telling you they're gonna beat the Chiefs and win the Super Bowl, but they feel like the Chicago Bears are back. They've been out in the wilderness for a long time and that it is a totally different way to do business. Do you feel that? - Yeah, I do, but I also think that, you know, not to be Debbie Downer, but everything's great when you haven't stepped on the field yet. - True. - Everything's great when you haven't lost a game yet. Like, I remember last year we were talking about a team that was supposed to take the next step and everybody was super hyped going into that Green Bay game and was like, all right, I'm just telling you, listen, most of the people, like 97% of the people were like, all right, so this is different. It's no more Aaron Rodgers, Jordan loves him there. - At our station, some of who played in the NFL, 10 wins two years ago. - Exactly, that's my point, is that vibes are great when you haven't, like you don't think vibes are high when they, I know it's only five in the morning there, but in a couple hours when their cap and J-hood go on in San Francisco, that vibes aren't gonna be at all time high because Brandon and I, you've got his deal done, and he's sticking around. - They were in the Super Bowl. - I understand that vibes are great before you step on the field. - Okay, but go back to 2019. - Mm-hmm. - And coming off the 2018 season. - Oh yeah. - And everyone's like-- - This team's going to the Super Bowl. - Mitch was in the Pro Bowl as an alternate, I get it. They're like, he's gonna take the next step and here we go. And they were horrible. But what was the vibe coming out of camp? I don't remember. Negi said Mitch had to go from offense 101 to 202. I think he called it the next level of classes and it hasn't gone well so far, but we're working on it in the media. I remember Dan Wederer coming on the station going, he looks terrible. He does not look good. That vibe there was totally different. - Of course. - The vibe we're getting now because they've brought in intelligent veterans like Aquinan Allen, a Kevin Beyard guy, Mercedes Lewis, guys who have been down the road before, I'm just telling you it's different. And I have players there telling me, "Dude, it's different, it is different here." - No, I get that, but my optimism for this team and I do think that they're a playoff team. And yeah, the vibes are high, but it's also because of what you just said, the people they've brought in, the development of certain players under Matt Iberflus and under Ryan Polls, the addition of Caleb Williams, obviously. Like they're making smart decisions and because of those smart decisions, that's why I'm optimistic. Like yeah, vibes are great. Don't lose to the Titans because then it's a problem. Like you start one and one, like they come off Sunday night football and they've lost and they're 0 and 2, they're 1 and 1. Like it's not gonna be a great Monday, you know, after that game against the Texans on Sunday night football, if they end up losing that game. So yes, vibes are great and it's awesome. And as we head into the final weekend before the NFL starts and we've got a, you know, the games start next Thursday and we'll be coming in a week from today and talking about the Chiefs and all that kind of stuff and getting ready for the first game in Brazil and then getting ready for the Bears to open the season on the lakefront. And that's all great. And then you have to take the field. So vibes are great, but I remember last year when people were picking, including myself, picking them to go over their win total, picking them to do this. And I'm not trying to be apprehensive or anything. - If you paid me when I told you they would not go. - Yeah, I paid you, yeah. You've mentioned it multiple times. I paid you, congratulations, you got your money. Thanks. - Thank you. - Taking money out of my daughter's mouth. I get it, it's fine. It's fine, you know. She's gotta eat and be clothed and all that kind of stuff. But whatever, it's all good. I got money to burn, right? You don't write checks that your body can't cash. - My point is that I am optimistic for this team for more than just vibes. You know, you guys talked about it the other day. Mike Sando put out his QB tiers. And you guys went through it and there's three QBs in tier one and like a thousand QBs in tier two and a thousand more in tier three. And then like one in tier four. But today the athletic writes that base, we all know the Bears have a very easy strength of schedule. They play a very easy schedule through the first half of the season. They play a bunch of division games in the second half. They got the 49ers in the second half. They got the Seahawks in the second half. All that stuff, right? But if you look at it based on Sando's QB tiers, they also have the second easiest schedule based on the quarterbacks that they're going to play. Their average QB tier is three. Their average quarterback that they're gonna face is in that third tier, that low second, high third tier. They don't face a lot of good quarterbacks. Yes, they have to face CJ Stroud week two. They have to face Jared Goff twice. They have to face Brock Purdy. They have to face Jordan Love twice. But other than that, there's not a lot of great quarterbacks that this defense is gonna have to go up against. And we kind of both expect this defense to take another step forward and play like they did for the second half for the entirety of the season, right? Yes. This defense needs to take another step. Like they were really good after they got Montez Sweat. Really good. They've got to take another step. Completely agree with you. They have got to be like, do they have enough to get to the quarterback? We're gonna find out. I love their defensive back deal. I love their linebackers. I still am a little concerned. They're a little short. Now, Austin Booker had an amazing preseason. He's a fifth round rookie. He is. He has not had an NFL season and then grind in the weight room where he goes, wow, look at that guy. Put on like 20 pounds of muscle. That hasn't happened yet. Three, two years from now, three years from now, he might be an amazing player. We don't know. That's my concern defensively. Offensively, I don't have a lot of concerns. As long as Caleb gets the ball out on time and we asked Tom Thayer yesterday, Tom Brady was, he does all these great podcasts and these interviews and Tom Brady said, if I don't get the ball out of my hand in 2.5 seconds, maybe 2.75. He said, I don't care what the offensive line does. If it's beyond 2.75 and I get sacked, that's my fault and nobody else's. He goes, again, you can put the worst offensive line in front of me. If the ball's not out of my hands, whether I'm throwing it away, whether I'm throwing it in the dirt or whether I'm trying to complete a pass, if it's not out of my hand and I get sacked, do not blame the offensive line, blame the quarterback. Caleb has to be that guy. - Absolutely and you know, I am, that's why I said I think this team is a playoff team because I think Caleb has already mastered a lot of those skills. I think that Caleb, you're going to see the ball come out a lot faster. You're going to see him, you know, like we've seen already, run to throw as opposed to run to run. He's going to go through all of his progressions. He's going to be able to find Keenan Allen, you know, who's unguardable unless you're Jalen Johnson. You know, so he's going to be able to do all of that and I think that that just adds to what this Bears team can do. I would probably pick them if Justin Fields was still here. I would probably still pick them to win eight or nine games because I think that this defense and the weapons that they added around whoever, you know, the shadow quarterback is good enough to win. And they won seven last year with Justin Fields and Tyson Beijing. So I think that they could, because of what they added, they're definitely going to go up and wins, but then you add in a quarterback that can give you more, that isn't going to cost you games, that isn't hopefully going to take bad sacks. And because of that, that's why I think they can get to 10 or 11 and even further in a few years. Like this team can be a playoff team this year for sure. I think they're going to make the playoffs this year as a wild team. - I do too. - Then next year. - I think they're winning the division. - I know you do. I think that comes next year. I still think that you've got some gap to make up. You know, going from seven wins to 10 wins, is a decent amount of wins. They went from three to seven last year, going from seven to 10 or seven to 11. - That's big. - That's still pretty big. And so I'm not going to be upset if they don't win the division, but you should definitely be in a wild card hunt of some form, right? And it could, you know, I mean, listen, look at the win totals cap. If you look at the Packers win totals 10 and a half, or nine and a half, the Lions are 10 and a half. The Bears is eight and a half. Like there's not a lot of separation, according to Vegas. And Vegas is usually pretty-- - The injury here, a bounce of a ball there. - Exactly. - My friend Theo Epstein said to me, "One day progress is not linear." - I mean, he's not just your friend. We all know who Theo Epstein is. Like if I say my friend, like Brian O'Connor, it's because no one else knows who Brian O'Connor is because of me. - He's the backup quarterback of the Raiders. - Like if you say Theo Epstein-- - That's Hayden O'Connell. - That's Hayden O'Connor. Like if I just name names and people, that's when you have to use the qualifier of my friend. We all know who Theo Epstein is. So-- - You should say the guy who's on the cover of my book. - Damn. - Thank you. - Guy in the cup of my book. - Theo Epstein, who every time I talk to him goes, "I haven't got my royalty check yet, first." (laughing) - He has talked about progress is not linear. You don't go out and spend a bunch of money. And he goes, "Okay, we're going from 72 wins to 86." He goes, "It doesn't work that way, man." You wake up one day and go, "Yeah, I don't know about our team." And you wake up six months later and you got 94 wins, you're like, "Where'd those come from?" He said, "It's not always quantifiable, but--" "Well, we did this, we're taking the next step." Because things happen, you like sports. But I look at this team, being up there again yesterday, talking to a couple of veteran players who said, "Dude, you guys aren't around when everybody's gone "from the media and we're in that room." He said, "The vibe is different, the belief, everything. "It's just different, what'll put it best? "I feel like our favorite football team "is being run by adults, finally." - Yeah, and it would be nice to see some of those vibes since we're supposed to be getting a behind the scenes look at the Bears in Hard Knocks. Like it'd be nice if some of that translated and not just quarterback trips to the Sears Tower let's see, what else did we get? - We got a trip to Woodman's Grocery Store. - Oh yeah, we got a trip to Woodman's Grocery Store with a guy who's not even on the team anymore. We got a-- - A ice cream museum? - We got into the ice cream museum. That's nice, yeah, that's cool. - Good, Jay Moore. - That's awesome, that vibes are great at the ice cream museum, right? - We got a ride to the airport before you flew to Paris. - Okay. - Oh, that was tough. - That was awesome. - Yeah, that was-- - I love that. - Yeah, that was a great moment. - Super cool. - Great moments in road trip history right there, in airplane trip history. We got a deep dive on two guys that aren't on the team anymore. Let's see, what else? - Arm wrestling, dude. - Oh, yeah, yeah, I don't know if you guys know this. - I mean, that's good football content. - But Travis Beijing's gonna be the Bears' new defensive end. - Oh, that's 10 wins right there. - 'Cause he was featured so much on Hard Knocks. - I actually heard he's gonna replace Staley, that select Soldier Field home games this year. - Wouldn't surprise me. - And he's gonna arm wrestle fans. - Oh, oh, oh. - Yeah. Let me just tell you this, Tyson Beijing, I would rather have him than Justin Fields. - Yeah, let's say that again. - Okay. - I'd rather have Tyson Beijing. - Do you think this is a hot take? - It's not even a controversial opinion anymore. - Yeah, that's not, yeah. You didn't have to say that twice. - That cult is getting everyone together with pitchforks outside the station. - No, I mean, I don't see him anymore. There's no cult anymore. The cult has been dissolved. - Good for the cult. - We burn the witches, it's over. - You know how many people came up to me, Shay and Jay Hood and our booth at the football fest? - Yeah. - I was part of the cult that you talk about. I'm now all in Caleb. - Of course they are. - Of course you are. - 'Cause that's what happens. - Welcome back from your coma. - Yeah, I mean, we all wanted him to play well, but I don't think that there's like this, I don't think that there's this mob anymore that's coming after. And I don't think, I said the other day that if you had this bears team, like take Caleb out of it. Caleb Williams does not exist. We live in a world where the bears are exactly the same and you have a quarterback battle between Tyson Beijing, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, the Tyson Beijing tier week one starter. - I don't disagree, I've made the statement that he is one of the best 32 in the National Football League. - Yeah, 'cause Daniel Jones sucks. And so does-- - Daniel Jones is not very good. - He has, to his defense, taken the team to the playoffs and won a game on the road in the playoffs. - No, the Giants took a team to the playoffs. He didn't do anything. - He was the quarterback. - Okay. - He gets credit. - Does Trubisky get credit for taking the bears to the playoffs? - Yes, he absolutely does. - He doesn't, they had a historically good defense. He absolutely does not. - Absolutely does not. - Absolutely credit for going to taking the team to the Super Bowl. - I would take 10 rexes before one Trubisky. - No, I would not. - What? - I would not. - You would take Trubisky over Rex Grossman. - Mitch is my guy. I can't-- - Oh my God. - All right, it's-- - Now, who's a cultist? - All right, it's Cap Solo here for the rest of the day. It was a pleasure joining all of you. - Cap will be back in-- - Mitch's numbers are better than Rex's numbers. That's all I'm telling you. - Cap will be back right after this. I'm leaving, goodbye. - Hey, we're gonna talk about George McCasky spoke to the Sun Times. There's a lot there, a lot. We're gonna get into all of that and get your thoughts on the vibe around this team. Telling you, it's different. Be right back. - Master Tras down. (upbeat music) - And Jay Hood on back. - Appreciate you guys. I listened to you just ringing on the ESPN 1000 app. - Chicago's home for sports. ESPN, Chicago. - Rolling on on the cap, Jay Hood show. Hoodie's got the day off on David Kaplan. Adam Abdullah is in for hoodie. Don't forget, we've got baseball tonight. The White Sox will be back in action on the whole of the Sox. ESPN 1000, we're off to the home of the Chicago Bears. Who will get the league mandated weekend off. And then guys will roll in Monday with their first real regular game prep week of the season. And I was up there yesterday and Coach Eberflu said that it was really important to practice Wednesday, Thursday and go fairly hard because he wanted Caleb to experience Wednesday, Thursday practice just like they're gonna do it in the regular season. They're trying to simulate for him every single thing of what they would do in a regular game week. So that next week when he comes in Monday, we do this. We watch film, we lift weights, we do treatment, we do this. Tuesday, while it's a day off, I was told 95% of the guys come in anyway on Tuesdays. Even though it's a day off and they get their treatment, they get their massages, they get all that stuff. And then Wednesday, Thursday is when they get after it and the install goes in. Usually there's already some install in for game one. But then the regular weeks start to pile up. But the McCasky piece and the sometimes we'll get to in a minute. I want you to take us to the phones. - Yeah, people already mad at me. Dennis is on the west side. What's up, Dennis? - Hey guys, how you doing? - Good. - What's up, Dennis? - That long time listener, first time caller. I just want to say I enjoy the show. - Appreciate you. - I'm going to listen to the football talk. And I'm just curious about something. Could we agree on one thing of the four major sports in America, NHL, MLB, NBA, and football? Football is probably the most more common where you'll see the quick turnaround. Could we agree on that? - Yes, yeah. Baseball, your draft picks, never play, other than like Paul Skeens, never play, NHL, other than a counter-badard, the young players, they don't make that huge an impact. NBA a little bit more, NFL for sure. - Okay, so I'll look at the Detroit Lions. Everyone's on their bandwagon. They're the team to beat. It's a consensus and it's the easiest thing to say. A few years back, for three years in a row, they didn't win more than six games. In 2021, they won three games. Two years later, they win 12 games. There are a couple of plays away from going to the Super Bowl. The Bears should have beat that team twice last year. - No doubt. - Why would it be silly to say that the Bears can be a Super Bowl contender this year when we can all agree that quick turnaround happened in the NFL. There's a team in our division that we're all looking at right now, like they are it. But it took them two years to be snapped away from the Super Bowl and that, again, isn't as uncommon as all the other sports. - The one thing I would say, Dennis, I would say this to you, maybe Adam will disagree. They have a veteran quarterback. He may not be the best quarterback in the league. He's pretty damn good. But that guy had already taken a team in LA to a Super Bowl or in Adam's world. He was along for the ride when they went to the Super Bowl. - He was there. - But he has that type of experience. So it's a little different there. And, correct me if I'm wrong, Shane, I know it's your second favorite team. They got three number one picks starting on their offensive line, right? - Yeah, they have the best offensive line in football. - Yeah. - They have an all-pro and Taylor Decker, they have Frank Ragg now, an all-pro center caliber center. And Penne Sewell's the best tackle in football, right or left side, period. And he's 23 years old, like the 25 years old. It's a different beast. - I agree with that. - We don't have that yet. - Yeah, I agree with all that. I'm just saying, if you look at everything, Ryan Coles has done on both sides of the ball and the improvements that he made, I don't think it's an outlandish statement to say something like that. It's real easy to say, no, maybe one or two games. But in the NFL, it happens more often than you think if you look at it. - Fair point, fair point. - Thanks, Dennis. - There's Dennis. - Yeah, I mean, I just don't think that in year one of Caleb Williams, they're gonna go to a Super Bowl. - I don't either. I think he's saying to say they're a contender. And again, I think they're a really talented team, really talented. But unless that kid is the one in a million, they're probably not going to the Super Bowl. - Hopefully he is. Rick's in chat, and what's up, Rick? - Yes, I kind of like to chime in like on the last caller. Going from a Super Bowl, our last Super Bowl team. And he had an element that nobody's talking about. I haven't heard him on the score, any of the people talk about. And that's scoring defense. Now, we got people that we put to the practice squad, that Ready Kid, there's a line back to the scoring, or they had that mentality. Lovey Smith had that mentality in practice. They picked up the ball and ran to the end zone. We had a whole thing. Devin Hester was on that team. And they went to the Super Bowl. I didn't say wouldn't, but they went Rex Grossman. So, I'm trying to say, yeah, my ground on that team, that was a team that the bears are who they thought they were. Had no business winning that game. Do you think we'll have a great and get a great scoring defense and special teams like we held on that team with all this fast talent on this, when they call it. The picks up, you think this can be the greatest, their scoring defense. And I wish I would even know what it was, 85 or 2005. - Thanks, Rick, appreciate it. - Thanks, Rick. I actually think the 2018 team had a better scoring defense, didn't they? In 2005? Didn't they have more pick sixes and that kind of stuff? Didn't they have like a scoring turnover margin? - Yeah, Eddie Jackson had an insane year. Alex Brown bristles, so does Lance. If you tell them that the 18 defense was better than the '05, or '06 defense, so six. - They could just look at it. - '06 defense, they will go you up against the wall and tell you don't ever say that around them again. - They could just look at numbers, but like, all right, that's up to them. I'm a small guy, so I don't wanna fight them. - Wait, so you think the 18 defense is a better defense than the '06 defense? - I thought statistically they were. Like, just at numbers, they were. They had, I think they had more turnovers than the '05 '06 than that team that went to the Super Bowl. - What about yardage? - I don't know of yardage, but the caller said scoring. That's why I bring that up. I thought that this was, when we were talking about the 18 team, they weren't comparing it to that team that went to the Super Bowl. They were comparing them to the 85 Bears. That's when we were having conversations. I'm old enough to remember that we were having conversations in '18 and '19 about a defense that whether or not it was better than the 85 Bears. - Yeah, that '06 Bears defense was freaking loaded. That team went 13 and three, so they had better record. Their defense had Atawale Goodley, it had Tommy Harris, who was a beast, Alex Brown, Hunter Hill and Meyer, Brian Erlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Nathan Vacher, Chris Harris, Daniel Manning, Mark Anderson, I believe as a rookie, had 10 sacks on that team. - They allowed 17, in 2018 to '19, they allowed 17 and a half points per game. They had 50 sacks, I gotta find intercept turnovers. A 20-06 defense had one pick six, 24 interceptions. The 18 defense had 27 interceptions, five pick sixes. - They got it, they had an insane amount of pick sixes. A lot of points per game in 2006 was 15.9, third best in the league. What was their points against in 2018? - 17, but they led the league. - Different airless, different airless. - Like, I mean, you're talking about, look at the quarterbacks that that Bears team faced in 2005 against the yardage and the wide receivers that the Bears were facing in '18 and '19. I mean, it is, you can not like the different era argument, but it's true. It's a much more offensive league than it was 20 years ago. - Don't disagree, but nothing comes close for me to the 1985 course. - Of course, but I just remember-- - Because they were so dominant. - But I just remember having conversations and dismissing them quickly. But people did, we're having the, is this the best defense since the '85 Bears? When we were in '18 and '19, people were having that conversation. - And I was working over at TV in addition to here. And I said that one day, Alex Brown stood, 'cause what did you say? Don't ever say that around us again. He was so mad, so mad. Here is Khalil Mack. He was on with our guy, Big Cat. He was asked about that '18 defense. - I wanna talk about the 2018 Bears, because that defense was so much fun to watch. - Yeah, man. - At what point in the season were you like, this is a different, like, 'cause I thought, you know, if you beat the Eagles, like, the sky's the limit with the way the defense is playing. - Yeah, man, yeah. The first day there, man, I kind of just got a feel for the guys. Knowing that Khalil Fuller was there, I knew you had a ball on the outside, but I didn't know a lot about Prince and Mookamore. - Yup. - But sit down, talk with him, and then figuring out that he can press off the line and all these different things, and I didn't even know this young guy, Eddie Jackson, was in the back end, ready to catch the ball and score at any moment. - Yup. - He came to X? - Yeah, along with Amos and Hicks, and then you got two guys, a guy that just got drafted in row corn Smith at the time, and Danny Trivathin in the middle. - Yup. - And then Aquim and Eddie Goldman and Leonard Floyd on the outside. So it was like, I didn't know I was coming into this, because I really didn't know a lot about the Bears organization before I went. I think I made a joke and said I met the whole McCasky family and had no clue who was who. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like a real big shock in the culture of like just seeing how big that family was and how much that team meant to the city of Chicago. - The game that I think about in that season was when the Rams, who end up going to Superl that year, come with their offense to Soldier Field. And I think you guys didn't even let them score a touchdown, just absolutely demolish them. And I was like, this is different. - Yeah, yeah man, that was a special group, man. And also with Coach Vic Fangio, man, just the mastermind behind him as a whole, and him understanding the players that he had and making sure before the week, we were prepared and knew what we were gonna do and everything was just gonna be, we expected to dominate the teams that we went against. And so, yeah man, shots out to them, man. I definitely missed that group. - Yeah, there we go, they were a great defense. - They were. - If they didn't have an actor playing a quarterback, they probably would have gone to the Super Bowl. - Damn, my God, you're brutal. If they would have had Patrick Mahomes or Deshawn Watson, they would have gone to the Super Bowl. - I don't know about Deshawn Watson, but Patrick Mahomes definitely. - Dude, Deshawn, you can't argue that, listen, I understand, he likes to get a rub down, but you can't argue that he wasn't an amazing quarterback. Like, you can't argue that, that he was so much better than Mitch. Let's say you don't know. - I'm not saying he's not better than Mitch. - I've been to the alternate universe, they go to the Super Bowl with Deshawn Watson for Patrick Mahomes. - They had to hold 100%. There's a lot of other ones that would take them to the Super Bowl. I'm not, and I never was, a big Deshawn Watson guy. Never, for the lotion stuff. - Let's pull up the list of quarterbacks from the 2018 season and see what I'm kidding. I'm kidding, just scream it at me. - No, you don't, we got a break. - All right, we gotta take the time out and out. And then I wanna get into this McCasky article, 'cause there's a lot in there, a lot. - Yeah. - And, man, sometimes, and he's a really good guy. Sometimes, man, they're like. - Oh, gee, willikers, Cap, you be careful. - Golly, golly, we'll get into that next. - Here's to Dave's headline. - Headline. - With Captain J. Hood. - Well, the White Sox suffered their 104th loss yesterday, falling to the Rangers, 2-1, the final. Nathan evolved the seven innings of one hit. Baseball back at it again tonight. You'll get the game here on ESPN 1000, the home of the White Sox, 6-30, our pre-game show. The Cubs will be in the nation's capital. They had yesterday off, picked up a half game in the standings, still alive. Here they go. They are only five back now in the wildcard with 28 games to play. Dion Sanders and Colorado squeaked by North Dakota State. Hope you bet it, because our guy Shane Norlin gave it out. Yesterday, Minnesota missed a field goal. Late lost to North Carolina. Then this morning, some horrible breaking news. Blue Jackets stand out winger Johnny Gudrow, and his brother Matthew were killed when they were struck by a vehicle while riding as pedicyclists, according to the New Jersey State Police, the jacket star winger was just 31 years of age. Chainmore. [MUSIC PLAYING] Captain J. Hood, I'm back. Oh, Captain J. Hood is big fan, man. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Watch out, fellas. On Chicago's home for sports. ESPN, Chicago. [MUSIC PLAYING] Rolling on to Captain J. Hood, Adam, a dollar in for Hoodie, to regular game week next week hard to believe, man. Football is back. I was sitting on the couch last night after I did my fantasy draft with my son. We were online. He's in Portland. And we're doing the draft. And I'm like, I'm not a huge fantasy player, but when your son asks you, you do it. And they had a great time. And I'm like, wow. I'm watching Colorado and North Dakota State. And a really good football game. That North Dakota State came three yards short of upsetting them right at the end on a Hail Mary. Holy cow. Football's back, Adam. It's hard to believe. No, it's awesome. I'm excited. It's great. It was great to feel something yesterday. Winning bets and whatnot. Thank you, Shay, for the money here for the week. Listen. You're welcome, buddy. I'm not thinking Shay. I'm thinking Jesse. The second he said he's all in, I don't bet against Dion. I was like, I doubled back to the window. Do you know what that fraud did yesterday? Texted me in the middle of the day after getting off the air Polish and Dion's knob. Text me in the middle of the day and hits me with so North Dakota State tonight, right? All right. And they text him in the second corner when North Dakota State's up 20 to 14. And I go, did you play the bison? He goes, let's go, buddy. Of course he did. Of course he did. That's just like Jesse. That's just like him. Too faced. By the way, it's being of gambling. Did you guys see the story on the tennis match? Carlos Alcaras was minus 10,000 to win his match at the US Open. At some idiot, it went into the sports book in Vegas, bet 25,000 to win 250. And he got upset in straight sets. 25K! To win $250. That is idiotic game. Well, yeah, don't bet like that. That's stupid. That's just dumb. Just dumb. So George McCasky talked with Patrick Finley, who I saw yesterday at it practice. He had a good sit down with George, who asked you to be patient with Caleb Williams. It's going to take time. People, they're going to be mistakes. That's part of the learning process for any young quarterback. And then he got into all about hard knocks, telling the bear story. He praised their professionalism. But he said, we're not going to show players getting cut. He is going to have a very active role in the editing process. And yes, that will include eliminating all salty language, because he doesn't want a dad not to be able to watch the show with his kit. And then he talked about the stadium. So where do you want to begin here? Because there's a lot to get to in this article. Well, I think the hard knock stuff is interesting, because we all know that the bears are doing the McCasky's a favor by editing out the swear words. Because, like you said, the quote from him is exactly this. We wanted kids to be able to watch the show without their parents worrying. And we didn't want to have a daytime PG version, and then a nighttime one. That's fine. Your show is on the same channel as one of the most popular shows of all time that featured incest on a weekly basis. Oh, Game of Thrones. And Game of Thrones, and now House of the Dragon. Your show is on where literally before the show started, there's a new documentary coming out about the Sopranos. Like, you can't have it both ways. But hold on a second, George-- and I'm not saying I agree with this. I'm simply giving you the evidence. George would say to you, and he listens to the show, George would say to you, I don't own that network. What they put on their network is no concern of me. It's my franchise, and I am not going to put us in that light because I want my neighbor, Robbie, and his son to be able to watch the show together. His son is, I think, 11, 12. He said, wow, I'm actually watching hard knocks with my kid because there's no cursing. Yeah, and that's fine. I'm not worried about the cursing. It's the second part that it gets into, where we all think-- About the cuts. Yeah, we all think that the next episode is going to be about all the cuts, right? Everybody fell in love with Ian Wheeler. And what great story is, and we know he got injured, so he's going to be out. And then we know, like, Brett Ripon was brought back-- Not me and Wheeler seeing what pulls in his office was off. Yeah, that was great. It was fine. It was great. It was what it is, what it is. It is fine. It's not amazing. It was great. But, you know, one of the guys that you've featured who tells his life story about getting hit by a car in age 9 and all this kind of stuff, he doesn't make the team. He gets cut, then literally, hours before the episode starts. Yeah, Adrian Colbert. So this is what the article says. The final episode Tuesday will cover Cut Day. Mikaski, as he has the whole series, said he'll be very active in the editing process. And, yes, that includes eliminating salty language in four episodes. In four episodes, there hasn't been a solitary curse word. This is from Mikaski. The nature of the program, the drama, if there is any, is the player personnel, and the general manager, and the coach building a roster, and guys fighting roster spots. In our opinion, when you tell a young man that in all likelihood his lifetime dream is over, that's a private moment. We want to be very sensitive about it, and want to handle it tastefully and sympathetically. They're not going to show you cuts next week. They're not. So what is the episode going to be about? Are we going to go to the ice cream museum? Are we going to go see the Bluey exhibit down the street over here? Are we all going for a field trip to the Field Museum? Like, what do we do? Are we all going to get those wax dinosaurs when we're done? Like, this is a football team. This is the NFL. If you don't like it, don't own a team. You don't, oh, you don't like that you're ending guys' dreams? Don't own the team. Go run another business where you don't have to fire people ever. - So my buddy Phil from the tape never lies. He's texting me, and he said, in his opinion, and I think you're going to agree with this, if George was hiring a football coach today, and this gentleman came in the interview for the job, and had an accomplished resume, and had been a successful head coach, and his name was George Hallis. George Hallis was his intense, passionate, he would use cursed words, all of it. They would never hire that guy. He's not, he's too out there for them. They would never hire Mike, did get a day. - No, of course not. And that's fine. - You can hire whoever you want to hire, but the point of hard knocks is to focus, like if you look it up, like look up hard knocks. And on the Wikipedia page for hard knocks, it says a look at new players, veterans of the league, so like Keenan Allen, Montez Sweat, those guys, DJ, which they've done. Okay, young players, have we seen anything from Caleb Williams outside of the facility? - No. - Once, he must sleep there, 'cause I don't think the one of the future faces of the NFL, the number one overall pick, one of the most hyped quarterback prospects in the last 20 years, has gotten zero face time outside of the facility. And then it also says, focuses on highlights players that are on the fringe of making the roster, and their journey throughout training camp, and whether it ends, or they end up in the league, and you're not going to get any of that next week. You're not gonna get cuts, because they're not gonna show you what happens in Ryan Paul's office, because they've got creative control. You're not gonna get anything from Caleb Williams, other than him looking kind of, listen, love Caleb, but like I said this the other day, if I were on the hot take machine cap, bad body language from Caleb Williams when learning how to snap the football, and how to clock the football, he did not look like he wanted to be in that meeting. Bad body language, what they said about him at USC might be true, just saying, coming up next on the herd. So, you're not gonna get any of that stuff. You're not getting a look at the most important players at the roster. And I get it, that's fine. I can be upset that the show isn't giving bears fans anything. They're not giving you anything. - The interesting thing will be that if we could go forward two years from now, and whoever they do next year, goes back to the normal hot topics of cuts, profanity, what really goes on in the NFL training camp. And then you ask them, okay, now that you're done with them, the bears, lovely people, that's not what our show is. - Well, that's probably what they'll say. - I think it's the opposite. I think that now you've seen other teams will look at what the bears have done. And once you've set this precedent as HBO, all the other teams are gonna do the same thing. All the other teams are gonna say, well, you let them do it. Why won't you let us do it? That's not how you can't go back. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Once it's out, once you've let teams do this and you give them complete creative control, they're just gonna say, well, you let them do it. - So the bears kill the hard knocks? - Yeah, yes, James. Well, probably the Giants did with their off season one. But it just said soft knocks. - Yeah. - Sorry, the Chicago Bears. - The bears probably killed hard knocks. Yes, they did. - I'll bet you it go. There are owners out there. Like if they were doing the Lions again, Dan Campbell is still gonna be Dan Campbell and they're still gonna let it go. - They might let the swearing and stuff go, but I'm talking about what you show. Like if they go to another high profile team, like let's say they go-- - Washington would be perfect next. - Okay, let's say they go to Washington and the commanders say you're not getting anything from Jayden Daniels. Sorry, you're not. Hard knocks has to respect that because they didn't give you anything from Caleb Williams. - The bears are very, very protective of Caleb. And I understand that. This is their best chance to have the franchise quarterback. They got the number one guy. They did everything to support him, to put more talent around him, to put a new staff around him in terms of the offensive side of the ball. All of that. I'm telling you, I agree with you 100%. We need a little more. Need a little more. Like why can't you ride home with him and be in his house a little bit? So what, like Caleb Williams watching film as he eats us then like give me some of that. - Well, here's the other thing too, right? He started his own business. Like he started his own investment fund or whatever it is. Like, why aren't we getting anything from Caleb? Not even, like you're right. Not even a ride to the stadium in them or a ride to the facility in the morning. I got the, I got the punter on Waze. That's what I've got. - Yeah, Tory Taylor on Waze driving his Genesis. - Okay, cool. Like that's not who I want to see. That's not who anybody wants to see. - Like wouldn't it have been cool to have them going to either practice or to the preseason game against Cincinnati where it's Caleb and Rome in the same car together? - Yeah, that would have been great. - Can you believe we're here? - It would have been awesome. - Awesome. - But you don't. Sorry. - Will we get any surprises in the next edition? - No, you're not gonna get anything. You're gonna get more slow motion practice footage. You're gonna get a 30 second zoom out shot of another building to fill time. You're gonna get the sprinklers turning off 'cause that's how it'll end. It'll be over and maybe you'll get another, you know what you're gonna get? You're gonna get Austin Reed being cut and then remaking the roster. Feel a good story. That's what you're gonna get. - Yeah, Austin Reed making the practice. - The practice squad, yeah. - All right, we have to take a quick time out. 3-1-2-3-3-2-3-7-7-6. Your thoughts on George having a, as he quote, very active role in the editing of Hard Knocks. Your thoughts? Are you enjoying it? We'll be right back. (upbeat music) - You're listening to Captain J. Hood. Follow the show on Instagram @thecatman and @ijjhood. This is ESPN Chicago. Chicago's home for sports. (upbeat music) - All right, rolling on. We'll have a shot or no shot. Couple of moments here on ESPN 1,000. I put out a poll question at the break. - Mm-hmm. - Knowing that George McCasky and the Bears have had a quote, very end quote, active role in the editing process. That's his words, not mine. Of Hard Knocks, are you enjoying it? Discussing now on at ESPN 1,000. Right now, 53% say they are enjoying it. 34% know and haven't watched 13%. So we'll see. We'll see how this all tracks throughout the show. Are you excited to watch the last episode, Adam? Because it's going to end or it's still the Bears I want to watch. - If you weren't doing this for a job, you're Adam the accountant. Are you watching? - Yeah, probably. Just because there's-- - Because it's your favorite team. - Yeah, because it's, well, that and I would probably just watch Hard Knocks. Like, I don't really watch Hard Knocks if it's not the Bears. So like, I didn't watch last year. I didn't watch the NC. I saw some of the clips. Like, that's the thing. Is anything good is already clipped out and put on social media. So it's fine. But yeah, I mean, I'm more looking forward to being over because that means that the real football's going to start. Once we get to the end of Hard Knocks, that means we get to real football. - Next Thursday. - Yeah, so the faster we get to the end of the, the end of training camp and the end of this Hard Knocks, then yeah, we get real football on Sunday. So that's what I'm looking forward to. - Cannot freakin' wait. All right, we'll play shot or no shot. In exactly two minutes.