The Chicago Bears Podcast
Keys to a Must-Win Game for Bears vs. Titans w/Jason McKie
The Chicago Bears Podcast with Pat The Designer and former Bears fullback Jason McKie, brought to you by The Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, is back with a deep dive into Sunday's crucial Bears vs. Titans matchup! ??
Why It’s a Must-Win: Pat and Jason explain why this game is a defining moment for the Bears and how it could shape the season ahead. ? Keys to Victory: Discover the biggest factors the Bears need to focus on to come out on top against the Titans. ? Get all the insights, analysis, and a game plan for victory! ?? #DaBears #NFL #ChicagoBears #BearDown #BearsNation
- Broadcast on:
- 04 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
on bears fans another edition of the Chicago Bears podcast coming your way path to design a Jason McKee in the building ladies and gentlemen we got football football is back this Sunday I cannot wait to see the Chicago Bears take on the Tennessee Titans and with that being said we got to talk about our biggest keys to a Chicago Bears victory what do we need to see the Chicago Bears do versus this Tennessee Titans team to start off the season one and oh especially in a home game and joining me as always on a Wednesday Jason McKee in the building J Mac what's going on my guy man shades look good you're definitely ready for football I got the shades out it may be sunny on Sunday Pat the designer being full effect and I think this game is is a must win for the bears I think it's a must win I mean it's I mean it's not you gotta start out the season one and oh especially at home you know I mean a team in which the Bears I think are going to be favored to be but don't get it twisted Tennessee's got some firepower they're going to be a well coached team you know these two teams met last year as well so it's going to be interesting to see man there's a lot of things I got to go right for the bears a lot of questions they want all be answered it's still week one but they'll start to get answered on Sunday versus the Titans yeah 100% I think that's the thing right can you start to answer those questions early all we did in week one of last season was creating more questions and let's hope we don't do that again if you haven't done so hit that like button subscribe to the page lead a five star view y'all know what to do man let's jump in J Mac what do we need to see versus this Tennessee Titans team number one thing that you need to see versus Titans team to feel good that the Bears are going to hit the ground running yeah you know every all finds point the Caleb Williams so let me go on the other side of the ball well now we're going to talk about Caleb Williams more but I want to talk about this Bears defense right and I want to see this defense pick pick up where they left off you know being one of the top defenses in the league the second half of the season generated a lot of takeaways Montez wet trade really helped ignite a defense change the identity of a defense became the defense that coach losing vision when he came here you added a lot of new pieces you got some young guys you know some guys second year in the same system and those guys being Tremaine Edmonds TJ Edwards you know they're in the same system for the second year so and then guys who have been who have been in this league for a long time guys it's drafted a few years back it's just going to get more comfortable you know you live at college or to quan brisker it's going to be Tyree Stevens the second year in this defense so he's going to feel more comfortable and I want to see this defense get after because we look at Tennessee right they got some firepower they got Tony Paula they brought over from Dallas Cowboys you got cabin really John Dre Hopkins and Tyler Boyd three very productive receivers in this league it's going to be tough you know you got Will Levis a young quarterback but this tight is offense they got some pieces man they definitely got some pieces so there's going to be interesting to see you know Montez what can he pick up where he left off who's going to be playing opposite of Montez West probably going to be the Marcus Walker can the Marcus Walker you know actually start you know beating some one-on-ones but all the attention being placed on Montez West can the Marcus Walker get some pressure on the quarterback so I want to see what the defense is going to do in the opener gets the Titans yeah no and I think that's the thing that's the most interesting right when you we talk about the Titans and our minds were like out of Titans I'm not worried about the Titans like it's still the same old Titans you better worry about the Titans a little bit because if we're getting a hundred percent honest the Titans have put Will Levis in a very similar position that the Bears have put Caleb Williams in when I looked at this offense I mean listen Tony Pollard had a little bit of a down season last year and I think that he's probably the person I'm worried about least because I think that running on this Bears defense is an exercise in futility when you got Andrew Billings in the middle how Dravine Dexter has come along I think that the Bears are going to be a really stout run team especially if you try to run them up the middle to the outside I mean we got we got linebackers that could tackle all over the place so I feel good about that but then you look at that receiving cornea like oh wait it's some there's some names over here right like I don't know if D-Hop is slated to play just yet but you got D-Hop over there you've got Boyd you've got a cow and written like these are names that we talked about the Bears possibly going out and getting when we needed wide receiver help these are good wide receivers I think down Drey Hopkins went healthy is still one of the best guys on the field it's going to be a very similar situation for Will Levis to say set and hut oh snap I don't know where I'm supposed to go here but there's the Andre Hopkins streaking down the right sideline I think that the DB's are going to have a day set out for them my most important player early on in this season my most important piece that I think the Bears are really going to have to have stand out is Tyree Stevenson to me because I think that when you look Jalen Johnson's way most quarterbacks aren't going to look Jalen Johnson's way they're going to go we know what he's what he is is a PBU guy we know what he is a coverage guy we know that he can get you that coverage sack so we're not going to spend too much time looking that way I'm looking at Tyree come looking at Kyler Gordon I'm trying to put the ball in there on receivers that are being guarded by them that are being played by them I think that they're going to have to stand out immediately in this first game because if not you're going to have some guys that could be streaking down the sidelines then look at the matchups right let's talk about the offensive line in particular versus the very defensive line right Tennessee invests at the first round pick and JC Latham the left tackle at Alabama right they also invest in the left guard you know Peter Skoransky at a Northwestern you know I'm saying they got to think it was a second round pick at a North Dakota state and Delaware Dunes at a right guard you know what I mean so they've got some young offensive linemen that were highly touted coming out that are continuing to develop as well the good matchup to watch is JC Latham on the Marcus Walker you know I'm saying Latham's a big athletic guy the Marcus Walker is a veteran he's been in the league for a long time you know Kenny win that one-on-one matchup you know we'll see what happens on Sunday so I think you got to look at a lot of those those those matchups and and we know Coach Flutes does a great job of putting together a game plan defensively right so I can see the Bears you know they've got to be able to get pressure with their front four on wheel levels you know I mean you cannot let him sit back there and gain confidence the more completion he hits the more confidence any quarterback is going to get but especially a young quarterback like a wheel lettuce he's going to get comfortable so they got to be able to get create pressure with their front four I know Flutes does not want to rely on bringing second level pressure with them linebackers but also third level pressure you know bringing Jaquan Brisker down in the box something we saw early on last season which kind of which hurt the Bears because they were they couldn't get pressure with the front four so they start bringing linebackers they start bringing safeties down and then that secondary started to get exploited so you see what happens when they were able to bring in a guy like Montes Swett that could get that could generate pressure with that front four then we saw we saw the takeaway start coming and they came in bunches because you had a guy that commanded attention that was getting pressure on quarterbacks and if we can do that I think the Bears would be fine but if we can't get pressure you know I think Tennessee will have some success against his Bears defense yeah and I say this most important player that you got to see something from Javan Dexter show up day one yeah you got it you got to get that pressure up the middle force though force will love us to have to make quick decisions and force will love us to have to throw over you I think it was so interesting what we talked to Andrew Billings you know about the improvement that Javan Dexter is made and how he talked about with with Dexter basically he's never going to be able to get his pad levels as low as I am it's why I'm I think he's five 10 basically and pure muscle so he's like he's never gonna be able to get his pad levels as low as I am because he's six foot six but what he can do is he can force that pocket backwards if he gets to a stalemate just get the hands up that's something we saw him do consistently at practice something we saw him do an elite level at practice need to see that in the games as well because when you're six six you put your hands straight up in the air more times they're not good things are going to happen that could force those tip passes that end up getting picked off underneath that can force those force the quarterback just to have to move around in the pocket because he's got to get around those giant arms right like we'll let us as a solid quarterback but I don't know if he's to the point yet where I'm like he's just going to be able to launch it over Javan Dexter and just have a cannon to drop it in the bucket I don't know if he's that level of quarterback just yet I think that they're building him up to try and be that which is good to see but at the end of the day if Javan Dexter keeps pressure and will levels his face it is going to force sacks left and right because Montes sweat is somebody who you just don't have to worry about him he he does his job he does it well and if you give him that second where the quarterback has to think he can create that pressure as well yeah I think with the first thing the Bears will do and I know Coach Ebert who's always has a good plan and the Bears have shown they've been consistently good against the run you know you they brought in Tony Pollard Tennessee Titans in free agency and you also have a young guy I think it's the second year in Tai J Spears he was out of I think Tulane we had a really good season last year so you're bringing the veteran who's had success in this league you got a young running back that showed a lot of you know that showed a lot of play making ability as a rookie last year you know you've got to be able to stop those guys right and we have a young quarterback a young quarterback's best friend is a solid adequate run game and Tony Pollard and Tai J Spears are two capable facts of being able to move the chains consistently against the Bears defense so you got to take away one thing you got to make them one-dimensional you know I know Coach Ebert who's definitely wants to put the ball in the Woodlevets hand to say you know what if you're going to be this is going to be from within the pocket we're going to take away the run again let's see if you can sit in the pocket diagnose coverages beat the blitz consistently and make plays to beat this Bears defense and I don't think Woodlevets can do that so I know the main thing in my opinion that Coach Ebert who's preaching up there is hey we got to take away the run we got to make Tony Pollard an off factor along with Tai J Spears yeah and and it comes down to listen we've seen this here we saw this last year right quarterbacks that we're like that quarterback's not good it doesn't matter yeah we don't have to worry about him we as long as as long as we get pressure on him he's he's he's a sitting duck back there but then you don't get pressure on him and all of a sudden the quarterbacks that you think are the worst guys in the league are picking you apart now I don't know if that's going to happen with this DB group that we have but I think the flip side of that is right you do have to maintain that pressure it is it is something where you can't let Willlevus sit back there and operate in the pocket like you said that's where Flus wants him at but you don't want him just sitting back there having a good time making a couple of sandwiches and then getting time to throw the football yeah I mean like and I think that's the part again where you talk about things you need to see hitting the ground running more pressure on the quarterback dare I say I'm looking at this coaching staff I'm looking at coach flus to see if he's going to continue to dial up the pressure if those front four can't get there I understand we want them to get there I understand that you need them to get there but at the end of the day you have to address your wants and needs based on what's actually happening on the field if Montes sweat if Dervan Dexter of Demarcus Walker are not getting home will we see flus dial up some of those blitzes that we saw in the preseason with Eric Washington even though lose did some as well in the first half of that Buffalo game he said that he he called that that first half of the Buffalo game but are you going to see him kind of adjust off of that quickly or is he going to sit there and say no we got to get pressure with our front four if we if we lose this game because we're not getting pressure with our front four we lose this game playing our way I don't think that that's logical no he's gonna do I mean he's he's a smart coach and you know the greatest coaches in this league are the ones that make the right adjustments or no no make those timely adjustments when necessary right and there's one thing to be stubborn but at the same time we're playing the win so if I can't get pressure with my front four well guess what we got some guys in that secondary that are very adequate at blitzing that are very good at blitzing you look at collar gourd look at your quorum risk group had success in the past of being able to you know time up a blitz and be there running back in protection or you know time up a blitz and disguising it well and confusing quarterback so you know we see we'll see those things and you also have two linebackers that are really good blishers as well I mean how many times we've seen DJ TJ Edwards last year just destroyed running back in protection and caused habit for quarterback so the good thing is like I keep saying like this is a defense right and it's it's I'm not going to say it's similar to the defense that I played but it's similar in the fact that you have blue chip players at every level of this defense right you want this wet defense of line you've got two blue chip linebackers in this league and TJ and Tremaine and then you have a blue chip player in terms of Jayla Johnson now you have some young ascending players that are on their way to possibly being blue chip players and I will say collar gourd first and jakwan brisker second jakwan's brisker his health is the only thing that I you know that I personally put in question can he stay healthy if he can I think he can be one the elite elite safety in this league but he's got to stay on the field um so that's a good thing that uh that coach flus has a at his disposal and you got I mean Austin Booker's going to be an expactor how they're going to use Austin Booker he's going to be a situational pass rush on which he comes in on third down you know what I mean if the Marcus Walker isn't getting pressured consistently or do we have the confidence enough to be able to put the young guy in to give a change up and see if we can get some type of a pass rush out there on JC Latham because so we can see rookie on rookie we can see Austin Booker on JC Latham you know what I'm saying depending on how this game goes so it's going to be a lot of things it's going to be a chess match for sure um you know coach flus I've got all the confidence in him in the world in terms of the defense because now he has a lot of good playmakers as a disposal and he's shown that he's been putting together good defensive game plans like the defense with him hasn't really been the biggest question mark since his tenure at head coach you know he's put together some adequate uh defenses there's just been a question of you know to start to see that can he get pressure you know on on quarterbacks and once they brought in Montez West all those questions they went out the window you know became one of the top defenses of the league and we've seen that throughout training camp they made play after play after play um in pre-season as well you had guys fighting to make this roster you know making plays and that's why I cut down they was so hard for for GM Ryan polls and assistant GME and Cunningham because you had so many guys on this roster make play after play when the number was called because of the scheme and because of the competition that they brought in in the Chicago Bears organization when you look at offensively on this team there's there's a lot of expectation placed on this offense because of the names that have been brought in what are your expectations week one do you feel like this is an offense that has to hit the ground running do you feel like this is an offense that maybe bears fans need to give it time to jail or do you feel like they've done enough where you can say hey week one let's get after boys got a score point you got to put together drives and I think you know one of the biggest matchups I look at you know in this game and it's into funny thing and involves Caleb Williams and a former bear and that former bear is Chris Harris who is the the Tennessee Titans passing game a defensive pass game coordinator so you know Chris Harris is a smart player extremely intelligent player playing safety here for the Bears for a long time you know he understands coverages he understands you know what the sky that he can use to confuse young quarterbacks and it's going to be a chess match with him and Shane Waldron and Caleb Williams you know what is what type of coverages or combination coverages is Chris gonna run to try to confuse a young rookie quarterback and Caleb Williams so you know it's gonna they got a score points man they've got to be able to move the ball you know new offensive system with Shane Waldron but you know we saw a lot of inconsistency last year and the biggest thing that we want to see is you know that I want to see from young quarterback is you know we know we can make the unscripted plays to all scheduled plays I want to know I want to see if you can play on schedule right three step drop three step drop get the ball out diagnose the defense put the ball where it needs to be take what the defense is giving you I don't want to see him just you know trying to force plays when unnecessary rolling out of the pocket scrambling you're rolling out trying to throw the ball 60 yards down field when he has a clean pocket you know and he's got the receivers that can help him you've got a receiver in Keenan Allen who's very quarterback friendly he's going to be where he's going to be you know can he play the game from within the pocket on schedule and make plays consistently lead drives put points on the board like we need we need touchdowns not field goals yeah 100% and I think that's that to me right when you look at Caleb I love that people are are starting to get I don't want to say nervous but like I saw a article come out from ESP and where basically it took every team and it talked about what maybe their weaknesses to start the season and the one thing that was one of the starts was you know Caleb Williams may take a bunch of unnecessary sacks to start the season because he holds the football too long because you know a lot of the same stuff we heard about Justin Fields in it I just got to put this out there and maybe I'll be proven wrong at the end of the day but listen a lot of quarterbacks that hold the football too long in this NFL to make plays with it if he makes plays that's the difference don't don't take every situation as the same Pat Mahomes holds the football a heck of a long time though Pat Mahomes does he goes out there he throws dots and he wins freaking Super Bowls yeah I would love to see uh uh Caleb Williams do that but it's like you said Pat Mahomes also understands when he needs to be in the pocket right he needs to stay in the pocket and that is something I would like to see from Caleb early on this season I don't mind you holding the football long if you're able to make a play from it because I think that is just what the modern era of quarterback is becoming everybody sitting there and saying well Tom Brady said the football needs to be out in two and a half seconds well Tom Brady can't move if Tom Brady leaves the pocket he's probably about to die so you're not dealing with that kind of quarterback in this NFL anymore you've got your Jalen Hertz's you've got your Josh Allen's who gets talked about for holding the football too long right and it's not to say that right I think with Justin Fields we we got into that he holds the football too long because he was missing guys that were open we haven't really seen that a ton from Caleb we haven't seen that from him in college I should say right where he's just missing these wide open guys because he's holding the football too long usually he's holding the football too long because there are bodies falling around him and he's trying to make a play so I think understanding okay I got a clean pocket like you said and this is where I need to be in it and make the play and make the right throw and make it quickly but I'm okay with the pockets kind of falling apart I got to hold on to this thing let's move around up there's Keenan Allen coming wide open across the middle let's throw that in there yeah and a good thing is you know we saw a mixture of both this preseason you know we've seen him scramble out of the pocket make some great throws down the field and we've seen him play within the pocket show that pocket awareness that pocket presence and deliver the ball to you know those receivers once they come open so I think the main thing is I'm interested to see you know what type of game plan Shane Waldron puts together you know early on like in terms of the passing game you know are you dialing something up to get Caleb comfortable you know to get his easy completion to get his confidence up and you know how committed are you going to stick to the run game if it's not working you know what I mean you've got a lot of good backs in that room um you know how committed are you to this run game because it's going to be very necessary for this run game to be successful to take those shot plays down the field that you want from Kayla Williams you know what I mean in order to do that the run game's got to be successful so it's going to be interesting to see what type of game plan that Waldron puts together it's going to be pass happy because it's the debut official debut of Kayla Williams and the regular season game are you going to play within the system you know get the runs called to set up the pass or you're going to use a pass set up around you know Waldron feels like the kind of guy that like is going to run a trick play on the first play don't he he feels like he's that dude like he's going to set up the flea flicker and all of a sudden you just got like DJ Moore down the right sideline and Kayla lets it fly I feel that from Shane Waldron I feel big play ability play it's you know it's funny because you can get coordinators it's like you know the first play again we're taking a shot we're throwing the ball deep I don't care what the coverage is we're going to let them know that hey we will take the top off his defense you know what I mean like I don't I really don't know I mean I don't know what they never do it again right and then every passive has under five yards you know I don't know man like it's it's it's you know I'm excited to see what type of offense we're going to see because we've seen like when you look at this offensive preseason very vanilla is basic you're not showing anything you want to you want to put on tape against another opponent the base concepts that you're running the base fundamentals of your defense the core runs the core route concepts the basic protections but now you're actually going into full game plan mode to where you're dissecting every single aspect of your opponent you know I'm saying you're trying to find all the weaknesses in that defense that you're going to face and you know you have a young quarterback you know coach Morgan I think coach Chris Morgan the offensive line coach is the most important person in this game because you know when you have a young quarterback the main thing that defenses defensive coordinators want to do is they want to get his jersey dirty they want to bring pressure they want to hit him early in often so you know what type of protections does Chris Morgan have with that offensive line but also what type of calls from Shane Walgen are they going to you don't implement in the passing game right they're going to move the pocket you know are they going to keep him in the pocket three-step drop you know different things like that to where he's not just sitting in the same spot for his defensive line to tee off on him you know the whole game so I think we're going to see a little bit of both you know that's something that we saw in preseason we seen Caleb you know boot we've seen him sprint out we've seen him roll out we've seen a lot of different things we've seen him just play within the structure of a pocket and I think that's Caleb's game I think he can do all of those things really well but it's up to Shane Walgen to put his guys in position to make those plays and you got a lot of weapons you know you got an opportunity to spread the ball around you know when this game it could be DJ next game it could be Kenan it could be Cole you know you've got a playmaker and down Drake Swift the guy they can take it like we say back in Florida can take it 88 out the gate it means you give him the ball and he can hit that home run and he's out the gate for 88 yard for touchdown you know what I mean so we'll see we'll see what happens man I'm excited to finally you know get to see Caleb Williams in an entire game in this entirety and there's going to be always going to be lows and we've only seen a glimpse of him handle you know pressure at home right he started off the last preseason game you know things wasn't going their way and then he came back and hit some home run balls to roam and stuff like that we're going to get to see it for a full game you know there's going to be drives where they don't get anything and there's going to be drives where they you know times where they move the ball down the field and score let's see what we get yeah and and hopefully there's there's more of the drive the ball down the field and score drives than the other I love Cairo I love Cairo but I'd be happy with Cairo just kicking off you know what I mean like extra taking off get some get some expo's in there yeah we got this we got this Cairo sit-out sit-out man all I'm saying is I'm tired of my kicker being the highest scorer on the team at the end of every season bro we need to see some touchdowns man I need to see that scoreboard lit up but one thing I also want to see though is is and you mentioned it in Shane Waldron is with him something we didn't see from Luke Gatsy last season was an understanding of the pockets you have it felt like he was calling plays based on how things should work right as somebody who was blue collar we had we had the managers who were like that or the foreman who were like that that basically would be like well this is how this should work and then you go well did you go look at it because it ain't gonna work that way and we got we got three bodies over here we got two bodies over here and all of them are on the ground I want to see Shane Waldron call a game based on how the team is playing week one and to me that means with the pocket right I've still got questions on this offensive line massive questions on this offensive line a lot of them do stem from health I think that talent wise you feel better about it right listen as far as right guards go Nate Davis is not a horrible right guard it's just you would like to see him out there more consistent so that he can build up those reps with the team that you have out there Kevin Jenkins same way right Braxton Jones yes Braxton Jones I'm glad he finally stopped saying I'm getting cooked on the bull rush but dare I say he even looks a little bit better at dealing with the bull rush this season at least in preseason that we saw in years past there's still a long way to go with that but like when you see the the offensive line if they're struggling last year just felt like just keep dropping Justin back just keep dropping Justin back because Justin can do something with his legs that can end up being magic I don't want to see that this season from Shane Waldron I love the fact that we saw the naked boots I love the fact that we saw him even even in some of the run plays right you utilizing boss right like you utilizing things that that are going to help your playmakers be playmakers like you said like that's what I want to see from Shane Waldron on a consistent basis and it's something that I don't know that we've seen from OCs for a while here in the city yeah just making the in-game adjustments that's what it's that's what it's about I mean that's why after every series you're on the sideline which position group the OCs with the quarterbacks and the quarterback coach and and what did we see what did they give us what are they trying to take away how can we exploit them you know where's the mismatch you know all those things play a factor and you know and trying to put together an adequate game plan to put your guys in a position to succeed and to make plays and to put points on the scoreboard so you know it's going to be Shane Waldron's debut you know a lot of office coordinators had a rough go here in Chicago and you know Shane Waldron next-in-line no excuses number one pick we brought in Keenan co-commence had a great year last year you know I mean you drafted number nine Romo Dunezay there's no excuses Shane we've got plenty of guys for you to go out there and to put points on the scoreboard what's you know what's the excuse if you don't whose offense is this like this feels so weird like you got Keenan Allen you got DJ more you got Roma Dunezay you got if you're back in the day Roy Jones from my hometown was one of the guys I idolized he fought at Antonio Tarver right and he fought him for the second time and you know the first time Roy got knocked out by Antonio Tarver so the second fight as you're coming up to touch gloves Antonio Tarver says you got any excuses tonight Roy you know what I'm saying so if I'm if I'm the DJ's coordinator Dinar Wilson for Tennessee for the game I'm going to the same wall Gonna say Shane you got any excuses today Shane the pressure's on Shane man you got all the guys come on man you got playmakers everywhere yeah but you got a bag that can that can do everything right you can also be affected in the past and you got Keenan who had thousand years last year DJ at that one very last year you got co-commence you know it is not the best tight end but he's one of the better tight ends in the league yeah you got the number nine pickin Roma Dunezay you got any excuses tonight Shane oh the offensive line fell over that's an excuse all right man we'll see what this Tennessee team does we got a couple more days until the game gets here but football returns tomorrow the NFL season starts Thursday ladies and gentlemen and we can't wait to cover all of and of course you know we're going to have everything Chicago Bears here over on the Chicago Bears podcast hit that like button subscribe to the page lead a five star view y'all know what to do man for Jason McKee issue we've had the designer back at it again y'all stay same other Chicago but i don't want love you.