The Chicago Bears Podcast
Bears' Path to a Top 10 Offense: Key Pieces Analyzed w/Courtney Cronin
The Chicago Bears Podcast with Pat The Designer and ESPN's Courtney Cronin, brought to you by The Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, is here with a deep dive into what fans can realistically expect from the Bears' Offense and Defense this season! Offensive Potential: Pat and Courtney discuss if the Bears have the pieces to break into the top 10 on offense and what they need to fix to get there. Defensive Expectations: Are expectations too high for the Bears' defense? Courtney weighs in on the need for more pressure on the quarterback before labeling them a top 10 unit. Historic News: Caleb Williams makes history as the first rookie named a captain for the Bears! Tune in for all the insights, analysis, and more! #DaBears #NFL #ChicagoBears #BearDown #CalebWilliams
- Broadcast on:
- 03 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
bad on bears fans another edition of the Chicago Bears podcast coming your way path the designer Courtney Cronin it is a football week and I mean a real football week the Chicago Bears week one is coming this Sunday and listen now it's crunch time let's talk about some rankings on where we think this team is going to end up of course we're good we're excited about this defense but the offense is a big question right now because it's just something we haven't seen on the field going to discuss where we think this bears offense should rank this season especially with some of the interesting games that they have in the second half of that schedule all being divisional games how will that end up playing out we'll talk about all that and more because we got captains announced the first ever rookie captain for the Chicago Bears Caleb Williams makes the cut we'll talk about all that more in today's episode of the Chicago Bears podcast hit that like button subscribe to the page lead a five star of you y'all know what to do Courtney Labor Day is coming gone but it was a work day for us it was and you know we get the news about the captains which is 15% of the roster more or less eight captains of the 53 which you know I know a lot of people are skeptical of that but it does show you how different this roster looks and it has the last two years and how Matty Bercluse had some hard decisions to make and sometimes you know if you've got that much leadership you might as well reward those players but a lot to take away just from how they decided they wanted to structure their leadership and how they're expecting those specific eight players to be the ones to lead this team this year and start in week one I mean that comes down to the wire for Caleb Williams when he gets named captain it's his first start he's going to be going through his own ups and downs this season but you know also has this this you know significant burden and a burden doesn't have to be a bad thing it's just it's responsibility for this guy as he's learning how to play at the NFL level that he's also going to have to show the leadership to make sure that his team gets off to the fast start and stays in in the right in the right realm going forward because you remember what happened last year and the Bears like that has been a talking point for the last couple of weeks really since it started training camp how do you prevent against the letdown that this team had against the Green Bay Packers last year because I know that some people want to forget about it but there was a lot of hype around the Bears last year too much so that it you know manifested itself in an 0 and 4 start and everybody was wondering if they were going to be firings after that but the energy is different this year because I think that they had some pretty stark learning experiences that they had to go through that first month of the season that they now know okay let's not do it that way again let's do things differently and certainly the injuries help because they were a lot more injured of a team going into that week one game against Green Bay than they are set up right now to be against that Tennessee Titans team no and I love the fact that you bring up last season right because I'll say this I don't feel like the energy around the mindset that the team has changed right but I think that flus is changed how he's channeled that energy and I think that's been one of the things that is very exciting heading into this Titans game because remember last season we're all sitting there at practice just going like alright guys like it doesn't look great like what do you guys see that we aren't seeing like are you doing something in the in the time we don't see you that we're not seeing because it doesn't look like a superstar level talent and you're not playing in any of the preseason games and we just kept getting wait till week one you guys will see wait till week one you guys will see the week one came we're like what the heck are we watching for what would flu say last year what's up yours yeah I mean like that's that's kind of what we got and week one of the the Packers game last year so like seeing I think it's the fact that they kept the mindset I like the mindset but seeing the changes that flus made to training camp to his approach to preseason adding in that as we talk about the captains right the leadership that Caleb Williams has shown as a young player and brings and you can feel that energy in the building I think that you get kind of a different I'm hoping for a different result but it feels like they're much further along than they were week one last year even the talent alone I think helps that feeling because you know there are a lot of guys who were part of this roster last year that were part of that week one let down that are no longer here and when you talked when I talked to Jalen Johnson about this yesterday and you talked to players and you get their feeling on where this team is and the changes that have been made they went through the hard part to get to where they are right now to where it finally feels like week one this year there's an expectation like I don't know if everybody's going to pick them to win I believe that by the end of the week depending upon how we you know see what Tennessee's injury situation is what the Bears is like all of that I think I'll be picking the Bears to win in week one and I did not pick them to win last year against Green Bay this is a much more formidable opponent for them like we didn't know what Green Bay was going to be with Jordan Love it was his first start but there were still all of these question marks you know with the Bears that actually like weighed heavier than hey how is Jordan Love going to be good or not with Tennessee you know what state Tennessee is in right now like they're much more like in the position of like starting over new head coach new number one running back new receiving core around Will Levis like the defense is still really good but it just feels like the Bears have been building towards this where like to a point where it's like all right they're ready to contend versus where the Titans are and much in having like much more tempered expectations being in the AFC South it's going to be a dog fight for the two teams at least two teams ahead of them I don't know where to put Jacksonville and any of that but like I think with the Colts and certainly with the Houston Texans they're they're starting out whereas the Bears have been building towards this for a while to where if you pick them this week if they're favored this week that that should not surprise anybody considering what they did to get their roster to the state this offseason yeah 100% and I think that you know you you feel confident about one side of the ball for sure the defense is out of the ball I mean like listen I get it that you revamped your entire offense you've got a new running back in there it's a lot easier to stop a guy when it's not Derek Henry back there so and I'm gonna tell you this right now like the Bears defense like running against them this season is going to be an exercise of futility like they still have that much of a of a bite on that defensive side of the ball especially in the run game the past game is going to be the question Ken will let us get the best of them but I think the question is still even with all the weapons even with all the additions even with adding Shane Waldron what is this offense going to be is this offense going to be one that is a formidable offense is this one is it going to be one that does some of the things that we saw in preseason even though that was verse vanilla defenses or is this going to take time to get going because Tennessee like you said a great team to start with but they're not exactly a team that you can just go we don't really have to worry about that of course I mean there's no team I don't think on their schedule even only weeks one through ten feels like that's where you've got to start building your wins if you're the Bears because week 11 you play the Packers and that starts your six of eight final weeks or division opponents so this is the time where you can't you cannot take anything like you think okay we're going to slow roll our way in to the season and all the questions that we have of the Shane Waldron offense how are you going to utilize three receivers where any one of them in theory could be a number one on someone else's team you have two tight ends that are very good you ran a lot of two tight end sets in Seattle how are you going to balance that knowing that your wide receiver group is as good as it is and then of course you also have this really good backfield like there's a lot of things that start to get answered on Sunday in those questions that we've had that have gotten no answer whatsoever and you can see some of it in pre-season games but not the way like when you ask these questions it's all we're going to be multiple we're going to be balanced well eventually there's going to be a side that wins out and my question since the time that we found out Roma Dunes they was coming here after knowing what this receiving corps is is can the Bears actually be a pass first offense when have we ever had the thought that a Chicago Bears lead offense could actually be a prolific passing unit when it ranked 27th last year and not even just using last year as an example think about like the last 10 years the last 15 years this is a run the ball sort of team a team that wants to ground and pound and win games on defense that mentality has shifted everything for the last two years has shifted to the offense so now we get to see starting out this Sunday against the Titans how are they how are they using this passing game to set up everything else to where it's not the last resort to a lot in a lot of ways to get the ball down the field that they trust that the passing game is strong enough to beat the secondary of the Tennessee Titans that Caleb Williams can find windows find his receivers get his guys involved and you know they can throw out a ton of different personnel groupings be very multiple in their looks and still attack a team to where it's more of a high octane approach than it is this conservative okay we're going to pass what we need to on the early downs we're going to be looking to run the ball like that made them so predictable the last few years if the passing game can be what it's been chalked up to be that makes they make much more dangerous team and they have been offensively in a very long time and I think what's going to be interesting this season is the utilization of the running back is it going to be used as a running back or are you going to use DeAndre Swift is kind of that right the short passing game is basically your run place the screen passes the the little flips over over the to the edge right like the the small passes the short passes are they going to use those more for DeAndre Swift who is probably fine doing that because it's something that he's been good at but also right are you going to utilize more of that running back room with Khalil Herbert who who's still you know as much as people are like they're going to get rid of Khalil Herbert he's still a part of this team it doesn't seem like they're ready to move on from him no and so like I mean that's something that we saw at practice like very light practice on Monday Roshan was on a bike yeah I'm kind of bringing this back full circle to like you know we thought in the off season okay going in training camp time time sticking for Khalil Herbert because Roshan Johnson was ready to go and if he was ready to assume that RB2 role you probably have a nice asset to either field as you know as trade bait in in in Khalil Herbert or somebody that you'd be okay moving on from that's not the way it played out it played out to where he got a ton of run Khalil Herbert got a ton of run in the preseason and is RB2 until he's not behind DeAndre Swift but how in what scenarios is he going to be called up to to be out there in the running game knowing that DeAndre Swift is going to get a bulk of these carries but it's not just carries like you're right Pat like we saw it all throughout training camp the screen game with DeAndre Swift the passes that he you know the part of the passing game the short passing game the check downs the you know these dump off all of these things yeah yeah like we never we never really got a consistent feel for that in in previous iterations of this offense the last couple of years and that's what DeAndre Swift is so good at and it's an element that just Philly chose for whatever reason not to use him in with as much now I think that's going to honestly be a pretty big weapon for them to move the ball because you know they want to get to the edges and he's shown that he can he had as good of a camp as anybody did offensively and on top of him being you know an every down sort of back they're going to use them in those situations too so we'll have to start seeing okay when does Cleo Herbert hear his number called on Sunday against the Titans and what situations because we know like past protection is a big part of what they're going to need is that going to be on DeAndre Swift is that going to be on somebody else I I'm really curious to see what the usage is for these running backs and when when they're running backs not named DeAndre Swift how they end up divvying up those carries in what situations is it going to be in the red zone is it going to be on third downs is it going to be on early downs like how the running back usage we talked so much about this passing game you have three number one receivers what about the running backs that they're going to play a huge role in this you take a look at Shane Waldron's offense last year they were 11th and rushing in 23rd and passing that's him in Seattle like that's you know not I mean outside of like where the bears were last year like 27th and passing as I mentioned and then they were you know second I believe in rushing if I still have that correct yeah like they're second and rushing 141 yards a game 27th and that's really not too far off like 11th to 23rd from what Seattle was last year to where the bears were last year so how much different does it look and does it feel is what we get to start to see against the Titans yeah and that's been my question the whole time listen as much as we can sit here and say you know Shane Waldron's got this new bevy of weapons there's gonna be so much more Shane Waldron had DK Metcalf he had Tyler Lockett like it's not like there were no way he had Jackson Smith and Jigua he had yeah I mean like it's not like there weren't weapons in Seattle that he was able to utilize year one it worked out perfectly year two right it kind of came back down to earth a little bit and that's where you started to see some of that friction happen I think what's interesting as well to see is in and I'll ask you this because the vibe we get from Shane especially with how he calls the passes and and when we're talking to him is that he feels it almost feels like he feels comfortable with where the offensive line is especially with his utilization of 12 personnel right do we see less of what we saw last season where Roshan Johnson basically had to be in there because if he wasn't Justin Fields was getting killed do we see less of that this season with the use of naked somebody use a boss and the fact that they're throwing that much 12 personnel out there where maybe you don't need as much of that blocking running back as we needed last season well the play action usage like we saw so much of that in the preseason whether it was Caleb Williams whether it was other quarterbacks that the Bears had in there you know rolling your quarterback away from pressure like that's playing to the strength of QB one in a lot of ways so you know what does that do for the offensive line like they they use multiple tight end sets because they are relying on on guys to block to look I don't know if that's going to change all of that all that much I do think that the play action usage though the bootlegs like that's what it Caleb Williams is so accurate when he's on the move and why wouldn't you tap into that part of his skill set as much as you can and of course like you know you've got to sell play action like linebackers are you know smart enough the NFL level to know okay like we're going to sell out for this where you know we're not going to bite on the fake but they they've done that and I had the numbers I have the numbers here like from Seattle and what he did like his play action usage in Seattle over the last couple years was pretty pretty consistent you know they were I had it here 15th last two seasons that was 27% from 2012 to 2021 so all of those Russell Wilson years and then you know last two years when Shane didn't have Russell Wilson it jumped up considerably and within that the multiple tight end formations fourth highest usage in the NFL from 2022 to 23 after drinking 19th that first those first 10 seasons when they had Russell Wilson it's you know you just try to figure out okay what how much of this is going to carry over from what Seattle did what Waldron was comfortable calling in Seattle knowing that you mentioned those names that he had in Seattle that's not a receiving course no slouch like but is it you know with as much talent as he has here and realizing that there's you know you've got to be multiple within this how different does it look I don't I don't know the answer to that yet I don't think anybody does but I do think that the upgrades that they've made here specifically like with with their skill position guys on the outside is that's you're going to have a much more you know adept passing offense and you've had in previous years and that can help where the bears are you know for like taking a look at like Shane Waldron's number so they're 15th and snaps in our center 13th and play action this is his entire time in Seattle mind you and 11th with motion at the snap like they didn't utilize as many quarterback design runs that we saw with Justin Fields the last couple years so maybe that's not something that they tap into we don't really see it we didn't see like any of that during the preseason with Caleb Williams so I think you're trying to look at the trends that you did see and what you do know about this offense from the entire preseason including training camp not just a couple of you know two preseason games for Caleb Williams it's finding what the themes were what they did offensively in seeing what's going to carry over to the regular season because by now they've been repping it for by the time we get to kick off it's 50 straight 50 days like that that's that's the identity that you're taking in in this offensive line knowing that it's going to be Braxton Jones, Kevin Jenkins, Colman Shelton, Nate Davis and Darnell Wright that's the group you're going in with that's the group you've been playing with for the last couple of weeks like what you've seen already is what you should expect to see more of because it's pretty much been consistent now since that Buffalo game yeah 100 percent I'm glad you brought up the unofficial or the unofficial depth chart today because looking at that they basically got Ryan Bates is the backup right guard is it is it just that's that's that's the spirit I think it's right now because he came back to practice did a little bit last week he was very yesterday on Monday didn't really do anything Monday it was very light session but remember he's been dealing with an injury that from my understanding is something that it didn't just like pop up this is something he's been dealing with so we'll have to see like how if that affects him at any point this season like if it's something that's going to like if it's a pain tolerance thing or if it's just that he's got to play through it or maybe it gets better I don't know but he as you are seeing where he is on the depth chart right now that doesn't surprise maybe it's not like the Bears could have continued like okay he's back let's start at the center competition again that would never happen the week of a game but it's good depth to have knowing that he can play multiple positions on the interior and that if you you know that doesn't mean he's going to stick there though like there's a very good chance that hey if things don't go according to how they hope this offensive line is going to look they can make changes in season I've seen players before get surpassed on the depth chart in the middle of the year we seen players bench we saw it last year at the center position with Cody white hair you hope for or they hope for their sake that they don't have to deal with that but that's always a door that they're going to leave open to get Ryan Bates into the lineup and hell even Caron Amagogy at some point you know he's your swing tackle like you know when he's ready to go he will be the swing tackle I'm not saying that I expect him to compete for the left tackle spot this year but the more reps he's getting in practice during the week which is hard when you're not a starter but the Bears are going to have a chance to watch those players behind the scenes and if they feel that they can make a move to best suit this offense bid by changing who's in the starting lineup they will yeah I it's it's going to be interesting especially when you enter the season with Doug Kramer is your backup no disrespect to Doug Kramer but you would you would have hoped to have that Ryan Bates Coleman Shelton dynamic there where Bates wins the job Shelton is played center dynamic backup didn't work out that way because of injury so we'll see how that ends up playing out if the guys get moved around and of course you've got Ryan Bates is the insurance for Nate Davis who has been somebody who's been often injured throughout his time here in Chicago let's put a bow on the offensive conversation with this the top 10 last year offenses Courtney where San Francisco Baltimore Miami Dallas Detroit Buffalo Philly Los Angeles New Orleans and Cleveland their points per game basically range from 28.4 for San Fran to 22.1 for Cleveland will the bears be in that conversation of averaging around some of those point totals 22.1 feels crazy that that was top 10 I'm not gonna lie but we've also got some great defenses in this league yeah and you know I don't I know a lot of people look at the personnel part of this offense sale this should be a top 10 offense based on how much talent there is I get the argument and I don't think that you can poke too many holes in like how talented of a receiving core they have you can say that they have the best receiving core in the NFC North if you want to and I don't think many people are going to argue with you you can look at some of the other ones in the NFL it's okay maybe they're like top five top six with DJ Moore Keenan Allen and Roma Dunes A but it's still I think it's too early just to be able to like say without a without question that they're going to be a top 10 offense because we don't know what Caleb Williams is going to look like truly just yeah like his sack percentage is something that I know I've seen some people project that it might be a little higher than usual early on in the season which could elicit some panic on the offensive line yeah some of that could be on him not saying it's a similar case to what we saw from Justin Fields last year but he was averaging one of the longer times to throw during the preseason wasn't just because the line was blocking great and he had all the time in the world to throw back there I think that some of that is some of that's on Caleb holding on to the ball too long does you know could that affect the offense early on like I think that that's something that's a rhythm thing for him that he's going to have to get into during the season but it shouldn't you know raise red flags if they are still trying to figure that part out throughout the first month for six seven weeks of the season but you know I think the goal for them where they where they should be like in total for offense passing and rushing I would say like a top 15 offense this year this first season should be the goal like that's you're too talented to not to not think that like that they could reach that level and some of this too like I heard Waddle and Selby doing their most important bears of 2024 that their countdown they had Shane Waldron at number two or number three that's the correct answer how does Shane Waldron call these offenses because offenses were middle of the pack more or less in Seattle it wasn't like it was that big of an upgrade from what the Bears had under Luke Getzi a big reason they'll get to top 15 if I mean help maybe even top 10 then I think that's ambitious but any ranking a lot of that's based on the offensive coordinator what he's going to call and knowing that he does have a great group of weapons here how did he utilize them like so much of that is on the offensive coordinator and what he can do to put this team in the best situation to move the ball down the field and win game so I I think that I'm not I mean in most of the things that we've seen I know some of these rankings are a little older just unlike who's going to have a top 10 offense this year yeah I think that it's fair to not put the Bears in there just yet no I agree and I think to say that it's needed I think dismisses how good this defense can be what we expect I don't think anybody would say I mean I certainly would not say they need to be a top 10 offense like you know this defense if all goes according to plan you know we I think that they will go get a pass rusher at the deadline if things are not great among this unit like if they still are having trouble getting after the quarterback but they they made two nice depth additions via trades with Dorel Taylor and Chris Williams they are still probably pretty thin at defensive tackle something that you know we'll see if Zach Pickens is able to get out there didn't see him yesterday at practice I could have missed him but like I did not see him initially there's no questions there that you know are we going to see a big change big enough change to say okay this is a top five defense because I'm still adamant that I will not put them in top five defensive category until I see those sack percentages go up the pressures go up the quarterback hits not just the sack numbers alone like but everything else that pressures quarterbacks but if you have a defense that's that good that's the reason everybody talked about Caleb Williams being in one of the best situations ever it's not all on him he doesn't have to go out there and throw four touchdowns a game for this team to win and have you know the weight of this of this team wins or losses all fall on him this defense should have a really strong outing again they're much more experienced than the quarterbacks they're going to face the first couple weeks of the season teams I don't really expect Tennessee or Houston to regress all that much this season but there's there's tape now on C.J. Stroud teams have had a whole year to learn about the quarterback down to the Houston Texans team that the Bears play week two and to gain plan for him and to scheme against what Bobby Slowick is calling the Bears have a unit that has an all-pro second team all-pro cornerback the strength that defense is a secondary a pass rush led by Montez sweat a solid line back in court like there are a lot of games early on that they should have the edge in because of the inexperienced quarterbacks first second year guys that they're going to be going against and that should have everybody in Chicago on this team feeling like okay if Caleb gets off to a rough start if it doesn't look great throughout four quarters you can still lean on your defense to help you through these games and not just like oh well that's the last resort but like that's that is still a strength of your team that you want to be able to boast you just hope that the offense isn't like the reason that you don't win in spite of the offense like that's what it was the last couple years you want to win because of the offense too but there might be times where you're going to have to win because of your defense and that is an okay place to be in yeah and it's it's to me what excites me the most about the position that Caleb Williams is coming into because I said this before people talk about the bumps in the road I think I said this on the post-game show people were calling in talking about oh there's there's going to be bumps in the road doesn't have to be major bumps right this doesn't have to be driving through the south side it can be you had a bump it was a bad get CJ Stroud had I think he had a three interception game in like week four last season a week five last season it was like oh there it is there's the struggle we really didn't see him struggle after that yeah like that was the one bump that he had in the road and then all of a sudden they're in the playoffs they're a dominant team they're figuring things out that nobody expected them to figure out like I think that having high expectations on this team is okay understand meaning that you have to have some that are measured but like even the even the numbers on you know maybe Caleb takes more sacks I saw that because of holding on to the football too on depends on what he's doing with the ball yeah I watched out my homes hold on to the football a lot I watch Josh Allen Lamar Jackson right but then when they make a play we don't bring up that well they hold on to the football too much with guys like that so if Caleb is able to go out there and make plays and I love how Ryan polls set it lean on the team you've got to make the 50 yard pass down the field I've watched you flip the ball to DJ more and he can take it 60 yards like leaning on your skill is huge and it's not just lip service it's it's a real thing to wear early on when they talk about him being a point guard just do what you need to do don't don't be extra in those moments be extra when they need you to in the low red zone in the god habit situations on third down be extra there be Superman there not every play has to be Superman not every play has to like be okay Caleb Williams do or die like sometimes it's just a quick dump off to your running back which is why they went out and got DeAndre Swift they just using that as an example like you have a lot of talent around you you know get let the bear get their return on investment too they paid a lot of money for these people like you know let the quarterback distribute because sometimes being a game manager I know that like that word is such a that's such a weird connotation to it like there are moments where Patrick Mahomes is managing the game there are moments where Josh Allen the quarterbacks you brought up because that's what's required of them that you don't have to be a plus all the time in terms of the flash because sometimes a plus is hey he had the right read there it's quick quick pass he got it off to you know he went through his progressions and he got it to where it needed to be in low and behold and move the ball but that's that's what it is yeah no 100 percent I think that you think about you brought up Pat Mahomes like last season was a lot of Pat Mahomes managing because he's like oh these guys aren't Tyree kill Travis is getting hold I don't care how many times Taylor shows up he he is trying to figure this out like just like we all are so like you have to have those moments and that's okay and listen yeah I'm sure Swift better catch a lot of passes for seven million dollars I'm not going to bring up no running back conversation on in love but you better catch a lot of passes for seven million dollars and I need a thousand yards out of you rush before we get out of here Courtney let's talk about the captain's appreciate you guys for tuning in and showing love hit the like button subscribe to the page lead a five star view y'all know what to do were there any surprises on the captains list we get our first rookie captain ever in Caleb Williams and this is voted on not just by the staff but also by the players as well I know a lot of people were a little bit surprised not to see Montez sweat's name on there were there any surprises for you on the captains name I wouldn't say surprises because you can look at like the the aint that they have on there and make a case for all of them mean you have one of the youngest players on the team and Caleb Williams who very quickly and very authentically bought this team you know it bought this what does it win everybody over say bought everybody over no he's won everybody over like and that's you know there are a lot of people wondering oh man Justin Fields is gone how how is he going to do it is there going to be some sort of mutiny in the locker room like no people want to win people get behind winners it's not hard to understand and when this talented player comes in and start showing that you know I'm sure that if he struggled against this defense during training camp and if he was just having a rough outing the bears probably wouldn't have made him a captain because it would have been like whoa there's too much pressure on it to make him a captain and yes this is a player led thing that's what flus is done historically last couple of years most places are most captains are voted on across the league by their teammates like they see that he can handle it because you wouldn't put somebody out there's like whoa like you know we may like him but like God this guy has got a lot in his plate let's not add another thing he's shown the bears he's shown his teammates most importantly that he can lead them while still learning how to do stuff himself and I really do think that the biggest thing for him coming in knowing that this is going to be his team but you can't come in week one being or excuse me day one back in May and be like this is my team like I'm going to start implementing my leadership he was quiet for a while not that you know not that he like you know was having issues being vocal out there it meant quiet in the sense that he was learning to figure out okay how can I how can I be myself out here how can it not feel forced and how can I still like garner the respect of others that I'm trying to learn from knowing that I'm coming to a veteran laden team that is relying upon me to help get this team into winning you know winning territory so I think he did that I think that's a big reason why on top of them seeing hey he's had some really good days against the defense like it's game recognized game like that's a big part of why a 22 year old rookie quarterback was named your your captain this year and then Marcie D's Lewis like it's like one end of the spectrum to the other you have a 40 year old who you know Marcie D's is done he's been the eyes and the ears for Matt Iber Flus and a lot of ways of letting Flus know they kind of taking him into parts of the of the locker room parts of the team that the coaches don't get to see and just being able to gauge hey where are things like are there things I'm not seeing are there issues that I need to be aware of like what's the what's the pulse on how people are feeling after losses and and haven't been here through that last year he's garnered the respect of his teammates at this coaching staff at his front office he's a vital piece of this like it's not just oh let's name eight guys captains because we usually have eight nice guys like there's more than that on the team but like I think there's different sorts of leadership so you have Mercedes who's seen everything Caleb who's seen nothing um Tremaine Edmonds a guy who won in Buffalo was part of a lot of AFCE's title team somebody who knows what it takes to win same thing with TJ Edwards he went to a Super Bowl two years ago like having guys like that lead your team like true winners like there's winners like Jaylen Johnson who have been on teams that have never won anything but somebody who is so immensely talented that it's like yeah get guys to follow him to lead to to take his lead like that's the example he said and then you have guys who are part who have been part of culture who are culture builders that have been on teams that have won like finding striking the balance like I think they honestly have like a perfect conglomerate of eight players with a variety of experiences that help like kind of check every single box of leadership that you would want this team to have whether it's from a talent perspective to a lead by example perspective that's DJ Moore DJ Moore isn't gonna be the raw rock guy going out there hyping up the team the way that a Tremaine Edmonds might remain a very vocal leader like you have different styles of leadership and the way that Flus is doing this going from four season long captains to eight is allowing just there to be some somebody for everybody on this team if that makes sense no yeah a hundred percent and I thought even you know the addition of a guy like Kevin Bayard who not even a part of this team last year getting to know everybody kind of figuring it out but the entire time he's been somebody who's acclimated himself in when we saw Jekwan go out and you're getting Elijah Hicks in there he's always talking to Elijah Hicks you know this what you need to do this how you need to attack this always working with the young guys like when you when you have that mix in there at that as your captains at those leadership positions I think that it is like you said right there's somebody for everyone to go to and and to me that's what makes this team in my mind that's what gives them the opportunity to be special am I gonna say that's special yet but it's what gives them the opportunity to be special and it's how they've been put together where you've got these guys from different walks but all of the walks are successful outside of Jalen Johnson who's been here and he's seen it but like everybody else has been in successful situations and knows how to get the best out of those situations and has been a major reason why those situations were successful for main admins was one of the mainline backers in Buffalo right TJ Edwards right like when you look at Kevin Bayard in Tennessee like you look at these guys in the in the spots that they came from and yeah maybe they had some struggles like last year Bayard had some struggles I think that was probably more the team that he ended up getting shipped to but when you see that dynamic of like this is what it took for us to be successful let me bring that here and you're mixing those worlds I think that that's the perfect mix of everything and then the thing about Caleb to me having him a part of this is there are like leadership meetings so like all of these captains are going to be meeting together Caleb's getting to learn from all these different worlds at once that to me is exciting for this period and you know it's a small sample size but being a franchise quarterback in the NFL means that you are not just like the guy on the field but you're the guy everywhere else yeah visibility it's how you speak publicly it's being the player that they can defer to as like okay he's the representation of us they learn that very quickly in five months of less than five months of him being here oftentimes it takes longer for younger players to prove that they can be that for their team I mean but it's also shown you DJ Moore was a captain for the first time in his career last year when he first got to the Bayard he hadn't been here a minute before they're like hey you know we need you same thing with your man Edmunds he was a captain last year first year player like there guys there are guys who have been the building blocks of this team that the Bears have said hey we're going to build around you Cole Cametta captain for that reason Jalen Johnson captain for that reason and there's others who from the jump they're like all right we see something here we appreciate and are going to prioritize which you bring to the table as a leader for everybody else to get behind and they set the precedent that way which I think is so far it's worked in their favor yeah we got a lot of excitement I love the I love the fact that we got the cameras we're doing away with possibly out it was really didn't give an answer on the work and I and I feel like that's not going to be a thing anymore because how can you have first off there's eight captains but there's not going to be eight guys going out for coin toss so maybe they like switch it up four and four every week or maybe they do offense defense but so like I went back and looked because it like I was trying to figure out what was the first captain ever so like they first rookie captain ever that they've had like the first time they started documenting this based on all of the media guide scouring I did was 2007 they had they introduced weekly captains in 14 and then there was a stretch from 18 to 21 where they did it to it's you know flus had done it the last couple of years I just feel like that's probably something that won't happen the honorary captain thing and that's fine you have eight captains that you know can't make everybody a captain I'm sure like yeah I don't know they have game balls they can go ahead and give those out instead of the captain stuff to honor certain players yeah specific performances and individual weeks I just I just love that it was like the only thing he was like oh we'll say I haven't thought about it was like really this is this is the one thing you didn't think you named eight captains you didn't think about this at all but no listen I think that the Bears were in a good spot they got good leadership on this team now it's time to put up or shut up we got a few more days till football is back my fantasy football lineups are set I am in three leagues and I have a lot of way for wire scouring to do still I've already made a couple of drops which it was late round picks it was tough but I'm excited for football season to be back ladies and gentlemen for Courtney Cronin it's your boy Pat the designer we'll have you covered here every single day on the Chicago Bears podcast hit that like button subscribe to the page need a five star review y'all know what to do now stay safe out there Chicago bear down one left