Mully & Haugh Show
There's still hope for the Bears (Hour 3)
In the third hour, Mike Mulligan and David Haugh continued their conversation with Score football analyst Dave Wannstedt about the Bears' troubles in their 1-2 start. What are the reasons for hope for the Bears? Later, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk joined the show to discuss the latest NFL headlines.
- Broadcast on:
- 24 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
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This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty. But get going because these deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry into the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. Dave once did hang it out with Mully in Ha on 670 The Score. We ran it direct, you know, three times in a row, and then we had an option to do either one on the fourth one. So, you know, I as the head coach would like him to do it in those three plays. I don't have to make that decision on the fourth one, but I do believe that you do have to take an account for speed. But again, if the look was right, that was going to be a good play for sure. Yeah, there's always if the look is right. Mully in Ha on Chicago's 4th Radio 6/7 of the score. All right, Dave. You heard that explanation of it. Yeah, and it's right, but I would go back to this. And, you know, I didn't like to call in that situation. I gave you my reasoning, right? We talked about where we were at on the field, but I would have kicked the field goal. I mean, I'm going sideways on this thing, but that's just me. I was sitting there at the marquee doing it, and everybody looked at me and says, "Coach, what's our decision?" And I said, "Well, I've got fired for being a little bit conservative, but I want to help a lot of games. I want to go in at halftime with the momentum. I'm kicking the field goal and making this now, you know, less than a one-score game. But anyway, that's a side note, but all I would say is, you know, and I keep repeating this. I am on board with Flus and Ryan these guys all the way, but, but the head coach, I don't want to hear that wish we would have run it on 3rd, 1st of that coach. I'm the head coach. You control that. David, if you call the play, if I want that play within the first 3 plays, I'm going to say David, run the option. Run the option. Okay. David, and if you say the 4th time play, we're going to run the option. I'm going to say, David, no, we're not. I don't want to run the option, run. I want to run the leader to dive in a belly. I mean, you know, offensive coordinators, all they're thinking about is scoring points, scoring points, there was, that was momentum change. That was too, too much was involved in that play to do something unusual. I think. Let's stick with the head coaching issue. They burned time out when it was 14 to 9 and they wanted to kick the extra point, then oh, wait a second, they wanted to go for two. Maddie Flus needed to burn a time out to make that decision. Should have already been made earlier during the drive. They should have been talking to the offensive coordinator. What did you think of that? And also in a, where does the quarterback come in? Because I think we're getting, letting Caleb Williams off a little bit here because of the fact he's a rookie. He's doing a lot, but the great quarterbacks, don't they already know that if they score touchdown here, they're going for two. They're not celebrating a touchdown pass in debating who's going to get the game ball after the game. They're getting their offense back in the huddle, ready to go for two. That didn't happen. So I think, yes, the head coach is responsible, but the quarterback did not help him out. Well, no, I could see why Caleb did that. I mean, the quarterbacks, most of the time, the young one, particularly, they don't, they don't know David. They really don't know what's going on. I mean, I'm telling you, I'm just telling you from experience, they come running off and then I got to look at him and say, put my fingers up and say, stay out there. We're going for two. But here's the deal. And, and I was talking with Tony Wise about this when we crossed a 50 yard line in that situation, whoever was responsible for going for one, going for two and timeouts, he would say to me, if you're that guy, David, you would say, coach, if we score, we're going for one, the charts, the chart says, I've got to make the decision coach. If we score, the chart says, we're going for two. There's no more discussion. We're not debating this thing. Now I've got to make the decision. I know what the chart is saying. And so now all of a sudden we get on there and score and I'm putting one finger up or two. I don't, I didn't understand that. I mean, and, you know, so, you know, that, that was a little bit, you know, a Santos ran on. I don't know what happened, but, but that, that, that, that's, you know, that, that shouldn't happen. I mean, come on, we got really qualified guys. It's a chart in front of you. It's, it's not rocket scientists. Now, if there's some reason that away from the chart that you say you're going to go and keep it a two score game, but it didn't make much sense. I mean, to me, you're going to go for two and try to make it a field goal. So Dave, we know the Bears have had offensive line issues all year. And before the game, the, the general manager did an interview with, with the, with ESPN before the game and on it, he said that communication, technique and fundamentals are the problem. They've led to rough performance rather than bad talent. So it's not the talent, it's not like they have a bad offensive line. It is in his opinion, communication, technique and fundamentals. Is that what you're seeing? Well, yeah, I got to believe that, you know, cause I, I know the offensive line coach and I think you guys really good, he's going to get the most out of these players in, you know what, what he's saying then is what's today, Tuesday, tomorrow, there are players are today's game plan day, tomorrow the players come in. First thing that would be on that wall would be full pads and we are going guys, we are going to run this damn ball this week and we're going full pads today and we're going to have, it's not going to be a scrimmage, but it's going to be a full speed, good on good. And we are going to run the football 10, 15 plays. So you're going to block off a portion of time tomorrow to talk to the players association. Well, there you go. Some, but yeah, no, no, no, we get coach. We are, we are at the crossroads. Okay. All right. Coach, we are right there. I love the idea, Dave. I love a little Smash mouth. I said it yesterday that I called the meatball, but I don't think it's going to happen in today's day and age. No, nine practices where we can put patch on none of us meatballs called you meatball. Geez, meatball. We're all meatballs. That doesn't sound like, you know, we used to call it nutcracker or something like that, Dave, but not meatball. So after the game, uh, Ibrah Flus is asked immediately was Nate Davis benched. Is that what happened? And he said basically that his groin injury had prevented him from taking snaps all week. So they decided that Matt Pryor was going to start the game. The, the, um, the general manager again on the pregame said that no, that it was his bigger body would help the center and the tackle next to him. So playing him at guard was like an idea they had to get better as opposed to Nate Davis, but he couldn't practice because the grind. So they won't admit that they've benched him and they say that it's the groin injury. And I'm not saying he doesn't have a soft tissue injury. He did not practice last week, but how long do you go on with moving him in and out? You tried to do it with Ryan Bates and now Bates is on the, uh, the, uh, injury reserve list. We can't play. So now you're doing it with another guy. Don't you want to move beyond that one? Yeah. Yeah. Nothing's, there's nothing different about God bless Nate, but there's nothing different about him. Not practicing. You know, we've been saying that for two years now, haven't we? Yeah. And OTAs and many camps and training camp in the season. So that, um, I don't know, I mean, I, I, um, uh, it's, it's a little bit disheartening because we were kind of where we were a year ago, you know, and, and, and we don't have the backs or the commitment to run the ball. So I don't know, you know, it's, it's frustrating, you know, and, and let me say this, I look this up. When I looked at those stats after the game and, and, and Caleb is going to be fine. I know people will get on my case when I say this on the air all the time, you know, I'll get beat up. He's going to be fine. You know, he, but when we throw the ball 52 times, you know, many times Tom Brady average, how many passes a game, 34 passes a game, and there's whole career. Dave, you don't know another step Brad Biggs shared with us this morning since 2015 teams that throw 50 or more passes in a game are 23 and 141. Wow. 23 and 141. Wow. You're identity as a bears offense right now, you're lost and you don't have an identity. And the whole thing comes down to with the quarterback and we, and we threw for a lot of yards. We can all be excited. But why is Justin Fields, his numbers are not that much different at Pittsburgh, except for one thing guys, not turning a ball over. And I've always said in my, when I would be game planning, I would look at the quarterback and the first stat I would look at is what's his ratio, touch ties to interceptions and to be a good player, maybe a wildcard type quarterback, it's got to be two to one touch ties to interceptions, to be a playoff quarterback and some Tom Brady and those guys, and I keep, I'm not using Brady, use any good Kirk Cousins, I don't just pick one. And look at their touch ties to interceptions. And the ones that make a little run into playoffs, they're generally three, four, five to one touch ties to interceptions. This kid now has two touchdown passes and he's got four interceptions, that's a one to two ratio. Yeah. And that was, you know, but my point is, that's the wrong one to two ratio, that's one touchdown for two interceptions. Absolutely. And the whole thing is what I'm trying to say is everybody wants to talk about Justin Baba Baba. Well, Justin's not turning the ball over, whether it's play calling, maybe they, you know, aren't just just doing a better job. I don't know what it is with waiting out there. All I know is he's not turning it over, but he's making runs and he's not throwing a ball anymore. He did here. I mean, you know, it's, so don't, I don't want to get on that road with you, but, but I do know that protecting the ball is critical. And it just, sometimes it's something that's overlooked when a guy gets 300 yards past. Let's talk about how a head coach sets a tone after a loss like that. Let's contrast and compare what Matt Eberflu said in saying that he was encouraged by what he saw immediately after the game in Indianapolis with what Antonio Pierce of the Raiders said. He saw players making business decisions and he's going to start making some business decisions. It's probably both extremes. You don't want to be complacent in which I think Matt Eberfluis might have been. You want to be the scorched earth as maybe Antonio Pierce was. What did you think about what fluency said and what was your approach after a loss like that? I, I guarantee it, well, we would be in full patch and we would have an inside run period. There's no doubt about that. That's, but Dave, you all, what you never use the media to send a message. You always, you always talked about the game. You never threw guys under the bus. You would never try to let the players know you were mad and you would go at them. You would, you would go to a player and let them know that he had done wrong. And you would tell them after the game. You didn't come into the, what, what bothered me about what Pierce did is don't use the media as you got to be able to go, you go to a guy and you said, you made a business decision. I saw it. It was the fifth play. Or who knows? Maybe the guy wasn't showing up in meetings, I don't know what he means. You don't know. We don't have that information, but, but you never use the media to send a message. And you know, if you did, you didn't use me, dammit. Correct. No. I mean, you, you, you had already left, you were gone. You were moving up the bigger things at that time, Molly. But no, you know what, it's, it's a little bit like what's going on at Dallas right now. You hear the comments that Parsons is making? Yeah. He's saying that he's talking about business decisions. I mean, that stuff is what I would call football friendly fire. And boy, it's, you got, you got to put that out real quick, guys. But can you be too friendly? If you're mad, Ibra Flus, can you come out of a loss that bad? And he said he was encouraged by what Dave? I think a lot of people wanted to hear him be a little bit more fed up publicly. There's a, there's a line you have to draw and a balance. You have to strike. Great. I don't want to go Antonio Pierce scorched earth, but you can be a little bit more critical publicly without going after specific individuals by setting a tone and saying, you know what, we have a standard and we just didn't meet it and we got to be better. Yeah. I mean, and, and trust me, Flus being a defensive coach, defensive coaches, in my opinion, offensive guys will get mad at me because it's not all of them. It's not the Chan Gay Lees, not North Turner's, but the majority of offensive coaches just don't see the run game importance like a defensive guy does, the defensive guy. So Flus got to look at those stats and says 30 yards Russian or whatever it was. Are you kidding me? Less than three yards a carry. I mean, you make Dave, I mean, that's a definite upset that Gatorade table to me. I mentioned a couple of times that Chris Morgan, you think Chris Morgan's a good coach. I see offensive line coach who when keeping him, they made the run game coordinator. How do he and Shane Waldron coexist? Does, does, does a guy who is the run game coordinator get to coordinate a run game? Or are we going to throw the ball 55 times 56? I'm sorry. There were four of them sacks. So 50. You know what? I've never been in that situation as a head coach, as an assistant coach in 40 years where we had two guys now I've worked together. You were one decision maker and that's the offensive coordinator use, you know, you can cite your opinion. Everybody's got an opportunity during the week to cite their opinion. You know, I mean, we would do it to give you an example. When I was coaching defense, butch Davis was in charge of our short yard each and goal line. And Chiano, okay, when he was with me, Greg Chiano was in charge of our third Don. They would bring it to me. Stand on the board. Tell me what you see. Coach and third Don, I think we, you know, they, they will run the ball half the time. We got to be ready for this, this, this. Okay. And I, and he would make a recommendation. You know, I really like this, this blitz right here. And I'd say, you know what, but yeah, I see what you're saying, but boy, I'm just nervous about the contained factor. This guy's too good an athlete. Let's, let's come up with something where we can contain it more and everything else I'm good with, you know, so you do that, you kind of work it a little bit, but then the coordinator has definitely, and I don't know how the bears are doing it, but he's got the final decision. Now critical situation, every coordinator I've been with from the get go. It's fourth and one fourth and two were on the goal line. That offensive coordinator is talking to the line coach during the game. And I would be listening and North Turner would be talking to Tony, hey, Tony, I really like the inside Bob play right here and you good with it. I'm good with it. Let's do it. Well, I have to say it's fair to wonder then if that is happening because you have a offensive line coach who's respected and proven and Chris Morgan and you have an offensive coordinator who essentially had to inherit the line coach and Shane Waldron was Shane Waldron brought here because he had the same agent as Matt, Hebrew, flusen, Ryan, polls because he wasn't brought here because of his past with Chris Morgan and if that, these guys need to be like this every Sunday, you have to wonder because of the struggles in the running game if they're actually like this because of the relationship that did not exist before he came to Chicago. It's a good question. I don't have an answer on that. You know, I really don't. I just know, you know, Ryan polls is an ex NFL offensive lineman. So you'd like, let's give him a little credit and then this thing to our, or pull him into the conversation. Right. Right. When he's watching the tape, you know, I mean, if I sat down right now and we started watching the tape, sure, I can go through every position, but I'm going to dissect that defense inside and out because that's my expertise, you know what I mean? And Ryan polls is, is that's his, you know, he played offensive line at a high level. He played it. He NFL. He knows what offensive lineman, what it takes, uh, Dave, he's got to be in this conversation in my opinion. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. They've come in. They've got the quarterback, they've got the coach on McVay still there. They're coming off a big upset of, of San Francisco and must win for them because they started the season 0 and 2. They are beaten up. They're down three starting offensive lineman Cooper cup already has been ruled out. We know Puka Nakua is already out for the game. He's on injury reserve. So they're missing some of their better players, but they come in here and they're looking to get the 500 as the bears are. What do you like in this game? How do you view the game? Are you concerned about coach? I'm on the bears. I mean, I, I, I, it was a hard one for me last week. I was all over the bears last week telling everybody, you know, I mean, I was, I was touting. I was touting. I was feeling good. I got to do the same thing unless, is Aaron Donald coming back this week? Oh, Dave, if there's a coaching deficit here of time, Sean McVay is coming. He's still here. Yeah. Stafford's making the trip. I think he's a pretty good head coach. I don't know how he can place faith in the bears after what we saw on Sunday. He's taking the bear. I'm on the bears. What's the line? What's the spread? It's a bears plus two in the hook. Is that right? One in the hook. Bears minus three per circle. Oh, three. Mine is three. Yeah. There's minus three. I, I, I, I say plus. Yeah. I don't know. Bears are favored in the game by three. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Well, they, they win at home. Even when they don't score offensive touch. Gotcha. Yeah. I mean, I, I like the bears in this one. Um, absolutely. But, um, wow. I, I do. I mean, come on. Hey, I believe we got a better football team than the Rams right now. Okay. That's how I look at it. Yeah. And we should be motivated. Did they sound angry? We should be disappointed that they have a better football team. Did they sound angry? Did the bears sound angry? Did Maddie Refluse sound angry at any point since they lost and blew that game and he encouraged. I know he sounded. Yeah. He did not sound ticked off. You guys are pushing me into a corner. I'm sorry. You're not doing anything. David, you're pushing me into a corner. You are really back off. I'm sorry. No one pushes David to a quarter. I'm sorry. Great stuff coach. Thanks. We appreciate your time as always. It's Bully and Hawch Chicago Sports Radio 670. 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Limited battery warranty covers defects and materials for 10 years or 100,000 miles which workers first. This show is sponsored by MIDI Health. There are great things that come with age, wisdom, experience and knowledge. Just to name a few, but if you're a woman over 40, it can also bring some less desirable things like hot flashes, insomnia, brain fog, moodiness and weight gain. All symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. Yes, hormonal transition is a fact of life, but that doesn't mean you have to accept its symptoms as just another part of aging. MIDI clinicians are menopause experts, equipped to support you with safe, effective FDA approved medications as well as supplements, lifestyle coaching and preventative health guidance. You'll come out of the experience feeling heard and with a plan to start feeling better. MIDI offers accessible care. All their services are covered by insurance and they're conveniently accessible through telehealth visits and 24/7 messaging you deserve to feel great. Book your virtual visit today at JoinMiddy.com. That's JoinM-I-D-I.com. The score. I don't want to get too into it, what I will say is like you're obviously, we saw some things on film and you want to get a certain front for it and I think we all felt confident in that. They ended up throwing out something else out there for us that we obviously weren't quite ready for and it resulted in that type of play. You know, unfortunate circumstance, I always go back to, I know everyone wants to maybe look at that play, but there's so many other plays before that that we had opportunities to go punch the ball in and, but I know that's kind of a glaring thing, but there's other things around that we can get fixed up as well. Holly and Haw, Chicago Sports Radio 670, the score, that was the voice of Cole Comette talking about how the bears were not ready for the Colts defense on fourth down. That should drive every Bears fan crazy. Yes, it should. Cole Comette is as honest as they come as candidate of a player as you'll find in that locker room, he could be a future analyst in the booth somewhere or in a studio, whatever he wants post Bears playing career. But when he said, quote, we weren't quite ready for something we weren't quite ready for, it indicts his offensive coaching staff. It indicts the entire coaching staff. The Colts basically outcoached the Bears on fourth and goal from the one. That's hard to accept. That shouldn't be the case. And certainly is not anything that makes Sunday easier to absorb. Okay, I just want to be careful about how we talk about this Sunday versus last Sunday, because I do believe what you just said, which is the Bears were outcoached, especially on that play a couple of different ways they were outcoached. And I think you've got a guy coming in here who is a better coach than your coach. It's why I said it. I know why you said it. It's what we're looking at next Sunday is why when Dave says he's in on the Bears, I have to ask why because of stuff like this and the Rams may have a talent deficiency. They may not be as talented as the Bears, but they are better coached and they have a better head coach than the Bears have. And that's an a priori fact that's not taking shots at people based on the first three games of the year. So, if you have the most talent, therefore you should win, but in the NFL, it's how you deploy that talent. It's what you do. I don't know that the Bears have the correct game plan for winning football. We have yet to see it. They've won the first game of the year while the game was basically given to them and they didn't even score an offensive title. They'll love us. Charity case. Okay. Now that happened through the football. And they took advantage. Good credit for defense. Okay. But have they out coached the team? I thought that no loose came back in the second half of the first two games and showed that he can make adjustments on defense. I think he's a pretty good defense coordinator. I don't think he's a better defense coordinator than McVay is an offense. No, no, that's not even up for discussion. What we have seen, unfortunately, is that something trending in the wrong direction. We have evidence of coaching miscues, but for judgment more than we have evidence of coaching things that make a difference. We got bad challenges. Bad challenges. We got it. In the second loss. Some hours time out in the third loss where you actually called the time out to run a two-point conversion that you, of course, fail. So let's take a step back. So you look around the league. We have Sean McVay coming to town fresh off of victory over an injury, a riddle San Francisco team, but a team that nonetheless more talented than the Rams. I think everyone would accept that Sean McVay and the Rams win. Why? Well, I think you have to give the coaching staff credit. You look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why is Justin Fields thriving at three and oh, well, you can look at the coaching infrastructure there, give credit to Arthur Smith and Mike Tomlin. No, no. How about last night? We're talking about all across the city today, Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders going into Cincinnati and he was 21 of 23 and that offense is cooking. Why? Well, I think Cliff Kingsbury is doing a pretty good job as their offensive coordinator, the guy that bears interviewed and passed on. What we're talking about is a coaching deficit and when you're going into playing the Rams at home at Soldier Field, I don't care what the line is. If you have a coaching deficit, that can be difficult to overcome. Okay. So let's take that back to the NFC North. Let's start with, no, I want to make a point here. We're going through this. We're going through this. Yes. Painful, but yes. You look at what's happening in Minnesota. You know, the combination of Kevin O'Connell of Brian Flores looks awful. Good. Awfully good. And that team is winning with a backup quarterback. They got good news on him yesterday, by the way, where he's going to be able to be able to play on Sunday. And guess where they go on Sunday? They go to Green Bay where I would say, I know you're not a big fan of the flower. I know you don't want to go watch a basketball game with them. But the fact of the matter is that guy has won a couple of games with his backup quarterback. Give him due respect. They picked off of the scrap heap. He deserves it. And traded for and brought him in as a starter and the flower right now might be the coach of the year. Believe it or not. If not him, Kevin O'Connell. Okay. Either way, the guy's in the division. And Dan Campbell, I know you don't like some of the fourth down stuff. And I'm not a big Dan Campbell guy. The way that he kept him out of the Super Bowl a year ago, but you'd have to admit that certain teams take on the personality of their coach and he has turned the lions into a contender. And their record after losses is impressive and that's coaching because it teaches you how to respond to adversity and the lion certainly can do that. So I do think you're right, grudging respect for Dan Campbell, what he's done in Detroit. So where are you with flucy now? You're in the basement. You're in the basement. You're in the basement and you're there for a while. And I don't know if you can think your way out of the basement. And that's what you have to do. You can climb, but you're better off. You can be physical. I don't think you can block your way out of it. If I'm listening to what that guy has to say. Well, no, you can't. That doesn't give you a lot of confidence when you come off a loss that bad and you're looking for cues and signs and how they're going to respond to this. My goodness, you're disappointed and discouraged. If you are a Bears fan because of the way the coach talked about how he was encouraged after a bad loss. I believe he said he was encouraged. No, he didn't even say and he should not have said that. That's the whole point here. He even mispronounced and courage undercuts. I was discouraged. We all were. If I watched that game and his lingo, I had to be outcoached. Well, if you are looking at the Bears and you're trying to find things to believe in heading into Sunday's game against the Rams, tell me where to find them. Tell me what you're looking at. Tell me what you've heard. Tell me what you've seen. How do you make an argument that this Bears team coming off a loss that bad can find a way to beat a team that just outcoached Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers. No one and I mean no one can burn a timeout like the Bears. We can burn them with challenges. We can burn them just because we don't know if we want to go for two. I mean, we can burn time. I was better than anyone, David. That is not exactly. It's not anybody with confidence more doubt and you're looking at, okay, questions, questions emerging about the coaching staff, eventually what's going to happen. We know how this works in a football city. We know how this works in Chicago. If this doesn't, if this trend continues, we're going to start asking questions about the roster construction because one of the big reasons in Washington, why Jayden Daniels has succeeded, give the young man credit for being as dynamic of a quarterback as we've seen so far this season through week three, but that offensive line protecting him, that offensive line creating a running game and running lanes for two good running backs. That offensive line was put together intelligently. The Bears offensive line was put together like a guy that doesn't understand offensive line play, but, but the guy who put it together, I mean, for the most part, you drafted, you know, one starter on that line that's your right tackle, how's his year going, struggling a little bit, struggling in your two, you know, did, did he draft Braxton Jones? Maybe he did in the fifth round. He's been okay. Really seeing the glass at full, mediocre, whatever way you want to term it. I don't mean good, but he's been out there. Kevin Jenkins, he inherited. How's he doing? Injured all the time, battling to be on the field. You went out, you paid 10 million a year to Nate Davis and listen, that's almost lost money. That's sunk money, right? Sunk cost. They don't have to pay him 10 million next year. They're paying him 10 million this year. They paid him 10 million last year. But you need bodies. Yeah, you need bodies because that's the state you're in. That's where you're at. But you don't have to start them and they've chosen not to. So you're really enamored with this idea that you do have three dynamic wide receivers when Keenan Allen is healthy, if he gets healthy and you didn't build from the ball on out. And so now you're paying the price for taking that approach to your own roster construction. If you're Ryan polls, you've got the weapons, but oh, by the way, did I mention this three or four times already since 2015 NFL teams are 23 and 141 when throwing 50 or more passes. Well, you know what the bears are? They're a team more likely to throw 50 or more passes a couple more times this year because they can't run the football. And that's not good. That's not good. That score has learned. So that's why Sunday when I look at the Rams coming to town and it's like, okay, what else are you going to do? Watch the bears, but make other plans because you don't want your day to be totally ruined between noon and three. It is too early to make your pick. All right. So I'm not letting you make your pick today. And I think we need a lot more information and we need to listen to what is said. I said to you earlier today, I'm very curious to hear what the offensive coordinator has to say on Thursday. And I've got a feeling I'm going to be as confounded and confused as I was last Thursday, where I went back and listened a couple times and didn't couldn't tell what he was saying. Which was more confusing. Shane Waldron at the podium on Thursday or his game plan and play calling on first and goal from the four. Well, I think that was much more confused. Okay. That's just a good question. And that's a good one tomorrow. Yeah. I like that one. And, you know, here's the thing. Like when they lined up under center, the idea that they did an end around with DJ Moore, that frosted me more than any other play they ran in the game. Was that a four yard loss? Whatever. I mean, I'll have to go look that play up. But the idea that finally, oh my God, they're going to run some power football. And instead you try to do a misdirection. Yeah. Let's see what they did here. I think did you more felt about that? I'm sure he was reading his body language. I'm sure he was as deflated as I felt watching it. It was just idiotic if I may use the term. I know we got to get to Florio, but what is the deal with Keenan Allen? Is he coming back? Why wasn't he at the game? According to your guy, the general manager, he's on the upswing. Okay. He's pointed forward, but he wasn't on the sideline on Sunday. They excused him from attending the game. Why? I think because they had the borrowed the White Sox plane. They only had eight first class seats. Well, I think they said personal reasons. Okay. I'm just curious. Now he wasn't even at the game. No, he wasn't because the week before he was on the evening board and he was coaching the guys up on the sideline and a big deal about that. If he misses this game, that's three in a row. And if he misses two more, that means you didn't get the extra body off of IR, but but it doesn't matter because you had two offensive linemen that didn't even play that were active on Sunday. So you wasted a couple of spots for players when you ran whatever it was, 87,000 plays 84 plays. The most since 1999, it was him. Okay. Just saying. Just saying. I know. I got a couple of guys stand here and protect the backup quarterback. Don't let anything hit him just in case we have to go to him because he's not playing either. We've got Mike Florio next. We'll talk to Mike and we'll ask him how good the quarterback played was last night. Mullion on the score. Mike Florio pro football talk dot com NBC sports Twitter dot com slash pro football top NFL insider Mike Florio with Mullion Haw on six seventy the score. Mullion Haw Chicago sports radio six seventy the score. Oh, he's in delight to talk to Mike Florio and he joins us now on the Atturo tire hotline Atturo, your hometown tire Atturo dot com Michael. Good morning. How are you? Oh, great. How are you? We live the dream and, you know, we're in Chicago. So we're wondering as we look at quarterback play around the NFL, wait a minute, you know, there's a guy used to be here who's three and oh, that's okay. We got the new superstar generational talent. Wait, there's another guy who did pretty well last night kind of that put together an historical performance. Did the bears go for the Bryce Young pick instead of the CJ Stroud and ha ha, it's a joke. What do you think? Yeah, I don't think it's time to declare that Jaden Daniels is going to be better than Caleb Williams. But the reality is in any other year, Daniels would have been the number one overall pick. And when we were at the scouting combine interviewing players, when we talked to defensive players who were in the SEC and they were asked the question, who's the best opponent you ever faced, no hesitation, Jaden Daniels. So we saw last night what he can do and they're working him toward his ceiling. They're working him toward the point where the game slows down. They trusted him with the game on the line, third and seven, two minutes and 10 seconds left, didn't play it safe to take a field goal that would have put them up by eight points through to the end zone for the dagger, incredible throw, got blown up. Am I only concerned about Jaden Daniels? And this harkens back to Robert Griffin the third 12 years ago, you run a lot, you get hit a lot. Every time you get hit, there's a chance that something's going to snap. And I would be losing sleep about that possibility if I was a commander's fan. So Mike, you know how it works in the NFL, three straight losses and everything changes for everybody. The bears are one bad loss at home against a Rams team that's really injured and compromised but coming off a big victory, they're one loss away from being in a three game losing streak and having everything be doubted about everybody. How hot will the seat get from at eberfluice if the bears lose their third in a row Sunday? I began compiling last night at Bill Belichick Watchlist and I'm accepting recommendations and nominations and applications for the teams to be on it. And right now, my list consists of the Jaguars, the Bengals, although they're too cheap to pay them, the Cowboys, the Giants, the Eagles and the Bears. I don't know that you want to go to Chicago. I don't know that the fans would want him. I don't know that ownership would want him. But if quarterback play is one key ingredient, the presence of Caleb Williams would presumably attract him. So, this is the reality when the expectations are high and they got out of control for the bears when they're high. And that's how you're always judged. You know, Coach of the Year is the guy who does the most relative to the low preseason expectations and the guys who get fired are the ones who do the least relative to high preseason expectations. And the expectations were too high for the Bears. So if they struggle, if they end up in the basement of the division and given the way the Vikings are playing who on paper looked to be destined for fourth place in the NFC North, that's the kind of thing they can get somebody fired, especially once ownership and executives start to put together in their own mind, the guy they want to go out and hire to replace the current coach. So we've been talking about our division here in Chicago, the NFC North, and we're trying to figure out who's the better coach of the year candidate. Is it Kevin O'Connell for what's going on in Minnesota or is it the flower for what's going on in Green Bay, winning without a quarterback? Well, Matt McFloor never has gotten serious consideration to be coach of the year, even though he could have won it two or three times. And think about the calming influence he brought about working with the delicate genius of Aaron Rogers, getting the most out of that team. I think I put him on the ballot last year when they made it to the playoffs. I may have put him on the ballot the year before, but Jordan Love is probably going to be back in the next three weeks. We didn't originally report it. Week four, week five, week six is when I'll come back from that ACL brain. But to get the most out of Malik Willis, the guy that the Titans gave up on him in hindsight, maybe he should have gotten more of a chance to become the starter there. Yeah, it's impressive. The expectations were higher overall for the Packers. It gets back to my point from earlier, the Vikings were expected to be the worst team in the division. If they keep doing what they've done so far this year and it's incredible to see offensively and defensively, arguably the best to right now, play designers, play colors, offensive and defensive and Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores, then that sets so Connell up to be the coach of the year, Mike speaking of number one overall draft picks, what the heck happened to Trevor Lawrence. This is a fascinating wrinkle and I'll tell you how it happened because when we do our show every morning, we have a rough outline of what we're going to do. And then we just kind of let the spirit move us and I got an email last night from a former offensive coordinator who I must keep nameless on Lawrence and I'm going to paraphrase it. He does not play the game with a passion. When he was first drafted by the Jaguars, he did mention that football was not his priority in life and despite that generous and undeserved second contract, he definitely plays like football is not a priority. Now, that's a reference to comments that were made by Trevor Lawrence to Sports Illustrated right before the draft where he said, "I don't have a chip on my shoulder. I don't try to prove people wrong. I don't think that's healthy." And then there were some other comments by his dad. He could walk away right now and be fine and he created a little bit of a dust storm at the time, didn't change Jacksonville's desire in making the number one overall pick. But when you see where he is right now, where the team is right now and he's kind of chill last night after the game, they got their asses kicked. They got embarrassed on national TV, 47 to 10. You want to see something that has him driven and motivated and determined and capable to turn this around. They got short week, come home from Buffalo after mechanical issues delayed their flight until after 1am, got to turn it around and go to Houston this weekend against the Texans team that just got its ass kicked by the Vikings and will be extra motivated to win. I think people are going to want to see the fire from Trevor Lawrence. They want to see him earn that $55 million a year. Last night was horrible. The quarterback isn't the one who gets fired because of it though. It's the coach. And when the owner came out as Shotgun did and said before the season, "This is the best team the Jaguars have ever put together and the expectation is to win now." I think by next Tuesday, when we do this, we can be having the conversation about Doug Peterson getting fired by the Jaguars the day before. Mike, you're the best. Thank you, buddy. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, guys. That is Mike Florio. Good stuff. Wow. Yeah, that's really would be a strong move, but they are really struggling in Jacksonville. And you hear Doug Peterson and he sounds like a beaten man. We should play a little of that audio if we have it. We should take a listen to it. Let's come back with maybe hearing some of that from Doug Peterson if we can find and also talk about what happened last night on Monday Night Football in the other game. Yeah. And what that means here, 3, 1, 2, 6, 44, 67, 67, Molly and Han the score. This summer, get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted at the Hyundai Getaway Sales event. Get the hottest deals of the season on many of our award-winning Hyundai models, which all come with America's best warranty, but get going because these deals won't last. Get more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales event. Now for a limited time, get 1.99% APR for 60 months on the Hyundai Tucson or Elantra. Hurry in to the Hyundai Getaway Sales event. Offers end September 3rd. Call 562-314-4603 for details. (upbeat music)