Kap & J. Hood
10/2 8 AM: Tom Waddle
Hour 2: The guys played Shot or No Shot then took a trip Around The NFL - Week 5 NFL Power Rankings and former Chicago Bears Wide Receiver and afternoon radio co-host at ESPN Chicago Tom Waddle joined Kap & J. Hood with the latest Bears updates and a week 5 preview vs the Panthers.
- Broadcast on:
- 02 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
[Music] Good morning and welcome in to the Captain Jay Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app with David Kaplan Jonathan Hood with you Now time for Shadow No Shot, here's Shay Norley. Shay? Good morning boys on a Wednesday, how are we feeling? I'm feeling fine but my partner doesn't really want to talk to me so and that's fine Why? It's fine, I love you. It's alright, the check came through a couple of days ago so it's fine. Oh wow. So he doesn't really want to talk to me today which is fine, we'll just do the show. Go ahead Shay, Shadow No Shot. He asked me a question, I was in the middle. No, it was just fine. What else is new? I mean, he doesn't want to talk to me, that's fine. I'm going to pray for you tomorrow in Senegal. What? You have a healthy and good 2025. How do you do that while you're watching the game? Here's Shay Norley. Ram on, can we get a feed of the Thursday night game please? What, you seem to think that's outrageous? You? You've tried to wait. I've done it before but it was a Bears Packers game. Oh, look, I beg your pardon. Oh, I'm sorry. They're Falcons tomorrow night cap, big NFC South implications. You can watch that. You can't temple tomorrow. Night, I'm going to night. Mm-hmm. Baseball playoffs kid. Take a look, take that. Brewers Mets, you're going to want to have an eye on that for sure. You'll sneak a game in. No question. It's what cap does. It's trying to stay on top of things. Ram on, yeah, hold the phone this way. Welcome to the recap. There you go. You'll be doing that. So, Shay, he has no real interest in talking to me today. Just on the air because he's required to. He's contracted to. But otherwise, no use for me today, which is fine. What did Francesa, or Matt Dogg used to say when he was with Francesa? It's a five hour show. At some point I'll get to talk about what I want to talk about. So, I'm going to talk about what I want to talk about today. Yeah, that's it. It's okay. Bring it on. All right. Let's go. All right, let's get started with shot or no shot, boys. After the week one victory over Tennessee. Matt Eberflus talked about Caleb Williams. It was a quiet 93 yard game. And Matt Eberflus said the first three to four games for Caleb would be about learning the NFL's speed, learning the complexities of the offense, all the things that the Bears are trying to do offensively. And Caleb, I think, I think we all think, has gotten better on a week by week basis. But now that we're through the timeline, Eberflus offered after week one, shot or no shot, Caleb Williams will have a breakout performance on Sunday against Carolina. That's a shot. He's close. I watched the all 22 again. He's close. He is super close to hitting some big plays. I think he's going to hit a big one. And I think the Bears are going to win. And I think Caleb will have a really good day. Yeah. If his performance is going to be better than we saw last week against the Rams cap, then it will be a breakout performance. That's a shot. If we agree that the game this past Sunday was the best that he's looked, then yes, he will surpass that. We don't look at the Colts game. I don't think we know what that I mean. A lot of production, but not a lot happening there. A lot of, you know, passes down the field, but not a lot there. And so... What? What are you looking at me for? What's that, Cap? Who's calling? I don't know. My phone's on the side. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was not my phone. That was a number popping up there. That's alive. No, it's not. It was my watch that was breaking. My phone's on silent. But there was something ringing. My watch. What was it saying, Cap? That call was coming in. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. What do you want me to do at? Just be just unprofessional again. Just unbelievable. Again, folks, it never happened on TV. But radio was where he acts out. It happened a couple of times on TV. Well, I was so smooth. You didn't hear anything. It was just, it was very well done, but just... It was McGuffey's fault. A regular basis phone ringing right in the middle of my thought. All I was saying is, is that he should be... He should have a better game than he had against the Rams. Production-wise. I suspect a markedly better game. That's a shot. markedly. They're banged up. The big kid Brown in the middle who's just a space eater and an animal. He's on IR. You got a chance to be able to run to football and then set up play action and take some deep shots. You absolutely can do that. Oh God. Turn this down. That's unbelievable. Shay? Phone ringing. Per-next-gen stats. The Bears in early-down situations with their base personnel on defense are allowing... What? Oh my God. Cap. I'm trying. You know what? Do your friends know what you do for a living? Who is calling? I'm going to need you to get out. I'm going to need you to get out. I'll do this myself. Just get out. It was not a call. You don't want to talk to hoodie. You just want to talk to all the people in your phone. That's what it is. I was trying to silence. Unbelievable. Okay. Okay. All right. It was watched. Can I read the question now? Yes. Per-next-gen stats. The Bears in early-down situations with their base personnel on defense are allowing just three yards per play. That is number one in the NFL. Bears defense, if you look pretty much any metric, is top five. That includes takeaways. It includes expected points added. They've been an excellent unit. Credit to Matt Eberfloose for this defense. But shot or no shot. If the offense continues to struggle and the Bears end up losing double digit games, this defense will not be enough to save Matt Eberfloose's job. That's a shot. That is an absolute shot. And the reason why it's a shot cap is because there's a reason why Shane Waldron is here. There's a reason why. They want to be able to run the football shore, but they also wanted to have Caleb be comfortable in the passing game. So it's about putting points on the board. Correct. I know that you and I, and all the rest of us as Bears fans, have seen the ground game and strong defense all our lives. But Waldron's in here to be able to make Caleb comfortable in the passing game as well. Short passing game, long passing game, just to be able to get the ball in the air. But a strong defense isn't enough anymore. It isn't. You love it, but it's more than that now. You're trying to get to 10 wins, 11 wins. You're trying to get to the playoffs. And if your offense is still lagging behind, it's not going to work. You can't keep moving forward. It's like, well, our defense is strong. Well, our defense is always strong. It always is. Whether you were flueces here or not is always a factor. Fair. It's always a factor. Fair. I can't remember the time. Well, there's a time where the Bears made some business decisions in that first year of you were flueces. Yeah, I remember the Cowboys game because you and I were texting during the game. Do you see that business decision, remember? Yeah. Here came Tony Pollard or one of those right ex Zeke. Yeah. And our guys went, I'm not tackling that. That's bad. Yeah. And I don't like to use the word quit. I don't like that. But that was bad. Because I didn't play. So I don't want to say what's in the heart and the mind of a player. But when you see Ole tackling, I don't like using that Q word. But there was some business decisions made like, all right, next game. That's bad. That's bad. That's good. I don't want to say that that's a shot cap. Like the defense could be stout. But if your offense is still mediocre or in a non playoff position, then I think you have to have something different. Here's the other thing. I got to know when this season ends, that kids are franchise quarterback. I believe he is. Yeah. But I have to have all my fears swayed by this organization that doesn't know how to develop on all those years. Shay. The Bears are getting some rather unbelievable lucky timing with when they are playing some of their opponents. The Rams we knew last week were totally depleted on offense without their two best receivers. Some missing pieces on the offensive line. Well, this week the Panthers are coming to town. Shaq Thompson season is over with the season ending Achilles tear. And also Josie Jewel, their other starting interior linebacker, inside linebacker, has a hamstring and groin injury. He's going to miss a few weeks. So you're getting the Panthers down both of their starting inside linebackers. Two weeks from now in London, you're getting the Jags. And the latest story on the Jags from NFL insider Jordan Schultz. He told Warren Sharp, he's spoken to multiple players in Jacksonville. They have told him the locker room is totally out on Doug Peterson, the quote, rudderless ship shot or no shot. The Bears will go to an O in these games. That's a shot. Absolute shot. Absolute. Now you can only get to want to know this week and that's how I like to live. Believe that's the best week in me this week and get a win. And then we'll worry about next week. But if you're able to do that, oh man. That's a shot. Shot. And in London, that would be a bear crowd. Even though the Jaguars spend so much time away from Jacksonville as we know Shay. I mean, they've been in the UK a lot because Tony Khan, one of the front office people, he runs Fulham, the soccer team. So he's very familiar with the UK. So I'm sure there's some UK Jaguars fans, but I'm sure a lot of Bears fans will be traveling to the UK for this. So it should sound like a Bears crowd. Super cool. That should help run the football, knock the Jags over. Absolutely. That's a shot. Is there any fear like the classic kind of sports thing? You fire the head coach and the team rallies around the interim the following week. Can we just make sure Doug Peterson keeps this job at least until after we play them in London? Yeah, he's not getting fired at that time. He's not. He's not getting fired. You had it before Halloween, Shay. He's not maybe it's right after London because that's the buy. No shot. Aren't they on the buy too? I know we are. They've got two consecutive games in London and then I believe they have their buy week. No shot. Let him go to London and then we'll fire when he comes back. Just leave him there. Just leave him on the tarmac. That's what you do. Fire him right there. Yeah, it's not going in the right direction obviously. But here's the thing doing a little bit of a deep dive. Are you sure that if you fire Doug Peterson, the Trevor Lawrence is better? Skin to the point where it's like that's who he is. I know that he looks the part with a long flowing blonde locks and strong arm. But cap is just not there. His best football was at Clemson. I think if he goes somewhere else, if he got a fresh start, he'd be a really good player. I do. Bears? No. How about the Bears? Can't be a little column A and a little column B like Doug Peterson outside of the one year with Carson Wentz. The Eagles fired him for a reason. Things got untenable there. Then he goes to Jacksonville. He has the one miracle year and seems like worked Trevor Lawrence into a top five player. Now things have gone south since. Maybe both guys just aren't as good as we think they are. Maybe. I think that's fair. That's fair. Yeah. Shaking exquisite one more. The Vite Adams told the Raiders yesterday he would prefer a trade out of Las Vegas. Adams who will turn 33 this fall has 18 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown this season. Two of the top rumored destinations are, of course, the Packers is old home and the New York football jets with his old quarterback. Shot or no shot. The Vite Adams will reunite with Aaron Rodgers in New York. That is a shot. Do you remember Aaron going off the golf course saying, saying something about the Vite Smith? He's looking forward to play the Vite Adams saying I like to play with him again. I think that that's possible. I don't think they can handle his salary. So I'm going to say no shot. The Jets. Yeah. At this point, Kathy, if you're a solid in that front office, you're doing anything to make riders. They're desperate. Yeah. I'm just saying. Yeah. But is it really the receivers that are the reason that they're struggling? No, it's their offensive line. Right. Okay. So there, but I mean still, it's about making Aaron happy. Is it not? You know, who's running an organization and it's not solid. Yeah. It's Aaron. Yeah. I'm going to say no shot that he ends up there. What's the quote? Shay. I just saw this morning with the Jets. So running back says that the offense is not working. Who said that to the others? No, it was one of the wide receivers. Gary Wilson said that Gary Wilson said the offenses are working with the Jets. Okay. That's not good. Hard to deny it. You scored nine points against the Broncos. That's fair. I just, I don't know if I said it in front of Open Mike. I don't know if I'd say that. They're frustrated. They were supposed to be a Super Bowl team. Yeah. They're two and two that just hasn't gone the way that they wanted it to go at all. You say he's being honest. Let that happen on your ball club. Can I see you for me Garrett? My office. Okay. What are you doing there? You know, we're working hard to get this right. Why do you tell the press that our offense is broken? Our offense isn't working. What's with that? No, because they're, they have eyes coach. Okay. You, I don't think you'd take that smart mouth approach. I don't think you'd, I don't think you'd take that kindly. They have eyes coach. Okay. They saw us getting nine points against the awful Broncos. You probably could say that to Salah. I think it's pretty clear. You could say it to him. Just some coaches. They could say that too. I don't think you'd say that. Who do you at this point? You can say it to Nate Hackett. I mean, Nate Hackett went to Denver. It felt like the team muting it on him. Got fired in his first season, then goes to reunite with Rogers and the offense looks this way. I hear you. Maybe Hackett's no good. He certainly wasn't good as a head coach for the Denver Denver Broncos. I'll tell you that. And again, this is also make Aaron comfortable, right? Having Hackett there, supposed to make Aaron comfortable. Now look at him. Just hear a jet. You'll always be a jet. Just remember that. Worn to your jet. You're a jet. Yep. That's it. No matter what. You know, whoever put in uniform. Remember, it's the jets. Does Rogers leave the jets after this year and go play somewhere else? Like Favre. More than likely, just, you know, he looks at an organization and goes, "I can go some place else and win a championship." Right. I could see that happening. Like does the Niners say, "We're not paying Brock Purdy. Get Aaron in here." Maybe. Very, very likely. There you go. When you're a jet, you're a jetty. Gen all the way. Okay. And up the two. Horrible. Okay. Horrible. Okay. Coming up, we will have you give you around the NFL and then it's a Waddle Wednesday. We're from Tommy coming up at 835. Cap and J-hood weekday morning 7 to 10. I kind of like them both ways. Follow Chicago's home for sports on Twitter at ESPN1000. Cap and J-hood are back on ESPN Chicago. Chicago's home for sports. Knit both sucks. He sucks. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football developer. I love the Green Bay Packers. The guy is from, but there he goes. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. I love winners. He starts to come at a moment. This is a really thickly built guy. I mean, what's the answer you're looking for on these things here, huh? Oh, boy. It's time to go around the NFL right here on cap and J-hood on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app like to remind you to check out our YouTube channel. Cap and I have our own YouTube channel. Look for cap and J-hood on YouTube. Hit that subscribe button. It way if you miss anything from our show, the clips and the features and the show is right there. YouTube.com cap and J-hood around the NFL with Shay Norley is time for the power rankings on a Wednesday every team in the power rankings has moved in one way or another with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the two teams falling out of the top 10. All right. Let me get the paper here. Let's go. Waddle Wednesday coming up at 8 30. All right. Here we go. All right. A 10. It's the Green Bay Packers. They're down two spots from eight last week. The second half Jordan Love right at a lot of the ugliness the first half, but when you're doing it against prevent, it's hard for me to care a lot. I just think that first half you needed to get healthy. And the bottom of this league, honestly, there's a lot of bad teams, Packers. I still believe in to be one of the better teams in this league and certainly in this division, their 10. Number nine, Shay. Number nine San Francisco 49ers. They destroyed New England and Santa Clara last week with Debo back. Health is still a concern with this team. We know Javan Hargraves out for the year. No real clarity on when Christian McCaffrey will make his return, but so far so good for the Niners and what they did on Sunday was a reminder, they're back in the top 10. Number eight, Shay. The Washington commanders, at some point it becomes undeniable. What Jaden Daniels has been able to accomplish through four weeks is absolutely incredible. His athleticism and his ability to quickly read a defense is making him a huge weapon in Cliff Kingsbury's honestly kind of simple offense. They're the number one offense in football. That said, hoodie, their defense is still the bottom of the league. The very bottom and we've seen Cliff Kingsbury offenses fall apart after outstarts before. So the sustainability part of this is a question, but right now they are awesome. And what's Dan Quinn's expertise? Defense. Okay. Cap. The Washington commanders are three and one. The next three games will be against the Browns at Baltimore against the Panthers. How many do they win there? Where's the Browns game? The Browns in Washington. They're going to win two of those three. The Ravens will be the test. That'll be the game. Yes. That'll be interesting to watch those quarterbacks going after it. That would be unbelievable if they pulled off a win over them. Oh, God. Think about it, man. Jaden Daniels and Lamar Jackson. That should be awesome. Two African American quarterbacks. Okay. That'll be fine. What? You don't have to do that. Thank you, Chris. Number seven, hoodie Seattle. Geno Smith was great on Monday night, but that defense got bullied by the Lions. Jerigov completes all 18 of his passes for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns. David Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs ran all over them. Defense has problems. Geno Smith can be great, but when you're chasing two scores all game, you should look that good. That's correct. Um, I enjoyed that game for the amount of points I was put up there and just the fight of Seattle offensively, just this kind of hanging the ball game with the Lions really impressed me. By the way, I was going to tell you, Shay, that new blue on that helmet shines. Oh, you like it? Yeah. It's different. I think that helmet's terrible, honestly. I don't know why. I just don't like it. I know you were used to the traditional Honolulu blue, but just for a change of pace, that little darker blue on that on the black helmet, really good. It shines. It's a shine too. It's something cool. Just different. Yeah. It's a shine on it. Number six, Shay. Number six, the Houston Texans, the only team that has no movement this week. They got the win. That's the most important thing, but trailing the majority of the game to the jags who, according to the players in the locker room, are rudderless at head coach after losing at home to Minnesota or after losing on the road to Minnesota, rather, they'll probably be fine, but it's a little bit of an alarm bell. Hmm. All right. Five down four spots from last week's number one ranking, the Buffalo Bills. What happened? The most efficient offense in football goes into Baltimore and can't do anything right when it feels like they're getting some momentum and maybe a comeback. Joe Brady calls a lunatic play trick play pass out of Wildcat where they're reversing the ball to Josh Allen. He almost gets killed for Bills fans. You can hope that's just a blip. That was not great Sunday night. You're not going to win all 17 games. It happened. You went and played a really quality opponent on the road to that some people believe like Dominique Fox work believes the Ravens are the best team in the NFL. So it is what it is. I've heard that a lot already. Off to a tough start, but the best team in the NFL. We'll get to that in a second. More more disappointing loss, Shay, the Bills game or the Seattle game. For Seattle or Buffalo? I would say Buffalo because of the way it looked, the offense was the most efficient in football. Josh Allen had become the favorite for MVP and to go in there and not really be able to do anything offensively, I think that hurts if you're a Bills fan. By the way, cap 16 for 29, go for 180 yards for Josh Allen that game against Baltimore. Yeah, I watched it and it was just, they were outclassed that day. A Derek Henry though. What a beast. What's the first play of the game? 271 yards on the ground for the Baltimore. Crazy. How about the first play? 87 yards. See you later. Thanks for coming. All right. We got Buffalo at five as we do. That's now number four, Shay. Number four is this week's biggest riser in the rankings. It is the Baltimore Ravens. They've erased the angst of an 0 and 2 start with two dominant victories over Dallas and Buffalo. It's the best win for Josh and Derek Henry two slow weeks to start the season. Absolutely insane the last two weeks against Dallas and Buffalo. He seems back this rushing attack. If it's what we've seen for two weeks is the best in football and that'll help Lamar Jackson a lot. Todd Monckon's been doing a great job, the offensive coordinator Baltimore back in the top five. Are you back? Is Baltimore backing a good graces now or do you need to see more? For me? Yeah. I think they're back. I don't know. I don't know if they're going to win 12, 13 games again this year because of the way the season started and honestly, they still the second halves. They have a propensity to blow leads. Yeah. There was a chance to do it against Buffalo until Joe Brady lost his mind with a wild cat trick play. Yeah, I get it. They did it with the Cowboys. They did it with the Raiders. So I'd like to see them be complete again a few more times before I'm like fully in on Baltimore. Yeah. They're good. Yeah. I love that coach. They're good. But Shay let's circle back in three weeks now. We're going to do this every week, but just at bingles against the commanders at Buccaneers. Let's take a look. Take a look where Baltimore is. I just think it's an overreach through four games for my guy Dominique Foxworth to have the Ravens as the best team in the National Football League. Tough ball when they're two and two. Just wait a minute now. Hang on. Right? Yeah. Just hang on a second. Play out. All right. Okay. You lost to the Chiefs as a tough game. It's a bad loss. You're better than that. And you too. Greenie has the top three teams in the NFC. No. Minnesota Detroit Green Bay. All right. That'll be fine. That'll be all. Number number three. Number three. Rising one spot, the Minnesota Vikings. There's just no denying it anymore. They're four no first half that saw them go up twenty eight nothing in the blink of an eye on the road in Green Bay as road underdogs. They look one hundred percent legitimate. They're also four and oh through what was on paper the most difficult portion of their schedule. They're going to make the playoffs. They look like one of the best teams in this league, Kevin O'Connell's a miracle worker. Jets Lions Rams cap, Jets Lions and then at the Rams, Jets Lions at home and then at the Rams. That looks good. They're going to lose two or three. Really? The jet? I don't know. We'll see. But the lion for sure. You think they're going to lose to the lion and they probably will lose at the ram. Hmm. But we'll see God, this throws a monkey wrench right into the Bears plants. The Vikings are good. Oh no. Right. All right. That's why the bear needs to just take care of their business this week. They're three and two. Viking Scott, he's got a big smile on his face. He's not even calling Carmen Yerko anymore. He's just sitting wherever he lives, having a good time, enjoying his life. Big smile on his face. Number two, Shay. Number two is the Detroit Lions up one spot from three last week and absolutely dominant display from their offense. Jared Goff, 18 of 18, they run the ball really efficiently. Look defensively, they've got some issues. Failing and penalties were horrible against Seattle, but for three out of four games that defense has been good. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. That offense finally looking complete, they're scary. And number one, the Steelers. All right. Hoodie number one. Wow. It all sucks. But it's the Kansas City Chiefs. And I have to tell you, it really pisses me off to put them here because they are an incredibly frustrating watch. Everything on offense looks difficult. You got my homes not playing well. You got Kelsey not looking at anything like Travis Kelsey. You got Rishi Rice dead, yet they're for no with a dominant offense defense. You figure it out. They're just going to win the Super Bowl and be this like horribly aesthetically displeasing team. They're not winning the Super Bowl. I hope not because this team watching this team, it's annoying. It sucks. It's not fun. Chargers chiefs was not a fun game to watch. It was gross. I hate that they're for no. I hate that I feel like they're going to win the Super Bowl anyway because they're a gross watch right now. Which is they are not winning the Super Bowl. What'd you say? What'd you say Jay Moore about Travis Kelsey? Look at like Randy Travis. Is that what you said? He does. That's a great call. He does. Wow. Is that? Is that how you see a Tommy? It's like it was Taylor Swift, baby. Take it out. Taking a shot of two guys right there, I mean, Randy Travis, why are you coming after Randy Travis? He's a great singer, man. Yeah. Yeah, he says he looks like Randy Travis. Randy. Wow. Maybe maybe years ago. Randy's a little old. He's playing like Randy Travis. Oh, Randy's got him. He's 65. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, six north to 60. He's not old. You're 60. Wow. I'm 57, but like he's had some he's had some health issues too. So he doesn't look. Randy Travis. 65. Yeah. Echo. He looks a little frail. I mean, he's had some he's had a rough go of it the last several years. Really? Have some sympathy cap. Like really? What'd I say wrong? Not you, Jonathan. He's giving me the echo. We both said it with a I said it one second later, you know, it's already into the delivery. I just heard cat. That's what I heard. When somebody says something silly, what is Randy Travis's real name? I did not know his real name was Randy Travis. Steve Travis. Randy Bruce Treywick. Okay. I'm Treywick. One record, the executive was like, that's not going to fly. Right. Doesn't play in Peoria. You're going to trap Travis. That's it. Do you like the top five of Shay's list? Yeah, I always do like I I'd be careful writing off the chiefs guys. We had this conversation a little bit yesterday and Mallard. You want to wait here? They're not waiting to Super Bowl. I'll never go against them again. Well, wait a second. Super Bowl like it. A lot of things can happen. Can we dial that back? I already owe you a hundred dollars for our Cubs reds bet. Yeah. That's what it's worth. Lance paid his off yesterday. Well, maybe because you saw Lance, I'll create a graders ice cream show to my house. Oh, I thought you meant Lance Briggs. It was like, why is Lance Briggs betting you baseball? No, Lance McAllister sent me graders ice cream. Well, he's a better guy than I am. You may not get your hundred dollars for a lot. Bearcat is the greatest flavor ever. Chocolate and cherry. Oh my God. Yeah. Well, you know, to those that want to strut around because your Cubs, you know, landed higher up on the North or central, wherever the hell they reside, standings, you know, neither one of us is playing postseason baseball and that should piss you off. The national. They did. The nationally North division cap, whatever. That's what he's talking about. Yeah. Yeah. It's early. Yes. It's early for all of us here in a 33 about that. Not just where you live, but everywhere about that. Coming up a waddle Wednesday with Tom Waddle, right here on Chicago's home for sports. I think he's going to start at least eight games in the national football league next year for a team that's going to give him a chance. Waddle Wednesday with Tom Waddle. Listen, I got a pedicure in an hour, but I get back here in the wheels. Better be spinning. All right. On Cappin G will be ESPN Chicago. It's a waddle Wednesday on the Cappin J. Good morning show on a ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Time to go to the hotline. That'd be the car X tired on a hotline, John rattle, rattle, thunder, clatter, boom, boom, boom. Here we go. Good morning. Tom. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Go ahead. Hey, by the way, I apologize if my grandson is wailing like cap after a Cubs three game sweep to the Reds at home. So if you hear him screaming in the background, don't, you know, don't get concerned. It's just it. It's a month old child not feeling great. Yes. I shot a cap. I shot cap. I love cap. No reason for that. Tom, tell me and I are that we're all way back. Can I tell you guys too? I was doing some preparing for this conversation, which I love every week. I was doing some quarter of the season auditing on their offense and I know this is a lot of stuff that you already know, but for the people out there through four weeks, this offense is averaging 253 yards and 16 offensive points per game that ranks 30th in both categories. They're 29th and rushing offense averaging 87 yards per game, 3.5 yards per carry. Their passing game is 26th averaging 166 yards per game. After facing two top 10 offenses in the first two weeks, they face the two worst defenses in the national football league and the Colts in the Rams. And the next two weeks, they get the Panthers and Jags. Those two teams are basically 28th and 30th overall. The moral of my story here is it's go time for the offense. I've preached patience for good reason because I think it takes a lot of time for everybody to get on the same pace. There's a lot of new here. I like some of the adjustments they made last week, but it didn't solve all of their problems. Now they've got to incorporate some shot plays and become a more explosive offense. But I think as you guys were talking, you've got a really good opportunity the next two weeks to really not only get a W, but to also get your offense on track. Now you've got to stack improvement, not just stacking W's, but you've got to stack offensive improvement, I think, to just again, confirm to everyone in that building in the offensive meeting rooms that what they're doing can work. So Tommy, let me ask you about, would he ask me a question? If I could put the offensive line together, how I would want it, how would I do it? How would you do it? Because I would have Kevin Jenkins and Darnell right on the right side. Can I get a start over, like I draft a kid out of Penn State to be my right bird? No. Can I? You sure? Yeah, you can get some real greater from the big 10 that he would be a last tackle for a decade. You can't do that, Tommy. No. So if you like to bring in Amagadje, you can bring him into the mix, if you like. Is he hurt? Yes. No, he's back practicing. Okay. It's like he's hurt. First of all, as long as you make the offensive line mentree unavailable to me so I could just pluck some people and put them in place, like this is who you are, you know, Braxton Jones is your left tackle and right now, as we've all said for so long, he's just that doesn't have enough, you know, is there's not enough in his base and he gets pushed back and look after so many times watching on film, they're going to keep bull rushing. You don't even have to speed rush here. They just got to drive you back into the quarterback. But I heard you talking earlier, yeah, I mean, I would, I, if I, and I don't have any offensive line, I stayed away from, I had a lot of offensive lineman friend, but friends, but I, you know, I don't know much about the O line, but I would, I keep right at right tackle. I probably would, would move Kevin to, for everyone's healthy, move Kevin to right guard. You got to keep calm. I think Coleman Shelton knows what he's doing. I just don't think, you know, he's just not very good. Yeah. Right. And probably keep Matt Pryor at left guard at this moment. Yeah. And you know, Braxton Jones, the, you know, the funny thing is, is that there are more, I think Nate Davis does have a lot of talent guys. I do now that doesn't always show up and, and you can make whatever evaluation you want of him. But when you see him do things, he does some things where you go, wow, that's high level play for that position. It's just not frequent enough. He's just not available enough. And that's what's so frustrating that the body of work isn't good, but his ability to do what they ask you to do at his position, he's got the, he's, he's got the skill to do it at a pretty high level. So yeah, I agree with you guys. You know how I felt I'm a broken record. It's the one thing I thought that would limit this team at least in 2024 was their offensive line. My hope was is that all of those guys would be better. It's like, it feels like not to co-mingle these concepts. But when Jed Hoyer meets the media and says, really, what we need to be a better team. And I really like Jed, is that all of our guys have to outperform their projections. Yeah. Well, how about him? Well, that's true. That's another conversation. But my point is, is that when you, when you, when you attach that type of analysis to the bears offensive line, to just think that we're going to get to where we need to go. Just if everyone on the offensive line outperforms their projections, like if, if Braxton Jones shows that he can anchor that left side without getting pushed back, if Tevin Jenkins could show that he is going to be available and consistent. If Coleman Shelton plays like a top half of the league center as a free agent. Even though he never has. Right. If Davis can step in and be a player that we thought we were getting, but we haven't seen in a year and a half in Darnell Wright takes that next step to be a dominant player. Like that's a lot of ifs, guys. Like if, if all of that happens, I think that you're going to be really secure. It didn't happen. So what have they had to do? They've had to adjust how they attack people. You think Shane Waldron came in and again, evaluate Shane Waldron however you want. That was a decision made by the head coach and the GM and you knew what you were getting. He has a long resume of being a guy that's going to throw it and throw it and really run it occasionally. But you think when he came in here that what he was going to do was in the running game, he was going to line up a power attack like it took him three weeks after getting nowhere with the running game to make the adjustment that, hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to go north and south. Look better last week, didn't it? If he, if you were sitting next to him on the plane headed out a business trip and he was flying to Chicago and you're sitting, oh, who are you? My name's Shane. I'm Tom. What do you do? I'm interviewing with the Bears. Oh, I could see him in the future. You're going to have Doug Kramer at fullback. He'd be like, yeah, right. Exactly. So like this is what, again, this is an excuse, but this is how I see it. And I'm not suggesting they made the right call or he's the right guy, but I think you bring him in and he, at what point guys, if you've done a job for so long, are you willing to hit the escape hatch and go away from what you do? Week one, you face a front that's very solid inside against the Titans and they've punched you in the mouth and you're like, oh boy, that was difficult, but there were plays all over the field to be made. We just didn't execute. Week two, you go down to Houston, everyone knows you're probably going to get beat. It's a really good Houston team. They're going to bring pressure. Whoa, man. That was a little more fierce than we thought we were going to get. But next week we go to the Indianapolis Colts with no, no deforest buckner. They're dead last in rush defense. We'll be able to get our offense, my offense on track. I thought that was to come to Jesus moment. And you couldn't get anything done against an inferior Colts defense. That's where I think they came back and go, okay, this offense that I think works, that works for McGay and works for others. We can't run it with our offensive line, so we've got to scale some stuff back. I think personally that's what they did and that's where I think they made some improvement. They were able to run the ball a little bit. They took care of the ball, which I thought was the difference in the game. But they're still, they're going to have to keep it simple and do simple better as Joe Madden said until they find their rhythm and they start to blossom right now. They're not there. All right. More with Tommy coming up. Who is Tommy's most valuable bear? Find out next on Cap and Jay Hood. Love the brother next to you. Welcome back to Cap and Jay Hood on Chicago's on for sports, ESPN Chicago. That's a waddle Wednesday on the Cap and Jay Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. Tommy, I do this five burning questions with Cap every Wednesday and the first question I ask is who's the most valuable bear? And so it's an interesting question because you're talking about a two team and the offense is just sputtering, just trying to get better. But it's what we've always seen for many years as a defense, a stout that is productive that can make plays. So if you use to choose one, who is your most valuable bear to the first four games? I heard you guys discussing this. I think it's a great question. It's one of the more difficult questions I think that I've had to answer like this early in a season. I sent you guys a tax. They said billings for me. I think he's been their most consistent difference making player and he's like he's not flashy obviously. I don't know if he even has a sack, but what he does to disrupt running games and what he does to take on double teams to allow others to do their jobs. I think I don't know how he's graded out, but I wouldn't be shocked at all to find out that he is their highest graded defensive player. So between this show and Wildland Sylvie, I have all the things we talked about this summer when we're talking about Caleb Williams and the offense and the weapons for Caleb Williams and the running game and Montez Sweatt, who's Montez Sweatt? Because he's got Sweatt in the drips, who else is going to be able to rush to pass or make a difference? Yeah. Andrew Billings was never in the conversation. I can guarantee. It's seven hours a day for four months. No one was talking about Andrew Billings, but you have me as your MVP. Well, I mean, listen, it's early. I think that's a little over the top. Well, he's a good player. I love him. But who's played better? Who's played better? Brisker, for sure. I mean, you're living in the moment right now. I mean, yeah, Brisker's been good, but I don't know. Has he been better than Billings at his job? I go back and look at that. I tell you, go back. Billings had seven tackles for the season. Five solo, two assists, one force, far more. Don't be a stat jockey, you know, because that doesn't take long. God, how'd he start on a Wednesday? Well, you gave us some great numbers. Well, well, I get it. Exactly. That's true. I'm guilty of that. I was painting a picture, though, I wasn't coming to a conclusion. But I'm just saying, like, telling the individual story of it. So you wanted to-- OK, I won't argue with Brisker. Who else? Like, Jalen, they haven't really haven't thrown at him. He's got an interception. Like, OK, I'll buy that it's Brisker. Well, I think it's what you said, though, Tommy. It's living in the moment. He was the best player on the field for me last week against the Rams. Here's the thing, if we don't know that's a problem, especially if it's not an offense, that's a problem. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, like, offensively. Like I said before the break, this is go time for them. This is go time. I was very happy to see the improvement they made in the running game that kept it simple. They were asking guys to do less. They got cold combat involved in coming back in motion and cracking a defensive lineman and linebackers, which I thought is a good element to the game. It helped you run in game. They did some simple things better, but I thought Caleb did a really good job at times taking what the defense was giving him and taking care of the football. You won that game, in my humble opinion, because your defense stiffened up in the red zone. They bogged down in the red zone, which is also a product of not having Cooper Cup and Puke and Akua, because Cooper Cup can dominate you in the red zone with arrow, routes, and motion, and all kinds of stuff. But the Bears stiffen their spine in the red zone, and they won the turnover battle. That was the difference in the game, 'cause if you put on the film, I'm telling you, the more impressive tape to me, at least, was, especially on offense, was the Rams. The Rams averaged four and a half yards per carry. I mean, they ran the ball for 120 some yards, and they attacked the middle of the field. I want the Bears offensively to take, and I know they don't have Sean McVay, and I know that right now Caleb's a rookie. He's not Matthew Stafford, but I want them to attack the middle of the field in much the way that the Rams attacked. - Like the throw-to-call command. - Yeah, and I said to you guys last week that I think they're making a mistake by not getting DJ involved, and that the break was talking with Shay about it, and it seems like they just fixated on, DJ plays the X on the line of scrimmage, Rome plays the Z, and we're not, and the X over here is gonna run clearing nine routes, and we're gonna run quick outs and bubble screens, and the other guy, the Z, the rookie, we're gonna ask him to do some deep overs and some deep ins, and I wish, again, if you watch the Rams, they ask their guys to do all of the routes. It's not that one guy plays X and only runs these routes. He's actually, on one play he's playing the Z, and on the other play he's playing the X, and I just want them to get DJ more involved down the field. He's frustrated right now, and you can see it. I don't think it's truly affecting his play, but, and I think his frustration isn't that he wants to be the statistically the best leader, you know, the guy with the most catches in yards, and I'm just, you know, projecting here, but as he's told you, I think, he's tired of losing. He wants to win, he wants to be the reason why they're winning, and he's coming from Carolina, where he was the first option, the second option, and the third option, and last year, his first year in a Barrage uniform, with Justin, he was the first option, and the second option, and the third option. When you add Keenan, and you add Rome-Adunze, you know, his targets are gonna go down, but I just don't think they're using him to be the explosive player that he is, so. - That's what he told me last week. He said, "Frostrated, yeah, seven years in a league, "I've never played a player, I want to win, man, "I want to go." - But here's the deal, like, and I love DJ, and he's been my favorite player since he got here, because not only is he a hell of a player, but he is at every practice. He works his ass off in practice, and he's an ultimate team guy. - He's a great team guy, but I do think that people have brought it up, that he is showing his frustration more, you know, when he took his helmet off in the Houston game, I'm not bothered by any of that stuff. But when you see the frustration, especially when you're a member of the Leadership Council, you gotta make sure that you put some of that stuff to the side, and don't let some of the younger players see it, because, you know, it then can become an issue, and I'm not suggesting that it's affecting his player, it's truly affecting the team. I'm just saying, you gotta, you know, what would help that is to get on track, and they're really close in a lot of areas, really close. And I think what you're finding now, is Caleb is trying to, he got heated up, he turned the ball over three times in Indy, and I think it was the difference in the game. So this game, what he's gonna do, he's gonna be more conservative, he's gonna drop the ball off, make good plays, but really not press the issue, and try to find his rhythm and get on track. Now what you gotta do is blend the two. You gotta push the ball downfield, and add some of these shot plays, but also take care of the ball, and don't take what the defense has given you, and I think that that's just, that's growth in learning the game as a young rookie quarterback. - One in Sylvia will be at Halis Hall, they'll have Josh Blackwell on, they'll ask him who the MVP is, they'll be part of their show this afternoon. - I'm about that. - So Josh will be on by Dominic Robinson, it says here. So you'll be able to ask him, it's right here in front of you and said, it's on the list, it says it. - Yeah, that's what it says, man. - You guys got Josh Blackwell on, you could ask him who the MVP is. - He'll be in the studio there with you. - Yeah, this is awesome. Once you come up, Cap, and you can sit in with us. But you got an all-access pass up there, don't you? - I do. - 100%, but I will let you and Sylvie have your fun and frivolity, and I'll be listening. - He also, you notice he didn't invite me, you notice that? - Right, good job, and I know you're not gonna drive up there. - What do you mean? It's just a whole tank of gas, it's fine. - It's a whole tank of gas there, and a whole tank of gas back. - Exactly right. - Right.