I, I just, I find that really interesting, that, that dynamic of this.

Well, I think you have to be authentic, and I think Ben Johnson is, and I think the Bears have been afraid of authenticity when it came to the coach because if you really believe that it's important to beat Green Bay and your rival, then you tap into that truth and you showcase it confidently each and every time you have an opportunity to do that.

And to, to what you were spelling out, I mean, I do that all the time with coaching, and manipulating, and having to create adversity for guys to motivate them, to get them to comprehend what is going to be at stake.

It's tough to win in the NFL, and when you have a mastermind like Ben Johnson who understands the rivalry to the extent where others are afraid to go, and you walk confidently, everybody will follow you.

And I love that about Ben Johnson, and I think that's his biggest...

A- as much X's and O's as somebody can do, I think when you walk authentically, everybody follows you because you absolutely have showcased that at the end of the day, you're carrying the biggest stick and you're not afraid to swing it, and he is that guy.

And I absolutely love every minute of it, and I hate when all these other people wanna criticize Ben for being completely and bluntly honest, whether it be to a sideline reporter, to a reporter in a news media session, or anywhere else.

Like, that's where I'm like, "Oh boy, we, we might win the Super Bowl this year."

What does Ben Johnson do? He's gonna speak to the media tomorrow, and it just feels like this is a tricky, um, decision that he has to make, or maybe it isn't.

Well, first of all, shout out to Case Keenum because, as you said, what an outstanding performance.

I don't know where my expectation was, but it wasn't there.

I felt like he was gonna play really well, and a lot of people would go away creating a scenario where Case Keenum, wow, he's better than I thought type of vibe, and I was right in that- Landmark, but not as...

I mean, if it was golf, he's hitting the, the ball further and farther than anybody else on the, on the course, Greg, and exceeded my expectations.

That said, I'm coming from the, the experience of being a coach, and I think you have a responsibility to the locker room as a whole in regards to the second quarterback position, and how you've layered that and set a standard.

Uh, I think everybody to a man can understand what transpired and how smooth and how, how fluid ev- and sharp everything looked.

I apologize.

It's very important.

But I just think when you're that talented of a person, and the expectations and the love for what it is you do for the city of Chicago also comes with this windfall of complete ignorant people that want to see failure so bad in so many different ways that any which way you decide to go, you're going to be labeled a certain way.

And I'm glad you pointed out this guy, because, you know, when you have an agenda, you look to find every way that's going to attack a person.

And I just, as a football coach, I have always embraced the emotion that kids, young athletes, professional athletes have.

Because I think they, most people, especially a lot of people that have never played sport and love sport, they don't understand that there is so much tapped into the work that you put in, not only physically, but mentally.

So when you feel the immediate stress of pain that is a familiar place that you might have been before, and this could be it, all of everything I've worked for, this crappy game, I was about to score, all of that snowballs into one immediate emotion.

And to have this ignorance in, I don't know, Tommy tough guys, you call them? The reality of what I see people do is embarrassing.

[laughs]

I'm ki- [laughs]

When I watch Caleb play this game, there is a level of escapability, an intuitive, graceful showcase of ability that you can manipulate a pocket to find yourself another platform to make throws on a level with which his arm talent Is elite level where he's competing with Josh Allen for the strongest arm in the NFL.

Like it's apparent under center with his back turned, he's going through the routes as he's going through his, uh, mesh fake understanding where...

His comfort level yesterday was at an all-time high for me watching him.

Like, he's just dealing.

That's why the weird throw to Loveland stands out for me.

You gotta hold him accountable, but they're all gonna make bad throws, and the amount of scrutiny that comes his way, whether it be his personality, his fingernails, his friends, his mom, his emotion, his goals, his desire, his strength, his everything is nitpicked like no other athlete I've ever witnessed.

We're hoping for a bounce back and a turnaround, but not great here to start the season for somebody that you need to have a big year from.

So there's a lot of eyes for a lot of players on this team.

Yeah, I think you say that when you recognize a growth in somebody, and I think that kind of communication to the media travels to the player beyond the locker room, too, and I think that's something that good quarterbacks, good leaders do.

They let other people know, and it just goes that way.

The feeling is mutual when the, the players speak up for their quarterback, who is continuously being earmarked for whatever criticism or whatever.

It goes both ways.

And I think Caleb has been the ultimate professional when it comes to articulating his truthful thoughts.

I think he's very authentic, just like the head coach, and I think that when you say something like that, it's real, because you have to know the kind of game breaker, game changer, field mover that Luther Burden is.

When it does happen, uh, we're gonna try and light up and be explosive.

So what are your thoughts on that RB3 competition?

I feel like Ryan Poles has to stay out of the r- running back competition, and what I mean by that is stop with the politics of Roshon Johnson.

It's honestly embarrassing at this point.

Uh, he's not good.

He's not twitchy.

He brings very little to the table in regards to what you do philosophically in your offense.

I don't see the fit whatsoever.

... to plead your case

I think he's got a long ways to go, and I know Phil can talk about what he saw on tape.

Well, I was on this show.

All Craig has to do is go back a few weeks and listen to me talk about Dylan Thieneman, talking on this show about before everybody crowns him.

I had concerns with how he was used at Oregon, because he was like a middle linebacker playing off at 10 yards, and that is not what he's gonna be asked to do in the NFL.

You're gonna have to be a different kind of football player, unless Dennis Allen was gonna do something different with him.

But I expected these growing pains, because I didn't see a great alley football player.

Caleb Downs, I thought, was the best player in the whole draft.

Yeah

I just thought Jedrik sh- showed a lot of patience in that moment, not really knowing what Caleb had in mind until Caleb finally fired that ball.

Yeah.

I haven't seen the play, but it...

If I saw it, I could tell you what was going on, but it sounds like he was on the backside of the play mirroring and staying in perfect leverage in relationship to the defensive player.

I- again, we're gonna get a lot of answers.

To me, I look at things, just like I said about Darnell Wright when he was coming out, what stood out to me was his feet and his ability to play with amazing power and leverage.

He's very patient and he's very physical at the point of attack.

But go ahead, Phil.

I just thought Jedrik sh- showed a lot of patience in that moment, not really knowing what Kaleb had in mind until Kaleb finally fired that ball.

Yeah.

I haven't seen the play, but it...

If I saw it, I could tell you what was going on, but it sounds like he was on the backside of the play, mirroring and staying in perfect leverage in relationship to the defensive player.

I- again, we're gonna get a lot of answers.

To me, I look at things, just like I said about Darnell Wright when he was coming out, what stood out to me was his feet and his ability to play with amazing power and leverage.

He's very patient and he's very physical at the point of attack.

Phil, final thoughts.

The sky is the limit.

limit.And that kind of stuff is never in the Blog Boy article or the...

And now, you know, the guys with the algorithms and the analytics, all of that stuff goes out of the window.

That's why I've always said the most important free agent has always been the coach.

When the McCaskeys are cheap in paying a coach, they are f- at fault.

When they've hit a home run here, they've paid the right guy.

As I said last week or the week before, I know I said it on Adam Rank's show, I've said it here, and I've said it on ours, it's the reality of the situation is Ben is building something that's greater than you.

Yeah

Yep.

That any given moment in any given game, this guy is going to take over and can win the game.

Again, we were always against that, Greg.

We always played against that.

So as you...

You're a former bricklayer.

We look at it like this: brick by brick, he is building his career up.

Mm.

Now, you have the trust of the coach's process, but now you are weaponized with the experience that Caleb Williams has having gone through it now.

Well, it's like learning a new language.

A lot of people don't understand the pre-snap motions and understanding what you're reading pre-snap, let alone the language and the verbiage that he's having to learn and understand, as well as diagnose coverages and all of that.

What Caleb Williams was able to do in the first year, and that's why I laughed at the completion percentage talk and the hand jiving like they're in Greece, is the reality of what Caleb was able to do in this offense in his first year is amazing and outstanding at the same time.

There was negligence under Eberflus, then there's a garden hose put in his mouth and he's having to swallow, and that's Ben's plan, and that's how I coach too.

Y- y- I'm giving you it all so you can now absorb that and make yourself better.

Because the more you understand the language, the more you understand the philosophies and the understanding of motions and pre-snaps and why we're doing all this stuff, but you still have to articulate that to a group of men in the huddle.

Year nine

... right? And, and so that's why in this city, uh, we, we lift those kind of people up.

Yeah.

Anybody, I think Shane and you hit it on the head.

If you're...

I think that's the problem in this, this whole dynamic that seems to be media, is the, the rules with which you can't fan and you can't...

Some people can and they're allowed to, and some people can't.

But when you're the play-by-play voice or the p- person that everyone tunes into while they watch their favorite team, it should be part of the job description that your passion for the team comes through the airwaves the way it does with, you know, the guys that you talked about, Harry Caray, Stacey King.

Yeah

Uh, so without further ado, Phil, as you looked that over, you know, what, what stood out to you the most for the Bears destiny here in 2026?

Well, I'm the kind of guy, I never believe in rankings, no pun intended.

I love Adam, but I don't believe in rankings, strengths of schedule and all that, 'cause I'm old enough to remember last year when the Bears had the hardest strength of schedule going into the s- then all of a sudden it changed because Peter Bukowski got all amped up that we got a easy schedule, and all these other fans were all upset 'cause now it's an easy schedule.

You play who you play.

I love the fact that they, we open up with the, uh, Carolina Panthers, and you set the tone right there to see how you're gonna handle the season, and how that is going t- I always believe that opening game, I was at with you, Greg.

I think you were there.

Maybe you didn't go, but I saw you before.

Right, yeah.

You, you shared your disappointment with me o- on that.

I think you can't excuse not going and finding a defensive end in this draft.

Even after the draft, you have not answered that situation.

And listen, Logan Jones was my number one center, probably the best center I've scouted since, I don't know, Creed Humphrey, I thought, and LinderbaumYou know, I get excited about these guys, and I'm not gonna skip over that.

It's just apparent at 25, for me the priority would've been to get Bain, Malachi Lawrence, or Cassius Howell, even R. Mason Thomas.

I don't care about Dennis Allen's trait scale, I just think defensive end is a priority position in building a roster, and it's been skipped over in five drafts, as he's talking about, and made up in trades.

Now, they can make an argument that they put three free agents into the defensive tackle room, and that's where I was okay to pass on a defensive tackle, like McDonald or Lee Hunter or Woods.

Unbelievable, how people lie

And instead, they chose to let them walk the door, uh, and, and bring in some different names that Bears fans, uh, you know, maybe aren't familiar with and aren't used to, but maybe bring a different element of what you were talking about you were looking for at the end of the year.

Yeah.

I, I've taken a different approach now.

I'm tired of the drama of fans holding on to players because, you know, they love the player.

I'm tapped into being an analyst to the extent where the tape is the truth and that's it.

The players, there's great people everywhere, but when you popped on the tape, Greg, the biggest issue happened to be the secondary, the inability to tackle, get third down stops.

Uh, Tremaine Edmunds was atrocious and, you know, they just kept rolling him out there.

the clips that I have are more about his experience with Ben Johnson and less about, like, what he's gonna bring to the wide receiver room.

I'd be shocked, yeah.

I would be shocked.

You know, good for him.

You know, then you move Al Harris up.

I, I don't think Al would go back to the Packers, in my feelers on that.

I just, I think there's natural real hate towards that staff, and I think Al is a part of that too.

I don't think he likes what LaFleur stands for and how he handles himself.

Yeah.

And I was watching your guys's post game show and, and, uh it helped me get through some things because like we you know there's a lot to compartmentalize um but you know and as much as we are going to look at the future and how bright it is you can't help but be frustrated at some of the missed opportunities last night

Yeah, obviously, a lot of missed opportunities on the Bears, period.

I know I say this all the time.

It was embedded in me as a coach and as a player.

The difference between winning and losing is catching and dropping the football.

It always comes down to this, whether it be on the defensive side or the offensive side.

Yesterday, it reared its head in a form... that we haven't seen with even Loveland dropping balls that needed to be caught and in these games those moving the chains and being maniacal with every blade of grass didn't occur for the Chicago Bears.

And so I think Phil, right? Like if they want to get to, as Ruben Brown used to call it space mountain, they have to take this defense to a whole nother level.

So Green Bay, it's time for them to step up.

I'm proud of the coach as well, Greg.

It's one of those emotional things like Adam is talking about.

There's so how many times can you get kicked to the curb and keep coming back for more? That was what the Bears Packers rivalry has been.

It's been every now and then you win, but there is no consistency.

And then the Packer.

uh hypocrisy of their fan base and worrying about our head coach taking the rivalry up to where it has been and where they poo-pooed us and no longer are you that person or that fan base, that team, that organization that's going to be sitting outside in the cold, hoping, praying, wishing you had a coach or a quarterback like that, that would stand in front of the whole stadium wrapped around his championship belt and say, I effing own you.

So that's fun

How can they stop this? And then I guess the other more pertinent question is, do they have the personnel to actually stop it?

I believe they do.

I think it starts, and I hate to be a broken record here, but DeMarco Jackson should be on the football field over a struggling Tremaine Edmonds.

It's very easy for me to see on tape that Tremaine lacks the anticipation of his read and recognize level.

filling run fits and getting into drops for a bigger linebacker.

He just sits his butt down and creates these open alleys for throwing lane.

He's not in his, his appropriate drops.

I'm just ranting and raving now that we're in the meatball melt on our, as guy Finley calls it.