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00:00Are there Bears fans like, oh my God, they put Caleb on the cover, now we're screwed?
00:04No, I feel like it's the opposite, because usually the first time you, or the, you know,
00:08when you hear somebody getting on the cover of Madden, the first thing is always, how are they
00:13going to fight the Madden curse? Can they buck the trend? And I think the sentiment in Chicago,
00:18more than anything else, is, oh my God, they have a quarterback that's worthy of being on the cover
00:24of Madden. That's a huge deal. And for everything that this team went through last year, as exciting
00:32as they were, to culminate it with this, like, because this is truly the last thing from last
00:37season, because you get the cover based on what you do the previous year. Like, this is their way
00:42of justifying everything that they went through as fans in 2025. And I think it's a good way to
00:47remember the season, because Caleb was exciting. He is one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the
00:52NFL. And that's being honored by, by, you know, an iconic video game, something that everybody
00:58knows. It's a one name basis, you know, or you're on first name basis with it. And I think that's
01:04awesome. I think it's a great thing. I think that for Caleb to get this honor, I mean, the guy
01:08literally said two months before he was drafted, that he tends to create history and likes to rewrite
01:13history. He rewrote the record books last year. And now he became the first Bears player ever on the
01:19cover of Madden. And it's awesome. Like, it's a cool thing that I think is not being overshadowed
01:24by any sort of ancillary talk of the curse or anything like that. What is the ceiling for this
01:29team this year, the Bears in particular? Because there's a natural feeling, I think, of, okay,
01:35we were able to do what we did a year ago. There's got to be growth and progression from that
01:40point,
01:40right? But like I mentioned, this is the deepest division in football. I would suspect the Lions are
01:45going to bounce back. We'll get to the Micah Parsons injury and how it affects the Packers in
01:49just a minute or two. But you've also got the Vikings maybe having some competent quarterbacking
01:55of their own. We'll see how it turns out with Kyler Murray. But it feels like this is, if you're
02:02an up
02:02and coming team looking to take the next step from, oh my God, we're in the playoffs and we won
02:08a game
02:08to we're legit contenders now, it feels like this would be the worst division to have to be,
02:13to have to go through. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's hard. It's the litmus test that they're going
02:19to face this year of just, you know, everybody has them third right now, third place finishers
02:25in the NFC North after they won the division. You're never going to get the respect that you
02:29feel like you may deserve as a franchise until you can do it repeatedly. And you can show that
02:33you're not just a one hit wonder, which, you know, all of those one score games, as we saw with
02:39the Kansas City Chiefs last season going into the 2025 season, that's not sustainable. So there
02:45will naturally be some regression for the Bears there. I mean, heck, you could say the same thing
02:49about the Denver Broncos and all the one score games that they won. You don't expect that trend
02:52to carry over. But the experience factor of those gut check moment times, the Bears have aced. I think
03:00that that's the part that shows them, hey, we can do it. We've arrived at this stage.
03:05If we start games faster, if we start scoring earlier, if we take advantage of like, the two
03:11minutes before halftime to try to get points on the board before you go into the break,
03:15like those are the things where like that changes an identity of a team. And it makes a team much
03:20more resilient, having gone through what they did last year and still being able to pull out an 11
03:26win season and win their first playoff game in 15 years. So I think the ceiling for this team
03:32this year, I mean, you can look at like the, you know, the over under how many games, all that.
03:36I think the ceiling for this team should be the divisional playoffs. Again, it's really hard to
03:41say that any team's not going to beat the Los Angeles Rams because it feels like they're forming
03:47a mega team out there with like everything that they have offensively and defensively. But
03:51the Bears are a team right now that still have holes on the roster. I think though, they're still
03:56one of the more talented teams in their own conference, let alone in their own division.
04:01Courtney Cronin of ESPN with us, talking Bears and everything NFC North here, because there've
04:05been a ton of stories this week related to the NFC North. Before I pivot to Green Bay,
04:10because we've got to talk about the Parsons injury, one last thing on the Bears. DJ Moore
04:15leaves and look, our board op Kenny, full disclosure, is a total Luther Burden stan. Like I'm pretty
04:23sure he's got a poster directly above his bed of Luther Burden that he closes his eyes to at night,
04:28which is fine. Like he's, there's a lot to believe in there. Is there a belief amongst the
04:35Bears organization that that offense can continue to grow with Burden and Adunze or, and Kalief Raymond
04:43brought in as well. Are they deep enough now on the receiving core? Because that was a strength last
04:48year. Or are they one of those teams that kind of casts an eye towards one of those veteran leftover
04:52free agent receivers as camp approaches? No, I mean, it's go time for Roma Dunze. It's year three
04:59and they used the ninth overall pick on you. Like you got to become wide receiver one this year. And
05:04if you don't, then Luther Burden's ready to snatch that role from you because that guy is a playmaker.
05:08You saw it in spurts last year. He should have been a first round pick. The Bears got lucky. He
05:14was
05:14there at 39 and they now have two very, very talented alphas in that room. And I don't think that
05:21they
05:21would be in the market for a veteran receiver because Colston Loveland is a huge part of the
05:26passing game too. So that's where a lot of the targets are going to go. I know some people say,
05:30well, where's DJ Moore's targets? How do you divvy them up? I think you have a pretty healthy share
05:34among all three of those receivers. It's just a matter of who becomes wide receiver one in this
05:39offense. Roma Dunze has this foot injury that is healed, but it's healed in a way that he called it
05:46his new normal, where his foot will never be the same. It's kind of like when you have, I mean,
05:50when you have a significant injury, typically surgery or not, your body part never goes back
05:55to being or feeling the way it was before the injury. And that's the case with his foot.
06:01I think that it's something he's going to have to learn how to play through at game speed. I know
06:05he's been doing a ton of work on it in the off season and certainly at OTAs. He's, you know,
06:09he feels he's, he'll never probably not like be, he'll never probably be a hundred percent pain free,
06:15but it's not like he's constantly playing in pain. I think what he hopes for though,
06:18is that it doesn't slow him down to the point where it's causing him to drop passes, where it's
06:23causing him, it's so painful. It's messing up his concentration the way it was last year or to the
06:28point where it becomes, it hinders his play, but there's no indication of that. He's healthy now.
06:33And I think they have a great opportunity in front of them to see who's going to step up
06:37to be the security blanket for Caleb Williams in different moments. It'll be different people,
06:42but ultimately who is the overarching one in the entire offense. And that's an exciting thing,
06:48I think, for an offense to see, knowing that you have a lot of really talented pass catchers and
06:51a lot of options. Up in Green Bay, aside from Jordan Love, the two biggest names, the next two
06:58biggest names on the roster have both had issues in the last couple of weeks that are going to
07:05make us question their availability early in the season this year. We know now Micah Parsons
07:10is going to start the year on the pup list. And they're talking about mid-October, maybe for him
07:15to be back. We've also got the whole Josh Jacobs thing going on. I saw he was at practice this
07:19week,
07:20but we have no idea if that may lead to some sort of supplemental discipline from the league later
07:25this summer, depending on how it goes. Those are two big shocks to the system, I think, for the Packers.
07:32Is there a worry you think that Green Bay takes a step back before they take two more forward?
07:39Yeah, I think their defense, I mean, we all saw what happened after the Parsons injury late in
07:45the season last year. That unit wasn't the same. So where do you find that pass rush from? Is there
07:50a temporary fix? I don't know. I think that the situation in Green Bay, knowing that two of your
07:56very big pieces have giant question marks around them, like even when Micah Parsons comes back,
08:01if it's October, I mean, the Bears face them later on in the year twice, Christmas Day being one of
08:06those games. Like, what does that look like? I think he is still going to be one of the most
08:12talented
08:13pass rushers post-injury, you know, depending upon how he heals from the ACL. But even still,
08:20it's concerning if you're Green Bay, knowing what the defense looked like from that point onwards.
08:26And now as a Josh Jacobs thing, you know, Jordan Love needs run support. And I think that that's
08:31something, if there is any sort of discipline, if he has to miss time, whatever, that you're looking
08:35at how this is going to rework the offense. But, you know, they've been paying guys up there. Like,
08:41I was stunned yesterday when I saw the Christian Watson deal. That's a dude who's injured a lot.
08:47And he just gave him a bag like that. Like, I think that's a risky, I think it's a very
08:51risky
08:52proposition for him to even like stay healthy and have a fully healthy season is always in question.
08:57So, um, I know that like, everybody's looking at Detroit saying that they're going to bounce back
09:02this year. They're going to go in the division. Like they're a damn good team. They just had to
09:05figure out the offense once Ben Johnson left. That's understandable. And then it's Green Bay
09:10and then Chicago. Like maybe we're giving Green Bay too much credit. I mean, we did just see how
09:15they lost a playoff game and the roster really hasn't changed that much from what it looked like
09:20in early January to what it's going to look like in the fall. So I, and you don't also
09:26have Rashawn Gary anymore. Like, you know, there's, there's a lot of things I think that
09:31are concerning on the more on the defensive side of the ball for Green Bay than in the
09:36offensive side of the ball. I mean, new, new defensive coordinator, people that aren't
09:40there. Like, I think that there will, I think if there's any team that's going to regress
09:43and people are going to look at the bears because of the one, the one score wins, I think Green
09:47Bay is probably a close second behind them based on what last season looked like and looked
09:52like and what this roster looks like now.
09:53I think that's a great point too. You bring up about the Christian Watson contract.
09:58They're they've gone a couple of years now without necessarily having a true wide receiver
10:03one. It's such a wide receiver by committee approach. I truly wonder what it's going to
10:08look like when, and maybe it's because it's Tucker craft and if he's healthy again, then
10:13that kind of changes the calculus in the past game, but going into another year, hoping that
10:18Matthew golden develops, hoping that Jane Reed remains consistent. And now you've got Watson
10:24being paid like a number one wide receiver somewhat. Uh, but not really knowing if he's
10:32target wise, the number one guy, I just knowing wide receivers and how maybe none of these guys,
10:38this doesn't apply to them, but knowing how their ego sometimes can get misaligned when the targets
10:44aren't coming their way. And then if offensive success also doesn't follow that, I think you
10:49create a lot of question marks and issues. Yeah. And I mean, this is, I'm looking at their depth
10:54chart right now. Like there's no name on here that should, that should truly scare you. Um, if you
10:59are a fan of another team in this division or anybody else, like I, I just don't, I don't see
11:05it.
11:06I don't see it with this team. I don't, I feel like they will have a, they will take a
11:10step back
11:10this year. I mean, hell we know with Matt LaFleur, obviously with like the contract situation,
11:15coaching for his job, all these things. And then they find out like, okay, they are going to stay
11:19with it. They are going to stay the course. I mean, they're still a wildly successful team
11:22since he was brought on. It just, I don't know. I don't know if they have enough to get themselves
11:28over the hump of being like to being in the true upper tier top two, top three teams in the
11:34NFC.
11:34I don't see it with this team.
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