cover of episode Chicago Bears O-Line Breakdown + Stories w/ Ted Albrecht | CHGO Bears Podcast

Chicago Bears O-Line Breakdown + Stories w/ Ted Albrecht | CHGO Bears Podcast

2025/6/13
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Ted Albrecht: 我认为熊队终于迎来了一位有实力的主教练。本·约翰逊需要承担更多责任,包括管理特勤组、进攻和防守。赛季中期,我才能判断他是否适应了自己的角色。新秀球员奥兹·特拉皮洛现在有很好的机会获得练习时间,因为其他球员受伤了。目前,他可能是在纸面上首发的左截锋。进攻锋线的关键在于自由球员市场。中锋需要优秀的护锋配合才能发挥出色。球队签下的来自堪萨斯城,拥有三个超级碗戒指的球员是真正的实力派。球队通过引进新的护锋,巩固了进攻锋线。我认为达内尔·赖特上个赛季表现稳定,但需要成为更优秀的球员。我在大学时打过左右截锋,所以在被调去打左截锋时感到很舒适。我对付 Leroy Selman 时会失眠,并要求额外训练。Leroy Sumlin 在防跑方面非常出色。Al Baker 的任务就是冲击四分卫。橄榄球的每一次进攻都像网球一样需要付出努力。我认为教练对四分卫的位置做得很好,他的言论也很好。四分卫在大学时有出色的进攻线和接球手,但现在都没有了。我认为四分卫需要更多地站在中锋后面接球。我喜欢球队新引进的跑卫和近端锋。我认为球队对进攻的整体补充将有助于四分卫。我认为四分卫今年有机会表现出色。进攻锋线的首要原则是不要过早被击败。中锋位置一直是个问题,我很高兴现在有了稳定的人选。我认为新引进的球员会用他们的表现赢得尊重。我认为球队在第七轮选中的跑卫是个宝。我的背部受伤缩短了我的职业生涯。

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Ted Albrecht, former Chicago Bears player, shares his insights on the team's offseason moves, focusing on the new coaching staff and the potential of the offensive line. He highlights the importance of the new additions and their potential impact on the team's performance.
  • New head coach Ben Johnson's transition from offensive coordinator to head coach.
  • Analysis of the offensive line's new additions and their potential impact.
  • Discussion on the competition for the starting left tackle position.

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Welcome into the CHGO Bears podcast. It is Friday, June 13th. Welcome into the show. They banished us to Studio B today. We've never, we like, I don't even know the last time we did a show in here, but we're here. I like it in here. It's, it's, it's, it's unique. It's comfortable. It feels like home and it's, it's, it's, it's a thrill to have the left tackle. Yeah.

From your Chicago Bears. 1977, Hogue. I was four years old, baby, when they drafted this guy 15th overall. Right out of Cal. How about that? I won't comment. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I know. I know you weren't. Welcome in. Ted Albrecht is with us today. Good friend of ours from all of our Northwestern side together. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I've known both of you since you've been in sixth grade. And this is a cozy little fit right here. And I'm glad I'm playing center today, right between two of the best guards ever right here. Oh, wow. Yeah.

I mean, this is big pressure. Ted's been doing Northwestern alongside Dave Ennett since what year? 32 years. 32 years. And, Hogue, you were the sideline reporter for how many? Six years. For six years. And then Hogue left. They gave me the gig for, like, they gave me a third of a gig for one year, four games. That was phenomenal. And then the next year, I went to Ireland. We beat Nebraska. I was on the sidelines. Then they fired me, reassigned me, and then...

Didn't win a game the rest of the year. So I left on, I mean, as you know, that was, it was, it was one of the worst decisions in Northwestern radio history. You're absolutely correct. But you wanted me close for it. You wanted me right behind you in the studio. Yeah. You're, you're there at halftime doing pre post halftime shows, everything. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, you guys get hungry. I bring stuff in, work with Adam Phillips, all the whole thing, but that's not why we're here. Well, sometimes, you know, there's still some people inside of the program that kept track of the, you know, that six year run that I had there.

You were crushing, weren't you, Matt? He was five bowl games. Five bowl games. Oh, yeah. And I want to say they won four of those? It's also annoying, too, because, like, this dude grew up a Northwestern fan, Teddy, and then he went to Wisconsin and kind of ditched the Cats, and then he came back, and he didn't really deserve it, but then he got it, and he...

He still roots for Wisconsin when they play Northwestern. I know the inside. His blood is red. It's not purple. Yeah, it is. It's unbelievable. I know that. It's true. At least I don't flip-flop like guys from Iowa sometimes. Then he's purple. Then he's...

When Kayla Clark's running around, I'm all Hawkeye. And it's well documented I cried in 95 when Northwestern lost to Rose Bowl. That sucked. I've told that story. That sucked. Many times. That really sucked. I grew up a Northwestern fan. It's a great year, though. All right. But let's get into it here. Yeah. Welcome in. We've got a fun show for you today. Friday edition as we head into the weekend and into the offseason.

Of course, Greg is still on vacation for the foreseeable future. Stephen Nicholas producing. But we thought it would be a good opportunity to bring in our guy, Ted Albrecht. Been out to practice. Yeah, he's still very much a part of the Bears family. He's been out there. He's been watching some things. We're going to hit on some of your thoughts on what the Bears have done this offseason and then dive into some of your thoughts.

great stories as well because I know you got a million of them. Bear History Friday, baby. I got 8,000 questions. He was here Ditka's rookie year at the back end of his career. There's a lot to get to. But where do you want to start here? What are your first impressions of what you've observed this offseason about just what the Bears have done? There's been a lot of changes. There's a different vibe with the

coaching staff and hopefully they get Kayla pointed in the right direction. Well, yes, it is true. I was there on last Tuesday, a bear alumni day was really great. The bears take care of us. Like you will not believe five times a year, alumni dinner or golf tournament, which is next Monday, really outstanding. They've done just a tremendous job with, with the alumni. First and foremost, they went out and got a head coach.

I think this is the first quality half coach we've had in a while. We've made some mistakes in some hires, you know, in the last several years. But this guy is ready. Now, I need to make sure we understand something. He is no longer the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions where he has one responsibility, the offense. Now he has to manage three responsibilities, special teams, offense, and defense. And he's got to manage the team.

Therefore, a lot of extra responsibility. He's going to have to rely a lot on his special teams coach and his D coordinator and his offensive coordinator. Now, his offensive coordinator is much younger. He's going to do a lot of the dirty work, right? A lot of the cleanup.

But he is going to have to have his head in that game, in that game plan. He can't drift over in the middle of the game and see how the defense is doing and get in their huddle. So that's a totally different change than just being the old coordinator up in Detroit Lions. Now he's got to run the whole show. So along those lines, when will you know, Ted, that he's in your mind as a former player watching the whole thing unfold that Ben...

has got it going as far as comfortable understanding his role and settling into being a head coach in the NFL? Wonderful question. Thank you. Halfway through the season.

Yeah, okay. Halfway through the season. Got to give him a little starting jolt. You got to give him a little run up to the edge of the high dive and then let him sail in midair and see how he lands on the water. But I think eight games, nine games into it, that's about halfway. I think we can judge him then. Well, he's talked about that it's not going to be – they're not going to be a finished product week one. What do you – as a left tackle, what do you think –

I mean, how would you go about this, trying to figure out if you're Ben, who's going to play week one, when you've got a guy in Braxton who's been there but is coming off an injury, and you're obviously paying attention to that, and then now you've got two guys, one a rookie that you like in Ozzie Trapillo, but hasn't played, is not exclusively a left tackle. Some people think he's a right tackle, and then there's Caron, who you drafted in the third round last year but hasn't played.

So I met Ozzy up there at camp. He's a large human being. He is just under six, nine. He's just over like three, three 15. Yes. He is a very big man. I wanted to personally meet him. I did. I shook his hand. It's on my tippy toes. He's a giant. And I hope he has that same smile on his face that he cannot get off his face right now when the season's over. Like, I hope that doesn't go away. Well, um,

we were stationed when we were at practice, we were stationed just above the North end zone up on that deck up there. That's what they call it. The beer garden. Yeah. There was no beer up there by the way. They let us up there one time. Okay. Well, there's no beer. Welcome back. We did have a nice lunch. Um,

We were looking right down on the offensive line, and I'm watching all the linemen go through drills with their offensive line coach. They have two offensive line coaches. And I'm watching the feet, and I'm watching how they work, and they're doing some hand reaction replacement on bags and stuff. I was very impressed with him.

Good feet, good lateral movement, never over, he's not a waist bender, he's a knee bender. A lot of fundamentally good things. For a guy that's 6'9", almost 6'9", sometimes you play high because you have to because you're so tall. I think right now he's in a great position because these other guys haven't played and they're hurt.

So he gets a lot of PT, gets a lot of practice time. And the more you practice, the better you get. So I think right now he's probably on paper your starting left tackle until these other guys come around and get healthy. I mean, that's why you drafted him. He's like the second pick in the second round, I mean. Yeah, no, well, it's – like the floor seems like you're our swing tackle and, you know, ceiling is he's actually going to start his rookie year. Well, and I think what Ted's getting at, we all –

I don't know if politics is the right word, but as much as like preferences and flavors. But everybody in the league has their flavors of players. It's why all these players get evaluated differently by different teams. So you have the guys that like your front office scouted and drafted and fell in love with. And then on the next layer of that, you have the...

the players from this year who were scouted and drafted also by this coaching staff. And we keep talking about the types of defensive players that Dennis Allen wants and the offensive players that Ben Johnson wants. So I feel like that's one of the edges Ozzie Trapillo has in this battle is yes, all three players involved, Braxton Jones, Karan Amagaji, and Ozzie Trapillo were drafted by Ryan Poles, but only Ozzie Trapillo was drafted by Ben Johnson.

So if he does all his homework and understands the game and understands the offense, I feel like that makes him the early favorite for the job.

Well, he's got to earn it first. He's got an opening. He's got an opportunity. Guys aren't really healthy and ready at that position. He can get right in, and he is getting practice time. But I really think I need to look at the bigger picture from 32,000 feet, and that is the offensive line. And I think the trigger to this offensive line was free agency.

We had to go in and get ourselves a center and two guards because a center is as only good as his two guards. A center can be a Hall family's playing with two junior junior leaguers. He's going to look like crap. Hola.

And we got ourself a center, got him from Atlanta, five-year vet, really like him. And then we went out and got the kid from Kansas City who has three Super Bowl rings, okay? Three Super Bowl rings, played for Belichick in New England and, of course, Kansas City where he was a starter. Tooney is the real deal, like him.

And then, of course, they got the big kid from used to be at Detroit for two years, then went to the Rams, and now Jackson, Jonah Jackson. So that is the solidification that you now have in your offensive line. You can build out from there. So we had Jervon Dexter on the show yesterday.

Should I know him? I don't know new guys. No, no, Gerard Dexter, the defensive tackle on defense. Oh, okay, okay. You know Big Dex. Yeah, yeah. So what I was going to say was, so he's been lining up in practice against those guys every day. Now, they don't have the pads on yet, but I asked him, I'm like, what have you been able to tell already from the three new guys that are on that O-line? And he was like...

Well, look, obviously they're all veterans, but they came in from three different places. It seems like they've all been playing together for a really long time already. Like he could already, the way they're communicating up front, and he's been primarily, Dexter's probably been mostly into one technique, some three technique, but he's been kicking inside more than his first couple years. So he's been going up against Drew Dallman a lot and those guards inside, and he's already sensing that even though the pads haven't been on yet.

I've seen Dahlman when I was at practice. He is a short center, which there's nothing wrong with that. He is 6'3". He's just over 305. He is built like a brick house. He is solid. There's not an ounce of fat on that guy. And then Tooney, I mean, he just moves like a cat.

And he's a little bigger. He's about 6'4", 6'5". And everybody's around. None of these offensive linemen are like 350 or 325. They're all just around or over 300. That means they're quick. But I saw their movement. I like those three guys. You can build an offense, a running game around those three guys. And you got the right tackle. I saw him make a one-handed catch going down the field. Did you see that?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. One handed. I got a nice video of it. Yeah, I saw that. And so then I think now we just piece in the left tackle. Are you what's been in your impression of Darnell Wright two years in the league? I think Darnell Wright is he had a nice rookie year. He was stable. He was OK last year. I give him, you know, be a B minus. Now I need to be an A player. Yeah, I needed to see him an A player. He's a big boy.

You played as a rookie, came right in, and now 15th overall pick. I guess that's what was expected back then. It's probably expected now, and things have changed a little bit since 1977. But just to the Trapillo point, how hard, from your experience or whatever you think it is, hey, dude,

Yeah, you were at Boston College. You were nice. But go out there and block the best in the world at doing it, trying to get to the quarterback. That seems like a pretty step up in class. Okay, so at Cal, I flip-flop. So the guard, the tight end, and the right tackle, when we wanted to go strong left, the three of us went to the left. So I played both left and right. And we played 60% right-handed and 40% left-handed. So I got 40% of my time at left tackle. So I was drafted as a guard –

um by the bears we had six pre-season game we had the hall of fame game we were in camp for 10 weeks and we hadn't even played a regular season game yet that's crazy and the whole time i was playing left guard the whole time i was playing left guard well lino anton they reasoned they they they drafted me in the first place he had a bad knee and he was done they said ted second game of the season second game of the regular season you're left tackle now

Oh, wow. So I knew the position. I played there 40% of the time in college. I played tackle. There was no such thing as a left-handed stand, so I didn't have to deal with that. But now I was thrown in there, and I was totally comfortable playing there at left tackle.

Now, there was a lot of sleepless nights when I had to play six All-Pros in a row. But other than that, I was fine. Yeah, I mean, we can go into this further down the line here. But my scouting report tells me that when you got ready for Leroy Selman, you did not sleep at all and that you asked for extra reps all week long. I did. Al Baker. I mean, Al Baker, Leroy Selman, one thing about him, he was a little bit easier to pass protect against because I saw his move. I

I played him so much, I saw his single move, which was devastating, but I got that move. But when he was dangerous, it was on first and second down when he was playing two and a half yards off the ball. Now I'm chasing him. We're running sweep right, we're running sweep left. If we run sweep left, I overreach, he comes behind me. If I underreach, then he fights through my hat and makes the tackle for a two-yard loss. So Leroy Sumlin was vicious against the run. That's where he made his money.

He just scared everybody on the pass rush because they didn't play him enough. I played him 10 times. I knew how to play him. But Al Baker, now there's a guy who was from Detroit. So he had no responsibilities for screens and draws. And all they told him, they said, get to the quarterback. Just get to the quarterback. So...

You know, Carl made this ridiculous argument yesterday that tennis players are the most athletic players. And I try to tell him about left tackles. I say, have you seen these left tackles these days?

Ted, you're a tennis guy. Back me up. Five and a half hours on the court by yourself playing some lunatic. You're running around here. You've got to hit 30 balls to win one point. 15 love. Now do it again. I'm sorry. What do you think happens every snap on a football? By the way, hockey's pretty good, too. Yeah, I know. I wish I was Lee Steinberg. I was his sixth client. I didn't know you were one of Lee's clients. Yeah, sixth client. And Steve Warkowski was his first.

And when I signed my contract with the Bears, he goes, you were born the right year. Now I'm saying, no, I wasn't. No, you weren't. But maybe at the time you were. Now Lee Steinberg has Patrick Mahomes. He has 15 starting NFL quarterbacks. He's back at it again. He's totally back. Yeah, he's back. Mahomes was like one of his first guys back in the game. What was your first contract? How much did you make? Do you remember? My whole contract was $405,000. My signing bonus was $95,000.

You had four or five for the five years? I had a five-year contract for $405,000. And my signing bonus was $95,000. Lenny Walterscheid made the minimum, which was $23,500. $23,500. $23,500. $23,500. $80,000, $80,000, $80,000 a year. NFL left tackle. You were not born at the right time. Still a good chunk of change back then. You probably felt like you were rich as hell. Oh, gosh, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, we got more coming up with Ted Albrecht. We're going to obviously talk about the quarterback situation. We've got plenty more stories coming your way as well. But first, Sunnyside Cannabis Dispensary is your home for judgment-free cannabis shop. It's a place for all kinds of visitors. Welcome to explore, discover, purchase a wide array of high-quality products. Sunnyside has everything you need to elevate your summer. It's a one-stop shop for all your cannabis needs.

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for 50% off one Cresco Labs brand item. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. Shout out to our friends at True Fan Travel. We are indeed headed to Las Vegas via our friends at True Fan Travel. We're going to be taking over all of Vegas. Hoag's going to completely dominate. It's going to be an epic weekend. You're invited, and yes, it is when the Bears are playing the Raiders. September...

25th weekend. It's an all-inclusive trip. Includes a three-night stay at a premium Vegas resort. It's going to be sweet. You're going to get tickets to the game. You're going to get access to our VIP parties. And, yeah, we're going to make some unforgettable events. All of us are going to be having a great time. Myself, Hoag, Braggs. Awesome stadium. The weather's going to be amazing because it's still September. It's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, don't...

Going to Vegas is sweet, but don't gamble on missing the ultimate experience. Book your spot now at truefantravel.com. Come to Vegas. All right, bringing it back here with Teddy. Caleb Williams, what are your thoughts? First year, where it stands now with Ben Johnson?

Well, he's got the right coach. I like Ben Johnson. I think that he's done very well with that position. He's very savvy. I think everything that I've heard him say on and off the field has been really, really good.

Now, Caleb, I think, you know, his junior year at USC, he ran around and threw for like 40 touchdowns and three interceptions. He had a great line. He had a great running back, and he had a bunch of great wide receivers. That's why he won the Heisman. And when he came here, he had none of that. I got in a discussion with Coach Fitz. We recently went to a Cub game together along with my partner Dave and another guy. And on the way home, we got in this little discussion about Caleb.

And he belongs to this little private group of, they call them 30 and 13. 30 former general managers and 13 former coaches. And they asked him if he'd like to join the club. And they do everything on Zoom. He said, so I watched every single snap of Caleb Williams, his rookie year for the Bears. Because why? I had time and I had access. Okay. So he has really...

kind of the same belief and comment that this guy does because I know he's not a big Caleb fan. No. He's not in his camp. How is this moving around the way it's moving around? It's two guests in two days, buddy. It's okay. I'm apparently going to have to wear this hat. Go ahead. But...

Me and Fitz. Fitz said that he held on the ball too long. He didn't go through his progressions. He didn't go through his reads. He had a tendency to maybe move out of the pocket quicker than he should. So he wasn't staying in the pocket like he should. Now, my comeback to him was, listen, if you walk out of your apartment and turn right and go down the sidewalk and a guy hits you with a broom in the back of your head.

The next day when you come down and turn right on the sidewalk, what are you doing? You're looking for that broom. So when you're hit, when you're pressured 96 times and sacked 68 times, you're looking for the broom. You're not looking for what you're supposed to all the time downfield. So I think it's a combination. I think it's a combination, okay, of him having his head on a swivel when he should have been directed a little bit more on his reeds

I don't think he had the running game. I don't think he had the offensive line. I think he went through, what, three offensive coordinators in his rookie year and a head coach that was fired. And I think, you know, when they were four and two, I think that new offensive coordinator was doing the job for him.

And then all of a sudden it just fell apart from there. The line fell apart, coaching fell apart, the staff fell apart, and so I don't know not put all the blame on him. That's my initial reaction. No, and honestly, my takeaway from all that is all of those criticisms from Coach Fitz are fair based on what the tape shows. I mean, it's all on tape, but then there's also –

And what you're saying is completely fair, too, because it was you could look at it the other way and be like, it's kind of amazing. He did what he did and put up the numbers he did under the circumstances he was under. So that just leaves leaves us back here to where we are now in mid-June being like, well, we think all of this is better now. Will the results show that none of us really know that at this point? But I think the one thing we can all agree on is, look, you're going to be pressured in this league.

You've got to find some way to not take as many of those sacks because that's where the line gets blurred between are sacks the offensive line's fault or the quarterback's fault. We talked to some, I think it was Ross Tucker maybe at the Super Bowl this year, Ted, I want to hear your thoughts on this as an offensive lineman. And his thinking was pressure is on the offensive line, but sacks are on the quarterback.

Because ultimately, at the end of the day, now that's not universal. It's not like a quarterback can avoid every single sack, obviously. Some you're going to take. But the idea is experienced quarterbacks, you get to the highest level, you find ways, whether it's pre-snap or post-snap, to get the ball out. Identify where the pressure's coming from or where your weaknesses are and get the ball out somehow. Do you think that's a fair way to look at it? I think it is. I think, too, he's got to get under center a little bit more. You know, our...

You know, Mike White was our head coach out there and Roger Theater, and I won't get into all these names, but these guys were, they were throwing the ball before anybody was throwing the ball, you know, the West Coast offense. And we, you know, there were some, very rarely there were some guys out of the gun, but they

But when you take the ball from under center, you're already reading the defense during that whole cadence and during that entire transition exchange to the quarterback. And you've now got the ball in your hand, and you're stepping back, and you're reading. Versus if you're in the gun, you've got to focus on you've got to get the ball first. That's a lot of time wasted. And I think he's got to get under center. Listen.

He's got a better running back. I like the kid from Rutgers who we got in the seventh round. They were loaded running backs this year in the draft. That's a very, very high-quality pick. That's a steal. I think our receivers are going to be better. The kid from Michigan, the tight end, are you kidding me? He's going to run seam routes over the middle? Who's going to...

What safety is going to match up with him? What nickelback is going to stay with him? And certainly not a linebacker. I just like the overall addition to our offense, and it's only going to help him at his position.

It's only going to help him in my eyes. So you think that Caleb is going to go down as the greatest quarterback in Chicago Bears history by a mile? Is that fair? Hall of Famer. Hey, speaking into existence, we would all sign up for that in a nano. I think he's got a good chance this year to have a really good year. A really good year. He's got a good chance. He's got a lot of the pieces together.

Listen, when you know that you're not pressured from the inside and you're going, holy, this guy's in my face already. You know, the cardinal sin for an offensive lineman is get beat in a hurry. If you get beat in a hurry, the quarterback's got no chance. He's barely taken his five-step drop and he sees a leakage right away in his face. So if you're going to get beat as an offensive lineman, the rule is you get beat late.

because the quarterback has a chance. So there was a lot of occasions where guys were getting beat early. I mean like Ole, okay? Ole block. Yeah, no, it was... The center position has been an issue. That's well documented, so... I think we're all really happy Drew Dahlman's here to bring some stability to...

to that spot. Yeah. I mean, the bears have raised the floor significantly. I heard an interview from both Tooney and him from Atlanta, Dolman. They sound so mature, so veteran, like so on their game, such good teammates, such good locker room guys. That is a huge upgrade right there.

How important is it in an offensive line room to have a vocal leader that just sort of directs the whole deal? Because the Bears have been searching for that for a while, and I thought that maybe Drew Dahlman would be that, but he doesn't reek of being a vocal guy, neither does Tooney for that matter.

I think they're going to be quiet leaders. I think they're just with their presence and with their play, they're going to let their play do the talking. And I think the respect that they're going to have on that line, those three guys, I don't think there's any question they're going to get everybody's respect in the offensive room, not just the offensive line.

You mentioned a couple minutes ago that you like Kyle Monungai, who they got from Rutgers in the seventh. I'm playing a bunch. Yeah, I was going to say, like, I think Northwestern opened there two years ago? Yes, we did. Is that right? Yes, we did. We don't have to talk about the results of the game. But do you remember seeing Monungai in that game? Yeah. That year, which was not this last year, the year before, he ran for over 1,200 yards. Mm-hmm.

And he had a bunch of touchdowns. And their offense was really good, really good. And, you know, I've heard things about, well, he was the only thing that their offense had. Doesn't make any difference. He did everything well. Caught the ball in the backfield and ran between the tackles. I think it's a steal. Really like him.

So let's just use that as a jumping off point running back wise because I think, if memory serves, you blocked for the greatest ever doing it in good old number 34 who was drafted two years ahead of you. So you get to the Bears. Here's this guy, Walter Payton.

Your job, in addition to making Bob Avellini somehow look good, RIP Bob Avellini in the quarterback situation. But like, what was your first moments with Walter? What do you remember when you first got there? And I, you know, I've talked to different guys, Hamp and whatnot. It's like, like he was like Hollywood. Like it was, it was a different level when you're having that guy in your locker room.

Well, first of all, there was no combine in 1977. So I flew to five teams and one of them was Green Bay Packers and one of them was not the Chicago Bears. I remember sitting in O'Hare getting to catch a flight to Green Bay and I'm thinking, wow, wouldn't it be something if like the Bears drafted me with Walter Payton? That'd be really cool. Of course, I never talked to any scout before.

I played in four bowl games, you know, North, South, East, West, Shrine games, the Hula Bowl and the Japan Bowl. Never saw a scout from Chicago ever talk to me. And then the phone rings when I'm at the Berkeley Marina Marriott, and Lee Steinberg says, it's the Bears. And I said, Walter Payton, are you kidding me? So I blocked for two of the greatest running backs of all time, Chuck Muncy and Walter Payton. Chuck Muncy getting a mention, that's awesome. Yeah, the Chaz.

What was that like for you? So you were born here, but you were raised in California. So, I mean, was it... Obviously, the Walter Payton excitement is one thing, but did it feel also like some sort of homecoming getting drafted by the Bears? Well, it felt for my parents because my dad went to the Illini, and I left when I was three. We already had four of us and two more born out there, so a total of six. Yeah.

So I heard a lot about the Chicago Bears from my dad. And by the way, there was blackouts then. So you didn't see the home games of the Raiders and the Niners. So we watched the black and blue division every single week they were on. Every single week. So I was a huge Packer fan back in the day. And that's why I wear the number I wear.

Jerry Kramer. Yeah. Wow. I didn't know that. I want to hear the Jerry Kramer story. Sure. So I go to Green Bay, and who's the head coach? He's Bart Starr. He said, Coach, we'll see you in an hour. So I got in the night before, got a workout in. He said, he'll see you in an hour. So we had a little workout. I walked him in his office. He's sitting behind the desk. We met for 30 minutes. We talked football for the last five minutes. Right.

And I told him at the very, very end, as I got up and shook his hand, I go, you know, my all-time favorite player was Jerry Kramer. If you were to happen to draft me, do you think I can get number 64? And he said, there's no way. I get any of that.

First game we played at Lambeau Field, Bears versus Packers. It was Lambeau, first time there, unbelievable experience, favorite place to play, Lambeau Field. And, you know, back then everybody, now everybody shakes hands and you have a prayer and exchange jerseys. Back then, no, you went to your locker room. But what I did is I waited because he was talking to someone just momentarily, and then when he turned around, I said, coach. And he turned around and he said, I see you got the number.

So he remembered. That's awesome. Two-time Super Bowl champion, Jerry Kramer. Super Bowl I, Super Bowl II, baby. Come on. Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer. Hall of Famer. Super Bowl five-time NFL champion. It's not a bad job. Not a bad role model to pick. All right, we got more coming up with Ted. That's a great story. We have to pull a couple more out of you before we get out of here. One more time out here with Ted Albrecht on the show, and then we'll return. But first...

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All right, all right. One more segment with Bears great, Bears offensive lineman, Northwestern color commentator, Illinois born, the whole thing here. I just want to go down memory lane here. First of all,

I know there's got to be some Walter stories in the locker room and or on the field that put a smile on your face thinking about 34. Two of them. We used to always lift weights starting about 7.30 in the morning, offensive and defensive line. You'd get some scattered linebackers in there, but we were pretty steady. Loved to work out. Loved to be in there with Hardenstein and Ozzie and all those guys. Two occasions. One occasion, you know, we're warming up. We got like, you know, 315, 350 on the bar. We're doing bench. And in comes Walter. Slips underneath. Ha!

Puts it on the rack and walks out. Doesn't say a word. Another occasion, maybe a month later, here comes Walter. Goes to the weight room, goes to the end of the weight room, does a handstand up on the wall. So he's looking through his arms, and he's looking at us. And we're watching this. And his feet are up against the wall. And he continues to do 10 handstand push-ups. Oh, my gosh.

10. And I want you to tell you, you try. I couldn't even get my feet up to the wall to begin with. So when he left, I go, come on, help me get my feet up. I couldn't do two. Yeah. That's unbelievable. That's why I like stories like that is why then I look at our friend, Jared Payton, and I'm like, you don't even need to work out, do you? Cause he's like, he, that guy's out of his mind too. Every time he gives me a hug, he like breaks eight bones in my back. Um, but that's just, you know, those,

All men were not created equal. Let's go down the list here. Did you know towards the end of your career how good of a defense that they were about to be? Hampton was there. Singletary was there. My guy Al Harris was there. Todd Bell was there. Did you have any inkling? Buddy was already in the room. So, I mean, there's a lot to touch on here. What were you seeing as a guy that had to practice against him every day?

No question the talent was coming. Jim Finks did a terrific job filling that defensive squad. Dan Hampton was pretty much unblockable. Unblockable. In practice, when he first came in, he was very, very confident. Very confident. Very cocky. In fact, he and I didn't get along for about...

Probably about 10, 15 years, and now we're fine. You know, we're fine. We're fine. Saw him at the funeral of Mrs. McCaskey. We're great. He's settled down. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. I like him. But he was unblockable. Mike Singletary, the first time I tried to block Mike Singletary, they had me in at guard for some reason. So it was a short pull. Blocked the first guy you see from the inside out. Here comes the middle linebacker.

And, I mean, he blew me up. He blew me up. He was only about this tall. Man, he was something else. He played low leverage. That defense, I knew right away. And Buddy Ryan, I mean, they love Buddy. They love Buddy. And Buddy was brilliant. Had a nickname for everybody. He didn't call anybody by their name, call them by their number or by their nickname.

So single turn 50, that was one of the famous documentaries on the 85. So if you were a big guy, he called you Big'em. Big'em. Big'em. Like big man. Big'em. Yeah. So you weren't necessarily, and for those that don't know, your career got cut short because of the injury.

So you weren't necessarily surprised as you're watching in the 80s what ended up unfolding. Oh, yeah. So I was doing postgame for WBBM at the time right after I retired. Doug Plank had the job. He moved out to Phoenix and they said, Ted, do you want the job? So in 1984, I was doing the postgame.

And I was doing pregame. So the home games, I would be at Soldier Field. And the away games, I wouldn't go. I would have it in the studio. But when they played the NFC Championship game in San Francisco, I went. I got family out there. I said, no, I'll go. So I saw that game firsthand, 20 to nothing. They got shut out. And you know what happened on the airplane coming home. They were really upset, if I can use that term. It was the worst one. They were really upset. Yeah.

And they made sure that they were going to take care of business in 85, and they did. But that...

I think it all started with Buddy Ryan and then Jim Finks got the puzzle pieces together and then Buddy made it work. Did you... What type of interactions did you have with McMahon? Excuse me. Thank you very much. Well, I played a lot of golf with Jim McMahon early in his career. I think we played Sunset Golf Course in Highland Park. And he had nine beers in probably 12, 13 holes. And when he threw his 56-degree wedge...

at the green because he dumped it in the bunker. Luckily, it hit the top of the bunker and it landed at my feet or it would have been in my jaw. So I got a little upset, but overall, Jim was such a competitor. I mean, he was a winner, very, very savvy, very smart guy. He doesn't come off that way, extremely smart guy.

And, you know, he just had that instinct of how things were going to work out. I mean, he didn't do a lot of studying, but he had instincts. He knew what was coming on. When's the last time you threw a golf club? Oh, I think my dad broke, just about broke my arm when I was 10 years old. Said, we don't throw clubs. I love it. Yeah. So I learned early. That's, that's, that's a good ass dad right there. Uh,

You guys don't actually know this, but at the golf outing we had, I'm now down to seven iron. It got snapped over my knee. What? You need to chill out. I'm the last hole. I just couldn't. It was one of those things. That's... Steven will talk after this show. I've got multiple therapists that I can refer to you in my journey. You got an Otis Wilson story? He was also there. Or Fensick, one of those two?

Otis Wilson, I can't tell that story in the air. He talked about, he talked in a documentary that he had one woman showing up at 8 and another one at 9 and another one at 10. God bless him. The man was living the dream. He put that out there himself. The guy was living the life of the idiot. I miss that. Yeah.

You don't have to go down that road. Maybe there's another road. Well, Gary Fensick. Okay, there we go. The Yale guy. Let's clean it up. Great player. Super smart. I remember coming home on way trips and he's on the airplane studying to get his master's.

I mean, who does that? You've got a four-hour trip coming back to play. The Sangalo Chargers, we lose 46 to 10, and he's studying for his master's. So I really respected him a lot. I saw him at Virginia McCaskey's funeral. It was good to see all those guys. He was the who's who of the Bears. Really great. Hampt, McMichael, Kemp.

You know, all the coaches were in front of me and and I sit next to Waddle and I said, oh, wow, isn't that the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs? And he goes, he goes, yeah, it is. And I said, wow, it's too bad he had to go to two funerals in one week. Woof. He goes, good one.

It was a stunning Super Bowl. That was a stunner. I tell you, I saw Leslie Frazier, too, and afterwards I went up to him and I said, we're so proud of you. That guy has done so much in his career as a coach, and he just gave me a big hug. But there's another guy who has succeeded beyond, you know. Yeah. It's kind of amazing all the names you look back on. Class act, man. That somehow touched the Bears in the 80s. I mean, John.

I mean, Jeff Fisher's another one. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's crazy. I can't tell you any Jeff Fisher stories either. Well, I think that Fisher, if memory serves, McMahon, when he got here, they lived in Ravinia, which is whatever small north suburb

attached to Highland Park and they had these, you know, in the Ravinia district, there were just, there was kind of these smaller houses and across the street was, was Burton Park. And you would see McMahon, Jeff Fisher, I think Ken Marjoram were all living together and just, and like, like normal people in this, you know, North shore community. It was, it was, it was fairly bizarre, but, but, but amazing for a kid that you'd get to see these guys. Jeff Fisher said to me one time, he goes, what's the difference between UCLA football player and a, and a, and a Trojan?

I said, I don't know. He goes, a USC football player, I mean, a Bruin, he's got jewelry on, he's got a purse that he carries, he's got these Gucci shoes, his hair's all greased up and stuff, he's got a really nice shirt on that looks really cool. I said, and SC, he says, we wear T-shirts and tennis shoes, and we kick the crap out of you if you look at us the wrong way.

That would definitely apply back then. I think the money's flowing into USC pretty nicely these days. Yeah, yeah. They're not struggling. Jeff Fisher, he's a great player, a good guy. A couple of Northwestern things on the way. I see you got the team-issued kicks. We can't get those on camera right now. I do miss the goodie bag that came every year.

We need you to rank your all-time Northwestern sideline reporters before you get out of here. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogue. That was how we used to call him. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogue. It was just like one word. Adam Hogue. Yeah.

It's eight letters, one word. Maybe six letters, actually. Well, you know, you guys would always take a great pregame picture, you know, going to the big house and whatnot. And Friday night dinners, too. Yeah, Friday night dinners, maybe a scotch or whiskey or bourbon after that, too. We got to go out to your...

world-ish when we went to Stanford. And I believe that was when they celebrate Dave's 30th year on the broadcast. And there was like a cool little presentation with the banner they gave him. And now you're at 32 years. Yeah. So at 25, they gave me a watch and they gave me a cigar, a cigar box with glass engraved 25 years. And they gave me 25 years.

really quality cigars so that was good so i got compensated i will say this like i of all the jobs i've had in places i've been like northwestern first class in terms of treating you like treating my family like family not just me like my wife my kids like it it's uh

It was good. And shout out to your partner, Dave Ennett, who we had a lot of great... He's probably going to be mad he wasn't invited to this. He might be, but he couldn't fit in here. We've got a tight studio today. But look, we've had some amazing play-by-play talent in this town. Jim Durham is my personal all-time favorite growing up listening to Bulls basketball. RIPJD, the guy was the greatest. Wayne Larravee.

Joniak has had an incredibly long run, and they can keep going and going and going as far as just radio play-by-play guys. But Dave doesn't get necessarily the credit in Chicago that he deserves, but I would put Dave up there, and I've told him this a million times, as good as anyone who's ever done it on the mic radio play-by-play-wise, and you get to work with them every day. But that, I mean, pro and a half, and Northwestern's never going to be as big as the Bears or even close to it. Right. But...

so he doesn't get the acclaim that he deserves, but you've really gotten to work with one of the greatest. Every year, the Big Ten radio guys get together and we play golf and have dinner, and this year was in Chicago. Dave and I kind of hosted, and we had all the guys out to my pit, which is my man cave. I call it the pit, which is my garage. I haven't had a car in there in 10 years, but I do have flat screens, a bar, and lounge seating and stuff. It's fantastic. I've been there. Yeah. It's gotten even better. Oh, man.

But we had all of us. Master's Friday at the pit. There you go. And we've had everybody in there for the party. We didn't go to a restaurant. We had Chicago-style pizza, Lou Milonati's in the pit with scotch and beer. I got to refrig their full beer. We had a great time. But all the radio guys, all the radio guys in the Big Ten love and adore Dave Ennett, as I do. Who's harder on you, Dave Ennett or Jeff Joniak?

Uh, do a Joniac's more direct. Dave gives me more looks sideways. Like, okay, maybe perhaps do that better. Next time. You should see the banter between him and Joniac in the media room. Even when he comes out there, I think the compliment you, it's like a, it still feels like he's taking a dig at you. Yeah. No, he's listen, these guys, they're type a dudes. They got standards. Yeah.

Get in, get out. I don't know what his general looks are when I do my pregame pieces because a lot of times I'm in the studio or whatever. But, you know, occasionally he likes what I do, right? Dave appreciates you. Once in a blue moon. Go ahead. What were we going to see? I was going to wrap up here, so we've got to get to our last break. Okay. All right. Well, Ted, why don't we put you on the spot then? How many wins for Chicago Bears 2025?

Well, they say 8.5 is the over and under. That's what they're saying. They say Detroit and Minnesota are going to come down to about 10. So there you go. We need to be somewhere between 11 and 9 wins if we want to be. I think I don't think.

I think it's going to be very difficult for us to get to the playoffs this year. I'm not sure we're going to get there. Yeah, the vision's really tough. I think there's a way, though. Exactly. And the Packers are still good. So divisions type might be the best division in football, maybe besides the AFC West. So, hey, man.

Let's cross our fingers. Are you picking the Packers to win the North? No, no. I just said they're also up. Okay. Some people are picking the Packers. How about nine wins, but two of them against Green Bay? You taking that? This guy swept the Packers before.

I mean, we beat the Packers last game of the year last year, so I hope so. Bears are 1-0 in 2025. People forget that. Yeah, that's right. January 3rd, was it? Yeah, it was. Something like that. We crossed over into this year. All right, my last nugget that you were a phenomenal tackle, had a great career, but if they had just stuck you at guard...

Some of your teammates think you would have been a multi-time pro bowl year after year after year. Any response to that? As the Bears consider where to put people? Oh, maybe a Quran-Omegaad situation here.

Well, I hurt my back my rookie year, and that kind of lingered for five years. That put me out of the game finally. But I hurt my back my third year, regular season game, my first year of my career. And slowly but surely, it just depleted me to where I can't do it anymore. Yeah.

I'm happy. I started 78 games. Karma hasn't played tennis in four months because of his ankle. You deserve at least three massages a week. I hope you're getting it. We've got to keep you going. Get to the pit, to the golf course, back to the pit. Three massages a week. If I can contribute in any way just because you came here today, Ted, I'm happy to do it. But we really appreciate the time. Thanks for making us. Truly love this man. One of the best. Ted Albrecht here. We've got a little bit more coming up on the show. But first...

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Well, Carmen, it was a bad job by us because I just realized, I don't know if it was on camera during that whole interview with Ted, but there's an Illinois helmet. That's terrible. Just get the purple up here. Behind it is the Northwestern, which we should have just had sitting here the entire time. You know... Why is the tag still on us? What are we doing here? Could be returnable. I respect it. Listen...

The purple has brought a lot of good to this town. Damn it. People, you know, shout out to Crystal. Damn it. She's going to come to a Northwestern game for the first time ever this year. That's the plan, at least. And yeah, you know, Ted's represented the Bears. He's represented Northwestern. You're a wildcat deep through and through, Hogue. I care what you say. I don't say otherwise. Yeah. You say otherwise. It's true. I cried when Keyshawn Johnson, USC...

Won the Rose Bowl over Northwestern. That was a sad day for nine-year-old Adam Hogan. It's also true that I have season tickets to Northwestern basketball that I offer up all the time. Hogan never asked for them. Then when Wisconsin comes in, hey, can I get four for Wisconsin? You got it, buddy. That's right. I think I've come through the last two years for you. It's been a decent job by me.

Is that right? The best part is the basketball tickets you got me last year were behind Wisconsin's bench. Yeah, right. I put you right there for you. And I texted him to my buddy in Wisconsin. He was like, those are better than I could have gotten you. Shout out Marlene Wells, WGN. But, you know, the first game I did, sidelines, they're playing Stanford. It was in Evanston, though. Running back for Stanford was... Steven? Steven?

Christian McCaffrey back healthy could be a big year for Christian McCaffrey Christian McCaffrey though that cat defense shut him down shut his ass down and Northwestern won that game

And then everybody at Stanford blamed it on the fact that they were playing that game at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Too bad. Because it was an 11 a.m. game. Just your clock, Cardinal. Losers. Maybe you're onto something about tennis players. Yeah. That's right. Can't play football at 9 a.m. That's another thing about tennis. Go play in Australia, then go over to London, and then go to France, then play in America, and then go to China, and then go to Japan. I mean, you know? Okay. Degree of difficulty. That sounds awesome, man.

I would love to do all that. It does sound amazing. Oh, you got four big tournaments a year, and they're in Australia and France and London and New York City. Yeah, those are the big four, but most players, they play all the tournaments, and it never stops. So it's actually a really long season. That was 10 years ago. Yeah, well. I'm talking. He's looking up Northwestern, ladies and gentlemen. Big 13-7 win at Camp Randall that year. I love our Friday crowd. Absolutely love you. Thank you so much.

Hit that like button. Hit the subscribe button. CHGO Bears, Monday through Friday at noon. Well, here, I'll bring this back to Bears. Okay. The Bears and Northwestern both played at Outback Stadium. Wait, what is this? Is it called Outback Stadium? The Outback Bowl? The Raymond James Stadium or whatever the hell it's called. Yeah, Tampa. But the Bears played there on Sunday. Cats were there on Monday? I was smoked by the Bucs, I think, if I remember.

A lot of bad memories going to Bears games there. And then I just stayed because the Cats were flying in, I think the same day for the Outback Bowl, and they got smoked by Tennessee 45-6. It's not great. But it was a good week in Tampa for Adam Hogue, which is the point. That is the point. That was the point. I hope you went over to Saddlebrook. It was a car moment. It's my favorite resort. It's the old Saddlebrook Tennis Resort in Tampa. There's a great...

called Oyster Catchers that Jeff Dickerson loved inside the Hyatt Regency there where we stayed that week. And next time I go back to Tampa, that's where I'm eating dinner. That's not why you're here, though. We are wrapping up the show. It was fun talking to Ted Albrecht. I hope Bears fans, like we have a whole mixture. It can be on the table. We have a whole mixture of, we probably have listeners and viewers that were like,

that remember Ted Albrecht, like playing, love that interview. And then I hope we have like a bunch of younger ones too, that just like love the fact, like just hearing stories like that from players that played. I mean, obviously before my time too, I was not born when Ted Albrecht was playing left tackle for the Chicago bears. I love the Walter Payton handstand story. And, uh,

Shout out to my guy Al Harris who competed against Ted and was saying super nice things to me via text, and that's where I got the guard information, just that he was an unbelievable guard. And he was like, nada, I was done anyway. Yeah, no, I got hurt. I got hurt. I would have been a great tackle too, Carm, if I hadn't got hurt. Yeah, he's like, why are you trying to kick me inside? Well, you know, it's the way it is, Teddy. I'm kicking you inside this late. I'm trying to underline the fact that the Bears didn't know what they were doing, and

It seemed like they kind of did back then. Did they? They won a Super Bowl. Yes, they did. Jim Finks knew what he was doing. I'll say that. And Mike Ditka was on. You know what we left on the table was George Hallis, but that's okay. Every time I talk to an old bear. Also, if I'm doing math correctly, wouldn't Jimbo Cobert, he took over for Ted? No.

That is, Cobert was 83. So there's a one-year gap? Yeah, I mean, Ted's last year was 81. So right now off the top of your head, who was left tackling 82? No idea. Noah Jackson, did he slide over? I'd have to look it up. Fake Bears fan. I liked the 82. It was a strike year, man.

See, then it didn't even matter. Yeah, and I don't sleep on early-carm 1982 Chicago Bears. All right, before we get out of here, there was one piece of news this week that actually had to do with the Green Bay Packers that we thought would be a fun way to just end the week. But Bo Melton, Packers wide receiver at minicamp this week, was being deployed as a cornerback, right? Yeah.

Remember when the I remember covering a Bears practice I think when Trestman was coach and all the sudden Devin Hester was out there doing cornerback drills I still have a video on my phone honestly of that also I'm taking like pre-practice is when 23s plain Corner and it's like one of those things are they screwing around or is is real? But apparently the Packers are looking at Bo Melton on the defensive side. Okay, um

Our producer, Steven. Smartest guy ever. Was like, good topic. Which Bears players would you want to experiment at a different position? I don't know if we have to say definitely flipping sides of the ball, but I mean, you know, Darn Out Wright's obviously playing wide receiver this year, so there's that one. Here's a guy, and I don't mean this to sound slightly aggressive. Tremaine Edmonds. He looks the part, but...

He is still in his prime. I'm wondering if the Bears are ever going to get completely paid off on the investment they put him at linebacker. Ben Johnson likes to run two tight end sets. Joel Wilson's playing incredible. I'm sure Colson's going to get healthy and Cole's there. But I wouldn't mind if Tremaine Evans flipping around and see if he can get open. Big, tall target. Move in space. He's got the size. I don't know about the... The hands are... The route running ability. No, the hands are fine. You think he's got good hands? He picked off Caleb.

That's true. Like a practical weeks ago, he's got interceptions. Hands I'm not worried about. That's actually a great point. When he got thrown the football directly by Ketabu, fired it right to him, he caught it. So that could be, maybe that's... Maybe that's why that's in your head. Yeah, it could be that.

Great hands. Tremaine Edmonds. Steven, you got one? I got a few, actually. Okay. How about... This one gets brought up a lot. Reuben Hippolyte playing safety with the speed that he has. Okay. Big hitter could play downfield. Yeah. I think he's too small for linebacker. I disagree. Might as well move him to safety right now. Go ahead. This one's kind of feasible, actually. Let's say something happens to Cairo Santos because since you're in the game, Torrey Taylor kicking. No, I...

Hey, you spent a fourth-round pick on him. He might as well be able to kick field goals, too. I'd like to see it. Well, we know he can kick off. Yeah. They have the kicker from Michigan State in there, though, and he's actually looked pretty good, by the way. Yeah, I still don't understand. You're telling me that your job is to punt. You can't kick field goals? How hard is it? It's all you do. Use that foot. Come on. You can boot it in the air. You can boot it on the ground. Let's get that guy. Completely different skill, but save a roster spot.

I'm not going to push back on you too much on that, but it's a completely different skill. I get it. Come on. He could do it. I like that one. What else? How about this one? I mean, this one actually looks like it could happen to me. Andrew Billings, put him at offensive tackle. No one's going to question his anchor. Tackle? Yes, tackle. He's too tall. He's got a great anchor. He's too tall to be a guard.

Billings? Yeah. Isn't he six foot? Is he really only six? He looks huge. No, he's standing much more than six feet. Yeah, I don't think you could play. I'm not even sure he's tall enough to play. He's 6'1", okay. 6'1", yeah. He's got a guard body all the way. All right, I take it back. Guard. What about Zay Frazier? Looks like a wide receiver. I actually was thinking that. And his ball skills and his interceptions tell you he can catch the ball, too. Yeah. Let's talk about other guys who...

Let's just find some use for them. Ryan Bates is still on the roster. What could he do defensively? Could be the Bradley Sowell of this team. Yeah, I mean. Remember when they just played him at tight end? It was like the extra. That's in, by the way, wouldn't shock me. Ben Johnson actually uses six offensive linemen in some sets. I mean, they would do that in Detroit. We haven't really seen much of that. We saw the Bears go jumbo in London on, I believe it was a fourth and short.

That's right. Ron Amagaji was the extra. Ron Amagaji came in. I think that was like the first time he played, right? I think it might have been. And then they took a bye week and he came back and he was the starter. I'll bet you Travis... That's the way we drew it up. I'll throw one more guy in there. I'll bet you Travis Homer could do halfway okay as either a safety and or corner. That guy's a ridiculous athlete. Yeah. Built like a brick shithouse. Excuse me, Friday. Happy Friday. Still not legal. Friday doesn't make it legal.

Correct. My fault. He's built very well. I'm really impressed with his physique. That's another thing, though, that we were talking about on yesterday's show with how good of athletes these are. Like, I played basketball against Charles Leno. Martellus Bennett. Yeah. Sherrick McManus. Great athlete. Do you realize how ridiculously shifty these guys are?

When you put them in a different environment where they're not just in pads running into each other. And you're like, oh, pretty much every single one of these guys can run insanely fast and jump out of the building. No matter how big they are. That's all true, but I don't work out at Lifetime like you do because I'm a Midtown guy. Midtown, thank you very much. But back in the day, I played hoops against a lot of the Bears. Otis Wilson...

Bort was ridiculous talent. Couldn't hoop at all. Sucked. I'm not talking about basketball skills. And also, the athlete today is way different. Don't start comparing today's NFL players. I'm just going to start naming Bears basketball. We should have had that conversation while Ted was still sitting here. He would have totally agreed with me on that one. Mo Douglas was on the Bears back in the day. He was a great defender and special teams guy. Couldn't shoot a lick. I'm not talking about basketball. I'll take everybody in this room in basketball. No, you won't. Yeah.

If we played one-on-one-on-one, full court, I take it down, Hogan defense, Stephen pops in on that end of the court. If I score, I keep going. If you stop me, then you get the ball and you take it down. If you score, you keep going. Otherwise, Stephen takes it down. If we did that full court game, me, you, Stephen, first to 10, I'm winning that match. Let's go. Let's go. With what ankle?

The bad one that I'm running around on. That sounds like a pretty big endurance battle, by the way. Great. For a one-on-one-on-one basketball game. But that's a good game. That'd be fun. I don't think I've ever done that. Great. I'm glad that you understood it. And you're right. There is some level of endurance. You're not being pressed when you bring the ball down the court. You just dribble it down and then you got to make moves. The head of steam would help me a lot, actually. I think you want to shorten that court.

I'm just giving you some advice. I have been backed down by a hug before with a full head of steam. You know, it's something to handle. That's true. All right. Been a fun week here on the CSGO Bears podcast. We got some special things brewing. By the way, Monday, you won't be there. Carm's going on assignment.

I'm going to hold the fort down. You guys might remember Pete Bursich, the Vikings radio analyst, big Chicago guy, played at Providence Catholic and has a million thoughts on the Bears. He legitimately wants, I think he actually secretly wants to be the Bears analyst. We'll bring that out of him on Monday. He's going to come back in and we're going to talk mostly Bears, talk NFC North. He'll be here on Monday. And then we got...

a surprise apparently on Tuesday. I don't even know about. And then Wednesday, we're doing some crazy stuff here at CHCO. We'll fill you in on Monday. So next week's going to be a fun week. I think we're calling it spirit week, spirit week. Um, so don't go anywhere. Spirit week's launching Monday across all of our shows here at CHCO. Um, but it'll start right here on the CHCO bears podcast. Hope everybody has a great weekend. Become a diehard, get all our diehard content, all chco.com slash diehard. And,

And we will talk to you Monday at noon.