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Season 3 - Episode 11 - Revenge is a Dish Served Cold
11 Plays1 month ago
Join us as we talk about winning streaks!! have we ever had a 3 game winning streak in the shows history?? We are not sure but are excited to talk about it. We dive into the game against the Commanders and preview the Saints.
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Transcript
Introduction & Hosts
00:00:12
Trio of Positivity
Hello, hello
00:00:16
Trio of Positivity
Happy Tuesday. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Trio of Positivity podcast. My name is k Christian. I am joined by one of my lovely co-hosts, Miller Boopin is apparently having jet lag.
00:00:29
Mike
he did make it home we're not important enough
00:00:30
Trio of Positivity
He did make it home, but okay.
Focus on Positivity & The Bears
00:00:35
Trio of Positivity
If this is your first time listening to the podcast, we are a Chicago Bears podcast, hoping to bring you some positivity into your lives. However, in previous Chicago fashion, it's very difficult to find.
00:00:46
Trio of Positivity
Miller, how are you? How was your weekend?
00:00:49
Mike
oh I'm fabulous thank you for asking Chris it was a lovely lovely weekend
Visit to Standard Bar and Grill
00:00:55
Mike
Oh, it was a great seeing you as well.
00:00:55
Trio of Positivity
It was great seeing you. We got to hang out yesterday at a bar.
00:00:58
Mike
I mean, yeah.
00:01:00
Trio of Positivity
What was the name of the bar?
00:01:02
Mike
It's called Standard. Standard Bar and Grill on Milwaukee.
00:01:03
Trio of Positivity
The Standard. yeah
00:01:05
Mike
It's a great time.
00:01:06
Trio of Positivity
we're not We weren't paid to bring them up, but it was...
00:01:08
Mike
They have a great buffalo chicken wrap.
00:01:11
Trio of Positivity
I wanted to try that, but I got recommended the burger.
00:01:14
Mike
you You wouldn't be able to handle it because you don't you can't eat spice because you're something that I'm not going to say on the podcast.
00:01:18
Trio of Positivity
i don't want to hear this. um um It was a
Bears' Victory & Game Previews
00:01:24
Trio of Positivity
great time. um so Today's episode, we're going to recap the Bears' victory Monday over the Washington Commanders.
00:01:31
Mike
victory Monday Tuesday.
00:01:33
Trio of Positivity
Once we're done talking about that, we are going to discuss the next matchup against the Saints.
00:01:35
Mike
yeah
00:01:39
Trio of Positivity
We're going to get into our predictions, our positivity score, which I have a feeling it's going to be good. It might be the best positivity score we might have combined here.
00:01:52
Trio of Positivity
ah Spoiler alert.
00:01:52
Mike
Maybe.
00:01:53
Trio of Positivity
And then after all of that and we do our predictions, we are going to have our fantasy recap. um Some news coming in on that front, which I'm sure Miller is going to have a lot to discuss.
Where to Find the Podcast
00:02:04
Trio of Positivity
ah You can find us under Facebook at Facebook Trio Positivity Podcast on the X or Twitter as other people go at Trio Positivity. We're on YouTube of Trio of Positivity Podcast and
00:02:17
Trio of Positivity
I still don't know.
00:02:17
Mike
Maybe.
00:02:18
Trio of Positivity
Maybe TikTok. Maybe. i don't know. And we do own a domain, but we just don't use it. Triopositivity.com. Don't bother going into it. Let's get right into it. Miller, it week six in the NFL.
00:02:34
Mike
Technically it was, not is.
00:02:35
Trio of Positivity
So it was. You're right, because typically we record on a different day and it's still technically that week.
00:02:40
Mike
No, that's not true either.
00:02:42
Trio of Positivity
That's very true.
00:02:42
Mike
We normally...
00:02:42
Trio of Positivity
That's a save on my end. So we'll just get started before we go into the recap. What are your thoughts on what happened last week in the NFL?
2024 Quarterback Draft - Best Ever?
00:02:51
Mike
um
00:02:54
Mike
ah So for me, week six, it just prompted a little question in my head. you I'm just looking at the current status of multiple teams. And I'm sitting here and I'm going like, is 2024 QB draft, is that one of the best quarterback drafts in NFL history?
00:03:19
Mike
I mean, take a look. You have the Bears are currently at thirty three and two which Caleb was a number one pick.
00:03:26
Trio of Positivity
Mm-hmm.
00:03:26
Mike
The Commanders are three and three in which Daniels was the number two pick. And obviously they went to the NFC Championship game last year. You have Drake May of the Patriots that are currently sitting at four and two You have Michael Penix from the Falcons currently sitting at three and two who is, i believe, the ninth pick.
00:03:44
Mike
And then you have J.J. McCarthy. Obviously, he hasn't played much yet, but the Vikings are sitting three and two. And then you have the Broncos and Bo Nix at Denver, who is the middle of the first round, and they're sitting at four and two.
00:03:56
Mike
Every single one of these teams who has ah quarterback from 2024 are currently at or above 500. So is that the best quarterback draft
How Long to Grade NFL Drafts?
00:04:07
Mike
ever? I know it's early, but like, geez, the success of this draft so far is pretty much off the charts.
00:04:15
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, it's ah it's pretty good, although I will say, how long do you think it takes before we start grading drafts? Do you think second year is like a good standard?
00:04:25
Mike
No, no.
00:04:26
Trio of Positivity
Okay, how many years before we can actually have this conversation of this is a the best quarterback draft class?
00:04:35
Mike
Well, if you're going to be a Debbie Downer here, it's probably you you legitimately probably have to get five or six years in for for for quarterback ranking.
00:04:37
Trio of Positivity
No, not a Debbie Downer. and
00:04:45
Mike
If you're going to go that like grading a draft is probably two to three years, probably three years in a minimum.
00:04:47
Trio of Positivity
Thank you.
00:04:51
Mike
I should say probably three or four. to really understand that draft class and grading that draft class. Don't tell Ben that because, I mean, his I think he's like months. like if After they make the pick, if that guy's hurt going into training camp, he's already a bust.
00:05:06
Mike
so but But I think realistically it's about three to four years to judge a um ah draft class. But realistically, I did a little bit of diving, and the only other comparable thing um I didn't take and didn't go all the way back, but just of recent memory is the 2018 draft. And if you remember that, that's the one that started off with Baker Mayfield.
00:05:28
Mike
It had Josh Allen, Sam Darnold in it, Lamar Jackson. So that's that one. And that one is definitely, although there's no Super Bowl winners in that one yet, it's definitely up there right now with the reemergence of Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. Because remember...
00:05:46
Mike
They were busts in that draft for the longest time, right around right with Josh Rosen, who now is, I believe, in sales. But they were right there in busts, but they turned their career around thanks to who knows why. But ah that one's looking pretty good as well.
00:06:06
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, i ah I'm not sure if I can kind of – I like the 2018 one a lot. um Off the top of your head, just wondering, if you don't know the answer, then you don't know.
00:06:19
Trio of Positivity
Which class you think has had the most championships? And we we don't want to include Tom Brady because he wasn't necessarily a first, second, or even a fifth rounder. um But what would you say
00:06:32
Trio of Positivity
right now of the quarterback classes that you can think of has more Super Bowl wins?
00:06:38
Mike
Well, if we're not including Tom grady but tom Brady, it's probably the Mahomes.
00:06:38
Trio of Positivity
Has to be Mahomes, right?
00:06:42
Mike
That's what I was going to go with.
00:06:44
Trio of Positivity
So that includes Mitch Trubisky.
00:06:47
Mike
I know. Mahomes, the third quarterback drafted from that class.
00:06:53
Mike
Between and behind Trubisky and then also Watson.
00:06:54
Trio of Positivity
Okay, that's...
00:06:57
Mike
Studly pair that was.
00:07:00
Trio of Positivity
oh Yeah. All right. ah For me, there's two things that I noticed right away. And then I have one question that I want to bring up to you after. ah Baker Mayfield is that dude. You talked a little bit about him.
00:07:12
Trio of Positivity
he is social media is pushing for him to be an MVP candidate. I am one of those people as well. I think he is doing a lot for that team. um And then the second thing that i can't believe I'm going to say The Colts are the number one seed in the AFC right now.
00:07:32
Trio of Positivity
And the Pets are right behind them tied with the Bills. Not in my bingo card for this season.
00:07:39
Mike
Not on my bingo card. i would agree to that. um The Colts are definitely ah the the surprise of the year for sure. i don't know. i i know we i know we have a loyal listener that's a big Colts fan, but I just can't get the stink of the the Vikings off of this team, and I don't know if I'll be able to.
00:08:02
Mike
Like, the Vikings were so good last year with Sam Darnold, and then they got to the playoffs and they fell off a cliff. i It's going to be tough for me to see Daniel Jones not do the same thing.
00:08:14
Mike
as much As well as they're playing in the regular season, and they they seem to have it all together. the we all know the playoffs are a different monster.
00:08:22
Trio of Positivity
Yep.
00:08:23
Mike
And Daniel Jones, he does have a playoff win to his record, though. But... I don't know.
Surprising Colts' Standings
00:08:29
Mike
I just, yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens. Jonathan Taylor. Hopefully they don't run him to the ground, but um he may be able to carry him. But yeah, seeing Daniel joins that quarterback in the playoffs, I ain't going scare nobody.
00:08:48
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. um The last thing that I wanted to touch on, um Brian Callahan of the Titans was fired. And then Adam Schefter tweeted this out, which I don't know how to understand or take this.
00:09:01
Trio of Positivity
I just find it as very interesting. But the last four quarterbacks that were taken with the number one overall pick. ah saw their head coach get fired during their rookie campaign.
Rookie Coach Firings
00:09:14
Trio of Positivity
2021 was Trevor Lawrence with Urban Meyer. 2023 was Bryce Young with Frank Wright. 2024, Caleb with Matty Ruflus, which he's not doing that great in Dallas.
00:09:24
Trio of Positivity
And 2025 with Cam Ward. Is the first pick quarterback a jinx? And is that something we should look into next year? See who drafts a quarterback first overall, if that's a thing?
00:09:36
Mike
I think it's more so to do with the expectations set on a court rookie quarterback, which is probably it's probably not the greatest way of going. But you have to imagine if you just focused on the Bears, right?
00:09:49
Mike
They brought in Caleb Williams, number one overall quarterback. And what happened? Well, Jaden Daniels looked like a complete superstar MVP candidate and Caleb Williams is sitting there and you he looks okay. He's not really developing.
00:10:04
Mike
We know what Eberflus was because we had him for a few years. So I think that expectation was... we're going to keep building, keep getting better in the season. And I, I think there's just some quarterbacks that can't just do it.
00:10:12
Trio of Positivity
Thank you.
00:10:16
Mike
They can't just be the guy right off the bat. And when that happens, when you have a guy like specifically Matt Eberflus that has been there for a little while and and has not won, right. that He didn't win with fields.
00:10:29
Mike
But like, and then the expectation is we're going to get better and we get worse. Well, who's the first to go? Him. I mean, you look at Brian Callahan um for Titans. I mean, last year they weren't very good and they got Cam Ward and they, what did they expect? A huge turnaround just because they got a quarterback and it looked flat.
00:10:48
Mike
I think sooner or later, these organizations need to realize that you need to get on the same page with GM quarterbacks.
00:10:49
Trio of Positivity
coordinator
00:10:58
Mike
and um And, yeah, and head coaches, especially when you're talking about the number one overall pick.
00:10:59
Trio of Positivity
coordinator
00:11:05
Mike
Now, if you're talking about like middling pick, fine, but when you're talking about the number one overall pick, you've got to be in line because you know that guy isn't – you're not going to bring him in to sit him behind quarterback.
00:11:18
Mike
Yeah. and then just let him mature. You brought him in to be your leader, you be your guy. So you need know you need to mend everything together and get them all on the same page rather than but i stacking them and losing them and becoming chaotic like we experienced last year.
Caleb Williams' Adaptation & Future Norms
00:11:38
Trio of Positivity
I was listening to Pat McAfee show this morning and Bruce Arias from the previous coach of Tampa. ah He was on there. He made this comment in. he I don't know how true it's going to be moving forward, but he made the comment saying, you know, when you draft the number one quarterback overall, you're officially.
00:11:57
Trio of Positivity
You're officially becoming a project. And you need a quarterback because of the amount of games that they're playing. It wasn't like in previous years where these quarterbacks have maybe 30 games, 40 games under their belt. Some are coming in with eight, 10.
00:12:09
Trio of Positivity
like It's not a lot. So you need additional years in the NFL to develop. So he's saying three years that a coach and a quarterback need to be tied together in order to see accurate development. We've seen a lot of quarterbacks.
00:12:21
Trio of Positivity
We have not seen a quarterback tied to a new coach from the get-go. It always seems to be a career saver almost if you want to put it that way where a draft and then the coach is like yeah i can work with that instead of like hey maybe i'm not the best fit for that guy we need to go somewhere else i think this with caleb this might be the first coach that caleb is actually adjusting which we're going to talk a little bit on the recap he's adjusting to his game plan where a lot of people probably don't didn't think that that was possible
00:12:55
Trio of Positivity
So I'm intrigued by that. I think three years might be the new norm. I don't know if teams who have a bad record can wait that long. I'm trying to think off the top of my head, but of the quarterbacks that I had mentioned, or I'm sorry, of the coaches, I think the only one that was maybe not in a position where he could have gone a long time was Urban Meyer.
00:13:15
Trio of Positivity
But yeah I think he, um I can't think of, but that's what i'm saying.
00:13:18
Mike
Well, he was a different cat because he he decided to stay at the bar a little too long and get his juices squeezed.
00:13:22
Trio of Positivity
i think,
00:13:24
Trio of Positivity
Well, yeah, you know, yeah, we get it. Yeah. All right. I think that's a good segue going to Urban Meyer into the Bears. um It's a Bears victory Tuesday, Miller.
00:13:36
Trio of Positivity
The Bears beat Washington Commanders. Miller, what was the score?
00:13:43
Mike
I believe the score was 25 24 Chicago Bears.
00:13:46
Trio of Positivity
my God. Why does that sound familiar? Do you know?
Bears vs. Commanders Recap
00:13:49
Mike
um Why does it sound familiar? Remind me.
00:13:54
Trio of Positivity
It's the same exact score the Bears beat the Raiders last week.
00:13:58
Mike
That it is.
00:13:58
Trio of Positivity
it is It is, according to some news, it is a second time or the second team to win consecutive games by one point with the same final score.
00:14:11
Mike
In NFL history. Look that.
00:14:13
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, it is kind of nuts.
00:14:13
Mike
Three
00:14:15
Trio of Positivity
ah Currently on a three game win streak. ah There was a stat.
00:14:17
Mike
games, baby.
00:14:18
Trio of Positivity
There was a stat that after the last 12 games after a bye, the Bears were one in 11. ah They are now two and 11. So I'm going to get us started.
00:14:29
Trio of Positivity
i asked the question, what was one reason the Bears won the game? We committed to the run game. I think that was huge. It allowed for play action. It allowed for.
00:14:41
Trio of Positivity
Even though there's we're going get to it on a later point, there were some questionable calls, even with the time that we had the under a swift. looked a swift just looked amazing and ah the other running backs that we had on the team looked good this was one work game where i was not even questioning some of the runs that i saw so miller what do you think is the reason the bears won the game you are not wrong
00:15:07
Mike
Turnovers. Three turnovers, one turnover at the end of the game that basically allowed us to be in the position that we were in to win in the field goal. But turnover battle again.
00:15:20
Mike
I mean, i think we have 11 turnovers in three games, if I'm remembering that correctly. think it was three for the Cowboys, four for the um the Raiders, and oh, 10 turnovers, and then three for this week.
00:15:34
Mike
So, I mean, we're winning the turnover battle consistently. And when you do that, more often than not, you're going to come out ahead. So, turnovers, man.
00:15:44
Trio of Positivity
So with that being said, what did the Bears do right? I think that's kind of a similar question of what's a reason the Bears won. um
00:15:55
Mike
But I'll go.
00:15:56
Trio of Positivity
Go for it.
00:15:58
Mike
See, you give a lot of credit to them sticking with the run. I don't think Ben Johnson is a guy that's going to go away from the run. I think the difference in this game is we actually were successful running the ball, which is kind of weird to say.
00:16:12
Trio of Positivity
Hmm.
00:16:12
Mike
All I know is that the offensive line was creating some the some of the biggest holes I've seen all year. and DeAndre Swift, to his credit, was running through them. And we were successful.
00:16:24
Mike
think we averaged over seven a clip running the ball. And it's just like it was very good to see. he was over 100 yards. um DeAndre was and just like they were a solid force running the ball and it seemed like every time every play that they ran it was unique it wasn't like just a run up the gut we were flipping it we were doing run to the right we were running to the left we were running inside we were running outside we were doing a little bit of everything
00:16:35
Trio of Positivity
Thank
00:16:50
Mike
And Ben Johnson was playing a lot with his tight ends to make it kind of seem a little
Bears' Offensive Strategy Success
00:16:56
Mike
different. And and while DeAndre, Caleb Williams isn't DeAndre Swift, but if you if you saw his interview, um they asked him about the touchdown run. And Caleb was talking about, he was just staring at the play and he was like, I don't think this is going to work in his head.
00:17:13
Mike
and Because he's like, there are three defenders on the right-hand side of the ball where I'm supposed to run. And there's no one to block them. But because of how the play was set up with them bringing in a tight end, making it seem like the run was going to go right up the gut, then they kicked outside.
00:17:32
Mike
The whole defensive line collapsed, in which case it led to DeAndre Swift only having to block one cornerback and Caleb able to run in. So it's just like it's a lot of those schemes that Ben Johnson is running to really make it to catch the defense off guard. And at the end of the day, that was kind of what our expectation was as fans when we brought him in from Detroit and he's this fabulous play caller. That's the type of stuff that we want to see.
00:18:01
Mike
And it's nice that we're actually able to see it.
00:18:04
Trio of Positivity
I know we criticized a lot in the win against the Raiders where it's, I think you and I can probably both agree if that ah weather didn't if weather didn't play into the game with the last ah turnover that the Bears got, we would probably be talking a different story.
00:18:23
Trio of Positivity
um But the fact that we were able to move the ball to get to that ah field goal, that that was probably one of the better drives.
00:18:34
Trio of Positivity
that I think I can recall. ah Would you say it was better than Oakland's?
00:18:38
Mike
I wouldn't say it was a better drive, but I think what I would agree with you on is that's probably the most dominant run drive we've seen since that Oakland drive.
00:18:46
Trio of Positivity
Yes, that's a great that's a great point of putting, it yeah.
00:18:49
Mike
Like we did have, I think it was the Oakland one or maybe it was the Cowboys one where they just literally ran it like 11 times. Right. um But that, that drive to end the commanders game was right there too, because we had a moment there when we were in the bar watching the game, we're like, is this going to be like the Colts game where they just settled for a 58 yard field goal only to get lucky with a personal foul.
00:19:10
Mike
They didn't do that. They put it in the running back's hands, and him and the offensive line ran the ball right into the commander's defense.
00:19:13
Trio of Positivity
I that.
00:19:20
Mike
And there's another thing that came out I was listening to today ah from band Ben Johnson in his news conference talking about that drive. Basically, he went to Caleb over his headset, he said, and he basically was like, Caleb, we're putting the ball in the running back's hands.
00:19:35
Mike
Tell the big guys to be ready. We're going to run it down their throats and win the game.
00:19:39
Trio of Positivity
love that
00:19:39
Mike
And that's exactly what they did.
00:19:41
Trio of Positivity
Love that. So we got the game winning kick with Jake Moody, who went four or five. ah Yes, that Jake Moody, which funny enough, he was kicking to the team. And that was that had Debo's Debo on the other side, which I guess there's poetic justice in that. I saw some of the clips. I just wanted to bring that up.
00:19:58
Trio of Positivity
Santos was injured. Do we have a kicking controversy? do we have a kicker controversy or not yet? What do you think?
00:20:06
Mike
If my inkling, okay, I wouldn't say if. My inkling is that Kyro might be out for a few weeks.
00:20:14
Trio of Positivity
If he keeps if if ah this continues to happen, he might be gone for he might be gone for some time.
00:20:16
Mike
I think Kyro may be out for a few weeks.
00:20:20
Trio of Positivity
um All right.
00:20:20
Mike
its
00:20:22
Trio of Positivity
ah You know what? I'm excited. This is the one time I'm excited. We're going to talk about the offense. However, because the Bears won, I'm going to be pushing to have um Miller's glazing minute sooner rather than later.
00:20:39
Trio of Positivity
I've been thinking of ways of introducing it to you, but I feel this is just better.
00:20:53
Mike
Hello, everybody. It's Miller's Glazing Minute.
00:20:54
Trio of Positivity
Wait, wait.
00:21:06
Mike
a
00:21:16
Mike
What is this?
00:21:18
Trio of Positivity
Oh, thank you so much. AI music generator.
00:21:21
Mike
Oh, God.
00:21:21
Trio of Positivity
We're probably going to get sued because we don't have the rights to that. But that is the the new intro for Miller's Glazing Minute.
00:21:27
Mike
It's fine. we'll We'll make it work.
00:21:30
Trio of Positivity
Your time starts now.
00:21:32
Mike
All right. um A little distracted, but it's all good. Your mom's coming into your room. All good. Hi, Mrs. Studios. Okay.
00:21:44
Mike
Restart the timer.
00:21:45
Trio of Positivity
All right, fine. Timer starts one now.
00:21:46
Mike
oh
00:21:52
Mike
Miller's glazing minute is he.
00:21:57
Mike
And it's going to be a doozy, ladies and gentlemen. Now, I could sit here and I could take the Troy Aikman route and call everything that Caleb Williams did lucky.
Caleb Williams' Historic Start
00:22:07
Mike
And he wouldn't he couldn't make that throw. And why is he throwing that ball there? b Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But that wouldn't be a glazing minute, would it be?
00:22:18
Mike
No, because Caleb Williams put on the performance... of the day yesterday. What a stud. He's been probably, not probably, let me just say this.
00:22:33
Mike
This is the best quarterback performance to start the year in Bears franchise history. He is literally the first quarterback for the Bears to throw for at least 200 passing yards and a passing TD in each of the team's first six games of the season.
00:22:54
Trio of Positivity
And we're bringing it back. That was Miller's glazing minute. He did not get too far into it, but it gives me a chance to play this jingle again. Okay, we're not going to have the whole time for the jingle, but that was Miller's glazing minute.
00:23:10
Trio of Positivity
Yeah,
00:23:11
Mike
I got through the i got through the ah heart of it. That went a lot faster than last time.
00:23:13
Trio of Positivity
yeah well, I mean, minute's it's a long time. i don't know what you're talking about, brother. um So let's get into the conversation. ah Again, that's Miller's uninterrupted minute. He can say whatever he wants as he glazes on any kind of conversation with Caleb Williams in it.
00:23:34
Trio of Positivity
He got robbed of a beautiful touchdown to Rome. um However, there were a couple plays that I would scream... Multiple times that some people were certainly wide open in certain situations.
00:23:49
Trio of Positivity
The one that got me the most was he was running to his right and there was a person at the pylon, wide open, doesn't throw it.
00:23:57
Mike
Oh, I thought you were going to go the other one.
00:23:59
Trio of Positivity
No. Well, the other one I think is self-explanatory. I mean, if you want to talk about that, you can.
00:24:05
Mike
You're talking about a two-point conversion for the record.
00:24:08
Trio of Positivity
Not the one I was talking about.
00:24:11
Mike
Okay, what were you talking about?
00:24:13
Trio of Positivity
It's the one where he's rolling to the right and then he runs it for like a couple yards and then he could have thrown it. he There was a person that was open on the first pile on. He was by himself.
00:24:24
Trio of Positivity
I don't think that was a two point conversion.
00:24:25
Mike
No, it was the two-point conversion, dude.
00:24:25
Trio of Positivity
I think that was a. ah Someone will correct us.
00:24:29
Mike
the the The two ones that I remember is the two-point conversion, in which case it was, i think it was Kyle Monungay, and it was Cole Komet ran a little inside slant route, took the cornerback. Kyle Monungay snuck out of the backfield, and he was wide open in the flat right by the pylon, which is kind of what you referred to.
00:24:48
Mike
The other one, which I'm... I'm going to stick with my guns here. Was the scramble play. um I believe it was third and four. We were in. We were at like the 40 yard line of Washington.
00:25:02
Mike
And Caleb scrambled to his right. And he was pretty set. It seemed like when from with his body language, he was set on running the ball. But Rome had a go route. And he basically beat the defenders, threw his hand up in the air. He was a mile away. ah he was It was a wide open. It would be easy touchdown pass. I agree with that aspect.
00:25:24
Mike
But I just think in order for Caleb to gather himself and make the throw after being totally in that mindset of running for the first down, which he got, um it would have been a little tough. But that was the two egregious ones um that he missed.
00:25:41
Mike
not throw related. um And then there's a few missed throws as well that he made.
00:25:47
Trio of Positivity
ah I love how you say not throw related and use the following sentences. He missed a couple throws. um
00:25:53
Mike
I wanted to talk about the one on the sideline where he ripped it, but he missed the guy and threw it over his head and he was wide open on the sidelines. Wasn't the best performance.
00:26:02
Trio of Positivity
So. I mean, it was OK. i As much as I would love criticizing and talking smack, it was OK. um He did everything he needed to do on that last quarter, which.
00:26:15
Trio of Positivity
I am questioning some of the fourth down calls that we seem to be getting.
00:26:17
Mike
Oh, wait, wait wait what what wait, wait, what did you say? He did everything he needed to do in the last corner?
00:26:23
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:26:23
Mike
Oh, you mentioned that. I missed this in a crazy minute. So this year for Caleb Williams...
00:26:27
Trio of Positivity
No, no, no. We agreed. You can't, you can't, that's adding more to the minute. You can't do that. We agreed.
00:26:31
Mike
We're not at, well, you can interrupt me. This year for Caleb Williams in the fourth quarter, he's 21 for 32. That's 65.6% passer percentage, yards, zero interceptions, and a passer rating e that's and fourth quarter play but we
00:26:52
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, I don't care. um
00:26:56
Trio of Positivity
i I still stand by by that. um The fourth down play, I thought about it.
00:27:04
Mike
God, we're going to talk about this makes me sick.
00:27:09
Trio of Positivity
I think Johnson knows he can run the ball on fourth and one. Maybe he didn't know the last three weeks.
00:27:19
Trio of Positivity
I think he knows, like, hey, we at least got to you know, do something.
00:27:24
Mike
You watch that play over and it's just so sickening. It's so sickening because like the top, the, the, the, the defensive line just parted like literally like Roshan Johnson just runs through this huge fucking hole.
DeAndre Swift's Impact
00:27:39
Mike
It's like, they had to do is hand it to him and he would have been there.
00:27:42
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. We had a rush on Johnson sighting.
00:27:45
Mike
We did. That was funny in the bar because everybody was looking at me when I was cheering for like a three yard rush just because Roshan Johnson got a handoff.
00:27:46
Trio of Positivity
um
00:27:55
Mike
Oh my God. wonder if that'll start to happen a little more.
00:27:57
Trio of Positivity
um
00:27:59
Mike
Should.
00:27:59
Trio of Positivity
So, Miller, right now, given your glaze is over, even though you extended it by a couple seconds. If you extend it, I think I'm going to reduce it on the next episode.
00:28:07
Mike
I didn't extend it. It was a separate segment that you brought up. You talked about his performance in the fourth quarter.
00:28:10
Trio of Positivity
No, I think... No, but that's still you glazing.
00:28:12
Mike
I was just adding.
00:28:13
Trio of Positivity
That's still you glazing.
00:28:14
Mike
i was just, so I can't, I can't talk about my quarterback for the rest of the show.
00:28:18
Trio of Positivity
No, that's the reason we give you a whole minute uninterrupted.
00:28:21
Mike
look No, that's stupid.
00:28:22
Trio of Positivity
That was the whole premise of the segment.
00:28:25
Mike
There's difference between glazing and throwing some stats when you bring it up. Totally different things.
00:28:29
Trio of Positivity
Right, when I bring it up, I could have said it.
00:28:29
Mike
You talked about his fourth, you talked about his fourth quarter performance.
00:28:31
Trio of Positivity
You didn't.
00:28:34
Mike
i was just adding sta statistics.
00:28:34
Trio of Positivity
you're You're extending the glaze. You're extending the glaze. ah Miller was 25-24 with a last-minute kick, but who would you say is a standout performer of the game? Hmm.
00:28:43
Mike
um I want to go with the offensive line. I just think what they did, specifically Darnell Wright, who I've hated on in the past because of his penalties. But man, he came out this game and he was a bulldozer.
00:28:58
Mike
I think I saw he ah didn't... know I think he allowed one pressure this game. But other than that, i think he was it had a pretty fucking false score up in the 80s, think, if I remember that correctly.
00:29:12
Mike
But there are multiple plays during this game that Darnell Wright was taking out two, possibly almost three defenders on a play. The whole line, like I mentioned earlier, the holes for Darnell... For not Darnell, but DeAndre Swift to run through were just...
00:29:27
Mike
gaping And it was good to see because obviously we've been one of the worst rush offenses in the NFL this year. So being able to do that on a defense um did help to hopefully really get this offense going.
00:29:45
Trio of Positivity
And um for me, i have to go back to Swift. Catching the ball, running the ball, he did everything. I feel like this was a game where he kind of had the team on his back and he's like, Just use me until I can't anymore, which is your favorite line with running backs.
00:30:01
Trio of Positivity
um i was
00:30:02
Mike
Yep. yep
00:30:03
Trio of Positivity
i was very happy to see this performance from him. um More or less, just...
00:30:12
Trio of Positivity
I felt like, I don't know if Washington just didn't know what to do, but I feel like the ah offensive line played really well to kind of give them that running, um that running game, I guess you could say.
00:30:25
Trio of Positivity
But for me, I think it was just the fact that we were able to use him in the catching aspect. And then he caught that 55 yarder for a touchdown, which he did a nice little two step, like a stop and go to get that opening.
00:30:38
Mike
Oh, that was ah such a beautiful touchdown pass.
00:30:40
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:41
Mike
Such a beautiful run by Swift.
00:30:44
Trio of Positivity
Um, Miller, what would you say was a good performance from the commanders though? I have to give props to their offense because at one point they just did not look like they were going to do anything on the, uh, against our defense.
00:30:57
Trio of Positivity
And then they ended up taking the lead.
00:31:00
Mike
I mean, the only person that you can really give any props to is Jayden Daniels. because at the end of the day, when you're talking about their team, they they're down... Two of the three top receivers on that team. So they're throwing it to scrubs.
00:31:12
Mike
So Jaden really played well um through for three touchdowns through for a little over 200 at about 270 total yards with his rushing. I mean, the running game was pretty much kept in check other than a few long runs from Jaden. But like realistically,
00:31:29
Mike
um we did well as far as stopping the, stopping the run. um Well, considering it's the best rushing team in the NFL, um I think we did well.
00:31:42
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, we got ah interception from Brisker. we got the fumble recovery. Which.
00:31:52
Trio of Positivity
I don't know how that happens. i guess the ball was very slippery on that third one. ah It looked like it was on his hands and then it like got thrown into the chest of the player. So I'm not entirely sure how that one was going to go.
00:32:05
Trio of Positivity
but I still got to give props to them. They played really good, but there was a hindrance, I believe. And it's something that I want to bring up. The rest were fucking awful.
00:32:19
Trio of Positivity
They were awful on both sides.
00:32:21
Mike
They were pretty bad.
00:32:23
Trio of Positivity
There was even questionable calls that on replay made it look a lot worse. I don't know.
00:32:29
Mike
yeah
00:32:29
Trio of Positivity
I don't know if replay is now meant to be slower in the NFL to show like what's actually happening. Maybe if it was a fast pace, you might miss it.
00:32:36
Mike
and
00:32:37
Trio of Positivity
I don't know. But the refs were horrible.
00:32:39
Mike
i mean, the realistically, the replay is a hindrance to the referees, right? Because these guys are doing what they can to watch these... plays in action in at full speed. And then, and then we get to see the luxury of seeing a replay and then criticizing him. So it's a tough, tough gig. With that being said, there are some things and it's just like, it gets back to what we, we we always talk about no matter what the sport is.
NFL Officiating Criticism
00:33:07
Mike
It's just like, let these fucking people play.
00:33:10
Mike
And I was listening to something today. i don't remember who it was, but they're just like, if, If a penalty isn't impacting a play, why are we calling it?
00:33:22
Mike
Like realistically, like if there's a little hold on the other side of the field that has nothing to do with the running play, it's like, is it really the most important thing? No.
00:33:31
Trio of Positivity
The only thing I can think of is that it's to prevent shit from happening.
00:33:32
Mike
Like, just.
00:33:39
Mike
I mean, I you're you're it's fair.
00:33:39
Trio of Positivity
i
00:33:41
Mike
I mean, the argument isn't strong on my end, but it's just like the principle.
00:33:41
Trio of Positivity
It's like, no, but I mean, I get i like, if you're like, if the, the roughing the passer one is what kind of gets me a little bit. Um,
00:33:53
Mike
Just today's days. It's just today.
00:33:54
Trio of Positivity
i think I think that has to be challengeable. I think that has to be a call that has to be challengeable in the future. that that That's the only way to have the the refs kind of get it right.
00:34:04
Mike
They're still not going to get it right.
00:34:06
Trio of Positivity
But either way, if you have a
00:34:07
Mike
They tried the challenging of pass interference and they didn't get it right. So it went away. there It's going to be the same thing with these. there's so I mean, the only thing. I don't think roughing the passer is, but one thing that should be challengeable to your point is face masks.
00:34:24
Mike
Those are pretty yes or no. Like everything else has a little gray area. Okay. Did he hit this first? did he hit this first? Okay. Blah, blah, blah. But like a face mask, like, you know, if a motherfucker hit, pulled on someone's face mask, it's pretty blatant.
00:34:39
Trio of Positivity
Well,
00:34:40
Mike
So why isn't that challengeable? But I don't know.
00:34:43
Trio of Positivity
well
00:34:44
Mike
The refs were definitely bad. They missed the bad call with Rome. i don't I don't know if it's a bad call or not. It seemed like a bad call. and I think everybody is in fairly agreement that it is, but what is the motherfucker like a fucking foot behind them where he needs to be? Like, really? Is that going to really affect the anything?
00:35:04
Mike
Like, come on. just, there was a bad call that for on the commander's side was, think it was Zacchaeus when he was blocking somebody or I think on a swift run and he just pulled the jersey and you could see the jersey out and they still didn't call that. Yeah.
00:35:21
Trio of Positivity
Hey, that's the perk of wearing the gloves that match the jersey color. I keep hearing that. That seems to work. Just keep going.
00:35:27
Mike
Maybe. But yeah, we had like nine for 84 penalties and five for 40. So we need to get that cleaned up. And it's just like overall this team. You really can see the potential and it's just amazing.
00:35:44
Mike
it's It's interesting the trajectory that they're on because these like the Dallas game was pretty clean for the most part. Obviously, I think CD getting hurt so early helped us in that facet.
00:35:51
Trio of Positivity
Thank you.
00:35:55
Mike
But like these last two games against the Raiders and now against the ah Commanders, like overall, this team makes a lot of mistakes, like top to bottom. like The defense has its problems. like Right.
00:36:11
Mike
I think it's Nashawn, right? He had two horrible penalties in this game. Bobby, whatever you think of the penalties, they were penalties. They were called on the field. Then he comes up with the big fumble recovery at the end.
00:36:22
Trio of Positivity
Yep, yep.
00:36:25
Mike
Like the defensive line isn't getting home for pretty much three quarters of the game. And finally in the fourth quarter, we get some pressure and good things happen. Caleb struggles at time.
00:36:36
Mike
He is an up and down game. Like the only thing that was fairly consistent was like the offensive line and in Swift for the most part.
00:36:44
Trio of Positivity
yep
00:36:45
Mike
But it was just very much up and down ah and special teams was pretty much perfect except that block kick.
00:36:45
Trio of Positivity
yep
00:36:51
Mike
But still, I mean, four field goals in that.
00:36:52
Trio of Positivity
The block kick, i i'm I brought it up on ah at the bar. I was more amazed at how... You know how most blocks, it'll be like up here or like the forearm and whatnot. That one was right here.
00:37:06
Trio of Positivity
Impressive enough, but you know what? None of that matters. The NFC North with this Bears win is the only division in the NFL that has every team over 500. We'll figure out if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but now...
00:37:18
Trio of Positivity
We're
Bears' Positivity Score Update
00:37:19
Trio of Positivity
going to move forward. But before we move forward, we have to talk about our positivity score. Last week, we were both on the up and up. Miller had a six and a half or a 6.5. I was at a solid six, which is a D if you go to school.
00:37:33
Trio of Positivity
Miller, where are we?
00:37:34
Mike
think
00:37:37
Mike
I guess I have to move it up because that was a huge win. It was a revenge game against Washington who stole our hearts last year. So I'm just going to put it at at a little seven, just a little inkling there.
00:37:48
Mike
Like you mentioned, it it appears like we're going to be in another dog fight in this division.
00:37:49
Trio of Positivity
A little inkling. Okay.
00:37:54
Mike
Who knows where is where is it going to go? I they think we are now third as betting favorites to win the North, or whatever that means. We're ahead of the Vikings there, even though we have the same record.
00:38:07
Mike
There's things to like. I just hope we can put it all together. We'll see. What about yourself, sir?
00:38:18
Trio of Positivity
See, here's here's the thing. We're on a three-game win streak, and if I stick to the six, it makes me look like an ass, you
Winning Close Games
00:38:27
Trio of Positivity
know?
00:38:27
Mike
Well, now if you have a good explanation why you stick to the six.
00:38:34
Trio of Positivity
My honest opinion, I'm probably going to follow your lead. I'm going to say six and a half.
00:38:42
Mike
Follower.
00:38:44
Trio of Positivity
The only reason only reason that it's a six and a half right now is I think the last turnover saved us.
00:38:55
Trio of Positivity
We don't know what would have happened, obviously.
00:38:57
Mike
Yeah, we do. It was sub five minutes. Caleb performs his best. It doesn't matter when he got the ball and what he needed to do.
00:39:02
Trio of Positivity
He had the ball beforehand, and it did not go that great either.
00:39:03
Mike
He would have scored. That was at seven minutes left.
00:39:05
Trio of Positivity
It's still in the fourth quarter.
00:39:07
Mike
like I said it
Bears vs. Saints Preview
00:39:08
Mike
in the bar.
00:39:08
Trio of Positivity
Still in the fourth quarter.
00:39:08
Mike
I said it in the bar. It wasn't Caleb time yet. Too much time was on the clap. It wasn't Caleb time. does It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
00:39:15
Trio of Positivity
Hey, Miller, you want to let the you want to let the crowd know what else was said at the bar?
00:39:16
Mike
If we were within one score.
00:39:23
Mike
No, maybe.
00:39:24
Trio of Positivity
Wide left.
00:39:24
Mike
Well, I left. That was a good call.
00:39:28
Trio of Positivity
I called that the kicker was going to miss wide left. All right.
00:39:30
Mike
Yeah. He didn't miss wide left, but he hit the post and he missed.
00:39:31
Trio of Positivity
That's going to end it on the. yeah it yeah It went left.
00:39:35
Mike
It was nice. was It was definitely very nice.
00:39:39
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, I'll take full credit for that. right, Mother, we're going to move forward. The Bears play the Saints at Soldier Field at 12 o'clock noon central. We have a good win streak going.
00:39:50
Trio of Positivity
um What do the Bears need to do to win this game? Thank you, buddy.
00:39:56
Mike
Hi, Bubby. I am so torn with this game. Like, I'm in a survivor pool, and I'm like, do I take the Bears? What do they need to do to win this game?
00:40:08
Mike
Play like they did this week? Like, it doesn't need to be pretty.
00:40:11
Trio of Positivity
That's such a horrible answer, but i completely agree with you.
00:40:13
Mike
Like, it doesn't need to be pretty in order to beat the Saints. They have one win in the season. They're one in five, I believe. They have a quarter of a second year quarterback that has shown pretty much little to no promise.
00:40:25
Trio of Positivity
Well...
00:40:25
Mike
Alvin Kamara is getting old. Their other running back is young ish and Kendra Miller. um You have you still have Chris Olave, who's still a talented receiver, but the the quarterback can't get him the ball.
00:40:38
Mike
um Shout out to Kunevich, and I'll say, got to watch Tyson Hill. Make sure he doesn't beat us and go for, I think he, didn't he like destroy last time he was? He had like three touchdowns against us one time.
00:40:51
Mike
But realistically, we're the better team. Like the Saints are one of the worst teams in the league, and we've proven that we're better. So as long as we play competent football, we shouldn't have a hard time winning this game.
00:41:02
Mike
But what I really want to say is, fix your shit and play a fucking great game. Like we've had two struggle buses as fan bases coming down to the last field goal.
00:41:14
Mike
It would be nice if we had a nice fucking win here. Got shit together. We're at home. Good running game. Good passing game. Good defense.
00:41:24
Mike
And really just put it to the Saints and show this league that we're here and we're relevant.
00:41:32
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, ah you kind of took the words right out of my mouth. I honestly think one thing we just generally need to do is just keep having the O-line play exactly how they played this last game to give Swift and anyone in the back an opportunity to get some runs in. I think this game kind of showed what a running game can look like with a good passing game.
00:41:52
Trio of Positivity
um I think in the past, it's been very difficult to kind of find that balance because it's always been hit or miss. It's like the run game goes good and we seem to have a good game and the run game goes bad or non-existent and it just kind of shuts everything else out.
00:42:06
Trio of Positivity
um A concern that I have for the Bears is injuries like any other team except DJ Moore. It's questionable. um santos i'm not too worried about completely um but i think dj moore played very very good i don't understand why using him and running back and wide receiver
00:42:29
Mike
give him Give the Rook more time, baby. Let's go see some Luther Burden, baby. Come on. Let's go see him.
00:42:34
Trio of Positivity
that's the only the only thing that i have that in penalties but i think penalties just it's not necessarily a good answer but that that's
00:42:35
Mike
Let him cook.
00:42:42
Mike
The only concern, I guess, if you can even call it a concern, is that over the last three weeks, like we talked about, is the reliance on turnovers.
00:42:54
Mike
And even though we've won the turnover battle by a substantial margin, we've squeaked out two victories. So while I will agree with Coach Johnson in his post-game celebration with the players that turnovers are not necessarily always luck, if we're going to be relying on them just to squeak by an opponent,
00:43:18
Mike
o That's not the greatest way of doing things.
00:43:21
Trio of Positivity
I'm I agree with that but also Miller isn't it nice to win consistently close games these last two games it's nice it having a one-point win differential like yeah it was painful to wait till the very end But I think I woke up today and I was like, we want another close one that we should have lost.
00:43:43
Mike
Yeah, you can say that, but I think for me... You have to learn how to win. I think there's something to that. But like. To me, it's how you win a close game, right? If you have like a back and forth and the defense makes good plays, the the offense makes good plays and it's just both ends, everything's running smoothly and you you squeak one out.
00:44:05
Mike
That's one thing. But the way the quality of football that we've watched these last two weeks for this team has been very up and down like. Last game, we had three turnovers and six points off of those turnovers. like You just want to see a better brand of football. We are squeaking out the victories, and that's what's most important, as Ben always says.
00:44:28
Mike
But like I would just like to see the quality of football increase and the fact that we got the Saints coming in at home. We should be able to do that.
00:44:39
Trio of Positivity
With that being said, Miller, who's a player to watch?
Key Players for Bears vs. Saints
00:44:44
Mike
Player to watch for us, huh?
00:44:47
Trio of Positivity
Yes, sir.
00:44:50
Mike
Should've read the agenda.
00:44:52
Trio of Positivity
You did not see that bullet point? Good lord. It's almost like someone actually knows what they're doing now.
00:44:58
Mike
um A player to watch for the Bears? I'm gonna say Rome. I think he's gonna have a bounce back this week.
00:45:07
Trio of Positivity
That's such an easy answer.
00:45:09
Mike
I know.
00:45:09
Trio of Positivity
Honestly, Loveland.
00:45:12
Mike
o
00:45:12
Trio of Positivity
has to be Loveland for me.
00:45:12
Mike
Mmm.
00:45:14
Mike
Interesting call.
00:45:16
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. It has to be Loveland at this point.
00:45:20
Mike
Interesting. and know I mean, the rookies were more involved. Luther Burton had a good, I think he had like five catches. I think he led the team in targets, if I'm not ah i not crazy, um or or catches.
00:45:34
Mike
um But I think Rome might get a bounce back this week after his subpar performance and the touchdown getting snaked away from him.
00:45:42
Trio of Positivity
I don't even know if that was really a subpar performance. I'm OK with how he performed. It's just very much a ah It was just a different game. um Turning it over to the other side of the football here with the Saints.
00:45:55
Trio of Positivity
ah Their quarterback, Rattler, is 6-1 right now in touchdown to interceptions. ah Kamara has 314 rushing yards, which is currently beating Swift.
00:46:07
Trio of Positivity
um What would you say is one thing that the Saints can do to win this game?
00:46:16
Mike
I think the running game is going to play play a big role, I think. Like you mentioned, Kamara is still Kamara. I think if they can control the time of possession with the running game, they i have Chris Olave on my fantasy team.
00:46:35
Mike
He has moments of getting yards, but those yards are typically in small chunks rather than big chunks. So I think typically their drives are longer drives, 10 yards here, 10 yards there, slowly move up the field.
00:46:53
Mike
So it gives us time to eventually just push the envelope and um make sure that they don't get the first down. So what can they do to win the game? They're going to need to probably get some big plays going here.
00:47:05
Mike
They're going to need to score some points against us. mean, we've we're averaging 25 points a game, which is crazy for us. ah And so they need to score some points, and to do that, they're going to have to use all their weapons, probably including Tyson Hill.
00:47:23
Mike
And then on the defensive side of the ball, pressure Caleb, right? If you do that, anything can happen.
00:47:27
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:47:30
Mike
But if this O-line stays stout, hopefully.
00:47:30
Trio of Positivity
ah
00:47:33
Trio of Positivity
The last four games the Saints played, they did not touch 20 points. So their defense really needs to produce in the sense that if it's going to be a low scoring game, they want to be on the upside. So their defense might have to do turnovers, as you had mentioned.
00:47:48
Trio of Positivity
So be on the lookout for that. All right, Miller, we're going go into predictions. going to glaze myself, brother, because I'm four and one so far in predictions. And even though you guys have laughed at me so hard, um show some respect.
00:48:00
Trio of Positivity
OK, I'm four and one. You and Boopin are currently three and two ah with these predictions because Bears won and he had predicted that the Bears. Wait, did he predict that they would lose?
00:48:14
Trio of Positivity
don't remember. I think he said when, didn't he?
00:48:15
Mike
He didn't predict last week. I thought it was a loss. i thought he had it as a loss.
00:48:17
Trio of Positivity
He did say loss on the schedule. Yes. Yes. So he is now tied with you. When we did our predictions earlier in the year, we all said that this is a win for the Bears.
00:48:29
Trio of Positivity
I'm going to go first.
00:48:32
Trio of Positivity
um I was spot on when it comes to how many points the commanders were and so were you. We both said 24. We were just off on how much the Bears would score.
00:48:45
Trio of Positivity
So in keeping with the law of physics, which has nothing to do with what I'm about to say, I'm going to go Bears 27, Saints 14. saints fourteen
00:48:58
Mike
2714. Okay, well, I'm going to take a different route. I'm going to go with the the law of gravity instead of physics.
00:49:03
Trio of Positivity
Okay.
00:49:07
Trio of Positivity
Oh, got it. All right. That makes sense.
00:49:09
Mike
And I'm going to say that the Bears are going to win 31 20.
00:49:09
Trio of Positivity
Okay.
00:49:13
Mike
31 20. There Book two
00:49:19
Mike
twenty thirty one to twenty ah you go book it baby
00:49:23
Trio of Positivity
So you think the saints are going to score 20 points. That's interesting.
00:49:27
Mike
Well, didn't we just beat the Cowboys like 31 to 17? I didn't want to choose that score.
00:49:32
Trio of Positivity
Well, yeah, that's fair. ah with If we make our predictions, that will put me at a solid 5-1, which makes me look really good. ah You'll be there at 3-2. All right, Miller. It's time for the fantasy recap.
Fantasy Football & Injuries
00:49:46
Trio of Positivity
Last week, I gave a story about my team. I got blown out. I don't necessarily want to give a story, but I do have a question for you. From the time that you played a fantasy, which I'm assuming it was late high school, or early college around that time,
00:50:01
Trio of Positivity
Would you say that this is a bad year when it comes to fantasy due to the injuries that we've been seeing?
00:50:06
Mike
I was wondering how you were going to frame that. I mean, it does seem like there's a lot of injuries this year. it seems like every week we're losing a key fantasy player. So, I mean, as far as injuries are concerned, I think you're probably right. It's probably worse than normal.
00:50:20
Mike
mean, we have a lot of people that are out for the year. We have a lot of people that are up and down and a lot of people that are just hurt ah going on IR, not even just like small injuries. So, I mean, i don't necessarily think that you can call that a bad year for fantasy. I think if if If you're being honest with yourself, I think that really shows coming from a guy that only has one team above 500, that really shows how good you are as a manager being able to navigate injuries.
00:50:50
Mike
right? Like having a bench that could fill in, how well did you draft? do you have that bench that can step in and fill in for those injuries? Obviously for some teams who have multiple key injuries, like it's pretty hard to get around that. And it's just called, let's go to the bar and drink our sorrows away. But like realistically, when you're talking about injuries occurring, it really shows who can navigate it, who can be that good manager that can kind of lead their team to the top and who can get the waiver pickup, who can get the white guy, who can put their team in position to have a shot every week. So, um but I think you are right. I think there are more injuries we've seen in the past. Definitely last year, because last year, the amount of injuries, at least to the running back position was very minimal.
00:51:35
Mike
ah Wide receivers got hit pretty hard, but running backs were
00:51:38
Trio of Positivity
I think we're noticing too, like it's superstars that are like getting hit or not even super, but good performers are just getting hit with it. Um,
00:51:47
Mike
And the other thing is, is like, i can't remember last year perfectly, but I don't know if there was a lot of quarterback injuries.
Creative Fantasy League Idea
00:51:55
Mike
And like, if you look at two of the biggest offensive juggernauts in this league, you're talking about the Bengals and you're talking about the Baltimore Ravens and they've been devastated by their quarterback injuries. Like you look at what Cincinnati is going through with Joe Burrow being out.
00:52:11
Mike
You're talking about, Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase both probably projected top 15 wide receivers. Tee Higgins is now irrelevant. Jamar Chase has had two back-to-back good games, but before that, he was not doing very well.
00:52:24
Mike
And then the Ravens, I mean, Derrick Henry isn't doing that. well I think he had a good week this week. But then and all their playmakers are basically irrelevant. So when you have quarterback injuries, that destroys a whole team.
00:52:37
Trio of Positivity
I agree with you 100%. So let's talk a little bit about injuries. One of the bigger ones that I can recall from a fantasy perspective might be Marvin Harrison. i see you also have ah Garrett Wilson in there.
00:52:50
Trio of Positivity
Anything you want to add?
00:52:51
Mike
talking about Marvin Harrison. That's like the least important,
00:52:55
Trio of Positivity
Well, see, you say that, but then you're talking to a guy that has a bunch of injuries on his team.
00:52:55
Mike
ah
00:53:01
Trio of Positivity
And so from a fantasy perspective, you' I'm already dealing with the lowest of the lows. Also, why haven't we done this for funsies? You know what I want to do? i want to be the commissioner of a fantasy football league where you have to pick the team.
00:53:16
Trio of Positivity
And we grab their quarterback, their running backs, their wide receiver and their defense and their kicker and whatever they get. That's the score. Doesn't you don't get to pick players of different teams. You want the Bears? That means you get Caleb.
00:53:29
Trio of Positivity
That means you get DJ Moore. That means you get Roma Dunze. You get all of those players, and whoever performs the best wins.
00:53:36
Mike
Probably because it's a dumb idea.
00:53:40
Mike
Like, talk to me how that's going to work. One, are you just choosing one team for the entire season?
00:53:46
Trio of Positivity
No, you can change them.
00:53:46
Mike
Or two, you choose each week? Okay, so you get to choose once a week.
00:53:49
Trio of Positivity
Waiver wire,
00:53:51
Mike
How are you going to do waiver wire?
00:53:52
Trio of Positivity
Waiver wire, you choose it. Yeah, you you do the waiver wire the same way.
00:53:59
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. It works in my head. There would be no flex.
00:54:02
Mike
if you right I mean, I get the point.
00:54:03
Trio of Positivity
There would be no flex.
00:54:04
Mike
Why not? Why not?
00:54:07
Trio of Positivity
what Who would you put on flex? You have a tight end.
00:54:08
Mike
You can have three wide receivers on a team.
00:54:10
Trio of Positivity
When do the Bears play three
00:54:14
Mike
This past game. I mean, you could take you can have two flexes if you want. You have Zacchaeus. Remember, he dropped like basically 99-yard touchdown pass.
00:54:25
Mike
And then you have Zacchaeus and Luther Burden. Those are two players that could be flexed. I mean, the idea the idea is kind of there.
00:54:30
Trio of Positivity
and Listen, i have a million dollar idea. i want to run it.
00:54:34
Mike
I just don't know how you transition from team to team.
00:54:37
Trio of Positivity
i think if you lose, depending on the amount of point, the amount of points, if you lose, if you have the least amount of points, you get the first pick on the team. That works.
00:54:48
Mike
So for all year, it's just picking.
00:54:52
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. And if you're if you have a great team, you can keep the team.
00:54:52
Mike
Just going to be flip-flop.
00:54:56
Mike
But you're not going to have a great team. You have to switch it every week.
00:54:59
Trio of Positivity
Or maybe I could put in a rule where you can't switch after two weeks. Like you have to have a new team every two weeks. I don't know. The more that I'm talking about it, the more I'm kind of like enjoying this, but let's get back to the, to hand.
00:55:11
Trio of Positivity
Is there anything else you want to talk about injuries?
00:55:13
Mike
So obviously Emeka Abuka is the Tampa Bay wide receiver. He went down with a, I believe a knee injury or hamstring injury. We have yet to hear for him, but obviously this is an explosive offense in Tampa Bay.
00:55:27
Mike
And as of now, You have Mike Evans, who's on the shelf. question He's possible to return. You have Chris Godwin that's hurt. And now you have their third rookie stud wide receiver, Emeka Buka, who's out.
00:55:40
Mike
So look for them to figure out what the heck's going on. There's two Johnson kids. The leader is going to be Tez Johnson, who could be a play this week, depending on the injuries. There are some people saying that Mike Evans could come back this week.
00:55:54
Mike
But you have the wide receivers there, but also look at you specifically, even though I don't think you should drop Mason, the tight end for the Jets. But Kate Otten, if he is there, it might be worth making that switch.
00:56:08
Mike
Kate Otten is the tight end for Tampa Bay. He was really good last year for a small stretch when their wide receivers are out. You know Baker's going to bake, right? You know he's going to gore.
00:56:18
Trio of Positivity
This is another reason all this all this information you're providing just puts me at a big Baker MVP conversation.
00:56:25
Mike
Yeah. ah You know he's going to bake. You know he's going to cook. So what's going to happen there? Garrett Wilson tweaked his knee. Seems like he's going to be out two to three weeks. And then probably the biggest injury this this this week was Puka Nakua.
00:56:40
Mike
He pulled up. So we have yet to hear how long these guys are going to be out.
Player Injury Updates
00:56:45
Mike
Huge, more wide receivers down. It's crazy fantasy the year like we've already talked about.
00:56:51
Mike
who Who knows? But there is ah light at the end of the tunnel for some people. Players that are possibly coming back this week for week seven. CeeDee Lamb is projected to come back. George Kittle for the Niners and possibly Brock Purdy.
00:57:08
Mike
They could all be coming back this week. So keep an eye on them. Obviously, Brock Purdy left to the side, but George Kittle and CeeDee Lamb got to immediately get back into their lineups. I mean, CeeDee with the Cowboys, Dak's playing at a pretty elite level.
00:57:24
Mike
He should still fit into the role. And then George Kittle, the Niners are starving for targets. Like, they are injured all over the place, so.
00:57:33
Trio of Positivity
Miller, can I get your opinion on this? Do you think the Cowboys is probably ah one team where if they had a decent defense could be running this league right now with the offensive production they've been doing?
00:57:48
Mike
Yeah, man. They've looked really good. I mean, they've they they've it looked better than at least I've thought they would without CeeDee Lamb, right? Going into this season...
00:58:00
Mike
I really did think that Dak Prescott was going to have a pretty good year. thought pairing CeeDee Lamb with George Pickens was a good call and could lead to a Bengals-like performance.
00:58:12
Mike
um Obviously, Javante Williams has been a revelation for that team as a running back. No one expected that coming from Denver. i mean, they let him walk. even trade him or anything. They literally just let him walk.
00:58:24
Mike
And then he comes to the Cowboys, and he's been a legit force at running back, probably top 10. running back this year if not top five um just been huge for that so offensively it's been there and defensively it hasn't which is you know all in all honesty probably one of the reasons the offense has been so good is their defense is shit so i mean if they had a good defense they may be be they will be doing well for nfl performance but who knows
00:58:47
Trio of Positivity
Bears.
Fantasy Waiver Suggestions
00:58:53
Mike
how fantasy is
00:58:53
Trio of Positivity
Right. ah Packers ah last three games, they scored 40, 22 and 27. It was a tie, a win against the Jets, the Jets, and then a loss against the Panthers.
00:59:05
Trio of Positivity
um Miller, we're finishing up the episode here. Any final recommendations on who you think is available for waivers?
00:59:14
Mike
um Obviously, one guy you got to check on your league is Rico Dowdle. I doubt he'll be there. Make sure he's for the Panthers. Make sure to pick him up if you're not. I already mentioned Tez Johnson for Tampa Bay.
00:59:25
Mike
He might be the only one of the only wide receivers that are not hurt. Kate Otten, another one for Tampa Bay, could be a good performer at tight end. Quarterback.
00:59:37
Mike
I don't know. Kind of want to go to A-Rod this week going against Cincy. Anything can happen there to keep a lookout for them if you need a quarterback. um And then other than that, make sure Rasheed Rice isn't out there.
00:59:53
Mike
Probably isn't, but he's coming back from suspension this week for the Chiefs. So we'll see. Chiefs are could be back. Could be back, baby.
01:00:04
Trio of Positivity
That's going to be really good for the Swifties to hear. all right.
Conclusion & Bears' Winning Streak
01:00:07
Trio of Positivity
That's going to be our episode. ah Thank you guys so much for listening. We hope you like what you heard and you actually want to subscribe to our channel if you can. We are technically a young podcast.
01:00:20
Trio of Positivity
With that being said, maybe someday in the near future, We already have positivity coming in. The Bears are on a three-game win streak. This is a victory Tuesday for us.
01:00:32
Trio of Positivity
Thank you guys so much for joining us. Until then, we will not suffer in misery. Goodbye!
01:00:38
Mike
Bye-bye!