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Season 3 - Episode 4 - Crunch Time
12 Plays3 months ago
The Duo talks about the current bears news including the plethora of injuries. Do the bears have enough depth at DB and RB to sustain a successful season?
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Transcript
Introduction to the Trio of Positivity Podcast
00:00:08
Bhupen
Hello!
00:00:12
Bhupen
Welcome to the show! Man, I just want to rip, even though I can't sing. Welcome to the Trio of Positivity podcast. Just a duo right now, hopefully be a trio sometime soon.
00:00:25
Bhupen
We appreciate you joining us today. This is the podcast where we skim the Chicago sports landscape to bring some positivity into your life, ladies and gentlemen. um You know, it's hard to find most of the time, but hey, we do a good job of bringing negativity into your life.
00:00:39
Bhupen
Sorry, positivity into your life. I'm your co-host, Bupin. Miller's here. Hey, buddy. Say what's up.
00:00:47
Trio of Positivity
I just want to apologize to everybody. i missed an email. Taylor Swift's publicist sent me the email, said the engagement was going to happen. And I just, I missed it. And i I didn't get the intro in time. So we're stuck with Boopin doing whatever he just did. So I apologize everybody, but ah maybe next time, maybe next engagement. i I'll get that one.
00:01:11
Bhupen
Next engagement.
00:01:12
Trio of Positivity
but
00:01:13
Bhupen
Brutal. Brutal. Brutal. I'm pretty sure ill this episode should be titled Tay Tay because she's going to be in every segment, I'm pretty sure.
00:01:25
Bhupen
I'm not going to start the show there. Quick social plug, people. We are on Facebook under Trio Positivity Podcast. Twitter X, we are Trio Positivity. We have a YouTube channel, Trio Positivity Podcast.
00:01:38
Bhupen
Why do we not have Trio Positivity Podcast on Twitter is my only question. Then it will be the same thing everywhere. We do have a TikTok.
00:01:45
Trio of Positivity
Because the handle was taken...
00:01:47
Bhupen
God. Okay. TikTok. We have a TikTok. Crystal tells me it joins up. um The website is there. We have nothing on the website. We will we may have it someday. But enough of the housekeeping.
Football Season Kick-off Excitement
00:02:01
Bhupen
It's time. The off season's in the books. It's done. We are patiently, not patiently, waiting for week one. Miller, i don't know if you want to close us start us off.
00:02:15
Bhupen
you have some reactions for the offseason? I can go first, second, whatever you want me to do.
00:02:20
Trio of Positivity
You seem much more thrilled about this than I do. So why don't you just start us off?
00:02:25
Bhupen
My people. Holdouts are ending. will not talk about Micah Persons. The preseason is done. Fantasy drafts are here. My team sucks already. Football is back.
00:02:36
Trio of Positivity
Mine too. Mine too. Mine too.
00:02:38
Bhupen
Football is back. You know, all the positive hype season is behind us most of the time because we'll get to see the team that, you know, keep kept us dreaming.
00:02:49
Bhupen
17-0, Super Bowl. We get to find out week one if they're really all they were hyped up to be. I'm glad, man. Football's back.
00:03:01
Bhupen
What are you going to do? That's it. Simple.
00:03:01
Trio of Positivity
Was that it?
00:03:03
Trio of Positivity
So it was you just reacted to nothing? It was just pure joy of having football back?
00:03:09
Bhupen
Yeah. Do you want to go into detail about Chargers third stringers versus Ravens third stringers, how that game went? you me to go
00:03:17
Trio of Positivity
I think that's necessary for the group to talk about.
00:03:21
Bhupen
into detail? You guys are way into football. You were talking about cuts in our chats. Oh, my God. You guys are way into it. I just, this is, you know happy season. This is happy season. Christmas is here.
00:03:32
Bhupen
All right.
Sanders Brothers Media Coverage Critique
00:03:33
Trio of Positivity
Christmas is here.
00:03:33
Bhupen
What do you got?
00:03:34
Trio of Positivity
Well, you know what's not a happy season? You know what's not a happy season? Not a happy season is listening to as much coverage as I've had to listen to about a fifth round pick and an unrestricted free agent.
00:03:48
Trio of Positivity
okay I am sick of listening about Shadour and Shiloh, I think his name is Shiloh, Sanders, and their adventures in this fucking league. It's annoying. I'm done.
00:04:01
Trio of Positivity
i am so happy that one's benched, third string quarterback, and the other's not. for He's going be playing up in fucking Canada. I am so grateful for this.
00:04:11
Trio of Positivity
It's so smaddening the amount of coverage these two have gotten. And given it's not their own fault, obviously. But you have Shadour, who had a great game, give it to the kid, and then an awful game where he had as many sacks as he... ate that You think he had five times as many sacks as he had completions or some bullshit like that.
00:04:31
Trio of Positivity
Just horrible outing this last time. And then Shiloh goes and punches a guy. Like... What the fuck? Why are we still talking about these two worthless fucking football players?
00:04:43
Trio of Positivity
Let's just forget they ever played and move on, right? though As Dion said, God has plans for them and it'll take them bigger, better ways. So let's just let's just do that.
00:04:54
Bhupen
Wait, are you... Is that on the ESPN? Where is the coverage coming from?
00:04:59
Trio of Positivity
It's everywhere on Twitter.
00:05:00
Bhupen
and so
00:05:01
Trio of Positivity
Watch ESPN, bro.
00:05:03
Bhupen
i don't know. Shit, like, i was gonna ask if ESPN got off Mahomes' dick and that's the new person they were writing, and but I guess you don't know either, No, um, in...
00:05:15
Trio of Positivity
Just everywhere. And then with ah what was Eric Dickerson coming out and talking about how the league was making a statement with him. What statement? Can someone shed light on what statement was being made?
00:05:29
Bhupen
Like he was being blackballed for being a Sanders, basically, is what he was saying. Because he was being touted as a first-round pick.
00:05:33
Trio of Positivity
It's the stupidest thing ever. well Who does...
00:05:36
Bhupen
Like, the fact that he went in the fifth is what he was referring to. But...
00:05:40
Trio of Positivity
Obviously, everybody in the draft so far is right, but I just don't understand why the hate with Deion Sanders. He didn't do anything to the NFL. He's just a college coach.
00:05:51
Trio of Positivity
Hmm.
00:05:51
Bhupen
He's a cocky little person. But in Sudour's defense, um all the other podcast I listen to has a guy from Cleveland. He said there were so many numerous fans from the Browns staying in the game in the third and fourth quarter for a third preseason game.
00:06:13
Bhupen
And he thought that was all... Like, the Sidur effect. Don't know. I wasn't there. That's his reporting. um
00:06:19
Trio of Positivity
I mean, it is, it is the Shadour effect. Let's be real.
00:06:22
Bhupen
Yeah, and then he...
00:06:22
Trio of Positivity
What else do the Browns have to root for? 42 year old Joe Flacco.
00:06:26
Bhupen
Between two shitty drives that you just laid out, he actually went to the dog pound section and, like, hyped up the crowd, supposedly, which is dumb. Go fucking play ball. Don't, like, all that shit, yes, you can do when you're good.
00:06:40
Bhupen
When you're that bad, I don't know if you can do it, but... supposedly the town is behind him and it was like a good, like he said, he has not seen that much hype Cleveland Browns football in a long time.
Caleb's Preseason Performance Analysis
00:06:51
Bhupen
So that was a positive.
00:06:51
Trio of Positivity
But the sad part is, is Gabriel has looked better and he's currently leading the charge.
00:06:56
Bhupen
Supposedly Gabriel's making the coach change his playbook because he's playing so well. So anyway, those are the reactions Chris gets here. I'm sure he'll have fun things to add to this conversation, but we are moving on just like time.
00:07:11
Bhupen
We're talking about preseason week three and he and I will set this up for you okay Miller you got this the undefeated Bears the 4-0 Bears in 2025 now 4-0 we beat the Packers in the first week 2025
00:07:18
Trio of Positivity
I'm always ready.
00:07:24
Trio of Positivity
3-0. 3-0. Oh, 20 and 25. you know
00:07:29
Trio of Positivity
oh twenty and twenty five
00:07:30
Bhupen
undefeated in 2025 Bears came back from 17 points down beat the Super Bowl Chiefs 29-27 in walk-off fashion.
00:07:45
Bhupen
Let that simmer for a second. The game started much rougher. The game started much rougher for both the starters. so Our team looked horrible, both offense and defense, and their...
00:07:58
Bhupen
yeah
00:07:58
Trio of Positivity
Whoa, whoa, calm your role before you start ripping on my quarterback, okay
00:08:04
Bhupen
Hang on, hang on. This is the truth. um The ah first couple of drives were horrible for both our units.
00:08:08
Trio of Positivity
okay? No, it's not.
00:08:12
Trio of Positivity
just just just Just keep Caleb's name out of your mouth.
00:08:15
Bhupen
I didn't say Caleb!
00:08:17
Trio of Positivity
You said both of our units. Caleb's the leader of one unit, okay?
00:08:19
Bhupen
Oh my God. I can't with you.
00:08:22
Trio of Positivity
Do you want me to be spitting facts? I could spit facts.
00:08:25
Bhupen
ah This season's going to be unbearable.
00:08:29
Trio of Positivity
You want some facts?
00:08:29
Bhupen
um oh
00:08:31
Trio of Positivity
We got 81.8% on target throws.
00:08:31
Bhupen
Please.
00:08:36
Trio of Positivity
122.1 passer rating. 8.8 yards per attempt. 2.89 time to throw. 220 yards. Two touchdowns. Zero TDs against the second string.
00:08:47
Trio of Positivity
Woo, baby! What's up, dog? You like those stats?
00:08:51
Bhupen
I got some stats for you too, though. A bot stat, a handoff, a false start, a throwaway, and a completion that was short of the sticks in the first drive alone.
00:08:53
Trio of Positivity
You got those stats?
00:09:04
Bhupen
How is those numbers for you?
00:09:05
Trio of Positivity
Hey, you can't you can't be perfect on every opening drive.
00:09:08
Bhupen
Hey, hey guy I got more. Back-to-back three and outs for the offense. how how How do you like those stats?
00:09:15
Trio of Positivity
Hey, I just look at the information that's put in front of me, and that one's not in front put in front of me.
00:09:18
Bhupen
finally Finally, finally, they get to the red zone, but do they score a touchdown? No, a field goal. How do those stats sound to you, buddy?
00:09:27
Trio of Positivity
Hey, if Braxton Jones doesn't suck, we're in a totally different scenario.
00:09:32
Bhupen
right.
00:09:32
Trio of Positivity
Let that fucking guy run right into Caleb.
00:09:32
Bhupen
All
00:09:34
Trio of Positivity
And Caleb had to throw it in the back the end zone. We had a wide open guy cross in the middle. He had a little more time.
00:09:40
Bhupen
right, we'll talk.
00:09:40
Trio of Positivity
But hey, we'll get to that in a little second. But but all for real, if you look at... Are we done talking about the game? We won. Whoopty fucking do. Okay. if If you focus in on Caleb's performance, um even though I don't even know if you caught it, but most of the shit that he's done has been against the second team players, um whether it was the Buffalo game or whether was Kansas City game.
00:10:04
Trio of Positivity
But I think the things that you need to focus on are the two... Areas that were highlighted most at the end of last year. And that was one, the on target throws. I think he was one of the worst in the league on on target throws.
00:10:18
Trio of Positivity
And he's shooting an 81.8% this year. And then two, the time to throw at 2.89%. or 2.89 seconds. or two point eight nine seconds So like if you're looking, trying to find a silver lining here, um those are two things that are silver lining. And realistically, those two things, it doesn't matter if it's the second string. It doesn't mean it's the first string. It doesn't mean if it's Pro Bowlers.
00:10:41
Trio of Positivity
The accuracy of the throw is the accuracy of the throw. And then the time to throw is the time to throw. So just try to look at the silver lining there when it comes to him on that information. And and he was he protected the ball. And realistically, he played almost a full game.
Chicago Bears Preseason Performance Discussion
00:10:57
Trio of Positivity
He got one sack, obviously, and he got no interception. So, hey, um we'll see what happens, man.
00:11:03
Bhupen
You mean the whole half? You mean the whole half?
00:11:05
Trio of Positivity
No, he played a whole half against the Chiefs and a quarter against Bills. Almost a whole
00:11:09
Bhupen
Okay. No, that's fair. Like, um some positive takeaway. I love that our roles have flipped. I used to look at the silver lining and you were usually like, hey, they're more bad than good, whatever. You know, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Right. Like the time to throw and everything is great. But, you know, that two point eight, nine seconds, whatever, that's going to be lesser time with the first unit. But whatever.
00:11:35
Bhupen
You know, I am.
00:11:37
Trio of Positivity
Why is it going to be lesser time? It has to do with the play and reading the play.
00:11:40
Bhupen
I don't know. They're the first stringers. They'll probably get to them quicker. I don't know. That's just my... Like...
00:11:46
Trio of Positivity
2.89 is below where you're supposed to be.
00:11:48
Bhupen
Good.
00:11:50
Bhupen
I mean, it is, but, like, I'm just assuming for a shot. We were three and outs against the starters. I don't know what they're...
00:11:55
Trio of Positivity
the first round? 2.89 is like, I think what you want is like three.
00:12:00
Bhupen
Okay.
00:12:00
Trio of Positivity
you want to You want the ball out within three seconds.
00:12:01
Bhupen
All right.
00:12:03
Trio of Positivity
So the fact that he's doing under that, it doesn't matter.
00:12:04
Bhupen
All right.
00:12:08
Bhupen
All right. Fair point. But I'm just saying there were some positives this year. But, like, God, I don't want to hear Super Bowl or, like, none of that bullshit. 17-0, none of that bullshit. No playoffs.
00:12:19
Bhupen
I like where we're headed. Long way to go is where I am with Caleb.
00:12:22
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, before we move on to the more, in my opinion, the most important thing. um Any comments about Caleb's socks? Did you see this?
00:12:31
Bhupen
I saw it on Twitter. I saw it on Twitter. He was wearing shorter socks. And they're not NFL.
00:12:36
Trio of Positivity
No, that sucks. No, the socks weren't pulled up. I was hoping Chris would have probably had some bullshit to talk about. But realistically, one of the people was talking about how Caleb's socks weren't pulled all the way up, which they need to be.
00:12:44
Bhupen
Oh.
00:12:52
Trio of Positivity
It's a fine, blah, blah, blah. And saying how he's not a leader because his socks aren't pulled up and. I don't know. All is well and good. You can talk about that, whatever, if you did say that's your opinion. But the bottom line is the other thing to keep in mind is this is a preseason game.
00:13:07
Trio of Positivity
Caleb did have his socks up for majority of the time while he was on the field. So you don't know what he, he may have not thought he was done for the day. Got all comfortable.
00:13:19
Trio of Positivity
I mean, he did hand his helmet over to the equipment person and then he went back in the game. So you don't know his state of mind. The bottom line is when he went, he stepped on that field for that first time, his socks were all the way up so he can go fuck himself.
00:13:32
Bhupen
um I know we are peak offseason.
00:13:33
Trio of Positivity
The loser story.
00:13:35
Bhupen
Peak offseason when you're worried about Caleb's socks here. lets Let's move on.
00:13:42
Trio of Positivity
Storylines, that's all your that's all they're trying to get. Clickbait, that's why they get me all the time.
00:13:48
Bhupen
to stop doing that. but ah Let's talk about the actual losers probably of the game. The defensive performance. I think we'll be on the same page here. We had no pass rush.
00:14:00
Bhupen
Mahomes seemed very cozy behind that.
00:14:02
Trio of Positivity
Well, let's start with the caveat of we didn't, our linebackers didn't play. Edwards didn't play. Edmonds didn't play. And Grady Jarrett didn't play. Jalen Johnson didn't play.
00:14:12
Trio of Positivity
Tyler Gordon didn't play.
00:14:14
Bhupen
Okay.
00:14:14
Trio of Positivity
And I don't think Tyreek Stevenson played. I could be wrong on that one.
00:14:18
Bhupen
but majority of DTs played, um, linebackers.
00:14:21
Trio of Positivity
Other than, yeah.
00:14:22
Bhupen
Yeah. Might, might be the second unit, but, um, there were no pass thrust whatsoever. Like not even like one here and there. Mons was cozy and that O-line Miller, they're still, they're still trying to figure out who's the starters on their side.
00:14:33
Trio of Positivity
Well, they.
00:14:37
Bhupen
And he just fucking ran up and down the field, scored on all three drives. I thought that was a real dud off, off the whole game. Um, like I,
00:14:46
Trio of Positivity
I mean, they did make him move, but yes, he looked pretty comfortable back there. They did provide some movement out the pocket, but yes, it wasn't.
00:14:51
Bhupen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:57
Trio of Positivity
They didn't touch him. he didn't His jersey wasn't dirty at the end of the day. You're going to use that next in the opening game.
00:15:02
Bhupen
like
00:15:05
Trio of Positivity
But yes, it was very disappointing, the lack of um pressure. and They did make him move a little bit, but but he gets out of everything. That's just Patrick Mahomes.
00:15:17
Trio of Positivity
um And it was it was pretty disappointing to see how easily he was shredding our defense and the defensive backs were non-existent, essentially.
00:15:18
Bhupen
yeah
00:15:28
Bhupen
Yeah. Provided, like like you said, our starters were not there on like secondary. and but I want to give that caveat. That would be fun to see like if everyone was out there.
00:15:37
Trio of Positivity
Brisker was, though, our safeties were.
00:15:40
Bhupen
Yeah, but, like, again, like, he he made it look easy, like, scored on all three drives. That was, like, the biggest concern for me. um Again, I'm not saying we are world beaters on defense, but i I thought we would compete more, like, at least, like, you know, give him, like, three-and-hour here and there, like, something like that.
00:15:56
Bhupen
You know, like, maybe a couple of field goals would be fine, but, like, I think it was all three were touchdowns. One of them was a field goal.
00:16:02
Trio of Positivity
No, one of them was a field goal that was dropped by the pass was dropped by Kareem Hunt in the end. So I think if I'm remembering correctly.
00:16:09
Bhupen
So, like, again, but like, so, like, again, like, did that just looked bad. Like, i maybe it's my expectation, but I thought defense would play slightly better. um Like, that that was the biggest disappointment for me.
00:16:22
Trio of Positivity
Absolutely. Yeah. So we'll see where this goes. One of the biggest disappointments on the defensive side was twofold. ah We'll start with Nishan Wright. You may recognize that his name. He is a cornerback.
00:16:35
Trio of Positivity
He received a lot of positive press and in the training camp, preseason play. um They thought that he was going to be pushing for Tyreek Stevenson's position.
00:16:46
Trio of Positivity
he is no longer going to be pushing for Tyreek Stevenson's position. He started off basically, I believe the first drive with a pass interference face mask,
00:16:57
Trio of Positivity
where it was a 30 yards on two separate penalties. That was just killing. And then the following drive, he let up a 58-yard pass play. So needless to say, Tyreek Stevenson is in a safe spot as this cornerback, too.
00:17:12
Trio of Positivity
Hopefully Jalen Johnson does come back. He is scheduled to be back. I think they just activated him. He's not on the pup or anything like that. So fingers crossed that he plays in game one.
00:17:23
Trio of Positivity
So he was one of the guys that got... Pretty badly beat on the defensive back. um Any concerns with you as far as the DB position? Obviously, we kind of talked about what we have.
00:17:36
Trio of Positivity
Jalen Johnson, Tyreek Stevenson, and Kyler Gordon. Those are our first two are our cornerbacks. And then we have our slot, our nickel cornerback in Kyler. um We lost Terrell Smith for the year.
00:17:51
Trio of Positivity
So ah we're relying on Nishan right here to be our backup cornerback. So it'll be interesting. What are your thoughts there?
00:17:59
Bhupen
Yeah, that's very interesting. I thought our play front would be maybe a little bit tighter than this year because I think our secondary was decent last year. ah They were competing better than they have last couple years. So I was thinking we were coming from a place of like...
00:18:16
Bhupen
like, you know, they they we would not rely on them as much, so they would kind of have an advantage. There a little bit of depth that I was looking forward to now with Terrell Smith out and Wright being exposed, especially with our starters having not played at all in the preseason.
00:18:31
Bhupen
Definitely a big area of concern, but like I said, the defense overall, like, I thought it would be a decent unit, like maybe someone worth playing in fantasy even, and I'm like, I'm very concerned. I think, like, this is like I think we'll get back to average, right below average.
00:18:48
Bhupen
Like, I don't think that should be a problem. But if we were wanted them to be a difference maker, I think we'll be really disappointed there.
00:18:55
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, especially with all that hype that we had with Miami and just the physicality that they show just to come out flat.
00:18:58
Bhupen
Yeah.
00:19:03
Trio of Positivity
And even last weekend, they had a
Bears' Offensive and Defensive Lineup Challenges
00:19:05
Trio of Positivity
good game. But to come out flat against Kansas City was concerning because you were playing the ones. um Next, um as you guys all, everybody that listens, you know you you know who Ben is. He's made several spots.
00:19:17
Trio of Positivity
One of his favorite signings in the off season was Dio. I'm even going to try the second name because I don't have it on the sheet.
00:19:24
Bhupen
Yeah.
00:19:25
Trio of Positivity
But Dio, the defensive end that we got from the Colts, well, now he didn't play every snap in the preseason games. But let's just say as far as the stats books are concerned, he wasn't even on the field.
00:19:37
Trio of Positivity
He didn't have one stat this whole preseason, which is not great for a guy already being questioned on the amount of money that we spent. for him.
00:19:48
Trio of Positivity
So you were hoping that he was going to make a positive impact and maybe make some plays on this defense. So it's early. hasn't, not a real game. We haven't got anybody together, but we'll see what happens.
00:20:01
Trio of Positivity
ah Hopefully he turns it around. He's supposed to be a good fit for this defense. We'll see if it actually ah hits there. And then, um, Austin Booker, yeah He's the defensive end that we drafted last year.
00:20:15
Trio of Positivity
He's made a strong outing the first two preseason games, got hurt. Not a lot of clarity as regards to his position. As far as this injury is concerned, he's not in the pup, but they did say he's going to be out a few weeks. So it looks like week one is in jeopardy there. So,
00:20:33
Trio of Positivity
DB's having issues with injuries. DN's are also having issues with injuries with Booker, but it looks like the core, all the starters should be ready to go as far as the defensive front's concerned. So we'll see how that goes.
00:20:49
Bhupen
only pals about day oh i heard it was like it was one of the joint practices either miami or buffalo i think he was one of the stars of the day like he he looked really good one of those days but i can go back and check when but that was the only thing i've heard and sad news about booker i'm really hoping for some exciting um jump from him this year from all the hype he's gone but we'll see where we get there but um
00:21:17
Trio of Positivity
the I'll take this one.
00:21:17
Bhupen
Quick EMU.
00:21:18
Trio of Positivity
I'll run with this one again. The left tackle competition, we've we've been talking about that previously. previously It looks like brakton's Braxton Jones may have the job, but if any of you listened to the press conference from Ben Johnson today...
00:21:33
Trio of Positivity
You heard it, what he said about the starters. And i have the quote right here. Ben Johnson came out when he was asked about the left tackle competition, who the starter is going to be. He said, i think we're going to have a starter week one and we'll go from there.
00:21:47
Bhupen
Thank you.
00:21:49
Trio of Positivity
We feel good about the guys that we have in the room. Someone's going to take the bull by the horns and is going to completely take over. Let me repeat that last front line for you.
00:22:01
Trio of Positivity
Someone's going to take the bull by the horns and is going to completely take over. Okay, so we just went through about four weeks of training camp.
00:22:13
Trio of Positivity
And I think two weeks ago, he said this goddamn same exact line.
00:22:16
Bhupen
I was going to say, I've heard this before from him when the competition was going on.
00:22:19
Trio of Positivity
And now, 13 days away from the opening kickoff, he's going to use this line again? that doesn't give me any confidence that we have our left tackle solidified, regardless of the names are in the hat.
00:22:34
Trio of Positivity
That has me extremely worried about that left tackle situation.
00:22:39
Bhupen
Yeah, um it looks like like I was trying to look off BFF grades and stuff like that. There's nothing official official, I think, but I think Theo might have been graded better on on this game by a little bit over Braxton Jones.
00:22:54
Bhupen
I don't think Braxton Jones had a bad game per se, but... I don't know. but If you look at the PFF stats, it echoes what Ben just said, which is it's still up in the air.
00:23:04
Bhupen
But I think Jones is going to start. Maybe he have a short leash, but I think he's going to start for sure. That's my vote. What do you think is going to make
00:23:12
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, I think it'll probably just be Braxton based on experience in the league. But the only other thing that I can see that and I'll get to the press conference a little more in a little bit. But unless we sign somebody or trade for someone in then in the near term, I think it's got to be probably Braxton Jones.
00:23:28
Bhupen
Yeah, someone coming in, playing left tackle, I don't see that. That person has to be a stud, and usually you don't find studs training easily or, you know, just on the way of life. So that might be a tough sell.
00:23:41
Bhupen
A couple other performances. Like, this is a big, big, big point for me. i wanted to draft DeAndre Swift. i Everyone and their mothers is like,
00:23:52
Trio of Positivity
Are you talking about fantasy when you said that?
00:23:54
Bhupen
Yeah, yeah. Fantasy and even real football, right? Like, at least for running back, they probably mean the same thing, but I thought it was going to be a good year. If you look up his, like, expectations for the season, lot of people have him in, like,
00:24:09
Bhupen
You know, on fantasy, do not draft like a bust for the most part. um I don't think he's going that high, but like be behind that offensive line, that's like top 10 in the league conservatively.
00:24:21
Bhupen
I thought he was going to have a good year. And all that to say he had a good, good game. I think, you know, he looked, well, he looked good. He looked serviceable. looked like he would do well behind that line.
00:24:32
Bhupen
um I am mad at myself that I didn't draft him in my fantasy league.
00:24:33
Trio of Positivity
but
00:24:37
Trio of Positivity
That's fair. I think a lot of this just comes from the Detroit Lions, right? When you want to draft a running back, you're looking for a guy that has the potential to get the yards and as well as the touchdowns.
00:24:50
Trio of Positivity
And when you look at the Lions, they have that with the Gibbs Montgomery tandem. Well, if you fast you look at the Bears, is that really going to be Swift's expertise? Is he going to be able to get those goal line carries?
00:25:03
Trio of Positivity
So I think a lot of the hesitation formulates around the fact that Swift may not get those end zone touches. It may go to like a Roshan Johnson. or someone like that.
00:25:12
Bhupen
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:25:12
Trio of Positivity
But when you look at the injuries on this team, you don't even know where that's going to come from. Right now, we did get the the depth chart. It came out. It's showing that we have we have three running backs on the roster.
00:25:27
Trio of Positivity
We have DeAndre Swift. We have Roshon Johnson, and then we have Kyle Menungai. So let's see how this transforms. Homer, I think it's Travis Homer. He's our special teamer, backup running back. He's on IR. He's out for the first four weeks.
00:25:43
Trio of Positivity
um So we'll see what happens. um Expectation, I think, is that another running back is going to be brought in. Again, it's not going to be an impact guy. So you just don't know who's going to take those goal line runs.
00:25:55
Trio of Positivity
And if Swift does become an impact player and does get those opportunities, he may turn into a steal in the fantasy football draft for sure.
00:26:03
Bhupen
yeah like honestly with two tight ends i feel like if they're that close i feel like they might end up throwing it too i'm not saying every time but like they may prefer that over maybe especially if there's running back injuries and maybe swift that maybe he doesn't crack it as much like they may throw it a little bit too but uh but don't know i'm behind it online i have some confidence in him mostly is what i was trying to convey and then he proved it on the field he's with the starters he played well um
00:26:29
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. You know who else proved it on the field?
00:26:34
Bhupen
The army.
00:26:34
Trio of Positivity
Our boy that we just signed.
00:26:37
Bhupen
Agent Bagent!
00:26:38
Trio of Positivity
Agent Bagent. Geez, what do you have? Four tutties, including the last second one or something like that? Something or maybe three tutties. But he played lights out and led the Bears to that comeback on on Friday. That was very impressive to see.
00:26:53
Trio of Positivity
I'm happy that we got him signed. Yeah. Signed him to a two-year, $10 million dollar extension. It was basically national u news because of his reaction. Obviously, he's up here crying at the podium because of what ah football's done for him at this point. It was a really heartfelt moment for him.
00:27:10
Trio of Positivity
Very cool to see.
00:27:10
Bhupen
He's an unsigned guy. Like, that's, that's, that's, I'm not life-changing money.
00:27:12
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. Unsigned free agent for sure.
00:27:15
Bhupen
Yeah, like.
00:27:16
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. So um very impressive to see. And he he deserves it, man. I'm happy that we got him for another three years. It's pretty much almost aligned to the Caleb contract. Hopefully at that point, we'll either ah we'll know what Caleb is at that point.
00:27:30
Trio of Positivity
And hopefully Tyson, maybe we can trade him after two years and maybe get something back for him. um Because you know how this stuff works with backup quarterbacks, especially ones that haven't been completely proven but look good.
00:27:40
Bhupen
Yeah, like.
00:27:44
Trio of Positivity
So we'll see.
00:27:45
Bhupen
right
00:27:46
Trio of Positivity
We'll see what happens.
00:27:47
Bhupen
Like, honestly, like that's all they're trading these
Press Conference Insights and Bears' Positivity Scores
00:27:49
Bhupen
days, right? Like, fucking Kenny.
00:27:51
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, but thirty but Kenny Pickett's trash.
00:27:54
Bhupen
I know, but he was a first-round pick, and like he's being traded twice in this offseason alone. like
00:27:58
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:27:59
Bhupen
It's interesting to see what's out there. um you know
00:28:01
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:28:02
Bhupen
That being said, like you know Minnesota is signing. He was a former Eagles quarterback.
00:28:08
Trio of Positivity
Carson Wentz.
00:28:08
Bhupen
Yeah, like, he still has his job, so it'll be interesting. um Like we said, he was pretty instrumental on the team. He has his role cut out. He's really good at it. I'm glad we have him. Like, he balled out this preseason.
00:28:19
Trio of Positivity
yeah
00:28:21
Bhupen
So happy for him. Seems like a good kid, too.
00:28:23
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, absolutely. um Two things here.
00:28:26
Bhupen
i mean,
00:28:27
Trio of Positivity
One thing, injuries to monitor. um I did see some reporting about TJ Edwards getting hurt today at practice. Obviously, I don't know the severity, don't know anything about it, but it seemed like he did throw his helmet down in disgust.
00:28:42
Trio of Positivity
Whatever that means, I don't know. Hopefully it's not a serious injury and hopefully he can get back in the field in the next two weeks. um The other thing that was interesting that I heard was from a lot of beat writers, they talked about changes coming in the next few weeks. I saw multiple people talk about the fact that the fifty The current 53 isn't the final 53. Expect changes.
00:29:07
Trio of Positivity
So i'm I'm interested to see if there's going to be some trades or some impact waiver claims that are made over the next few weeks. Obviously, The last few days, we've had a plethora of trades.
00:29:22
Trio of Positivity
I don't remember ever seeing this many trades and and this close to the season. um Maybe I was just blind to it, but it's been like every minute there's somebody getting traded for a fifth or a sixth or seventh-round pick. So it'll be interesting to see if the Bears get involved in that, especially with ah with as many holes as as we really do have.
00:29:42
Bhupen
Yeah, it seems like a lot going on. I was reading the Vikings depth chart before the week one matchup, and looks like they have only have four DBs um on their roster and stuff like that.
00:29:48
Trio of Positivity
Thank you.
00:29:53
Bhupen
So, like, not just us. Everyone's going through the same pains of, like, who balled out, who looked in the preseason, what where do we need depth, who is out on the waiver wire. And it seems like teams are not shy to give up, like, a fifth or sixth, seventh-round pick, like some of the picks that, like,
00:30:08
Bhupen
Usually don't amount to much. They're just throwing him around, like you said, last couple of days. And i don't know. i don't know about impact, but Brian Robinson to the 49ers is just probably as impact as it gets. It was interesting to see some of the pieces being moved around right now.
00:30:18
Trio of Positivity
Mm-hmm.
00:30:21
Bhupen
What I did want to bring up, and I think Ben Johnson was on the Kay Adams show, and he said he, like, I think it was Gibbs who criticized him, saying it's weird to see the same plays we did in Detroit being played at in Chicago.
00:30:37
Bhupen
And in response, Ben Johnson said, yes, it's a preseason, you know, like, what we are doing right now is likely what we're not doing this season because you don't want to show the people some of your plays maybe.
00:30:48
Bhupen
But he was like, this is something I've done for over years. I'm i'm just doing the same plays. But... We'll be different. We'll be more creative in the season. So that's something he said. Like when you when you were hinting at this, that's where my mind went.
00:31:00
Bhupen
Not necessarily probably what it means, but like that's probably some of the changes coming out there too. ah Looks like they want the offense to be like, you know, creative and different. Like there was a snap of DJ Moore running at running back, you know? So like things like that maybe. that those That's what i my mind went to, but just wanted to bring it up as well.
00:31:18
Bhupen
Talking about Ben Johnson, you're reporting on the presser. So um Mike Miller from Trio Positivity newspaper, take it over.
00:31:22
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:31:27
Bhupen
What did you think about Ben Johnson's press conference today?
00:31:29
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. Yeah. Brent Johnson had a press conference today, and um this is the first we've really talked about any pressure that he's done. And it's probably because this is, in my opinion, like the first press conference that he hasn't really owned it.
00:31:44
Trio of Positivity
Like, it seemed like he was pretty distraught based on probably expectations of where he thought this team was going to be and where we are at this point, which is quite concerning.
00:31:56
Trio of Positivity
um They, they obviously, they talked about what we've mentioned earlier about the left tackle and I'm not naming a starter there. They were talking to, they asked Ben about the pre-snap issues and he basically came out and said, i am disappointed that they have lingered for as long as they have.
00:32:15
Trio of Positivity
That is something that we've addressed. Yeah. um Nothing too sha shabby there, but it kind of seemed like he, if you've watched his press conferences in the back or in the past, he's been very direct.
00:32:29
Trio of Positivity
He's been good with the press. He's been able, he's owned the room. He's, when he, when he talked, you listened, he took charge. And it today it just wasn't that the other big point that came up was in regards to the running back room.
00:32:42
Trio of Positivity
They asked about where we're at with the running back rooms. And basically he said this, there are question marks as to when they will be fully healthy. Talking about injuries to Roshan, Cal Manungai, and Travis Homer.
00:32:54
Trio of Positivity
We'll always be looking if there's a guy out there and we that can help upgrade the room. So it's just like there's very much wishy-washy talk in this Ben Johnson press era. And that's not really what you want 13 days out of the season.
00:33:10
Trio of Positivity
You want decisiveness. You want solidifying positions. And it seems like we have multiple position groups where... We don't know what the path forward is. And it's it's quite concerning.
00:33:24
Trio of Positivity
it is It's really starting to get to me as to how well prepared this team is going to be and not necessarily blaming it on Ben Johnson.
00:33:24
Bhupen
yeah
00:33:33
Trio of Positivity
But just like with injuries, with where we ah the offseason, getting people together, it's just like, ah this going to work?
00:33:44
Bhupen
So oh no no longer 17-0? No longer Super Bowl bound? What are we worth?
00:33:48
Trio of Positivity
No, we're far we're far away from 17-0.
00:33:51
Bhupen
No, um I see what you're saying. Like, in his defense, I guess, like, we've all worked in places that have, like, ah you know, lots of issues, not just personnel, culture, everything.
00:34:02
Bhupen
And, like, a new CEO comes in or a new person in charge comes in, and everyone expects it to be better, and maybe some things are better, but it takes time, right? Like, ah definitely concerning.
00:34:12
Bhupen
I definitely think... We were like this Chiefs game, especially the starter units. I don't know if you believe me. Did not go as per plan. And I think like some of that bled into this press conference too.
00:34:24
Bhupen
And he was like distraught about ah those performance too. Kind of bled into this. I think he's just like. So, yes, it's it looks bad. We're not like offense goes threes and out twice. And we are having like dumb penalties on the first drive. yeah It looks bad. I think that probably bled into that too. But no, I think we probably have some bad bad habits. we Some of them have come out in the media already.
00:34:47
Bhupen
Some of them maybe haven't yet. But this team had some bad habits last year. And so some of the players are still here. So it's hard for those things to go away. And it seems like he's trying to like work with the players, give them the benefit of the doubt, coach them up. So...
00:34:59
Bhupen
Let's just chalk it up to that and, like, just hope that, like, when, you know, push country sharp week one, things will probably look better. Talking about that, ah it's it's time for our positivity scale.
00:35:17
Bhupen
um You know?
00:35:17
Trio of Positivity
Score. Score, not scale. Score.
00:35:20
Bhupen
score scale sorry my my it's in my product i get to see what i want um what we'll do miller you and i is let's give the offense score a score our defensive score and then and overall how we feel about it uh since you are very high let's start with offense and you what say you the positive score on our offense
00:35:41
Trio of Positivity
I like the... I truly enjoy That you believe everything I write down on a piece of paper.
00:35:52
Trio of Positivity
um My positivity score for the offense right now is probably... ah we'll give it We'll give it a four and a half.
00:36:01
Bhupen
ah
00:36:01
Trio of Positivity
A four and a half.
00:36:02
Bhupen
I'm sorry, what?
00:36:06
Bhupen
ah you Are you should ah changing your answer?
00:36:06
Trio of Positivity
First of all...
00:36:09
Trio of Positivity
I just explained that I think it's funny that you believe that everything I write on a piece of paper is factual.
00:36:18
Bhupen
so ah where the way The way agendas work, Miller, is you write it down and you fucking say it.
00:36:18
Trio of Positivity
No, that wasn't my answer.
00:36:19
Trio of Positivity
My answer...
00:36:24
Bhupen
That's how, whatever, on. go on
00:36:27
Trio of Positivity
I think it's probably a four and a half. There's been a lot of concerning talk about the overall offense. We've seen steps taken by Caleb, but we don't know if this is going to be coming to fruition or not.
00:36:39
Trio of Positivity
So, yes, I'm very concerned about the offense as a whole. think we got better. I like the direction that we're going to go, but until I see it on the field,
00:36:50
Trio of Positivity
I'm not going to be sitting here at a 10. That's for damn sure.
00:36:54
Bhupen
Alright, well, people are lying on the sheet. That's all I got for you. But I'm slightly higher than you. I'm at a six and a half. um You know, this is how we got here, including the preseason. So this has...
00:37:09
Bhupen
The offense live on upgrades. The Ben Johnson hire, all of that is built in. The personnel we have in ah offense, like, on paper, looks like one of the best offenses. some Some games we look pretty good. Two or three games we look pretty good.
00:37:22
Bhupen
Like, so that that factors in, too. So I'm at six and a 6.5 for the offense. um You know, I don't want to compare how we were last year, but I think the way I look at it is, like, we'll be better than average offense. So, like, that's probably at a 5. So, like, that's why I put it at 6.5.
00:37:39
Bhupen
with a bunch of room to grow into where we want to go um this year and beyond is where I am. I'm at a six and a half for offense.
00:37:47
Trio of Positivity
You're very optimistic.
00:37:48
Bhupen
I am. but If you don't know that by now, I don't know what to tell you. On the defensive side, this this was very hard for me. um The last game was horrible.
00:37:59
Bhupen
like Like I said, like i mean maybe not horrible. It's like an exaggeration. But their starter looked much better than ours. But I also didn't just want to give... Bash him over one game.
00:38:11
Bhupen
We've looked decent the rest of the way. The coaching hire. Some of the moves we made on the defense. All that being said, i said we'll be around average. So I gave him five and a half on defense for the positivity score.
00:38:27
Trio of Positivity
ah four
00:38:30
Bhupen
So not a zero. Got it. Okay. Got it.
00:38:33
Trio of Positivity
No, not a zero, a four.
00:38:33
Bhupen
um Okay. Um, so.
00:38:37
Trio of Positivity
I just, this defense, we saw what they were last year. Yes, we made some hires. I need to see impact from them. Yes, we've had a good game against the Bills. It wasn't the starting the the starting ones.
00:38:50
Trio of Positivity
And when we saw the ones with Mahomes, we got shredded. So I'm not going to give them credit for going against twos and threes. Like I will Caleb because it's Caleb. ah Duh.
00:39:00
Bhupen
Hey, you got something on your you got something on your lips right there.
00:39:01
Trio of Positivity
But this defense... but you But the defense needs to show me something, and we haven't seen the whole team, but we saw most of them last year, and it didn't go very well.
00:39:12
Trio of Positivity
So we'll see what happens this year with a new scheme and some new pieces. So, yeah, I'm not going to start crowning them because they are who I thought they were, okay?
00:39:21
Bhupen
and know
00:39:24
Bhupen
You're going to ground him, man. um Okay, overall, that brings me to a six, which I feel like Probably where we were last year, maybe slightly better. Especially how we ended the year, I think. I don't know where we were.
00:39:36
Trio of Positivity
No, we were not at a six to end the year.
00:39:37
Bhupen
ah
00:39:38
Trio of Positivity
I can promise you that.
00:39:39
Bhupen
No. Even after we beat the Packers?
00:39:40
Trio of Positivity
We were on like a 12 game losing streak, bro.
Podcast Humor and Season Predictions
00:39:44
Bhupen
But we beat the Packers at the end of the year is all I remember.
00:39:49
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:39:49
Bhupen
Anyway, your average comes from about 4, negative 1.
00:39:53
Trio of Positivity
No, that was a joke. Again, it's a joke. It was all for fucking play for your ass who reads everything. i'm I'm still about a four, four and a half overall.
00:40:04
Bhupen
All right. So no 17.0. Got it. Okay. ah That being said, if we had any um advertisement, this
00:40:11
Trio of Positivity
if if If anybody was interested in Chris's, it's um offense negative four, defense negative one, overall negative 12. Yeah.
00:40:22
Bhupen
Negative 300. Yeah. Who cares?
00:40:23
Trio of Positivity
yeah
00:40:25
Bhupen
um So I would throw for ads had we had any sponsors. Since we don't have any sponsors, I'm going to take us right to our next segment. What a good segue.
00:40:35
Bhupen
All right. What are we going to
00:40:40
Trio of Positivity
Charge!
00:40:40
Bhupen
do? We did this last year. It was a pretty. We had fun. i don't know if people had fun listening.
00:40:45
Trio of Positivity
Oops, just got rid of the song.
00:40:48
Bhupen
but We did this a segment last year, and we had a lot of fun doing it. hope you guys had some fun listening to it. So bring it back. We're doing some hot takes for the season.
00:40:59
Bhupen
Miller, if it's okay with you, the way I have it programmed in my head is I'll throw out a lukewarm one. You throw out your lukewarm one. Then we got a caliente one.
00:41:10
Trio of Positivity
I don't have fucking lukewarm one. I have two hot takes that are going to happen.
00:41:14
Bhupen
right. Okay, so I'm going to go my first caliente, then you go your hot take, hot take, and then we'll go to my caliente take, okay? does that sound?
00:41:25
Trio of Positivity
I don't even know that mine are hot takes, but...
00:41:28
Bhupen
right, we'll let the audience decide. We'll let Ben decide. But here we go. my my My lukewarm take, and it's lukewarm because it has nothing to do with us.
00:41:39
Bhupen
I think Jags will win their division, and Mr. Trevor Lawrence will be in the MVP conversation this year.
00:41:48
Trio of Positivity
Jags winning their division, I don't think is too much of a hot take. Trevor Lawrence and the MVP conversation is very much a hot take.
00:41:56
Bhupen
that That was a lukewarm take for you. What you got for me?
00:41:58
Trio of Positivity
I don't... i Good luck. I don't know about that. I'd be very impressed if Trevor Lawrence did that.
00:42:06
Bhupen
I said conversation. I'm like mostly basing it off on...
00:42:09
Trio of Positivity
So do you like have all Jaguars on your fantasy team?
00:42:12
Bhupen
I do not. I do not.
00:42:14
Trio of Positivity
Because you really should get some Brian Thomas then.
00:42:18
Bhupen
Yeah, um...
00:42:18
Trio of Positivity
i don't Because yeah if you if he's in the MVP conversation, you're expecting 40 touchdowns. You're expecting probably 4,500 yards, 40 touchdowns.
00:42:29
Bhupen
Yeah, somewhere in that range.
00:42:29
Trio of Positivity
That'd be quite impressive.
00:42:30
Bhupen
I was thinking of Baker with Liam Cohen last year and how he had like a really solid year, you know, and was definitely like, maybe not.
00:42:40
Trio of Positivity
He had more weapons.
00:42:43
Bhupen
Yeah, arguably. Yeah, but that's a lukewarm take. What you got for me?
00:42:48
Trio of Positivity
um There will be a 5,000-yard passer this year.
00:42:52
Bhupen
Okay.
00:42:52
Trio of Positivity
It hasn't been done since 2022. It's been three years.
00:42:55
Bhupen
Yeah, i remember remember like how that was like everyone was doing it for a couple years or everyone was...
00:42:57
Trio of Positivity
Two years.
00:42:59
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think there's a shot for two. I was going to name a name, but because of how rare it was, I was just like, let me just do that. So I think and almost named, obviously, Joe Burrow.
00:43:08
Bhupen
ah Joe Burrow?
00:43:12
Trio of Positivity
I think he's got a shot. um And I think Dak Prescott's got a shot.
00:43:17
Bhupen
Those are really good choices.
00:43:19
Trio of Positivity
I think both of those have a shot.
00:43:21
Bhupen
Really good choices. um All right. um I can go Caliente and you can drop us off. How about we do that? Let's do that. All right. I'll go next. um You know the team next door that, like, has been on a tear, has won, like, back-to-back division champs, I think.
00:43:39
Bhupen
You know, like, 10-plus wins every year. i say the Lions this year, Tim Miller. Drumroll, please.
00:43:48
Trio of Positivity
I'm sorry. Wait, pause. I don't have drum roll. That's all I have.
00:43:53
Bhupen
i that That's got to They don't make the playoffs this year. What do you think?
00:43:59
Trio of Positivity
Interesting.
00:44:02
Bhupen
i Everyone's...
00:44:03
Trio of Positivity
It can happen, dude. It can happen whenever you're losing people. I mean, I'll get into it in ah in the next segment when we start talking about fantasy a little more. But whenever you start messing with the offensive line, whenever you start messing with the coordinators, anything can happen.
00:44:16
Bhupen
yeah I feel like you're right.
00:44:17
Trio of Positivity
So.
00:44:18
Bhupen
The continuity is gone. um We know Goff, like, you know, when the O-line's not as solid, so he, like, doesn't have the best fear. But, like, I know they had pretty terrible injury season last year, but still they won 15 games.
00:44:31
Bhupen
I'm not going to say injury will derail them, but I feel like The division's more competitive, at least. um You know, they likely have a harder schedule because they're playing a first-place schedule.
00:44:42
Bhupen
All that playing into the factor, I feel like they missed the playoff. Maybe not by much. I'm not saying they're going to fall to, like, you know, two-win team, but I feel like they do not make the playoffs this year.
00:44:54
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, I probably wouldn't sign up for that. I just don't think um the other three teams in the division, including the Bears, are going to be good enough to take that away from them. So we'll see.
00:45:06
Bhupen
All right.
00:45:07
Trio of Positivity
my It's not really hot take.
00:45:07
Bhupen
What do you...
00:45:08
Trio of Positivity
It's really not. I guess it kind of is. It's an over from Vegas. Does that count? Kind of does. Caleb's going to throw for 4,000 yards this year. Book it.
00:45:18
Bhupen
Okay. That's a pretty good bet. That was the other one I was going to go with. With all the offensive weapons around him, was going to go for like, he's going to break the Bears all season. Passing record.
00:45:29
Trio of Positivity
i think there's just i just I consider it a hotter take. I think there's a lot of hesitancy to get to back him right now because not only what he's shown in the preseason, but new head coach, new coordinator, but also the slow buildup that Detroit had when Ben Johnson became their offensive coordinator. I think he's going to start slow out of the gate.
00:45:56
Trio of Positivity
um Hopefully that slow is 200 yard games and not 150. ah And hopefully by the end of the year, he's doing 300 yard games on a fairly consistent basis. That's kind of the hope from me.
00:46:11
Trio of Positivity
um I am expecting slow. I think we've talked about it before. I don't, I don't expect this team to blow people out at the beginning. I don't expect it to be a fluid thing. I think there's going to be a lot of pains at the beginning of this season.
00:46:28
Trio of Positivity
And my hope is that on the second half of the year, we see ah basically a different team. I wish the bye week was a little later, but it's not. It is what it is. And yeah, I think i think he'll he'll get there.
00:46:41
Trio of Positivity
I think he'll get there this
00:46:43
Bhupen
but Someone did the math on like what pace that would be. Like it's like, because it's 17 games, it doesn't have to be in like a breath, like, you know, like a crazy pace to get to 4,000 yards.
00:46:54
Trio of Positivity
Isn't it like 220 or something like that?
00:46:56
Bhupen
Yeah, it's it's a yeah like, which seems very doable. So that's that's ah that's what I was saying.
00:46:59
Trio of Positivity
Yeah.
00:47:00
Bhupen
Someone was saying that for like Cam Ward and they were like, he's to throw for, think it was like 3,600 or 3,400. And they're like, that's like 200 yards a game. Like, that's doable. Yeah. like that's doable
00:47:10
Trio of Positivity
it's yeah it's It's very much doable.
00:47:11
Bhupen
yeah
00:47:13
Bhupen
All right. Those were our hot takes.
Fantasy Football Strategies and Impacts
00:47:16
Bhupen
Since Chris is not here, i feel like it was more logical than hot. But, um you know.
00:47:22
Trio of Positivity
What would what it would have his hot take be? um
00:47:25
Bhupen
Let's
00:47:27
Trio of Positivity
Let's think. Let's think. Let's think like Chris. um Fields for MVP.
00:47:34
Bhupen
see.
00:47:35
Trio of Positivity
And Trubisky will throw for 20 touchdowns.
00:47:41
Bhupen
Oh, man. Come on. What's that? Oh, no, I got it. Trubisky will lead the Bills to the Super
00:47:47
Trio of Positivity
Oh, there you go. There you go. There you go. Hot takes for Chris.
00:47:50
Bhupen
Bowl.
00:47:52
Trio of Positivity
Book them, baby.
00:47:55
Bhupen
Oh, Chris, hopefully you join soon. All right. um That brings us to our last segment. Miller, do we got any ads to play or we can jump right in?
00:48:06
Trio of Positivity
No, we don't have any yet.
00:48:07
Bhupen
You want to play a any drum roll. All right. Fantasy football. um You know, there wasn't much relevancy in terms of the game played on the it was mostly non starters playing on the field. So we don't have much to give there. But what we thought might be helpful for you guys is just to update you on some injuries.
00:48:27
Bhupen
that have probably cleared out or like, you know, made some more noise. Just give you guys a good lay of the land as to where injuries are. So you're prepared for your drafts. um Coming up, um I know like last weekend was a big weekend draft. This coming weekend is probably bigger weekend draft. So as you guys get ready to head into the season, make sure you're prepared.
00:48:48
Bhupen
going in, um I'll get the first easy ones off the board, ah Joe Mixon from the Texans, and Tajay Spears from the Tennessee, um they're both running backs, they're on the PUP, so they're out at least for four weeks, um there's a whole plethora of when they can be activated, and when they can practice, so doesn't guarantee that they'll be back right away after that, but at least they're out for four weeks, that's for certain, in so get their backups, and Texans' case is not super clear.
00:49:18
Bhupen
There is a clear running back in Titans if you want to draft somebody.
00:49:24
Trio of Positivity
Pollard. Are those the only big injuries? Obviously you had a Uke. He's out. He's on pop.
00:49:30
Bhupen
It's been gone for a while.
00:49:31
Trio of Positivity
And, and then Jennings, Juan Jennings, but yeah that's a messy situation. But is there any other fantasy relevant injuries?
00:49:39
Bhupen
Chris Godwin, yeah, wasn't he was not placeed on placed on IR, so he's active, so he can, like, technically practice tomorrow.
00:49:39
Trio of Positivity
think we've been pretty. Oh yeah.
00:49:48
Bhupen
I don't think that's the expectation. expectation is he's going to miss a couple of games, but, yeah, but they want him to be available for practice sooner.
00:49:51
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. I think he's going to be in October.
00:49:57
Bhupen
If he's available, that's why they didn't put him on um IR. I think those are the big ones that had fantasy relevance.
00:50:02
Trio of Positivity
We've been pretty lucky this preseason. There hasn't really been any um fantasy star that have gone down.
00:50:08
Bhupen
Yeah.
00:50:12
Bhupen
Yeah, that's a good that's a cool point you bring up because a lot of injuries that came up has been on the offensive line.
00:50:12
Trio of Positivity
um
00:50:18
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, that was the one thing that I wanted to talk about because I saw this. um On my favorite website, as you know, Twitter, we don't call it X, we call it Twitter in my world.
00:50:31
Trio of Positivity
um The offensive lines, while the fantasy stars have stayed healthy, the offensive lines have gotten battered, especially when you're talking about high end running backs.
00:50:43
Trio of Positivity
Let's run through them really quick. B. John Robinson is down two tackles, including his one stud of a left tackle that just was ruled out for the year today.
00:50:56
Bhupen
in Caleb McGarry.
00:50:58
Trio of Positivity
um Caleb McGarry, they said he was done for the season. Jameer Gibbs, the interior O-line has completely changed due to retirement as well as leaving the team.
00:51:11
Trio of Positivity
So be weary there. It's not an injury, but it's a change. Barkley has a new right guard and his left guard. What's it? ah Dickerson, I believe.
00:51:20
Bhupen
Nickerson, one of the best in the league.
00:51:23
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, one of the best in the league is going to be out probably at a few weeks, if not at least one week. um So there is potential that he's going to be getting back. Bucky Irving, he's missing Wirfs, one of the best laugh tackles in the league that I think is on the pup, but I think he's kind of come back, maybe, plus a few others.
00:51:41
Bhupen
Yeah, he's not
00:51:44
Trio of Positivity
And then A-Chan has lost three O-linemen for the season, and some others have been beat up. And then Chargers...
00:51:51
Bhupen
A-chan himself is beat up too.
00:51:52
Trio of Positivity
Oh, go ahead.
00:51:55
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, A-Chan's beat up there.
00:51:57
Bhupen
He may not start week one, yeah.
00:51:57
Trio of Positivity
ah That whole... Yeah. And then the Chargers left tackle injury um who went down. ah should have written wrote it down. But the one of the best in the league as well. written um He's out.
00:52:10
Trio of Positivity
So you see these. um
00:52:15
Bhupen
No, like, yeah.
00:52:15
Trio of Positivity
You see these – Rashad Slater.
00:52:16
Bhupen
yeah
00:52:18
Trio of Positivity
You see these star running backs, and while they've stayed healthy, they're running the offensive lines do have question marks surrounding them. Keep that in mind. Anything can happen.
00:52:30
Trio of Positivity
um The other thing that I wanted to talk about with injuries was something that was brought up on one of the podcasts that I listen listened to – Last year, Boobin, I don't know if you even know this. You probably do.
00:52:42
Trio of Positivity
You're a smart guy. Last year, um the amount of injuries to the running back position was a record low.
00:52:52
Bhupen
Yeah, it's historic
00:52:52
Trio of Positivity
um We haven't had... that low of injuries to top like 20 running backs since 2017.
00:53:04
Bhupen
one.
00:53:04
Trio of Positivity
So you expect to see some regression there.
00:53:04
Bhupen
Yeah, ew.
00:53:08
Trio of Positivity
And I mean, you never want to, you never want to wish injuries to star players, but it'll be interesting to see how that goes. And last year we had a lot of injuries to the stud wide receivers.
00:53:23
Trio of Positivity
it'll be interesting to see if this year, if we have some injuries to running backs, um,
00:53:27
Bhupen
Yeah, and injuries to O-line necessarily doesn't mean a downgrade on their offensive output. Like B. John Robinson, like the other tackle was down, so the joke was, oh, going to run the ball to the other side, right?
00:53:41
Bhupen
Because there's usually a replacement, and the replacement is like, average below average above average so while there's a drop off in their performance it's not a significant drop off like they're not picking miller or me from the street and putting them in that spot but there is a significant maybe a learning curve right maybe maybe some drop off but it's not significant but it's significant in these cases because tackles both tackles are down so you if you let's say your left tackles down so ah you run to the right side now you have like consider like both are newer players there will be some growing pains there even if he's like amazing or it is a good chance he's below average that those are the things to consider um especially like the lions the like the bucky irving the chargers new these are not like you these are not normal even lions like these are not these are top people in their positions and
00:54:34
Bhupen
there will be an impact on the performance of the running back, especially, and the quarterbacks even. They may not have as much time in their pocket. That like leads to more fantasy reduction. But just good things to know.
00:54:46
Bhupen
Again, probably wouldn't do much things differently, but just helpful to know. And like Miller said, these things can be predicted. So tomorrow, while O-line that's fully healthy, the main guy on there could go down. So not super predictable, but definitely something to consider as well.
00:55:03
Bhupen
great points there um should we talk about our fantasy draft for a couple minutes before we wrap up and head home um so we we did our legacy um league of record auction draft um miller's team i don't know if he's looked it's probably rated pretty high on the power thing i thought he had a great draft he kept sniping
00:55:09
Trio of Positivity
Sure.
00:55:26
Trio of Positivity
Did you? Because I didn't.
00:55:28
Bhupen
He kept sniping people at the end, even though he was technically not in the draft room. I would nominate some people, and because he had money left, he would automatically get them. So I was pretty mad at him for that, but I don't know.
00:55:40
Trio of Positivity
who
00:55:42
Bhupen
A couple of, like, replacement level people towards the end. I would nominate him.
00:55:45
Trio of Positivity
Kyle Williams.
00:55:47
Bhupen
No, didn't nominate him.
00:55:48
Trio of Positivity
Rashid Shahid.
00:55:50
Bhupen
I think I nominated him.
00:55:51
Trio of Positivity
a
00:55:52
Bhupen
ah And
00:55:53
Trio of Positivity
I don't know. ah Yeah. Go ahead. you want to start first or I can go?
00:55:57
Bhupen
you can go.
00:55:58
Trio of Positivity
Yeah. Overall, I'm not pretty thrilled with my league. Obviously, I have. It's a keeper league that we have. We do an auction draft every year. Really like the auction format. It's.
00:56:10
Trio of Positivity
While I like it, I don't think I've ever had a good auction draft. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm always pretty terrible at it.
00:56:16
Bhupen
Yeah.
00:56:17
Trio of Positivity
um But some surprises on the board. Wide receivers went pretty low for the most part. I was able to snag Tyreek Hill for a pretty low nominal amount. Obviously, there that comes with a lot of risk. You don't know what that position is going to be.
00:56:33
Trio of Positivity
um i had a keeper of Rasheed Rice, so I can kind of balance that out. Hopefully, because with his suspension coming up. um My big, probably my worst pick of the night was Isaiah Pacheco from the Chiefs.
00:56:48
Trio of Positivity
While it may not be awful, I spent a pretty good sum on him. I probably could have allocated that to a more consistent, dependable player than Pacheco.
00:56:59
Trio of Positivity
So we'll see. That's one thing I'm beating myself up over. um I got a good kicker in Fairbair and a great defense in Denver, so I was happy there. Bo Nix is my quarterback.
00:57:09
Bhupen
I think you stole Denver from me too, by the way.
00:57:11
Trio of Positivity
Surprise.
00:57:14
Trio of Positivity
yeah he just was like, fuck it.
00:57:19
Trio of Positivity
um The surprise of the night by Boopin and Chris, if he was here, was I actually got Justin Fields on my team. um Dirt cheap. It was pretty cheap for a quarterback, so I didn't think I was actually going to get him. I probably wasn't going to bid anything else, but i was I was happy that I did because he does offer that floor for me, and realistically, you never know what that's gonna that offense is going to turn into.
00:57:43
Bhupen
is he Is he a starting QB?
00:57:43
Trio of Positivity
So, no, Bo Nix is my starting QB.
00:57:44
Bhupen
No.
00:57:47
Bhupen
That was a steal film.
00:57:47
Trio of Positivity
I paid...
00:57:48
Bhupen
Yeah, that was a steal film.
00:57:49
Trio of Positivity
I paid $1 less than I wanted to. Well, then if I would have kept him, because I was debating keeping him, to be honest. um But because of you not wanting to sign Hurts and because Joe Burrow is out there, I was like, well, let me just see if I can get one of them.
00:58:05
Trio of Positivity
Bo Nix was, I think, one of the first quarterbacks to go. So I drafted him and it turned out to be OK. i was ah probably wasn't going to be in the Hurts conversation, but I was going I wanted to be in the Burrow conversation.
00:58:17
Trio of Positivity
And that was that went crazy.
00:58:17
Bhupen
He went way too much.
00:58:19
Trio of Positivity
That went over my budget.
00:58:19
Bhupen
Burrow went from here.
00:58:20
Trio of Positivity
My budget, I think, was about 25, and I think it went high twenty um
00:58:25
Bhupen
Yes.
00:58:25
Trio of Positivity
So Bo Nix worked out for me, actually, even though who knows what he's going to be. a lot of people think that he's going to take a few steps this year. There is question marks with him being a second-year quarterback.
00:58:37
Trio of Positivity
Just got to trust the process. Overall, my bench is pretty awful. um Obviously, I have Rasheed Rice as my first wide receiver. Who knows what that's going to be? They have a tough schedule to start.
00:58:48
Trio of Positivity
My lone bright spot on my bench is Braylon Allen from the Jets. He's got a lot of hype this offseason with Brees taking a lot of the downward trajectory.
00:59:02
Trio of Positivity
not knowing what's going on there. I'm hoping that towards the end, middle of the season, I think Braylon Allen will start off and he will get work. I think it'll be a timeshare. And hopefully towards the end of the season, Braylon might cement himself in a solid role, which will make him a playable guy.
00:59:19
Trio of Positivity
Other than that, my other big shocker, which I kind of played towards, was picking up Joe Mixon. um My running back room is very light. Don't have much to go off of.
00:59:32
Trio of Positivity
So towards the end of the draft, I was targeting two guys. um Judkins from Cleveland, who I still think will probably get signed. Don't know yet. He still is currently not signed.
00:59:43
Trio of Positivity
And then Joe Mixon. ah Because of the weakness of my running back room, I knew I wanted a guy that had potential starting ah role. so I positioned myself in the auction draft to do that.
00:59:55
Trio of Positivity
So I was able to outbid somebody for Joe Mixon. um before the Judkins went to higher than I would have been able to bid. So and it got me mixing.
01:00:07
Trio of Positivity
Nobody knows his status. Huge question mark. He may be out for the year. We don't know. But if he does come back at some point this season, I'm hoping even, I don't know when my guys' bye weeks are.
01:00:24
Trio of Positivity
I don't know. I can't look that quickly. But Pacheco's 10, and... My other guy is Kyron's eight. So hopefully Mixon will be back by week eight and I'll be sitting pretty.
01:00:36
Trio of Positivity
ah But I wanted i knew I needed to solidify that room. I didn't I didn't have a good draft in that middle. So um it's it's how it goes.
01:00:44
Bhupen
Yeah. I feel like that that that's a lesson here. There were some values, but I was too stubborn to like go beyond the values. What comes to mind is like Knicks, Evans and stuff like that, where there is a significant drop off of what he should go for and what he went for.
01:01:01
Bhupen
I should have done more there, but I probably try to stick to my guns. um Like you said, my keepers were Higgins, neighbors. So I'm pretty set on wide receiver. Bowers was my other keeper. So tight end, I'm pretty set too.
01:01:15
Bhupen
um I went Hertz early. um i didn't want Hertz ah beyond a certain dollar point. He came much cheaper than that. um Jonathan Taylor, who is someone I spent a lot of money on.
01:01:25
Bhupen
um I wanted to go after a start running back, um but like again, I think it's been a little bit too much there, and that affected my second running back.
01:01:33
Trio of Positivity
Yeah, I always would you get him for like forty eight, forty nine, right?
01:01:34
Bhupen
40-some,
01:01:37
Trio of Positivity
Because I think I was going to go up to 50, I don't remember.
01:01:38
Bhupen
yeah, 45 probably. probably
01:01:43
Trio of Positivity
I think he might have went ah after somebody that I drafted and I was just I just wasn't willing to at the time. i don't know.
01:01:50
Bhupen
Yeah. Like, i I knew there was, like, top five running backs maybe I wanted. And, like, I think I was highest on, like, him. So, I wanted him. But, like, I think I paid a little bit too much. And as a result, my flex and my running backs, two are pretty weak.
01:02:06
Bhupen
I think I have both the running backs from Denver. Again, a terrible strategy most of the time. But... I know they have a good O-line. I'm hoping one of them will emerge as a starter. Maybe the other one can also go in the flex sometimes.
01:02:20
Bhupen
That both of them. um And like in terms of flex, I have Juwan Jennings who has a weird situation right now. I did pick up Ford from Cleveland who might be the starter. It's a little weird who might be the starter.
01:02:33
Bhupen
But beyond that, I have Ayuk in my IR spot. Again, at least out for a couple weeks, but maybe when he comes back, I'll have a flex player.
01:02:37
Trio of Positivity
Mm-hmm.
01:02:41
Bhupen
For my running back too, my flex are like really up for grabs. um And that's, like you said, that's the disappointment I had. It's like I can definitely grab some like values here and there, save some money at the end, grab the defense I wanted and stuff like that. So yeah.
01:02:55
Bhupen
that that's where my disappointment lies in this draft but I think it's hard you think you have a plan and then like auction draft is fucking free for all like you cannot control all the variables like plus most of the people we draft with we've been drafting for a while so like They, you know, play a lot of games, lot of funny games.
01:03:17
Bhupen
where That just throws everything up in the air. But um like just like you, not super happy with the team. Like in the benches, bench and some of those starting slots are pretty weak. But, you know, you don't win your draft.
Closing Remarks and Future Positivity
01:03:29
Bhupen
and Sorry, you don't win your league at the draft. You have to build on it. so I'm hoping to do some work, you know, like week four, week six, and maybe make some trades to get better.
01:03:38
Trio of Positivity
Week one or two. There you go. Get that waiver guy.
01:03:40
Bhupen
i don't know. i i I want to give them some time, some of the people, just to clear out some situations, see where we land.
01:03:47
Trio of Positivity
That's fair.
01:03:48
Bhupen
All right. That's it, folks. We did it. Somehow we went over an hour, just the two of us talking, but we can do this for days. So, you know, this is is what we do. um Thank you for listening.
01:03:59
Bhupen
We hope that we brought some positivity into your life. If we did, let us know.
01:04:02
Trio of Positivity
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
01:04:05
Bhupen
Hit that like and subscribe button. We are a young podcast. They'll keep that feedback coming. um Maybe someday in the near future, maybe week one, we'll bring some positivity into your life via the Chicago Bears. But until then, shining off. Have a good night.
01:04:23
Trio of Positivity
Bye-bye!