Coach Wannstedt's impressions of Bears' OTAs

Let's keep up with the pace brought to you by Chevy drivechicago.com. We are pleased to be joined by Dave Wanstead's only

coach

. It's always a pleasure to see you. How are you? I'm great, Pat, yeah, how about that? Well, we have risen to the number. two bets huh it's amazing how things change, you know you were at halasol yesterday for the OTAs, you spent time with Ryan poles and Matt Eber flew over, what those conversations were like and what the vibe was like compared to last year, you know what which are obviously both types. They're both excited about the competitiveness and I think watching them practice.

Pat, that's when I left. I mean, they're competitive at every position. You know, maybe they're not as talented or as experienced. what they would like to be, but they're competing out there and there's a lot of energy and I said to the chimneys after practice, I said, you know, it reminds me of the old college practice and I said, don't take that. the wrong way and he says I won't do it because that's how we practice and there's no guys sitting in helmets, there's no one walking around the

coach

es or players and they do a lot of things, or you know the moment they're on the field .

Okay, how to be number one, look, how did Justin feel? You know, he looked 100 better, obviously, and I watched them on a walk-through and then I watched them when we went out on the field and he actually practiced and they did a two-minute drill. that when you're in a two-minute drill, the coaches aren't calling the plays, you know, they start the clock, there's two minutes on the clock, let's say a minute and a half and we need a touchdown to win, so your quarterback act. making all the calls at the line of scrimmage, he's setting the formation at the line of scrimmage, he's moving whatever's going on and uh and Justin looked very comfortable, I mean, I just hope that the expectations are met for the fans of the Bears.

They're realistic, they're not, which I know sounds crazy to Bears fans, but I think that's where we're at and I think Ryan polls and Matthew says they're encouraged, they love what they see, they like their team, but I. I think they are very grounded and very realistic. Hey, we have work to do. Who else stood out yesterday at Halice Hall? Oh, I'll tell you and I'm excited about Justin Fields being the best DJ Moore, you know, anytime. the guys who can catch DJ Moore made three catches yesterday that I haven't seen a Bears receiver make in three years, honestly, I mean, it was in the two minute line under pressure against the defense at full speed, willing to make the catch and, therefore, it was big. and I'll tell you what commitment looked good and they're talking about Robert Tanyon.

I mean, I think that could be a sleeper signal for them right there, so you know offensively. I was impressed with the receivers, you know? to help Justin Fields and the offensive line, I have to talk about this guy, okay, uh, uh, Nate Davis, Nate Davis, well, Nate Davis wasn't there, right? and people have asked me how you feel about it. I'm a little old. school, but I look at it this way, I mean, we just signed, it's a job you just signed to go somewhere to work, this is your profession, don't you want to go to work?, we just gave you money, We just hired you.

I talked about all these things, I'm going to be positive and say hey, this was all talked about from the beginning. I don't know, if not, then I would be very disappointed in this situation. Jalen Johnson missed that. I don't mind, Pat, I mean, he'll be there next week. I know him and the flu has been talking every day. He's been on Zoom meetings. Yes, he's been spending time with his daughter. He has a charity event this weekend, but everyone. We all know this is also partly a posture entering the final year of his rookie contract.

He wants a contract extension. Yeah, so how do you handle that as a coach? Everything will depend on performance. Yes, you know, and I'm sure. You know, a charity event that will spend time with his kids, he'll be there next week and he'll be fine. I'll tell you when I'm done and we'll talk about the guys that jumped off my list a little yesterday. the guy Stevenson at Miami corner I didn't realize he's, I mean he's a great receiver, he had a great interception for a touchdown, he was knocking down balls, I mean I see him as a starting cornerback and if they can do that , Matt Eberfelouch.

I know in his defense scheme, Kyler Gordon last year was trying to play corner and nickel, the most difficult and challenging position in that defense is the nickel spot right now and in fact, Ryan asked him and He said Nickelback plays about 70 percent. of the time 75 nickels and dimes 60 to 70 percent of the time exactly and what they do is you know most teams, if you see the receiver running and the corner runs with them, they say you're a man, well , not in the Bears defense, that guy has to be smart enough to be able to play the zones like men, so my point is that a lot is demanded of Nickelback in the simple scheme and the more he can work on a position, the better. he'll be fine that's how you sell him on not being available every play because you tell them look oh for this system the nickel is a hot spot and you know he shops there how about what the coaches were saying about the linebacker?

Tremaine Edmonds and the importance of him taking this defense to the next level, yeah, well, I think him and Edwards, you know, they're both very attractive guys. I mean, Edmonds, obviously, you know he's one of the hottest guys in the field, I mean. He looked really good, you know the whole thing, you don't want those guys to have to make 150 or 50 tackles a game, I mean, one year, you know, so again, it's going to go down the better the defensive line is. The better the opportunity the linebackers will have to get open and get to the ball, if the defensive line is struggling up front, then your linebackers are going to be in a really tough spot.

Want to talk about Tevin Jenkins on the offensive line? Did you see him and what did the coaches say about him? You know he's playing left guard there and I'll tell you he's in good shape and everyone was pointing out that this guy can stay focused and keep going. The same path he's on now, I mean, he does extraordinary things and his size, you know, he's the biggest guy on the offensive line, he's bigger than all the tackles, so he jumped at me and White, here's Cody in the center now. that's right and Braxton Jones Braxton Jones God, no, I mean, you know he's in great shape, he's not an overweight guy.

I can see why he's athletic and they can do things with them and then obviously write the first round pick at right tackle so they have good competition on the offensive line but I really think that's a position that's going to be better, will be good enough, time will tell, yeah, and it's not deep, you know, an injury there and and you don't have a surplus of guys to step in, from a coaching perspective, what kind of things are you trying to accomplish? at OTAs in the second year of Hebrew fluency? Well, I think number one is just the competition, you know, I mean the guys are competing and there's a lot of energy, and they're putting them in drills where they have to compete and that makes the players better, but It brings the team together, but I think at the end of the day they can work. situations in other words, yesterday they ended up in a two minute drill like we talked about right now, Justin Fields is out there and then they just went to a Red Zone, well now the ball was on a 15 yard line and Justin Fields is working so he can do everything at full speed with the quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs, you know that's not a problem, yeah, so he can advance his game and get more experience in this system in situations, which is really priceless.

I'll change gears a bit NBC Sports Chicago is on the Bears Central Podcast. Former running back Ricky Williams, of course, played for you in Miami, he was with the guys and Ricky talked about his relationship with your coach and he ran into you at the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, listen. I was at the Super Bowl in Miami a couple of years ago and I ran into Dave Von, he said for the first time since I retired, so you know, like 15 years or something, yeah, and we. When we saw each other we gave each other a big hug and he apologized to me, you know, he said, he said, I've learned, you know you can only depend on one running back to win a game and he started telling me stories about you know, the quarterback throws a incomplete pass on the first down and he puts his headphones on and says, give the ball to Ricky, give the ball to Ricky, um and that, and I get it, especially back then, the game was different and we had a really good defense and you.

I know you can win by playing good defense and running the ball. You know, I was just thinking about that mentality: We forget that there's actually a human being who has to take punishment when everyone knows he's getting the ball and you keep giving it to him. Set the record straight, did you apologize and tell him you used him too well? I don't know about that when he was the league MVP rushing, he wasn't complaining, but no, you know what it's about, uh, yeah, that. what he said was funny, we laughed at it. I remember a game against the Bills that we were winning, it was a big game, there were five of us and one that they think was the Sunday night game and we threw a pass at the end, we accounted for five. and our quarterback was a little off and the ball bounced off the defender's hands and I think it was North Turner, whoever the coordinator was.

I said that's all. I saw enough, nobody gets the ball except Ricky and I think he had 12 or 13 carries in a row and we got there and it was fourth and two at the goal line and I called a timeout and I said let's go for this and I told him you do the called and he said we had a play called 42 scissors and I said 42 scissors, he says that's what I want, so he and I said, now keep in mind I have 42. The season is when you cut it, we don't block the sure, so Malloy.

I forgot his name. Malloy's lawyer. Malloy. he's gonna be standing in the hole at the line of scrimmage and he's like gimme gimme 40 42 scissors and we catch him and sure enough the guy was drying out and they come back and it's Ricky and Malloy standing there. Ricky just ran him over. the end zone and uh, yeah, that's how it was. I was a little harsh on the running backs, but LeSean McCoy will probably tell you the same story. I don't know yet, we'll say that another time you'll go to Florence. Italy next week with your lovely wife Jan, enjoy.

I bet at least five Bears fans stop you and ask you, do you think so, he's the coach? What is the story about Justin Fields? I'll bet you a bottle of your favorite red, yeah, well, do you think so? I think you're going to be approached by five yeah, well five five five Bears fans, that's a deal, we'll see what happens, okay, that's, uh, Dave wants us to see it in a couple of weeks.