What does Ryan Poles expect from Caleb Williams this season? | Take The North, Ep. 220

[Music] welcome into the take the north podcast I'm Adam stazinski filling in once again today for David Hall as we continue to shuffle our schedule around during the end of the Bears offseason of alongside Dan weeder of the Chicago Tribune and Dan the training camp is over for all intents and purposes the Bears are starting to work towards the Titans in fact I'm sure they've already started work on them and they have found their plan at lawn Snapper can you tell us what the obviously we have to start with lawn Snapper News Patrick manly would be proud of us so so what can you tell us about the Bears new temporary lawn Snapper we we've got hard knocks we've got qb1 we've got hype building in Chicago and we start this episode naturally with some Long Snapper News Patrick scales uh eight-year Chicago Bear uh 100 20 games under his belt had back surgery he is on injured reserve and is out indefinitely the Bears had used Cameron Lions throughout the remainder of the preseason after scales got hurt in the Hall of Fame game and now they're pivoting they are pivoting to Scott Dy Downers Grove native for those uh loving the the hometown ties of of some of Ryan pes's Acquisitions he played the last three seasons in Detroit 42 games there but missed the last half of last year after suffering a season ending knee injury went into training camp this year in a competition uh with I believe Hogan Hatton a rookie out of Idaho in Detroit lost that competition was cut on Tuesday cleared waivers comes to Chicago as a practice squad member the Bears now Adam have three except exemptions to promote him from the practice squad to the game day active roster they're going to need more than that so essentially they have a three-week window uh to not use a roster spot on Scott daily but as soon as we get week four they're going to have to clear a roster spot and he will be their Long Snapper perhaps permanently who knows you know at that point you're just kind of measuring his performance you're measuring scales its recovery from this back injury uh and I I think there's a lot here uh I'll let you react to that that that bombshell news and then we'll hear a little bit from from Richard heow all right so I I think that number one the fact that actually you know what first things first is is there any relation here to the dailies of the Chicago dailies he's a he's an area kid that was my first thought like is this I believe it's I believe it's spelled differently I don't think I don't think there's a relation there but good thought you know I mean look this is a a daily town and if he ingratiates himself well early then then maybe he can take over as well yeah of course so but more seriously I think that my initial reaction when they when I figured out who Scott Dy is was at least he has proven he can lawn snap for an entire season and not be fired yeah I think that that's the first thing you want like he he was able to snap in the NFL and yeah he lost his job during the off season but he was with the Lions for an extended period and they didn't fire him now we would have to probably dig and look at how his snaps really are and Patrick Manley can probably tell you more about that than we could but I think that's that's a little comforting uh the fact that we don't know how La Patrick scales is going to be out is concerning though so I do we know what is wrong with his back or has there been any Clarity on on anything back related is take seriously and I exactly and I said to Brad bigs on Thursday morning that you know there is no such thing as minor back surgery or minor neck surgery right like especially when you're being asked to play The Long Snapper position I can't fathom a scenario in which Patrick scales undergoes back surgery in late August and is back on the football field before November at the earliest right it just feels like the recovery time the rehabilitation time the strengthening time maybe we will get a little bit more clarity on the severity of the of the injury that that required the surgery but that it feels like something that's going to be a little bit longer term certainly longer term than the Bears immediately let on after he suddenly stopped practicing you know in the early parts of training camp um so that is something to keep a close eye on the disconcerting part about this Adam is that you haven't had a lot of time on task and and and Scott Dy walked out on the house all practice fields on Thursday afternoon and his fresh number 46 Jersey uh and that was his first time working with Cairo Santos his first time working with Tory Taylor and so now you have a place kicking battery now that has basically four practices next week kind of three and a half you'll have Monday you'll have Wednesday Thursday Friday and then you go into a regular season game and I know that the grand fear is that a missed kick will spoil Caleb williams' debut right and it's nothing to laugh at because it's it's very easy to see a scenario where there's something a little bit wrong in the operation that creates something that screws up CYO Santos right and all a sudden the ball sails wide left and and I don't need to tell you about kicks that can prove scarring in Chicago and so we'll see where that goes I did have a chance to ask Richard Hightower on Thursday what the challenge is of trying to accelerate the chemistry building process between a a snapper a holder and a kicker and here's what he had to say yeah I mean it's just something we're going to have to work on it is extremely challenging I'm not going to sugarcoat it a lot of people think that you just snap hold kick and the ball goes through the uprights but there's a lot of different things that play into that the laces uh the lean on the ball uh the wind um how you tilt the ball can change the direction and the flight pattern of the ball how you snap the ball can change that how you hold the ball can change that the steps on the kicker's operation can change that so it's just uh something that we're going to have to work through and and we feel great about it um we feel great about um the fact that we were able to get Scott and uh they they they're G they're going to work good together we're excited about it so St you have a scenario here where you not only have a new Long Snapper but you have a rookie holder who is also going to have a ton on his plate as a punter and so you're asking a lot there of those two guys and then you're asking a lot of of Cairo Santos to to try to get himself acclimated quickly I know it sounds minor it's not you know and and there's going to be a lot um that comes with this you go talk to Patrick Manley Robbie Gold and and Brad Maynard you know about about the the time on task and the repetition of the operation and how much it means when you have consistency uh and you'll learn a lot about about how significant this could be hopefully we never talk about it again hopefully this only episode to take the north all year where we where we have seven minutes of Long Snapper talk but that's a little bit of uh news coming out of Lake Forest I I will say just just to wrap up the lawn Snapper conversation like it's it it it really is like fast fasinating how particular that position is and especi Richard High toow mentioned like the laces I didn't know until a couple years ago talking with Patrick Manley on the score that where the laces are when the holder gets the ball is actually on the snapper right like so it's up to the Snapper to make sure he has X number of rotations on the ball so when the punter or whoever's holding gets the ball it's laces out and he can just put the ball down also something else like I felt like during the preseason games we saw some not so great snaps and Tory Taylor handled them and they didn't miss a field goal in a game I know that during practice was there was one yeah there so excuse me there was one but I felt like Tory Taylor did handle some bad snaps pretty well so I think that I'm fairly confident in what he's doing there so that's a that's just uh an aside so it it's it's it's it really is a fascinating position and I I underplayed it on the scorer the last couple days and I I will say like I understand it's important but when we're talking about like the most important things on the Bears it's like in the top five least important things and it's it's ideally like you said it's something you you insert and they get it down and you don't have to worry about it yeah hopefully again this is the last time we talk about it because we have bigger fish to fry and one of those fish is uh the quarterback we're in the the number 18 jersey and and it's really uh been a good week I think this week Adam for the Bears to kind of take a break bre they they had practices on Wednesday and Thursday after some closed walkthroughs on Sunday and Monday and and matd bro was just trying to really establish the Rhythm and flow of a a game week with the practices on Wednesday and Thursday get Caleb acclimated to that you continue to hear nothing but High Praise out of the building about the way he's handled himself through this extended training camp and his Readiness to take this team forward into winning one I thought uh one of the most noteworthy things that we heard early in the week from uh actually this was during a sitdown I had with Cole KT earlier in training camp was how wired for winning Caleb is and that he's understanding that look like the quarterback isn't going to be a finished product in September he's not gonna be a finished product in early October it's GNA take a long time for him to grow in the meantime Caleb understands that he only has to be good enough on every given game day to to win a game you know and so you're gonna deal with the bumps you're gonna deal with the mistakes you're gonna deal with the errors but when you have a quarterback who understands okay this is what we're dealing with today this is what I have today this is the situation we're in at this point in the game and I'm going to try to put my best foot forward to win his football game that's going to be key well then on Wednesday afternoon uh a day after the 53 man roster was set Ryan poles gave us about 15 minutes in the the house Hall media room and he was asked about setting expectations for Caleb Williams in the early parts of his rookie season uh take a listen to some of Ryan ps's thoughts I expect him to it's a great question I want him to lean on the talent around him and then when the time is right and that's an instinctual thing and I think that plays right into him that's when you do the the special and balancing that and then sometimes it's going to get out of whack one way or the other but always come back to that it's kind of like that that neutral place where he's at his best um and I think he has that just from studying him and watching uh years of tape on him he he has that ability and um so I think that that's kind of the the big thing is just lean on the guys around him being sensual let that those wild plays happen at the right time I we we saw that in the preseason a little bit this going be important studs that ties in uh really nicely with some thoughts that quarterback's coach Carri Joseph shared on the first practice of rookie Camp many moons ago and essentially Carrie Joseph was asked how Caleb will use his superpower which is that extended play Magic that we've already seen in the preseason um as a every week differen making gift while not leaning too much into it to the point where he gets sort of addicted to trying to make the Highlight Reel play when there's other plays to be made what you hear from Ryan poles there is an echoing of that sentiment look around you look at Keenan Allen look at DJ Moore look at radun look at Cole KT look at DeAndre Swift and understand that you've been supplied with a core of playmakers that most rookie quarterbacks don't get the chance to play with use them get them the football let them make the plays save yourself for when we really need you to work your magic and that's gonna be interesting going forward I think Matty bro was referred to it as playing point guard you know being that distributor getting the ball out quickly and then when you get in the the big moments third down Red Zone late in the game you go ahead and and put it on your shoulders and have enough to lift the team and I think that this is something that we've really been talking about since since we understood that he was going to be drafted by the Bears and the concern that people threw out there was how at USC during his last year at USC so last last year yeah he he played herob ball basically the entire season and the rebuttal has been well he kind of had to because if he didn't put up 40 points a game they were going to lose and if you actually look at his Heisman winning season he played a lot more in structure and didn't play herob ball as much because he had really good receivers a better defense etc etc so I I think that Caleb is smart enough and understanding enough of the situation that he's going to be able to handle that like knowing that he doesn't have to play Hero ball anymore and I in fact I I think he's will Embrace that it's probably comforting for for him to know that I don't have to do the the crazy stuff on every single play I don't have to look for the 40- yard bomb on every play because I have a good defense I have really good players around me and I can just play point guard and as Ryan poles and you were saying when it matters and when we need it the most do the thing that he's best at which is the crazy special throw like we saw the adun on the sideline in the preseason yeah we need a play go make it you know that that's gonna be the directive you know half dozen times every game and Caleb's gonna have to figure out what that looks like and what that feels like and make that happen um this ties into a little bit of curiosity that I have and now I'm writing a piece for week one about Matt eberflus we've talked all offseason about his glow up you know different style the haircut the beard the different demeanor with the Press now he's got to go through an 18 game regular season and test himself as an NFL H coach and see what improvements he's made one of the things that I'm fascinated to watch is how he oversees the quarterback because the quarterback is the key to unlocking the playoff birth right and so now you're in this situation where you've never really developed a quarterback you're going to have to bring out the best in them you're doing so with a uber talented number one overall pick in Caleb Williams but you're also a defensive minded coach with a really good defense and a playoff caliber roster where you're gonna have to now juggle two things here right you're gonna have to continue to oversee the growth and development of Caleb Williams and be tolerant of his mistakes and you're also going to have to make sure that every single week you understand that this isn't a team where people are just going to say oh you know four and 13 whatever we've got a rookie quarterback no people are expecting nine 10 wins people are expecting to walk into to Christmas with with the the the hopes of playoffs still sitting there right there for them and so Matt's got to juggle that so I had a chance on on Wednesday to to ask him a question about that topic and then listen to his answer here's what Matt had to say from your chair as a as a defensive minded head coach with a really good defense and a competitive roster how will you sort of balance the patience with with letting Caleb kind of spread his wings and develop as a Young quarterback without compromising the chance to win games on on a weekly basis yeah I really think that's comes down to play design you know I'm just going to micro it down actually to the play you know so we all know what he can do in terms of his arm talent in terms of throwing on the move and those types of things but you know in the early parts of the game and early Downs you know he's just uh asked to play point guard you know have a great operation uh play point guard get the ball to our skill either by handing it off or throwing it to them and letting them do the run and then moving around and and gaining the Y and um it's going to be big that our offensive line plays well like I've said in the past and everybody plays well well around them that's defense and special teams included so um and then when you get to the the point in the game where it is a critical down or third down or in the red zone or what whatever that might be uh then you you might see X Factor come out and uh that's where it is but again he's just about the process of getting in and out of the Huddle being smooth and uh operating the offense so I didn't get a chance to follow up there but I'm curious when he said you'll see xfactor come out is that is that his nickname for Caleb is Caleb xfactor like I don't I don't know if that's that and we'll have to to follow up on that next week when we get a chance to to visit with Matt again um but similar sentiments there right and I do like it was one of my favorite answers at training camp from Matt um because he did micro it down and he he didn't try to dodge the question and and really said this is going to come down to play design this is going to be on us as coaches to put him in a position to distribute the football it's going to be up to us as coaches to make make sure we are aware every single week of where he's at in his development and not ask him to do too much and if we just ask him to do what's reasonable then having all these Playmakers around him having a really good defense having a a playoff caliber roster is only going to help the the mission you know and it's going to take some of that pressure off Caleb and so I I I do like this because it it puts the onus on the coaching staff to create situations for Success it puts them in a in a position to to call the right plays and have the right uh Concepts folded into the Playbook and now I think I I speak for everyone here let's go you know let's go let's go play a couple games so then we can kind of put all of these philosophical um you know strategies that the Bears have to the test in the regular season I I think that the best thing that I've gathered from a couple things actually I've gathered from what the Bears have operated on or the way the Bears have operated excuse me since they drafted Caleb Williams was their understanding that just getting the quarterback is not like the solution so so many times in Bears history it's been okay the quarterback's just going to fix everything that happened with Jay Cutler it was basically happening with Justin fields for for a little bit you you you name a quarterback that we thought had the talent to be successful and so many times the team was just okay this he's just going to fix everything and that's not the case if you have you know look when you get to a point where you have a Patrick Mahomes who's an all-timer yeah he can basically fix everything now but that wasn't the case when he first started he needed really good players around him to help him out and so they understand it seems that okay we have a quarterback that has a lot of talent but he can't just be the fix all we have to help him we have to bring him Al we have to set realistic expectations around him and you know they've laid a really good nest for him which we've talked about extensively and so I it it shows that the organization from the top down is operating different ly than they have with other quarterbacks now granted it's been a very long time since they picked number one overall it's been even longer I don't they they never took a quarterback number one overall if they did I'm I it was probably a long time ago and I can't name him so it it it shows growth organizationally it shows that Ryan poles has a plan that Matt eus understands he needs to be involved and I I think I love like and we'll get into Hard Knocks later but I love how much Eber flu seems to meet with Caleb and I'm sure I know that eus met with Justin Fields a lot as well so that's not unusual but he seems to really be involved in the quarterback's development and not just being a defensive head coach who runs the defense well look and and and you understand that this quarterback holds your future in his hands you know and so you have personal incentive to make sure that he's at his best I I really would love to get my hands on some of the Cutting Room floor footage from hardnox and house hall because I guarantee you there's some coners ation that would be just absolutely riveting in terms of this coaching staff Matt Shane Thomas Brown Carri Joseph working with Caleb to to bring out his best you know over these last five six weeks and get him ready to play in the regular season because everyone is aware uh everyone knows the eyes that are going to be on them it's not a spotlight game in week one the Titans are coming to town it won't be the the top build game of week one but I promise you it will be under a pretty intense microscope not just in Chicago but nationally to see how Caleb does and so Matt's handling of that and and positioning his quarterback for success is going to be key and what you're talking about right there studs is just a an heightened attention to detail it's not that the previous coaching staffs or the previous regimes didn't have an attention to detail it's just heightened now it just feels more layered it feels like they're going one two three steps further with some of the planning with some of the infrastructure with some of the uh you know support that they're giving to their quarterback and their offense and now we again we've got to see results and the quarterback who who uh is never nervous going into games is going to have a chance to to to put that composure on display and produce in a way uh that that propels everything forward because that's all we've talked about for months is that that this is going to be a player with the talent and the leadership ability and the drive and everything else to propel everything forward now you just buckle your seat Bel and you hope that that that that ride goes forward and not sideways backwards in every other direction but forward it's the the hope the hope of all of us and and I just want to touch on the nervous thing there like like first of all like I actually like I I thought he was crazy when I first heard it and like I I get that that's kind of the his personality like but the more I thought about it and I heard he he Caleb was on 670 The Score this week and uh Mark Ro and Matt Spiegel asked him about that they're like why are you not nervous because a normal human would be nervous right and he B like it's his preparation like he's like I trust my preparation so thoroughly that I don't feel a need to be nervous and I can just be excited and go out there and play and I like I think that's a really good answer and like ideally that's like professional athletes that's how you should be and like I actually like I I figured out a comp to it and this is going to is really kind of nerdy and and I understand that I'll make this quick but uh so I I've run three marathons and uh my last one especially you're nervous excited like the whole week leading up to the thing and the day of you would expect that you're just nervous as all hell and I remember finding myself not nervous because I trusted that I you done everything yeah like and I was like I did everything I could my runs like I had executed the plan that I had for for the day I did all my runs and I had the runs that I needed to be confident in this and it's like I can just take this run as it comes to me or in Caleb's case take the game as it comes to me and there's no reason to be nervous because I've done everything I can to prepare for this moment so so I think that like I think like I really understand why he wouldn't be nervous I I I love that and as a a coach of a youth baseball team I wish I could get Caleb to come speak to the boys and just get them to understand that your preparation does breed the confidence that then gives you composure when when the matters when the moments matter uh I I the anecdote that I'll share with you comes from a story I did a few years ago when John Shire was taking over the the basketball program at Duke from Coach K and and we were um kind of talking about his fearlessness and as a kid obviously he grew up here he went to gleni North High School while he was in grade school and middle school he was going to the provisor West tournament every every year during the holidays and just dreaming of one day being on that stage and he gets into his very first Proviso West tournament and the first I think it was the first quarter the first game he played there I wish I had the names of the teams and the players he goes to shoot a three-pointer and he says not only does this three-pointer get blocked but it gets blocked so emphatically that the guy who blocked it sends the basketball off my head and his elbow basically hits me in the nose you know and like for me like my default reaction to that is put me on the bench I'll I'll play in three weeks and Jon's reaction to that was this is awesome right like there's certain guys that have that DNA that competitive DNA that like they just they don't care about the stakes they're so fearless and so into the competitive environment of things that they just they rise you know and that's what the Bears have been seeking Forever at the quarterback position I think they've got a guy that's willing to test that on the NFL level and we're gonna have a lot of fun watching it because it hasn't just been talk like you've watched him clear every hurdle and every checkpoint to this point the more important ones are ahead but with this same level of comp Ure and poison relaxedness that is a relaxation that that that is is truly palpable when you're around them and so um again let's go let's get to that regular season and test it out I think that yeah and and just just for clarity I'm not comparing running marathons at an extremely air mature level to playing quarterback in an NFL game I understand it's different but like the mindset right yeah I like mindset so so uh anyway so yeah well uh and yes some guys like the story you're just saying some guys are just psychos and those professional athletes are psychotic when it comes to stuff like that like they they embrace the the sort of thing that that you know they are who they are because they are who they are exactly yeah I know we have one more piece of audio here Dan and and so this one has to do more with Matt eberflus and it comes from TJ Edwards so why don't you set this up for for us yeah as I say I I'll be writing next week on on Matt and his you know as of today studs mattye bro is not only the front runner on the betting lines to be the NFL coach of the year in 2024 he is also second on the list of coaches most favorite to be fired next and so if you don't understand the stakes that are here for Matt eberflus and the fascination that's out there in the world about what this 2024 season means to the Chicago Bears Direction in the organization then then you haven't been paying attention but I do think Matt is very proud of where he's lifted this team to right now Ryan poles talked to us a little bit on Wednesday and I asked him directly you know as as you've watched Matt since the end of last season until now what has left an impression on you about the way he set this team up to go into the 2024 regular season and and and Ryan identified three things he said resilience uh his ability to uh adapt and and evolve on the Fly and then his ability to create bonds within the team it's been a very intentional effort by Matt to get these guys to know one another very well to to hang out away from the facility to create um that very strong bond that help helps you through a regular season in addition to that I think that there's a play style that's developed and so part of that uh open-ended I asked TJ Edwards on Wednesday where he sees Matt eberl's fingerprints on this football team and this defense here's what TJ had to say and I think you know his hiss principle is is Big right and I think when you first get here you have to kind of you know see it to kind of understand what it's supposed to look like um but now having you know guys who' have been there for been here for two three years and um guys who can watch tape from last year of the same guys doing it you know it's something that you know um what's expected of you when you get here and that's that's not off the that's not just on the field that's off the field too of knowing what you're supposed to be doing you know kind of having an understanding of the game and your IQ of the game is is big but that's that's flu through and through man that the run and hit the being smart the intensity um and taking the ball away so there's one player you know kind of giving you his feedback on on how he sees things going uh I know hits can can come across as sort of uh corny acronym that that really doesn't lead anywhere but I think that there is a little bit of a buy into it that over time has just become organic at H Hall where guys understand the standard of of practicing and playing and now that they have the talent to go with the hits principal it should start to um become self-driving you know and it'll just kind of create that Snowball Effect and get going and so yeah I mean look like there's there there's a lot on the line for Matt Eber flu because you know as well as I do that that all of the Feelgood that has followed him uh since the winner in the spring to now it's going to disappear quickly if this team is one and four when we're when we're in the middle of uh October and heading for the byee yeah you know I was I I really like how you know like there we obviously have the the physical glow up of Matt Eber flu and you know it's like that's one thing but the way that the Bears themselves and he himself have put him out there more so that we get a more more of an understanding of what he's actually like as a coach and TJ Edwards just speaking of this like you you kind of it's given me more confidence in in who he is now we we still will find out this year if he's good enough to take this team where they need to be yep the last couple years you can make a really solid argument that he didn't have what he needed to succeed and and especially his first season which I think we all gave him gave everyone a pass for but uh anyway like I think that like we've really gotten more of a glimpse into who he is and I think that there is there could actually be a good coaching here now we need to see it on the field we need to see it on game day but the way that he's speaking now at the podium what we see on Hard Knocks The Players clearly have bought in to what he does even though it took some of them a while Jaylen Johnson who his first year talked about how it took him a while to buy in but then he saw the effect and he was able to to to buy into what they were doing so I think that like he I I I'm really excited to see what happens with him in the season now and when things get with get tough because they will how does that affect him at the podium how does that affect the way he coaches games so it's there's a long way to go for us to know whether or not he's the the guy long term but you've seen a little bit of something I think this offseason that that shows you why they kept him like this is why they wanted to keep him on and at least see what he can do when there's genuine Talent all across the team yeah I mean he just seems more comfortable and now again the the next sign of discomfort will be when they lose a couple in a row you know when you have a couple key injuries and you've got to answer questions on why your defense blew a double digit lead or or you know this that and the other thing um so we'll see it's ready for that test as well for for Matt to get out there and and kind of kind of show his stuff because I think game management is going to be a big part of this season as well and understanding how to do that properly um aggressively in a way that that that keeps your team's belief where it is right now because I can tell you that the belief right now inside that building as they had for the Starting Gate of week one is is as high as I remember uh during my time on the be and that's that's great you can tell you can tell this team believes especially on defense they believe that they can they can be a good team so all right Dan uh last thing here we got to talk about Hard Knocks so the second start I'm gon I'm just ducking out of the screen for a second to grab my notebook so have my hard knock notes but yeah like this was it the penultimate episode penultimate episode so so there was we got a lot more in this episode than I was actually expecting and I I think that like the thing that everyone came away with was and we all I'm sure knew this was coming but the Ian wheeler injury and the way Hard Knocks and I know that this is what they do but they sadistically built up him throughout the whole episode and you know especially those of us that follow the team know what's coming we know okay at the end of this he tears his ACL and and it was just it's heart it was heartbreaking watching the way that you know I didn't realize you know this again what Hard Knox is for I didn't realize his mom was there and so them showing the way his his mom reacted and their hug after the game is heartbreaking and it is tough not to root for him going forward so that was my first takeaway from from the episode was that was great first of all great storytelling but just heartbreaking and I really hope that he is able to come back healthy and get a get a get another chance at this I'm incredibly interested in film making I took some classes in college and and you know if I had gotten on a different career path maybe that'd be something that that would have appealed to me there moment for me from Tuesday's episode that really just hit you was that hug outside of the Arrowhead Stadium locker room and it wasn't just how long the camera stayed with Ian and his mom outside that locker room it's that they stayed there until they caught that one tear creeping down it's Bor Wheeler's right cheek you know and you could just feel the the parent child Bond the parent child heartbreak the parent child strength right to help each other through a moment that was absolutely ging for the both of them uh and it was just a a really good piece of of of film I guess in some ways it's obviously reality um but you you just felt it like you felt that emotion and you you're like man like I can't help but root for this kid to get another crack at it in 2025 obviously you then get the the scene in Ryan pes's office where he's being Ultra supportive of being wheeler and and hoping that he can stay mentally engaged so that he doesn't become in Ryan's words stagnant as he as he re rehabs and recovers because there is an opportunity for him to have an NFL career uh it's going to be a much longer climb than it originally might be and and I think that you know something else you take away from that is and this I I think that we kind of had this figured out about Ryan poles anyway but you know we'll see going forward how good of a GM he actually is but I don't think there's any doubt that he's just a good dude and him being there for Ian wheeler in that moment and saying like hey like I'm here for you you need anything my phone's always on I think is really important and I'm sure that's not the only player he's he's done that with yeah but like to to actually and get confirmation that like yeah he like he understands that this is a human and this is going to be really difficult for him and like he's going to keep his door open you know it's something that Kevin Warren identified very early when he came in the building and he became the overseer of of Ryan poles is is the emotional intelligence right and the in ability to handle those moments in the way that he does and it's it's a gift that Ryan has and it's something that resonates with his coaches something that resonates with his players and and it creates bayin when you have that feeling of support from from from the very top of the front office and and I'm glad you mentioned that because Ryan does deserve a ton of credit for those touches you know and they they're not sporadic they're consistent they're regular um and it's a sign of leaders leadership a show of leadership that that hopefully will again another thing that you hope will Propel the Bears forward um I will say the other the other piece of film making that I loved more than anything else in this episode was the back and forth between the meditative Zen state of Adrian cber and the maniacal aggression of Travis bent and the fact that hard knock found a way to tell those two stories toggling back and forth back and forth back and forth like that was fun I think it was only like three and a half minutes or something like that but you're sitting there and you got Adrien Colbert playing his sound bowls and you know in a a yogi like trance and then you got Travis pent in a bar in Kansas City arm wrestling dudes and screaming at the top of his lungs and you're just like man this is this is really good uh compare and contrast here between these two dudes and these these you know s sort of small supporting characters in The Bear story Adrien Colbert's story was fascinating and and you know I didn't I actually didn't realize he'd been around the league as long as as they said and but the way he the his the way he goes about like being so Zen like you saw with like the the Bulls and everything and and you know him during the game like talking about how he's over thinking and he needs to settle down and then you then you see him make some plays after after struggling early so like I I was just I just looked up because I I wasn't sure he hasn't been picked up by by anyone yet but I hope he gets another shot because he's an e he's an easy guy to root for um you know and and two years ago he probably would have made the Bears 53 because they just didn't have the talent but you know he he's he's the kind of guy that you you see some flashes so easy easy got a root for and I hope he gets another gets a shot somewhere I think he might have been on the beer 53 a couple years ago for a couple he probably was everyone was um you know and so long with that you know you get the story his backstory of of the the accident he had as a child I think nine years old hit uh while riding his bike hit by a car and and in his words in a coma for a couple of weeks and you can't help but ruminate on that with the similarities to Kevin Warren and the accident that he had when he was a child that he 100% says was life-altering to the way he attacks his everyday world you know and you see that with Adrien Colbert as well the Gratitude the appreciation for like my world could have been drastically different because of that twist of fate and so I'm gonna walk out to practice without my shoes on I'm gonna appreciate every leaf in the tree I'm gonna be kind of this free spirit and and I'm gonna be Unapologetic about it because I I'm just thankful for where I'm at right now um we'll see if the final episode of hardox will take us through his exit you know the the moment where he is told that he is being released by the Bears and and so that's going to be uh interesting to see what they what they include uh I know it's become less and less common for them to show the heartbreaking cuts um but given how much they've built that story up it feels like it's gonna be difficult to just like oh oh well you got to know Adrien Colbert last week uh that's it end of story you know I think you're gonna have to put some closure on that somehow yeah yeah they're going to have to show something and and if yeah I think they yeah they I think they've pretty much stopped showing the player actually getting cut in the room but I'm sure they have to do something and and just one final note uh because we haven't quite mentioned this yet curious to what they show with Austin Reed yeah who made the practice squad and and so like this is a real quick Dynamic so like because we haven't necessarily covered this like I think we all expected Brett rippen to get brought back it sounds like he wanted to get a chance on 53 somewhere and so Brett ring is signed the Vikings yeah R is signed with the Vikings and so Austin Reed is here on the practice squad and so that that'll probably be a nice little feature I'm sure they'll because they featured him so much at the end of the fourth episode and I I'm sure that they'll they'll show him returning yeah returning and and and for Austin Reed they featured him enough that we could see his uh um I guess You' just call it straight up fear as he was getting out of the elevator to go with the sky deck at the Willis Tower and go out on the ledge there I mean that of the three quarterbacks ripping beun and Reed who went out there he seemed to be the most hesitant to to walk on that that glass ledge out there and look out over the city uh he's been obviously a a really uh enjoyable dude to get to know through this program and then obviously at Hells Hall as well and he gets an opportunity we didn't have enough time with Ryan poles on Wednesday one of the questions that I think one of the probably two dozen that were left hanging out there is what do you do inside that quarterback's room now that you've got a rookie uh guy with with four games under his belt from as a division two undrafted guy a year ago and now another undrafted guy out of division two in your room where do you lean for the experience I know we've talked about Shane Walder and Carri Joseph and Ryan Griffin and uh Thomas Brown and I just be curious to get a little bit more from those inside the building because I don't think they ever truly envisioned going into week one without um with that little experience I guess in their quarterback's room it's notable and and they're going to have to find a way to navigate around yeah so we'll obviously keep tabs on that we'll keep tabs on what happens with Hard Knocks next week we'll wrap it up here thank you for listening to take the north Dan weeder is with the Chicago Tribune David Hall will be back uh next week we'll get into our regular season mode as I think our schedules are all going to settle out next week for the most part so it's hey next time we talk unless something crazy happens it's game week so it's on and and uh it's been a long and crazy Road and we'll we'll be here to document it for you I'm ready for it I'm excited for it this should be a fun road so uh yeah stick stick with us for the journey so again for Dan weeder I'm Adams tazinski we'll talk to you next time on the take the north podcast great talk see you out there