Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Dan Wiederer, Bears reporter and senior writer for The Athletic. You're going to be relying on a lot of young players, guys that have to materialize into who they thought they were. The Bears are who we thought they were. On-air contributor for 670 The Score. We'll mention this mainly because Dan Wiederer said we would mention this nugget.
Chapter 2: What insights does Dan Wiederer provide about the Bears' 2025 season?
Host of the Take the North podcast. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Wiederer. Thanks, Coach.
Chapter 3: How are young players impacting the Bears' performance this season?
We'll go first to Dan Wiederer. On Chicago Sports Radio, 670 The Score. Weezy!
Dan Reeder is the senior writer for The Athletic covering the Bears. He is also the co-host of the Take the North podcast. And he joins us via the Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, CircaLasVegas.com. And yeah, for everybody saying the new Buffalo Bills Stadium, it will be a, technically it's a canopy. It's like Texas Stadium in my opinion. But that was a dome that just had a mistake.
So they had a hole in the roof.
That's not good.
They finished what they could. Sometimes that's what you got to do. But yeah, technically it's a canopy. But the point is people aren't going to be shoveling and stuff. It just won't be as bad as it used to be. Dan Weider, we're talking about the weather affecting the games. And so that was brought up. I know you can chime in on this as well.
Yeah, I mean, look, it was fun to watch the end of that game in Denver yesterday just visually. It was quite an appealing sight to see some snow football. Obviously, we got a couple games here in Chicago this month with playoff action with some weather involved. You know, I don't know which way I lean on this because it is fun to see it.
You also understand the purpose behind going indoors and all the things that you're trying to get done with that. So we'll see. We'll see which way the ball turns. If that's not the right analogy, but you get what I'm saying.
I think that that is an appropriate analogy for the result of that game. I said if you like defense and you like weather, which a lot of people who listen to this station do, then that was probably a game they loved.
Yeah, you know, it felt like Denver, obviously they missed the opportunity to put some game pressure on New England in the first half when they bypassed that field goal early. You know, I don't know, for me, I love the aggressive plays more often than not, but there's certain times where you've got to understand the situation when you're in and you're at home.
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Chapter 4: What role does weather play in the Bears' game strategy?
And Chicago knows that as well as anyone, we haven't had three consecutive winning seasons in this town since the eighties. That's incredible when you say it out loud, you know, and then so that you understand how difficult it is and you've got to go about doing the work that puts yourself in position to achieve those things.
And looking at where this team is and you start trying to figure out, okay, what can be restructured and then what are the priorities?
Are you looking at certain deals and saying, well, they're going to probably have to do something with this current contract just to buy the space that they need, whether bringing back someone who is a free agent or to go out and get a need, say, I don't know, defensive line?
Yeah, I mean, you're going to have to start to work those numbers. I think one of the names that comes up often in this conversation is Tremaine Edmonds, and is there an opportunity there to move on and create some more salary cap space for yourself? Now, you've got another starting linebacker who was extended last offseason who's now going to be rehabbing from a pretty serious injury in T.J.
Edwards, and so that's going to factor in to your decisions. And so there's a lot of this stuff that – you can't look at, you know, individually, it's all part of a bigger picture and you've got to start to, to go through that process with Ben and Ryan together, figuring out what, what fits do you like, what fits would you like to improve?
And then how do you, you just kind of marry all that together. We all know that they're going to probably need to figure out an answer at left tackle going into next season to give themselves a the best chance. So what does that look like? Is that a draft pick? Is that a free agent on a short-term deal? And so all these things kind of blend together.
There's going to be a lot of discussion about DJ Moore in the next month, I would imagine. And is he a trade chip? Is there anybody out there willing to give you a draft pick to help you clear a broom there? I don't know, right? And so this is all going to be fluid here in the next month, month and a half.
And the Bears have to be really serious about what they're trying to get done and then very calculated in how they go do it.
We're talking to Dan Weterer. He is the host of the Take the North podcast, and he is the senior writer for The Athletic covering the Bears here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. We got the news about Jonathan Gannon, expectedly, reportedly, becoming the defensive coordinator for the Packers. Where do you think this leaves Al Harris, who also interviewed with Washington?
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Chapter 5: What lessons can the Bears learn from recent NFL playoff games?
A nice reward after a breakout season with nine takeaways. So that's good news. I think he deserved to be recognized. It made sense as to why other people may have been selected before, but that was great to see.
Pro Bowl games will be back near his hometown out there in California as well. So that's a fun little sort of footnote on his storyline. But, yeah, good little reward for a season that was very deserving of it, in my opinion. And so it's good to see Nashawn kind of get that last piece of punctuation on the year that he had and the breakthrough he had under –
You know, the guidance of both Al Harris, as we talked about earlier, and Dennis Allen, who found ways to give him a role that mattered. And he seized that opportunity, and he went a long way with it, and now he gets to go enjoy the Pro Bowl because of it.
I'm so curious, Dan. Do you get time off now? How does this work? I mean, I know you're not used to working and covering the actual beat this late into the season, but hey, here we are.
Yeah, it slows down. It'll slow down a little bit. Now, I always remind people that the combine comes a knocking, you know, and I think we're like four weeks away from being an Indy for the combine. And so, you know, we'll have some content here over the bridge here as we cross it, but it will slow down here, which is a beautiful thing, Marshall.
Believe me, it's time to take a deep breath and sit back for a little bit and hopefully reconnect with my family. For a few weeks, it was good to wake up on a Sunday yesterday and not have to go anywhere. So that was a fun piece of the journey to lean into now that we're here.
Yeah, what is Weedsy's first item on the agenda now that you have a slower season?
For what? For personal levels? Anything.
Your actual first item on the agenda.
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Chapter 6: How is the Bears' window of contention perceived this season?
I will be there Wednesday and possibly Thursday as well.
Okay. All right. Oh, so you're TBD. Well, well, well. We're getting answers on this show.
Sounds like we've had some determinations made, perhaps.
Our schedule.
Still working some pieces.
Our schedule looked like, how do I put this? Fragmented. It looked like a starting rotation for a bad team in August.
Why are you bringing the White Sox into this?
TBD is like, when TBD is your fourth or fifth starter, we just wanted to know. Not that you're our fourth or fifth starter. Just that, you know, when you're looking at it from a calendar perspective, I just didn't know what was happening. So now we have some answers. Dan, this has been very informative. Thank you.
You got it. We'll talk to you guys soon.
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