Dan Wiederer: Ben Johnson's offensive prowess hasn't taken a hit at all

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Rahimi & Grote Show 18 min 4 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 1 hour ago

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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Mark Grote 0:01

This hour is being brought to you by Menards. Oh. Yes, save big money at Menards. And the Bears and whatnot.

Leila Rahimi 0:12

Dan Wiederer, Bears reporter and senior writer for The Athletic.

Dan Wiederer 0:16

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

Leila Rahimi 0:22

they were. On-air contributor for 104.3 The Score. We'll mention this mainly because Dan Wiederer said we would mention this nugget. Host of the Take the North podcast. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Wiederer. Thanks, Coach. We'll go first to Dan Wiederer. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. Weed

Mark Grote 0:39

Man. Oh, he's coming your way in moments here on Rahimi and Grody. Join the score and Bud Light this afternoon as Spiegel and Holmes will be live from 2 to 6 p.m. at our home away from home. Real-time sports in Elk Grove Village to get you ready for the primetime game against Philly. Head out and watch them do the show live and compete in Bud Light's National Football Face-Off Tournament, giving you a chance to test your football skills to win a trip to Vegas during an NFL playoff weekend in January. That's cool. Real-time sports in Elk Grove Village is the place to be from 2 to 6 p.m. today, and it's all brought to you by Bud Light. Now we turn to Dan Wiederer, who will be... At Soldier Field tonight for the Bears and Eagles.

Mark Grote 1:28

Weed Man, what's going on? How are you? What are you thinking? Tell me everything.

Dan Wiederer 1:32

I'm doing well.

What did Dan Wiederer remember about Alshon Jeffery’s Bears career and exit?

Dan Wiederer 1:33

It was great to hear Alshon Jeffrey's voice just a few minutes ago. I was around for much of his time here in Chicago, so nice to take that walk down memory lane with him a little bit.

Vinny Rotino 1:41

What do you remember? What stood out to you about it?

Dan Wiederer 1:45

Look, Alshon was always a very pleasant guy to talk to. He's obviously on the quieter side in the locker room. He was a good dude to just kind of touch base with from time to time. And obviously you guys brought up some of the high points, whether it was big touchdown catches or huge games. There were some real highs during his time here individually for him. Unfortunately for the team, there weren't a lot of those collectively for the team. And so it's like a lot of... Former players' existence over the years, you just kind of have these mixed emotions of loving your time playing for the Bears fans, but never quite achieving what you thought was there to achieve.

Mark Grote 2:20

Had you thought, like, I mean, because I wasn't covering the team then. I would just hear things that would come out, and the perception was that Alshon Jeffrey didn't like Chicago. Do you remember that perception going on, and was he ever questioned on it? Because it sounds like it was cleared up a little bit today during our talk with him.

Dan Wiederer 2:38

Well, I remember the outside chatter about that. I also remember being in close contact with Alshon and his camp there at a time where it looked like he was played on the franchise tag you know and yeah and sometimes sometimes that diminishes your enjoyment of the place you're at at the time because you think you're uh worth more you think that that you deserve a longer investment in in who you are and what your career can be and uh they just kind of ran into a brick wall with that and and ultimately it led to Alshon uh going to to Philadelphia and then obviously getting his uh his Super Bowl glory there with the Eagles.

Vinny Rotino 3:11

Not to get off topic too much, but you know what? The franchise tag usage is a lot different between Pace and Poles. Now that we've had a few years under each one's belts to kind of compare and contrast, obviously I think this gets a bigger discussion, you know, the longer Poles is in tenure. But Pace was not afraid to use a franchise tag, and it did make me wonder how it affected his players.

Dan Wiederer 3:33

It really is case by case in a lot of ways where you're trying to manage a little picture and a big picture. Positions factor into it. What sort of the supply and demand of talent is at the position. There's a lot of factors that go into that. Guys who get it never love it. Usually you try to use that as a way to buy time to negotiate a longer term deal.