Peter King on new book, Bears-Seahawks preview

Caleb Rose, middle of the field, love the catch, love the 20, love the 10, love the.

10, touchdown Bears!

Mighty Monungai, another touchdown run!

What was it like playing for Coach Dicka?

I don't want to answer any questions like that.

Cairo Santos is up, he's gone!

Bears win it! Oh wow!

And take it out, and take it out, and take it out! Now, Bears Etc.

Brought to you by Chevy Drives Chicago, the official truck partner of your Chicago Bears. Well, this is the game that could have happened in the NFC Championship in January of this year. Bears-Seahawks. Colossal Monday Night Matchup. We discuss in episode 258 of the Bears Etc.

Podcast.

And it's brought to you by Chevy Drive Chicago. Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy dealers. Coming up, one of the premier writers in NFL history, Peter King, out with a new book called The Game, encompassing his 40-plus years of stories covering the NFL. So we'll get to that in a moment. But first, quick preview of what's happening on Monday. Tommy, a lot to discuss after the trade that brought Quentin Nelson to pair with Gray Zabel. Over there on the offensive line for the Seattle Seahawks, what's your guess on if he'll be able to play? He's been a left guard his whole career. Gray Zabel's been the left guard since he got in the league last year. So what do you think?

I think he's going to play.

He's got that kind of veteran moxie, and then he's got two experienced guys that can help him, give him a little bit of a hint every time a play is called in the huddle.

My question is, is when they go to.

An audible and you don't have a chance to verbalize what your assignment is, and then just the thinking part of it. We always say, if you think you're beat, and if you think that you're going to learn in the entirety of a new system within five days, it cannot be done. When I got traded to the Miami dolphins, my last year, I got traded there, tried out on Monday and I was active on a Sunday, but I spent the entire week sitting there living in my play sheet.

And now it's even more complicated. And then the circumstances surrounding the variety of defensive fronts that the bears put up there. I would see if I could take advantage of that because it's his first game there rather than shy away from attacking him.

Yep, and their left tackle may not play Charles Cross as a high ankle sprain. He was until... Quentin arrived the best offensive lineman on that team yeah.

He's a big guy he he holds down a position of vulnerability for that football team especially when you have a guy that maybe not be elusive as some of the quarterbacks in the National Football League like Darnold however the guy is playing the Super Bowl started the Super Bowl he has a good career on the mix but the The difficulty of trying.

To move on a high ankle sprain, it's almost impossible.

This podcast is brought to you by Miller Lite, the official beer partner of your Chicago Bears. Tastes like Miller time, Chicago. Go to MillerLite.com slash BearsPod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. So the dilemma, the problem, that is Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, Tom. 150 yards and a touchdown last week, leading the league. Do you devote extra coverage to him to make Seattle's other receivers beat you? But, you know, even if you double-team that guy, put something over the top of him, he just finds a way.

You know, we were talking to Steve Rabel on our Bears Weekly show, and, you know, his ability to make everything look the same at the top of his route, that separation ability really keys his production. Right.

Great receivers are great receivers from Jerry Rice on down, and you know who the good ones are. To me, my approach is how do I attack the quarterback with such urgency that it's going to jeopardize his throwing foundation, his ability to be accurate, the timing of the final steps of his route. Is there a path now with a new offensive lineman up there that I can get pressure more quickly? Can I take the creativity of Dennis Allen and put rushers that are unaccounted for?

So I'm not.

Looking this as exclusively as whatever cornerback is covering this talented wide receiver. I'm going to see if it's a left tackle's missing and there's a guy out there playing for the first time. How can I get multiple bodies over there? How can I get multiple bodies in that A-gap mug to go against Quentin Nelson? So I'm looking at it to be distractive through the quarterback, not necessarily, how do I cover the wide receiver?

At least against Kansas City, Emmanuel Wilson, the former Packer, he had 100 yards and 24 carries, so there was that balance in the run game. But Zach Charbonnet is expected back. He tore his ACL last season, so he has not been on the field just yet. Jerrion Price, outstanding young player from Notre Dame. He's been on IR the last four weeks. His window to return is this week, so we'll find out. But What do you think about that scenario right there? Can the Bears at least take a bite out of that apple, slam the door on the run game, and kind of make them one-dimensional and put more pressure on Darnold?

Well, you know, that's one thing you want to do is if that running back, you know, how good is he really? Is he 100-yard back week in and week out, or did Kansas City give him an opportunity? So I'm going to turn him into a blocker. I'm not going to let him be a runner. I'm going to make sure that he's got a responsibility at the line of scrimmage that I can convert that responsibility to maybe a guy that's dropping off the line of scrimmage. So there's a variety of things I'm going to be doing at the line of scrimmage that if you put Charbonnet in there as the running back, Jeff, if this is his first game back, you're going to be in the advantage position as a defense, that guys.

That have been out there.

You're not going to take a guy and automatically turn him back into the guy that he, and he's a talented running back, but you're just not going to turn him in to the talent that he was before he suffered that injury.

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Give it up.

And a smile comes across his face. He knows he's helping a lot of people out there that are less fortunate and in a really tough spot with winter around the corner.

One of my favorite events the Bears have ever put on in the history of the organization, somehow figuring out how to make the winter warmer for the people that don't have the gently used or new coats. I've given a coat to that drive every single year since they've had it. And I will again this year and just the whole idea that they get behind it so strongly.

It's one of my favorite events because of what they do provide for the people that are cold and, uh, you know, cold and miserable at times.

Yep.

Get your operations across the Gold Line with Grainger. Count on nearly 1.5 million products from the brands you trust and a distribution network that delivers in the clutch. Call, click Grainger.com or stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Let's switch to the Seattle defense against Caleb Williams and the Bears offense. It was discussed. We talked about it on Bears Weekly. We heard it from Ben Johnson. We heard it from Caleb Williams. Getting the ball out quicker. He didn't have to move much in the last couple games, a little bit. Used his legs to pick up a first down, but firing from the pocket and making things happen. He'll do whatever it takes to win. What's he facing here with this defense? Because

talk about 11 guys in the frame. That's what it looks like with Seattle's defense. So many guys up front. They play a defense that is just disruptive and physical. What is your thought on what the Bears are facing and what they can do against this defense that is playing very well together?

I think the first thing you have to make sure you're organized within the noise. And you have to break the huddle with a certain amount of time left on the clock so you don't give the defense an indicator when the ball is going to be snapped. You want those guys to be thinking and guessing just like the Bears because the crowd noise is going to be so loud the defenders don't hear it either. But in terms of the offense, it's a commitment game, Jeff. This is a full commitment. If you have a point of attack and that's where the play is called, then you hit the point of attack. If you think you're going to have a chance to free Lance to the backside to an unblocked tackler, you're going to lose yards or you're going.

To have no gain.

And when the offensive line knows that the point of attack is being committed to, they have the ability to stay within the structure of their blocks and And get those three yards. I'm not asking for unrealistic 60-yard touchdown runs. I'm looking for the Bears to control the ball for five yards per carry. If they do that, they can go into the stadium and win the game. It's just like the commitment by the receivers. If you know where you got to be and Caleb is requiring you to be there, then you be there. You do not give me a variation. Don't give me an area. You be to the spot where he's expecting you to be. If this guy's commitment They're going to have to commit run, pass, catch, everything there is to committing to the game plan.

Yep. They're about to face the number two, third down defense in the NFL in Seattle. So staying ahead of the change is going to be big. You don't want to be second and 13. You don't want to be third and 12. You don't want those scenarios. You'll play right into.

Their hands, Tommy.

And they lead the league at takeaway points. They've got 51. They're tied for second with 12 takeaways. They're just really talented. They're really talented at all three levels of the defense.

They are.

There's no doubt about it. And I don't think anybody is putting their heads in the sand. and denying the fact that they are a great football team. But so are the Bears. The Bears are led by one of the most intelligent offensive coaches with one of the most creative quarterbacks in the National Football League. So as much as we sit here and talk about the concerns for Seattle on that somewhere on the other stage in Seattle, they're talking about the same concerns that they have for the bears. And if your creativity of Dennis Allen at the defensive line of scrimmage to the creativity of Ben, Ben Johnson through the mind of Caleb Williams. So, We have some assets as well going to the great Northwest.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Chevy Silverado, the official truck partner of the Chicago Bears. Check out a Chevy Silverado at your Chicago and a Northwest Indiana Chevy dealer, Chevy Drive Chicago. Time now to introduce our special guest. He is Peter King. All right, we're thrilled at this point in the show to welcome in one of the legendary writers in NFL history, a career spanning...

Some 40 years, starting with covering the Bengals for the Cincinnati Inquirer to New York Newsday in 85. Sports Illustrated for decades, authoring the widely read Monday Morning Quarterback, HBO's Inside the NFL, NBC's Football Night in America. His name is Peter King. He's authored five books, National Sports Writer of the Year three times, and out with a new book titled The Game.

Peter.

Thank you.

Retirement was short in 2024. You never stopped writing, and you never should. You are outstanding. We miss Monday Morning Quarterback. And listen, man, it's great, but you set the tone. I don't know how you ever did it, getting all these backstories. I particularly enjoyed all the post-Super Bowl insight after the big game, and I covered, I think, 27 in a row, but always had to read what you had to write to find out what really happened.

Jeff, you're so nice. Yeah, that was, look, I came along at the absolute perfect time, 1989, getting to Sports Illustrated when it was the biggest thing on the sports landscape. And that plus the fact that, you know, I know this is going to sound a little base, but I had an expense account. And if I wanted to go to 25 training camps in the course of a summer, Sports Illustrated paid for it for 29 years. And so, you know, I was just incredibly fortunate to come along at the time I did work for the company I did and probably have the drive that I did.

You know, Peter, when I would go to my high school football games when I was a little kid, Joey at Memorial Stadium and they had lights there and I was thinking, wow, someday I want to do this. What is your someday I want to do that moment for you?

Never had any, never grew up saying, boy, I wish I could cover the NFL. I never, I just, I will say this, Tom, when I was in high school, I lived halfway between Boston and New York, and my father was a little bit of a newspaper junkie. And on Sundays, he'd go out and he'd get five or six newspapers, bring them home, and we'd devour the sports sections.

And my father and I were, you know, both big, big sports fans, as well as my two brothers. And when I was in high school, the Boston Globe had this incredible baseball writer named Peter Gammons. who wrote this Sunday baseball column. And I said, man, my goal in life is to know something as well as Peter Gammons knows baseball. And so I went to Ohio University and I never thought, well, I have to cover baseball or football or whatever. My life won't be complete. If I got a job out of Ohio University writing politics for the Columbus Dispatch, I would have been happy. So I never had this thing, oh my God, I have to cover this or I have to cover... If I didn't cover sports, I would have had an incredibly happy life

just being a reporter covering something. I just really wanted to be in this business. I was always a curious guy. So I never had this thing. Even when I became a sports writer, I never said, man, I want to work for Sports Illustrated one day.

It was.

Tom... It was out of the realm of possibility for me. And when I got that phone call in 1989, I thought that it was one of my buddies playing a joke on me. Sports Illustrated would never call me. Are you crazy? And they did. And they offered me a job. And I got to tell you this, this is the honest truth. I accepted the job without having any idea how much they'd pay me. Yeah.

A wise decision. Simple title, complex sport, the game. What did you ultimately decide the book was really about? Because there's so much to it, but the people who shaped it or the business that created it?

Jeff, when I retired in early 24, I wasn't keen on writing a book because I had lived all these stories. I did not want to write Peter King's greatest hits. I didn't want to just reprise my week in the life with Carson Palmer, for instance, or whatever. I wanted to write new stuff. So in other words, I went back and I looked at the strike year of 1987 and I looked at the Chicago Bears and I talked at great length, probably three hours to one of the quarterbacks on that team. who played in the first strike game at Veterans Stadium with about 4,000 people who crossed Teamsters picket lines to go watch that game. And that quarterback was Sean Payton. And I wanted to find out, for instance, what was it really like to be a

strike player? What was it really like back then in 1987? Payton just told incredible stories about how Ditka the night before the game in Philadelphia basically told the players hey listen we got this problem with the Teamsters tomorrow they you we may not be able to get into the stadium so what we're going to do is we are going to go to bed here early tonight And everybody's going to get woken up by Clyde Emmerich at 3 o'clock in the morning with a knock on their door at 3.30. Buses will leave for Veterans Stadium. And you will have cots set up there, and you'll be able to sleep for three or four hours before we have breakfast, and then you play in the game. And Peyton said it was just incredible that this happened. And after the game,

Ditka was so thrilled. that he kicked Buddy Ryan's rear end in that game. He was so thrilled that he gave every player on that team who beat the Philadelphia Eagles that day in a strike game, every player got a game ball. And when they got on the charter to go back to Chicago, to go back to O'Hare, there were three cans of beer in a bag of ice on every seat of every player. And Peyton just said, everybody on that team would run through a wall for Mike Ditka after that.

Tommy, you lived that era.

I was part of the same guys that were striking that point and were getting threatened by Ditka that if we didn't show up and we didn't play, we didn't accept that the strike players that he brought onto the roster, that there would be ramifications. But that was the era of football that Peter and I and Jeff, we were all lucky enough to live through and walk out.

It's ridiculous that the games counted. Totally ridiculous. You know, Lawrence Taylor crossed the picket line for the third game for the Giants. And, you know, he was blocked in that third game by a truck driver from Illinois. And I'm serious.

Wow.

And, you know, how can the NFL with a straight face have said these games count? It's ridiculous. Anyway.

Yeah.

It was a super confusing strike because they had guys that we would meet at O'Hare Airport, maybe a couple hundred strong to represent each team. And there would be false claims that were being made just to get a reaction of the players and some of the threat of the bigger name quarterbacks crossing the picket line because they can't afford to not get paychecks anymore. So. during that time, that era has come. And it's something when you bring up the name Peyton, that you're talking about Sean Peyton and not Walter Peyton, you know, because when you think about that, it's almost, it's almost, you have to identify which Peyton you you're talking about, but you know.

That's how does Sean feel about it now?

I think he was happy to have, to have the experience, but he understands that it obviously was a slap in the face to the players who were playing. Um, And look, I think everybody who played in that strike very much had mixed feelings because they had been, most of these guys, and Tom, you'll know this, most of the guys who played in strike football had been in an NFL training camp.

So it's like, you know, two months earlier, they are six weeks earlier. They were sharing a locker room with, with you guys and with the, with the regular players. And now, you know, they're getting their chance and they're trying to basically break this strike. And so it was, It was not a proud time for the NFL. No.

Peter, in your studies, did you watch tape of football or sports, or did you interview, write, type, and everything else that you do as a reporter?

What I used to do, if I was going to do a story on a player, like when I was covering the Bengals, for instance, this was way back when, I'd sit in the office with Jim McNally, the offensive line coach. Right. If I was going to do a story on Anthony Munoz or Max Montoya or Dave Remington or one of those guys, and he'd show me some tape, hey, here's why this guy is good. And as the years went on, I didn't do that with every player, certainly.

I did it with some. But yeah, as it became easier to watch tape and to get the all 22, you know, much later in my career, I certainly would do that. Yeah.

Hey, Peter, which story in this book most potentially changed your understanding when you went back and interviewed participants?

The 1988 story about Bill Walsh and the 49ers. Nobody has any idea that Bill Walsh basically cracked up that year. His last year coaching, and they ended up winning the Super Bowl, but in mid-season to late season, they were 6-5. Carmen Policy, the president of the team, told me, I don't know, 18 months ago, I thought I was watching our dynasty go down the drain or go up in flames.

Walsh was totally losing it, losing it. He sat there twice that night, that season at Eddie DiBartolo's condo in Menlo Park, California, bawling his eyes out, you know, because he just couldn't get control of himself and couldn't get the team to play well, to win. and I'm sure you guys will remember this. I mean, I'll tell you exactly what happened. It was a seminal team or coaches meeting.

After they fell to six and five, they lost consecutively to the Cardinals and the Raiders. They were six and five. It really looked like they were, this season was going to just be a disaster. And he said, I want everyone in this coaching staff to tell me what's wrong here and what we need to fix. And they came to Mike Holmgren, this neophyte quarterback's coach who had to juggle Joe Montana and Steve Young, both of whom were very unhappy to be splitting time. Walsh goes around the room. Okay, Mike, your turn. What's wrong with this team? And he said, coach, the problem is you. You got to pick a quarterback.

Walsh got really ticked off, stormed out of the room, but came back and said, you know, Mike's right. I got to pick a quarterback. We're picking Montana. Montana was the quarterback the rest of the way, including an incredible playoff game when it was two degrees at Soldier Field, where the 49ers just wiped the floor. And I'm trying not to exaggerate too much, but it was whatever. It was a rout by the 49ers. And then they went on to win the John Candy Super Bowl after that, which I'm just telling you, In midseason, that team was a basket case collectively. And that is the story that when you say, what's the one thing you really learned?

I learned that Bill Walsh was totally losing it and retained regained himself in time to win his last Super Bowl.

You know, earlier that season, we had beat the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football in Chicago 10-9. And when they came back for that NFC Championship game, we thought, wow, this is going to give us an opportunity to go and play in the Super Bowl.

And it was bare weather assumed.

And that's when the phrase bare weather kind of got swept underneath the rug. And it was no longer bare weather when a California team came in there and beat us.

But you also remember in those days, people don't, I asked this question to a bunch of people. Did people forget that Joe Montana grew up playing cold weather football in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, Western PA, went to Notre Dame, clearly played some cold weather games at Notre Dame. It's not like he played at Auburn and then went to play for the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, it is. this is a guy who didn't mind cold weather at all. And so anyway, that just, that thought.

Well, that was just hope we are selling ourselves. It wasn't necessarily true.

Yeah.

Peter, any nuggets in the book from the 85 Bears or the 2006 Super Bowl team?

You know, the 2006 Super Bowl team, I wrote a lot about Peyton Manning in that game because I don't know if you guys remember, but That year, late in that year, when they got to the Super Bowl and they were practicing down in Miami, you started to hear about this lousy forecast for Sunday. And Peyton Manning, I write a lot in the book about how compulsive and how anal Peyton Manning is. And going into that game, he felt like our big advantage is going to be, you know, I am going to really, well, Maybe he didn't say this, but I think he felt it. He was going to condition all of these footballs so that even if it was a wet day, a rainy day, he was going to condition all these footballs so that they felt like they'd been being used for two years.

So on Friday at their practice at the Dolphins Training Complex in Davie, Florida, he took 16 people out after practice. And they took all of the balls. They got them scuffed up. They spit on them, sweated on them, scuffed them all up on the ground, you know, got that waxy sheen off them. They had already put them in like the sauna to, you know, and wiped them off.

But Manning was convinced that I am going to have every ball feeling like this ball has been used for six months. And in that game, I think I'm right in saying you got to check me on this. But the Bears either had four fumbles or turnovers because of the weather that day. OK, and I'm not maybe not lost footballs, but they had four of those and the Colts had one. And it was only because a running back dropped a handoff for Manning that was right in his gut. But anyway, Manning was very proud of that after the game. And when they won the game, he goes, I never want to play in the biggest game of my life and be thinking, you know, months later, why didn't I do everything I could to try to win the game? He also said, he also said that they

were so incredibly ready for the cover two defense that the Bears were going to play and that they knew exactly how the Bears were going to play them on defense. And the Bears that game had these, because they wanted to be on top and they wanted to fool Peyton Manning. The Bears had wristbands that they changed defensively after every series.

And on one of the series, One safety, and I forget which one it was.

Daniel Manning.

Okay, yes, yes, that's.

Right, that's right. He had the wristband from the previous series, and he covered the wrong guy on this call that was made, and the Colts scored a touchdown. And what Manning said to me was, he said, I'll always wonder, That was a great defense. Not a good defense. A great defense. And yet, they thought that they needed to try to fool us. I mean, we knew what they were doing. They just played it so well that if they just had played their defense the whole game, I hope we would have won, but I'm not sure. But they didn't. And they outsmarted themselves with those wristbands. Those are the two things I remember about the Bears that year.

Well, we just got educated because it's a behind the scenes stories that I've never heard before.

Yeah.

And you're telling us a story about the Chicago bears that at least I have never heard before.

So yeah. I appreciate that.

The game, out now, available wherever books are sold, and you're going to be hanging out with our buddy Tommy Waddle later this week in Oak Brook, so I'm sure that's a book.

Tommy Waddle in Oak Brook on Friday evening. I'm really excited about it. Wow. Six o'clock on Friday. We're going to have some fun.

Yeah, you'll have fun with him. My last question to wrap it up, your love of this game is clear the way you write about it, but who would you have loved to talk about this game with that clearly you never had the chance given when you started, but Anybody in NFL history who would be the one person you want to sit down and chop it up with?

Vince Lombardi. Because, look, there's a chapter in this book that I never thought I would write. And it's a chapter on the life and times of Steve Sable.

Yeah.

Was not on my bingo card when I started doing research into this book. But I started talking to people and a bunch of people said, man, you got to write about Sable. And I love Steve Sable. Absolutely love the guy. I knew him very well. He'd call or text me a lot after he'd read something in Monday Morning Quarterback on Monday. So I knew him well. But what convinced me to do something on Sable is what happened to Steve Sable two years out of Colorado College.

when he was this young impressionable go-getter, videographer, film taker, film cameraman, for NFL films. And he went to the Ice Bowl in Green Bay. And Vince Lombardi thought, hey, it's going to be good for our game. So many things about Lombardi that surprise you. Hey, come on the field before the game. Shoot us. If you want to be on the sidelines during the game with your camera, hey, that's fine. Shoot us. And so obviously they have this incredible game. Sable gets shot from the field that you know, from field level that you still see today, he and Bart Starr and, or Lombardi and Bart Starr talking on the sidelines before that last fateful quarterback sneak. But that night, Steve Sable went to Vince Lombardi's house with his little

bell and howl film camera. And It's a New Year's Eve party. Everybody on the block is at Lombardi's house. Coaches are there. And everybody looks like they're, I mean, all men have suits. Women have beautiful party dresses on. And Sable is just shooting everything. And a couple of times Lombardi said, hey, kid, it's probably time to turn the camera off now, isn't it? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

And he'd laugh about it. And Sable would say, to himself, I'm not turning the camera off. No one ever will be in this position again. No one will ever be able to be in Vince Lombardi's basement on New Year's Eve, shooting his New Year's Eve party three hours after the Green Bay Packers just won what is going to be an immortal game. in football history. He couldn't have known how immortal at the time, but, and he said, I'm not turning the camera off. And he didn't. And you can go to NFL films now and watch all this footage and see a real human Vince Lombardi. And that led to Lombardi allowing Sable into his world for the next couple of years. And some of the stuff that Sable got is just historic. The last thing I would say,

Vince Lombardi is a legend. not only in football, but in life, in leadership, in all those things today, because Steve Sable had the stones to keep the camera turned on.

Fascinating stuff. We were hoping you were going to say the great George Hallis.

Hey, one last thing. I did a Mount Rushmore. The most significant people in NFL history. George Hallis is number one on my list. You know, how many people in any industry could be a founder of the very industry, still going strong 62 or three years later, drafting Jim McMahon, getting in a contractual brawl with McMahon, and McMahon crumpling up the contract. I'm not signing that. And then, of course, he did end up signing. He had to crawl back because there was no, I think it was USFL. There was going to be no deal with the USFL. But anyway, George Hallis did it all, saw it all, and meant the most. For people who love the NFL, thank George Hallis.

Absolutely.

We're all here because of him. No question about it. Peter, so great to talk to you, man. We could talk a long time. Good luck with the book. It's called The Game by the great Peter King.

Enjoy.

I thought it was poignant when you said, man, so many things I never heard before about our own team. So, yeah, he had a unique ability to gain the trust of a lot of important decision makers and head coaches to find these types of stories. I always thought they're fascinating. I don't know how he did it all these years, but he was excellent at it.

Peter King kind of held the throne when I was growing up and going through the NFL because if he talked about you, if he mentioned you in a positive discussion, man, you know you were making some headway. One thing I remember as a kid, because when you're an offensive lineman, there's not a lot of... promotional ways that they can take an offensive lineman to promote you on the cover of sports illustrated they had john hanna and he was an offensive guard for the new england patriots and it said maybe the greatest offensive line lineman ever created and i hung that on my wall and i was going oh my god an offensive guard is on the cover of sports illustrated and that's how peter king really got

his national exposure start he had worked at other places But when you're working for back then, which was the King Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and you put an offensive guard on it, You were doing something pretty dang special.

You went down and back and did more benching, didn't you, that day?

I did a lot of everything.

I just wanted to look like that guy on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Good news, Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity, screens at every seat and room for everyone's roller bag. United, proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you too. Again, it's called The Game. It's out now, available wherever books are sold. And Peter is going to be doing a book event moderated by Tommy Waddle, our ESPN teammate, coming up here on October 30th in Oak Brook here in the Chicago area. How do you tell a cashier you're a Bears fan? Without telling them you're a Bears fan with the Chicago Bears PNC Bank Visa Debit Card, which gets you exclusive discounts on Bears merchandise. Find out more at pnc.com. Bears card. That's going to wrap us up.

For Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff Joniak. Thanks for listening, everybody. Please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And bear down, everybody.

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