INSTANT REACTION: Bears Rout Seahawks On Monday Night Football, Caleb Williams Validated His #1 Pick

0:04 Very excited to say that Bud Light is the title sponsor of the Colin Coward podcast this NFL season. A little instant reaction on Monday Night Football. I did like the Bears in this spot because it was the third straight primetime game for the Seahawks. And teams that play three straight primetime games, that third game usually is a clunker.

0:30 But there's no question that Jeffrey Simmons and Montez Sweat on that D-line for Chicago. Simultaneously, Charles Cross, the left tackle for Seattle, is out. Gray is able to move from left guard to right guard. The Seahawks picked the wrong night to play musical chairs with their offensive line because Montez Sweat and Jeffrey Simmons changed the entire defense.

0:56 It was interesting because the Bears had multiple, I think, three defensive holdings in the secondary. That's how they used to need to play. They don't have to anymore. So a little bit of an adjustment. The secondary is just naturally going to be better because quarterbacks are going to be more rushed. I thought the very first series of the game, Ben Johnson, 17 plays. It was just aesthetically beautiful.

1:21 They went up-tempo. Once they got into the red zone, it felt like it caught Seattle a little bit off guard. And Mike McDonald, I mean, this is a really talented defense with a great defensive coach, and they felt off balance most of the night. And it's really a defense without a weakness. Elite corner, safety play, linebackers move well, defensive fronts ridiculously deep. And, you know, the Bears... are a great offensive team with so many weapons. I mean, Luther Burden, Colston Loveland, Roma Dunze. I mean, that little screen for 40 yards late in the game. You know, I thought that ended up being a huge play to Kalief Raymond, a return guy, but he was starting tonight.

2:09 Two backs, very functional. And they're going to get their backup running back, the seventh rounder. Menungai is going to be coming back here soon. Just excellent O-line. Chicago is as good and as deep offensively as the Seahawks are defensively. And I thought it was their night and the game very important because, you know, Minnesota's like six and one Green Bay is now playing well. You know, Detroit's one of the top 10 teams in the league, so they have to keep winning. It was funny. I had two executives in the NFL text me tonight. They're just like the first thing they're like, Caleb's arm is different. I mean, I'm sorry, but. He's got so much horsepower. And two different times tonight, Caleb Williams could have taken off and run.

2:56 He doesn't do that anymore. First of all, he doesn't need to because now he's in the second year of Ben Johnson's offense and they have a bevy of good offensive skill people. But Caleb is now a, he wants to stand in the pocket and throw darts. He is a completely different quarterback than he was two years ago as a rookie. I mean, not just improved, just The mindset, the psychology. He wants to sit in the pocket and throw darts. He doesn't want to run around. Remember, he lost weight in the offseason to be a little faster.

3:28 But he really just doesn't feel he would prefer to sit in the pocket and distribute the football. And that's what he did tonight on the road against a great defense and a brilliant defensive head coach. Roma Dunze had a couple of big catches in the third quarter. That drive then ended up giving the Bears a 20-9 lead, a touchdown drive. The opening drive, I've got a series of notes here. You know, here's the other thing. So Seattle's old lines playing musical chairs as Jeffrey Simmons and Montez Sweat now are, you know, the two-headed monster up front defensively for Chicago. The other thing is, and it's very obvious, Joe and Troy pointed this out multiple times, Seattle's got a one-man passing attack. I mean, Darnold's got

4:14 JSN and then Charbonnet and Price are nice backs. They're complimentary backs. But one of the things I was looking for tonight, because there's been a lot of whispers about Seattle going and getting Jonathan Taylor, the running back from the Colts. And so I wanted to see how Price looked tonight and you know, how Charbonnet looked and they're solid and it's only their first game back. So not being real judgy here, but they're, but they're second guys.

4:42 They're not, you know, they're, they're not the go-to guy. I could see Seattle giving up a first or a second round pick, um, and upgrading to Jonathan Taylor or, um, Or do they give up picks and get a second receiver? I mean, their entire offense is JSN. And again, he beat the Bears end of the half over the top.

5:05 But I'm looking at some of the numbers here with JSN. And I mean, he has more yards and touchdowns through eight games than he had last year. But the offense has regressed. Why? Because it's become predictable. And let's be honest, they lost Clint Kubiak, the OC, who has made Kirk Cousins the You know, what is it? Kirk Cousins, second in the NFL, and the Raiders are sixth in offense in the league with Kirk Cousins and an OK offensive line.

5:37 That's the Clint Kubiak factor. He was Darnold's OC last year. So you got musical chairs in the O-line, a one-man passing attack. And I'm interested to see what they do with the backfield. But I just feel like Horton, Cooper Cup, those are number three and number four guys. Barner, the tight end's a solid tight end. Not spectacular. Young, good.

5:58 They just need another weapon on the outside. So where do you go? Again, do you call Denver? Mims doesn't get a lot of work with Bo Nix down the field. Is that somebody you look at? Now, Rashid Shaheed didn't play tonight, but he's more gadget than he is a number two. He's a deep threat, special teams guy, more gadget guy, closer to Xavier Worthy, better, but closer to that than he would be to a volume receiver. So, you know, I think there's just a lot of things.

6:24 My takeaway is Chicago, we knew great offensive coach, Caleb Williams, nice old line, good skill. But now that defensive front, I think Chicago right now is as good as any team in the NFL. If you told me, pick the NFC champ. And I do think, again, Charles Cross will come back for Seattle. I think at the trade deadline, they may make a move. Right now, I think Chicago is the best team in the National Football League. And that's the kind of difference that Jeffrey Simmons can make.

6:57 You know, there's a reason they're giving up two first-round picks, and I think it was a fourth. You know, Ryan Poles knows what he's doing, and he's taking big swings. And Simmons changes the calculates. I mean, he just– again, just watching tonight, do you think it's a coincidence that a Bears lineman had an interception and Montez Sweat was making a huge impact? Like, he just opens everything up.

7:24 So I think one of my other obvious takeaways of the notes here is Seattle just needs to make a move before the trade deadline, either at back or probably at wide receiver. It's not like– you know, it's not like– Darnold played poorly. Let me look this up real quick. And there's a couple of minutes in this game left.

7:44 So I jumped on here before the game was officially over. But if you look at, you know, you look at Darnold's passer rating, it's overall. I didn't think Darnold was terrible. He had a deflected interception. Again, he was under much greater duress than Caleb Williams was. And that really speaks to the Bears offensive line. Hidden in all of Chicago's offensive wizardry is that, you know, that defensive line for Seattle, Demarcus Lawrence, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, those are dudes. And Caleb had plenty of time to throw the football. Darnold did not have a lot. That changes everything. Also, I think, you know, I think DeAndre Swift for the Bears, again, he gets lost in this litany, this really reservoir of

8:42 Bears offensive talent. DeAndre Swift's a really good player. He has got really great vision. I was more impressed with the Bears tonight than I was unimpressed with Seattle. Third straight primetime game. Darnold was fine. Needs another wide receiver. I think this night was about Chicago. I don't know how you can, I mean, coach, quarterback, weapons, D-line, and that secondary, you know, which was a liability four weeks ago, now looks fine. It looks fine. I'm just watching the final moments in this game. What's really interesting for Seattle now is that San Francisco's in first place off of by their schedule. It's pretty easy for the next month. So, and the Rams, although they have yet to play a

9:43 full game, you know, they're very uneven. They've found their way in miles. Garrett's coming back. So I think Seattle's a really good football team, but the schedule's not easy. It becomes very circumstantial now. I mean, they play a red-hot Chicago team now. So we're about halfway through the season, and Chicago 34, Seahawks 17... This week's Business Play of the Week presented by Xero. If you run a small business, you need one simple platform that connects accounting, payments, payroll, and analytics. Let's go to Cleveland. The Browns trading Miles Garrett to the Rams. Listen, in business, sometimes your toughest decisions are your smart ones. Miles Garrett's a superstar. Cleveland wasn't winning, however, with him. So they traded him for

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11:40 It takes 90 seconds. Use Colin, C-O-L-I-N when you sign up. $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10. You know, I can remember when Caleb Williams got drafted. And, you know, the Bears were criticized because they didn't look at any other quarterback. Poles is like, I'm not interested. This is who I'm taking. And that was the draft that had Jane Daniels and Drake May and Pennix and J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. He's like, I'm not looking at anybody else.

12:12 And I can remember there was some criticism, even from people I talked to in the league about the paint and the fingernails. He's kind of moody and. The one thing I always said about Caleb Williams was he was the first NIL superstar. He was the first quarterback in college making $ 4 million or $ 5 million a year. Now it's more commonplace, but that was like five years ago.

12:34 He was making $ 4 million or $ 5 million when there was a handful of players even making that close to that kind of money. So he was the first NIL star. I thought he handled himself well. He was surrounded by a very weak offensive line, you know, a defense that Lincoln Riley at that time behind Alex Grinch was atrocious, could only win by shootout. And I think after about a year and a half at USC, they lost to Notre Dame on the road. And I think Lincoln Riley didn't want to put Caleb Williams on the crosshairs. So they just kind of let– they didn't really push it. And, you know– It was just, I thought, easy at the end of Caleb's career to nitpick. But I always came down to, I had a really good contact that knew

13:20 him very, very well. And that the people I knew, he was aspirational. He was very driven. He sort of, The criticism, he was aware of it, but it didn't deeply bother him. He wasn't prickly. You know, you didn't have the moodiness and the body language of like an Aaron Rodgers. You know, you didn't you didn't have kind of the Baker Mayfield. I'm going to go to the podium and, you know, start a fire. It was none of that stuff. He handles himself like a pro. He's very self-aware. And I think what you've really seen tonight was another example. He is completely cultured. he is an incredibly cultural player and I think great players want to be coached hard. And I think he wants to be an all-time great and not every quarterback does. I think,

14:02 I think Josh Allen does. I think Mahomes does not every, not every quarterback wants to be, they're not going to commit to it, but for him, who could, he could easily lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns as a quarterback easily. Um, If he wanted to. I think he's more elusive than Josh Allen. He's harder to get a shot at. He's now faster than Josh Allen. He's got a better overall offensive line than Josh Allen. And he's got a better play caller in Ben Johnson. He doesn't want to do that.

14:33 He wants to sit in the pocket. He wants to be a pocket guy. His accuracy, it's not even an issue now. I mean, he'll sail. He sailed the ball once tonight. So what? He's got a cannon. He's going to do that. I mean, guys that throw 104 miles an hour have wild pitches. So what? He's just... His improvements, everything you could have attacked Caleb Williams on before the season, he's polished everything. Well, you do that through repetition. You do that through hard coaching. You have to listen. You have to be willing to change. He's clearly not a stubborn guy. He wants to be an all-time great. And You know, I'm watching the play calling tonight and the ability to run the ball. There's so many components to

15:13 winning a Super Bowl. One of the reasons Seattle won the Super Bowl last year is ran the ball very, very well. That's a huge component because if you take a lead, you want to kill the clock. It's not all about the first half. Running games are not about the first three quarters alone. They're often about the last six minutes of a game, killing the clock, eating up the clock. which, you know, the Bears now have one of the best running games in the NFL. So in that, obviously, a quarterback then gets play action. You get leads. You kind of control the tempo. When you get a lead, you can pick up first downs and play keep away from another star quarterback in the playoff. So that's what Seattle did. Seattle also had a pass rush without bringing

16:02 a lot of extra people. Josh Simmons and Montez Sweat will create that. I mean, I also think Andy Reid, you'd like to have a creative play caller. You're going to play good defenses where you're going to have to squeeze as much juice out of a game plan as you possibly can. The Bears are now checking boxes that Seattle did last year. An athletic quarterback. Remember, Sam Darnold didn't turn it over in the playoffs. One of the great things about Caleb Williams, this is historically unique. You get all the upside of Josh Allen without the picks.

16:35 Josh Allen turns it over. Caleb doesn't. He doesn't turn the ball over. He didn't in high school. He didn't in college. He doesn't in the NFL. He doesn't throw interceptions. That is so rare for that power. You know, Josh Allen gives you all the power. You get some sloppy. You don't get that with Caleb. So last year, Darnold won in a run. He can be reckless. No turnovers.

17:00 Great defense. Excellent run game to get leads and then seize control of the clock late in games. Keep Matt Stafford maybe off the field late in the game. So all the things that Seattle did well, and, you know, I mean, they had kind of a perfect playoff run. Well, that's very possible with Chicago. They're checking the exact same boxes.

17:19 They just have more weapons offensively than Seattle did. And again, I think Seattle, the trade deadline has to consider another wide receiver because it's just like Kenneth Walker with the Chiefs. He's a great player, but the book is out. You know, there is a Clint Kubiak's gone. Charles Pross isn't playing.

17:37 Zabel's moved to the other side. People now know it's kind of JSN bracket him, take him away as much as it possibly can. So, you know, this is just a constant journey for NFL general managers to But Jeffrey Simmons, I'm watching him on the postgame. Man, I'm always happy for pro athletes that go from, like, losing situations. And they're great guys. They're team captains. They're going to be Hall of Famers. And Aaron Donald goes from the St.

18:06 Louis Rams to L.A., gets McVay. It's like, that makes me happy. I mean, Jeffrey Simmons, you know, to go from Tennessee, who may end up, you know, in two years being great. But to now be in, to go to Chicago, playing in Seattle tonight, but to go to Chicago, this is a ascending franchise. It's a fun franchise. It's young.

18:33 He'll be one of the elder statesmen, one of the leaders. What a great opportunity. I mean, it's just like anybody watching our show, this podcast right now, and all of a sudden, it's like you get this dream job at a law firm or a hospital or a tech company, and it's like, Same thing for pro athletes. I mean, you get drafted out of college, you don't have a say. Oh, they make a lot of money. Well, a lot of people make a lot of money. They usually have a say where they go. And then you get stuck on a losing operation for years and years, and now you go to the Bears? I mean... That's a great situation.

19:10 Quentin Nelson, Colts, they're giving away players, gets to go to the Seahawks. So there's, you know, you got a lot of new faces in new places and Price and Charbonnet are back for Seattle. Got to give them time to let it bake a little bit if you don't make the Jonathan Taylor trade. I think Seattle's going to be a playoff team, a wildcard team perhaps, but they're going to be a handful. And if you don't have to play Seattle in Seattle, that's a benefit. You'd rather go, honestly, you'd rather go to Santa Clara and face the Niners.

19:41 I'd rather face them in nicer weather than go to Seattle in January where it's raining sideways and face that Seahawk crowd. So, you know, the advantage for the NFC is if San Francisco wins, I just, not that it's easy to win there. I'd rather play there than I would in Seattle in the weather. So, because you just think about the NFC teams now. You want to go to Chicago? You want to go to Seattle? I'd rather go to, you know, reasonably warm or moderate weather in the Bay Area. I know you're facing the Niners, but they're an old team. They may not have two or three starters at the end of the year. So congratulations to the Bears. An eventful, impressive night. I mean, it was a flex tonight. Everybody in the league, I'm getting

20:25 texts tonight, executives in the league, everybody's texting tonight. That was kind of a butt kicking. Not a lot of people go to Seattle and do that. That was impressive. Jeffrey Simmons didn't need a lot of practices. He looks pretty good right now. This podcast presented by Bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy.