Stacey Dales shares her Bears-Panthers prediction

0:00STACY DELLS. Doing great. Good morning everybody. Breaking down the bears beat a news around the NFL. Then made a comment last week in our production meeting that you can make him right now. Yeah. What's that like for you? Yeah, it's fun. Typically he's not wrong. Former WNBA stock. And the ball's going away. Didn't see her coming. And Perkins gets the clean steel over the Dale CZLL. Stacey Dells off a beautiful feed from Elaine Powell. She Dells with hot and pain. And I live in Chicago and I do the score radio. A little plug there on 104 three. The score. I love this segment. Welcome back. It's on page Chicago sports radio 104 three. The score on this Wednesday morning in Chicago. Time now to go out to our plumbers 911 hotline plumbing emergency call 1833 plum 911 local 130 plumbers. Get the job done right. First time joining us now as she does every Wednesday during football season is Stacey Dells from the NFL Network and ESPN.

1:03Good morning, Stacey. How are you? Good morning. Doing great. How are you guys this morning as we kick off week one in the NFL season? We're ready. Excited. We made our predictions. We're all ready to go looking forward to Sunday. Happy belated birthday, by the way. Thank you. We know you celebrated a birthday. And now we're celebrating the arrival of the NFL season tonight in Seattle. Patreots and Seahawks. Stacey, look at the bears. Look in at how many expectations there are and how this off season has been as exciting as any in a very long time in Chicago. What could get in the way? What do you think is the biggest concern from from your perspective? Seeing them throughout the preseason at all the games, being a lot of the practices and seeing this team. What are they most concerned about? I think, first of all, I don't think Ben Johnson is looking at it, David, in terms of anything getting in the way. I think they're going into this all guns blazing, if you will.

2:06I think that there is a better sentiment than there was last year when he took over. There was a lot of uncertainty last year because we didn't know what to expect from Ben Johnson. Would these players buy into the culture? The expectations, the standards within the walls at Halles Hall. They clearly did that last year. And to be quite frank with you, I didn't even feel like there was an off season. I feel like it's almost like the Rams game happened and they wanted to get back on the field the next day. And so there was almost this sort of angst to return to action again. And we are finally here. So for all the time that has passed since that playoff lost to the Rams at home in overtime, I feel like there's been a sense of urgency the day after with Ben Johnson. And it all starts with him as you enter this season. As with any start to the NFL calendar and you both know this, we don't know the identity of a team until we get through September. And that is something Ben Johnson alluded to and talked about yesterday.

3:08So they've got to figure out who they are. There's going to be a lot of unscripted action on Sunday in Carolina, which is a team that looks entirely different. And there's a whole level of layers to how different they look. But it's certainly going to be a learning curve, week one jump to kick this thing off. Stacy, I want to piggyback off of David's question because I think about this team. They have super bowl aspirations and dreams of what they're going to try to build on from last year. And sometimes you've got to stay focused. And one of the hardest things is having distractions. And as a right now, the color Gordon situation seems to be one of those things that is a distraction for this team as they go into the season. I just want to get your take on what do you think the real temperature of that situation is around Hallis Hall? Yeah. Jared, I think it's become rather untenable to be quite frank with you in my professional opinion and having been around the team.

4:08And just sort of my observations over not just the last month, but several months. I think in the NFL, you naturally see a lot of players invest in their bodies and they have their own teams. And then they have their NFL franchise that they represent. And I do think there has been some disconnect. I think it's been very frustrating for Ryan Poles and his team. I have no doubt and belief in my mind that they want Kyler Gordon in their building. And I saw the report come out yesterday from my buddy Ian. This is not an optimistic situation in my opinion because frankly, you have a guy who isn't going to play obviously for four weeks. He can't essentially do anything with the team. He's not with the team. And the projection of, okay, is he on PUP? Yes, yes. Yeah, so he's on the PUP. So it really makes no difference to me whether he's on IR or the PUP.

5:08The new rule by the way in the NFL is they get to practice after two games with their team. So that's an interesting layer as well because he's not in the building. He's not there to practice with them after the first two games. So, you know, I don't know when his plan is to return. I don't have that intel, but obviously he has a team of people that he's working with. And I'm just, there's a disconnect knowing some of the things I do, the layers to this. There's a disconnect there by his team with this injury that he's been ongoingly dealing with. And that's all I can really infer on it, to be honest with you. What I do know is you're very likely going to roll out a nickel, a rookie, nickel cornerback in Malik, Muhammad. We'll see if Cam Lewis is that guy given the journey he had there in Buffalo and sort of the hybrid nature of all the things he can do and all the hats he can wear. But as of two weeks ago, Dennis Allen specifically told us if the game started today, Malik, Muhammad would be our starting nickel.

6:09And I think they want to figure out if that young man, a fourth-rounder, is going to be serviceable. He's going to have some mistakes, but serviceable right away. And I will say this about Malik. The eye test down on the field with him, he looks the part. He is long, he is powerful, he is fast. And the biggest thing that he talked about with me, Jared and David, is just, you know, just the run fits. And that's the hardest part of transitioning from a boundary corner or a standard cornerback roll to a nickel cornerback roll. What is happening at the line of scrimmage? What are the linebackers doing? And how are you fitting the run and making those fast reaction decisions, which is something that I know Dennis Allen has also talked about. So we'll see how quickly he adjusts and we'll see if he starts on Sunday in Carolina. Join by Stacey Dales here on Hawn Patent on the score. Stacey so much has been discussed about Kayla Williams in Year 2 under Ben Johnson, Year 3 as an NFL quarterback.

7:10We've seen all the lists in this offseason and Kayla Williams has been represented well. A lot of those lists include him as a potential top 10 quarterback. Where do you think we will see the biggest sign of improvement in Kayla Williams game? Oh my goodness, accuracy. One thing, recurrently, that he has talked about is, you know, putting that ball on the money to his playmakers. I mean, he said it twice, two or three times in his press conference yesterday. I don't know if you guys caught that, but, you know, we talk about the completion percentage. And, you know, in my experience in this league for a long time, you know, there is this evolution of quarterbacks, right? Different brand of quarterbacks over the years. You have fewer, you know, statu-esque pocket passers than you, you know, now than you did even just five years ago. And Kayla is one of those breeds. And he's a special one because when you're on the move and you're off script, which is something I know the Bears have spent substantial time doing, those throws are more difficult, obviously.

8:14I mean, that's common sense, but because he knows his personnel better, because he trusts them and they trust him at a different level just through this off season. I think you're going to see some on the money throws from him in just the intermediate game, just all over the field, spraying the football. And I think that's going to be an area that is going to be strikingly different and all the special talents that come with him. Stacy, do you see this team kind of maybe expanding the run game early last year? It took them a little bit of time to get that run game going. Do you see them kind of setting the tone early in the season starting in Caroline on Sunday? Absolutely. Absolutely. This run game is the bread and the butter for these Chicago Bears. I can't wait to see all the different additions they bring schematically. Because you guys know Ben has been in the lab and you guys know he puts that thing together alongside Dan Rochart, the offensive line coach, but this is Ben's baby. And I've said it over and over, but when you have a head coach and play caller who is that invested in where this engine begins and it starts with the run game.

9:23And I love that Kyle Monangue is back on the field that Deandre Swift had the best camp of his career arguably and I hate all those cliches, but anybody I talk to, you know, he's always been in great shape. Deandre Swift, but again, the I test with him, he looks extraordinary, but the other thing to it that conversations I had, you know, just that you go through a two hour training camp practice in the middle of August and we had a hell of a weather season, didn't we? Like it was annoying actually. It's either raining or it's like 100 degrees. This guy goes two hours and it's like he could go another three. He could go another four. Like he is in fantastic shape. And so when you got those two in the back field, you can change things up a little bit with Rochon Johnson if you need to certainly helps in the blocking game. I think and by the way, this offensive line, I know there's been so much talk about Braxton Jones. I don't know if you guys heard his comments yesterday, but you can't help but love the guy. Okay, he's just a great dude.

10:25But that's going to be your left tackle for now. And everybody that we see outside of Garrett Bradbury has been there and done that. So I like the continuity with this offensive line. And Ozzie Trapillo is waiting in the wings to come back and be serviceable and supportive as well. That was interesting though. The comments have been Johnson yesterday, Stacy, just about the left tackle position. It seems like it's Braxton's job for right now, but that's not for certain. Yeah, and you're right JP like it. Braxton cares at such a high level. How can he handle the bull rush? How are you handling Derek Brown on Sunday? Or some of these, you know, Jalen Phillips on Sunday, like this isn't overhaul defense that they are going to see in Carolina. I mean, I think there's just again a number of interesting storylines, but but up front as I look at Carolina, I mean, it's not just how Derek Brown impacts and plugs and moves.

11:31I mean, he had, I think seven battered balls. Well, last season, Caleb's going to have to be these guys are long, they're athletic, they're powerful up front. You got the big rookie Lee Hunter in there out of Texas tech now. And I mentioned, I mean, the additions of Bobby O'Carrickay and Devon Lloyd and Jalen Phillips, they look entirely different. Jero Everose has gradually gotten them better. One interesting thing I took out of our research notes that I'm actually going to be interested in watching on Sunday is last season, the Panthers played in zone coverage 85% of the time on opponent quarterback dropbacks. That was by far the highest mark in the league. Caleb Williams was just a hair under 60% completions on against zone coverage last year. So I'm just like interested in what Ben Johnson is cooking up right in terms of what if what if we see a defense in Carolina now they look different personnel wise with the base three four, but what if we see a defense that is once again heavy zone and what Ben dials up for Caleb against that.

12:38And like I said, I think Caleb's going to be like leaps and bounds ahead of where he was last year, his pre snap recognition, his processing at the line of scrimmage, the communication with his line. Everything's going to be faster and I think you're going to see the results of that in productivity. So before let's go, I think you know the division and the league so well, I'm curious we all four of us we did our predictions this morning and thought that the lions would end up being the NFC North champions. We do have the bears making the playoffs and going a ways in the postseason, but how do you see this division unfolding and do you think that's overstating how the game is going to be? Yeah, it's an interesting conversation right because David no team fell below 500 in this division, which is why you saw two of them go to the playoffs and the Packers and the Bears. The Vikings are to be determined because of Kyler Murray's relationship with Kevin O'Connell and how that develops new quarterback, new play caller for them there in Minnesota.

13:41Their defense is incredible and I think will be their bread and butter to start this thing, but Detroit is fascinating because and that's my week one game by the way the Saints at Detroit. So I will be headed there this week and I'm always curious with the quarterback and the play caller how it grows drew petzing is somebody they really love it. It's been you lose Ben Johnson right to the Bears and you lose that that sort of brain behind all of what was happening there to the point where last year Dan Campbell took over play calling notice respect to Johnny Morton. Drew petzing is really smart and he has had an interesting collaboration with Jared goff and it's gone very well and it's back a back and forth for a guy who's been now what 11 years whatever goff is in the league of saying I like this I don't like this. Here's the playmakers that we have here's this offensive line we have we have new combinations at tackles on the book ends.

14:41So that's what I'm super interested to see as they kind of lay out what their offense is going to look like with drew petzing we know there's a lot of motion we know there's a lot of tight end usage but I think the to your point David the Lions. They feel really good about where they are and they could easily climb up once again in this thing the packers start with the Vikings so we'll see how things go for them and whether Josh Jacobs see you know how long his suspension because I think that's a huge one. Is or excuse me the commissioners exempt list is going to impact their offense but Matt LaFlaur is one of the best at adjusting so we'll see. Stacy great stuff have a great time Detroit really appreciate your contributions every week it's going to be a fun season. Great to be with you guys. Stacy Dales from the NFL Network and ESPN she's going to be a good Detroit and I think that the Saints in the Lions very interesting opener because the Saints could be a sneaky good team and you never know about opening games.

15:42Yeah but I think the Lions take that game they should they should the bear should be the panthers to but will they. She made a couple good points to about the defense that is for the panthers yeah that I don't think gets a lot of have gotten a lot of attention in Chicago. I got a lot of scrutiny because everybody's worried about this offense we're worried about our own problems at the moment.