PTI - Any Reason for Hope for the Bears?

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and the San Francisco 49ers. Plus, Jeff Saturday joins the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilmot. Tony, we got a new deal. Are you excited to host many more years of PTI?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. I haven't hosted in years. You're looking at an AI simulation. AI. Oh, see, I still think that Alan Iverson would not hear AI. No. No, no, no. I don't look like Alan Ivorson.

No, but I know you loved Alan Iverson more than you loved artificial intelligence. Yeah, yeah. I don't have any respect for artificial intelligence. I have enough problem having regular intelligence myself. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, J.J. McCarthy gets it done. The Dodgers almost throwing no-hitter again, and Jeff Saturday joins us for five good minutes.

But we begin today with your Chicago Bears, Wilbon. They lost at home to Minnesota. They gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter, blowing a 17-6 lead. The Bears had 12 penalties in Ben Johnson's coaching debut, including four fall starts in the first half. Caleb Williams, who started hot, finished with eight for 19 and 87 yards in the second half.

Wilbon, what happened? And did you see anything that gives you confidence in what lies ahead for your bears? Tony, having stayed awake angrily after this game until I'm at all 4.30 this morning, I've run the whole gamut of emotions and reactions here. In the first three to four hours, I was angry and thought they were just like

headed for doom. The whole season was a waste of time. That's how I felt. And then listening to people, including Jeff Saturday, who will have later, my own brother, Don, who said, wait a minute. They played really well for three quarters. You can't throw the baby out with the bathwater,

as we used to say, you've got to pay some attention to that. It's Ben Johnson's debut. Caleb has to get rid of old habits first. Matt Ibrose, thank you. It takes a while and not preseason time to adjust it. these things, the line to him

to each other, the fall starts, all of it. Ben Johnson's play calling, which was soft late in the game to me. So there's still, Tony, they did some things well, but ultimately they did not knock out a rookie quarterback making his first start.

And that still angers me when I get back to it. So I'm living thinking they'll get better. They will get better. I just don't know how soon I think it's going to take a while. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't look at a Bears game with the eyes that you look at it. I wasn't a fan for 60 years. I mean, I'm familiar with the franchise. I look at it with far less passion. I remember watching the

first half and thinking that Caleb Williams was doing very well. I'm pretty sure he completed his first 10 passes at that point. It looked to me that he was making the leap from rookie to second year quarterback. The Bears at that point were comfortably ahead. When they got the pick six, I thought they would win the game comfortably. But Caleb Williams did not have a good second half at all. He missed wide open targets. He probably held the ball a little bit too long. So I watched with interest today, as you did as well, the morning

shows. And I heard a sort of a consensus among football players, former football players, that Caleb Williams in the second half reverted to what he was doing last year. And so I thought to myself, well, wait a second. He was the number one overall pick in the draft. If you're

telling me there's a book on Caleb Williams and last year wasn't good and he revert. to that this year, then I would think maybe you have to wonder if you're a Bears fan, is he indeed the great quarterback going forward? But like you, Mike, I don't want to make a judgment after one game, one game with a rookie coach with a brand new system. I just wonder if anybody's saying, you know, we could have taken Jaden Daniels.

No. We could have done that. We're not saying that. We're not saying that. He's got to be deprogrammed from the Iber Flues era first, Tony, and then Ben Johnson. Let me just mention this, and you're familiar with both these people. Because when you used to travel, you were there in their faces on Sunday after their games. I mentioned two coaches and their starts.

A guy named Joseph Gibbs went 0 and 5 in his first year on the way to four Super Bowls, three of them victorious. And a guy named Bill Walsh went 0 and 7 on his way to three Super Bowls. And I don't think he lost any. So I know it's tough to put Ben Johnson in that category just yet. All I'm saying is it takes time is my point. It takes that. And by the way, it's not just Caleb.

The defense got shoved and hit in the mouth in the fourth quarter. They couldn't stop a nosebleed in the fourth quarter. So, you know, that group has a lot to worry about, too, just as much as Caleb. Let's move quickly to J.J. McCarthy. At least he's a good son of Chicago. In his first ever NFL start after missing all the last season, playing in his hometown. The Vikings quarterback struggled in the first half. But down the stretch, particularly in the fourth quarter,

quarter, McCarthy threw two touchdowns, ran for another, got the team, the Vikes, a win. Tony, what does last night tell you about McCarthy specifically, easy for me to say, and the Vikes? Okay, so Minnesota was a good team last year. They were a playoff team last year. They must think that this kid is very special because they let their quarterback Sam Darnal walk. They let them walk. And they handed the team over to a kid who had never played a single down. in the NFL. In the first half, his first half, was no better

than Caleb Williams' second half. It wasn't. But really late in the year, fourth quarter, he was great. As you say, passing touchdown, passing touchdown, rushing touchdown. He won the game.

Caleb Williams is at home in a division game with a big lead and he couldn't close. J.J. McCarthy closed that game out. I watched him in Michigan, Mike. I was never really wowed. Never. I didn't think he was as good as Caleb Williams.

I didn't think it was good as Jayden Davis. I didn't think he was good as Bo Nix. I did not. But he doesn't lose games. He's now, it's only one game in the NFL, but college in the NFL, his record is 28 and 1. It's 64 and 3, I believe, if you add his high school time in the Chicago area.

So that reminds me, Mike, honestly, of Jalen Hertz. Not a flashy arm, not great statistics, not anything where you go crazy, but he wins all the time and wouldn't you rather have the W? Tony, yes. And I'll tell you what else impressed me most about J.J. McCarthy was his calm.

You throw that pick six and a lot of guys fall apart at that point. And he didn't. The evidence is that he didn't. There was immediate evidence as he went up and down talking the players.

It was great. Jeff Saturday said, I think this morning that a lot of times linemen you don't want to see. No, Troy Aikman said this last night. Lyman don't want to see you after you are throwing a pick six telling them to calm down is going to be all right.

So it was a great point. He was calm. There was a poise about him. He is clearly well coached and was well coached in his red shirt year. See, Caleb Williams didn't have that. So in a way, J.J. McCarthy's got an advantage. McCarthy was well coached last year in prep for this season. Caleb Williams starting over last night was his debut in,

many ways as well. But J.J. McCarthy's got an edge there. The Vikings weren't just good last year. The Vikings won 14 games last year. Yeah. Well, this is an important point to make. He didn't, JJ McCarthy didn't join a team that had just lost 12 games. That's right. He joined a good team. He joined a coach who is now, let me get the number, 27 and 9 in one score games. That is a tremendous record. And he became, look, it could fall apart next week, but he became the first guy to, in his rookie debut at quarterback, win a game by being down 10 or more in the fourth quarter. The first guy to do that since Steve Young in Hello, 1984. 40 years ago. Come on. Let's move. Wow. Yeah, let's move to baseball. And the bizarre coincidence of

Dodgers pitchers taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning in two games of their last three. The first one, they lost with two outs in the ninth. They lost Yamamoto's no-hitter, then lost the game to Baltimore. Last night, Tyler Glasnow carried a no-hitter through seven. The bullpen held it through eighth and gave up a leadoff double in the ninth of Colorado, but they won the game. Well, this maintains the Dodgers one-game divisional lead over the Padres, who won last night in 10. What if anything is truly at stake in the race for the NL West? Tony, it entirely depends on how you look at it.

And because this involves my cubbies, I have skin in the game. and when I'm angry because they've lost or the bears have lost, I stay up and watch the Padres and Dodgers even when the games are all the way west. And what is at stake here is the wild card team, the second place finisher,

is likely to have to play three games at Wrigley in the playoffs to start the playoffs while the division winner gets a buy. Now, I would like to see my team actually, I'm okay with the wild card. They're not going to catch Milwaukee and having three games in Riggily and the buy says, fine.

Keep playing because the team with Dubai doesn't always get it done. But the Dodgers are equipped. I don't want my team there because I don't think they're ready for the pressure of division winner expectations. You guys were supposed to move on. The Cubs aren't ready for that. The Dodgers are. I don't think the Padres are ready for that either. So therefore, I'd like to see the Padres in that three game series in Chicago if it goes three.

But I think the Dodgers should hold on to first place. That's what's at stake. Yeah, I mean, I'm not so involved in that division race that it matters to me that much. The Dodgers are going to make the playoffs. The Padres are going to make the playoffs. The Giants may make the playoffs from that same division. And what's great as a fan is that the Padres and the Dodgers absolutely hate each other. And that's good.

But, you know, the Padres are a really good team. I just want to step back and say this one thing to you. Yamamoto and Glasnow gave up one hit in 15 and two-thirds inning. That's something I could interest you in. Dodger like. Because the Dodgers can hit. Everybody knows the Dodgers can hit. They're second in runs in the National League to the Brewers. They're first in OPS. They're first in home runs. But what if they can pitch? Mike, I think if they're starting pitching and it would include those two, it would include O'Tani and it would include Clayton Kirshawa. If they pitch, I think

they repeat as World Series champions. I do. Well, Tony, they've had a lot of injuries and it's interesting to see if people can hold up all year. And I do watch the Dodgers closely. And I love that division, largely because of what you just talked about. The Dodgers and Padres hate each other, and it is theater. Yes. Now, I don't want to see them both advance. I want to see one of them go out in the first round, obviously. But, Tony, it's fascinating.

There is something in stake and the approach. What they have to do, the wild card team, makes it even more fascinating to see if they will advance. It really does. All right. Let's take a break. Coming up is spitting on a football field, more common than we think we will ask Jeff Saturday about that.

We'll also ask him why Penae Sewell struggled so much against Michael Parsons. Because both of them are going to the Hall of Fame. That's why. I made a mistake. I made a mistake. The Steve Young game was in 1985, not 84, but it's still 40 years. 40 years ago. Let's get into the NFL trenches with our great friend ESPN NFL analysts and our pal Jeff Saturday.

Let's start with this Lions Right tackle, Penae Sewell, struggled against Michael Parsons. What did you see there? And is there anything you would recommend to Sewell for the next matchup? Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. You don't see Sewell struggle very often. I mean, he's one of the best right tackles in the game. I will tell you the situation they were in being down significantly, always makes it more difficult.

And now you've got a fresh Micah Parsons with a back injury that you're going to have to go face makes it hard. But when you're where you are with Detroit and have, the new coaching staff and all that, you can't get beat inside. If you're going to get beat, at least make him run the hump, make them chase your quarterback, getting those flashes and making golf reset his feet, cost them one interception, just a tough day to so. He'll rebound next time they play. All right.

I'm going to try to go to last night's game without expletives. That holding call, Jeff, against Darnell Wright, was a game changer in many ways. I am still angry about this. Do I have reason to be? Absolutely. You're trying to make me cuss, too, because it was a terrible call. I mean, he traps him down, open hand, puts his face in the dirt. We're all taught as offensive linemen when a guy is trying to drive into you,

especially on the outside, if he's trying to just keep driving you, you just trap him down, use his force and his weight against him. He's unbalanced. So use that to your advantage. And a referee clearly sees, there was no like full. yank, he just basically trapped him. And we all use that technique. And again, it finishes the bull rush quite a bit. I was disappointed in the call. I think, you know, Aikman agreed. We all agree. And it was a game changer. And I'll say this about it. The problem for me was the Bears allowed that play

to snowball into Caleb making a dumb play on, you know, on the intentional grounding. Right. Then then they, then Santos misses the field. So all of that transpired at the very end of the third. quarter, but you can't let one bad play turn into a bunch of bad ones. You know what I mean? And that's kind of what they did. Well, let's get to a bunch of bad ones. Four fall star penalties. This is the same garbage we watched in the Iber Fluse era and probably in the Nagy era before that. Jeff, you did this. You lined up thousands of snaps in your life. Why are the bears, particularly since we're talking about them, have so many fall star penalties even now under a new coach? I honestly have no idea. And I'll be honest. I remember Tom Moore, the offensive

coordinator for us for so many years there in Indianapolis and a Hall of Famer, you know, he used to tell us, men, if you can't get the snap count right, we're going to go on one. And everybody in the business is going to know when you're going to go. And they'll have the same advantage that you think you carry. It is a weapon. And you need to weaponize the snap count. And if you're too dumb to figure out the snap count, we need to find somebody else. And it really is that simple. I mean, I hate to say it that way. This isn't like somewhere on the road where you can't hear anything. You're at home.

You have everything going in your favor. You have to find focus, listen to that snap count, and then tell guys around you, hey, let's use it as a weapon to get them all sides. Make them slow down the rush. Use it for our advantage when we're run blocking. But very disappointing. And again, I know part of it is early in the season, but that's day one stuff. Like get the snap count handled, really disappointed in that. Because, again, it puts you behind the chains with a quarterback and a new play.

caller. It's tough to overcome. We have missed you. You are excited. This is really good. We'll get out of here on this. It gets right to it. We got all right. So we've had spitting ejections in the pros and in college the last few days. These spits were blatant. Everybody saw them replayed 30 times. Does this seem way out of line to you or does spitting go on under the radar quite frequently? No, it's disgusting. And it does not go under the radar. I don't understand. I don't understand. I mean, I honest and God, like, first of all, would never spit on somebody else, but, but having, I mean, how do people keep their head in that situation? Like, it just, it leads to all kinds of nonsense. It's just, it's, it's way out of bounds for what we do for a living, right? We're all there to perform for our team, to take money home for our families, all of those things that you're getting so been out of shape, they're going to go spit on another human makes absolutely no sense. And so, yeah, I got no, I got no tolerance for it. There's no, like, Like, oh, well, he should have done. No, no one should be doing it. I'm all for it. Jekshens the minute you see it. And honestly, I don't think I ever remember it happening

except Romanovsky like years and years ago when I was playing. But after that, I literally hadn't heard of that since until, you know, week one of the NFL season. So terrible look for our game. Guys need to control it and end it. Thank you, Jeff. Great pleasure to have me back. Thank you so much. reason back on the show. Great. Love being back where your fellas

fired up for this season. Let's take one last break still to come. Good news for the latest variation of the NFL kickoff. And the U.S. men's soccer team gets another shot to get it together tonight. You know, Mike, I'm surprised.

I would have thought that there was a lot more spitting and we just didn't know about it. So I'm surprised here with Jeff said. I'm glad to hear that. I hope it's not trending. I don't know. want to see spinning trending. Happy time, people.

Happy 25th birthday, Ricky Pearsall. The 49ers' wide receiver caught four passes on Sunday for 108 yards in San Francisco's 17 to 13 victory in Seattle. Piersole was the next to last player taken in the first round of the 2024 draft

out of Florida. What makes Pearsall stand out is that he was actually shot in the chest by an assailant in a robbery attempt last August. Pearsall recovered and made his NFL debut 50 days later. In his first game, he had three catches for 21 yards and finished the season with 31 catches for 400 yards

and three touchdowns. This year, Pierceville is starting and the 49ers need him because George Kittle is out for weeks. Well, that was a big shoes to fill, and Debo Samuel's out is out of town. So, I mean, this isn't important. This kid is so easy to root for for me, Tony.

I found myself doing that on Sunday. Happy anniversary, Chip Kelly. On this day, 12 years ago, the very successful Oregon coach made his NFL debut as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Philly ran off 53 plays in a first half flits of Washington. The Eagles jumped out to a 33-7 lead before hanging on to win 3327. Kelly went 26 and 21 with the Eagles and then had a disastrous two and 14 season with the 49ers. Kelly went back to college at UCLA for six quiet seasons, going 35 and 34. Mr. Kelly was Ryan Day's offensive coordinator on the National Championship Ohio State team,

and now he's offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll for the Las Vegas Raiders who won their opener. Tony, I think all those experiences add up to make him a wonderful candidate to do exactly what he's doing with the Raiders. Everybody talks about the Chargers and Denver. How about if the Raiders are any good with their offensive weapons in Pete Carroll? And there's a lot of – there ain't no brain drain in Oakland. and there's brain gathering, it seems to me. Did I say Oakland? You know what I meant.

Yeah. Happy trails to a blue pit for Luke Kishol last night. Angels shortstop, Zach Netto, tracked down Kishaw's fifth inning pop up to short center. Netto babbled it four or five times before coming away with the catch. His highlight, while enjoyable, was not indicative of how the game went for the Angels. LA committed four errors. Keeshaw had three hits and the twins won 12 to three.

Yeah, we're at that portion of the program where it's got to be something bizarre to get the angels into the show. You know? Once again, we haven't mentioned that irrelevant. Other than Mike Trout. Other than Mike Trout. We haven't mentioned them in five years. Big finish, here we go. Tiger Woods, who I know you love,

posted a video of himself hitting balls on the range. Are you excited? No, I'm excited to see Tiger Woods play golf, and I'm not expecting it anymore. The range? No. 75% more than of kickoffs were returned in week one. I bet you're happy about that.

Yes, I'm more than satisfied. I'm more than happy. I'm thrilled by it. It's the great fun play. If you can keep it safe, keep it in the game. The Las Vegas Aces go for their 15th win in a row tonight against your Chicago Sky. Who you got?

They are mine, but it's not about who. It's about how many. 30 points, 40 points. Pick what you want. U.S. men's soccer against Japan and a friendly tonight. Is that significant? I'm not the right guy for this.

Last one, Janice and Greece, Lithuania to advance to the Eurobasket semifinals, your thoughts. Janice now gets Turkey and Shingoon on Friday. And Shingoon is going to be even a bigger figure in this NBA season that people

understand. Houston has a chance. Houston's going to be a problem. Houston has a problem or will be a problem. We're out of time. We'll try and do better the next time. I'm Tony Cornynheim. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, local heads. You can get the podcast on the ESPN app

or Apple Podcast.