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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen show. Touchdown, Walter Burden. Touchdown, Bears. Live from the Rich Eisen show studio in Los Angeles.
Coasting into the end zone. Touchdown, Bears. Hopefully, we can get in your top five. Today's guests: Browns head coach Todd Munkin, actor Omari Hardwick. Plus your phone calls, latest news, and more.
And now it's Rich Eisen. One game into week seven of the National Football League, in advance of game one of potentially, hopefully, seven in the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers. We are live here on this Friday. In October on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM channel eighty, we've got ourselves three wide of guests, and in studio guests, an old school Chicago Bear, going to be joining us in about twenty minutes' time. Tom Waddle, whose show we proceed in Chicago on ESPN one thousand, he'll be joining us to talk about last night's Thursday night football contest.
Todd Munkin, guys, we're finally landing this Bears, this Browns coach. Trying to Todd Monk yeah Todd yeah Todd Todd Munken will be joining us in hour number two of the show Omari Hardwick's back after quite some time. He's coming on in advance of that Muhammad Ali eight part series on Prime Video that we talked about with the actor Jalen Best on on Wednesday show. We appreciate all all the comments that we're getting on our YouTube channel youtube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show from John Saturo's epic appearance yesterday. The celebrity true or false is out.
There, check out all of our socials: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook at Rich Eisen Show for all of you out there. Good to see you, Christopher Brockman. Hey, Rich. Good morning. What's going on, Jason?
Hey, what's up, T.J. Jefferson? Candle appears to be lit over there. Candle's lit. Let's go.
All right, let's go. Here we go. You can make the case. You can make the case. Caleb Williams is the best quarterback.
The Chicago Bears have had since Jim McMahon, if not Sid Luckman, that's how good he's playing right now. I know what I'm saying. On in terms of McMahon, I'm talking about championship quality football because I think he's way more physically talented than the punky QB.
Okay, whose name was invoked by the BYU head football coach Kalani Sitaki the other day? When he hits the field, he's got no plan. Let me tell you something. What this kid has been turned into by Ben Johnson is something else. It's everything that you saw at USC now on a pro football field, but even better because he's playing what neck up.
And he is impossible to get down on the ground. And when you do, as the Patriots were able to do on occasion last night, it's almost shocking, right? It's almost shocking when the play's over because he didn't escape and he didn't extend it. That's how well Caleb Williams is playing football right now. Yeah, he's awesome.
He is one of those guys, and he stays healthy. He's a top five quarterback in the National Football League. That's what he's becoming. It's the truth. He's efficient.
Twenty two of thirty three, three hundred eight yards back to back three hundred yard games. We'll tell you how rare that is for a Chicago Bear quarterback in winning those games as well. In a moment, two touchdowns. Luther Burden is coming to his four. Four catches, 130 yards.
We do the math for you. That's an average of 32 and a half yards per play. That's a chunk play for a wide receiver, a quarterback wide receiver combination in Chicago. When that used to happen with like David Terrell, right? David Terrell, dude.
I'm serious. Like, of course, I'm going to go with a Michigan guy. But good one. Honestly, like chunk plays from quarterbacks to receivers in Chicago. That.
For the Bears, that used to be like a comet in the sky. Where all of a sudden, oh, okay, you've got to cover this guy because we could take the top of the defense off, and if we don't, there is our first round draft choice that we had in the same draft as Caleb Williams and Roma Dunze, who made two spectacular catches to help ice the game against your Patriots last night. Chris, number fifteen is the one. Who brought you home as opposed to number ten, my guy Colston Loveland? Another touchdown catch for him.
He's heating up, and the Patriots did a good job in stopping this running game. Only 116 yards rushing. DeAndre Swift got in the end zone. Kyle Manungay, we're waiting to see him come back. But you kind of looking at this offense; it's not even full strength right now, and they popped up 30 on a Patriots defense.
That is no joke. Good defense. It's the truth. Everything I just said is the truth.
Now, my opinion, and I might, I might have shot a little high in terms of what Caleb is doing, but we didn't see this from Cutler. We didn't see. I mean, we saw, we saw back to back three hundred yard games from Trubisky. He was the last quarterback to do it for the Bears since last night. But you didn't get the sense of oh, they nailed this first round.
Draft choice from him, like ever. Even when Matt Nagy and he double jointed to the playoffs, when I was out. But be that as it may, Caleb had this to say after the game about winning in the spotlight of Thursday night football. These nights are awesome. You play versus another good team in a prime time game on a short week.
These games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team, and that's that's who we are. We're a smashmouth football team, innovative team, and then when things happen and things don't go our way, you know, the water's rocky. We we stay steady, and so we're going to keep going. We're going to keep fighting. That's that's who we are.
That's why I know who we are. And from there, like I said, it feels great. Should feel great. When not under pressure, he threw two touchdown passes, and he's 88 this season when not pressured. That's the highest completion percentage in that situation by any quarterback to the first starts of his season since ESPN began tracking the pressure statistic.
Yeah, don't let him just stand back there. And and I get so that's next. Like he's going to get his his Caleb blitzed quite a bit. He's going to get blitzed a lot. But you're gonna let Burden run for that's the problem.
Thirty, forty yards, and they've got a coach that knows how to scheme it up too, and and coach up somebody like Caleb. What a blessing! Based on what was going on in his first season there, and Ben Johnson comes in, and this is what we're seeing on a Thursday night, and he goes out, and you could see what the team looks like without him, and he comes back, and they beat Atlanta. They beat up Atlanta. You know who came back to make it close, and then they appear, and then last night against New England, when Drake May is doing his thing.
I mean, this is a dream for Bears fans. It's the truth. And Caleb, after did you hear what he had to say on on the Prime Video post game show? Oh no! I he gave Richard Sherman crap for not putting the Bears in his top five, and he says, "I see everything." Which, as you know, we pointed out last week, that he's very online, he's very aware to the point where you know, hey, don't take anything unless you hear it from the horse's mouth.
And they ask the horse's mouth the question, and he goes, "Next question." Doesn't want to talk about his hamstring and what have you. That was my only criticism. That's like literally my only criticism of Caleb. Is just like, dude, a little less online. Ah, you know.
But but whatever he might even be seeing that right now.
So Caleb, what's up? I think you're balling out, killing it, absolutely killing it. I got a did you know on that thing too. Um, he's unbelievable. We'll hit that shortly.
The Bears could absolutely win this division. Oh, I think they're the favorite.
Well, I mean, they have right now as many wins as the Vikings. Five. The Vikings are going to come off their buy, and I imagine beat the crap out of the Colts.
So at some point, you know the Bears are going to have to go to Minnesota and win that game; otherwise, they're swept. Because I saw this stat on ESPN last night. You know how you have to you have to read it fully to understand the you got what they're parsing out. The Bears are three and zero in starts for Caleb Williams that he finishes.
Okay.
Okay.
That's true.
So, the one that he didn't finish is the loss to Minnesota. There, next up, Chicago. This is the one that I thought should have opened the season instead of New England going to Seattle, Bears at Seattle, the the the NFC Championship game that would have happened. Had the Rams not prevailed on that chilly Chicago night, that's fun. And then remember, I told you that Caleb's going to see lots of blitzing.
Here comes Todd Bowles Buccaneers into their house on a Sunday night.
Well, maybe I think they could start blitzing now. Maybe Todd Bowles. What do you mean? I don't know. Todd Bowles going to be the coach.
Week eight. All right. Week nine. Week ten is a bye. Then they've got a.
Home date with New Orleans. Dennis Allen is going to want to beat the crap out of that team. And this Bears team. Just one last thing: two sacks of Drake May, which is not easy either. Certainly, where May has been playing, the Bears have multiple sacks now in all seven games.
That's tied for second longest to begin a season over the last fifty seasons, when they had ten in twenty seventeen. And seven in 1987 under Mike Ditka.
So, any concerns about the Bears without Caleb? When's he coming back? He's now back. Any concerns about what they'd look like with Caleb Williams when he comes back? Out the window.
They're five and two. They are well positioned to win this division and make a run in the playoffs. That's a fact. As for your Patriots, Chris. Where's the run game?
Where does it exist? It doesn't. It's like Drake May. Drake May's their run game, and oh, when you're down to your third and fourth string linemen, that's what happens. I understand that.
Yeah, I get it. But there's a lot of other teams that are down to such things, and we're we're we're wondering where it is for them too. I get it. Yeah, but it's it's a problem. I mean, Ramondre, their their offense last night was short passes, was short passes, and and then Henry.
By the way, the the end of that half, when a third and seventeen, the bear again, the bear, the the Patriots were had their backs broken on third down over and over again last night because Caleb is unstoppable, and then Ben Johnson dials up a third and seventeen screen that pops into the end zone. And then, just when you think that that's the backbreaker, the Patriots just flip one to Ramondre Stevenson, and he goes half the field. And you're like, no time left. You're like, oh, that's a fantasy stat patter. And I'm lamenting the fact that I was I had benched him, and there's all those yards.
And I'm like, oh, now I'm really lamenting that I benched him because he's in the end zone. Yards, yards. That was nuts. I don't know if they thought a hail mary was coming or what, but but that was a touchdown for Stevenson. Drake May got one because.
He somehow kept his all his body parts off the ground for him to reach and get in the end zone for the Patriots' first score of the night to take a ten nothing lead into a ten seven lead for the Bears. Obviously, it does not help that Eli Raritan has more receiving yards than AJ Brown. He did get interfered with. I think at one point last night on a deep ball that Drake May hit him in the hands. Felt like it.
So that wasn't good. But listen, we got to get AJ Brown going. We got to get the run game going. Otherwise, Drake May is going to have to play hero ball all the time. And last night he was spectacular again.
But once again, we're talking about one mistake: a red zone interception, an end zone interception. And he was open too. I think a little air on that ball that's the touchdown. I don't know if he just didn't see him or what. But twenty four thirty one three hundred and twenty one yards.
Three touchdowns accounted for. Two in the air, one on the ground. That should give you a win more often than not. But that one interception just jumps out at you. Yep.
Because New England wouldn't have been chasing touchdowns at the end. They could have just gone for a field goal to potentially tie it. Won the game. And this is what Drake May had to say afterwards. It definitely was a huge point in the game.
You know, I just gosh, it just it's those plays. You know, I talk about all the time. You know, those plays that can can swing the game, can impact the game, and that was definitely one of them right there. Yeah, I wish to definitely have that one back and a lot of plays. But gotta give credit to them.
You know, they had a good plan on short week, and you know they got after us, and we got you know two chances with the ball back to go down and score and take the lead, and. We got to go do our part, and we just you know can't you know have you know penalties and me not you know operating at the you know up the high level to to kind of move the chains and get going, and especially after the missed field goal, four and three, four and three.
So it's going to take quite a bit to repeat last year now. But you knew it was going to be a more difficult year because. In all honesty, the schedule last year for the Patriots did not call for visits to Chicago with Caleb Williams playing out of his skull. You know, but there are so many more winnable games for New England coming up, and obviously the next week is is that at Miami before a toe dip back into the NFC North. And a big one, home for Green Bay at Detroit.
Technically, that one's in Munich. Before a buy, and then a visit out here to the Chargers for Sunday night game. That if it's not flexed, Del Tufo's hat will be eaten by somebody on the set. Gross. Home for Buffalo.
Those games usually, you know.
Sometimes you lose to Buffalo at home.
Sometimes you beat Buffalo on the road. It's kind of crazy. It's a coin flip. The Thursday night home date with Minnesota is going to be on and cracking. Before a Monday night visit to the Chiefs, there's also a home game with Denver, sandwiched against some winnable teams, yeah.
And games.
So there's there's a 10 11 win season in the totally totally still playoff team. Still feel really good about. And then you beat Buffalo at home. You could still win the division and get a home playoff game. Yep.
But I think it's going to be a tougher road to hoe than last year. Defensively, man, they are better than you. Just look at the names, and you're like, really? And collectively, and the answer is really. Yeah, collectively, can they play defense?
And I understand they gave up 30 last night, but I kind of feel—I know I want to know the high register. Everyone's giving up 30 to the to the Bears. Yeah, if Caleb stays healthy. They are to use your phrase, TJ, a problem. Yeah, bad news for the Bears, though.
Oh, Cole Komet. Yeah, looks like he had a serious knee injury. He's going to miss some time, maybe the season. Oh man, are you serious? Yeah, it was kind of a non-contact thing, too.
He got he got hit, and his leg kind of buckle. His knee buckled before the hit, which means something popped, probably. But again, the Drake May, the Drake May blues of The first three weeks are history, but you are going to see on occasion he will just give you the ball, or throw a meatball sub, to use the Brady phrase. Yep, and he's still having about one of those a week, and it's you know backbreaking. It seems like the fumbles have gone away, though.
Yep, knock on wood. You know what I mean? Knock on wood. But again, like you said earlier, it'd be nice to have some run game consistency. Where was Travion Henderson last night?
I know Ramondre had a good game receiving, not really. No, under what twenty yards on the ground? Like that? He had twenty two yards on the ground, and he was the leading receiver because forty eight of his ninety three yards were on that. Are they going to stop him?
Yeah, he's going to get tackled. Right, right, right. Oh, touch. All right. So the headlines are the Bears look super.
That's a true story. Like they could play in that stadium up the street if Caleb stays healthy and this offense keeps cooking and the defense becomes more opportunistic. I think so. You know, and they are doing it without Sweat. They're doing it without him.
Comes back and then who knows what um what the team might add in the trade deadline. Go for it. But offensively, the Bears have one of the top offenses in the league, and I don't think I've ever said those words on planet Earth until just now. Eight four four two zero four. Rich is the number to dial.
Tom Waddle is going to be joining us next. He played for the Bears. He played for Ditka, and we play for him and Sylvie. We lead into their show in Chicago every day on the radio, the Rich Eisen Show podcast. And I think Caleb answered all of those questions last year, and I think 2026 has just been the continuing growth of a young superstar in this league.
For those who are just joining us on our radio side, the voice certainly very familiar to fans listening to us on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. It's Tom Waddle, who's outstanding show Waddle and Sylvie on ESPN 1000. I have been kind enough to have been invited on, so this is only fair to finally finish the home and home here, Tom, on on this show after the Bears do what they're doing.
So. How good is Caleb Williams, based on everybody that you've seen play this position in that city of Chicago, and knowing who's preceded him, Tom? And I can't believe I am saying that, but it's the truth. I think that's a fair way to set up that question.
Well, I think what you—it's a small sample size. I get it. It's you know two years and in seven games, but I don't think there's any doubt that that nobody has come through this town at that position that has the skill set that Caleb has. When it comes to ultimately who has accomplished most, my my expectation is is when it's all said and done, Caleb will will be the guy that will have you know will will have you know those bragging. Right, so look, I played with Jim Harbaugh, the ultimate competitor.
I have all the respect in the world, and in Jim, I saw Jay Cutler come through here with an enormous amount of talent. I don't go back to the Sid Luckman days, so I can't make any references about what happened then. But yeah, this kid is poised to own this town, and it is a football town. Despite you know we have a great hockey team, you know history, we we have a Basketball team with a great history. We've got two baseball teams that are doing well right now.
This is a Bears town, and if you're the quarterback of this franchise and you play at a high level, you know you are you're the mayor of the city for sure.
Well, give us some insights if you don't mind on how Ben Johnson has unlocked Caleb professionally, Tom. I think Rich, when he got here, he understood. I think he was one of the reasons why Ben probably took the job because he knew the enormous skill set, the talent, the enormous talent that Caleb had. But I think one of the things I love most about Ben is he doesn't care if you're the first guy on the roster or the fifty third guy on the roster. He's going to hold everyone accountable.
He's going to tell you we're going to do it this way, and you got to trust me because if you do it this way and you work your ass off, there will be an enormous return. On your investment, I think the buy-in is something that's quite obvious. Not just from Caleb, but everyone on this roster right now. Caleb was always capable of of the dramatic and the magnificent. What he had to work on, which was you know symbolic of his his completion percentage last year, which I believe was just north of fifty eight percent.
Can you do simple better? Can you do the easy things? Can you trust the guys around you? That if I get the ball to Swift or Roma Doomsday or Luther Burden, you know, on a five yard pass, will he do the rest of the heavy lifting? And I think that's where Caleb's grown the most, and and I think that's where Ben's had the greatest impact.
He's still Morphs into Superman three, four, five, six times a game, but he does the little things exceptionally well.
Now he does the simple stuff well. His accuracy is improved, and it's not just completing passes. But Ben, you know, it was a heavy emphasis on make sure when you hit that five yard checkdown, you get the ball in your hands in a position where they can run and make that a a fifteen, seventeen yard gain.
So I I think when you marry the magnificent with the simple, now you. Got something that scares the heck out of the rest of the league, and I think that's who this young man is right now. And then, just in terms of personality, Caleb, in this city, I mean, you've seen some of the all-time greats in that town. And again, I understand it's just two years plus, but you could see the the talent and what this city would do with somebody that talented at that position for that team. You know what what he could be, and is becoming in this town.
Where what's your take on Caleb's personality and how it fits the city? I think his maturity at the podium has mirrored his maturity on the field. There's no denying he's the face of this franchise, and and he's got an enormously high football IQ. But he's very savvy. Obviously, you know, I mean, he comes from a collegiate environment where you know the spotlight was consistently on him, so he knows how to handle press conferences.
He knows how to handle all the attention that comes with playing the premier position in all of. Professional sports, you know, he's he's hitting every note. Like his press conferences are fantastic. He puts the team first. He acknowledges his offensive line, his wide receivers.
He's not a prima donna. He carries himself with class and maturity, and. You know, look. I I know maybe I'm I'm going a bit overboard in the you know in the glory of a big win last night, but it's all true, and you see it every time. You know, he either steps on the field or he he steps in front of the cameras on a you know on a Wednesday press conference.
So he's got this city right now in the palm of his hands.
So. You know, we'll see where he goes with it, but my guess is is he's going to go far with it.
Well, it also helps Tom Waddell to have a defense in this league, and it seems like the Bears are really growing into that. I know Ben Johnson before the season said he wanted blowouts and shutouts. Um, and we assumed he'd be be closer to the blowouts than he would be to the shutouts. And the Bears' defense is putting other quarterbacks on the ground, and potentially one of the most helpful things for the defense is this stat that I got from ESPN through uh from Elias through ESPN. The Bears have a hundred and fifty four more offensive plays than their opponents this season, which is the largest margin by any teams within the first seven games of a season since at least nineteen sixty.
Three, so they're wearing the other team out, and then they're throwing a defense out that can hunt. And I'm wondering what you're seeing from the Dennis Allen coached side of them.
Well, you know, I think you make a great points. I mean, they lead the league in time and possession by a wide margin. I think they hold the ball for about 36 minutes. I think the Vikings are number two, and they have the ball for about 33 and a half minutes. And you know, in this league, that's an enormous difference between the two.
And I think you saw it on display against the Falcons a week ago. The best defense against that offense is to keep them on the sideline. Bijan Robinson had four. Carries in the first half because the Bears got off to such a quick start and they possessed the football for over twelve minutes in the first fifteen minutes of that game.
So I think that they've run a five hundred and five plays offensively, which is the most any team has run through seven seven games since like twenty twenty.
So their offense is helping the defense.
Now the defense has answered the bell. There's no question. I don't. I even think Dennis Allen would tell you his job's more difficult. Than Ben's, because he's got a little less to work with.
But because Da is such an accomplished coordinator, he has dialed up some stuff that has really confused opposing quarterbacks and opposing offensive coordinators. And he's getting the most out of a group that really their front four doesn't get after quarterbacks without the help of Kyler Gordon and some of the other blitz packages.
So Da has done a fantastic job. I never thought that they would be a top ten defense at this point. I Always thought with their high flying offense, if they could just be, you know, if you could be middle of the pack, if you could be competent, if you could be sixteen to eighteen, fourteen to eighteen, somewhere in that that range statistically on defense, you're going to win many more games than you're going to lose. And I think that their defense so far has has overproduced. There will be moments when an offense can protect.
That there will be big plays made down the field. We saw that a couple weeks ago in Green Bay. We saw it at times last night with with with Drake May. But at the end of the day, they get after you. They take the ball away, and they definitely benefit from an offense that that handles the football for better than 35 minutes a game.
Tom Waddle here on the. Rich Eisen show, Chicago Bear back in the and the Halcyon days. The Halcyon days, very good. And also from ESPN one thousand in Chicago, our show precedes his with Mark with with Sylvie out there. I don't mean to call him by his his birth name there.
So I don't know what his first name is. Right, my bad.
Okay, very worked together for twenty years. All I know is it's Sylvie. His first name sounds like a guy. His whole name sounds like a guy I went to camp with back in the day.
So, what's your favorite Ben Johnson story that you've heard or you've personally experienced that sums up who he is? You got one for me? My favorite Ben Johnson story. One doesn't really come to mind right now. I had two hours of sleep last night, so I just think, look, are people putting their phones on silent now, or when they put it up on the podium to record him, Tom?
Are we at least involved like that as a media group with the coach? You know, yeah. I mean, Ben's in charge, not just inside the locker room, but inside the you know the press conferences as well. I think that. You know, I I think just again the best thing about it is is he treats everyone the same.
Like there's no special treatment for Caleb. I mean, he'll cuss Caleb out in practice if he's not doing what's expected of him. Same thing goes for the like I said, the 53rd guy on the on the roster. I just you know he he deals. He's a lot like Coach Ditka in in that manner.
That if that if you show him you know loyalty and honesty with the way you play the game, you're going to get it. Back, you know, five tenfold, and it's just that's everything is you know on board. He's he's going to tell you the truth. He's going to be honest with you. He's not going to mince words.
He's going to tell it like it is. And I think in a lot of ways, you know, that's where the parallel can be drawn between him and one of the best that's ever done it, and Coach Ditka. The level of intensity is that what you're saying? Oh, absolutely. That that listen, I would not want to get Ben Ben Johnson angry.
I mean, it's it's not something. I would not want to be in a film session after having a you know a day that was filled with mental mistakes or even physical mistakes because he's not going to embarrass you, but you know he's going to tell the truth and he's going to hold you accountable and I think that that's why everyone inside that locker room is is on board. Everyone is bought in because. They all see that everyone's treated the same, and they do see, as hard as they work, and they work their rear ends off, that there is a return on that physical investment that they make. And I think everyone's more than happy to go to go to work every day with with Ben in the building.
Before I let you go, when you did hear about the passing of Mike Ditka, you thought of what, or who, or when. You know, whenever I think about Coach Dicka, the room gets a little dusty for me because it's it's really emotional. My first thought was one of gratitude. My NFL career would not have existed without Mike Dicka. You know, I came out of Boston College.
You know, had a nice career, but ran a four eight two forty yard dash. You probably would have beat me inside that dome if we were running next to each other, Rich. Nobody wanted to give me a chance. You know, I went undrafted. It took me three days to find a team.
They only signed me because my agent had another free agent wide receiver they were interested in, so I was a throw in. But when I went to camp, I worked my tail off. I caught everything they threw to me. You know, Mike cut me four times, but kept bringing me back and telling me, "You gotta, you know, just keep trying, just keep working, keep getting bigger and stronger. Your time will come." And you know, that time came the opening game of the ninety one season and.
You know, so when he passed, you know, it wasn't a surprise. He hadn't been in great health for a while, but my first thought was just immense gratitude. I spent four years playing for Coach Ditka. I would have never had a career without Coach Ditka. The last thirty-seven years of my life have.
They'd been, you know, a brilliant run in large part because of the the opportunity he gave me and the belief he had in me. And you know, I can honestly tell you, like I said, I spent four years with him, three hundred sixty-five days a year, trying to justify his faith in me and. I think by the time you know he had moved on after the '92 season, and and I had played for him for four years, I think that he understood how much I you know I appreciated him.
So he was a champion for the underdog. Rich, I mean, wasn't just me. Anybody that was willing to show effort and, like I said, honesty and loyalty, he'd give you a chance. There's thousands of stories. He just wanted to make other people's lives better, and I think it's just you know it's a great measure of a human being.
You know how can you affect Other people's lives positively, and you know, from my perspective, I will be eternally grateful to that man. Yeah, I mean, Jim Harbaugh told a story about how you walked in one time, and he was just writing five hundred dollar checks to people. He'd still, yeah, he'd just peel off hundos to everyone. I saw Jim Nance tell the story about you know their time in New York working together. It was we did Sylvia and I did the Mike Ditka show for ten years at his restaurant.
And it was a circus, and it was a great circus. But but you know, every day you know that we spent with him, you would watch him affect someone's life by giving that you know donating money to Missouri Courtyard or different charities, signing autographs, saying hello, just welcoming people. And yeah, there was nobody like Mike that I've that I've come across in this profession. He cut you four times. What does he say?
What does he say to you on the fourth time? It's so funny because every time I said I can, I can picture it. My memory sucks right now, but I still remember. You know, you'd come to the building, and your your position coach would be, yeah, Mike would like to see you, and you knew you had to go up the steps and sit in his office, and he was going to tell you something you didn't want to hear. He had this old leather couch.
I'd sit in front of him. He'd tell me how great I was in training camp, and it didn't miss practice, didn't drop a pass. I got to cut you, kid. You're too small and too slow. If I put you out there, you're going to get killed, and I'm going to go to jail.
He thought it was a joke, you know. In some and and but I but he's we're going to bring you back. We're going to bring you back.
So like true story. He the fourth time he cut me was after the '91 training camp, and I had had such a good camp and. And I went upstairs, and I was really dejected. And honestly, had had it not worked out, I was going to move on. I had a Boston College, you know, finance degree.
All my friends were in Wall Street, and I was like, I'm just going to go invest my time somewhere else and get a better return on it.
So I sat there, and he cut me, and he said, "But we're going to bring you back." He said, "We've had some injuries. You're you're going to be in uniform, opening game of the season, 91 against the Vikings." And I looked at him, and I was shocked, and I said. I'm going to play against the Vikings on Sunday, and he laughed. He goes, "No, no, no! You're not going to play.
I only have four receivers. You're going to be in uniform just in case, so you're an emergency player." Rich, I go out, and like another guy gets hurt, and it's a third down, and I walk in the huddle, and Harbaugh's in there, and I think the other ten guys looked at me, and they're like, "What the hell are you doing in here?" And we converted like a third and ten, and then later in the first half, the waning seconds of the first half. I ran a you know a nine route, which was kind of odd anyway. That you'd ask me to run a deep route, caught the ball, bounced into the end zone. We you know touchdown.
We ended up winning the game ten to six. Yeah, I'm looking at the box score right now, man. There you are. Yeah, yeah. There you are.
There you are, sandwiched between two Fouad Reves field goals. No doubt, the Vikings. There you are. Thirty-seven yards, Tom. Thirty-seven yards.
Look at you in the box score here. One of those old school NFC Central shootouts, ten to six. The funny thing was, at the end of the game, I'm at the middle of the field, and Coach comes over to me, puts his hand on my shoulder, and he's like, "I know you could do it, kid. Great job." And I ducks my head like in reverence, and I go into this tear filled speech about how much I appreciated him, and you know how hard I will work going forward. I must have gone on for forty five seconds.
I finally lifted up my head, and he was already in the tunnel.
So talking to nobody, yeah. I was talking to myself, like I was giving this long speech about how grateful I was and how hard I'm going to work for you. And I was standing by myself, and the 50 mining coach was already in. Man, it was it was a dream come true, my friend. Great story, Tom.
Hey, man, listen, I I know it's just you know week seven. But I mean, if the Bears, I mean, make the Super Bowl in the year Ditka passes in Los Angeles, which Caleb Williams would feel very comfortable here, and you already can see the storylines right now be really special for the Bears fans. And I appreciate you coming on, sharing stories, and giving us the perspective we need, man. Yeah, thanks for having me, Rich. Always a pleasure.
I'll try to hold the audience for you and Sylvie today.
Okay, please do. I know that there's an enormous dip that happens after you sign off and we sign on. We acknowledge it. We know. We know what our place is in this industry.
Listen, what we're we're we're a team, sir. We're a team. There may be an eye in Chicago and one in Rich and Eisen. And none in your name, so I'm very impressive. Take care yourself, Tom.
Appreciate it. That's Tom Waddle. Everybody, great, great chat with Tom here on the Rich Eisen show. Great story. What a great story that is, huh?
All right, let's let's take a break here, and everybody, stay tuned for Waddle and Sylvie. If you're listening on ESPN one thousand eight four four two zero four, Rich number to dial here on the program, the Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Pella windows and doors are the experts at taking care of you and your home. At Pella, they find the products that meet your needs. Their experts install them, which means working with a company that builds and installs a quality product with real pricing, real simple, really beautiful.
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We've been around here 12 plus years, but I'm never going to assume that those who watch us on Disney Plus and the ESPN app or listen to us on ESPN Radio are fully aware of what's gone down here for the last 12 years. Again, there may be an "I" in my first and last name, and I may have an ego, but there are limits. I understand. There are okay. There are limits.
Okay.
Okay.
Once upon a time, Charles Oakley got dragged out of Madison Square Garden, and at that point in time, I said I can't fathom rooting for the Knicks anymore because James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, watched it all go down. And the part of the reason why he was dragged out is because he and Dolan were in an argument, and I'm like, this man is petty. And I would used to go down what was called a Dolan wormhole, where I would just get caught up, and I just couldn't get out of it. And all I wanted to do was just eviscerate this man from this microphone. And then we had Neil deGrasse Tyson come on and told me that's not the proper scientific term, black hole, right?
Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah.
So be that as it may. Jalen Brunson comes along, and I fall back in love with the team. It just that's—I mean, Randall was the first part, then Brunson. You did like Randall, and and and and I I started because I'm I'm a native New Yorker, and I rooted for the Knicks since basically birth, and it pulled me back in. And then they go on that magical run last year, and you know.
Dolan's speech to the team goes viral, and it's just—it's all one big happy family. I came on the show the other day and talked about that ring and banner ceremony and how remarkable it was. It was a beautiful thing, beautiful. The Knicks nailed every aspect of it, including that video where they took the banner around the town. I'm getting goosebumps just recalling it again right now.
Saying this is yours, it touched every single moment, and the ring ceremony, where the Knicks of the '70s would give the rings to the coaches, or, as we learned in the athletic overnight, they gave the coaches a box, inside of which the rings that you could see in the boxes for the players given to them by. The great Clyde Frazier, according to the Athletic, Joe Vardon reporting, the boxes handed to the assistants had nothing in them. Nothing. Leon Rose, the man who put this whole thing together, had a ring in his box, which is great. But there were no rings for the assistants, according to Joe Vardon.
Seven league sources, all on condition of anonymity. Said the assistants learned earlier Tuesday they would not be getting their rings that evening, which came as no surprise because they hadn't even been fitted for one, and the boxes without their rings were a late addition to the ceremony. I guess somebody's just like we got to get we got to get something in their hands. The athletic received conflicting information about whether head coach Mike Brown received his ring on Tuesday and could not immediately verify if he got one.
Now that sounds terrible. There is a paragraph later on in the article that the Oklahoma City Thunder assistants and some executives didn't get their rings on opening night last season either.
So it's it's happened before, but this is the one that shows you why leopards cannot change their spots. Madison Square Garden employees received an email, a copy of which the Athletic has obtained. Saying congratulations, your employee championship ring is here. They were offered rings, not like the ones of the players. That's totally understandable.
Those are insanely expensive. I mean, you saw how they pop open and they pop up. Crazy! It's like you know, four dimensional almost. Yeah.
And so they gave him two different types of complimentary rings. This one's on the house employee name. MSG is issuing a complimentary employee championship ring, the same jeweler, the same craftsmanship, personalized with your name, no cost to you. Two designs to choose from: championship gold and garden classic. Reserve the one you want below.
Quote from the article. But the email was a fakeout, a phishing test. Madison Square Garden sent to see if those employees would click. Multiple team sources said those who did click the link at the bottom, the message didn't get to choose any jewelry. Instead, they were forced to attend a mandatory cybersecurity class to help satisfy some of Dolan's growing cybersecurity concerns.
The man's fishing his own employees with a bait of a championship ring. Can you be any worse? How did you hear about that? Of an employer. Can you be any lower than that?
I say no. Oh my god!
So, guys here, don't worry. The emails I send you, if we ever win an Emmy, okay, you can click safely. Could you imagine the Rich Eisen Show podcast?
