Jeffery Simmons Shines in Bears Debut: A Game-Changing Trade

As a Titans fan, what kind of emotions did you have last night watching that guy wreak havoc? First of all, Dan, good to see you, even though that was definitely salt in the wound. But yeah, no, it's. As we were discussing off air, he's the best defensive tackle in football. He has been for the last two years, in my opinion, and he's been elite for the last four. So it's nice that he's finally getting the stage to do that. He did actually go to the AFC Championship game with the Titans back when he was a rookie. So he's been on the national stage before. It's just been a few years, and he has now turned into, as you said. And I agree that he's the best defensive tackle in football, bar none. I think he has a good chance to maybe even push to win the defensive player of the year right now. I think that's still a nice investment if you want to get invested there. But I said this when he got traded, Dan, and you know this as someone who's been in an NFL locker room and you're trying to build culture, especially on a team that's a little bit lost at sea right now with the Titans. And that's why I was so disappointed that they lost a player like this. It's not because of. His elite level skill talent on the field, like he's one of the, again, he's the best, maybe the arguably the best defensive tackle in the game. But to me, what he brings to the table from a culture perspective, his attitude, his work rate, what he does to the locker room. I mean, even Ben Johnson was talking about it, how just his energy is infectious with these guys. He barely even knows some of these guys on the roster's name and he comes out and makes an immediate impact. I have a stat for you that I want to read from the game last night that Ian Rappaport posted this morning. Jeffrey Simmons, we saw it all with our eyeballs, right? Like we saw how effective he was on the field. He was wreaking havoc, you know, caused a sack. He was in the backfield the entire time. And as you said, if you watch Titans games like I have, that's not something new. This guy is a game wrecker. But the Seattle Seahawks were held to three yards per play. And Jeffrey Simmons had a three sacks and forced an interception in 48 plays where Simmons was on the field. In the eight plays where he was off of the field. Seattle averaged 13.3 yards per play, almost 10 more yards per play when Simmons was off the field. The other thing about it too, Dan, is that from all the defensive tackles, I mean, you know, he's a big boy, a lot of big boys out there. He's got incredible conditioning. He played over 90% of snaps for the Titans this season. He's probably going to do the same thing for the Bears. And he wreaked havoc last night and he doesn't even know the playbook. So as he gets more and more involved with this team, it's going to be really fun to watch in Chicago. As a Titans fan, I'm sad to see not only the player go, but the man as well. So I'll see how the Titans respond. They had a good response last week in the organization, but the Bears got one for sure. And I think that they have a chance to make a deep run, especially with a move like this. This is why I say he's the best DT, and it's not close. So I watch a guy like Jalen Carter, and I watch that front seven in Philadelphia falling apart. Dude, that Montez Sweat deal that the Bears made a couple years ago was a horrible move, it looked like. He was an okay player. I couldn't believe I was watching Montez Sweat. I know they played together at Mississippi State, and they know one another well, but that was a completely different football team last night, the way they played. The Bears front seven, now along with Dennis Allen, man. He's one of the best coordinators in the NFL. Like you said, I mean, I think if Chicago continues to run the ball well and that defense plays on that other side, they've got to be the odds-on favorite in the NFC, them and the 49ers, to go to the NFC Championship game. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, we saw on display, I mean, the other thing about this too is this offense and this team has actually been playing really good football over the last month. And now you add the best defensive player, I mean, the best defensive tackle and one of the best defensive players in the entire NFL to this, to this defense. And yeah, look out Caleb, since Caleb Williams has returned from his hamstring injury, Dan, they played three games. The Chicago bears have led 158 minutes and 33 seconds of those 180 minutes in those games. The only times that they weren't leading, they were tied 0-0. They have not been down in a deficit in the last three games since Caleb Williams' return from injury. And oh, by the way, now you add again a force on defense like Jeffrey Simmons. So, I mean, the thing I love about Simmons, and then obviously we can move on from this, and I know you know this and you mentioned this as well, the difference between him and a guy like Carter, a guy like Sexy Dexy in Cincinnati, is not only what he's able to do on the defensive line, getting double teams. wreaking havoc in the run game, obviously getting after the quarterback, but it's his motor. It's his work rate. The guy is a elite tackler outside of the line of scrimmage. Like sometimes he makes plays like a linebacker. I saw him run down to Deshaun Watson two weeks ago against the Browns. Jeffrey Simmons is like six, seven, almost 300 pounds. Like, and he was out running to Deshaun Watson. That's what, to me, what makes him the best player on the defensive line is athleticism. And the bears are going to be able to, as you said, I mean, Dennis Allen is a great schemer of defenses, obviously known a little more for the back end side of things, but you give a guy like that with Montez Sweat, they'll get the Mississippi dogs running. They're going to be running some games on the front, man. They are going to be wreaking havoc. They didn't even have to blitz last night, Dan. They were able to rush four guys and get all up in Sam Darnold's grill for that game. And as we saw when Sam Darnold's under pressure, it's a struggle. So yeah, you've got to feel great as a Bears fan right now, especially in the NFC. If you wanted to take a stab for them to win the Super Bowl, I would not doubt you. If this team keeps playing elite-level football on both sides and have obviously helped from the special teams, I think they're the odds-on favorite right now in the NFC.