Man… why is Mark Carman/CHGO doing a sit-down interview with Tyson Bagent? He legitimately is obsessed with this man, he seemingly talks more positively of him than our starters.
No offense to Tyson, but why do I care about what HE looks for in a coach? Why is he telling me who the hard workers are? Are MIN/DET/GB beat writers interviewing Sam Howell, Hendon Hooker, or Malik Willis?
He wasn’t even that good on the field, they glaze him like he’s a future star. Can y’all please give me alternatives?
At this point of the offseason? Silence is better lol
Dude, it’s the summer….
This is the time of year all football media is grasping for content. My advice is to find something else to listen to. It’s all crap this time of year.
Yeah that definitely makes sense, it’s the first year I’m really paying attention to it.
If you want good like football breakdowns of teams go listen to bootleg
It’s not necessarily breakdowns I’m looking for, just general talk. I try not to have the TV on too much since my son’s play area is in front of it, and that’s usually where I’m playing YouTube from.
I also don’t know why I’m getting downvoted, I didn’t pay attention to this stuff until now, I’m in my early 30s and I don’t know anyone else that listened to podcasts before it blew up with former players. What is there to downvote lmao
Big bears podcast listener for a long time - also early 30s.
Hoge & Jahns is the best quality podcast as others have said.
I second the commenter above who recommended The Athletic Football Show, great content even though not bears focused.
Locked On Bears - frequent but short shows. Pretty focused content. Host feels very robotic though.
Bears on Tap - haven't listened to in a couple years probably, but never really loved or hated it. It's content.
2nd City Gridiron - used to be Windy City Gridiron. Some good content, some bad, depends on the hosts and topic that week. Haven't listened to it really since they switched to 2nd City so not much opinion.
CHGO - as you point out, there's a lot of slop, lots of people don't like Carm (I don't love him but grew to tolerate him over time.). At the end of the day I'm like you, I just want something to put on for general talk, and they are the best in the business at that. Daily shows. Long shows (1-2 hours). It's nonsense mostly, but I get to listen to people talk bears football.
Those are all the ones I have listened to over the years. Hope it helps a bit.
Yes! Their summer series is top notch. I haven't listened to any of it this year but the last two years it was good stuff.
I need to go give it a listen now actually, thanks for the reminder lol
Agreed. Cubs are looking great!
At this point I’m only listening to Hoge & Jahns. Carm is unbearable to listen to
The sad thing is that H&J has really gone downhill since CHGO because you can tell Hoge is just completely burned out. It's a real bummer. I hope it's worth it. Can't imagine it was for Nick and Will.
The best H&J is wish Fishman. That guy should do his own pod. He is entertaining and can pull stats like it’s nothing.
They should just add him a third chair at this point
He has his own pod, just started a few weeks ago
Stories about members of the media may be the single most uninteresting subject for a podcast I’ve ever heard. I’m disappointed in the Fishman. When they have longtime bears beat guys on H&J and they just swap stories it’s unbearable.
Happy to see this take. Once they start having meta conversations about the beat writing/media landscape I’m either fast forwarding or turning off the podcast. It’s so wildly uninteresting.
Highly recommend his podcast “Breaking In”. It’s not a bears pod but worth a listen.
Yeah I've honestly stopped listening to every episode of H&J at this point. Lots of episodes just devolve into Hoge misremembering which show he's on. Lost track of how many times he's said "I can't remember if I said this on CHGO or here," lol. They're still obviously the best, and it's free, so not the end of the world. But it is a big bummer as a paying Athletic member!
Idk why people always say this, it couldn't be farther from the truth imo
Well people probably always say it because it's true haha
I don't think it's true at all
Awful voice. Mike North’s voice from back in the day was like nails on a chalkboard also.
North use to annoy me, but now it's nostalgic. Miss the jiggets and North show. Maybe because our sports team had a pretty good when they were on air
The ESPN Chicago Bears Podcast is ok depending on the guest host. I generally watch the ones with Courtney Cronin and Jason McKie, and avoid the other regulars.
Tried it a few times and very much agree. I have no idea who this Pat dude is, but don’t dig him much by himself
Really? I’ve found Pat to be great it’s become one of my favorite bears pods only really listen to him it Hoge and Jahns.
I feel like Pat does a good job not being a total homer but also not being a downright pessimist like so many bears content creators like to be. I find him fun but alas to each their own.
I don’t mind interviews with back ups because I feel like you can get some cool insight into the team and NFL life from them. But yeah, I used to watch CHGO but Carm’s bits and lack of professionalism and the decision to let Nick go pushed me away. Hoge and Jahns is the best Bears podcast IMO and if you still have a fix after that, The Athletic Football Show is pretty high quality (and Robert is a Bears fan so they’ll get discussed often).
I forgot that Hoge had another pod, I’ll definitely check that out as well as the Athletic one.
I think it’s really just Carm that I don’t like, the way he goes about his business rubs me the wrong way for some reason.
Football 301 also is a decent national one
Nate Tice is good. Preferred him on TAFS but 301 is good.
Nate Tice was a guest on The Adam Friedland Show?
The athletic football show
The Hoge and Jahns podcast is top tier. Hoge is way better on that podcast as well than on CHGO since the company is way better.
I don't know if it's a hot take on this sub but I actually like Braggs, but agree Carm is unbearable.
Non Bears Shows
The Athletic Football Show (4.8/5 One of my favorite football podcast. Robert Mays the lead host is a Bears fan. If you are looking for more in debt football knowledge, give it a go)
Yahoo Sports (4.8/5 specifically Nate Tice with Matt Harmon. I don’t watch the other guys, but Nate and Harmon are great assessors of football and will give you more nuance. Nate was the previous co host with Robert on the Athlrtic before moving to Yahoo.)
Check The Mic (4.5/5 Steve and Sam were the original PFF hosts before moving to All 32 and essentially have the same show on All 32. If you want more data driven content, check them out)
PFF (4.2/5 The same as Check the Mic, but I prefer Steve and Sam over Trevor and his co host)
Bootleg Football (4.6/5 Brett Kollman is one of the original football YouTube content creators and him and EJ from Bears Era are very optimistic content creators so always take that into account when watching them but they are very good at their jobs. I would recommend watching now since they are releasing their previews for all 32 teams over 8 weeks)
Steve Smith Jr (4.5/5 WR specific content by legendary WR Steve Smith Jr,)
James Foster (4.8/5 a new face on the scene but I like him a lot. He goes into the weeds a lot with player evaluation so if you want a more indent understanding of players and football, give him a watch. His Jared Berse video is great).
Thinking Football (4.4/5 another content creator like Brett Kollman. He has great football understanding but can be a little prickly)
That Franchise Guy (4.3/5 a former PFF employee who made his own channel. Like Bootleg he is during his annual power ranking for each team in the NFL from 32 to 1)
Bears Now by Chat Sports is like a 1/5. It's 60% ads, 20% content, and 20% "but what do you think? Type K in the comments for 'keep'. Type D for 'dump.'"
Yeah, not trying to be an asshole but as annoying as CHGO can be at times, anyone rating Bears Now by Chat Sports anything above a 1/5 just has a completely different idea of what good coverage is.
Saved me from typing the same. Shit click bait headlines that are barely rumors. Like, NO ONE else is saying this shit Harrison!
Bears now will always have a special lil place in my heart. I would watch their play by plays every week for like the past 3-4ish years to avoid paying for nfl or redzone (finally got that shit goin yearly). Harrison and all the mfs at chat sports do have a lot of clickbait, the ads are not the worst out there but have definitely been annoying at times, some of the takes are amusingly bad, and the whole concept of paying to watch an overweight guy drink and be depressed about the Bears losing in 4th quarter after having a 21 point first half lead is kinda funny and kinda sad, but I love it anyways. Not saying you’re wrong, but I gotta show support for my day one Bears channel, even if there’s much better out there.
Wow very detailed - appreciate the effort and will look into a few.
No love for The Charter? Just started listening to them this year after seeing it in recommended in another “Carm sucks” post a few months.
Or Joniak and Thayer’s Chicago Bears Podcast? Not as frequent but definitely some quality episodes.
Thanks again and Bear Down.
I haven’t heard of the channels you mentioned. I’ll have to give them a listen.
My issue is there doesn’t seem to be a great Chicago Bears exclusive channel that focuses on the Xs and Os in the manner that I would enjoy. Most Bears Channels are very ESPN-like or their football knowledge is limited.
It’s funny because the Athletic has great content that balances the journalism aspect of football and the Xs and Os part really well. I’m a massive soccer fan (Man Utd) and The Athletic soccer content is so good. The NFL The Athletic Football Podcast is also really good, but the local The Athletic football coverage is lacking. Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain are The Athletic Bears writers and their understanding of football is very disappointing compared to other Athletic writers.
Unfortunately for us Bears fans, we don’t have that all encompassing source that straddles the journalism aspect of sports media and the football knowledge to explain it.
You’re right about the Bears not having any great content creators. I have been into Bears YouTube for 6 years and it’s all pretty much low level stuff. There was one guy that would do 4 hour film break downs of every game but he stopped. He had his first child and said he didn’t have time anymore but I think the bears being so bad for so long mixed in with him not growing very much killed his passion
This was a while back but there was this one guy on YouTube, Your Boy Roy, that basically broke open via video analysis the fact that Jay Cutler's MCL was tore up before halftime in the NFC Championship Game. I wish he had continued making content.
I like Joniak and Thayer's podcast. I get hit with the nostalgia everytime I listen and remember some great radio broadcasts narrated by the voice of the Bears.
Log off and get some air
You’re complaining about podcast content in July?
Brother this is my first year really tapped into podcasts in general, if this is what it normally is, then that’s fine. You might be a podcast veteran, I’m just now getting into it.
All I asked for, really, are alternatives to CHGO.
Problem is there really isn’t much news to report on until training camp. So any podcast will have the same talking points until then just worded differently.
I don’t mind CHGO but a lot of people here hate it because they talk about their personal lives and they just want Xs and Os.
Hoge and Jahns is a good one but they are on a break. But chgo does have very good training camp coverage daily.
Unfortunately the truth is CHGO and Hoge & Jahns are your best options. It's just a dry time of year. Nobody is producing quality Bears content right now because how could you? But you're right, the less Bears and more Mark Carmin-centric things yet, it's really really tough. I'm not being a smartass, find a book about football to read. NFL offseason is when I read a few books just so I can say I still read books. Learn about the ins-and-outs and x's-and-o's so you can be a better fan when the season comes back.
It’s just common sense it’s the offseason what are they gonna talk about
You didn't just ask for other options, you shit on chgo about what and why they are sharing, so people told you why.
I was like you a while ago. I used to consume every drop of bears coverage.
Then I learned that, I don’t actually need to know that much about my team. Everyone’s kinda saying the same shit and it’s usually not really backed in anything.
I think about how much time I was told Justin Fields would be good. I don’t think these people were lying to me, it was so much more that everyone’s just guessing. It doesn’t really matter what anyone has to say because it has such a little bearing on how the games actually pan out.
I listen to just Hoge and Jahns and even then I don’t listen to every episode. Use that time listening to bears coverage to learn a language or listen to an audio book. I did and I enjoy sundays a lot more going into games.
Carmen IS the casual Bears fan. Anyone who's been a fan for 20+ years, especially those from Chicago. There's a reason they say the backup quarterback is the most popular player on the team. They shit on the starter and call for the backup. When the starter leaves, we miss and love them, just another QB who's better than the current starter.
Kyle Orton, Josh McCown, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, Mitch Trubisky (after he left, of course. Everyone fucking hated him while he was here.), Justin Fields (still!), and, of course, our own version of Sunshine himself, Mr. 500, son of an arm wrestling legend, greatest D2 QB of all time, Tyson Bagent.
You must be a newer/younger fan to be surprised by the attention Bagent gets. This is what the majority of Bears fans want. It's just that none of them will ever watch it. They probably don't even watch every game throughout the season.
Don't watch that interview?
I didn’t lol, I wasn’t interested in seeing Carm glaze Bagent again, this time in his family home gym.
I don't have any alternatives, and most regular fans know that Bagent is a fine backup QB and not a future star in the NFL. I haven't listened to this particular interview. I also don't know why you're so upset about CHGO. They're just another media company, and they're fine.
But Bagent did do an interview with the Barstool Chicago guys a couple weeks ago, and I enjoyed it.
Tyson's our backup. We should be rooting for him and hope he balls out if he has to fill in.
Other than that, perfect content fodder for July.
Bagent is marketable and click worthy. Confident kid. Starting with the D-2 qb shit, and ending with his dad being an arm wrestling champion. 🤷♂️
Is Tyson Bagent not part of this team? Just because he’s a backup doesn’t mean his insight isn’t interesting - especially in July when there is literally nothing else going on.
I recommend the Athletic Football Show to everyone. It isn’t a Bears pod but it is high-level stuff. Robert Mays, the host, is a Bears fan, so they do get discussed a bit.
Of all the many legitimate things to complain about with Carm, filling a 5 hour per week podcast during the slowest part of the year with actual new content by interviewing Bagent is not one of them.
It's July there's nothing going on
Bears On Tap
I just browse their content about 1 time per week to see if I want to hear their take on anything, and most weeks this time of year there isn't. I mostly get caught up on other podcasts right now. I will be better when the preseason starts because there will be a lot of news, but like you I wish there would be a real alternative
Hoge and Jahns, Biggs on the Score. Always liked Grote and personally find Wiederer meltdowns very entertaining, so throwing in Take the North.
The athletic football show with Robert Mays is great for a national perspective.
I do like CHGO even in the summer but I know it isn't for everyone. I just haven't really found anything to replace quality 670 shows since they've gone down the shitter.
When I do need either more content or an alternative, I switch to the athletic.
I have long drives and spend a decent amount of my time behind a desk so I run through at least 2 hours of pods/audio books a day.
I actually did check out the Athletic Football Show and it looks like exactly what I’m looking for! Gonna run through the suggestions and see if there’s any others I like, I appreciate it!
Hogw and Jahns are off for the summer cuz there isn't much to report on these days... That should tell you all you need to know. CHGO flaws get exposed without actual Bears news.
I've been listen to audiobooks lately instead.
I get the dislike, but you guys are constantly brutalizing the dude. He went to school for journalism and has worked in Chicago sports for decades. he's not going away and will be involved in some capacity. Remember you're human and so is he. If you dont like it, dont watch but dont act like a child about it.
It’s hit or miss but The Charter podcast can be good at times. I like Clay Harbor’s contributions. Otherwise it’s old reliable Hoge and Jahns.
The Athletic Football show is a league-wide podcast but Robert Mays is a Bears fan and recently they’ve had a couple episodes with Bears bits in there.
Because the people want to hear from Tyson Bagent?
A local bears show is trying to provide daily content in the offseason when no team programs are happening and you’re complaining about them having a backup on? You are STRIVING for things to complain about. My god, touch grass.
its the offseason and talking to any chicago bear is fine by me. weird take
I mean, besides Bagent, they’ve really only had Gervon Dexter on two weeks ago, and Kyle Monangai a month+ ago.
I like Bagent, I’m just not sure why CHGO is so invested in Carm interviewing Bagent to the point where he’s flying out to his home and hanging out with him. If Bagent is setting up for a media career or partnership with CHGO it makes sense, but… I want to hear from more relevant people on the team.
That’s just me though, it’s not that deep, I just wanted to hear alternatives.
The glazing is a gimmick. Don't take it seriously. You don't have to like it, but I think you are taking his position on Bagent literally when he is mostly doing it as a running gag.
It's not a very funny gag for someone over the age of 16. Carm is very unfunny. One of those guys who makes a joke and looks around at everyone trying to see who laughs.
Sometimes it’s OK to detox from the fandom and not listen lol.
I’ll be back for post game hot takes but no way I’m wasting precious Chicago sunlight listening to them ramble about absolutely nothing.
Check out the Athletic Football Show, good pod that covers the entire nfl and the host is a bears fan and they just did a piece on Caleb Williams
These are the dog days brother. Just 3 more weeks until training camp.
Edit: typo
Check some of these Bears creators, people have not mentioned
DawindyCityProd: Highlights, Bears News
Just Another Year: Chicago Bears: Bears News
Advaith Kumar: Bears video essays.. in depth analysis
The Bear Review: Bears analysis
SoBackSports: Bears/NFL podcast on Bears and NFL news
Listen to Goose’s msg set from a few nights on YouTube. 4 hours and much better than offseason CHGO pods.
Bagent is maybe the most interesting player to listen to talk on this team he is very open and has a very interesting back story very down to earth and has played a lot of ball compared to his current position id love to see him on this team for years to come but would also love to trade him so he could have a shot at starting somewhere
It's July and training camp hasn't started. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel for content at this point. So it's not surprising to hear they interviewed Bagent. This is the time to do it.
As far as other Bears podcasts, "Take the North" with Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote is pretty good.
Watch baseball
I personally like Hoge and Jahns and 670 The Score.
CHGO is okay. They lean more towards getting laughs and joking around. Which at times can be annoying.
I always enjoy the Rich Eisen podcast — it’s a great listen. He’s a good guy, really entertaining, and usually cuts through all the “bullshit hot takes” that try to drag teams down. It’s not strictly a Bears podcast, but this time of year, when not much is going on, he’s one of the better listens out there.
Yeah Rich is pretty levelheaded compared to most of the national media
Haha he’s a huge UofM homer but I respect it lol. JJ McCarthy and Loveland are his favorites
He's one of the better interviewers in sports media, for sure
I’m not going to hate on anyone, but CHGO lost me when they let go of Nick. To me he was the best part of the show, and outside of Hoge, he seemed to be the only one who was prepared, present, and insightful. But I can catch Hoge on Hoge & Jahns.
I also really, really want to like CHGO, but a lot of it, especially the offseason content, isn’t for me. I’m just not a fan of their takes, on-air behavior, and content at this point (for many reasons, none of which I’ll bore you with right now). Mostly, and I don’t want to sound like an old man, hosts not paying attention and/or scrolling on their phone during the show is wild to me.
However, it is very hard to have 1-3 hour show on the Bears 5-7 times a week (sometimes more). I don’t mind Carm interviewing Bagent during the summer. Carm and Braggs (targets of cannon fodder and fan ire) seem like good guys, and while I know they’re not for everyone, I don’t want to see them fail. I think where CHGO loses me is they treat the show like old school local sports talk radio. It’s too “takey” for me a lot of the time.
I could be wrong, but I feel like a lot of people who watch that type of content prefer more data-driven or x’s & o’s type conversations, with some takes involved. But again, it’s hard to fill that much time with content, not everything is going to be a winner, and it’s July.
Anyways, I do hope CHGO is successful. I’ll probably try it again during the season. Hopefully it becomes the best version of itself.
CHGO is too much noise. There isn’t enough content during the dead points in the offseason to warrant a daily 1-3h show. It’s the same as local sports radio at this point.
That said, I’m not a fan of Carman anyway, so I stopped listening.
I get it. I’ve been listening to ESPN with Pat the Designer. Carm is genuinely just hard to listen to.
I like Bagent
Carms funny as f*ck. People hating on him have a stick up their butt for “journalistic integrity”. It’s July, STFU and just wait for next month
I listen to Hoge and Jahns and Mina kimes.
I can’t stand him. He was obsessed with Stroud and then started obsessing over Daniel’s after.
Tough right now. No content so pod casters have to make it up. When Clay Harbor is on, usually pretty insightful.
Clay has his own pod, The Charter, so you can check that out
I find Clay the best when he is the guest, being interviewed by an old pros like Mully and Haugh.
Bagent is a future star.
Carman was the reason I stopped listening he has zero knowledge of the game which is okie but he’s so goddamn annoying and just rambles and ruins the flow of the show
Carm and Braggs ruined CHGO for me, just straight up knuckleheads. For the break between Hoge & Jahns, I tend to watch more Chat Sports Now (love me some Harrison Graham) and sometimes listen to Locked On Bears. Although the latter sometimes is hard to listen to since he releases daily podcasts and sometimes just grasping at straws for what to talk about.
Yeah Locked On Bears is really only a podcast I tune into when there is stuff going on. It's not a great filler podcast imo for the reason you mentioned. But I like it when there is actual content.
Bears Now by Chat Sports on YT is decent, something to turn on in the background. They do have ads every episode and click bait thumbnails but the ads are usually around the same spot every ep, and I feel that Harrison has decent grounded takes that aren't some espn talking points.
Club 520 with Jeff Teague.
Football podcast are all rage bate and Mount Rushmore tier content this time of year.
If you have to do Bears, just do Locked on Bears for a quick daily fix.
Bear down sports on youtube has some good content
I second this
Because meatball fans/medias favorite Bear is always the backup QB.
Though Bagents story is interesting. The dad being a legendary arm wrestler has been played out but is still cool. But the fact that the kid grea up in small town West virginia, went to small school in said town, and is somehow in the NFL as a QB is crazy. I was super impressed with him as a rookie coming in and playing the way he did against Vegas.
The Tape Never Lies (TTNL) on YouTube. It's actual analysis not fake stuff like CHGO. Nobody at TTNL will say they want Caleb to throw more interceptions.
There's simply not enough football stuff happening for any Bears podcast to be all that interesting. If you want something to fill that football itch check out the bootleg football podcast.
It’s the down time of the offseason. There’s literally nothing for them to talk about.
This is the equivalent of watching TV at 3 in the morning.
Stop listening til training camp starts
Yeah, beat writers are interviewing anyone they can in the dog days of summer.
No suggestions for you, but everything I come across from CHGO feels like fan content to me.
Because Tyson will say yes.
I listen to ESPN 1000 almost everyday. Pretty solid football coverage.
Carm has the clearest view of what the Bears are. He knows they are a stupid franchise and is willing to call them on it. Honestly, he’s right more often than Hoge or Braggs, who both are way too forgiving of the Bears’ organizational dipshittery.
That said, Carm is incredibly annoying so it doesn’t matter. I’d prefer the show without him.
ANYWAY don’t listen to NFL content in late June / early July is my advice.
Also, agree with everybody who says H&J has gone downhill. Hoge puts in a lot of work, which I appreciate, but his takes blow. Again - way too in the tank for the Bears org.
I listen to audio books during the offseason. It’s nice to get away from football drama for a while
Football 301 with Nate tice
Either you can have constant content or you can have good content. You can't have both.
I can't in a million years picture myself being interested in anything Tyson Bagent says. Turn it off
Chicago Bears Central is my daily go tos. It isn’t mainstream media but they are chi town natives who cover the bears latest news, rumours and updates with daily episodes. No click bait titles to pull views, very knowledgeable, passionate and straightforward. They’ve got a nice growing community there and definitely won’t be getting any Tyson Bagent or any other player glazing over there loll. Very informative and entertaining, worth giving it a shot.
Half the idiot fans thought/think he is legitimately better than Fields. Is it surprising that a podcaster is equally stupid?
The state of Bears media is horrific right now. I suggest listening to Courtney Cronin when she appears on something and nothing else besides that
As much as I love Braggs and Hoge, I can't stand Carm either. If you want analysis The Tape Never Lies is the best out there. Hoge and Jahns is good, and The Halas Beat with Nick Whalen and Usayd Koshul is pretty good as well.
I'll take Bagent over Cordell Stewart.
Ben Johnson,who had a hand in the complete rebuild of the Lions said that when they took control of the Lions, they had virtually nothing to build on. He said the Bears have key pieces in place and it will not take long to make them a championship contender
The Score used to be wonderful with some great interviews and host… now we get Marshall Harris. Avoid.
They’re convinced he’s a starter lol. Same thing he said he would’ve gotten more compensation than fields. I don’t listen if hoge is gone.
Why are these guys even doing a show at all right now? Their videos get almost no views. Where are they making money at this time of year? Absolutely nothing interesting is going to happen until training camp. Podcasting now seems like it would be a financial drain.
For me the go to is TTNL, then H&J, Charter(miss the old show, but so far liking the new format), and Locked on Bears.
Like most said here, it is the off season, and there is nothing to report. Bagent is a great interview and player. Hope we get a nice pick for him next year. I do find it odd that CHGO seems hitched to Carm(he does have press credentials), as I tend to turn off the podcast because of him.
Sidenote-Most Fucked UP Take of last season is from Carm, wishing Caleb had more interceptions. Seriously? I am pretty sure he also wanted the Bears to tank the game against the fucking Packers. What?
TTNL is it (The Tape Never Lies Network). I stopped watching CHGO when they fired Nick. Carm sucks also.
Once I discovered TTNL everything else is secondary fluff. I have learned a ton about football by watching tape breakdowns with the crew there, and I now watch the game through a different lense.
I will always tune in to a Bagent interview, unless I have to listen to Carm. I like Bagent's personality, and enjoy how he talks about his teammates and coaches.
I mean I don't listen to CHGO either. Just never been interesting to me.
But you're mad they interviewed Tyson Bagent? lol. Just don't listen to that specific segment of the show.
I’m not mad they interviewed him, it’s just the fact that Carm spends so much time glazing him specifically while I’ve heard him nitpick Caleb and Fields. Pretty sure even Hoge has checked him on being ridiculous over criticizing Caleb for staying late at team facilities last year IIRC.
It’s the offseason man. Chill out. They need to do what they can.
Cuz he constantly name drops Tyson all the time... Love the guy but it gets annoying
there is nothing going on right now, be thankful they even get the backups in to talk
Haven’t listened to CHGO since they laid off Nicholas Moreano, who was the 2nd best member of the team next to Hoge.
It's not a coincidence this happened after Hoge left.
I dont want to hear him chide Braggs for being a Homer ever again.
Carm is an absolute joke. Just watch his interview with JSN, no follow up at all. Watch his Trey Smith stunt. The best alternative is to touch grass.
Shouldve fired carm and kept moreno. Carm is a meatball and so is braggs but at least braggs is more likeable
They got rid of the wrong guy, Carm annoys me 70%+ of the time he's speaking. Nic always has good info and he does his homework. He might have the worst open though in sports Pods.
Carm is insufferable, unbelievably immature and unprofessional for a man in his middle age years. It blows my mind how he keeps getting jobs in the media. You'd think by now he'd develop some professionalism with how long he's been doing it, but apparently not. When he was on NBC Sports Chicago he was a little better, but that was a TV gig so they held him to a little higher of a standard apparently. Hell, even Braggs is more professional than Carm and Braggs is as rough around the edges as it gets. But I cannot stand Carm (clearly) so I totally understand your frustrations with all his schtick. Hoge and Johns is good, but Adam Johns is about the least dynamic talker I've ever heard. Not exactly what I'd consider a "radio" voice. Watching paint dry is more exciting than listening to him speak. As many have already mentioned The Athletic Football show pod is fantastic, the host is a Bears fan so they get quite a bit of run on there. The other one I've seen a few folks mention is Bootleg Football, very enjoyable and interesting to listen to and again, one of the hosts is a Bears fan so they get decent coverage but its not 100% Bears centric.
Bears Now by Chat Sports, and Just Another Year Chicago: Bears
The Chicago Bears Podcast hosted by Pat The Designer
I really wish Will, Nick, and Brandon would start their podcast back up. I just found out looking into it rn Nick has his own show. Would love to see him bring people back in like Will and Mason.
I listen to football podcasts every day. Used to listen to CHGO but Carmen and Brags drove me insane . Now I usually rotate between these three
The ringer fantasy football show - they usually just talk football and not fantasy, at least at this time of the year. Fun conversations and some thoughts I don’t think I hear else where
The athletic football show - others have mentioned but Robert mays is awesome. Also believe this one comes out 5 days a week right now which is great.
Hoge and Jahns - imo the best bears podcast, the only one that’s stuck with me. At least there’s professionalism and good insight.
Barstool Chicago but they dont go as hard or as often
Nick Moreno after get cut from CHGO doing a great job IMO
Maybe it's because he's well spoken, gives detailed answers.
It's not that deep
This is an awful opinion. Pathetic.
Simmer down, Travis.
What happened to Bear With Us? Their last pod was 11/21.
Did Will leave CHGO also?
As for Carm, the dude has a lot of history around Chicago sports and can have some interesting perspectives but his insistence on playing this deliberately obtuse and devils advocate character is just plain annoying. You can tell that Braggs has put in the work to try and make his dream come true but all Carm does is pull him down. It's easy to see that Braggs gets really annoyed when he's trying to actually talk football with the guests and Carm just tries to steam roll over him. Also, if anyone goes to one of CHGO's meetup's, please please please steal his Carmonica and smash it!
Go outside and enjoy your summer.
Haha I do, got a little one so I have no choice but to. I’m just not entering this podcast era, so I’m looking for a channel (or multiple) in general I can play during the day since I work nights.
Listen to The Athletic Football Show with Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen. It's a general football show but it's good. Especially for this dead time of year. Mays lives in Chicago and is a lifelong bears fan. It definitely helps but he's about as balanced and nuanced as it gets.
The ESPN Chicago Bears pod is solid. Pat The Designer is pretty good. They title their episodes like YouTube videos that annoys me but content is solid. Especially Tuesdays and Thursdays when Courtney Cronin joins(though it's offseason so she hasn't been on in a minute).
In the same vein as TAFS as in it looks at the whole league, Football 301 is good. Nate Tice, who is still on paternity leave hosts and does a good job.
Most shows are gonna be boring and stale for the next 3 weeks until camp starts honestly though. It's the worst time of year for football content.
+1 for The Athletic. In a media landscape comprised of primarily rage bait, click bait, and glazing, The Athletic is one of the few that still knows ball.
+1 again for The Athletic. Robert Mays is the best in the business imo. Show struggled a bit after Nate Tice left but i think Derick has grown alot over the last year.
EDIT: Will also recommend Yahoo Sports football 301 (where nate tice went).
I agree. Same happened with Mays left the Ringer. I loved him and Kevin Clark together. They had the best balance of entertainment and football nerding out.
When Mays left though, felt it took him a month or two to get in a groove with Tice.
It’s the worst time of year for sports content in general. Especially if you’re not into baseball.
Hahaha Roberts little brother is one of my best friends. It’s always such a trip seeing Robert talked about this way. That said - it’s always so awesome getting to talk football with Robert.
That's awesome! Robert is a couple years older than I am but we're close enough in age to have similar experiences growing up so it's fun to hear. Robert is genuinely the best. I love how nuanced he is and how much pride he takes in his work. It's fantastic.
I hope he knows it's well appreciated and that he does a great job. I almost think he takes too much of an effort to curb his bear fandom and make his biases not show but I definitely understand why. I hope you pass along that so many of us do love the work he does lol.
The Athletic FS all the way! Their summer content is good. Just did a long pod on the 2nd year QBs, which obviously includes CW.
Tap out of football for a bit until at least the preseason, since there's really nothing to talk about. Try the Ologies podcast and learn about some other stuff
I had this epiphany awhile ago when I realized that every podcast was saying the same thing or manufacturing nonsense (ie - the Bagent interview).
The library has tons of audiobooks. They are a slower burn, but are so much better than the nonsense
I guess being a younger fan that’s just gotten into the podcast space, I’m realizing that CHGO (I’m guessing pods generally) aren’t like, say, Club 520 or Mind the Game.
Even outside of that though, I just don’t find CHGO very interesting at all. People might like Bagent — I do too — but there’s no reason to interview a backup multiple times unless there’s a vested interest.
Now again, if this is normal, then so be it, it’s just off putting hearing Bagent answer questions about how guys needs to be accountable and that he doesn’t need coaches to make sure he’s on top of his shit, or that he’s never had a “bad” coach, especially when Carm himself has openly questioned Caleb’s work ethic multiple times and knowing Caleb will have to answer to the offseason drama soon.
It’s why I say I just don’t like the way they’re going about their business. Maybe it would be different if Nick Moreano was still there.
I don't know what those podcasts are, but the ones like CHGO or Take the North (there's a decent alternative for you, Grote is fun), or any of the dozens of Bears-centric podcasts are mainly for those hosts to react to news or games. There's no NFL news or games in early July, so they're going to fill it with meaningless interviews with whoever is around that they have contacts with, or with clickbaity BS speculative debates. That's why right now is not a good time to "get into the podcast space", specifically for Bears or NFL talk. Check back in mid/late August, or whenever there's some breaking news like a trade.
I don’t tap out of football but I do just check this sub once a day to see if anything surprising happened. When that Caleb book news happened I even stopped listening to sports radio lmao. July is a dead zone except for baseball and I keep up with the cubs by watching so I’ve given up on sports content other than PMT and falling asleep to sportscenter
I like Locked On Bears but CHGO is definitely more connected with players and coaches. But I can’t stand most of our local personalities, we have a lot hot take douche nozzles and door knobs covering our Bears. Especially the former 670 dudes. Real “experts”.
This is the dead zone brother. Check back in, in a few weeks. You don't want news about players from your team this time of year. It's all DUIs and shit because there is no practice and everyone is off