An official trailer has dropped for the training camp edition of ‘Hard Knocks’ from HBO which will focus on the Chicago Bears. The first episode is set for release next Tuesday and 670 The Score hosts Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel are looking forward to it, although the trailer gave Parkins some hesitation.
After playing the trailer on their Parkins & Spiegel afternoon show, they ran through some of what they saw and heard. “The first person you see is Dan Hampton, number 99,” Spiegel said. “You see Hampton lining up, because they hit the history right away. You see Hampton, you see Walter Payton, you see [Brian] Urlacher, you see the 46 defense. Those are the first visuals.”
Parkins said he liked head coach Matt Eberflus’ speech at the beginning where he says, “This is your team, we’re giving you guys everything you need. We’ll give you the keys, but you’ve got to drive the car.”
Spiegel pointed out they show some more current players, “but then they go history, again, in the middle. There’s George Halas’ voice. We saw Ditka, Singletary. Ditka kicking the air. Richard Dent, there’s a shot of Red Grange for a second. Devin Hester returning a kick. ‘The Winds of Change’ is the message. They’re acknowledging the past a lot, but Caleb is the future. They show Caleb being drafted. The last shot of the thing is Caleb reaching up and high fiving the fans. But yeah, there’s a lot of acknowledgement of the history and the past.”
Parkins thinks the past should stay right there, in the past. “I get it,” he said. “I’m really pumped for the show. I just don’t care. I don’t want that. To me, this is such an exciting time for the Bears. And I get why they’re doing it. Charter franchise, selling it to the masses, bringing back, hopefully, some degree of history and care and legacy. But I don’t want to see anything about Brian Urlacher. I don’t want to see Mike Singletary. I don’t want to see it.
“…It was 50% of the trailer. So, if it ends up being, like if episode one, 50% of it is about the names on the wall at Hallas Hall and the Bears history at quarterback and their history at linebacker…”
“What if it’s modern players talking about that?” Spiegel asked.
“I want to know about Tory Taylor, I want to know about Caleb Williams, I want to know about Rome Odunze,” Parkins said. “I want to know about Eberflus. I want to know about Eric Washington. I want to know about this current [team]. And I know that that’s what it is, it’s the training camp story. But the nostalgia and the history and the syrup…”
“You hate Bears history,” Spiegel said.
“I kind of do,” Parkins quipped.
“You don’t want to hear about Bears quarterback history?” Spiegel said. “Like you’re going to get a heavy dose of that probably early as they lay the foundation for everything about Caleb Williams that you’re going to see. Guess what? It’s part of the story. It’s a massive part of the story…They’re the starter franchise of the NFL. What do you expect?”
“I want to see stuff about this team,” Parkins said. “I don’t know if a national audience cares about that. I don’t want Devin Hester. I don’t want Hampton. I think they’re just pandering to the Bears. Like, okay, here’s your first trailer. Look at all your great history here.”
