Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It: Are you buying the idea that the Bulls aren't in rebuild mode?

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment.

This hour is sponsored by WinTrust. I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahimi Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3 to score. I got five on it. Number one.

During his post-trade deadline address, Bulls, executive vice president of basketball operations, our terrorist Karnashovus, refused to say that the team is rebuilding. Instead, calling it, quote, a stage that we're in, Are you buying the idea that the Bulls are not in rebuild mode? You know what?

Everybody's in a stage that they're in. But sometimes those stages are different things. It's okay to say rebuild. It would make it all make sense. Then we'd be like, oh, you're tearing it down. What are you going to build up? What did Ben Johnson say? Strip it down to the studs.

He had players that were established, though, on his team and stuff. Point being, though, it gives you leeway. It just does. If the rebuild doesn't work, at least you tried. If you're not doing any of it, we're all just in stages we're in. Fair to Midland? That's what I call it. Fair to middling.

But, you know, it gets, the accent gets a little more extreme. We've been told that the southern accents are even more extreme on FM. I'm really loving all the experimentation going on. But it's okay to say you're in a rebuild stage. You got nine second round picks, or in the words of Joe Callie, 30. You've decided that draft picks or currency. Do you know why? Because you need more players.

So I don't know if it's a, I don't know if it's a whole rebuild, but it's just, it's okay to say rebuild. The Sixers spent years in the process. The process was never fully realized. The NBA cut the process off. But it's okay. People do it all the time. They rebuild like Oklahoma City did and then voila. Did they actually ever say the word rebuild, though?

in the midst of it or when they... I don't know. And the Oklahoma City fan base is not one to like demand answers like that. Yeah. At the same time, they didn't really have to. They traded away Paul George at the time,

so you knew what they were doing. But then they got a bunch of first rounders and stuff. Wow. Matt Spiegel just walked into our building wearing a suit. Oh, boy. Yeah, dressed up Matt Spiegel. Now I'm all nosy. I want to know what he's doing about he'll tell us later.

Hope everybody's okay. No, it might just be that he's going over to Fox or something to be on their air. Okay. But yeah, so, so I, no, I'm not buying that you're not in a rebuild mode because your actions are different now. Give me mixed signals. I guess I'm okay at this point with the Bulls not using the word rebuild because it's just become a game over the years with all franchises. They know that we know that they know it's a rebuild or it's just something.

Drastic. Wink? Yeah. I think that's the point to which it has gotten. Like what percentage, like show me the front office guy or gal that has ever uttered or used the word rebuild. For some reason. Rick Hahn. Rick Hunt said rebuild.

He called it that. Did he call it that early? He actually said, we are now going to do a rebuild. I mean, I don't know. I think he just referred to it as the rebuild. Yeah. Well, good for Rick. Good for Rick.

I like that they're doing it. I like that they're breaking it down. I just don't know if they're the guys to build it back up. The reason I'm hesitating on rebuild is because they do have a lot of money. They do have a lot of resources. It's all there. So if they really wanted to, they could. And I understand we're not sitting here referencing the great class of free agents that exists.

Who knows what happens with Janus in the offseason. And so I believe they are thinking about the possibility of getting good quickly if they can with the resources that they have. So I'm mixed a little bit myself. Yes. When you talked it through, you didn't really come to a conclusion. But whether or not they're in a rebuild? I don't think they think they are. I think that's fair.

Yeah. I don't think they think they are. Number two. We solved nothing. That's one down. Dang it. In the first hour of this very show, we played this season-defining highlight from Fox. And it's so nice, we're going to hear it twice.

On a scale of 1 to 10 on the newly created significance meter, trademark. Where would you rate the walk-off touchdown from Caleb Williams to DJ Moore that lifted the Bears over the Packers and helped clinch the NFC North being named the moment of the year at yesterday's NFL honors awards show? You know what? I'm with him, man. next-gen stats, they bring that science and the math and stuff, the stem to it, you know, the numbers, the way they make it significant, they have an algorithm themselves.

And frankly, I think there are enough moments in the NFL season where they determine which is the most consequential. But to walk it off like that for the division on a Saturday night against your rival and everybody went insane, we all just started screaming. Mark couldn't because he was in a press box. I did because I was out. I was outside. I was outside with my friends and we were going crazy. So you know what?

Yeah, moment of the year. Moment of the year. What does it say? So here's where I was going. 10. 10 of the significance meter. Okay, because my thought process for this question was what does it say to you about like how significant it is to where the, like how the league views the bears?

I imagine it's still a 10 for you, Leila, on that scale. Yeah, the fact that the bears were involved in a moment of the year that the bears arguably had the best highlight of the NFL season, the best, and not the fail, Mary, the best. No double doink. No double doink. No moment of sadness or failure or like, you know, the still frame where Cooper Crop is like 95 yards past any other defender. Or the video of Mitch Trubisky throwing something to Alan Robinson, but he was like 10 yards away. And none of the funny, sad viral moments, this was the highlight of the year.

So the fact that the bears are significant to this, that they have put themselves back in the league conversation, that there was a skit involving Bob Odenkirk and the Pope, suddenly what we're talking about is what they're talking about? Oh, let's go. Ten on the significance mirror. End of story. Yeah, I'd go ten on it too.

I mean, yes. Ten on it. The bears are, I mean, Joe Tooney, getting the NFL protector of the year, Ben Johnson, finishing, unfortunately, fourth place. and the coach of the year voting, but that's still cool that they were all present. Like it was all bearsed up.

But yeah, 46-yard walk-off touchdown against Green Bay. I would argue that you could have put other Bears plays in there, like the 14-yarder to Colquamette against L.A. How about the fourth and eight to Roma Dunes-A with five minutes to go in the game? The fourth and eight was the flex moment of the year. The fourth and eight was like, is somebody wrapped around my ankle? I don't care. First down.

almost felt like the most miraculous of them all, but it's fun to think about them all. And yeah, the spirit of the question is well taken, Ray. You have put us into a corner and given us no choice to put that down as a 10. This is almost like yes or no. The answer is yes, 10. Number three. Coming in number three on five on it with Rahimi Harris and Grotie, Leila Rahimi, Mark Grody in today. After seeing both Patriots running back, Trayvion Henderson, and Bears rookie rookie.

wide receiver Luther Burdens' rookie years, would you still have wished that Henderson was available for Chicago with their pick in the second round or been okay with the outcome of Luther Burden? I don't know, because I still don't know. So I've been putting off this question because I thought I would come to more conclusive of an answer. But the bottom line is they're both good.

So like, okay, it's either would you rather have a good receiver or upgrade at the running back from, not that Kyle Minangai didn't do his job. Let's not get lost in the plot here. This is all about upgrades. So it was like, upgrade to your receiving core versus upgrade to your running back room. Now here's the thing.

Upgrade to your running back room immediately with an offense that is based on the run means you would have gotten more immediate of a payoff. However, the league determines that running backs are a little more fungible than a wide receiver. So therefore, based on that alone, if you're thinking that you got Luther Burden because he was a steal, then therefore,

You're still better off having a receiver be a massive upgrade at that position based on what was there previously than a running back. Is this the sexiest of arguments? No. Is it splitting hairs because both are very good? Yes. So I'm happy with Luther Burton, but I think I would have been happy with Trayvion Henderson. Is that wrong? No.

Look, we all, in that being in the draft room last year, we had pretty good intents. tell that Travion Henderson was whom the Bears desired. But I was doing, you know, studying the Super Bowl and realizing that Ramandre Stevenson has taken over as the guy for the Patriots, not that Trayvion Henderson doesn't still contribute, that he's not even the starter anymore. And that DeAndre Swift and Kyle Mundung guy, as it turns out, you were really in great shape with those two when none of us thought that they were. So that's where I go with this.

That was a better option than Trayvion Henderson. That turned out to be a better option. And I get it. Ashton Genti could get a lot better in the next few years. He was on a really bad team. He was a really bad team. And that is fair to mention. But he had 975 yards and five TDs.

He did that 346 yards receiving and five touchdowns. But that was another guy that there was real talk about the bears moving up to get. The Bears had a better situation than Ashton Gentiles. this year. Quinchon Judkins, another of those guys, 827 rushing. There's another dude that Bears fans were, and the Bears thought they may be interested in. How about Caleb Johnson, the Iowa kid this year? Benched, Healthy Scratch has been in his story this year. Camp Scadaboo, jury's still out. He was injured, but it feels to me, Leila, like all of those names were sexier than the names that the Bears had in DeAndre Swift and Kyle Minung guy, but the Bears kind of

to one in that regard. And then obviously having Luther Berndon, as you mentioned too, pretty good take for the Bears. Well, Travion Henderson ended up in the regular season with 911 yards and 9 touchdowns. That is more than Kyle Benangai's 783 and 5 touchdowns. But not the disparagement that you would have thought. Like you would have thought that the way the bears were talking about Trayvion Henderson, Kyle Monongai may not even play, right? But there he was.

It was also really more about the way the bears were talking about Ashton Genty at the time, that the context mattered here, that Ashton Genty was, by all accounts, someone the Bears really wanted. So then to go from the running back pick sixth overall in the draft to one that was picked in the seventh round is why this became such a discussion.

So the Bears kind of accidentally got it right. But I think it goes back to some truce about positions in the league. Like we just mentioned, running back, and this is previous to Sequin Barclay and Derek Henry signing new deals, they were considered incredibly fungible, right? Like they, you know, insert running back here. I think those of us who appreciate run games and really watch the art of it know that you're going to get, this is really getting the weeds. So if you pass more obviously as an offense, a la Kansas City at the time, then you're going to have more yards, which would therefore deem the running backyards of less. consequent, which means, like, then they would look like a more fungible position because you're getting all these yards and the running back is accounting for very few of them. That's what the

numbers will lead you to believe. But if you watch ball, then you know that the running back yards are valuable just because of time of possession, which has come back in style, see the Green Bay Packers, and then also controlling the run game the way that the offensive line does. I say all of that to say, yes, you can still find a lot of good running backs, but I do think there is a difference between a first and early second round back quality to a seventh. But I understand why it was able to work for the Bears. And it's also because they have an excellent offensive line. Yeah?

And it helped. And Menangai did his part. Okay? Okay. I mean, I'm sorry for the long-winded explanation. That was very Danny Parkins of you. I just think there are times where the statistics don't actually show, like they're not accounting for the bias in the stat result in life.

Oh, we're going to dictate here now. That life I test. Yeah. In life. Like, oh, well, the stats say this. Well, that's because you collected one sample of data and didn't control for X, Y, and Z. Number four. Stets.

Who's the biggest star of Super Bowl 60? It's Mike Ravel. For the longest answer I gave previously. Mike Brable, he's got the pedigree of the dynasty of the Patriots. He's one of the biggest names in Kobe. The only reason why he fell off as one of the biggest names in coaching was because he was in purgatory in Tennessee. Sorry, Ryan Porth. Somebody had to say it.

He knows. And as you can see, he's quotable. He has an edge to him. He's funny. He doesn't take himself seriously. I'm pretty sure he smokes just to be anti-establishment. Like, Mike Brable is, he's the one that people know the most because of his play with New England. and he's the biggest name outside of maybe Drake May,

but I think it's Mike Vrable has become the biggest star of this game. Sam Darnold just can't catch a break. Sam is living his life well. I guess, yeah. Sam is going wherever he's playing right now and he's winning. All's well that ends well for Sam, but I don't think he's the biggest star. Coaches love him and they should.

We should love him as storytellers. But I think Vrable's like the guy. I hope Vrable doesn't take himself too seriously because he was introduced as Mike Verbal last night. at the NFL. Which made me think of NERMAL from Garfield. Oh, yeah. I have a friend named Nirmal, Nirmal Patel.

You have a friend named Nirmal? Yeah, Nirmal Patel. I didn't think it was a real name except on Garfield. No, no, I have a shot. He might be listening. I don't know. Shout out to Nirmal Patel. You know who you are.

You know who you are. I don't know why. It's one of the most sincere shoutouts I've ever heard. because I'm trying not to like give away his, there's lots of Nerval Patels, right? There are a lot of Patels. Yes, there are. It's a very popular name that is.

It's like Smith in India. Who's the biggest name? Yeah, Mike Verbal is definitely a big name at it. My question, I don't know. Is it maybe Drake may? See how you have to say maybe. Yeah, you're right. You're right.

You got to kind of dumb it down a little bit for these guys. But if you were starting to, team, would you want Drake May or Sam Darnold as your quarterback? I was going to ask that to Florea. Yeah, bonus question. I'm turning this question into a bonus question. Okay, so let's just break it down to basics again. Drake May is younger.

So in the NFL, where 30 is a curse, you have to go with the younger QB? Sam Darnold 30? No, I'm just saying, like, the older you get, the worse it gets. That's what I guess I'd need to know. Sam Darnold is 28. 28. Yeah. He turns 29 in June.

Yeah. Yeah, but you know a quarterback. So that's probably what? Another seven prime really good years. So that's tough. I feel like the answer is probably Drake May, but maybe this is us as a sports society doubting Sam Darnel. Like he gets doubted.

Minnesota doubted him. What about Stefan Diggs? Stefan Diggs is pretty good. He's with Cardi B. That's a pretty good. Minnesota miracle. Yes. Yes.

we're going to have to do the over-under on how many times we will see Cardi B's got to get hers, right? Guys, can we think of 847, Richard here, who said, Layla, stop talking so much. There are two other hosts. Let them speak from time to time.

Marshall speak up over there. Marshall? Marshall? Mars Hall. You know what? FM was overwhelming for Marshall. He had to take the day off. Talk radio, yeah.

Talk radio listener doesn't want people to talk. We're not not talk. We're not not talk radio. We're talk radio. Talk, talk, talk radio. Poor man listening to woman. Just can't just can't handle it sometimes. You poor thing.

Could Joey Lane be one of the... Would you want to listen to your wife instead? I bet that might be a better suggestion. Maybe it's a woman who text. His name is Richard. He texted. Oh, he did. He also texted there are two other costs.

I think he meant hosts. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. Oh, man. C6 Rios says May's overrated. For Abel's the biggest star. Yeah. What about the owner of the Patriots? Is he actually the biggest star?

Oh, we didn't think of that. Bob Kraft. That's the biggest star. Love them or hate him? Bob, you know who you are. My guy, Nerville Fettel, man. Well, we know who we are because we're on FM. We're on 104.3, the score, baby.

And here's the final question. What are you making for the Super Bowl? Instant pot, Koso Mac and Cheese. Hey, Layla, what are you making for the Super Bowl? Always, right? I'm not making Instant Pot mac and cheese. I've told you about this, Mark.

Yes. I have a steak left over in my freezer. Yeah, you did. From Second City Prime. Mm-hmm. And I've been saving it for a special occasion. Okay. It was Valentine's Week.

And you guys know I'm single because I hate everyone. However, I think it might be time to defrost the steak. Good for you. Break it out with some broccoli, some mashed potatoes, and have myself a nice little dinner. That sounds great. Two six nights is maybe. Layla, maybe you remind Richard of his way.

I would say that any woman speaking probably reminds Richard of his wife. So yeah, steak from Second City Prime for me. It's a filet. And you know, I, you know me, I like to divide the, The meat portion in half. Medium rare? No, I'm a medium girl. Oh, six threiosis.

Fam is bringing in Al's beef. An excellent choice. Delish. I'm checking right now, actually. I ask Glenn to bring cookies. Lisa said that she's going to bring pop and drinks. If you want to coordinate, come by around. Oh, we're ordering pizzas at this party I'm going to.

I love pizza. Yeah, yeah. You missed the Rinali spread yesterday, which was incredible. I know. I feel like there's, honestly, I feel like there's a Rinali's hangover going on in these hallways today. Everybody, you guys all just kind of felt like you'd stuffed your little

faces full of pizza yesterday, and I missed it. Never enough, Grody. Never enough, Renal's. Especially, they brought this dill pickle pizza. Oh, man. You're kind of a dill pickle, you know that? Wow. I live behind a grocery store called the dill pickle as well. So look, it's all full circle.

Joe bag of pickles. Do you wear that place out, by the way, right? Oh, absolutely. Even if it's like priced more like it's not the best place to go. I live a five steps away from a 7-Eleven. It's a problem. It's a problem.

Ah, so concludes five on it. Hey, we have to talk to one of the men of the hour. The Walter Payton Man of the Year award moment was incredible last night at the NFL honors. And it is of course named in honor of Jared Payton's father. So Jared Payton joins us next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie.