Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It & Herb Howard talks Bears (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

In the third hour, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Bigs Media personality Herb Howard discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment. After that, Howard previewed the Bears’ offseason. Where do they need to get better? What moves does he expect them to make?

This hour is brought to you by Jule Osco. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it. Number one. It's five on it on 104-3, the score with Lailoraheimie, Marshall Harris.

And we have a special guest in the house, Herb Howard, from the Biggs Media. You know him. The Bears reporter, you follow his content at Herb Howard 411 on X. Here's question number one. CBS Sports released its list of the NFL's top regression candidates, and the bears are right at the top of it. The reason the bears don't have the cap space to maintain continuity in the defensive backfield. So here's the question on a scale of 1 to 10 on the worry meter, trademark.

Where do you rate your level of concern about the bears taking the north in 2025, only to give it back in 2026? Seven, stay scared. And that's not just because it's the Bears and that's not just because it's the NFC North. It's because of the talent in the entire division. But do I think that that means that they will regress that much? No, because I feel like the quarterback is still going to progress. And I think also you're going to be healthier most likely on the defense.

I don't know that you put together as unhealthy of a season physically as the defense had this past year. When you consider that even the guy who had the most tackled, on the team was also an injured reserve for four weeks. So I don't even need to get into the secondary issue, do I? Do you think Jalen Johnson's going to have another year where part of his groin rips off of his body? I don't. I feel like I'm tempting fate by saying all of this. But somebody, I think somebody tempted fate before me.

So I'm going to blame that person instead. So because of that, I know that they've got a lot of signings that they have to have. But I also know that they were playing without a lot of the people they expected. So I have a feeling that they won't be as. progressing as people think. Now, the threat of it is more so the fact that the Packers will get healthy. That means Michael Parsons. That means that I think Minnesota takes another step forward. How much is up to J.J. McCarthy the distance of that step? Okay. Justin Jefferson exists. So when you put that all together and not to mention the Lions, do you think the Lions missed

the playoffs two years in a row after Ben Johnson leaves? What's the likely, by itself, what's the likelihood of that. So when you consider all those things, I think there's a reason to be concerned because it's the NFL, but I don't think that it's going to be as bad based on that factor. Lions don't have to worry about that first place schedule next year. I can tell you that. Bears do. And for that, I'm putting the worry meter at an 8.5 because stay scared. Stay all the way realistic. How about that? I believe Caleb Williams is still on an upward trajectory. I believe that Ben Johnson's offense will be even better. I'll be shocked. if they're not a top three offense in 2026.

Problem is what that defense do. And I don't know what the defense is going to do. You don't know what the defense is going to do because why you want to say, hey, we know they take away the football. I know the guys on this team currently take away the football. What I don't know is who's going to be healthy next season. What is Dio Odingo Bo going to do?

What are some of these other players? What are they going to draft? What are they going to bring in? I have a lot of questions about this defense. I believe in Dennis Allen, but I believe Dennis Allen is only as good as the chess pieces that he is allotted. Yeah, I'm right there with you, Lela. It's a seven for me on the Worry Media because just a respect of the National Football League, respect for the division. There are a lot of good teams in there.

Listen, the Bears won the North this year with a two and four division record. So let's start there, right? The Detroit Lions already swept them this year. And so, you know, can they win it again? Sure, right? I'm not saying they don't have the ability to. I'm right there with you on who Coach Johnson is. on who Caleb is continuing to develop into.

I think they got good pieces all around offensively and defensively. I think also the defense won't take that regression that we're talking about because of the health, right? Kyler Gordon, I expect them to play more than two games next year or whatever it was he played this year. So I think those things will help them, but they do still have questions to figure out in terms of how they're going to consistently affect the passer, what's going to happen, that linebacker in terms of contracts and new pieces or whatever. There are some things to figure out, but I still feel really, really good about this team. but just out of respect for the National Football League and the division, my worry about them not repeating as North champions is about a seven.

Number two. In a recent piece on the NFL's top trade targets, Bleacher Report floated the idea of a Bears receiver going to the Chargers. He'd be an ideal fit because they're looking for a replacement for 34-year-old receiver Keenan Allen. If the Bears were interested in sending more to L.A., what should they get in return? So the receiver in question was DJ Moore, was it not?

DJ Moore. Yeah, so since it was DJ Moore, that's where this gets tricky. We're not the only ones discussing Moore's value to the team, Moore's value to another team perhaps, the position room that is the wide receivers room, and then also because of Moore's contract, what he would get in return. ESPN's Bill Barnwell also talked about it.

And that's the problem is, guys, think about the, the perceived value for receivers on teams of need. Like it's, they runs the gamut when it comes to what teams will trade for for receivers. I don't, I can't say that there's an expected return. The salary factors in, but then the production factors in,

but then also the prediction of, of what a wide receiver draft is going to look like comes into play. So I'd like, maybe it's because I'm biased. I think DJ more fetches more in a trade even with his salary than a third round, you know, fourth round pick. I've heard third.

I think third is a little bit better. But even that seems kind of low, doesn't it? Like, is it a third and a sixth or something along those lines? I think does DJ get you two? I think he at least gets you two, doesn't he? I don't know. I just know that whatever DJ Moore were to bring back, it's hard for me to imagine it being as valuable as his presence is for Caleb Williams

in this offense based on what we saw last season and a head coach that left you last time you saw him talking. to the assembled media talking about we need to catch the football. One thing DJ Moore does is catch the football. He arguably does it better than anybody else because he does it more often,

more frequently and at a higher rate and make some outstanding, ridiculous scraps. You can look at the last game he played where he had to visit the Blue Medical tent. Before he did that, he was grabbing balls behind his, behind him with one hand. I just think he's very valuable. So if the return is not going to be

a player and a draft pick that can help them immediately, I don't see the value unless you're just straight cutting cash. I don't think cutting cash is a good enough reason to do that. I think there's no way the Bears get better just by getting rid of him because of his contract. There's a lot of gymnastics that you know we can play with the salary cap. There are a lot of different things they can do even with his own contract. Now there's some conversation about, you know, Khalil Mack or things like that. If that's going to come back in the Chargers thing, maybe.

But I don't know that you get better by doing that. right and so for me i just think that dj more should be a member of the of the 2026 Chicago Bears i talked to him out in san francisco this past week at Super Bowl and he told me he'll he will be back in chicago for 2026 now i don't know if that's a conversation that him and ryan polls had about restructuring contracts or whatever it may be but he was like we'll be back in 2026 i certainly hope so well and just to add to that i i think he has the most value with the bears just based on on that and the fact that they did want to pay him that money. Barnwell said a middle round pick would be a realistic return,

but the real benefit might be freeing up the $24.5 million in 2026 cash. I just can't see there's too many contracts that have years remaining where you can do too much in that department, Herb, rather than to just trade away DJ more and get not enough value for him. And it's a big assumption on the projections of Luther Burden, of Roma Dunzee, of Coast and Levin. I know we all feel great about them. I do as well.

but he's probably your most proven commodity at the wide receiver position. I don't know that we get him out of here to save a few bucks. Number three. It's five on it on 104.3, the score with Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Herb Howard of the Bigs Media. Here's question number three. What is the biggest weakness of the Cubs right now? I think the biggest weakness of the Cubs right now is we still don't know how they're going to entirely replace

Kyle Tucker's bad. Kyle Tucker was so important to not just the league and the Dodgers, but it has become a tipping point as to whether or not we might have a season next year. So when you consider that importance and the value that the rest of the league places on him and what he brought to this team, and we're still trying to figure out who's going to be in right field on a regular basis, who's going to be the DH on a regular basis, if there even is a regular basis,

then I think that gives you an indication that the offensive problems, at least for me, are far from solved and far from guaranteed. So for me, I had to really think about this one because there's a lot of different things that I am concerned about, right? And so I read the question and I read it again. I was like, what's their actual biggest weakness right now? I think the weaknesses, they play in the same freaking league as Shohei Otani and the Dodgers. He took it mad, I swear.

Because listen, if they were in the American League, I'm like, hey, y'all, I see y'all. I see y'all in the World Series because I like the way this Cubs team is built and I like the idea that they're adding on even more as the season goes on. But as long as they play on the same side as the Los Angeles Dodgers, I'm sorry, man.

Every time I look at that lineup, I'm just like, what you're going to? You need Terrick Scuba and then you need another big bat. It's like you need to have a super lineup and a super bullpen and a super starting rotation like the Dodgers. The Dodgers have all that stuff.

I take this question. what's the biggest weakness of the Dodgers right now? And you know what? They ain't got no weaknesses. Right. That's your problem for the Cubs. It's the Dodgers. It's not really the Cubs don't have this.

The Cubs don't have that. They don't have the star power that the Dodgers have. They don't have the lineup. They don't have the hitters. They don't have the field. Like they just don't have it, right? And they're good and they'll be competitive. And they probably win the century.

Like it's all that's cool. But at the end of the day, can they overcome that team out? No, they cannot. That's their biggest problem. I mean, they could in theory because anything can happen. People can get hurt. Too big to fail. The Blue Jays almost beat them, okay?

Almost. And then the Dodgers was like, okay, we're done playing. We'll go ahead and win these last couple and get y'all out of here. No. Dang. No. And I'm the one saying the same thing you're saying, but you're saying it's so much more just, ah. That's very definitive for me.

The Bears can go as far as the NLCS. And if they run into the Dodgers, that will be the end. Man. Number four, should Blazers Guard Damian Lillard be allowed in the All-Star weekend three-point shootout? What are we doing? We ain't seen Dame Lillard on a court since I don't even know how long. I mean, he hasn't even played a game yet for the Portland Trail Blazers in his return. And you want to trot this man out here talking about Dame time in the All-Star three-point shootout?

No. No, he should not be played. What is this? I know you're desperate NBA to make your All-Star weekend a thing. You're out here trying to make Fetch happen yet again. And yet I look at Dame and I'm like, y'all, this is about the corpse of Damien Lillard. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You all want to see it their body?

Do you remember the last time you saw Damien Lillard to play basketball? No. He had a surgery on May 2nd. That was nine months ago. Is he going to play basketball this year? I probably because, well, I don't know. Yeah, because the season ends. Okay.

Well, I'm not as mad about it as you are because that's what Damia Liller does and shoot threes. The other piece of this is like, if there's one thing I've learned about February 2026, it's a lot of people trying to fight science. Not just the obvious in your life and in non-sports. Let's just go with sports. Lindsay Vaughn. Lindsay Vaughn's like, I have a torn ACL, but I'm going to try downhill skiing in the Olympics anyway. fighting science. We were all intrigued. We were all hanging on every move and practice run that happened.

And unfortunately, it didn't end well for her. So Damia Lillard's out here trying to fight the concept of an Achilles messing with you. Nine months afterward, I think you can do light contact. You just can't do NBA stuff. Yeah, I've ruptured my Achilles and I had that surgery. I'm certainly no world-class athlete and I don't have the trainers and all that that Damien Lillard has. but I think there's some concern about him, you know, being fully engaged, going around the arc and lifting up and exploding off the ground. What is it, six balls each track? Like you're talking about five each track. Five each rack.

So 25 times he's got to explode up off the ground like that. I'm concerned about him as much as anything. But also the NBA just knock it off. Like this, do away with the All Star Weekend or whatever. Just making a few parties and some awards or whatever it's going to be because it's absolute foolishness. The players don't play. I'm a little intrigued by what Katie said.

And maybe that sparks some competition. this week. But bringing back a player who hasn't played is, it's pure, pure foolishness. Can I tell you all something? The contestants here are Con Cinniple, Lillard, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Tyrese, Maxie, Norman Powell, Bobby Portis, Jr. As of right now, as I'm looking at this, payouts to win, he's second behind Cinnipple in the odds on. Yeah, no. I can't believe that. in the, because it's Damia Lillard. Jamal Murray's shopliver,

Donovan Mitchell's chopliver, Devin Booker's shopliver? No, but I think it's just because they know him to be so good at this. And you're right, I didn't think about the act of actually jumping, but it's still nine months after the Achilles. It's not like it was...

I'm sure he'll be fine, but it's a little concerning to me. Me too. Number five. Bobby Portis is in it? Bobby Portis Jr.? I think Bobby Portis leaves the NBA in three-point percentage.

I didn't realize. That sounds about right. He's on my fantasy team. That sounds right. You have fewer bulls on your fantasy team. Now I do because they all got traded. That too. Five on it on 104.

Three, the score here's question number five. Do you have any interest in this year's MacMachlanlis NBA slam dunk contest? Okay. Yeah, because it's the slam dunk contest and I care about the slam dunk contest still. I'm sorry. Like, I don't know what to tell you. Like, I still watch. I just still watch.

Watch this stuff. Maybe it's not with the same intent, but I'm still curious. The contest has Carter Bryant, Jackson Hayes, Koshad Johnson, and Jesse Richardson. I like Jackson Hayes' chances. Is that wrong? I think he's a good end-game dunker. Unfortunately, we saw it against the Bulls as well. That guy can rip some explosive dunks, so I care, even though Backbook Klung is not in it.

Let me tell you why Jackson Hayes is not going to win the slam dunk contest. He's seven feet tall. Whatever he does is not going to look very impressive. Have you seen him dunk in a game? Yes, guess what? It's in a game. People like seeing people get dunked on in the game. You're not dunking on anyone in the slam dunk contest.

He doesn't always pull someone out. He ducked on the bulls in the game? No, that's not the same as having someone jump up and try to block you. Didn't he do it between the leg against the dunk? Yes. Against the bulls in the game? He did do it between the legs because he's seven feet tall, so it's a lot. shorter to get to the rim at seven feet tall.

Basketball favors tall people. Not slam dunk contests do not, though, because when you're in a slam dunk contest, the shorter you are, the more impressive and electric you look going up to do the thing you do. Think Nate Robinson. Think Spud Webb. Oh, Spud Webb. Nate Robinson. Meanwhile, there's this guy, his name is Jace Richardson with the Orlando Magic.

He's got a 38-inch vertical leap. He's only 6'1. He could be the dude, Kashad Johnson, 6'5 off the Miami Heat. he could be the dude. And since there's only four guys, I'll go ahead and tell you about Carter Bryant, six foot six with a 39.5 inch vertical. And it's interesting because Brian only has seven dunks all year because he's a rookie.

Well, also, like, wasn't Stefan Castle in it last year? Like, yes. Why can't he be the spur in it again? So was modest. And we saw how that way.

But the spurs are represented. It's just not by the guy I thought it would be. You want Victor? No, it's Castle. Oh, Castle. Yeah, he's shorter. Remember one of the superstars of the NBA used to do the dunk contest?

That's too long ago. It's too long ago. MacKloan, he came through and he electrified everybody with his dunks. He wasn't even in the NBA. And now that opens the door for Damien Lillard, who also is not currently in the NBA. We're playing in the NBA. So Matt McCluck is the gateway drug? Yeah.

So now it's just like pulling people out of the street. I heard you got a 50-inch vertical, sir, at Starbucks. I do. Would you like? Yes, I would. Thank you. Now, I will say this. At least Matt McClung has played an NBA game this season.

We just saw one recently. He played, uh, who? was that against? Milwaukee. Milwaukee. They were gearing up for the dunk contest and he's like, oh, no. No dunks in that game, though, for Mac McLough. Dude, poor Mac Mac McLung, he was like, I'm going to play downhill.

You're playing downhill in the NBA. When you step into the paint, that ball might get turned over. It's so watered down now. And I also think we've seen all the dunks, too. All the dunks? Well, at what point did the dunk contest jump the shark for you? Like, prop-wise, plot-wise. Like, what was the dunk that set you off?

Like your old man's sensibilities, because I know you have them, despite being younger than the two of us. I don't know. When they start, like, bringing cars on the court, it was, like, weird then. My favorite goes back to, like, Vince Carter's dunk contest. I was, like, the last time I really, like, loved it, loved it. Then Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard had some good ones. MacKlellan, he bought back the energy. I'm not saying he didn't.

He brought back the energy to it, but it's just like. You know what, ruined the dunk contest? Social media ruined the dunk contest because you have professional dunkers out here. Yeah. dunking and doing crazy dunks that NBA players can't even do. I cannot with you. I cannot with you. Like,

are you, you would have never said, and won tour on ESPN2 ruined basketball because they don't play defense or something. You can make the argument. No! I'm not, I view this on the air up there.

Like, you sound like, I'm like, don't forget our roots as 90s basketball fans. I know the roots, but what I'm saying is back then, it wasn't as easy to just open your phone and see like the greatest dunk ever. Now you're desensitized to what really goes into making a dunk great.

Why don't they get the 5-5 cat from Shaq's dunk league? Shaq has the Dunk League thing they do every week. And then the 5-5 dude jumped over Shaq. And so like that exists. So the NBA All-Star Weekend dunk contest is not going to be as good as these professional dunkers. If you say social media ruin the dunk contest, I have very bad news for you from Variety.com. for the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.

The league is hosting over 200 content creators and influencers to drive digital engagement. Yeah, I'm aware of that. Got more. One of those guys is Jared McCain. That's why he's in the celebrity three-point shootout as opposed to the, you know, the one with the league that he's actually in. Dude, everybody's saying Zach Levine and Aaron Gordon, I love you guys. I love you all.

And I want to basketball marry you this weekend because it's Valentine's Day, because you're correct. That was the best. That was the best dunk contest. Aaron Gordon, it was the one here where Aaron Gordon got robbed. Aaron Gordon was amazing at the dunk contest here. He was. And who did, I said this the other day and I forgot who he lost to.

Aaron Gordon, dunk contest, 2020. Lala. Oh, was Derek Jones, what? No. Yeah, Derek Jones, June. Yeah, he won. So, like, and. Long and Lenke.

Lunacris himself said that night in a concert. that Aaron Gordon got robbed. And Ludo was correct. Yeah, he was. And he was really nice, Aaron Gordon, like out and about at NBA All-Star. I hated it for him for personal reasons and for professional reasons.

Aaron, every man, Gordon, getting it done. Just a very nice person who busted his ass on that court, didn't get what he deserved. And that's no offense to Derek Jones, Jr. It's the principal of the thing. Okay, fine. We'll go to break, I guess. We have a lot of questions for her.

Would you like to first and foremost, most importantly. Did you hear our halftime segment? No. Oh, good. Oh, okay. Too long to explain. We'll talk to you about during the break.

We need to go over some Bears' housekeeping items with you. Like what we were talking about with, I think Clay Harbor yesterday, like what you think may be the biggest cap casualty, things of that nature, and also your Super Bowl experience. Because Herb got to go. He's wearing the jacket to prove it. So we'll talk to Herb about all the hot gossip he got from Super Bowl week as well. Next.

Biggs. Herb Howard is joining us. Herb Howard is here from the Biggs. Herb immediately showed he was going to be somebody asking meaningful questions. He's going to ask a question that everyone else in the room is going to want to know the answer to. What then happens that they can't get out and get snapped before them? It's a great question. Well, thank you so much, Herb, for joining us. This has been a lot of fun. It's always fun with you guys. You are absolutely amazing. I listen to you guys when you don't invite me. So it's really good. It's so fun with Herb that we were having a lovely time just now, talking about old school cash money music. Mani Fresh.

That's my love language. You know that. Cash money is my love language, Ray. Manny Fresh is the man. He's the man. No doubt. He is. It's just they're hard to top, okay?

They're the millionaires. I don't hang out with the billionaires, but I'll hang out with the cash money millionaires. Not the cash money billionaires, though. Herb and I were both at the cash money reunion concert at UIC. That was a great show. It was. It had the locks. Like, I was happy that Jay did end styles and then.

was there like you can't be BG just got out of jail BG had just got out I was hoping Wayne was there he wasn't but Credit Union one arena Yeah Okay yeah I know the vibes It was a good time

People were dancing My first concert that I ever went to When I was in eighth grade It was juvenile and the cash money Millionaires and it was It was at the like UIC Pavilion or something like that Eighth grade back that thing up

That's right Okay I was at least No I was not 18 when back that thing I came out actually. Oh, well, we survived. Yeah, we're good.

You were an 18 when back that thing, Kim? I think I was probably like, 14, 15, I don't know. I can't do the math off the top of my head right now. Wait, yes, I can. Cash money taking over for the 9-9-2000. It was 992,000.

I was like 40. 19-98 is what year. Yeah, I was not 18. I'm old. That's all I heard. I don't want to probably admit that I was dancing to the song before that age.

Way to bust up my spot. Oh, well, my first. bad. It was what it was. Well, to this day, you hear that beat drop and it's like, it's funny how when the beat drops, you look around, these women act like they can't control their bodies. They can't.

It's like, oh, I'm trying. Wait, isn't that a, is that a, avid elementary scene? Oh, that's how they got, Cheryl Lee Ralph? Not Cheryl. No, not Cheryl Lee, Ralph. The principal? Yes.

Was it the principal? Janelle James, is that? I don't watch that show enough and I'm sad about it. And now I'm like, they're in too far and I can't catch up. I will never be able to catch up. It's like Game of Thrones.

I never watch it because like I would have I spend the rest of my life catching up. The principal, Ava Coleman gets on like the straight narrow and then they're like, we got to get her back to how she used to be and they play that song. And they just drop that. It's going to bring it back every single time. That's a good on a day like this

where people think it's warmer than it is just because of relativity. If you were just outside, since it's nice and sunny and you play that song, would people just come up and start dancing. I say yes. I do believe so. One quick note.

I know we're moving on, but go ahead and hit Tyler. This part, that little intro, Yes. Mani Fresh intentionally, I heard in an interview, I heard him say he intentionally put that little intro to let people know like, oh, this song is coming. Hit the dance floor. You might want to get to the dance floor as soon as possible.

Because Maddie is a genius. Yeah. I'm believing it at that. Yeah. All right. Other other disputes. talk that is not as easily agreed upon as the cash money crew's greatness as the bears. We talked a lot this week about like some of the cap casualties. Kevin Fishbane wrote an article

about it. I know you've talked about it. Shout out to fish. Yeah, it's been something on people's minds. Like we just discussed it. DJ Moore might not be the guy you trade because it wouldn't make a lot of sense. But unfortunately, the money makes you think about it because they need to free out money the bears. There's a lot of restructuring they can do. The cap is going to go up. Sure. You know, who do you think it might be an odd man now? in this scenario next year? The first person that jumps out to me would be Tremaine Emmons, right?

Just look at his contract and, you know, the lack of guaranteed money left on it. And then how could they replace him, right? And I think that Tremaine Emmons had a really, really good season. I think he's a really, really good player. And I was joking with Brian Erlacher about this out of Super Bowl. Like, bro, the reason

that people look at Tremay Emmons and they're like, he's okay. He's the spinners. Like, it's because of you. Like, y'all did this stuff. You and Mike Singletary and Dick Buckets and Bill. Like, y'all did this to all the middle linebackers or linebackers in general coming through Chicago as a bear not right now because the standard is just too high.

Tremaine Evans is a really good football player, but because he's not 54 or 50, people were like, he's trash. It's so funny you say this because I know you talked to 54 when you were out there. I said that to him. And he kind of was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, he had major pushback to the idea that Tremaine Edmonds was not worth the money, right? No, he's like paying the money. He likes Tremantz.

I'm like, I do too. But the reason he's in these types of conversations is because of you, sir. You did this to him. Yeah, you're right about that, though. Because, like, we talked about him yesterday. I was like, he's the bear. He was the, by the numbers and the eye test, he was because people were injured too. Even he was injured.

He was still the bear's most productive linebacker this season. The tackles didn't lie. He led the league or he led the team in the regular season tackles. And then he goes down and then, yep. He had four interceptions. And, of course, a bubble recovery. problem in the red zone. It's hard to navigate his height, his length, his athleticism.

That's a tough problem for quarterback since the field gets tighter down and around the red zone. But you also look at what happened when he went out. And then DeMarco Jackson comes in. He's got 15 tackles and 14 tackles. And it's like, well, we can just plug and play now. So it's okay. So we can get rid of him. It's like, all right, be careful. Be careful. Yeah, I like the DeMarco Jackson piece as a backup,

as a quality if your guy gets hurt because people get hurt in the NFL. It happens. But what happens when DeMarco Jackson? and if you go the route of he's going to be the guy. And I don't think he would even be the guy necessarily if they got rid of Tremaine Edmonds. But if he gets hurt, now you're on that next level linebacker. And that's when linebacker becomes more than just something

you don't think about to a problem. I know they still have high hopes about Ruben Hippolyte and, you know, Noah Sewell, he's got his Achilles. You know, he's going to be coming back whenever he can. I think they feel good about their young linebackers, but it's also like about being able to have proven production out on the field, right now. Who keeps offensive coordinators up at night? Who you have to scheme for?

And I don't know that you get rid of Tramaine, then you have that without going outside of the team to then replace it. So if not Tremaine, then who? Or are you saying they don't need to cut anyone? They can just restructure away and figure it out. Listen, that's Ryan Paul's job to figure out. He's got to figure out.

Tremaine, they can't restructure. They don't have to extend them to restructure. Yeah, they don't have to extend them. I mean, he's just got the one year left. So, listen, I think this is a completely new challenge for Ryan Paul's. And I asked him that at his end of season press conference. Like how do you go into an offseason where now you're tasked with completing a roster to compete for it? Versus versus, you know, starting it out, which is where he's been for the most part.

And he said the challenge is going to be there's just more restrictions. And these are the restrictions that he's speaking of. How do we go about figuring out how to fill the holes that we need and also do so in a fiscally responsible way when they're already kind of cash strapped against the salary cap and they've already heavily invested in positions where they need to reinvest. So you look at the defensive line. It's like, well, they need to invest in the defensive line. True, indeed. They need to be better there.

But Montez makes $100 million. You just gave Dio all that money. You gave Grady Jared a healthy contract. Like, you invested in that position. You drafted in there in the second round last year. Like, you've invested in that position already. And it's not producing what you want. Do you just throw more cash at that problem?

Would you like some info for the team here today? Would you like to hear about an old friend? Who's at? Okay, we'll call it breaking news. Breaking news on the score is brought to by the Take the North podcast. Because we said so. This is according to Adam Schaefter. The bills have hired John Fox as a senior assistant coach.

Wait, what? Say what? It's all a problem. How do you feel about that, Marshall Harris? Carlos Santos. What? The who hired John Fox? Your team, the Buffalo Bills.

Have you heard of the bills? Say what now? Hey, that stadium looks amazing, by the way. Oh, don't start with me. It does. It looks great. It's like a wider open at the top Texas Stadium. So this is real news now.

You got me going on Twitter. It's the real Adam Schaefter, yeah. Carlos Santos. Like what? Oh, yeah. Senior assistant coach. That's a title title. Like that pays you some money in the league, doesn't it?

Yeah? I just... Gray's laughing and I can hear him for a soundproof glass with headphones on. Did they put... Did John Fox prove that he was past like it's over for him?

I thought he proved he didn't even care anymore. Like that's what I'm saying. Like that you don't care anymore. Isn't it over for you? No, no, you guys know how this goes. When you don't care, that's what everybody wants to pay you. It's just like office space. Wow.

Did they force that on Joe Brady? Like, did they tell me had to get a guy like that? it's like we need you get someone to Was Bill Belichick not available? Did they Bill Polly in this? We're like Bill Pollyans Tell him you gotta get somebody With experience in here.

I don't like this guy I don't think that's how Bill Pollyan sounds I'm just making that up. You don't like this? It's just one guy. He's not the head coach. What if he just hangs out? Tell stories.

Isn't that what he did at the end of his bear senior? No, he didn't tell us a lot. The post conference has got to be out. He was talking about the pet monkey. He was talking about the pet monkey. he had growing up all the way. That was earlier, wasn't it?

That was earlier in his tenure? Oh, was it? Oh, I feel like by the end of it, he was no longer interesting in coaching football. And it was just like, I'm just collecting the check until they tell me to get out of here. You know, a lot of times on the outside, it's crisis or carnival. Well?

Yeah, that. Is you wrong? It's not wrong. I don't love that news for the Buffalo Bills or any team in particular at this point of John Fox's. career. I think on behalf of securing the bag and continuing to do so in efficient ways,

I give John Fox a thumbs up. Shout out to him. Yeah, that's pretty impressive work. So I like that a lot. He's not as old as I thought he was, too. I was like, is John Fox in his late 70? No, he's only 71. Oh, okay.

He's a young man. 71 is young in the NFL coaching. He's like the Kirk Cousins of Coaches the way he's just finessing bags out here. Kirk Couss can still get out there and win you a game. I don't know that John Fox. can win you a game. Kirk Pouss might be going back to Minnesota.

Yeah, I don't know how I felt about that. You were at Super Bowl. Yeah. Kirk was there. I know he was kind of making the rounds. Will you tell us about your experience out at San Francisco for Super Bowl week? No, I was super cool. A lot of good work we got done.

Shout out to the whole team at the Biggs, man. We got a lot of good work done. And then we had a lot of good time just hanging out. It was great weather out there. It's about 65, 70 every day. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping and it was beautiful. Well, before you get into it,

We're up against a commercial break. So let's ask you what, like, stood out to you, what were some of the conversations you had? You mentioned Brian Erlacker. So we'll do all that next. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. It's third and one.

Here's a shotgun snap to May and a sidearm delivery. Got it to his running back, Henderson, who takes it by McPield. Down in here, sideline, 40, down the near, sideline 35, tap it at the 30. The clock is ticking two, one, and that's it. And the Seattle Seahawks of one Super Bowl 60. In pretty dominating fashion.

29, 13, big win their second Vince Lombardi Trophy. That is Kevin Harlan on Westwood One. Impossible to concentrate with this song. This is Reimi Harris and Grody on 104.3, the score. Herb Howard from the Biggs Media is here. joining us in studio. And I'm dying laughing at all these texts on the text line. Maybe John Fox can hire Mattieber Fluse as the junior assistant at Go.

That's good. The 2010's called. They want their coach back. This is the equivalent of the White Sox bringing in Tony LaRusa. Like everybody's going on. I mean, he's not in charge and charge. He's just an assistant. He's just a senior assistant.

He's not in charge in charge. He's definitely a senior assistant, though. Does this mean the Bears? get compensatory picks for John Fox one text or something. I mean, the jokes, they just write themselves with this news. In the meantime, Herb did talk about going to

the Super Bowl. You were there as part of the media, the contingent, the content machine. What were your experiences like? What was some of the gossip you got? I know we mentioned your conversation with Brian Erlacker. What was it like out there? I told this to Lawrence and Speigs last

week, but the thing that describes Radio Row the best to me was I walked in the door and one day I walk in the door, the first person I see is Flay or Flay. And then the very next person I see is Barry Sanders. And it's like you got this loud, obnoxious dude and then you got the most mild manner temperamental dude ever. And it's like, that's what Radio Row is. You run into all-time great athletes and then you run into like just superstar, socialites,

entertainers or whatever. And it's just like, what is this place and how is it all happening in the same space? Like why is Barry Sanders and Flavre Flav in the same room right behind each other? What is this? And I think that kind of encompassed what it was all about. But there was a lot of good work to get done. You kind of just kind of float around and you bump into people. And one thing turns into another.

I was talking to Cal Long when I had the thing with Brian Erlacker. I was talking to Cal Long. And then my back is to where Brian Erlacker's coming from. But I see Cal Long get distracted by somebody. And then he got kind of like shoulder bumps. And I look over and it's Brian Erlacker. And they say something. I'm like, well, Brian Locker's here.

Bring him into the conversation and shout out to Kyle Long because he just, he immediately like turned into his own kind of reporter journalist and he's like, he brings him in and he's holding the mic for him. Like, Kyle, you're a man, bro. So I saw Cal Long the next day, the next morning I walking there. And I'm like, Kyle, what up? He's like, hurry, be like the video going crazy on Twitter. I was like, yeah, I saw it.

I saw you reposted it. He was like, man, we got to do some more stuff. I was like, cool, cool, cool. So just those types of experiences is kind of what it was like for us. the bigs out at Radio Road. So my question for you is, through the lens of a Bears fan, what do you think was the most pertinent information that you got while you were out there?

DJ saying that he will be back. I mean, that was one of the biggest questions, you know, since that Rams game ended, what's going to happen with DJ Moore? Should he be back? Do people want him back? Should you trade him? Is it the contract?

Is it the fact that, oh, they lost the game because of DJ, which is complete foolishness. We had that conversation. And, you know, he agreed that it was. complete foolishness. You can find that video on the Biggs Media YouTube page. I was going to ask you, how did he react to, because he knew the question was coming, right? Oh, yeah. He knows, like, David, he's admitted. He sees what happens on social media. So he knows everybody's asking what happened, what happened, what happened. All that from just

like, you know, miscommunication. It seemed very like anti-clamatic. Yeah, I mean, I thought the whole conversation was just kind of unfair to DJ. I mean, DJ shows up. He answered the bells every single, answer the bell every single week. He's tough. He's made, he made two of the most dramatic, you know, iconic catches in Bears' history against the Packers in, you know, in

two or three weeks or whatever. And it's like, then you go and put the loss on him. It's like, that's crazy. But whatever on that part, but I just want to know, you know, his desire to be back. Do you even want to be back? What's going to be your role if there are some trade talks? Are you going to push back on those? Are you going to lean into

those types of things? And he just kind of gave me that DJ smile and said, we'll be back. We'll be back in 2026. Like I was saying earlier, I don't know if that's a conversation that he's had with Ryan Pohl's or a restructure thing or whatever, but that was the biggest thing that I got for him. Also, DeAndre Swift told me he doesn't even want to play anywhere else. He's like, I don't want to play anywhere else, man. I've really enjoyed my time here.

He was very, very grateful of an experience with E.B. With Coach Eric B. Enemy, who's obviously now gone back to Kansas City. But Dre was like, yeah, I don't even want to play anywhere else. Well, and he's in a contract year. So that's a big deal. Like he'll be a free agent after next season. Yeah, he'll be highly motivated there. I've heard some talks about, you know,

the Bears could save like $7.4 million or something like that. If he leaves like, and do what? Like you're going to save the 7.4 and then you're going to do what? You've still got to pay a running back, right? Or like, I'm as much of a fan of common on guys than anybody else. You're going to leave him back there by itself? You got to pay somebody. So what are you going to do with the 7.4 that you save if you get rid of Dre?

So it's like, that doesn't make sense to me. he'll be highly motivated in the contract year, like you said, Laila. So bring Dre back, bring DJ back. Let's keep this thing going. Did you did talk at all about why you guys didn't get to talk to him when they had locker clean out day? Because that was rare for him. He's usually around.

I didn't ask him, but my assumption was just that he was annoyed with the conversation. Because, I mean, he just didn't come in there. It's not like the bears like he's not available. He just didn't come in there. But, you know, to be completely honest, there were like 10 people in that. that locker room. He wasn't the only one that wasn't there. Everybody wanted to talk to him, so you noticed his absence, but there was like 10 people there in the locker room. So a lot of people that were missing that day. But if I was DJ, I wouldn't have wanted to talk either because

the whole conversation about this magical season ending because of something I did or didn't do when really I'm as big a reason why this was a magical season as anybody, knock it off. Go talk to somebody else. Also, Rochon Johnson will still be there next year if you in case you wonder who's Shout out to Rosham. But he backed up Bijon Robinson. Which is probably why the backup running back didn't matter as much at Texas either. But don't worry about that part. Yeah, the conversation around Roshin when he got drafted was extreme.

Robust. It was like it's going to be Gail Sairs and Walter Payton and Malfortet and then Roshan Zosson. It was like, oh, okay, cool. It was. And it was the whole like, well, I mean, he had to back up Bijon Robinson. But we never thought about the flip side to that, which was. Well, maybe back-up running back doesn't matter as much when you have Bejohn Robinson. Or just like, what did you see?

Like, what did you see to make you think he's going to be the next great Bears running back? On the tape. Like, what did you see? Like, Bejohn's getting all the carries. He got his opportunities. He looks fine. I was happy to have him as a fourth round running back. And he's a fine.

He's cool. But, like, the conversation was just wild. Sometimes we get carried away. We do. Well, we also just, you know how it is. you fall in line to the bigger entity. You're like, okay, well, they're scouting more than I am. You're not watching baseball games,

while they're doing a lot of the scouting. And if there was something that stood out to them that they saw, well, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Yeah. Herb. Bired is back next season. I feel like you get name checked by Ryan Poles on the way out the door, and you say that you want to come back. Kevin Beyer will be a bear next season.

Who else is going to be back there with him, is my question. I don't think it'll be Jaquine. I think KB comes back. I don't think Jaquan comes back. I think the market for Jaquan will be higher than where the Bears placed it. I think good on Jaquan

for putting, in my opinion, his very best game on tape in his last game, nationally televised, everybody's watching it and he's out there bawling. He's getting sacks,

he's getting PbUs, he's making tackles all over the place. Shout to Jaquan. I love Jaquan, one of my favorite players on the team. He's going to get paid. I don't think it's going to be here. Tyreek Stevenson?

Yeah, Tyreek will be back. He's still under contract. I think that's the reason, as much of a reason why Nishon won't be back. Nishon earned himself some money. He's not going to get it here. Shout out to Nishon. I think it's a great story. He took advantage of his opportunity that came with Jalen's absence and led the league in takeaways.

And he's earned himself a handsome payday. It's not going to come here. It's not going to come here because of Tarek. And also you get Smitty coming back. Terrell Smith is coming back off his injury. The bear still want to know what they have in Zay. They got to figure those types of things out, Frasier. I don't think

Nichol comes back but Rick will be here. I think Rick it's probably the pencil then starter creon, not crayon pencil den starter

right now. Crayon works too it's hard to get out. The wax the wax can't remove so that's more like a permanent ink style. Do you think that

whatever the question was surrounding his snaps against the lions and then against the Packers do you think that that will factor into how they view his role next season? Because we never really got an answer

as to why his playing time was limited in those two games. Yeah, I got asked that a lot around that time. And to me, it just was very simple. As long as I've been watching football, there's two outside corners. And unless you're like developing some young player, a rotation isn't really a real thing. You're working back Jalen, so they had a bit of a rotation then. But once they felt Jalen was ready to play, you know, 90, 95% of the snaps, there wasn't

going to be a rotation. Then the question just becomes, who do you think your other best corner is? And at the time, it was clearly Nasharn Wright. I talked to Coach Al Harris about this even prior to Jalen coming back. Like, what's going to happen when Jalen comes back? And he said, listen, you look at the ball production of Nishar Wright. How do you take that off the field? I was like, I don't think you should.

I'm just asking you what's going to happen. He's like, well, you've got to leave that type of ball production on the field. And I think that's all it was. You got two outside corners. You got your slot corner. Neither one of those three guys that play outside and play inside for real. He was the outman out. It was just that simple for me.

I don't think he did anything wrong or there was some tumultuous things going on behind the scenes. You got two outside corners. He wasn't one of the top two at that time as far as the coaches felt. He wasn't going to play. Okay, so we slated you for an hour, but I hear you're interested in what Kevin Durant had to say about All-Star. I think Kevin Durant might be saving All-Star. Okay. You want to join us for the next segment?

I'm down to hang out. Because we have some All-Star nuggets that include not only Kevin Durant, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Mac McClung. And wait until you hear what Mac McClug had to say about the dunk contest. So we'll do that with Herb next.