Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It & Phil Mackey talks Vikings' quarterback room (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

In the third hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment. After that, Skor North host Phil Mackey joined the show to discuss the Vikings signing quarterback Kyler Murray and to break down the NFC North outlook.

It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3 to score. I got five on it. Okay, thank God. Me too Green is not dead. I got caught because Clarence Hill,

who I've followed for years and is the longtime Dallas Cowboys reporter of many years over 20 at least. Sorry, Clarence to have to date you there. I follow Clarence. Friend of the show. He's been on the show. Yeah, he usually doesn't get caught.

He's alive. He got caught. Thank God, man. That was too much. Chuck Norris and Mean Joe Green in a day? Let's celebrate the life of Mean Joe Green for the rest of today, shall we? I'm pretty sure that that's, is it, how much money to the afternoon show say goes in the jar for killing people? Do I have to put $50 in the jar?

I guess we get the answer during transition with Spiegel and Holmes. And why did I just name a price? That seems self, self, like that makes it worse. Like, what if I just said a dollar? Would it have been a dollar? Nope, now you owe 50. There is some also good breaking news. Bleacher Nation says they've high.

Tony and Drackey to write about the Cubs. Nice. Love Tony. I guess you guy. And Jacob Zinola. So congratulations to those guys. And that is real. But thank God. Yeah. Only so much I can take today. We're so happy to have you still, mean Joe. Now you must tackle us all.

Who said, who fell for your hoax? That's the punishment. Get mean with us. Number one. I will not have a Coke and a smile. I will have a Diet Coke and winks. In shame. And here we are. Welcome to Five on it. 104 through the score.

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris. Here's question number, oh, Marshall Harris. Mark Grody. Marshall Harris was in the morning show with Gabe Ramirez. So it's Layla and Grotty today. Question number one, according to Fox 32, a new proposal would transform Soldier Field with a roof, more seating, and a surrounding entertainment district to make it a year-round venue. The concept, which was released Thursday by architectural firm Edward Peck Design Comes as the Bears weigh their future with Arlington Heights and Northwest Indiana, both competing. for a new stadium. It's unclear who's behind the proposal or whether the bears or city leaders are actually considering it. But here's the question. On a scale of one to ten on the he-gone meter, where do you rank the likelihood of the bears leaving the city of Chicago? I think ultimately, ultimately, the he-gone meter is still at a 10 because the bears

bought land that they told us was intended for a stadium that they wanted to build in Arlington Heights. And the lease runs out in 2033. We got a long time before that happens. And they may take all of the time because they've gotten other states to play ball. I do think this is interesting, though, guys, because don't you remember when Lori Lightfoot and she had Bill Curtis narrate the video of,

of Here's what Soldier Field could look like? And then they were like, yeah, we already left. Like too little too late. Maybe you should have done that previously. but I do feel like this is reminiscent of that, is it not? And then why are we spending more money as taxpayers on this yet again if that's the case? I'm with you. I am at a 10 with this.

I was into the dream of doing the new stadium downtown. I've already been, I already went to one of these events that when they did it at Soldier Field, we prayed, we did the whole thing. I reported on the score. We prayed. We did. They started with a prayer at the meeting.

We did the whole thing. They laid out the play. It was beautiful. They had bathrooms. The whole thing. The infrastructure. We've already done this. Edward Peck designed spent the money on this themselves.

Right. But nobody knows exactly who sanctioned them. Okay. But who requested that they do it. The Fox article says it is not clear who asked. Right. But. Or whether or not the Bears or Chicago's mayor's office have seen it.

You know what I think this is kind of like? Do you think it's an anonymous benefit? actor like Annie or something? Who? Well, that was Daddy Warbucks. Oh, Annie. The musical. Yeah.

Maybe it's the Pope. I mean, there could definitely be a Daddy Warbucks behind this of some sort. I think that's how the economy works now. Wait a second. The Pope. Maybe it's the Pope. The Pope commissioned. Yeah.

Under his alias, Bob. The Pope. Pope was like, hey, hey, do me a salad. Just one more time. If you could get the whole, like, of the downtown thing going and the Pope shall rise from Soldier Field. By the power vested in me, the bears will not leave the city limits. And yet somehow Jack Sanborn had a bear taken away.

Well, the Pope, by the way, has as many as he. I think I gave him. 14. 14. Yes. He broke up the scale. This is also like, here's what you could have had, like, with this beauty. Because it does look beautiful.

It looks gorgeous. I mean, like, you can't not make that property look gorgeous. So I think it's like, here's what you could have had. I'm a haughty. You could have had this, but you didn't want it. But you played. Yeah, you broke up. Look, I lost weight.

I did my hair, my nails. Look how good I look. You blew it. You blew it. Can we please save all of that audio for Mark? Do you know what it looks like? A crystal football spaceship. Oh, no.

Still spaceship is. With 72,000 seats. Still spaceship-ish. And I think that that's important, actually. It does call for improved access. A Legion Stadium in Las Vegas looks like a high. hockey puck. Why can't stuff just look like other stuff sometimes? As some called it around here when it first went up, the mistake by the lake, the spaceship.

So, yeah, we're at, we're both at 10. Well, that's the, I guess that's what they call the city. But yeah, I think it had all, it did not. When that edition was first put on, just from a viewing standpoint, just purely the exterior, it did not get good reviews. Number two. NFL.com's Eric at home released his post-free agency power rankings. The Bears came in at number nine, which is down two spots from last year. What are your thoughts on the Bears dropping two spots in Ed Holmes' post-free agency power rankings?

I think it probably, I guess it would make sense coming from the standpoint of what we have talked about as a Bears collective, which is, on paper, the roster is not as splashy as it was last year. You know, Nashan Wright, gone. Kevin Byrd, gone. Kobe Bryant is in. We still don't know who's starting opposite of him, though, and that's kind of one of the examples here. Devin Bush upgraded speed, but Tremaine Admin's big name.

You know, they get depth on the defensive line, as we've discussed. You trade away your wide receiver one. That's not discrediting Colston Loveland's production. but you trade away DJ more. So I can understand why the ranking would change a little bit. That's not accounting for what we should see an impaired improvement or at least expected improvement out of the receivers on the roster and the quarterback. So I think that that's part of all of this as a whole.

I would say considering the fact that the Bears only real splashy sort of signing was Kobe Bryant. Oh, and the Drew Dalman thing. Yeah. Yeah, that's a big deal. Honorable mention to Devin Bush, too. I don't know if it's not splashy, but like, prominent. Top 10's not bad. Considering the sort of attitude that we've all had, like, where's the rest of it?

Where's the defensive end? Where's the defensive line? What else you get? Where's the extra safety help, even though they did get one safety? Like, top 10, number nine? That's okay. And my guy, Dan Weeder made a great point in our recording of the Take the North episode, which is up and running right now, Take the North.

because I always say a lot of these guys like Jedrick Wills and Contavius Street, I refer to them during the podcast as these are flyers. If you can get something out of it, it's just absolute gravy. But then Wheater reminded me that there were some pretty important

flyers on the team last year, including one guy you just brought up, Nashan Wright, so you can't just blow off these guys and say, huh, what are they doing with that guy? Some of these guys might blossom. Pick your guy. It was in Neville Gallimore. Maybe he'll have a career year. Khalif Raymond. I think we know what he's capable of doing.

And those top three signings, Kobe Bryant, Devin Bush, and Garrett Bradbury, as you mentioned, Drew Dalman. Not bad at all. So consider top ten, I'm happy with that for the Bears, if that's where Eric at home sees it. Number three. This is Five on it with Laila Rahimi and Mark Grody here on 104. Here's question number three. After seeing Daniel Palencia's performance in the World Baseball Classic for Team Venezuela, what is your confidence level in him as Cubs Closer? Hi. Do we want to do a newly creative but not new because we've said it before

Confidence Meter TM? Yeah, let's do it, trademark. All right. I don't remember what I just said, but just go with it. I think on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm at an 8. I'm at an 8 with Daniel Palencia. Because when you throw that fast, sometimes you don't have your fastball command and it happens.

But managing emotion, The shot of him tearing up before he threw the final pitch, which was absolutely straight gas, at 100 to Kyle Schwerber up and outside for him to swing and then he wins the classic. Like that is iconic. That is one of those pieces of video. When you talk about somebody, that's the video you run, right? So that's the memory you think of, at least for now with Daniel Blenzia. So to be able to do that on that stage in a game, you're just an absolute gamer. the better question is can you do it over the course of the 162 and end of the playoffs save some of those bullets daniel they're going to need you but i am i feel good about daniel polenta and where he is right now absolutely do you go eight i'm going to go just because of some of the things you're saying

about doing it over 162 i'm going to go seven on daniel polencia uh just because of that part and because of the we saw sometimes last year where the emotions did get the best of him. We saw some times too where he was very hitable and teams were just kind of sitting on the amazing 101 stuff sometimes as we're talking about with the batting cages

once you time that stuff up and if the other stuff is not working well then you're going to have some problems and we just know how hard it is to be a closer. We've seen so many failed closers. We've seen it close up over the last few years. I know I keep

going through it but Edward Al's a lot. Hector Narris, Ryan Presley. And finally, we got to somebody who steadied it with Daniel Palencia. Let's see if he can continue to do it, but I'll be a little bit more conservative and say seven for Daniel Palencia. Five. Number four. I'm tough today on these scales, I know. Upset alert.

Alert. Question number four. One of the upsets of day one of the NCAA tournament. Tournament is number 12, high point defeating number five. Wisconsin. Here's how it sounded on TBS. Comes the long ball. That's what Wally called for, but it is intercepted.

And high point, the Panthers, the 12th scene, continue on as they upset the Wisconsin Badgers, 83 to 82. And the Panthers march on. Here in March. Unbelievable. TBS on the call after the game, high point head coach Flynn Clayman, said this to TBS. Your first NCAA tournament game, Coach Klayman.

It looks pretty obvious to me that high majors need to play mid-majors during the season because they said we didn't play nobody. We played somebody now. How'd you do it? Feels unreal because I know how good of a team we had, but nobody would play us just like they wouldn't play Miami, Ohio. But they got to play us in this tournament. Coach, you were down by 10 early on.

What changed? We just settled in. We settled in. We got a hell of a team. I settled in. High point head coach. Flynn Clayman on TBS sounded very wrestling-esque. We did some wrestling at 1145.

Here's the question. Do the major schools need to schedule more mid-major games? Yeah, they do, but they won't for the exact reasons he said. You don't want to get embarrassed by a team that you think should be worse than you. Right. And I feel like that's what happened. And he's right. That is, if I am cutting a promo per wrestling,

or if I am telling a coach exactly what to tell your team fire them up if there's an upset possibility indeed there was that's exactly what i'm saying they didn't want to face us so we're going to face them don't start no stuff won't be no stuff and guess what the exclamation point on this was the fact that chase johnston made his first two point bucket of the season the layup in the throat of the game that gave high point that win i love it it wasn't just some miraculous three no this was a we're going to go down the damn lane so Stop it. Oh, you didn't. Well then. The big schools, yeah, they get nothing out of it. So it's not going to happen.

And quite frankly, after hearing that from Flynn Clayman, I love the mid-major chip. I love the mid-major chip on the collective shoulders of these coaches. What would we do this time of the year without having this debate and talking about the poor mid-majors? Well, get yourself to a major college. Do better, Flynn-Cla. I know you got it in you. So you be better. Go take over North Carolina, which lost to VCU. I don't think they're getting rid of their head coach, but you're right.

These guys inevitably end up leaving. They go anyway. So do better, Flynn, Clayman. Clayman. But he's, but, but if you're in his position, that is what you say. Of course. Of course. I now want like for March Madness, I want coaches to do these wrestling style promos.

I'll tell you. Clint Flavin, we're coming for you and your all team, brother. Oh, that's tremendous. Spot out, Ray. But that is it. It's like, well, you see why they didn't want to face us. And now they've got to play Arkansas who a lot of people picked as a possible upset. That was a

13-4 possibility. So do it again. Did you see, I don't know, because I know you were out last night, so you probably weren't able to watch these very closely. The VCU over NC State, the upside 11 over 6, 82, 78, and overtime. No, because I was watching the mini

hoops by the regular Joe's out here trying to make a life for themselves. You were working, girl. VCU up 80 to 78 with 4.2 left. Henry Vsar at the free throw line misses the free throw, which meant he had to miss the second one. And he slams it off the backboard because he didn't know the ball had to hit the rim and he was trying to just reject it back to himself. Great idea.

But he didn't know the rule, which was just wild to see him slam it off the backboard. Also, I had no idea that Texas was going to upset BYU. I actually picked for no good reason other than I'm still mad that North Carolina got in last year. I picked VCU to beat UNC. Nice work. Nice work. But I did not expect Texas to beat the leading score in the country in A.J. Vans and BYU.

So that was a shocker. Illinois plays VCU next, by the way, everybody. Number five. Kobe Bryant newly acquired Bear's safety. We listened to him on the K. Adams show up in Adams earlier. the top of the hour. Up and at them. Up and at them.

At the start of the show, you can hit the Rewind app on your Odyssey app. And he said this about Deep Dish Pizza. I've been two years ago we played Chicago. All out here is a deep dish pizza. Not really a big of a fan of that. They might, you know, get on me about that break. I have to try the better deep dish pizza. Have you had any deep dish?

I have. But to be fair, it was after we played the Bears, so I don't remember the name. and it was probably kind of cold a little bit too, so I can't really go off that. So I might have to retry it. That is Kobe, Brian, not a big fan of the deep dish pizza. So the question is, did Kobe just lose himself some bears? He did not. He did not.

And here's why. He didn't lose it. Jack Sandborn did even though he came back? Look, he's a new guy. I don't know him yet. So first of all, he didn't pander, which I did appreciate, although I do appreciate good pandering as well. He didn't pander and just say, oh, yeah, I just like it because you're supposed to like deep dish pizza. Secondly, it's okay if you don't like deep dish pizza.

I just don't like the people, like when John Stewart called it a casserole and they condescended to it and ripped on it. Like that. It is a casserole, but I love casserole. Okay, stop that. It's pizza. It's deep dish pizza. You need to stop that. You might lose a bear too if you keep calling a casserole.

Well, I should because I shouldn't have two more bears than Jack Sandborn. Well, that's true. That's true. But he does not lose a bear. For now, he does not lose a bear. Does he lose a bear for you? Well, no. But I also think Jack Sandborden shouldn't have lost one.

And I do think deep dish is like a casserole, but I like casseroles. Stop calling it a casserole. It's pizza. It's like that diminishes it. It's condescending. I love to have it. Why? I like casseroles.

Because do you know like how that became popularized by John Stewart making fun of Chicago and Deep Dish pizza and not calling it real pizza, calling it a casserole? John Stewart makes fun of everything. I know, but it hurts when it's us. Doesn't mean I can't be hurt by it. But everybody's hurt the same. So then I'm not allowed to. be hurt by that?

No, you should just like act like I'm not hurt, keep it inside and throw up. That seems like a lot of steps that you've just mentioned. You're telling me I'm not allowed to be hurt. No, I'm not saying that. I'm bringing in the garbage can for you.

I'm saying that inevitably, John Stewart will hurt us all. Metaphorically speaking. I guess, I guess he got me. But I also do like casseroles. You're hurting me too, by the way. But I like tavern style more. It's okay.

Like, I like Deep Dish, and I'll have it every now and then. But Tavern style is beautiful. In that, you get all of the pizza, but you don't have to commit to all of the pizza. You're right. Deep Dish is a commitment. I have no problem with people preferring tavern style over Deep Dix. So I think we should introduce Kobe to the real pizza, the tavern style. You know, a place like Rilio's other establishments.

Name your favorite tavern style. You know, Nix? Pretty good. Yeah. John's. Exactly. Tonys. Inevitably, there's a ton of different tavern-style pizza places you can go to.

Or you could just have the thin crust at the Giordanos and Luminaldi's, as you will. I have one right across the street from me. No, I think maybe a bear is on the line if he doesn't like tavern style. Right. If he doesn't like Chicago pizza at all, that he might lose a bear. Because tavern style is fantastic. Very good. It's my faith.

Other than like the Fold and Go New York pizza. because you can take it on the move. Okay, John Stewart. I'm sarcastic. I will take that as a compliment. Coming up next, we're nosy around here at Rahimi Harrison Grotie, and by nosy and we, I mean me. I want to know what's going on in that Vikings quarterback room

because there's a lot of choices that have been made. So to help sort us out, Phil Mackey, of Mackie and Judd on Score North, joins us next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I don't want to break time, I want to yell a motion. Can we handle more Anthony Heron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. Oh, Murray keeps it.

Murray being chased by Withers Food. Float's for Wilson. Off target to Kobe Bryant. And there goes Kobe Bryant. The House call for Seattle. And a Marshawn Lynch homage. I see what you did there. Tyler Beaterbaugh.

That is courtesy of Fox Sports. That is layers on layers. Meen, Kobe Bryant, Minnesota. Uh-huh, uh-huh. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 104-3 The Score. And we go to our hotline and Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago. That is where we find Phil Mackey. He is the co-host of Mackie and Judd on Score North.

And he's here because we are nosy in the division. And we want to know what's going on in that Vikings quarterback room because not only is it interesting, but they have four quarterbacks currently. Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Yeah. Yeah. How's it going? Yeah. Yeah. Let's just start with that. Can we just all take a moment for a deep sigh here? Even Bears fans. I mean, Bears, you got your quarterback for the next 15 years.

Although I will say we are very excited here in Minnesota to add another name to the list of random mercenary quarterbacks who might take this team to the playoffs and then get beaten devastating fashion at some point. So yeah, I mean, it's it is a 30 year run of the Vikings dipping their toes in the franchise quarterback waters, failing or suffering a knee injury of some kind, and then going back to the bin of Randall Cunningham's and Brett Farves. And actually, what's funny is that trend started with Jim McMahon back in like 1993 after he had gone from Chicago and Philadelphia. So stack another name on the list of Vikings quarterback rehab universe. I guess. Well, just know that Caleb Williams wanted to play for the Vikings at one point in time, right? Or his dad wanted him to play for Kevin O'Connell. At least there's that.

Yeah. Well, hang the banner. Hang the banner inside U.S. Bank Stadium. It is, but it is curious because KOC was the toast of the town at one point. You know, we talked about it. Caleb Williams reportedly liked how he worked with quarterback.

Sam Darnel's performance spoke on its own. Vikings had 15 wins the season before last. and it felt like there was a real understanding of respect that was given to Kevin O'Connell. So to see how this is gone now, where the actions clearly dictate, they're not sold on anybody at quarterback in Minnesota. How do you interpret this all? And is Kevin O'Connell's draft stock or his capital stock or his quarterback stock? However you want to say that with him.

Is there any faith lost in him as well in all of this? So I will preface by saying, I think we are still also trying to. process the last 12 months. And as you saw Seattle continue to escalate their regular season performance and Sam Darnold, and I think we're sitting here for most of last year understanding, yeah, like it's a little risky to to give Sam Darnold $100 million when you've got J.J. McCarthy in tow as a 10th overall pick. But as the season played out and the Vikings made a series of bets and all of them lost,

the first bet was that Sam Darnold would not be worth a $100 million contract. The second bet was Daniel Jodens wouldn't be worth getting into a bidding war with the Colts. And the third bet was J.J. McCarthy would be good enough to step in and just hit the ground running with a 14-win team. And they lost all of those bets in spectacular fashion. And as you alluded to, Leah, if you go back a couple years, 2004, Kevin O'Connell was not only the toast of Minneapolis, he was the toast of the NFL. He was on stage at the NFL honors awards, getting the 2024 Coach of the Year award being lauded as the quarterback whisper of the entire league and sitting on top of the world after resurrecting Sam Donald's

career. And life comes at you fast in the NFL one year later. And the Vikings are essentially out of the playoffs mathematically by Thanksgiving with bottom three statistical quarterback play. And I think, quite frankly, it was embarrassing for O'Connell. So the moves that they've now made with, excuse me, with Kyler Murray coming in, with Carson Wentz even resigning yesterday, I think it's all to guard against the worst possible scenario happening again where Max Brosmer, an undrafted free agent rookie, is out there getting memed on social media and on sports center's top 10 worst plays throwing the dumbest interception of the season. I think it was embarrassing for O'Connell. And so they were just looking to put together a better quarterback room. and now we're trying to figure out where does J.J. McCarthy sit here.

Are they out completely? Is he going to have a chance to get some reps with the first team still? And I think that will play itself out over the next maybe four to five months. What is it about J.J. McCarthy that Kevin O'Connell doesn't like other than what we see on the field? What's the fatal flaw that they're not seeing it and they've gone to these lengths to protect themselves at quarterback? That's another interesting layer to this because it seems like he's only played 10 games. And so I think on the surface, you could say, well, his first season was wiped out because of injury. And in those 10 games, you saw some in addition to some of the just really funky interceptions and the nine alter ego personality stuff, some of the bad stuff.

I mean, Chicago fans saw in that fourth quarter to start the season what J.J. McCarthy is capable of when the back is against the wall. Detroit saw it in their home stadium. And then the Vikings didn't play the best defenses down the stretch. But McCarthy in the last five games had one of the top five EPAs of any qualified quarterback in the league if you put stock into quarterback analytics. So there's enough good in those 10 games to where you'd like to take another peak, I would think. And that's where some of the, I think, stylistic personality, some of the less quantifiable things maybe come into play. There was a moment when the Vikings beat the Cowboys in like early December where McCarthy, they ran like a play. It was a fake, it was a handoff, fake handoff, and he rolls out naked boot, scores a touchdown on the goal line and gritties into the end zone.

And after the game, he was asked about the gritty into the end zone, and he said, yeah, I did that in practice. And the coaching staff yelled at me and told me not to do it. And that empowered me even more to want to do it in the game. Like little tension things like that between McCarthy and the coaching staff. So it feels like if they're out on him, it feels like it goes beyond just what they saw from a quarterback standpoint on the field in 10 games. And I think we're still trying to piece together what exactly they view him. as here in the next few months. We're talking to Phil Mackey. He's the co-host of Mackie and Jodon Score North here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. And Phil, it's surprising that you say that

about J.J. McCarthy. I understand, of course, that that's reported info. But I think for us, it's a bit surprising because the word about him being a local guy and him also having gone to Michigan was that leadership was part of the thing that scouts really liked, antithetical to the information that you just talked about. So that's a bit of a surprise as well. And that's why it's a surprise, I think, to me and others who cover the team even more closely on a beat level. I think it's a mistake to move off of a 20th. He just turned 23 in January.

He's only played 10 games. And I think if you were to pull any other team that has been at this crossroads over 20, 25 years, after 10 games, after 10 games with a quarterback that young, is it a bigger risk to bail early and move into something that's a little safer maybe? I mean, Kyler Murray was a number one overall pick and is still, I think, two years removed from being 30 years old. And so technically you are buying an interesting stock in Kyler Murray too.

It's not like you're moving off of McCarthy for like a Gino Smith or Kirk Cousins' second go-around. But I agree. And from what we've seen, his teammates seem to love him. I've heard that Justin Jefferson has either already or has plans to work out with him at various locations throughout the offseason. And Jalen Naylor, who just signed with the Raiders during Free Agency Week,

he goes on Kay Adams podcast yesterday and says, yeah, my money's on JJ if there is an actual camp battle. So his teammates seem to love him and love his leadership style. But I think there's been some friction between my. McCarthy and some of the coaches on the offensive staff. So it's an interesting to bizarre dynamic here, to say the least. Well, it is definitely one we will continue to monitor and probably hit you up for more analysis on throughout this offseason leading into the year. Thank you so much, Phil.

Thank you both. That is Phil Mackey. He is part of Mackey and Judd on Score North, very popular in Minnesota. And he is at Phil Mackey on X. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Another source and an important one covering the bears does some reporting on the Adam Schaefter comment about the bears being broke. So we will delve into that next. Hey, Cubs fans, Pat Hughes.

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Some restrictions apply. For complete details, please visit Optima-tax relief.com. More Rahimi-Harrison Grody. Back in 60 seconds on 104-3, the score. Baseball is back. Opening night is one exclusive game, and it's live on Netflix. On Wednesday, March 25th, the New York Yankees,

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Rahimi Harrison Grody That sounds so crazy 104.3 the score. Wow, I like that. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. The Bears don't have any more money right now, Greenie. They're broke. They're out of money. Boy, did that escalate quickly. That was Adam Schaefter. Was it this week?

He said that on ESPN? It didn't mean last week. It was last week. It all time runs together. It's a flat circle. we thought me and Joe greeted pass away earlier today. He's alive! Thank God, dude. I cannot. Chuck Norris and me and Joe on the...

Can't do it. No. And also, we had a funny textor earlier say, did Laila say Chuck Norris announced his passing? That would be the most Chuck Norris thing ever. And I thought that was hilarious. I did not say that, but I wish I had because that's a brilliant turn of phrase there. A year old 50 bucks, too, by the way.

Yeah. Yeah, we decided on 50. If I had said 100, it would have been 100. You killed the guy. This is, I did not. I followed the lead of one of the most respected reporters who covers North Texas and the Cowboys. Anyway, this is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on this Friday, obviously,

on 1043 the score. And that was something that really did take off. So when you ad lib, when you're talking live for a long time like Adam Schafter did, or maybe like we are now or earlier today, sometimes you say things casually because you've been talking a while. and maybe it came off the wrong way. But everybody took it and ran with it. Adam Schaefter saying the bears were broke.

A lot of people chimed in on it. We've heard other speculation. We even asked Andrew Brandt last week about just the mechanics of being able to kick the cap out for many, many years. I think the dolphins are a cautionary tale in all of this. In the meantime, one of our noted bards weighed in. Brad Biggs, who is a friend of the station,

a valued friend. in the words of Mully, the respected Bears man at the Chicago Chirby and the football man. Did a Q&A. I like to call it a mailbag, but I understand that that term is starting to get a little more outdated as the years go by.

I like that we keep that, though. People understand mailbag still, don't they? Yes. Yes, not to be confused with a male who is a bag. Top five mailbags, go. Oh, good. Do I start with my exes and then just go from there? Is that how this works?

Yeah, that's how it works. I have excellent taste. I have terrible taste. Okay, so in the meantime, this question is from a non-mail bag, Matt L. in LaGrange Park. Thank you, Matt L. for asking the person who we also needed to ask about this.

I saw the interview with Adam Schaefter where he said the bears are, quote, broke, end quote. Fans have gone wild with people taking his comments literally and claiming that the bears cannot afford Max Crosby because they don't have enough cash available to cover the contract, aka not cat money. Is there any truth to this when you consider signing bonuses in their general financial situation?

I'm assuming people took Schefter's words literally. And they are also frustrated at the lack of splash signings throughout this free agency period. Well, Matt L nailed it, didn't he? I mean, I'd say that was a pretty good, pretty well-phrased question. Yeah. To which the noted football man to the Chicago Tribune and valued friend of the station replied. Morning boys. What's going on?

The bears are not broke. Like every NFL team, they're swimming in money. Swimming is the phrase he used. Okay. It is important to know that there is a salary cap. What? Who? And also a cash budget for every team, every season.

What? It's easy enough to get a general idea of where a team stands regarding the cap. There are enough available resources to track that, even with the number constantly fluctuating based on transactions. I call it spot rack. A team's cash budget for a given season will never publicly be available. I think there have been times the Bears have granted the front office permission to exceed the number. That's just a hunch, but I'd imagine the power's in charge at the time of the trade full Khalil Mack in 2018.

Had to get the green light from ownership. Mark, you're nodding. You agree with that concept. Yeah, yeah. You can do what you'd have to do to manipulate, yes. The Bears have plenty of cash if they want to pursue Crosby. Don't give us any more fuel to the fire, Brian. Matt?

Max. Well, Sando kept the door open for us just a little bit. Brays back at his zombie trance. Max. Mike Sando definitely kept the door open. Here we go again, like a zombie horde. Where are we going? How many X's is Max up to?

You have an X scale. How many Xs are we up to on the possibility of Max Crosby landing with the bears? 12 X's. Max. The leader of the zombie hoard has spoken. That's what I hear. So he goes on to say Brad does. The Bears have plenty of cash if they want to pursue Crosby.

Q us, zombie horde. General manager Ryan Poles has said he explored the possibility without getting into the nitty gritty of how far down the rabbit hole he went. I really wish he had gotten into the nitty gritty. It's not like the team pivoted off the possibility of trading for Crosby in such a manner of free agency that the cash needed to take on his contract was exhausted. Yeah. What was swallowed up in the free agent move since Crosby was traded to Baltimore

and the Raven subsequently nixed the deal was the Bears' cap space. According to the latest NFLPA figures, which are not official, the bears are right up against the cap. From that standpoint, they're currently broke. Broke in cap space.

Like, that's the part, that's me adding the broken cap space, adding. Important distinction. annotation, really. But I feel like, yeah, it was metaphorical. However, I don't think the bears are like the Eagles where they have private equity investing,

and they can do a little bit more of the signing bonus conversion. I do believe that, me personally, Layla. Getting back to the reply that Brad had, could they create the space required to add a player with a contract like Crosby's? Sure. Max. They can do anything they want. I don't get the sense the bear's position involving Crosby

has as much to do with his contract or cap space as it does. Trade compensation, which has been the refrain of the league. It's my opinion. Bears would hesitate to trade two first round picks to acquire Crosby. Maybe I'm wrong, but my hunch is that's a too steep of a price tag for a player who turns 29 before the season starts and has reportedly had eight surgeries in his career, including one in January, to repair the meniscus in his left knee. The idea that the Bears would win the Crosby sweepstakes was a long shot. Aw. What the Las Vegas Raiders will do at this point is anyone's best guest, but you can rule out

the possibility that they will run it back. with Crosby. You cannot rule that out. Trading him would be more complicated now because any acquiring team would probably have to clear cap space. The bears would need to make cap room to do just about anything at this point beyond signing a player for the minimum. Seen. So the zombie horde goes back into its barn and we wait. Didn't want to give, I mean, that makes sense, right? I mean, there were probably a lot of teams, including the Bears, possibly,

that were not interested in mortgaging the future at this point for this player at that age with that concern about the knee. And I think about it too, like, can the Bears win the Super Bowl next year? Like, just as the team is presently constituted, if they were to add Crosby, I think that the answer would be, yeah, maybe. I don't know if right now, you could say that the Bears are a team that could win a Super Bowl. Crosby might change that scene a little bit.

Well, that's it. So maybe two would be worth it. I think he's the example because he breaks the mold in this. He's the player that you do almost anything for. You try to move heaven and earth for, but you understand the

compensation and that price. It's a lot. And to be fair, that has been discussed around the league, The Bears are not the only ones who would have that consternation. The Cowboys are on the record. Their sources talking to NFL Network saying they maintained two first rounders for him was too high. That seems to be the issue here. I don't blame the Raiders for wanting that compensation.

Yeah, they should. They should get the, pardon the pun, the max. And if you're not going to get it, then keep the man there. And that's essentially what they did. but, you know, as people in the know have hinted, including, you know, Mike Sando, who we had on a little bit earlier, and he gave some pretty good opinions about it. Like, it's still not inconceivable that somebody could still make a trade for Max Crosby, and you can't leave the bears out of that if the price is to be lowered, like one first round pick and some other picks as well, probably.

Well, that's it. So I feel like it goes back to the same idea. But I do think that there are teams who will bend it. And we talked about that with Andrew Brandt. There are teams who seem to be more liquid. But Brad Biggs saying they're swimming in money. Swimming in it. I can't help it also think about the stadium in all of this.

Can't help it. As in? They need cash to build it outside of $2 billion. That's what they've discussed. $899 million. But that's the infrastructure. the state would put in. Yeah.

That goes for that. So there's still a gap. Sofi cost five. And that's been a while. And construction costs have gone up. Well, thank God for this new rendition downtown because that'll take care of everything. The crystal football spaceship. That is what I have done to the stadium.

I like that. That is beautiful. Maybe it'll happen. It won't. It's a 10 that it won't. Really? You think so? Yeah.

On the Higon meter? I mean, come on. It's way too late in the. game. That would, shovels in the ground. I mean, I'd have to change the shovels in the ground to 2027 then. If they're really going to take this Chicago, whatever it is, I hesitate to even call it a proposal at this point.

They're actually taking it seriously, which they can't be. They already did this. With each day that goes by, I grow closer and closer to my 2027 assumption. Each day. I'm holding on very tightly and loosely maybe to July 27th of 2027th. 2026. What did Mars Hall have, August, I think, of 2026? August 60. He and I are a little more optimistic, but you might be right. That's such a lovely way of saying nobody knows. Like, you might be right. You might be wrong.

Right. That's why it's a harmless exercise that we all made predictions about when the bears will actually, will actually see tractors and shovels and all that stuff. I think it was more of a self-imposed. we should check by those days type of thing. Yeah, I guess. That's how I took it. Man. So that's all that we set ourselves deadlines as to when we follow up. Something's got to give, Leila.

It doesn't actually. Not for a while. I'd like it to. I sure would like it to. Mark has a request, everyone. Please. Coming up next, it is time to talk some baseball with Andy McCullough. He's the senior writer for the athletic covering baseball because, as we just mentioned,

you know, quarterback tier story that Mike Sando does is very, very popular. Well, he did one regarding starting pitchers and aces and people who are considered that and then the like. And there's a lot of Cubs who are also mentioned on this list, so we'll look into it next.