Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - A union between Maxx Crosby and the Bears could be so beautiful

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote dreamed of what it would be like to see dominant pass rusher Maxx Crosby in a Bears uniform.

me Harris and Grody. Bears tight end, Cole Kamet. Cole, welcome to the party, pal. Well, thanks for having me. I heard it was a big day. So naturally, I dropped everything I had going on today. You've complained a lot through the years about not being able to hear the score on the 670 AM dial when you're inevitably cruising around downtown. And now that we have an FM signal, Cole, you can now hear the score all day, all the time, all you want. You can hear all the Bears hot takes you want. Well, that's perfect. I'll make sure I blast that in the locker room. Beautiful back!

Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's Tyndal 2 on 1043 The Score. Hold on a second. Was that the Mark Grody pump-up return music? Seriously. You give me rage against the machine. And then this song by Cage the Elephant, which I recently realized, the song has been around forever, that it's a great blasted song. Maybe it was just the moment that I was having, just cranking it up.

come a little closer. I mean, like, that's life. I was putting new furniture together like a couple of weeks ago and I actually had this song blasting in my living room. I was put it together. Am I right?

Little like that. Got me really wanting to actually put furniture together. Do you have a song, Leila, that you just got a blast or is it just a momentary in the moment thing? Oh, first of all, a lot of songs. Yeah.

I don't know, until I collapsed by Eminem is up there for me. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Like if I want to get my butt off and off the couch and get two. a treadmill or something? Yeah, that's the way to go. Yeah, that's a whole thing.

Like, get up, playlist. Stop being lazy. One of these days, we'll have to put that in five on it or a fun segment on our workout playlist, except Marshall can't do that because he goes al natural, right? He doesn't listen to music when he runs. Or it's R&B, he says. He's ridiculous. He likes to go against the grain.

Actually, I kind of envy that. I wish I wasn't dependent upon music or. activity in my ears to have the momentum to work out. Yeah, that's it. I need the music. I'm dead. I'm done for. I can do, you know, 45 minutes on the treadmill, but if it's without, it's like six minutes. I need that extra push. I just have enough challenges. I don't need that to be one of them, the no music challenge or something. It's unnecessary. Yeah, I mean, to preserve your ears, I guess. Maybe Marshall's got better ears than us. I've hurt mine terribly from going to concerts, games and doing this job.

I don't even want to know. Like, I don't want to go to the ear and have them to say, yeah, you're down to about a six right now. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to know. Well, you're not going to hear anything if you don't go. That's a good point. Keep encouraging me.

Getting back to our Max Crosby conversation that apparently isn't just us. Brad Biggs talked about it. So did Taron Armstead. Here what he had to say to Matt Spiegel and Lawrence Holmes about the concept of him coming to the Bears. I got a

a splash. And this is just my thought. I have no insider information, nothing. But I was on my show last night on the set, live. And I keep hearing chatter about Max Crosby. We keep hearing Max Crosby potential move. That has Dennis Allen all over it, front, back. And he had that trade, that situation has Dennis Allen all over it. I can see that. I can see Max Crosby coming to Chicago. in a package for Tremay Edmonds, DJ Moore, first round pick, whatever. I can see that Dennis Allen, what he was able to do in New Orleans,

having Cam Jordan, he's able to build and scheme pressures away from Cam to where you have to block him one-on-one. Whether you know these safeties or corners or blitzing or not, you have to slide the line over there. So this tackle got to dance one-on-one

with Cam Jordan. If he can get that with Max Crosby, listen the bears uh i don't want to hype them up too much i don't but i like what they're doing i like what i like what they're building the way that they're building it it's uh it's fun it's been it's been great to see the bear's process from last year training camp to now man is that is that a hype up turan armstra is just a good storyteller like the way he crafts the discussion is really artful and entertaining but to understand a Dennis Allen prototypical player, and then to visualize how they fit into a scheme like that,

that's a ringing endorsement. And it lets you know that who might be really interested in him that we are talking about, and that's DA. Well, the only thing I was saying, it was a great interview. I listened to that. I loved his, Armstead's initial. He had not heard about the Drew Dalman trade, so he literally processed it. Yeah, what did I say?

Trade. Oh, man. Max is on your mind. Yeah, you're right. You're right. The Drew Dalman, Retirement. He had no idea, and his reaction was just wonderful in real time on Spiegel and Holmes. So great job by those guys.

The only thing that I would say, the only hole that I would poke in what he just said right there, wouldn't this have most defensive coordinators name written all over it? Like as if, oh, yeah, this is Dennis Allen's kind of guy right here. Well, we wouldn't draft an offball linebacker at night. Yeah, that's true, Fluse. But I would think that most defensive coordinators. That's my kind of guy. How did that work out? How did that work out? I'm sorry. Talking about Tremaine Edmins over Roquan Smith essentially. Yeah. Yeah.

But also Tremaine had a good year last year. He did. Yeah. Tremaine was good. He was never as good as Rokane Smith. It was never an upgrade from Roquan Smith. He was a serviceable player who really was kind of actually the trajectory had been disappointing for Tremaine Edmonds until last year. Yes. Yes. And then he got put in a position to succeed. He did. He did. The D.A. is there. But I'm just saying most defensive coordinators would be like, yeah, that's my kind of guy right there. And in sympathy to Matt Eber Fluse, not sympathy, because I have not been a

defensive coordinator who had a who had an all-star, all-pro, one of the best defensive linemen in the league, leave. But in empathy to Matt Eber Fluse, I'm like, oh man, here you go thinking you're going to coordinate this defense with Micah Parsons. Oh, never mind.

Yeah, you're out of there, pales. No, I felt for him in that moment. Did you? Yeah. Yeah. His defensive coordinating resume speaks for itself. Yeah, it does, right. And I don't like to step on guys on the way out, even though that's what we do.

But the confidence about your system over the actual talent of Roquan never sat well with me. Yeah, I mean, I'd listen, but it never made sense. Everybody knew Roquan was better. But he did. I mean, I guess you can say that Iber Flues did have his. his paw prints on T.J. Edwards as well. So that's worked out. And I think he did get into, at least into the ear of Ryan Poles to say, here's, here's some of the guys that I would desire. So I get that right. Which is why I think that Ryan Poles did listen to not one but two head coaches

when it came to players that they thought would fit in their system. I think, you know, GMs always listen to their head coaches, right? Like allow their coaches to give a wish list, but at the end of the day, it's up to the GM. And I don't think that's really changed. No, it's here's who we have, who best fits what you do. Yeah. You know, that's how I feel like that goes. Yeah, what can you work with?

Yeah. And I think there's 32 defensive coordinators that could work with Mad Max. But it's true that Dennis Allen has a type, you know, and Tom Brady talked about it during the broadcast, too, you know, just understanding the style and the hallmark that is a Dennis Allen defense and the players that are involved in it. Speed. Yes. Length, too.

And then you hear to Ron Armstrong. like that's knowing living, breathing, existing in ball, where you know exactly who DA wants and why he wants them and how they work in that system. That is, first of all, respect. And then secondly, it's a teaching point for the rest of us and trying to get that eye for the same player and what kind of coverage, for example,

or what kind of blocking scheme they draw. Like, that's good stuff. Yeah, but can you also take the players that you have and that you're, I guess, quote-unquote, stuck with and make them better. I don't know that I just go back to the timing of his hiring. He probably was he in the ear? Look at Tremaine Edmonds.

Yes, he can. Look at Tremaine Edmonds. Good point. But who I'm getting towards here is Dio Dangbo. Can, and I don't know, like would D.A. have had anything to do with Dio Dangbo being here? I don't think so. I don't think the timeline meets up. I think that's a poll.

The timeline does meet up, I think. That he could have been in polls this year on that? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. It seemed like, you might be right, but it seemed like a Poles thing just the way he was talking because they were projecting so much. I mean, they admitted it that I remember asking Ryan Poles at the press conference in the theater or whatever, the auditorium, as it were, when they rolled everybody out and they were talking about this and asking him, hey, you know, the sack numbers are not there for DiO Dangbo. And he said, got to watch the tape. Got to see what this guy does all over the place.

And I heard him and listened to him too. Which means, I mean, like, and I have not, just similarly to what you're talking about with Grady Jarrett, I have not given up on the idea that Diodangbo could be a really, you know, an effective player for the Bears. I was skeptical when they drafted him, or drafted him,

when they signed him because of the sack numbers and our obsession with needing guys who actually get the double-digit sacks, but we'll see what the DA can do with him. The DA. The DA. It's like a doctor, but a different title. That's right. He is the DA. You know who I thinking of? You know which DA I think of? David Aldridge. I think they used to call him the DA at one point time. Wonderful reporter. He really was. Is he? I don't know if he's still. He's with the athletic. He does a lot with them. Okay. Yeah. Still doing, is he doing like sideline stuff in the NBA? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was like him. The DA. Agreed. My favorite DA. Love that. Well, Dennis Allen should be up there for you at some point. Maybe not immediately. Yeah. He's got, I'll give, I'll give him some bears, but I can't save him.

is my favorite. We'll work on that. In the meantime, I can't wait to just hear Danny and Mark talk to each other. That's it. That's really it. It sounds cheesy and silly, but it's true. Don't leave me alone with Danny. Don't make me do all the work. I do sometimes. I do like to sit back and just listen to people talk to each other. And then I'm like, oh, I'm the host. I'm supposed to say something. Yeah, you have to. Don't leave me alone. It's, you know, I'm getting tired here. You know, it's a long show. It is a long show. But you two are funny. We do. We do have a good time. Danny Parkinson Mark next