Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Adam Hoge shares keys to Bears-Vikings matchup (Hour 2)

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by CHGO host Adam Hoge to preview the Bears-Vikings game Sunday at Soldier Field. He also discussed Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores' unpredictable nature in his scheme from week-to-week. After that, Rahimi and Grote continued to discuss the keys to the Bears-Vikings matchup. Later, they held the Halftime segment.

This hour is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric for all the right reasons. Call 8664 seasons. Adam Hogg says Adam Hogue, Bears Insider. What's up, everyone? My name's Adam Hogue. Host of the Hogan John's podcast. If you wanted Ben Johnson, you're going to have to live with some of this. You get to live with some of these fourth down calls that seem a little crazy.

But guess what the reward is? 59 points in the opener. You know what I mean? Like, this is the Ben Johnson experience. You signed up for it. Now, try to enjoy it as much as you can. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogi or Hogg?

Excuse me, I don't know how to pronounce the last name. With Rahimi and Grody on 1043 to score. And you are listening to a football four seasons heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric football Friday presented by your local Ford dealers and advent. It is indeed Rahimi and Grody on 1043, the score. Adam Hogue is the host of C.HGO Bears and the Hogue and John's podcast. Adam is joining us on our video stream to watch Search the Score Chicago on Twitch and YouTube. We are thrilled that he agreed to be back with us for another season here on the score.

Adam, welcome back. What's going on, man? Another football Friday. Good to be talking to you guys again. Thanks for having me. Hell yes, man. Bears and Vikings coming up on Sunday. And I have to start with this. kind of serious. It's kind of fun too, but I got to ask you, do you think that when your

CHGO teammate and everybody's friend, Mark Carmen, brought up the 59 points to Ben Johnson that Ben Johnson wanted that question, that he was waiting for that question to just shoot it down for everybody once and for all? 100%. Come on. You know that's the message. that he's trying to get across to his team this week. I know a lot of people out there like to take their shots at Karm. I mean, Gordy and I like to do that too. But like that wasn't him.

I didn't view that as him dunking on Karm. I viewed that as him taking the opportunity to get a message across that he very much wants to get across. We've scored zero points this week or we haven't put up a point this week, whatever he said. It's a new week, 59 points last week. Great. Moving on to week two.

that's a good message for your team. And yes, I think he was prepared for that. The best part, though, was the look away, right? Like the, as soon as he got it, he got done with his sentence. He quickly was like, all right, who's over here? Like it was almost disrespectful, but it wasn't disrespectful. I enjoyed it. Oh, but let's play it really quick here for people who maybe didn't hear it.

But a 59. Like guys might feel like, you know, we're in a great place we got this. Do you sort of feel like you have to guard against any? We haven't put up any points this week. Okay, a likely story when you want to also be the highest scoring offense of all time. So I'm pretty sure you need that 59 to get your tally, Ben. You know, Dennis Allen, Adam, did this in a little bit more of a diplomatic way yesterday, actually. When he talked about how every week is different, you basically hit reset.

You start from the beginning and you're trying to address the concerns of that week, which I also understand. But if you didn't learn anything about your personnel last week, I don't know what we're doing here. Yeah, I mean, look, but that's a Ben Johnson mantra. I mean, he's been saying that too since he got here, that every week you know, is its own entity.

That's honestly, that's, that's Belichickian. I mean, that's, that's what made Bill Belichick so great is that he was, he was not just married to one way of doing things and saying, hey, this is our identity and this is what we're going to do no matter what.

That, when that trickles in scheme and your game plans, that's a problem. Your identity can be established and you do that every single week. So the bears have established that. We're going to be tough physical and come at you all the time. But if you're not willing to adapt what you're doing, what you're doing from a game planning standpoint based on your opponent, then that's where you get into trouble. And I do think Ben Johnson has that in him where he's, and he's gotten that, I think, to Richard Heitzauer and Dennis Allen, his other coordinators saying, hey, look, we got to be willing to adapt each and every week and whatever we did last week.

Fine. Doesn't matter anymore. This is what we're doing this week to win this specific game and this specific matchup. And I understand that, but it's tape. And tape is tape and they teach with it and Minnesota's going to use it and the bears are going to use it to their advantage. I understand their philosophy.

But at the same time, this isn't Matt Negi saying Personnel a Scheme, which he never said, but we all knew, because anytime you asked him about personnel, he said he didn't want to talk scheme. In this case, I wonder how much of it they do, at least draw from in order to work with what they're seeing out of Minnesota on Sunday. I guess I'm a little confused in what regard.

I mean, like they're acting like they don't get anything from Sunday. But they do build on this, you know, unless your personnel dictates your scheme, which we know it doesn't with them. Yeah, look, I just think Ben's talking about a motivational thing with his, with his team. That's all. Like, just don't rest on your laurels. Don't get complacent. And I honestly, I think he was probably maybe a slightly.

defensive because I don't think he believes his team is going to do that. So I think we're kind of talking about two different things here just in terms of the, you know, the amount of points that were put up last week and it's just more of a motivational mentality type of thing more than anything else. Yeah, this is a guy who told us after the Rams game to stop thinking about this Bears team that you just watched. It's over. It's done.

You're never going to see this team again. And we all kind of took our cues from there. As we talked to Adam Hogue here on Rahimi and Grotie on 104. the score. We were trying to figure it out in our first segment, Adam, where we might be able to count on the Bears' defense being better this week against

the Vikings relative to the breakdowns last week. Where do you think the Bears' defense will be better this week if you think they'll be better at all this week? Well, look, there's a maybe I'm relying too much this is where you can fall into a trap admittedly in

falling too much on past performance. But, like, I've never seen T.J. Edwards struggle that much. You know what I mean? Like, you know, if you want to make an argument that T.J. Edwards is getting up there in his career and he might be slowing down a tick. Like, I'm not even sure I'm on board with that, but I can at least listen to that because he's getting to that point in his career, right? But he still knows how to tackle. And he looked good in the past season game he played.

I was like he looked like T.J. Edwards in that game. Multiple games he did. Yeah. Yeah, so I just, I think that that's, that's one area where they'll be better. We all watch Devin Bush look good, all of camp. Now, getting in the live bullets in the regular season and you've got to be physical, like, that's always kind of been the question mark with him. We know he's fast, but like, he's going to make a bigger impact this week, I would think. And then the same thing with Jalen Johnson and Tyrick Stevenson on the outside, like,

you know, if you want to debate where they're at, where, where, Jayland's at in his career, still coming off the injury, is he 100%? Like, certainly, I think those are all relevant conversations. But, like, as he answered a question to me yesterday, outside the locker room and went through the three specific plays where he felt like he screwed up, it was like a technique thing. It was, it was eyes. It was just the way he flipped his hips. Like, all of those, like, they're all correctable. I didn't see a guy who can't play anymore because he's still recovering from this injury he had last year. And I also think Ben Johnson's been pretty honest with the way he evaluates players publicly.

He's not afraid to call these guys out when they're not. Like when he was asked about Tyrick Stevenson, got to be more consistent. When he was asked about Geron Dexter, got to be more consistent. They traded him a few days later. Right. Like Jalen Johnson, last week he said Jalen Johnson could have the best year of his career. So I just I just think when those specific players, they'll be. better this week. Now, is it

being that the defense is going to suddenly like be transformational and great? Probably not. I think like best case in error, this is probably a middle of the road defense this season. But I think for those specific players, they're going to be better to this week than they were last week. Well, and that's part of it is, is we're, I was asking this

to Mark Adam because what I'm still trying to figure out a schematic goal and fit when it comes to Devin Bush, for example. I know what the traits were when they got him. I know they probably like the fact that He had had two pick sixes last year. That's nice. You know, that I understand the aspect of having a nose for the ball

and then flying around the field. But as far as practical use, you know, I don't think that we saw his best game on Sunday. No, because, you know, if, you know, they got to get him in a situation more where he's, he's unblocked and running sideline to sideline in situations where he has space to use that speed. Otherwise, if he is going to be in a situation where he's taking on offensive linemen at or near the line of scrimmage more north-south,

then as a smaller linebacker, that's going to be a tough situation for you. So that, you know, and that some of that is on him and that you've got to be physical and you've got to find a way to get off your blocks because you're not going to go a whole game without getting blocked, obviously. But it's also on Dennis Allen and the teammates around him too. So I just think, but they went out and specifically got him for his speed. And we just saw too many good things from him in training camp that like bad games are going to happen. Quiet games are going to happen. I just expect these linebackers to play better this week. I do.

I agree with you. I agree with that. That was the first thing that I brought up as well is this segment with Adam Hogue is brought to you by Advent, breathe well, live better. visit advent knows.com. And obviously the, I guess the most dominant storyline this week, Adam has been Ben Johnson versus Brian Flores, who we know from last year can be wholly unpredictable with the blitz packages and that's just the way he is. What are you expecting in this matchup?

And what kind of activity are you expecting from the Vikings and how the bears will counter this time around? Well, look, the number suggests. that he should not blitz as much against Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson's 5 and 1 against Flores in his career. As a play caller in the NFC North, and the EPA numbers show that actually when Flores has brought the blitz, and this goes against both his Lions offenses and the Bears last year,

they've, his teams, Ben Johnson's teams have had more success than when actually Flores has rushed four. On top of that, the Vikings blitz the Packers last week, 73% of the time. I mean, think of that. Like, three out of four plays, essentially, they blitzed last week. And what's great about Flores is common sense with the stats I just gave you would be, okay, well, they're certainly not going to do that to that rate.

But he's crazy enough that he might. He is. Like, he might blitz 75% of the time again. And that's why you got that soundbite from Ben Johnson. on Wednesday with him basically going to be like, I don't, you know, I, thinking about this and staying awake at night, not knowing exactly what Flores is going to do. That's part of what makes Flores great.

On the other hand, you know, you talk to actual, you know, players at times and they'll tell you, like, what Flores runs is actually unsound, like, coverage-wise on the back end. No defense is perfect. There's always a weakness somewhere in your defense. but if you can figure out those blitzes and figure out where and when the pressure is coming from, which is not easy, you're actually going to have a ton of success because they're leaving guys running

wide open. And honestly, you go back and watch that tape last week. And Jordan Love took advantage of that at times. He also missed some wide open guys because he had somebody in his lap, but you had Tucker Kraft running wide open or Christian Watson running wide open or Matthew Golden running wide open and they weren't able to hook up. So I just, I look at Ben Johnson's history here. I look at the fact, most importantly, that the Packers might have one of the worst offensive lines in football. The Bears probably have one of the top three best.

And I just think that they're going to have more success blocking things up. Plus, you have Caleb Williams elusiveness. They should be able to handle this better and have more answers to the test with Ben Johnson, and call in the place. Our segment with Adam Hogue is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer and electric for all the right reasons. Call 866 four seasons. Adam, I also am reminded of how there are teams who have said the best strategy for Caleb

Williams is to keep him in the pocket, that you try to rush him as much in the pocket because then he's somewhat contained and then you let your pass rush ideally do the work. How much do you think that could come into play on Sunday? Well, I think you saw the Panthers try to adjust to that in that game on Sunday. as that game went along, they blitzed a lot less, but also, and I'll give credit to Pete Bersich on this one, because he's the Vikings radio analyst, and he brought this to my attention this week,

and mentioned it on Hogan-Johns. If you watch even just the linemen on the Panthers, as the game went along in the second half, especially, they were basically just taking like three steps forward and then stopping and becoming more of a reed attack, just to make sure that they, because it's like a natural reaction. Wait, where is this guy going?

Where is, like we can't lose him? we can't lose Caleb and that was something that teams used to have to do with Aaron Rogers all the time. So that is a credit, I think, to what Caleb Williams has become in being able to be so elusive, but also being able to beat you with his arm at the same time and maybe get some throws off faster. If you as a line just don't think you're going to get home on him,

then you got to actually slow things down and hope you can just contain them and maybe knock some of those passes down at the line of scrimmage. So then, you know, an adjustment from the offensive line is you've got to make sure that you're punishing the jumpers. If they're going to try to jump up, then you got, you know, stab them in the chest when they, when they jump up to start knocking those balls down. So it's, it's a fun, I think it's going to be a fun storyline all season long, how each and every one of these defenses try to contain,

and confused still Caleb Williams, because we're living in a world, guys, where the Bears have the quarterback that everybody's fearing. That, you know, they're going into their game planning every week being like, we've got to figure out this quarterback. And that's just not a world we've really lived in here in Chicago very much in the past. None of us has truly adjusted yet, but it is beautiful. And I'm willing to try as we talk to Adam Hogue, host of the C.HO Bears and the Hogue and John's podcast.

I feel like, Adam, the Kyler Gordon situation is like the stadium situation. Every once in a while, hops up and we all go crazy over it. What do you think about Kyler Gordon? Herba Howard was reporting on the score yesterday that he talked to some of the Bears players who said he was in the facility and that they love him and they can't wait for him to come back and then he's going to come back soon. Where do you stand with everything regarding Kyler Gordon?

And do you think he will play soon for the Chicago Bears? I mean, I don't know what to think. I think that this continues to be a very bizarre situation. and I haven't necessarily heard anybody question. Kyler Gordon is a teammate, so I'm sure Herb is, you know, correct about that. The part I would question a little bit is I do know there are people in that locker wondering why he hasn't come back.

I mean, how can you not? Right. If you're a teammate and you're seeing Ozzie Tripillo back on the field already, and you're seeing, like I noticed after practice as I was walking in the locker room, Shamar Turner was out there getting some work in as he tries to get back from his injury. Now, if he's really back in the building, I haven't seen Kyler Gordon,

but at least that would be one step in the right direction because I found that to be an enormous red flag that he was around during training camp, and then all of a sudden wasn't. But yeah, there are people asking questions. I mean, heck, the general manager said on the record he wasn't sure if Kyler Gordon was going to play for them. So, like, let's not forget that part of this, too.

I just find the whole situation confusing and unfortunate. I mean, I guess the one difference between Kyleor Gordon and the stadium is that you actually could see Kyler Gordon on a football field in 2026. I mean, you're definitely not going to see the stadium starting getting built in 2020. Oh man, not Adam Hogue. Are you serious?

Wait, what did it for you? What stopped your progress on this? What? The shovels in the ground? Yeah. Oh, I've never thought there. I still don't know. that there'll ever be a shoveling.

I mean. Go Soldier Field. Here we come. You were a little bit more under, like, I feel like you were leaning Hammond for a bit. No, I told you what was going to happen, which was that they were going to pivot to Hammond. That's what they've done.

But in terms of, go back and listen to your own interview. I said in that same interview that I won't believe a single thing until there's actually a shovel in the ground. And we're nowhere near that still. Listen, I'm not mad about it. Now you got me talking stadium.

week two of the NFL season. I'm not mad about it. I just want to know like what the moment was for you where you were just like. What about the white socks, what about the white socks? No, your white socks takes have been very fiery on Twitter this week. That is also another thing. We talked about that in our meeting actually.

Oh, wow. Okay. So am I right? They have to wear the south side jerseys tonight. I have no idea if they are or they probably won't. But like you can't win a game yesterday after what just happened in Cleveland. not bring the jerseys back tonight. You have to do that. If you don't, if they wear those hideous red jerseys tonight and lose,

like I will turn into Greg Braggs Jr. so fast on the white socks. Everybody will be exhausted with me in two seconds. Hey, if they could, Greg rescued a dog this week. You are allowed to have socks opinions. And you're allowed to speak your mind on the stadium. And if you need update people, then that's good too. All of these things are possible. I also think if they're going to have Mike Vassel waving a wand around in the dugout. They could just stick Tim Anderson in the dugout too every night, right?

Just have him, just have T.A. be there every day. I kind of think that was a coyote that Greg rescued. Oh, really? Are we sure that that was a domesticated dog? It kind of looked like a coyote. Do you know what one of the keys is? This is going to sound not scientific at all. How fluffy the

tail is. Coyotes typically have like really fluffy tails. And they're fast. They're super fast and have longer legs. All right. Well, congratulations. HGO has a coyote. Congratulations, Adam. This is what it's come down here. It's a miracle. Buddy, thank you so much for joining us. Look forward to talking to you all season long here on Rahimi and Groti. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, this was fun, guys. We'll talk to you next week. Thank you for your patience, Adam. Adam. It is Adam Hogue. I forgot that that was with you guys.

I was not there the day that you and Marshall apparently interviewed Hogue. Right. And I'm not, listen, I'm not trying to like make him eat words. This is not a gotcha moment. I think he took it that way. Yeah, I was just trying to figure out, when did you get annoyed by this? This is really the question. When did you make the turn? Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Right, I think we all sort of made it.

We've all had our moments where we took the turn. Or you just never took it to begin with. Right, right. Hey, man, I'm the guy who fell for the Kevin Warren downtown stadium project because I was there and I got seduced and sucked into the whole thing. So I got my own issues. That's for sure. Frankly, part of the reason we're talking about this is because there was a report from

Capitol Facts who covers Springfield. saying that Illinois lawmakers have met about the Bears Stadium. Their stadium stuff, guys. So I hate to be the bearer of some news, but, you know, Capital Facts did it. We talked about it. There, it's done. There's always fine on it. There's always five on it.

Because Adam Hogue and I were on the same wavelength. Yeah, we will. Yeah, we were not trying to gotcha, Adam Hogue. If I need a text, him, I will. No, but when I thought Kyler Gordon timeline, I thought, how about that stadium timeline? We'll get back into that if I'll happen. in five on it. I just don't have the bandwidth for this kind of talk. Coming up next, the Minnesota defense may try to attack Garrett Bradbury and the interior of the Bears'

offensive line. There is some evidence of that coming out of Minnesota. We'll discuss that next on Rahimi and Grotie on 104. The score. Rahimi and Grotie. Hey, Mark and Lela, I just want to tell you first off that I really enjoy your show. You guys cover all the sports I love and you do it with humor. So keep up the good work. God, my friends, my friend. I look forward to talk to you guys, listen every day. Love you guys so much.

Middays. Man, love is in the air. 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. We're going to have to do a great job really across the board. Starting with a great week of preparation and try to put ourselves in position to, you know, handle the run game, handle the pass game, handle the quarterback, you know, who's an up-and-coming superstar, not even up-and-coming.

He is a superstar in our league. And, you know, we're talking about. about the run game, but there's a lot of issues in the past game as well. So, again, big, big challenge. Brian Flores is the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, and case you didn't know, talking about Caleb Williams and the challenges that the Bears' offense might provide for the Vikings D as we welcome you back to Rahimi and Grotie on 104.

The score, All-American Rejects! We're playing all Riot Fest music today because it's Riot Fest weekend. Lela and I are both going to be hopping at the fest. Yeah, we're excited to go. Absolutely. And we got a nice day for it, too, which is a pleasant surprise. At least for now, I don't know what happens, but we'll try. Yeah, I might sport a slicker out there tonight. I look good in a slicker. I think most people know that, that I'm a slicker guy. I'm a jacket guy. I'm a slicker guy.

The slicker really brings out your eyes. It really does. Do you do like Paddington Bear? Do you get the yellow slicker? Ooh, I haven't done the yellow slicker in a while. That might be an idea. I might get myself a slicker cap, too. Well, don't you have a salmon slicker to go with your salmon polo? Oh, I should, man. Just be thinking about these things. You know, I like to be be gifted things. It's been a while since anybody has gifted me anything. It's been a week. Well, the show is on until two. If you can't transition to 20-ish, can somebody get a salmon slicker to Mark Curry? Actually, no, it hasn't been a week. It's been three days. This one, Mitch gave Mark a Chicago

Bulls sweatshirt. That's true. But this coming from the person who got the picnic blanket, okay? You have been gifted more than I this week, and I don't appreciate it. I haven't, actually, because we were gifted evenly. Do you want the picnic? blanket? Should we take it to Ryefest? It might be appropriate. The village of Bedford Park gave me a blanket because I'm constantly cold. It might be a little chilly tonight. I mean, I saw 60s. You never know in the city of Chicago. I have to wear pants. Yeah, that's right. No nakedness for you tonight. This is not

Lollapalooza, okay? You have to dress. There's a little bit of nakedness at Ritefest. Those kids have more body positivity than I had when I was 15 pounds lighter. It's unbelievable. When I was in wedding shape, I still did not have as much self-confidence. Good on the kids. Wedding shape. That is a real thing, though. Oh, yes. You're right about that.

Everybody wants to look good at weddings. And even then, I did not have the confidence of a Lollapalooza goer. I thought this was really interesting. On the Take the North podcast, which I host with Dan Weederer of the Athletic, we had on Alec Lewis from the Athletic. He is their Dan Weederer or their Kevin Fishbane, Fishy Business. We'll join us a little bit later on on the show. But he joined Take the North. and I thought this was really interesting.

He discussed the approach that he believes Brian Flores will have against the Bears O line. This is a little different from maybe what you've been hearing this week. I went back and watched really most of the pregame between these two interviews that Ben did even in Detroit. And one of the things he said was like, hallmark of Brian Flores' defense, and it goes back to the Patriots times

when Ben was obviously in Miami and would see the Patriots. defense on the opposite side line is like they are going to throw a curve ball at you and it's just an ability as you know to keep the metaphor going like as you're you're a hitter in the box like you have to know that something that you're not expecting and a certain count is coming and it then becomes on you as a play caller and you as an offensive staff and you as an offensive unit to adapt now I do think it really helps compared to what the Packers faced being at US Bank Stadium in that officer line like.

The fact they're at home, I think that helps the communication aspect on the field. But I do think this is a really interesting test for Garrett Bradbury. I mean, because, you know, not only from a communication aspect, but also, I mean, Brian Flores has shown a willingness in the past to throw multiple cross dog stunts at you on the interior. He did that to Detroit last year and really ate up that pass protection group, including Jemir Gibbs. So I expect them to test the interior of that offensive line. specifically Garrett Bradbury. And I think if Chicago is able to handle that

and Caleb Williams is able to decipher a process in real time, like Bears fans probably can get even more excited about what they're seeing on that side of the football. It's really interesting, Leila, for a couple of reasons. He did use to play in Minnesota. They know Garrett Bradbury there. The other part of this too is Garrett Bradbury did not have a great game in the first game.

So if you're going to get to Garrett Bradbury and the communication, interrupt the communication or alter the communication between quarterback and center early in the season is the way to do that. And I know you love a good cross dog stunt in your life. Well, I love defensive line stunts in general. I know you do.

I think the Bears D-Line should do more of them. And I was happy to see that change a little bit this past season. They seem to have been showing that a little bit more this year already. I think the hard part is Clay and I were talking. You were here yesterday. Clay kept showing us these still frames of, of Garrett Bradbury ending up on the ground. Like there were enough plays where you don't want to see that happen with your center.

You don't want to ever see the film. Lucas Patrick came to mind. He got a deal, by the way, yesterday. He ended up with the team, yeah. Oh, I did not know that. But that's the last thing you want is for the guy in front of your quarterback, fall down, go boom. And I do think we saw the Panthers at times take advantage of some of the gaps in the run scheme for the bears.

And I would assume that that's something that Flores is looking at and trying to take advantage of as well. There were some places we saw where DeAndre Swift was the one left blocking in front of Caleb Williams. There was a huge gap between center and right guard. So how can you fix that? Yeah. How can you, and do you slide a protection? You know, how are you doing that? Because we've seen that too where guys will chip and then run out into the pattern. Well, do you need to stay at the line of scrimmage and help block? Like, that's going to be a big concern of mine. Right. And the, and that's where you lean on Joe Tooney and Jonah Jackson as well. One more thing from Alec Lewis as he continued on Take the North, this is interesting because he was talking about, you know, he watches the tape and he gets prepared, watches the Vikings opponents and he's just watching the Bears tape from a studious point of view.

And somebody got taken in by Caleb Williams. Take a listen to this. As the first half is playing out, and I'm watching, I mean, first and foremost, like some of the personnel groupings, I'm just curious what I'm seeing. I'm obviously watching Garrett Bradbury because of the familiarity that I had covering him here, just wanting to see how that looks. And then at one point, like just that there was this shift from like some hardcore evaluation to just like, what am I watching with Caleb Williams over the course of the end of the first half? I mean, there was the sequence of plays, and I'm not going to remember it specifically,

but there was one anticipatory throw with like 30 seconds left in the first half to Luther Burden like 25 yards down the field. And it just like stopped me in my tracks where he releases the ball and where Luther burden is out of his cut. And I'm like, man, that's impressive. And then you go to the very next play. And I think it was the 28 yard scramble touchdown with unbelievable speed. And at that point, yes, I told you, Dan, like, I'm sending screen grabs to Kevin

Fishbane. He's probably putting his kids to sleep. And I'm just blowing him up about what I'm seeing. But it was highly impressive in almost every capacity. I love the Kevin Fishbane name drop. Yeah. That was a fun wrinkle in all of this. But yeah, it's...

Fishbane of 1225, by the way. Yeah, and I think we should ask him about this. And if you want to see the article, and I'm perusing it now on my phone, it is by Alec Lewis of the Athletic. And the headline says, analysis. Brian Flores, Ben Johnson's showdown takes center stage in Vikings Bears Week to match up.

And he does go back to the years of how this has evolved. Ben Johnson, though, still five and one in games against Brian Flores. Right, and he's five and one. And as Clay Harbor laid out to us very well, it's a legitimate five and one because he went through just about all of the big categories on offense. And since 2023, really no offensive coordinator or now head coach has had more success like relative to the rest of the league average than Ben Johnson has had. had. And yeah, I get it. Ben Johnson, I'm sure, has been agonizing, studying, working his ass off

to try to prepare for Minnesota. But at the same time, Ben Johnson loves every single bit of what he is doing this week. I don't care what he says about how stressful it might be to be going up against Brian Flores. He loves this stuff. Oh, yeah, these two are humble bragging into quite the ballgame. That's such a good way to put it. Like they, like I said earlier, this is a week where two coaches have accepted, even though it's the media asking the questions, and I'd be asking the questions, too, if I was out there, who've allowed this to be about them?

You know what I mean? Like, rarely do see, like, just accepting, yeah, it's kind of about us. And poor Kevin O'Connell, what about me? What about me? I'm a pretty good head coach here, too. He also likes Caleb Williams. Don't forget that aspect of it. Yeah, he does.

Yes, he does. There was an aspect where Caleb Williams wanted to work with Kevin O'Connell. Oh, Carl. And who wouldn't understand. that, by the way. Who wouldn't, after last week being yet another example, who wouldn't understand that if you were a quarterback, how Kevin O'Connell is good with working with QBs?

Yeah, absolutely. Like, yeah, who wouldn't want to go there? So there's going to be a whole lot of good coaching going on at Soldier Field on Sunday, folks. And the thing is, a lot of coordinators think they're Brian Flores, or they think they're Ben Johnson. Well. And they think their strategy is so good

that the actual thought process and the chess match of it, outweighs your athletic ability on the field. And the difference is these two actually understand how to coach for their players' respective athletic abilities. And that's what makes us so good. I got distracted by a text, sorry. What does it say?

Well, it says pulling Grotie Man card back because of saying he is cute and yellow slicker will help Layla throw him in many volcanoes. I'm thinking about getting some yellow boots to go with it as well. So the yellow slicker, yellow boots. That's what I'm going with for Rye Fest. To be fair, it is a music festival. So, you know, you can dress a little more avant-garde.

Is that going to stop me from wearing black and a flannel? Nope. Bro. Heck yeah. I don't have any combat boots because I don't buy things for just a one-time use in a year. Okay. But if I had my hand on a pair of Doc Martins, this would be the time. Let's get some flannel.

Let's smoke a Marlboro light. I think. Yes. Yes. You down. You're down. Yes. Fez brought a fresh pack.

Every now and then I like a really ridiculous, rebellious cigarette. Same. Just one. I don't need more. All right. Defeats the purpose. All right. Half time is coming up next.

I love this version of halftime. We did this last year. The new food at Soldier's Field, the cuisine. We must go through it and evaluate it and talk about food because it's lunchtime. So let's do that next on halftime on Rahimi and Grotie on 104. the score. See you slick. What time is it? It's half time. On Rehemi and Grotie on 104.3

The score. Hope you guys are doing great on a Friday. So far on the program today, we talked about the Bears' defense and where they might realistically be better this week against Minnesota. There was Kyler Gordon talk in the first hour. There was White Sox relief talk in the

first hour. They won. Muna Takamori hit a home run. The bullpen was good. relief and somebody on the text line even said the biggest relief was the announcement that Luis Castillo is going to the bullpen for the Chicago White Sox. I thought that was pretty good. And we had a great conversation with Adam Hogue of C.H.G.O. And we just had that talk about Minnesota and how they might potentially attack the interior of the Bears' offensive line, specifically Garrett Bradbury's name coming up while he's still figuring it out with Caleb Williams.

The Bears release their stadium food. for the, you know, because it's a home game Sunday. So they had the famous, it's the roughest assignment in news and sports, the stadium taste test where you get to sample some of the best of what the stadium has to offer. If it's United Center, if it's Wrigley, if it's White Sox, if it's Bears before the season. Those are the luckiest reporters in our field. We had our guy, Dan Levy, as our correspondent last year. I guess we kind of dropped the ball this year.

We did not get him the press pass. but we'll go through these. It's my fault. Sorry, Dan. I'll let you down. Also credit to our friend Joe Flam of Rosemary, Bartuto, Ilkartiovo. We love Joe.

Joe is the celebrity guest chef coming up for the game one with the Bears and Vikings. Of course he is. Yeah. And apparently, according to Adam Hoag, the socks were in the Southside uniforms tonight. Oh, that's right. A huge development. Thanks, Adam Hogg.

Nice job, buddy. Maybe he was the influencer on that. He did tweet. that. They should have never gotten rid of those. I love them. They're sick. All right. So are we going to go around the room here? You had suggested that we do that. Everybody pick your favorite one. All right. You want to start, Layla? What stands

out to you? What's down to me? Number one, the bears have a sushi push pop, which I think should be the way of all sporting events. I love this concept. It's an easy way to childproof yourself from making sushi messy. I'm all for the sushi push pop. In fact, Tanny,

with the big flex last night at the Sox game, got one. And I'm like, okay, Muddybag. tanny if you see if you push pop. I, but in this case, that wasn't my number one. My number one was the Beria burrito. You get it? Like Biria?

Bear. Tender Beria, shredded beef, chihuahua cheese, cilantro and onion with a consummate, available in the 300-level Northwest Food Plaza. And beeria is so messy. If you can make something messy, not messy, for me,

a messy person, then I will be interested. Every time. Did you childproof? everybody from this and make it into burrito form, which is easier, and the bears did. So that's my number one. All right, my number one is I am staring

at the barbecue shy fries. Available, apparently, at Tavernberger in Section 126 are loaded with. All right, here we go. Chard Polish sausage. Uh-oh. Carmelized onions. Did you say carm?

Carmelized. I love a caramelized onion. What a car. A little bit. Cheese curds. Yeah. It's a little green bearish. I don't know.

And then Drew's barbecue sauce and seasoning. I do love loaded fries in any form, but these sound particularly good. Kids? So I'm also intrigued by the sushi push pops because I've never had those before. I love sushi. I have not adjusted to sushi at ball games yet, guys. We need to talk about this because the Giants have been doing this for years. Well, that's exactly.

That's a San Francisco thing. Why do we need sushi at ball games in Chicago? Because it's fun. No. Takamura Kami is why they brought it to the south side. That makes sense. The Cubs had it at 1.2. The Cubs had a sushi push pop this year.

Yeah, they switch them out. You know, they don't always do the same stuff. So they had one. I wasn't even aware of it. I like sushi. I'm a threat to have sushi tonight before Riot Fest. I feel like sushi tonight. Like sushi tonight.

It doesn't have the same ring to it. Sorry. No, you're okay. I'm very intrigued by this trend of the push pops, but I'm got my eyes on the smoked prime rib sandwich. Oh, yeah, you do. With house-made Jardinera, which you can find in the Miller Light midway. But, I mean, I love myself a good smoked prime rib.

And I just love homemade Jardinera. Homemade Jardinara is so good. Hello. It's the spot. You eat it out of your shoes. You like it so much. Every day. Put it on the shoes.

Even I know that one. I wasn't even here at the time. Well, you know me. I'm going to get most things correct. I'm going to get three quarters of what I say correct. I'm sure Mike appreciated the intention. tent. Northee, shout out to Mike North. As I looked at the new food items

of Soldier Field for this season, number one on my draft board was the Beria Burrito. Hell yeah, Ray. And Layla took that number one. So I'm going to take, I'm going to go with my number two overall pick on the Soldier Field menu. Izzy's Buttercup Italiano sandwich, because I have, for anyone that's been

listening to the show for a while into the station for a while and doesn't know, I'm no longer vegan, no longer vegetarian. I'm eating whatever in 2026. Surf and turf at Circa, man. I sure did, man. The Izzy's...

Berries. Beres. Oh, yeah. Circa. Bear. Izzy's buttercup Italiano sandwich by former Bears player, Israel Adanje. It's available in the Miller Light Midway. It stacks mortadella, prosciutto.

Pesuit. So prasetta with spicy pepperoni, chili crisp, lettuce, and Italian dressing on toasted sesame bread. If Israel Adanage is making this thing, I know it's got a lot of. be good. Izzy and Donge is doing good stuff in the restaurant space. Shout out to Izzy, yeah. So that's where I would go.

Did you guys see the cute little drink in the mini keg? And it's like in the mini, the Bears keg. It's the Midway Orange Crush. Is that the kids keg? No, that is the adult keg. It's like the best of cute. It's a little baby keg. It's a tequila drink.

It looked pretty good. I love the packaging. I'm a sucker for the marketing. I am and I'm like, oh, it's so cute. It's little. And then the next thing you know, I can't remember. remember the game. So I'll stay away, but for those of you who try it, I hope you have a lovely time with

it. And I got swayed by the cuteness of it all. It's such a cute little mini keg thing. I love it. For you parents out there, don't worry. We got you covered here, too. The kids grilled cheese available at Molly's back in cheese cart in the United Club 300 level. And some adults may want that too.

I mean, the grilled cheese does that have to be for kids, man? There's also cookie dough on the go available in three flavors. I can't believe all the United Club 300 level. There's a lot of people who do. didn't know about the sushi push pop. I thought we had publicized this pretty well. We're not at Soldier Field. I mean, the sushi push pop on the south side was very well publicized.

I had no idea it was at Wrigley Field. Okay, so the beeria is at the Bears game, Patrick from Gage Park. So that's where we're going with. How about the Dr. Pepper Porky Pretzel sandwich? I love alliterations available in the South courtyard. How are we feeling about meat meridian with a, with Dr. Pepper? It's a part of it. Yeah, Dr. Pepper is a great marinade.

Did they soak the pretzel and Dr. Pepper? I'm not here for your Dr. Pepper slander. No, I'm just asking. I'm just asking. The chicken Milanese tortas looks really good, too, from Rick Bayliss. Torta. Yeah, I do love a good, like, torta. There's also ramen, but, like, I don't know how to eat ramen at a game.

I need a table for that and, like, surface and time. Right. That's getting on my shirt. And if you read the Cleveland game, where it was, like, negative 20, that thing would freeze in, like, five, seven. Dude, but hot ramen on a cold day? Oh, now you're talking. All right, bears, nicely done.

Keep me away from that cute little keg drink, okay? Now that everybody's hungry. It's so cute. Grab your food, kids, and gather round five on it because that is what's coming up next on Rahimi and Grotia 104-3, the score.