Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears coach Ben Johnson is carrying his anti-Packer energy into offseason

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris reacted to Bears head coach Ben Johnson's latest comments about his dislike of the Packers.

We have reports from the combine all day today. Reid Diaz helping us out, of course, our producer as well. He's our EP. Tyler is our sound producer. Does a wonderful job. Brandon Fryer helps us out too. We do have to monitor that situation just so you guys are aware. Tyson Baygent is popular, not just here, but with the rest of the league.

This is the time when the business gets done at the combine. So I wouldn't be surprised if something could happen. I'm not saying it will. I'm not saying it should. I'm saying it could happen where the team is excited about about Tyson Bayton knowing that relatively he's a quarterback bargain. You know, he's got a relatively low cap it. And because of that, he is somebody who, especially with a glowing recommendation from

Ben Johnson and his previous coaches, that's a heck of a reference portion of your resume. We never know. We could be ready for that. And I'm not trying to alarm people. This is not clickbait. I'm just based on if you were a head coach in the NFL or, if you were one of the 10 new head coaches who just heard one of the best offensive minds

in the league, once again, double, triple, whatever you want to call that down on Tyson Bayesian, it's probably going to be worth your time. I love that you mentioned double, triple, quadruple down, whatever, because here's my question, do you Layla Johnson? Demon down? Listen,

Layla, do you believe that Ben Johnson loves Tyson Baygent more than he hates Matt LaFleur? Yes. I think he loves Tyson Bajit more than he hates Matla Flore. But it's a good question because Ben Johnson is

still fired up about this. Ben Johnson has been successfully radicalized by George McCasky or George McCasky just knew that it was in him the whole time. I'm not quite sure which one it was. Chicken egg scenario? See, I don't even think it's chicken egg scenario.

I think this is what happened. I think Ben Johnson interviewed with the Bears. He wanted the job. He told us so on his first ever Zoom interview with Ryan Poles and company. He got the job. And then once he got with George McCasky, he was like, oh, you feel this strongly about the Packers? Guess what?

So do I. And then he found a guy who aligned perfectly with him, vice versa. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, because we already share a connection that we can sustain ourselves separately and together. Trauma bonding. in that. Or in this case, non-Trumb bonding. The reason we bring this up is because as passionate and as intense as Ben Johnson spoke about Tyson-Bagent, and frankly, emotionally as well when he mentioned stuff like heartstrings. Listen to what Ben Johnson had to say to our friend Mike

Florio, who joins us at 11 when he was asked about the Green Bay Packers. You ever watch any Seinfeld growing up? Just a little bit. Okay. Why do you ask? Well, because I'm going to ask you a question the way Jerry Seinfeld would. What is the deal with the Packers? Who likes the Packers? How much of that is leaning fully into your job as Bears coach, and how much of it is how you truly feel? Yeah, I mean, the Bears and the Packers, they should not like each other. I think it's as simple as that.

And I think that's going to make this rivalry, this game, something that people are going to watch here going forward. Have you talked to Matt LaFleur at all? Because I feel like he gets confused. Like, what did I do? Do you have any relationship with him? Have you heard from him? Has he called Jop and he said, what's the deal? Like, anything like that?

No, we don't talk. Okay. Do you want it that way? I'm good with it. Has he tried to reach out to you? No. He wants no parts of Matt LaFleur. or the Packers or anything related to any of those things.

Did you hear how the answers got shorter and shorter and shorter until it was just two letters? And if you watch him on the video portion of this with Pro Football Talk and Mike Florio, you can see his expression. Steely is what I would describe it as. Is that fair? Yes. Steely, Ben? Yes.

And for everybody who was just curious, Ben Johnson's know when he was talking about Bayjeet yesterday at the combine was him coughing into his hand and laughing while he did it. No! But the intensity was there. 847 on the text line. I would love if Ben's Matt LaFleur hate origin story was something like Matt LaFleur took the last donut at a coaching event or something. That's from Sean and Charlotte. If you needed further confirmation, just remember the speed of the handshake where Ben Johnson ran to Matt LaFlefloor,

He was walking to midfield and then just a half a second handshake and then ran off. Because that wasn't even a full pump on the handshake. That was almost like a tap, like a low five, if you will, and then he just kept it moving. Our guy Chris Tano has made that the wallpaper of this computer that Tyler Buehderbaugh is using right now. Because his face is ridiculous. He's like, you're like, you see it. And when he moves in to shake Matla Flores hand, it's like the, you know, like, it's, it's, it's, it's, you'd hate it if you're anybody other than a Bears fan. And it goes back to my, my statement of Caleb Williams idolizing Aaron Rogers, right?

Caleb Williams thought that Aaron Rogers, and to be fair, there's a lot of quarterbacks who you could do worse than when it came to who you pattern your game after. Pre-snap, I've always said, nobody does it better than Aaron Rogers. Rogers when it comes to reading a defense. But when you know that Aaron Rogers is somebody who you look to, and that's your current quarterback in Caleb Williams, and then you know how Ben Johnson feels about the Packers and Matt LaFleur, and that energy maintains, he kept that same energy right on into the combine, right on into Indianapolis in February. He won that game and he still feels this way. You can't tell me the Bears aren't becoming the villains of the league. in a good way.

In a good way. It's about time that we were on the side of people fearing the bears. You have to be good to be the villain. To be a villain that is respected. You have to be on a Thanos level. You have to be good at what you do. You have to emit a certain aura. Guess what?

Ben Johnson and you could argue Caleb Williams are starting to emit an aura that cannot be denied by everyone else involved. You can't ignore him or push him to the side. And what happens with a good final boss? In any good video game, you think you've got the final boss beat? You think you've slayed that dragon? No. Cue the Kung Fu laugh where you've got to go up more stairs. Are you saying that their princess might be in another castle?

Princess is always in another castle. Yeah. But when the Packers, and that's the best example we can give, third meeting of the season, when you thought you had him, no, you did not. And if Ben Johnson and maybe Caleb Williams are going to keep that same, villain energy. It's about time. The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference. So guess what? If you hate Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson on the other side of this, that means that you care. And that means they've been effective in their play and they're

scheduling and the way that they go about progressing. Because at the beginning of the season, I know it seems like a long time ago, because it kind of is. Monday night football against the Vikings, that's a very different dynamic than what the Bears represent now to everybody else around the league. Well, and guess who evolved? Guess who evolved to meet their, you know, the adversaries? Guess who evolved to meet their enemies? The Bears did.

The Bears adapted. With Ben Johnson as their leader, taking them to heights that some people imagine they would never go. I think the reason why this is also worth discussing, and at least having a little bit of fun with when you hear Ben Johnson talk to Mike Florio at the combine yesterday and he's still very fired up about the Packers is that it's one thing when it's manufactured. We've seen plenty of people want to rock the mic and say, you know, something about Be Green Bay. It's the first thing you say beat the Packers, something, you know, that conciliatory, whatever you want to call it.

I don't know if genuine is the right word, but I think intense as hell probably is. Like this is, this is not, the typical energy that a player has. And when it comes from the head coach like this, I think he knows we're going to be into it as well, even now. Listen, here's the thing. If you go back to his introductory press conference and him name-dropping Matt LaFleur unprovoked, it's beautiful.

Because at that time, oh, it's lip service. You're just trying to tell the fans, give them some red meat. It's no longer that. That's the most beautiful part of this entire arc of what I thought was going to be the 20-25 bear's season. But now with this Combine interview and the way he's talking now, you realize, oh, no, no, this is part of the career arc for Ben Johnson as Bears' head coach. And Bears fans have to be loving it. And I want to say this, I think a portion of the Packers fandom loves it too in the fact that the stakes got high.

higher. There's more emotional energy put in from both sides. Are you kidding? No. I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFourt twice a year. No, they're appalled now. They're like, wow, wow, wait. I can't believe you said blank the Packers. You know, wow, that's taking it. That's taking it to a different place. I mean, that's personal. And, you know, I'm offended. And I get that there is a school of people who don't like cussing on air like that or, you know, in a public setting where you're in a locker room. But at the same time, he was in a locker room. You knew it was going to be televised.

The revolution will be televised. I thought it would not be televised. In this case? It's going to be televised. No, it will be televised. There will be Instagram reels describing what happens behind the scenes. There will be breakdowns. There will be documentaries in the future.

There's going to be so much media coverage of this dynamic of Ben Johnson head football coach. And we're just a year in. And that's the best part. part is that we're enjoying the beginning. And sometimes the beginning is boring. Have you ever seen Captain America, the first Avenger? The first time I watched this movie, I'm like, I mean, I know what happens. It's kind of boring.

Like the first season of a TV show that everybody says is good, but the first season is not. See perks and wreck. Well, first few episodes of Game of Thrones. It takes a while to get into what's going on. Like, okay, why should I be invested in this? But let me tell you something. By the time Captain America, the Winter Soldier rolled around, one of arguably the greatest movies of its era, and that's regardless of comic book affiliation, and then you get to Captain America Silver War, I was like, okay, let me go rewatch Captain America First Adventure. That's how people are going to feel about this, except for we didn't have to wait that long.

We had to wait like half a season before things got spicy. And then the other thing is, if you want to just look at it as you're doing your job, what does your boss hate the most? George McCasky. The Green Bay Packers. Okay. I can get down with that. Order followed. Even if something

happens to where I don't want to say it, but I'll just say it. If the Lions season arc happens to the Bears next year where they don't somehow make the playoffs, if you still beat your rivals, you've still got that. that's what makes this an insurance policy and also something that is fun to aspire to

that the tide of the years and years and years and years and years of losing to this team may have finally turned in a way where at least, at least you know you can hang your hat on knowing that guy's not going to let you down when it comes to this I don't know the last time I could say that about especially a Bears coach no I mean the landlord existed Aaron Rogers was doing his thing for years and years and years.

And now the tide has seemingly changed, if not but for one season. And my favorite part of the Ben Johnson first year story isn't just his hate for the Green Bay Packers. It's the fact that he comes in here foul-mouthed at times, doing whatever he wants, saying whatever he wants, leading by example. And you know what? His boss is like, yep, I'm good with that. Even though my history says I would not be good with that. I'm good with that. By the way, let's just reset and listen to what George McCasky had to say.

Let's remind you of what he had to say to Jared Payton on WGN talking about when Ben Johnson said, blank the Packers. We talked before the season. And a couple of things that I share with them are if you look at 100 years of history, whether the Bears have a successful season has a lot to do. with how we do against Team Voldemore. Not 2 and 15 or anything like that, but if you sweep,

you get a pretty darn good chance of having a successful season. If you split, you still have a good chance. But how that series goes has a big impact on how the season goes. And the other thing I told them was when you're with your players, is you've got to be authentic.

They can spot a phony. You've got to do what comes naturally. So, yeah, we talked and we're on the same page. Shout out to Herb Lawrence, who told me that Lela, Elizabeth, Rahimi, Parks, and Rexlander will not be tolerated. That first season, we had to suffer through it. That old Brandenowit's storyline. Sounds like slander. Also, I totally forgot that George McCaskey called the Bears team or the Packers team volleyball.

He will not say their name. They who shall not be named. team Voldemort. So Team Voldemort is a thing. But the point is, if you thought that what, if you had any doubts about how Ben Johnson felt or if that was just firing himself up for the playoff game, I don't think that's the case.

And I think Mike Floreo is right to be like, if you're Michael Flore, you're like, why am I, like the Nini clip from Real Housewives? Why am I in here? Why am I in it? Which frankly happens to you and me a lot where we're just like minding your own business and then somebody's like, well, you know, Saturn's in orbit and Rahimi doesn't like it.

And I'm like, why am I in here? Like, this is nothing to do with me. Trust me. You don't want to invite me to that kind of party because you'll end up being annoyed by me because I will talk back in a not kind way. I could use your assistance on some things. I pick my battle. You don't want me to pick your battle, is my point.

I'm just like, does your wife know your messaging about me at one in the morning and what you think my weight is on our Instagram page? Anywho, point being, keep that same energy, boss. And if you thought it was, if you had any doubts, I think it was reaffirmed at the combine. Where let me guess, Packers Brasses, you know, they got their extensions all in place, Goudicunst and LaFleur and them.

When you said extensions, I did think of somebody going to the hair salon and getting extensions. I just want to point that out. No, that's fair because we brought up the real housewives. that's Marshall Harris. I'm Layla Rahimi. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody. We're on 104-3, The Score. We thank you for joining us on this Wednesday. Our address changed, by the way, on Twitch. It is now Twitch.tv.tv. slash The Score, Chicago. Tell your crew, our Twitch mob is up there chatting. They hang out with you all day. We are also able to be texted and called. 312, 644, 67,

67 remains our number. And thanks to everybody who texted us and informed us about Jade Cargill, you know, reminding us that she's married to the red Brandon Phillips. That's pretty cool. Love Brandon Phillips, his style of play. I love Jade Cargo. Yeah.

How can you not? Shout out. And also, like, I love it, you know, I love it when people support each other. So for everybody chiming in, that was great. That's why we're here to hang out. Ray Diaz, Tyler Buehberbaugh, our producers, Brandon Fryer as well.

I mentioned them earlier. They deserve another shout out. Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, Cody Westerland, and Connor O'Donnell. Man, our Twitch chats, they are our social guys, and they do a tremendous job. Coming up next to her on Rahimi Harrison Grody, we have tried to report on this. We have all tried to get information about this. We have reached out to other sources. As we focus on the Bears defensive line, there is a mystery surrounding now one of the highest paid players on the team,

in the top five when it comes to average annual salary. that needs to be reported on further. So we're going to tell you the latest on what we know next.