Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears lose Declan Doyle & Ian Cunningham | Take The North

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): The Bears need to replace their offensive coordinator and assistant general manager after Declan Doyle and Ian Cunningham left for promotions with other teams. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote discuss how the Bears will be affected by the loss of both. And why aren't the Bears getting compensatory draft picks for Cunningham getting a full-time general manager job? Also in this episode, does it make any sense that legendary head coach Bill Belichick wasn't a first-ballot Hall of Famer? Plus, the NFL salary cap is expected to jump again. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's good, y'all? It's Von Miller, Super Bowl MVP, Sagmaster, and now you're a host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets Real Talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ locker room insight and real conversations with the people shaping the league. Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller, wherever you get your podcast. Bears fans, this is Take the North. What's the reason, Doc?

It's here with your host of these guys. Dan Weiderer. The whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads. And Mark Grody. We're allowed to, at this point, Bears fans are allowed to right now, dream big and predict what you want out of the season. We're going to take the North and never give it back.

Hello again, everybody, and welcome in. to the Take the North podcast, along with Dan Wheater of the Athletic. I am Mark Rody of 670 the score. Actually, now we're FM2. We're 1043, the score. How about all that, Dan? Yeah, it feels like a big day in our landscape, I guess. The media landscape here in Chicago, obviously you're a big part of that today.

Huge news for the score radio station. And I want to get a little bit more into your day on how your first day was. And some of the maybe extracurricular field trips you might have taken associated with this big change. Yes, and for people who are not quite sure what we were talking about, the score, the station for which I work, the station for which Dan contributes frequently, which, as you knew as Chicago Sports Radio 670, the score, and still may know it that way, we officially went to an FM signal to go along with AM and FM.

So we are an AM FM signal. So we have the best of both worlds. It just makes us even more powerful. You can now hear us in a bigger, fuller, basier sound if you're just into the sound part. But the other part is that you can now, when you're downtown around all the big buildings in Chicago, that it is radio hell down there. If you're on lower whacker, it's a non-starter. If you're getting your car washed, it's a non-starter.

FM can force its way through that. and so you will still get the opportunity to hear us now when you're downtown. So still on 670, still on 104, 3, still talking lots of bears. Here's what I need to know. When I pull into the North Garage at Soldier Field, I'm usually listening to the score pregame show, and it'll go out as soon as I scan my little QR code and that gate pops open all of a side. If I'm 1043, am I going to be able to finish that parking job before I have to give up the score?

It's a beautiful thing. That is such a great example. such a great usage because, yes, parking garages. And I had the same conundrum every time I pulled out of it. I want to listen to what Olin and Patrick and Mully are saying on the post game show, and it's all scritchity, scratchy. So you will not have to worry about that. As you were saying, so the pomp and circumstance, the promotion leading up to it was pretty epic

because it's just, it's the essence of radio. Yeah, it's over the top. Yeah, it's a little gimmicky. But it's also fun. Lean into it. Understand that you know you're overdoing it, that you're kind of in on the joke or just the wink, I think is probably a better way to put it. So there has been this tremendous buildup to it. We had the great John Vincent in studio doing the National Anthem. It's quite a thing, man. We had all sorts of great guests. We'll come at on about we will hear from him a little bit later on. One of the things that I was able to participate. in was I was told, I was asked to, hey, Mark, after your show this past Friday, after you get off the air, can you come to the Wiener Circle and do like a thing for us? Dude, just do like a bit. I'm like, what? Just like come out, hang out at the Wiener Circle. Maybe you can, you know, learn how to make the hot dogs.

Maybe you can insult some people. Maybe you can interview the people that are working there. And, you know, well, we want to, would you talk a lot about 1043 and the FM? That's the had two great brands coming together. So I did that and I had a little microphone. They had a camera. I had a camera guy in there. And like I said, I made Chicago dogs. We talked about 1043 to score. We swore a lot. I was insulted a little bit. Just really got to know the fabric of the whole place. And it's on, you can see it on my Twitter. It's on my Instagram. If you want to check it out, Dan. And I'm glad that you were interested in it. enough to ask me about that. What a surprise it was to me to be going through my scroll and then see you with an apron on, squeezing mustard on a hot dog. And being, you know, honestly, by Weiner Circle standards,

you were, you were pretty much praised for your ability to make a hot dog. I mean, they didn't let you serve it to anyone because it wasn't up to those standards. But given the way that they insult people, I feel like you must have really impressed them because that wasn't much of an insulting job going on right there. Well, I will say it is the edited version, like what you saw right there was just cleaned it up. just, just enough. And there's plenty of bleeps and plenty of blue. Well, how about you send me the unedited version so I can get a little handle on that? I want to see the unedited version.

I know what's on it, but I'd like to see it. I mean, there is more. There is much more to it. But you got to keep it clean and concise and consumable, Dan. You wouldn't have consumed it if it wasn't a nice tight package. No, I might have. I'll consume anything. But yeah, that was great.

It was great to see. I'm glad I've got the context now of knowing that was Friday. He's like, man, Grody was up early day, getting out there to go to go to design. nine hot dogs and decorate hot dogs the way he was doing. Do you feel like you got a better appreciation for running it through the garden? I do. Yeah, I do. And I mean, I like, I like the how smooth Evelyn who was helping me, how she was about, like, I think she could have done it without actually looking at the different, you know, the mustard and the celery salt and the peppers and the pick. It's all going through my head right now. And I'm enjoying what's made.

Oh, yeah. Oh, God, I'm hungry right now. Yeah, it's a very smooth process. But I felt comfortable. What I'd realize, though, that in my life as a lifelong Chicagoan and suburbanites, I know we have to make that distinction sometimes, I don't know that I ever have purchased or gathered all the ingredients in my life at home to make a Chicago dog. I was like, you know what? This is the first time I've ever actually made a Chicago. Lord knows I've ordered hundreds of them, but I'd never. I made one, Dan.

I'm with you. So, man, that's what a, what a little line to add to the resume here. And like I say, you know, other than, other than getting the, the mustard bottle and the relish out, it was just like the podcast. You know, you're insulting people. They're insulting you. It was just like being here and take the north. Yeah, it's like YouTube comments. It really, really.

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Hey, this is Richard Deich, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has covered. I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Copy reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deich podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, one of the other things that I learned on Friday that I was being dispatched to Wiener's Circle. On Friday, I also learned after our show had ended, and I missed the in the moment because I was running around silly at the wiener's circle. I missed it in the moment. And there goes another Bears coach. Declan Doyle, the Bears offensive coordinator for one year under Ben Johnson is out of here. Name the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore, where he will call plays under the defensive-minded head coach, Jesse Minter.

Dan, I'm not necessarily, well, I am a little bit surprised. I'm a little bit surprised. that he was taken out of the Bears without having ever called plays. But at the same time, this is where the NFL works. You see a successful formula. Other teams try to get any little tiny piece of that if they can. And Declan Doyle represents that for Baltimore. And now the Bears as well.

What's cool for Declan is that he goes into Baltimore with a new staff, right? So you've got some time and some security initially with that staff to understand that you don't have to do everything in year one. And he gets to go work with Lamar Jackson, right? Like you've got a quarterback now. And, you know, when Declan's name started popping up during this hiring cycle at the very outset, and people were coming around asking, you know, what do you think of them? Is he capable of making this leap? The first thing I told him is that our experience with him, really bright guy, very capable of communicating.

And you could see that. And you could feel Ben Johnson's appreciation for that in him, both the intelligence and the communication style and skills that he had. Not just with us, obviously. For Ben, it's in front of the player. and his ability to handle those responsibilities. But also, when you think of Declan Doyle, he spent a lot of time around Sean Payton and a lot of time around Ben Johnson now.

And so you've got access to two of the brightest offensive minds to ever coach in this league. And so you feel like he's got to have a pretty good head start of figuring out how he's going to want to do things and how he can take little bits of those two guys' styles, both offensively and the way they lead and implement it in what he does in his own way. So it's a great opportunity for,

him at a very young age. I think his, you know, his, his, his arrow is pointed very sharply upward. And it wouldn't be a surprise of a few years from now. He's getting head coaching interviews. And so, yeah, it's a, it's a loss for the Bears. It's not a, a massive loss given that Ben is still the play caller. But we can discuss a little bit about, about what Declan brought to the table and how it matched up with what Ben's stated job description was when he got the job, which, you know, I think both men truly agreed that they enjoyed working with one another. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. What do you have in that regard, Dan?

Because that's the question that, I mean, I have some audio. I'm going to play for everybody from Cole Comet. I just talked to him. He was on the radio show on Rahimi Harris and Grody. But I want to hear what you have to say first in that regard, because that's, that's it. The Bears fans want to know. We all want to know what is Declan Doyle leaving behind,

or actually, I should say, taking with him. How will the bears be altered or hurt by the loss of Declan Doyle? That's the question, right? Because you can call plays. So I've got a few things to share on this regard and some honestly some archive stuff from the owner's meetings that I'll just share with you paraphrased wise. But when Ben got the job, he was kind of asked, what are you looking for in this role? And he essentially said, this is going to be a table setting role.

This is going to be somebody that while I am busy doing other things that the head coach must tend to, I need somebody to help set me up for success as I begin my week, right? Particularly important during the season. But so the qualities that Ben Johnson said he was looking for when he took the job in that role was trustworthy, extremely detailed, organized, structured to set the table, and willing to work late nights. If you remember that line from Ben's introductory press conference, it was like, that was very emphatic from Ben.

It was like, listen, like, you know, like I am going to expect things of you. and they're going to be unwavering and what the expectations are. And so as the bears look to fill this position, either from within or from the outside, I think that is established, right? Like there are, there's a grind to this in this current construct of the role as you're helping the play calling head coach. You've got to be willing to really get your hands dirty to work late hours, to work on orthodox hours, to work hard, to set the table, be organized,

to be able to, you know, watch tape. A couple other things that I'll tell you is when I was at the owner's meetings last year and I was talking to a few of the play calling head coaches in the league at the time. Mike McDaniel said the first thing you have to do as a play calling head coach is convince yourself that you have to give some of your responsibilities as an offensive coordinator off to whoever you hire as offensive coordinator because there's just too much to handle in the head coaching yourself. And if you do try to do it all yourself, you're setting yourself up for failure. And so you have to have that really cool relationship marriage with your offensive coordinator

to say, look like, I've got to give you this pile of work. And I've got to trust that you're going to do it to my standard and to my liking because you've got to set me up for success. And then Zach Taylor, whose brother Press is on the staff in Chicago and, you know, play calling head coach in Cincinnati. His analogy was when I have to jump off the train to handle other things in the head coaching role, I need to make sure that the person in the offensive coordinator role can keep the train going. And then so then when I get done with whatever I'm tending to do off the side, I've got to run, catch up and jump. back on that train without that train ever having stopped. And so it's like as the head coach, you're jumping off the train, then you're chasing it,

catching back up and jumping on with trust that the train is advanced while you were off handling other things that you would otherwise not want to be handling if you were just a regular offensive coordinator without head coaching duty. So I thought that was a cool analogy that kind of gives people an understanding of what this role is and what obviously they're going to be looking to fill it with. Yeah, yeah. And that all makes sense. as if he's a co-pilot.

You've got to, like, when I go to dinner, you need to take a nap on the airplane. You're going to need, you are going to need to fly that plane. And I know, well, why don't we let you hear from Cole Commet on what he said on Declan Doyle leaving? You will hear that. And you will also hear Cole Commet pressed a little bit on the specifics of, Declan Doyle what he did with the Bears. So here's Cole Komet from Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 104-3, the score. It's happening. Eric B. Enemy is gone. Ian Cunningham is gone and good for them. And that brings us to the latest.

Declan Doyle taking the job with Baltimore. What do you think of that? And what does that loss mean for you guys? Yeah, well, we're super happy for Declan and really anybody this time of year that's able to go out and take advantage of the situation they were in the year prior. And, you know, that's kind of happening with coaching right now and with players that will come up here soon with free agency and teams kind of getting their roster set and somewhat ready to go for the upcoming season. You know, it is kind of like a puzzle piece. And, you know, with us being in a salary cap league, there's pieces of the puzzle that fit well into the next season and pieces of the puzzles that don't. So, you know, I'm sure Ryan and Ben are going to be all over that this time of year figuring that out and all those things. You know, yeah, it's obviously a big loss for us. We've in Declan, E.B.

Two great coaches and guys that provide a lot of value to the offensive side of the ball this year. And, you know, I know even though Declan doesn't call the place for us, you know, the amount of work that he did on the offensive side of the football was immense. And you could see that in day-to-day and practices. And I'm sure it took a lot off of Ben throughout the week for his duties as a head coach. Cole, if you could just humorous and what kind of walk us through that, because I know at the beginning of the season, Ben Johnson explained how from an organizational role, that was going to be so important, Declan's role, even though, as you said, he doesn't call plays,

but so that Ben Johnson could do head coaching duties because he wasn't an offensive coordinator anymore, but he still remained a play caller. What was Declan Doyle's role as you got through the season? What would you say his day-to-day was like? Yeah, well, I mean, that almost be hard for me to even say, just because I'm not there in those meetings once we leave the building. But you can tell with things in terms of getting the scout team correct, getting all those cards ready, dialed up, ready to go. Whether it's scripting the practice, I'm sure Declan had a huge say as to what plays we're going to have up and what looks we were going to get throughout the week of practice.

And then, you know, on Fridays and Saturdays, when we'd go over our film from Fridays on Saturday morning, you know, Declan's the guy going over that tape with the whole skill group and then kind of leading us in the walkthrough on Saturday before our main mini walkthrough as, as, before we get to the hotel. So, yeah, Declan was very hands-on with all of us, and that is a big role. And I know I understand, and I somewhat understand what people on the outside, and they say, oh, if you're not calling plays, like really, what are you doing? These guys do a lot of stuff in terms of prepping for the game plan

and getting us ready to go for practice throughout the week that really shows up big time up on Sunday. And then, I mean, another thing Declan was great at is, you know, I'm sure Ben, as the head coach, there's a lot of things. handle on half time. Declan's the one addressing the offense at half time kind of going over the openers that are going to be coming up in the second half and telling us what we need to do, what they're seeing, and how we can make adjustments. So yeah, Declan was definitely a very valuable piece to us offensively. Great description there, Mark, from Cole in terms of what all Declan specifically was doing and then obviously a little bit more of an overview on the

offensive coordinator role in this structure. So it would be very interesting to see who the Bears wind up with. Obviously, we're going to have to do some homework on whoever that may be when they do take that position. And so that's going to be interesting. And Cole also mentioned Eric Bienemy in there who's gone to go back to Kansas City to be an offense coordinator for Andy Reed. And so those are two losses to the offensive staff that the Bears have to replace. And they're not seismic losses, but they are losses. And it does, it is something that you have to take seriously as you as you find the guys to fill in those holes. The way I would capsulize it is the Bears are not. screwed without Declan Doyle, but I heard Kurt Warner alluding to this, and it's true, you do have to find another guy that gets the head coach, understands what Ben Johnson,

exactly what he wants to do, and somebody who gets the quarterback, too, who gets Caleb knows exactly where we are. It doesn't mean you can't bring in different ideas, but you have to get those guys, and that will probably take some doing. and I don't know, Dan, like we can talk about it a little bit right now. Like it would seem that you mentioned one of them, like some of the candidates, the in-house candidates, and I would say you didn't necessarily mention this person as a candidate but Press Taylor, Antoine Randall L, J.T. Barrett.

Do you think any of those guys would be worthy of taking over the position? Well, in the way that the position is structured, I think that Press Taylor and Antoine Randallel L are overqualified. I think it's more of a position for somebody that is young and ambitious and ready to climb and be sort of the gopher for Ben Johnson in a lot of ways. And so I think that that might change the dynamics of what you're after in that regard. We'll see who they settle on. And if Ben provides any more elaboration on kind of if the role is evolving at all based on who they choose or if they're looking for somebody to fit the role exactly as Declan had it, it would be very interesting.

but I think those first two guys in particular with Antoine and Press, I think that they're probably a little bit further along in their career arcs to go down that road. I could be wrong, but that would be my hunch at the outset. That's really interesting. Yeah, I mean, the power of that position really is in whether or not you call the plays. If you don't, then it becomes a little bit ambiguous, a little bit gray, but we tried to define it a little bit. It's a lot of grunt work, and you have to lean into it. Now, look, it's very attractive.

because you look what Declan Doyle did one season working with Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. You get people's attention and then all of a sudden you're able to turn that attention to an opportunity for yourself. And so those that can embrace it as such, I think we'll enjoy what they're asked to do. Let's let's say, yeah, yeah, they will. And they will see that this is a place that they can come and perhaps move on to bigger and better things. And that's okay because that would connote and mean that the bears were winning games. there's a there's a pro bowl on Tuesday um pro bowl games yeah the pro bowl games some flag football it's like when we were growing up like worldwide world of sports on ABC you remember that don't you

dan oh of course yeah yeah you had a little bit everything it was great it was like a it was like a dream before the world opened up and we had sports on demand but that like oh you mean there's a show that i can watch on a saturday afternoon that gives me all from from baseball to javel it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's going to be some dodgeball. There's going to be all the extracurricular events down there at the Pro Bowl games. At the side of the Super Bowl this year, which is a little twist there on what it's been at certain times. It's been there a couple times, Bob.

Look like we've got four bears represented there, two on the offensive side of the ball, two on the defensive backfield. So you've got center and Drew Dalman, all pro guard, Joe Tunney, all pro safety, Kevin Bayard, and then cornerback Nishon Wright, who was sent there as a replacement for Quinyon Mitchell, all very worthy this year. I think you agree with that. And so, you know, to see some of the stuff coming out on social media, those guys hanging out and doing their thing down there in California.

It's, you know, it's good to see, right? Like you've got a, I lost you there for a second. You blacked out on the screen. That was good. Now you're gone again. Good to see those guys kind of getting the rewards for the season that they've had and being able to enjoy the reward of being. selected to the Pro Bowl. Yeah, and all four of those guys, really interesting, intricle parts of the team,

two of which we know may or may not be back. We know obviously Dolman and Tuny are going to be around for a while and will be the basis of this offense and the anchor of the offensive line, obviously. But here we are. We were just talking about Nashan Wright and, you know, per Spottrecht, Spotrek, they, Nashan Wright is a guy who could command. on the open market, a $50 million deal. And unfortunately, that's just not tenable for the Bears. I don't think with the money already having been put into Jalen Johnson, with the money being put into Kyler Gordon,

with the two safety positions that you have wide open. I mean, who am I leaving out? I don't know that you could justify putting more money into the secondary, especially for a guy like Nishon Wright who, you. You maxed him out this year on the field. It was great. But it's hard to think that he's going to be that unless this is him. This is the new him that he's going to have that kind of a season again.

But I hope he earns his money. This is one of those dynamics where it is the business of the NFL, but it's one of those business of the NFL happy stories, right? Where you're like, man, this guy went and seized his opportunity so well that he's about to get life-changing money on the open market of free agency. and so everyone's going to feel good about it. The Bears are going to feel good about it and saying, like, sorry, like we just, in our current state,

we can't afford to bring you back at what you deserve now, right? And so go get your payday and go make it happen. So I don't expect Nashan right to be back unless it's at a, his market doesn't pan out to be what we think it could be at this stage, which always happens in free agency. There are those instances. But again, I think it is a feel good story for everyone, but the Bears do have found a guy that was able to play.

so often and so well with the injuries they had in their defensive backfield this year, to play at a level under the direction of L. Harris to go earn this opportunity to go hit free agency for the first time in your life with leverage, right? Like last year he signed a one-year deal with the Bears in April and nobody covered it, right? It was just like, okay, here you go. You know, here's your opportunity, do something with it. He did something with and he goes there with it. So good for him.

And so I hope he's enjoying the Pro Bowl this week. Again, it was an earned honor. I'll just give you this, Grotie. there was a basket. I don't know if we've talked about this in the pod. There was a basket in the defensive meeting room this season at House Hall where they would fill it up with takeaways. And part of what they did in filling it up with takeaways is they'd take the ball

from every takeaway they got and then they'd get it brought to the building the following week. And then the players that created that takeaway would sign it and throw it in the ball basket. Right. And so it piled up with more than 30 by the year was over. Sean Wright had his name on nine of those. And if you go through the inventory on the nine takeaways he was a part of, it's hard to find any of them that were just like, no big deal.

You know, like there's a, obviously the pick six in the season opener on Monday night. It was Nishon Wright, you know, introducing himself to the world that, hey, I can play at this level and I can make big plays. The push push strip in Philly as part of that signature win. That might have been the best of them all. You know, he's got another strip of Josh Jacobs in the game against the Packers.

You've got the incredible. in the back of the end zone in Minnesota when, you know, he's, he's commemorating the passing of his junior college coach. Yeah. You've got the ridiculous interception along the Bears side line at Soldier Field against the Steelers at the start of that game that swung the momentum and was one of the greatest catches you'll see by a defensive back in the season, right? Hail Mary off Joe Flacko and the Bengals game.

You just keep going on the list. You know, the fumble recovery, which you brought up many times in Washington, that basically set up the game-winning drive in what, was a very pivotal win for the bears at that time. So good on to Sean Wright for all of the signature moments that he brought to the 2025. I'm really glad you went through those. Yeah, he deserves that publicity and he ultimately will deserve the money. He comes across as a great dude.

Obviously, he was on the podcast with us. He came on the score with us a couple of times as well. So really, really seems like a good dude. And hopefully he will earn it. And who knows, who knows, man. it is the NFL. Maybe, maybe, maybe there'll be a surprise party. He'll be back with the Bears.

You mentioned that the turnover stuff. Do you remember the turnover bucket? Oh, of course. Showing the sigh. The sigh. Yeah, it was the sigh. Yeah. It had a lot of momentum in training camp and for the first month of the season.

And then they weren't getting takeaways. And we just stopped hearing about it. Well, it was so funny because I was doing sidelines. then on the bear's sideline. So I was right there. There's the, it's a real thing. There's a real bucket. The balls go in there. It was on the sideline for about the first five, six, you know, make a big deal out of it, you know. They would do like basketball dunks on it, right? Like, that was the thing. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, it was great and it was cool. And, you know, they were, like you said, they had been forcing turnovers. And then they just kind of stopped. And the bucket was very

lonely and then one week i come back to the sideline job and there's no bucket anymore jeff and tom sorry we don't have a bucket i mean and like is that not like the the quintessential snapshot of like these things are awesome when you're winning and when you're not it just like falls flat and it's like you know what i mean like yes it's like such an example of that well yeah you got you know matt naggy with the the the club dub of course so that like that didn't look that looked really bad when things started to go sour started with the game and the raiders game man and they were mocking the bears in london i remember writing a piece at one point it was either naggy's last year or second to last year like

basically advocating for the shuddering of club dub that club dub needed to be closed down it was it was and it was like i think i had set a criteria of you had to be at least two games over 500 to even entertain the thought of entering club dub right like that was the cover charge you couldn't have you know break a five game losing streak and then go club dub with the disco ball and the music it just wasn't appropriate at that point so yeah that is another good example that's hilarious and now hey somebody was asking me about good better best do they stood some of the question that somebody asked me actually was did they continue to do that like ben johnson going to do good better best is he is this his thing for life with the bears, or was that the 20, 25, 2026 bears?

See, these are the types of questions that we've got six months of an offseason to get to, which I love because I do think this is a valid question. Because I do think, you know, like, there is an expiration date on all these things, whether you're winning or not. Like, there's just a certain point where it loses its effect, right? And so, like, as a coach, you have to feel that out. And maybe you do come up with something new for a year or two. I would tend to think that they would stick with it for it for at least one more year just because it felt like it was such a rallying cry that got this momentum started.

But then there is a point where you do just have to pull the plug on it, right? And you've got to figure out when that kind of runs out on you. And you just kind of, I guess you got to play that by feel. Yeah, Ben did was the one who said that new year got to carry on. But I think my gut is I'm with you. They have to do. I mean, for nothing else. So let's say Ben Johnson was not going to do it.

I could see the bears, and justifiably so, be like, for marketing purposes. And just because everybody's got T-shirts, everybody's doing it. Like when I was at the Wiener Circle, like that's what I was talking to a couple of women that were sitting there having a hot dog. And they were kind of casual fans, but they were doing the good, better, best thing. And they knew Ben Johnson. So this is one of those cases where I'd be like, if I was, you know, promotions or bar, I'd be like, I could just do that one more year? Can we get one more year out of you?

And listen, it will have all of the oomph that you wanted to have if you go and win another 11 plus games. You know, like that. Yeah, yeah. That's what's going to give it to life. And so, yeah, I stick with it for 2026. And then you have an option for 2027, right? You decide whether you want to exercise the option on good, better best for the 2027 season. Well, we know that the Bears have, as it pertains,

of the conversation we're having about Sean Wright. The Bears have all sorts of serious questions that they need to answer this offseason in terms of who they keep. We've talked about Kevin Byrd and Jaquan Bristker. It's really hard to call. It's also hard to think that or hard to believe that they would both be back in some capacity. That's probably unrealistic. And that brings me back to Cole Comet Dan.

Again, he was on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. And I brought that up. You'll hear the question at the beginning. But I brought up the. The other part of this, not just the natural place is free agency, but potential trades, potential dealings from the inside. DJ Moore's name pops up a lot. It was popping up before the season ended. We've heard Cole Commett's name mentioned before. I brought this up with him and you're about to hear a super adult answer about the NFL here from Cole Commet.

What's going on with the Bears? We talked about changes for the teams. Every roster is going to be different going forward. Do you get nervous thinking about that that anybody can be exposed to potential trade? Like DJ Moore, his name pops up sometimes. Your name from time to time pops up sometimes. Anybody who has value to make other parts better, how much of that do you watch and how much of that do you think is real heading into the next season? Well, it's definitely very real.

I know it's real because I've seen it happen before. I mean, that's just the nature of the business in this league. So, I mean, maybe, you know, you say nervous or scared. I would say, like, my first two years in the league, you're like, it kind of catches you off guard of just how ruthless this business can be. But I think at this point in my stage, my career, you're kind of accepting of it and understanding that this is just part of the deal. And, you know, especially like a guy like myself or, you know, you're talking about DJ

or other guys who have played a little bit and you're on a second deal. You know, unfortunately, as you age, you get more expensive and you may not fit in that piece of the puzzle that I was talking about. And that's just the nature of the business, you know. So however it works out, it works out. You know, for me personally, I felt like I did a lot of good things this year in the role that I was in and had a lot of fun playing with this team. And, you know, like I said, after the game against the Rams, you know, it is going to be different next year despite who's here. but I think going forward, you know, this is an organization that you want to be part of, and I'm sure they're going to have no problem bringing in the guys they want to bring in for agents-wise

and selling them on a Super Bowl run this upcoming year. That's good stuff, Grotie. I'm curious what your reaction was hearing that in real time from Cole, just in terms of his acknowledgement of the business and his words, ruthless nature of it, and what it means for this particular offseason in this group. Yeah, well, I think he sounds very comfortable. in his own skin. The fact that he was, you know,

just went right with that question because I specifically brought his name up and DJ Morris, you know, just to kind of, like, I wanted to kind of personalize it. I wanted to see what Cole thought. And, you know, like, it's not like, he sounds like a man who would probably love to finish his career with the Chicago Bears.

I mean, I'm sure he would. It would all be fitting. But he also understands that it is life in the NFL if he was to have to go. and this is not me like saying that in some way, shape, or form, Cole Komet has to go because I look at him as an incredibly valuable, you know, piece of the team, but you do have to look at the, the valuable parts of the team that would have value with other teams, that you could be creative to make room for other guys and other money and all of that stuff.

And that is one of the people that comes to mine for sure. But he just, he really sounds like an adult. what he talks about it. And he's the one that said. He echoed Ben Johnson's words better than anybody in that locker room after the loss to L.A. That it's what you're looking at right now is not what you're going to be looking like looking at when you guys all come back to OTAs in the spring. Right. And so like this, we've got we've got a while before we get the free agency, but not that long either.

And so when you look at this, the NFL sent out a memo late last week to teams, alerting them that the cap was going to fall somewhere between $301 million and $305.7 million. And so with that range understood, the bears are strapped up against it a little bit. They're currently, as of today, with the cap falling in that middle range, they're one of 12 teams that's in the red and would have to make some maneuvers just to get into a legal space before the new league year begins on March 11th, I guess technically begins, the free agency negotiating window begins on March 9th. And so they're going to have to start, looking at that puzzle that we always talk about with the pieces dumped out and figuring out what fits it and what doesn't. I think obviously there is going to be certain situations where like Tremaine Edmonds' name comes up a lot.

You can say $15 million against the cap by releasing Tremaine Edmins. That potentially clears some room for you to address multiple positions in the wave of free agency that you're going to go down. Commette's name and D'Andre Swift's name get thrown around a little bit as well. I think Coles maybe would be like an $11 million savings and DeAndre somewhere I think just below eight on that savings. And so like when you get a little bit lower on that list, you're like, okay, maybe those are moves you make if you find a must have player in a range that you weren't anticipating. And you're like, ah, would rather not do this, but we're going to have to do it kind of thing, if that makes sense. And so it's going to be fascinating to see what decisions Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles come to with some of those guys as they try to put their roster together. It's also a reminder to me.

I'm putting together a primer this week of what's ahead for the bears this offseason. And there's a lot of people that are like, oh, when are the bears going to spend big? And you're like, well, wait a second. Over the last 18 months, they have spent big. You go back to training camp 2024 and forward, and you've got the DJ Moore extension. You've got the additions of Dalman, Tooney, Jonah Jackson, you've got extensions for Kyler Gordon. You've got an extension for T.J. Edwards. You signed Dioidangbo.

Like the bears have sped. spent a lot of money, which is why the cap spot they're in. And so I think the Bears fan base generally has to get themselves comfortable with the idea that some of this team's improvement has to come from some of this team's improvement, if that makes sense. Like the guy who have have to get better as opposed to going out on the open market and expecting that to answer some of your problems. Yep, absolutely.

Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. And I think that I don't know if you can depend on it, but I brought these two guys up last time. And you mentioned Dio Dengbo. While it felt like a bust of a year for Dio Dengbo, because when he did play, he wasn't effective. And he got hurt. And he got hurt.

So I still have optimistic that there's more there. And maybe he becomes a revelation next year. Shemar Turner is the other guy. Another dude who got his season ripped up because of injury. And I know that they were struggling to find a place for him before that. But with the coaches that you have, we talk about all the develop on offense, you also have. You also have an expert on the other side of the ball who should be able to continue to develop players just like that. Do we want to add another little catchphrase to take the North right here, right now in this moment?

The only answer to this question is yes. When I was, this fits perfectly. Just give it some time for me to explain this. When I was working in North Carolina, a columnist at the paper I worked for in Fayetteville, was known for having very loud conversations on his phone from the press room. And so we were sitting in the Smith Center press room one day. Before a game, everyone's just writing. It's pretty quiet in there.

He's over in the corner next to me, unfortunately, on his phone, talking very loudly to his wife. At one point, the entire press room is completely silent. And then all you hear from this columnist was, with what money, Karen? I'm getting here on take note. Well, when people start, filling up your mentions in coming weeks,

Mark Grody, asking you to go find a way for the Bears to get Miles Garrett or Max Crosby. The appropriate answer is, with what money, Karen? Which is why we have to bring up these names that are popular on the Bears, right? I mean, it's true. It's like you got to get creative, but that is, that's hilarious, man.

While we're doing random things here on the podcast here on Take the North. Yeah, yeah, which we're. we do. What did you think? Oh, maybe you didn't catch it. Potsie when asked Mark Potash, who filled in for Dan Weeder when last we did the podcast because you were doing the live radio show, which is just, which is funny. We busted your balls a little bit, of course. I heard it. Okay. I took notes. Nobody keeps receipts like Dan Weeder, everybody. I keep receipts. Well, maybe that's the receipt I should go to, the Danny Parkins receipts. You handled that pretty well. That was pretty good. I heard that.

on the radio and I was reminded, I know you guys had a thing. I didn't, I've, I'd forgotten that the topic was learning how to win. And then it all came back to me. It all came back to me because I was, I was part of it. I was in that media room as well. I don't remember exactly where I was on the whole thing. But that was hilarious. But Potsie, you know, we could talk about that too if you want.

But Potsie did say without hesitating, Sid Luckman, the greatest Bears quarterback. Without hesitation, too. There was no hesitation on that. Thanks for bringing that full circle because that was a discussion that that needed to be brought full circle for a little while. My ultimate conclusion on that topic after we sounded it out in the podcast and then during transition on the score last week was it's just a silly conversation to have because the bears need to be aiming higher, right?

Like initially I was like, I don't hate the premise. I hate the prematurity of it. And I ultimately landed on the conclusion of like, who cares? because the Bears have been so lost at the quarterback position that Caleb Williams gives you a chance to have a different conversation, which is, can he next year be one of the top eight in the league? Can he be one of the top four in the league? And that's where that conversation needs to go rather than comparing whether the brand of football he plays would have translated to the 40s, right? And whether Sid Luckman could have survived, you know, under center and watching Max Crosby or Mike. Miles Garrett come at them, right? Like, like, it's just a, it's a comparison game that will never

be able to get your arms around because it's just, there's too many different eras and too many different factors. And so I, my whole thing is like, let's just change the target here on the Caleb Williams discussion. And I think we'll be all, all be better off for it. Right. Now, I was complicit. I allowed the topic to happen. It's a good topic. It works. No, no, I, I'm not necessarily, I'm not regretting that we did the topic. I have no regrets whatsoever. But my conclusion to it was it was too early to do this topic. It was too like

it's like not necessary to do the topic. So on topic, lots of opinions, but it was just, it's too early. You and Marshall Harris were, we're having a spirit back and forth. And I appreciated you kind of digging in and being the, what do you call it?

The counterpoint, I guess. Yeah. You're just playing the role of devil's advocates. Well, I want, it wasn't really like straight up devil's advocacy. see, it was more like, let's just make sure, let me say this out loud. So I, because I want to hear, I want to make sure, I want somebody to shoot me down on Jim McMahon. Shoot me down on Jay Cutler.

Shoot me down on Eric Kramer. Shoot me down on a 400-yard Jim Miller game or season. Not a season, but. You would use the analogy with Marshall on like it's like meeting a girl and then wanting to propose to her right away. Yeah, yeah. Well, wait a minute. Let's go through a couple cycles of holidays first, right? Let's do things giving together twice and see if we still like each other this much.

And if we still like each other this much, the same thing can be accomplished two years from now. You can propose two years from now if you still feel this in love. Like, and there'd be nothing lost for having waited as opposed to being like, oh, yeah, I proposed. And, oh, man, now we've got to trade you to Pittsburgh. By the way, for the first time, I kind of, I kind of roll my eyes. nowadays when you see sports wedding proposals like at games or like on the big board

or on the marquee or on the video and all it like it's kind of become pretty trite it's almost like a cliche but I was at a Bulls game recently the Bulls Lakers game where LeBron was in town and there was a maybe we've talked about this on the score there was a there was a young couple in front of me and my friends

that were doing the whole getting down on his knees had the like she was crying and it has changed my attitude again. It's beautiful. Get married at sporting events. It was pretty cool. I heard you were doing the old school thing there and went, don't do it. Don't do it. If I may, just really quickly,

it's really fun being single. Let me tell you, you know, it's really cool being able to do whatever you want, whatever you want. That's what's cool, young man. See, voice the reason. Always voice the reason out there. Yeah. No doubt.

No doubt. I try. I try. I love to give parenting advice. It's my favorite thing is a lifelong single man who's never had kids. Oh, they love it. My friends, my family. Dan,

I may even help you out at some point in time. Maybe I'll come and teach you how to coach. Well, you might be too late for that because I'm going to be phasing out of that a little bit. I guess temporarily depends on what my daughter decides to to invest herself in. Maybe I get back in in that regard. But I'm starting to phase out.

It's gone quickly. Yeah. So I shared this the other day on the score. I'll share it here for those of you that love to catch up on my baseball exploits. My son's travel program at 13 U, they phase dad coaches out and they just turn them over to the paid professionals. So I, like now I am no longer, I will no longer be in the dugout. You don't know how much that breaks my heart because I love being in the mix.

Oh, I can see that. My heartbeat is I just like being in the mix and being in the mix and being part of that. Even in the winter here when I, you know, I used to be part of the winter training and go in and it was like a thing for me every week, Wednesdays, Fridays, whatever days we were in there. And it's like, now I just drop them off and drive home and I'm like, man, this is so sad. Dude, how are you going to fill that void? Like, honestly, like, I'm feeling this a little like, this is like, you are so passionate. I know it's all fun and like it's, it's the part of your life that's not your work life, but you really enjoy that stuff. I got to feel. I thought your son liked

it too. He does. He wrote me a wonderful birthday card that basically said, I'm going to miss having you as my coach in the dugout, right? That's hard throw that in the keepsake shoebox. We'll still have fun. We'll be able to maximize it and do some things. But yeah, there's that and there's that and the things too.

You want one little, I guess two more quick little football footnotes. Yeah, yeah. And I'll throw one more note after that. Go ahead. Hit us. Number one, Ian Cunningham gone as assistant general manager from Hall. So that's a big deal with him going to Atlanta.

And so you've got the opportunity now for the Bears to fill that position. Maybe Senior Director of Player Personnel, Jeff King, slides over to the assistant GM chair next to Ryan polls. It made big waves on Bears Twitter because the Bears will not get the two third round compensatory picks, one this year and one next year, that the otherwise might have had Ian Cunningham left for a general manager job where he was considered the, quote, primary football executive of that team. But because president of football, Matt Ryan, has now got that sort of distinction in the Atlanta organization, Ian Cunningham's move is slightly considered lateral by the NFL. And so the

bears don't get the rewards for developing a minority canon who goes on to take a promotion into a GM job. A little bit of a, you know, a disappointing development for the bears and for the purpose of the rule, I guess, but it is what it is. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's too bad because that would have come in really handy for the bears. But congratulations. and good for Ian Cunningham. It seemed like the minute he walked in the door, they were trying to, in the best of ways, push him out the door to get him his own gig

so he could run his own thing. And it felt like a little unsteady for a while, but good for him. He's the GM in Atlanta. Congratulations to him. One other nugget on my... Well, did you have another one, Dan? I had one more nugget.

Yeah, yeah. Seven international games confirmed for 2026. Three in London. Those have been a long time. They're going back to Brazil, one in Munich, one in Madrid, Spain, which has Bears fans' interest because the Bears have a marketing partnership in Madrid and could potentially be the road team for an NFC team that might want to be the host in Madrid. Keep an eye on that for when the schedule release comes in May. And they got a game on the docket in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, Mark Grotty, which that one baffles me because I just don't know logistically how you make that travel work for an NFL team. I know they're going to allow for an extended period of rest and recovery on the back end of that thing.

But holy cow. What about report? Have you ever been to Australia? No, I have not. It's a long haul, have you? No, no. It's another world. It's the new world, Australia.

They have spices and whatnot. Yes. No, that is fascinating. That is fascinating. I wanted to give a shout out to our guy, Dan. our guy, Todd Munkin, who gets a job as the head coach of Cleveland. I really think that, and I know everybody hates it, everybody hates it because he's the, everybody turned down the job in Cleveland.

He's on the older side. He's been passed up before. Todd Munkin feels like, I think, to Cleveland anyway, like leftovers. But I think that his demeanor, which can be rough, I think is something that will definitely resonate with the people of Cleveland. And maybe it's just what the Cleveland Browns need. I feel like he's going to be a guy that we're talking about. And of course, I have a bias.

And Dan does too. He is local. His dad was the head coach at Lake Park and Rosella Medina, where I went to high school for years and years and years. Yeah, so it's a coaching family. They're local. So we rooted from afar for Todd Monkin. Can we make a deal?

If the timing allows at the combine later this month, can we make a deal to stand side by side at the podium session for Todd Monken? and take in the presence and we'll evaluate the stage presence at the combine of Todd Munkin in that environment. If the timing allows. I love that idea. Yes.

The answer is yes. That is great. We just made our first deal on the Take the North podcast. We're going places. Actually, that's the last thing I wanted to say was we had another great month here on Take the North. We continue to bring it up.

The reason we bring it up is because we're proud of our but it's also a correlation because of you because the bears are winning okay i mean and that just that again shows you what drives us uh is not negativity we'll we'll be real when we have to be we'll be we'll be negative when we have to be that's what the signature is of this podcast of the take the north podcast but what really drives it is winning what drives us is winning what drives hopefully the Bears is winning and that's what's going on. And when the Bears win, we win, you win, we all win. So I wanted to say thank you, thank you, to all of our listeners, to all of our viewers,

love us, hate us, somewhere in the middle. You guys are watching and you're listening and I genuinely appreciate it and I love being part of this podcast. Ditto to all of that. And as a reward, our very next episode will be our 2025 season predictions episode in review. Always a fun episode. It's amazing.

We bring back some of the auto. We bring back some of the things we were right on and some of the things we were wrong on. So buckle your seatbelt the next time we sit down here, Mark Grotty. There's a lot to go through about what we thought in September and what we think now. Oh, yeah. The haters out. You will love this one. Yeah, you don't even have to troll us.

It's all going to be right there for. Hey, maybe we got some things right too. But I know that going into this season, I did not. think the Bears are going to be at 11 and 6 and win a playoff game. I'll just leave it at that and we will uncover we will expose ourselves in our next

episode which will be fun. Figuratively, Mark Grotie we will figuratively Hey man, I got an FM attitude, bro. I'm at an FM attitude over here, man. It will not only be our season predictions and review episode, it will be our last episode of Take the North if we decide

to expose our show. I don't know. What are the rules on podcast. I don't even know what the rules are. There aren't rules in there. There's no rules in life anymore. That's no, no, they're not. You just do whatever you want. Just do whatever you want. Contact, get, me Dionne Miller. What are the rules for, for that? Because she is, she keeps us on the up and up on this podcast. No cursing. No, there's just the cursing part. She doesn't want us exposed either. Trust me. Definitely not. Definitely not. She doesn't need that. Nobody needs that. For, I'm going to stop talking now. For Dan Weederer of the athletic and of the score for our executive producer, Adam Szynski. I am Mark Grody of 104.3 FM, the score saying thank you so much for listening to and watching the Take the North podcast.

Great talk. See out there. Thank you, everybody.