Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears should prioritize left tackle position this offseason

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the Bears' need to address their left tackle position this offseason.

Rahimi, Harrison Grooty, Midday's tidal two on Chicago Sports Radio 12-4-3 to score. Negative 10. Right again, Walker to bounce to the outside. There he goes. Walker down the sideline. Kenneth Walker into Patriots territory. It might be out of bounds farther back. Around the 46-yard line.

What a strong run by Walker for the first half. 30 on the game. We had a chance to watch Kenneth Walker in practice the other day. and so many times he's casual with the ball at first, and then he makes one of those jump cuts and takes off. I don't think I've seen a guy in practice faster than he is. That is courtesy of NBC. That is Mike Tariko and Chris Collinsworth on the call.

This is where hemi Harrison Brody as we continue to recap Super Bowl 60 and discuss some of the finer points. And Nick Costos was funny. Yeah, he's going to say the game stunk. And I get it. It wasn't, it wasn't great. great, but there was still, I think, a lot of lessons to be learned in observations. After watching the Bears play not one but two games in this NFL playoffs,

and then understanding how the Seahawks got there and how the Patriots fared as well. So to me, there's still a lot of finer points that you can take away with. Like, there are lessons to be learned and strategy to be understood. And I don't know, just if you like football, you're still watching through a lens that has, has the Bears also helping you figure it out. the biggest takeaway for me was understanding just how good that Seahawks defense is. Not like I didn't understand it, but to see it on the biggest stage and the biggest moment, just the ferocity of it all, right?

Like the amount of upgrade that's not only going to have to happen with the Bears defense, but also with their offense to be able to attack a defense like that in the same manner that, let's say the Rams did. Because the Rams put up numbers on the Seahawks defense. They became shootouts. that's what I'm looking for. And that's why I was so disappointing to see just how bad the Patriots looked. Yeah, I mean, they did.

I mean, at times, yeah, they looked like they didn't belong. Exactly. And that was the part where I was like, oh, wow. Like, there's some embarrassment going on here. But then how much of it is Seattle? And I like what you're saying, too, about, like, if we are applying things to the bears. Yeah. Some of the ballsy blitzes by both teams, even Rable, leaving cover.

Zero. And to Chris Collinsworth's credit, when that blitz happened, he would say, that's going to leave somebody wide open. And in a couple of cases it was. Actually, it was a Denver all-out blitz that left somebody open for Seattle. And Donald, he missed a few passes himself on plays. There was enough inconsistent offense to go around. Both sides. But you know, Ernest Jones had a really good post-game interview on the four-letter network post-game show. I was watching it. And he talked about two things that really stuck with me. Number one, he said to Berger McFarlane, the game plan was we were not going to put a spy or put an extra man on Drake May just knowing he could run. They said we're going to let him to get his yards. We're not going to change our defensive plan just because of Drake May's running. And I think that what we've seen, even for teams who defended Caleb Williams and the Bears, we saw a lot of teams put a spy in Caleb Williams, notably the Cowboys, you know Maddie before. his defense, they did that because Caleb was running more in that game. But there are other teams who would commit somebody defensively to Drake May's legs or have

a spy on him or something that would cause somebody else to get open or open up. And then that would change the plan. So I thought that that was a really sound scouting point that he made when it came to how confident this team is in their personnel. And that's why you're able to do that is because you don't necessarily have to have extra resources on somebody because you trust everybody's assignments too. I thought that was such a good point that was made. I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone to play in the game. Obviously, you get to the game. You're supposed to do well in the game. Did you feel like Drake May's

shoulder injury was a factor here? Like, and if so, how much? That's the question I kept wrestling with watching him play. This guy was the most accurate passer in the regular season. And all of a sudden, he is missing. Now, some of that was due to pressure, but I saw some of the time where he looked like he had time and still couldn't hit the guy in the window that he needed to hit the guy. I saw two quarterbacks in this game as I was thinking during the game, during the first half, I saw two quarterbacks who didn't want to be the ones to screw it up for their teams. And I think that or for themselves, for individual, for their own legacy. And I could see, I felt like on the Drake May side that he was told,

you don't have to be the superhero out there. Just be you out there. we'll take care of you. We've got this. We've got the defense. So there's a second year quarterback being told. It's a big moment for you. And then on the other side, you have Sam Narnold, for whom this is like this revenge tour, this like can you make it all the way back?

It felt like he was tight to maybe having that on his mind and he didn't even come close to getting MVP. So I saw two tight quarterbacks for different reasons. Well, I also think that the Seahawks did an excellent job of rattling the cage early with Drake May. Yeah, that was another part of this. They decided to go after the left side and Will Campbell. And, you know, I think it's a friendly time to remind everybody that Will Campbell is drafted

in 2025. You know, this is not an old hat for him either. Everybody wanted the Bears to take him. I really liked him. Everybody liked him. I thought he would have been a good addition to the Bears' offensive line. Can you believe the Bears? And what is going on in this world that we're looking at a Super Bowl and the Bears got the

better end of the first round of the draft too. You didn't need Will Campbell. You got Colston Loveland. I will say this, though. Do you think the book is written on him? I don't, I mean. No, but I mean, I'm just saying so far so good. Of course. Of course Will Campbell could still be good. But right at this moment, would you bet on Will Campbell? Would you rather have Colston Lovelin? Yeah. No, I would take Colston Loveling given the utilization of that position for the team. Now, do the bears still need a left tackle? Yes, they do. That might have shown that. Yeah. So that's my ultimate takeaway through a Bears lens watching this game is I have changed what I believe the priority should be.

I think left tackle is something that needs to be addressed because last I checked, the Bears have a game at Seattle next season, in the regular season. And I was thinking, how did the Bears level up against Seattle? I know one way they need to level up if they have a chance to beat the Seahawks. They have to have the left tackle question answered in full. Will Campbell, to say he had a bad game is quite the understatement. He had such a bad game. He didn't talk to reporters after the game.

Really? I didn't realize that. He allowed 14 pressures in a single game. That's the most pressures allowed by an offensive lineman in any game during the regular season or postseason of last year. And does he have a future? I mean, it's a bad game, but I think... I'm not writing him off. Yeah, I'm not writing him off.

But they better get left tackle address because you go up against a guy like Mike McDonald. He sees a point of emphasis he thinks he can exploit. He does it. And he did it to perfection. that game. Well, and I think it also illustrates how far you get into the playoffs, what the difference is and what the margins are and how you just attack where you know you absolutely have trust in your team. Don't overthink it. It gets you to, he got him to the, he got him to the Super Bowl, you know, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to win you the Super Bowl.

These are the details that I think as we watch the bears in the playoffs, you know, this is the stuff where it comes to matter more and how those details. you can get by with them in the regular season. You can get by with them in the divisional. They got by with them in the championship round in the conference championship. But it doesn't win you a Super Bowl against what was such a good defense. Well, and the other thing is it's a lesson you can really take to heart understanding. For the second straight year, a team was good enough to get to the Super Bowl.

And then they sit there and watch their quarterback get sacked six times. Joe Tuny can speak on this, by the way. happen to Patrick Mahomes, who is going to go straight to the Hall of Fame whenever he retires, and now it happened to a lesser quarterback, a more inexperienced quarterback, and Drake May. But that consistency of what gets you Super Bowl wins versus getting to the Super Bowl to me, that's what sticks out. You've got to be able to put the quarterback on his back and pressure the dog out of him, and that's exactly what the last two Super Bowl champions now have done.

But again, I thought that the assistant coach of the year who gets every award when he, he has the chance and he's nominated in Josh McDaniels. I thought that that was part of what he's there for, you know, is to help his team adjust and not just at the half, but during the game. That's why, I mean, I'm going to bang that drum for a little bit because I, we didn't see that. We didn't see the offense for the Patriots make adjustments,

especially with, you know, this vaunted coaching stuff. I don't know. We didn't see them do enough to make a difference. No, when you're running the ball defiantly up the middle where you're getting nothing. And crucial yardage, come on. No, no, no, I'm saying I don't know that there were adjustments to be made that would have led to a Patriots window. My thing is the Seahawks.

You can chip away. You can work the middle of the field. The Seahawks were just that much better than the Patriots. And again, going through the Patriots and how they got here, it kind of re-established it. I just don't think they're that good. They were good enough this year to get to the Super Bowl through the AFC, but I don't think they're that good. So you think that the Patriots are kind of like what I was worried about with the Bears early on, Like, is this legitimate?

Like, because I became, like, as the season went out with the Bears, as you guys know, it be, I was like, this is not going to stick. This is not doing. And then I became convinced that what the Bears are doing seems sustainable. You don't think that they're sustainable? I think what the Patriots did this year is sustainable in the aspect that they should be good enough to get back to the playoffs. Good, not great. Yeah.

Not a Super Bowl team. I saw what great looks like when I saw the Seattle Seahawks. And really, most teams in the NFC. And then when you look at the Patriots actual schedule and how they built up their record, you're like, oh, okay, I can see why they got where they got, but they're not as good as the Seattle Seaholics. I think it came down to Bo Nix's health. Yeah, that there's an argument to be made that if Bo Nix is healthy, then this is not the Super Bowl that we get. Yeah, that's – but I don't know. I mean, I still think that they game because of the elements, like, that's still – like, they couldn't see.

Like, if Bo Nix is playing in the AFC title game, could he match? magically see? I don't... I still think that's... I think you get a matchup of two incredibly good defenses at that point. Yeah, well, it's just like coin flip in that game still. I'm talking about the AFC championship game. No, I'm saying Sean Payton and his decision-making, though, I think that's what cost him. You know, they still could have won that game even with Jarrett Stidham.

But that goes to say... I think if Fonix is healthy, they're at home, they win the game, they go to the Super Bowl. I think it can be that simple. And I just... Yes. If it's that simple, then we know the page... Patriots aren't that good. That's my point. I just, I think it was a 50-50 game. Elements. I think it didn't matter who was quarterbacking, who was playing.

Everybody looked terrible in that game because they couldn't see. I mean, ASC championship game good versus Super Bowl good is a pretty good pretty good good. They could see in the first quarter that game. That's when decisions need to be made. That's true. They could see in the first quarter. Yeah. Things got bad quickly in the second half. And it's not like they didn't know what the weather forecast was. They were the home team. Can you ever be prepared to not see? sorry you can't you can't really you can be prepared by getting all the points all the field goals you can while you can that's very mr miyaki of you that's like something you would hear that's like a

wax on wax off something i would hear in a movie yeah which part be prepared to not see yeah can anything prepare you for not seeing what are they going to put masks on the players didn't danielsen wear a blindfold in the karate i guess that's where lela's coming from with is that what you're saying It just seemed like very 80s movie, like, philosophy. I'm going to catch this fly with some chopsticks, and we'll talk about it after. How about that? Yeah. You know, I always say Ben Johnson looks like his high school picture, it looks like Cobra Kai to me.

His high school football. I don't know that I've seen his high school picture. Yeah, you have. He's very stereotypical. He has a game face on. What year would he have been in high school? Early 2000s? He's 40, right?

41? I'm just trying to think of what the... Ben Johnson's like 38, I thought. My McDonald's 38. Yeah, but Ben may have had a birthday. They're all around 40. They're all around 40. How about that?

40-ish. They all play mad, which is how they got here. 39 years old. So Ben Johnson had a birthday. Interesting. Yes. May 11th, 1986. When missed Ben Johnson's birthday, I feel terrible.

He was 38 when he was hired and then he was 39 coaching the team. He was aged to 39. I think everybody does. They tell me, but... Really? I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I don't.

I don't know if a birthday happened on the score today or not. I just don't know. Don't you have a birthday coming up, Mars? Not till Memorial Day. May 27th. Oh, okay. You wear a little ways off. Okay.