Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears still have a pass rusher problem

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed how the Bears still have a pass rushing problem that needs solved.

Rahimi Harris and Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell at a parcel. Can we handle more Anthony Herron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. Time consumed for only one yard. Take the snap at 52. And now they've got them.

It's Hendrickson. One play after nearly getting to him. This time he completes the deal. Trey Hendrickson, sacking. Patrick Mahomes. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody. That was courtesy of CBS. And every time I hear Jim Nance now, all I want to say is,

I don't know, Jim. I really don't know. I don't know either. Tony Romo would be right on that if he were saying it now. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody. And that's it. We went over it a little bit at the top of our show. We talked about it with James Palmer a bit.

But the pass rusher of your dreams doesn't appear to be walking through the door for the bears. but the past rusher of perhaps Ryan pulls his dreams is still on the bears. I do think they deserve time. I think Grady Jarrett got better as the season went on. We didn't know he was going to have to have a surgery, though, and that got reported by Brad Biggs after the fact when he was out for an extended amount of time at the beginning of the season.

Diro Dangbo, like we said, we'd love to know which Achilles he tore in 2021. In addition to knowing it was the right one in November of this year, and then trying to figure out that timeline. And then in addition, understanding that Max Crosby was available, goes to the Ravens for the two first rounders. And then we see that Trey Hendrickson is out here as a free agent, but hasn't found a home yet. I think James is right.

I think James knows that Trey has a price in mind, which wouldn't make it make sense, given all of the consternation he's had over his contract the past two seasons. And then there's also the fact of the matter of, of there's not a ton of NFL teams who can afford him. The Bears right now would have to do some very creative accounting in order to get it done. So the good news for the Bears is that the number one free agent edge rusher is Trey Hendrickson, and he is still available.

That's the good news. The bad news is, and I'm using CBS Sports on this one. I think I'm looking at the same free agent tracker that you are. You start looking at guys who are listed, I don't know, number two. O'Dafie Oway. Number three. He go. Jalen Phillips.

He go. Boye-Moffey. He go. John Franklin Myers. Higong! And then you get what, and I get it with the textures. I get it. They're like, I don't want an old guy to rush the passer.

But you start seeing, I don't know, Janavian Clownie. Wait, is Clowny still out there? That's a, that's a question. I think he signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys. Yeah, that's what I was saying. I think he signed a deal. He's not on the top. I know who is still out there.

A bosa. You can get yourself a bosa, fresh off the bills. Fresh off being PFF's number 29, edge. I mean, even Kingsley and I'm sorry signed a deal. What I'm saying to you, Leila, is that on day one, edge rushers got snapped up quick. And that's why I tend to believe that the help is coming from the draft. Point blank.

Period. The help is coming from the draft. I just, I don't think it's a bad strategy this time. I do not think that with the 25th overall pick, given who you have on your team, given what your needs are, given that you still have to sign three more safeties, I don't think it's a bad problem. Here's where it gets to be a problem, though, is if you still cannot rush and get home like you want to. You still can't disrupt the passer.

What makes it even worse is we know that the past. pass rush and run defense are married. A lot of times the bears think they're getting a good pass rusher. What they get is a good run defender. That's the upside is because your defensive linemen still tackle well at the line of scrimmage. We have not seen enough of a pass rush. We've seen opposing quarterbacks get way too comfortable. See Jordan Love in that first game, for example.

And then what we've also seen, and the Packers are another good example of this. they control time of possession like nobody else does in the league. You can run. You can run on the Bears. You can run effectively. Throw the slot patterns, run effectively, and that is a simple trite and true way to win. Are you familiar with the adage,

get you one who can do both? Like, that's the goal here, is to get somebody who can play on the edge and can both stop the run effectively, but also get after the quarterback. And unfortunately, for the best, Bears, they're paying a guy a lot to do that. And he's done what I would call an adequate job, Montez Sweat. Has he been as consistent as you would like? Of course not, because Max Crosby exists.

You know, Michael Parsons exists. Miles Garrett exists. And sometimes I go back and forth in my own head trying to be like, is that standard reasonable? Because we're talking about future Hall of Famers when we talk about them. Can you not just have waves of guys as the last two Super Bowl champions have had? See, and even on our text line, it's split. 630. I don't want an old guy or a pre-injured guy. 309.

Cam Jordan in a rotation would be awesome. There's a million different paths you can take here. or there's the text. People say they don't want an old pass rusher, but then they want Cleal Mack. I think he just gets a pass because he's a former bear. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. I think that's what they remember 12 and 4.

They remember having a chance. They remember things going poorly after that, but they remember we had that one season. And the whole goal here is to make sure that 2025 isn't quote unquote that one season. Also, we are talking about the line and we are talking about end and edge rusher, but as we've seen, there have been very successful pass rushers out of the linebacker position specifically in the NFL last season. So I factor that in as well and also acknowledge this question. Would you say the position that has seemed to have lost importance on the defense must be the linebackers based on the moves the bears have made that signed from Chris in Milwaukee?

I don't necessarily think so, but I think they prioritize the linebacker in a different way. Like, for example, we talked about when Tremaine Edmonds left, one of his upsides, wasn't just that he looked more comfortable and he seemed to be more productive for the Bears this past season, but also he had four interceptions to his name to go along with the 112 tackles in the regular season. So the Bears get Devin Bush, who they think is an upgrade speed-wise, and he also had a career high, two pick sixes, three total interceptions, three or $30 million deal. Do they think that he could be another ball hawk for them? But is he a kind of player we've seen who's a major pass rusher out of that spot?

No. I don't think the bears use their linebackers in the same way, say last year's Giants did, or say the Pittsburgh Steelers, something along those lines. No, I see the speed being the greatest asset here and the upgrade and speed from Edmonds to him and that speed is upgraded, whether it's Edmunds you're talking about, or T.J. Edwards, frankly. This is a guy who's a former top 10 pick before being deemed somewhat of a bust in Pittsburgh

and then finding a new life last year. When you see what he was able to do with the Brown's defense, that was great. Unfortunately, the offense, not as great. So that's the way I look at him specifically coming into this. I will say this, Leila, if you're looking at how are the Bears going to get to the quarterback, based on what we've heard from Ryan Poles and his dependency on guys playing

closer to what his expectations are, whether they're coming off injury or not. A lot of this is just Dennis Allen being able to scheme up what he has. Well, and what is one of the big phrases that Dennis Allen likes to say, Marshall? He can run. Emphatically, beautifully,

happily when he talks about, say, the draft picks that he had gotten. Ruben Hippolyte. He can run. Can you tackle? thing that that's something that he greatly desires. Also, when you look at the sack leaders in the

league, you know, Brian Burns is who I'm thinking of when I think he's not your traditional pass rusher. He's listed as a linebacker, but you know how the Giants used him to the tune of 16 and a half sacks, second to only Miles Garrett in the regular season.

You know, that's a good example. Montes-Witt, of course, listed with his 10. That put him at 15. You know who is still in the top 20, by the way? Still. Who? Von Miller. Von Miller had nine sacks.

He's an old guy, but he gets it done. Genevian Clowny had eight and a half. He's not young, and he still gets it done. But when it comes to listed out of the linebacker position, we know how guys move around. Nick Benito fits into that, but we know that he'd usually line up on the line, especially in the Blitz look that Denver would give.

The game against the Patriots, the AOC Championship game is a good example of that. But there is some flexibility in how you view linebackers, but the bear seemed to be fairly consistent in how they replaced Tremaine Evans. I want to know what moves are going to be made between now and the draft to get them in position to be able to not only just take the best player available each time their draft pick comes up, but to have them feeling like they have enough of a core to go into training camp and understand that the defense has been upgraded. And so looking up and down and understanding that guys are hurt and guys are coming back

from injury, not just obviously up front, but also in the secondary. It's how are you piecing that together? And I think these next couple of days are going to be big in that because you don't know what, as I would call it, the runoff is going to be guys who think they're going to get paid a certain amount. Trey Hendrickson falls into this category. but other guys too. There's a long list of guys that we see every year who last through the first wave of free agency

and then you just hope you can get some value fines in free agency, maybe even a week into it or two weeks or a month into it. But I think the issue still remains. The pass rush was not enough. And unlike what Ben Johnson has to say when it comes to having sacks with a lead, the Seattle Seahawks showed you why sometimes the best stop is the one at the line, and it is not when you have the lead,

or it is not when you have a two touchdown lead or a one touchdown lead. It's when you have a one field goal lead, and you've got to make some serious hay. It's the field position. It's knowing that they can get a stop rushing four-down linemen. It's knowing that they have waves of pass rushers, and that any time your offensive production was going to be stunted mid-drive because they were so good at getting a stop when they needed one.

Even when you didn't need one. one, they would get stops. The text line's hilarious, Lila. 630. All this bears angst. I need to eat a can of frosting. I support it. And yes, 847, Kim Jordan would be perfect being paired with Dennis Allen, which is why that happened for many, many years in the NFL.

312. Maybe polls won't be aggressive for a defensive end and free agency, but maybe we'll be in the draft, trade up. Trade up. I don't know that they need to trade. up. I think there's enough edge rushers. Yeah. I don't think though that Zion Young is going to be available. I think he gets taken higher. Also 9-20. This might be the one, Leila. You can put lipstick on Dio Dengbo, but it's still going to be Dio Dengbo and his one sack. He's going to be so mad at

us that by the time he's able to play, he's going to be like Forrest Whitaker on Fast Times Origima 9. He's going to tackle everything. That was amazing. They messed up that man's car and then he messed up the opposition on the football. ball field. Yes, I am nodding. Nodding in fear and respect. Okay, there's a very, very important story affecting the fabric of our time. I think you're right. This goes beyond just the playing lines. This is somewhat out of bounds, or at least it was deemed to be out of bounce by one professional sports organization. It's like Tipper Gore stepped in for no reason. We'll do that next.