Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Bears: We’re still on stadium watch

Episode Date: July 4, 2026

In the Best of the Bears this week, Mike Mulligan and Lou Canellis discussed the latest developments in the organization’s stadium saga; and Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the expectations for Bears quarterback Caleb Williams by examining if Grote is too critical of him.

As you all are aware, we've been working on our stadium and feel very strongly that we're making progress. We're in an excellent position. And I recently said that, you know, the target is to make sure that we have a decision made by springtime here soon. And spring, late spring, early summer would be that from a target. We have Lou Canellis with us here. 443 the score. And that of course, that of course is the voice of Kevin Warren.

And we, you, when we talked about the idea that Rahm Emanuel did not want any of the World Cup here in this city, you mentioned that the reason he gave was because FIFA wanted him to perhaps put a do. potentially put a dome on Soldier Field, and he just rejected it and was pleased with not taking part in it. I know a lot of people supported that at the time, but now that the World Cup is here, and now that you're going out to recess and you're seeing the number of people that are going, it's kind of like we missed out on something that easily could have been held in Chicago and easily could have been held downtown in Chicago. but unfortunately he deemed that that that shouldn't be the case.

But you mentioned what's going on with the bears. We have not talked. I mean, if we were having coffee at Starbucks and chewing over the fat, what would you tell me about your feelings about the bears moving to Indiana? Well, I would tell you, number one, if you were a betting man, I would bet on Hammond. Because I know that they're testing the soil right now in the Wolf Lake region. Yes. They're testing the soil at a couple of different spots.

And I know for a fact that the bears are serious about this potential move to Indiana. I know the folks in Hammond are serious about it happening in their backyard as well. I also know that there has been some pushback now lately from the voters in the Porter County, Indiana area, that are worried about a food and beverage tax that may fall in their lives. lap to build this new stadium. But as I've said in the past, the bears have not been given an offer by the state of Illinois yet, okay, because our own legislators in Springfield, and I love Cam Buckner, and Cam has been on this show a number of times with you and David, and I have great respect for Cam. But they haven't offered the Bears anything yet here in the state of Illinois. And it's real simple.

tried to explain this literally over 100 times to friends, to fans that have stopped me on the street, to people that come to my restaurants, the bears need tax certainty to go to Arlington Heights. The bears, the McCaskies are cash poor. They cannot build the stadium with their own money, which voters, like myself, have insisted on unless they are able to take this entity called the Bears, the franchise, which is valued right now at about $8 billion, and they can take 10% of the value of the organization and sell that to private equity. Private equity will not give them the money, the $800 million that they need, okay, to build a new stadium unless they have tax certainty from the state of Illinois, which they have not.

been able to get in Arlington Heights. So if the legislators that represent the state of Illinois, whether it's in the Springfield downstate area, or it's the legislators in the northwestern suburbs, or it's the legislators that represent the city of Chicago, especially in the southeast part of the city, Mully, who feel like, you know what? You're leaving soldier field. So we're losing tax revenue for those that come to the city for Bears games, we are better off if you go to Hammond, Indiana, then go to Arlington Heights, so we will vote no until we get something out of it. So to answer your question, if you're asking me today on what, July 2nd, what I think the Bears are going to do, I would still bet Hammond, Indiana, because they haven't been given an offer

from the state of Illinois yet. They have nothing to work with from the state of Illinois. You don't buy any of this stuff that they're talking to the state. They're still talking to various politicians. Oh, I'm sure they're talking. And they're trying to write a law of what exactly they want. Molly, if it was serious, then call a session, vote this through. Well, they have to have it done yet.

And I always imagine that the NFL is trying to intercede on their behalf and write the law. I mean, I don't know what the bears are doing, quite frankly, and I'm not overly concerned about it. I mean, from my perspective, they're leaving Chicago, and it is either going to be in Arlington Heights, or it's going to be in Ham and Diniana, and we've known that all along.

And so for whatever reason, they went about this in a fashion that did not really encourage the state. legislators, both in the House and the Senate of Illinois, to back what their plan was. They wanted someone to tell them, here's what we can do for you. I think what they've asked is now write a law that you would want. We'll look at it. We'll tell you what we think about it.

And if we can pass it, we'll give you the special session. They're not going to call a special session to do more conversation. about something that won't happen. So if they want to write that law and explain exactly what they need and put it all in print, then they can take that and do what they can with it and maybe come back and give them whatever tax, certainly they need to move to Arlington Heights. But it just, it didn't happen that way. They didn't do.

They had a lot of people helping them downstate. And the word was they weren't really listening to a lot of it. And as much as we want to kind of go on about the mistakes that were made by Illinois politicians. By both sides. There were mistakes made by both sides is what I'm saying. And I think that if it meant so much to them, in a way, you wonder if the bears kind of like this, well, look what they did do a sting. And now we're going there because that's probably a significantly better deal. and it is what's curious to me is just having been in Michigan recently driven through Indiana,

driven past Wolf Lake and the sites and everything. It is amazing to me like how difficult it is to just get through the toilet down there. And then they're going to jack that up for the start of the season whenever they finally get a building built. they're going to need to get more, they're going to need more tolls. They're going to need better roads. It's just going to be impossible to get in and out of there based on my experiences last weekend, just trying to drive up to Michigan. I went to Michigan City on Saturday last weekend.

And I went through exactly what you're talking about. They need to go through their due diligence right now to test the soil in the Hammond area, in the Wolf Lake area, to see if it's even possible. And if it's not, then they move on. And I don't necessarily mean, oh, then they move on and then they go work out a deal with the state of Illinois to make sure it happens in Arlington Heights. I think the game is changing as they continue to do their due diligence.

I like the proposal at the Illinois at the steel space. Okay, because it stays in the state of Illinois. But then you're not going to get the tax money from Indiana that you're hoping for. Well, you're not going to get the tax money from Indiana, but you may get some tax certainty that you've always asked for. You remain in the state of Illinois, so you keep your fan base happy. All right. It's not as easy as sell for PSL, something that's not discussed enough. Oh, yeah.

Mully, is if they go into a new stadium, they need to go out and sell a whole bunch of PSLs, about a billion dollars worth. Oh, yeah. And Mike Mulligan, who may live in. the Arlington Heights area who has four-season tickets. Doesn't want to drive all the, but you know what? He's not willing if he's got four-season? There are so many people that are willing. Yes.

There are so many, there is a backlog of people that would be will. I don't think if they build a new stadium in Indiana that they won't be able to sell PSLs. I don't think if they build a stadium in Arlington Heights that they won't be able to sell PSLs. I think that that is going to happen without saying. And I think that there is more demand than people realize from different factions of places. And, you know, I've got a lot of friends who have houses in Michigan City. A lot of the South Side used to have various houses in that area. A lot of people have retired up there.

I think there are people that would love to go to Bear Games up there. I'm one of those guys. Listen, I live in the South Loop. It's an easier drive for me. And I'm a season ticket holder, have been since late. 60s. It's an easier drive for me to jump on the skyway like I just did on Saturday and go to Hammond, Indiana than it is to deal with the Kennedy Expressway and get to Arlington Heights. All right. So as a season ticket holder, listen, the truth be told, I wish they were staying at

Soldier Field because I live right across the street from Soldier Field. But Hammon, Indiana is an easier drive for me than it is to go to Arlington Heights. Having said that you're right, there are enough fans out there, Mike, who have been squeezed out of the opportunity to buy season tickets, and in this case would have the opportunity to buy a PSL and season tickets. But there's more than just that. There's naming rights to the stadium. I guarantee you, I've talked to enough people. The value of naming rights for a bear stadium in Arlington Heights is far greater than the naming rights to a bear stadium in Hammond, Indiana.

It just is what it is. There's so many other things at play here that we're going to have to wait and see. But first things first, test the soil, see if it's even possible to do it in northwest Indiana. And if it's not, what's next? They'll get it. And forget the deadline. I know we ran Kevin Warren. Yeah.

I've given up on the deadlines. Oh, yeah. I mean, listen, Kevin Warren, I mean, people are like mad at him. I mean, the guy hired Ben Johnson. If they got Ben Johnson, I'm happy with Kevin Warren. I don't have any problems with anybody because I feel like they hired the right guy to run the franchise. I don't know how anybody feels about ownership, how they feel about Kevin or anyone else working up there or any of the missteps they've made. They've gone out, they paid good money, and they got a head coach that you feel like can turn around your franchise.

And that is the great value of the bears, no matter what goes on. It's the head coach and the quarterback, and that's kind of what I'm concerned about. I don't get caught up in the, you know, Dustin says they shouldn't be called the Chicago Bears. No! If they move to Hammond, Indiana. Oh, come on. I know. I know.

Stop. But that's what he said. I love Destino, but that's, I know. I know. This is another example of you having to express that you love him. because you're about to tear into it. Not a good idea, Dustin. Come on.

And you're right. Kevin Warren, the one great thing he did was he convinced the McCaskey family that I know Ben Johnson's going to cost a lot of money, and you guys have usually gone the cheap way, and that's giving Matt Eber Fluse the opportunity to be a head coach. This is the move we need to make. Ben Johnson is the guy. Yeah, there's no doubt about it,

and that's the best thing the Bears got going for him, And that's what I'm kind of looking forward to. I'm very curious to see. I was talking to a guy the other day who just wanted to talk about Caleb and his ability to complete a higher percentage of passes and what will that mean for him, et cetera. And I was saying, you know, the seven comeback victories were unbelievable. And what he was able to do late in games was amazing.

And seeing, you know, Sean McVeigh's face when they tied. that game was well worth looking at, on a repeat, I thought it was hysterical when they completed that pass. But if you get to a point where you're running that offense as well as you can run it, and then you don't need the comebacks, you don't need the big moments. It's absolutely amazing what the quarterback can do and how he can meet those moments. But if they improve him to a point where they don't need that, that's even better. There's nothing wrong with that. If you don't need the big last-minute victories, it's always a good idea to be able to win throughout the game.

Before we go to break, one other quick thing. Last Friday, week ago tomorrow, I am seeing an event for Jimbo Covert, who put on a charity event. Great guy. Great guy to raise money to fight ALS, which we lost Steve McMichael too. Yes. And afterwards, I had an opportunity to get together with Covert,

and Richard Dent was there to support Jimbo and the charity that night. And I asked Covert and Richard about Ben Johnson. And Covert brought up a great story. He's still very good friends with Dan Marino. They played together at the University of Pittsburgh. And Marino said that 10 years ago, we had a quality control coach in Miami, who he knew would be a star in the coaching ranks once he finally was given that opportunity to be a head coach. And his name was Ben Johnson.

Yeah, yeah. He'd spent a lot of time there. some great stories that came out of this time there too. And, you know, listen, things are going well right now for the Bears. We'll see what happens with the stadium and all the rest of it. But I think everybody's interested in next season's bears and how they can improve and how they can get better. Starting camp, July 28th, buddy.

I know it, man. Believe me. Fourth down in four, 14 of the Rams. Shotgun snap, goes back four, four-man rush. He's chased, he's flushed, he's all the way back to the 40. He's backpedaling and throws a pass into the end. He caught. Touchdown! Touchdown!

Chicago has caught a touchdown pass. If you hadn't seen it, you would not believe it. 18 seconds left. Pandemonium at Soldier Field. Oh, one of many sizzling passes made by Caleb Williams, and that one in particular to Cole Comet. as we're welcoming back to Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. Happy to have you on a Monday as we head into year three of Caleb Williams.

You feeling pretty good about Caleb Williams heading into year three, Marshall Harris? Let's say I feel much better about year three than I did going into year two when there was a lot more unknown. There's still some unknown, but I have a lot of answers where I didn't have answers a year ago. Yeah. Like it's an incomplete project, I think. the way I look at Caleb Williams right now, but the positivity, the vibes are real, and they legitimately should be.

I think because we're in a weird world of bears right now and Caleb Williams, because I do believe we live in a world where people are very afraid to be critical in any way, shape, or form of, Caleb Williams right now because of the pushback that tends to come. I'm talking about broadcasters, writers, people on video, YouTube, whatever. Skeptics.

That everybody's a little afraid to say anything that is even the slightest bit negative as it pertains to Caleb Williams because of the pushback. I'm talking about online pushback. You understand what I'm saying? Like because he is Caleb Williams and he had an. unbelievable second half of the season last year, all the comeback wins. He's been anointed. So if you say anything to push back against Caleb William, you get an avalanche of negativity.

Is this a Stan society that we're living in? Are you saying that Caleb Williams' stands will not allow you to say anything that can be seen as negative about him? Even if it's just true facts, like, I don't know, Caleb Williams' completion percentage went down from year one to year two. It's true. It's true. And to the point where I've gotten a, and that's fine.

Hey, I'm okay. I can take it. I understand it because I am, I've seen every game. I've been at most of the games. I've been at most of the press conferences. I've been around Caleb Williams, obviously a ton. So I can take it, but it feels like there's a lot of people who can't. So sometimes, and, you know, part of what we do on the Take the North podcast, Ann Weeder and I, we're pretty honest about it.

We call it like we see it. I want Caleb Williams to be great. I do. I was very loud about it's got to be Caleb, get rid of Justin Fields, Dunzo, it's got to be Caleb Williams, no doubt. Never any gray area for me. Still no gray area that Caleb Williams is the Bears quarterback. But just as an example, I wanted to read you a, this was from YouTube,

a listener to the Take the North podcast. And this is not, I am not going after this listener or this viewer. As a matter of fact, I am using this person as an example. of the kind of feedback that I get when I am critical of Caleb Williams, and then we'll take it from there. And this was as a reaction to a recent episode of the Take the North podcast, which is up and running right now. And this says, this is from Exalted 34. I'm sure you won't answer honestly, Grody, but what is your problem with Caleb? For the past two years, it's very hard for you to compliment him.

easy for you to throw out questions on his ability. Just like today, when he said he has a lot more to get better, yet you throw your arms up and rejoice. He never said he knew it all or has no room for improvement. When they say he's a 210 QB, you balk. I'm not sure what that actually meant. A big time quarterback, you balk. You say wait before they extend his contract to see if he's the QB.

If you can't tell this guy is the QB, maybe you need to take another look. There is just something you don't like about him. It is a shame. That's not the case. That's not the case. I do like Caleb Williams a lot. I do think that Caleb Williams is the guy. But if you have it, I don't know, maybe people block out what they have seen and they only see what was right in front of him on a particular day.

You mentioned year one, 17 games, 3,541 yards, 20 touch. touchdowns and six interceptions. Completion percentage 62.5%. Sacked 68 times. Got got to get that down, did. QBR of 43.4. That was 17th in the league. You were

four and two to start that season. I don't need to talk about the devastating losing streak that happened after the Bears were four and two. And if you didn't notice the volatility in Caleb Williams' game that year, then you weren't watching. And there were reasons for it. There was

he was not put in a position to win in a lot of ways. 2025, 17 games, 3,942 yards, 27 touchdown, 7 picks, got the sack numbers way down. Completion percentage, though, did dip 58.1%. The QBR way up, 58.2. That was seventh best in the league. But let's be real about it, what we saw this year. The first 7-8 games this year, there were too many times, say, like the Dallas game, except for the Dallas game,

where we were like, okay, somehow the Bears managed to win the game, but where was everybody in the first half? Where was Caleb Williams in the first series? Where was it? Where did it? And it did eventually take off. I would say I was going through it yesterday,

probably week nine in earnest where you get the crazy Bengals game, and that was also the Colson Montgomery game, the 58-yard touchdown pass to Colson. and Loveland, I'm sorry. Did I say Montgomery? Loveland with 17 seconds left in the game. That was big deal stuff.

So the Bears had seven comeback wins, included six fourth quarter comebacks, the 18-point comeback against the pack in the wild card game. So you had all these comeback wins, which I don't know that that is a sustainable way to live. It was fun. It was an absolute blast. but do you really want to go through all that again?

I don't want to go through all that again. So, long story short, it's still got to be better in the first halfs of games for Caleb Williams. And that's my main critique of this man. And I have been watching. I don't have my own agenda with Caleb Williams. When he's been bad, I've said it. When he's been good, I've said it. And I'll say it again, he needs to be better in the first halfs of games for me to be put in that elite

category where everybody seems to have put Caleb Williams. Okay, okay. Here's what I want to do. The initial comment that you read off that we're reacting to here, I want to just go through the things that he's saying and making sure, because opinions evolve, Mark, and I think that's part of what gets lost here. You can say something several months ago and people just hang on what you said several months ago.

Like, you can't change your mind because Caleb has shown you more, right? So let's just start with these very basic things that he said. I want to make sure that he understands. and the audience at large understands your opinion on these matters. The first one I'm going to address is this. Is he a top Tim quarterback? Because you have balked at that in the past. Do you think he is one or not?

I'd like to go through. I'd like to discuss it. I'd like to do a little nuance here. I'd like to talk about the quarterbacks that I would put Patrick Mahomes ahead of him. So yeah, you got the one. Josh Allen, I would put ahead of him right now. Matthew Stafford, I would put ahead of him right now. Lamar Jackson, I would put ahead of him right now.

Drake May, I'm sorry, 31 touchdowns. Drake May, I would put ahead of him right now. Joe Burrow, I would put ahead of him right now. Dak Prescott, I would put ahead of him right now. What are we up to? Six. Seven. Oh, seven, okay. I would put Jared Gough ahead of him right now.

Fair. I would put Sam Darnold ahead of him right now. And he might be right there. He might be right there. The only other guy that I was, was haggling with. And I would say, I am ready to put Caleb Williams probably right around 10. I was going to say Trevor Lawrence, just because of the year he had last year. But the body of work, I would put Caleb ahead of Trevor Lawrence right now. So he's right there. He's, yes.

Can I give you another name? He's right there. Yeah, who am I leaving out? Jane Daniels. Jayden Daniels. See, I think he's better than Jayden Daniels. Although that's a tough call because he had such a great first year and then he falls back a little bit. So, yeah, So he's right at that. I'll say it. Yeah, he's 10. Who else am I missing? Am I missing?

Is there any, oh, Justin Herbert? Does Justin Herbert belong in this discussion? I know you are. Is he better than, I'm going to put Caleb ahead of Justin Herbert too. So I'm not that far off from people. I just can't do this, the top five, like, call him an elite quarterback yet. Okay.

Like that, he's not that group yet. But he can get there. He can get to being in that group. I just have to see a little bit more. and I don't know people get that. And maybe I haven't made it very clear. It's interesting because the Trevor Lawrence discussion is interesting. I think the Jane Daniels, because we know Daniels had an injury-filled second season.

I thought about putting him in my top ten. But I have one more name, and I really need, this is going to be very important. Are you ready? San Francisco. No, no, that's not it. But we can add that to the discussion. I know you love him. I'm going to a guy who's won a Super Bowl, been to multiple Super Bowls.

Jalen Hertz. Oh, yeah. that's pretty good. Jalen Hurts is pretty good. So I say that just to lay it out like this. To say he's not a top 10 quarterback, I don't think he's saying anything crazy. Right, it's not.

And I've got him right on that fringe right there. Like I'd have to actually do my rankings, but yeah, he's not one through five, and he is right there on the cusp of the top 10. The second thing I want to address here, though, is this commenter on your YouTube to take the north. Yeah, yeah. He says, when they say he,

top 10 quarterback you bought, but you also say wait before they extend his contract to see if he's the quarterback and the is in all caps. And this is something, we had a conversation in here in the middle of the season. I'm like, yo, he's my guy. He's the franchise quarterback. He's who you're riding with for the next 10 years. I trust the partnership of him along with Ben Johnson and Ben Johnson to get the most out of Caleb Williams.

Are you there where you can say, hey, give him his next contract. He's earned his next contract. He'd have to like really like something crazy would have to happen in the, the first half of this season. Like, he'd have to just look like completely foreign to what he was last year. But if you had to make a call today. My answer is yes. Yes.

Yes. I mean, when I hear it like in terms of a decade or 10 years, it sort of freaks me out a little bit, but yeah, he's earned a second contract. So he is the quarterback. Yes. In your eyes. No, no, no. But he wasn't always.

And I just want to make sure people understand that that's where your opinion has evolved to it. Because I've followed it. And I feel like I've actually done a good job at the, with the ebbs and flows. and I've been, yes, I have been at times hyperbolic for sure or said, like been reactionary on Caleb Williams and any quarterback and lots of things of the players that have been discussed. But I think for the most part, I'm pretty good at like being honest about what I've seen from Caleb

throughout his journey with the Bears. And you know where I stand on all of this, right? Me and Caleb Williams. Well, yeah, you wanted to, you're good with him. I'm good with him. He is the guy. But you could still see what I'm like. talking about, right? I've agreed with many

of the things you've said about the areas that he's lacking. I just have the confidence that Ben Johnson is going to get him where he needs to be. And the percentage of completions is one thing where it fell from last year, but I understand why, because it was very complex. He was learning a brand new offense.

And I think that will improve this offseason because he knows that's the thing he has to improve this off season to be the type of quarterback he described wanting to be coming into the league. It's the whole theme of the offseason program. If you guys want to know what the actual headline is, and there's lots of good stories that came out,

and the rookies are the rookies, and that's always interesting. The story of the off-season program, again, is Caleb Williams and phase three, or I guess you say phase two of the Ben Johnson offense, and what they want him to do is play for a complete game, get the completion percentage up, and you don't need to play hero ball.

J.T. Barrett is the Bears' quarterbacks coach. If you don't want to listen to me, listen to J.T. Barrett and listen to Ben Johnson. Here's what J.T. Barrett, the quarterback's coach is saying about Caleb Williams right now. For him, it was one of those things where we just don't have to work as hard for our money. There's times where we could just work through our progression and get the ball out on time instead of having to create an extent of play. So I think that was more of the conversation where it was like, hey, my God, I know you just made this crazy play. That was really cool. but we had a guy come up wide underneath that you just pop into it.

Then he does the running and now you're not as tired. So having those conversations with him to help him realize like, hey, I don't have to do as much compared to maybe the past years or just him playing in general. So that's when he gets that even when it's like a really impressive highlight real thing. Absolutely. You're explaining it the easier, more efficient way. Straight up.

Absolutely. Because, I mean, there's a coming time where y'all saw it late in the game where our guys bent over huffing and puffing and he's like, yeah, it's because you're running everywhere when you didn't have to. So I think those conversations, because with him, he wants to be more efficient, right? He wants to have that ownership

where he doesn't have to necessarily always take off and run and try to extend plays in that aspect. So with that, I think for him, it's been really good being able to see those clips again and be like, oh, you could just get to my tie-in here and kick it to my back here. Instead of trying to also figure out what the defense is doing, what's the coverage where it's like,

I go through my progression, boom, boom, boom, there's going to be somebody that's going to be able for me. It's just married up with that. But Toronto, I'm sorry. You played with him in the performance, right? He said he really wants to see Caleb be more boring as a quarterback in 2012. Is that essentially what you're saying there? Yeah, like, do less. There's a conversation we have where we do less.

Like, you're doing a lot right now. Just do less. And do less is as simple as, like I said, kicking into flat or, you know, like, just taking what's given more so, where it's like, yeah. Could you hold on to the ball and make a crazy play? You could. But right now it's not necessary. It's not necessary. That's J.T. Barrett, the Bears' quarterback coach.

And all he's saying is kind of the same thing I'm saying in different ways. There's another step. There is more to the completion to him becoming a Jedi. He is on his way to becoming a Jedi. Make no mistake about it. But there's a little bit of learning to go before he gets his masters. You are drawing out quite the bit of vitriol online in our text line. when people are upset specifically with guys like Trevor Lawrence.

I know, man. No bleeping with top text. No bleeping way Lawrence is close to it. I said Caleb is better than Trevor Lawrence. I just jotted the name down. Jordan, Jordan love too. We didn't discuss it.

We could discuss that. It's really interesting. It's really jammed up in the top 10 at number 10. Right? There should be 10 A, B, C, and D. Because there's a lot of guys who have had a little bit of playoffs success, but not a lot of playoff success. 3-1-2-6-4-6-7-6-7.

If you want in on this conversation, you can continue to text us. You can also just, you know, call us because we got a little bit of time in the next segment if you want to call us to talk it out. Because if you think Grody's too hard on the Bears, let us know. If you think he's definitely a top 10 quarterback, explain your position. If you agree with the 630, Drake May over Caleb, them are fighting words. Mr. Grote says a texter. It's fun talking about quarterbacks. It's always a blast to discuss Caleb Williams.

So, yeah, as Marshall said, we're open 312, 644, 67, if you want to get in on the Caleb Williams conversation. And and, and, and there are bear, there's another list, not the NFL network, but CBS has put together a list of the top 100 NFL players, which, if any, bears landed on that list. That'll be part of it next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.