Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Dan Wiederer talks Bears & Bill Wennington talks Bulls (Hour 4)

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

In the final hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Dan Wiederer of The Athletic to share what he learned about the Bears at the NFL Combine. After that, Bulls Radio analyst Bill Wennington joined the show to discuss Chicago snapping an 11-game losing streak with a 120-97 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.

Dan Weiderer, Bears reporter and senior writer for the athletic. You're going to be relying on a lot of young players, guys that have to materialize into who they thought they were. The Bears are who we thought they were. On-air contributor for 670 the score. We'll mention this mainly because Dan Weiderer said we would mention this Nugget. Host of the Take the North podcast. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Weider.

Thanks, Coach. We'll go first to Dan Whedier. On Chicago's Sports Radio, 1043, the score. Weezy! This is Rahimi Harris and Brody. 104-3, the score. And we now bring in on our hotline. It is Mark's Take the North podcaster, partner.

Dan Weiderer, he is the senior writer for the athletic covering the bears. He is the co-host of that Take the North podcast with Mark. That makes me laugh. And he also wrote an article that speaks to what we are talking about. You know, we discussed earlier what Ben Johnson wants to see in Caleb Williams. And we also talked about the concept of what Ryan Poles wants to see in year two. And Dan, you wrote an article in The Athletic that just came out over the weekend that also adds to this discussion. Yeah.

I mean, look, like, I think the word that we're going to hear a lot going forward here is efficiency. And then trying to define it through the eyes of Ben and the coaching staff in regards to just being a little bit more on script, more regularly of being able to find those easy completions that are schemed up for you, the checkdowns that get you out of job. jams and being able to get that completion percentage above 60 and then towards 62 and then ultimately towards 65 this season on the way to 70 because Ben's not backing off that 70 goal but he did I think temporarily lower the bar here for 2026 to get him to make a jump from 58 to 65 and they believe there's some efficiency things that they can they can use to get there. Dan, what are people around the league saying about Caleb Williams? Well, I thought was really interesting. Obviously, we all knew how many heads.

he turned with the things he was able to do late in games with the highlight real plays he was able to make. But when you start drilling down a little bit deeper on that and understanding kind of the psychological pressure that that then puts on an opponent, it's really real, right? Like you understand that that teams now understand that like you can't count this guy out of a game. And so that creates a little bit of a demand if you're an opponent. If you're an opposing offense, well, we got to score a little more because we don't want to keep the bears alive. The defense on the other side has got to feel this extra pressure, even with a two-score lead, to keep it there. Otherwise, that belief comes in over there.

And I had one personnel man tell me last week, you don't fear Caleb, but you have full respect for what he's capable of when he gets hot. And I thought that was a really good way to put it because it's just like, man, like, that's documented now. You know, all these comebacks, all these big time plays, it's documented now that he's really, really dangerous. And so every team, the Bears play next season will start their preparation understanding that. Well, and go ahead. I was going to say this is a follow-up to that, and it's about Caleb and it's about Ben Johnson, and you guys cited a source in your article. I think Fishbane and you wrote the article, I want to make sure I give proper credit here.

Yeah, this morning's article on the things we heard from the combine. That was a double-dip. One thing that really stuck out to me about Ben and about Caleb Williams is a personnel man, as you guys put it in the article, citing us as your source, saying that Ben, Ben Johnson, has done a fantastic job of not taking Caleb's playmaking gifts away. And Layla just brought it up too before we came into this segment about how important Ben Johnson has been to Caleb Williams. Can you even put a letter grade on that?

Or how do you answer that question? A plus. There it is. Done. Next question. It really is because, look, that's the other thing you hear from people around the league is there's respect for Caleb. There's respect for Ben. But then you put them together and it's like, oh, God, you know, those two guys are working together now.

You know, and so there is that little bit of respect, I guess, that's there around the league for what those two guys are capable of. Look, like we know, Mark, we saw it with our own eyes, heard it with our own ears, that Ben was on Caleb's ass on a lot of different things throughout the early stages of their relationship. And yet, as you mentioned that quote that you referenced, he didn't try to turn Caleb into a robot. He didn't try to make him a player he wasn't. He's trying to get him to understand how to play the position. position while still allowing him to be that artist that he can be as a playmaker and so far so good right now all of a sudden you've got the makings of something that's got great promise obviously we know hearing from ben again last week that the message all off season is going to be

yeah that was great last year was awesome wasn't good enough how do we get ourselves one step up and there's going to be a lot of steps and a lot of time investment that goes into that well and the thing is dan is when you're talking about combining i would say even even just and we've discussed this over like a 60% completion rate, say it's at 62, say it's at 64. You know, and what Caleb Williams does from a playmaking standpoint in the league where you don't necessarily have those opportunities to even get that far in the league every play. You're talking about a quarterback that even then would be a perennial multi-year pro-bowl discussion, playoff quarterback.

Like that's a formidable career in the NFL, and I don't think that's the ceiling. Well, and that's the goal is to get to the ceiling. right like and so that that's why this coaching is going to be as demanding as it is because this isn't about like okay we've got a middle tier guy that we want to just kind of use to keep us afloat it's like we've got a guy with extraworldly talent in a lot of different areas and now we are trying to get him to be the engine of something that can win a super bowl's right and so those demands are immense and look it may sound like a huge leap to get from 58% to 65% next season but ben laid it out for Caleb he broke the numbers down he said last season, if you go back through, you just needed 40 more completions across 17 games. You know, that's like 2.4 a game. And certainly you can find a drop here. You can find a misthrow here, a ball that wasn't thrown there. And all of a sudden, you start to go through the film and you go, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can get there. You know, and you create that belief that it's not as far off as it may seem. And so that's the starting point for them as they, you know, obviously they won't

get back for a little more in the month into the building at Hallis Hall. But that's the starting point as they get going this spring is to get him to understand kind of the, the baby step approach to reaching some of these bigger goals. Well, and when you look at the film, some of them are as simple as footwork. You know, I think some of the footwork can cut down on, I would say, two completions and completions a game. You know, there were times where he would lock out his front knee. And then if he wasn't set, you kind of knew before he even threw the ball, whether or not

it would be caught. So that's fixable. Like, that's a thing that he can absolutely fix. You know, there's no reason to believe he wouldn't. Yeah, there's mechanics. their system comfort, you know, I think like that's going to be a big thing is obviously they don't have to start from ground zero in terms of putting in the offense and getting able to understand it. He's becoming more familiar with Ben's concepts, which should be able to make him play faster, which then gets the ball where it needs to go sooner. And so there's going to be a lot that plays into this.

And, you know, look, I think both those guys, you've heard them, you know, whether it be on a podcast with Max Crosby or in a setting at the combine. You've heard them express eagerness as opposed to like dread for going into. of this next phase of really trying to push the gas and see where they can go. And so I think the whole city of Chicago was kind of sitting there very eager as well to see just what the results of this will be as they get into 2026. Yep. No doubt. And people are anxious to see and find out if Caleb Williams will be throwing the ball to DJ Moore. And in the article you guys wrote, there was a lot of glowing thing said about DJ Moore and being a leader and being a hell of a receiver and getting compared to Debo Samuel. Also though in the article you wrote an opposing coach as you guys put it

said it seemed to quote it seemed on tape that Moore and Williams didn't have a strong connection. Another league source from you and Kevin Fishpain. It's clear to me that Caleb doesn't have a lot of trust in DJ. It's it does seem like that. So my question is, even if DJ Moore is on this roster next year, how is that stuff fixed between Caleb Williams and DJ Moore if you believe Dan Weeder that there is a chemistry issue between those two? Well, there's a couple different ways you can take this. First and foremost, you can give DJ a little bit of the benefit of the doubt that he, too, was playing in a new offense last year, right? And so there was a lot of stuff as a receiver. They put a

lot on his plate. And so there's going to be some bumps in the road there. He's also now in a totally different situation than he was in when he got here in Chicago where he was the undisputed top playmaker in the offense and now he's surrounded by Caleb and Rome and Burden and Loveland and Swift. And there's a whole group of guys that can impact the game. And so, you know, in some ways, you don't need the production to reach where it once reached, but you do need him to be a factor in every single game. And so working through chemistry, both with the quarterback and with the offense, right? Just kind of getting your understanding for how routes need to be run in this system.

What's the timing of things? Where do I need to be when? Can I do that in a way that allows me to be impactful? If he is still on this roster when they get into OTAs, you've got to come to OTAs with purpose and go about working on all of those things every single day. I did find it interesting that league-wide, there is a fairly glowing profile on DJ in terms of just how consistent he's been. Everyone in the league appreciates this guy's toughness and how much he plays through and you can feel it.

We know how hard it can be in this league to survive. and DJ's caught everyone's attention with that aspect of things. Now it's just, okay, how do I go about being a really impactful playmaker? And what's been just the head scratcher for everyone is DJ's been really productive with bad quarterbacks. And then he got the most talented guy he's ever played with and it fell off. And so it's a little bit of a riddle that no one's solved yet. Well, I think part of it is when he's been open, it hasn't been within Caleb Williams' vision.

Like during the play, maybe part of the reason the targets haven't happened as much is because DJ wasn't really open at the perimeters of the play. You know, a lot of times he'd be open in traffic or something like that. That's really where he does his best work. And I don't necessarily think that's when Caleb was able to throw the ball. So I think some of it has been timing just based on who was available to throw the ball and catch it when Caleb Williams was available to actually throw it in the play. Yeah.

And we couldn't get a consensus at all from folks that we talked to on whether there's there's anticipation of a DJ trade, whether it's going to be something that doesn't happen. And so this is that week, right? Like we've already seen some moves started to be made around the league. This is that week ahead of free agency where some of this stuff starts to lock in. And so we'll kind of see where it goes as the week goes on. Well, I think also a big part of this, and we've talked about this today. Albert Breer highlighted him, and I know it's been percolating.

And there's been red flags here and there that kind of surfaced last year between A.J. relationship in the Eagles. But that's going to affect a market more than anything if he's available and he's making more than DJ. Yeah, right. And so like those calls will go out. Teams will express interest and then, you know, all this stuff gets really fluid. It's, you know, it's similar with Crosby in some extent where you're just kind of, everybody's kind of surveying their own landscape and then piecing it together with all the other teams that are out there. And so this is a, it's a really interesting week. Yeah, look like the, the, Bears have a ton of work to do between today and the time of the month ends.

Like they've got 53 players, I think, that are under contract as of next Wednesday. That leaves you 37 roster spots to fill before OTAs. And so you've got, obviously, you've got the draft class. You've got undrafted free agency. You've got some guys that you will resign. But that's a lot of work and you don't have a ton of space. And so they're going to have to figure out that entire puzzle. Yeah, it's funny because there's this huge rush of draft talk that goes on because it's the combine.

And all those to be drafted players are there, but we're so far away from being able to fill in that blank of the draft because of free agency, which opens on March 11th. But I'm still going to ask you, Dan, did you feel a certain way about number 25 for the Bears in the draft or anything as it pertains to this year's draft and the spots that they have even relative to last year when they had the three second round picks? So you've gotten to know me well enough now to know that like April 1st is when I start looking at the draft seriously. Now that said, I have to do a mock draft with Kevin Fishbane for this week at the athletic. We've got to go through all seven rounds of the Bears draft and put together another class there. And so we're in the process of doing some of that today. I think that the Bears are going to be able to find a starter at 25. They're going to be able to address a position of need.

and look like we've talked about the depth of this edge rushing class there's probably going to be a good one or two available for them at 25 if it's not the flavor they like they can wait and they can wait till day two and try to adjust that as well and so i think they can go a lot of different directions but again free agency is all about setting yourself up for that flexibility right and so what they do here in the next three weeks is going to be pivotal to filling a lot of holes even if it's not like the ideal fill you just want the whole filled so that then if the board breaks a certain way you can react and pounce and again live by that best player available philosophy that so many teams want. Dan, I know you were in on the mystery of last week.

Have you been able to figure out which Achilles Daya O'Dangbo tour in 2021? I have not been. And yeah, we can we can put that on the pecking order of things to get into this week. It's been something that has been crowdsourced. Don't go to AI. AI will overlap terms and make it. a mistake. I looked, I could find, Anne, his, the it, but nothing about whether or not it was the left or the right. Nothing. I've had editors at the Tribune over time who have been

hyper vigilant in making sure you know which side of the body injuries occurred on. And so we're pretty, we try to do that at every point you can. And that's why your eyes in the locker room are important. You know, you see, you see a guy hobbling around. You can understand which side of the body his knee injury is on, right? It says knee and when you say, okay, that's the left knee. But yeah, we'll look into that, figure out what that means. Obviously, it relates to the pass rush discussion that we're talking about and the Bears need to get more out of the guys that they currently have under contract. And Dio's got to be a big part of that because they made an investment of him a year ago. Were you surprised to hear that he's going to be back,

sounds like he's going to be back for training camp? I don't know that I necessarily expected that. No, I mean, you know, we'll see what the ramp up period is. His injury was early enough, I guess probably in the season where, you know, I lived through the Adrian Peterson ACL rehab where it was like, oh man, the guy tore his ACL on Christmas Eve. There's no way he's back. He's back for the season opener and wins MVP that season, right? So Adrian's a different case,

but it was a reminder to me of how far technology has come and how the medical rehab process is, it can be accelerated quickly for these high-level guys and the bears are going to have to monitor that with a handful of guys. Yeah, but what if it's the same Achilles? You know, that's the thing. You got to be careful, right? But that's where the recovery time comes.

Yeah, that's where it comes into play. And especially when you gave guaranteed money to that guy knowing he had had a previous one. And you know, Dan, the reason why nobody knew is because it was during his training for the draft. Yeah, so we'll call the Take the North investigative team and we'll get on that here and we'll hopefully have an answer before we get too deep in the spring. I mean, people started doing Google image searches just to see. Do you know what I ended up finding? Him and Chris Emma. It was Montess. It was actually a Montesweck, Chris Emma picture. It's a pillow. That's the best like it. So that's where my research took me. It just took me back to here. How many Achilles has Chris Emma torn?

Why are you putting that voodoo on people? That's a good question. I'm just curious. I don't know. Well, maybe, I mean, like, maybe I should have asked Emma about that then. Why his picture would show up in that image church. I mean, what did I tell you? See, Grotty? What did I tell you about people messing with Emma at Hallis? See? That's what happens.

You're right. You're right. There's a lot of stuff going on. By the way, we are talking about Cassie Carlson. She's with us tomorrow. Is that right on Take? What do we got coming up on Take the North this week, Dan? Hey, everybody.

Listen, like, Cassie crushes the off season, and she has a show called the offseason on Fox. And you go down to the Combine and you watch her work and you watch the number of different people that they're able to kind of reel in and talk to on the show as you had, you know, one-on-one with Ben Johnson, one-on-one with Brian Poles, one-on-one with Jeff King, and then all sorts of people around the league as well. So there's a lot to unpack about her Indianapolis experience. I know you'll look forward to that as much as I am tomorrow of getting some of that insight. Absolutely, and I look forward to talking to you and seeing you. I miss you an Indie Grotie. I really did. I know. It's kind of a heartbreaking thing to be down

there without you. I had non-joking around fear of missing out and just seeing you there. and missing you and everybody and not walking 40,000 steps a day. I missed it all. I missed it all. Yeah, we had to connect over Streamyard, and then you had to watch me watch people walk into the JW Marriott Gym and try to figure out if they were working out or breaking in. It's pretty funny.

If you want to go back and watch some of the Take the North episodes from the Combine, Dan is talking about, like, yes, like, Sean Payton we saw, like, in the background. Some people we couldn't. Andrewsville was making a call, like, four feet from me while we were recording. It was, yeah, crazy. You get an idea of what. what the combine is all about if you watch Take the North because it is just that. It's people moving and it's like, oh, there's, hey, there's the, and you don't really have

enough time to, like, see everybody. That's why I call it, choose your own adventure and I missed my adventure this year. Do you know what else it is? It's still there. It's a tough scene for guys who walk while talking on the phone because you don't have the space. You don't have the space to be strutting around with your thoughts on the phone because there's other people doing the same thing. So who's going to win that walk?

Who? No question. Well, I got a lot of steps in last week, so I won a lot of walks, but maybe probably got a little bit more to do this week, too. Also, every time I think about you two talking to each other, now all I picture is the John Greenberg picture of you two looking at each other with admiration and happiness. Well, why wouldn't we be the Bears just beat the Packers in a playoff? The first playoff victory ever covered in the NFL. Whoa, wow. That's crazy, man.

How long have you been covering the NFL since what year? 15 years and then there were two years sort of as like half time covering it in 2003-04 when I was working out in Naperville so yeah okay see and all like the goal is to get you somebody who looks at you the way Grady looked at Weir

that's all you want. I was just so happy and the adrenaline and everything it was like something had been lifted from the world that day chronicling history it's important that's what it was we were chronicling history in the bowels of Soldier Field

which was beautiful. It's precious. Which is still the home of the Chicago Bears. This is the home of the Chicago Bears. We didn't have asked you a stadium question. Probably Arlington Heights. Yeah. Thanks, Dan.

Okay, see you. All right, if you're good with it, that's Dan Weiderer back from the Combine. We look forward to the Take the North podcast with Mark and Dan and Cassie Carlson. There's a very important question we have next. Oh? Is Ben Johnson having fun? What?

It's next. Bears. Amy Harris and Groot. Midday's Cated on Chicago Sports Radio 124.3. And you delivered not only wins for Chicago this past season, but also free hot dogs, thanks to your shirtless

celebrations during the season. What did your wife, Jessica, and family say about you flexing for the fans out there? Yeah. I think I'm going to keep my shirt on here going forward. That was Amina Smith, who used to work at stadium. Now she's at Sports Center, talking

to Ben Johnson when he was on last week from the Combine. Good times here on Rahimi Harrison Brody. And dare I say, Ben Johnson is having good times. There was a period of the football season where I didn't think Ben Johnson would crack a smile ever. And then we knew how he felt about the Packers. And yes, he took his shirt off for the people. And yes, he also had that psych out handshake with Matt LaFleur. However, he's an intense guy, and this is the side of Ben Johnson. I don't know that we've gotten to know yet. He's at the Bulls game last night.

He's there to witness the 270 run. He's faking out flashing the camera. He's making jokes. He jokes about Tyson Bayjit basically calls him his large adult son. Dare I say, is Ben Johnson having fun? He's on his comedy tour. It's the Ben Johnson tour with stops in Indianapolis in Chicago at the United Center, if you would like. Come to Prudential Tower.

Like, think about it. Think about it. And maybe this is the exact perfect tone for an NFL head coach to take. Be Mr. Serious. Don't crack a smile. Don't get jubilant even during spectacular moments. But then when it's the offseason, you can let loose a little bit. You could have a joke ready for the media.

When you come in and talk, oh, you have a joke. want to know about Caleb's three point shooting, right? Yes. Right? He goes right into it. He's got, he has writers this off season, and I love it. I am in, I want to, we were talking about the state fair schedule and the food and the concerts.

I want the rest of the schedule for the Ben Johnson offseason comedy tour. Let it rip. Yes. I feel like, I feel like we know his, his, we know, he doesn't have an manager per se, but he has an agent. He's got writers. I'm telling you. Maybe we, no, but here's the thing.

I think Ben Johnson does have a sense of humor, and you saw it during the season, and some of the ways he would low-key, write plays or call plays or revenge calls some stuff. He does it with his actions. You're right. No, I definitely think there was a bit of trolling there that went on in-game. Now, as to whether or not all of it worked, don't worry about that. What's up with these expiration dates on milk? You see him starting to do shtick everywhere he goes. I love this.

Larry Mayer's writing for him. Here's the funny thing, though, is that he also brought a little bit. bit of this to the introductory press conference. Like I think when he talked about Matt LaFleur, it was like a joking manner the way he said it. Like, did that happen? Yes, you did beat Matt LaFleard twice a year. But also you said that because you knew there was a sense of humor twinged with the whole, the whole idea of beating the Packers.

Like, he knew what he was doing. The Matt LaFleur thing, I still can't quite get. Like, there's something, there's still something that we do. don't know that I want to know where did he hurt you? Where, where did Matt LaFleur hurt you? What, what happened, Ben Johnson? What, what is it really? Because at this point, he should probably be saying, oh, that's all like fun. That's all, look, it's Bears Packers. It's the way it is. And I'm always going to hate the Packers. But, you know, the offseason, he's not letting up on the gas pedal. You're asking basically, why is it personal? Yeah. We don't know. We don't know. I don't know.

I don't who would open up for Ben Johnson on the on the Ben Johnson comedy tour it would have been Declan Doyle because he's another guy who I don't think of is funny in the least this is a challenge no it's not really the obvious one is Richard High Tower oh yeah it's high tower why didn't we think of this it's a whole comedy team Richard High Tower with the opening act everybody I keep thinking of is gone now like Eric Bienemy with his serious jokes. Wait, serious jokes. Yelling at guys.

Isn't that funny? I really get in their heads. Isn't that funny? The mental warfare? Okay, but here's my other question when it comes to all of this. Is that if I had told you a year and a half ago, let's say, Flus was still here a year and a half ago, wasn't he? Yeah, technically he would have been.

November. Okay, so right after Matt Eber Fluse left, what if it was around the time of Thomas Brown being the head coach. If I told you that the Bears head coach would flash the camera but have another shirt on underneath at the United Center, would you have believed to me? I mean, probably not. Like, oh yeah, the Bears head coach went to the United Center and he like half flashed the camera and took his shirt off and he had another shirt on underneath.

The city of Chicago is hungry too. I love that he is just, he is embrace. Like every Bears head coach that has been in this town and I go back to Neil Armstrong. They've all appreciated being the Bears head coach. I don't know if anybody has embraced it as much as Ben Johnson has and continues to do. Just as I'm talking right now, I'm just watching a world champion Chicago Bull walk into our studio. I do believe I've heard this man on the radio doing Bulls broadcast. Anybody know who it is yet?

Pretty nice jumper from the outside, played at St. John. He was ahead of his time as a big man, I always say, because, He was shooting from the outside before everybody else made it so popular. It's Bill Wheddington, ladies and gentlemen. Yay, Bill is here. And I'm very excited about this because the two jokesters of the score have finally come together. Well, you two troublemakers. I never mind my joking around.

We love your, because Lela and I both caught the postgame show. I was driving home from Brookfield yesterday, and I heard you and Alyssa Bergamini, and Bergamini was on the floor laughing at jokes that she probably had heard before. four out of you. I try to do different ones. It is fun. And you guys have no idea how much I appreciate Alyssa. Because I understand, you know, we're all trying to be professional.

We're all trying to, you know, grow our brands and, you know, get further with our careers. Sure, sure. But she allows me to be me and have fun and tell my little jokes. And she laughs along, even when the jokes aren't funny. and we just have fun. And it's actually been, what started it was, obviously the Bulls not having a great year this season. I'm sure we'll get into that in a minute.

But at the end of the game sometimes, I'm frustrated and not happy, as most fans in Chicago would be. And I needed a little something, something. And I don't know, a joke popped in my head. And I said, you know what Alyssa? And I wish I could remember what the first one was, but it wasn't, but it was just a silly dad joke

because that's kind of what I am. And she laughed and it was funny. So I said, you know what? I'll do it again next time. She demands it now. Now it's just fun. But I like you, but it honestly, it helps me transition back to,

hey, it was a basketball game. No one's career is over right now. And, you know, it's not, it's a game. And we're here. And it gives me, an outlet and a pass to be that passionate about it and care enough, but then I'm able

to calm down a little bit after the game. So when I'm walking out of the United Center, I'm not looking to hit someone. Or dance, right? Like your partner. Yeah, but that's okay too, but I'm not a dancer like that, so that's okay. And again, I fully expect and like it when people express themselves the way that they're comfortable doing it. And that's That's part of what is unique about being human is we're different.

We're all the same. We really are, but we're all very different. We have range. Yes. And you're allowed to be funny and also be passionate about what you're seeing on the court, especially when it means so much to you. We were just talking about how Ben Johnson's just lighten up the room. Here he is having fun at the UC fake flashing the crowd.

What I was laughing at is I said to Mark, Bill, if I told you a year and a few months ago that the Bears head coach would be fake flashing at the camera at the UC and everybody loved it, I don't know that we would be talking about something realistic by any means. And here he is, and he's with Scotty Pippenio at the game yesterday,

and I think that's very notable too. It was very notable, and it was great, but you know, let's start with Chicago's a great sports town. And from a guy coming from Montreal, where the Montreal Canadiens play and arguably one of the greatest hockey franchises in history to the Blackhawks,

which is now my team. And this city is a sports town. And so when you get that cross connection of football, basketball, baseball, or even now soccer is picking up huge in Chicago now as well. But it says a lot about the sports

how beloved basketball fans love coach Johnson there. And it was fun. Obviously, I couldn't be up in the box, but I was watching him as he did that flash, and I'm thinking to myself, that's phenomenal. That is so cool that he's here, and that's him, he's comfortable. And he honestly seems like a player,

and you understand why his players talk so highly of him. He's just a player's coach and likes to have fun and understands what they're going through, and he's out there doing the same stuff, and having fun with it. In my opinion, it's very appropriate, and especially in a game of sports where branding now has become very big, not just for the teams, but even for the individuals. So you're coaching and players, they all have their brands now. And it makes him very recognizable and beloved by all of us fans.

I love the cross-pollination that goes on in the city. Maybe it's just more out there for us to see because of social media, but it seems like it happens more than ever. now. Do you love that concept and do you love going to other even when you were playing? Did you love going to taking in a Cubs game or whatever, a White Sox game, whatever? I am a fan of everything but not a super fan

of anything. So basketball is the closest that I'm a super where I know stats. I talk to fans that will tell me my stats more than I know them or they'll talk about stats. We were just talking at the Advocate Center. We had a group

coming through with one of the Bulls sponsors and some kids and they were running off Derek Rose stats, Kirk Heinrich stats, just like it was, and I'm looking at Chuck and then Chuck starts rattling out these stats and I'm like, how do these kids, I know how Chuck remembers it, but how do these, they're fans and they're just remembering everything and that's how much they love, people love sports. And even my son growing up playing, a guy would walk up to bat and, and, you know, I, you know, we're watching a game on TV and he goes, oh, that's so-and-so. And then all of a sudden the name flashes up.

Like, how do you know? He's not a cub. He plays for the Padres. Like, how do you know that? And he's like, Dad, I pay attention. Come on, Bill. When you were a kid, remember when you were a kid? Because I had liked that, too.

Like, where I don't remember when I was a kid. Really? You know all those Montreal Canadians as you were talking about. I know them. LaGron LaRouche. LaRouche. Yeah, I remember Gila Point, Seveard. I remember them.

I don't remember their stats. Okay. Maybe it's because I'm not that bright. That might be part of it. Enough. I'm not listening to this slander today. I did not think that you would be partaking a 27-0 run yesterday. Hello.

You know what? It was kind of cool. And let me get, as Chuck likes to say, I'll get up on my soapbox. But I would say from the end of the third quarter until about six minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bulls abandoned the three-point shot and attacked the paint. They ended up getting over 50 points in the paint. Because I keep a little running statute,

and there was not one three-pointer made in that time. But I don't think there were any taking. I think the Bulls really focused on scoring inside, and they just attacked the rim very well. Trey Jones was doing it. Bezellas had a couple nice dunks during that little stretch, and it seemed to me like, hey, they did it. And I'll add to it that defensively,

the energy got up, came up, and the Bulls really made things difficult for the bucks, and they kind of fell into a hole, and it really struggled. In the NBA today, if you can hold a team under 10 points in a quarter, that's kind of I mean. I don't care how bad the team is. Seriously. It doesn't matter. You did something right.

And so the energy came up defensively. The guys played well, and it was just a fun, end of the third quarter and fourth quarter to watch because obviously it went well. It would have been fun from Milwaukee if it was the other way. But for us, it was good to see that. And in today's game for the Bulls with what's going on, in my opinion right now, with the changes, we have to change our attitude as fans from, and this hurts. It's not easy to say because we want to win.

And I'm a winner. It's all about winning. It's not about playing. It's not about getting an award. It's about winning. And that's really what sports is. But in order to win, we're going to have to go through some growing pains. and right now it's about development.

And what I've seen, Josh Giddy with a triple double last night, Josh and Mattis are two guys that I'm pretty sure the Bulls are building around right now. Again, I don't know. I'm not in the front office, and I may get my hand slap for saying everything I'm saying right now, but we want to see them develop and become great players. And we also now want to see them develop and become great players. want to see because we can't play two on five every night, we have to find teammates for them. So what we have now, we look and I'm sure Billy Donovan and the front office is looking at

these guys and how do they fit in? Do they make us better? Do they make Bezellas and Giddy better or do Bezellas and Giddy make them better? And both are good things because you have to learn how to play with those guys. I think it's pretty evident that they're trying when you when you acquire a team that ends up having six guards. It's pretty obvious you're trying to figure out who fits with those guys. Yes. And the upside and I think Ivy, unfortunately, the idea was kind of similar to what happened with Giddy in Oklahoma where they have a very talented team.

He may have gotten squeezed out of minutes. They try to see if he's a fit with him. They're trying to see if these other players are a fit with Gideon modest. I thought that that was pretty evident. And I haven't talked to anybody. Yeah, no. And that's what it is. But it's hard because even my partner, Chuck, who is, honestly, in my opinion, the best at his job.

What he knows and brings up in-game on the dime. You can ask me stats about me, but I'm not to think about it. He's the best. And it just comes from, boom, and he's phenomenal. And like Alyssa, he allows me to be me. So I can go out there and just have fun. He tells jokes, too, everyone's so well. He tells jokes.

But I'll do stuff sometimes. times just to make sure he's paying attention. I don't know if that's the best thing to do, but I'll throw something out, come out of left field like, you know, I'm going to say, oh, wow, did you see that, I don't know, I'll say something like, Yonis ate ice cream cone yesterday. It has nothing to do with anything we're talking about. It's just like, what? Oh, is that the times in the broadcast where he just goes, okay?

Exactly. Okay. But Chuck still wants the Bulls to win. I'm like, but Chuck, I get it. But we can't. I mean, it's not about that right now. Yes, it's nice to win. But right now it's about development.

We've got to see what these guys, how they can grow. And we want everyone to be, we want this team to be good. Everyone does. There's no one that does it. And I'm smart enough to understand there's more than one way to get things done. There's not one way. And so my way might not be the way they're thinking. I'm not saying my way's better, but I'm never wrong.

Just ask Chuck and Rich. Well, and I, you know, we love that you guys get to be yourselves. That's kind of the whole point. Like, Grady, obviously we want him to be himself and he gets into his impressions. And, you know, I get to just laugh constantly. So I feel like that's the whole goal is for everybody to be able to do that. Well, I, again, I was a broadcast major at St. John's. And I honestly never imagined myself here.

I was always thinking, I am handy with my hands. and I always fashioned myself as a board operator or an engineer like Rich or even a camera operator but unfortunately And then you had a growth spurt and you're like I would go play basketball Well no I was already I know you were at St. John's play

I was already tall But apparently people understand what I say Sort of whatever wacky things it is At least they understand the words that come out And it's just kind of worked out well Not that I wasn't trying and networking as we all do as we're going through school and coming up. But again, I'm still amazed that I'm talking about a game I love.

How long you've been sitting in that radio seat now? 23 years. Years are piling up. Oh, yeah. You got out in what? 2000. Oh, yeah. You were finishing like 2000?

2000 was her last year? 2000 I finished and I started doing this in 03. Oh, three. And like that, were you with the Bulls? Like, I can't remember. Like, after. 93. through 99. I was with the Bulls.

So you, like, that was right before the longest losing streak of the 2000. The Dalai War Bagaridge Bulls. I was part of the first year of Tim Floyd. Okay. So you have a little Floyd in you. Yeah. And we could talk about that too. I like Tim Floyd.

I'm sure he was a very likable man, not Delta Great Hand. And we'll jump on that then. I think Tim's a good coach. And I think Tim's problem was he was trying to run the triangle because he and Jerry had talked and that's kind of the deal they made. I really think that Tim should have run his stuff. And he would have been more successful. You probably thought the pressure to do that, though, right?

And that was part of it. I mean, obviously just coming off of, you know, championships, six championships in eight years and the triangle offense was good. I think the triangle offense is the best offense ever. The talented change. I mean, I go, you know, I'm nearing the end of my career. You still had Tony myself. Ron Harper was still here.

And, you know, we knew, we know the triangle, but now we've got to teach it to all these guys. And it was hard. And when the coach is not 100% familiar, because he came to us a lot to talk about, what do we do? What are you looking for here? And because he was trying, and obviously Jerry Krause was still here doing it. But it was just he wasn't 100% comfortable. And all my coaches taught me, but especially Phil, if you're reacting to something and you have to think about it,

it's not going to get done right. And as a coach, that's where it starts. You can't, like, what is he supposed to do there? No, it's got to be, go there. And as a player, you can't think about, am I supposed to go, or right? You can't. You just have to go.

And if your react is not instantaneous, then you've lost the step. And that's the only issue I have with Tim. Other than that, I love Tim. He was a great coach to play for. He was a lot of fun to be around. And even after, when I was a broadcaster, he was still coaching for a while.

As a matter of fact, I think he was part of why I was brought back because I was actually brought back first in 2001 as a mentor for Tyson and Eddie to help them with life skills because apparently they thought highly of my decision-making in life. See there.

and your jokes yeah so what did you tell Alyssa last night for those of us who may have missed the show uh okay I had okay I'll tell a joke one joke it's kind of funny you know what

I know my wife loves me but I really didn't realize how much she loved me until I missed a couple of games and I was home because every time the milkman and the mailman came she went running down the block my husband's home my husband's home

I love it. It's so good. Bill, thank you so much for joining us. And I'm glad we got to talk to you after a win. Oh, thank you. It's always a pleasure to be on. Clear! Amazing.

Bill Whittington, we look forward to the next call. Tomorrow night, the Women's History Month game. And in the meantime, we have more with Rahimi Harrison Grady on the score. And Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel next.