Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — August 28, 2026

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote welcomed on former Bears receiver Allen Robinson to discuss his retirement from the NFL. They also conducted the 5 On It segment.

This hour is being brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. Raheimbor. Raheigant 102-2-3, the score. 3126, 44, 67, 67. I love this texter. Rahoti is number one sack machine bears. I only bring that up because yesterday I was doing a little bit of production work with our guy,

Russ Matura, and he's into all the name manifestations that we've. had been going through. And he liked Raghoti Rhapsody, Rhapsody, I think it was. Rahimi Rhapsody, like a takeoff on Rohemian Rhapsody. That's what it was.

Grohemi and Rhapsody. We should start a band. Of course we should start a band. All right. We'll put it on the list. He thinks we need to get in the studio and do a song. Well, of course he does.

He loves to produce things. It's like a surgeon wanting you to go have surgery. Absolutely. He wants to create because Russ is a creative type. I mean, he was the entertainment brains

behind one of the greatest segments the score has ever had. Big Doug. Big Doug. Does your wife hate you because you're busted? Government can't tax it. Big Doug. Did you borrow a kid's college fund on bad picks? But sports betting is a $200 billion year business.

Big Doug! While we're here, Bessamelah no and Bohemian Rhapsody is actually Farsi. It means Bessma Allah, which is in the name of God, no. We will not let you go. We will not let you go. Let me go. We will not let you go.

He's got a million-dollar idea right here. A billion-dollar idea. Even better, let him flow. Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 104-3, the score. I was also told that's Arabic, by the way. Oh? Yeah. Sometimes Farsi and Arabic overlap.

But I don't always know when, because I don't speak either language well. Buterbaugh, you're going to have to redo the open. No, no, I think it's okay each time. Oh, it is? Like, yeah. All right. It's going to say we could restart everything if we have to. That was so good.

Tyler Bueberbaugh, another five Butte open like he does. They're all five buttes, really. This is a five butte show, I believe. It's Rahimi and Grotie. We are live. We are so live that we can't be more live. I'm overwhelmed by how live this show is. on 1043 the score, on 670 the score, on Twitch, what's going on Twitchers, Twitch.tv.tv.com.

We see you. We're live on YouTube. We're live via text and phone, if you'd like. 312, 644, 67, 67 is the number. I have what I believe is an unbelievable show today for Rahimian Grody. And that is... Raghrody. Rohdi. That is correct. All of those. Someday we'll settle on an actual name for the show

or a nickname for the show. Marla Gramee is the suggestion from 773. Keep them coming. Marla is another name that could be a hurricane, okay? Yeah. Like, again, we cannot have hurricanes be good names like Dolly. Be normal. Wait, so you think Marla is a bad name, so it's good for hurricanes?

Correct. Oh, wow. Okay. On the show today, we will have Patrick Finley, who was at the joint practice. He'll be on at 1025. today to talk about all the ongoings with the Bears and the Titans and the preseason game that is coming very soon here. Former Bear, Alan Robinson, who is freshly retired. We will talk to the former bear at 11 o'clock.

At 1145, we will indeed talk to Father Tom McCarthy on his delivering of the White Sox giveaway Pope hat to the actual Pope. Do you call him Pope Leo or do you call him Bob Provost? Maybe we'll find out. His friends call him Rob. Really? Rob? Not even Bob? I read that his family and friends, or his family calls him Rob. His close friends call him Bob. Bob Prevost is his name. Robert Prevost is his name, right? Right. So that makes all the sense in the world, that he's a Rob and a Bob, but maybe even a Bobby when he was a young, when he was a young Pope. We've also gotten Meela Grotimi.

Oh, that sounds very weekend, because it's got like martini, it feels like. Mela Grotimi. We'll take it. 1245, we've got Cubs and Red, so there'll be a little bit of baseball talk along the ways. As a matter of fact, we're going to go through the 150th anniversary team for the Cubs a little bit later on today. And we'll see who needs to still be on there. And maybe we'll make some additions to it because they are honoring those Cubs this weekend. Cubs Hall of Fame Day is on Sunday at Wrigley Field. So so much going on.

For the second year in a row, the Chicago Bears are being accused of things in joint practices. As you may recall last year, when the Miami Dolphins were at Hallis Hall and it was the dolphins and the Bears having a joint practice, Dolphin Center, Aaron Brewer, criticized the Bears for what he called fake physicality. Jalen Waddle took a hit, as I recall. Tyreeks Stevenson was getting tangled up with guys. Kevin Byard, where are you, Kevin Byard? We could use you right about now. He was getting tangled up with guys and there was all sorts of stuff and there was this snotty response from the dolphins as well.

Well, yesterday during the Bears' joint practice in Tennessee, Tennessee Titans wide receiver, Wondale Robinson was evaluated for a concussion after taking a big hit from the X-Man, Bear Safety, Xavier Woods during that joint practice. Towards the end of the practice, when Robinson caught a pass across the middle of the field from Cam Ward during 11-on-11. Unfortunately, Woods was immediately confronted by Titan Center, Austin Schlotman, Schlotman, and Peter Skoronsky, both great Chicago names right there. They may deserve bears just for those names. Scoronsky went to Northwestern. Absolutely.

So he probably is born with bears as it is. multiple altercations resulted in all of that. I didn't see it. I wasn't there. I don't know how many reporters actually saw. Maybe Patrick Finley saw it. We don't have the benefit of watching the video together to see if it was actually a cheap shot. It may have been, from all accounts, an actual cheap shot from Xavier Woods and the Chicago Bears.

But I will say a couple of things about that. I think some of this is, and I mean this in the best of ways, that this is a reflection of the head coach Ben Johnson and what he puts out there and what he expects from his players. He doesn't expect his players to be dirty. But when the lights are on, when things get real, there is an expectation from this coach, Ben Johnson, that we've seen Lela now in two straight training camps with pissing off the oppositions. I kind of like, I don't want dirty hits from the bears. Nobody wants that. I don't want Wondale Robinson suffering from a concussion. I hate that the guy is in concussion protocol and all that.

But I kind of like the idea that the bears are building towards this sort of villainous team where other teams don't like Ben Johnson. They don't like the bears. I'm okay with that. Yeah, I think there's a couple different factors to this, Mark, when it comes to, number one, Ben Johnson is doing the break everybody down to build them up type of training camps. And you know that better than anybody after hearing about the hell day of practice that they had last year and how exhausted the players weren't just frustrated.

I think there was a purposeful frustration, make practice as hard as possible so the games are easier. That makes sense. And then on top of that, there was also learning the new offense and what that meant. This time around, I think what we're seeing is I, I, I take. take the Titans a little more seriously than the Dolphins, because that was the first indication last year of the dolphins, just not being on the same page as a team as a whole. They have a new coach and a new GM now.

They do. And I think part of that was starting to build that frustration that they had as a team and the disconnects that they had. And practice was a good indication of that. They were mad. But also, you don't want to be the team on the flip side, who doesn't keep their word when it comes to how teams want to hit. Then nobody wants to join practices with you,

or if they do, how is that going to go around? So I worry about that piece of it only a little, you know, like was there an agreement that that was not followed? Because for solid to say that. And I think the bears were pretty excited about doing the joint practice with the Titans. I know Ben Johnson talked about that, that they had agreed to it. So you want to make sure you can still play ball with some of these teams too. Yeah, that's part of it.

But I think on the other side, too, is it a risk for injuries? Yeah, there's all these questions about this. rolling around in my head. The bears have gotten injured. And then I go back to the last year, Ben Johnson, and that's Dan Campbell too. But I go back to the last year when Ben Johnson was on the Lions and they had 20 players on injured reserve. It was over 20 in 2024. I don't necessarily know that one leads to another, but when you're seeing Jervon Dexter out with the hamstring, when you're seeing all these other injuries, makes you wonder. Yeah. Are they too physical?

And, yeah, it all trickles down from Dan Campbell, who, as we all know, set a very interesting template on his first day at work a long time ago. So you can see – and it's commonplace. Coaches, new coaches adopt things from the coaches that they work for. We saw Matt Nagy obsess over everything Andy Reid when he was here. Everything he did was because Andy Reid did it. Let's listen to, since we kind of mentioned it, Robert Salah is the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Got a couple pieces of audio here for you. Sala on the quote-unquote cheap shot on Wondale Robinson.

And then we're checking Wendell for a concussion. Obviously, they hit on Wondell in this type of situation. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap shot. He didn't sound too happy about that. No, he did not. Grady Jarrett then of the Chicago Bears met with the media after yesterday's

practice. Actually, we'll hear from him in a second. I want to read one more quote here from our guy, Northwestern's very own, Peter Skoransky. He says, quote, that's Teach Tape 101 in terms of what not to do in thud practice and a thud period, which is very important to point out that's not full tackling. Skoronsky said after the practice, Scoronsky goes on to say,

you can't have guys like Juan Dale going down like that, and hits like that are not necessary. I get we're being competitive. I get DBs are physical and stuff like that, but that's totally uncalled for in a practice thing like this. We defend our teammates, man. I don't encourage throwing punches or fighting or anything like that, but if cheap shots are taken on our guys, it's unacceptable for us.

I think everything you said right there is fair. Here is what Grady Jarrett had to say about the bear's physicality. I would just say every time we take the field, it's the style of defense we want to play. And I think we did that early. I think our key now is to sustain that through the, through the whole out and whether it's the whole game. I feel like after halftime, you know, we had to re-ramp it back up,

but we got to find a way to continue to challenge ourselves to keep that physical, that aggressiveness all the way through the end of the game. And that's how I think we take the next step. But, I mean, we want to play our style of defense anytime we have the opportunity to. And I think we did well. Between the heat and how deep into training camp you guys are now, is this the most intense practice you guys have been? I mean, I don't know if I would say most intense.

I think it was just the next practice up, you know? at the end of the day, anybody, anywhere, anytime. We got to do what we do with the job. Got to get done. And I don't even think we're looking at like that. We just want to win each day, do our best, and let the rest take care of itself. It's a, the Skoronsky quotes are very powerful. And I think Grady Jared is doing what a teammate is going to do, which is defend his guy.

If there's one thing we know about Grady Jared, he's defending his teammates. But that Skoronsky quote is, it's on NFL.com, too, if you want to see it for your yourself. That is a, it's pretty powerful. And the, the funny part about all of this is, is that Xavier Woods is a veteran now, 10 years of experience. Played for Tennessee, by the way. Exactly. Last year, right? Yeah. So, so there's, there's a connection there, but head coach didn't sound too happy about it. I respect Robert Sala. You know, this isn't, I don't think it's an indication of what we saw with the dolphins last year, which I mentioned, like, they were frustrated by the bears, but I think that had more

to do with them. I, this is, um, it does make me wonder how this is going to get legislated? That's a good question. I guess I hadn't really thought about the legislation part of this. I mean, did they send? I'm sure there is video of it. Do they send it in? And does Xavier Woods in a joint practice get some sort of, like, is there a constitution

for joint practices? Are there general laws and bylaws? I get it. Like, there's a thud agreement. So, I mean, the more I hear about this, it probably was a dirty hit. It sounds like, like, if they are doing thud out there, This is probably bad on the bears, and I realize I'm walking a fine line here because part of me likes it. I don't like anybody getting hurt.

I don't like the concussion part of it. But I do like the idea that the bears are kind of that team that's going to be the aggressor. And that's going to be a little disliked. Like, I'm okay with that. Well, I know I've talked about this before and I started to bring it up last year. The first time I talked about it was on the House of Elle on Lawrence's podcast last year. the bears being the villains. You know, Caleb Williams idolized Aaron Rogers when he was coming up.

And I think the bears can, they frustrate teams late. They had seven comeback wins last year. Are they becoming the villains? And this is another, this is another point of a, I don't know if it's a data point or if it's bigger than that. But there's something building here. I think you're right. 312. The bears will get dirty this year.

their defense is so bad that frustration will boil over. That's one part of it. Also, Woods from another texter, 240, is new to the fold. In my opinion is he just wants to match the bear's culture. That's a good point. Plus, not to mention, the guy is fighting for a job at starting safety. So I think that all goes into it. I think everything is fair when it comes down to this.

Let's keep the Bears conversation going to a guy who was there and maybe did observe what went down in the joint practice. Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times plenty to talk about with him including the secondary and Caleb Williams and the fight that was going down and the uniforms because that is the rivalry uniforms because Patrick Finley, he is

I don't know if people know this, he's a little bit of a uniform expert in all of sports. He's a uniform geek and I love that about Patrick Finley. So we will get into all of that with Finley next on Rahimi and Grody on 1043, the score. Rahimi and Grody.

She had all the flowery comments there. Midday, 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. Score. What went into your decision to play the start? Okay. Same thing I've been saying all along, and that is we were going to assess the number of reps over the course of the week and the workload,

and so we felt like we needed this work. What did Caleb gain from it, do you think? I have to go back. I got to watch the tape, but he gained nine more reps. I know that. Super important football question. What do you think of the unit? What uniforms?

I haven't even seen. Orange pants? I haven't even seen, yeah. It's Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3, the score. Hope everybody is having a great Friday. Let's go to Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, where the Bears are getting ready to take on the Titans in their final preseason game.

That goes down on Saturday at 5 o'clock. A spirited joint practice between the Bears and Titans yesterday. Patrick Fisdard. has been there of the Chicago sometimes he saw everything that happened yesterday. Well, I don't know if that's a fact because there's a lot of things to see and not every reporter can see everything

that happens. But actually, Patrick, we had a texter asked since we don't have video of the fight that went down yesterday or the big hit from Xavier Wood. Somebody asked if you happened to draw what happened yesterday.

That might have been disrespectful. First of all, let's not gloss over the mega mix you guys just aired of Ben being dismissive of me. There are about four different instances there about serious things like I consider, hey, are you going to play your good players? A serious question. The uniform question is absolutely not one and he wasn't playing along on either. No, I did not draw the hit, but I was standing about 30 yards away and staring right at

it when it happened. And guys, it was not good. Okay, see, that's good to know because we're getting, obviously Grady Jared, for example, Patrick is going to defend his teammate. We talked about that. We played his comments after the practice yesterday. But, you know, Xavier Woods, I know as a veteran, too, and that I think adds a layer to this, former Titan himself.

So what did you observe? Can you tell us what you saw? Yeah. Yeah, Wondell Robinson, who might be the smallest player on the field, who's not a kicker, ran a route over the middle and caught the ball. And Xavier Woods laid him out, knocked him to the ground. he's in concussion protocol, hit him really good. And you said it, this is a guy who I believe has played in 132 NFL games.

This isn't some over-eager rookie trying to make the team, you know, in the last five minutes of a heated practice. This is somebody who theoretically knows better. I thought it was dirty from my angle. Obviously, the Titans thought it was dirty. And, you know, we have two years of evidence now that Bears' teams in these joint practices do play with a certain. edge and do play with a certain level of violence. I think Ben Johnson likes it. I think that this was too much. And I suspect that the bears also think this was too much. All right. So is there, like, could there be a fine involved in this? I mean, I don't know if there's a constitution for

joint practices. Is there any discipline or anything that happens? I don't think so. And what's funny is just the night earlier the NFL put out kind of their new policies for how they're going to deal with on-field on field violent acts. And this might qualify for one of those if it was a real game, but it wasn't. And I think that's an interesting point. You know, as the league probably pushes toward 18 regular season games and condenses their preseason, I think we're going to see probably two joint practices per team per year every year, is there a way to enforce any bad thing that might happen there?

I don't know. I think it's an interesting idea. Well, I also want to ask you, we talked about this too last year. You know, the Miami Dolphins talked about it, Pat. And I wonder if that, I don't know if it reminded you of anything that had happened in the practices last year, but it did cross my mind. No, no, the intensity I remember from that dolphins practice was all pretty clean. As it turns out, by the way, maybe the dolphins were just soft and not a good football team. I think that that is certainly a possibility. This, I think, from where I was standing,

looked like it went overboard. And I never thought any of the dolphin stuff was overboard. I just thought it was intense in a way that the dolphins weren't prepared for. I mean, they were almost like, they were kind of scandalized. There were some pearl clutching there. And even in the moment, I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah, I did too. Yeah, the fake tough guy sort of thing going on there.

And we'll get on to other topics for sure. But just the last thing with what you're saying with, I don't want to see anybody get hurt. And I'm just going to have to believe that this was a cheap shot. The bears were in the wrong. It shouldn't have happened. But here we are with this fine line because I like the idea that Ben Johnson provides this edge.

But I guess, I guess, how do you tell your players if you're Ben Johnson to tone it down just a little bit and be careful? And maybe that's exactly what you say. Yeah, be careful is probably a good way to put it. I mean, the interesting thing is there was maybe 10 minutes of practice left, and now you're done with joint practices for another 340 days or so. So maybe that's a problem for future Ben instead of current Ben. You know, when he pushes the notion of intensity and violence and, you know,

getting calloused and all of that, one of the side effects of it is your own guys get hurt, too. And I think that that'll be really interesting when the bear sit down. You know, whenever they get at a free moment, probably, you know, further down the line and figure out whether their training camp methods worked this year. So many guys went down. And I think some of it's just dumb, bad luck. But I wonder if they come to the conclusion that there are some things they can control that they should be doing better. Patrick, I thought about the Lions in 2024 having over 20 players on injured reserve. I know that Ben was the O.C. there, but, you know, the Dan Campbell practice method, maybe he liked what they did in practice, and it kind of came over to the Bears.

I hope that's not the case. If I remember correctly, it was mostly all the, it was like almost the entire starting defense. So maybe we can blame the defensive side of the ball there. Yeah, I hope that's not, I hope that's not the case because that would be very bad news indeed. That is the voice of Patrick Finley. He does a great job covering the Chicago Bears for the Chicago Sun. Times. This is Rahimi and Grotie. And this particular segment is being brought to you by almost freeteeth.com save on dental implants today. I noticed from one of your articles that I was reading that you noted that there were seven passes for two touchdowns from Cam Ward in joint practice. A bad day for the secondary or a sign of things to come for the bear secondary? No, it wasn't just from Cam Ward. It was from, it was to one player, Grody. I mean, it was

it was remarkable. Carnell Tate, the wide receiver from Ohio State, he was picked fourth overall. That's what he did alone himself. Yeah, it was remarkable. Tate, by the way, is a Chicago guy. Yeah. Grew up, Garfield Park, wound up playing his high school football down in Florida

for the last few years. And I talked to him afterwards, and it was funny. He was just listing the Bears players that he grew up loving. And the three in order were Jay Cutler, and he said, and we love Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall. Wow. So, yeah, it's, yeah, if you're a kid who grew up in Chicago in that era, I guess those are your only three choices if you're an offensive player.

But he talked about how much his dad loves the Bears and how his dad roots for the Bears every day of the year except when they're playing the Titans. But he looked really good. Down here from the Titans side, they were encouraged because they've got a young quarterback and a young receiver and so much of the future of their franchise is tied up and how those two guys

function with each other. It felt like this was the best practice he'd had all training camp and to do it against the team that he grew up loving made it all that much sweeter. I loved watching Carnel Tate playing college.

For years, I always thought he was really, really good. We're talking to Patrick Finley, the Chicago Sometimes reporter, covering the Bears in the NFL and we hadn't even gotten to how the Bears started their joint practice.

Caleb Williams was on fire. What did you say out of him? Yeah, Caleb was good. He was in rhythm. I think the only two balls that hit the ground were throwaways, if I remember in the first 10 throws or so. Yeah, they were sharp. They were good. And then, you know, they took this break where they all went into their bubble and sat in air conditioning for 10 minutes, both teams. And then when they came out, it felt like the bears were a little sleepy and the Titans defense woke up a little bit. You know, Caleb talked after practice about when things are going right, particularly in the red zone, which they didn't do a ton of red zone yesterday. But when things were going right, it's because his feet are there

and because he is playing on time and in rhythm. And that's absolutely what the start of that practice looked like. Very nice. Robert Salad did say something nice about the bears yesterday. And to Ben Johnson, per your article, Patrick Finley. He said that Caleb Williams is like a modern day Russell Wilson as in when it got to the fourth quarter, you better be up three scores. There's no lead that is safe. Patrick Finley, what do you think about that? And do you think that we're going to see an even better version of Caleb Williams this year based on everything you've seen in training camp this year and feeding off of last year as well?

Yeah, yes, I think he'll be better. I think the question is, will he be better by a wide margin or will he just make an incremental improvement? I think for the bears to be as successful as they want to be, it's got to be. a wider margin. I actually went over to talk to Robert Salah, and I was the one who asked the question, and the reason was because at the owner's meeting this year,

I talked to Saul about Caleb, and I remembered him being very fond of him. And he mentioned Russell Wilson, and he mentioned it then, and he mentioned it again yesterday. And I think it's a really interesting question. If somebody told you right now that Caleb Williams was Russell Wilson, would you take that?

Like in his prime, prime Russell Wilson. Super Bowl MVP? Yeah. You know what? Considering Bear's history, yes. Yes. Oh, I would absolutely take it. I think the last five years of Russell's career made us forget how fantastic he was. 100%. He was great in his prime. Yes. I take that. Yes. Yeah. I mean, to say Russell Wilson would be the greatest quarterback in Bear's history. I mean, there are hundreds of quarterbacks that would be the greatest quarterback in Bear's history.

But yeah, the idea that he was. Let's go over there. I mean, if Caleb Williams went to. Super Bowl champion, man of the. the year, rookie of the year, second team all pro, ten time pro bowler. Ten time pro bowler. Yeah, yeah, went to two Super Bowls in a row. Yeah, if a Bears quarterback did that, they'd build the statue of them before he ever

retired. It's absolutely true. A little bit of trickery going on out there. I don't know if you noticed that or not. I was a little surprised to see that Ben Johnson would unveil some of that, but again, then again, he's got millions of plays, I guess. Yeah, it was a handoff right

to the Andre Swift who pulled up and through back left to Caleb, who was kind of running out of play action fake, and Caleb pulled up and threw it to Roma Dunes Day. And the person I was standing with, I turned around, I went, was it, did they throw that ball to him? Or was it just the world's greatest play fake? You know, we were in the far end zone having to look through some guys. And then, you know, when Caleb gets asked about it, Caleb goes into tremendous detail about what the play was and what happened. I don't think Ben Johnson calls that play in an open practice. if it's something he ever thinks he's going to use.

Yeah. And I'm sure he might be happy that Caleb talked about it and forced the Carolina Panthers and others to at least put that on their radar. Yeah, I think one of the things that I like to is, Patrick, you're very good at joking with yourself about the last year discussion. And we talked about it a little bit yesterday on our show because we need to talk about last year as media. We need to make the comparisons and out the context.

what has been your impression of how Ben Johnson has sometimes played along with that discussion and then also answer questions to give you a year-to-year progress report? He plays along with it when he wants to, and he does it when he doesn't. And Jason Leacher asked the question yesterday about any, the premise Jason laid out was, hey, I know you get annoyed when we asked about last year. Yeah, that was great. And the way he explained it, I thought was interesting was, and I think it's an important answer key for when you sit there and go,

Why won't he give me a token quote about a uniform that he's known what it's looked like for nine months? Why won't he, you know, like, seriously, like, it's a great question. It really is. Why won't he play along with some of these, with the premises of some of these questions? And what he says is, listen, if it doesn't help us win right now, I don't really care about it. And, you know, his premise or his rationale is that talking about last year does nothing to advance this year. and okay, fine. That doesn't mean that I can't talk about last year,

that I can't compare from this year to last year, and it doesn't mean you guys can't either. You know, Ben Johnson isn't our boss. You know, he's the boss of the Bears. Right. I do think, though, that if you're going to have a conversation about Caleb Williams or Luther Burden or Roma Dunesay, if you want to show their level of improvement,

you can't just forget that last year existed. And I think Ben knows that. And in that context, Ben will, reference growth from one year to the next. I just don't think he likes talking about comparing this 53 man roster to last year's 53 man roster and the expectations that come with that. Yeah, and he started that after the Rams game. You ain't ever seeing this again. So he put the warnings out there. All right, really quick, because we got to go, do you like the rival uniforms, Patrick Finley? I do. I think they look like the bears. And I think that it would have been

really easy for the bears to cave to Nike and come up with something. futuristic that would just be so out of place in the history of their franchise. I give them credit for not doing that. Now, does it look, I think it's a B plus, and I think in these situations, a B plus is a tremendous victory. I agree with you. I'm glad you said it. Patrick, thank you so much for joining us. And you keep asking those questions, buddy, because I love your questions. I appreciate it. Thank you guys. Thanks, Patrick. See you, man. Patrick Fiddley of the Chicago sometimes. Coming up next, since he brought up Carnal Tate, who, grew up as a Bears fan in Garfield Park and his dad was a Bears fan and he was name dropping those

guys. I think maybe it's time to give out some bears. Why don't we play a little how many bears? And there was, I had a jewel interaction yesterday. I might have to give out some bears to the person I had a Jewel interaction with yesterday. I don't know if it's Bears-esque or Chicago-esque necessarily, but I'd like to tell the story nonetheless and maybe give her some bears. So that is coming up next on Rahimi and Grotia 104 3, the score. Bears. It's time for how many bears. We have to

get the party started on Mark Brody awarding bears with the lovely delight that was George Kittle in the marquee broadcast booth. Let's be reminded, he on a podium said, I bleeping love the bears, but he didn't bleep.

So knowing that, let's listen to this. I grew up in Iowa and my dad said, hey, we're Bears fans in your comes from and I said, sir, yes, sir, and here I am. I mean, I grew up drinking beers in the bleachers, so happy to be back. All right, guys, hold on to your butts here. Oh, no. Nine bears.

Nine bears. How many bears? I said it was going to be controversial. On 104-3, the score. It is. Rehemi and Grotie, I, 104-3, the score. Are you feeling it? Yeah, it's a Friday.

We need this Friday. That's about to go down. We need how many bears on this day. We were just talking to Patrick Finley about the Titans' rookie wide receiver, Carnell Tate and his bearsness. Why don't we let you hear from his mouth about his Bears fandom growing up right here in Chicago? Growing up in Chicago, me and anything to play these guys? Oh, yeah, definitely.

I grew up in Chicago Bears from. My dad's a Chicago Bears friend still is, except when we play them. So, yeah, I'm just wishing the city well. So he's going to wear two-tone blue. Not hell of me. No? No. Oh, man.

So what's your guy growing up? Jake Cutler. We love Jake Cutler out there, Matt Forte, and be Marsh. Oh. Like, talk about three different players right there. Jake Cutler, his buddy, Brandon Marshall, and then they weren't buddies, and then the great Matt Forte as well. I love it all.

Shout out to Garfield Park and Maris. and IMG Academy, the places that Tate roamed before he made his way to the Tennessee Titans. So, oh my goodness, Carnell Tate for bringing up the Bears and his dad and all the Bearsness and like name-checking guys. Because sometimes you talk to guys who were, say, they're Bears fans and then you try to get details from them and they don't really give good details. The fact that he just rattle off three players right there. I think some of those, obviously Matt Forte is not a deep. cut, but that's some knowledge when he brings the Bears quote.

Absolutely. So I'm adding it all up here right now. From here, name checking, Bears fan, plays for the Tennessee Titans. It's not his fault. I can't penalize him for it. 8.2 Bears. You've got a bear down on a daily basis.

That's it. 8.2 bears. I love it. I think it is fair, and I think it is good. Also, yeah, Colonel Tate just seems cool. Like, again, I love it. I loved watching him play at Ohio State, which is turned into W.R.U. Wide Receiver University, for those who don't speak it.

So I feel like his comments were pretty funny. And just the hell no is quick. So good. Yeah, I might I should have add a little bit more, but I'm going to stick with what I gave it. We have a request from our Twitch mob. Yes. One, Tristler Studs.

Adam Skinski. Oh, yes, sir. Make sure Grody gives out bears for the. the lady at the remote on Monday. This is important. She had a Bears bag with bears. I don't know what this word is. Oh, I think it's supposed to be signatures,

but the words, the letters got reversed and it's giznitchers, which I also like, actually. Man. I like it the other way, Stutz. Yeah, there was a woman who, this is at Gurney Hyundai at the Take the North Live episode the other day, which is up and running on Take the North. If you want to check that out. There was tons of people there. It was such a great night.

And we were welcoming to everybody, of course. There was a woman who came over. She had a large tote bag. And she was kind of, she began, she was just staring at Weider. Like, we're doing the show. Weirer did not know that she was staring. Like, she looked confused, very confused, that she was staring at Weeder. Like, am I at Kearney Hyundai?

Is this take the doors? Yes. Where am I? She didn't know what was happening. And she's just looking at Dan all confused. and I'm kind of laughing and Dan's doing his Dan thing. Weeder's just talking, being all weed man. And then finally, finally, while we're on the air,

Weeder just looks over and he's like, oh, because she's just staring at him. And then eventually she came over and asked me to, and I think Ryan Porth has a picture of this. Maybe I'll post it. Ryan Porth photographed her asking me to sign her tote bag. So I signed her tote bag for it. It was a big moment for me, personally. That's the first time I've signed a large tote bag.

So the Bears bag had signatures on it. It did. It had because we had DeAndre Swift out there and Tyson Bajent. They had signed it. And then I signed it. So Tyson Bajit, DeAndre Swift, Mark Grotty. Makes all the sense in the world. I always think it's interesting when people want us to sign things.

I love the devotion. It is. But also, I'm just trying to like wake up and work out and work on a daily basis. My life is not that crazy. sign things. I've seen you sign his stuff before. I do, and we did have the picture of you signing. I think, was it the tote bag? I just saw the picture of you signing

from Porth. If you're listening, buddy, you might have to put it up. Actually, you guys should have it. It was sent to the group. Nobody reacted to it. What happened there? I noticed that. I did. I did too. I thought we liked it. Oh, sorry. It's okay, Grody. I thought I didn't notice that. So yesterday, too, I don't know if this person

deserves bears, but it was hilarious. To me, it was, anyway. I was at the Jewels on Rose of Elst, South Loop, Bears Territory, lots of Bears fans over there. Actually, Bears fans all over the city. I was looking at grapes. And, yeah,

so there I was, there's your visual. I'm looking to buy some grapes. And I was looking, they were like the really large, the double-sized grapes, the super plump grapes. And then this woman, she comes over and she's like, oh, yeah, these are,

these grapes are too big. Just out of nowhere. She said, these grapes are far too large. And I said, well, they have the smaller grapes are right there where they were like just on the other side of where we were. So she walks over there. And then there were the purple grapes. And they were smaller grapes. And she said she was going to try the grapes because she wanted to sample it to make sure that they were good.

And then she says to me, she says, I don't know if I want to sample these grapes. And I said, why? And she looks at me and she goes, explosive diarrhea. Ah, yes, the cyclospora outbreak. Yeah. And it was just so funny how earnest she was being. She didn't know me from anywhere, but she was definitely acting like I was her advisor.

And of course, explosive diarrhea. So a great explosive diarrhea conversation with a stranger yesterday. The people who graze at the grocery store, like I'm not a grazer at the grocery store. I wash my produce. Yeah. I am not. I don't know.

That's not me. I'm not one of the people who do that. I understand it to some degree because you do want to make sure that the product tastes good, that it doesn't taste off. But I also understand that people are turned off by that as well. Also, there are various ways to test produce that don't require tasting it. Wait, the globe grapes, they have seeds? No, I don't think they do.

I've never run across a green grape that has seeds in it. Oh, yeah, green grapes have seeds. Do they? Yes. A lot of them do. Unless they specify seedless grapes, they typically have seeds. I've been living a spoiled lifestyle. I've never had seeds in my green grapes.

I do know this. A guy that needs no bears from me, because he played for the bears for three glorious years. He is Alan Robinson, the former bear. We'll join us next year on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043. The score. The score! This hour is being brought to you by Cars for kids.

Did the scouts expect you to be what you become? I don't think so. I don't think a lot of people did. For me, I definitely expected myself to play at this level. But when did you know that you were good? I haven't known since I was five years old. Loft it to the back of the end zone. No struggles today.

A second touchdown. This one of Robinson. And now here's Trubisky. Robinson. Snap his back, four-man rushed out in the throw. A conviction throw. Probisky. Robinson.

Now at Robinson, touchdown, Bears. He wants to gut you. He doesn't want to just hunt for blades of grass against blitzes against the coach Flores defenses. He's hunting for the juggler with Rahimi and Grody on 104 3 the score. I remember all those touchdowns

and they sounded sick. As we welcome it back into Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, the score. He is a friend of the program. He is Alan Robinson, former Chicago Bears wide receiver from 2018 to 2021, 2,000 yard

seasons with the Chicago Bears. And good to have you back on the program. How are you, sir? I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I'm doing it very well. That's good to hear. Congratulations on your retirement announcement earlier this week. Are you okay with this man? Because I know that there was a little while where you're still wanting to hang in there. So are you comfortable with this retirement? Yeah, I feel great about it. You know, for me, the way that my career shaped out and everything like that, man, you know, I don't have any regrets. You know, I left it all out there. I'm happy with the decisions I made. I'm happy with some of the adversity I face that I was able to push through. So I'm thoroughly pleased and proud of just how my 11th seasons went.

565 receptions, 7,058 receiving yards, 43 touchdowns, a pro bowler played with the Jaguars, Bears, Rams, Steelers, and Lions. Do you consider yourself mostly a bear, though, or no? you know i've actually been been going back and forth with that i would say so but it's also tough not for me to give the love to jacksonville you know because they did draft me and give me the opportunity you know and i had one of the best seasons of my career that really kind of put me on the map in in jacksonville you know so um i'm i'm torn and split between that man i have so much love for jacksonville and so much love for for chicago as well man because i had had my best stint in Chicago, you know, and it was a lot of great moments. We won a lot of games,

won the division. You know, it's a lot to really write home about when it comes to the city of Chicago and Chicago Bears in my career. If you had to describe your career, Alan, how would you describe it? If you had to write like a short paragraph or have a few words about how you played and what it meant to you and how you viewed it, what would you say? It was a marathon, you know, And I think when you go through marathons, sometimes you may have to step over someone. You may have to step around some debris. There's a lot of different things that you have to go through the marathon of a career. But something that I never did was look behind me.

I was always looking forward to figure out solutions and ways to be better. That's year in, year out, you know, whether that's coming off of an injury and trying to figure out how to be healthy the next season or coming off a good season and trying to figure out how to be. more productive. So for me, it was always about looking forward and pushing forward, and I think I did that. And now it's nice to be able to sit back and reflect on some of those moments because truthfully, when you're in the midst of the race and in the midst of the marathon, it's very difficult to look back and reflect because you're trying to focus on what's in front of you and how to be better in those situations. I love that description. And also our friend and teammate and your former teammate, Clay Harbor,

was on earlier with us today on the show and on the station. He wanted us to tell you hi. And then also said to ask about your wide receivers coach in Jacksonville, Jerry, who really made you into the receiver you were in your career. Man, shout out to Coach Sullivan. He called me this week. I have to get back to him. I've been taking a lot of calls this week.

I appreciate everyone who's called and just supported my retirement. But Coach Sullivan, he turned me into a, technical receiver. And I said that because, you know, for me coming out of college, I had the raw skill and raw ability when it came to how I ran routes and things like that. But being able to have him coach me for those seasons in Jacksonville really brought a technical element to my game and helped me lock in on the fundamentals to be able to get better. And, you know, that's what I say, you know, those times and those days created the foundation and fundamentals of the receiver that was to come in years after that in Chicago and in other places.

So, you know, I have to give a lot of credit and a special shout out to him. It's so funny because now you have me thinking about the wide receivers coach that you had, at least in 2018, a man by the name of Mike Furry, who was an intense man. You were pretty much a made man by then, but that guy was a loud man. I remember him trash talking more than anybody on those practice fields when we were allowed to watch. Yeah, man. Shout out to Coach Furry, too, man. He's at South Carolina right now. A shout out to the game with Cox. I know a couple coaches on their staff, but again, man, Coach Furry was a guy who pushed and challenged me, you know, day in, day out.

You know, for me, when I got to Chicago, I was the veteran in the room, but I was still 24, turning 25 years old at the time, you know, so for me, being a young vet at that time and really trying to get younger guys, we had just drafted Anthony Miller, we had just drafted Javon Wims shortly after that. We drafted Riley Ridley and then Darnel Mooney. So being alongside some of those younger guys and me still being a younger receiver, for me being able to have that and challenge myself and challenged the group, man, I took a tremendous amount of pride to try to be able to help push those guys in the right direction. And also, when you have good young players around you, that also challenges you as a more veteran guy

yourself to be able to step up to the plate each and every day and deliver. Yeah, no doubt about it. All right, so what's the, what's next for you? I know you've been doing the podcasting. Like, what do you, well, Mr. Robinson, what do you want to do with the rest of your life, sir? Yeah, so I've been doing some media stuff also, you know, I'm looking into potentially stepping into the agent game as well. You know, I think for my overall career, being able to have worked hand-to-hand with my representation when it came to the business side of it, you know, the business side was also something that I thoroughly enjoyed. throughout the course of my career of just the understanding of it and always being understanding of where the business side was at in my career and kind of what I was striving for. You know, I always looked at it as when you sign a deal, you want to sign something that's going to propel you into the next position or kind of position you into what's next and having a good understanding and transparency over that in my career, whether that's where I wanted to play or just the terms of that, you know, that was something.

that I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the course of my career. What time is it? It's Shereemian Grotia, 104-3. The score so far on the show today, we talked about some of the, I guess, what turned out to be the consensus cheap shot by the Bears in the joint practice yesterday by Xavier Woods in Cincinnati yesterday. So we got into that. We talked to Alan Robinson, the wide receiver of the Chicago Bears.

We had Patrick Finley on. who was at the joint practice, he, of course, of the Chicago Sun Times, and we just did a segment talking about the 150th anniversary team of the Cubs. We had outrage, and then our outrage was unnecessary because Sammy Sosa is actually on the list. It's a laptop. One name omitted from a list published by incredible source. Oh, unbelievable. We worked our way through that.

We talked about this a little bit yesterday, that Father Tom McCarthy got of Chicago, of the south side of Chicago, St. Rita Grad, presented Pope Leo with the Pope Hat inspired by the Pope

Hat giveaway from August 11th at the rate a promotion, which was a huge success. And we are pleased right now that Father Tom McCarthy is joining us here on Rahimi and Grotie. I have to read the full type out of full respect here. Prior provincial of the Augustinian province of our mother of good

counsel based in Chicago, Illinois. The province includes the central United States and Canada, as well as Peruvian vicarate as well. Father Tom McCarthy, how are you, father? Welcome to Rahimian Grotie. Thank you for being on with us. We feel blessed. Well, thank you very much. It's great to be with you both and with everyone. I'm honored to be here with you to talk about whatever you want to talk about, and I think it's going to be about the Pope. Yes, and yeah, that's very kind of you to say that you're honored to be with us, but I know the real honor was probably kidding to present Pope Leo with the Pope Hat. We saw the pictures, the White Sox posed to them.

How did this happen? Well, when the White Sox had us there on the day of the game, they were very generous to the Augustinians. We did a check presentation pregame. Then Sister was there to throw. out the first pitch. And so we were in the back and we were getting and talking around. I met Jerry Rinesdorf and I saw what they were going to give to the Pope. And I said, I may be able to get that to the Pope. And I said, I can't promise anything, but I think I can. And so I knew I was heading

to Rome. And so they gave me this large box. A beautiful inscribed on the top was to Leo the 14th. and it was a box of white socks souvenirs for and then anyone would be like ecstatic I was jealous of looking at everything a baseball signed by the team a letter from Rinesdorf jerseys those pope hats bobbleheads

it was all this stuff and then the main thing was the hat that you saw that wasn't the hat that they gave away there was actually a really a real miter hat they had made And so I said, let me see what I can do. And so I was there on Wednesday and I was able to bring it in. And we had a meeting with the Pope who, you know, I've known Pope Leo as Father Bob Prevost for about 35 years as he's a member of the Midwest Province of Augustinians.

And so it was a wonderful meeting and he loved the box. It was almost like he was a kid on Christmas morning going through, looking at it. everything. And, you know, A.J. Prisinski was just there a couple weeks ago. We were able to make that happen. And he received that beautiful gift of the last, the ball used for the last out of the first game of the 2005 World Series. So he truly is a White Sox fan. I don't know how much he gets to watch. But I, you know, I was telling him about how everything went that night. And he said, well, too bad they lost. So, I mean, he understood that. He's a true socks fan. but he loved it.

And I remember when we took a picture with the hat, I said, do you mind if I share this with people? He said, no, no, go ahead. So he understands what sports are all about. He likes sports of all kinds. He understands how it can bring. And he's even spoken as Pope about the importance of sports and how they bring people together

in good fellowship competition, brotherhood and sisterhood. So the Pope is truly a fan. He understands that he gets. and I think he was really touched by that box of souvenirs from the White Sox. So I was happy that I was able to bring it to him. No, I think that is, that's great. And this, I feel relief throughout my body right now because a lot of us have been wondering if we've kind of crossed the line with the silliness and the pop cultureness of the Pope.

The popes aren't usually from the USA and they certainly aren't usually from the south side of Chicago. And we have just had a blast with this and a Pope had give-way. Some of us were like, have we crossed the line? But it sounds to me, Father Tom McCarthy, like Pope Leo's getting a kick out of all of our silliness. Am I right about that? Well, he is, but he also, he said to me, he said, and I told him what he's doing, and I explained the atmosphere of that sold-out crowd. And I said, it was truly a celebration of our faith.

Whether you were Catholic or not, it didn't matter. And he said, just everything comes to Jesus. That was what he said. So that's why he knows if this is bringing people closer to Jesus, then he's doing his job. So it's silliness in the sense that it's good, fun, pure, innocent silliness and bringing people together. And, you know, when Father Tom Hurley did that sign of peace, what was in the fifth inning, I mean, that was unbelievable. And I told that to the Pope. He did not know about that.

And I said, here were 40,000 plus people. exchanging a sign of peace. You know, being brothers and sisters to each other. And that's a main message that Pope Leo has, is that we are to be people of peace. When he came on the balcony the day he was elected, he said, peace be with you all. That meant everyone in the world of goodwill.

That doesn't just mean Catholics. That means everyone. He's here to help everyone get to heaven. And how do we do that by keeping Jesus the center? And so I think he sees these as ways of going with the pop culture, the culture that really speaks to people, and he understands sports. He's a sports fan, so he gets it. And so I don't think, you know, maybe some people would cross the line if they did something. But I think the way the White Sox handled it, I think they did it with a great appropriateness.

and he saw that he picked the hat right up he's the one that chose to take the let's get a picture and he held the hat up now he didn't wear it he didn't put it on you know he probably figured i'm not going to do that that would across the no he understood but he always said everything goes to jesus and i said pope leo that's what you're doing and you are an example to all of us and truly you know i think he's touched in the hearts of people that maybe have no religion

or people that have fallen away from their faith to say, hey, maybe I'll give this another shot. And if we could do it by using baseball, why not? That's great. It's really profound. I did notice that he did not put the hat on, but for him to take a picture with it, I think it's a... That's a pope too far.

Yeah. Well, it did. I think it was something that we had questions about, you know, and I know that's the nature of what you do is we had questions and wanted to know. When we see how we joke we can't handle an American Pope, you know, here he is being presented with all these gifts. A.J. Piersinski, we talked to him after he got to see him, and he said the guy in front of him had a Carolina Hurricane's gift that he wanted to give him.

They were wondering if he wanted it. But, you know, the bigger principle here being important, I think that's great that you pointed it out that way. Yeah. Yeah, it was really excited. But he did enjoy going through that box. It was really something. It was really something.

It was like I was jealous. Is there anything in here you don't want? I'll take it. And the Ozzy Gian jersey in the background. I noticed that too right away. It's pretty sick. We understand Father Tom McCarthy. You have a mask coming up at 1215.

So we're not going to keep you here too long. Yeah, today's the feast of St. Augustine. Feast of St. Augustinean, the patron of the order is Augustinian. So today's our big feast day. Oh, my goodness. So I have the mass at 1250. at St. Reed, I just came back from Mother Macaulay where I also say Mass, an all-girls school. So it's a busy day today.

A good day. Nice work. Ten bears is what I'm giving you. I might change it to popes. I don't know. Ten popes. You get nine point five popes is what your performance is. By the way, father, is it possible?

Like, because maybe I'm getting a little bit greedy here, and we don't like greed. Greed's a bad thing. It's a deadly sin. But is it possible that we could, that you could hook, would the Pope come on sports radio? you think? Or is that taking it too far? Because we'd love to have mob on the score. I don't know. Okay. I mean, I could certainly ask him. But see, so much of this, it's beyond him. He has all the Vatican handlers to tell him what he has to be doing. So when I was with him, we were just in his private library. So it was just us. But I don't think he would do that, to be honest with you.

How about a live remote? From the Vatican. Well, maybe he sends a thumbs up. Send him a hat. Maybe I'd get him a hat and you can't take a picture with your hat on. Oh, my goodness. We'll get him a bear's hat. Father Tom McCarthy, thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate that your brother was listening, and apparently, like, I wish we could have talked more sports with you because it sounded like you would have been ready to do that,

but this has been an absolute blast. Thank you for coming on and keep us in touch with the Pope. Hopefully we can line something up down the road here. You never know. You never know. Anything can happen. That's right. I have an American Pope.

Anything can happen. That's right. If there's one thing I've learned from all of this, that is the truth. Thank you again for your time. You're welcome. God bless you all, okay? Yes, God bless you. Thank you.

And with your spirit. And with your spirit. Thank you. Amen. Have a great day. Thank you, sir, the body of Christ. Yes, Father Tom McCarthy, that was great. That makes up for the last bad segment we did.

Here we were with guilt. Yeah. And we were absolves of our guilt. And then we forget what it's all about. sometimes, even though I still go to Mass. God, I just love it. Well, this should be a, this, like, a big sigh of relief for everybody who has been worried a week crossing a line.

You are not. You are not crossing a line. We are all having fun, and the more people that recognize the Pope and see the Pope is a cool guy, it is a good thing. So I love it. Coming up next here on Rahimi and Groh. We didn't ask for forgiveness for the last segment, though. And I can't ask for forgiveness for the Shane's Mead segment back.

in the day. Yeah, we had a faulty list that we thought Sammy Sosa was not on, so we got all in Dinden, mad. I'm sorry, WGN and the Cubs. I read the list from WGN. It's Lela, it's not your fault. Ray, it's not your fault. It's just things happen on live radio, and that's truly the beauty of it. We have five on it next on Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3, The score. This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. Uh-huh. Benards. There's a lot. It's time for five on it.

Rahimi and Grotty. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it. Number one. Former NFL quarterback and new CBS analyst Russell Wilson shared his list of the top five game-changing quarterbacks in the NFL.

Top five quarterbacks are game sharing. I'm saying Josh Allen. Yeah. Not in any particular order. Josh Allen. I think Caleb Williams. He reminds me. young me. I think Caleb Williams is going to be up there.

Game Changers, Apache Mahomes. Game Changers, Lamar Jackson when he's hot. And game changers, I think the last one I would say is that Joe Burroughs healthy and those skill guys are healthy. When he's healthy, then he's a game change. That is Russell Wilson, former NFL quarterback, now new CBS analyst.

So I asked the question, by the end of the season, do you believe Bears quarterback, Caleb Williams, will be a top five NFL quarterback. Well, this was interesting. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask a question to the judges before I start this, because the list that he just gave there was top five game changers, and you're asking, is he going to be a top five quarterback in general? So is that the final verdict on the question?

Are we talking, is game changer part of the criterion here? Or is it just top five like we did our list recently? Well, the man, Tyler Bueberbaugh, this is his question. Judge Buterbaugh. So I didn't want to say, because I didn't want to say, do you think he's a top five? Because we already did our list. But do you think by the end of the season, he can be a top five. So it is top five.

Top five. I'm going to say no then, because I have him in my, he's in my top 10. I have him at number nine. I think he could creep down the list. Like, I'm willing to think. Or up, I guess. I guess that that is, right? Yeah.

Okay. Fair enough. You know, to seven or six. I mean, he's going to toggle right around there. but I'm still pretty comfortable with the guys that are already in that elite pole position in my top five to say that I'm going to say no, that he's just outside of it. For the record, to please some of the people who are not pleased with my answer, if it was game-changing quarterback with what Russell Wilson was talking about there, then I would say yes, because to me that's something different,

because, yes, Caleb Williams, with his work in the fourth quarters of games and some of the elite throws that he's able to make, I do think that he changes the game in that regard. And I get it. We're talking about a fine line here. But I guess I'm going to stay strong and say no, that he's out of the top five still even by the end of this season. Do you remember Mike Sandow's athletic quarterback's tiers list

that has gone viral anytime anybody talks about it? Yes, we had them on. So the criteria that they give in that list is the question, can a quarterback will his team to win? That's part of the criteria. as far as the top of the list, the upper echelon tier number one. And I think that Caleb Williams can do that. I think Caleb Williams is one of those quarterbacks who can will his team to win.

So judging by the game-changing part of it, he is possibly in the top five. The problem is the top five is pretty steep when you consider it's guys like Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, the MVP. I don't know if Joe Burroughs is in my top five. I don't have my notebook with me, but I do have that list written down. I still think Lamar Jackson as a quarterback who can will his team to win. I know he's also made some mistakes. You know, the interception in the playoffs comes to mind. But I do think that Caleb Williams is one of those players who can will his team to win. So as far as game

changing is concerned, yes. But on my top 10, he was number, I want to say seven or eight. Yeah, you had him at seven. Yes. Okay. Thank you. So yeah, that was my, that was my thought on it. But is he said, I think he tried to will his team to win the year before in his rookie season. He was terrific at it. So I do think that he can change a game in that nature. So you got to answer the question, though. Is he top five quarterback as Buehbaugh asked? I said no. Yeah, I mean, he's number seven for me, so that he's number seven.

But as far as a game changer, if we have the Russell Wilson criteria, yes. Okay. Number two. What will you be watching for in the Bears preseason finale against the Titans? Who's playing left tackle? Obviously, right? That's it. preseason old question.

Yeah, I hate how many times we've had to ask it now over the past two years. So it's going to be who's getting what snaps at left tackle. It's also going to be what's the setup at safety. Is Malik Mohamed's still going to be nickel? Is that going to be the plan? Are we going to see the starters? And Patrick Finley is right. Ben Johnson can be focused on one thing, but we're focused on another.

And integrity, journalistic integrity says, we're going to ask you every time to make sure your answer is solid. and that it's reflective of the piece you're publishing or the segment you're doing or the story you have. So I still care about if the starters are playing or not because it's valid. Did you see enough in your joint practices? Maybe he did because of the way Caleb Williams started

and came out, looked really good to begin with in joint practice. But yeah, it's starters and it's left tackle. Yeah, and I would say that a couple of things on my end, I would really love, even if the, starting offense isn't out there. I want to see some of those starters on the defensive line play again. I want to see old Grady Jarrett.

I want to see old Grady Jarrett. I want to see more of what I saw last week that was encouraging. Like DiO. Dangbo getting to the quarterback and having that sick quarterback hit. I want more of Jordan Vandenberg. I'll be watching him again. I enjoyed the hell out of watching him

in the most recent preseason game. That was absolutely terrific with all that he did. So I will be eyes on him for sure. We know Jervon Dexter is not going to be playing. I would have thrown him in there. But just the defensive line as a whole, including the ends, the interior, the whole thing. And can they, this time as well, stop the big third downplays like the game against Cincinnati with the third and 14 and the third and 10 and the third and two? And then the other thing that I'll be watching for too is Tyson Baygent.

can Tyson Baygent? Not a backup quarterback. He is a quarterback, as I learned. I have learned to respect that man in that regard. He's just a quarterback and what, because it didn't have a great first preseason game and obviously he didn't play. So, had

been banged up with a hamstring injury. Sounds like he is good to go. So I'm very interested in seeing what the Bears' quarterback Tyson Bejie can do as well. I don't even like answering this question. Thank you. Number three. Five on it out of 104. 3. The score with

Layloraheim, Mark Grody. Here's question number three. Who is your bear's sleeper pick to break out in 2026? You ready for this? This is my sleeper pick. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. And do you guys know. I've been kind of pushing back on myself and being afraid to like fully endorse this guy because I've been hurt before. But here it comes again.

My breakout bear this year. here it is Jordan Vandenberg Jordan Vandenberg That's right I Kylie Fitzham the other day You have been talking about him quite a bit I have and I Layla I hadn't been previously

I was letting everybody else talk about him I was mentioning him I was seeing some of the same things that other Bears reporters were doing in the limited times that I've been out to Halis Hall this year but I was being very careful to not go overboard

about Jordan Vandenberg but just watch watching him against the Bengals and like just arriving like four or five times where he's where you couldn't take your eyes off him where he insisted upon himself. So I believe that Jordan Vandenberg will be the Bears breakout player this year and will be so excited about him and it's going to be beautiful. So there I did it. I said it. I'm on the bandwagon. It's Jordan Vandenberg. Oh boy. No, no. I kind of you're you've had a lot of mentions of him this week. I have. It's all led up to this moment here on Friday.

I feel like it really has, actually. You've talked about him a lot. I am also going to go with a rookie on the defense, but can you call him a sleeper if he's the first rounder, Dylan Thineman? Okay. He's being put in that position to whom much is given, much is expected. Yes, exactly. So I know that that's tough for him to be a starter as a rookie and to have that responsibility,

especially when Kobe Bryant won't be available. you know, in your position group next year on the field. So that makes it more difficult. But if the team is doing anything, they're going to give him the reps to succeed. So it's easy for me to say that he could be the breakout player here. I know it's going to be a rocky road. Secondary assignments are not fun in today's NFL.

And I think Kyler Gordon's rookie season is a good example of that, even though he plays a different position. Secondary assignments are not fun in this league as a rookie. They're just not. I know it's going to be a rocky road for me watching. but I also think ultimately they're putting him in a position to succeed. Number four. Which Cubs player needs to have a big series in order to ensure a series win over the Reds this week in a Wrigley field.

I am looking at you, Shoddy Imanaga, because he just came off of one of his shortest, if not shortest outings ever. And he is going to have to bounce back on Sunday. And I would love nothing more than for the Cubs to sweep the Reds because you have to play the Brewers next. and you went two and four on your road trip, Mr.s. Plural. So Shodimanaga, this is a very good opportunity for him to write his ship. You know, this is a good pitching alignment we've got for the starting rotation.

It is David Peterson today, Kevin Gossman tomorrow, facing Andrew Abbott, spicy. Mm-hmm. And then Shoda Imanaga and Chase Burns also spicy. So when you consider Burns is throwing 98, then you might want to, how are you going to work on your splitter and your tunneling and everything we need you to do on the other side? Keep the ball in the yard as much as you possibly can. Don't let people get on base. If the ball goes out of the yard, I'm scared.

I am going to go with a gentleman by the name of Pete Crow Armstrong. Ah, yes. Right. PCA did not have a great road trip. He even admitted it. Obviously, he got the third base in that game. and the whole Bocgate went down, been scuffling just a little bit. And I realize we're setting the standards very high for PCA,

but I'm setting the standards very high for PCA. You have to do big time damage in this series against a Reds team, which probably doesn't care that much at this point. A nice three-game series. I want to see PCA get back on track for the sake of this series. I also want to see him, can't lose focus on the MVP.

That's a big deal too. So believe it or not, It is, I guess I'm taking the low hanging fruit. I think it is PCA that I want to see having a big series here for the Chicago Cubs. Five on it. Number five. Five on it at 104 through the score. Here's our final question.

Who is your pick to click for the White Sox series against the twins in Minnesota? Oh, man. I am going to go in this series. Luis Castillo. MAPE was that yours too, Lila? I'm sorry. No, no. I'm shocked that I get to have my pick to call.

click again. Oh, good. No, I made sure that you could have your pick to click. Because he needs, and maybe this is more because I am insisting that he has it, that he needs this just because of his last performance. And really, he hasn't had a convincing performance except for the game against the Cincinnati Reds, which was absolutely terrific. But he is coming off a game against the Mets, where he only lasted two and two-thirds.

He gave up four runs. He had 80 pitches, He had a 40 pitch inning featuring 17 foul balls and a Luis Robert home run to go along with it. Not to mention the fact that the White Sox starters have been struggling and you need somebody there. Sean Burke walked eight. Anthony Kay only goes four and two thirds and gave up a couple of bombs. We know what happened in the Monday game against the Rangers

with Jose Urquite, three innings, and he allowed five runs. So they need it from Castillo. They need it for the sake of the pitching staff. Luis Castillo is going to have a good game in Minnesota tonight. He is my pick-to-click. Okay, I know what you're thinking. I know you're like, hey, Leila,

obviously you're probably going with Miguel Vargas because you always go with Miguel Vargas when you're asked this question. Sox leadoff hitter. I'm not doing it. I decided to go against myself. Then I'm taking Miguel Vargas. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm kidding.

No, I'm kidding. You can take Miguel Vargas. Technically, I think pick-to-click is supposed to be an offensive player, but I like it. Okay. I don't know how you measure defensive or pitching. Is it? I don't know how you measure pitching. We could change it to the way we want to do it on the show.

We make our own rules here on Mimi and Grotie. That's right. I just know the way they did it on, you know, socks pre-game. It was always, and then post-game was like one day, one day I wouldn't pick to click with a pinch run scored. Okay, Tristan Peters then. A hill hit a six consecutive home run. That was going to be by.

No, no, since you were getting on. Since you were getting all nitpicky with me and telling me I didn't do it right, that's what happens. I didn't say you didn't do it right. Yes, you did. I said the opposite. You just said that you can't, it has to be a hitter. I don't know how to measure it. Okay.

How do you measure it? Is it like a strikeout? It's like what, two strikeouts for a hit? How do we do this? I don't know. All right, fine. You brought it up. I was going to take Tristan Peters because I think he can do it again.

Can he do it again? Do you think he can hit a six out? run in a row? Then we'd have to get out our list of White Sox players that have hit home runs in six consecutive games, which I would love to do it. Yeah, I don't have that list. Are there any? I don't know. Yeah, I would have to check because the list of the five straight is pretty

impressive. Yeah, it is. Yeah, so that's it. Do we think he can do this again? God, it would be great. It would be a beautiful thing to see him continue to do that. I think he can. I think he can too. Yeah, why not? I mean, he's playing loosely. Congratulations, Tristan Peters. You are our pick to click.

Yeah, banana, you. I don't know how we measure against ourselves either, but we'll figure it out. Do we split up the hits? What do we do? Split the hits? Yeah, I think so. I think jackpot on Rahimi and Grotty. Well, that means he just has to keep the street going for two more games and you guys get a game of peace. You know what I mean? Maybe a home run today, home run tomorrow, keep it going. Who do you want? Like out of Miguel Vargas and Tristan Peters? You know what? I can't not go with Tristan Peters at this point.

Banas. Yeah. Then guess what? I will take the guy I always take on Pick. to click. There it is. And then it's full circle. We got there and it's perfect. One thing I've learned about Mark, you just have to rephrase the question. Yeah, you got me. To walk me

right into that. Baseball fans, tonight, head to Coombs Corner and Lockport after the game from 7 to 9 p.m. Meet Ron Coomer, enjoy yingling bucket specials and score some yingling swag. Austin and Melissa from U.S. 99 are going to be there too. Don't

miss the post game party tonight at Coom's Corner with Yingling Flight. The next generation of life beer. Coming up next on Rahimi and Grotie, we are going to get you all set for the Cubs and the Reds and the White Sox. And Mutataka Murakami is our officially our pick to click. He needs to click. He does need to click.

He's had a rough August. We're going to go to Cincinnati and see, or excuse me, go to Wrigley Field and see what's going on out there, get you all ready for the Cubs and Reds and the starts of this three game homestand, or actually series, and then four against Milwaukee. We'll talk Cubs and Sox next on 104-3, The Score. Rahimi and Grody, Midday's Tyndel 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. That's right, there's a Cubs game coming up here. The Cubs and the Reds.

Today, the Cubs are back home to start a three-game series against the Reds. Pre-game coverage begins at 1245. First pitch is at 120 and crystal clear FM quality on 104, 3 the score, and the Northwestern Medicine Cubs Radio Network. Yeah, the Cubs are back from a 2-and-4 road trip trying to make good at home here today. It is the Cubs and the Reds, as I look at the standings right now, it just, even if it gets better for like a second in the division, then it just goes bad again.

The Cubs right now in life, as you're driving to Wrigley Field and shout out to you if you are. Thanks for listening to Rahimi and Grotie here on 104-3 to score. The Cubs are seven back of the Brewers in the division. They are currently two up on the Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers did beat the Mets yesterday, 8 to 2, and the Brewers host the Texas Rangers. The Phillies, if you are looking at them like I am,

because it's important to me that the Cubs stay atop that wild card list. They are at the Angels. But we talked about it a little bit before the show, not on the air, but in our little show meeting before we came on, like Cubs and White Sox, for that matter, in Minnesota, these teams need to get greedy right now, especially after a relatively disappointing road trip for the Cubs. Yeah, the Cubs have lost five of their last seven games.

If you go back to that final game against the White Sox, and that was the last time they were at home. So I'm hoping they answer. I know we talked about some pretty impressive pitching matchups that are coming across this weekend, especially Saturday and Sunday for this team. So can you give your guys some run support today? Can you be in the right spots for David Peterson

and can you try to get the run support that he needs? I think that today is probably a good a day as any to try to make that happen. No doubt about it. Yeah, they go up. David Peterson, as you mentioned, 7 and 7, 517 on the overall. He pitched very well against Seattle, even in a loss, six strong innings allowing two runs. Did David Peterson?

meantime, Ret Louder is the man on the mound for the Reds 5 and 8 with a 513 ERA. He went in his most recent performance against Arizona. He goes six innings and allowed three runs on a couple of bombs. You can get to that guy. He lost to White Sox fans may remember. He lost to the White Sox earlier this month, and he happened to have pitched in relief the last time he went up against the Chicago Cubs. So it's not like the Reds are putting their best foot forward in this first game.

And a couple of notes here. We've got a lineup and we have the roster move. The Cubs did reinstate Matt Shaw. So Kevin Alcantra was optioned to AAA, Iowa. He is not in the lineup, but I wonder if Craig Counsel might try to use him off the bench today. So it's Peekker Armstrong batting lead off and say a Suzuki and right. Michael Bush is batting third. He is at first base.

Alex Bregman. Ian Hap. So Hap a little bit higher in the lineup. Nico Horder is batting next, playing shortstop still. Ramirez at second base, nothing new. Michael Conforto is your D.H. And Carson Kelly is catching. Very nice.

That said, let's go to Wrigley Field and hear what Cubs manager, Craig Counsel, has to say. Every off day is appreciated in a major league baseball schedule. Certainly off days in the back of August are welcome. So, yeah, it's time to enjoy an off day for everybody and ready to get back at it. Have you arrived at the timing with Sean? Yeah, I mean, I think essentially, you know, it was going to be this weekend. And so, you know, I think he makes the roster better. And, you know, he's got a pretty good chance to be in there tomorrow and go get him from there.

You mentioned a little bit right there makes the roster better. How much does that versatility help boost this team? Well, I think Matt does a bunch of things well. And we haven't, you know, we haven't run into a ton of situations. situations where we need it, but it's just the late game stuff where I think Matt can run the bases, Matt has hit left-in at pitching well, and Matt has can play infield and outfield, and basically his ability to play kind of a lot of places on the field. So you don't know which game you're going to run into that situation.

In fact, most games you don't, but for our roster, but, you know, there's going to be some days where we do run into it, and he's valuable when he's on the bench. We said D&D who's on the field, just kind of what is he doing right now? Yeah, he just was out there with some ground balls today, some short defensive stuff. He's doing good. We're on the track that we kind of originally forecasted. So, all good.

What's the Cabrera situation right now, helpwise, and what's the plan for him? Yeah, Cabrera through. A bullpen, let's see, Tuesday. So Saturday will be alive and then we'll get them out for rehab. Is it intent to put them in the bullpen? We're going to do some shorter stints with them, yes. Yeah. Is there an update on Ben Brown? Not really. I think we're still, we're gathering opinions still, which is where we were on Wednesday.

So same place. nothing has been determined. Obviously, the fact that we're gathering opinions from doctors means there's setback, but no path forward from that has been determined at all. Jacob Webb is about to match a career high appearances, not enough innings. Do you think he might be a little gassed? And if so, is there any plan to give him a break or anything like that? No plan to give him a break.

I mean, I think this is what, you know, relievers that have good years get, that's what happens. They get to that point. So I think you're always, you always got your eye on that, but it's usually, you get, relievers get to that point because they're pitching well. Every reliever does. And so, and we're going to look, we're going to need Jacob to be good to accomplish our goal. So you're always monitoring workload. It's a daily kind of thing of monitoring these guys what they've been doing.

I think Jacobs is in a good spot. So it doesn't sound to me there, Mark, that he would change his ninth-ending approach. That's what it is right now, yeah. Which I'm okay with. I don't know if you're nervous about it, but... I don't necessarily know. I know Craig is a pockets guy, but then if you have a guy, why change it up? I'd give him another chance.

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean. If nothing else, the Cubs would be the ones walking something off. So you don't have to worry about that when you're not on the road at least. I still think eventually and I don't know if we'll see Daniel Palencia today. I think when it's all said and done, Daniel Palencia very well could be inserted back in as the primary closer. And if he's fresh, then that's a great thing to have him fresh for September.

Yes. for Craig Timber. Or just in crucial spots like he did with him last year. I mean, he had some Daniel Palencia had some great moments in the postseason last year, but we still need to see more. We know he had the rough performance in Arizona, but in his the prior performance, he had a nice one, two, three inning featuring a couple strikeouts.

So we'll see where it goes from there. Edward Cabrera, as you heard Craig Counsel saying, is going to have a bullpen session and then maybe a rehab start. and then he was asked directly, is he going to pitch out of the bullpen? And then Craig would only say that he's going to pitch in shorter scenarios. So that's just the Craig way of saying, yes, Edward Cabrera is going to come out of the bullpen, ladies and gentlemen.

I don't know if that's going to be any better for him. And I don't know if the Cubs think that's going to be any better for them when it comes to Cabrera. Is he just going to be a lost sum this year in terms of... Feels that way, doesn't it? It really does. We talked about this, too, in one of our meetings. I forget which one, but I don't want to use the term,

yet when it comes to the trade because I don't think that's fair. Right. No. But this year has not been great for him. It's been rough because he's had some nice performance, but even when he has been in, he has not been particularly effective. And unfortunately, he has not been healthy this year. And that's a real problem for what the Cubs are trying to do.

Tune in on Monday. It's happening at 5.30 a.m. for the debut of David Hawa and Jared Payton. Is Jared Payton here today? It's like he's been in the hallways giving us all good vibes on the daily. He really has been giving good vibes. Right? Has he? You're correct about that.

Yeah, he's just, he's a good vibe guy. Can't wait to do transition with those guys at around 945 on Monday. But yeah, Hawn Payton on the Scores Morning Show, former WGN sports anchor, and son of Walter, Jared Payton joins the score lineup full time, just in time for football season. That's right. Starting Monday, it is Hawa and Peyton, discussing the latest on Chicago sports on your weekday morning commute from 530 to 10 a.m. right here on the score.

And will we be talking about a Cubs sweep of the Reds on that day? Will we be talking about knowing anything more about the left tackle that day? Like this is a Saturday night Titans and Bears game, friends. Oh, my God. Okay. So I am going to predict that Caleb will not. play in this game, and that is because, at least all, most of the reports coming out of the joint practice is that Caleb Williams and the offense looked good.

Look good. So now if they've gotten the proper quantity, would I like to see the starters out there again? Absolutely. I'd like to see the starters out there again. But I am adding everything up, all the reports from the Patrick Finley's of the world and the Dan Weirers of the world and all the reporters that have been out there for the joint practice, it sure feels like the starters are going to sit this one out. I don't know if that would be different on defense.

And for whatever it's worth, the Tennessee Titans are putting their starters out there. So it's kind of the reverse of last time around where the Bears went up against the backups. To be fair, if you were the Titans, wouldn't you want them to get more reps to? Yeah, probably. That's probably the case. They probably need them more than the Bears. But we all know what it's like to be in the Tennessee Titans position. Pardth, that is for sure.

Thank you, everybody, for listening to the show. Thank you for being with us all week. We're going to be back here on Monday. We appreciate each and every one of you for listening and watching like you do. Thank you to our guests today on the program, including Father Tom McCarthy. You want to go back and check that out at 1145. We talked about the Pope. The Pope is cool with everything.

I just want everybody to understand that. I don't know that that's the case either. with everything. He's good with all of it. I promise you. Alan Robinson was on the show. That was absolutely fantastic. Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun Times was on it. Thanks to Ray Diaz, Tyler Bueberbaugh, Connor O'Donnell, Max Curtis, Jacob Stutz. You guys are all great. For Layla Rahimi, I am Mark Grody. We are Rahimi and Grotie saying thank you for listening on 1043 the score. Have a great weekend.