Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — February 9, 2026

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote shared their takeaways from the Seahawks’ 29-13 win against the Patriots on Sunday in Super Bowl 60.

The score! This hour is brought to you by Jule Osco. The views and opinions of Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi Harrison Grody may change at any time. It's just sports.

Okay, thanks. Bye. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104 3. The score. I say C. Hawks, but they don't cover 24 to 17. Really low scoring, and I don't know why.

So that is my, that's my prediction. Seahawks beating the Patriots. I did pick on Take to North. I did pick the New England Patriots to beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24 to 20. Yes, some of it has to do with the fact that Dave the Cat did without hesitation choose the New England Patriots. My East Coast family is not going to like this, but I am picking the Seahawks to win 27 to 24. Like Grotie, I'm a cat guy. So I'm rolling with Dave the Cat.

23 20 Patriots. Teens up. George Velatis the running back. Big to him. Bowl 60. There goes May on first in 10. Heaving and long throws. Caught cuts down.

Far side. Up down that far side by Matt Collins and over the shoulder catch at the pylon far side of the end zone. And the clock is kicking at 438 and they trail 22-7. Shotgun snap, 44 Seattle. He's hit as he drops back.

The ball three. Pick up by Noosu. Running down the seat. 30, 20, 10, 5. Touchtown! In the hands, Trebiont Henderson, right against the sideline. He's really 29. And that will do it. Seattle's above the ball.

The Seahawks, Super Bowl champions for the second time. All my teammates, all my coaches I've ever had, always believing in me. I've always believed in myself because of my family and my friends. So it's as simple as that. As long as you believe in yourself, anything's possible. Rahini, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104-3. The score.

What's that you say, Sam Darnel? Anything is possible? Why, I feel like I've heard that before. Was it Kevin Garnett? The great philosopher? It was. Anything is possible. There it is.

The Seahawks are Super Bowl champions after that 29 to 13 winner. the Patriots where I forgot that the point spread of 4 and a half, so I did pick the Seahawks to cover. I don't know that it was that exciting. But we watched it. We watched it together as a team, as a family, because it's what we do. This is Rahimi Harrison

Grotie on 1043, the score. We are happy to have you here with us on this Monday where I wonder if everybody went into work a little bit slower pace than they did, you know, the Monday before, because this should be a holiday the day after the Super Bowl.

Did you enjoy your Super Bowl party last night if you went to one? Did you eat something special? Did you get your commercials in? Did you watch your respective halftime show? Did you enjoy your life enough to watch the game? And for everybody who loves the Bears defense and an old school football in the running game, that was a game for you last night because that was what was working. Let me tell you something.

Both of you. I'm just happy. I got paid. to watch that game. I was at work last night, so I got paid to watch that game. Otherwise, I don't know that I would have watched it and consumed it in the same manner in which I did.

I probably would have watched it after the fact, fast forwarding through everything, because I knew it was going to be a bad game. I just didn't know how bad of a game it was going to be in terms of competitive. This took me back to being a young Buffalo Bills fan watching after the missed field goal, what happened in the next three Super Bowls

with those same Buffalo Bills. They got absolutely tributtal. I'm thinking about what Layla said that it might agree, at least indicating that a game like that, like the old school nature of it, might appeal to some people. And I'm saying no. I'm saying no. I'm saying that I think we're past that. I was at a party with people that you would think would think old school. And there were people drifting off at the gathering.

Real football fans, too. What does that mean drifting off? Just kind of not just kind of slouching. in their seats, getting a little lower, eating food, and just kind of... Letting the Iidas take over. Yeah, because, right, so even people, like, I think we are officially conditioned for lots of scoring in the NFL for big-time quarterback play, and we didn't have it. And even the people who think they're old school, they're not old school anymore.

We want offense, period. I don't know. I mean, we do. We knew based on, you know, Olin says this, and it's true, like, the tape speaks to you. So if you watch these two teams, if you slogged through the Patriots Broncos game, if you understood how the Seahawks got to this point, you had a feeling that it was going to be a low-scoring game. But you're right. I don't necessarily know that that's the appetite for everybody. I don't think so. It took me back to a simpler time. Like, it did take me back,

because the Seahawks, a lot of time, didn't even have exotic blitz packages. Yes, Devin Witherspoon would rush off the edge occasionally. And well, I might add, he had a tremendous game. I dare to say he had a great playoffs. So he was one part of it, but it was just, it was a lot of a simple, you know, four

man rushes out of the Seahawks defense. They were like, we're going to make it hell for you to run the ball. You knew that on the other side, unfortunately, the Seahawks Bowl compliment of offensive weapons wasn't the same. Jackson Smith and Jigba with, with, goes into concussion protocol. He ends up leaving the game. We finally get

points, you know, but it took forever. What was it? It was 9. Nothing at the half, right? And I wrote down the halftime stats. And boy, are they bad. Did Drake May have over 60 yards? He had 88 yards passing, but he was sacked for 30 yards net. So it was only 18

net passing yards. Or it was 48. Oh, Seattle had 88 passing yards. My bad. That was the better number. Drake May had 48 net passing yards and then 30 of it was taken away via sacks. So the Patriots had 18 net passing yards at the hat. At the half. At one point I texted Tannie and I go, oh no, the Patriots have the

ball again. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're texting somebody from another show while we're on the text thread. Will you care to share this? You're so you're texting with their show? I feel like this is a safe space. What's going on here? What is you with Tanny? What is that all about? I like that this is a safe space where she feels comfortable enough and secure enough and she knows that Margrode is secure enough that she could text other people about the game as well. Here's a way to really make it hit home. Taddy and I will occasionally just like get our own, you know, like bits off. Oh, I love texting Tanny. Tanny. I text him all the time.

I do. I do. Yes, I do. Next thing you know, we're going to all say we text Lauren. He's next. He's next. But with, to really hit at home, Leila, to add to what you're saying, with 1256 to go in the game, I jotted this one down, even at the gathering that I attended. Magic, the gathering. That's right. May makes that 20, it's 19-0-0 Seattle. Drake May finally makes a big pass. The pass to Matt Collins.

He had shoes on. Ahead of the Holland's TD. And it was great. Like that float, I mean, like, of all the bad passes, that was beautiful. Gets it to the Seattle 41. Again, 1256 to go in the game. That would be the first time in the game, in the game that the Patriots would take a snap inside the 43-yard line.

Imagine that. Did that even happen in the NFL this year? And all of the games that were played, did it take a team until the fourth quarter to get within the 43 yard line of another team? You didn't watch a lot of Browns football, did you? Well, I admit I stayed away from Browns football. Do you have information to tell me that... I'm sure I can look it up and find it,

but even them, I would doubt, it took till the fourth quarter to get to the 43 yard line of an opponent. All right, let's also do this. Since we're here, since we're talking about how, how random this game ended up being when you consider how we've been watching modern football lately. I said this many times,

to myself, wrote it down, and talked about it during our group thread and in our pre-show meeting. Michael Dixon, the Seahawks punter. My God, that guy is good. Every single time I was like, oh, they really need a good one here. And he

delivered. Every time. I was like, oh, no. This actually could get the Patriots to closer field position. Like, I was watching this, like the most old school defensive coordinator ever. I don't know who would have been proud, because I'm still not good enough for an old school defensive coordinator, but it's the idea, you know, it's the idea.

What about one Jason Myers? If we're talking about kicking, I would start with him, the MVP runner-up. Now, see, you say MVP runner-up. I'm not so sure about that. I'm honestly not so sure about that. I thought it was an interesting game in that it became at some point, probably around halftime when it was not enough. It's like, okay, is this game more about who's going to win or more about how putrid is this offense from New England going to end up being when it's all said and done. So I was pleasantly surprised when Mack Hollins gets a couple of catches, including the touchdown.

Oh, they are alive over there. It just took them a long time to warm up. This segment is sponsored by almost free teeth.com. Affordable implants, life-changing smiles. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie talking a little Super Bowl on 104-3 of the score. Yeah, they finally get some forward passes going. That's the other part of this. Like, for all the Brable talk and the Drake May talk and the Almost MVP,

Utah, Coach of the Year. You know who else should be getting some ire here? All assistant coach of the year who always gets the benefit of the doubt at all times, Josh McDaniels. Like, I think, I think there was a really good point that was made by Chris Collinsworth when he talked about how the Patriots were calling the same plays that they did in the snow against the Broncos, just running up the middle on purpose at times in crucial yardage and crucial downs.

Like, you can do that if you're getting a V-shaped pocket and you get that penetration up front. But you weren't getting that. You're just doing it to be stubborn at that point. And I thought that of all people who was going to adjust, that was going to be the dude, and it didn't happen. I just, I feel like the Patriots offense has not been good for a while, right? But it's not just that.

The Seattle Seahawks showed you exactly what type of defense. defense you were going to have to be able to beat to win a championship. And for the better part of the season, no one could do enough damage against that specific defense. And it all came to fruition. When you look at, unfortunately, the Patriots rode to the Super Bowl and how they got there. And it was a lesser road. I think we could say that unequivocably, that their road was lesser to get to the Super Bowl, whether it's the snow game in Denver against a backup quarterback. That's a 50-50 game too because of. of the snow.

And it was in Denver. Yeah. And it just didn't feel like the Patriots had done this great thing. Like, oh, look at that dominance to get to the Super Bowl. And you get to the Super Bowl and a team that has been truly dominant,

specifically on the defensive side of the ball. And I want to give Mike McDonald some credit here. Mike McDonald is the first head coach in Super Bowl history to win calling defensive plays as a head coach. I think that that says everything right there. This man had these guys locked TF in.

Vrable did a hell of a job, too. Let's not forget that they were forcing field goal after field goal after field goal against an explosive Seattle offense. So I give a lot of credit to Vrable. He kept it as close as he possibly could for as long as he possibly could.

The defense gave the Patriots a chance to win. They were in it until the pick six at the very end from Ocena, New L.C. Well, also, look at that first drive, you know, to what you're talking about. After we saw the 10-yard run to open the game after the kickoff, then you saw a 15-yard pass, and then that passed a Cooper Cup, where he just looked like nobody was going to take him down.

The Seahawks moved the ball incredibly well, and then to get stopped enough to be able to have to kick the field goal. It's like the bear's defense. I mean, but that's the point. So there was a, but there's a defined strategy, and I'll get into it in a second, but when it came to, at least on the Patriot side of the ball, being able to stop that from happening.

Another part of this that's so compelling to me is, you know, for all of the jokes that we make about send it and fourth downs don't matter and everything is four down territory. And even Sean Payton says, here I am watching the Bears game, knowing they should have kicked the field goal instead of gone for it. What did we see happen in this game? And what has been the Seahawks strategy, the entire playoffs? if they have a chance for points, they take them every single time.

Like the reason we're having a joke and a laugh about, I don't know, people who actually touch the ball with their foot and football when it comes to Jason Myers the kicker and Michael Dixon the punter, we're saying that because the Seahawks did not subscribe to that theory. And they're the Super Bowl champions today. So you think Ben Johnson goes for it too much on fourth down? They should tighten it up a little bit? I think we were talking like at the gathering I was at.

Like people were joking. When it was fourth and seven, the national, on the first drive, people, there were jokes, oh, well, Ben Johnson would go for it. That's what it was. But people were joking, oh, Ben Johnson would totally go for it in this spot. I think Dan Campbell, you can guarantee, I don't know that it's his lock with Ben Johnson. It's getting close, man. It's getting close. I'm not even saying this is an open indictment on Ben Johnson. And I'm not saying, oh, look at this. This is how you should do it. It's hard not to think about Ben Johnson.

But that's the point. I'm watching this going, should I learn from this strategy? because it was ultimately correct. But the reason it was ultimately correct was they had a remarkable good defense on the other side. You could trust your defense. Like that's the difference is when your best defense is your offense, like it is for say the bears at times, especially after injuries. It's a different strategy altogether. But theirs remained the same because their defense was so good.

Yeah. If Ben Johnson had the Seattle Seahawks defense, he would of course punt more or just kick the field goal. Because guess what? Remember where we were going into the last game? We were like, how much do you trust the bear's defense? And I remember Ben Johnson answering those questions because we all assumed he was doing what he was doing going forward and whatnot because he didn't trust the defense. And he was like, oh, no, it's the opposite.

I do trust this defense. And he tried to defend them. But I don't know, man. There's a little bit of both in that, Marshall, because Ben Johnson is going to be aggressive, I think. It's his mentality no matter what, just like Dan Campbell's. Like, if the bears have a great defense next year, you don't think Ben Johnson's going to go for it on a for? and four on the team's 47-yard line? He probably will. He probably will. But there's a lesson in there to see how the Seahawks did it.

Absolutely. No, yeah, you don't have to be as a gambler like Ben Johnson and most of the coaches. I don't know what I would prefer in my coach. So I kind of like watching Ben Johnson be Ben Johnson. Are you saying you have to know one to hold them and know when to fold them? I think you should know when to walk away and know when to run. That's just my personal appearance. Never count your money when you're sitting at the table. Not at the table. You do that. Walk away.

Let's walk away. Or run. Or run. Did not expect that to happen. But it really was that type of game. Like this was a game where the field position mattered. The near miss mattered. The decision to kick a field goal mattered.

Phil goals being an afterthought as far as making them matter. The punter, the fact that we're talking about the Seahawks punter so glowingly. That's what happens when defense dominates a ball game. Yeah, when it was like, was it 12 to nothing at one point in time? Was it that many field goals? I was like, okay, this is what we're doing, huh? Yeah, it's going to be, there's not going to be explosives and eventually there were. Do you know how many first downs New England had at the half?

I'm going to get, can I guess? Oh, you got it. Four. I would have taken the under, to be honest with you. But fair enough. No, they had four. And I think there was a point when it was 12 nothing and Myers kicked another field goal, right? Where the announcers said, Mike Tirichiro was like,

like, you get the feeling, or no, I think it was Chris Collinsworth. He said, you get the feeling. If they get a fifth field goal, the game's basically over. I was saying, because that's a two touchdown lead. When the touchdown was scored, I was like, oh, it's it. The talk at the gathering was next touchdown wins, whichever team was to get a touchdown, whichever team was able to have the formula to break through against these two very good defenses. Are you that reluctant to call it a party?

I think, didn't we define it as a gathering? I thought it was you. Why was it a gathering not a party? Because there wasn't a, there wasn't like a lot of, like, frivolous people there. You know what I'm saying? There weren't friends of friends and dates and things like that. There was some of that, but there wasn't, I don't know, it was less than 10 people. Is that, that's why I call it a gathering.

At that point, is it just your buddy sales? Like, well, I don't know. And every time you say gathering, I think of magic the gathering. Well, it was low key, too. Like, nobody really wanted to label it as a party or else. You know what that is? That's a bunch of adults getting together. That's what that is.

It's not a bunch of 20-year-olds. So you're calling it a get-together, gathering. I'm calling it a party. It's just an adult party as opposed to a freaking rage. I have a different idea of adult parties. Do you think frivolous people who've been invited to parties know that they're on the frivolous side? Do you know what I mean? Like a friend invites, hey, can I bring my buddy, you know, Joe or whatever?

Who's your buddy? Which one? Doug? Doug. It's probably Doug. Like, if he was to bring Doug, that would be a little friend. Like, okay. Bengals, Doug.

It wasn't like a part. party that I went to where you had to get to know people. You don't have to have conversation. There's a little bit of that at the gathering. It was a straight subsets. No mingling if you didn't want to mingle. A little bit of mingle. But we were all very comfortable with each other that we didn't have to.

We could watch the game. Almost sounds like a dinner party. Okay. We'll call it that. Which has the word party in it, by the way. Also Bucco was the meal of choice. What? Tell me you've seen the office dinner party episode.

Oh, wait. What was the food, though, that you said? Wasn't it Osobuco at the office dinner party? Maybe that's... See, I've got blind spots through the episodes because of the way I watch it. Just watch the series in order.

No, he can't. He has to absorb it via cable. Chaos agent. I am a... I'm a non-linear human. Yeah, everybody was bright. Next year the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day and a lot of people are going to have to make a choice.

And the best part about that? Or it's the best excuse ever. It's the best part about that is the Monday, the day after the Super Bowl is an actual holiday president's day. I'm already predicting all sorts of pregnancies that will have occurred from Valentine's. Day on the Super Bowl. Come on.

Like that ferocious of a holiday is coming to get the drinking, eating holiday. If this Super Bowl had happened, you really think anybody got pregnant after watching that Super Bowl? Well, maybe because it was so boring that it's like, hey, you want to go hang out? Mark makes a good point. Mark makes a good point. I'm saying, like boredom brings that kind of thing on. People legit got married at the Super Bowl, but that's for our halftime.

It was a good buddy. We're going to talk about halftime at halftime. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. We thank you for joining. us today. You can text and call us and we've had some funny lines already. 312-644-67 is our number. You can also join us on Twitch, twitch.tv, tv, slash the score Chicago. That is our YouTube address as well, The Score, Chicago. There, we broadcast live from our Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Buehderbaugh with a tremendous open.

Brandon Fryer helps us out as well. And our video team is Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Curtis. Coming up next, I want to get into some of the details where people we know from former drafts really made a difference in this, like people the bears had their eyes on, and then also just some of the strategy that we talked about as well. Some more Super Bowl talk

and appreciation for some defense and running game next. Rahimi Harris and Groie. Midday's tidal two on Chicago Sports Radio 12 4-3 to score. Negative 10. Out of bounds, farther back.

Around the 46-yard line. But a strong run by Walker for the first half. 30 on the game. We had a chance to watch Kenneth Walker in practice the other day. And so many times he's casual with the ball at first. And then he makes one of those jump cuts and takes off. I don't think I've seen a guy in practice faster than he is. That is courtesy of MEC.

That is Mike Tarrico and Chris Collinsworth on the call. This is where hemi Harrison Brody as we continue to recap Super Bowl 60 and discuss some of the finer points. And Nick Costos was funny. Yeah, he's going to say the game stunk. And I get it. It wasn't great. But there was still, I think, a lot of lessons to be learned in observations.

After watching the Bears play not one but two games in this NFL playoffs. And then understanding how the Seahawks got there and how the Patriots fared as well. So to me, there's still a lot of finer points that you can take away with. Like, there are lessons to be learned and strategy to be understood. and I don't know if you like football you're still watching through a lens

that has the bears also helping you figure it out. The biggest takeaway for me was understanding just how good that Seahawks defense is. Not like I didn't understand it but to see it on the biggest stage

and the biggest moment just the ferocity of it all, right? Like the amount of upgrade that's not only going to have to happen with the Bears defense, but also with their offense to be able to attack a defense like that in the same manner that the, let's say the Rams did.

Because the Rams put up numbers on the Seahawks defense. They became shootouts. That's what I'm looking for. And that's why I was so disappointing to see just how bad the Patriots looked. Yeah, I mean, they did. I mean, at times, yeah, they looked like they didn't belong. Exactly. And that was the part where I was like, oh, wow.

Like, there's some embarrassment going on here. But then how much of it is Seattle? And I like what you're saying, too, about, like, if we are applying, things to the bears. Yeah. Some of the ballsy blitzes by both teams,

even Rable, leaving cover zero, and to Chris Collinsworth's credit, when that blitz happened, he would say, that's going to leave somebody wide open. And in a couple of cases it was.

Actually, it was a Denver all-out blitz that left somebody open for Seattle. And Donald, he missed a few passes himself on plays. There was enough

inconsistent offense to go around. Both sides. But, you know, Ernest James. had a really good postgame interview on the four-letter network post-game show. I was watching it. And he talked about two things that really stuck with me. Number one, he said to Berger McFarlane, the game plan was we were not going to put a spy or put an extra man on Drake May just knowing he could run. They said, we're going to let him to get his yards. We're not going to change our defensive plan

just because of Drake May's running. And I think that what we've seen, even for teams who defend to Caleb Williams and the Bears. We saw a lot of teams put a spy in Caleb Williams, notably the Cowboys, you know, Maddie Profluses' defense, they did that because Caleb was running more in that game. But there are other teams who would commit somebody

defensively to Drake May's legs or have a spy on him or something that would cause somebody else to get open or open up and then that would change the plan. So I thought that that was a really sound scouting point that he made when it came to how confident this team is and their personnel.

And that's why you're able to do that is because you don't necessarily have to have extra resources on somebody because you trust everybody's assignments too. I thought that was such a good point that was made. I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone to play in the game. Obviously, you get to the game. You're supposed to do well in the game. Did you feel like Drake May's shoulder injury was a factor here? Like, and if so, how much?

That's the question I kept wrestling with watching him play. this guy was the most accurate passer in the regular season. And all of a sudden, he is missing. Now, some of that was due to pressure, but I saw some of the time where he looked like he had time and still couldn't hit the guy in the window that he needed to hit the guy. I saw two quarterbacks in this game as I was thinking during the game, during the first half, I saw two quarterbacks who didn't want to be the ones to

screw it up for their teams. And I think that, or for themselves, for individual, for their own legacy. and I could see, I felt like, on the Drake May side, that he was told, you don't have to be the superhero out there, just be you out there, we'll take care of you, we've got this, we've got the defense. So there's a second year quarterback being told, it's a big moment for you. And then on the other side, you have Sam Narnold, for whom this is like this revenge tour, this, like, can you make it all the way back?

It felt like he was tight to maybe having that on his mind and needed him to be. come close to getting MVP. So I saw two tight quarterbacks for different reasons. Well, I also think that the Seahawks did an excellent job of rattling the cage early with Drake May. Yeah, that was another part of this. They decided to go after the left side of Will Campbell. And, you know, I think it's a friendly time to remind everybody that Will Campbell is drafted

in 2025. You know, this is not an old hat for him either. Everybody wanted the Bears to take him. I really liked him. Everybody liked him. I thought he would have been a good addition to the best. into the Bears' offensive line. Can you believe the Bears?

What is going on in this world that we're looking at a Super Bowl and the Bears got the better end of the first round of the draft too? You didn't need Will Campbell. You got Colston Loveland. I will say this, though. Do you think the book is written on him? I don't, I mean... No, but I mean, I'm just saying so far, so good.

Of course, of course Will Campbell could still be good. But right at this moment, would you bet on Will Campbell? Would you rather have Colston Loveland? Yeah, no, I would take Colston Loveling, given the utilization of that position for the team. Now, do the bears still need a left tackle? Yes, they do. That might have shown that, yeah.

So that's my ultimate takeaway through a bear's lens watching this game is I have changed what I believe the priority should be. I think left tackle is something that needs to be addressed because last I checked, the bears have a game at Seattle next season, in the regular season. And I was thinking, how did the bears level up against Seattle? I know one way they need to level up if they have a chance to beat the Seahawks. they have to have the left tackle question answered in full. Will Campbell, to say he had a bad game is quite the understatement.

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

but they better get left tackle address because you go up against a guy like Mike McDonald he sees a point of emphasis he thinks he can exploit he does it and he did it to perfection in that game. Well and I think it also illustrates how far you get into the playoffs

what the difference is and what the margins are and how you just attack where you know you absolutely have trust in your team. Don't overthink it. It gets you to, he got him to the Super Bowl you know, but that doesn't mean that it's necessary. going to win you the Super Bowl. These are the details that I think as we watch the bears in the

playoffs, you know, this is the stuff where it comes to matter more and how those details, you can get by with them in the regular season. You can get by with them in the divisional. They got by with them in the championship round in the conference championship. But it doesn't win you a Super Bowl against what was such a good defense. Well, and the other thing is it's a lesson you can really take to heart understanding for the second. straight year, a team was good enough to get to the Super Bowl, and then they sit there and watch their quarterback get sacked six times. Joe Tunic can speak on this, by the way. It happened of Patrick Mahomes, who is going to go straight to the Hall of Fame whenever he retires, and now

it happened to a lesser quarterback, a more inexperienced quarterback, and Drake May. But that consistency of what gets you Super Bowl wins versus getting to the Super Bowl to me, that's what sticks out. You've got to be able to put the quarterback on his back and pressure the dog out of him. And that's exactly what the last two Super Bowl champions now have done. But again, you know, I thought that the assistant coach of the year who gets every award when he has the chance

and he's nominated in Josh McDaniels, I thought that that was part of what he's there for, you know, is to help his team adjust. And not just at the half, but during the game. That's why, I mean, I'm going to bang that drum for a little bit because we didn't see that.

We didn't see the offense for the Patriots to make adjustments, especially with, you know, this vaunted coaching style. I don't know. We didn't see them do enough to make a difference. No, when you're running the ball defiantly up the middle where you're getting nothing and crucial yardage, come on. No, no, no, I'm saying I don't know that there were adjustments to be made

that would have led to a Patriots window. My thing is the Seahawks. You can chip away. You can work the middle of the field. The Seahawks were just that much better than the Patriots. And again, going through the Patriots and how they got here, it kind of reestablished it. I just don't think they're that good.

They were good enough this year to get to the Super Bowl through the AFC, but I don't think they're that good. So you think that the Patriots are kind of like what I was worried about with the Bears early on, like is this legitimate? Like, because I became, like, as the season went out with the Bears, as you guys know, I was like, this is not going to stick. This is not doing it. And then I became convinced that what the Bears are doing seems sustainable.

You don't think that they're sustainable? I think what the Patriots did this year is sustainable in the aspect that they should. be good enough to get back to the playoffs. Good, not great. Well, yeah. Not a Super Bowl team. I saw what great looks like when I saw the Seattle Seahawks and really most teams in the NFC.

And then when you look at the Patriots actual schedule and how they built up their record, you're like, oh, okay, I can see why they got where they got, but they're not as good as the Seattle Seahawks. I think it came down to Bo Nix's health. Yeah. That there's an argument to be made that if Bo Nix is healthy, then this is not the Super Bowl that we get. But I don't know.

I mean, I still think that that game because of the elements, like that's still, like they couldn't see. Like if Bo Nix is playing in the AFC title game, could he magically see? I don't think Sean Payton. You get a matchup of two incredibly good defenses at that point. Yeah, well, it's just like coin flip in that game still. I'm talking about the AFC championship game.

No, I'm saying Sean Payton and his decision making, though, I think that's what cost him. You know, they still could have won that game even with Jared Stidham. But that goes to say... I think if Fonix is healthy, they're at home, they win the game, they go to the Super Bowl. I think it can be that simple. Yes, if it's that simple, then we know the Patriots aren't that good. That's my point.

I just, I think it was a 50-50 game. Elements. I think it didn't matter who was quarterbacking, who was playing. Everybody looked terrible in that game because they couldn't see. I mean, AFC championship game good versus Super Bowl good is a pretty good. They could see in the first quarter that game. That's when decisions need to be made. That's true.

They could see in the first quarter. Yeah. If things got bad quickly. In the second half. And it's not like they didn't know what the weather forecast was. They were the home team. Can you ever be prepared to not see? Sorry, you can't.

You can't really. You can be prepared by getting all the points, all the field goals you can while you can. That's very Mr. Miyagi of you. That's like something you would hear. That's like a, uh, wax on, wax off. Something I would hear in a movie. Yeah. Can you be prepared to not see?

Yeah. Can anything. prepare you for not seeing what are they going to put masks on the players? Didn't Daniel son wear a blindfold in the karate case? I guess that's where Layla's coming from. Is that what you're saying? It just seemed like very 80s movie like philosophy. I'm going to catch this fly with some chopsticks and we'll talk about it after. How about that? Yeah. You know I always say Ben Johnson looks like his high school picture. It looks like Cobra Kai to me. His high school football. I don't know that I've seen his high school picture. Yeah, you have. He's very stereotypical. He has like fluffy hair.

He has a game face on. What year would he have been in high school? Early 2000s? He's 40, right? 41? I'm just trying to think of what the... Ben Johnson's like 38, I thought. Mike McDonald's 38.

Yeah, but Ben may have had a birthday. They're all around 40. They're all around 40. How about that? They all play match, which is how they got here. 39 years old, Ben Johnson. So Ben Johnson had a birthday. Interesting.

Yes. May 11th, 1986. When missed Ben Johnson's birthday, I feel terrible. He was 38 when he was hired, and then he was, He was 39 coaching the team. He's aged to 39. I think everybody does, they tell me, but... Really?

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

Summertime. Because of how well you guys treated me, I just want to make sure that I know your birthday. So we can party. The next one, I think maybe either David Hall or I got to refresh my mind and when Spiegel's is. He's in my calendar. I'll find out. We'll tell you next. Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score. And we're still breaking down some of the lessons that we learned in the discussion surrounding the Super Bowl.

Because it all means more once you know the bears are in the playoffs and they played two games and they faced a team who ultimately to the Seahawks and the Rams twice. And then we saw what happened after that. By the way, that Rams game, I thought this was a great point, too, that Ernest Jones had made, was that the first loss that the Seahawks had to the Rams when they lost 21 to 19 back in November.

If you look at the schedule after that, that's when the magic started to happen. They won 10 straight games. games, including the Super Bowl. Is that good? I think that's pretty good, good, guys. Strong finish. It's very hard to do to get through, especially the back half of a season when obviously

everyone's entered. Remember, they just locked Zach Straubene. Yes, we don't even talk about that. You know why? Because Kenneth Walker, the third, exists. And he doesn't just exist. He was freaking awesome. It's an incredible adjustment when you think about it.

He said, like, he said that was when, you know, the team set upon themselves, like, we don't want to have this happen again. It wasn't, uh, it wasn't their standard. You know, it was at the Rams on Sunday, November 16th. Then it was beat the Tennessee Titans 30 to 24. Okay, it's the Titans. I get it. 26 nothing over the Vikings, 37 to 9 over the Falcons, 18 to 16 against the Colts.

That was Mark Rodi's favorite, like early season team. Yeah, I loved it. They were great early and then they fell apart. Then it was the 38, 37, except. exciting game and overtime against the Rams. Then it was beating Carolina, 27 to 10, 13 to 3 over the 49ers to end the regular season. 41 to 6 over the 49ers in the playoffs and the divisional, 31 27 over the Rams, and then 29 to 13. 10 straight.

Outstanding. Yeah, they were the best team in football, and sometimes the best team that people feel like is the best team doesn't actually win the Super Bowl, but I think everything checks out. Team that won the best division in football, team that had to vanquish some of its division rivals just to get to the Super Bowl and to get to this stage. It's pretty remarkable. And I think there's a level of anonymity

that comes with playing in the Great Northwest way out there where they just don't get talked about as much. And I think for once, people are going to have to say, hey, the Seahawks have become somewhat of a standard bear here when we talk about the fact that their defense led the way and their quarterback doesn't have to be a top five quarterback in the NFL to get the job done. That might start making people look at the formula a little bit differently, but that

one constant, it would be the running game because Kenneth Walker III, 157 total yards of offense. And he, you talk about the field goals, but a lot of the reasons they got field goal after feel goal after field goal is because he was toting that thing. That's true. Could not have gotten Jason Myers into position for 15 field goals without Kenneth Walker on several of those drives. But it's pretty amazing because the voters of MVP, the NFL, probably viewers, everybody wants the quarterback to get the MVP or a wide receiver. It just doesn't happen.

I mean, there hasn't been a running back win the MVP since Terrell Davis in the late 90s with the Denver Broncos. 98. 98, right. So this year's Kenneth Walker. I'm just rattling off the recent MVP's. Jalen Hertz, Philly, Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes, Cooper Cup, Tom Brady, Patrick

Mahomes, Julian Edelman, Nick Foles, Tom Brady. Oh, there was a... Von Miller in Super Bowl 50, as we remember. He was badass. They destroyed that team. But you get the point. The voters like to avoid defense and running backs

in this era. It's more wide receivers and quarterback, so we all had to just take a deep breath and except that Kenneth Walker or Jason Myers were the best players in that game. I love that you're still standing up for Jason Myers. Why would you? I mean, the guy, he made five, he was responsible for 15 points. So why would that, why would that be a problem sticking up for Jason Myers?

More than 15 points. Don't forget the extras. And the extra points, exactly. So I'm accepting that Kenneth Walker is the MVP, but you do, none of us wants to, but you have to mention the guy who accounted for 15 points in his super, I'm not just saying this because he's in a line eye, but Devin Witherspoon, like I said, had a tremendous playoffs,

had an excellent Super Bowl. He had 21 pass rush snaps in 14 games this season. He had six in the Super Bowl. That was like a whole new wrinkle they unveiled for this game. He was a disruptor. I love the fact that this guy was coming in and apparently checking for the Blitz was not at high on the priority list for either team.

if you followed like the way the defense rained havoc on both players and just one quarterback made one play more than the other. And Sam Darnold, maybe the most remarkable thing about this whole Super Bowl run for him, big knock on him is not good in big games. Implodes. Remember how they lost to the Rams last year in the playoffs. This man didn't have a single turnover in three games in a postseason run. That is impressive.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, not only did he get sacked six times Drake May, He put the ball on the ground once and he threw two picks. One of them, of course, returned to the house. I'll give a shout out to Spoonie's counterpart on the other side. Did you call him Spoonie? Is that what we're doing? Yeah, I did it. Mark Grody has dubbed Devin Witherspoon on this show, Spoonie.

How you like that, I-L-I-N-I folks? On this, the 9th of February. I will give credit to Christian Gonzalez. That's a badass player right there for the Patriots. He made two big-time plays in that game. But yeah, give it the Witherspoon. What are we giving him? Hmm.

A spoon? A, we thought you could have had a good shot for MVP in the Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah. You got a shout out on Rahimi Harrison Grody. I think that's enough right there. We have a special award on this show that could be utilized for this very moment. The Mark Grody, he deserved better award. Oh.

That would be for Gonzalez. Yeah. That's why I thought you were referring to. Christian Gonzalez. I'm sorry. Better. Yes. Yes, but Layla wanted to give an award to Spoonie.

Oh, with a Spoonie. Yeah. Yeah. Also, how about this? I'd forgotten about this little quote that made the airwaves. DeMarcus Lawrence. Do you remember what he said? Dallas is my home.

I was never going to win a Super Bowl there. Spot on. Spot on. Spot on. Markis, spot on. If only everyone could call their shot so clearly. I thought that was pretty good. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie,

you've heard a lot of our thoughts. Well, we brought in just the guy. Big Ann Heron, our defensive specialist, is going to join us for the next two segments to talk about what he saw, and also maybe some of the bears-related thoughts he had as well. That's next. This hour is brought to you by Vesectomy Clinics of Chicago.

Anthony Heron, score football analyst. It's been fun watching the fantastic physical specimen that Darnell Wright is. It was on full display last week, and there was some really big moments he had against the Bengals, but he's going to have a unique challenge this week against the leading sack artist in the national football league. But we have heard the term unicorn utilized when describing Darnell Wright.

Just look how much time Caleb Williams has its max protection and Colston Loveland runs what they call a sail route. He's wide open. Former NFL defensive lineman and Iowa Huckoff. Anthony Herron received credit for it. It's a nice job by Anthony Heron number 99. Mr. Hedden, I want to compliment you. You're doing a fine job.

Big Ann Heron. on 104 3 The Score. We do want to compliment Mr. Haddon on doing a fine job. Anthony Herron, our football analyst, also for Fox 32, Big Ten Network. And he broadcasts with us on the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today. And is also on Twitch, twitch.tv.tv slash the score Chicago. Hey, Big Ant.

What's up, my good people? Yeah, man. We had the Super Bowl last night, had all the festivities, the festivists that was Super Bowl 60s. That was fun. And then I, we, we hadn't actually hosted at our spot. This is the second Super Bowl that we've been in the Burbs now. But last night was the first time we actually hosted people over at the house. And my wife is a huge Patriots fan and things weren't going well.

But I had to leave before the end of the game to go into the city because I had some NBC5 duties last night with Lucan Ellis. the game and after the Olympic coverage and then we were part of the newscast there at the end of the night. So I wasn't there to sort of see the tail end of it just where Patriots fans even though as I've said to her and to my in-laws, they've been very spoiled

this entire century but at a certain point that reality sets in on the direction the game is not taking for their squad. I wasn't able to be there at the true end of the game to give her the warm embrace of what that defeat for the Patriots must have wait, you had people over you

say. We're trying to figure out if Grotie was at a party or a gathering. So how many people did you have over and what would you call it? Oh, okay. So I don't think it's accurate to only base it on the amount of people there for whether or not you would call it a party

because we also did order a bunch of food to and you know, we all gathered within our fairly, you know, decent size theater space we have in our basement and had to get some things corrected on Friday to make sure that was going to be as pristine as we wanted it to.

So I think in the end, between family and friends, I have to look at the pictures, probably 12 people. Yeah, that's a party. I mean, family and friends, that's, yeah, that's a party. As opposed to what? When you say that, that, that, gathering. Enemies. Yeah, I think I'm, that's what, that's what you said,

I'm going to say it. I'm going to make it real simple. I think a gathering is fewer than, less than 10 people. Less than 10 people. Yeah, and, and you know them pretty well. What if some of those people? people are kids. Do you need like three kids to count for a full adult? I'd say two and a half counts as a full adult. Two and a half kids being at a party is a game changer because they

have to be accounted for, right? Like that's a whole thing. Yeah, at all times. Depending on the age, yeah. Even though they're probably desirous of going into other rooms and hanging out. Running around. Going in the basement and whatnot. Yeah. Thank you for answering our survey. Yeah. Was Lou, was Lou Canellis? Does he a different? Because boy, he got his picture up there, times during the Super Bowl. Those looking like a badass up there. I mean, I don't know, Lou might be a different person now that he's gotten all that Super Bowl shine.

So far so good. I just called him in the direct aftermath. I mean, maybe a week from now. We're going to see Lou with like blonde hair or something like that. You know, maybe at least frosted tips. You know what you're having a relapse to that guy Fierre commercial? I forget what the product was. Oh, right.

But the guy kept changing into. Oh, yeah, it was Bosch. It was Bush. Unrecognizable. Had no idea. I'm like, is that Jimmy Johnson? Have they used, like, CGI to make Jimmy Johnson look younger? Had no clue.

It was amazing, right? Yeah. Ant, this game was bad. I'm just going to throw it out here. No, no, because look. He might think differently. You play defense, man. No, no, I'm going to give it to you like this.

I like a defensive play. I like a strong defensive performance. But I can also recognize when offense is bad. Is it fair to say the. Patriots offense was bad in this game. Yes. Thank you. I would agree with that. And they, throughout the postseason, they've obviously been bad.

Now, great defenses will make you look bad, but the Patriots offense has not consistently been a consistent world beat of this year either. There was some boom or bust element to the Patriots offense during the regular season also. Now, Drake May's accuracy, his completion percentage being as consistently excellent as it was, was a huge part of what kept the chains moving for them. But in the postseason, that hadn't been the case. The competition is ramped up.

That hasn't shown up. And we certainly saw that play out a decent bit with the Bears throughout much of the regular season. But the Bears, sort of regardless of opponent, regardless of defense, they had that surge, that finishing kick that they could establish. And the Pats throughout the postseason haven't necessarily needed that because their defense has performed so well.

But neither quarterback really, had a strong game. Sam Darnel between the two of them, to his credit, because I think I was speaking to you guys about this maybe a little bit last week. You even go back to college, where I called a bunch of Sam Darnal's games in college. The reason he was the number three pick, instead of

the number one overall pick in that draft cycle was not because of the ceiling, not being immense by comparison to his counterparts. It was that he was a turnover machine his entire time at USC and has been that throughout his NFL career also, was even that

this season led the NFL in turnovers, but this playoff run, he's protected the football at a much higher level. He was the guy who didn't take sacks and didn't turn it over in the Super Bowl. Drake May took sacks and turned it over multiple times. And that was really the main deciding factor when comparing one QB with the other. Was it just the, I guess this is way too narrow, but how much was the Seattle defense responsible for Drake May being bad for the most part in this game? he was uncomfortable both physically and mentally throughout the entire game.

And those are really the two ways that you pressure a quarterback. You either pressure them physically by putting that pass rush pressure on them, having a QB under physical duress, where they either need to try and extend the play if that's within their bag of tricks or just to be able to get the ball out quickly. And if they feel like they don't have a target to throw it to, then they're going to hold the ball. as Drake May was holding the ball throughout much of the postseason and in the Super Bowl yesterday.

You also put mental pressure on them, and that's what really makes the Seahawks defense, I think, unique by comparison to a number of other defenses throughout the league, where they can get home with four with the best of them. They will rush the quarterback without the blitz and still have you feeling that heat. But then they also do have this exceptional blitz package that Michael McDonnell will rush you with. And that's where the mental pressure, comes into it because you don't know for sure which it's going to be if they are going to lay back in coverage and just rush with four and get home that way,

but you still have to respect the Devin-Witherspoon blitz that they are willing to throw at you as well. They can bring it from all angles, but both are really effective. And some defenses will just lean into either version of themselves, but the Seahawks can do both, and they do both really well. So, you know, Drake may look like a really young QB, And he looked like a young QB against the majority of the defenses they faced in the postseason.

But specific to the Super Bowl that they played last night, his inexperience showed up. And to some extent, the lack of playmaker as well, that the Patriots just didn't have someone other kind of electrifying enough to consistently put some fear into that Seahawks defense. We're talking to our football analyst, former Iowa Hawkeye, NFL athlete as well, Anthony Herron, here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. and I'm glad you brought up Devin Witherspoon. We had talked about him. I think he had a tremendous playoffs. But the stat that he had 21 pass rush snaps in 14 games this season before the Super Bowl and then had six. That was clearly a wrinkle that the Seahawks defense had unveiled specifically for this game.

What do you think about that, the idea of just building your game plan throughout the playoffs, especially when you have two weeks? And then also the way that they utilized him and how disruptive he was in this game. That's a great word for him, disruptive. That's precisely what he was. He likes to reroute receivers in coverage, but he's shown in kind of limited availability, limited opportunity to do it going back to his college career at Illinois,

but even to your point throughout his time in the National Football League, a young career, but he hasn't been a consistent part of the Blitz package. But his physicality shows up. He's physical in coverage. He can support the run with physicality also because he's willing to do that. And I was just waiting for, like I described the other day that I feel like Drake May is kind of the what Josh McDaniels hoped Tim Tebow would be for him, not only in his day in, day out, attitude, demeanor, maturity, but the sort of multidimensional ability he could bring to the table because we know he can be remarkably accurate with the deep ball. And he's also an exceptional athlete as a quarterback. This should have been a double-digit carry game for Drake May

because you had to know going in. You've seen the film. You know what the Seahawks defense presents and you know what you lack on offense. And Drake May's legs, they should have gone into this game with the game plan that the running ability of their quarterback would be a bigger part of how they try to gain some advantage

on one of the top defenses in football. I was really shocked that they didn't go in with that as a focal point. You know, 10, 12 carries, maybe not 20 plus carries. If you as Drake made it give you 20 carries, I'm pretty confident he'd give it to you, but at least 10, 12 carries, and then just depending on how many snaps of offense, they run throughout the game. That, to me, could have been a separating factor,

but it ended up being a situation where he's standing in the pocket, and they could just bring a very similar blitz with Devin Wetherspoon over and over and over again. And even when it didn't completely get home, you could tell it was just speeding up. the timing mechanism of that Patriots passing attack, heating up the pocket in that way. That was part of the mental pressure that was there. So it was masterful for Michael McDonnell to do that and to continue to throw it at them

because they showed that they just didn't have an answer for it. And when we look at this game and the way it went down and really the way this entire season went down, I feel good knowing that the best team in the NFL, at least through my eyes, won the Super Bowl. That's not always the case. And I also feel a little scared because I feel like because they're not in this Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson formula where you're paying the quarterback so much money,

and they got that defense. Yes. They could come back and make another run and be successful doing what they just did. Not paying the quarterback all this money yet. I will be fascinated to watch how the offseason plays out for Sam Darnold. I think it was a fairly short deal. He signed with Seattle. I don't even, I don't know the deal terms off the top of my head.

But if you got a guy who's on like a three-year deal or something like that, he just finished the first season and led you to a Super Bowl championship, quarterbacks tend to feel like that's time to come up, you know, to get that full bag, because bags of cats can always be bigger. Yeah, three years, $105 million, just so you, I'm sorry, $100,500,000, just so you know. That, to me, screams renegotiation from Sam Donald's representatives. It would be my anticipation.

That's my assumption going into this. Now, are they going to demand him to be the top paid quarterback in the sport? I think that would be flawed logic. But for him to step in and be a guy who's led them to a Super Bowl championship, I'm confident there's plenty of bonuses, worked into his deal for the postseason success that they've experienced. But now that he's shown, I'm a Super Bowl QB, and there's nothing about this team that indicates I might not be able to do this again.

So I got a free agent in K-9, Kenneth Walker III. He's going to be looking to get paid as he should as well, because he's really one of the main engines of this offense throughout the season. He's the Super Bowl MVP. But I wouldn't anticipate that the amount of the cap that San Donald takes up right now will be consistent. And that's where, from the Bears perspective, you know, kind of like I was texting about with you guys a little bit during the game here, the quarterback position and where they're at in that space right now, knowing they've got a couple more years. Well, at least another year.

We'll see here, you know, how things go after season three. but potential for another couple of years here where Caleb Williams continues to be on that rookie deal. You know going in what percentage of the cap he takes up. So to take advantage of this next couple of seasons here where he will be essentially a cap-controlled piece of your salary cap, then you take advantage of it now because Sam Donald's going to be in a stronger position to kind of get more and more money for the success they're having as a squad. and he's earned it, but he hasn't earned it because he is, to your point, that Patrick Mahomes type. He's a key engine, but they're not winning because they have the best quarterback in the sport. They're winning because they have a very talented QB and an exceptional roster of talent around him.

By the way, this gives me an opportunity to slide in a bear's question. That is, you just mentioned Caleb Williams and the importance of any team winning when they have a good quarterback on a rookie contract. just hired Press Taylor to be their offensive coordinator, higher from within. Do you seem like that was the right idea just to keep it buttoned up, just higher from within? Let's keep whatever you have from the inside going with Ben Johnson because he could just literally take the baton and keep running. There's a lot about it that I like. And the main thing that excites me about it is key figures like in the orbit of teaching and developing Caleb Williams get to maintain. their current position. J.T. Barrett continues to be the QB coach

in a similar capacity to what he already was. He gets more time on task and more kind of career development as the QB coach that is most directly responsible for hands-on with Caleb Williams as Caleb continues to skyrocket. Then the perception of J.T. Barrett will continue to skyrocket as well. So you don't have to switch him around. Antoine Randallel as the assistant head coach and receivers coach. That's a meeting room as well. that will need continued development and has the potential to continue to show that.

Think about the example from Seattle, where the Seahawks move on from D.K. Metcalfe. They're proven commodity. Their big play-wide receiver whose overall game as a wideout isn't completely as fleshed out as you would like it to be. There's kind of some limitations to the full scope of what D.K. Metcalf is excellent at as a wideout. But he's an excellent player, and he makes big plays. They decided to move on from D.K. Metcalfe. with the ascension that they believed was coming from J.S.N., from Jackson Smith and Jigba. Do the Bears feel like there's that potential from a Luther burden?

I don't know. But you could draw some comparisons from that with Seattle and say, they had a big time wideout. Bears have a big time wide out and DJ Moore. But they also have a young, developing, impressionable receiver room beyond DJ Moore as well. So to the press Taylor question, I like the fact that J.T. Bear is in his spot. Antoine Randalel is in his spot. and you elevate a guy who has had the responsibility of implementing a game plan in NFL offenses before.

He knows how to do that. And so now you can elevate him into that role. And then you've still got one of the best play callers in the sport as your head coach slash offensive play caller in Ben Johnson. So it allows a degree of continuity to the bear's offense that shifting someone else around into that role would have kind of been a little bit more disruptive. That's not the only Bears adjacent question. and I think we have for Anthony Heron. We have more coming up. Bears adjacent.

I love it. I love it. Maybe we just bring back Tony Gill and Russ Dorsey and call it a day. You're a real one later. They did do the real one test. You're right. I'd say you'd qualify.

Well, think. Next with Anthony Heron, let's do a little more of that, the Bears adjacent lessons and maybe thoughts that we were having watching the game and even with personnel questions. So we've got more of those with Ant. Join us on the other side of this.

This is 1043, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-through, and I've got a couple of big, nasty, Supreme Burritos right here waiting to beat. You know, the first thing they ask you now, are you using the app?

The app, no, I just want my burrito. I don't want to use an app. Bring a lot of mild sauce because I'm going to squirt it all over the way. Put some hot sauce on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, The Score. We continue our conversation with Anthony Herron.

Anthony Herron is, of course, a score co-host with us, former NFL defensive player. He also works for Big Ten Network. Fox 32 was on NBC 5 last night. We're happy to have him on here. And we were talking about some of the defensive strategy that was used as well. Ernest Jones had a lot of really good information that he said after the game. I thought one of the biggest

takeaways I had was him saying we weren't going to devote an extra man to Drake May's running threat that as part of the Seahawks plan they were just going to go with what they usually do when it comes to their defensive plan. We know it changed a little because of Devin Witherspoon, for example, blitzing more. But

what do you think about that aspect of it? That they were like, all right, Drake May, run on us if you want, but it's not going to go very far. And that's the thing that surprised me. And I wonder, as Josh McDaniel looks back at it, as Mike Vrable looks back at it, if they said, yeah, we could have allowed that

to take pressure off of Drake May. He doesn't have to run for 120 yards for that to be an effective way to now be a counterbalance to that Seahawks defense because Seattle dictated terms that entire game. Aside from one chunk play, a big 35-yard touchdown pass that Drake May completed, aside from that, that one Mack Hollins play, the entire game was Seattle's defense

dictating terms to New England's offense. Now, conversely, New England's defense played it really well, but there were still drives where Seattle, Sam Donald, Kenneth Walker III, were able to move the football. They're settling for field goals. So you could tell just the way the game was still in the balance, there was going to need to be some sort of a schematic counterpunch that New England could come up with. and it just really shocks me that the legs of Drake may weren't attempted more consistently to become that for them. It was, all right, we're going to let him drop back and another predictable down and distance.

Oh, well, too bad. Pass rush got home again or too bad another errant pass from Drake. But when his legs are part of the formula for them, not only does it infuse some additional life and confidence in New England's offense because they have the ability to move the chains more consistently, but it can take the starch out of, that pass rush. Because there's one thing to say schematically, we weren't going to over adjust, we weren't going to have an extra defender occupied for the legs of Drake May. But when you're talking about rushing the edge, all right, DeMarcus Lawrence, you can go

and keep flying up the field if you want to, but you're creating a running lane for the QB now. And if Drake May begins to gash them with QB power, QB draw, QB lead, QB sweep even, he's fast enough for that, but just some sort of consistent wrinkle in the run game, using him as a runner, that to me would have been, I'll say this, Lamar Jackson, playoff games that he's lost as he's advanced into the NFL postseason. The main issue that's been for him has been when they haven't allowed, when Baltimore hasn't made a concerted effort to keep his legs as a part of what keeps that opposing defense off balance.

If that can be your superpower, especially if you're still young enough to feature it, let that be your superpower against a fast and aggressive and quickly flowing defense. defense like Seattle presents. Aunt Haron joining us here on Rahimi, Harrison Grotie, and speaking of pass rush, the latest from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Apparently, Max Crosby says he's done with the Las Vegas Raiders. He's referring to a report by Jason Lockhamforah of Sportsboom.com in which an unnamed GM told Lockenforra, quote, he told Tom Brady he will never play for the Raiders again.

That's a fact. He told them he'll retire. before he ever plays for them again, but I'm not sure they're actually going to trade him. Miles Garrett said the same thing last year, and we know how that ended up, end quote. And what's your reaction to this idea that Max Crosby's done with the Raiders

and should that have the bears poking around and trying to really get a plan together to make a trade for Max Crosby? I'm impressed that Max Crosby was able to look into Tom Brady's wee, be little eyes and telling me what going to play for him anymore. A lot of folks might find that imposing or intimidating. Might have been a text. Yes, maybe it was that.

Dreaming. Maybe that's exactly what it did. Just sent him like a voice text or something like that. All right, Tom, here's a deal, man. I'm not going to come see you, but here's exactly what's going on. But Max Crosby is 28 years old. So from a health perspective, the menisical repair that he's going through, when you remove meniscus, you recover more quickly.

But the long-term health of the joint, in this case of the knee, isn't viewed as something that's going to be, you know, sustain itself as well. You get it repaired. The recovery is longer. That's the good thing where you're getting this done over the off season. Now the few months it'll take. He'll still be Max Crosby again. At the age he's at right now.

So he'll step into whatever locker room he steps into over the off season or next training camp or whenever that takes place. And he'll be one of the top pass rushers, one of the top defensive ends in the sport. From a bear's perspective, do they have the capital available. Do they have the not only Capspace but personnel available? Just almost

similar to a Bulls conversation. What do they have to go get Janus? Is it available to them? What do the bears have to go get Max Crosby? They do have the second round picks me more in the NFL just to point that out. John Greiber doesn't understand

that though by the way. But the issue is what they've already invested into the defensive front. That's a huge factor within this because you've gone really big in the Montez sweat. You've gone fairly heavy, integrated Jared, in the Diode d'Angbo. You've

got a position group and you yeah, you should continue to put draft capital into it as well because that's a continued investment. But they have also done that pretty consistently also. They just haven't had any of these draft picks hit at a really high level. So that to me is my concern.

Is how much of your cap space by percentage can you continue to invest in the defensive front to go get someone like Max Crosby who will come in here and will he be looking for a new deal? Maybe not a new deal, but he is going to be a guy who comes in and the amount of financial wherewithal that you would now have invested into the D-line to me seems like it's, it negates that potential. Whether you're talking Max Crosby or even when Miles Garrett was demanding a trade, there's

certain names that have a dollar value that to me is likely beyond where the bears can go with their current D-Line situation. Yeah, I mean, you're probably right. And yeah, he's like 28 years old as Max Crosby. He's like that's at what, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven years. There's like, okay, that's it. Now I got to get out of here because he did put up with it. Yes, for a while.

He put up with a lot of foolishness. He really did. And then he got so, see what sobriety does, folks? You get sober and you're like, oh, my God, there's so many things that can be so much better. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right.

That's right. That's right. be better. And I think that that's part of what's going. Am I missing something? Like, I don't know. I'd be excited for Max Crosby to show up here and be a member of the Bears. You're not missing anything. You're not willing to do the accounting

is what it sounds like. It's really tough. I mean, but it seemed inconceivable when Khalil Mack came here as well. So anything is possible. But you're right. You'd have to make some pretty tough decisions, Anthony. They didn't already have one of the highest paid defensive linemen in the league on their roster in that meeting room when they went and got Khalil Mack.

That's the difference. They already have Montess sweat is one of the highest paid defensive linemen in the sport. Dio Dengbo isn't too, like he's off that pace, but he's also a really highly compensated defensive lineman they have in here. It's one thing to have a bunch of first round picks and not be able to keep them all when it's time to pay. They got guys in that D-Line meeting room already that have gotten that bag, that have gotten to that second or third contract already at this stage in their career.

There's a sizable chunk of the Bears' salary cap and draft capital that's already invested into the D-Line. So it's not just about this season's cap number. It's about that one position group. How much of it can you allow the defensive line to take up to add one more player? And how big of a difference does Max Crosby make to that defensive front? He will certainly make a difference anywhere he goes. But I'd be curious to see.

I don't know if it's Greenberg or Biggs or Fishing Business, somebody put that number together. And I would love to kind of read how that shapes up. How much of the Bears cap and draft capital already is eaten up by this D-line that has definitely. underperform, but now they're in this tricky spot. Because you can't just go out and get anybody else that you want to because the money's available because then what do you do at additional depth at running back? What do you do if the wide receiver room looks different because maybe you move on from DJ Moore and you got something else that's happening there?

What do you do with all these defensive backs that you have to either sign or let walk? What's happening at lineback? There's a lot that the bears have to figure out with the roster to continue to bolster it. And oh, by the way, you don't have a left tackle. So there's a lot to bears have to figure out with the roster, and there's already so much tied up in the D-Line room. And also, one of the questions that we had that was Bears adjacent for this, is with everybody comparing Caleb Williams to Drake May

because they're in the same rookie class, and now that Drake May made it to the Super Bowl, I asked the question, and I think we're going to do this later in our show at about 1225 or so. But I don't think Caleb Williams would have fared as poorly as Drake May did last night. I agree. I do. And it's obviously kind of gauging it off of just what we saw late in the regular season and in the postseason. Because for the majority of the regular season, Drake May was a more consistent quarterback than Caleb.

The splash plays, the wild moments were advantage, Caleb, virtually the entire year. But as far as just the consistency of moving the offense and completing the chunk pass play, Drake May was better than Caleb at those things throughout the majority of the year. but that finishing kick that we saw from Caleb, not only in the fourth quarters of games, but really the month of December leading into the postseason. At one point late in the year when Marshall posed me the quest, I've had some friends like circling back on this with me even since then.

It was like I think one of the last games of November, maybe even the first game of December when I was on with you guys here in middays. And Marshall asked me the question about Caleb's accuracy and whether or not Caleb's accuracy would really make much of an improvement throughout the rest of the year. And my answer to that was probably not. You probably got to get into the offseason. I don't see a regular season formula that likely leads to Caleb becoming a more consistently

accurate quarterback. Lo and behold, it actually been when the weather got awful. That's really where Caleb's accuracy was most consistent and at its most impressive. I don't completely understand why, aside from the fact that we got to a point in the year where Caleb had full mastery of what Ben Johnson was presented. within the offensive playbook at that point. So he began playing ahead of the snap, ahead of the opposing defense

and delivered the ball with more comfort, more composure, more control, and more consistency. So that comparison with Drake May and Caleb Williams in December and January, and what we saw from this bear's offense as a whole, now if you're putting Caleb on that Patriots offense, that might be a different story. But the Bears' offense led by Caleb Williams

in the Super Bowl against Seattle, against that New England offense led by Drake May and Josh McDaniels calling plays, then yeah, I'd take Caleb in the Bears' offense. I think they would have done more against Seattle. And what's great about that, Ant, is that I looked at the weather as the restrictor play. You had a much better answer than when I was like, oh, well, the weather's tamping him down. That's why now he's more accurate because he's got the weather, the wind, you know, putting a little on those rockets that he tends to throw.

But really, when you think about it, the catchable passes, the runner's ball. There were a lot more consistent examples of those when it was 30 below and 40 mile an hour wins. That was honestly when Caleb looked at his most composed passing the football. That was really where his game and the comfort and control he showed on his game as a quarterback in the traditional sense. He looked at his best and his most consistent in those moments. Even the interceptions in those last couple of playoff games, you know, you're talking fourth down passes. You're talking situations where he's delivering it with anticipation, anticipating the route to break in a certain way.

So, you know, those are sort of explanations that will feel, to me, less acceptable next season because, yeah, turnover is a turnover and you should be on the same page and everything else. But in this first season in Ben Johnson's offense, watching the growth, the trajectory that Caleb presented as a passer of the football, an anticipatory passer of the football, when the weather was at its worst, is really when we saw him make the big,

is leaps for how consistently he just got the rock out of his hands on time in rhythm with comfort and just throwing a very comfy ball to catch. So I was really encouraged by that at the end of the season. And it's why it never made sense, Marshall, that you were Caleb over everything. Because, yes, Caleb got good. It got really good by the end of the season. But the Bears as a team is why they advanced through a couple of playoff rounds. But without Caleb's play, they don't get that far.

Okay, we'll revisit this down the road. as we always do, Ann. Yes, we'll have a great time when we do it. And thanks for joining us. This has been a lot of fun this football season. Yeah, no doubt. Appreciate y'all. We'll talk to you soon.

Thanks so much, Ann. That's Anthony Herron. You can hear him with us on 670 to score often, and he's out and about in the football streets doing a lot of work. You never know a TV station. He's going to pop up on either. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, wait, what did I do? Everybody wants them. He's a hot commodity. And he knows it too. He's like, yeah, darn right. It was on with Lou Canellis last night. Uh-huh. He's like, wherever the action is, that's where you can find me.

Right, right. I mean, rather than speaking for him, we could have just had to answer the question. No, I think he did. He talked about the fact he went and visited Lou after the show. Yeah, he's been on a couple times. Yeah. Coming up next year, I'm Rahimi Harris and Grotie. We want to devote halftime to talking about halftime.

A novel concept. But I think we should try. it for once. I'm all for it. I'm pro. Super Bowl halftime thoughts next. What time is it? It's half time. That it is. It is. It is half time here in Rahimi Harris and Grady. We spent our first hour talking about some of the observations and lessons that we saw

after watching the Super Bowl, the superb Owl 60. And thank you to the 815 texter who agrees with me that Josh McDaniel is the assistant of the year because he's Josh McDaniels. Did Drake make no favors? I agree with you. In the meantime, we also talked to Ann Heron about what he observed in the Super Bowl and asked the question we want to ask you in our next hour. Since Caleb Williams and Drake May are always compared because they were drafted at the same time,

if Caleb Williams would have done a better job, and I say yes. It's halftime. So we thought we'd talk about the Super Bowl halftime show during halftime. A novel concept. It's a new thing. I don't know that we should ever try it again. It's a newer type of thing. But visually, it was absolutely stunning.

Like, I didn't know, I don't know, 80% of the lyrics in Bad Buddy's performance last night, but I knew enough to get by. And I thought visually it was one of the best halftime shows I'd ever seen. Music that makes you move. That's how I would classify what Bad Bunny did in that show. I enjoyed it. And I also know a little Spanish. So I just went with it.

Honestly, what I was thinking throughout it, like I was thinking, how does a bad, they must have rehearsed the hell out of this thing. It looked very difficult from a just choreography stand. Oh my God. I was impressed. He knew where to be at all times because he had a lot of different part. And he is an actor.

Like, I mean, he's hosted Saturday Night Live, and like he does have those kind of ambitions. But I was sort of like, like, the overall breadth of the talent and the performance. That was what I didn't really know about Bad Bunny. Well, and what's funny is I think the ball that he had, the football that said, you know, that promoted America being all of us. We are all together.

We are All America. This is from Benjamin Solac. Per next-gen stats, Bad Bunny traveled 124.4 yards with the football. The most by any halftime performer and the most by any player over the NGS era. But it was from every song had a Vindex era. And the medley of your greatest hits during a halftime show at the Super Bowl is not new. But the concept of using the vignettes the way they did, it was clearly produced more for the TV audience than those watching at the Super Bowl.

That made sense. But one of the aspects that I don't think a lot of people know is the frame for all of these performances and what you saw on TV, the way they were able to cordon off the space was with these tall grass bushes. What we didn't realize was the bushes. the bushes were people. When I saw on social media that the bushes were people and they showed like video of them

walking onto the field, I was like, this is amazing because I was like, man, that was a pretty impressive job to get all that stuff out there. Oh, well, it helps when the actual what you think are inanimate objects are people. Well, and it's funny because there's a guy

called the Reese's guy and he lives in Philly. I don't know if you know who it is. Marshall's name is Andrew Atheist or Atheus. I'm just reading it off of Twitter. but he has a picture of him in the costume and he's like pulling away the bush so he could smile at the camera. It's hilarious and he goes,

you might be wondering how I got here. And he said he flew all the way from Philly to be grass in the Bad Bunny halftime show. It's a hell of a offer. You want to come to the halftime show? You want to be on the field during the bad bunny halftime show? Here's the bad news. We need you to be a bush.

Yeah, he said that, he said the requirement was be between 5 foot, 7, and 6 feet tall, have an athletic build, and be able to wear 50 pound costume for more than 5 hours. And then he said, we were told not to move because, quote, there's no wind in Puerto Rico, end quote. There were a lot of really cool vignettes, too. Like, it wasn't just the fact that, for example, to get all these sets together, you had to wonder how they were able to strike the set, take it away. So quickly, we find out well, the bushes, for example, are people. But then, you know, there were other vignettes that I thought were really neat. Just all the dancing. Lady Gaga performs.

Pedro Pascal is one of the extras in one of the scenes. Cardi B is a backup dancer. Ricky Martin. Jessica Alba. Yeah, everybody speculated whether or not Ricky Martin was going to be a part of this. Ultimately, he was. There were also, like, cute jokes, like the kids sleeping on three chairs at the wedding. The wedding was real, by the way.

What about that? The fact that the wedding was real. Because even watching it was like, oh, those are pretty good actors. And I was like, oh, that makes all the sense in the world because it seemed very genuine. Well, and then apparently that couple had invited Bad Bunny to their wedding. And he's like, I got you. Super Bowl. That's crazy.

You know, Tyler, what the heck? Like, we got to revisit this because Tyler famously invited George McCasky to his wedding. I don't apparently need to get that funny. Well, George could have stepped up. I know. You could at least brought me along with. But you know what's funny about the grass people is that I thought for a second when we saw like the real marriage going on. I was like, what if they're like the wedding party?

Like that's just like groomsmen and bridesmaids dressed up as the grass. Like that's how they come together of like, all right, you can get married here, but your bridesmaids have to be grass. And at the very end, he gave the Grammy to the child who was an actor that depicted him. I know there was some discussion surrounding that too. Here's the thing. Your bridesmaids have to be. Can you imagine how that would go over? Here's the twists.

With bridesmaids, you know? No dresses are all going to be. match. However, you won't be seen. Yeah. With the way I've heard bridesmaids talk about how the bride puts them in ugly dresses, I think they'd be okay with it. I've, I've had bridesmaid dresses that grass would have been a fair compliment. My friends know me well enough to know that their gift to me is usually to not have me stand in their wedding. Wow. No, I really had more to do with the fact that like I was always living in another place. Like it was hard for me to make bridesmaid commitments when we work nice weekends and live in another city.

See, now that's different with men. I know like what women go through with, and it always does seem stressed. I loved standing up in weddings because you're like part of it. Yeah. You have your best man, of course, that is a, that's a, there's a lot that goes into that. But if you're a groomsman, you get to be one of the stars of the show. Like, but you don't really do anything. It's great.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, there was a time where, like, decorating the church was sprung on me the day before. They're like, oh, great, you're here. You can decorate the church. And I'm like, I have to work. Like, nobody told me I needed to do this today. That's crazy.

So, yeah, I think grass in the wedding would be a better call at times. We do what we can for our friends. But what did I thought it was pretty cool? One of my buddies texted me and said, did you notice that he gave J.J. Berea a shout out, Puerto Rican basketball player? I did not know. Yeah, my buddy, my buddy Hector, who we asked about if whether or not Pitbull was at the game in San Antonio. And he said when he was in the telephone booth, he said something along the lines of Berea who became a champion before LeBron.

I was like, amazing. Who's next year? Taylor Swift? Oh. Is it time? Has Swift done it? She's not done it, has she? She's not famously.

Swift, what about, has Cardi B done it? What about Cardi B? Cardi was in the show? Yeah, Cardi was dancing his. She's in my head. So what about like Pedro Pescal? You had, well, first of all, Ricky Martin. Who I first learned to be Enrique

Martin. Yeah, Lady Gaga was fantastic. She was. And then you had like Jessica Alba was in the show. Yeah, that's what I was saying earlier. It was like Jessica Alba, it was, there were a ton of people were leaving out, I feel. I'm just glad they didn't. Did they put John Bon Jovi?

Because there was way too much Bon Jovi throughout all of that. John Bon Jovi from New Jersey, who's a noted Giants fan, and had a Philadelphia XF. team. Why is he announcing the Patriots? So he is a Giants fan? He's, it's been said that he was a Giants fan. Okay, then what was he doing there? He also had a Philadelphia XFL team.

Why, why, why did they? And I get it. There's a certain segment of the population. I would say middle-aged women that love them some John Bon Jovi. So maybe that's what it is. He needed the Roblo NFL hat on. That's what he knew. Remember that? Oh, yeah.

I heard him talking about it. about that on the pregame show actually. But yeah, it was an incredible performance. It was visually one of the best I had seen. It reminded me of the weekends performance where he had a little bit of that, you know, the wandering through the hallway. Yeah, I thought that was a little too much. I didn't really get the weekends.

Maybe it's my bias against the weekend. His was a bit of performance art, but I was, I enjoyed it. I'm sorry if people didn't, I don't really know what to say. I don't see many people pushing back, do we? Well, not in our off. But yeah, I thought it turned out to be one of the visually most entertaining performances I had seen in a long time. So, kudos to a wonderful vignette and series of vignettes that were performed by Bad Bunny. He was one bad bunny, I tell you.

Benito. Nicely done. Coming out next on Rahimi Harris and Grady, it's time for five on it, and we have a new edition question. We did a little bit of a remix for you. It involves somebody who gets everybody going. We'll do that next. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney.

Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. Number one. What was your biggest takeaway from Super Bowl 60? My biggest takeaway was defense is still win championships. I'm sorry, it's cliche. It's painfully obvious. It's one of those things that you saw coming a mile away.

But what did I say about the Seahawks team? I said they were the most consistent team in the NFL. said it a few times that I love their defense so much. And it showed yet again and again and again. So I wasn't surprised that the defense remained consistent. There are a few things that are consistent in my life. But apparently the Seahawks' 2025 defense was one of them. My main takeaway is you don't need a top five quarterback to win the Super Bowl

when you don't have to go up against the top five quarterback. Got that? Think safe. Points to head. You don't need a top five quarterback to win the Super Bowl when you're not going up against a top five quarterback. This game may have gone very differently if, say, let's start naming guys.

Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes when healthy, we're out there. That's four guys I can tell you from the AFC, who probably fare better than what Drake May did. So that was my biggest takeaway is, yes, defense does win championships, but it's a lot easier when you're not going up against an elite player at the most important position on the field. I'll twist what both of you just said.

Yes, defense wins championships. But boy, do we hate defense in this league. Boy, do we hate running games. What I learned is that we all still need offense that we've been talking about before the show, during the show. The whole thing is what a boring Super Bowl it was. Mully and Haw talked all morning about what a boring Super Bowl it was. I don't care what age people are anymore. The youngans, the boomers, everybody wants offense now.

So that's what I learned from the, but you even said it wasn't the most eventful Super Bowl. Now I got excited for field position and punts. I mean, that's cool. That's fun. But even the party that I was at, people were nodding off because, and I was surprised by that, we still love offense. Number two. Question number two goes out to all the Max Anistas out there listening to 104.3, the score right now. We have a Max Crosby update from Jason LaConforah of SportsBomb.com.

Sports, sports, sports, boom. Lockanfora shared the following quote from an unnamed general manager. Crosby, quote, told Tom Brady he will never play for the Raiders again. That's a fact. He told them he'll retire before he ever plays for them again, but I'm not sure they're actually going to trade him. Miles Garrett said the same thing last year, and we know how that ended up unquote.

That again, an unnamed general manager to Jason Locke and 4 on Sportsboom.com. So here's the question on a scale of 1 to 10 on the Higone meter. Where would you rate the likelihood that Max Crosby will be on a different NFL team next season? Seven. I don't think it's at an 8. I don't think it's at a 9. I don't think it's at a 10 because right now it's an, quote, unnamed general manager, end quote, who heard this and shared with Jason Lackenbora.

On what outlet again? Sportsboom.com. Sportsboom.com, sports, sports, sports boom. Sports velociraptor. I like that, Ray. And I'm not Jason Locker for a season reporter. That's not. But until we have some more sources on this and frankly, like some sort of definitive something, like Trey Hendrickson got in his car and drove away, for goodness

You know, there are other ways of showing protest. So until that happens, especially when the Seahawks, you know, that's part of this, by the way, is Clint Kubiak told Stacey Dales he's going to Vegas. So. Not Disneyland. Straight to Vegas. And like, people are like, oh, did he really? Stacey?

Then where's the video? Well, NFL network posted the video, dorks. So he's probably thinking to himself, oh, you know who I'd like to build my team around? A guy like him. Were people really questioning whether or not? It was so stupid. It was just a cacophony of stupid last night when it came to some of the replies. Being on social media last night was a chore, which is why all I posted was point of order on John Bon Jovi announcing the Patriots.

And then after that I was like, I'm going to be in my notebook. Took a break. Took a break from the old socials. Oh, I was in a box score. I was in play by play and I was writing stuff down. I like a good box score. You can get lost in a box score. Remember when box scores were in the paper in the morning?

And a halftime score. You know, I love a good halftime score. Like I was like, wait, the Patriots have 18. net yards of passing at the half. It's like last year's. The Bears of last year, the halftime stats were hilarious. Atrocious. See at Detroit. Sometimes just take a look. If you're listening right now, go go take a look at the first half of the Bears game against Detroit Lions. But don't do it right now unless you can multitask and listen. Exactly. People are sitting there with their phone right now listening to us.

Oh yeah. They're not really listening either. So we're going to give you some homework. Your homework is look up a random box score from last year and giggle at the results. But yeah, I just, I don't know. I think that if we've seen anything, Miles Garrett is a good example. Trey Hendrickson is another. You know, unfortunately, when you're good, you require a high-price contract, and there's not a lot of teams who can do that. 8.5.

That's the number I'm putting out there for the he-gone media. Here's why. Because I don't think this is just about them being bad. I think he was really, really upset, perturbed at the fact that he said he was healthy enough to play, and they put him on IR anyway at the end of the last season. I think he strikes me as a guy who has a degree of principle, which is going to have him fill in some type of way, and that hasn't worn off.

And this is with a new front office in charge. It would be different if front office was changing this off season. Maybe he's like, all right, I'll hear you out, hear what you have to say. But he probably feels like he already knows what it is, because this is the group that said, yeah, Gino Smith and Pete Carroll are going to fix all our problems. And Pete Carroll lasted how many years as the Raiders head coach? Oh, that's right, one.

So if I'm Max Crosby, I've done my hard time in silver and black. It's time to get out. And I get what you're saying, Layla, specifically about the Trey Hendrickson driving away because even after he, quote unquote, drove away, where did he end up? Right back in a Bengals uniform. I mean, Florida and then ultimately back playing for Cincinnati. Exactly. But I think that there's enough motion here to get something done that would also make sense

for the Las Vegas Raiders because unless they're bringing in a quarterback that I don't know about, The rebuilding process is long. Well, and that's just it. For me, I'm going to put it at an eight that he gone because it's kind of last call for him. Like he's 28 years old. He's still at the peak of his powers. That window is going to last three to four to five years, whatever it is. And I know that it would take two sides to make this happen, obviously. But unless, unless the Raiders tell Max Crosby, hey, don't worry. we're going to build this thing up, we're going to build this thing fast, we're going to be winning before you know it,

unless they can convince him of that. I think even the Raiders would be like, yeah, we'd probably be better off trading this guy and getting the assets and do a rolling rebuild right now. So I put it at 8. Max Crosby is gone. I am not saying that he'll end up with the Bears, though. Number three.

This is fine about it on 104. 1.043, the score with Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody. Here's question number three. the Super Bowl champion Seahawks are on the Bears' 2026 schedule should Chicago open the season in Seattle. Why the heck not? The only other team I see supplanting the Bears would be the Rams because those matchups have been epic. They also had to meet three times in the season.

You heard the Seahawks after the Super Bowl talk about how the Rams lost to them was a catalyst, so much so that they won 10 straight games. The end. and one of them was an absolute classic, the overtime game, and then that was the second regular season meeting, and then the playoff game was pretty dang good too. So when I consider that, if I'm NFL marketing, if I'm NFL marketing, I'm straight petty,

and I'm starting with Rams at Seattle, Packers at Bears. Here's what's interesting about this. The idea that the Seahawks could open the schedule against the Patriots has not escaped me. I feel like that could be a great opening night game as well. But I think they should start with the Bears. I think Bears fans should be clamoring for this. First of all, get that game out the way.

What better way that when they're filling the emotion of having a banner hung at their stadium, maybe the 12s will be not quite as into it? Okay, that's a lie. The 12s are definitely going to be into it. But maybe the emotion overcomes the Seattle Seahawks. Also, maybe Zach Charbonnet is back. I guess he wouldn't be back by then, huh? Move, Bears, get out the way.

Yeah, Kenneth Walker the 3rd. You want less of him more of Charbonate. That's just my personal opinion. They're both good. Yeah, but Walker to me is the more dangerous running back. Look, if you're the Bears, just get it out the way. Plus, it's a measuring stick game. Out the gate.

Like, you'll know very quickly what do you need to work on to be as good as the reigning Super Bowl champions in the team? I feel like has a pretty good chance of getting back to the Super Bowl next year. Oh, crud. I forgot about Austin. I'm sorry. Rams and Niners open in Australia. I'm sorry. I forgot about the Australian aspect of this.

It's always the Australians, I tell you. I just wasn't considering that. I think that with this question about... Tori. Should the bears open up in Seattle? It is, to me, even that we're asking the question, it is, guys, it is the beginning. It is beginning. The massive expectations that the Chicago Bears are going to have,

Are you guys ready for this? Is that a little heavy for you? People are going to be, maybe, and I'm working through it right now. I'm working through it right this second. There are going to be predictions for Caleb Williams to win MVP. Yeah, for the 4,000 yards. You could say it out loud, Marshall, like all of that stuff, for the bears to win the, like, everything. So that is just the beginning of what I want us to all be prepared for,

and that is lofty expectations for your Chicago Bears. Thank you for giving us the runway to prepare. That's a pretty lengthy runway. I'm ready to be part of it too, because why wouldn't we look at what the Bears did last year and say, oh, if they can make that even better, we're going to have more pro bowlers. We're going to have Caleb Williams in getting MVP votes. I don't know if he's going to be the MVP. Votes would be amazing.

It would be amazing. For a Bears quarterback to get MVP votes? To be a crazy concept. One of the legit finalists. Are you kidding? You know what's common though, Lela? It's all coming out. Dare to dream.

Number four. The Bulls and Hornets have amended the Kobe White trade after a physical showed White had a left calf injury and would have to miss time. The Hornets are now sending two second rounders. That's a 2031 second round pick from the Knicks, a 2031 second rounder from the Nuggets, to Chicago instead of three.

Has your overall view of what the Bulls did at the trade deadline now changed now that Kobe White, the Kobe White trade had to be adjusted. All right. So this is my first time addressing anything trade deadline since this happened on these airwaves. I got to tell you, first of all, my overall view hasn't necessarily changed because I think that the bears, or excuse me, I think that the bulls. Bears. They didn't take a hard enough nose dive if their goal is to quote unquote get out of the middle.

They're still in the middle. I don't know if you guys have seen the first two games that they play. another 0 and 2 since the deadline. They have good enough players to win games. That is problematic. Also, are they going to keep Josh Gideon's sideline forever? Because when those guys come back, guess what? They're going to win more games.

Trey Jones, not Mike Jones, just so you know. Trey Jones. And so the only thing I learned from this trade having to be adjusted after the fact is, good on the Bulls. I will give them a piece of like, You got rid of an injured player and got stuff back for him that otherwise would have walked away at the end of the season. So actually, I'm going to commend the Bulls for finding a way to get Kobe White out of here with stuff coming back. Because we all knew he was hurt.

Everyone knew he was hurt. The first time we tried to play back-to-back games, guess what? Re-injured the calf. And to get him out of here, I know it's only two second rounders and some players. It's still better than what they would have gotten otherwise, which is absolutely nothing for Kobe White. Nothing has changed for me because even though there is much work to do for the Chicago Bulls to still figure out exactly who this team is, I am. Look, and I know these are like very minimal standards right now. Go ahead.

They did something and they did a lot of something. And I don't know if that something is going to work. They must have done something. They did something and they did it with some of their big names. so I am until further notice, until I see what Arturis Karnassovis and Mark Eversley and Billy Donovan do in the next 30 games and in the offseason and going into next year, that's when I'll get judgy.

But right now I'm like, you did something. And it's a bad way to live. I know, but that's where I am. I think every draft asset counts. And I think that every dollar counts because this isn't the old NBA where you could spend a lot of money and the tax didn't really matter. And so because of that, I am bummed because that's a problem. Like when you have a physical issue so much that it costs you a draft pick

when they made a clue that they find them important, that is a problem. It does, as we've said, confirm how injured Kobe White was. And for the Bulls to somewhat pull a fast one when it comes to Kobe's health. What about them Bulls? Yeah, that's, that's, dare I say, savvy? Is that the right word? I feel like it's, I mean, I think. It's pretty good.

I'd say so. But you know, I mean, it's, there's a lot that comes with it. You know, you trade an injured player and maybe the physicals aren't what you want. There's a lot of tentacles where that can go. Like, what's the long-term relationship between those two teams going to be? But all of that said, it just makes me wonder why that wasn't more prevalent here, right? Like, that's the first question you're asking is, well, wait a second. Why was he playing so much?

But we all thought it was to do what? Showcases trade values. Also, he's in a contract here. That's it. So I understand the process. It's just a bummer that it costs the bulls something that they value in a draft pick. But the biggest takeaway, by the way, for this whole trade deadline thing, yo, you stink, stink, stink at evaluating.

Because where's Daly and Terry right now on the street? That's your 18th overall draft pick in 2022. And that's the real issue. is what are you going to do with those picks once you get them? Number five. Five out of it on 104.3, the score. Here's our final question. What was your Super Bowl meal?

I ended up having steak, but it wasn't the one I was going to make. It was a leftover from the night before. What? So you had me hyped. Steak weekend for Layla. Love that. I mean, I spoke it into existence. Yeah, my friends cooked a dinner the night before.

This is precious. They adopted a truffle tree. in France as part of their honeymoon. So this tree produces truffles. So as part of adopting this tree for this farm, it's like a co-op type of idea. They did like this truffle dinner with all these truffles that they got mailed.

So I learned about them and they cooked a wonderful steak. So my second city prime steak will be saved for a later date and a special occasion. In the meantime, I had a really lovely steak from Julesosco, Julesco that I paired with a massive salad from one of those salad and a bag kits, also from the Jules. That sounds so healthy.

I mean, the dinner the night before was not. But the leftover steak with the salad, you try to have some balance. For me, I'm going to give you the rundown. You're ready? I was over at the WLS, the old ABC 7 where they had a, I didn't know. I didn't know they had like the potluck thing going on. So I had crock pot turkey and gravy, meatballs, crock pot, pulled pork pork, which was tender and delicious.

Some chips. one slice of domino's sausage pizza and three mini chocolate chip cookies that were homemade and delicious nice we so for this gathering that I attended the idea was the gathering magic the gathering the idea was like it was everything was going to be centered around ordering pizza so there were dishes that were brought like for instance I made

guacamole I made my own fresh from scratch seasoning and everything the whole I selected my own avocados at the Jules as well. So yeah, yeah. So what had happened, though, was the pizza never got delivered. So everybody's kind of waiting and hoping for the pizza to come. The pizza did not come.

So we just picked out on guacamole, casso dip, meatballs, and just a variety of chips and dips and whatnot. Well, I'm sorry that you didn't get your pizza yesterday. Yeah. But it came to you today. Did it? Thanks to Lou Malnotties, they brought by their heart-shaped pizzas.

Because today apparently is National Pizza Day. Did you guys know that? I did not know that. Because for me, every day is National Pizza Day. Lou Malnottis is celebrating by dishing out the love, fan-favored heart-shaped pizzas are back. They come in cheese, pepperoni, and sausage with the Malnottis flaky, buttery crust. These pizzas are not just delicious. They're doing good because $1 from every heart-shaped pizza sold goes to make a wish,

helping grant wishes for children with critical illnesses. Heart-shaped pizzas are available now through February 28th at all Lou Malnati's locations for carryout, dine, or delivery. I did not mean to work that in there, but when you see the opening for the segue, we got to do what we got to do. I was reminiscent of Kenneth Walker's performance yesterday, just going for it. Did you see the note about his dad, by the way,

that his dad attended the game? That was pretty incredible. It's good stuff. Good stuff. He's dead. He's been to an NFL game, and his agent talked him into it, and Kenneth Walker, what? The third? Your dad at the game?

First time ever? How about you get the Super Bowl MVP trophy? And you get to witness it in real life. His dad afraid of crowds. That's why he never goes to games. Yeah, well, you know what? It worked out for everybody involved. Here's the question we have, though, is adjacent to the Super Bowl from yesterday.

Drake May and Caleb Williams always get compared. Same draft class. It's going to happen. But how would Caleb Williams have done? in the Super Bowl if he was quarterbacking and not Drake May. Let's examine it. We'll get your thoughts to 312-644-67. This is 104-3, The Score.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's 10-2 to 2 on 104-3, the score. Arms out-stretched, four-man rush, here's the snap. He moves up a bubble to ball, and Seattle's recovered. He was hit. The ball, Pro-Bard-free. It's a fumble by the Pankhammed. three and quarterback. And Seattle has recovered at the 37 of New England. First turnover of the game in Super Bowl 60. That's our friend Kevin Harlan on the call. Westwood won courtesy. This is Rahimi

Harrison Grotie on 104.3 the score. Drake May did not have the best day in the Seahawks 2913 win over the Patriots. The second year quarterback had 295 yards passing a lot of that late in the game in the fourth quarter. Two touchdowns, two interceptions. He was sacked six times. And yes, he also lost a fumble. So accountable for three turnovers total in the game. And we've talked about this. It's been one of the ongoing discussions in the NFL is Caleb Williams' quarterback draft class, the draft of 2024. And Fohnicks, a part of it, the book, you know, that Seth Wicker Sham Road, American Kings, the quarterback book, that centers around the discussion

with Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, for example, big part of that story. Drake May is also a part of that draft. And while Drake May was getting MVP votes, I don't think that we here felt like we had to compare the two as much because it seemingly felt like all's well that ends well.

But I do want to ask this question. We ask it a view as well. 312, 64, 64, 67, 67. If Caleb Williams were playing quarterback for the Patriots. I'm pretty sure he would have had a better Super Bowl performance than Drake May. What do you think?

I think this is super hypothetical, but I tend to agree with you, Leila. Here's why. Caleb Williams has shown the ability to have a spark and to make ridiculous throws. While you can argue Drake May is more consistent because of that passing percentage that's over 70% for the season, you can in the same breath say, but he doesn't make the type of plays that Caleb Williams has been able to make. And we saw that only grow and trend in the right direction towards the tail end of the season and directly into the playoffs.

That's the reason why they almost were able to beat the Rams in advance to the NFC championship game because of Caleb Williams making ridiculous plays. And when you bring pressure, he tends to make the most out of those opportunities. And I think his line would have held up better as well. Now, I will also say this before I want to get your opinion, Mark, is that May did say he received a pain-killing injection for that right-throwing shoulder before the game last night. So that is also to be considered as well. I was actually watching the game, I was thinking of Caleb,

not because of this question necessarily, but because I was thinking, oh, he is going to pull Caleb Williams, because there were games where Caleb Williams was not a factor for two-plus quarters, sometimes three-quarters in a game, especially early on this year. And when Drake May makes that, when it's 19-0-0 in the fourth quarter, and Drake May makes the 24-yard pass to Mack Hollins ahead of the Hollins TD, which only made it 19 to 7 at the time, I thought, oh, wow, okay, he's going to pick it up here.

And then, and then there's the part where the Julian Love interception comes, where on that drive, twice Drake May almost as if he knew he had to throw. throw the ball downfield and he did it blindly twice. He should have been intercepted twice on the Julian Love drive. So that's where it departed. So that's where it departed for me. And if Caleb Williams is in at that time, once Caleb Williams got going, even if he was bad for a half or three quarters, he didn't stop in the fourth quarter. Drake May started to be good and that was bad. So my answer is yes, Caleb Williams would have been better, especially late in the game than Drake May for those specific reasons. Well, and that's how I

feel is that given the comeback element of what Caleb does, you know, the fact that there were seven fourth quarter comebacks that he led for the team, almost eight, let's face it, almost eight if it hadn't been for the last one. There is that element of, yeah, maybe he throws one of the similar interceptions where he's trying to force something late over the middle. Okay, yeah, I could see, fair is fair, you know, guys throw that interception. Quarterbacks in the league will throw that when they're down and they're trying to make something happen and they're coming from behind. But everything else, like I think the scrambling,

Drake May had a lot of like up the middle type of runs, but I don't necessarily know that he would have been able to throw on the run like Caleb Williams can. He needed spectacular. Like Drake May, we debate like who's, and Drake May has the edge right now in Caleb Williams, probably, right, on the overall as a quarterback. But Drake May still can't do the spectacular things, make the spectacular throws to the same level that Caleb would. Williams can't. Like he needed, they needed desperate, spectacular last night and didn't get it.

That's exactly what Caleb Williams provided the Bears last year. No matter what you want to say about his season, Caleb made spectacular throws in the fourth quarter and May couldn't pull it off. I don't know that I'm ready to say that Drake May has this edge on Caleb Williams in the same way that you just said it. Maybe we're talking about two different things though. So when you say he's got that, he's like the MVP runner up in the league. Well, like completion percentage was clearly in May's favor. And overall, if you pull the NFL right now, if they did a ranking of that draft class, Drake May in general would be ahead of Caleb Williams, would he not? Here's my question.

If we redrafted right now, would you take Caleb Williams or would you take Drake May? I would still take Caleb Williams over Drake May. I think I would too, just because the sky is the limit, for lack of better phrase. Whereas with somebody like Drake May, you can see the ceiling. I don't see the ceiling yet for Caleb Williams. and that doesn't mean he's going to be elite or great for the next 10 years, but it does mean that there is a lot of potential still with Caleb. Yeah, I think that the issue lies in what you guys are talking about.

Right now, one quarterback's forte more than another in Caleb Williams is the outstanding play, the play that is the outlier. Which you needed yesterday. Very rare quarterbacks can make. And yes, you do need a lot of that to win you a Super Bowl, especially against one of the best defenses in the league. where I think there's room for improvement is something that I think a lot of quarterbacks can improve, which is plays in structure.

So if the mundane is the issue more so than the spectacular, I'm pretty sure that coaches can help you get to the mundane. You know, that's the thing. It's that the thing that seems to be fixable or easily understanding why the bridge would be there is that it's incredibly possible that a lot of the stuff that we would like to see him get back. If he makes two more of those throws in a game that are the mundane, Dane or the easier ones, or I don't know, let's go back to the obvious, the bear's receiving court catches the ball better.

Yeah. Then, you know, Caleb Williams is still my guy over May. Now, did May throw some dimes, you know, or at least try to with that shoulder? Yeah, you can see why the deep ball accuracy is there. Neither one of those quarterbacks yesterday were afraid to throw a deep ball into double coverage. Neither is Caleb Williams. But when it comes to the idea of being chased out of your pocket, you know, if they're

going to attack left tackle like they did yesterday, I like Caleb. Williams's chances better than Drake Mays. I just wonder because maybe this is where my in-town stupid comes into bias, like centers up. I feel like Caleb Williams with that

skill position set is very different than Caleb Williams with the particular skill position players he has here. I think there are guys. Yeah, there are guys on the Patriots where there's Stefan Diggs and obviously Matt Collins showed you what he could do yesterday, but I feel like he has better weapons in Chicago.

so maybe he wouldn't have fared as well with that group of skill players in New England. I mean, look at the leading receivers yesterday. This is, again, understanding how good the Seattle defense is. It was Mack Hollins with 78 yards, four catches. DeMario Douglas, Ramandre Stevenson, before Stefan Diggs, who had 37 yards receiving. Hunter Henry, Trevionn Henderson, Kishon Boone with 21, Austin Hooper, and then Kyle Williams. So CX had a defined plan when it came to making Drake May have to go to different receivers than as usual, trying to get to checkdowns. Like all of those things I feel like Caleb Williams has a handle on enough to where I would have trusted him in that game.

Yeah, I think, so to answer your question, I think we can agree. We all believe Caleb Williams would have played better in that game yesterday. again, the only question I have in my mind is a fully healthy, Drake, May. I know you don't get to have him fully healthy, but without having to get his shoulder shot up, does that make a difference in this conversation that we're happening? Or do we just believe that the Seahawks defensive pressure is so stout that it wouldn't have made that much of a difference in the performance of one Drake May? I mean, it's a great question.

I feel like nobody really wants to think about the possibility that Drake May was playing hurts. But he was. We know he was playing hurt. It is, but at the same time, that's why I was saying, like, if you're flushed out of the pocket, because he was sacked six times in this game, yeah, then I like Caleb on the run. That's why I, that's my thought. He did have that one May that burst up the middle where it was like, oh, you're going to give me the middle of the field right now for whatever it was, 30 yards.

And it probably feels like he could have done that more often based on what he had done just in previous playoff games this season. And I thought as the game, yeah, as the game went on and you weren't getting anywhere with or explosive passes or anything, yeah, he should have looked to take off more. Maybe that is, maybe that is where the injury part came in, that he was in his own head. I mean, I thought he looked hesitant all night. Yeah, and I feel you on that. I think there was a lot going on when it came to the aspect of balancing an injury with balancing

how to play against the Seahawks defense and it's the Super Bowl. There's a lot there to have to figure out at one time. Great point made by 630 on the 10. X-line. Caleb probably Caleb wouldn't have been sack six times. He's got that elite escape ability and probably takes better care of the football, which is a good part why his completion

percentage is lower. Turn on the film. Caleb, yeah, we don't need to turn the film. We saw it. Caleb is a superstar. We understand the superstar potential there. But yeah, I don't think he gets sacked six times. That's it for me. Yeah, he doesn't he's running out of that pocket. Especially the pick six at the end with

Ocena Nuosu. That is one that That was a Justin Fields special right there where Fields never saw the defenders. It was like a horror film watching. It was like, no, that guy's coming for you. Caleb feels that. Caleb's got the Spidey. He feels that.

There was a lot of that going on in the game yesterday. Debbie Witherspoon was coming in unchecked on the right side. They didn't even try. They didn't even attempt to slide protection. And how many times have we talked about that? That's QB's job. You know, there was a lot of that going on where there are some unchecked rushers. We're watching it.

Like, no, they're going to. to get it. That reminded me of Justin Fields. Is that the Jaws music or is that the law and order? Good question. I was going for Jaws there because of the, you know, the linebackers. Terror in the water? Yeah.

Blood in the water, folks. Coming to get you. This note being posted today on Twitter, by the way, by Ben Zelensky. He's a statehouse reporter with Capitol News, Illinois. Nugget from Governor Prisker. We're in consistent, consistent conversation with the Chicago Bears. There's a real possibility that many of the things we put on the table are the things they're willing to do to stay in the state.

He adds he doesn't take their indie move as a bluff. Is that leverage? Do I hear about some leverage? This is from Ben Zelensky. He's a reporter with Capitol News, Illinois. But who is he talking? He's quoting Governor Pritzker. Okay.

Pritzker, we actually, we could probably turn around that sound. I just saw it online. Interesting answers. There's an event going on this Wednesday night, little pep rally. if you will, in I believe Arlington Heights in terms of put a little pressure on the state to wake up and go along with some infrastructure plans. So that is coming soon too. They said that they would be willing to pony up a billion dollars. That's not nothing.

That is not nothing. I mean, but it is the, this Indiana thing has awakened Illinois a little bit, but more to come this week. 6.30, when did Drake get hurt? We do not know. that was just the report I read on ESPN from Mike Rice was that May said he received an injection for his right throwing shoulder before the game last night. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3,

the score. One major aspect of the Super Bowl we have not gotten to yet are the commercials. Mark Grody has some thoughts. He of the Comedy School. I have some thoughts. Oh, putting pressure on me now. Yeah. Marshall Harris always has a thought.

So I want to hear what he has to say about it. Congratulations. You do. Like, you're always good for an opinion. You're always good for a thought. Whether it's right or wrong, I've got a thought. Don't we all? Put that at the promo.

Marshall Harris, good for a thought. Do you know what that was? That was sister messing with brother being like, me? I've been prodded. You've been prodded. Yeah. Okay. Can you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing?

And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys. Good better best. Oh, man. Never let rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. Oh, this song is so good.

This is the song from the trailer to FX's show Beauty. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody on 1043, The Score. The trailer's good. I haven't seen the show yet. The Ashton Coocher show? Yeah. It's kind of a riff off of the substance movie where you can take this shot.

It's going to make you pretty. But uh-oh, watch out their side effects. effects are mutation and killing. If it's not punked, I don't care if it's about Ashton. You know, that's it. Just punked is all at all. I'm more the butterfly effect guy, but that's just me. You more what?

Butterfly effect. Oh, yeah, okay, okay. It wasn't bad. But the song is a banger, so I was glad they revived it. I thought that was excellent music choice on their part. In the meantime, it wasn't one of the many commercials we saw during, as Dustin lovingly calls it, Big Game 60, which I think is hilarious because essentially, you know, if you use it in a promotional copy, you have to say, big game.

The big game. So there were many commercials, few of note for me. Mark, what stood out to you that was like notable? I got two of them that were notable. I really enjoyed Adrian Brody making fun of himself because every movie that Adrian or a lot of the movies at Adrian Brody, and he plays like the most serious, dramatic. The most dramatic, the most worn down depressed humans that you will ever come across piano. And then they go and cry? Yeah, yeah. So to see him, he's in a turbo tax commercial and he's doing the Adrian Brody dramatic commercial. And the director's like, tone it down, man. You don't always have to be Adrian Brody. So I enjoyed that one. And also probably from nostalgia reasons.

Oh, here we go. I am like Jurassic Park, the original, is. in my top five of movies all time just because of this discovery of the movie to see Dr. Grant and Ian Malcolm and Laura Dern's character all out there and it was just it hit me right. Okay, you're using Jurassic Park the original for what was, what was even the

I'm actually not even sure what the commercial was. It was for internet. Was it? Internet? Everything.com? The whole, I think it was like, maybe Xfinity. It was the whole point of the commercial was. Because if you had just had, if you had better internet, the park wouldn't have shut down. And then everybody loves the happy. I will happily endorse your park. Yeah.

So those are the two. I mean, there's a lot of them, but those are the two that stopped me and made me pay attention. The guy Fierry, just a guy for Bosch. So that one was good because they leaked a little bit of the marketing first where guy showed his image. But you didn't know what it was from. It was him without any of the flare that guy. Fieri has without the frosted tips, you know, without the bulberry, jewelry, without the white stitched jeans. You know where I'm going with this without the affliction shirt.

Looks like a totally different guy. It was disturbing. You couldn't even tell, like, if you put that photo up, like, that's Guy Fierry. And Bosch is actually one of our sponsors. That's why I remembered it was Bosch. But the formation where he puts his hand on the fridge and then he transforms into regular guy Fiery. Yeah, that was really disturbing to see Guy Fiery. very without flair. And that's how I know I'm an old. The most disturbing part about getting older is not your friend's kids getting older, or you getting older.

For me, it's not the doctor's visits, whatever. It's understanding that now I'm supposed to be in the demographic who can spend money. And I'm like, ha ha! Jokes on you. I get these references and I still can't spend that much money. And then I'm reassessing my life choices. So my number one commercial is probably not going to be anybody else's number one commercial. But come on, man.

Come on, man. It's definitely... Goodwill. Bruce Ariens. And the relax your tight end for prostate cancer. Oh. Unveilling a new way to test for it without having to, you know. Was that where they're showing the butt close-ups?

The butt's clenching? Literally, right? It starts out with like a bunch of tight ends. Like you had... I don't know what we need that for, that audio, but we need to get it. You had like Tony Gonzalez's gronk. Who else was in it? I think Kittle was in it too.

Greg Olson was in it and it was just like you didn't even know what they were talking about because it was like relaxed tight ends and the whole thing was like these tights are getting pampered

and then once Bruce Aaron gets in there and explains you what he's pitching and then you see the close-ups of the hinds the hindquarters relaxing I was like oh that's excellent use it was good

that was kind of weird to see the older players though they were in full football uniform so to see some of those guys like Tony Gonzalez and Greg Olson in uniform, like at their current age was kind of funny looking. And that was the second commercial with butts, by the way.

Levi's was the other one. Dochey was in that. What was that? Yeah, I missed that one. As a Levi's commercial, just, you know, a bunch of jeans. So they're, an excuse to show butts. Did you see the Matthew McConaughey trolling Bradley Cooper?

Oh, yeah, that was good, too. It was until the end when there was poor sound editing. Like, I need Bradley Cooper to enunciate the line, football is selling food or else the hook doesn't work. I had to rewind it several times. And again, I sound like an angry woman yelling at a cloud. But that defeats the purpose. When you have to go back and rewind it.

I've yelled at my cloud before because it was full and I didn't realize it was full. And I was like, cloud. We need more space. I'm not paying for it either. Well, yeah. And when the cloud gets full, it doesn't back up right. And your encrypted data goes bye-bye. It's very bad.

Yeah, that ad campaign, that Uber Eats ad campaign, I had that on my list of least favorite because it's just getting old. Like, it's played out now. They've done these, these, these commercials where they're like referencing food and like it's a whole conspiracy theory that the NFL is selling food. I mean, the Hall of Fame being a juicer is pretty accurate though.

Oh yeah. Yeah, I wasn't ready for that one. How do we do on Goodwill Duncan? Too flashy? That was, I hated that one. Really?

Why? Because of the... It was the AI of it all. Yeah. I feel like it was all, if you look at all. It's scary. It was a very cool idea to have all these 90s TV stars make cameos. Yeah, Sam.

I did like Sam alone showing up on my TV. Very cool, very cool, but they are all, like, looking at, as they did in the peak era of the 90s when those shows were on. But that's the whole thing. It was a, it was a... So does it just freak you out that we can, that we're capable of doing that? Is that what you're saying? Yes. I understand what you're saying.

Like, because it was a good... I liked the commercial, but I wasn't, this was a little too good. Like, you could really bring these folks back like that. Like, that's creepy. Ben Affleck was the best part of it. I thought. Like, he's really good at selling ridiculousness. He is.

We know he loves Duncan, so it's authentic. I got a phrase out of it. I called it after I finished watching it and thought about it for like five seconds, I was like, that is just the most egregious case of nostalgia porn I think I've ever seen. That's a great way to play. You just nailed it. It was just over the top. And just this doesn't know.

My sensibilities are quite offended. As if you even needed it. Here's Sam Malone for you now. I will watch this commercial because a person I remember is in it. Yeah. Sam Malone gets girls. Like Jalil White Jasmine Guy. Also, the other thing that bothered me, like gave me the creeps was Rocket Mortgage, the company who brought you the,

We're going to try to revive spending concepts of pre-2008 crash, decided to use the Mr. Rogers theme song to encourage people to try to buy houses. See, I missed that. That's one that I missed. When you're twisting the Mr. Rogers theme song to try to convince people to buy houses in this economy for capitalist gain, And I participate in capitalism. That's not the point here. It's just some things you need to be separate. And for me, that was a bridge too far.

The whole thing, we don't have a choice but to participate. That's how you live and pay your bills. And yeah, we kind of have to do the thing that's everybody else to do it. Yeah, I'm not saying anti-capitalist. I'm just saying don't use Mr. Rogers to try to convince people to take out a mortgage. Some things need to stay sacred. That's it. Nothing is sacred.

Nothing is sacred. That is the lesson I took away from the Super Bowl commercials. Yeah, I willingly participate in the system. I'm not saying that. but I also have scruples. Oh, you do, do you? Yeah. I don't have any scruples.

Yeah, neither do I. Layla's got scruples. What I do with them, I'm not quite sure yet. Dan Widerer is next. The score! Dan Widerer. 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 Widerer said we would mention this nugget. Host of the take the North. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Weider. Thanks, Coach. We'll go first to Dan Whittier.

On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, The Score. Weezy. That poor Bears PR guy. I think about him every time. This is Rehmi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. And we go to our Circa Resort and Casino hotline. Circa Las Vegas.com. That is where we connect with Dan Weiderer, the senior writer for the athletic who covers

the Bears. He is the co-host of the Take the North Pop. podcast, DTN, alongside our own Mark Grody. Dan, thanks for joining us. Hi, guys. Welcome to the NFL offseason. Oh, we've made it. Look at that. The weed man has spoken. The season is over. Dan, Mark is trying to call you the weed man.

And I'm pretty sure that refers to something else. How do you feel about this? Weed man, weed man, weed man. It does not apply to me, but I have been called that many times over the course of Okay. Dating all the way back to junior high. We can throw something out here right now. All of the people that knew me in childhood just call me weed.

And so my nickname has kind of evolved over the years during various markets and on this station as well. And you can call me just about anything you want. Wait, wait, wait. What is your preferred nickname? Because I don't want to call you weed if you don't call me. What are you talking about? We've got to call me weed now. I think of a little more endearing, but that's also Mark Grody who put me on to the weedsy.

So what do you, Dan, weeder what to be called. It's whatever you prefer. I will just tell you that, as I just shared, weed was what I was called through all of high school and really through college, and it's what my close friends still refer to me as. And a wide. You get a wide, too, right?

Some people do the IE with the EI, the Widener. No, don't get that. Stop trying to make wide happen, Grody. I took it, I pushed it too far. Yeah. I have shared that my high school homeroom teacher added an N and would call me Weidner, which that was always fun. Oh, yeah, that was what you said.

Ah, yes, the Trubitskying of your name. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Josh McGowan. We were. Of course, we shared our takeaways, and I think we watch the Super Bowl a little bit differently now, since the Bears did actually have two playoff games this season.

You know, you're evaluating through a different lens. You want to say to yourself, what would the Bears do if they were facing Seattle and the NFC championship game? If they were facing the Patriots, you know, we asked the question about Caleb Williams, if he were in Drake May's spot for the Patriots because they're drafted the same year. You know, what about this Bears season and watching the Bears? What changed were you and you were watching the Super Bowl last night with that lens?

So we'll never know how Caleb would have performed against that particular Seahawks defense on that particular stage. We will get a glimpse next season of that matchup, though. And it'll be an interesting test to see what the Bears do with the offense that they have that's obviously evolving. And we expect to improve against a Seahawks defense. guys. It was great all year, and then it may have been at its best in the biggest game of the year, which is really impressive because Mike McDonald does so much stuff that it just relies on the cohesion and the detail, and they just mastered it last night. They had the Patriots' offensive line uncomfortable, which then made Drake May uncomfortable, and they just didn't really

ever let up until the game was well in hand. And I think at the end of the third quarter, the Patriots were averaging two yards of play after three quarters of a Super Bowl. And so you just got to give the Seahawks their flowers for how well they played. And it wasn't anomaly because we saw that all year long from that group. I'm curious, Dan, what was your biggest takeaway from this game through the lens of what the Bears need to do to get to be on the level where they can play in that game next year? Well, you just, I mean, you just have to understand how hard it is to get there, you know, and I think that they do very well. And now it's just about going and finding ways to strengthen your roster everywhere you can strengthen it to understand that you're you're in a

different class than you were in at this time last year like you have you have elevated yourself uh into the level of being a team that is a a playoff football team that has a chance to stay there for the rest of this decade and beyond and now you just have to figure out the keys to sustaining success that gives you the maximum number of opportunities to try to to get hot in January right like that's what this is all about because there is a lot of super bowl contenders that never play in a Super Bowl. You know, and so you can, you can be a legitimate Super Bowl contender and never get to play in that game just because of how difficult this league is. And so I think the Bears' next step is figuring out how to sustain success in order to give themselves the maximum number

of opportunities to play in January. And like I said, get hot and ultimately be in February one day. Right now they are trying to replace success, if you will, at the offensive coordinator position. They have hired a press tailor. Yeah. And Dan, this is a great question for you because you talked to Presta Taylor quite a bit this year in the hallway at Halis Hall. We were afforded that opportunity a couple times a month to talk to the assistant. But it feels like you spoke to him, it felt like just as much, if not more than anybody. What's he all about from your conversations with him? Well, the two places I'd start, Grotie, is this is this guy who's very bright and he's bought in.

And that's very important for this position because you essentially are going to have to be somebody who amplifies Ben Johnson's message. If you're helping with installs, if you're leading post-practice, you know, film review, whatever it may be, your voice has to be almost identical to the head coaches. And it has to spit out all of the points of emphasis that the head coach needs. And so for them to be able to hit the ground running, obviously you said they hired, but it's a promotion. You know, Press was the passing game coordinator last season. And so he knows what Ben's all about, right? Like he watched Declan Doyle in that role. He knows what's expected of them.

And I think you're going to have a guy that's truly dedicated to helping him. Ben be at his best, which then helps Caleb be at his best, which then helps the football team be at their best to make a run as long as they can make it. So it's going to be interesting to see how that evolves. Well, and also, Dan, I feel like Press Taylor was another one of these names that, you know, it's kind of similar to Eric B. Enemy. There might have been a previous assumption of him or a previous understanding, but flourished with this coaching staff. You know, the same can be said for Eric B. Enemy, now the O.C. back in Kansas City. What do you think, what do you think about Press Taylor just having talked to him yourself and who he is as a person

and what you can tell us about just like discussions you've had with him and how he'll fit into this? Yeah, you know, I mean, obviously he had experience with Chip Kelly when he first got in the league and then with Doug Peterson and Frank Reich. And so he's got, you know, some knowledge from some people that have done this at a high level. A little Chicago related tidbit. Press was a quality control coach, I think at the time that the Eagles on Cork the Philly Special. and he was the one that lifted it from the Bears playbook, right? Like the Bears ran a version of that play in Minneapolis

against the Vikings in a meaningless game. And then the Eagles took it. They applied their own sort of twists, formational and schematic twist to it and ran it in the Super Bowl on a fourth down to win the biggest game that the franchise had ever won up to that point. And so that's a little nugget there of a guy who's always looking for creativity. And that's going to help a head coach in Ben Johnson, who's got the creative tendencies and the willingness to try things

and take ideas from any angle. And so look, like this is going to be, again, like this is a continuation, and the Bears have to lean into continuity in 2026 with everything they're bringing back on the offensive side of the ball. From the quarterback to the play caller, to in this case a coordinator who is here last year, to all the personnel that they have in the offensive side of the ball.

They've got to take a leap forward because of the continuity, and Press will play a small part in that. Interesting to see exactly how big of a role he plays going forward. Another position that's open right now for the Bears is that of assistant general manager. How do you think that gets filled? Do you have anybody that you're looking at that might step into that spot,

whether internally or externally? Yeah, I don't know that they've made any decisions there. I actually cast some lines on that late last week, and I still feel like they're making that decision. Jeff King is the obvious in-house promotion. You slide him over, I think, his current title, is Senior Director of Player of Personnel. He's been here since the early days of the Ryan Pace regime,

and so he knows everything inside that building and has been a trusted resource for Ryan Pohl. So we'll see if they decide to, make that kind of easy slide over promotion or if they've got other things in mind. But yeah, that is something that they're going to have to kind of get solidified soon. You know, two weeks from now, we will all be at the combine in Indianapolis. It comes quickly. And so most teams like to go there with everything kind of intact so that they can go do their business with maximum efficiency while they're down there. A couple of business items here. A score employee

Pardth has suggested that we need to get you a weed man lawn care. endorsement. That's one possibility for weeds. Yeah. Oh yeah. There it is. There it is. We're an edible endorsement. I mean, let's be broadcast here. Yeah, yeah. It's all out in the open. The other one, one of the text is hilarious.

What I won't read it. I won't do. I'm not going to read it. Is it from 574? That is pretty funny. Read it to me later, Dorothy. We'll send you that message offline. Oh, that is definitely offline material. hilarious. I've been dumped one too many times on this program, so I'm not going to be the one to read that.

I don't know. Could I read? No, I'm not going to do it. Mark, don't do it. Mark? If I have to ask, I'm losing my fastball, I guess. All right, Weedsie, will there be a vacay for the Weedsie family any time in the offseason? Well, spring break, we usually kind of attach spring break to one side of the owner's meetings, right?

And so then we'll go enjoy that. It usually works out pretty well. So that's a month away, I guess, just a little bit more than a month away. It will be heading down to Arizona where the owner's meetings are this year. But on the front end, we're going to do Sedona for a few days and Scottsdale as well. Hold on. That's not a vacation if it's with the NFL owners meetings. No, no, it's before the owner's meeting.

So you go and you do the full week and then I stay and everybody else goes home and then I go back to work when the owner's meeting start. All right. Now the serious question. that you've seen the reports. Max Crosby apparently told Tom Brady there is no way he would ever return to the Raiders. Is there a scenario where the Bears would have enough wiggle room, so to speak, to entertain even the possibility of somebody like Max Crosby on the Bears?

To me, the amount of gymnastics that would need to be done to not only come up with the, I mean, you have the draft capital, whether you want to use it to trade for somebody of that caliber. But then you've got to pay them for a long time at a high price tag. And they're already strapped up against the cap. And so I just, I don't see that being realistic this offseason. I know it's going to be a major talking point among Bears fans until Max Crosby has a new team. But it just, it doesn't feel realistic with the stage that the bears are at right now to be able to make that work. You know, Gertie, we talked last week in just about the number of big ticket expenditures they've had over the last 18 months. There's a, a ton of them.

And there is still a salary cap here in the NFL. It's not like Major League Baseball where you can just go do anything you want if you're a major market team. And so I just, I don't see that being practical or realistic for them at this point. Oh, they can't do anything they want either, as we have learned. But to that end, Anthony Heron did ask this. And Brad Biggs gave us an update on this. I want to say somewhere around the time Micah Parsons was available. So August is what the bears are spending specifically out of their cap relative to the

the rest of their spending on the defensive line. It's a significant number, and he asked one of the scribes, aka Kevin Fishbane, Brad Biggs, et cetera, to try to figure that out. Do you have a relative number, at least, on the top of your head? Because a significant portion of their salary cap is going to the defensive line. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't have the percentage right off hand,

but you're talking about the contract they gave to Montes-Swe. You're talking about the contract they gave to Dioa Dangbo. You're talking about the contract they gave to Grady Jarrett. You know, those are three pretty big expenditures there. And so, like, I think people in this town are going to have to become comfortable with the idea that a good chunk of their 2026 improvement up front is going to have to be in-house improvement, guys that just take the next step in their own production. And then obviously you're going to try to find some bargain signings and obviously the draft to add impact there. I wouldn't be surprised if they put some focus on the interior of the defensive line over the next six weeks or so to try to get that a little bit strong. and then, you know, find their way through the draft and get the roster set there.

But, yeah, like, this is, this is part of building the roster up and building it for sustained success. And some of that is with players you already have, you have to get the return on investment of what you put into them. And so, like, that's why some teams fall off the side of a cliff and other teams keep going up the mountain because that's really hard to do. And that's something that the bears are really going to have to focus on. This is as optimistic as you've been about the Bears offseason since what year? 2019. Okay.

Yeah, that was a, you know, that was a big offseason. People tend to kind of revise the history of that in terms of what the anticipation for what that season could be. Obviously, I think that the most notable difference this time around is you feel like your quarterback has a much higher ceiling than you had back then. And you feel like your head coach is more proven, you know, in terms of what he does best. And so that you look like Matt Nagy was the coach of the year that off season. And there was a lot of juice in terms of what people thought he was going to be in this town for a long time. But, yeah, that year, like, people should put themselves in the cold tub time machine, go back to the summer of 2019 and remind themselves of the juice that was here in the city then.

This is going to be every bit of that, this offseason for sure, and headed for wherever they decide to play their opener. Maybe it's in Seattle in September. Yeah, all the bears needed in 2019 was a kicker. And they let us see all the kickers out on field four. saw a lot of them. Saw a lot of them. They might have needed it.

Hey, everybody thought, you know, based on the fourth quarter against Philadelphia, that's how specific it got, because he got good in that game. In 2018, they lost to the Eagles. I was like, oh, man, if you could just build on that. And no. But you're right, Dan. Like, we were talking about it earlier. I brought up the fact that get ready, get ready for not just us,

because we know what's going on, all of us do with this. team year to year, but the national audience is going to be on the Bears bandwagon to start this season. It's going to begin soon. Don't you feel like that? Like Caleb Williams is going to be predicted as potential MVP. It's all coming, man. It's all coming, right?

And so it's one thing for us to acknowledge that. It's another thing for the players and coaches inside the building to understand that and know how to deal with it. Because I'll be honest with you. And I've said this couple times in the podcast forum that I thought that that 2019, team wasn't fully equipped for the level of anticipation and expectation and everything that comes with that, even in training camp, you could almost feel this attention exhaustion that they were experiencing. And you've got to set yourself up for success in that regard because you don't

want to get to the starting line of the season and be like, man, I'm drained because every single national media member has come through our training camp in the last six weeks. There's been all these extra curricular activities. That year we had the Bears 100 convention and Rosemont. that was super fun, but I think was another thing that, you know, it requires fuel to go through that for some guys. And so, like, you've got to be prepared for the level of expectation that that's coming your way this season. And it's part of the, it's part of the equation for sure. And I think sometimes it gets overlooked. Adam, we, Dan, we appreciate the time.

Sorry, I was just reading something from Adam Schaefter. Nothing of note, though, unfortunately. Sorry, guys. No problem, Dolores. We'll talk soon. Delores. That's wild. Dolores.

Okay, listen, I can't just call you weed and be like, okay, thanks, weed. Yeah, weed. I'm a no-on. I'm a no-on weed. I just want to be on the record. Like, thinking weed just seems unstable. Again, you guys can make whatever decisions you need to make. I'm here for all of them.

So I'll be flexible with whatever you decide. DeLores does not know what to do yet. That is now my alternate name. Weedy. Enjoy your week. Thanks, Dan. That's Dan Weiderer. And, yeah, I was checking to see the latest from Adam Schaefter just to see if there was any more on Max Crosby.

But unfortunately, no. Why do you have a problem with weed man? It's hilarious because he says since childhood, he's talking about middle school. I'm like, there's a weed man in middle school at a lot of places. Maybe we were asking the wrong questions. To Dan, Dan. I didn't want to put him on the spot like that. Did you make a little extra money in high school, did you?

Yeah, he did. You know how? He got out his weed whacker and he was cutting weeds and doing yard work. Oh, that's what it is. That's part of the text, by the way, that device you just mentioned. I know, I saw the text. I saw the text. It's pretty funny.

That text sent me. I'm not going to lie. That did distract me a tiny bit. It was good. It was really good. And I will, yes, I'll screenshot it for you, Weed Man. And I'll send it to you. Oh, you did?

Okay. His response was war boy. So thanks to 5774 and two texters who text us funny stuff because we appreciate it. Coming up next here on one or one or one. The score. The discourse surrounding the Hall of Fame and its class that was honored yesterday at the Super Bowl is continuing and in a very unlikely place

where one member of a broadcast crew held another member of a broadcast crew accountable. And I don't know that any of us got the answers we want it. That's next. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndall 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score or Dolores Harrison Grotie, as I shall now be called.

I like Dolores. I do too. It's a classic name. It's a good alter ego for me. That was from Dan Weirer in our last segment. First Dolores you think of. I don't know that have a specific Dolores. Dolores.

Dolores, I have a question for you. What's your favorite cereal? Grape nuts. That tracks. That tracks. Delores Leachman. Is it? Oh, Dolores Leachman. Corse. That's Chloris.

God. At least we're together. You know, at least like for every thought you have, we can find the pathway. Isn't there a radio show? Dolores? Doesn't she do that love show? That's Delilah. That was that one you did on purpose. Oh, maybe. Okay, so all of this, we can have a good laugh about this among us. See how we're a team and we're like, sometimes things get heated if we have a topic and we all feel passionately about it.

I did not expect the accountability for Tony Dungy's furtiveness when it comes to his Hall of Fame vote to come from his broadcast partner Rodney Harrison in the most watched broadcast that they have all year. Listen to this. I would say, coaches, any list that doesn't include Bill Belichick at the top is absolutely wrong. And a lot of those players that we mentioned, there are great players. I play with Drew Brees. I play with Adam Venetary. But there's nobody more deserving to be in that Hall of. Fame than Coach Belichick. I've seen

his greatness. I've seen him design defenses to stop your offense and you just look at the players that he's impacted. He's been unbelievable. And when I look out throughout the Hall of Fame and even a guy like Tom Brady, Tom Brady wouldn't be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick. And

that's the disappointing part of it, Coach, and you guys got it wrong. Well, I feel your passion and I'm with you. And this is about more than Bill Belichick because in the last two years since the ruling been changed, we've had seven open slots, seven people who deserve to be in that didn't get in because of this rule change. It has to change. We've been vocal about it as voters, and hopefully

it will change. And one last thing, Coach, I know you're talking about the whole process, but when I think of Coach Belichick, I think about greatness. I think about the greatest coach to ever coach, and it just sends a bad sign when Coach Belichick with six Super Bowl rings, he's not in the Hall of Fame as a first ballot jack. Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungey going back and forth on part of the NBC pregame show for the Super Bowl yesterday. And I didn't expect Rodney Harrison to represent a large amount of people in that moment who wanted to know, A, how Tony Dungey voted, and B, ask him for answers, and then C, tell him why he thought that was the case. All right, several things when we go through this. Number one, Rodney Harrison, like, understand how this works.

that's my biggest problem with the way Rodney Harrison went after Tony Dungy. Yes, Tony Dungy should probably make his vote public, although he was not required to do so, so I understand why he doesn't. In fact, they're working on changing the rule right now for next year so that the votes are public. They're also looking to reduce the number of voters from 50 to a yet-to-be-mentioned number to make it make more sense. They're going to go back to in-person voting, which has been a thing virtual since the pandemic. These are all things that could have avoided maybe how we got here.

But the number one thing is when in 2024, they decided to tighten the way that they got people into the Hall of Fame, the voting process in the first place. And one of those things was to take away the five-year wait for a head coach and make it a one-year wait for a head coach to be eligible for Hall of Fame. When you did that Pro Football Hall of Fame, you made sure that whatever Law Jam existed was now going to be in direct conflict with a guy like Bill Belichick trying to get in. because, of course, everyone's going to say, you're a first ballot Hall of Famer. You should go in on the first ballot. But there's already people who are Hall of Fame worthy, who should be in the Hall of Fame, who are waiting for induction because they had to wait the five years, and that creates the backlog. That's how we got here.

So Rodney Harrison, first of all, comparing players to coaches is dumb because the players are not selected from the same process that coaches are. So I had a real problem with that. shouldn't there be an unwritten rule somewhere in all of this, though, that the Hall of Fame coach, Tony Dungey, should probably vote for his brethren in Bill Belichick? I actually... I mean, and what you said makes sense. I actually think that if there was ever a time to discuss conflict of interest or bias,

don't you think that a coach who perhaps used, whether you want to call it cheating, whether you want to call it spy gate, deflategate, which, ever take your pick, if that really is part of the, the quote, justice, end quote, that came with part of this, who has a bigger vendetta against a guy like Bill Belichick? Is it going to be a writer who is observing his career from afar? Or is it somebody who messed with his opponent's money? Uh-huh. So Tony Dungey could be like,

I'm not voting for this guy, man. This dude cheated, man. But that's my issue. But either way, there should be accountability, especially from a coach who has been in the broadcast space for so long. Like you're supposed to provide the coaching perspective. You're supposed to provide transparency. The idea of having a head coach or a former one on a broadcast is take us inside the mind of a coach.

How does he address this? How does he assess this? And that's where Tony Dungy's vote should be public. Like you can say that, but Rodney Harrison is also asking on behalf of everybody else, why aren't you talking about this? Because we are. So why aren't you?

That is part of your job. I think the biggest thing is they're coming up with solutions to these problems. The problem, though, is I can't give you a lot of credit pro football Hall of Fame for coming up to solutions to problems that you created when you thought of this and you did not have the site, the foresight to understand how this would all end up. Like, I could see this train wreck coming from a mile away if you just understood, hey, there's going to be these five days. and they're going to, or excuse me, five names, and they're all going to be contributors you can vote for, but you're really pitting them against each other. It should be a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Either you're a Hall of Famer or you're not. They got to redo how they do this. It does keep being weird every time they line up the Hall of Famers and you see the names and they're all great. I love seeing Roger Craig out there, man. That feels good. But no Bill Belichick. What?

That's the thing. And that's a completely different category for people who don't know. the contributors and the legends, Roger Craig, and the coaches are all in one category together. You've got to get 40 out of 50 votes to get in. And then, because this is what happens when you have 50 people voting for three guys out of five, if nobody gets to 40 votes,

and we don't know that anyone got to 40 votes, by the way, they just put in the guy who got the highest number of votes. So Roger Craig could be the Hall of Famer from that group with, say, 35 votes. See how that doesn't make any sense? Yeah. Well, and that's the point of, if you're going to make people jump through all these hoops, then go ahead and on the other side of this.

Make your votes public. Stand on your business. If you're going to do this and counterintuitive to Randy Moss's opinion that players and coaches should be the only ones voting, I just presented to you why they shouldn't be. Because if a coach beat you and you don't want him to get in, then you have every right to vote against him or every reason to. That's why you need other people. You've got to diversify that panel.

I like the diverse portfolio of people voting on these awards. I think a nice mix gets the best idea. You know what? You know who could use this? Baseball could use this instead of just all writers voting. If you've earned the right, though, to vote for these people, for the ultimate honor in your business and in your industry, then the people who have their responsibility should be, yeah, they should be brave enough to be able to explain why they made

the votes they do. Be held accountable. Yeah, and they've earned it. They've earned the right. They've done something right in their career. They have been good to the masses in some way, so just keep being that instead of getting cocky with your vote. And we've seen many examples of that, even locally.

Well, I don't even know if Tony Dongey was necessarily being cocky, but he just wasn't explaining, which his purpose on the broadcast is to explain. Yeah, the best explanation he gave was, yeah, we're all very frustrated with the process, which I just explained. I understand why he's frustrated with that,

but I like the several people who have now come out and explain their vote and why they did not vote for Bill Belichick. At least they made it make sense. I get it. You can disagree with it, but at least you understand where they're coming back. It kind of still doesn't make sense in some ways to not make Bill Belichick a first ballot Hall of Famer. Because I know once you're in the Hall of Fame, you're a Hall of Fame, but not really because most people who are first ballot Hall of Famers boast that they are first ballot Hall of Famer. Well, see, you say that, Mark, but at the same time, if you have someone in the ballot, that if you don't vote them in that year, they're not getting in the Hall of Fame. And you know Bill Belichick's going to get more

runs at it. To your point, once you're in the Hall of Fame, you're a Hall of Famer, but not really, once you're not in the Hall of Fame, you're never a Hall of Famer. If you only have one chance on the ballot, I understand why a writer would vote for you as opposed to Bill Bill. Let's get that M&M song going right now. You only get one shot, baby. Let's go. And on what planet should they only get one shot? Like, that's the other part of this. That's part of the process. Everything is messed up. When does all the fixin start? There's a lot of fixing.

When there's accountability, which is when exactly. The Rooney rule, there's a lot of fixing that needs to be done in the NFL. So I hope they get to all of that quickly. Well, that's just a big square dance, too. Like, it's a joke. It's a joke that the NFL won't give compensatory picks to a team. It incentivized to put this in place. And it's a joke that the Hall of Fame vote is so secretive,

where you have one of the most popular coaches in the game because of his broadcast stature, not being able to explain himself in the game's biggest stage. Where are we doing? Not well. They're doing not well. That is the truth of the matter. But there's room to fix this, not what happened to Bill Belichick. He's going to be a hall of famer, though, so I don't think it's as serious as everyone's making it out to be.

I get why they're upset. But overall, this is a great excuse to go and re-haul. just overhaul everything. Also, 847, I agree with you. The Hall of Fame needs more offensive linemen. I approve this message. Hey, man. Jimbo, Covert got in a few years ago. I do have good news, guys, over here.

I do have a little bit of good news. There is a Dolores of Note. Deloress Doris O'Reardon is the lead singer of the cranberries. Do you have to let it linger? Okay, that's fine, because I was just going to go. I remember I thought that DeLorean was very popular back and back to the future. I did often think about the Dolores. That's as close as I could get.

Nice job. Nice work. All right. That was good. And then people keep saying Dolores from Seinfeld. Yeah, I don't know. Who's Dolores from Seinfeld?

Sounds like a mother-in-law name on Seinfeld. I like Dolores. Is that George's mom? Maybe, maybe what? Maybe it was Gerr's mom's name. Costanza's mom's name. Yeah. That was her name.

Yeah. Yeah. She had to have a character name though, didn't she? I don't know. But yeah, Dolores or Reardon. Love it. Okay. It was. Unfortunately, we lost her.

Oh, Estelle. Estelle was Kistanza's mom's name. Estelle, okay. Thank you for that on Twitch. We appreciate you. Dolores died in 2018. That's right. Yeah.

Why'd you have to go there? I know, so now we have to go back to the Dolores tree. Good job, pretty. Don't forget. We need a living Dolores to lead us. It's me. I accidentally called Dan. It wasn't an accident.

I was just being sarcastic, and I called him Alloicious. You remember that's like a part of a family name for Dan Weaver? Yeah, that's right? Right. Weed Man. He's our weed man. I also laughed because somebody said, Dan Weiderer, because one ER wasn't enough.

That was actually funny. I loved that. Somebody texted us that. I had a good laugh about that. And then I messed up his name. Like, I'd never heard it before. Have no fear, I've also messed up my own name many times. On air.

Yeah. You have? Yeah. I said I was Luke Stockmire once. Am I Luke Stuckmire? No. She'll read anything that's on the prompter? Is that what happened?

I'm Luke Stuckbeyer. Luke and you were similar in that you two are goofy. You get me laughing at stuff. I knew I like that Luke. Oh yeah, Luke's got a great sense of humor. That happened to me. How do you mess at Marshall Harris? Did you call yourself another broadcast name?

So they put an incorrect font up. It said Marshall Maris. And they kept calling me Marshall Maris for like a week, like as a joke around the newsroom. And then I did a tag for a stand-up. And I called myself for a live stand-up. And I said Marshall Maris. That's tough, man. See, that's a dangerous game when you play the name game.

That's why I don't play. y'all when y'all start playing name games. Come on, Marshall. Bring it home, baby. We're ready for you. You're playing a dangerous game, Mr. Harris. I had no idea Kevin Harlan would provide us with so much humor on the show. It's one of the most pleasant surprises for me.

I was a little bit disappointed with the play-by-play he did of the person who came on the field yesterday. It didn't have its usual pizzazz. Was it a streaker? Was it just a person on the field? Shirtless. Shirtless person is what it was. It was running and eluding until one of the players on, was it Seattle? that ended up tackling him.

And it was Mike Torrico just kept saying, well, there's a rocket scientist on the field. If it wasn't for this rocket scientist, we'd be playing football right now, but there's a rocket scientist out there. He was really leaning into it. I like it. In the meantime, we'll get to the bottom of this Dolores business.

Up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grody, let's give credit where it's due to one of the Illini, Devin Witherspoon, telling us how he's celebrating next. Rahimi Harris and Grotie Midday's 10 to 2 On 104 3, the score 3rd 15

pressure comes from deep that time He's in the backfield multiple times That's Witherspoon again This time he got us bad That's as good a rush By Devin Wetherspoon As you will see in the national

football league Yeah, Devin Wetherspairn had quite the game as we saw The sack was just part of his disruptive presence. He came through on the blitz a few times and had an excellent playoffs overall, in my opinion. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. Also, to everybody who texted in the reference to Dolores from Seinfeld. Rimes with? You guys had me laughing for a while. Did you remember the episode then as soon as that? Oh. I had to see it. So I love all of this.

I also watch Seinfeld out of order like you do. Gotcha. So I, but everybody, text again. Just making us all laugh. Thank you for that. Love all of the 50, 60, 100 texts we got, so that's tremendous. Getting back to Devin Witherspoon, victorious, had a great game, had a good playoffs, as I mentioned.

You know, there's always the famous question. You just won the Super Bowl. What are you doing next? Go celebrate with him. Oh, yeah, definitely. I'm going to have a drink, a two, or maybe three. Who knows? Hey, thank y'all so much for your time. Time to go celebrate

with my guys, man. Thank you. Bye. I-L-I-N-I, baby. I mean, let's go. I like the unfettered honesty out of Devin Witherspoon. Like, come on, man. Just one, there you go.

Let's do 10-cent beer night at the... Cams? At Illinois. Cam's was more of a club, if I remember correctly. I don't know. I never got to go. I've heard about it, though.

Yeah, so yeah, Cam's, yeah, that is definitely... I don't know if Cam's is still up and running. I assume it is. Word on the street is they shut. they shut down the original and then built a new one. Refurbished it. And a lot of people say it's not the same. Okay.

I believe they had a bar there too called the library, one of those sneaky ironic college campus. This is champagne? Bars, I think, unless I'm conflating. I'm going to state colleges. I've been to all the state colleges. Sometimes I get them mixed up their party life. But anyway, that's cool.

I know Pub 2 is Illinois State. That's correct. And I know Cam's is Illinois. That is correct. Yeah, that's a good base. You've got a good base right there. I wish I knew more about these things you're speaking on. It's okay.

It's okay. Devin Witherspoon wants to party and have a good time. That's all that matters right now. Does anybody go to Disneyland still, aside from like the Sports Center broadcast? Yeah, people go to Disneyland. Remember, it's like Marshall Harris, you just won the Super Bowl. What are you doing next? That's definitely still a thing.

I'll say this, Disneyland's not cheap. So people save up a lot of money to take their family to Disneyland and or Disney World. That's when I hack into my family's. California residency. Oh, that is very good. As an ABC employee, I believe, you get free access to the park like a certain number of days. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. I miss, you know what my favorite is Space Mountain. And second favorite is the teacups. I don't have an issue with hurling. Space Mountain is freaky because you can't see what's coming at you. That's the problem with Space Mountain. I can't remember Disney World or Disneyland. I've been to both. I guess we got to go back. About Epcot

Center. Vaguely. Vaguely. about it's a small world after all yeah and the Pirates of the Caribbean come on now wow you guys have been more recently than me I have been relatively recently actually remember I have young niece not for getting older now but I would go on their little trips we'd go to Disney World so yeah I got I got reinvested into Disney Uncle Mark yeah Uncle Mark man it was Matterhorn how about that one that's a good one oh what is it Matterhorn that was a Disney ride did you uh or was it six flex actually they honestly if you want to know the best experience there there's there's one called Avatar, the Avatar experience, like the movie, where you feel like you are part

of it, like you are flying around. It's the most unbelievable, like, I don't know what they call like real motion or something where you sit in the theater and you're literally out to be. I just call them rides. It's kind of like a ride. Yeah, you move a little bit, but you feel like you're in it. It's spectacular. I recommend it.

Real and spectacular? I mean, it is something. It's real and spectacular. It's real and spectacular. I was going with a theme, you know. Okay. Also, did you guys ever watch Captain Eio? Captain what?

I think Captain Eo was exclusively a Disneyland thing. Really? I think that was a Southern California adjacent. Yeah. Okay. So Disneyland, right. Captain Eo was a show with Michael Jackson and some sort of space adventure. And I believe he danced his way to victory.

So, of course, my family and I loved it. I remember Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. That's a video game where you dance your way to victory. Yeah, I mean, you should always dance your way to victory. There's one thing I've learned in life. But no, Captain Eo was pretty cool. But yeah, I didn't know how relevant it was to like the rest of the world or whatever. But that was a favorite of the Rahimi kids.

Confirmation on the Texan Geroady. No bar called the library. But there was one called the office. Yes, there was a bar, which I believe did have 10 cent beers on Thursday night. And it's not very far from where I went to college and normal. And my brother went there. You went to school in the 1920s? Well, that's fair.

Excuse me, but even I remember a nickel beer night where I grew up. There's smaller cups and you just get, so everybody would get like their own tray of beers, basically. Like, just, I think of. That surely ended well for everyone involved. The obnoxious consumption that goes on in college. That's in the business what we like to call a loss leader. A loss leader, yes, yes. Sometimes you take a hit for the team's opportunity to cost, all that kind of stuff.

Wait, I haven't seen anybody. Are Spiegel and Holmes here? I've seen them. They're here in. Super Bowl Monday. They snuck in. Yeah, they're very calm. I walked by them and they were very calm.

It was like the light was slightly off. I think Lawrence had headphones in when I saw them. It wasn't 1 o'clock yet, so it wasn't their official meeting time. But it was very quiet, very quiet back in the Spiegel and Holmes version of the off. It becomes the Spiegel and Holmes office at 1 o'clock. We take it over, but it's not really our office, but we take it over because it's got more room. It's easier to meet in. Do we have, is there office space for us?

We used to sit in the room with Connor, but like it was too crowded because. like everything was going on and they're and poor Conner's like trying to direct Twitch and we're like yapping it up. I think Conard likes hanging out with us. I like Conard also like you know, not be focused and not have to be

distracted by us is the thing. So. We need Connor to focus. Okay. No, I mean, well if he wants to Spiegel and Holmes are next.