Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — January 30, 2026

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote reacted to Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham leaving Chicago to become the new Falcons general manager. They also welcomed on SiriusXM NBA Radio host Brian Geltzeiler to discuss what the Bulls should do as the trade deadline looms next week.

Hey guys, Fly on the Wall is back for another season. That's right, on audio and video every Monday and Thursday. Follow and listen to Fly on the Wall everywhere you get in your podcasts. This hour is being brought to you by Vasectomy Clinics of Chicago. The views and opinions of Laila 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 Harris and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Gay, thanks. Bye. Rahimi Harris and Grotie 10 to 2 On 670 The

Can we get a little more now, please? Can you get to the Can you win two playoff games? Can you get to the Super Bowl Because that Marshall Harris Will be the expectation For the Chicago Bears next year. Guarantee.

I am expecting big things from you, young man. Big things! Have you ever played Super Mario Brothers? Like the original Super Mario Brothers, the game that came stock with the Nintendo Entertainment System. I played outside. A certain member We all played outside, Rooney. No, you did.

No, most people don't. I have a friend. Now you sound like a boomer. Hey, Dean, you thought you'd bring the kid, huh? Yeah, we couldn't get anyone to watch him. Don't worry, he has an iPad. I'll just sit there with that dumb look on his face. I don't care if I sound like a boomer right now. Oh, goodness. I have a very close friend of mine's child was just hurt,

and he said he got hurt playing a video game, and he's on crutches. Still waiting for more details. I'm like, wait, what? Video games are too violent anyway. Video games are violent? There's 32 levels. Okay. Four chapters in each level.

There's eight worlds you go through, and there's four stages in each world. You beat the game, and it sends you back to the beginning of the game. This is what the bears are doing now. They have beaten the game, and they're going back to the beginning. It's a brand new season. It's going to be more difficult. You've got to first place schedule. And you understand, you got to do it all over again with more difficult conditions.

Now we're going to have to start all over again. Fire off a few. text messages here in a row. The Bears didn't beat the game. Okay. The princess isn't another castle. Another video game thing? That is specific to Sid-Mier Brother. Okay, I was out playing Wiffleball and shooting baskets. We were all

doing that, but we also... On a rainy day, what were you doing? Mark? What were you doing? On a rainy day? Try to find a gym. Try to find a gym and see if we could break in there. We have breaking news. A man named Mark Groot has broken into a gym and all we know is that he does not play video games.

Boomer Grooty. Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670, the score. Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score. Live from the Odyssey

performance studio today, so we can make way for FM baby. We're out of our natural habitat. We really are. Shout out to the Bute. Nice job, Tyler Bueberbaugh. You are a bute. You emphasized everything

perfectly and correctly. Now I'm just really glad. Not that I wasn't before that we will be doing during our five on it segment, boomer will come back. I'll even tease it. We're going to give you our best boomer takes later on in five on it today, just to keep this old talk cooking. We got a boomer. Appropriately just, you know, boomeranging back at us. Yeah. Yeah, boom it away. That is exactly what is. You're going to bring your boom box? This is all just in time for our debut on. FM, 104.3 FM on Monday. Boomer takes. That's right. That's what the world is waiting for.

We're loaded today with Bears talk, and we've got some great guests that we just told you about that we'll continue to tell you about today. But one thing, too, that I need to update since it was in the open, and I alluded to my friend whose child. We have an explanation? Well, I have the details here, and I also can name names. I'm naming names. It's my guide. Dan Levy and his son DJ. I've never seen somebody in my life so proud of the fact that his son was hurt. It's all over Instagram. It's everywhere.

The son of the voice. The son of the voice. I am told that he has a fractured foot and an ankle sprain. He scored a touchdown apparently with a place kicker, jumped out of his seat, landed funny, out four to six weeks. It's a badge of honor for my guy Levy. I don't know. Maybe this toughens him up. I'm not sure why. But he seems to be loving the toughness of his child right now.

You're saying he was so excited after making a play in a video game that he jumped up, landed funny, and broke his foot. That is correct. That is why if you're going to get hurt, you might as well be outside getting yourself hurt. Much better story. That is very true. At least he didn't get hurt, like losing the game and then in a fit of rage, you know, brain hurt himself. So kicking the television or something. At least it was after a good play after a touchdown. Yeah.

So get better, DJ. I'm rooting for you. Dan, hang in there. But we have some interesting things cooking right here. And that is that if you haven't heard, Ian Cunningham, the now former assistant general manager of the Chicago Bears,

was named the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons after, again, four years with the Bears. It's very interesting because congratulations to Ian Cunningham. By all accounts, every interaction that I had with him before games when I was

doing sidelines and just intermittently seeing him through the years at Halles Hall. It seems like a terrific guy, a guy that likes to talk. It sounds like he did play a big part along with Ryan Poles in terms of pushing polls and being that extra voice that he

needed and not just hugging every single decision that he made. So I say congratulations. to Ian Cunningham. The one thing about it, like from my perspective, again, having been a reporter out there, it felt like from the second Ian Cunningham walked into the building, they were trying to push him out of the building. And I mean that only in the best of ways, as in they thought that this man was qualified to become a real GM, which he is on this day. And that's the name of the game. But it was just weird to me that every year, did he get a job? Did he get a job? Last year he almost had a job. Then he came back to the Bears.

And it was kind of like, okay, what's going on now? You're still here and you didn't necessarily want to be here. And now he's gone. So just a way to say kind of the way I perceived Ian Cunningham, the job that he did, which seemed good. You never really know when it comes to that interaction with the actual GM, Ryan Poles. But he's been trying to get out of here, and he did. Not only has he been trying to get out of here, but Bears fans have been trying to get him out of here forever. Because they understood that if Ian Cunningham got a job,

as a GM. This was their understanding that the Bears would receive two third round compensative Tory picks, and that's what got people always wondering, is he going to get a job? Is he going to get a job? Yeah, that should be part of it. Yeah. If you haven't heard, the Bears will

not receive compensative Tory picks for Ian Cunningham. And let me just read some of this. Just so people, just a couple of graphs. And in this case, I'm using my guy, Brendan Segru, does a great job with Bears Wire, but he put it pretty succinctly and pretty well in terms of weaving through the rules and the importance of this.

Beginning in 2021, the league began rewarding teams that developed minority front office and coaching candidates who received general manager and head coach promotions or the organizations with a pair of third round compensatory draft picks. Since Cunningham is a minority, the Bears normally would receive picks with him leaving for a general manager role. However, because the general manager position Cunningham is taking is not the primary football executive position. The league will not reward the bears with those compensatory picks. That's according to CBS Sports as Jonathan Jones. The league views the Falcons general manager position as the secondary football executive under Matt Ryan,

who was hired earlier in January, if you remember, as the team's president of football operations. this isn't something the team can appeal to the league, according to reports, as well. Feels like it's all for not. If you are strictly from a fan's lens, and maybe from a bear's lens to a certain degree, expecting to get compensation because the title changes from assistant general manager to general manager. Obviously, he got a raise to go there. And it's a promotion. Like any way you want to chop it up, this man has elevated his status in the football world.

But because Matt Ryan is the team's president of football operations, that's not how the NFL sees it. He's second in command football-wise in Chicago, and now he's second-in-command football-wise in Atlanta, despite what the Falcons themselves would tell you. Who's this tall drink of sun tea? That is Jim Halpert. He is the co-regional manager of this office.

I thought this guy was the manager. Oh, he is. He's the co-manager. That's the other com. You got two guys doing one job? We got to do something about that. That's hilarious. Yes, let's go through the haggling over that.

So is this... Okay. Does Atlanta know what they're doing? I mean, did they understand the technicality of it? Or are they looking at it as like we're going to do, we're going to manipulate this just a little bit? Do you think that they're playing in foul? Well, it's not Atlanta. It's the NFL.

Atlanta's not giving up any picks. This is compensatory. These are picks that are created out of thin air for the teams that go by the the ruling rule and get their guys who are minorities, guys or women, promoted elsewhere. And that's where I think the confusion lies for a lot of people. But I understand it. I don't like it. But I understand what the NFL is saying here.

That doesn't mean you have to like it. I do not like it. I feel like the bears. And if they wanted to, they could have blocked this move. I think that's bad, though. That's short-sighted. You want to have a guy who people want to work with. you want to have a boss who you believe has your best interest.

Have you ever managed people in any job, whether, you know, fast food? I don't know what jobs you did before you got into radio. Very little. Very little. I've managed people. And my whole thing is, and I learned this from other leaders who have managed me, is you always want to see people that you manage go on to do bigger and better, because that is a reflection on you as a manager.

And I think for Ryan Poles, this is certainly a reflection on not only himself, but just understand. He has a relationship with Ian Cunningham that predates him being hired as assistant general manager of the Chicago Bears. And for your friends, you want them to see, you want to see them go on and do bigger and better. Right, right. It does make for a complicated situation for sure and letter of the law is being followed. We have Matt Ryan, right? I can't get into the Google Doc here, but let's listen.

We do. Okay. Let's listen to what the president of football operations. Matt Ryan has to say about Ian Cunningham. The difference is I'm not doing the scouting. I'm not, you know, doing, running those meetings. Our general manager would do that. The general manager role is going to be exactly the same as what it's been here before.

And that's something we've made clear to everybody on the coaching side that we've met with up until this point. And we'll make clear, you know, through that process to the general managers that we're going to look at in that process as well. That's Matt Ryan explaining to you that he doesn't do that. He has not done that. He has no experience doing that. He's just, I don't want to say just a figurehead, but let's face it. He's a former Atlanta Falcons quarterback who's now in charge of quote-unquote football. And to hear him explain it that way, Grotie, tells me that he has more power, more of a position of influence in that organization than he did with the Bears because that, what he just described, that was and is Ryan Poles job in Chicago. that further tells you maybe the third round picks should have been coming this way.

Yeah, yeah, no. And I think the part that I think about is, like, it's a great conversation. But God, it would be nice to have with what's going on with the Bears right now in this regime. And I get it. Ryan Poles has had problems through the years in the draft, notwithstanding this past year because it's pretty good. And I'm willing to feel like that, like giving Ryan Poles, I don't even know how to put it, a second chance, I suppose.

Oh, he's been given a second chance. I'll be very clear. Yes, but I think it's also fair for us to. And maybe you think differently. I'd love to hear what Layla has to say about this, because she's been tough on Ryan Poles. Can you look at it and give him a blank page again and say going forward, okay, this was a pretty good draft class. We're not going to forget about Valis Jones. We're not going to forget about the past and some of the moves that were made in the organization.

But doesn't Ryan Poles deserve a new look, a fresh look? Dare I say? Ready? I'm about to say it. A non-jaded look? There's a lot of things I want to say to this. But I'm going to keep it pretty simple. You got time, pal.

Well, I got a few minutes before we have to go to break. Yeah, actually not much time. Yeah, not as much time as you just made it out to be. Because I'm thinking about a specific song right now. Aretha Franklin. has a song, great hook. Well, I'm willing to forgive you, but I can't forget because you really, really hurt me this time. There's been a whole lot of hurt that I'm not willing to.

He's thought irreparable harm is what you're saying. Not irreparable because he's been given a chance to repair it, whereas most executives would not be given the chance. Okay, but you made it, the Aretha Franklin quote made it sound like there's a scar there. Is there not a scar? I'm sorry, let me, let me ask you a simple question. Let's fade the scar. What do these names have in common? Are you ready?

What are these names have in common? Okay. Karen Amagogy, Zach Pickens, Valas Jones, Jr. What are those names have in common? They are Ryan Pohl's draft picks. When did they happen? When did they happen?

What round? Oh, I get second or, wait, Vailas was third. They were all third round picks. They were all third round picks. I thought Turner was a second round. I didn't say Shamar Turner. Oh. I said, Kieran Amagagagagaj, Zach Pickens, and Vailish.

Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, third rounders. Okay. So if they had the third round pick, the extra one this year, you sure they would know what to do? That's what Layla would say, by the way. Is like, do we trust that man with third round picks? Here's why we're trusting them further because it seems like while I think it's been overstated how much, say, Ben Johnson might have in this. I do think that one of the good things that Kevin Warren has done with the organization has said, yes, we're keeping you. We like you, Ryan Poles.

That's exactly how he did it by grabbing him by the gruff of his neck. That's exactly how he did it. And saying to him, we like you, we're even giving you an extension. And I want you to continue to grow in this role. But we're going to give you a little extra help now. I think that that's what's going on. And I think that that's why I'm feeling less cynicism or jaded about the job that Ryan Poles can be doing for. Because I feel like they've turned a page in terms of their draft process.

Just to be clear, you have full trust in Ryan Poles now? full trust, not like a blind trust. I mean, I'm not going to, I keep the past in mind, of course. Exactly. I read the Franklin taught us that. But, but, but, I mean, I think it's fair to say at some point in time, don't you have to look at it for what it is that this was a successful draft for Ryan Poles, right? This year, in terms of the contributors, I know it wasn't perfect, Rubin Ippelite, Zay Frazier. I get it.

That's the way drafts go. But isn't it okay to objectively look at Ryan Poles and say, okay, that was, pretty good. Let's see if you could build on this instead of saying we know he sucks because look at what he's done in the third round in the past. Yes, the draft appears to be good after one year. You know, it takes a few years before you can really measure up an NFL draft. And also last year's draft, would you call that a good draft? Yeah. The year before, Caleb Williams, Roma Dunzei, Karana Maggi, Tori, Tori Taylor, and Austin Booker. That then seems... I'd say that I'd say good. Yeah? Yeah. But not as good maybe as it was.

the year before. This time last year, you probably thought Romadunze is better than what you think about him right now. Absolutely, but that doesn't. And Tori Taylor may be the same thing. Because I think most people evaluated Roma Dunzee the same way Ryan Poles did. And I get it, he's the GM. He should know better. Can't you look at it and say, yeah, if Romadunzee turns out to be a miss, it's not one of those where you get all over the GM, I don't think. Like if he's, let's just say, crazy alternative, he becomes, let's say, let's say he becomes, let's say he he's a bust. Let's say Romadunese is a bust. Will you be pissed off at Ryan Poles for having made that pick?

Yeah, because ultimately that's his job. Even though we all were like, yay, yay, yay, Romaduzzi, yay. We're not as informed as Ryan Poles. That's the point. He's got a job to do. And our job is to criticize when the job does not go well. And our job is to praise when the job does go well. All right, well, I tell you what, let's continue doing his job for him. Let's do that because the defense needs fixing.

What's realistic about it? And specifically, let's get into the edge rushers, the ones that are available. Max Crosby. Not Max Crosby. We can talk about Max Crosby, but let's leave him out of the fray. Or maybe not. We haven't done that yet. We'll see.

I'm excited about that. We'll see how it flows. We've got some ideas for the Bears on defense and at edge rusher as well. It's Rahimi, Harris, and Grody on the score. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Gris. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score. GMX crop isn't confident. I don't know.

Trahimi Harrison Grody on the score. Marshall and I are broadcasting from our Odyssey Performance Studio. Well, the real studio is being fit right now. We're about to get a great fit at the score. That is an FM signal. It's all going down on Monday. as the drama continues to build, who will be here on Monday? Where will I be today?

And what will happen? I don't know. But so we are in the performance studio. It is odd to be in here and not seeing faces in the audience because usually we have events in here. We see bands in here. Some cool acts have come through here. We had an audience for a second in the way of shout out. Shout out to Mike Mulligan, our very own Mully, who has already put his time in

today, came into the performance studio to say hi, shook our hands, sat down, and then left. You know what? I appreciate his presence. I forgot that there's a bunch of empty chairs until he sat down and I realized there's a bunch of empty chairs. Yeah, I felt I felt supported, is what I felt by Molly. Now it's just us and Ray Diaz and Connor O'Donnell hanging out. Right. So we're getting into the flow here because we're out of our natural habitat. But, but, um, Bear's defense is, it is hugely important that there are, I don't know, substantial is the right word, but certainly shrewd changes need to be made for the bears on defense. And it starts with, and it has started with this position for quite some time now. Eddrusher, defense event in this 403 defense has been a

bugaboo for the bears and has not been substantial, although Montez Sweat did get to 10 and a half sacks, but you just don't feel him as that tyrannical presence at the edge on every play like you do with guys like Max Crosby, who of course is circled, who of course we have discussed, who of course should be on the bear's radar. But I think we have to marshal. We have to go beyond Max Crosby because everybody wants Max Crosby, and we know that you would have to give up a ton to get Max. That's a jackpot.

That's huge. That's winning the lottery if you're able to get that guy. and I don't rule it out. But we do have to take a look at the list of the rest of the field and some players that may make sense for the Chicago Bears to slide in at that position. We talked about some of them yesterday. But I guess, Marshall, you have to start the top of the list is if we are not keeping this name. We know who is at the top of the list.

Well, yeah, when we talk about people who are not under contract currently, who are just out here as free agents? Yeah, that is? You start in Cincinnati. That's right. Trey Hendrickson, who is vacating Cincinnati at last check. And he didn't play that much last year, but it's tantalizing to think of what a guy who has his type of production in years past could do.

He's 31 years old, so not over the hill yet, maybe at the peak right now. Like you've seen the best of Trey Hendrickson. You're banking on whether or not you think Trey Hendrickson can keep this up for another three to four years. Yeah, and he did. Look, he was injured last year for most of the season, as it turned out. He had four sacks over seven games. It is those massive numbers in the two previous years that you circle

and you say, can he get back to that, the 17 and a half sacks in consecutive seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals. And I've done enough poking around and listening to people that I really respect about Trey Hendrickson. And, of course, I always go to dark places. of course. When I think about 31-year-old defensive ends that join the Bears towards the end of their careers, I keep bringing you up

Jared Allen, I have been assured that that is not what this is, that this man has a motor, that you're not going to, you can't predict injuries, but that it doesn't feel like he is going to be prone to anything further. So, of course, Trey Hendrickson would be a plus

in this defense. I wonder how much he'll cost though, because we already know that the Bears are in restructuring, slash slash mode, like the double slash, the actual symbol, and then, of course, slashing as in cutting prices and cutting what they owe their players. I just wonder if that is something that is the most amenable to a guy like Ryan Poles right now. I am very adamant that whatever they're going to do to address the pass rush, they need to do it now and it needs to be, I don't even know

if Shrewd is the right way to put it, because I think it does have to be a big move, a big move to say we're going to make the most out of this rookie contract that our franchise quarterback for the next 10 plus years, Caleb Williams is on. And so because of that, there's just other guys that you can go down the list. We talked a little bit about Khalil Mack yesterday, and Matt Bowen has just freshly released his top 50 free agents who are available. And it's interesting because you're wondering, okay, where are the guys? Hendrickson is at the top of that list, number one.

And you're like, well, how far down do I have to go to get to another edge player? Jalen Phillips is number five on the list from the Philadelphia Eagles. He's a guy who knows how to win. Because all the Eagles do is win as far as regular season goes. He has a Super Bowl championship. And let me read you the description of Phillips, according to Matt Bowen. With his long six-foot-five frame, I heard that Dennis Allen likes a little length in his players. Phillips can play as both an edge setter and pocket disruptor.

After being traded to the Eagles on November 3rd, he had two sacks and 27 pressures in coordinator Vic Fangio system flashing improved range to the ball over his five-year career. Phillips has accounted for 28 sacks and 150 pressures. It's a lot of pressures. It's pretty good. I will counter that with that pros. And now just one thing, and it's a big deal to me,

in four of his seven seasons, Jalen Phillips, very good player, has played in single-digit games, as in the health. The health. That's a real factor. And you just had, you just signed Di-O-Dangbo to this big deal,

and what happened right away? It just sucks, you know what I mean? Like, you've got to think about that. And that is pretty much, that's truth right there, that if you've had single digits in four of your seven seasons, that is something you have to zero in on. But I absolutely love the player.

I just like I would stay on that injury thing and be a little bit skeptical on that. How about we do another? While you're naming guys, let me raise you a Matt Bowen to a Clay Harbor. Okay. Who was on with us yesterday here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. And he was thinking, he had a couple names for you, but he was thinking a little bit outside of the box, I would say, on one of the names who maybe you've heard of, maybe you haven't. Here's Clay Harbor.

Two guys I do like. I know it's been a lot of him thrown around here. Trey Hendrickson, obviously the history with Dennis Allen. You go back two years, lean in the league in sacks, fourth in pressures, fourth and hits. You go back to last year. Only played in seven games, but a top five pass rush win rate when he did play in those games. If the medicals check out, bring me him. And then the other guy, I just watched tape on him yesterday.

Adafi Oway. I was looking up edge rushers. He was in a 3-4 defense, but this guy can play some defensive ends of edge rusher. He got traded from the Ravens to the Chargers. In the playoff loss to the Patriots, he had three sacks in two force fumbles. And you look in the year, he was 11th among edge rushers in pass rush win rate after arriving in Los Angeles. This guy can move, he can play against the run, he can play against the quarterback. I really like Adolfi Oway, and he's big.

He's one of those guys at Dennis Allen. likes Marshall Harris. 27 years old. And I know he'd mentioned about Adafé Owe about the, and by the way, I don't know if he mentioned, but he was traded from the Ravens to the Chargers last year in the game against New England, to which he referenced.

He had three sacks and two force fumbles. Again, in the playoff game, a loss against the New England Patriots. So, yeah, it's like shiny object right there. He is very now. He is right now. now? Well, the question is, what have you done for me lately? He's like, well, did you see what I did the last time I was on a football field? Yeah. It reminds me of Dequan Brisker. We're going to bears it. It's like, whoa, I don't know how great Brisker season was, but you leave that on tape

in a playoff game. You could probably make some money off of that. Well, here's the thing about Addafi O.A. It's like a tale of two seasons, really, because, you know, he plays 17 games. As you mentioned, he was traded. In his first five games, he didn't have a sack. And then the 12 games after that seven and a half sacks is a lot. That's a lot. That's, that's production. And you wonder, when you get a guy like this on the opposite side of Montez's sweat, how much would that open up Montez Sweat and himself to get well into double-digit sack territory because that's part of the issue? Well, and I hate that we have to go to that because we thought that Montes Sweat was going

to be the multiplier, that he was going to be the, the sweat effect, the Montez effect, the Tez effect. I'll get there. That's what we thought. We were like, he's going to make everybody else better. But you're right. Like, you still need somebody. Thought it was going to be Montess Sweat. And maybe you got closer to it again. He had a strong second half of the season.

But unfortunately, even with Diodangbo here, you are looking for that anchor at edge still to make everybody else fall into their proper spots. Like, sweat is a legitimate starting edge rusher, I think, in the NFL. No doubt about it. you really dug into the numbers, he's just not the top guy on that. Like, if you're really getting greedy, he's not your top edge rusher. Well, and I think the lack of pressure coming from the other side might have something to do with it.

So you're talking about like multipliers. I don't even think they both have to be multipliers, but I think just having two really good guys, two double-digit sag guys, one on each side, that creates so much chaos for an opposing passing attack that you can say the. 10 and a half sacks from Montes-Swatt last year, and then what O'A would bring to this defense, that now you have more than one guy you have to account for. Because outside of Montes-Swett, who are offensive coordinators accounting for in the passing game? Well, I guess one guy that I've heard through the years is it's because you always got to think

of the guys that are the most physical, like just really answering this question, maybe not quite in the spirit of it, but Joaquin Bristker, actually, because you have to be aware of a guy who likes to lay the lumber. And that guy might not even be on your roster next year. And he may not be. I mean, there's a good chance he won't be on the roster. I mean, that is just a conundrum that you go through, you look at the safeties and as effective as they were together this year,

it could be gonzo. And really, if we're talking about making a signing of an edge rusher or really improving that part, the opportunity cost might be two new starting safeties next year. Yeah, that's why when we talk about who should they move on from, in an effort to clear some cap space. The list is long of options, and you got to make the, you got to hit the right buttons. Otherwise, guess what? We'll be right here criticizing Ryan Poles again for making the wrong move.

That's just the nature of the game. Ryan Poles understands that. Don't make me scribble on this blank page I've given Ryan Poles. Don't make me have to mark it all up. Yeah, you tore off the bad stuff and you're like, you're like Ben Johnson. Oh, new season. We're starting from scratch. I just think like he had a good.

I think it's fair to not just stay in the bad of what Ryan Poles did if things are on the, like, let's go with what the story is. And that has gotten better for Ryan Poles in the last two years. Yes, things have gotten better. You know why? They were absolutely bad. So I refuse to just grade him on a bell curve. Like, like, or just not a bell curve, a curve. I refuse to grade him on a curve.

That's the thing. Okay. You want to grade him on a curve. You want to grade him on a curve for two reasons. His tenure started off awful, but also the curve. The Bears have been awful for a long time. And I'm like, if we're wiping away all of that and saying fresh... You're wiping it away, because you know me, I will reference Bears history on it on the daily.

Selectively. So, well, I guess you could say that. Because you're trying to... I mean, I'm not saying you're cowtowing to Ryan Poles. I'm just saying... I think you have to acknowledge the pros and the cons of how we got here. And what is it that you need to avoid to not go back to that dark place that you're talking about? Right, right.

Yeah, I just try to stay with what is in front of me. and what is right now. But that's a great debate. I mean, we can continue to talk about the job of Ryan Paul's. One other guy I wanted to ask about, I'll go through a couple more free agents, and I know we've got to take a break, but I've asked this question before.

I may have asked you this question. I know I've asked Dan Weeder or this. I don't know if I've ever gotten the proper answer. Is Austin Booker good? Yes. You think so? Awesome Booker. What does that mean, though?

7 to 10 sacks a year? I don't think Austin Booker is a finished product. I think Austin Booker is going to get bigger and stronger and be better. I think in this defense, where they are right now, he is progressing positively. Hey, look, let me give Ryan Pohl some credit. They drafted him later,

and he has come up with some big plays. He's had games where he's been the best lineman. And again, some people would say, oh, yeah, he's the tallest little guy. Like, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying he's actually made plays of impact in the regular season in the way we saw him to do it

in the preseason of his rookie year. I remember that's when all the, buzz with, oh, this guy, Austin Booker, gets his backups. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Where is it for real? And we started to see it this year. I am happy with the level of trend because it's trending in the right direction. And that's why if you get a front line edge that he's playing behind both of those guys, now he's rotating and he's in on pass. I can see it being a positive thing for the bears to have it. He plays with the motor, plays with the motion. Those things never go out of style. When we

return here on Rahimi, Harris, and Grotie. We'll talk about the bull. a loss to the heat last night. Moreover, there is a player, like with all the trades that we are discussing right now, there is a player that Marshall Harris believes the Bulls should not trade at the deadline. There is somebody who should stay per Marshall, and I will tell you how Marshall, Mr. Bulls, got in my head last night while I was watching the Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 116 to 113. It's all coming up next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.

Listen to Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the Odyssey and IHard radio apps. Over the mid-court line, I-O-Doh-Sumu, driving on Fon-Tecchio high off the window and scoring Ilde-Sumu in the books, his first bucket, nine minutes. And he did that about five times in the fourth quarter the other night. Iowa was good last night. Chuck and Bill, Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington on the Bulls Radio, network. I heard it's Chuck Swirsky's birthday today. Happy

birthday to the great Chuck Swersky. I hope you are having a beautiful and wonderful day today. Happy born day, Chuck. Yeah, it's a beautiful day. It's Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score and the Bulls they lost. They lost

all of a sudden. Now it's going back the other way. They've lost three in a row. Heat 116, Bulls 113, which hopefully you did hear on the score last night. The Bulls in this game instead of the previous night where they blew a 14 point fourth quarter lead and lost to the

Pacers. The Bulls decided in this case that they were going to go ahead and trail by 13 in the fourth quarter. Come close at the end, a nice little 2112. Oh, that's got a nice ring to it. 2112, anyone? Boomers run to make it close, but no.

Do you even know what I'm talking about? I don't expect you to when I say 2112. What are you talking about? 2112. Tasters, help me out, or maybe not. Maybe it'll go Crickets. When I say 2112, what a boomer reference would I be making? It's a musical reference, folks. 312, 64, 64, 67. Is this your version of 6-7-67? Is that what this is? No, no, no. No, it's not. I don't do Sumu, though. He was good in this game. Somebody's got to be going strong. He had 23 points. He was strong at the end of the game. He was not the one losing it for them yesterday. That's for sure. Kobe White had 14. We'll get to him in a second as well. But Marshall, you have me very excited and

interested to know that there is somebody on the Chicago Bulls who you feel is untouchable on a team that's 26, excuse me, 23 and 25? You've got an untouchable? Not untouchable. Let's be very clear. Not untouchable. You know how I do. So we know there's seven guys whose contracts come to an end at the end of the season and the Bulls need to be getting some things back for some of these contracts and not waiting too late, even though on some players, fooch, they've waited too late to recoup what they could recruit in terms of first round draft picks. But I was watching last night, and this isn't something that happened last night,

it's just something that I've noticed over the course really of the season. And that is, I believe, Iyo dosumu, for what the Bulls are trying, what they say they're trying to build, which is two-way players, young guys, I-O-Bos, of course, is from Chicago, and he played all 12 minutes. And maybe if he played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, the previous game, against the Pacers, they would have won the game. Because you remember, he came out, and that's when everything fell apart in the fourth quarter of that game. And they blew that lead.

In this game, he plays all 12 minutes. He scores 15 points, four rebounds, two assists in the fourth quarter. The 15 points, that's the most he's ever had in any quarter in his career. Really? Yeah. And so I would implore if they're trying to make a decision about keeping either or Kobe White or Iodosumu. Unless someone's offering you a first round pick for Iodosumu, do not trade Iodosumu.

Instead, keep him, resign him. He's going to be cheaper to keep than Kobe White. And now you've got another piece that you can move in the future, because again, it's all about having players and draft capital that you can move when you need to make your move for a superstar. And he can just help you along the way. I love it. I actually love it.

Like I really, like I was saying this about Iodos. I don't remember if it was on the air or off the air, but it sure feels like this is a guy that's going to get awards down the, down the road. And I mean like as a sixth man award type of guy, like I know he could be a starter and all of that. But I just feel like his value in this league could last a long time because of what you're saying, that he's a two-way player and that he can, he can blow by guy, he can create his own shots with some of the ferocious drives that he has had. Like it's not what you want, you have him having the ball in his hands all. the time, but that is what you call a really good, like rank and file good, if that makes sense, NBA player. Certainly a complimentary player that could be on a contender as a complementary player. And those are, they have value. And so if you can sign him for maybe, I don't know, 15 million a year, that's a guy that you would sign to that, I think.

And he would, because of the way the cap is escalating and everything else, I think he could just be a Chicago bull. Now, if someone wants to offer you a first round pick for Iodo super, Super. you take the first round pick. Right. But I don't want to hear this I.O for a second round pick or I.O. for two seconds. No, no, no. Get a first round pick for I.

No doubt. And look, we act like he's our dirty little secret here that IOTUS. Like the rest of the league knows, too. So when time comes up, he very well could be garnering big time interest from other teams as well. But I agree with you that that's a guy who, if you can, if it makes sense, if you're not crazy for passing something up, of course you want I.O. do sumu on your team. Like that's a guy that you want as part of it.

By the way, I don't know if you've been watching the text line. We're going like 50 text deep. Thanks to everybody who had my back on 2112, which is a famous, famous Rush album. So it's just, it's all over the place. I can't even keep up with the text. So thank you. Thank you for playing along. Thank you for having my back.

Thank you for understanding. And there's, you know, you don't have to be old. to love Rush. By the way, Rush Reuniting this summer. Sure like to get my hands on a few tickets. Sure would. 262 says 2112

Rush. My mother thought Rush was devil music. Slayer came along. All right. I will counter that with. I'm only 21 and I know that that was Rush. Oh, okay. So I'm telling you. All right. You got me, Grotie. You got me.

That's all into the year. And if you, the guy who works at a cluster of radio stations, can't find tickets to rush, you got problems. I'm just saying, you know, at a cluster of radio. I'm just putting it out there. I'm just putting it out. I sure that would really be a fun concert to go to this summer because they're back. And yes, 615, they could trade I.O. and then re-sign him, but you could also just keep them here.

Now, because you're taking, I think you're taking, I mean, you're taking your chances either way. He's going to be an unrestricted free agent. Let's see what happens. I'm very curious as to where we are less than a week from now at the trade time. It's going to be great. So while I was watching the Bulls game last night, I found myself thinking about you because you are, I got to admit, Marshall Harris, you are more than anybody at the score right now. You are in people's heads with your opinions about the Bulls. And that's a compliment, man, because you watch most games.

Don't tell Brandon Fryer. What time is Fryer on? I miss Fryer in transition today. We need to get Brandon Fryer on. Maybe I'll just let him co-host with you one of these days. Can we get maybe next week, like on Friday and one of the first. of our segments we can have Brandon Fryer join us to have his reaction to the Bulls at the deadline.

Oh, I think it would be so fiery. Right. So fired up. You know what? He's one of those guys. It's like baby tea. It's like maybe you're underutilized.

Maybe we're missing some stuff. Oh, he's definitely underutilized. Yeah. But he also knows ball. He's a former baller. I know he does. I know he does. I remember I saw him at a couple of Bulls games.

They were stationed. You were there. He's been to three this year already. Already with his beautiful family. Beautiful family. It is. Beautiful family. It really is.

They could be on the cover of a magazine. They could be on. I remember seeing them for the first time at a Bulls game when we got that. Was it last year? I think it was. We had really nice seats. Quarter of Dreams. Yeah.

Court of Dreams Day. Yes, it was that day where we all sort of bonded. And then just looking back at Fryer, I'm like, that's the most beautiful family I've ever seen. That is just lovely. So, yeah, I'm all for more Friar. But you were in my head yesterday because you made a what was a great point about Kobe White that it looks like he's pressing. and to sum up your words because everybody's watching him.

You know that he is one of those guys who very well could be traded because he's got offense and all of that last night. 14 points, 2 of 11 from the field overall. He was 2 of 8 from 3. And just, and fittingly enough, that last shot, which was an open 3 that could have tied the game, he missed it badly. And he just didn't look right.

So you were right about that. I was feeling that from Kobe White that he just feels like he's being watched for lack of a better way to put it. And the thing about Kobe is, look, I think he's the best player on this team. People argue Josh Giddy is the best player. No, Josh Giddy is not as good as Kobe White, in my opinion. But the way he's been playing lately has been concerning to say the least. Understand this, Grotie. In five of his last six games, he's had three or more turnovers.

and some of those have been very costly, what we call self-check turnovers, where it's not like someone stole the ball from you. You just made a really bad decision. And I thought at this stage of his career, he'd be beyond that. But I'm seeing a guy who I feel like, and I could be wrong, but I feel like he's pressing because, as you said, all those eyes are on him, and it's a contract year for him, and he's trying to prove himself to be the guy. And so far, he's had moments, but not enough consistency to be the guy.

Yeah, no doubt about it. We'll talk a little bit more Bulls later on with Geltzzi, Brian Geltziler, from XM, Sirius. XM, XM, XM, Sirius XM, that's right. They brought all that together, Sirius XM. So he'll join us a little bit later on. We'll go big picture in the NBA, get his thoughts on what the Bulls are doing and perhaps not doing. But coming up next, more bears with a former bear, a former pre-in post bears host as well. and he's also the mayor of Palatine.

He is Jim Schwantz, and he joins Rahimi Harris and Grotie next on the score. You don't have to live in Chicago to stay locked in. We've got you covered throughout the Bears off season. Moline Hall, cover it the way Chicago fans expect. Chicago Sports Talk that travels with you. Catch Mullin Hall on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. It's our sponsor by Almost Free Teeth.com, affordable implants, life-changing smiles.

So here we go, fourth and four. It's a lot. Joe's it. Command in motion. Williams, Tristan. Be me here on the score. Tyler Buehderbaugh is just all over it. That's Rush playing right there.

Oh, man, sounds so good. Shout out to all of the texters. Thank you. Many of you, too many of you, to read the individual text for helping me out. You'll be shocked that I don't know Rush albums. It's okay. I didn't expect you to. I know you. You know what I don't know and I know what you don't know. That's why it works.

2112, ladies and gentlemen, Getty Lee, unfortunately, no more Neil Paird, but Rush is back together and they're going to be rocking in July. So thank you for all the participation on the Rush answers. I am moved by all of you. But let's talk Chicago Bears here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. This is a guy that I've been wanting to talk to for a while. He is, he lives the life, Marshall. Jim Schwantz is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears at Cowboys, 49ers. He's a Super Bowl champion of Super Bowl 30 specifically. He's a pro bowler as a special teams player in 1996 and maybe most importantly, the mayor of Palatine. Jim Schwantz is joining us right now on the Circus Sports Illinois Hotline.

Download the Circus Sports app today. Jim, how are you, my friend? I am good. How are you guys? doing today. I think we're doing well. We are. And what is great, what has been great about talking on the radio, amongst other things,

is the fact that we get to say nice things about the Bears. I was even saying nice things about Ryan Poles. It's like the light has come on. Things have warmed and things feel better. Jim, I haven't really had a chance to talk to you, obviously. How did you

consume this season for the Chicago Bears? What did it look like to you? You know, Mark, It's interesting because for doing pre-and-post game for whatever, 22 or 23 years, you watch a game from a much different lens, more of a cynical, you know, you want to, you got to be critical. You got to, the last couple years, man, watching the games as a fan is really pretty cool, you know,

just sitting down and watching and getting back to my bare fandom. Obviously, I was a fan during my analyst days, but with a little bit of a jaded side, I just had an awful lot of fun watching them play, watching the continued dissent of the team, obviously the fourth quarter of the one-score games, having those break our way. Just a magical season.

And to be able to watch it as a fan was really refreshing. Jim, because you are not only a former bear, former NFL player, but also the mayor of Palatine, I'm so curious as to if you've noticed a change, in the tone about which people talk to you about the Chicago Bears? Yeah, you know, with the obvious purchase of the land in Arlington Heights and the potential impact it will have on Palatine, it's a really kind of fine line that I've been walking.

You know, when they first talked about the letter of intent to purchase the land, I couldn't be happier. I was excited. I was still doing the analyst stuff for the Bears. I could ride my bike to work. You know, I heard this is going to be the best. And then I quickly got pulled aside by some pretty small. our people in Palatine to say, hey, we've got to temper us a little bit because, you know,

there's a potential for some really major impacts on Palatine, and we've got to see everything before we can really jump on board. So that's kind of where we've been. We've continued to kind of hold the line that we believe this is going to be an unbelievable win for the whole region, if it's done correctly. But right now, everything's continued to kind of be speculative until we know exactly what's going on. You know, we've asked for traffic studies. We haven't seen a traffic study yet to see what the potential impact would be because, to be quite frank, Palatine and Rolling Meadows are going to be way more impacted traffic-wise than even Arlington Heights. And so we obviously will see no tax benefits from it.

So as a fan, absolutely, would be great to be able to, you know, like I said, ride my bike to a game or be close by. And one of the first things I said back when Ted Phillips was still involved in the process was, just tell me one thing, Ted, there's going to be a Bears Hall of Fame with you. this, correct? And he says, absolutely, because that's been, my thing is, there is no Bears Hall of Fame that us fans can go to and watch and go see and visit. I keep being told by the people at the Bears, yeah, we have a Bears Hall of Fame. It's called Canton. We've got the most Hall of Fameers in Canton. If you want to go see the Bears Hall of Fame, you have to go

to Canton. Well, I want to be able to go to one right here close by and have the ability to go out and see the Hall of Fame right. backyard. So, Jim, would you say that the cloud of a possible stadium or not stadium has taken away maybe some of the sunshine of this bear season for you? It's just, you know, it's so, it's so kind of bare, it's a total bear thing, right? You know, the total bear thing that they have this great season and there's got to be a butt with it, you know, a but four with regards to the stadium thing. You know, they're rolling, right? They're winning the one-score games. It's magical season and out comes a letter, you know, that punches you right in the gut that says,

oh, now we're going to start looking in Indiana. And it's just as Bear fans, it's like we just can't have that, we just can't have everything at once, right? It's got to be a, there's got to be a but-for. There's got to be something that kind of takes the steam away from it, which is just unfortunate, you know, because at the end of the day, we've been starving for a team on the field that is competitive, that is fun to root for, that's got, you know, characters on the team, you know, that we can get behind and guys that we can see a, future, right? We see what the future could potentially look like where we've had so many dark years where, you know, the press conference was just a kind of a disaster. And this end of the year

press conference, you see hope. You see, you see a guy that's got his hand, you know, hand on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, that knows exactly where this thing is going. And, and we've got that confidence. Yeah, and you, you've always been very very honest in your analysis on the radio, off the radio, uh, in all your years, as you mentioned, doing the pre-impost on WBBM, you were in a position to give you your opinion. What did you think watching Caleb Williams this year? And where did you start with Caleb Williams? Where did you end up with Caleb Williams?

And what do you think the future is for Caleb Williams? Well, I obviously, I think what they've done, you know, in the league today, you know, getting out of the shotgun more under center, you know, establishing the running game, giving yourself play action. It's so hard in this league to hit, you. chunk plays. It just is. And teams will let you go, you know, with the underneath stuff. They'll rally. They'll tackle. They'll force you the third downs. They'll try to force the turnovers. They get the big chunk plays, has to come with the running game. So hand in hand,

when the running game started really progressed with Swift and Menongai and the guys up front, especially the, you know, the three guys on the inside, Tuny, Dolman, and Jackson. When you saw that thing start to kind of really materialize is when you saw the steps kind of taken in the proper direction. We still get frustrated, right, with Caleb and missing the easy throws, his completion percentage is QBR. But what the guy does in the fourth quarter right, wrong, it's magical. It's absolutely magical.

His arm talent is second to none. He sees the field incredibly well. And the guy is an absolute magician when it comes to escaping the pass rush and extending play. So, you know, the things that you can't measure, the unmeasurable. are just unbelievable off the charts. He just needs to get a way more consistent, way more consistent than the easy throws,

the on-time throws, the schedule throws, and hit guys in stride where they can get yards after the catch. And all that stuff will come, because obviously he's got incredible armed talent. It's just a matter as the game continues to slow down as he continues to get reps. You know, I've said this before.

The quarterback position is the hardest position in any sport to play. I mean, gosh, you think back to the Super Bowl when the Rams and the Patriots played each other. I think it was the very first throw that Tom Brady threw, he threw a pick. And how come he threw a pick? Because he got fooled. Tom Brady's seen more defense than any player in the history of the sport at the

quarterback position, and he got fooled. And this is a guy, you know, whatever, it was, 14th to 15th year, whatever it was when he was in that Super Bowl. And he got fooled. And so it happens. And so you can't expect a young quarterback to be able to see everything at this point. joined by Jim Schwanchi is the mayor of Palatine, but he's also a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears,

the Cowboys, and the 49ers, Super Bowl 30 champion, and a pro-bowler as a special teams player back in 1996. Jim, when you look at this Bears team and what Ryan Poles has done, and I know you know about the news about Ian Cunningham, now becoming a part of the Falcons organization as their general manager, are you as dismayed about the kind of anticlimactic result of the Rooney rule in this situation, the fact that the Bears are not getting competitively third-round picks this year and next?

You know, it's kind of a thing as you look at it from the outside. Yeah, yeah, obviously, as a bear fan, you'd love to see the compensatory picks because we see what Ryan Poles has been able to do with some of those picks and being able to package some of those picks and move around in the draft and continue to fill in the holes on this team. So, yeah, it would be nice if we would see those. those compensatory picks, you know, unfortunately, I guess it appears that they're not going to be coming our way this time. Yeah. What did you think about the, how did you consume the Bears defense this

year? Obviously, the know, it's turnovers are a wonderful thing. They can, they can absolutely smooth out a lot of imperfections. And I think that's kind of what we saw this year. I think it's a, it's a flawed defense. There's certainly there are, you could run the football against them. They didn't get much pressure on the quarterback, but the turnovers just kind of turn the tide of everything. I think this is an organization with Ryan Poles and certainly with Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen, that I think they know that. And I think they know where the deficiencies are. And I think they're going to do the best they can in this off season. I know they will do the best they can in this offseason to try to fill in those holes.

You know, pass rush is certainly something this team is going to need. I think the linebacker position is going to get retooled a little bit. the defensive backs, you know, I think Kevin Byer would love to have that guy back. What Nishon Wright was able to do this year as a kind of an unknown commodity and just rise to every occasion. I'm cautiously optimistic. It's a defense that has a lot of good parts. But at the end of the day, it certainly is a flawed defense that was kind of picked up, for lack of a better word, by the turnovers. Really, the turnover kind of masked a lot of the imperfections.

And you're looking at this defense going in the next year. Is there a specific thing that you want to see change? Because we thought, you know, the Bears were going to possibly lose Al Harris. You see that the coaches seem to be coming back. And now they have to make all these decisions about who to keep, who to move on from, and also maybe who to cut, trade. I mean, there's so many different things. Yeah.

And, you know, certainly you think where they're at on the offensive side of the football, you know, with some of the younger players, what they're going to do with DJ Moore. So that's going to impact on the defensive side as well because of the cap situation. So, you know, certainly it's a group on the defensive side. As I said, there's going to be a different group. It's going to always be a different team each and every year. So you know that's going to happen.

But they've got some core. They've got some really solid young players. You know, they've paid a couple of their guys on defense. So there is some stability there at certain positions. But at the end of the day, They're going to have to draft well as they have been doing the last few years. We've have to continue to draft well. You saw what they did with the draft on the offensive side last year.

Maybe it's the defense's turn to get some of those high picks and start filling in those holes. Does it feel sustainable to you, unlike as we know, Jim, from watching? It's not always sustainable. Does this feel more sustainable to you? There's a jaded part of me that is crying out, and I'm trying to push it back as far as I can. it is it it it appears to be because at the end of the day you know you get that you finally got the coach right you know that I think that's the number one thing you've got a coach that's that's just not going to be satisfied with anything I mean this guy is driven by a lot of lot of things

by success obviously and and perfection and you've got a quarterback and a coach that that believe in each other that seem to kind of ham and egg off each other and and both of them kind of, you know, they almost look mirrored at the podium after a game. After a winner or loss, it's just an even keel, even temper. They've embraced this city. They've embraced the, you know, the rivalries that are out there. And so I think you got the general manager, you got the head coach, you got the quarterback. I think that's a lot of what this NFL is right now and a lot of what the NFL appears to be.

And so they're cautiously optimistic, Mark, that this is something that is sustainable for sure. Jim Swansch, of course, a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears, Cowboys, and 49ers, joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie and Jim, because you were a pro bowler as a special teamers. I got to talk about special teams with you. Richard Hightower, I mean, you talk about a guy who's had a turnaround in image. He was the target of a lot of criticism last year. And now all of a sudden, it seems like special teams is. is indeed a strength of the Chicago Bears.

What do you see as being the difference for this turnaround? Well, I just think it's a push for these guys to get more and more athletic and speed throughout the roster. You know, this is the special teams unit in Chicago for years where just, you know, you're a back-up tight end, go play special teams. You're a back-of-line, go play special teams. And there's an emphasis on it now, and you can see it. You can see guys.

They fly around. there's roles to play. And when you get that, when you get pride in what it is that you do, I was a backup linebacker. I never started a game in my career. I covered kicks for 11. Back when it was a big deal, back when there were guys that made the football team because of special teams.

Well, then for a bunch of years, whether it because the kicker, kickers are putting the ball through the end zone, there were no real kickoff return opportunities or opportunities to cover. more because of all the touchbacks. It seemed to take a big backseat. Now, I'm not a huge fan, a lot of the different rules that the NFL's rolled out, but the fact that there are more opportunities to return kicks is an exciting thing.

And for a guy like me who wouldn't have been in the NFL had not been for special teams to see the guys go around, make plays, guys, you know, being enthusiastic and excited about their role, it makes me happy. It makes me happy. It makes me excited to watch special teams again. And, yeah, and Coach Hightower has done an unbelievable job of turning it around. I mean, this is a, you know, we were talking earlier in the season with the kicker situation back and forth. You know, what, you think about the very first game.

Hey, can you get the ball in the end zone. No, yeah, I can get it through the end zone or whatever. And it didn't happen. And so to turn it around and the return game was magical and electric throughout the seasons, it's a really good story. And I'm happy for Coach Hightower. Well, you know what? And I'm happy for you, Jim Schwant.

because I was just thinking about what you said as you can. We've talked about this before. You played football, obviously, your whole life. Then you went right into working on the Bears Radio Network when it was here at Odyssey and WBBM. And now for the last two years, you have, for the first time in your life, become a watcher of the Chicago Bears,

a pure fan of the Chicago Bears. So how does that manifest itself? Do you need to be alone watching the game? Are you a yeller? Do you allow yourself to go out? Do you get inebriated? What happens to you watching Bears game as a person who has been football, football, football, and there and on the scene and at the stadiums?

And now all of a sudden you're on a couch. It is, it's magical. I never thought, you know, it was funny when I was playing, when I retired, I went to my first tailgate. I'm like, what's tailgate? I don't know. I didn't know. Like, when did you start playing football? 11?

I was a freshman in high school. Okay. So I didn't start to all the freshman. Okay. I'm like, what's this? I want to check out this tailgate thing. See what this is all about. And that was unbelievable, spectacular.

I could have, this tailgating is a pretty good. Yeah. Pretty funny. You get drunk and you over eat. Yeah. There's a lot of people out there that are really, really, really good at it. I know. And so, and so this is my opportunity to take the next step, right?

Become just a fan. And it's my wife and Brendan and I that just sit on the couch. We have the multi-view. So we put the multi-view for the Bears game. The Bears game is the only game on the television. So that is a front and center. And this year, they're very superstitious, both my wife and I. So if my wife is folding laundry and they're playing well,

she finds more laundry to fold. If I'm sitting on one side of the couch and they're playing well, I stay on that side of the couch. So we're very, very superstitious as it pertains to the Bears. And a lot of yelling and a lot of screaming, good and bad. So I'm all in. I'm all in on the bear fan thing.

I love it. I absolutely love it. I'm always heartened by so many former bears players that are just so into it. Maybe at first, because maybe they were mad. They left the bears or whatever, but everybody comes home and everybody's a fan. Jim, you're the best. It was great to catch up. Let's make sure to not make you a stranger.

Let's keep talking to you, Jimbo, all right? I appreciate you, guys. You have a great day. Hey, Jim. It is Jim Schwantz. right there on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Tailgates are cool. They're fun.

I can't imagine going that long not having experience to tailgate. I don't understand your tailgate world. Your food and your drink. Have you done a lot of tailgating in your life? Come on, man. Just real quickly, I'll just say this. First of all, SEC, first of all, went to Mississippi State

University, to a bunch of different places visiting games. Also, when I worked in Philadelphia for 11 years, I worked inside the Wells Fargo Center. You've been to Philadelphia. You know the setup there. That means every day I go

to work and there's a game, there's a tailgate. Oh, my God. Okay. Yes. Your credibility is real. It is amazing the one-upsmanship that goes on. I've been to many dozens of Bears tailgates. And it's just hilarious.

And its whole communities that know each other because they park in the same place every week. The setups, the tents. I'm over here flipping burgers and broths and got some guy cooking a turkey behind me or, you know, a certain... Pig roast. Yes! Like really.

I've seen it all, gross. Ambitious things. I'm like, oh, we got nothing. Like, and we're excited about our chili. And, oh, we're going to make. It's all relative, Brody. It's all right. I guess, I guess.

But it is, it's fast. It's like walking through, I don't know, like a flea market or something when you go to a tailgate. Like, everybody's got their own little setup. Here's what I offer. And Bears fans, at least in my experiences, it's very neighborly. And I'm sure it's like that with the tailgate. Like, people get to know each other. You can walk, people are always offering up their food.

and their drinks. It's a whole thing for people who have not been involved in tailgating. It's a lifestyle, really, tailgating. It is a lifestyle, and everybody can't hang. Everybody can't hang. Make sure you can make it through the tailgate and the game. I retired. There you go.

His jerseys and the rafters. I was forced into tailgate retirement in a lot of different ways. When we returned, we were talking about Ryan Poles a little bit earlier. We had not necessarily intended to do that, but that's just the way the world works. So we're going to keep this cooking. We're going to ask a question here. And I know that you have an answer because you brought up this topic before we came on here, Marshall Harris, and you have what you believe to be the most important off-season move by Ryan Poles heading into what was a winning season for the bear. So Marshall will reveal that. I will tell you if I agree with him or think it's somebody else.

And we certainly invite you to play along with us as well. 312-644-67. Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score. I'm Sally Holm with the podcast History This Week. In each episode, we serve as your eyes and ears into history's biggest events, major elections, world wars, scientific breakthroughs. But we also bring you into the smaller behind-the-scenes stories, the unsung heroes, secret meetings, even personal grudges that changed the course of history.

Listen to and follow History This Week. and Odyssey podcast in partnership with the History Channel. Available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Rahimi Harrison Grotie, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago's Sports Radio 670 the score. I don't think the process changes. You're going to identify the guys that fit what we want in our football team, which coach hit, and you just keep trying to acquire those players. We know what they look like.

We know how they act. They know how to talk. and we'll continue to do that. I think that's part of the thing is, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you just keep pounded away

and stick into your process? You make tweaks, of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people. That is the Bears general manager, Ryan Poles right there, talking about the hope for Ryan Poles and his front office, and obviously it would trickle down to the fans, is building a Super Bowl roster.

That's what the Bears are, we can say, for real in the business of doing, if we are all on the same page that what the Bears did this past year is legitimate, and that they can keep it going. We welcome you back into the Rahimi Harris and Grotie show here on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score, and if it at all sounds just a little bit different today, It's because we are in our performance studio today at the score of the Odyssey Performance Studio where we usually have bands and sometimes we do score shows here when we do big events. But that is because they are redoing the studio from which we usually work to get the FM signal in there, which will occur on Monday. We'll talk more about that later as well.

But you brought up something interesting, Marshall Harris, in Backstage. Backstage. And that is about Ryan Paul. and the most important move that he made in the offseason heading into what we just saw this past season, 11 and 6 in a playoff win over the Packers, lost to the Rams, and now hopefully on to the next. But who is the most important either acquisition, signing, or draft pick? Ryan Poles putting the roster together. Who is that person for you, Marshall Harris?

I want to be very clear about this. the way you build a football team is so important, and we know you start from the inside going out if you're doing it the correct way. Ryan Poles first attempted that didn't seem to be of that mold. But I want to say, as much grief as I give Ryan Poles for the mistakes that he's made along the way, I will give credit where credit is due. What I'm about to tell you is not just the move that Ryan Poles had last offseason being the best of last offseason, season. I will say it is the second biggest acquisition he has made in his tenure as GM of the

Bears. And that acquisition was trading a fourth round pick in this year's upcoming draft for Joe Tooney, who is now all pro yet again. He's been in the league for nine years. And in every season he's been in the league, he's won a division title. He is a winner through and through. He is likely a future Hall of Famer, and for him to have just the understanding that this is something that had to be done is where I would give Ryan Poles all the credit. Joe Tooney is that important to the bear's current success and future success. I think you make the argument that it's, I know it's difficult with offensive linemen because it's proportionate and it's relative, that he was the best player on their team this year. Oh no, he was team. Remember we did team MVP?

I said he's the team MVP. I mean, that's not a bad pick. I mean, like you're getting into the trenches when we talk about offensive line. But yeah, I don't have a huge argument against that. I mean, I could definitely, we could point to another guy on that offensive line, though, too, who wasn't as good at his position as Joe Tooney was at his. But order, ladies and gentlemen, order was restored at the center position. Finally, we don't have to think about Lucas Patrick anymore. We don't have to think about, is Ryan Bates going to be the center for this team? is it going to be Coleman Shelton? And shout out to Coleman Shelton. He's having a fine career, I think, relative to what maybe the expectations were for him. Is it Sam Mustifer? You know, it's not Sam's fault that he got forced into being the Bears center for a while. And what a great soldier that guy was in the Bears' locker room.

But my goodness, I've been waiting my whole Bears covering career to see the Bears restore order at the center position. So I might even like that a little bit more just because of going through the shuffles and the failures at that position. So he's certainly restored some order there. And we shouldn't, I mean, while we're there, throw Jonah Jackson into the mix at right guard. Pretty good at that position. And they were so indicative of this Bears team too because just like almost everybody and the team in general, they got better as the season went along. There was some agonizing moments I thought early on with that interior.

Well, they were still trying to get it together with like trying to get, you know, one yard on back-to-back plays early in the season. And literally, that was where, okay, I'm in the locker room. Now I got to do it. Now you've done it, Bears. Now I've got to go talk to the offensive line about why they couldn't get one yard. And I remember talking to Drew Dalman. And he literally said to me, we have it somewhere. He said, yeah, I mean, he admitted that they're a work in progress.

And there's some things that they're still trying to get right in terms of chemistry. He put it much better than I'm putting it right now. But you know what I mean. This team required patience early. And if you had it, you were rewarded towards the end. And the offensive line is indicative of that, as is Joe Tooney, your guy. Yeah, Tuny is the answer to this question, even though you bring up some nice suggestions, some nice honorable mentions. Yeah, they're texture of players now.

Tuny is the answer to this question because this man went 1,149 snaps, played all 17 games, did not give up a sack, okay? In a year in which we saw Caleb's sack total go from 68 in his rookie season to 24 in his second season. Understand he is at the root of that. Also, the last time I checked, the last two times Joe Tuny, who's already a, what, a four-time Super Bowl champion, the last two times he played in a playoff game, like to end seasons, he was playing out of position at left tackle. Did that for the Kansas City Chiefs, did that for the Bears. He does whatever is needed of him in any given moment.

He is that dude, and he's also one of the six finalists for NFL Protector the Year. And I believe he should win that award. NFL Protector of the Year. We are lucky to have that guy here and sort of understand. It's great when there's a good offensive lineman, or in his case, a great offense. Because you get to see what it's like. You get to see the difference in a great offensive lineman as opposed to one who needs a little help sometimes. And you can look at that as your left half.

And that's another guy, too, even though it's very complicated right now, that started to look like a good signing. And that was the second round pick Ozzie Tripillo, who a lot of us left for dead in the OTAs in the left tackle competition. They told us he couldn't play left tackle. They told us that. They told us that. They said he is not on left tackle. What does he end up doing? He ended up playing left tackle.

Even if they didn't tell us that, they told us by putting Theo Benedet in there. If there's not a bigger slap in the face, with all due respect, at the time, that's a slap in the face for an drafted guy to a guy in Tripilla who's a second rounder who a lot of people thought that, oh yeah, you just slide this guy right in. I mean, this guy, I mean, they did it with Braxton Jones as a fifth rounder. How come you can't do it with Ozzie Tripillo? And they couldn't. It confused me. It disappointed me. But much like this season, they recovered. They got better. Tripillo got better. I'm not going to say, like he's not in the class of those other guys because he did need help at that position. But comported himself, I'll just say just fine, right?

And sometimes that's acceptable to get through a season, which the Bears did. Unfortunately, Trapillo will be nowhere near playing a game until late in next season, if he's lucky, because of the injury. It's Zipillo. Thank you. I was wondering. I needed the clarification, and I got it. Thanks, Emma. Listen, whether it's Trapillo or Zipillo, I honestly, I will be surprised if he plays left tackle in 2026.

I will be because of the nature of the injury and what we understand it to be and how you have to work yourself back. and how the standard has been raised by Ben Johnson, I think, for every position on that field, specifically on his offense. I'll be surprised if he plays there. I just want to make sure I got clarification from you, though, Mark Grody. Caleb Williams is the biggest acquisition of the Ryan Polls era. Sure, sure. Joe Tooney is the second biggest acquisition of the Ryan Poles era.

Are you with me? I think so. Yeah, I think so. I can't really come up with, as I'm trying to. Like, I thought, like, Nishon Wright went through my brain. Sure. Because that is, and to some degree, there's a little bit. bit of luck involved in that. I mean, but they did, to their credit, they identified this player

on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, looked at the size, looked at the trades, and said, yeah, we are building an identity here, and Nishon Wright starts to fit that. I know Nishon Wright at times certainly got exposed as a cornerback, but boy, did he save the day in a lot of ways, at a lot of times in a secondary that was hurt Jalen Johnson, and that was inconsistent. Tyreek Stevenson, Nishon Wright should be given. I guess it's all honorable mention at this point, but Nishon Wright, that's a big pickup for polls. 773 on the text line.

Hit me, which got also... Polls has consistently mis-evaluated and overpaid middling talent, his fourth for Tuni, salary dump for the KC market, not his wichistry, come on. And all I have to say that is, you still got to be the team that goes out and gets Joe Tuni.

Other teams could have gone out and gotten Joe Tuni. He's the one who did it. Yeah, he did. Yeah, respect. Right. He brought him here. They identified that it's the best thing the Bears did was, in general, fixing the off. Finally saying, all right. It's the priority.

It was like they gave in. Maybe they listened to Olin Croutes finally and said, you have to use resources. You have to use draft picks. And the Bears did both finally on the offensive line. They finally used their values and their riches to work on the offensive line. I'm trying to think of other guys. that you look at and say, well, obviously there's the obvious ones like Luther Burden, Colston Loveland probably should be closer to the top if we're doing the most

important acquisitions by Ryan Poles because that wasn't an easy one. It would have been very tempting to take Tyler Warren in that spot. And we still don't know what will have been the better selection, but I'm pretty comfortable with a guy. It's a fun conversation though now as opposed to what it was five games into the season. It wasn't a fair fight then. It was it. It was like, Tyler Warren. And some of us are like thinking, knew it. But no,

it might be Colston Loveland. So I put, like, if we're doing like everybody underneath Tooney, might he be second? That argument has gone the way of the Jaden Daniels, Caleb Williams discussion, where we thought, oh, he's running laps around Caleb Williams. And then I was like, can the man have, I don't know, a year in a functional offense? And he's had a year in a functional offense. And all of a sudden, it's a very different conversation when you talk about the number one and number two pick of the 2020.

Five draft. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a lot of value there. 2024 draft. When we return, it is, is it halftime? It is half time?

It is half time already. What do ye have? Oh, you know, I got something for you? Do you want to surprise me with it? So listen, who doesn't love something free? We all love something free. I work in media. But what if you get something free and then they tell you, oh, we don't like what you're doing,

so it's really not as free as you thought because you are going to do something for us in order to receive this free thing. Doesn't it become not free at that point? Yeah, I guess it would by definition. That's what's going on right now in Badmur's. I'll explain on the other side. Oh, yeah, we'll also tell you what we've talked about so far and what to look forward to on the rest of the show here today.

It's Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score. What's all it is it? It's laptop. Rehemi Harris and Grotie. So far today, we've had a popping show here from the Odyssey Performance Studio at the score. We discussed Ian Cunson. Huntingham being named the Falcons general manager and the Bears not receiving compensatory picks because Matt Ryan.

We talked about edge rushers for the Bears. We talked about the Bears' best acquisitions, and we landed on Joe Tooney in the work of Ryan Poles. We also had a great Bears discussion with a former bear himself, Jim Schwantz. It's nap time. And how about this? This is just in to us here. Some breaking news. Breaking news on the score is brought to you by the Take the Neck.

North Podcasts featuring host Mark Grody and Dan Weeder. And on the latest episode, Mark Podash, that's a treat. You should listen to Mark Podash right now on the Take the North podcast. Not right now. Well, yeah, just come back. Come back. Come back. Jack.

Come back. According to Adam Schaefter, if you got that reference, text me. According to Adam Schaefter, the Minnesota Vikings have fired their general manager, Quessi Adolfo Mensa. He is out. the boss in Minnesota is out hired in the same. The name should sound familiar because he was hired in the same cycle as Ryan Paul should sound familiar because you should know your GMs in the Bears division.

But he is out and that is fascinating. They just got the quarterback, but maybe they don't got the quarterback. What's crazy is if I told you last year that he would be gone before Ryan Poles, like at the end of last season, You would have said what to me? You're crazy. Because there was a time where people were like, oh, God, which we had that guy.

And then things went poorly in Minnesota. And there was lots of friction throughout this year. So he is out, and that is interesting. So we will obviously follow the ongoings of Minnesota and who the replacement parts might be. A dophal minza, by the way, just spent the week at the Senior Bowl. So this is a major surprise.

Yeah. It sounds like almost as if they thought about doing it, And then they were like, nah, we're keeping them. And then something changed their minds again. Because to let him continue to be at the senior bowl, that is fascinating. It's halftime. Yes, it is halftime. You ready?

Yes. Scrody. You talked about tailgating earlier. Have you been a part of a rowdy student section at a college basketball game? Hmm. I'm going to say no. Because those are fun. I bet.

Those are fun. I bet. That's the ideas. You get the students. You get them in the building. They are the most vital part of your support. They'll stand. They'll scream.

They'll do all the things. They'll paint their face. They'll wear you. They'll do whatever they have to do to be a fan. You said where. That's where we're going with this. So a lot of times they'll give you like cool matching shirts to wear as part of the student section. Like you'll see them all in black or all in whatever the school colors are that they give you when you get there.

LSU's got a problem right now, sir. Oh. A new LSU athletics policy aims to keep fans from leaving after basketball giveaways. Follow me on this. LSU has implemented a new method to reward students for waiting in line before giveaway games and staying to support the teams. For those who don't oblige, their season tickets can now be at risk. Here's what was going on. LSU would have these cool giveaways of T-shirts and hats and things,

and students would line up as they are wont to do to get the kids. the best seat in the house, and to get these giveaways, more importantly, because they're, like, vintage, the merch has gotten so much better since we were in school. And they would get this, and then they would just walk away and leave, and not even, like, go and watch the whole game. So, LSU, because it's a number of people that can be let in with student tickets, people with the student tickets, they weren't staying for the games, Grody. Wow, okay.

And so now LSU is fighting. Get the free stuff and go? And keep it moving. And G, is there a name for it? Free and G, that's it. I think I just got it. Whatever you want to tag it. Free and G, that's what it is.

That's it. Here's a quote from LSU Athletics. Any student that leaves the PMAC, that's their arena, prior to tip off, will be exit-scanned and will lose the privileges to their LSU basketball student tickets for the remainder of the season. Wow. That memo? You're kids.

Damn it kids. This happened because against Kentucky of all teams. Like, it's a very big power. SEC basketball. They had free t-shirts to the first 500 fans in the door. The memo has now been used before every men's basketball where they have a giveaway. Because it was that bad. There was no one in the student section for the Kentucky LSU game.

Oh, my God. Because guess what? LSU basketball is not very good. And so now they're saying we're just going to take away your season tickets if we find out that you left the game early and give them to somebody else. Because there's like a waiting list. Like it's not like. Bear Stadium waiting list, but...

Yeah. I mean, I support that, don't you? Like, if they're just doing the... Trying to get freebies and ditching the... Right? Are you in support of it? I have a compelling counter argument. Oh.

LSU, by the way, was 12 and 1 when SEC's play started. Their record is now 13 and 8 because they are 1 in 7 in conference. Maybe you just have a better basketball team and people want to stay and watch your game. Do that and you won't have these complications. We won't have to be doing silly things. Because you told me I was getting something for free, and now you're trying to take it away from me because your product is bad. Do you not know of people who have gone to White Sox games to pick up whatever the giveaway was,

and do they stay for the nine innings? It is a pretty suspect move, though, to just grab and go, like, I understand leaving early is one thing, but just to, I don't know, It feels pretty cheap to just do that. Take your goods and go. I mean, at least put some time in. I'm trying to remember what the item was, but I had friends who literally, I think it was like a white socks jacket last year or the year before. And they literally got tickets secondhand just so they could go, jump on the red line, go, grab their stuff, and then didn't even go into the stadium.

For real, for real. Like scan their ticket, got the free thing. You know, they give it to you right when you walk in. I mean, is the free stuff really worth going through all? of that. That's the next question. I guess it is. I guess it is. Yeah. Like, you really want to go through all that? There's some pretty cool stuff that's given away. Yeah, I guess. I guess if it's legitimate stuff, which is not always, you don't always get the best quality at stadium giveaway. Let's be honest here. So what I'm not doing it is putting this on the college students who are paying a lot

of money to go to these schools, right? You know how much college tuition is now? It's a lot. It's a lot money. Yeah, you really got a plan. Just make your product better. I am completely with the students on this. Make it better. In fact, find another way out of the building so they can't scan your ticket. Keep your ticket. Keep getting your giveaways. LSU basketball, do better. Yeah. And a text her at the top, 7.7.3. Mark!

Triple exclamation point. As Steve Rosenblum would call those bangs. Bang, bang, bang. They are paying for season tickets. It's not free at all. I guess. That's why I was trying to come up with the right word. It cheapens it. It's circumventing the system. It's not illegal. be better. Just be better at basketball and people will stay for your games. Okay. I guess I can land on that.

Have fun, kids. Yeah, I'm completely with the students here. Do what you got to do. We are, by the way, we are excited about our, we've alluded to it a couple times. Don't allude to it. Just say it. We're going FM, baby. We're going big time. It's happening. It's going down. 104.3, the score. Oh, my God. Monday, 8 a.m. Mullian Hall. There's going to be a big swing. which and everything. You've been hearing about it, and now it's for real, real.

Because sometimes things are like a Rush concert. Like I was talking. It's a long way away. It's going to be like 80 degrees when I'm seeing, yeah, that's right, when I'm seeing Rush. Hopefully, hopefully, from our radio complex here, I could find a handful of tickets. The fact that you even are saying this out loud is hilarious to me. And you know it is. You're trolling the listeners who also want to go see Rush.

Why wouldn't I do something? No, I'm not trolling the listeners. I'm trolling the company. Trying to get tickets. That's really all that's going on here. But it's like you wait and you wait and you wait and you hear about it. It's about to go down. That's right.

All score shows, Cubs, Bulls, games on FM, high fidelity. High fidelity. High five all the time, including in downtown Chicago. High five. The score will still be heard on 670 a.m. I know that we literally had questions on the text line in the last hour about that. Yes, 6.70 a.m. stays. It never goes. It's still there. It's still huge. But starting Monday at 8 a.m. during our show, well, I guess that's not our show.

It is the debut of 104.3 on FM. The simulcast is presented by the official sports book of the score, circus sports betting the way it should be with no bet fees. You said it's not our show. You're right. It's our pre-game show. It's the pre-show. It's the pre-show. It's the pre-game show for Rahimi Harrison Grotie, otherwise known as Mollion and Hall. Yeah, so Mullen Hall will actually be the one. Mully and them boys, I believe it's also called from time to time. Is that not the reference?

The boys or, no, that was Wiz Khalifa who said that. David Haw, I think, no, no, it was, who was Wani? I think it was Lawrence and Matt. Yeah, Wally and them guys or those guys. Mully and them boys. Would they actually say, the Wiz, them boys? We them boys? I'm just, that's what I was told. It's Mollian Haw and then sometimes it's Mully and the boys.

Mollie and the boys. It's a rebranding. Dem boys, DEM. You think the meetings over the last decade have been for the FM station signal? No, it's been for the repurposing and rebranding of the Mully and Haw Show. We have decided that it's best being Mully and Them Boys. Tune in, you'll still get your jams. It'll be Mully and Them Boys jamming.

Yeah, they'll play Jarl at the top of the hour. All the intro music will be Javier. I know Brandon Friars is going to get a hold of this. And he knows. He will have some jams ready to go. Oh, he will. will and he'll have some hot takes in your face about the Chicago Bulls. They're not hot takes.

In your face, Marshall Harris. The Bulls are going to be fine. In my life. Current front office. I do know. Actually, I love it when you two go at it. Like I said, we need more friar. We all need that in our lives.

What we have next in our lives, though, on Rahimi Harrison Grody, one of our favorite segments. It is time for five odd and five big topics that we will discuss and perhaps even debate next on Rehemi Harrison Grody on the score. The hour is brought to you by Jewel Osco. Five on. Mali Rahimi and Marshall Harris with Mark Grody. Bring you five topics of their mind today. On Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score. Number one.

Coming in at number one on five on it with Mark Grody and Marshall Harris here on Rahimi Harris and Grody. ESPN's Bill Barnwell published his ranking of every head coach higher since 2021. And Ben Johnson was ranked at number eight. Do you guys agree with where Barnwell has run? ranked Johnson on this list. All right. We've got the list in front of us in a scrolling sort of way here. So I'm going to go through like the guys that are before Ben Johnson. And I will just give you my yes or no if they're worthy of being ahead of, does that sound like a good way to do it here? I like that. Since we're living in a scroll lifestyle right now, just so we're having some printer

problems here right now. But Dan Campbell appears as number one on that list. Yep, yep. That's pretty good. Like I understand. Ben Johnson is not number one. Nick Siriani. Number two, yeah, you won a Super Bowl. Like, you get a lot of opinions in Philly, as you know, about Nick Siriani, including those who think he should be fired right now. Mike McDonald is number three. I mean, he's going to the Super Bowl. Mike Rable with the New England Patriots.

Also going to the Super Bowl. Come on. I mean, okay. Yes, I agree with that so far. We're good so far. We're really good. D'Amico Ryan's, yeah. Yeah, still.

Like, Ben Johnson's got a little way to go to catch up with him. He's been a bit of a revelation as disappointing as the sort of thud to the end of their season was. They've got some attitude. A playoff win in every season he's coached. That is great texture and their defense is just fun to watch. Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos, interesting. He's 32, in three seasons, he's 32 and 19, a 628 winning percentage. Yeah, I think that's probably a pretty good place for him, some tender moments with the, the, the,

Russell Russell Wilson. I don't know why I hit Russell Wilson out of my brain. Russell Wilson, but he got through it. He's there. Ooh, so right before, so this is the interesting one, Marshall, right before Ben Johnson, we have the following, Kevin O'Connell.

And I have to ask myself, is Kevin O'Connell right now a better hire than Ben Johnson was in terms of what he has accomplished? Four seasons, 43 and 25 overall. Yeah, he is. judges them out. Just barely. Just barely. I don't think it's barely. First of all, he outlasted his GM. We just found that out.

That's a great point. That's a talent. That's a trick. Not everybody does that. You can withstand regimes you are to be reckoned with. 13 and 14 win seasons, man. Like, it's hard to argue against 13 and 4 and 14 and 3. I was trying to, I was pandering a little bit. Yeah.

And then it's Ben Johnson. And my question would be, is he a better higher than Jim Harbaugh? Who is number nine on the list, yes. Yeah. Do you think he is a better? It's a very close comparison, right? That really is because who didn't want, I wanted them to take a look at Jim Harbaugh. I would have loved it if Jim Harbaugh came here for multiple reasons.

Number one is because he's a terrific head coach. Wow. I mean, Jim Harbaugh probably should be ahead. But maybe it's because he's like been hired previously. Like he knew what you were getting with him. Yeah. Yeah, and maybe that's the typical not giving enough credit to the incumbent guys like we were talking about with Coach of the Year,

like where Bill Belichick can't get a Coach of the Year award because it wasn't a revelation. I would say Harbaugh would go ahead of Ben Johnson, too, on the overall. What's interesting about this is Dan Quinn is the next coach at number 10. Yeah. And I'm like, I think, yeah, I can say Ben Johnson is a better hire just because Ben Johnson maybe had more to clean up. but I am surprised at number 11.

I'd rather have Ben Johnson than Dan Quinn. Okay, that's fine. What I'm saying is I think Liam Cohen should be higher on this list. Okay. And where is he? He's number 11. Okay. I think he should be above, and I understand why he's not.

He's not above Dan Quinn because Dan Quinn played an NFC championship game. Right. But at the same time, 13 and 4 in year one. Yeah, let me just fire through a few more of these because there's another name that people will want to hear here. Let me go from 17 on. Brian Dayball number 17, New York Giants. Tave Canellis. Don't go too

far down on this. Because you can remember what question number two is on this? Oh, okay. Okay. All right. Then I'll just stop. Let's get to the question number two. I forgot. So I think he is appropriately there. I can slide him down a spot. Yeah. But not up any spots. Right. Yeah. Yep. Agree. Number two.

Turn your mic on. Wrong button. There it is. There we go. Question number two, we scroll down Bill Barnwell's list of the head coach rankings of every hire since 2021. In that same piece by Bill Barnwell, former Bears head coach Matt Eberfluse came in at number 25. How do we feel about where Matt Eberfluse ranks on this list? Mars, you get the first crack at this one, buddy. So I looked at this.

25 felt high just when you say it's 25. and how many coaching hires have there been since that year? Well, there's been a total of 37. Just to give you a frame of reference. Number 37, you probably forgot about this because I did. Urban Meyer with the Jacksonville Jaguars. One of the worst coaching 10 years in the NFL ever. Yeah, and the worst since 2021 because he finished 2 and 11

and didn't even make it through season number one. Same thing for number 36, Frank Reich. One season didn't make it to the end of the first season, 1 in 10. And so we keep going up, and some of these names are very familiar. I think Matt Iberfuse is pretty well placed because he's above guys like Jonathan Gannon, who didn't have any success in Arizona, Jared Mayo, who was one and done in New England, and Brian Callahan, because, well, when you coach the Titans these days, you know you're not in it for the long haul.

Aaron Glenn, which obviously was a disaster for his first year. Three and 14 for Aaron Glenn. Talk about two coaches from Detroit going in separate. directions in their first years. And directly above him is Dennis Allen at number 23 and Rahim Morris and number 24. Allen, of course, the defensive coordinator now. He was 18 and 25 before getting fired in his third season with the Saints. And Rahim Morris is the person directly above him.

I think I like where this is. I think Maddie Bufus is also placed correctly at 14 and 32. Before seeing the names and you heard, how many is it 37? Is that the list goes to here? Yeah. When you first heard Fluse is 25 out of 30s, I'm like, we sure that's not further down, but then you look at the name. By the way, there's one other former Bears coach who is on this list,

even though it feels like this man has been gone forever. It just does. It's weird. Lovie Smith shows up with the Houston Texans at number 33. In season one, he was 3 and 13. That did not get him off to a particularly good start for, Lovey Smith. That's not what the Bears said.

They're just happy he got that third win. The Bears are just happy that he got that third win. F-O-B, friend of the Bears. Number three. This is five out and I'm the score with Mark Grody and Marshall Harris, and we're dusting off an award that we've kept in the closet since baseball season. Here it is for question number three. Does anyone on the Bulls roster qualify for the Mark Grody?

He deserved better award. Following Chicago's 116, 113 loss to Miami. I guess it's the guy that we were talking about a little bit earlier. The one that Marshall Harris is desirous of potentially if it makes sense, signing and keeping here for as long as possible. And that would be Iyo Dusumu, very strong at the end of a game where the Bulls in general were strong because they had to be strong because they sucked for a lot of the game down like between seven and ten points for the majority of that game last night. But he made some key baskets at the end, 23 points and played an I.O. Dusumu type game. unlike Kobe White, who was 2 of 11 from the field and 2 of 8 from 3 and misses an open 3 at the end.

So I do believe, I owe, I absolve you of the happenings and ongoings of that basketball game at the United Center last night. I'm going to be more specific while agreeing with you about Iyo Dostimo. We can agree. One specific play, he deserved better. And the Bulls, frankly, deserved better. With 10.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Bulls, down the. by three, and Iyo Dostumu picks Norman Powell's pocket and is immediately held by Norman Powell on what would have been a breakaway. So by definition, it should have been a transition

take foul. What that means is you go to the free throw line, shoot one free throw, and retain possession of the ball. If that foul is called and I.O. makes the free throw, then the bulls have the ball, down two with 10 seconds left. That's a very different situation than what they actually faced. One, they didn't give I.O. credit for a steal in the box score on that. And he stole the ball. That's how he got fouled. He did make the two free throws. Didn't they talk about that that should be changed? Did they talk about that play? I think I heard Stacey saying. They said wait till today's two-minute report and see what the NBA officials say about it. So we'll be standing. But do you also feel, and it was pointed out during the broadcast, did you feel the fatigue in that game?

Everybody was fatigued. Remember, the Bulls played the night before, but so did the Miami Heat. They didn't get in until after 4 o'clock in the morning. Yeah. And they played sloppily and just kind of slow motion like they were playing in quicksay. It was almost comical because it was like nobody was necessarily trying to hide it. It was like, we're tired.

And that's why no one could take over the game per se. It was a slog, a true slog. Yeah, I think it was Adam Amin who kept pointing out correctly. Like it's just, it the Bulls were down between seven and nine points. It felt like the entire game until they made it a close game. And by the way, just putting a cap here on this question,

the Bulls will be at. They've got this three-game series going on. They are at, now they get to go to Miami. Oh, Miami. They will be at Miami on Saturday and Sunday. They get to spend the rest of the week in Miami. So hopefully they get themselves rejuvenated out there in South Florida. Number four.

A whole lot of heat has been coming Bill Polion's way this week. According to an ESPN piece that surfaced earlier in the week, the former Colts General Manager, current Hall of Fame voter was reported to have told voters that legendary Patriots Colters Bill Belichick should have to, quote, wait a year, unquote, due to Spygate, the videotaping scandal back in 2007. Polian later denied that saying that he told the SPN that he told other voters that he heard other voters float the idea.

So that's Polian saying, hey, it wasn't me. It was other people I heard say Bill Belichick should have to wait and not be a first ballot Hall of Famer. There were questions as to whether or not Polion voted for Belichick. Pollian has claimed that he did vote for Belichick. Yesterday, Polian son Brian tweeted the following statement, quote, My father is a public figure and polarizing. I understand and accept that. However, what has happened over the last couple of days is not right. The facts and the truth are important, unquote. The statement included a retweet of this clip from Bill Pollian's interview with

Sirius XM NFL earlier this week. Here it is. I wrote this out so I'm reading from the statement. I voted for Coach Belichick in the Hall of Fame selection meeting. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has confirmed that fact through

the auditors of the selection process. Again, I'll state that I never said that I believe that Coach Belichick should quote, wait a year, close quote, for enshrinement. This has been confirmed by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, numerous selectors who are in the room, and my vote for Coach Belichick. As a Hall of Fame member and selector, I realize the import of what we do. I've always tried as a selector to make these difficult choices with the utmost of it objectivity.

I've said on Sirius XM Radio and numerous other media outlets that I believe Coach Belichick to be a first Spell at Hall of Famer. My vote confirms that. That is Bill Polion, Bill Pollian on Sirius XM NFL radio earlier this week. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the BS meter, where do you rank Bill Pollian's prepared statement about the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame debacle? I'm going to do Bill Polling in a solid and put it out of 11 and limit it there. You're doing them a solid. I'm doing him a solid.

As I said before, when it comes to Bill Pollian and his, anything really related football at this current stage of his life. He is either senile or just an absolute clown. Here's why. Because your son can go run and try to run this sound out there for people off of a prepared statement that you had to write down and make sure you didn't forget what you were supposed to say. But when you were asked whether or not you voted for Bill Belichick,

you had to say, what, you're 95% sure? I'm sorry. If your responsibility is that great in which we're depending on you to cast your vote on three out of five individuals, and you can't 100% remember who you actually voted for without having an audit done by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, sir, this is a Wendy's. You don't need to be voting anymore. Go sit down, take a nap. We'll tell you when dinner is, probably about 4.30 for people of your condition. Boomer. He's so boomer.

Look, this was emergency public relations that what we just heard. That's what's going on right now. When you bring in the emergency call, when it's 9-1-1, when it's stop-drop and roll time, that's what's going on here. It's desperation. That's fine. If you want a safe face and like we could all smile and say, okay, Bill, that's cool. That's great. Big hugs.

You're great. got to get out. 11. 11. I will join you in that 11 category. Yes, you've done great things. You've done wonderful. I hope you feel better. I do. I hope he feels better. I hope his son feels better.

I hope all the Polians feel better about this. Now, to this respectful man, you must do the right thing and save him from himself is what we all do with the folks that we love the most. I'm more disappointed in Bill's son than I am Bill at this

point. Because at some point, As we all know, the kids become the parents to their parents. And apparently he doesn't understand that this is that stage. He is there. Be the parent to your parent. Right. Do your job. Number five.

Microphone. Thank you. I got you, Ray. I got two buttons here. Five on it on the score. Mark Grote, Marshall Harris. And this is our final question of, appropriately placed after the Bill Bullion

question, and appropriate for the week we've had, what's your favorite Boomer take? Boomers. So many takes. You want to go first? You seem like you're ready, man. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm not yelling at an angry I'm not angry and yelling at a cloud right now, but I will say this.

You're yelling at an angry cloud. I'm probably yelling at an angry cloud. I'm angry, yelling at an angry cloud. Here's my most boomer take. and it's the truth. And everybody should agree with me. Stop telling me you don't take cash. If I have money and I'm willing to pay you for the thing that you are offering, take my freaking money.

I shouldn't have to pay with a card or freaking Apple pay or whatever. Cash shouldn't mean something in a society. And if I have physical cold, hard cash, you should take my cash and give me what I'm paying. for. Don't tell me you don't take cash. I will counter that with stop using cash, Marshall. Stop it. We got a boomer. There's a penny shortage going on in this world. Let me tell you something, Grotie. And here's why I say this. Because if I stop taking, if I start having cash, I'm going to stop tipping. And I'd rather give the people I'm tipping straight up cash. That is funny. You say that that's the only thing I have cash in my wallet for is those

extraordinary circumstances of tipping and every once in a while, every once in a while, it's easier to have a $20 bill on you. But not often. But that's a great boomer take. Listen, I think I'm in the right. That's a boomer take right there. What about you? I debated with myself about whether or not this is actually a boomer take, but I think

it is. It has become it. As one who has, and you do too, and Layla as well, we all walk a lot. We all walk a ton, and I have been walking this city since I was living here and working here full-time 20 years ago. 20, 25. I just walk everywhere, walk on the lake, walk silly. You know, 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day easily with the walking that goes on. All right, my boomer take is, and it's become this because I can't overcome it. You have to walk on the right side of the sidewalk.

Am I wrong about this because I'm starting to feel wrong about it? No, you're right. Look at me right in the eyes, walking on the wrong side of the road. Right at you. Come at you. Just walking. There I am, heel, toe, going right down State Street today. There's a light across, and I'm waiting for the go sign.

And I'm looking, I'm staring down my counterparts. They're in my lane. I'm like, are they going to adjust? They're not going to adjust. They're not adjusting. They want to just take over the right. Walking on the right side of the sidewalk is my boomer take. Please do it.

Please do it. I should end the show with that every. single day. It bothers me to no end. And remember, kids, walk on the right side of the sidewalk. Just like driving. Just like driving. And you know what's crazy is like that's a close second to that? What you just said

is like when people are walking in a group and they don't even like veer to the right? Do you want me to walk through you? Is that the goal here? Right now I make it real obvious that I had to just go around them. Like I make a big production about it. If I have to go around like a state street tree or

something to get in front of those people, people, I cut them off real close. That's an excellent boomer take. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Okay, good. I'm glad you confirmed that as a boomer take. That felt good. It did, but that's right.

That's why you asked the question. Maybe I am a boomer. It's a fun Friday like that. Coming up next, I love the way this guy talks about the NBA. He is Brian Geltziler from Sirius XM NBA Radio. He knows the league inside out. He knows the bowl. inside out. We will talk to Brian next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.

Rahimi Harrison Grotty, midday's 10 a.m. to two on Chicago Sports Radio 670. Wiggins with a spin. Wiggins threw it away. Intercepted by Kobe. Kobe on the runway. Kobe to Vooch. Vooch gives it up. Hurt her right corner aisle. Four and three. Yes. Yes, but no. Yes, but no. As we welcome him back. Back to Rehemi Harrison, Grotie. The Bulls lost the game last night to the Miami Heat 116 to 113. The Bulls go down. They have lost three straight games. Highlights courtesy of the Chicago Bulls Radio Network. Heard right here on 670. The score, Chuck Swirsky with a great call as well, along with Bill Wennington. Yeah, the Bulls trailed by 13 in the fourth quarter. They made a nice comeback, but they fall short in the end.

Let's keep the Bulls talk hot. The NBA talk hot. as well. Nobody better to do it. Really, I just like listening to this guy. He is Brian Geltziler. He is of Sirius XM NBA Radio. He is a host there, and we are lucky that he is joining us right now. On the Circus Sports Illinois Hotline, download the Circus Sports app today. Brian, real pleasure to have you on today.

How are you doing? And what do you think about those Chicago Bulls? I'm doing great, first of all. I hope you guys are good. The Chicago Bulls, I feel for Bulls fans. I kind of feel like it's been a lot of years of just straddling this playing line and no real move in either direction. And I kind of feel like the Bulls fans are great fans.

And I truly believe that they would be incredibly supportive of a rebuild done in earnest with the right kinds of pieces. And I think there's a fear of this. ownership group about breaking it down too much and maybe taking a financial hit over it, and a little bit of the fear of the front office and breaking it down too much and not being able to keep their jobs. So I think you have kind of a bunch of different things factoring in that has left the Bulls with permanent residence in NBA purgatory, which you're not bad enough to get a high

draft pick, and you're not good enough to be able to have a chance to win a playoff series. And that's where the Bulls have been stuck for a while now. I feel like this is the perfect time because of what you just said for the Bulls, to make a flurry of moves to at least get draft capital. Because what I've seen from them so far is they just don't value draft capital the same way that everybody else in the association values draft capital. With the number of players that they have, seven of them coming to the end of their current contracts,

now is the time to go ahead, see what you can get for who, and then understand that Billy Donovan's a great coach. You're probably not going to ever be able to tank as long as he's your head coach. And listen, I mean, this tanking is never a coaching strategy. It's always a management strategy. And so you could certainly break this thing down to the studs a little bit with the thought of who my building blocks are going to be. And if you want it to be Gideon Bezellis, it's Gideon Bezellis. That's fine. You know, you've got to make the biggest financial decision at the end of the season is going to be on Colby White. And what do you do there? And that's really a financial decision that technically should be made between now and Thursday's three of the season. clock trade deadline. Because if you are going, not going to re-sign him, you have to move him for value because at his current contract,

he's relatively easy to trade and there's teams out there that he would be a tremendous help for. So you could really fish something decent for him if you're willing to put him out there. But if you want to make him a building block, well, that's fine. But then maybe go the other way and look to add another vet shooter

to be better next year. Oh, no. And again, Would I do that? The first option is much more viable to me than going that way. But here's my point. Pick a friggin direction. Like, go do... And they're not picking any direction.

I agree on breaking down. Listen, I love Nicole Vucevic and veteran leadership and all that, and he's a very good player. What's he still doing on the scene? Why is that? Because whatever value at some point you can get for him, go get. Because, again, he's not going to be part of your long-term solution because he doesn't fit the age timeline.

And that's the whole thing. Start to align this thing to get good in the future. Stop worrying about winning just enough games to hang around and keep people interested. I think it's cruel and it's unfair to Bulls fans that they kind of have to deal with this year over year. Something that I've said we should watch the Bulls do, and I doubt that they do what I tell them to do, because that never happened. But move Kobe White, move Vujavich, move the other guys, but keep Ayo Dosumu because he's going to be cheaper.

to keep than Kobe White and re-sign him. He's a Chicago guy. He's a valuable piece. Even after you resign him, you'd still be able to move him in maybe a future deal to get a superstar. I think they've gone the way of not being flexible enough so that when a star like Janice Ante Cumpo becomes available, they don't have what it takes to land a guy like that.

What do you think about getting rid of both Kobe, Vooch, whoever else you can on the fringes, and kind of what you're saying in that you keep going forward with Giddy, Buzellas, and maybe Iodosumu, and still have a whole lot more flexibility than what they've had in years past. I agree with your theory on Dissoumoo, because I think, listen, that's a player that you're going to get signed to a relatively reasonable deal, and he's a guy that you could see being a rotation player on a title contender. Really?

I mean, he's extremely versatile. He guards well. He plays with a whole lot of confidence. He's unselfish. Like, I just, I like the player, and I would agree there. I think, you know, you do want to bring him back. Kobe White's the big decision, because Kobe White's going to cost you, you know, in excess a $35 million a year.

And if you don't necessarily think that he's, you know, a big part of your future, you don't pay him that money. The other thing is this that they have to be conscious of. You know, we're coming out of an era where if you didn't get what the value you thought you should get for a guy in a trade that was teams who are looking at as a rental, you would hold them, sign them, and then flip them. with the thought that, you know, now that he's signed, he'll retain some value. The problem is, is higher-priced players in this day and age,

no matter how good they are, are really hard to move. Teams are very careful about the kinds of numbers they're taking on their books, because once you get to that second apron, your handcuffed from doing anything. And everybody wants to stay out of it. It's functioning as a hard cap. And for the teams, the one team in the league that's in it right now, Cleveland, they probably need to do something here at this deadline they can't do. because they're locked up.

So my point being is that you have to be careful with White. If he's not a building block, you've got to decide this week and get whatever you can from. Listen, I know for a long time that at one point the Bulls wanted two firsts for Vooch, and then they're holding out for one. At this point, I think a young player in a couple of seconds. I would just say, you know what, let's turn the page. It's okay to get bad enough to get a good pick in this draft.

And this is an incredible draft to be bad for. Because even if you don't get one of these top four picks, you know, you have six meaningful impact guys that can be all NBA types of players in this draft. In addition, it goes anywhere from 10 to 12 deep with really, really good players. Like, it's a really good year to be in the lottery. And for the Bulls, it may make the difference. This may be the kind of year it makes a difference where you're going to be much better off at 8 than you are going to be at 12 or 13. And I think that's something that this front office has to take a deep look at. But again, if the guys that are running the front office are worried about losing their jobs,

if the team gets too bad, you can't blame them either. A lot of this falls at the feet of Bull's ownership. Yeah, because what they obviously sold, that is our tourist carnishovos and Mark Eversley, what they sold to their bosses was, yeah, we know we don't have a star, but we're going to try to develop our own, if it's going to be modest but zealous, If it's going to be Josh Giddy or just have one of those teams that has a bunch of very good players, that's what they sold. Hopefully they would have the confidence to pivot, even swallow their pride in that regard as well, because Marshall's right. And he brought up the name Janus.

The Bulls would be in no position to acquire Janus right now. While the rest of the league is trying to do that, confirm that for us, and then update us on where you think Janus is going to land or where he ends up in his career. Let me say this about Artur's Carnivis and Mark Ebersley first. One of the reasons they don't go to Bulls' ownership with the pivot move, it's fear of losing their jobs. Like, at one point or another, like, you can put coaches on trial, right? You're going to have a coach, you've got to win this year, you're gone. You start to put executives on trial, and they're making decisions one year to the next instead of what's best for the overall future.

So looking at these guys and saying, you know what, it's okay to break the job. this thing down and we're going to give you guys the rebuild and here's three or four years and let's see how it looks. That's on ownership and if ownership isn't doing that am I blaming? Listen, we all have bosses, guys. Sometimes you tell your bosses what they want to hear, right? And if this is what they want to hear,

that's what you're telling them to stay on the job. So I can't pound those guys too badly on that. It still falls, it still falls at the feet of ownership. As far as Janus is concerned, listen, I just think Milwaukee realized how desperate they were a little late. If you're going to do in this marketplace a meaningful auction of Janus,

your meaningful auction has to start with having Houston and San Antonio engaged in that. And one of the reasons I think the bucks leaked through Shams Sharani of ESPN earlier this week that we're willing to take aggressive offers right now between now and the trade deadline is because I think they've realized that if they could wait for the summer, and you're not going to get Houston and San Antonio in this summer either. They're not going to part with the players that you want on the, apartment. That you can make the case maybe Houston should be willing to part with Alperin Schengun in a deal like that. They're not as of right now. So I think Milwaukee

looked at this and said, geez, we, you know, Yonis is going to come back. It's a calf injury. Next year, he's got one more year left on his field and a player option that he's absolutely opting out of. What if he gets hurt when he comes back this year? Where are we then? Then he doesn't play next year. He opts out and we get nothing for him. And they can't get nothing for him. They don't have anything else. They have no draft capital. They have, outside of Ryan Rollins, they have no good young players. Anybody's interested in. They have nothing.

So for them, this is everything, this deal. And I think they've realized that there's risk of the packages getting worse. So you throw it out right now for teams like Miami and Golden State, who can be desperate to want to compete right now. Atlanta, you know, is kind of on the margins here, but I don't want to give Jalen Johnson, which probably disqualifies them. A team like Toronto, who's having a great season. And if they could pull it off without having a sacrifice, Scotty Barnes.

You know, in Miami, Pat Ra-Row, clock's ticking on Pat Riley running this thing. If he can get Yannis right now, we'll give whatever he has to give to get Yonis right now. So I think Milwaukee kind of looked at this in that way. I did look at Golden State. They're willing to get Butler, Kaminga, Pajemski, and everything. Now, is that enough? I don't know that that's going to be enough for Milwaukee. We have to see.

I mean, but it seems on a draft capital. Forget it. It seems like Minnesota and the Knicks. I don't think they have a chance. In the end, gun to my head, if I had to give you a team that I think he's going to end up on, I think it's probably going to be the Miami Heat. Because in the end, the best young asset type of player that's going to be available to Milwaukee to be able to put on a marquee is going to be Khalil Ware, who's played really well this year

and shown that he can be a really good rim-protecting center and be a stretch five that shoots threes. And although he's had some inconsistent moments this year, you could see the potential there. And I think for them and getting a bunch of young players, they have all their draft capital, I think you could take a package like that and spin it to your fans to keep people coming. And I think understand that for Milwaukee, that's a big goal here.

That entire downtown area and that FISA forum has been built around Janus. They can't just have to get a meaningful player back, which is, again, why they want Dylan Harper from San Antonio, why they'd want Schenguner and M. Thompson from Houston, why they would want Jalen Johnson from Atlanta, They want that kind of lead piece. And in the absence of one of those guys, Khalil Ware is actually a pretty decent option.

No, I agree with you. We just saw him last night. We'll see him tomorrow. We'll see him Sunday. As you know, the Bulls and the Heat playing in a three-game play-in series. At least that's what I'm calling it in season. And before we let you go real quick, I just want to point something out. The Bulls had a chance, according to Joe Dumars, to get that unprotected New Orleans

Pelicans pick, which would come in real handy. If this does go past the trade deadline with Yonis, do you think the Bulls could make enough trades before this deadline to have enough capital and maybe a young player to be in on the Yannis sweepstakes because, as you mentioned, the desperation? Listen, I don't think so. Enough, yes, the Bulls do have enough. But keep this in mind about Yonis. Wherever Yonis gets traded, there's got to be enough there.

Oh, man. We missed your last sentence, Brian. We missed you, but I think we have you back. Well, I said the important thing here is that wherever he goes, he's got to want to stay there and sign the contract extension. You can opt out after next year. So the thing for the Bulls to be able to get him, well, sure, you could send Giddy Bezellis and Kobe White and all your draft capital and you know what I mean? Like something like that. But then who's Yonah's actually going to come to Chicago and play with?

And that becomes a big problem. So, I mean, if you make a Yonis trade and take him from the frying pan into the fire, you get what you deserve. And that's the thing. And I think for the Bulls here, there's just not enough under the hood to make a Janus pursuit all that worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah. At least not at this deadline. I think they could probably recruit something and do something in the off season if it comes to that, but we'll see.

Brian, great stuff as always. Thanks for taking the time. We appreciate you. Thank you, Brian. Absolutely my pleasure. We'll talk to you guys soon. Take care. I love that.

That's Brian Geltziler, Sirius XM NBA radio host. Brian and I are aligned. Yeah, well, and I was going to say Miami. Like, really? It wouldn't be in that plane anymore. I could tell you that. That's true. But, like, it just gives me flashbacks to the LeBron year

where a lot of us around here thought maybe that triumvirate would happen at the United Center. Never, I bet. It was probably about as close to happening as the Olympics happening in Chicago. Not close at all. Around the same time as well. And now I'm thinking, not that I actually thought that it was. was in any way plausible for Janus to come to the Bulls. Just the fact, he's going to Miami.

Not even a finalist. I mean, and that's also not even a finalist. I'd sign an extension to Miami, too, by the way. Like he said, of course. Of course you have to sign the extension. But yeah, go to Miami, work for a really good. What is Pat Riley, the president of basketball operations? Is that what his title is these days?

I don't like his title's higher than that, but yes, he's in charge of bass. Much like Matt Ryan, he's in charge. Yeah, and Spoe, man, Spow, you don't hear as much about. out Spoe anymore. He's going to the Hall of Fame, so he's so good. He's so good at his job. We can take a trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, whenever he gets in. One of those guys, like our guests we just had, just like listening to the man, talk baseball. Let's talk more basketball. The last time, actually, the Bulls played in a real

playoff series, it was against the Milwaukee Bucks. It's been a while for the Bulls. It's been a while for the Blackhawks. Let's talk about who's getting close, if at all. Who gets back in quicker? back in because yeah, there's a chance. There's a chance for our United Center tenants. We'll talk about that next. Rahimi Harrison Grody on the score. The Rahimi Harrison Grody Show, midday's 10 to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, it is on the score. And what is true about the Bulls and Blackhawks this year, although it always just feels like a struggle even if it's not as bad as it literally looks right now. The Bulls 23 and 25, your Chicago Blackhawks vastly improved record-wise from last year at this time and now.

Blackhawks are 21, 24, and 9. What we are wondering and throwing out there for discussion is who is more likely to make the playoffs the Bulls or the Blackhawks? a reminder that in the NBA, 16 of the 30 teams do make the actual playoffs. That is true. That is over half. It's really, like I always say about the play-in, and this was hilarious, just don't be one of the worst five teams in your 15-team conference, and you get to play in post-season basketball.

Right. It takes doing to not make the playoffs. I'm not going to say, like, it's impossible, Bull, but it takes some doing. Last time, as I said before the break, the last time the Bulls made the playoffs was the 2021-2020 season in which the Bulls were beaten in five by the Milwaukee Bucks. Oh, it was a fun series. Do you remember when they won game two and people were like, oh, yes, it's a series now.

We're coming back to United Center. It felt that way. Bulls can take a lead. They've got, they stole home court advantage from the Bucks. God, it was so nice. I was there. It felt all you were. I was there.

It did feel it that way. I know I fell for it because I wanted to. Damn it. I wanted so badly to. But the Bulls have not been in the playoffs since the 21, 22 season in a league where 16 of the 30 teams make it. The Blackhawks, the last time they were in the playoffs was NHL season, 2019-2020, when the Blackhawks were a 12-seed and were dismissed from the playoffs in the first round by Las Vegas. and 16 of the 32 teams in the NHL make the postseason

and it's been that long since the Blackhawks have made it. Honestly, to me, it would be really hard to think that neither of these teams would make it. As in I think they both should, the great wild card in this one is, and I think my answer will still stand even after I say what I'm going to say, the great wild card is the Bulls and the trade. deadline that they do start to dump off players, but I think I'm pretty right to be skeptical that they're not going to

unload players and not going to take a slide to the end of the season, which have them exit from the playoffs. Do you consider taking a slide if they trade vuch? Is that like, is that far? I think the question is you're asking me, do I think the Bulls would take a slide? No, no, no. Well,

yes. Yes. Right. If the Bulls don't have Voochievich, would they slide out of the playoffs? They wouldn't hit rock bottom. without Nikola Voochovich in there. But I think he does probably even more than... We'd find out the more that he was doing that maybe we didn't appreciate him for.

Yeah, I think that you'd take a hit without Vouch. I don't think you go rock bottom, though, at that point. I don't know that you even fall out of the playoffs. I don't know when Zach Collins is coming back, but that's a factor here. If you lose Vouch and you have Collins and Smith still, then you feel like you can still do some things, especially defensively because Vouch is a liability on DeVance.

As you've seen, as you've watched, a lot of Bulls game of late. The problem with the Blackhawks is, first of all, they've lost four in a row. Second of all, since Connor Bardard has come back, he gave them like a little quick jolt, but they have not been good team-wise. It's been a lot of, oh, they hung around or they had a lead and blew a lead. And the fact that they are 21, 24-9, and remember, they're 54 games in the season. There's only 28 games left.

And as it stands right now, they've got 51 points. The Ducks have the second wild card spot in the season. West. They're eight points behind them. They're going to have to start not just taking teams to overtime and losing in a shootout or losing an OT. They've got to win games. They've got to put together wins. And I just don't know if they can get there. I think the Bulls have a better chance of making the playoffs. I really do. And that might be my stance a week from today after the Bulls have made their trade deadline deals as well. Has Connor Bedard actually even had a goal since he's returned?

I know he had an empty netter. Does he had a non-empty net goal? I believe so. I don't know if he has. I'm not really sure. Like, I mean, he's going through it. Like, just the classic early seat. Is he even 21 yet, too? That's another question for counter-Badard.

Yeah, he had a goal against the penguins. Okay. And I'm trying to run the day that was yesterday. Okay. I think the Blackhawks are in before the Bulls. But we shall see because there's going to be some. You just told me less teams make it in the age. I know.

I did say that. I didn't necessarily say that because of that the Blackhawks wouldn't get in. my answer is, as I said right at the beginning, and you can't do this. But I think my answer was I think they would both get in. But if I had to choose one of them, I think it will be the Blackhawks. I think you're highly optimistic. I think the chances of them both not getting in is way higher than the chances of them both getting in. Can't wait to find out.

Also can't wait for Monday. Monday! It's happening. We are going FM. It is the debut, the turning on of 1043, the score. We're going to be FM Marshall. That's right. All the shows, Rahimi Harrison Grody, included in this.

All the score shows you could hear in FM. Pat Hughes, he's already FM. Does this mean you're going to break out your FM voice? That's my first question. I'm crafting it. You're crafting? I've been told I have the weekend to craft my FM personality. Okay.

So I don't know. Should I be working on my FM personalities? Absolutely. We all bring a different FM personality to the table. We do. But all the shows, the Bulls games, Chuck bouncing around on FM, okay, I'm in. We'll also be heard on 6.70 a.m. still, that is not going away. But starting on Monday, 8 a.m. during the Mully and Haw Show, it is the debut, folks, of 1043 FM.

The simulcast will be presented by the official sportsbook of the score, Circus Sports, sports betting the way it should be with no bet fees. You know this Marshall. People have been running all over the hallways the last few days trying to get things ready and prepared for Monday. In our last break, they were putting up new signage, like out in the hall. Oh, new signage is going up. I'm looking in the studio kitchen or the kitchen studio or whatever that thing is.

What is that thing anyway? It's the kitchen. It's a kitchen. There's things in there. I have been, I will be dispatched after this show to a very, familiar and popular location where I'll be filming something. I don't know if I can. I actually have no idea if I'd be allowed to say. I don't even know exactly what it is. I know where I'm going. I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing. But I'm going to be finding out.

I'm going to blindfold you and surprise you with something. I certainly hope that is not part of it. Okay. Because if it is... You don't want to go on anyone's trunk. I get it. Yeah. What's not a secret, though, is at 8 a.m. sharp on Monday. 1043, the It's happening. So it's going to be like a big, fun, festive day at the score with great guests all day. It's going to be one of those score days. You got some surprises lined up. Surprises along the way.

Coming up next here on this show right here in the now, in the known, will be our guy, frequent contributor to the Rahimi Harrison Grotie show. He is Russell Dorsey. Yahoo Sports National Baseball Insider, amongst other things. We'll get to the full resume. We'll get to Russell's full thoughts on baseball. I bet he'll want to talk some bears. And we have a topic that we will share with him as well that we're going to get into. It's all next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.

Looking for something smart, soulful, and full of heart. I'm Jen Hatmaker, host of For the Love, the podcast where we talk about what really matters. Love and family, faith and purpose. Every week, I'm joined by incredible guests. for honest conversations that invite all of us to live with more intention, more laughter, and more connection. Join us on For the Love wherever you get your podcasts. This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids.

Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider for Yahoo Sports. When I was wrong about the Padre series, Robbie made sure to have my incorrect prediction in the open, but he seems to have forgotten my correct. Yeah, the file got corrupted. Sorry, Russ. Insider and analyst for Friday night baseball on Apple TV Plus. Winners and losers of this offseason. For teams like the Chicago Cubs or the New York Mets,

it only took a matter of days to decide that they were big winners. The Cubs were able to land starter Edward Cabrera and all-star third baseman Alex Bregman. While the New York Mets in that same span were able to acquire Bobichette, Luis Robert Jr., and Freddie Peralta. Russell Dorsey. I'm sorry. The score.

Yes, sir. Not only is Russell Dorsey on the score. He is on the score for the next hour here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. We're performing today more than ever because we are in the Odyssey Performance Studio while the real score studios are being, let's just say, fitted for FM. And boy, it is looking sharp over there. Russ Dorsey, it is always spectacular to have you with us. How are you, sir?

And Robbie can't hurt you anymore. He can't. He can't. Shout out to our guy, Robbie. I'm doing all right. How are you guys doing? You know, we're embracing the coldness of winter and the coldness of another bull slash Blackhawks season

that's kind of feeling like it might be going by the wayside. But here's the thing. On the bull side, we knew that, right? No. Yes. No. Yes, we did, Marshall. What are talking about?

If they're healthy, it's okay. Wait, I'm just going to have them heard, yes, no, yes. 41 and 41 is what you can expect every year. And they're going to be really happy about the plan. That's, that's, that's, we know that. I expect 45. The Blackhawks thing was actually going well for a little while, and then Connor Bredar got hurt, and so then that's sad.

He's been back for a while. He did have a goal last night, by the way. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, the Bulls, I don't know how you can be surprised about what they're doing. It's the same thing. It's a health issue. When you depend on depth, you better have your depth. And when Lachlan Ulbrick and Emmanuel Miller are playing lots of minutes, that means you have gone.

Did you legitimately, I know we do this thing, but like, did you legitimately? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You do do this thing. Yes. Absolutely.

Still do. Like, for real? Like, yeah, this is not a bit? It's not a bit. It's not a thing. What was your expectation for what, like, what their record? Winning record. Winning record.

One of the balls are on the score, so I'm not trying to mess up your money. You're trying to shade them. That's what I'm trying to do. We're real. Ross, as you would say, we're real ones. You are? Yeah. So what was your...

How many games do you expect them to win? 45 wins. Grady, how many games do you expect the Bulls to win? Probably 43. Under. I take the under. Yeah, I would have taken the under too. Yeah, the under.

It would be the simple way to put it. Yeah, under the 45. I get it. I get it. I get it. I guess I'm just curious what would make you think that they would be better than 41 and 41 or around there or like the playing. and better players, and more importantly, a very, very, very weak Eastern Conference, very weak Eastern Conference.

That's not working out. It's fine. They've been hurt. They got guys, like, Josh Giddy didn't play last night. Josh Giddy's missed time. Kobe White's missed a lot of time. Kobe White finally playing back-to-backs for just the second time all year. That's a big reason why.

And they're still hanging around 500 despite that. And what should they do at the trade deadline? They should sell. They should sell everything they can sell that's not, you know, nail or something. down to the floor. They should sell. They should keep Bozellis. They should keep I-O and Giddy and then just keep it moving. They should keep I-O-2? Yeah, because they can resign I-O-2 to a much cheaper deal than anybody else, and then he becomes a very valuable asset that they can trade later if they want to, or he can be around for the next iteration of, I don't know, winning basketball. But they should sell. They

should get as many draft assets as possible, maybe some young players thrown in, but they should sell. Interesting. Yeah. And even if they do that, they can still win 40-plus games. because it's Billy Donovan coaching in a bad Eastern conference. That's the part I'm trying to get you with. We need to have a higher bar around here, man. I'm not saying you, but I'm saying like 45 wins

and the play-in can't be the standard. 45 wins you get you above the plate. It's become the standard around here. I think it's become the norm. I wouldn't say the standard, but the norm. Not for fans, but for ownership. Which was what matters more.

Me and you can yell at each other about it, but it's not really going to change. I mean, I don't know. I'm more concerned about my white socks. That's why you're here is to talk about my white socks. Let's talk about the white socks. You want to start right there? Well, we're going to talk about Cubs.

That's the hook. Like, they know we're going to talk Cubs. Nah, because I know my dad's listening. He's all like, you don't talk about the whites. No, but no, we're going to talk about the Cubs in a moment. Okay. First, we'll start with the Coss. Are you not satisfied with what the White Sox have done in terms of making some progress,

giving their financial self-place financial constraints? I think they've had, the Chicago White's, has had one of the better off seasons. in Major League Baseball when you consider what they are as a team where they're going, you know, kind of their timeline in terms of what they're building down there on the south side. And I think when you move a guy like a Luis Robert and the three of us had talked about this for a long time during the season, it's like, when are you going to move Luis Robert? Why haven't they moved Luis Robert?

They've been trying for a long time. And they finally found a team that says, all right, we'll give you this and we'll give you that. and then we'll take Luis Robert. And I think for them, you get a young player in Luis Angelicoña that didn't really have a spot there in New York anymore with the Mets. They're able to add a guy in Sir Anthony Dominguez, who is an experienced, high leverage arm in the back end, was pitching in the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays this past season.

It surprised you, though, that they sign. I think when you're talking about how you go to the next level for a rebuilding team, Young teams lose a lot of games in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning. And I think for a White Sox team that didn't make strides and lost a lot of one-run games, you can improve your record by 8 to 10 wins if you close out some of those games, right? So maybe instead of being a 75-win team, maybe you're an 80-81 win team if you're able to close out some of those games. Did you say 500? I'm saying you could be.

Because the math says 81 is a 500 team. Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm just making sure I'm hearing you correctly. Well, look, you're not misspeaking. For everybody out there, if you weren't paying attention and you probably weren't to this team, the Miami Marlins won 79 games last year. Yes. Right. So, like, you have teams that have been in a similar position to the Chicago White Sox

and have been able to, you know, improve, right? And so I think with the White Sox is what they've been able to do. And the Marlins did a similar thing adding Pete Fairbanks to close out games for them. You add a closer. the market comes back to you and you're able to sign a guy in Munitaka Murakami that's going to be able to slug for you in the middle of that lineup with the young players that they have, Colson Montgomery and Chase Midroth and you're talking about the watch to see when Braden Montgomery comes up

and plays center field or right field for you. They have pieces there, Edgar Caro, Kyle Teal. I like what the White Sox have been able to do. And then you know a lot of their farm system are these young arms. And when you look at a team like the Chicago White Sox that has been building, one of the most expensive things and most prize possessions in baseball is young controllable starting pitching. And if they can hit on some of these young starters that they've drafted in the first round over the last couple of years, they're going to be in really good position in 2026.

I love that. I love the White Sox. I'm at all eyes on Grant Taylor. If he can be kind of a multiple inning, late inning. reliever. I love the idea. I love the idea. So I think, yes, you're right about some of these a lot of one-run and two-run losses last year. If you could turn that around, they've got some bats. I like that. All that being said, the Cubs also seemingly have had an adequate off-season. Is that understating it? Hold on a second. Before we do, do, do you think Mr. Dorsey is satisfied

with the content, the White Sox talk? Is there, is there- Oh, he's pleased. I think he'll be like, you guys started with the White Sox? That's just when you're talking about them. Y'all started with the white talk. Shout out to Mr. Dorsey. If you want to give his full name, I mean, I know you said like. Rick Dorsey, shout out to you, sir. Hello, Rick Dorsey.

Thank you for listening to the score. He's the man. He's like a P1 score guy. Yeah, he's the guy that got me to grow up listening to the score as a kid picking me up and dropping me off at school. Listening to Mike North in the morning, probably shouldn't been doing that. Listen to B&B on the way back from school. And, you know, my condolences to Terry's family, but, like, that's a big part of my upbringing. And listening to Who You Crapping, you know, on Thursdays was a big deal in our family. So, yeah, we were, we're, the Dorsey's has always been a big score family.

I love it. I love it. Thank you, Rick. And now you're on the score. And because you are a national insider for Yahoo, you could talk about any team that we bring up. And that's why we can start with the White Sox. Or the Bulls. as we did

we did do that we got something for you too that by the way in the second segment that we were going to do a full topic with you about who the next jersey number to be retired should be pasty row like citywide

but get on with the Cubs there so adequate is that you think I'm understating I do think you're understating I do think you're understating okay tell me why because I think once again the three of us and Lela like all summer

it was like why aren't the Cubs doing the big move. Why aren't they doing the big move? And I would say, hey, man, until they show me that they're that team, I don't believe it. Okay. And then I am in France, maybe three weeks ago. Settle flex. No, no. Maybe three weeks. It's the one vacation I get all year. And, you know, you wait and you're like, nah, still got free and see, you know, winter meetings, can't go. Then you finally go and you start getting some texts, hey, look out for this, because I'm making, some moves and then you got him start making a phone calls and I'm like all right like the Cubs are serious putting their money where their mouth is right to say all right we want a young

controllable starting pitcher that has big time upside in Edward Cabrera we're going to make that move even if it costs us a guy in knowing Casey who we really really like and you're going to trade him to the Miami Marlins and then a couple days later I'm sound asleep I don't know what's going on in the Bears game what kind of country? Italy. Okay. I don't know.

I don't know what's going on in the Bears game. I don't know what's going on in the Cubs ethos. And then I wake up to find out that the Cubs signed Alex Bregman. And was I disappointed that I wasn't awake for that? No. Were you more disappointed but for not being away for the Bears game? Yes, actually. Yes.

Because that all the same time. Yeah. So like, it's like, wow. And I think the first thought I had. when I saw that the Cubs had signed to Alex Bregman. It was just like, good for Jed, because I think in this city, a lot of Cubs fans were very disappointed with the way that the trade deadline went last year. And rightfully so. Like, I could understand why they were frustrated.

And a lot of Cubs fans had felt the way that you guys were feeling during the season of, like, why aren't the Cubs doing more when you're in this position where, like, you're right there. And where they were going and how they were playing. And they just needed that one move. And I think this offseason, they said, all right, we don't have a ton of talent on the books in 2027 and beyond. We are the Chicago Cubs. The division is not going anywhere. Let's finally do the thing that we should have been doing. And so you go and acquire a guy like an Alex Bregman to plug him in at third base.

But I think more so it continues the culture-building aspect of what the Cubs want to do. Because I don't, I think that's a big part of it because you look at what, Alex Breggman brought to the Boston Red Sox. That team's really going to miss him. Now, I know it was only one year, but I think when you put that guy that's been able to win, that's been able to, like, be a dude for a World Series champion, and you drop him in your lineup in your clubhouse with all the other guys that the Cubs have been bringing in over the last couple of years, I think that's a big deal.

I gave you my understated. Now I'm going to give you my Ofer stating. Alex Breggman is a way better fit for the Cubs than Kyle Tate. Tucker was. And I say that because of what you just said, both those guys being world champions and whatnot, but it already just daze into it and also watching Kyle Tucker and how he received being a Los Angeles Dodger. It just feels like Bregman is a better fit for the Cubs than Kyle Tucker was.

Is that overstated? Let me think about that one. That's why. Bregman, a better fit for the Cubs than Tuck. And when I say that, it's not just what you're doing in the batting order, which obviously the documented struggles against strong left-handed pitching last year, and Bregman obviously being right-handed. Not the Cal Tucker's bad against left-handers.

And we talked about that, like, as we were approaching the deadline, like, you need a guy that could hit against left-handed pitching. Like strong left-handed pitching. Sure, because they were also in on Bregman last year, right, last off-season. And this was a guy that you had in your mind picturing him in your lineup. With everything that happened, the way it happened, the exit and him signed. with the Dodgers, I still think Kyle Tucker is one hell of a player. And I think if the year goes differently and he plays to the back of his baseball card and

hits 280 to 300 with 30 to 35 homers steals 30 bags and wins the Gold Glove Award in right field, there's probably a different conversation. The way it ended with the injuries, the struggles leading into the postseason, and then the way he performed in the postseason, I think it left a, a, that's your lasting image if you're a Cubs fan. And he didn't have the personality to make up 40. That's part of the better thing. Yeah.

So maybe, long term, maybe that's the case. I think at their peaks, I'm still taking Tuck as a player, but, you know, six of one, half dozen than the other. And I think Mark and I are just kind of wrestling with the fact that they could be doing more stuff. Well, the Cubs could be doing more stuff, right? The bigger picture of Russ is we're talking about the rich getting rid of. obviously. It's beyond that with Dodgers. That analogy probably needs to be up in terms of what the...

I mean, they're beyond the evil empire, it feels like at this point. They're the billionaire class with their feet on our necks talking about you guys don't unionize. Don't do it. Yeah, the billionaires club. Maybe that's a good way to put it. But obviously, the Dodgers keep getting better. The Phillies stayed good with the moves that they've made

with bringing back Schwerber, real muto. The Mets acted going crazy with what they're, including Louise Robert, to the Mets. And I guess the overall, and I can go on and on. The overall question is, do you think the Cubs? I know the Cubs are better. The roster is better, but are they in a position with those improvements in this

National League to advance further than they advanced last year, which was winning a playoff series? I'm going to say this, knowing that I think last, sometimes people think I'm a Cubs hater, which I'm not. Most times they think that. You know what I mean? Yeah, I've seen the text line. I think the Chicago Cubs have had a much better offseason than the Philadelphia Phillies.

And I think when you look back at this off season, I think the Cubs put themselves in the real contenders in the National League. And I think Cubs fans should take solace in that. And I think the Cubs themselves should feel really good about what they've been able to do to legitimately compete. Like, not just competing, oh, we just want to win the division. Or we just want to get into the postseason. Right. No, we can go up against some of the big boys in the National League. And I know everybody's going to say, ah, but if you're going to eventually lose to the Dodgers anyway, what does it matter? Baseball is a wild game. It's a wild sport and anything can happen. It takes one injury, one fluky season from this guy.

You know, if the big man goes down and, God forbid that Shoaheotani gets hurt, like that whole thing is completely different. You know, they have a ton of starting pitching, but those starting. pitchers, you know, they've already been coming out talking about, you know, Blake Snell is not going to have the same ramp up this year. And, you know, Yamamoto is pitching in the World Baseball Classic and you got to manage Shoah's innings pitch. I understand that. So like, there's a lot of, it works for them. Yeah. But it only takes one time where it doesn't work where you're trying to, you know, swap the deck. So I think the Cubs should feel really good about where they are and say,

you know, we have a team that can not only win the NL Central, But we have a team that can go toe to toe with a lot of teams in the National League. The New York Mets definitely got better. Like, you know, in a week's time, they went from their fan base saying, what the blank is going on to, oh, shoot, we got who? Okay. You know, and you acquire a guy like a Boba Shet. Not only acquire him, you steal him away from the Philadelphia Phillies. Your division right.

The night before, you're like, I don't know, we got to get to break. You're the night before the Phillies are saying, man, we're going to get Boba Shet to throw him in the lineup with Shorewood. and Trey Turner and Harper, and then you wake up the next day in, like, he signed where? And then they go out and get Luis Robert Jr. And then they go get an ace in Freddie Peralta. Like, that's a hell of a week for David Sturis. And we've run out of time in this segment where we can circle back to it. Is this finally going to make Milwaukee drop a little bit?

You got to want, like, they keep doing the devil magic where they trade this guy, they trade this guy, Hater, and Devin Williams and Corby. And they still keep finding ways to win. So I can't, I don't doubt the Milwaukee Brewers anymore. They keep several in the chamber. They're prospects. They're, you already know. They're great at pitching development. I'll be surprised if Mizorowski doesn't have a big year. You're right. You're right. We are joined here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie by Russell Dorsey, Yahoo Sports National Baseball Insider.

Insider and analyst for MLB Network and Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV Plus as well. And we're going to keep him here for the entire hour, which means that he is at the mercy of our topic. choosing, which is the following, Russ. That is, beyond Derek Rose. Derek Rose just had his jersey number retired. Who in Chicago sports should be, will be next in any of our sports to have their jersey number retired? Will you think about that during the break?

I will. It's next on the score. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding, horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying, true. urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out

Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. Harrison Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 to score. Who from the Bulls deserves that honor in your opinion? To be totally honest with you, I don't know. I was surprised that I was up next. I was completely honest with you. I saw no champion, no, no rappers, no banner, no nothing.

So for me to go up there, I can only imagine who's next. Mm-hmm. Brahimi Harrison Grody. That is Derek Rose on the Mully and Haw Show. Yeah, I mean, that's tough because it would have to be. if they're going to retire another jersey, you would probably have to be another player from the 90s, another championship player you already have.

Derek Rose, Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippin, and then going back farther, Jerry Sloan, and Bob Love, are among those that are already in. And we've been, Marshall, we've been threatening to do this topic all week during our pre-show meetings, and finally it felt really good to do it on Friday. In the name of Derek Rose, having his jersey number retired,

at the United Center, who is which Chicago athlete will be the next to have their jersey retired? Should be or will be? That's a good interesting distinction. Can we do both? Wow. That's... Because here's what... Whatever you want, I guess.

My answer is someone who I don't think he's going to get his jersey retired. But he should. Try us. By the way, Russell Dorsey is here. Oh, yeah. Russell Dorsey, yeah. Thanks for playing our little games here, Russ. Of course.

Yeah, who national... Major League Baseball Insider. You can catch him on various platforms and whatnot because he's always working. It's all good stuff. It's all on Apple TV. It is good stuff for us. So my answer is Mike Singletary. But the Bears aren't out here retiring numbers.

So you see what I'm saying? Singletary is that dude. Defensive players here, many, many, many, many time first team all pro. Like, Hall of Famer. So, like, can we explain? for people at home, the reason the bears are a tough one. They have like a hundred numbers retired.

And I'm being facetious when I say that, but they have like a lot of numbers, I think more than any team in the NFL. And they might... They've been around a minute. They might have to transition to Ring of Honor. Well, I think that's kind of what they're doing. Like, in essentially not retiring jerseys anymore, that's kind of what they're... It's been, what,

two decades or so? Who's the last bear to get their number retired? It's a good question, and I'm struggling a bit. But you're right. If he's Mike Singletary should be. If we're going to do that, if we're going to do should be, then you have to go to Dan Hampton, number 99 for the Chicago Bears.

His needs to be retired. Lickety splits if we were going to do the backlog. Here's the guy, though, that when I thought about this, and it is with the Bears, and I almost feel like, and there is recency bias because I get, look, I watched Hampton. I loved Hampton. he's great. He's a Hall of Famer. He should be one of the greatest bears of all time.

But maybe 34 is probably the most popular jersey you still see out there in the name of Walter Payton. But 54, Brian Erlacher will give Walter Payton a run for his money right now. Like the Erlacher, when he came, because he was such a revelation as a player and a linebacker who played the position way differently than we were used to seeing and all that is Erlacker. Everybody had, has a 54. So Erlacker is the guy that I would probably push to the front of the line right now. And it's more modern and that would obviously stimulate the fan base more than I think any bear right now. So you're doing a little fan service a la Derek Rose with that pick?

I guess so. You're just trying to please the people? Is that what you mean? Like what the people think it should be? I think, I mean. I think Brian's as deserving as any person. when it comes to, you know, what he did on the field, what he did for the franchise, you know, and Gordy talked about changing the way we looked at the position.

Yeah. Like, there was like a, we'll call it a five to seven year stretch. It was him and Ray Lewis as the best middle linebackers in the NFL. I believe that as a defensive player, the year award in there. Like, that was the centerpiece of that cover two defense with Lovey Smith, 100% percent. The guy that I'm going to pick out of production, but also as a salute to the fan base, 33. Charles Peanut Tillman, I know there's a lot of conversation about him being deserving to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame,

which he does when you consider the peanut punch is a staple in how to teach defensive players how to knock the ball loose. but that guy did everything you would want as a player, as a representative of a franchise, what he means to the city even now, and he hasn't played for the Bears in, it's over a decade at this point, because he had that stint in Carolina with the Panthers. I think that would be a guy if the Bears didn't have the issue of, like,

all the numbers retired that I would put on the list. I think the clarification here is, For this sport specifically, and because of the backlog we talked about, I don't think you should be jumping line until you are a pro football hall of family. And I think he will get in. I think he will get in eventually. But we're dealing with that this week. We understand the rigors of getting into the pro football Hall of Fame.

Nobody wants to be in this Hall of Fame. It's nasty. It's nasty work, diabolical, getting in, not getting in, however you want to put it. But I know Mike Dicca was the last guy for the Bears to get his jersey retired. It was 2013. So more recent than I even thought, but that's still been 14 years. Yeah. Or 13 years.

There's three guys that I think are going to get their number retired. I think one is already retired and the other two are active. The two that are active are Kane and Taves. Okay. We have to. Absolutely. The guy who is most recently retired and will have his number retired one day is Anthony on the north side.

I think 44 gets retired. I hadn't thought of it. about that. But yeah, he is... I think when you think of the gravity of what he was for that franchise, I think Anthony Rizzo is going to be in consideration. And I know they have the Cubs Hall of Fame, too, and I think that helps for guys that you're on that, should we retire the number, shouldn't we?

But that's another guy I think of him, like, man, when you talk about a guy that did everything the franchise was looking for at that time, The impact that he had on the World Series championship team, I think 44. I agree. Like he was, not only was he, all those things, he was the face of the 2016 Cubs in a team which had a lot of people who you could line up as potential candidates. But I covered every second of that era. I know that Anthony Rizzo was the face of all that.

It wasn't necessarily the best player. Pretty close, though. I mean, you could argue that Chris Bryant in that space. He did. He made a bigger impact offensively and defensively, did Chris Bryant. But, and think about it too, like if we are talking about the popularity part of it, and you can't avoid that part, it is in the equation. You know, Rizzo is immensely popular, and he's going to get more popular because he is an ambassador for the Cubs. Like, he's back in the organization. There was no friction. He walked right back in.

Getting that TV money. And he's doing a real TV gift. Like, he is going to be out. We're going to get more Rizzo. And by the way, oh, my God, Rizzo and Votto together. With Kershaw! That is, like, those two, just watching those two have conversations through the years at first base, that'll be fun. But I love it.

I didn't have Rizzo on the mind, but he'd probably be, and we could do a whole topic on who should be the first cub to get their jersey retired. But I'm down with Rizzo. What did you guys think of the conversation, which they said there was not going to be a statue? but something else honoring all the members of that World Series team. Well, I think there will be. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. Because, like, who are you going to single out?

Right. There are guys. You could probably come up with your top five most impactful guys and do, like, I don't even know if it's fair, like the White Sox thing. Because I think the hard part is, I'm not bad. None of those guys are going to the Hall of Fame, right? So it's not like they had the career where he's like, that guy is deserving of a statue.

and even in Cubs history, like, look at the guys who have statues. You're talking about Hall of Famers. Yes. Ferguson Jenkins, Rino, Billy Williams, you know what I mean? Like, and they're trying to do something to maybe commemorate the moment. Which, and I know you see in Philly, they've got the Bradledge, Carlos Rees, like, celebrating the final out of the World Series from 2008. And is it going to be a mural? Is it going to be a plaque?

It's going to be like a memorial style. It's going to be, I'm assuming it's going to be probably similar to, you know, the one of the White Tarks I have out with. front of the ballpark. I think it's going to be something like that to commemorate the whole thing. It is wild to think that on that team there might be one Hall of Famer. Oh, yes. Lester, right? No, I was going to say Schwerber.

Yeah, Swarber's my guy. Oh, yeah. Shwerber's my guy. But Lester for sure is like going to be in that big conversation. Yes. Yeah. Shwarber's going to have. Three more years. Three more years of what he's been doing.

I like it. So Kyle Schwerber has three. I was talking about this with my family yesterday. He has 340 homers as we. as we currently sit, just signed a five-year deal in Philly. If he plays at the level that he's played at in Philly and averages just 40 homers a year over the duration of that contract,

he's going to finish with 540 homers. He really is, babe, freaking Ruth. Never late. Never wrong, just early. Listen, he... Best thing to ever happen in that man was he left Chicago Cubs. This is going to... They let him.

It's a different level of what he's doing, but who he reminds me of, It's going to rub people the wrong way because of his time here. But during his era, not appreciated it for what he was doing. Jim told me? Adam Dunn. Like, I hit home runs, I walk, or I strike out. And guess what?

When I hit home runs and I walk, it affects winning baseball. It's just, we saw the bad. You saw the worst version of. Yeah, we don't have, yeah. There was a stretch of like four or five years where Adam Dunn was one hell of a player. Walloper. Like, Cincinnati. I'm done, and maybe even that one year in Arizona, he was like a 950 OPS guy.

He really did make a ballpark look small, just with his stature. You felt like he was going to hit the ball. That dude was massive. Yes. But Schwabre, man, like, 540, if he gets to 515, not even 540, he gets to 515, that guy's going into the Hall of Fame. And it's crazy how we talk about the front half of a guy's career getting him in the hall. For Kyle Schwerber, if he gets in, it's going to be the back half that gets in.

It's definitely going to be the back half. Which is crazy the thing. Always been Schwerber. It's always like, we go through these guys because if we did this exercise while it was in progress, we'd be like, Chris Bryant, he's going to walk into the hall. Javier Baez with how spectacular this guy is absolutely. He's going to be Anthony Rizzo, maybe even at one point. It's always been Schwerber all along throughout that whole process, all the prospects. It's Swarber has been the constant. And I will say when they did non-tender him. I was okay with it because he was having a bad time of it. He was not getting the contact that he usually had. It felt like it was time to move on, but boy, was that wrong in so

many different ways. Yeah, hindsight is 2020 there. I think I remember that season after and he was just like, hey, man, they gave me every opportunity. And so when a guy says that, like, you got to take him as a word like, hey, maybe. I don't, I don't believe he would be the same player had he stayed. because the ballpark that he's been playing at is conducive for big-time power from left-handed hitters. And Wrigley Field isn't. Like there's a reason no player beyond Billy Williams has hit 40 homeruns there in season. It's amazing. I think, all right, ready, the answer to the question, and I know that we wonderfully took it in a slightly different direction.

No, I love it. That's beautiful for a segment like this. Yeah, no, absolutely. Who is going to be the person to have? I think after this entire discussion that we've just had, how about Jonathan Taves? Because if they, to your point, and we talked about this during the break,

if they're putting married Hosa, like they did retire, and Hosa was great. I'm not even saying he doesn't deserve it. But if you put Hosa in, the second Taves calls it and quits and he's done and retires, which could happen.

Like I feel like any season now, Taves is done, gone, retired. No one's arguing that. It's just a matter of time. Like, really, when is he going to be eligible Right, and then Cain and Keith and all those guys because they're all as good. You could pick 100 news off the team.

Boy, that is a complicated scenario. Corey Crawford. Corey Crawford, yeah, you got to give the goalie love. Pretty amazing. All right, we've got one more segment. Is that right? Is that where we are in life? We're at 140 right now.

It's our final segment. Oh, I don't know. We'll mention Candace Parker. Candice Parker. I think that's one you should probably think about. She got her jersey retired. Did she? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. All right, good. I'm glad she did. But we have one more segment with. with Russ Dorsey. We don't have anything planned here. Is there anything that you are hot for? You want to talk Bears? Oh, we do have something planned here. Oh, we do

have something planned here. Oh, we do we have something. Yeah, and it was on the Take the North podcast. Oh, I forgot about that. We're continuing on. You know what? I want Russ's thoughts on this too. Okay. Okay. So, something from the Bears podcast, Take the North. It's a long time, an F, a longtime Bears writer, yes. Disagrees with a stance that Marshall has had on the show this week about Caleb Williams. It's a disagreement and we need Marshall's thoughts. We need

Russ's thoughts. Grody, we need your reaction. It happened on the Take of the North podcast. I'm going to sit back and listen in the next segment. That is what's going to happen. It's Rahimi Harris and Grody with Russell Dorsey on the score. Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago's

Sports Radio 670 the score. Yeah, it is. Rahimi Harris and Grotie. We're also hanging out with Russell Dorsey, Yahoo Sports National Baseball, also with the MLV Network and does Friday night baseball on Apple TV Plus. He's been kind enough to do like he does spend the hour on Rahimi Harris. You need a lot of jobs in 2026, gross. Yeah, you do.

You do. Like 8, 9. That's the way it works, man. I'm unfamiliar with what you're talking about. One job is all I believe in. Oh. What time you're on ABC 7 tonight, by the way? That's sarcasm.

What time are you doing the high school basketball game this weekend? Yeah, that's next weekend. This weekend I'm off. I'm truly off this week. weekend. Okay. You ever heard this guy do play-by-play, by the way? I have. It's pretty good. It is. Romy tuned in. I was so surprised in shock. Because he was doing

it all. He didn't have the benefit of replay. He didn't have an analyst when I was watching him, and he's like pulling it off. I'm like, this guy is good. So, yeah, you do great work. You also had a great topic. You got this whole week going as a matter of fact. I got the week going.

Innocent old me? Innocent, old Marshall. At least the portion in which I have been here. You got the show rolling this week with a question. No, not a question. A statement. That Caleb Williams is the greatest Bears quarterback of all time. So we had fun talking about that for an hour. We've heard other opinions like that of Dan Weeterer, who is my co-host on the Take the North Bears podcast, who basically implored you to basically stop it. He didn't argue and say he wasn't. He just said, don't go there yet. Stop go there yet. And I'm more Weederer. I'm not denying the possibility that Caleb

could be the greatest, right now, the greatest Bears quarterback ever. But not now. Let's not do that now. You're so scared of your own shadows. Posh Tani Phil wants to holl at y'all on Monday. I've got one more. Actually, I've got two more opinions. We're going to hear from Mark Potash in a second, and I can't wait to hear what Russ Dorsey has to say about it to a longtime Bears guy as well from here, all of that. But Mark Potash was my co-host filling in for Dan Weeder on the Take the North podcast,

which is up and running right now if you want to check it out. But here was Mark Potash's take on Caleb Williams being the greatest Bears quarterback of all time on the Take the North podcast. No, he's not the best quarterback in Bears history. That's Sid Luckman. Okay. You got to remember. Sid Luckman was brought in by George Hallis.

George Hallis made a trade with the Steelers to get him with the number two pick. It was one of those things who said, you draft this guy, we'll take him. And they, he knew, he wasn't. just a guy who, he wasn't Tom Brady, maybe this guy can work out. He was brought in specifically for the T-Formation for run that offense. And George Halas said many times that he thought that was

the guy who could do it, who had, you know, everything it took. And so he was right about that and he made that offense go. It was literally a sensation. I mean, so, and they won four championships and they were the scourge

of the NFL for six years. This is impossible to do. So when you win championship, hey, of course, this passerating isn't the same or whatever. Well, right. 11 game seasons, you know, most attempts ever was 323. That's why this is impossible. I'm just comparing quarterback to quarterback. They're playing the position.

Okay. Who's the best quarterback? A quarterback in that regardless of era, Sid Luckman did more at that position. Okay. Just relative to what he was. He was more responsible for their success. It wasn't just a guy who happened to be in that spot.

He was the reason they were good. Yeah, yeah. I don't disagree with Sid Luckman's accomplishment. He's the most accomplished quarterback. But he did say a key word there, too, that he's a sensation. So he is talking about the quarterback and the plays he made and what he was asked to do as a QB, not just being a winner. So I have a couple of questions for you, Marshall.

Yeah, go ahead. So when you said that that Caleb Williams was already the greatest Bears quarterback of all time, what was your criteria? I said he was the best quarterback, the best player to play the position that the Bears ever had. And I said, one, it's a low bar. Two, let's talk about Super Bowl era because I don't care that much about acknowledging how great you were when people of color weren't even playing the sport. And there was maximum 13 teams in the week. We did discuss that too, by the way. It's a different sport altogether now.

really want to think about it. So you're just talking about talent level? Yes. Okay. He's a tremendous talent. I think we saw several times during the season. We saw a ton of times during the playoffs, just how good. Like that dude, two of the greatest throws I've ever seen, back-to-back weeks, like insane. He's had multiple throws like that in a single game. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Could you say that? Because I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I almost want to agree with you. Of course you, but I want to be really rational here. I have to be rational.

At least look at all the angles. He's me. He's me. Do you think, because you weren't, we weren't in town yet when this happened, but Groats, you were. Jay as a, like, an arm talent guy. Yeah, sure. He had a stronger arm, like, an arm at the same strength level. Couldn't make all the throws.

But he didn't make all the throws. Like, Caleb, for everything we're talking about, which I'm, agreement on. Cable is under 60%. Yeah, because he... And I talked about that too. Gertigo will tell you. Because he's like, rather than throw this interception,

the play is over, I'm going to dirt the ball. That happened way more. And also, guess who that had the most yards lost by, and just number of drops period this season? I get it. You saw it. But...

Hey, Jay Cutler did get the Bears to the NFC title game. And if he did he get hurt. Did he get hurt? It was a tragic game. If you play it forward. Caleb Haney played, not. Not on the list. What that defense looked like?

Todd Cowlitz. What that defense like? It's a very good defense. Okay. It was a very good defense. I mean, not, yeah. More than solid, would you say? Solid.

And that was part of the criteria. But we're just talking about pound-for-pound quarterback talent and greatness. Like, I mean, I don't like the, I think my issue is how you termed it. I just, I just said the best. If you said most talented, I don't think people would have an issue with that. People haven't had much of an issue with best. Potash is, Potty's one of the very few people who have pushed back in a major way. Sid Luckman. He took it back to the...

Listen. And honestly, he's right. Because, like, the guy holds most of the records. Yes. Listen, listen. As far as... A little respect for Sid. T formation is what that man said. That's like me telling you...

A bottle T that I drive is real nice. That's nasty. That's nasty. It's real nice. Where's the model T now? In a museum. It's just like Sid Luckman's style of play. Yeah. If you say

I think Caleb is the most talented two quarterback to ever play for the Chicago Bears, I'd be on board. Yeah, he's the best. That's fine. Most time. No, you just, and you did the right thing for us. You got to just, like, go through in your head. Yeah, like, I don't want to just yell at Marshall because I feel like I do that too much. And so I wanted to give him a bit of a doubt here. And, like, I think we are kind of in agreement on this one. I just don't like it. As a writer, I just don't like the world. You know what? You're probably just more in the Mark Grody, Dan Reeder camp of, let's not go there.

It's too early to ask the question. You don't have to question the talent level, but, like, I am a body of work guy. Okay. I like his body of work. Yes. I like this stat. Who's the bear's biggest rival again? The Green Bay Packers.

And if I add up the wins versus the Packers and put color in a – how many wins did color have against the Packers? I don't know. Yeah. Not enough. Not enough. Caleb's already got three. I don't like that. You don't like that?

I don't like that because I feel like your focus can't. be on one team, but that's a Russ Dorsey thing. I know how people feel about the rivalry in the city, but like... Play it to your heart, big guy. Guys, um, we are... Talk to it. We are thrilled, excited. Russ, your dad... I hope your dad's listener right now. Is he going to change his preset or has he already done so? Yeah. I don't know if your dad's an A. I don't know if your dad's an FM guy ever, but we are excited about our FM debut. It is Monday on 104-3 on the score. That's right. all score shows, Cubs,

the Bulls games on FM, high fidelity all the time, including downtown Chicago. That's right. You won't get the fuzz. The score will still be heard on 670 a.m. But starting Monday at 8 a.m. on Molly and Haw,

it is the debut of 104-3 on FM. The simulcast is presented by the official sports book of the score. Circa Sports, sports betting, the way it should be with no bet fees. Take lower whacker, everybody. Take lower Wacker. Go down there and hear some radio.

Rainstorm. Yes. Turn the score on. Between buildings downtown. Yes. Rick Dorsey. How about that? Set it.

104 3. Do it right now. Russell Dorsey, we are always blessed to have you. You're more than welcome to stick around for transition if you would like. But if this is the end. Wait, are you all, everybody going to be in here? No. No.

They're going to be in the, we're the only ones who got booted out. Yeah, we got booted out. I was just realizing that. Why did we have to be the ones? They want to do the lion's share of work. we were not there. No, I won't stay on. I'll leave you guys the room to do your thing in transition. Well, thank you for taking time out of your day to come into our studios and spend an hour with us. It means a lot and thank you to you very much.

I appreciate you guys. Long overdue. Long overdue. Yes, that is Russ Dorsey. Coming up next here, we will transition with the Spiegel and Holmes show, which today is being manned by Anthony Heron and Romney McLaugh. Looking forward to talking to those two next on the score.