Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — March 2, 2026

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote shared their takeaways from the NFL Combine and welcomed on Russ Dorsey of Yahoo Sports to discuss the latest Cubs and White Sox storylines.

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

Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104 3. The score. Local man, Carnell Tate. He went to Marist, Ohio State receiver. join a PFT Live and for everybody on the Twitch mob

who's always asking about Mike Florio's Lego projects, well guess who might help? What do we do when we get away from football? What do you do in your spare time? I play video games. I got a Lego set going. What Lego set are you doing? So right now, currently in Titanic still. So I've been in it since like the beginning of the season.

Okay. Are we working out? Yes, we are. I want to keep talking to Legos. Isn't it a great way to just kind of get away from everything? Oh, yeah, definitely. You forget, like, the whole world just disappears, and you're just focusing on getting these damn blocks connected. Yes, sir, definitely. I've never heard Mike Florio perk so much.

I want to keep talking Legos. We got to make that part of his intro, right? That's got to be a thing. It has to be because do you know how many times everybody in the Twitch mob has asked Mike Floreo about the Lego Ghostboaster's Firehouse? What's the last time you and I built something together? Scientifically, a little over a year ago,

Legos last week in my room. There was a Nobel Prize for Millennium Falcons that fall apart. When you pick them up, we'd be set. That makes me want to draft Carnal Tate because someone who can focus on Legos as opposed to being distracted by the screens that we live in in society. I like the idea of breaking away and just doing something that's just not. And sometimes, Langston, we be chilling, shooting fire crackers, making trap beats on buckets, playing Legos, but we don't got Legos. We got rocks that happen to fit as puzzle pieces.

That sounds fun. It's a game for bread. Flayla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. Hello and good Monday morning to you. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 104.3, The Score. Layla Rahimi, Mark Grody in today talking football with you, dare I say, bears? Bears.

Bear. You said it. You dared yourself. You said it and it sounded great. It sounded great, Leila. It did. And this is a very different bears this time this year versus this time last year. As you know, I'm big on the year-to-year comparison, the comp, if you will.

And I think in this case, rewind to where we were this time last year. This was in the pre-Joe Tooney era, if you will. That didn't happen until March 5th. It was also in the pre-playoff win in the last 15 years era. It was in the, we're still trying to figure out what's going on with Ben Johnson, how Caleb Williams will look, what's going on with the draft that was crucial, Ryan pulls all of that. And we also were drinking a lot of Kool-Aid when it came to the chase for Ashton Genty.

I feel like now we're chasing another Raider. Now it's Max Crosby. But at the time, there was a ton of discussion about whether or not the bears were going to get Ashton Genti, will they trade up? You know, I think a big voice guy when he was like, will they trade up? And while that was going on, I don't know if it's, if we drank the Kool-Aid as much as the Bears really did want a running back, it just ended up working out better than we thought it would

because they stuck to their board and they got Kyle Menungai in the seventh round. And between he and DeAndre Swift having a career year, it was able to work out. So here we are again. And this time I feel like it's in a much different spot. Brad Biggs, in his 10 things at the NFL Combine, brought this up. And he wasn't the only one who was making observations about the bears.

we very well with the 25 pick with the Bears in the NFL draft number 25 could be looking at a Bears team that might want to trade down. This is a different world. What do you think of just that prospect that we've talked about? I'm interested in hearing more about that possibility and it's something that I would probably support. And you talk about relativity from one year to the next. I mean, last year, and it's been a while since the Bears have had a first round pick that that was that far down, which is a good thing, 25. That means that the Bears won. But you think about last year.

Last year's draft, the Bears had the 10th overall pick, and they took Holston Lovellum. The Bears had, the luxury that the Bears had last year. And the place where the Bears landed possibly two starters, maybe three, we'll see, was the three second round picks. I love the first round pick. of course. But second round picks, man, you should expect those to be started. You've got Luther Burden in the second round. You got Ozzie Tripillo in the second round. You got Shamar Turner in the second round. And I realize that Shamar Turner is a big old fat, incomplete right now in terms of what he might be able to do. I don't know if you could sense where I'm going with this,

Leila, but I wouldn't mind the Bears getting another second round pick or two if they're able to do something like that and trade down. I'd be very interested to see. see what the board looks like when they get to 25 and what sort of players would be there, considering the depth on defensive line and end. But on the surface, yeah, I'm listening. I'm listening to a trade down. Well, and I didn't realize how rare it is, you know, for the bears to pick in the 20s. Like, that's something that doesn't take place very often, as we know.

I should have just done the math, but we're so busy focused on like the year to year to year. So we don't necessarily think about it when it comes to the big picture of it. But in addition to Brad Biggs coming out with his 10 things from the combine last week, there was something new that came across our ears. Tyler Buehiter Abbaugh, our producer, pointed this out this morning in our pre-show meeting. Ryan polls on the Todd McShay show, where we talked a lot about what he had to say, was also asked about the sheer number of prospects he has on this year's draft board. How big is your final draft board, player-wise, they kind of on average or ballpark when you go into the draft.

How many players are on that board? I would say it's ranged. This year is going to be the lowest since I've been doing this. But I would say 120 to 140. So you guys are probably in the lower end. Yeah. Not the low-is, but. I don't play the window dressing game.

If they don't fit what we do, if we're concerned about an injury, then I just move them off or put them in a different zone. You don't do like to flip upside down and all the terms of. No. I just want to be locked in and guys that we've... So a low number means that you, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, that you're not very high on the depth or talent in a class, is that correct? For this year?

Yeah. Or any year. Does a number reflect how you feel about the depth of it? Yeah, like, I guess the last few years probably been a little bit higher once we've kind of kicked out of COVID. But then we've entered into this NIL space where I think the junior number is going down. There's a lot of guys going, you know, back to school. school, look at their grade, kind of use that as our own for agency. Yeah.

And it just seems like guys are a little bit more selective when they come out. So that was Ryan Poles on Todd McShay. Already, and you know how he feels about his draft board, Mark. He loves his draft board. I've seen his draft board. You have? Well, I mean, there was like a little tour that we once received of some basics of how he sets things up.

It wasn't like before the draft or anything like that. But yeah, get a little idea of how. Ryan Poles thinks. Yes. And I know that he's talked about how he sticks to it, and that is his process, whether or not we like it. You know what I've discussed. I don't know that I trust your board as much as you do necessarily based on some of the swings in the draft that they've taken.

But when you consider that the Bears have used a first round pick in the 20s, just twice since Greg Olson was selected 31st in 2007. 2007. You have to go back that far. You know, they took Justin Fields. They originally had the 20th pick. You know, they traded up. So Brad Biggs also pointed this out in his 10 things from the combine column.

And he said the Bears had the 20th pick in 2021. They chose to trade up to get Justin Fields. There have been five drafts since 2007 that they didn't have a first round pick while paying off trades for Jay Cutler, Kahliel, Macon Fields. There's two aspects of this. Number one, it shows. you how much they had to mortgage the future to get the player they thought they wanted because they couldn't develop people at home.

You know, especially when we bring up J. Kotler. Kaleel Mack, that's more understandable. I think we all may feel a little bit more similarly. Jay Cutler turned out well, but the point is when you do this, there's only so many times you can go to that well. Don't forget Mitch Trubisky, too. You know, they lost picks trading up for Mitch Trubisky. So I think that the concept of the fact that they must,

might say, hey, we don't like somebody at 25. We're going to go down. There's a couple different ways that concerns me. Number one, we know that this is a rich edge rusher class, which is something that I feel like we all think the bears could use. And then number two, how much do you trust their board to be able to say, well, if you guys think you could trade down and that you should, is it enough to make you say, I trust your process enough?

to get what you need in the second round or to try to get more assets in the draft of lower rounds where you think you can get better value. Yeah, I mean, I think when it comes to that pick, you're right. I mean, with the depth that exists, if there is an edge rusher on the board that is worthy at that spot, like somebody who trickled down to 25, even an interior defensive lineman that is better than what you have right now, then of course you have to jump. at it. But you look at the Bears defensive line right now. Like what are, what are the sure things that exist on it? I would say Montez Sweat is a sure thing that exists on it. Even though

Dravon Dexter's name has been thrown around a bit, and we'll talk about him later, I think that he is a sure thing on this defensive line. I think that Shamar Turner is a sure thing on this defensive line, assuming he is healthy, assuming they can get him up to speed, assuming he develops at the right pace. I think Austin Booker is a sure thing on this defensive line right now. So you start to look at those. Billings is not. He'll become a free agent, and I don't see the bears bringing him back.

But if you could add somebody better than whoever is the best player, I would say Montess Sweat still? Like right now, looking at that defensive line, would you say sweat? It is the best player, whether you want him to be. And I know that he's not as good as everybody wants him to be. He did have double-digit sacks last year. He is your best player right there. If you think you get somebody better than sweat at 25,

and I'd have to do more research into the players in the draft right now to figure out if the Bears could get somebody at 25. But if you can't, if you really don't think you can get somebody who is on par or better than the guys that you have on that defensive line. And I say all this understanding that Ryan Poles has already said that he's going to take the best player available at that spot. So he's not thinking like I am right now as far as need is concerned. but if there is going to be somebody better than those guys on the D-line at 25,

then stay at 25 and don't trade down right there. Well, that's it. This is one of those pivotal drafts where you think, like, oh, they've got 25. Oh, they might trade down. They don't have as many players on their draft board. Could that mean they would trade for somebody else? But in reading Brad Biggs' paragraph that we just said, you know, how many times do you look back at it now and they didn't have a first-round pick?

and realize how much that really hamstrung this team. Because then you're forced to sign even more people. Then you're forced to have even more cap casualties. And they're not in that position right now. They're in the position of control. They didn't give any away. And if you trade for a guy like, guess what? Max Crosby.

Then you're going to have to give some of those up. Like, did you question the Khalil Mack for Strouders when they were given up the two first round kicks? I mean, you looked at it. It's like, oh, that's a lot. But okay. It's 26-year-old Khalil Mack, and it felt okay. And it also felt impossible that the Bears were actually going to pull that off. It was very similar, honestly, Leila, to the way we were talking about Max Crosby.

The Khalil Mack talking point was fun to talk about it. We all talked about it. It was great. Oh, yeah, Kalil back to the Bears. It's not going to happen. Ryan Pace is not going to pull that off. And then one morning I wake up on a weekend and I see the news and I hear the news. and I hear the news.

And there's Danny Park is doing. Hey, Grotie, get up. Get up. We got to do a show. So we go into the studio. And we actually did a whole Kalil Mack show because it happened. They pulled it off, which was magnificent. So yes, to answer your question, it was all well worth it.

And it was not something that we had expected to actually happen as fun as it was to discuss. I feel like the process was faster because wasn't the concept of him being up for a trade like a Saturday anything than it happened on Sunday or something or it was like... It was weekend. It was something where it was like, the news is out. One day later, Khalil Mack is a bear. I remember giving myself alarm clock free sleep

that day. So I was about an hour to have late because I was like, that's it. I'm sleeping in today. I'm not turning it. And then I wake up and there it happened. Magically, Khalil Mack is a Chicago bear. And then I'm running into the studio to do a show about Khalil Mack. We have some news that involves a former bear.

Oh? Breaking news on Rahimi me Harrison Grody is brought to you by the Take the North podcast. Love it. Mark Grody hosts the Take the North podcast. I love you, Leila. I love you, Mark, with Dan Weider who's on at one. How do you feel about him? He's the weed man.

How could you not like the weed? He's a man who can get you things. Dan Weir did a big article discussing Kayla Williams, by the way. We'll get to that one second. This is the breaking news read that everybody wanted, right? This is how we construct it. The Lions, according to multiple reports, are trading David Montgomery to the Texans in exchange for a fifth round pick.

What? They're doing it. Poor David Montgomery. He's just going all over the world. No, not poor David Montgomery. He was the one that wanted to be traded. Wasn't he? Well, out of here. Like, well, no, but I think he was tired of being second fiddle to as much as we all.

He was tired of being knuckles to Sonic. Yeah, he was as cute of a story as that was and how life was grand for David Montgomery. He's playing a complimentary role. He just got himself. I mean, I have to read more. But the way I was reading into it, David Montgomery was the one who wanted to be traded. Adam Schaefter has the compensation. Texans get David Montgomery.

Lions get fourth round pick, offensive lineman juice scrug. Juice. And a second round pick. Hell of a name. That's a great name. Scruggsy. But depth on the offensive line for the Lions. Wow.

Jamir Gibbs RB1, as we knew that already with a bullet. I assume they try to get another RB2 in the draft. It just blows my mind how fast things changed and how fast narratives change. And it's all changed with, like, that was such a perfect running backs room for a year and change. And now it's over. Two years. But here's the thing. Two years.

For all we've talked about as far as the bears being over the cap, according to overthecap. According to Overthecap.com, the bears are like $5 million to $9 million over. Lines are 12, according to Over the cap. So they had to do a lot more wheeling and dealing than the bears may have to do. Anybody else want to be traded? Dan Campbell holding his out. David, you're good. Okay, we got you trade.

Aidan? No, no. No. Notice how they traded him out of the conference. That was a good idea, as opposed to say, trading Micah Parsons to the Packers. Yeah. In the conference. That's a smart move.

Yeah. Well, the Texans needed more, they needed more offense. You know, that was the problem for them. It sure is how it wasn't their job. defense. That's a good product. So, yeah, juice Scruggs at Supa underscore Juice on Instagram for those wondering. Scruggs. So he is, he is headed to Detroit. So they get an addition to their offensive line. And they also get some real value, I think, for David Montgomery. You know, for everybody who thinks that that's sort of a fungible position, I would say,

fourth round pick, juice Scruggs, and a seventh round pick. Yeah. That shows you how much The Texans wanted him. Yeah. And good, no matter how much the running back position has been dumbed down or however you want to put it, good ones are invaluable. The good ones that, and David Montgomery is one, they make a difference. So that's still a really good player. But it's really, it shouldn't be shocking to me.

But it, but it is. Just what a good time story, David. And maybe it was personal a little bit, like just being on the bare side of it. Just seeing. You guys talked a lot. Yeah, we did. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Like David Montgomery, he was a guy who did not open up early on in his bear's tenure, just very quiet, very respectful. And then all of a sudden he's, I remember talking to him one day and he completely opened up. And it was like, he was, he ran very hot and cold with the Chicago media, but whatever, good player, good guy, all that stuff. It's just shocking to me, really from a Detroit perspective, more than anything right now. I mean, that's it. You know that there are going to be some tough decisions made, by NFL teams this week when it comes to trying to get under the cap, trying to get assets, trying to sustain other parts of their team.

And you know how the Lions are. They built from the inside out. They built the line first. So I feel like they're one of those teams where getting an offensive lineman in return does not strike me as surprising. Especially since their offensive line is, I'm not going to say in shambles. But another thing that has changed rapidly about the Lions is they're not as effective. offensive line, which started, of course, with the retirement of Dirty Frank Ragnow.

Yeah, he can't. Dirty Franks are dirty to me, by the way. I mean, just a zinger, just a zinger for no reason. And then he tried to come back, if you recall. Yes, he did try to come back. And then he didn't pass the physical. Sorry, I tried. Yeah, well, and also there's this coincidence.

Field Yates points us out. The Texans have the cornered the market on the Iowa State skill guys. David Montgomery, Jaden Higgins, Jalen, Noel, and Xavier Hutchinson. They just want the whole team. Okay. Just get Matt Campbell. I know he just went to Penn State, figure it out, get him on there too. Well, the Eagles are the like Georgia Bulldogs, right?

The professional version, so. Given George's domination of football for a time, I would say that that probably would bode well for them. Find your good college team and just draft everybody and trade for everybody. Well, Dave Wonstadt, you know, he was part of the whole Miami machine in Dallas, so that makes it make sense. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But in this case, the Texans in Iowa State are very much in sync. We have more to come here, and that's something we'll keep our eyes on. It is one of those days where we expect some movement in the NFL.

Mark Grody is in studio. Layloraheimie here with you as we broadcast live from the scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Ray Diaz, our producer, you just heard his voice. Tyler Bueberbaugh, helping us out, of course, as well. Brandon Friar does the same for us. And then you can catch us on Twitch and YouTube at The Score Chicago. Our address changed just in case you missed it.

We're no longer 670 the score on Twitch and YouTube. We are The Score Chicago. And we're still free there, at least for now, as far as I understand, I don't think that's changing anytime soon. So you can find us there. The Twitch Mob is up there chatting. YouTube is an option for you as well. And you can call and text us. 312, 644, 67.

67. So now it's just Sonic in Detroit, at least for now. It's not the same. Do you think he's lonely? Do you think he's sad that David is leaving the building? Knuckles? He was Knuckles, right? No, well, yeah, David was Knuckles. I've never, like Sonic and Knuckles, like, I'll say it and I'll play along, but it does not come to me naturally. That was not like, I didn't know about Sonic and Knuckles, the actual characters before Jemir Gibbs and David Montgomery. So I'm a big fraud. What you need to know, Grody, is Sonic and Knuckles originally, as the lore goes, is they were enemies at first.

Oh. So they've done this in reverse order. Later, in the video game storyline, they became friends later on. Oh, isn't that neat? So now it's like just reverse order. So now they're enemies if they ever play against each other. Oh, that's perfect. I like it.

They must be having fun in Detroit with the story, though. Well, maybe, maybe not. You know, they didn't make the playoffs, so I think that still irks them a bit. Oh, yeah. No, I'm sure that they're irked. Erked. They're well irked. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, let's get into part of the concept of Ryan Poles saying that his draft board

doesn't have as many players as it usually does, because does that mean somebody else might get traded for too? We alluded to it. We'll dive in next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-through, and I've got a couple of big, nasty, Supreme Burritos right here waiting to beat.

You know, the first thing they ask you now, are you using the app? No, I just want my burrito. I don't want to use an app. Bring a lot of mild sauce because I'm going to escort it all over the place. Put some hot sauce off on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. It's really tough. I know I've talked about those tough decisions in the past.

I think what changes is when you win, bonds and relationships get deeper. and knowing that right now we sit over the cap, but we got to make some decisions if that's because, if that's trades. There's real relationships of people that gave it up for the Chicago Bears to advance our organization. That is Ryan Poles from the NFL Combine. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody. Mark Grody and Lately Rahmi in with you on this Monday.

And Grady's just jamming out of her here. Educate me. Who is this? In a vibe. It's dirty, Frank. It's a seldom played. seldom perform song called Dirty Frank by Pearl Jam that I love. And I have seen performed live, but very rare.

That's why whenever there is a Frank discussed, you will now know going forward, I always say the person is Dirty Frank, even if they don't deserve to have the word dirty, put before their name. The Pearl Jam reference. Dirty Frank Thomas, Dirty Frank O'Miel. Boy, I just want Frank O'Meal. Maybe we just, maybe not with Frank Thomas. Name your Franks, texters, while we do a show.

So. Franken Beans. Franklin Beans. Let me show you something. Fire Marshal Bill. Fire Marshal Bill. This is Rahima Harrison Grotie on 1043 of the score. And we just got news.

This is just coming down a little bit ago that David Montgomery is now out of the division. He has been traded to Houston for a fourth rounder, offensive linens juice Scruggs, and another pick, a seventh rounder as I look. And that's, I think we're just going to see more of that this week. The league year begins on the 11th. That's next week. You know, we have the franchise tag deadline tomorrow. So that's another piece of this as well. And teams who are over the cap like the Lions reportedly were,

you're going to have to make a lot of moves. You know, 12 million, as I mentioned, according to over the cap, surprising a little bit, but understandable given the extensions that they gave out like Aidan Hutchinson. So the moves are happening. And in the meantime, it goes back to how we're trying to dissect this draft. And also, therefore, the value of the draft picks. You know, that's a big part of this, too.

When you hear Todd McShay and Ryan Poles talk and Pohl says this is a low number on his draft board, then how do you value the picks? You know, do they become as valuable if you want to trade them? Or are you a little bit more willing to part with them as well if you don't like this group of individuals that may be out there? Yeah, I mean, if you can get somebody a real, player that you could slot immediately in what I call a must-win window for the Bears, and we don't know how long that window will last. So I am going to say that going into this year, it is must-win. The Bears' picks just for themselves, because of all the things that we're talking about,

with the Bears being over the cap, as we've talked about, in the red and all of that, that makes these, unless you can use the picks to trade for valuable players, that makes this draft about as important as ever of a draft because the bears are coming at it from a position of strength where they can win this year, but they don't have a lot of other assets or available money right now to make other moves, to make other splashes. Like you talked to anybody who was at the combine and just listening to people on the score, the idea that the bears are going to make a big splash is a little bit far-fetched because of the lack of assets beyond what you're talking about here, Leila.

And that is a first round pick, a second round pick, a third round pick, four, five, and two sevens as it stands right now. That's right. And so when you look at it, I like what Biggs had to say here when it came to trying to figure out the process. Biggs said, the question I had is whether anything shifts when a team is picking near the end of the round instead of the top ten where the bears have regularly been

because they haven't been good. I got some interesting replies. your process doesn't change and National Scout said you were still going to do your due diligence on everybody just to figure out who you think is going to be there in the 20s and then just in case someone were to slip through like Laramie Tunsell.

I think he went 13th in 2016 but he was supposed to go top five you need to be prepared for that. We know that was because of the video that had come out with Tunsell involved. With the actual selection, you can be a little more risky in theory but at the same time if you're in the 20s

you feel like you're close so you don't want to take too much risk because you want to get a player that is going to help you this year. Really, I think sometimes in the early to mid-20s is where you get your best value. And I think that that's true. Take, for example, the Seahawks drafting Jackson Smith and Jigba 20th. Is that pretty good? Did that work out for them? It did.

In a slow 40 time at all. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Also, Ohio State, once again, just showing that the receivers that they are producing are making waves. It's not the quarterbacks. But, you know, the, fair enough. But the point, you know, being made about how you feel like those picks are valuable, this is also part of the quote from Brad Biggs, said a college scouting director.

Instead of having seven guys on the board that you would take, now you have to have 15 or 25 that you would like there. You get to a point where you're like, we don't have 25 players we like in the first round. Then you start thinking about moving back and getting some value. So if he says you have to have 15 to 25, and Ryan Poles is saying he has, fewer players on his draft board this year. What does it all mean? And then the quote goes on. It depends where they think their team is.

Are you close? Do you have flexibility in free agency? You can take more risks late in the first round, but it depends on your mindset. We're not going to take risks in the first round. We don't have any cash. Oh yeah, there's that part. Like neither do the bears right now.

We have to hit on our first round pick so we don't have the luxury of taking a really good athlete and hoping he hits and trying to develop him over time. So that's where I was. You know, I said that last week. I think 25 becomes even more important because you have to use your draft capital because you can't exactly use the financial capital

the way you want to right now. Not yet, not yet, unless things start to change and with potential contract restructuring, there is the DJ Moore question, which continues to be incredibly interesting. And hopefully we can get into that, little bit later. I know Weederer wrote a little bit about it. He and Kevin Fishbane and Weeds, he will join us a little bit later on. But that is an interesting one, the DJ Moore, and what

people are saying about DJ Moore, like anonymous sources, like the stuff that we know, that we know how valuable DJ Moore is, but we also know from watching DJ Moore that there hasn't been the full chemistry with Caleb Williams and this offense yet. Well, and then Albert Breer, you pointing out that the Raiders could trade Max Crosby as early as this week. Here we go. So our longstanding national mystery might come to a close. Is that the Bears Stadium search or is that Max Crosby? Note to self for a question.

What will happen sooner? A Max Crosby trade from the Raiders or the Bears settling on a new stadium? Definitely a Max Crosby trade. Probably. There's not even a doubt in my mind. But what if he's not traded? Then how would you answer that question? Definitely a Max Crosby trade.

It's still Max Crosby. Even if he doesn't get traded, he will get traded sooner than the Chicago Bears will have a new stadium in? I don't know. Yeah, exactly. The lease is up in 2033 at Soldier Field. And how many times have you said to yourself, I'm leaving my place this time. Oh, I'm leaving. I'm buying a place.

I'm leaving. And then I'm like, oh, the rent is flat this year? Yes, I'm staying. I guess that's the single person, you and I, apartment dwelling person. That is me. I went on two very serious looks to buy a place. And I'm sure the people that took me are not happy because I got right into it and

then check it out twice. You flirted with the realtor? I flirted with the realtor twice, twice. And then I backed out. So you just brought up my life. How is that not the bears right now? That's a great. That's a great point.

Yes. Flirting and then pulling out. Wait a minute. Nobody's going to say that's what she said. I was just going to let that one sit there. It was too. Also, we all just started laughing at the same time. That's what it's gotten to with that's what she's because we've all said it.

We've all done it. No, we have not. Well, you do you do it too, Leila? Oh, I say that's what she said. That's what I mean. Yeah. But the other thing. Oh, my God.

What were you? say. Oh, radio jokes. So here's what Albert Breer said about Max Crosby. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Ma'am, please. So first of all, it's in bold and italics.

That means pay attention to me. Italics. Italics. I'd lean toward a Max Crosby trade happening and maybe this week. But there's going to have to be some needle threading. Gonna have to be some needle threading. Yeah. I don't think the Raiders want to go through the song and dance of shopping him,

nor do I believe Crosby wants it advertised that he's looking for suitors given his bond with owner Mark Davis and his view of himself as a raider. Now you say that? Now? What was all this? He's played his last down of football for the Raiders talk. Talk about dramatic.

I get it though. When you hear how he talked about football and how much he cares and what he does every year and then the way, just the intensity that he talks about going about his job, then you see it on the field. Oh, yeah. Then you understand, you know, You were joking about Billy Donovan being like, you see what I have to work with out here?

I got six guards out here. What do you expect me to do with all these guys? You think that's not the case for Max Crosby? That's true. Look at this. How am I supposed to work with these guys? I can't even name guys. It was basically Max Crosby, Ashton Genty and them.

Right. To the point where. And then boys. To the point where Ash and Genty was the fifth highest paid raider last season. Hmm. Does that make a rookie? Everybody must go. That's it.

I mean, I don't. know how you're not John Spitech saying I could trade hit first of all yeah you can obviously build around him but his timeline is just a few years later than everybody else is that you would theoretically be building around on your team theoretically for nanda mendoza ashton gentee a year older so if that's the case then you know how are you not looking at this like you could get a massive haul and then be able to help push some of those draft picks out even into the next year because you know they're going to be relatively higher. You know, how would you not want to do that if you're trying?

Obviously, two first rounders is the case. So why wouldn't you want those? You know, why wouldn't you want to be able to work with that if you're the Raiders? Absolutely. Like, let's be real. Is there a winning window for the Las Vegas Raiders while Max Crosby is at the peak of his powers? Probably not unless maybe Mendoza comes in and he's the greatest thing ever. and he changes everything, but probably not.

They need an offensive line. They need so much more. Think about how the Raiders lost to the Bears last year and your least favorite game of the 20-25 season. Was that the Blockwell? Yeah. Blockwell. Yeah, Josh Blockwell.

And then the game winner by the game-winning field goals. Yeah. So that was the... That was Genty went off in that game. Was that Genty's best game of the year? It might have been his best. I got to look at that. Yeah, I would have to as well,

but I'm going to go ahead and guess that was his best game. But when you put it all together, it just, I don't know, it's, it's, it makes everything a little more intense. Also something that I would, that I would like to bring up next when it comes to this is, uh, not just, uh, the fate of one Max Crosby, but I think there's something that I was, I was thinking through yesterday that I want to bring up on the other side of this break. Additionally, we've gotten conflicting reports about possible roster movement on the Bears, uh, defensive line. So let's get into the latest from Brad Biggs. and more on the Bears defensive line. And I think a guy who could really affect a possible trade that the Bears might have thought that they might have been able to do.

So that's all next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell at a person. Can we handle more Anthony Herron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. And we've had dueling reports.

It's like dueling pianos, but worse. There's no tipping. You don't get to celebrate with your friends, listen to Burkwest songs. I don't think I would ever be the person to organize my friends to go to a dueling piano bar, but when I have gone, love it. I did. That was a birthday party for me many years ago. That you organized? Yeah.

It's a blast. Trust me. It really is, but it's just not something that I ever think about. We had a Christmas party and Odyssey Christmas party at Sluggers. And there was dueling pianos. And there was dueling pianos here one time, too. What? At another, like...

Dueling pianos is great. Yeah. That totally sounds like something Mitch would roll in. Yeah, I got dueling pianos. Come on down. You can stop by. Dueling pianos. Doesn't it?

Literally wheeling a guy playing on a piano as Mitch is saying it. Mitch would be wearing like a piano tuxedo tie, and there'd be a couple of guys in there playing their piano, a couple of bros. How do you feel about the keytar? Would the key tar pop up in this? Ooh, the key tar. Is that even something that people get anymore? I will say the keyboard guitar.

should. In case you were born, I don't know, after 1990. The dueling piano people that are really talented, though, they really are, because they're able to play just about anything, it seems. I would argue the dueling reporters are also really talented and everybody's got their sources, but the problem is you don't know who the sources are. That's true. And no other, no good reporter with a source likes any other reporters with a source. Wow. That's the way it goes. People snip at each other, dismiss each other. It's ugly out here, Leila. The combine has been the scene for some conflicting reports. So last week, we heard Jordan Schultz, the Yahoo, formerly of Yahoo, the NFL insider, say that Jervon Dexter was a possibility for a trade. Like there were discussions had

or perhaps there were inquiries made. It wasn't something that was definitive. But it led a lot of people to ask, you know, why for just the same reasons we talked about, right? mark. Pickens are slim when it comes to how much money you can spend on the line. So would the replacement be better? You know, would you move Shemar Turner back from D.N. in that case, to detackle where Dexter was second on the team in Sacks, by the way, with six to Montes' sweat? So if that's the case, what is his value to another team versus what it is to the Bears? And you'd argue that with the Bears, it's pretty high. So he's into the last year of his contract, we know that. So while we were all trying to parse that through, Brad Biggs talked to

Molly and Haugh this morning, and here's what he had to say. Trevindexter's not, they're not taking calls on them, they're not making calls on them. Well, I'm asking because there was a report that there was. And I'm saying that, I'm reporting nothing's happening on that. Okay. That's good. I'm glad we clarified that because it didn't make any sense at the time. Where does something like that come from then? Just from your, what's your best guess? Where's something like that come from? I don't want to speculate on other people's work. They've got two defensive tackles under contract.

They're not looking to move one. Jervon Dexter will be with the Bears next season. See what I'm talking about? It's ugly out here, Leila. Brad was like, no. Who said that? Jordan, who? If Braddon had had some sort of, you know, staff, like he were guarding a door, the staff would be set down to file.

I'm more with the Biggs report, though, for sure. because, you know, it's Brad Biggs and I love Brad Biggs. And it's just like, it doesn't make sense. Like, I'm really hard on Jervon Dexter because he was a second round pick. And every time I've interviewed Javon Dexter, he's told me he should have been a first round pick.

So I take him... He says that? Now, maybe not as much as this past year, but like in the first couple of years, like he obviously, yeah, I got a chip on my shoulder. I thought I should have been a first round pick. And maybe that's what any lineman would say anybody who's in the second round probably thinks they should have been in the first round of the draft.

But guess what? That's one of the hardest positions, like defensive linemen to stand out at, like that position. Especially interior. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like to get, it is extraordinary to get sack production from the guys on the interior. We know the guys that have done it, and they are straight up Aaron Donald special types of guys that can actually, actually interrupt from an inside spot. That doesn't mean you can't be critical of Jervon Dexter, but he is league average, whatever you. want to say right now you can't afford to get rid of somebody like him again second on the team in

sacks was six to montes sweats ten i also value the batted balls at the line of scrimmage that he had and i think that's such a blessing and a curse his height when you consider it it does take longer to get up and get down when you're that tall and you talked about at the speed because he's closest to the ball everything moves faster so then therefore it's hard to move around at that speed and really make an impact, and he still tries to. And using his height to his advantage in those ways, I think, is an example. But additionally, financially, I just didn't see how it made sense, especially this year. There's another piece to this, though, and when we were talking about Max Crosby might get traded this week, that per Albert Breer.

We understand the league year begins on the 11th. We understand all the pieces that come together here. And in all of this has been also a discussion about potentially freeing up. money if you trade DJ Moore. Now Brad Biggs had reported, you know, this is also in the same column. One source was relatively confident the Bears could find a take her for more and might be able to get a day two pick and return. Moore is set to make a lot of money. And it does matter about that 11th deadline because on the third day of the league year, 15 and a half million of his 2027 salary becomes fully guaranteed. So that's a deadline to note. Here's what I didn't necessarily

until this weekend taken to a lot of account. A.J. Brown. And the fact of the matter is, there's potential for the Eagles to trade him. So how do you think that factors in when again, Ryan Poles says he has a lower number than normal on his draft board? Draft pick value does what then? Does it go down? You know, you hear how, say, for some general managers or some assistants, like this isn't the deepest draft point when it comes to certain players of impact.

I wonder is this then when you consider all of that. And then that A.J. Brown might be a part of this. Now, he's owed $29 million next season. But I would assume it would somewhat affect DJ Moore's market. Oh, absolutely. I mean, wouldn't if you were the Raiders? Wouldn't you accept A.J. Brown a lot faster than you would, T.J. Moore and a Max Crosby. The Bills.

The Bills as well. And I think that situation, unlike here where there hasn't been any verbal discussion out of DJ Moore to indicate anything of concern. There has been tenuous discussion out of A.J. Brown and his role on this Eagles team. So when you consider that, I think the likelihood is higher that A.J. Brown would get moved. But I think it's the salary that might put the Eagles in a hard spot if they want to try to. Right. Same spot the bears are in with D.J. Moore. I do believe is owed 28. million. That would be his cap hit next year. If I'm not mistaken. 24 and a half. 24 and a half next year.

28 is sweat. Montess sweats at 28 and a half. So he's number one. So he's 24 mil, though. That's, I mean, that's the whole trick. And that's what the whole trick has been all along with with DJ Moore, that yeah, the bears need to make some room. But there's other teams are looking at like, like, is that, is he worth it for us right now? And teams are saying we're not really sure yet. But AJ Brown would be the guy that would get chosen before DJ Moore, as much as we love DJ Moore. Listen, you can trade other draft picks, but I just, I wonder when you put it all together if your guys would get the most value this year given the circumstances. And I don't think anything changed remarkably at the combine to indicate anything different. Yeah, nothing that I heard in regards to that. But it is interesting that as we're in our little DJ Moore world, and then along comes A.J. Brown to put a little, make it a little bit more complicated and interesting. A behemoth.

And just to wrap it up, so this is what Breer had to say. Eagles GM, Howie Roseman, knows the situation is delicate. And actively shopping Brown can make things messier than Philly needs them to be. Because like we said, he's already spoken out publicly. But Brown's camp has done recon too on potential landing spots and which have a genuine interest. So while Roseman quietly has had talks, Brown's side has gauged whether there is greener grass elsewhere. The asking price, though, for now is high. it sounds like the Eagles would want a first round pick and another top 100 selection,

similar to what the Packers got for Devante Adams in 2022. And that's going to be too much for most, if not all teams. Some of those teams conversely see Brown's value as being closer to what the bills got for Stefan Diggs from Houston in 2024, a second rounder plus a day three pick swap that favored Buffalo. So that's important to keep in mind. The bottom line is I think we're not out of pocket by talking about DJ Moore in this way because of how many receivers we're seeing go elsewhere. Markey names, receiver ones.

I was kind of surprised to see George Pickens get the franchise tag because of that. I didn't know if there was going to be a situation there where he goes somewhere else again. I think it's all important to keep in mind when you're trying to figure out the market on something where maybe the draft doesn't dictate your need like that. And for A.J. Brown, it's like, be careful what you wish for. You could end up with, hey, maybe that's what he wants to go to the Raiders and get targeted 30 times a game or go to Cleveland and be the star that Cleveland needs so badly. There are playoff teams who need receivers.

I just mentioned Buffalo. At least it's out of the conference. It's AFC. See how the Lions did that there? They did. Yeah, they did. It was smart. Ideally, that's why it sucked.

And the Bears didn't have control over this, but it did suck to see David Montgomery pop up not only the NFC, but in the NFC North. In my snoopings? I notice that the Lions on the player survey, the offensive coordinator, got a C. Do you think Ben Johnson knows that, looked it up and has pinned it up, maybe just on the refrigerator with a magnet on there, just to see, grade C? Because you know he's still pissed off about that 50 burger.

There's no way. He's upset. He was also really upset about the last game of the regular season. But here's the problem. They didn't do anything about it on the field to be able to win the games. That's right, Ben. Come on, Ben. What do you think about that?

Huh? Taking your shirt off at the Bulls game? You think this is funny? No. You think this is some kind of game? I'm sorry. Making jokes about your quarterback? What do you think this is?

O.C. Not just a C minus. Which, oh, in Detroit? Yeah. C minus. Who is their offensive coordinator? Is it Dan Campbell? No, well, he was calling plays for a second.

Like who, like as we speak right now, who calls the Detroit Lions plays? Anybody know? Well, yeah, they just hired Drew Petzing. Oh, it's Drew Petzing? Yeah, the dude from Arizona. Right, who was actually a Bears coaching candidate. I believe he was one of the many that got interviewed during the Ben Johnson cycle. He was one of the many.

Yes. Are you trying to get Ben Johnson mad? I don't think he's listening to us. No, not really. I'm enjoying the comedy tour of Ben Johnson, actually. Like, somebody has been in his ear saying, hey, hey, hey, hey, Ben. Let's let it loose this off season. People think you're really serious. Let's go. Let's start the comedy tour, which started at the Combine. It hit the United Center last night. He's got 11 or 12

more dates lined up around. I imagine he's going to get Cubs season tickets this year, which will be a blast to see him with his shirt off in the left field bleachers. Why do you think he's in the left field? Absolutely. Right field sucks. Good, better best. You know, wait, wasn't Rizzo also in left field? I think was I thought the Rizzo was in right field for some reason or maybe maybe he was left field

I don't know which part of the bleachers Rizzo was in boy he did have a good time and then there was the time when Theo and Jett Hoyer were wearing moustaches and sat in the bleachers yes and I think they were in left field left field for Rizzo

it was in left field the Riz and well we'll see that's it Ben Johnson I challenge you to sit in the bleachers for a Let's go June when it's nice. Let's go June.

I want to see Ben Johnson. That's it. That's it. I think we need to start our challenge for Ben Johnson to sit in the bleachers in June. We have to incentivize him. He's not going to do it willy-nilly. Ray says we have to go to commercial because our sponsors deserve time. Did Weiner's Circle get anything?

Like, did give away anything to him personally? I mean, that's a good question. Maybe a hot dog. Okay. Oh, wow. It's late. I'm sorry. in the meat. Yeah, Mark was cooking.

I'm sorry. And now we're keeping our friend Mark Gonzalez waiting. You know Mark Gonzalez. He used to cover the Cubs for many years here in town. He is doing so for the Sun Times at spring training right now. So we'll talk to him about what he saw next. Gregman so far this spring, three for nine. Banner 2025 season with the Red Sox.

Regman in the air. Left center field. It's back to the track. And it is gone. Cubs fans get used to this. Alex Bregman, solo Homer. We're all tied up at one in the first. I'll take a Bregman-Bomsky on this Sunday. Why not?

That is Alex Cohen and Elise Minnaker on the call in the Marquis Sports Network from yesterday. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. And we go to our hotline. That is where we find our friend, Longtime, baseball reporter Mark Gonzalez. He is at MD Gonzalez on X. Mark, how are you?

Doing well. Great to hear your voice. How's everything? Oh, same here. It's just nice to catch up like Grotie smiling. I feel like a little bit of the baseball crew is just happening right now. Yeah, and I won't tell you how great the weather is. So we can move on to Cubs and socks business if you want.

Yeah, yeah. It's just like something I've learned to except I've been doing this a long. You can't hurt me with your. Arizona weather, Mark Gonzalez. I will not let that happen. I guess a good place to start would be what we saw on the mound yesterday. From the Chicago Cubs, everybody was ultra concerned about Shota Imanaga at the end of last year. Didn't think Shota Imanaga was going to be part of the Cubs rotation this year.

And unfortunately, he did not eliminate any concerns with the three home runs that he gave up in his start yesterday. What did you think about it, Mark? location was terrible. Velocity was good. The problems he had yesterday were fixable. So he's going to have a few more starts down here. You've got to think that he's got to be at the back end of the rotation just based on the way the rotation has sculpted

what guys like Kate Horton did last year. Certainly Chota knows he's got to pitch better and pitch more consistent, more stronger, because he saw where he faded. toward the end last year. He wasn't the only one that did so, but he knows what's at stake, because the hope is

that Steele will be ready at some point, you know, late May, early June, and you have the reinforcement. So Shoda's got a lot to prove, but I think there's time, and I think the case with location, he can fix that in a hurry. Real quick follow-up on that, because you mentioned

what's at stake, and of course it makes sense. Justin Steele comes back. Maybe he replaces Shoda in the starting rotation. I think that's you're saying. Is there any chance that that Chota Imanaga is out of the starting rotation even before Justin Steele comes back, considering last year, considering the start to this year as well? He would have to really slip in a hurry. I think given his track record, I think they'd give him a leash, you know, also you can also, you know, manipulate the rotation with off days and such.

So I think he'll get a decent leash anyway, whether it's two months, we'll see. But I think he's to the point where he'll get a chance. He'll get a fair chance. I don't think there'll be a quick cook with him, but you want results. No, you do, Mark. And one of the things I noticed when you were talking about the home runs and the location of the ball, that's the first thing I'm looking at, right?

Like if you're going to up the velo, then you'd better be able to still place where you need to, especially when the velo wasn't that high to begin with. And that ball to egg or caro was about shoulder high. You know, and it was inside. Like, what did you think about just the home run balls that he did give up? I mean, that one, that one kind of raised my eyebrows because, you know, it's good that he's throwing 95, 94, 95. That's encouraging, but it's not a skein's fastball. It's not 100 miles an hour.

it's 95. Guys can catch up to that. If you're going to throw 95, you've got to be more effective getting it on the hands. He didn't do that. So, therefore, he's going to pay a price. And I think that's where it comes along, not just his fastball, but a slider as well. You know, Montgomery, Braden Montgomery, he looked like he was sitting all over that one,

but he got enough to clear the fence with some distance. So he's got sort of got some work to do. But once again, I think it's fixable. Yeah, the Braden Montgomery. Good for Braden Montgomery. Good for him. Hitting a 1-1 curve for the home run. And the Austin, hey, I don't know what the Austin Hayes Homer, I think it was a fastball. It seemed like it was right down, like, center cut. It was low, though. That was not a – I didn't think that was a bad pitch. Really?

I think it was just a little high. See, I didn't think the Edgar Caro pitch was a bad pitch because it kind of came up and in. Oh, no. Now that I'm looking at the replay of Hayes, guys, it's – It's like right there. It's middle, middle of the plate. It's been roughly two years over the plate before it got to get hit out of the ballpark. In the words of Joe Madden, it was center cut. Yes.

Yeah. He did start that, didn't he? Because I used that. And that was a Joe Maddenism, wasn't it, Gonzo? Yeah, I mean, Joe got credit for a lot of things that he didn't certainly originate, but he popularized. I was, I'll get him credit for that one. Yeah, he was Mr. Pop Culture. What do you think about Alex Bregman?

I mean, they looked really good at the plate yesterday, the home run. I believe he had a double as well. I mean, it was nice. I don't know if important is the right way to put it, but maybe important to see that in spring training considering the $175 million five-year contract they gave him. He leaves with a good feeling. I think he's one of the guys you have to worry least about,

just given his track record, but the way he plays the game. He saw it at third. He gives you a good at bat. He's a good teammate. We've already seen it. Him talking to his teammates about certain things during drills and all that. He's pretty complete and steady. And I think if this team's going to go farther, they need guys like him.

He's also been battle tested. He's played in the playoffs and a World Series. So he's one of the guys you're not going to be worried about if this team goes where it wants to go. We're talking to Mark Gonzalez, joining us live from a nature preserve or something. He's doing a Disney movie. There's little birds flying over his head. Where are you right now? Mark, are you at the facility in Mesa? No, I'm actually somewhere where it's tranquil and peaceful.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it sounded that way. Yeah, we all heard the birds just now. Mark was covering the game for the Sun-Times, Maddie Lee, filling in. And we were talking about the Cubs and Sox game that we got all. got to witness yesterday. It was on TV as well, it was on marquee. How much level of concern, if at all,

Mark, when it comes to us understanding that this was the lineup that we were going to see out of the Cubs before the World Baseball Classic and the fact that you had the Breggman home run and that was about it offensively. How much stock do you put into that, if any,

at all? None. None, really. What I look for is, you know, at bats like, Pete Crowe, Armstrong against, you know, Anthony K. A lefty, we all know Pete had trouble. Last year against lefties, he got a nice hit to left field. Went the other way.

You want to see more of that, especially him becoming a little more discipline against lefties covering the strike zone but not expanding it. That's one thing I look at. You're just kind of isolating things and looking for certain instances rather than, you know, results batting average at the end of the spring, because that means nothing, as you know. So I look at those things. And if you want to take a step back to Saturday,

Ben Brown and Javier Assad pitched very well against the Dodger team at five of its big boys at the top of the order. So you look more at those things right now. It's a weird time of spring training, and I say that because even if it wasn't the World Baseball Classic, there seems to be a lull at times. And that's when you can get in the bad habits or guys get hurt or they have the infamous dead arm stage.

So it's a very curious time right now, especially with the guys going off the World Baseball project. But it's an opportunity for guys like Ben Brown and Assad to assert themselves because injuries are part of the game, and they've got to have these guys ready to step in if something happens. Yeah, I heard Ben Brown talking about trying to get better. I mean, it was Bruce talking about Ben Brown, trying to get better at the mental game.

But I do want to stay on the lefty motif for a second with PCA, as you said, going up against the White Sox starter, Anthony Kay, who is a lefty and could very well be in the starting, a starter for the Sox once we get this thing going for real. But Michael Bush, obviously, was up against the lefty. 34 home runs last year, 866 OPS, 592 played appearances. That was seventh on the team. Did they just let them go this year, Michael Bush, or at least try, at least start the season? just saying, yes, you will play against everybody, all lefties, righties, no funny stuff. Michael Bush, show us what you got.

I think that's the case. You know, another element is the fact that, you know, Tyler Austin being out, that's going to create a situation where you're going to try to find somebody who can spell him at first base on occasion. The unfortunate thing is that Miguel Amaya and Christian Bettencourt, who's a non-roaster guy, and targeted his backup catchers. They're playing for Panama on the World Baseball Classic. So who knows if you see even Matt Shaw over there. But I think that Michael Bush will get a longer leash.

I hate to use that phrase again, but he'll get a chance to prove himself against the lefties. And I think it's fair, too. You know, he's still young, and he had a really terrific season last year, maybe still underrated even though he hit 34 homers. I think he's still got plenty of upside there. So, you know, why not give him a chance to see what he can do against lefties? So, you know, sometimes having him face lefties is better than anybody else on the bench facing a lefty, with few exceptions.

Mark Gonzalez is joining us. And in, Consor, we should have probably started by asking you this question. I think we all just went into old habits like, hey, let's talk about the spring training game from yesterday. But what are your questions, you know, regarding this kind of. team as a longtime reporter and someone who covered the team. Like what are your observations about just how this team has been put together this season and what you think? You know, I've been critical of them in the past, but I think they have a really good team. I think this is the first time you could say, yeah, they could really challenge the Dodgers for the title.

I really feel this team is well balanced. The issue is going to be health because we saw. what happened to the rotation last year. And certainly they have somebody like Colin Ray in the wings and Justin Steele is going to be ready, hopefully late May, early June. But I still think that in order for this team to overtake the Dodgers,

and I hate to put pressure on one guy, but, you know, Kate Horton's going to have to do more of the same. I think he's the guy because you look at the second half of last year, I mean, you had a great feeling when that guy took the man, like you were going to win. And the question is, do you feel that good about the other guys? And that's going to be an issue where somebody's going to have to step up as well as Cade and provide quality starts.

Because, you know, down the stretch and even in the playoffs, it was usually a clean flip because, you know, Shota was on fumes and Matthew Boyd hit a wall as well. I mean, that was not a good feeling. And you kind of think, God, if Kate Horton didn't have that rib fractures, they would have advanced and probably played the Dodgers for the National League championship. So that's where health and depth come in. Because I think the team is pretty well balanced right now. Certainly, you know, the backup outfield situation is going to sort itself out,

but they've got plenty of candidates out there. And you've got to think that, you know, Ian Hap, PCA and say are going to play a lot out there. So that person, it's going to be tougher. that person to get, you know, 200, 250 at bats, but that's the way they are equipped, and I think that all around, you look at the infield and the outfield, it's

pretty well structured. Mark Gonzalez, by the way, I want to make sure I have this right, Gonzo. Do you know, are you the only beat writer in this town that has covered both the Cubs World Series on an everyday basis? I was there

with you, and the White Sox in 2005, is that correct? Yes, it is. Wow. Yes, it is. And I don't take any credit for this, but also this marks the 25th anniversary of the Diamondbacks winning their World Series title. And I was fortunate to be the beat writer that year. In fact, there's a lot of stuff going on down here in Arizona with the Diamondbacks World Series title 25 years ago.

Wow. Louise Gonzalez, where are you now? That is. Well, we know where Craig Counsel is. Yeah, we do. So there's that. He was a part of that team. Yeah, he was. And by the way, Gonso, I'm forever grateful to you for introducing me to the Montgomery Inn, a great ribs joint in Cincinnati.

I hope you still are able to make it to that place. But just having watched the Cubs and the White Sox play yesterday, I know you still take an interest in what the White Sox are doing. And specifically, Braden Montgomery with a couple hits on the home run, how fast do you think that guy could end up on the White Sox roster in their outfield because it feels like there's room at the end. It's specifically in that White Sox outfield right now for somebody like Brayden Montgomery. The White Sox Center, Chris Gets, have not been afraid of rush guys,

accelerate the pace through the miners. But I would tap the brakes a little bit on Montgomery. I think you got a chance to be a super player. but I think this year is going to be very important in terms of his development and taking that last step to the majors. He's a switch hitter. He's got great tools, and maybe it's a situation where he hits for a higher average than the power.

I still think there's some things he's got to work on. I saw him in the fall league quite a bit. I saw him as a freshman at Stanford. I liked him, and he went over three with a strikeout, but he just stood out there. He looked like the real deal. in a best case scenario, I could see him being up around the All-Star break. But once again, I think there's no need to rush him yet.

So I would put some pause on, give some pause on that. Fine. Paused. I hit pause. Fine. It's never bad having hope in a player. I like it. Then you can say that you've got to see him on his upswing, so that's awesome. Mark Gonzalez, always great to talk to you. Thanks for joining us. We like to hear your voice too,

and I guess we'll let you get back to this bird sanctuary you're at because we can hear all of the happy birds in the background. It's a beautiful day down here. I'm going to have Ray add that to my sleep sounds for my... Chirping birds of Mark Gonzalez's background. I take a nap to that. Take care, y'all. Thanks, Mark.

Like we mentioned, Mark Gonzalez, still on Twitter at MD Gonzalez. He's also a senior writer at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Coming up next, let's delve a little bit more into what we saw in that Cubs and White Sox game. Because I think there are some themes, you know, that we can actually say, this is something that we hope to see this season. And this is something that we hope to not see this season. And I have a complaint about the broadcast from yesterday that I would like to discuss. Mark has a complaint.

I would like to officially file a complaint. All right. So we'll do all of that next. This is an Odyssey Sports Minute. Alice Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has fans excited saying that he's willing to, quote, bust the budget to spend in free agency to improve the team's defense. But remember a couple years ago, Jones said the Cowboys were all in on the 2024 season and then really didn't do much to improve the roster.

So talk is cheap. If Jerry's able to do it, then credit to him. But I think Cowboys fans should be skeptical of what their owner is saying. I'm Nick Costos. Russell Dorsey. My eye is on which version of Pete do you get in 26? Because if you can get, we'll call it 65%, even 70% of the first half, Pete Coromstrong offensively with that same high-quality defense that we saw from him since he's gotten to the big leagues, to be honest.

Then you still have a high-quality player. Insider and analyst for Friday night baseball on Apple TV Plus. Hey man, postseason, we're a show hey. And in the biggest moment, on the big. stage, the best player to walk the face of the earth showed us exactly where he was.

Russell Dorsey. On 1043, the score. By God, that's Russ Dorsey's music. I should do better than that. In the honoring of JR, it was Elimination Chamber weekend at the United Center, and that wasn't my best.

A lot of people there. Yeah, including Janus. Yonis. Let's not forget about the Nassus. People always say, he was like he wasn't there by himself. So Dan eviscerated thanasis one day on this show. And I don't know that we've ever recovered as a society. He was like, he can't play basketball. By all accounts, I hear he's a very good guy.

See, see, that. And that gets you a long way in life being a good guy. Like, it's kept him on NBA rosters outside of being Janus's brother. Like, if he was Janus's brother but a bag, it would be a lot harder to keep him on a roster. I would like to counter the wonderful things Russ is saying that I'm sure are very true with this line from a Freddie Gibbs song on his most recent album from last year where he has a disc line where he says, you're Shacked in like the Nassas.

Oh my God. That is an amazing line that I always think of. Alfredo 2. Very good album. That's the album. Very good albums. There's one of the songs on there where he has that line. It's amazing.

Big Chicago Bears fan, Freddie Gibbs. knows about 820 the score. Yeah, bears. Okay, so his sibling reference point would probably be Casey Erlacker. It was always on the bear. Oh, Casey Erlacker is on the roster. Oh, not anymore. What did Casey do now?

At the very least, at least Patrick Mahomes' brother doesn't play football. We don't see him much these days. Yeah, something happened there. Some PR machine got to him. Big Pat, we might have to do that. same thing. He gets himself in a lot of trouble. But neither here nor there. Funny. Russ Dorsey

in studio with us. We are timing Russ's schedule because he's a man who needs to be in many places. So he showed up early with us and then I was practically doing jumping jacks to try to get your attention and say hi. But you were focused. You kept your head down and then you're kind enough to join us for this segment. So we're really we want to pick up where we left off yesterday.

Cubs and socks play each other in spring training. I got two themes for you. Okay. Number one, we're going to be watching out for Shota Imanaga's home run propensity all season yet again. Yeah. Number two, the dudes who you expected the White Sox to hit bombs produced. And that is a good thing as well for that young core. Yeah.

Let's start with Shota. The thing I will give him, if I'm going to give him some leeway here, it's March 2nd. Yeah. The ball flies in Arizona. and a lot of times guys are working on different things, and so you can't take Arizona results, and that just be gospel. Got to take it a little bit with a grain of salt.

For sure, that was showed his issue. We talked about it at length going into the postseason last year. Like, his last 11 starts, including the postseason, he had given up homers. No bueno. So that's going to have to change. I imagine that they worked very hard to try to combat that this season. But if you're Cubs fan

out there and you're saying, woof, here it comes again. Relax. The ball absolutely carries in Arizona. If that happens the first week of April and into May and June, then we can talk about it, but I wouldn't be concerned

about it today. Not fully concerned about it. Okay. I mean, I think I think people, I was going to say, I think people are allowed to be concerned about Shota considering what last year was, considering the fact that he wasn't necessarily even supposed to be on this roster. You're right, Groats, because I was the person that talked about it.

So I'll let me rephrase. If I say scale one to ten, my concern for Shoda Homer's allowed is like a three. Okay, so there is concern, but not that much yet. Concern only because we've seen it and that was an issue going into this year. But it's not concerned because it happened in a spring training. Concern meter is higher for me. I'm going to put the concern meter about show. to Imanaga giving up home runs at like a six.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. Maybe seven. Wow. Because that, because he's done it. I mean, Mark, we're. I'm probably, I'm probably closer to you, Leila. I'll go 5.5. Here's the thing, though, is I agree with you, Russ, on the fact that it's being clear what his directive is.

You've got to get the VLO up. If you're going to, if you're going to throw that ball out of your hand and you're trying to tunnel it with your splitter, get the VLO up. Okay, well, if I'm going to do that, it's going to require some trial and error as to how I perfect both the fastball and the splitter. I got to throw more fast balls. And you better do it better than you did last year. So I understand that that's going to be a bugaboo in all of this.

Yeah. I'm going to continue to say a three. But the points you guys make are valid. I'm just not ready in a start on March 1st. Now if it's happening on May 1st, then we got issues. But on March 1st, I'm not ready to say it, Shoda, you're out of here. That's fair. I may still be thinking about game one against the Brewers and the D.S.

I get it. Maybe I am. It's the most recent evidence that we have to this on an issue that lasted for five months. I get it. Well, this is a good time, too, for me to bring something up from yesterday. And we've talked about a lot. The velocity is up for Shota and I'm inago. Good, good.

And Marquis did a great job yesterday of showing a graphic with all of his different pitches that are up a couple miles per hour. Again, absolutely great. I don't know if this was just me, and maybe it was because I haven't heard anybody talk about it at all. They did not have the radar gun in the scorebug on Marquis yesterday. I don't know if either of you guys noticed that, but the theme of the broadcast was, and it mentioned four times justifiably. It's a good story and good on Markie.

and, you know, good on Elise Menacher and Alex Cohen, who did a great broadcast. But nobody was telling me what the velocity was yesterday for him at any point in time. I'm like, well, where's the velocity? I don't see it on the graphic. I don't hear them talking about it. So I guess my question to you is like, is that a spring training thing? Yes. It is.

It's spring training for everybody, including broadcasts. Like, there are some ballparks, and I don't think Sloan is one of them or, you know, Camelback Ranch where I guess the access to radar guns isn't as widely available. Okay, so that's on the stadium. It's on the logistics not necessarily. But also, like, if it is in the ballpark but you just don't have it, you didn't make an effort to have it on the scorebug, that's something that could be put back by the next game. You know what I mean?

So like, it might be something as small as, hey, yeah, it got taken down. It shouldn't have. it could be there's actually no radar that we can see in the ballpark. Well, I do know that the radar was some radar somewhere was picking up on the pitches because they're on MLB.com game day. So you can see pitch by pitch what the speed of the pitches were. This is real inside, but hear me out on this. So having covered spring training for regional sports networks and like being part of the broadcast,

there are oodles of broadcast crews and trucks in, one spot where there aren't normally. So I remember doing one of the games out of a Big Ten Network truck one time because there are only so many production trucks and they're all covering these games at once. Not to mention other sports are going on right now where you've got you've got basketball in season. You've got college basketball really heating up. So because of that and you've got hockey. So because of that all these, the reason why they're trucks is because you can take them across the country and you use that truck and it's a whole production. anywhere you want to go.

So there's not, there's a shortage of trucks at spring trading. Additionally, you might not have the same equipment that you normally have for all of them. So maybe that factored into this situation. I mean, can't have that as the theme and then not telling me the velocity. I agree. I wanted to know how hard Jordan Hicks was throwing for that matter. You could throw 105. You can assume he throws 100 miles.

You can assume all those pitches were 100 miles now. A hundred percent. Yeah, I was going to say 105, maybe. at this juncture and his career is not the case, even though that's what he busted out onto the scene with. But that's the first thing I thought of when I saw Jordan Hicks. I'm like, oh, now I don't get to know how hard he's throwing. I saw a text here says it may just be me, but it's amazing how much Russ sounds like Charles

Tillman. Do I, do I say, I like Charles Tillman? I mean, I'd have to listen more. Off the top of my head, no. Okay. Not necessarily. I'm not saying it was like crazy, but give me some time on that. I love that.

Any peanut comp I can get is great. Yeah, that's a pretty nice compliment. You actually, the last time when you and I did a show, or maybe you were a guest with Marshall and I, when Layla was not here, you said Charles Tillman, he should be the next bear to go into the hall. I did say that when we were over in the performance studio. That's right. Good old number 33. When the move that you created is now taught as best practice across the league,

wouldn't that indicate that you changed the game? In high schools. He's got his own punch. Yes. Yeah. It is now taught as best practice. in football. So when that's the case, don't you think that therefore you should be in the Hall of Fame? That helps. Yeah.

That helps. You talk about changing the game, like in terms of like with basketball. Like, all right, Steph Curry changed the game of basketball. You could make a great argument that Peanut Tillman changed the game of football. That's it. He saw it differently. And now you've changed football. Yeah, you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

Question for you guys. Yeah. Can I make a White Sox point before we move on to our next thing? Love it. Can you make it after our break? Yes, I can. I can because I want y'all to hit y'all bricks. You got told no.

Well, Ray and I, well, Ray, Grotty and I, what you don't know is Grotie and I betrayed Ray at the top of the hour, and we were late to Gonzo. So we'll make it up to Ray and go to break on time. And then I want to hear your White Sox point because they look pretty good yesterday. So more with Russ Dorsey. He is, of course, the baseball insider. He works for Apple TV Plus.

That season is starting up. soon, so we're thrilled to have him in. More with Russ, more spring training talk on the score. Rahimi, Harrison Grody. That sounds so crazy. 104.3, the score. Wow, I like that. Midday's 10 to 2 on 104-3, the score.

Five defensive backs in, greasy, hits Maurice. He's dropped the ball. And it looks like Charles Tillman forced another bubble. What's new? Tillman sees it, C-ball, get ball, punch. Well, well, no, no. No, no, no. The voice of Charles Tillman.

I don't know, man. I think they missed it. We heard. That was him that did the 104.3. Okay. So earlier, Russ was saying that people say he sounds like Charles Tillman. And people are agreeing on the text line. So I want to hear Charles Tillman's voice to answer Russ's question.

Does he sound like Charles Tillman in my brain? Not necessarily, but it doesn't sound like a terrible comp, but I'd like to hear. Take us through this. It's about the hand-eye coordination. He was too busy looking down the field, and he figured I was out of it. He thought his lineman was going to come get it. But actually, he didn't see me. I got long arms.

I'm a long-linky guy, so I just figured I'd punch it. Majority of the time when guys go down, they put their hand down, and this is, you know, when they fall down, right, that's one of the balls the most vulnerable. So, yeah. See ball gets ball. Okay. I do see where he's coming. The animated. We're both animated.

it, we do have a high energy cadence. High energy cadence. That's it. That's it. Okay. It's something about sentence construction, too. Maybe I think that's it. Like, I was trying to hear it.

I'm like, I don't think so, but maybe it's in the way we put sentences together. It is. Yeah, it's not a terrible comp. I don't know if it's spot on, like, or if I would think that, but it's not, like, I see where the textor was coming from. We have similar sentence structure. I love a good science experiment. Congratulations.

And like, honestly, that I love Charles, so I'm fine. with it. There's nothing wrong with it. Yeah. If there's somebody I hated, I would be like, oh, don't do that. But I'm fine with it. Thank you to Markey Sports Network for the Charles Tillman

Sentence Construction we heard there as our example. Wow, we had to go that far to get Charles Tillman? The deep cut, man. But you know what? In some recent, you know? I like it. I like that we go to these lengths to try to figure out of Russ Dorsey sounds like Charles Tillman.

No, I liked it. I liked it. Not a bad com. Now I just want to go get onto a football field and punch a football out. somewhere, but we can't really do that yet. In the meantime, you had a socks point you wanted to make. I did. Can I tell you guys about the White Sox prospect that people need to keep their eye on? Yes. It must not be an obvious name. It's not Braden Montgomery. Okay. It's not No Schultz. Hagen Smith. It's not Hagen Smith. Wow. Wow, Grady. Sam Antanachi? The White Sox prospect that people

need to keep their eye on is Sam Antonin. Oh, no, I got it. I got it right. Such a socks guy, Grody? I want you guys to clip this up because a year and a half ago, my favorite scout texted me and's like, yo, I'm scouting the white socks right now. And the kid that everybody needs to keep their eye on is not one of their big boys. It's not Colson Montgomery. It's not Cairo. It's not any of the pitching prospects.

He's like, the guy that's going to, I can guarantee you will play in the big leagues for 12 to 15 years is Sam Antonich. Wow. Okay. I love this. And this is a guy that knows baseball. And I'm looking at you. I won't say your name because I got to keep you anonymous, but this clip is for you.

And he just says this kid, and this was before he burst onto the scene. Like, people know who Sam Antanachi is now, like hitting some homers, doing some things. But he's like, he's your, he's a, he would be described by people in baseball as, guys just a baseball player. Gets on base. Gets on base. He knows how to, like, crowd a box. knows how to hit, can play any position that you put them at.

Best at second, though, is his... Probably. Yeah, okay. Probably. But, like, in a pinch, could play short. In a pinch, could play third base. In a pinch, might be able to play a corner for you. Just that type of guy that can do a lot of different things well.

But it was, and these are types of things the scouts look at. He said, I watched them from the time he got off the bus to the time he went back on the bus to leave. And he was like, and it was hustle everywhere he went. Wow. Oh. So in addition to the baseball skills, it was, this is A grade character. Is he Nico Horner for the White Sox? Maybe.

So here's some numbers on Antonacci. And he's playing for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic. And he's from Springfield. How about that? Shout out Springfield. Love you all. Love you all. Downstate.

I don't know. Can you get 670 in Springfield? Absolutely. Loud and clear. 104. 670 for the distance. Shout out to Springfield have a horseshoe on me. So batting 308, two home runs, three RBI, stealing three bases, walking three times, and he gets hit by a pitch twice.

And that's what I mean. There's some guys who, there is an art to know Rizzo had it, you know, there's an art to knowing how Carlos Quentin going back in the day. There's an art to knowing how to get hit by a pitch and make it work for you. It hurts. But there are guys who know how to step up, I think, to a plate and know how to, you know how to, have that be a part of their game. Yeah. When he's doing a lot of things well, like you mentioned hit by pitch, stole a bag,

hits the ball of the ballpark, gets on base at a high clip. Like those are all things that you got to do if you want to get to the big leagues. Right? You can never have enough guys, Grotie, that do everything. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Give me 26 do everything, guys. Yeah.

I mean. Everybody loves homers. David Eckstein, if you will. Yes, David Eckstein. Ben is a long time. Ben's over us. Hello. No, but that's also the Jerry Ridesdorf, David Eckstein.

He loved him. Love David Eckstein more than anybody. So Jerry's got to love it in this situation. Like, you can play in the big leagues for a decade when you can do a lot of things well. And so for a scout that's not in Chicago to text me and say, hey, people are getting it wrong. The guy that's really going to impact the thing. And it's not like he doesn't think the White Sox. He speaks very highly of what the White Sox have done.

But he was just like, in what they've done, they found a jewel, a diamond in the rough, if you will, that's really going to impact their roster. See, this is the stuff for me with the White Sox. You know what I mean? Like, I love, like, the guys that are present on their roster right up. Can't wait to see what Colson Montgomery does. Full season, yeah. The full season of him. Like, I cannot wait.

But it's that next wave of guys. And maybe Antonacci is part of it. But, like, Noah Schultz and guys that you mentioned. Braden Montgomery and Hagen Smith. It's that next wave that really makes it. 217 says they are listening in Springfield to us now. Shout out. I love the science experiment.

Shout out to Springfield. There's this place in Springfield, and I think I'm getting right, is it called Cozy Dogs? It's like the Corn Dog place. Yeah, that does sound familiar. I spent two years there. That does sound familiar. There was a summer where my parents, we were driving a lot, and we drove through Springfield

and we're like, we're going to go to this place called Cozy Dog and me and my brother were like, all right and they did like, they specialize in like corn dogs and it was actually kind of sick. I've been to Cozy Noodle by Wrigley a time or two but I've not been to Cozy Dog and I've been to the Chick-fil-A in Bloomington normal. Cozy Dog Drive-in

described on Google as a low-key memorabilia-laden counter-served dining diner serving signature corn dogs plus chili and burgers. is the perfect description. I couldn't have said any better. Shout out to cozy dog. Russ Dorsey loves himself the state of Illinois. All parts.

Just get yourself a bushel of cozy dogs. You know what's funny? I've been craving a corn dog for like a month. Really? I just texted my friends the other day and I'm like, gosh, I know I'd be eating healthy and stuff, but like, you know what I could go for right now? I got it figured out. Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to take you and I are going to take a little road trip. to the Illinois State Fair this year. What the hell? Layla. They usually have a decent musical act. They always do. Wasn't it like Nelly recently or something? Maybe.

Nellie was out of state fair. It was Nelly. Yes. And we're going to road trip it and get corn dogs and formal cake. And anything on a stick at the state fair. Cheese on a stick, meat on a stick. Hot dog, obviously. That would come on a stick.

That would come on a stick. That would come on a stick. The 2025 acts were Snoop Doc. You know, they're shutting out. Okay, Illinois, Snoop does anything these days, by the way. The chain smokers and deaf left. We're going to the state fair. We might have to do something.

All right. That's amazing. What a lineup? That is a line up. What the hell? A heck of a lineup. Let's check on 2024. So here's my one concern, roads.

Yes, sir. Jonas Brothers, Miranda, Keith Urban and Molly Cruz. Oh, my God. You and I used to. Guess up the car. Used to both be chunky fellows. Wait, wait, wait, you and I...

Used to be? I mean, I appreciate you saying that about me, but anyway. Used to be. Yeah, okay, okay. I don't want us to relapse. That's a good problem. You know what I mean? Well, so that's what we...

Like, you could go down. One meal didn't get you into that, and one meal's not going to get to the job. But one meal leads to the next meal. Right, that's the problem in the addiction world. You get a hit for the first time in 15 years. As somebody who's also weighing lighter than I did in high school and very much college. You know what I mean? Like, you're trying to do your...

High school I could leg press like $2.50. Like there still smells where I'm like, oh, there was a time. Got to have that. And they just got to walk home. Right, right. Oh, man. You know, right? Anything, yeah, a lot of deep fried stuff.

Like, just that smell. Yeah, just deep fried oil. Here's what we do. We go and then we run away. And then we go back for the acts. Get in the car. All the musical acts. Like, if it was crew and deaf leopard, what's the next one to play?

Is it Iron Maiden or something? Or a hair band from the 80s? Like, there's a pack. pattern here and I'm not being able to follow it. Brett Michaels? Is it Brett Michaels? How about Systema Down? Makes another trip. By the way, Sierra Santos on her Instagram story, guess who posted a picture with her

as we were talking about him the other day? Brett Michaels. He posted the picture of her. He's like, I'm going to tag you in this pick. She's living her best life at Innings Fest. I love it. Out there in Arizona. Okay, so back to the socks discussion. Anyway, and funnel cake. And funnel cake.

Dang, now I'm going to think about Funnel cake. Here's what it is, Russ. I want to see these musical acts. My goodness, Illinois. stay fair, throw it down. It's just one day so we can think about this meal for the next several months. Fair. Right? In the meantime, we do what we got to do to protect ourselves.

Were you really a fat guy at one point out? Like, I was at my heaviest. Are you susceptible to that? Not now, but at my heaviest, I was 315. Wow. Wow. Holy cow. 315 down to 185.

Oh, good for you, man. Congratulations. I did not know that about you. I appreciate it. Now we're still sitting at a comfortable 205. Okay. Okay. I'm at an uncomfortable

220 right now, but I'll get it down. Nelly is at the Wisconsin State Fair this year. I knew I saw Nellie in a state fair somewhere. Also a solid state fair. Oh, how about Milwaukee Fest? A lot of food on a stick there as well.

Yeah, okay. Let's do a state fair tour, the three of us. And maybe Marshall, too. I'm not a post. Can Marshall handle state fairs? I doesn't like crowds.

I don't know if he can handle it. He didn't want to go to Riggley or to Chris Kindle market, remember? That's true. Did you hear about this, but that's because we were all going to, where we were going to all go with dates. like it was an always sunny episode

to Chris Kittle Market, but Marshall hated the idea. And poor Robbie was going to have to wear mittens and dress like an elf and write down everything. I love, I loved all of that. It was very always sunny.

Very always sunny. And the irony being that none of us ever have dates. I think that was the part. Marshall likes to keep his dates private. I think you guys could find dates. I think we could. I don't know if we'd be happy, though. I mean, think about it.

Oh, we have acts. Okay. So the Grand Stand concert schedule is Bailey Zimmerman, Laney Wilson, Matchbox 20, Ella Langley, and Shinedown. Matchbox 20. Oh, Rob Thomas in your life. Following up, Motley, Crew, and Duffalo were Shinedown. Also, I don't know about that. The text are say, peanuts a half octave higher than me.

Okay. And that you guys both speak with confidence, which I agree with. Yeah, it's all, I mean. Similar voice inflection. I agree with that. We get excited and then we start doing things. So this was multiple text. who initiated this?

Yes, and people are in agreement, and they agree with our point about sentence structure, but it's the way we talk when we're, like, making a point or excited. Is that the line you open up with on a date? People have said I have the sentence structure, Peanut Tillman. Walking around with a 33 on his back. Oh, if there's one thing I date for, it is somebody who has the sentence structure of Penet Tillman. That is a quality.

Coming up next, you want to hang with us for five on it? Yes. Russ is hanging with us for five on it. Next. It's time for five on it. Rahimi Harrison, Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score.

Number one. This is five out of 104-3, the score with Laila, Rahimi, Mark Grody, and special guest, Russell Dorsey National MLB Insider. Here's question number one. Now that the NFL scouting combine is over, has your opinion changed about the position the bears should zero in on, with the number 25 overall pick in the NFL draft. No, I draft for position of need. I'm not a GM who has a job.

I'm a fake GM. Instead, I sit in front of this microphone, just yell into oblivion. But I still think that this one is a pretty big no-brainer for me. The class of defensive lineman is rich. It is robust. It's like a good morning cup of coffee, not like a cheap one that tastes like acid or flowers or something else.

Well, flowers I like. But the point is, it's a good class of defensive linement. And guess what the bears mean? Defensive line. And from what I understand, with everybody grading out at the combine, there were no drawbacks. Like, that's the thing you're looking for, right?

If somebody woefully misses on a driller, they woefully don't hit a 40 time, or next up, if the pro day doesn't match what they did at the combine. And I didn't get that impression. And in fact, I think it only solidified some of the campaigns of the non-Rubin Bain or David Bailey. Those two probably go first and second. But, you know, does Cassius Howard look even better after this?

Like the richness of this defensive lineman class, I think, just proved again to be how I feel like the bear should go. And I know Ryan Poles says best player available. Oh, yeah, Ryan Poles, well, if a receiver is the best player available, how many can you have on one team? This isn't seven-on-seven, buddy. You're going to have to make a decision on these lines. Pretty fancy by Ryan Poles last year.

He gets to puff his chest out about best player available this year because he got it right with Colston Loveland. He didn't necessarily need a tight end. People didn't love it at the time. Didn't love it at the time. Well, yeah, because everybody wanted Ty Warren. We're sitting here doing a draft show. Like we're getting ready for time. Also a good player.

But it worked out for the Bears. It did. It worked out for the Bears to have that player who wasn't necessarily a position of need. And then it worked again with Louis. Luther Brough? They drafted a wide receiver. Why did they do it? And then they get your pillow in the second round as well. Actually, it's a pillow. It is a pillow. You're right. Thank you for the correction. It's a pillow. I was like, really? You never heard that? Oh, you never heard of the confidence of Chris Emma. Got it. Chris Emma corrected us with all of his snottiness. And he got it wrong as well.

What's a beautiful. No, not poor Emma. Look, if you want to be on this radio station, you're going to take your lessons for something like that not poor Emma. When I got here, 10 years ago, I got told in 2017 the next year that I got to go to Hallis Hall and that there would be free soda and good lighting in the studio. And I was like soda and lighting. It was pretty great, actually. I really enjoyed it. And then all I found out when I got there was that Zach Zadman and Adam Hogue would just mess

with Chris Emma constantly. And I'd be cackle laughing the whole time. Okay, now I feel bad for Chris Emma. That's unnecessary. The bullying that goes on at hell. No, I'm kidding. I was not bullying, but it was definitely like your younger brother stuff. I'm going to say if he's there, I like Caleb Banks out of Florida.

Interior defensive linemen showed well of the combine. Also, if you wanted to package your first round pick to go get Max Crosby, I'm not mad at that either. Oh, really quick before we- You're a Max Enista? I am. Before we move on, this is hilarious, Texter. They said when Russ was 300 pounds, he sounded like chunky peanut butter tilman. His voice was a little lower. Peanut Tillman and Chuckie Peanut Butter

Tilton. Also, thanks to everybody who has Nellie's concert schedule. Nellie is also going to be at the Brookfield Zoo. I love it. I love it. Is that real? See, this is what you use the text line for. Science experiments to find out how far the 670 signal goes.

And concert schedules. If Brookfield Zoo is now doing concerts like SeaWorld is doing concerts where it's just like throwback hip-hop concerts, I'm here for it. With lions roaring in the background. It wasn't just SeaWorld. It was SeaWorld in San Diego. Like the OG SeaWorld.

I don't know if Seaworld San Antonio is rolling that out. Or if it even still exists. Back to Bears in the position of needs and all that stuff. Like they have no defensive players. They have no safeties. I'm not sure like... We're playing safety. They have a couple of corners.

They have no linebackers, really. Eventually they will have no linebackers. It's hard. We don't know why he's coming back. Do they even have T.J. Edwards? So I understand where Ryan Poles is coming from. And he even said, like, he gave the understanding. I know it's cliche to say best player available.

Everybody wants to say that. But when that date comes, when the draft comes April 23rd, the Bears will probably be drafting for need. And that need is defense. Okay. Bears. Number two. On a scale of 1 to 10, what's your level of concern? what's your level on the concern meter trademark after seeing Cubs left-hand show to a Monaga

gave up three homers in yesterday's exhibition game. That's just two and two-thirds innings against the White Sox. Okay, I know we talked about the concern meter trademark a little bit. I jumped the gun. I apologize. You did not. Don't worry about it. It's a whole new audience. It's a new hour, Ross Dorsey.

Hi, new people. Also, like, sometimes a new thought comes to you after some time. And by some time, I mean like a 30-second commercial break. I'm not kidding. You're right. That's how I am. Unfortunately, I've remained steadfast on this. My concern meter is at least a six because he was giving up home runs before this

and specifically to the White Sox. Do you remember when he gave up half the yard that cross town? And then that was right after Brad Biggs declared the socks were a wagon. And I was like, holy crap. That Brad Biggs is on to something because that is definitely the case here. Also, like, didn't he talk about the need to not tip pitches? And like at least one of those I thought was a decent pitch. but then I look back and they were all pretty heftily over the center of the plate.

But point being, this is not what I need out of Shodi Imanaga again this year. I thought I was going to stop by virtue of a roster change. But yet, my concern me are still six. I'm going to say a three. I'm going to say a three. Ball flies in Arizona. Guys are working through things. If this is happening on May 1st as opposed to March 1st, I'll come on here and say,

hey, man, we need to talk about Shoti and Minaga. but until we get to games that matter, let guys work through things. Like, guys are going to strike out a lot during spring training sometimes, too. Doesn't mean they're not good. Doesn't mean they're capable of doing other things. Al-a-Kyle Tucker last year. I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt. And then he had that monster first couple of months.

I'm going to go, I'm going to stick with what I said earlier too. I'm going to go 5.5 on the worry meter. We can't go from this, like, is just dying out. at the end of the season last year. To the Cubs, did they really want him back on the starting staff this year? Or did they get stuck with the guy this year? And then just, like, you're right, Russ. They're working on things.

We don't know what's really in their head. We don't know what the actual spring training game plan is. He's got the pitch thing on his glove. So he's calling his own. Yeah, working through the pitchcom for the first time. Yeah. We're calling his own. So I do add that all in.

But if I'm getting real specific, like with the Edgar Carroll home run on an 0-1 count on a fastball, where the velocity is supposedly up. I don't know what the gun reading was because they didn't have it on the scorebug. Stand by MLB.com. Up and in fastball that was warded off by Edgar Carroll. Shout out to Edgar Caro because he hit the home run. I just thought that was a decent pitch that Caro hit. That part scares me.

The 1-1 curveball to Braden Montgomery, no problem. And then I don't know what he was doing with the Austin Hayes pitch, where it's just center cut. Middle, middle, middle. middle. So that's the stuff that's scary. Like, what are you working on? Like, tell, tell me what you're working on if that's what you're working on. Hayes, I watched a couple times. Hayes had a downward break. He just hung it. So like that, that was it. It was a breaking ball that didn't break ball. That was a breaking ball. Okay. What was the Velo jump that everybody's

talking about? Two miles. But here's, okay, so the at-bats with Edgar Carrow was a called strike. It was on the line outside. 93.7 fastball. And to confirm, it was shoulder high on Caro inside. Yeah. So that's, that sounds like you hit a really good pitch. 94 mile an hour

four seam fastball. Look at this on the chart. No, I mean, yeah, that is not really in the zone. He rolled up to hit that. You're right.

I should give Carol some credit too for having to get the ball. Carrow's a decent hit or now. That's a, you hit a good, a pitcher's pitch out of the ballpark. Salute. I thought that about Hayes' pitch,

but then I watched it, I was like, oh, the shape of it was good. It just landed too high. From what, what Shoto was doing last year. 91 last year. Does sound.

Like, their guys throwing 98 consistently. So we got to put it in some context. But like for a guy who wasn't throwing that hard, it probably does, it will help him at some point, just to have a little bit a giddy up. One last thing I'll say for people that are concerned. Zach Granky, who's arguably a Hall of Famer, used to have starts during spring training

where he would say, I only threw fastballs today. I only threw a couple of breaking balls. I only threw one as he was working through, and that's one of the best starters we've seen in the last 25 years. So I'm not calling Chodi Minaga Zach Grinky, but what I am saying is you have pitchers who have been great, like elite level starters, who go into starts in the spring and have game plans like that

because I'm working on my fastball, I'm just going to throw it. Number three. This is five on it. I'm 104.3 of the score with Lailorah Rheemey, Mark Grotie, and Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider. Here's question number three on Sunday, 104-3. The score's own Bruce Levine reported that Cubs left-hander,

Justin Steele, has been released from the care of renowned orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, Dr. Keith Meister. Here's what Steele had to say about it when talking to reporters on Sunday. There are a lot of factors that go into it, but is there any sense for long-term timetable? You know, because fans are going to wonder

when we see Justin Steele back on the mound. I mean, yeah. I mean, I would still be sticking to the same timeline that we've kind of been saying May, Juneish. And, you know, all of this is with the mind, you know, the thought in mind that the outings in October and November are going to be the ones that matter the most. So I would say keep that in mind as we're talking and thinking about this. The fact that they didn't put you on a 60-day IL, does that give you hope that you could return before? I'm going to be honest, I don't even know, like, the implications of all that stuff. I don't even know what any of that really means.

I just know 60 days and whatnot. That is Justin Steele talking to reporters about his road coming back to the Cubs. When do you think Steele actually pitches in a game for the North Siders? You guys notice End of the Road by Boys to Men was playing in the background. Very appropriate. Good catch. I hate my brain. End of the road.

End of the road of his care under Dr. Keith Meister. Keith Meister has spoken, ladies and Jeff. Well, and Bruce, when he tweeted this, he was like, he has been released from his care. He is free to go back into society now. Like, wait a second. What happened here? Was there a ceremony? And why is Dr. Keith Meister, the one that is allowed?

Like, can I see Dr. Keith Meister? Will he allow me into the world? He sounds pricey. Keith Meester is very pricey. Oh, yeah. If you need the internal brace, he is the leading expert in that surgery. Wow. And is it me?

It's Meester? I think it's, I'm, I'm 95% sure it's me. Meister is better. The Keep Meister. He got named by Hawk Heraldson. The Keepmeister. Let me tell you about the Heat Meister. Cole Meister, what about that, wimpy?

Oh, man. I do think it's going to be June. Because the way Justin Steele, first of all, elected to get that surgery, you know, I don't necessarily know if it was like absolutely necessary. And when he talked about it the way he did, given that there's got to be a rehab start too that factors into this. I think it's going to be June. When you hear him talk, like, didn't you get that indication?

Maybe the end of the road did kind of color my opinion there, but still, I don't know what I'm going to do. There's zero reason to rush him. Yes. Like what they were able to do this offseason is add to their starting pitching depth, which was a need for them going into the postseason last year. They just, the reason they had to start Shodhita Yomana against the Milwaukee Brewers, because they really didn't have other options.

And so now they do. And the benefit of April and May is you're going to have off days. You can push guys back. You don't necessarily need five starters in that first portion of the season. They'll be able to slow play this thing. He doesn't have to make 30 starts this year. He doesn't have to make 25 starts this year. You want Justin Steele hitting his stride August, September into October,

when you're pushing for the postseason. That's most important. I hope it's June. I am with you. I hope that you're right that there's no reason to rush them. Consider it. Like there's, in theory, there's actual depth in this starting rotation this year. Assuming we can get Shoda going and get the worry meter down a little bit.

You still have Ben Brown who can start a game or two. You have Javier Assad. I don't know what's happened to Jordan Wicks. I'm very worried about Jordan Wicks, the former first round pick. But you do have a deep step. staff. And, you know, assuming you get some of what you got out of Matthew Boyd last year, what Edward Cabrera, the difference that he can make.

You're going to have a full season of Kate Horton. Full season of Kate Horton. Yeah. So I think it's going to be June, and I hope it is June. And I hope that the division is bad enough that the Cubs can afford to relax a little bit. I mean, there I go again. There I go again. Hoping the Brewers underperform, are you?

Always do the voodoo magic. And then dudes you've never heard of rattled off 90. And the pirates are talking big now too. The pirates are talking big. It only takes one injury to eviscerate depth. And so you're knocking on wood that doesn't happen. But until

that happens and you know you're going to need more than five starters to get through a season, you feel good about where you are. Guys, Ben Brown seems like he's really working on this third pitch too. I think it's really important for him to be successful. Sure, could use it. Are you kidding? Yeah, exactly. Is sinker? I mean, he seemed pretty

confident about it. I heard how to be talking about that yesterday. Well, and he was on in the dugout with Taylor McGregor. Yep. Number four. Yesterday was March 1st. Rent is due, but where the Bulls do? The Bulls were due! I didn't think they were going to go on a historic run, though, for the team. The 270-0 run that they went on during the game.

I was like, oh, the Bulls have got some shots going. And then I was like, wait a second. Milwaukee can't shoot. And then I was like, oh, you're not converting this possession either. Oh, oh, you're not going down the court on. Oh, you guys have gotten cold. Oh, you've gotten real cold. Then we're seeing Allie Hoops with giddy and modest. And they're just out there hooping.

And the next thing, you know, it's 27-0 run. It's like the Ann 1 tour showed up the United Center and the Bulls won. They were due. I didn't want the Bulls to be due. They hadn't won the entire calendar month of February. When Stacy said it couldn't get any worse, he was right. It couldn't get any worse. Here's my thing.

It don't look pretty. I wasn't mad at it. Like, I just know what it takes for them to get the draft capital that they need. And winning, and winning don't help. No, they should have lost that game. You got out-tanked. That's what happened. That's what happened in that game.

You got out-tanked. Like, the battle of the bad happened, Grotie. Yeah. And the Bulls won. Well, or did they? I agree with that. I agree with that. I mean, a 27-old, like, that's got to be among the biggest runs in the NBA this year.

That's a run where you just tip your category like, hey, we didn't have it tonight. You know what it is? The NBA is a game of runs. It is. It is. It's easier and easier to come back. This did not sit well with me because if you're a bad team, especially in this town, if you're going to have a bad losing streak, you may as well make it the worst ever losing streak in franchise history.

So I'll be honest. I had my mindset on the 2000-2001 Chicago Bulls, which lost 16 straight games under Tim Floyd. with guys like Dolly Boar Bagger Reach, Fred Hoyberg, Dragan Tarlack, Ron Artest and Elton Brand were the savings graces of that team. But that's what I wanted. You may as well get the worst and they didn't. Number five. A new ranch milkshake will be available at Great Wolf Lodge locations.

From March 5th through May 20th, there is a Great Wolf Lodge located in Gurney. by the way, if you're interested. The ranch milkshake combines vanilla ice cream with ranch dressing. The shake will come with a sweet and salty lime rim and a whipped cream topping, all garnished with crispy chicken, carrots, and celery. Would you like to try the ranch milkshake or is it a hard pass? That's why we're going to the state fair. This is Great Wolf Lodge.

I get what you're doing, but you didn't have to. Just create a great Bloody Mary and stick all the stuff in the Bloody Mary. like they do. You know, where it looks like a bouquet of food. This wasn't it for me. This was absolutely not it. Ranch dressing is suspect, in my opinion. Really?

Just in general. Hot take. Yeah. Sometimes it's good, but a lot of times I'm like, I don't know. So I can't be doing a ranch dress. Like, I already kind of think ranch is like a milkshake, but this is taking it too far. Too far. Sometimes, man, we don't have to try all the things.

We don't. Like, I thought it was like, okay, is it a take on like a savory? Like, there's going to be things in there that work with the ranch. But can't justify it. Ranch with vanilla ice cream sounds disgusting. Tell you what? Forget the ranch. You put blue cheese in that shake, though?

I'm going to take it down. Blue cheese and vanilla? That's a worst thing I've never heard of my life. I'm talking about the chunky blue cheese. That's not the, like, cheap stuff. That's nasty. Restaurant variety. That's doing, man.

That's disgusting. Chunky dressing shouldn't go with ice cream Blue cheese and vanilla Next year Put some thousand island in there Oh wow

They didn't even think about that That sounds good Absolutely not I pray for humanity Like I get sweet and salty That's this is going to a different place It's probably really good though But I would still not try it

I'm out Yeah blue cheese Okay I can't I'm not gonna eat all day now Grudy thing That's terrible. See? Well, I don't want you getting back to being a fatty.

That's why. I appreciate it. He said he was. Back in the day. If we both have lived that life, we could talk about it, you know, unlike the normies out there who just have normal bodies. I feel like I can joke about my way. I don't know that I can joke about others.

It's one of the most insane combinations. That's, I gritty. I thought I knew you. What's that? Like, that's an insane level of items to put together. Vanilla and blue cheese. Chunky booty. I'm out.

I'm out. Get us out here. Like, line the rim of the glass with the blue cheese. Here's the thing. We say perhaps the most compelling combine conversation for you next. Ben Johnson talked about what he wants to see in a second year with Caleb Williams. And there's a lot of information here. And that is a very tantalizing topic.

To go with a disgusting combination of blue cheese and vanilla. Gather yourselves. So good. and Grody, midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score. And this is something that amidst all of the business of the bears and the discussion surrounding what the priorities are or maybe what they see, it kind of got lost in the shuffle. And I think it deserves discussion with you, Mark Grody. Ben Johnson in a side session with the media at the Combine last week.

was asked about what he expects to see from his quarterback Caleb Williams in year two. What are the advantages Caleb has being in the offseason in his second year with you in terms of knowing what you want? And also, you know, how much growth can be made because, you know, it's not new anymore. It's, you know, focusing in, I guess. Yeah, well, I mean, we saw enormous growth over the course of the season. You know, I keep going back to what seven-on-seven look like at the end of the year versus what it looked like to start the year.

A drill as simple as that, and yet you see him look so much more comfortable going through some of those same plays. A lot of it was like riding the bike for the first time with some of these concepts. You just hadn't seen it, and you get thrown a different coverage each and every time. Now you can accelerate your vision a little bit more,

and that's what he's learned to do. And that's where I'm really confident the direction he's going. I'm excited for him. I think he's going to be able to look at some of these cutouts from the self-scout and look at what he could have done a little bit better. I think what's most encouraging to me is something happened at the end of the year where I showed him one thing on tape and didn't even think it would come up in the next game, and yet it did, and then he threw the ball to the exact spot that I would have wanted him to throw the ball to.

Now, the result of the play wasn't what we wanted to for other reasons, and yet something as simple as that. I'm like, holy cow, if this guy can take one little nugget that we talked about the week prior and we really weren't emphasizing and yet be able to apply that real time in a game, man, he's really going to ascend quickly. And so I'm looking forward to it. I really do think this next offseason will see significant strides. That's high praise from Ben Johnson.

And he sounds a lot different. about Caleb Williams and talking about him now than he did it, say, this time right before the season began, for example, after her training camp. Yeah, I mean, and there's still obvious places where Caleb Williams still needs to work. I mean, the easiest one, completion percentage, 58.1% was 32nd in the league. You know, all the stuff, checkdowns, footwork, accurate. the runner ball that we always talk about that. He got better at the one thing, Leila,

that has bothered me all year about Caleb Williams or since he's been with the Bears. And I bring it up a lot. And that's the batted down balls at the line of scrimmage. And I'm like, I was thinking, like, he's got to be up there in the league. And, yeah, as it turns out, Caleb Williams had 18 passes batted down at the line last year,

tied for second in the league with Dak Prescott, behind Trevor Lawrence who had a league high 20 of those from last year. So there's some like, I don't know if this is the right way to put it. Easy ways to get better for Caleb Williams. You know what I mean? Like that doesn't seem like it would be a huge haul to look at some obvious spots where he can get better. The runner ball, you should be able to fix.

Getting in better places to throw the ball should be something that he gets better at. So I hesitate to use that word easy, but I think with Ben Johnson, there are some discernible things that he can improve. Yeah, I think the bat of ball concept is one that I've thought about as well, because that was always one of those things I wanted to see more of, was, for example, the throw to Colston Loveland over the middle that helped win the game against Cincinnati. Those are the ones where, at his height, you are doing the most. You know, you're having to see over the line. people are jumping up at that point to try to bat the ball, for example. Are you throwing a line drive, or are you throwing more of a three-pointer?

Yeah. And some of it's because of the off-scriptness. I get it. You know what I mean? Like Caleb sees the field in a different way than others. Think about Max Crosby and how he rushed the line and how he was able to bat the ball down at the line of scrimmage. Yeah.

I mean, that one stands out. He has a tendency to go to his outside. You know, typically that would mean behind turn all right because that's the more consistent way. Also, because there's pressure on the left side. flushed out of the pocket. So when you when you predict that, you know, like where do you think the ball is going to, so if you're rushing rushing the passer on the right side of the play, his right side, then that's obviously something that stands to happen as well. That might

have just been timing too. Timing and then the height thing too. I mean, he's not a tall quarterback. And so that's part. Did you remember when I was at the combine? Are you kidding? We're the ones who told you to go find out how tall he was. But here's the thing. Trevor Lawrence is 6-6, so what's his excuse. Right, right, right. You know, if he's number one, Dak Prescott is 6-2 and has been in the league, how long? And at one point, was getting serious conversation for MVP. Yeah, I don't know what their stories were.

Like, I had to go back and actually watch theirs, but. Lawrence had no excuse. If you hadn't had that many balls batted down, my goodness, where were the team of Ben record-wise in the regular season? He might have ruined the season with his batted balls. I don't think that was it, but they definitely enjoyed quite the come-up with Liam Cohen as the head-coe. I wonder if that keeps going.

He thinks that keeps going? Like does he, does Trevor Lawrence, like, is he made man now? Has he made it? Like, is he just going to keep getting better? Or is he is what he is? He was marketed originally as a generational talent. He's on his second contract. No, he's good.

He's good. But no, he's not generational, please. I mean, but here's the thing. Trevor Lawrence in his second year, let's do this. Let's do the thought exercise. Oh. So let's take the bear's bias out of it. Trevor Lawrence in his second year under Liam Cohen, I'm optimistic.

So why would I not have reason to believe I should be optimistic with Caleb Williams after showing that much improvement in one year? Right. And his second year with Ben Johnson. Third year in the league, I mean, I know his first year sucked with the coaching around him, but you can't take it away from it. It will be his third year. It will be. But at the same time, when you asked yourself at the beginning of last season, what you wanted to see out of Caleb, knowing, yes, Ben Johnson threw out there the 70% completion rate.

Yes, that was a part of it. But when you asked yourself, how was he going to improve? What were the things you were looking for? Some of the same, well, maybe the biggest thing for me going into this year is because I saw it up front, obviously covering the bears, was the deep ball accuracy. Just that accuracy in general, because that didn't seem to be part of his story. at USC in terms of having trouble with accuracy. So that was probably the biggest part and then the taking less sacks, which he accomplished in a big way.

And he was more accurate, too. And I think 708 makes a good point on our tax line. Caleb also likes to use creative arm angles that could cause those as well. And even that improved throughout the year. You know, it wasn't just the arm angles. It was that not everything was a plus plus fastball. Like when you've got to throw off speed a little bit with that. touch to somebody who is either running perhaps a crossing pattern over the middle of the field

or, you know, it's somebody just ahead of the line of scrimmage that can get some yards for you. I feel like that was also the case. Well, hopefully, I'm sure that's part of what they're looking to approve on the batted balls and they can look at each and every one of them and look at what the story was and hopefully improve that a little bit without, and this has been one of Ben Johnson's superpowers, without taking away Caleb Williams's identity. He never did that this year. I mean, he probably did tone some things down early and simplified some things early, but you never saw Ben Johnson not allowing this quarterback to be himself.

The one thing, at least if it's a quarterback-related issue, not receivers needing to catch issue, I want to see a more established screen passing game. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm talking old school, just basic. Your receiver is next to you, you know, line of scrimmage-wise. He's dead even with you in the play. He's five yards away from you.

Just toss it really easy. Like that touch pass to be able to let him go. And that's a runner's ball too. Ben Johnson was also on with Mike Florio. So here's what Ben Johnson told Mike Floreo about this same need to do things. Give me one thing that you want to see Caleb Williams do to get to the next level in 26. He's got to continue to ascend, continue to work and go in the same direction that he ended the season. That's the hard part is coming back and getting back on the horse and

regaining right where he left off. I think that's really important. I think when you look back at last year, there's probably 40 throws out there that, man, if we can find a way to get completions on, we feel so much better about where we're at as an offense, our passing game, and he's going to feel a lot better about where he's at as a quarterback as well. And there's some throws he made last year that I don't know that anyone else can make you're 100% right. And that's the balancing act because yeah, as much as we want those 40 throws to come, we still have probably those 40 that he did make that not many other players can make.

Yeah, I mean, it's fair to think about it. You don't want to digress at the things that you did get good at. And those balls that Ben Johnson has talked about, yeah, they were spectacular. But it also just showed that his deep ball accuracy got better. You don't want that. So keep that. Don't let that waiver at all. And then the other part two was the alluding of pressure was an A plus for Caleb Williams this year. In terms of the awareness of the pressure and then alluding it was elite.

I can't I can say that. Everybody wants to hear that word out of my mouth. His ability to elude pressure and run away was elite last year, kids. No, it absolutely was. The only person who impersonated Caleb Williams. better than Caleb Williams was Micah Parsons in practice. Yes. That's it.

Like, that's the list. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, what about what the general manager thinks? Cassie Carlson of Fox 32, talk to Ryan Poles, so he will add to this conversation next. Rahimi Harris and Grody, Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. We thank you for joining us on this sunny Monday.

Yeah, real nice to have you today. Real good. It is. And we're talking about just the wrap-up of the NFL combine, where for the bears this year as opposed to last, it may not have been as much about which prospect looks the best, even though that is very much front and center. There's also just a lot of business done at the league. People talk for the first time in a couple months.

You might have an easier discussion or a more salient point that's made once you're removed from a gutting loss in the playoffs, for example. And that's where I feel like Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles, were when asked about the conversation surrounding what's the next order of business for Caleb Williams. How do you build on the progress that he made? We heard from Ben Johnson. So what about Ryan Poles?

Well, Cassie Carlson sat down with him on Fox 32. If you missed it, it is on their YouTube channel. Fox 32 Sports has a great YouTube channel. And she asked him his thoughts on his young quarterback's goals for the team's offense. Caleb was on obviously a podcast and he said he wants to be the number one offense in the league next year. also talked about being a little bit of a maniac and just in terms of how he wants to be the best on the field. When you hear your quarterback continue to make that message public, I mean, what excites you about that? I mean, his overall maturity from the day he got into the league to what it is today is really impressive.

That growth is really impressive. I got to give Ben a lot of credit for that. They spent a lot of time together. He's starting to do the things, not just say, but do the things that professional quarterbacks do. And that gets me excited because if his mentality, is that it'll start rubbing off on a lot of the other guys. And if we get the whole crew moving with that mentality, trying to be the absolute best in the league, one of one,

we're going to be at a really good spot. That's as optimistic as I've ever heard Rampal Sound. I loved what he said about, don't just say it, because Caleb Williams, from the second he was at that podium at the NFL Combine, there, he was very good, with his words. I can throw any ball.

I can throw... That's right. Well, sir, I love that for you, but you had a 50-some-odd completion percentage. But the problem was... Your receivers did not help you. In his first year, despite not having a good infrastructure, Caleb Williams was not... And I'm not saying, like, there was no laziness, none of that stuff.

He did not know what it really meant to be a professional quarterback in this league. So that part is real. And I'm not saying he's got this yet, but he's taken some huge strides. And before I forget, by the way, Cassie Carlson will be on TTIN, take the north. I believe tomorrow. I do believe I can confirm that with our guy, Weedsie, when the weed man joins us at 1 o'clock. So shout out to Cassie Carlson. And by the way, Dan Weiderer expanded on this. You can read his article in The Athletic. And shout out to Cassie Carlson. I didn't realize that was her first time co-hosting a whole show with David Haw last week. I didn't realize that either. Did a great job. Way to go. I hope you guys do the wrap up with her. Ask her how she felt,

you know, like, what did she see in those hours that she was with David? I think she said, and this is what we all do the first time we work a morning show. I think she said she got up at like 2.30 or something like that because you're just nervous and you got that weird energy. You don't really heart thumb. It's a very, very lonely feeling. That's the only way I could describe. getting up in the middle of the night to go to work. It's stressful. It's angst writing. It's all of that.

So, yeah, I'd like to, I will ask her about that. Well, she did a great job, and it takes years off your life. So credit to everybody. So don't do it again. Everybody who does that on a day-to-day basis and also fills in with us. We appreciate it. So it was a good interview. And Fox 32 has a YouTube channel, as I mentioned, so you can check it out.

But Ryan Poles is the one who really kind of tap the collective breaks that everybody that everybody was very much gearing up toward when he was asked about a possible extension for Caleb Williams. Now, he addressed it, he understands that's part of the budget. That's good business. But he doesn't sound like he's there yet. And I think that was important, too, that he still has work to do.

And that was something that was notable to you when he said that as well. Oh, I've been tracking that since the end of the season press conferences that both Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles said the exact same thing. Yeah, we saw what you saw. It was pretty spectacular in the second half of the season. We saw some discernible improvement.

You like that. I do like that. I like saying that. I really do. I think Kirk Cusses might be back in the division. Really? Yeah. Wait a minute.

Yep. Where? His old team. Oh, wow. Yeah. He could go to. Are they really done with J.J. McCarthy? I don't know that they're done with J.J.

But that would buy him some time. Do you think there's a fatal thing? flaw with, that's another phrase I like, fatal flaw with J.J. McCarthy that they're seeing now. Can I just do the take? Do you want me to do the take here on JJ? Yeah. Since life is good in Caleb land, we can focus on other teams. Would you like for me to just, here's the thing. Bring it. J.J. McCarthy ran a run heavy offense at Michigan. J.J. McCarthy was known for being a hell of a leader. He came from a good coach. So not only did he have his own personal pedigree that he built up and earned, he also had the blessing of a respected coach in Jim Harbaugh.

So because of that, I think a lot of scouts saw a lot of potential in him, and they saw the intangibles. But I think they tried to fill the tangible part with intangibles, and that's why there's a bit of a disconnect now that's happening in Minnesota. Yeah, that's pretty good. I mean, and we all saw it. We all know what he was at Michigan, and Jim Harbaugh was heavily lauded for it. He should be. They won. They won a national championship with him, which is another reason that people were so into him, but he didn't have to do a lot.

But similar to proximity with greatness when it comes to say Rochon Johnson backing up Bijon Robinson. You also have to factor in the other part of it, which is the other individual's talent, your proximity is too. So, for example, maybe at Texas they didn't care as much about the backup running back being elite because they had the best running back of the nation at the time. Maybe Jim Harbaugh, knowing that he's a hell of a coach, knew what exactly to do to make J.J. McCarthy look good. Additionally, there's the Justin Jefferson dynamic there, which I think if you like ball, you want to see that guy catch passes, not against the bears, but you want to see he deserves his talent to be put on a stage, right? He deserves to flourish. And so when he's your first option, and then you've got all these other issues, it's going to be by nature a pass first offense. Well, you drafted a run for a system quarterback.

So that's how I feel. He was one of the darlings of the low-key, I should say, low-key darlings of the combine a couple of years back. And scouts for that reason. Oh, yeah, man. It was the combination of factors that led them to want to believe X would fill in the gap. Hey, Ryan Poles, we know he loved Caleb Williams. Everybody who's worked with him has, too.

Love Caleb. That was the guy. Caleb was the guy. But Ryan Poles loved J.J. McCarthy, too. And a lot of GMs love J.J. McCarthy. GMs and scouts. Absolutely. And so that's why it's hard for me to believe that they will have left him for dead if they're trying to challenge him by bringing somebody else in to shake him up a little bit. Or if there is actually something that they notice and they got a pretty good head coach there,

pretty good scout who didn't necessarily want that, who could look at that, JJ McCarthy and say, yeah, he does this thing that we can't overcome. And that's why we have to bring in other guys. My issue was always just that. If you knew how Caleb Williams felt, did you do enough for your team in not talking to Jaden Daniels? Like, I would have talked to Jaden Daniels. I would have, but he can't really argue with what's going on right now.

Right now. The Bears have a quarterback. Because that's the beauty of a team sport. Yeah, so he might have gotten lucky, you know, by not talking to others. The result happened to fix it. it they brought in the right guy. Like in football, it's never too late to fix a mistake, especially. You know, so I think in that case, not that it was a mistake, but that, you know,

if you're not going to at least talk to another guy because you're so hell bent on this, well, you'd better make that situation work. Yeah, I can't pay for it, and they did. Yeah, I can't lament that at this moment. I mean, that made sense last year with Jaden Daniels this season. I'm saying, I guess two years ago now when Jaden Daniels was. excellent and Caleb Williams was just kind of meh and it felt like I said

it's the Dunkin Donuts race at the United Center where you think you know who's got the it's Jaden Daniels oh no it's not going to do J.J. McCarthy looks pretty no no no but out of nowhere you think Caleb's going to lose the race you're getting excited at the UC right now here comes Caleb speeding around the outside

so it's it's pretty amazing that class of quarterbacks I can't wait to see where it ends well and the thing the other part is too is Drake May didn't have a terrible year No, I didn't even mention them in my little Dunkin' Donuts race. Yeah. But as part of this, I think it's also just, why wouldn't you leave every stone unturned?

Like if nothing else, it reinforces your decision about Caleb Williams if you talk to somebody else? And Ryan Pace did the same thing with Mitch Trubisky by just looking at him and saying, yeah, that's all we're in. Dan Weederer can tell us all about that if we really want to go back into the past. I can't go there again. No, I'm not interested. But you know what? It is why I bring it up because that was a mistake. And if you had scouted other quarterbacks,

I don't know that you'd have been in the same position. Yeah, they didn't get away with it. In this case, they may get away with it. Well, they got away with it because they made the right decision to head coach. You know, they took the offensive genius out of the building next door. Wow, that's a good. I know I don't have time to get into it, but you just brought up the chicken or the egg question right there saying,

so you're talking about Ben Johnson has made the difference with, Caleb. Without Ben Johnson, you know, you don't think Caleb would have this. I don't think he would have been as good. That's because Ben Johnson put his players in better positions to succeed. I mean, he's a great coach, but it's also a great question. Like, is, could, did Caleb, does Caleb Williams, like, is. Ben Johnson isn't throwing the football on the field. Is Ben Johnson?

Ben Johnson isn't backing up 26 yards behind the line of scrimmage and throwing a dart to Cole Commet. But no matter what, if all things were equal, would Caleb Williams have needed an elite head coach to be successful in the league? is that the only way for him? Like he needed, there is guidance that he needed that, like, he couldn't have an average coach. He's not talented enough to overcome stuff. Now, that I think he is, but he didn't have an average coach before he had a below average coach. He did. So it's a great question.

Like, and we've kind of, I mean, it's been a big talking point all year. The star of the season was Ben Johnson. It wasn't Caleb Williams. I mean, 1B, I suppose. You and I have a couple of Laila Grady shows later this week. I'm going to collect some receipts from one from one little known source called Tom Brady and I'm going to play them for you and then we can discuss how much a coach can make a difference in a quarterback's career. I would love to hear that. Yes, we will be doing what, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?

Is that our? Yep. It's Marshall and Me tomorrow. It's you and me Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Rahimi's receipts are back. I don't know that they left. They just got, you know, then it became the whole show and then it's not really receipts. We're doing it together.

Right. They were very well featured back when you were in my chair. Yes. Back in the day. It was like Rahimi's receipts were heavy. That's also because we had a dude who thought he was real smart, would roll out empty with a full back read as the hot read against a blitz heavy offense in Minnesota. Wait a minute. Who's that person you're talking about? Luke Getzzi. Oh, the Getsmeister. I thought you were talking about a host at first. Oh, God, no. If a host called that player, I'd be like, yo, what were you thinking?

I am smart. Why do you think I'm not smart? A host rolling out empty would be really bad, huh? I'm unfiltered. How does that... Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Unfiltered.

Dan Weederer is next. Dan Weterer is next. You're going to be relying on a lot of young players, guys that have to materialize into who they thought they were. The bears are who we thought they were. On-air contributor for 670 to score. We'll mention this mainly because, Dan Weaver said we would mention this nugget.

Host of the Take the North podcast. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Dan Weirer. Thanks, Coach. We'll go first to Dan Whittier. On Chicago's Sports Radio, 1043, The Score. Weezy. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score,

and we now bring in on our hotline. It is Mark's Take the North podcaster, partner. T's the head. Dan Weiderer, he is the senior writer for the athletic, covering the Bears. He is the co-host of that Take the North Podcast with Mark. That makes me laugh. And he also wrote an article that speaks to what we are talking about.

You know, we discussed earlier what Ben Johnson wants to see in Caleb Williams. We also talked about the concept of what Ryan Poles wants to see in Year 2. And Dan, you wrote an article in The Athletic that just came out over the weekend that also adds to this discussion. Yeah. I mean, look, like, I think the word that we're going to hear a lot going forward here is efficiency and then trying to define it through the eyes of Ben and the coaching staff in regards to just being a little bit more on script, more regularly of being able to find those easy completions that are schemed up for you, the checkdowns that get you out of jams, and being able to get that completion percentage above 60 and then towards 62 and then ultimately towards 65 this season on the way to 70,

because Ben's not backing off that 70 goal, but he did, I think, temporarily lower the bar here for 2020. to get them to make a jump from 58 to 65, and they believe there's some efficiency things that they can use to get there. Dan, what are people around the league saying about Caleb Williams? Well, I thought was really interesting. Obviously, we all knew how many heads he turned with the things he was able to do late in games

with the highlight real plays he was able to make. But when you start drilling down a little bit deeper on that and understanding kind of the psychological pressure that that then puts on an opponent it's really real, right? Like you understand that teams now understand that like you can't count this guy out of a game. And so that creates a little bit of a demand if you're an opponent, if you're an opposing offense. Well, we got to score a little more because we don't want to keep the bears alive.

The defense on the other side has got to feel this extra pressure even with a two-score lead to keep it there. Otherwise, that belief comes in over there. And I had, you know, one personnel man tell me last week, you don't fear Caleb, but you have full respect for what he's capable of when he gets hot. And I thought that was a really good way. to put it because it's just like, man, like, that's documented now. You know, all these comebacks, all these big time plays, it's documented now that he's really, really dangerous. And so every team, the Bears play next season will start their preparation understanding that.

Well, and go ahead. I was going to say this is a follow-up to that. And it's about Caleb and it's about Ben Johnson. And you guys cited a source in your article. I think Fishbane and you wrote the article, I want to make sure I give proper credit here. Yeah, this morning's article on the things we heard from the combine. That was a double dip. One thing that really stuck out to me about Ben and about Caleb Williams is a personnel man, as you guys put it in the article, citing us as your source, saying that Ben Johnson has done a fantastic job of not taking Caleb's playmaking gifts away.

And Layla just brought it up to before we came into this segment about how important Ben Johnson has been to Caleb Williams. Can you even like put a letter grade on that or how do you answer that question? A plus. There it is. Done. Next question. It really is because look, that's the other thing you hear from people around the league is there's respect for Caleb. There's respect for Ben. But then you put them together and it's like, oh, God, you know, those two guys are working together now. You know, and so there is that little bit of respect, I guess, that's there around the league for what those two guys are capable of. Look, like we know, Mark, we saw it with our own eyes, heard it with our own ears. that Ben was on Caleb's ass on a lot of different things throughout the early stages of their relationship.

And yet, as you mentioned that quote that you referenced, he didn't try to turn Caleb into a robot. He didn't try to make him a player he wasn't. He's trying to get him to understand how to play the position while still allowing him to be that artist that he can be as a playmaker. And so far so good, right? Now all of a sudden, you've got the makings of something that's got great promise. Obviously, we know hearing from Ben again last week that the message all offseason is going to be, yeah, that was great. Last year was awesome. Wasn't good enough. How do we get ourselves one step up?

And there's going to be a lot of steps and a lot of time investment that goes into that. Well, and the thing is, Dan, is when you're talking about combining, I would say even just, and we've discussed this over like a 60% completion rate, say it's at 62, say it's at 64. You know, and what Caleb Williams does from a playmaking standpoint in the league where you don't necessarily have those opportunities to even get that far in the league every play. You're talking about a quarterback that even then would be a perennial multi-year pro-bowl discussion, playoff quarterback. Like that's a formidable career in the NFL, and I don't think that's the ceiling.

Well, and that's the goal is to get to the ceiling, right? And so that's why this coaching is going to be as demanding as it is, because this isn't about, like, okay, we've got a middle-tier guy that we want to just kind of use to keep us afloat. It's like we've got a guy with extraworldly talent in a lot of different areas. Now we are trying to get him to be the engine of something that can win a Super Bowls, right? And so those demands are immense. And look, it may sound like a huge leap to get from 58% to 65% next season. But Ben laid it out for Caleb.

He broke the numbers down. He said, last season, if you go back through, you just needed 40 more completions across 17 games. You know, that's like 2.4 a game. And certainly you can find a drop here. You can find a misthrow here, a ball that wasn't thrown there. And all of a sudden, you start to go through the film. And you go, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can get there. You know, and you create that belief that it's not as far off as it may seem.

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

fix. You know, there's no reason to believe he wouldn't. Yeah, there's mechanics. There's system comfort. You know, I think like that's going to be a big thing is obviously they don't have to start from ground zero in terms of putting in the offense and getting able to understand it. He's becoming more familiar with Ben's concepts, which should be able to make him play faster, which then gets the ball where it needs to go sooner. And so there's going to be a lot that plays into this. And, you know, look, I think both those guys, you've heard them, you know, whether it be on a podcast with Max Crosby or in a setting at the combine,

you've heard them express eagerness as opposed to like dread for going into this next phase of really trying to push the gas and see where they can go. And so I think the whole city of Chicago was kind of sitting there very eager as well to see just what the results of this will be as they get into 2026. Yep. no doubt and people are anxious to see and find out if Caleb Williams will be throwing the ball to DJ Moore. And in the article you guys wrote, there was a lot of glowing things said about DJ Moore and, you know, being a leader and being a hell of a receiver and getting compared

to Debo Samuel. Also, though, in the article you wrote, an opposing coach, as you guys put it, said it seemed, quote, it seemed on tape that Moore and Williams didn't have a strong connection. Another league source from you and Kevin Fishpaint. It's clear to me that Caleb doesn't have a lot of trust in DJ. It does seem like that. So my question is, even if DJ Moore is on this roster next year, how is that stuff fixed between Caleb Williams and DJ Moore if you believe Dan Weeder that there is a chemistry issue between those two? Well, there's a couple different ways you can take this.

First and foremost, you can give DJ a little bit of the benefit of the doubt that he, too, was playing in a new offense last year, right? And so there was a lot of stuff as a receiver. They put a lot on his plate. And so there's going to be some bumps in the road there. He's also now in a totally different situation than he was in when he got here in Chicago where he was the undisputed top playmaker in the offense. And now he's surrounded by Caleb and Rome and Burden and Loveland and Swift. And there's a whole group of guys that can impact the game. And so, you know, in some ways, you don't need the production to reach where it once reached,

but you do need them to be a factor in every single game. And so working through chemistry, both with the quarterback and with the offense, right, just kind of getting your understanding for how routes need to be run in this system. What's the timing of things? Where do I need to be when? Can I do that in a way that allows me to be impactful? If he is still on this roster when they get into OTAs, you've got to come to OTAs with purpose and go about working on all of those things.

every single day. I did find it interesting that league-wide, there is a fairly glowing profile on DJ in terms of just how consistent he's been. Everyone in the league appreciates this guy's toughness and how much he plays through and you can feel it. We know how hard it can be in this league to survive. And DJ has caught everyone's attention with that aspect of things.

Now it's just, okay, how do I go about being a really impactful playmaker? And what's been just the head scratcher for everyone is DJ's been really productive with bad quarterbacks. And then he got the most talented guy he's ever played with, and it fell off. And so it's a little bit of a riddle that no one's solved yet. Well, I think part of it is when he's been open, it hasn't been within Caleb Williams' vision. Like during the play, maybe part of the reason the targets haven't happened as much is because DJ wasn't really open at the parameters of the play. You know, a lot of times he'd be open in traffic or something like that.

And that's really where he does his best work. And I don't necessarily think that's when Caleb was able to throw the ball. So I think some of it has been timing just based on who was available to throw the ball and catch it when Caleb Williams was available to actually throw it in the play. Yeah. And we couldn't get a consensus at all from folks that we talked to on whether there's anticipation of a DJ trade, whether it's going to be something that doesn't happen. And so this is that week, right? Like we've already seen some moves started to be made around the league. This is that week ahead of free agency where some of the stuff starts to,

to lock in. And so we'll kind of see where it goes as the week goes on. Well, I think also a big part of this, and we've talked about this today, Albert Breer highlighted him, and I know it's been percolating, and there's been red flags here and there that kind of surfaced last year between A.J. Brown's relationship and the Eagles. But that's going to affect a market more than anything if he's available, and he's making more than DJ. Yeah, right. And so, like, those calls will go out, teams will express interest and then, you know, all this stuff, it gets really fluid. It's, you know, it's similar with Crosby in some extent where you're just kind of,

everybody's kind of surveying their own landscape and then piecing it together with all the other teams that are out there. And so this is a, it's a really interesting week. Yeah, look, like the bears have a ton of work to do between today and the time the month ends. Like, they've got 53 players, I think, that are under contract as of next Wednesday. that leaves you 37 roster spots to fill before OTAs. And so you've got, obviously, you've got the draft class, you've got undrafted free agency, you've got some guys that you will resign. But that's a lot of work, and you don't have a ton of space.

And so they're going to have to figure out that entire puzzle. Yeah, it's funny because there's this huge rush of draft talk that goes on because it's the combine, and all those to be drafted players are there, but we're so far away from being able to fill in that blank of the draft because of free agency, which opens on March 11th, but I'm still going to ask you, Dan, did you feel a certain way about number 25 for the Bears in the draft or anything as it pertains to this year's draft and the spots that they have even relative to last year

when they had the three second round picks? So you've gotten to know me well enough now to know that like April 1st is when I start looking at the draft seriously. Now that said, I have to do a mock draft with Kevin Fishpain. for this week at the Atlantic. We've got to go through all seven rounds of the Bears draft and put together another class there. And so we're in the process of doing some of that today.

I think that the Bears are going to be able to find a starter at 25. They're going to be able to address a position of need. And look, like we've talked about the depth of this edge rushing class. There's probably going to be a good one or two available for them at 25. If it's not the flavor they like, they can wait. And they can wait until day two and try to address. adjust that as well. And so I think they can go a lot of different directions. But again, free agency is all about setting yourself up for that flexibility. And so what they do here in the

next three weeks is going to be pivotal to filling a lot of holes, even if it's not like the ideal fill. You just want the whole filled so that then if the board breaks a certain way, you can react and pounce and again live by that best player available philosophy that so many teams want. Dan, I know you were in on the mystery of last week. Have you been able to figure out Wichikillies Daya O'Dango tour in 2021? I have not been. And yeah, I've not. We can put that on the pecking order of things to get into this week.

It's been something that has been crowdsourced. Don't go to AI. AI will overlap terms and make it a mistake. I looked, I could find Ann, his, the it, but nothing about whether or not it was the left or the right. Nothing. I've had editors at the Tribune over time, have been hyper vigilant in making sure you know which side of the body injuries occurred on.

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

Were you surprised to hear that he's going to be back? Sounds like he's going to be back for training camp. I don't know that I necessarily expected that. No, I mean, you know, we'll see what the ramp-up period is. His injury was early enough, I guess, probably in the season where, you know, I lived through the Adrian Peterson ACL rehab, where it was like, oh, man, the guy tore his ACL on Christmas Eve. There's no way he's back.

he's back for the season opener and wins MVP that's crazy. So Adrian's a different case but it was a reminder to me of how far technology is calm and how the medical rehab processes it can be it can be accelerated quickly for these high level guys and the bears are going to have to monitor that with a handful of guys. Yeah but what if it's the same Achilles? You know that's the thing you got to be careful right yeah that's where the recovery time comes

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

It just took me back to here. How many Achilles has Chris Emma torn? Why are you putting that voodoo on people? That's a good question. I'm just curious. I don't know. Well, maybe I mean, like, maybe I should have asked Emma about that then. Why his picture would show up in that image church?

I mean, what did I tell? See, Grody? What did I tell you about people messing with Emma at Hallis? See? That's what happens. You're right, you're right. There's a lot of stuff going on. By the way, we are talking about Cassie Carrey.

Carlson, she's with us tomorrow? Is that right on Take? Yeah, correct. What do we got coming up on Take the North this week, Dan? Hey, everybody. Listen, like, Cassie crushes the off season, and she has a show called The Offseason on Fox. And you go down to the Combine,

and you watch her work, and you watch the number of different people that they're able to kind of reel in and talk to on the show, as you had one-on-one with Ben Johnson, one-on-one with Brian Poles, one-on-one with Jeff King, and then all sorts of people around the league as well.

So there's a lot to unpack about her Indianapolis experience. I know you'll look forward to that as much as I am tomorrow of getting some of that insight. Absolutely, and I'll look forward to talking to you and seeing you. I miss you an Indy Grotie. I really did. I know. It's kind of a heartbreaking thing to be down there without you. I had non-joking around fear of missing out and just seeing you there and missing you and

not walking 40,000 steps a day. I met in the night line. I missed it all. I missed it all. Yeah, we had to connect over Stream Yard. And then you had to watch me watch people walk into the JW Marriott Gym and try to figure out if they were working out or breaking in. It's pretty funny.

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

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

So who's going to win that walk? Who? Well, I got a lot of steps in last week, so I won a lot of walks, but maybe probably got a little bit more to do this week, too. Also, every time I think about you two talking to each other, now all I picture is the John Greenberg picture of you two looking at each other with adoration and happiness. Well, why wouldn't we be the Bears just beat the Packers in a playoff?

The first playoff victory ever covered in the NFL. Whoa, wow. That's crazy, man. How long have you been covering the NFL since what year? 15 years, and then there were two years sort of as like half time covering it in 2003-04 when I was working out in Naperville. So, yeah. Okay.

The goal is to get you somebody who looks at you the way Rody looked at Weirer. That's all you want. That was just so happy and the adrenaline and everything. It was like, something had been lifted from the world that day. Chronicling history. It's important. That's what it was. We were chronicling history in the bowels of Soldier Field, which was beautiful. It's precious. Which is still the home of the Chicago Bears.

It is the home of the Chicago Bears. We didn't have asked you a stadium question. Probably Arlington Heights. Yeah. Thanks, Dan. Okay, see you. All right. If you're good with it, that's Dan Weider. back from the Combine. We look forward to the Take the North podcast with Mark and Dan and Cassie Carlson. There's a very important question we have next. Oh?

Is Ben Johnson having fun? What? It's next. Bears. Rahimi Harris and Grohys Midday's Tiddleston on Chicago Sports Radio. And you delivered not only wins for Chicago this past season, but also free hot dogs, thanks to your. shirtless celebrations during the season. What did your wife, Jessica and family say about you flexing for the fans out there?

Yeah. I think I'm going to keep my shirt on here going forward. That was Amina Smith, who used to work at Stadium. Now she's at Sports Center talking to Ben Johnson when he was on last week from the Combine. Good times here on Rahimi Harrison Brody. And dare I say, Ben Johnson is having good times. There was a period of the football season where I didn't think Ben Johnson would crack a smile ever.

And then we knew how he felt about the Packers. And yes, he took his shirt off for the people. And yes, he also had that psych out handshake with Matt LaFleur. However, he's an intense guy. And this is the side of Ben Johnson. I don't know that we've gotten to know yet. He's at the Bulls game last night. He's there to witness the 270 run.

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

Think about it. And maybe this is the exact perfect tone for an NFL head coach to take, be Mr. Serious, don't crack a smile, don't get jubilant even during spectacular moments. But then when it's the offseason, you can let loose a little bit. You could have a joke ready for the media. When they come in and talk, oh, you guys want to know about Caleb's three point shooting, right? Yes. Right?

He goes right into it. He's got, he has writers this off season, and I love it. I am in, I want to, we were talking about the state fair schedule and the food and the concerts. I want the rest of the schedule for the Ben Johnson all. off-season comedy tour. Let it rip. Yes. I feel like we know his,

we know, he doesn't have an manager per se, but he has an agent. He's got writers, I'm telling you. Maybe we, no, but here's the thing.

I think Ben Johnson does have a sense of humor, and you saw it during the season, and some of the ways he would low-key, write plays or call plays or revenge calls some stuff. He does it with his actions. You're right. No, I definitely think there was a bit of trolling there that went on in-game.

Now as to whether or not all of it worked, Don't worry about that. What's up with these expiration dates on milk? You see him starting to do shtick everywhere he goes. I love this. Larry Mayer's writing for him. Here's the funny thing, though, is that he also brought a little bit of this to the introductory press conference.

Like, I think when he talked about Matt LaFleure, it was like a joking manner the way he said it. Like, did that happen? Yes, you did beat Matt LaFleard twice a year. But also, you said that because you knew there was a sense of humor twinged with the whole idea of beating the Packers. Like, he knew what he was doing. The Matt LaFleur thing, I still can't quite get. Like, there's something, there's still something that we don't know.

That I want to know, where did he hurt you? Where did Matt LaFleur hurt you? What happened, Ben Johnson? What is it really? Because at this point, he should probably be saying, oh, that's all, like, fun. That's all, look, it's Bears, Packers. It's the way it is.

And I'm always going to hate the Packers. But, you know, the off season, he's not letting up on the gas pedal. You're asking basically, why is it personal? Yeah. We don't know. I don't know. Who would open up for Ben Johnson on the Ben Johnson comedy tour? It would have been Declan Doyle because he's another guy who I don't think of is funny in the least.

This is a challenge. No, it's not really, the obvious one is Richard Hightower. Oh, yeah. Oh my God. Why didn't we think of this? It's a whole comedy team. Richard Hightower with the opening act. Everybody I keep thinking of is gone now.

Like Eric B. Enemy with his serious jokes. Wait, serious jokes. Yelling at guys. Isn't that funny? I really get their heads. Isn't that funny? The mental warfare. Okay, but here's my other question when it comes to all of this.

Is that if I had told you a urinet. half ago. Let's say Fluse was still here a year and a half ago, wasn't he? Yeah, technically he would have been. November. Okay, so right after Mattiever Fluse left, what if it was around the time of Thomas Brown being the head coach?

If I told you that the Bears head coach would flash to the camera but have another shirt on underneath at the United Center, would you have believed to me? Probably not, but... Like, oh yeah, the Bears' head coach went to the United Center and he like half flashed the camera,

and took a shirt off, but he had another shirt on underneath. The city of Chicago's hungry, too. I love that he is just, he is embrace. Like every Bears head coach that has been in this town, and I go back to Neil Armstrong, they've all appreciated being the Bears head coach. I don't know if anybody has embraced it as much as Ben Johnson has and continues to do.

Just as I'm talking right now, I'm just watching a world champion Chicago Bowl walk into our studio. I do believe I've heard this man on the radio doing Bulls broadcast. Anybody know who it is yet? Pretty nice jumper from the outside, played at St. John.

He was ahead of his time as a big man, I always say, because he was shooting from the outside before everybody else made it so popular. It's Bill Wheddington, ladies and gentlemen. Yay, Bill is here. And I'm very excited about this because the two jokesters of the score

have finally come together. Well, you two troublemakers. I never mind my joking around. We love yours. Because Layla and I both caught the post game show. I was driving home from Brookfield yesterday. And I heard you and Alyssa Bergamini. And Bergamini was on the floor laughing at jokes that she probably had heard before out of you.

I try to do different ones. It is fun. And you guys have no idea how much I appreciate Alyssa. Because I understand, you know, we're all trying to be professional. We're all trying to, you know, grow our brands. and, you know, get further with our careers. Sure, sure. But she allows me to be me and have fun and tell my little jokes.

And she laughs along, even when the jokes aren't funny. And we just have fun. And it's actually been, what started it was, obviously, the Bulls not having a great year this season. I'm sure we'll get into that in a minute. But at the end of the game sometimes, I'm frustrated and not happy. as most fans in Chicago would be. And I needed a little something, something.

And I don't know, a joke popped in my head. And I said, you know what, Alyssa? And I wish I could remember what the first one was, but it wasn't. But it was just a silly dad joke because that's kind of what I am. And she laughed, and it was funny. So I said, you know what? I'll do it again next time. She demands it now.

Now it's just fun. But I like it. But it honestly, it helps me transition. back to, hey, it was a basketball game. No one's career is over right now. And, you know, it's not, it's a game. And we're here, and it gives me an outlet and a pass to be that passionate about it and care enough, but then I'm able to calm down a little bit after the game.

So when I'm walking out of the United Center, I'm not looking to hit someone. Or dance, right? Like your partner. Yeah, but that's okay. too but I'm not a dancer like that so that's okay and again I fully expect and

like it when people express themselves the way that they're comfortable doing it and that's part of a part of what is unique about being human is we're different we're all the same we really are but we're all very different we have range and you're allowed to be funny

and also be passionate about what you're seeing on the court especially when it means so much to you We were just talking about how Ben Johnson's just lighten up the room. Here he is having fun at the UC fake flashing the crowd. And what I was laughing at is I said to Mark, Bill, if I told you a year and a few months ago that the Bears head coach would be fake flashing at the camera at the UC and everybody loved it,

I don't know that we would be talking about something realistic by any means. And here he is. And he's with Scotty Pippenio at the game yesterday. And I think that's very notable. too. It was very notable and it was great but you know let's start with Chicago's a great sports town and from a guy coming from Montreal where the Montreal Canadians play and arguably one of the greatest hockey franchises in history to the Blackhawks which is now my team and this city is a sports town and so when you get that cross connection of football basketball baseball baseball

or even now soccer is picking up huge in Chicago now as well. But it says a lot about the sports, how beloved basketball fans love Coach Johnson there. And it was fun. Obviously, I couldn't be up in the box, but I was watching him as he did that flash, and I'm thinking to myself, that's phenomenal. That is so cool that he's here,

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

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

So basketball is the closest that I'm assuming where I know stats. and I talk to fans that will tell me my stats more than I know them or they'll talk about stats. We were just talking at the Advocate Center. We had a group coming through with one of the Bulls sponsors and some

kids and they were running off Derek Rose stats, Kirk Heinrich stats. Just like it was, yeah, and I'm looking at Chuck and then Chuck starts rattling out these stats and I'm like, how did these kids? I know how Chuck remembers.

it. But how are these, they're fans, and they're just remembering everything. And that's how much they love, people love sports. And even my son growing up playing, a guy would walk up to bat. And I, you know, we're watching a game on TV. And he goes, oh, that's so-and-so. And then all of a sudden the name flashes up. I'm like, how do you know?

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

Really? You didn't know all those Montreal Canadians as you were talking about? I remember their... LaGron LaRouche. LaRouche. Yeah, I remember Gila Point, Serge Sivard. I remember them. I don't remember their stats.

Okay. Maybe it's because I'm not that bright. That might be part of it. Enough. I'm not listening to this slander today. I did not think that you would be partaking a 27-0 run yesterday. Hello. You know what?

it was kind of cool. And let me get, as Chuck likes to say, I'll get up on my soapbox. But I would say from the end of the third quarter till about six minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bulls abandoned a three-point shot and attacked the paint. They ended up getting over 50 points in the paint. And because I keep a little running statute, and there was not one three-pointer made in that time. But I don't think there were any taken. I think the Bulls really focused on scoring inside, and they just attacked the rim.

very well. Trey Jones was doing it. Bezellis had a couple nice dunks during that little stretch, and it seemed to me like, hey, they did it. And I'll add to it that defensively the energy got up, came up, and the Bulls really made things difficult for

the Bucks, and they kind of fell into a hole and it really struggled. In the NBA today, if you can hold a team under 10 points in a quarter, that's kind of a minute. I don't care how bad the team is. Seriously. It doesn't matter. You did something right. And so the energy came up defensively. The guys played well. And it was just a fun fourth, end of third quarter and fourth quarter to watch because obviously it went well. It

would have been fun from Milwaukee if it was the other way. But for us, it was good to see that. And in today's game for the Bulls with what's going on, in my opinion right now with the changes, we have to change our attitude as fans from, and this hurts. It's not easy to say because we want to win. And I'm a winner. It's all about winning. It's not about playing. It's not about getting an award. It's about winning.

And that's really what sports is. But in order to win, we're going to have to go through some growing pains. And right now, it's about development. And what I've seen, Josh Giddy with a triple double last night, Josh and Mattis are two guys that I'm pretty sure the Bulls are building around right now. Again, I don't know. I'm not in the front office. And I may get my hand slap for saying everything I'm saying right now.

but we want to see them develop and become great players. And we also now want to see, because we can't play two on five every night, we have to find teammates for them. So what we have now, we look and I'm sure Billy Donovan in the front office is looking at these guys, and how do they fit in? Do they make us better? do they make Bezellis and Giddy better, or do Bezellis and Giddy make them better?

And both are good things, because you have to learn how to play with those guys. I think it's pretty evident that they're trying, when you acquire a team that ends up having six guards, it's pretty obvious you're trying to figure out who fits with those guys. Yes. And the upside, and I think Ivy, unfortunately, the idea was kind of similar to what happened with Giddy in Oklahoma,

where they have a very talented team. he may have gotten squeezed out of minutes. They try to see if he's a fit with him. They're trying to see if these other players are a fit with Gideon Modis. I thought that that was pretty evident, and I haven't talked to anybody. No, no, and that's what it is. But it's hard because even my partner, Chuck, who is, honestly, in my opinion, the best at his job. What he knows and brings up in-game on the dime.

You can ask me stats about me, but I'm not to think about it. He's the best. And it just comes from, boom, and he's phenomenal. And like Alyssa, he allows me to be me. So I can go out there and just have fun. He tells jokes, too, everyone's so well. He tells jokes. But I'll do stuff sometimes just to make sure he's paying attention.

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

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

But right now it's about development. We got to see what these guys, how they can grow. And we want everyone to be, we want this team to be good. Everyone does. There's no one that does it. And I'm smart enough to understand there's more than one way to get things. done. There's not one way. And so my way might not be the way they're thinking. I'm not saying my way's better, but I'm never wrong. Just ask Chuck and Rich. Well, and I, you know, we love that you

guys get to be yourselves. That's kind of the whole point. Like, Grody, obviously we want him to be himself and he gets into his impressions and, you know, I get to just laugh constantly. So I feel like that's the whole goal is for everybody to be able to do that. Well, I, I, I, again, you know, Again, I was a broadcast major at St. John's, and I honestly never imagined myself here. I was always thinking, I am handy with my hands. And I always fashioned myself as a board operator or an engineer like Rich or even a camera operator. But unfortunately, or fortunately. And then you had a growth spurt and you're like, I would go play basketball.

Well, no, I was already. I know you were at St. John's. I was already tall, but apparently people understand what. what I say, sort of. Whatever wacky things it is, at least they understand the words that come out. And it's just kind of worked out well. Not that I wasn't trying and networking as we all do

as we're going through school and coming up. But again, I'm still amazed that I'm talking about a game I love. How long you've been sitting in that radio seat now? 23 years. Years are piling up. Oh, yeah. You got out in what? You were finishing in 2000?

2000 was your last year? I finished and I started doing this in 2003. O three. Were you with the Bulls? I can't remember. Like after 93 through 99, I was with the Bulls. So you, like, that was right before the longest losing streak of the 2000.

The Dalai War Baggeridge Bulls. I was part of the first year of Tim Floyd. Okay. So you got a little Floyd in you. Yeah. And we could talk about that too. I like Tim Floyd. I'm sure he was a very likable man, not Delta Great Hand. And we'll jump on that then. Sure.

I think Tim's a good coach. And I think Tim's problem was he was trying to run the triangle because he and Jerry had talked and that's kind of the deal they made. I really think that Tim should have run his stuff. And he would have been more successful. You probably felt the pressure to do that, though, right? And that was part of it. I mean, obviously just coming off of, you know, championships,

six championships in eight years and the triangle offense was good. I think the triangle offense is the best offense ever. But the talented change. I mean, I go, you know, I'm nearing the end of my career. You still had Tony myself. Ron Harper was still here. And, you know, we knew the triangle, but now we've got to teach it to all these guys.

And it was hard. And when the coach is not 100% familiar, because he came to us a lot to talk about what do we do, what are you looking for here? And because he was trying, and obviously Jerry Krause was still here doing it. But it was just he wasn't 100% comfortable. And all my coaches taught me, but especially Phil, if you're reacting to something and you have to think about it, it's not going to get done right. And as a coach, that's where it starts.

You can't, like, what is he supposed to do there? Oh, is I, no, it's got to be, go there. And as a player, you can't think about, am I supposed to go, am I, you can't, you just have to go. And if your react is not instantaneous, then you've lost the step. And that's the only issue I have with Tim. Other than that, I love Tim. He was a great coach to play for.

He was a lot of fun to be around. And even after, when I was a broadcaster, he was still coaching for a while. As a matter of fact, I think he was part of why I was brought back, because I was actually brought back first in 2000. 2001 as a mentor for Tyson and Eddie to help them with life skills because apparently they thought highly of my decision making in life. See there. And your jokes. Yeah.

So what did you tell Alyssa last night? For those of us who may have missed the show. Okay. I had, okay. I'll tell a joke. One joke. It's kind of funny. You know what?

I know my wife loves me, but I really didn't realize how much she loved me. me until I missed a couple of games and I was home because every time the milkman and the mailman came she went running down the block my husband's home my husband's home I love it I love it it's so good Bill thank you so much for joining us and I'm glad we got to talk to you after a win oh thank you it's always a pleasure to be on clear amazing Bill Whittington we look forward to the next call tomorrow night the women's history month game and in the meantime we have more with Rahimi Harrison Grady on the score

and Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel next