Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Grote is at peace with the 2025 Bears' season (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote opened their show by reflecting on the Bears’ strong season and by discussing what their expectations are for 2026. Later, they reacted to the Indiana Senate approving a bill to fund a potential stadium for the Bears across the state line.

This hour is sponsored by almost-freeteeth.com, affordable implants, life-changing smiles. 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 and Grotie may change at any time. It's just sports. Gay thanks.

Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2. On 670. Caleb Williams is the best quarterback. this franchise has ever had. And it says two things. One, it says that Caleb Williams is starting to live up to his draft position.

The other thing it says is the bar is kind of low when you look at the history of quarterbacks for the bears. That is, talk about setting the bar low. It's all happening really fast. You're putting that ring on very quickly. So I am just expressing a little bit of angst, a little bit of discomfort with your decision to cohabitate already. Like, it's just you're two weeks into the relationship. And you're already moving in. Now you're on one knee at the Bulls game.

I mean, think about it. You move in, you start fighting over stupid game rooms. Next thing you know, you break up. Ross, you were right before. It was just a stupid fight about a room. There are no stupid fights. Bob's been waiting. Can we stop with the boomer and unc takes of the 85 bears?

You're such a boomer. You obviously didn't watch Jim McMahon. you're assuming Jim McMahon couldn't keep up with the speed of players today. I guess that's what you're doing, although even though you haven't ever seen the guy play, and I'm guessing you probably haven't even watched highlights. Is it wrong? Okay.

Danny P. joining us right now. The statement's very simple, Danny. Caleb Williams is the best quarterback the Bears have ever had. I'm not necessarily saying Marshall is wrong, but where do you stand on Marshall's definitive statement? He's obviously objectively correct. Well, I am. always right, but I forgive you.

Jim McMahon, he has a Super Bowl, and Caleb Williams does it. But is that the only art? Because he obviously is not more talented than Caleb Williams. Modern era football as we understand it, Caleb Williams is clearly the most talented player the Bears have ever had to play the position. I mean, I don't even know how I'm supposed to respond to that. Like, that's a false equivalency. Just answer the question, Mr. Reynolds? Sure. I rest my case.

Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a and 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670, The Score. Rahimi, Harris, and Grody on the score. It is for today, though, and tomorrow, I suppose, and Monday, Boomer and Unk, it is. Boomer and Unk on the score. Does this country have? I would almost predict it does, that there is something somewhere in this country called Boomer and Unk. Listen, I think you just made up a new tag with the Boomer and Unk turning Boomer into

an adjective. I don't think I've ever heard that before. And to put the Boomer in front of Unk? I feel like the caller, by the way, yesterday, he learned the word unc like the day before. And he's like, I'm going to put it right to use. I'm doing it. And that's all good. Like, I am not.

I did not walk out of your angry at Bob. You're a little uncle. So, no. We had it out. on the air, but it's all good, man. I invite him to call back again. Obviously, I didn't appreciate the way the call was started. When you come out on the attack, let me just get off a quick little insult.

Let me go, let me boomer this guy, which using it as... What's wrong with being a boomer? Well, it's insulting to the folks that are... There's nothing wrong with being a boomer. By the numbers, if you're a boomer, you have more money than the rest of us. That's true, and the world still kind of plays to you. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely.

They've got the numbers. You vote. That's what I'm saying is like the folks that are actually boomers. It's an insult to the actual boomers to hear other generations like our generation. I assume your generation X as well. I'm an exenial. We've been over this more. I'm younger than you.

Don't try to put me in your boomer category. No one's ever called me a boomer and lived to tell to tell as an honest person. Well, right. That's why I had to give the pushback. Like don't just generalize me. Don't insult the boomer. Don't try to insult Gen X. We exist, man.

And you're, what are you? What is your generation? I am an exenial. I'm a cross between the generation X and the millennials. Exenial. Here's why. Here's why. I'm the oldest of three, my younger brother, my younger sister.

They are clearer millennials. And so I have a lot of millennial tendencies. Okay. Okay. All right. Fair enough. You, meanwhile, are just X marks the spot. That's right.

That's right. That's right. I own every single bit of that as I did our Bears talk yesterday, which was fun. It really was. I had a blast in that hour and just listening back to the Butte right there, Tyler Buterbaugh with a really good open. Ray Diaz is in the house as well, but that was fun. Mark, here's what I'll say. The reason why I had to do it yesterday, the reason why I wanted to do it yesterday, because I felt like it was a degree of therapy involved, because here's the bottom line. What I said is absolutely true. I just want everyone to be at ease with it, comfortable saying it out loud. And I feel like after yesterday's show, people are at ease with it, and they're comfortable saying that Caleb Williams is the best quarterback of all time. As far as the Chicago Bears go. And we're not going to do the whole thing again.

I think most people, if pressed, if they had to do the yes or no, then gun to the head. That's the point. Okay, but I think there's still a lot of people, including myself. And obviously, Dan Weederer, as he made his opinion known, that are just not comfortable two years into a tenure doing a question or a topic like that. And I stamped the topic. We talked about the night before this wasn't like. I was the one who said, yeah, Marshall, I like it.

And as a matter of fact, let's lead with it. And as a matter of fact, let's talk about it for an hour. That didn't mean that my sensibilities weren't a little bit off or insulted. Not offended. Not offended. But like, are we really doing a topic? about this quarter, after all that we've seen and all that we know and all that we know happens to quarterbacks, are we really doing the topic on is Caleb Williams the greatest

bear's quarterback ever? The answer is probably yes, but the other answer is it's too soon to be talking about this. Yeah, no, the answer wasn't no, it's just, it's too soon to be talking about this. You are correct. But I like that today may be a little more in your comfort zone. So I'm one and more in my comfort zone, and that is, you know, as I reflect on this season, and that's what I have been doing. And it didn't take long for me to come to the conclusion that this was a great season. This was the most I could have asked for out of this bear's season. I could not have asked for more.

I'm not mad that they didn't beat L.A. I would have liked it because I was having a blast covering the bears in this, and the whole town was fun. But there's no part of me that is thinking, because I had a, I got a, text from my buddy, Steve, and as he's watching the NFC championship game between Seattle and the Rams, and he's lamenting with me. He's really trying to push on me that, dude, the Bears could have won this game. They could have gone advanced onto the Super Bowl. They could have beaten either of these teams. And I kind of was like giving him the, yeah, yeah, yeah,

you're right. And that as he pressed on further, because he didn't feel like he was getting a satisfactory answer from me, my whole thought on it is. This is the first time in a long time. I'll try to track the specifics on that, maybe 2018, where I wasn't doing that exercise, where I wasn't lamenting watching the playoffs. I had a blast watching the playoffs, both of the title games. And not once that I think, man, I wish the Bears had that, or I wish the Bears could do this, because that's what we do every year. It's like this required exercise of what did you learn from watching real teams play football?

And of course, there are things on those teams that you look at on every team and say, yeah, I wouldn't mind that. Yeah, that's a pretty good product right there. But there is for the first time in a long time, and this includes some winning years where I feel there is legitimacy to what the Bears did this past year. That's a word that I'll use a lot, and I did a lot this season too, because early in the season, you know this.

Some of those wins didn't feel legitimate. The Bears didn't feel legitimate. They were, on my opinion, a trajectory early in the year. to have one of these seasons where you're like, okay, that was great, but how the hell did you do it? As I exhaustively would use the analogy or the comparison to 2001 or 2018. And I know I wore that stuff out, but there was a reason, and that was because it wasn't sustainable. What I saw this year seemed sustainable, and I also didn't think that the bears were good enough to advance any further than they did. Like there's no, this wasn't an upset.

The Bears weren't upset. They maxed out their abilities on this team this year. So it's really hard. And I will say, I will say, because I mentioned this backstage before the show, because you asked me the question, when was the last time you felt like that, where you felt some legitimacy, you felt like it was sustainable. It was 2018. I will admit that because of, mainly because of an elite defense that you had in

2018, that felt sustainable because the quarterback, while certainly not as good as Caleb at that moment, there was promise for Caleb Williams. There was like, okay, what does Matt Nagy do when we take him to the 500 level courses or however, whatever phraseology he used? But, but I will say, going back to our conversation yesterday, Marshall, Caleb Williams now is more legitimate and better than Mitchell Tribesky was then in that 20. 2018 teams. So even then, while I felt good going into 2019 and it flopped on opening night against Green Bay at Soldier Field, it flopped right from the beginning. I feel that there is legitimacy to this season and I am at peace and happy with what the Bears did this past year. Yeah, I don't

think there's a way you can really look at the whole of the season. And I understand if you focus on the last game, you're of course going to run through your head all of the scenarios in which the Bears would have won a game. You're allowed to do that. In which they lost an over. I get it. An overtime loss could be extremely painful because you were right there. You had the football driving for what would have been the game-winning kick or even touchdown, really, that would have advanced you to the NFC championship game. All that being said, if you go back to the beginning of the season and I said, hey, they're going to go 11 and 6, they're going to beat the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, and they're going to lose in overtime to the Rams. You would have been like,

sign me up. Yeah. Yeah. If I had played at the beginning of the season just a highlight reel of Caleb Williams' throws, like his best five throws of the season, you would have said, and without telling you the record, by the way, you would have said, sign me up. Sign me up. And then the key part, again, is not just sign me up, but then show me in the last half of the season, if you want the last six or seven games of the season, that it's real. And there was a change in my mind.

Like, I allowed it to be fluid, always with the bears, always with Caleb Williams. What I saw early in the season is not what I saw late in the season. This is a great text right here. And we want you guys in on this, by the way. You are invited. You are welcome. Let's officially open the phone lines here if you want to talk bears. And are you satisfied with the bear's season?

And do you think that there is, for once, legitimacy with what the bears are doing? Please come join us. 312-644-67, Rahimi Harris and Grotie. But I do want to read this top text from the 3-1-2. The Bears spent the first half of the season. and learning how to win. Most of them had never done so here. By the end of the year, they damn near mastered winning.

That's really well put. I didn't necessarily put it as they were learning how to win. For me, some of that was just lucky with the way. The Bears got away, let's put it this way. The Bears got away with too much other bad stuff within games, whether it was teams running against them or the penalties that they were racking up early in the season. There was a luck factor.

and maybe I'm listening to the texter. Maybe there was learning. But I really love the part where he says they near mastered winning by the end of the season in a real way. It's got to be real, Marshall. Let me counter you on that. I don't think as much luck, quote-unquote,

was involved as you are implying. I think bad teams find a way to lose. Look at the year before. Good teams find a way to win. That's what made the Bears good this season is they found ways to win. Before they were as juggernautish as they were, say, on Black Friday.

right? Before they had the late game antics that happened against the Packers, all three times, by the way. They found ways to win, and that is part of this process is any given Sunday, man. Any given Sunday, any given Monday, any given Thursday. You look at what the Bears, any given Friday, you look at what the Bears put to any given Saturday. You look at what the Bears put together on different days of the week as the season went on, and you understood that that is a team fully capable

of beating anybody in the NFL. But just to jump in on that, there were some things that even when winning that would not have equaled wins in the postseason. They would not have won a game, I don't believe, in the postseason. If they had continued to give up 200 yards rushing to teams, if they continued to have double-digit penalties, that they continued to drop footballs,

which I guess they did continue to do. Yeah, they kept dropping footballs. That never stopped, by the way. There were some things that had to be fixed, where I think it was completely fair of me to be like, huh, really? Like, that's fun. That's a fun win. That was great.

That you're right. It's cool seeing the Bears win. But I also know and have seen too many Bears seasons or I'm sure other NFL teams seasons where it's all great and you don't know how they're winning and then you find out in the postseason that they weren't anything. Which is why it was great to see them fix a lot of that stuff. I think they fixed some of that stuff. I wouldn't say a lot of that stuff.

the biggest fix, obviously, was the development of Caleb Williams from game one to the final game of the season. So there's that. But at the same time, the defense still wasn't really defending until the, what, last three quarters of the game. Excuse me, three halves of the season. Really did get it together, didn't it? Yeah, well, but they were healthy. And health is such a big factor. That's why I'm so curious to see what Ryan Poles, Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen come up with in terms of making the hard decisions from this season, a great season,

to next season a brand new slate. All of that said, what is the expectation going forward? And that's the loaded question now for the Bears. We're going to hear from one of the Bears' assistants on that very topic. And something that he said, a very big game that this Bears coach believes should be the norm. We're going to get into that. And also, like I said, if you want to come hang out here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, we are open to you at 312, 644, 67.

I see the text messages starting to float in, and if you want to bounce a call into us as well, again, 312, 644, 67, are you satisfied with the legitimacy of the season that you just saw? Do you feel like it's sustainable? Like, believe it or not, Jaded Grotie thinks that there is some sustainability with this? And what is your expectation for the Bears next year and going forward, considering the success that they just had. It's all coming up.

Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. The great Kevin Harlan. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-through, and I've got a couple of big, nasty, supreme burritos right here waiting to beat. You know, the first thing they ask you now, are you using the app? The app, no, I just want my burrito. I don't want to use an app.

Bring a lot of mild sauce because I'm going to escort it all over the plate. Put some hot sauce on my burrito, baby. Rahimi Harris and Grotie, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. There is no building off of this. We go back to square one. We're back at the bottom again. And that's really all 32 teams. If you feel otherwise, you're probably missing the big picture.

You know, we're back at, we got to start from scratch. We've got to start from the fundamentals. You know, a lot of guys talked about how difficult this training camp was. I didn't feel like it was anything out of my ordinary. they know what the expectation is. That is the, every time I hear it, I think of it a little bit differently. I'm going to go, that's the defiant

Bears head coach Ben Johnson with a stern warning for Bears Nation, really. That's for everybody. You've been warned, man. What we just did was really hard. And we got to start from the bottom. Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. Thanks for being with us.

to 64-67-67 if you want to join the fun here today. Thank you, too, to our video producers. If you want to watch, you can do so on twitch.tv. slash the score of Chicago, the gentleman running the show, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis, and we thank them for doing what they do. And as we do, Marshall, we do begin the process of the, I'm going to use a word, the arduous process.

of starting to define new expectations. I call it arduous, and that might be the wrong word, I don't know, because they just came off this spectacular season where they won a playoff game, all the things I said, they look legitimate, and now we have to ask for more. Can we get a little more now, please? Can you win two playoff games? Can you get to the Super Bowl?

Because that Marshall Harris will be the expectation for the Chicago Bears next year. Guaranteed. Have you ever played Super Mario Brothers, like the original Super Mario Brothers, the game that came stock with the Nintendo Entertainment System? I am the worst person to speak to when it comes to video games. I didn't know if you had or not. I have not. I think a certain... I played outside.

A certain member... We all played outside, Rudy. No, you didn't. No, most people don't. I have a friend... Now you sound like a boomer. Can I tell you something right now? I don't care if I sound like a boomer right now. Oh, goodness.

I have a very close friend of mine's child was just hurt, and he said he got hurt playing a video game, and he's on crutches. Still waiting for more details. And I'm like, wait, what? You know this friend of mine, too. This, I don't know. Like, was he doing some physical activity? I was just trying to share sympathy for the child at the time. I wasn't going to go into, I guess I'm doing it now over 50,000 watts.

But is they using the blowtorch? Soon to be on AM and FM, by the way. I'm using the blow torts. And this person might. even be listening. But yes, I'll go boomer on that stuff. I played outside. But anyway, you were the analogy that you were going for, what were.

Let me give it to you. A fair portion of our audience, I would believe, has. Our boomers probably. Well, yeah, maybe. But we're all over the ledger. Super Mario Brothers, like a lot of games, you can't save the game, right? Like now, games, you finish it and it saves automatically. Most games, you either have.

had to put in a password or just start from the beginning again. And so you go through Super Mario Brothers, there's 32 levels. Okay. Four chapters in each level. There's eight, eight worlds you go through, and there's four stages in each world. You beat the game, and it sends you back to the beginning of the game, except for this time, they have these little things called cupa troopers, which you just jump on and they're dead. Every cupa trooper that was, it's the same exact game, except for every cupa trooper that was,

is now what they call a busy beetle. And the beetle, you can hit the busy beetle, but it turns into a shell. It doesn't go away. So it can still hurt you. This is what the Bears are doing now. They have beaten the game, and they're going back to the beginning. It's a brand new season. It's going to be more difficult.

You got a first place schedule. And you understand you got to do it all over again with more difficult conditions. Because now everybody knows about Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson and the defense. They're more familiar with what you're trying to do. Yeah, and I'm so glad that while it's jarring to hear, you could tell that was my reaction again to it, the defiant sounding Ben Johnson. I'm so glad that unlike past coaches with the Bears, he's hyper aware of that. His predecessor in, oh, Matt Iberfluse?

You're going to go to two coaches back, aren't you? I want to go back to. Nagy? To Matt Nagy. Yeah. I mean, like, he thought the problem after 2018 was they needed a kicker. Like, that was what he was going to solve. It wasn't like everything start from a new.

We can't just depend on what we did last year. He thought his offense was good enough. He thought they could depend, except we needed to put 10 kickers out here on field four for a bunch of Bears reporters, like me, to watch and analyze and to interview while the rest of the NFL reporter world is watching line play and receivers and quarterbacks. Wow, I needed to get that off my chest. No, but you're right.

You're right because Ben Johnson and his staff, they all recognize that each individual season is a thing anew. Yes, you may have some of the same. same cast members. And those cast members, if you're developing them, maybe better than a year prior, right? You look at all the young players on this team. But you're going to lose some of your veterans.

Sure. You're going to get new players in here. And the mission at the beginning, it starts anew. It's the same concept, winning as many games you can to get into the playoffs, get the best seed you can get in the playoffs, to make your road easier in the playoffs. But that is the goal every year is to get in the playoffs

and make a run of the Super Bowl championship. And only one team out of 32 gets to hold the trophy at the end of the season. Amen to that. Let me fire off a few text messages here in a row. Rapid fire. Fire. The Bears didn't beat the game. Okay.

The princess is in another castle. Another video game thing? That is specific to Super Mario Brothers. Okay. I was out playing wiffle ball and shooting baskets. We were all doing that, but we also, on a rainy day, what were you doing? Mark? What were you doing?

On a rainy day? We were trying to find a gym. Try to find a gym and see if we could break in there. Yeah. Like, in all honesty, like, I, I'm glad about this about me, but I, I had Atari, because I'm 54, okay, let, let that, so Atari was the thing, the, the Atari 2,600. With the one button. With the original. After that, I never graduated.

Like, I just didn't have interest because I knew, I think I knew myself. You were an adult at that point. Well, I just, that's the truth. No, it's not true because I, look, I didn't play. video games throughout college, high school. I just never went back to it because I think I would be over consumed with it. So that was

me knowing me. So there's that. And then of course the next text, 847, Boomer Grody. And then one more text I wanted to read. Can't read every single text that we see on the text line. I have one I want to read too, so go ahead. Here's the last one I'll read. 847. Grotie,

you're not wrong for being jaded, as we all should be. But I truly believe that the 2025 Bear season was all about changing the culture, and they accomplished that with fine colors. Listen, this one may be the best text that I've seen on here, 847. I would hope everything Caleb learned last year carries over to next year. I would hope so too. And I would also say it needs to carry over, and he needs to get better.

I don't think anyone's arguing that specific point. But the game is the same. It's still football, and now you're going to have a more difficult schedule on paper. Who knows? Maybe more quarterbacks will be heard. and your worst two-game stretch you won't face, I don't know, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. But next year is going to be more of the same.

You're never going to have a chance to really catch your breath and get complacent because there's more to do. And even when you win it all, there's still more to do. Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score, let's turn to one of the Bears' assistant coaches. Antoine Randall L runs the receivers for the Chicago Bears. He was on WGN with Jared Payton, and we definitely have permission to play this here right now, talking about the expectations of this season. We take a break because we lost, and that's the way we look at it, and we know that the team won't be the same.

You know, you won't have all the same players. It just doesn't work out like that. But with that being said, there is the siege that we've planted in terms of this is the norm. And the norm is getting in the playoffs and have an opportunity to go win the Super Bowl. That has to become the norm. And that's what we want that to be. And obviously the norm is to win it all. But you've got to get in the dance to be able to do it.

Just get in the dance. I've been in the dance, man, as the one seed, as the two seed, as the six seed when it was only six teams on each side in terms of the NFC and AFC. So you just got to get in. And once you get in, that's when, you know, obviously you want to be able to be playing your best ball. So we planted to see, we got it done this first year. Now, starting out in the spring, guess what? We got to build it all over again.

Because it's not, hey, we're just going to leave off what we left. No, we got to build, build it again and get and surpass what we left off the previous year. And we can. we can definitely do that. It's just a matter of us getting back to it. What I like to say is careful planning and hard work, reduce prosperity. You take shortcuts. It leads to poverty.

We're not going to take shortcuts. We're going to plan well, get to work, and expect us to be able to prosper for sure. Oh, strong finish for Antoine Randall, the Chicago Bears receivers coach on GN with Jared Peyton right there. I like that he coupled Marshall the idea of the Super Bowl has to become the norm with Just Get In. And having listened to that again, I like it. Yeah, because obviously just get in. It has to be the mantra to get to the Super Bowl, but that he dared to say that the Super Bowl has to become the norm. Just using the word, the norm is a different way of hearing it for me.

prosperity versus poverty. Those are your options. There is no in between. And listen, when Antoine Randall L. speaks of this, he speaks of this as an experienced player who played nine seasons in the league. And in his nine seasons, he went to the playoffs over half the time,

five trips to the playoffs. And so he's speaking from experience when it was a little bit harder to even get into, the playoffs, if we're being honest. And he's been part of seasons that ended in first round exit. He's been part of seasons that ended in the Super Bowl. And so to understand that, understand he's trying to implore on all of the players that he coaches, what it takes to get to the level.

And I think he sees elements of that in his first season with the Bears. He obviously saw it when he was coaching with the Lions. and now he's making sure everybody understands what it takes to get back to that. Is part of what it's going to take to get back to that? Is it squeezing the football more? Is it changing the gloves? Is it maybe protecting the ball with your body a little bit more? But what about all those drops, Antoine Randallel?

Anybody ask him about that? Yeah, they did ask him about that. And he talked about Rome and what he needs to do better. Obviously, DJ Moore and the toughness and, getting more out of him in a more consistent way, and that's how they got what they got of him, especially the back half of the season when you didn't have Roma Dunesay available. And he is the veteran in the room. He is the one making all the money.

So that's why it's so interesting to hear him talk about D.J. Moore so favorably, and wonder at the same time, will D.J. Moore be a part of this team next season? That's really good capsulizing that, and I love that. I think the theme of that is and should be correctly. Antoine Randall L. More. Give me a little bit more now. That's not even an Antoine Randall L thing. I think that's a Ben Johnson thing. I think that's a team-wide statement thing.

Of course. Who are you looking at and be like, yes, you played exactly how we needed you to play this season? Maybe Nashan Wright, Kevin Byer, Joe Tooney, Darnell Wright. Really, the all pro guys. Yeah. And outside of that, they should all be trying to ascend to all pro level. Right, right. And that's why I say like Colston Loveland.

I said it. I think we're seeing a star, a player becoming a star before our eyes. But more. Like, more. Luther Burton. Wow. I mean, wow, what a revelation he was. Came on.

But more. A little more. Come on. DJ Moore. Lord knows. Like, little more. And I can pin some of that on the quarterback. Throw it that guy's way a little bit more.

But that's, I like that that can be part of the solution if you need that for the Bears' offense in some ways that it's not we need to go out and get fill in the blank guy. it's give me a little more, give me some more. More arrogance. Give me some more. I would say Buster Rhimes would let you know they do need more pass rushers. I'm sorry, they need better pass rushers. Oh, I think that he would definitely think that.

We are excited, by the way, Marshall. Man, it's, it's, there is something blooming every day as it pertains to. Out there? Well, it's actually sunshiney as I look through the buildings. I don't see any flowers popping through the snow. No, there are no flowers popping through the snow. And it was another rough, rough walk in today. I didn't stop anywhere, though.

We are excited about our FM debut this Monday, and we have lots planned for it. That's why I said, like as I'm walking to the hallways, I'm seeing things. I'm seeing different studios set up that we might be working in tomorrow because of the FM. I'm being asked to show up at certain places tomorrow in the name of this whole thing, of the name of the FM.

So there's all sorts of surprises we have for you. Our FM debut, ladies and gentlemen, is Monday on 1043. the score. That's right. All score shows, Cubs, Bulls, all the stuff we do here, all those games on FM. High fidelity all the time, including in downtown Chicago. You know how annoying it can be when you don't get to hear the radio in the parking garage or wherever. The score will still be heard on 670 a.m.

But starting Monday at 8 a.m. during our show, it is the debut of 104.3 on FM. The simulcast is presented by the official sports. book of the score. Circa sports, sports betting the way it should be with no bet fees. I can't wait. I know. I feel like the energy has been percolating around here.

And, you know, it might take people even a while to, you know, we're still going to be on that 670. That's right. The first time you can't hear it, it'll be the first time you turn over to 104. Then the people were like, what were they saying about that all FEP thing? And they made a big deal. Oh, yeah.

104. Now, you see what we're cooking up. because I understand, like, a lot of people listen are like, and out. And 70 is classic. You can't go away from six. We're just making it bigger and better, and it's already pretty huge. Coming up next, we will continue to talk about bears, maybe a little bit.

There's a little new, there's new news. Is that even a way to say it? There's news as it pertains to the Chicago Bears and their stadium search. We can get into that a little bit. We'll still take your calls as well and your text messages, which have all been excellent. 312, 644, 67, 67, Rahimi, Harrison Grody on the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's

Tindal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 The Score. Hey, what's going on? We're going to talk Bulls and NBA trade deadline coming up in a little while, 1125 with Ricky O'Donnell. We get a full hour of Clay Harborness. He will be in

studio with us at noon. He'll do five on it with us and we'll just go crazy talking NFL and Bears with Clay Harbor. We've also got Ben Verlander. Ben of the Verlanders will join us at 1 o'clock today to talk Cubs and White Sox and Major League Baseball just to just to warm you up a little bit. I'm holding a story in my hands right now. The headline which reads Indiana State Senate advances Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to lure the Chicago Bears. It's advancing, ladies and gentlemen. This is a story

from ABC 7 written by John Garcia over there at Longtime Guy from ABC 7 the you probably know John Garcia right from your working over there at ABC 7 I've seen him okay you guys don't cross paths I don't cross paths a lot of people it's so funny

it's like my whole thing with Terry Boers like I love Terry barely do Terry we just didn't cross paths physically but anyway I will read I shall read from this and then I'll stop when I feel like enough information has been submitted to the audience and we'll react to it here.

The Indiana State Senate has advanced a bill and designated to lure the Chicago Bears to build a new stadium in Northwest Indiana. Last week, the State Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a measure to establish a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, similar to the one that built the home of the Indianapolis Colts. The bill now still must go to the Indiana State House before making it to the governor's desk. Governor Mike Braun's desk in this case. When the Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren wrote in his letter to Bears season ticket holders that the team was looking into options for building a stadium in Northwest Indiana, he said he was not using it to gain leverage in Illinois,

but that certainly seems to be the way it is working out. And that would be the opinion right there from John Garcia and ABC7. I will stop it right there. and I will say what I have been saying now since then, basically, that the Bears began this play for Northwest Indiana, whether or not they will end up there, that I don't know. And I am inclined to still say, no, they won't move there. But what a move by the Bears.

The Bears have taken the leverage lead in this. They have, they don't have the governor scared, they don't have the state scared, but they've got the state squirming a little bit. Wellington Heights is not scared, but they're squirming a little bit now. The bears have the upper hand right now because of what is becoming, I'll use that word again that I like so much, more and more legitimate with the moves and the conversations that the bears are having with Northwest Indiana. So this is Senate Bill 27. That's right, 27, 28, whatever it takes. And the city of

Gary has proposed three locations for a potential Chicago Bear Stadium. I'm a little shock that you're not thinking that the state Arlington Heights isn't scared because... I'm underselling it, maybe. Cash rules everything around me. Yeah, Dalla Della Bill, y'all. I mean, it seems like this would be an advantageous decision for the Bears to say, we're going to cross state lines to Indiana and get this thing built for a whole lot cheaper. And maybe in the past...

past when there was stadium talk, whether it was the rehabbing of Soldier Field and the potential of moving elsewhere, it wasn't as big a deal because stadiums were a lot cheaper to build back then, but stadiums cost a lot of money to build right now. And if you are in a rent-to-own type situation with Indiana, I don't know how that can't be taking very seriously at this stage of the game. And that makes me wonder that if the bears did do it, I understand the react. I wouldn't like it. I wouldn't like the idea of it of my Chicago Bears, the team that I grew up watching, that's right, the 80s Bears, that they are moving, not just moving out of soldier field in beautiful downtown Chicago, but moving to Indiana. It is shocking to the system,

But I also think if it becomes normal after a while, after a year or two, sort of like my analogy Marshall would be rule changes. Like rule changes in baseball. What a wild idea to have a pitch clock. You can't possibly have a pitch clock. You can't put the DH in the National League. And it does feel awkward at first. And it does feel like you push back on it.

But then it became normal. And I don't know what it would be like without it. I think less so the pitch clock. I don't think anybody was against the – from a fan perspective, I don't think anybody was against the pitch clock. I think the D.H thing is the bigger. Pitchers hated it. Yeah, that's not us.

That's not the fans. It's about the fan experience. You can go to a game now in two hours and 15 minutes as opposed to three and a half hours? It's the best thing ever. The pitch clock was overdue, in my opinion. It's the greatest rule change in sports ever. And so what I'm saying is... I said it.

That's right. Unless you're Mark Grody literally walking to the stadium and walking home from the stadium, which most people don't get to do anyway. Once you're in a car, you're in a car. And this idea that people would be appalled. and drop their fandom of the bears is ridiculous. They're not dropping their fandom. That is correct.

I think that's what I meant, and you said it better, that it's going to take maybe a few games. Maybe your buddy will have tickets to go to the new stadium, and you'll be like, screw that, man, I'm not doing it. But you will once the bears are nine and two, and you're loving on Caleb Williams, and you're seeing Colston Loveland run for 100 yards. You'll be like, Bears.

Yeah, I don't think the Bears thing. And it may affect who's going to the games. I'm not saying that's not a thing. And you're entitled, too. Like, if you're pissed about it and anger, I am not trying to convince people that they should like Indiana. I'm projecting what might happen if it actually came to that, which I don't think it was. But last I checked, they do sell out every year season ticket-wise, right? Yeah.

There are people on a waiting list right now to get into the stadium. My brother was on one of those for a long time and got in about 15 years ago. It's not unlike the professional basketball team in town. You may love them. may hate them, but guess what? Building's full every night. Building's full every night. Exactly. And people are happy when the building is full

every night. So I think the bears are in a win situation here and the possibility of Indiana grows day by day. I'm not ready to say yeah, the bears are definitely moving to Indiana. But you know what, Mark? I'm not far away from it. The top look at the top text. I know we've got a break. 3-3-3-1. I'll be a Packers fan.

Yeah. You get a lot of that. And I am not pushing back on because, you know, I am a pretty much a purest too when it comes to things like a beautiful stadium in downtown Chicago. That's where I would have preferred it be all along. But I don't know. Money, money, money, money. Is the truth.

When we return, there's your stadium update. How about another update on something that we talked about yesterday? The pro football, yeah, the pro football Hall of Fame released a statement following the Bill Belichick vote report. We'll call it the vote report from yesterday for Belly. We will read that to you, that statement, and we will talk about it and see what's new

with Bill Belichick and not getting into the Hall of Fame. It's next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.