Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - How are you feeling about the Bears' defense ahead of season opener? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote opened their show by discussing the questions swirling around the Bears' defense with the new season upon us. After that, Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic joined the show to share his keys to the Bears-Panthers matchup Sunday.

This hour is brought to you by four seasons, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric for all the right reasons. Call 8664-4-4-4-Seasons. Rahimi and Grody and Grotie on 104-3, The Score. Conspiracy theory. Can we end the show with a good conspiracy theory? That's what we'd like to do here on Raheimian Grotia. A good ending, a good conspiracy theory. Conspiracy, yes. I'm a believer that everybody has at least one or two.

And if you don't, you're the suspicious one. I'm very into that comedic bit. Now that's just certain people I have no time for. Like if you're sexist or if you don't believe in conspiracy theories. Just don't understand how do you not believe in any conspiracy theories? I understand not all of them, not most of them, but you don't believe in any conspiracy theory? You just think the government's just batting a thousand and telling us the whole truth? We all have a couple.

NBA draft for me is up there. Basketball reasons, David Stern. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay, you mean to tell me Zion just happens to go to the pockets? Right, and gambling back in the day. There's a lot of them. You all have, everybody's nodding here in the crowd. Babe Ruth never existed is one that I love.

Oh, wow. Really? He never existed. So, D.K. Metcalf believes that Antarctica has a civilization inside Earth. She's not pancaked under a jesus. John Hunk of Steel or anything. She's, um, how do I talk about this? Uh, well, there's this, this world. Under ours?

Under the place. The upside down. In an interview with the athletics, Jonathan Jones, Mekap declared that Antarctica is another world. I do think he's right, though, but he's talking about Antarctica, but what he really means is the ocean. But I don't think the civilization is of us. Isn't there a whole movie about that?

We have no idea how many animals are truly down there. That's true. Yes, there are depths of the sea. There may yet be a locknet monster. Presenting the ninth wonder of the world. The eighth being Gomer Piles' heavenly singing voice, I'll give you the Lackness Monster. Bigfoot, you know that there's a big foot running around the city right now.

There may be one in Lakeview right now that is just running around here. That's just a really drunk guy who got lost. A big drunk hairy guy. He's bare chested and banging his chest. Now he runs the opposite way. He runs with the 50. He runs at the 40. The guy is drunk, but there he goes.

Mark Grody. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, The Score. You know what's up on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, the score today. You are 100% absolutely listening to a four-season heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric football Friday, presented by your local Ford dealers and Advent. We will act accordingly today. of football and bears. We've got Kevin Fishpain at 1025 from the Athletic. He'll be with us all year. At 11 o'clock, the former NFL safety, Eugene Robinson, will be on with us. He is also part of the

Carolina Panthers Radio Network. We'll do predictions. We'll talk about Caleb. We'll talk about offense. We'll talk about defense. Layla, we'll do it all. How are you doing on a football Friday on the score and Rahimi and Grody? It's about time. I still can't quite wrap my head around it. It doesn't really hit for me until the first real game, which I don't think was yesterday. And I don't think it was the day before that. That we'll get to it. They tried. I told you guys, I didn't want Niners and Rams to be ruined by travel.

And lo and behold, it was ruined by travel. Be here for five on it at noon because Layla will have much more to say about that. Hey, one team showed up yesterday. The Brock Purdy team showed up yesterday. the Mike Evans, Debo Samuel, DeMarcus Robinson team showed up last night. They also showed up days in advance, which is why they looked like they had slept. The forever conundrum with the travel. I remember we went through all of this with the bears going to London.

Should they go early, which they did? Should they go late? What's better? What is better for the team? Do you act normal? Who's going to be more prepared for week two? We'll get into more of that in five on it. But Layla, I think that the consensus of the Chicago Bears, if there is one thing that,

we all seemingly agree on. It is that the biggest question mark on this team and maybe even the part of this team, this Bears team, that will make it or break it, will dictate how far you go or don't go in the postseason this year is the defense. Do you think we're on the right track? Are we at a consensus that is the defense

that we truly need to zero in on if we are to talk about a potentially successful Chicago Bear season? Well, I think what the Bears are hoping for is that their offense is so much better that the defense isn't as much of a question. That's where the investment has been. That's where the personnel focus has been. Even in the draft, you could argue they added a lot to the offense when they could have

added more to the defense. And then they trade away guys like Jervon Dexter late in the preseason process. So they've told you that that has been the focus. Ben Johnson is your head coach. The secret's out. You know that this is a more offensive-minded team. So I still think they're leaning on that for the majority of their success. The question is, is this defense going to do enough?

Enough. Ben don't break, whatever you want to call it, to be able to survive the injuries in the secondary, the lack of a pass rush last year somehow turning into with the backups you signed and Jordan Vanderberg, hopefully, being the guy you thought he was in the preseason, is all of that going to help you? get to a place where you feel better about the team's defensive unit. And I don't know that I'm there yet. Question mark for me is, is the defense going to be good enough?

I'm not even asking for good. I'm just asking for better than in the lower third of the league when it came to the important defensive metrics, which is what they were last season. Can you be the 18th best defense? Can you be what the Carolina Panthers were last year? The 16th best defense. Can you have more than 35 sacks as you were?

had last year. By the way, Carolina had 30, but they did more discernible things to up their defense this year with a couple of guys that they added, obviously, in Jalen Phillips and Devin Lloyd. I was listening to, and I know you were this morning as well, to the Bears defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen. And I thought that by not saying very much, he was saying a lot as the Bears defensive coordinator met with the media yesterday and shared his observations on the Bears defense from last year to this year? I think it's still to be determined. I mean, we've had three preseason games, a couple of joint practices.

We've had a training camp. I think the guys are buying into how we have to play defense. I think there's still some things that we're learning on in terms of exactly what to do and everything. but how we play and the speed that we have to play at, I think our guys are buying into that and our guys are playing hard. So, listen, I like where we're at, and yet, you know, we'll find out more after Sunday. Well, and it's important to point out to, and that's Bears' defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen right there,

that the question that he was asked at the beginning of that is, how is your defense going to be better this year than it was last year? And he says right off the bat, it is to be determined. That is about as honest of an answer as you are going to hear from him or anybody else out at Hallislaw. Because he very well could have said, oh yeah, we're excited about our linebackers this year. We've got the rookie first rounder Dylan Thineman out there. We've got, you know, Montez Sweat coming off at double-digit sack year. He could have gone the cheerleader route, just saying the positives for the sake of saying the positives.

But he's right about that. Like I said it. Look, the Dravon Dexter thing, I don't know if you are a better defensive line without Dravon Dexter. But I am excited to see what these new faces on the Bears' defensive line can do. I am like everybody else. Excited about what I saw from Jordan Vandenberg, the rookie. I am excited about what we saw in training camp from Contavius Street. I am excited about Neville Gallimore coming off a pretty good year last year and what he might add. I am excited about Jaden Loving because he stood out in the practices that I went to.

So I am excited. I've turned the corner a little bit on the defensive line, but I don't know. These are all what ifs. What if Vandenberg is really good when the lights come on? I don't know if he's going to be. I don't know if Neville Gallimore is an ascending player at this point. I don't know if what we saw from Jaden Loving will translate actually to real NFL games. if he'll even be dress on opening day for the Chicago Bears,

is James Lynch some sort of revelation? While I'm excited to see the new guys from what I saw in camp, I don't know. It's to be determined, as Dennis Allen said. I'll say this, Lela, the last thing that I'll say about this, the position group that I am pretty convinced about with the Chicago Bears on defense is the linebackers. I like the Marco Jackson.

Two great games last week in particular. where he was NFC player of the week. I'm excited about Devin Bush. And I know Tremaine Edmonds had an excellent year last year, but I think Bush is a little bit better. And getting to see T.J. Edwards look like T.J. Edwards in the last preseason game was heartening for me. So I'm excited about that position group right there,

but it feels like the rest of it is, per Dennis Allen, to be determined. Well, and we don't even know what's actually being determined when it comes to the depth chart. We have the unofficial depth chart. which I just pulled out of my backpack. Nice job. The Bears' defense on the unofficial depth chart has Montes-Weck, Grady Jarrett, Contavius Street. Do you think that Contavius Street is going to be the guy on Sunday starting?

And I asked this to Herb. Herb Howard when he was at Hallis Hall and joined us with a report yesterday. What's up, Herb? We were trying to figure it out. Okay, well, if that's a case, what's the snap count looking like? How much are you going to have to rotate these guys in and out to maybe just also get that tempo, get that pace,

get everybody the experience they need. We don't know the rotation yet. It's a great point. And so when we don't even know that, I appreciate Dennis Allen telling the truth because this is a bear's team that if you look again, Mark, and you've got the numbers as well as anybody else, let's just start with the obvious one,

29th in the NFL in a loud yards per game in the regular season. We know the run defense was bad. They know they didn't run, they didn't rush the pass or enough. How comfortable are you going to let Bryce, young get on Sunday. And that is really going to be a key in this. The Bears want to start fast and score fast, but their defense, you've got to be able to

keep off the field too. Those two go hand in hand. And I really hope the plan works on Sunday. I like some of the chant. We'll get into this as the show goes on, but specifically the Bears defense against the offensive line of Carolina. They're inside guys. Their guards are really good, but their tackles are suspect with Monroe Freeling and

Rashid Walker having to step up for the injured players and Tyler Moten and Iku Maquanu out as well for the Carolina Panthers. So that's an interesting storyline to keep an eye on and if they can take advantage of that Montez Sweat. This segment is being brought to you by almost freeteeth.com save on dental implants today. Dennis Allen continued to discuss his expectations for the defensive line for this season. At the end of the day, you know, I want our guys to go out there and and play hard, play fast, play physical, and execute their assignments. And then, look, if it's a physical thing, then, you know, that happens in our league. You know, everybody here gets paid.

Everybody's under contract. So sometimes there's some physical things that take place and guys make plays. But I want our guys to be relentless. And, you know, at the end of the day, however many plays it takes, 60 plays, 70 plays, 80 plays, whatever the case may be. You know, hopefully if we continue to play with the relentless intensity and we force the offense to have to execute, that's ultimately what we're looking for. Everybody wants relentless intensity, so he's just using those words.

He doesn't know. Well, he probably has a better idea than he's letting on right now. But you want to see sweat breakthrough early. You want to see Austin Booker breakthrough. And I'm intrigued, Lela, if not optimistic about Dio Dangbo, because he's just got to be good, right? He's just got to be better. There's a lot of that with the defense. Are you optimistic or are you just wishing for things?

No, well, I'm optimistic. And I guess maybe this is naive of me, basing it on one preseason game where he made a couple of plays and had that quarterback hit, I believe it was in the second preseason game, where it was like, okay, there's an idea of what Ryan Poles told me the first time I asked. about him, watch how he interrupts games, even if he's not getting the gaudy sack numbers, which he did not do in Indianapolis, he invited me to watch the tape, see what he does, and he was interruptive in that particular game. So it was a sign of life, I guess, and I'm buying it to a certain degree. I don't think it's a secret that they signed him

based on his quarterback pressures and what his potential was. I don't think that at all. But that wasn't a secret. That was what they thought that if he had that kind of potential when it came to his pressures and just how he looked making the offense look different, then that was going to be something that turned into more of a pass rush. But the bottom line is it hasn't. So prove me wrong on Sunday. Show me how motivated you are and how this helps. And we've gotten questions, well, what about Carolina's tackles being injured?

If they can run it up the middle like a lot of teams did against the Bears last year, I don't know how much that's going to hurt him. That's the issue. That's what I said. I mentioned that in the fact that the guards are. really good. I was answering a question on the text line. But the point is, you know, Mark, it helps, but not if you have an alternate game plan

that's successful against a team that didn't do either well last year. Truth. Opening week on the score is presented by Hands Free Sketchers Slip-ins. Just step in and go. Let's keep the conversation cooking. We'll get into the offense a little bit and other things with our next guest. Kevin Fishbane, senior writer at The Athletic, covering the Chicago Bears and more. We'll join us next year on a football Friday on Rahimi and Grody on 1043, the score.

Kevin Fishbane, Bears Beat Rider for the Athletic. He brought back the same group that was 25th in the league and pressure percentage or whatever it was in the bottom third. But I do think that barring some kind of surprising name, and again, we know Ryan Poles will look at everything. Kevin Fishbane talking bears. Matt Ebert, Bruce, George McCasky, Ryan Poles, Kevin Fishpane. On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, The Score. It is Rahimi and Grody on a football Friday on 1043.

The score Bears and Panthers noon in Carolina on Sunday. Absolutely cannot wait. We love that Kevin Fishpane is back with us for yet another season here on the score. Fisie Business is the senior writer at the Athletic Covering the Bears. What's going on? Kevin. How are you, man? Thanks for being back with us. How many bears this morning, Grody? Oh, my God. I mean, I'm feeling the vibe is 10 bears right now. I can't help myself. I'm probably getting out of control. But will you settle for 10? Is that okay?

I think that's plenty. Listen, they're starting the season in Charlotte against the Panthers. So it's, you know, it might be, you know, the number of bears might be a little limited. This isn't like, you know, week one at home against Green Bay. That's true. So it's a good way to temper things to, you know, to pace yourself when it comes to the number of bears. That's fair. They did beat Carolina a couple of years ago, very convincingly, I think it was an Andy Dalton start then. There was the bad playoff game in 2005. There was the Eddie Jackson game in 2017. Anyway, Fishy, I loved that you asked Press Taylor, the Bears Offense Coordinator, in the press conference about the Bears'

very first drive, not just because I'm interested in the first drive. I'm so interested in what the Bears' offense looks like in the first game early on in the season as we head to the next level, supposedly the next level of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. What are you thinking about that and what is your take on the Bears' offense early in the season or just for this first game against the Carolina Panthers? You know, I'm always fascinated by the opening drive of a game, and part of it is, having covered this team for so long, and you think of how many times we've watched the opening drive of the game,

and it just sputters. And I just always step back and remind yourself, like, these coaches and players spend all week preparing for this moment, for this opening drive. Last year, as great as the offense was, they didn't score in their first drive the final nine games of the season. So I'm just fascinated by the philosophies of it, especially when it's the first game of the season.

I thought Prestator was pretty interesting. where he says they do all this self-scouting in the spring, and they might throw some plays out, really reinvest in some things that they think they do well. And then they start game playing for Carolina, and they go, wait a second. That play we threw out, we actually might want that play because it might work against Carolina's defense.

So there was this kind of push and pull, and then ultimately on Sunday we'll see. And I did a little research to see how often the Bears have scored in their opening drive in the last 25 years only nine times, but that's actually tied for the most in the division. So everyone just can relax that first drive because it's not, it's just an opening drive. However, Grotie, I also, my research told me five of the six times the bears have won the division this century, they scored on their first drive of the season. Oh, wow.

Think about that. Heavy, heavy, heavy right there. Mind blowing. That is a nugget, ladies and gentlemen. Love having Kevin Fishbane on. Our segment with Kevin is brought to you by. Advent, breathe well, live better. Visit advent knows.com.

And Kevin, I do think that the importance of the opening drive is that the bears collectively, as you know, want to breathe easier as a team. They negated the need last year with all of their comeback wins to be able to score on the opening drive and have that

means something. But now wouldn't you consider, even like what we saw, for example, yesterday in the Rams and Niners game, there's always an example to be drawn. There's always understanding to be had. Just playing with that lead that they want to play with and having that cushion, I think it is pretty crucial to the plan, at least initially, this season. Yeah, listen, it's going to help everything because if they can let Amontes sweat,

Austin Booker, a diode dainbo just pin their ears back early in the season just to build confidence for a group that is obviously going to be under a lot of scrutiny this season. So anything you do to make it easier for those guys, you've got a secondary that's going to have a couple of guys who we never really heard of until training camp or the draft who are going to be starting. It makes it easier for them, too, if the Panthers are going to be early in the game put into pass-first situations where the pressure is going to be on Bryce Young. So, you know, it's, I do think like, obviously everybody wants to score early and get that lead early, but I think you're rightly. I think with the way this Bears team is constructed right now, anything that this offense can do to help the defense. Again, we have to get used to that.

This is the new era of Bears football, where for decades it was, what can the defense do to help out this very mediocre offense? Now the strength is on the offensive side of the ball, and that offense is going to need to do things to make things a little bit easier for the D. And Kevin, I'm glad you started talking with Dio O'Dango, for example, pinning his ears back or whoever on the defensive line that may be. I don't agree with Ben Johnson's philosophy in that your sack should come when you've got the lead and you're trying to ensure a stop.

I think they should happen at any time in a game. I think they should be able to happen when you need a stop early if you want to. It shouldn't always be thought of as a luxury item once you have an offensive lead. I think that's working inside out rather than being aggressive. Yeah, you know, so much of it is game flow, so much of it is the way that Dennis Allen is going to scheme things up. And, of course, these guys got to win their wanted ones. These guys have to show everybody that they are more comfortable in Dennis Allen's scheme,

and they are going to be able to improve off last year. And look, that defensive line is that it's going to be so under the magnifying glass because, of course, like, that was the position. We talked about all offseason. And, you know, when the starters go out there, Contavius Street's going to be the only new guy on Sunday. And that's not somebody who was signed on a $50 million deal either. credit to him for going out and winning that job and playing well in the summer, but it's not like he comes in here without question mark. So look, anything that group can do early, it's just

going to build a lot of confidence that if they can get after the quarterback early. And just because like those guys have said too, like they've heard everything, right? Like they know how much skepticism everybody has about their ability to rush the passer. they know how much criticism their GM has gotten for not adding a big-time pass rusher this off season. So, you know, there's a chip on their shoulders. And, you know, now they have the opportunity to prove themselves because this is it. Like, these are the guys. You know, maybe come trade deadline, does polls take a swing at somebody?

We'll see, you know, if the defensive line's not playing up to what they're hoping for. But right now, you know, the organization said, we're counting on you guys to be better than you were last year and to be healthier than you were last year. and now is their chance to prove it. This segment with Kevin Fishbane is brought to you by four seasons heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric for all the right reasons. Call 8664-4-4 seasons. It's Rahimi and Grody on 104-3, the score. And Fishbane, I think you asked about Malik Mohamed as well yesterday. What are you expecting from him?

Is he really going to get a full boat of snaps at one of the corner positions on Sunday? It's a great question, Mark. I mean, I would expect him to start at the nickel, just because that's what we've seen most of the summer. Now, if the bears are really comfortable with Xavier Woods as a starting safety, does that mean Cam Lewis gets thrown back into that conversation? Because remember Cam Lewis was playing as the number one nickel until Kobe Bryant got hurt? So do they feel better?

Is the Lewis at Nickel Woods safety combination better than Muhammad at Nickel? Or are they going to rotate? I actually, I wonder, now that you kind of bring it up, Grotty, is a rotation a good idea because that kind of can allow Muhammad to ease his way in. Or do you want him to get in a rhythm and not have to worry about coming out every two or three series? So that's going to be a fascinating element on Sunday. And really this first month or two as the bears settle in, right?

Like, again, I keep talking about how different this thing looks. Like on April 1st, you know, no Bears fan except for the draft Knicks had heard of Malik Mohamed, right? And certainly nobody had thought about Xavier Wood. being part of the secondary. And here we are now. And those guys, along with Cam Lewis, could be playing some pretty major roles. And it's been a conversation topic this week

that if Muhammad is in there, like the Panthers are obviously going to target him. The guy is competitive. He is physical. I think he's got a really good skill set. But, you know, this is tough, right? This is a new position. It's the NFL.

They're going to attack him. And I think it's going to be, he's got to have that short memory that you always hear cornerbacks talk about. and that's going to be a huge thing for them. And then it goes all the way back to that pass rush, right? Because that pass rush is going to make things easier for Malibu. It's going to make things easier for Xavier Woods for those guys.

And then, you know, the other thing, too, is like Jalen Johnson and Tyreek Stevenson had really strong summers. And that also can help make things easier for everybody else. If those two guys are locking down opposing receivers the way they were in training camp, that can make a big impact. Well, and again, I think, Kevin, you're talking about how are they viewing this? Are they viewing this as a defense that they think is going to get stops at the line of scrimmage, or do they think that the secondary is going to have to force coverage sacks? And that's part of the construction.

I also want to point out, you keep track of past reps and, I think, snap counts. Yeah, so that's something that you're always doing on a daily basis, a game basis. I'm wondering, and we talked about this earlier in our previous segment, what it's going to be not just for the secondary, but the entire defense. This might be a surprisingly even snap count for everybody who we've mentioned on the line. Are the linebackers going to get rotated in and out? How is that going to all work? We might see something very well distributed.

I think back to that Rams playoff game. That was a Dennis Allen masterpiece. He put together an incredible game plan. And there was a lot of guys moving in and out of the lineup. I remember, like, I think I lost track. Like, I couldn't continue to track snap counts live for the defense because there was so many moving parts, and it was really confusing Stafford and the Rams,

and obviously the weather was on the bare side to give them the ability to do that. So, you know, certainly DA is capable of putting that together and keeping these guys fresh and keep them moving. But, Laila, to your point, like, I'm very curious to you, like, what a Jordan Vanderberg snapcount looks like in his first. NFL game. You know, do we see a more base defense with DeMarco Jackson in it linebacker? How much rotating is going to go on on defenses?

Diogenegro going to play more end or more tackle. And how are they going to rotate those guys? There's a Jammery Kroma, you know, get some, get some reps. It's one of the last guys to make the roster after a really strong summer. So, yeah, that will be a really good tell of what these defensive coaches think of what they've got to see, you know, who's the one. You want your Montez sweats to be playing the most of that defensive line. And that's going to be a big thing.

You know, you want sweat to be playing a high percentage of snaps. You want him to have the most opportunities to make an impact play because he's your guy up there. Mr. Fishbane, will you do the honor of telling us who is going to win this game on Sunday? And if you have a score and if you have a why, we would love that as well. So Grody I actually picked the Panthers and part of the reason is

I collect the picks for the weekly mailbag that everyone reads Friday mornings at the athletic and everybody sent me their picks and they all pick bears we can't all pick the bears great point for week one don't let somebody else tell you what to do you're taking the hit now this sounds like Kevin

This is your philosophy. That's fine. Yeah. I got, I had it, I wrote it. I'll own it. Panthers 29, Bears 26. Okay, good for you. I mean, like, you know.

I have no idea. Listen, week one is crazy. The Raiders beat the Patriots in week one last year. It's just, weird things happen. So, and I'm also curious about the humidity factor and just how the bears, you know, how ready they're going to be for that. To be playing in Charlotte in September is going to be in the low 90s out there.

But yeah, I'm okay with, you know, being on an island, but anything can happen in week one, nothing would surprise me. I guess the only thing would surprise me if the bears, like, you know, lose 21 to 3 or something. I expect the bears to put up a lot of points this year. Good for you. I think his offense is going to be a lot of fun.

Seriously, good for you. I mean, it's not easy to pick against the bears and the world in which we live and the critiques that and the criticisms that all come our way. So I think that's a ballsy move by you. You will have to deal with Dustin Rhodes. I don't know if you've been hearing him. He's basically been threatening. I'm just going to say it.

Bullying and threatening anybody who thinks they might pick Carolina. Like he went after Gabe Ramirez. I'm a threat to pick Carolina to win the game as well. So just steer clear of Dustin Rhodes. Okay. I'm just warning you. Good to know. Look, Panthers got a good offensive line, really good front seven on defense.

They gave the Rams a run for money in the playoffs last year. It's a road game, week one. My other fun fact of the week, guys, this is the 15th week one road game for the Bears in the past 44 years. Okay. And only the second time they've been favored on the road in week one. And do you have the other by any chance? I do. And this is going to lead to a lot of bears here, Grotie.

The only other time? 2006, my friend. We all know what happened that year. Well, well, well. That is great. They beat the Packers 26-0-0 and went on to the Super Bowl. Yes, they did. You know what, Kevin, just for that,

you just got yourself 8.5 bears for this segment that you have performed. There you go. Bears. Listen, history is on the bear side here. You want to talk any Cubs before you go? Because I'm a little nervous. Cubs, they still playing? It's their season.

Okay. You've been tweeting about the Cubs or something? I don't know. I saw his pennant and it just reminded me. I've got a lot of my mind today. I don't have my screen up here. I mean, 1984 World Series. The Cubs, by the way, were not in the 1984 World Series.

Oh, shut your mouth. See, I don't need that childhood trauma back in my brain. Steve Garvey and the San Diego Padres. Kevin, get out of here. Go home. See you later, buddy. All right. CA for MVP.

Bye, Kevin. Hot take. Bye, guys. Kevin Fishbane, Senior writer at the Athletic covering the Bears, host of the Breaking In with Kevin Fishbane, a Chicago sports media podcast, actually just a sports media podcast. He goes beyond. Follow that man.

If you're new to Kevin Fishbane, follow him now because you get all those good nuggets for him at KF Fishbane. And on Instagram, too, at Kevin Fishbane. When we return, how about Drew Brees giving advice to Bears quarterback, at Caleb Williams, we will explain next on Rahimi and Grotie on a football Friday on 1043,3 the score. Rahimi and Grody, Midday's Tyndal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043 The Score. It's a football Friday on Rahimi and Grody, along with Laila Rahimi. I am Mark Grody on 1043 The Score.

Thanks for being with us on this football Friday. Coming up top of the hour, about 10 minutes from right now, Eugene Robinson, color analyst for the Carolina Panthers, for a bunch of teams at safety, including the Packers at one point in time. All right, Layla, we got to get right to this. Adam Amin with Lawrence Holmes and Carmen Vitale yesterday on the Spiegel and Holmes show, shared this nugget of advice from Hall of Famer Drew Breeze had for Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. The best message, and I was going to share this on Sunday anyway, was Drew's line at the end of our conversation with Caleb.

And he said, you know what the difference is? between a 60% passer and a 70% passer. And Caleb's answer was, he was hesitant, but he goes, is it checkdowns? And which is, yes, in a way, but Drew's answer was three completions. You get three more completions per game when you're probably going to throw the ball 30 times per game. Suddenly, it's like we talk about being a 250 hitter versus being a 300 hitter, which used to be the Hall of Fame trajectory. You want to be a Hall of Fame hitter.

You only need a couple more hits per, you know, 10. Five hits a week. You need five more hits a week, a hit per game or a hit every other day. And suddenly you become a 280 hitter rather than a 250 hitter. That's with the message that he was trying to implore him on. And a lot of that comes from being outside the pocket. His receivers being a little bit more responsive. Yeah, they were bottom five in drop rate.

You've got to be better with that too. But Caleb could be better mechanically outside the pocket too. And a few adjustments here and there are all it's going to take to get small plays that lead to extended drives, that lead to four extra points instead of having to settle for a field goal. These are the little things that build up and compound over time. And that's a good entry point

to be in a year two in an offense. It's all great from Drew Brees relayed from Adam Amin. So that's usually what happens in these meetings that they have behind the scenes. Great stuff. They get to talk to broadcasters.

There's a behind the scenes meeting that goes on. The intent is that it just really helps you speak about what the team has been working on that week. The joke is everybody says they've had the best week of practice ever because nobody wants to say they didn't. But in the meantime, I think there's a lot of really good advice

from Drew Breeze who, you know, was a quarterback who played past his physical limitations to say the very least. Shorter quarterback like Caleb too. Well, and Drew Breeze is very short, comparatively speaking. Yeah. I think what, three inches at least shorter than Caleb Williams, two or three? He's listed it.

Well, I don't want to be mean to Drew Breeze. a great career, but he also elongated his career, I think, in doing some of the stuff that I think can mirror what Caleb Williams can do. Another piece of it, too, is his experience with Sean Payton. And that coaching tree is where Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell also originates. So that's good to note as well. One thing that speaking of the short aspect, and Caleb Williams is not as short as Drew Brees, but on the shorter side for a quarterback, one thing I'd like to see Caleb be better at is not getting so many balls batted down. We saw some in this pre-seasoned again and having a ton last year in his first couple of years in the league.

That's still something that he's working on overcoming. I don't know if it's as simple as Drew Brees laid it out. It is. The math says it. Yes, three more completions, but I think there's a lot more that really goes into the whole thing. We'll talk more about the bears later. Keep listening for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Weezer when the gathering tour makes it stop in Chicago on September 22nd at United Center,

featuring special guests, the shins and Silver Sun Pick. tickets provided by Live Nation. go to Ticketmaster.com to buy tickets. Let's get into Carolina next. Eugene Robinson, the color analyst for the Carolina Panthers joins us next on Rahimi and Grotia on 1043, the score.