Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Interviews of the Week on 670 The Score: Jan. 26-30

Episode Date: February 1, 2026

In Interviews of the Week on 670 The Score, former Score host Dan Bernstein joined the Spiegel & Holmes Show to reflect on the life and legacy of legendary Score host Terry Boers, who passed away recently; FS1 host Danny Parkins joined the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show to discuss Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' trajectory and the Bulls' aimless direction; and NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales joined the Mully & Haugh Show to take an early look at the Patriots-Seahawks matchup in the Super Bowl and to discuss the Bears' outlook moving forward.

Dan Bertstein Unfiltered. Got most of the band back together as we welcome, one of the greats of all time, Terry Bores. Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy. How are you, man? How are you guys doing? How you guys doing? The state of the world.

I mean, especially thinking about your grandkids and thinking about the kind of world in which they are going to grow up. You know, I don't really worry about that too much. I think there's a, there's always going to be a certain part of people. that I've met over the years that you'd never want to see again. But there's another part of it that couldn't be nicer to you. They couldn't be better. How much can I trust that my grandkids and their kid, whatever, are going to be okay in 10 years or 15 years or 20 years from now?

I can't. I don't know. I think so. This thing is a mess, but I've never seen a mess yet. There was a right people. You can't clear up. at least start. I'm happy to hear you say that.

The appealing to the better angels of our nature is still something we can do. Yeah, I think our nature is still decent. I really do. We're back with more of honoring an original, a Terry Boar's celebration of life on the score. Well, this is not how I wanted to see Dan Bernstein again. But I guess it's, I guess what's really true is I'm not sure I wanted to see Dan Bernstein. again. Actually, that's not true. That's the correct answer. That's the right sentiment, particularly

on this day. Oh, no, you, you. Dan Bernstein is in studio here at 670 the score. That's nice to say. Good to see you. Good to see you too. You look good. Thanks, buddy. So do you. Thank you. And this is quite a thing today. It's the, well, you know, you know what it is to have an effect on a populace. And Terry Boers has had a massive effect on a populace, be it Chicago, but it's even bigger than that. It is vast. He's had an effect on a medium. And he's had an effect on a fan base. And there's just so much to discuss in regards to the legacy of the man that, frankly, I'm not sure seven hours is enough. No, he'd be miserable about all this talking about him. He would, ah, you know, buddy.

Shut up, buddy. Yeah, that's enough. We've got better stuff to talk about. This would make him all incredibly uncomfortable. I know that. But it has been... I mean, you've been going through it over at 312 with unfiltered and all that feedback. We've been going through it here with all our feedback.

And then, I mean, Rosie did... Steve Rosenblum did an amazing job on Saturday with a live radio show. Every show since has taken calls. We're doing this today. Chris Rangy's going to take two hours, probably a call's time. night. The outpouring is just unbelievable. And I've said this multiple times. I apologize if I'm repeating myself, but everything sort of remains true. I don't listen to anything you do. Nor should you. Thank you.

The idea of mourning and grief is obviously nonlinear. And I always am making sure I feel like I'm doing it the right way. And you're supposed to be sad. We are. supposed to this this is sad and the problem is that that bastard makes it impossible to be sad in the moment because every time you think of the damn guy you're laughing or you're smiling about something every single time and every time you think well what what can we do we can remember him that we always say may may his memory be a blessing may his memory be a blessing and with Terry, his memory is more than just a blessing. That said generally as something that soaks in over time.

That said where one has moments where one realizes, wow, I'm having a time for memory and this really is a blessing or that I can think back and share or remember something and pay something forward that he would do or he would think. With him, the blessing is that you can't stay sad because you immediately start laughing. about something stupid. Yeah. About, or giggling about something stupid.

For the past couple of nights, I have spent so much time going through so much of your, when I say I'm talking to you, the score listener, the Terry Boers fan, and just going through so much heartfelt, how many stories and how many connections and how many moments

of the most mundane details, the tiniest details. So many on the Who Needs Two Tavern Tour, so many were like, you're in my town, you're at my bar. And I remember when I went up to Terry and I said this and Terry told me this. And I don't remember these things. These are a lot of it is a blur. It's been a long, long time. And I laugh all over again.

And I'm there in the room. And they're talking about what Terry was saying to Dave, Miska Nick Hapner, and he was ordering his Jack and Coke, and his iPad didn't work. And the smallest things. And I'm giggling there and just laughing. Someone said, I actually sent this to Tanna Hill. I took a screenshot of this. I want to make sure I get this exactly right.

I don't even know. I've missed you looking at your phone while we're live on the air. So I'll paraphrase. This guy says something. It was this beautiful note. Beautiful, emotional note about what Terry. meant to him and getting him through difficult times. And then he says something.

He says, I know it was tough for Terry near the end, but I'm glad that at least Dr. Rasmussen was there to provide relief and solace. A Dr. Rasmussen reference out of nowhere, under a drive. Terry would always say, well, don't go to Dr. Rasmussen because he only had one treatment. And that was for Dr. Rasmusson's hot beef injection. And if you didn't need the treatment, it didn't matter because that's all the good doctor was going to give to you anyway. I hadn't thought of that in forever. I mean, it's been at least 10 years since we've heard it.

It's a B-side deep-cut reference. And so I'm laughing. It's the middle of the night. Beth is trying to sleep. Would you stop giggling? If you're going to remember Terry, do it in a different room because you're being loud. Oh, you have no choice. But it's been, and that's just one example.

over and over and over the smallest things, the little things that he said and just making people happy or smile or something to forget something else. And there were important things too. There were things that people really remember about him. But to me, not surprisingly,

it's the throwaway goofy stuff that hits hardest. That has been the joy for me is all of these people in this community sending stuff to each other and remembering things. Matt Fishman, who is honoring Terry today by having surgery. Having all of his bodily fluids replaced by synthetic equivalence. He's one of two people who couldn't be on the show today because they're having surgery, which is an amazing homage in itself.

That's kind of BS, I think, though. That's no excuse. I don't buy it. I think he should be here. Fishman told me that he and Terry used to go to Wrigley in the early days, and Terry would walk around going, Hi, I'm Tom Cher. Hi, I'm Tom Share.

That's why I keep thinking. I keep thinking no matter what, it'll be five years from now, and you'll be, you'll be somewhere, and you'll hear somebody in the background you think say, I'm Edward Dickman. And you were like, wait a say, did I hear that? Judd-Sarrot reminded me of Baron von Muffehausen. I forgot that one, completely. You know, there's a million of them. Honestly, 70% of it would get anybody canceled. The thing is that a lot of it was just a walking scandal waiting to happen as far as what you can and can't say on the air.

And that's okay. Because times change and times change for good reason. I want to say that when you're describing the Who Needs 2 Tavern Tour memories and it's 14 years of Friday remotes. Right? We counted them up. Yeah, the total number of days we were out of the studio doing the show. I know you at a live event, and you are different than Terry Boers at a live event. And that, because that guy, all he wanted to do was walk around and talk to people during the breaks and create more moments.

He wouldn't even know we were back on the air. We'd have to drag him back over. What do you? I'm busy. I'm talking to people. I don't have time for you. I'm talking to my guy over here. I mean, was there anybody ever built for that job more?

Well, that's a great question. because I know that you sort of ask that rhetorically, but he helped define the job. I think in a lot of ways, Terry's arc helped for a time. It's different now. But I think for a certain kind of writer, beat writer, journalist, columnist, radio guy,

we can talk about Terry the comedian. And Terry was a brilliant comic. soul. Had a stand-up comics sensibility for callback. And an insult comics ability to be able to cut you to ribbons and make you like it. He was our Don Rickles. And it was warm and you knew it came from a good place and he

wouldn't make funny if he didn't love you. And it went for everybody he had a bad word for wherever it was. However, that's only part of it. That's part of his hard wiring that made him great once the red light went on. But the other part was well steeped in news judgment, in understanding the sports zeitgeist of a city, of really knowing today here's what's important,

here's what's worth really having something strong to have an opinion about, and really understanding the inner workings of media, and knowing, God, the off-the-air conversation, be like, you know, why did so-and-so write that? He's like, well, I'll tell you why he wrote it because he's the one who said this, and they're going to own this story. They're going to downplay it, and you wait.

When the Sun Times publishes, it's going to be a completely different angle on it. So we might want to think about, well, how, if you said that, I don't know if you're going to like being the guy with that opinion. You know, so he had a real sense that belied a lot of the goofy, oh, you know, I'm just, the mind like a trap and a tremendous, it's a trap and a tremendous understanding of all of that. then the comic timing. Yes. Then the goofiness. So the rhetorical question is exactly what we should be thinking about from the professional perspective.

I don't know if anybody was ever built for it. Like the way that they got lucky in choosing him and the way that he got lucky in being chosen for this particular profession as it was opening up to the world. There was a generation, though, that shared that, I think. When you talk about guys, they all came out of the NBA. A lot of these guys were NBA beatwriters. Cornheuser and NBA beatwriters. Well, guys like Dan Barrero and they're Bob Ryan.

There were other big city NBA guys that also became newspaper columnists that then became very successful talk show hosts, if not full-time talk show hosts. We had Pat Royce on earlier today, right? I mean, like, and he's part of my company. He's part of Score North. There you go. So like, yeah, and Terry, he knew all those guys. They hung out together. When I was producing them, producing him, and you were a Bears reporter and Bulls reporter and part-time hosted the score in the 90s.

He had a cavalcade of those guys. Of those dudes. And that's why when I had just come off, when we started in 99, I had just finished up that run with the Bulls and covering those teams. And I was really sort of steeped in some of that NBA stuff. That's Borges and Bernstein. He's saying started in 99. Terry had a whole career before that. Yeah.

But that's what our show started. and we really bonded on sort of that understanding of basketball. A lot of it came in around basketball and around it. This is not the greatest basketball city in the world. Oh, no, but at that time, at that time, we just lived through, like, excellence that has never been matched. We didn't even understand what we were living through. We're still sorting through it. But I laughed because you guys would share an arrogance at times, especially about basketball,

the basketball re-education camp to which you would send people. Thank you. Give me as much as you can. That's my favorite of the creation. Please. Tell me as much as you remember about the basketball re-education camp. Because a caller would be an idiot in basketball terms, and you would send them there with a lot of different details.

Well, we still joke about it. Why do you hate Luwold Dang, Bernstein? Well, maybe because you said, or someone said that they wouldn't trade Lou All Dang for LeBron James. And at that point, I said, well, I don't know if that's when we established the charter for our basketball re-education facility. And we never quite figured out if it was a pleasant learning environment

or if it was a medieval dungeon where you were simply forced to adopt our beliefs about basketball. It was more a coercion facility that it was necessarily an educational one. But yeah, this is a smart baseball town. It's a smart football town. Basketball's taken a while.

And you still have people saying a lot of stupid basketball things in this town. So that fight's never over. I will tell you that. But it was a lot of the, and it wasn't necessarily shared opinions, but that, I will say. No, just in that moment,

that's why I think I enjoyed it so much, you know? But it's funny that when you talk about the, you used to call it the freight train of hate and indignation. Yes. Where the great thing was that you had Terry, and it was Terry. A lot of the stuff that we'd have fun with and making fun of people. Well, part of the reason that I called it that was because me and Mac would come here and do middays and lolly gag and giggle our way through middays and then we'd get you guys.

At the end of our day, it was so miserable. We were just arriving. Oh, you were just starting and you were a freight train of hate and indignation and somebody was going to get it and we were in your way. We were just in your way and it sucked. But we loved it. Terry would say something like, well, yeah, buddy, I think the feelings show is done. done, let's go in there and light somebody's ass on fire. All right.

Let's get it. But it wasn't. But that's perfect. Terry will also say that at various times, it was everyone. It was Maddie and Jason and Scott Cher and Jay Hood and Sam Pillow and any number of people that we would say, you know, what do you have? There's microphones in front of you for a reason. Use them. If you can contribute to the whatever we were doing, whatever, we didn't call it improv, but there was definitely an improv sensibility in letting me, if you got something good, roll with it, you know, feed it.

So there definitely was, and you and I've talked a lot about improv, and this is an incredible improv city, and it should not be a surprise that the score developed so quickly as that kind of sensibility. Well, it was well managed, too. I mean, you had, it might have been accidentally well managed under certain regimes, but there were times where they just knew to get out of the way. Well, go back. Let it be. Because I have a lot of respect for what you guys became as a partnership. But before that, he had an incredible partnership with Dan McNeil.

That's why I fell in love with the score. It was because of him. And I really learned how to drive a show because of McNeil. Well, that's the thing. Mike Greenberg was on today and talked about that show. and I worked on that show and heard that show. And I'm sure there's a lot of our listeners who grew up and loved B&B, but speak to Terry's facility to be a partner in that show and then be a partner with you.

That's a remarkable level of professionalism. You're talking about being the most partnered in the history of the station. But I was born for it. I'm the youngest of five. I get along with all my siblings. This is just me in terms of getting along with people. I don't, maybe that was just him, but, but I wonder if, like, how did it feel in those early years when what, Hood and Fishman are producing you and you guys are finding your way? I'll tell you why it is, because what I learned about Terry is Terry has his natural sense, conversationally and comedically, is almost like, it's funny that I heard John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin talking about this in, in the, uh, the documentary that was actually.

actually approved by Led Zeppelin, which is good in its own right. But when they talk about when the wives show, they always talk about their wives. I'm like, you realize you're Led Zeppelin. I was watching at an airplane and I literally went, are you? Oh, my God. Are you kidding me with this? So John Paul Jones said, he said, I realized all I had to do was find the spaces. He said, we've got a drummer there who's an absolute powerhouse.

We've got a front man who is an absolute powerhouse. he said there's a way to find the spaces and still be more than present. Terry's got this incredible. He doesn't have to say much. He can make a couple of silly noises and be what you remember. He can be what you take away. I'm not saying background. I'm saying his understanding of where the spaces are.

The spaces around McNeil were a certain shape. The spaces around me would be a certain shape. And he just had a natural ability to feel in those areas in a conversation, in an interview, particularly in an interview. And when it really came out to me was how often we couldn't see each other. It is astonishing the kind of chemistry that you two were able to create not seeing each other. He was at home most days. It is astonishing.

Believe me, I've worked so much, and in the pandemic we all had to, but so much with partners on Zoom or we would FaceTime or do anything we could to see each other. other. You guys didn't have that. Yeah, but that, and a lot of that was, was, was, was him. And after a while, you know a person's breathing. And you, you, you just know exactly where somebody is in, in a thought or in an interview when it's time. We didn't need to see each other. That it just became, and it, it's, it was his skill and his lack of ego. Yeah, you're being, you're being modest. Um, because the two of you having figured that out, that comfort of that chemistry and that rhythm where you don't step on each other is a big part of your appeal whether listeners understood it or not.

It's nothing that you work on. I think it just comes over time. It's amazing. But I just think that his lack of an ego and his understanding of partnership and how things can always be better the more you share. And I think I knew when it was time to get out of his way when he'd be on one. but he wanted to be the butt of the joke, too. He wanted to be made fun of.

I was thinking about, and I mentioned this, talked about it with friends in the business, the way that he would self-deprecate in a question, it became rote to hear it like, well, you know, some people say, sometimes I say it, but who the hell am I? I wouldn't say. Nobody would hear what I think. Nobody would listen to me say it, but whatever.

And the interviewee would be laughing, but it would also be eliciting a much more vulnerable and real level of answer, whether they wanted to or not. One of the things, Mike, that's been pointed out over the course of today and last night after the game is that you seem resigned to the fate after the game, that there wasn't much fire in you, and you sort of stood up before the media and said, well, you know, this is the way it is we, are you resigned to this fate? Well, you're the same guy that wrote about me when I did have the fire, that that was

the wrong thing to do. So who you crapp? Well, I'm just asking. Don't crap me. No, no, no, no, no, no. I heard through a little birdie whose name rhymes with Jonathan Hood that you guys didn't necessarily

want to do that or that there was a conversation about whether it carried that over or not true. So because it was their bit. It's an old different shows bit. I felt weird. I bet. I used to tune in to listen to it. I used to make sure that I ran out of the Rockford Lightning offices in time to not

miss who you crap it. Yeah. So you felt weird to take it? Or to carry it forward. Yeah, but then Ron Gleason kind of was the deciding factor and he said it was Terry who asked the question it's Terry's voice it should be Terry's segment and McNeil was not happy about it he wasn't made that you know made it clear time that wasn't his choice was to have that live on with him but I mean everything's cool but it was it was Gleason who said that that who was like well it should be it was Terry and that that's his bit we've never really figured out the intellectual property with a lot of our bits oh no

No, no, no. Of course not. I get, but like, the genius of that bit, I mean, obviously, it begett bum of the week, and for that you suck, and what's your beef, and all of that. At every radio station, everywhere, everywhere across the country, but it had an intellectual defining, it had to be something someone said. Nobody understood. That was the problem. You do the same bit for 20 years, and you're at the end of it. People. still didn't understand it. And that actually became perversely, that became really fun. Oh, I know. When Terry would get angry because we'd have some regular caller who still didn't get it. And it's like, well, no, that doesn't, that's not what we're doing here, buddy.

But that was part of the charm, though. Because you also knew that at some level it was your own fault. Of course. Right? Of course it was. Or was it just the idiot listener's fault? No, that's a symbiotic relationship. One begets the other.

It's idiot hosts, create idiot listeners. That's it. All right, we are looking for a big finish on who you're crapping. He's done reading. He's done reading. Because the good ones were all coming in via email. I'm like, Terry, look, you can talk to these idiots or we can actually read the ones that came for the smart people.

This from Stonecutter. So here's the thing. So he must have, he's done reading. That's about as close as he got to. He didn't criticize you on the air very much. Sure he did. Did he? Oh, yeah.

I feel like I don't remember it. Sure he did. I don't remember him coming at you very much on the air. No, well, it just wasn't really the nature of the, it wasn't sort of like a fire and ice hot take. You say this, I say this partnership. But, Dan, there's things about you that are very desirable to come after. They're completely miserable. Yes, it deserves lampooning.

No, and not even that. But it's like how you could sit next to you and not come after you. That's part of his egosiness in a lot of ways. Like he didn't, or he didn't enjoy that part of it, I guess. No, like he would come after if it was funny. He'd make a joke about something. He wouldn't do it to be mean. Or to prove something about himself.

No. He would absolutely do it if it were funny. In service of the bit, if other people would find it funny, he'd do it. Let's talk about what Terry Boers' North Star was in that way. What about Dr. Radio? Dr. Radio himself. Dan Bernstein is in the building. Danny Parkins is going to join us in the next half hour as well

to talk about the legacy of Terry Boers. We're here until 7 on the score. I could do Stephen A's job, guys. It's not that part. Danny Parkins. QB1 party. All are invited. Host of Fox Sports Wands, first thing first.

It's a heartbreaking ending to the most enjoyable Bears season of my life. I'm born in 86. So I'm not there for 85. They went to the Super Bowl in 06. NFC championship game in 2010. But in terms of you have the coach, you have the quarterback, and they're going to be there for a decade. Like, this was so unbelievably exciting.

The Bears, plenty of reason to doubt them. Caleb Williams, no. Former host of 670 the score before he abandoned us. That's a Caleb Williams custom, baby. Jersey number one is going to the Raptors. You guys made it seem like at Chicago Bears fans, we had our guy, Danny Parkets, all these guys. Danny Parkins on 670 the score.

Wait. That's it. That's him. He's parko. He's such a parko. It's Rahimi Harrison Grotie on Chicago Sports Radio 670 to score. And yeah, Danny Pee, joining us right now on the Circa Resort and Casino hotline, circa Las Vegas.com. Danny, you sounded great on the score yesterday.

That must have been pretty cool to be a part of that tribute to Terry Bored. and his life yesterday and what you were able to share, my friend. Yeah, thank you. I was honored when Speggs called me and asked to be a part of it. You know, obviously many people worked with Terry Moore, but Speigs won it. He knew kind of the student of the game that I am and that I grew up as a listener of B&B and wanted me to speak to his impact on me from a listener and then my relationship with him. And, you know, it was just, I went, like I said, I went down the rabbit hole of old clips,

and Bores and Bernstein fans are so lucky that there's such a great archive of them available on YouTube. And, you know, the old emails, Terry and I would correspond ahead of radiotons. And so we would talk a little bit about health and nothing crazy. He didn't love talking about it. We traded stories over having back surgeries with each other one time. But, you know, he said one time he was like, you know, just something to the effect at the end of one of his emails, you know, like, you're a real. a tremendous talent, the station is in great hands, love Terry. And I was like, man, it was just like getting that blessing from someone who he didn't owe that one to me at all. And I know

he was gracious with compliments, so I'm not like stretching to pat myself on the back. But like, you know, when you were hired at such a young age, it's such a lifelong radio guy to work at such a big station. And then you see, you know, Mac go out how it ended and, and, how Bernsey went out and like, you know, Terry got to go out, like, in terms of retire, but like he's had many times. Like, he didn't really get to, he would have kept going, if not for the health stuff. Like, it just makes me, like, more appreciative. I wasn't there for forever, seven, eight years, but, like, being able to go out of my own terms and, like, get the blessing from guys like Mack and Bernstein and Terry who, you know, thought I did a good

job with it, it, uh, it means a lot. Yeah, no doubt, man. And it is. It's a, it's a heavy, It's heavy when you get a compliment from somebody like Terry Boar, so I totally get to what you're saying. I also don't want to hear about your back surgery. So, yeah, I'm like totally in line with that. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Yeah, I get it. I just, you know, I've, you know, it's part of your story. Trying to be relatable.

Yeah, yeah. Trying to be vulnerable, but, I mean, feel free to stop on it. I'm glad you're back's okay, Danny. You're an old guy with a cat, so you can't handle the money of all time. Wow. Shots. Look, Fired. I am sorry about your zigzag back.

Okay? Yeah. Does that make it better? I understand. Listen, it's just like a traumatic thing that happened to me in my formative years. It's not a big deal. We don't have to talk about it. If it makes you uncomfortable.

Well, if this makes you feel better, better, I was referred to today as a boomer. Because if you're over the 37 years of age, you're a boomer. 37 seems very arbitrary, by the way. I don't know, 40. Okay, 41. If you're over the age of 41 and you have a take that's a little old school, and it wasn't really even a take, which I guess could lead us into. I was going to go a different direction, but now here we are.

What I brought up, Danny, was because, and I'll let Marshall talk here. We did a full hour today, Danny, on the following question. It wasn't a question. It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Okay. You give your statement. The statement is very simple, Danny. Caleb Williams is the best quarterback the bears have ever had. Point blank period. Sid Lugman, of course, is the most accomplished quarterback that the bears have ever had.

but much like the T offense, the Model T gone out of style, those things are old and decrepit. And we're talking about the current NFL. And certainly, in my opinion, Caleb Williams has shown himself to be the best player to play the position. And I brought up, Danny, just to bring it full circle and the boomer reference, I said, of course, I'm not necessarily saying Marshall is wrong, but you have to bring up guys like Jim McMahon.

You have to bring up guys like Jake Cutler, just to do a little cross-checking and a little bit of debating. But where do you stand on Marshall's definitive statement? I mean, he's obviously objectively correct. I predicted that. That's the only prediction I've gotten right this year that Danny would agree with Marshall. Well, hold on. Like, listen, when people have these conversations and they're great, sports radio, barbershop, whatever,

I do think it is relatively instructive to talk about what we're talking about here. Like, Tom Brady is considered the greatest quarterback of all time. People don't really dispute that. I don't find that conversation to be quite as interesting because it is just a measurement of accomplishments. Like, it's just like I'm looking at your trophy case. Now, if you were saying, who is the most talented quarterback of all time? I find that a little bit more interesting because it brings in like skill set and some nuance. So, like, Jim McMahon, yeah, he has a Super Bowl and Caleb Williams doesn't.

So is that, but is that the only art? Because he obviously is not more talented than Caleb Williams. And, like, we can't put Sid Luckman into perspective because none of us were alive to know anyone who was alive to watch the guy play. Right, exactly. Like, you know, obviously that's hyperbolic. But you understand, I'm saying, like, modern era football as we understand it, Caleb Williams is clearly the most talented player the Bears have ever had to play the position.

And how about this? Just like, touchdown the interception ratio to start a career. First 34 games of a career. First basically two seasons of playing since 1970. Lamar Jackson, 47 touchdowns against nine picks. Patrick Mahomes, now he sat out most of his first year, but first 34 games, so basically year two and three of Mahomes.

Pretty good. 85 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. And Caleb Williams, 47 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. He's behind Lamar and Mahomes for best touchdown interception ratio, first 34 games of his career. Like he is, without a doubt, objectively, the most talented quarterback in the history of the Bears organization. And if you guys need to be like, well, he needs to win,

he has to pass Eric Kramer with wins, like, fine. But I'm just not terribly interested in that. No, no, I completely agree. and that's kind of the point that I was laying out because when Grody went hard to do his cross-checking, if you will, he found two guys and neither of those guys were very inspiring to me in terms of I watched the tape. If you have eyes, it's like believe what your lying eyes tell you

or no, you listen to what somebody says about a guy who, as you said, has a trophy in his case. It's pretty simple and cut and dry to me. I think this is more about working through not only Mark Grody, but the city of Chicago's PTSD and the low bar of what quarterback play has been for the Chicago Bears in recent memory. Yeah, but I mean, listen, I'm not doing radio on the score every day. I like to think that I have a pretty decent poll still of Bears fans.

Are you getting pushback for this opinion, Marshall? Minimal pushback. We had one caller. It was hilarious. He called in. And how did he start the call, Grotie? Patrick. Oh, yeah, he came around.

He was like, ah, did you know, I have it. He's had interceptions. and big games. And I was like, but look at the context of the interception. Like if you throw a pick on fourth down and it's just a punt, who cares? Also, he at the end of the call said, but tell me, who is the best quarterback in Bears' history? He said, it's Caleb Williams.

So, like, even the pushback has been minimal because I just want everyone to be comfortable saying it out loud, you know? I feel like people know it. I can't imagine why you wouldn't be. And it would be a really, like, weird, fatalistic, almost like White Sox fan mentality to be like to bitch and moan for our entire lives that we've never had a good quarterback in Chicago, then get a good quarterback in Chicago, say that he's the best quarterback we've ever had in Chicago, and then want to defend the guys that we used to bitch you a month.

Hey, he might not actually be better than color. Well, then the disclaimer. That'd be a weird pivot. No, no, you're right. But the disclaimer part of this is incredibly important. Marshall's been very careful to point it out, to his credit, that the field ain't great. That the bar is low. That's my point.

And so the problem is that it's still a big statement, though. It's still something that one has to digest it and think about it. Like, hmm, maybe he is. For two minutes. But it's also two years. Okay, I used the analogy earlier. Like, Marshall meets a girl. He wants to move in with her in the second week.

He's engaged to her in six months. I mean, are we moving too fast just having this topic right now? If I meet the right girl, guess what? Yeah. The two things you just said will happen in that in short order. Same. We're too old to be messing around, man. What are you talking about?

If I meet a girl, Danny, who is smart, accomplished, beautiful, and who doesn't live in a bubble and realizes the world is bigger than what she sees, I'm in. I'm good. I mean, yeah, I mean, listen, I agree with that. You know, if you know, you know, don't be afraid to dive into the deep end with your quarterbacks or with your living situation. You can always get divorced. That's always there for you. It's a good thing these days. Louis C.K. says the best part about marriage is the divorce.

He has an incredible bet. He's like, because my divorce just keeps getting better. Every day is better. Every day is better than my wife. So, yeah, that is a great Louis bit. But yeah, listen, I just, again, I can't imagine there's much pushback against that notion because we've been waiting a long time for this. And now, how good Caleb is to the rest of the NFL, like, the goal guys is to no longer ever have to mention the name Jay Cutler or Eric Kramer or Jim McMahon again.

And that's so true. Be comparing Caleb Williams to Drake May. Compare Caleb Williams to Aaron Rogers. Compare Caleb Williams to Patrick Mahomes. Like, that's the goal. Like, compare him to the greats of the game, the greats of his era, the greats of his draft class, things like that. Hopefully this is a, maybe it's not extinct yet, but this is like an endangered species, sports talk radio, top. It is. That is the voice of Danny Parkins.

He's on Zoom right now. You can follow him on X, Twitter, if you'd like, at Danny Parkins, nice and easy. Check out Danny on the newly expanded first things, first OT from 4 to 5 p.m. on FS1. That's Fox Sports 1. Danny, I think that a lot I was thinking about you. and I think a lot of our score listeners had to have been thinking about you when Mike McCarthy was introduced as the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And just to whiteboard that a little bit for the folks who don't know, Danny was highly critical of Mike McCarthy in his time here at the score.

And I would imagine even in your other radio lifetime. So how did that hit you? As objectively hilarious. as the Spider-Man meme coming to life in the form of going from Mike Tomlin to Mike McCarthy. Like, Mike McCarthy managed to win one Super Bowl with Prime Aaron Rogers, the most talented quarterback, arguably in the history of the sport. He coached and managed the worst football game I've ever seen to this day, the 2014 NFC championship game against Seattle.

where he repeatedly kicked field goals from the one-yard line with Aaron Rogers as his quarterback and squandered a 16-point lead with five minutes to go in the game. Just an astonishing level of game management and competence in that spot. Took the Cowboys job, said that he watched every Cowboys game in the offseason when in his year off, was asked about at his introductory press conference, said he was lying about that, just to get the job. And everyone chuckled. I'm like, I don't know.

That feels like plagiarism to me. Like, I feel like that should have avoided the contract. Then he gets to go from Aaron Rogers to the Dallas Cowboys. Hmm, what's the other most historic organization in the NFL? Charmed. And this guy gets the coach, the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's absurd. Here's some numbers for you.

Mike McCarthy playoff win-loss record since winning his Super Bowl in 2010. He's six and nine. second worst of any coach with 10-plus games behind Tomlin. You'd say, well, it's something to get to 10-plus playoff games, and it is. But who's the worst coach since their Super Bowl win with 10 or more playoff appearances? It's Mike Tomlin at 5 and 11. Mike Tomlin would be just good enough to get you to the playoffs and then lose. Mike McCarthy is just good enough to get you to the playoffs and then lose.

And call me old-fashioned, but I think that there's value in being bad for a year, strategically so you could step forward. The last time the Steelers had a losing record, they were six and ten. The next year, they drafted Ben Rufflesberger. The year after that, they won 15 games. The year after that, they won a Super Bowl. There was a pretty famous losing season for the Steelers way back in 1969. They won a coin flip for the number one overall pick. Took a guy by the name of Terry Bradshaw. Five years later, they won four of the next six Super Bowls. Like, there's value in losing. And in Pittsburgh, they just celebrate, we went 9 and 8.

We went 10 and 7 and lost in the wild card round. Mike McCarthy's good enough to go 10 and 7 and losing the wilds card round. But if you actually want to win big and modern football, it's a ridiculous hire. Everybody knows that. But I tell you, Marshall. Well, all I heard was him talking about the Bulls. Oh, wait, no, you're talking about football. My bad.

Yeah. Yeah. It is a boomer take, but it's right. You know what the difference, though, in the NFL, if you have an awful pick, you're guaranteed, an awful record, you're guaranteed a top pick. in the NBA you have an awful record you still have to play ping pong balls with lottery and have a 14% chance

and there may or may not be a guy in that there is no value in the middle in the NFL there's none. It is completely like it's why I argued correctly against the Chicago football brain trust Illuminati that Grotie works with all the time

at Halles Hall about there was absolutely no value in that Bears team learning how to win. Oh, yeah. And they should lose out so they could get the highest draft pick possible. They got that draft pick. They traded it to Carolina. They got a draft pick back who turned into Kayla Williams, who Marshall will tell you is the best quarterback in the history of the back. Well done. Well done. Danny is excellent. I feel uncomfortable, Danny, because we've been agreeing a lot lately, like a lot. Yeah. It's been a little bit. It's been a little bit. Like I say

You were around, Marshall. You were not around. This was a, this was a, I mean, I was so unpopular among Bears media. Probably still I am. But like, they would write about like, no, no, no, no. I think it would be a good idea for the Justin Fields Bears to go, you know, five and 12 instead of three and 14. And there's real value in winning these games now. Oh, really? Oh, really?

Yeah. All that would have done was cost you the rights to Caleb Williams. congratulations. You'd have a different left tackle right now, but you'd have no quarterback. Like, it's just, it was just nonsense. It was a whole motif here, man. Danny is on point here. If I was on these airwaves back then, I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. Oh, there's value in learning how to win for a coaching staff and roster of players who

won't be here anymore when they're good. I don't know if Fluce learned anything while he was here. Yeah. Danny, before we get you out of here, because Janus is out here and apparently available right now in the Bulls. because like what you said, they don't do what they need to do and have, I don't know, that unprotected pick from the New Orleans Pelicans, which would really come in handy right about now. What should the Bulls do between now and Thursday's trade deadline

because they should just sell, sell, sell, sell, and get picks, picks, picks, but I'm afraid they're going to sell, sell, sell, and get young players in return. I mean, listen, Josh Giddy has looked good, you know what I mean? So it's not always a bad idea if you get a young player who has upside. but to be honest with you, they are still where they've been, which is in a really tough spot. Obviously, I'm all for any unprotected or minimally protected first round draft picks for the future you can get. Those are incredibly valuable lottery tickets.

But there's no chance the Bulls can win a bidding war for Janus. The only way they can win the bidding war for Janus is if Janus demands to play for the Bulls, and there's no reasonable reason to believe that that is going to happen. I told Grady, I said, listen, the Bulls have players that if they traded them away for Janus, would leave Janus with no one to play with. Yeah, that's true. Danny, we got to go. Right.

And Janus has power. Like, Janus has, Janus, he's going to want to go where he wants to go, and then he's going to want to go somewhere. The whole point is to have enough left for him to be able to win when he gets there. So, you know, he would have to demand to play for the Bulls, and the bucks are not going to, that's not going to happen. There's no way. ball check's not a first ballot hall of famer you think that it's an injustice or do you think it's the right way to go yeah you know i'm going to go out on a limb and say that the coach with the most super bowls and the most playoff wins and the second most wins of all time uh if he's eligible for a

hall of fame that cares about those things and doesn't have a morality clause he should be a hall of famer like if this was the baseball hall of fame and there was a morality clause then it would be a reasonable debate but since there is no morality clause, and it's just supposed to be on your merits. I find it very hard to make a merit-based argument for Bill Belichick not to make it into the Hall of Fame. He didn't see the fine print of the Petty Clause. That's what he missed.

Yeah, yeah. Which, by the way, by the way, I respect. I don't agree. I don't agree with it. But, like, these guys should come out and say, yeah, I don't like them. And so I'm making them wait. Like if you want to stand on your pettiness, I have no problem with that. It's the like, I don't remember who I voted for.

Well, then you don't get a vote. Like, if you can't remember who you voted for, you should no longer be allowed to vote. Oh, absolutely. Right. That seems like a fairly straightforward, like, cognitive line that we should be able to hold these guys to. Like, if Bill Polly honestly on the record said,

I don't remember with 100% certainty if I voted for Bill Belichick or not. Well, and I'm sorry, you no longer get to vote on these things. He's a seniler clown. That's what it comes down to him. And Danny, I think you were here, if I'm not mistaken, when the whole Terrell Owens thing happened, where he didn't get first ballot Hall of Fame. Oh, I yelled at everybody. Yeah. Yeah. I yelled it at, I yeah, well, yeah, same thing. But, and worse, by the way, because T. T.O. was only the third best receiver in the history of the NFL. I don't know

wait three years. Bill Belichick is first. Like, you know, it's just a... And I understand the like, hey, it's a slap on the wrist for cheating. Yeah, yeah, you know. I get that argument, but then you have to be able to come out and stand on that argument. And you have to explain where in the bylaws of the Hall of Fame they are asking you to weigh that. Like, that's not...

Shouldn't that be implied, though? No, no, I'm with him on this. You shouldn't cheat, like cheating. Because baseball does have the morality clause. I get exactly what Danny's seen. If baseball did not have the morality clause, you think bonds would be in, right? Yeah. Right.

Right. And so he's out because of the morality clause. Okay. All right. I guess I think of morality clause. I don't know. Like, there's like, is that, is that a, is cheating a moral issue? Yes.

Absolutely. But isn't it borderline illegal to? And I get it. We're parsing words here. Isn't cheating? Cheating is illegal, right? But they punished him. Yeah.

They punished him. Yeah. They didn't say in their punishment and this should be considered. And again, if a voter, if 11 voters want to come out and say, I didn't vote for Bill Belichick because of Spygate, fine. Okay. Like, you know what I mean? Like, fine. But just, but like, come out and come out and say it.

Don't hide behind it or not answer for it or claim. that you forgot, like, just like, make your case. Make your case to the public. Danny, you are a great Parkins like you always are. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for being on the right side of history, by the way. And I'm thinking about your back. I will be.

I will be thinking about your back. And if you think about my cat, you know, if we can have that understanding between us, I think you and I'll get along swimmingly. Thanks, Danny. I'm not going to ever think about your cat. Bye, Danny. That is the great Danny. Parkins, former afternoon show host here at the score and midday show host here at the score.

He does his work right now. And the newly expanded first thing's first OT from four to five on FS1, Danny Parkins. Let's talk more about another Hall of Fame, shall we? Let's talk about the pro basketball Hall of Fame. It's not even a pro basketball hall of fame. It's just the Basketball Hall of Fame. Yep. Oh, yeah, you're right.

Of course. That's why I'm going to explain. Billy Donovan is in because of a football. work in college, of course. But let's talk about that as it pertains to Derek Rose and Reggie Miller was talking about it, weighing in on Chicago

athletes. Let's talk about all of it next here. Rahimi Harrison Grody on the score. Mully Enhaw, Chicago Sports Radio 670, the score. Always fun to talk to Stacey Dale. She joins us now on the plumber's 911

hotline, plumbing emergency call 1833 Plum 911 Local 130 Plummers get the job done right the first time. Stacey, good morning. How are you? Good morning. Doing well. I love being connected to the plumbers hotline. I mean, if I can be here to pipe something through the plumber online. Your big help. Keep up the great work, Stacey. Absolutely. So you're heading out to Santa Clara and you're going to be covering the Seahawks and its familiar ground. And I guess just let's start with how surprised are you that they're the NFC representative and what do you feel like is the biggest reason why? Yeah, I'm not surprised at all, David.

They have the best defense in the NFL and we've talked about that week to week as we've done this. Sam Darnold, the most interesting thing is no quarterback had more giveaways in the league than Sam Darnold. And you're talking about one of the worst teams in terms of turnovers offensively in the National Football League. So that is what's most surprising. But he has been brilliant, brilliant in the playoffs. I mean, they've only played two games, obviously, the 49ers and what we saw last week against the Rams. So divisional opponents, he knew very well. But, you know, his passer rating in the playoffs has been extraordinary. So passor rating, so for listeners, and you guys know this,

it really drums up to quarterback efficiency, right? Like, are you throwing touchdowns? Are you throwing completions? Are you not throwing interceptions? Are you not giving the football away? That's all it is. And so when a quarterback's passer rating is high, it means that he's playing very well. And he's not turning it over and he's being very efficient. When we saw in the 49ers game, he threw it 17 times. That's it. Coming off the oblique injury, he was very efficient.

He didn't turn it over. He has zero interceptions in the playoffs. And I think that is a story going into this Super Bowl. Yeah, it's kind of extraordinary that a guy like Sam Darnold outplayed the probable MVP. And now as a result, he gets to play the probable second MVP or the guy who will be the backup to the MVP or could be the MVP. And that, of course, is Drake May. May supposedly has a shoulder issue that he may. or may or may not have, that they may or may not want to talk about.

But it's just, it's incredible that Sam Darnold comes out of this thing as a guy that joins Tom Brady with 14 plus wins in a back-to-back seasons, and that with two different teams. Yeah, it really is. It's a great story. I think the variable takeover is a great story. I think Drake May, when I got to meet him at the Combine, he's just like this, this big golden retriever. Or teddy bear, like, you know, he's going to be a dream. Like, he has no idea, opening night, Super Bowl, he has no idea what this thing is going to be like.

I mean, if he is the next coming of Tom Brady in New England, He's going to figure it out real quick, but it's pretty cool. There's so many storylines going into the Super Bowl. Stefan Diggs, guys, he's never, I don't think he's ever had a win against Seattle. Like, I mean, he's, I don't know if he's, yeah, like, I mean, there's a ton of storylines in this thing. But, yeah, Drake May is, now he's had his. turnover issues as well. So I think the thing that stands out for me is, like, the superstars have to arrive. And that's where I'm like, the superstar in this game, to me, is the Seattle defense.

They are so brilliant. And it starts with their head coach, Mike McDonald. Like, you have to have a great game plan if you're Josh McDaniels. And I don't, it's going to be fascinating to see. I don't know if it's because of the hoodie and hat look or just the demeanor, but I do see similarities between Mike McDonald and Ben Johnson. I think he's the defensive version of Ben Johnson. Their intensity is similar. I don't know if the personalities are, but Stacey, obviously their effects on the respective teams have been positive. How would you compare and contrast Mike McDonald with Ben Johnson and how surprised are you that in year two he's already got his team in the Super Bowl? I like the comparison.

And this is where, David, I think that Bear fans have to be excited because Ben, I really believe that it's going to be sustainable success. This was not a one-hit wonder by Ben Johnson. I mean, you know, I look at, so I look at the commanders, right? And I love Dan Quinn. I'm a huge Dan Quinn fan. If I could sit in a room with Dan Quinn for an hour. if you just gave me 10 minutes, I would be in my glory. Like, he's that incredible of a leader.

But I also think that there's something to be said about. Is something sustainable? Like, I look at Detroit, and I think, okay, Dan Campbell, another guy I just, I'm obsessed with. Like, I love him. I love his leadership qualities. I think Ben Johnson is. so measured in everything he does and he's calm enough. And that's important. He has a ability to walk in a room and be so calm. And I think he, there's something about him that almost withholds

a little bit of an energy and he saves it for moments. So maybe it's those postgame moments when he wins, right? But like, I just, I love his approach. And so to answer your question, David, Mike McDonald has that. He's like when I listen to him, he's Bill Belichick a nicer version of. He just is. If you just put on, like go into a room and put on Mike McDonald's press conference and walk out of the room. You think you're listening to Bill Belichick. But he's a much nicer version.

And he's that way in person as well. Like I remember sitting in production meetings with him. cover the Ravens. He was a defensive coordinator there. And make no mistake about it. When coordinators leave places that were going to Super Bowls or that were great, their defenses or their offenses were great, those coordinators are now head coaches. And that's what you get with Mike McDonald.

Like he's really special. Players love him. You know, talking to players after the game, the game, Mike McDonald has that Ben Johnson thing. Like he's very measured, he's very calm, but he's also, he knows when to dial it up.

So, you know, it's really cool to see that. And I think Bears fans should be really excited about the future with Ben. Oh yeah, and I think people are, I'm just curious

when you look at this, Stacy, this Super Bowl. I find it interesting to just think about Bears' connections. Obviously, Vailas Jones is technically on Seattle. I don't know if he'll be active for the game or not. But the one that really kind of fascinate you is Thomas Brown, who became the offensive coordinator here when they fired the offense. Then he became the head coach here when they fired the head coach. And then he apparently interviewed for the offensive coordinator job in Seattle and then wound up as the passing game coordinator in New England. So he's a local guy, local connection, but he's got a connection

from both those teams in the Super Bowl. I'd be very curious to see if anybody writes about him or get his take on anything going on. Well, I'll be going to grab him. There you go. I mean, I love that guy. I love that guy. When he took over with the Bears, Mully. Like, first of all, he's, you know,

and it's like, I'm the head coach of the Chicago Bears, right? The way he sees the game, the way he leads, he's really special. And so I'm so pumped for him.

Just like I am, like, when you assemble these coaching staffs that go to the Super Bowl, it's special. And they're not going to be the same. Like, those coaches,

some of these coaches are going to leave, they're going to go other places, and that's going to be the case when you have this kind of elite staff that goes to a Super Bowl. So he'll be one of my targets, though, because he's not only a great coach and a great leader, but he is a wonderful human being. And that excites me. Like one of the things I love about Super Bowl Week guys is you get to go into. So Invision, I get to walk into a room.

and I have the entire 53 men roster sitting at tables. And I have every coach sitting at a table. I get to go talk to the quarterback's coach. I get to sit down with whoever I want. And so my stories come game day are brilliant. I mean, I already think my stories are brilliant to begin with because I know the teams and I follow the teams and I just love football. but you get to actually sit down with these guys,

and Thomas will be one of the ones I target. He hasn't. Even if he's on the AFC, like I'm covering the NFC, so I'm all Seahawks all week. Right. Caleb Williams says he has an aura. Remember that? Yeah, he did say you.

He was the aura guy. But Stacey, looking away from the Super Bowl for a moment, because you know the Super Bowl week is kind of a league convention, fascinated by the coaching search and some of the decisions that have been made. I think in Pittsburgh a lot of people wonder if Mike McCarthy is really a sincere about being open to the idea of Aaron Rogers coming back. What do you make of that hire and what do you think of that possibility? I want it.

I love it. I love the hire. I don't think that a coach gets stale. A great coach to me is a coach for life. So I think it's, you know, he's going. back to the place that he's from. His passion is going to be pouring into that city. So revitalized, and by the way, I love Mike McCarthy.

I'll never forget covering him in a playoff game and walking into a Starbucks with him in Arizona. And he looked at me and he's like, can I get that for you? Like, I mean, Mike McCarthy is just one of the, the best humans. And I think that if Aaron Rogers wants to play again, I texted somebody a couple days ago, like, imagine those two go back to a Super Bowl together. Like, it's just one of the fairy tale stories that we could have in the NFL. So I love that. By the way, I am, like, as pissed off as anybody that Bill Belichick is in a first ballot hall former, I mean, when you talk

about coaches and you talk about sitting with coaches, okay, in production meetings. Like, I've had the, like, gratitude and blessing of doing with every single one of these coaches. You cannot learn more from a singular person than Bill Belichick. like when you sit in a production meeting with him and just study him and think about like what could I ask Bill Belichick that would intrigue him that that that right there tells you this guy is a eight Super Bowls are you kidding me is it eight yeah two two with with New England or I'm sorry with the giants yeah yeah so I just I'm like my You know, you talk about Mike McCarthy.

Like, this is an awesome hire by Pittsburgh. I don't care what listeners think. This guy knows offense. He knows football. I think he'll get a great offensive coordinator in there. Like, it's a very, the NFL is a very incestuous coaching cycle. But when you have the good ones, that's why John Harbaugh is now the coach of the New York Giants. Because they know how to lead.

They know how to assemble staff. and unless it gets stale, these guys know what they're doing, a la Andy Reed in Kansas City. Yeah, I'm going to be fascinated to see what Harbaugh does with the O.C. position because Todd Monkin was, at least what I read was scheduled to go there with Harbao. Obviously, he now takes over the job in Cleveland. So that opens up another OC position. I'll be very curious to see who he ends up higher. and there are different jobs like that around the league. You know, like we talked earlier about Brian Flores has re-upped in Minnesota, provided he doesn't get another head coaching job. So there's still a couple jobs open.

We'll see he's most likely back in Minnesota. But that's always interesting when guys that you expect to be a place end up leaving to take a bigger job. No one's getting in their way, but it does leave you kind of back to square one. It does. It'll be fascinating because, you know, Mike wants to call the plays. So, you have to have a really great relationship with your offensive play caller, and if it's not you, if you're the head coach. So, you know, that's why it's always interesting, like Eric B. Enemy going to Kansas City.

Yes, great one. Is he going to call the plays? No. No. Andy's going to call the play. Yeah. So, like, you know, the league is pretty fascinating,

but I love the partnership in Pittsburgh. I'm a big fan of it. I can't wait to cover it next year. Stacey, have a great time out in Santa Clara. Looking forward to talking to you during Super Bowl Week. Thanks, Stacey. Thanks, guys. That's Stacey Dales.

We've got to ask her about her viral video of the touchdown catch. She's had a couple this year. Yeah, she's been in that corner of the end zone. They throw to her. They throw to her.