Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Is the dream of Maxx Crosby and the Bears joining forces officially dead?

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote wondered if the possibility of the Bears acquiring Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby is still alive or dead.

This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. It is Mark Grody and Layla Rahimi in with you today on this Thursday. And we haven't heard from Mark, our intrepid Bears reporter, on the deal involving Max Crosby, dying, not going to Baltimore after all. And then I think Mark, he cemented it when he decided to post an Undertaker gift and say, he's back. It made it. I don't know if Undertaker. gifts are official, but it sure felt like Max Crosby was letting

everybody know, that was the end of that. He wants to be in Las Vegas. Or so it seems, I do remember a pretty dramatic post that he put up going to his new team as well. So I don't trust anything right now. Everything still feels a little bit fragile until it doesn't, and maybe I won't be saying that by the end of the day. Congratulations to Max Crosby, too,

on being sober for six years. He put that up as well. He is into sobriety. So good for him. Some people were fiddling in the comments because apparently he smokes a little weed every once in a while. But if drinking was his DOC, as we call him the business, drug of choice, and he's not doing it anymore, good for him. But if he smokes a little weed on the side, he wants to be California sober, that's good. Layla, the whole thing to me, I'm going to use two words to describe what I've been hearing and the reaction that I've had to everybody in the NFL world. The whole thing is this big mind bleep is what it is. For obviously the

teams involved for the rest of the NFL, for the teams that were thinking about Max Crosby. And you know who I thought about? I thought about your average, let's say, 11-year-old fan that is in Baltimore. That's when your emotions are at their highest as a sports fan, I think. You're not really developed. You're a huge fan of the team. Hey, Max Crosby's coming to the team.

Max Crosby is coming. And then the next day you find out that Max Crosby is not coming. to the team. So the whole thing has been this huge mindbleed for every single person involved in it, for everybody that covers it for people like us. It's just mind blown in a really bad way. Was it Chris Angel speaking of Las Vegas who called himself Mind Freak or something like that? Wasn't that a thing? Mind freak. Are you using freak instead of the other word or because, you know, there's a word that I'm, okay. Chris Angel Mind Freak was a television series. Oh, very good. You know where you can watch it?

Tube. I heard you guys talking about Tubey yesterday. Let it be known that you can watch it on Tubey. Did you say you watched the Super Bowl on Tube or something like that? Yeah, a couple years ago. I watched the Super Bowl on Tube because I was in Thailand. It was like a missing Super Bowl. Oh, okay.

It's a flex. So the whole thing is a mind bleep and it all sucks and there's nothing good about it for anybody, including the awkward Max Crosby having to go back into the Raiders locker room. Yeah, and Max Crosby did post about his sobriety. 311, 20, six years sober. Yeah. That doesn't make mistakes. I thought that was great.

Amen. And I'm not here to gatekeep how somebody wants to live their life and when they want to call themselves sober. He also then posted, everything happens for a reason. Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see. I'm a raider. I'm back. Run that flag.

And then there was an eagle and a pirate flag. And then there was an undertaker gift of him walking through a coffin that was on fire. He busts out of the coffin on fire, kicks down the door, and surprise, surprise, the Undertaker is alive. That was what I heard when I saw the little pirate flag with the skull and crossbones. That's exactly what I heard. Except here's the thing. That's kind of the Undertaker's bit too, isn't it? I'm going to Baltimore.

Bung! No, never mind. And then once you thought you had the Undertaker figured out, no, you didn't. He'd come back yet again. and again. And that was the point. Okay, you're teaching me. You know, you know I don't speak wrestling.

I appreciate that you do. And I think Marshall does as well. So I am taking it all. At least the man. And Lawrence. And Lawrence. Yeah, absolutely. Lawrence for long, long time talking wrestling here on the score.

But yeah. At least he has a sense of humor about the whole thing. He's not like depressed in a dark room. Not drinking. Here's the other thing to Mark is that he was very definitive. as you pointed out in his comments and speaking perhaps through agents when it came to like Jason Lockenforra, oh, this is, I've played my last down in Las Vegas. But I think the bigger picture here is that the actions make us all question, well, wait a second.

How bad is that physical? Because as we understand, there were other teams verbally the Cowboys who were out there talking about how they didn't want to give up two first round picks from Max Crosby. he said he didn't want to give up two first rounders in a player. That was the Micah Parsons deal. Notably, the two first rounders seemed to be the real big talking point here and the point of dissension when it came to the price. And on top of that, Mark, I think, was the fact that there were other teams who were concerned about the medicals. And I don't necessarily think it's the medicals of, do you think Max Crosby can play next season? It's the, how much are you going to get next season and does that quantify with a two first round pick return?

Yeah. How much are you going to get next season? How much are you get the season after that? Let's say here's the problem, I think, with anybody, but I'll keep it bear-centric. Here's why the bears are not going to land Max Crosby. I know that's not exactly. Mark has killed the dream on three-one two days. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Chicago, I am sorry. No, I'm not. here's the truth about the whole thing. Let's say Max Crosby did make his way to Hallis Hall and to the doctors there, or whomever performs the physical, and they think, let's just say their doctors,

like, actually we think he's okay. Like we would do this. If something was to happen and he was to get injured, the bears would go back to being, that's so bears. Can you believe what the bears just did? Of course the bears were the team to fall for the banana in the tailpipe. The bears were the team to fall.

to fall for it. So here's the thing. It's just way to, even if, because I hear the conspiracy theories out there, I heard Marshall yesterday talking about saying he doesn't think it's a fail physical and that there's more to it and that they just got cold feet and they didn't really want to give up the, you know, buyers remorse, all of that. My God, what have we done? And I get all that. I'm here to hear conspiracy theories even if I don't believe in them. But if this was to happen and he was okay, good to go and then he gets injured, the bears look terrible and it's like a regression from all the positivity that the bears have had and specifically

a guy that I've been hard on that you've been hard on and that's Ryan Poles. You know what I mean? Like he seems to be getting better at his job over the last year plus. That would be a huge setback. And I think any team has to look at it like that at this point. Even if Baltimore was a little off on their physical, you can't afford to take that chance because it would be egg in your face if he was to get injured. Well, and it's one thing when it's one team, and you're right, Mark,

there are circumstances surrounding the Ravens that are historical. Mike Floreo talked about the concept of trading a first round pick for them and how that was something that they hadn't previously done. Then there's audio that we had from our sister station 1053, the fan in Dallas, Shan Sheriff. Yes, he said the Baltimore Ravens ultimately failed him on their physical, and that Shand Sheriff is speaking here. His understanding is that there were multiple doctors that reviewed his MRI scans.

There were doctors who examined him, including Dr. Daniel Cooper, the Cowboys doctor, who had performed surgery on Patrick Mahomes and Malik Davis. Many teams and players rely on Dr. Cooper's expertise. And Dr. Cooper was one of the doctors who reviewed the images where the Ravens then felt compelled to back out of the trade. Now, the Cowboys had been on the record, at least they had sourced on the record, with Jane Slater of NFL Network, their reporter, saying multiple times that they did not think that two first round picks was the price that they wanted to pay in a trade like this.

However, this does make me wonder if that could still be a possibility. I know what Max Crosby said. I know that he pointed out the Undertaker Giff. I know that he posted the pirate flag. But I also know that there are many a player who have said they're back or that they have decided to go elsewhere. And it doesn't always work that way when you've got a contract with another team. I think considering what just happened, anything is possible, including that.

And I will say this, too, about the Ravens organization. We were talking about it in transition a little bit with Moline Hawn. He asked the question, you know, would you do business with Baltimore right now? And I get the question. And most people's answers would be, I don't know about that. But before this occurrence, heard Baltimore for the last two decades or so, that's an organization that you would probably have pointed to and said, that's one of the best organizations in the NFL.

With the GM they have now, Eric DeCosta, the guy that they had previously, Ozzie Newsom, right, the tight end turned. He was terrific at his job. Playing as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, he was. And then, you know, John Harbaugh is gone. Now the head coach of the New York Giants.

John Harbaugh was considered one of the top. five best coaches in the league. So it's not like this is some disaster of a franchise that this is going on. So I do think that they survive this. And I do think that we are being a little bit harsh in our overall assessment of the Baltimore Ravens, even if this was not a good look in the moment for the Baltimore Ravens. Our segment here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie talking about whether or not the dream for the Bears is dead for Max Crosby is brought to you by almost free teeth.com save on dental implants today. Here's the funniest part about all of this.

Because the Raiders had so much cap space signing Tyler Linderbaum to that ridiculously high contract. I'm not saying he's not worth it. It's just relative to the position. 27 million a year. Mildo. Mildo in Mark's measurement scale.

That is three years at 27 million a year for 81. You thought that that was ridiculously high compared to the center before him, Creed Humphrey, who had set the market. Even with all of that, even with Max Crosby's wildly high cap hit, they still have cap space. They still have 37.9 million dollars to spend under the cap. That's the craziest part. It really is, especially considering what has been going on here. And that has been our, I'll say my obsession with, because I don't want to just necessarily put everybody else into it, but we have all been talking about the Bears' cap room. And how could we get that cap to? How can we get more money for the Bears? All of the money

in the NFL has been with the Raiders. So there's a floor that they have had to get to that's part of why the Linderbaum got the $27 million per year. But man, that is going into next year, the Raiders, good or bad or ugly, is going to be a fascinating team to watch on a week-to-week basis. Well, and that's it, is that this is continued as the soap opera of the NFL. And having, frankly, disgruntled pass rusher specifically on teams who struggle, like, say, the Raiders or Miles Garrett with the Browns or Trey Hendrickson prior to him leaving, then going to Baltimore, there was an issue. You know, this isn't, this isn't new. This isn't something that's rare. And they have their agency and they have the right to say, this isn't good enough for me.

look at how I'm playing for you. This is what I'm doing. Are people participating in the same way? Max Crosby asked that question. Perhaps you want to be on an organization where you can win. But I think lesser than the concept of whether or not there was buyer's remorse on the side of Baltimore, I think there was a market that Max Crosby set. And once that domino fell, everybody else made moves.

And I do think that Baltimore told you the priority was. after they addressed hiring Declan Doyle, after they addressed hiring a new head coach, after they decided to adjust their offense to better suit Lamar Jackson make the changes they did, that they were going to get a pass rusher, a bona fide top name in the league pass rusher. And that's exactly what they set out to do. Their plan B was still incredible in Trey Hendrickson. And it cost them nothing pickwise. That's what you get to do when you've made the flexibility,

when you've got the money, and then you decided that this was the priority. you were going to set. We want one of those guys. We're going to get one of those guys. They still did. So I think that that's the most important thing here is there was a market that supplied enough of these elite pass rushers to still make that a possibility for them. To make sense that it was actually on the up and up, that their first choice was Crosby. And if Crosby hadn't worked out, it would be Hendrickson. Textor here, 312, 644, 67, 67 is the number. moving quickly. So here it is. Here it is. Grody is so lots of O's. So wrong. He does understand. This is

football in my best Doug Bafone voice. The texture says anyone healthy or coming off injury can be hurt at any time. Of course that's the case. But can you imagine if the Chicago Bears did what they have done twice in the last two decades, and that is to give up two draft picks for a player once upon a time, Jay Cutler, the other was Khalil Mack. Can you imagine if the Chicago Bears who are coming off in 11 and 6th season, their first playoff win in 15 years,

were to get this man and then he injures the same knee again. That would be egg on the face in a big way of a, I would say, a recovering GM, a general manager for the Bears who has gotten a second life and he's doing good things with his second life. At this point, I don't think the Bears are in a position to take that risk. Other teams might be, I don't think Ryan Poles is. Well, he's got the extension, so it is what it is.

You're right. We would be eviscerating the bears if they were in this position. Oh, and Poles would get run out of town for it. Let's not forget the Larry Ogun Joby example. I never forget the Larry Ogun Joby example. Poles will probably be asked about that today in some way, shape, or form, or at least a preface to a question because he can obviously relate to the pain, because Poles was genuinely hurt by having to do that. He said at the time, because I remember being there,

that it was one of the hardest things he had to do was tell Larry Ogan Joby, sorry we're going to pull that, what, three-year deal. I don't remember what the actual numbers were, but it was a pretty good number. We were all pretty excited that he was going to be the three technique for the Bears. He wasn't. It was Justin Jones, who still has been their best three technique since Ryan Bulls took over, in my opinion. Well, and I think the other part of this is really important is that the Bears made their big swings last offseason. I've maintained that.

And the reason I feel that way is because we saw the contracts that went to them. and for everybody who says, well, the salary cap isn't real, I think that might be true for some teams. I don't think it's true for all of them. And the bears are acting like a team that the salary cap still very much defines a lot of their budget. Can you make some wiggle room? Can you restructure contracts? Yes. But can you do it to the extent of, say, the Philadelphia Eagles?

I don't think the bears have that kind of wiggle room or they don't want to do that. And polls even said that at the combine. there's got to be a level of acceptance and understanding that they signed Dio Dengbo and Grady Jared and extended Montez sweat to these contracts with the expressed intent that they knew that those were going to be their guys. Have they produced enough? Not in the first year of that combination. But you can't argue with the money that they put on those efforts. That was the money they decided they're telling you with a contract how important they think those guys are. So for two years in a row, Dio Dengbo is a projection.

when they signed him. It was a total projection because of the lack of – now it's the same thing. And Dan and I always say to take the north. The bears are kind of hiring from within that they can't make the big splash because they are still depending on Dio O'Dango to be productive and to be the player that they seem to have projected. Shamar Turner, the second round pick, they still have high hopes for him. But you're right.

The money they spent on the D line and the interior of the O line last year were great. splashes, but it has hurt them in terms of their spending this year and what they think they can do. I owe the bangbo. Oh, yeah, that was a caller yesterday. Grotty, you didn't hear that. What was it? I owe the bangbo. I owed the dangbo. Close enough. We got what he was saying. We accept it. Yeah, so there's that. But that's Mark Grody. I'm Layla Rahimi. Our producers, as you heard them speak through our audio earlier, Ray Diaz, Tyler Beaterbaugh, Brandon Friar helps us out as well. You can join us Through our text line, as we mentioned, you can call us because we do want to know what you think.

Is that dream over? Are you okay to say goodbye to the Max Crosby idea for this year? 312-644-67 is our number here at The Score. You can join us on Twitch. Our Twitch mob is chatting away. Twitch.tv slash The Score, Chicago is our address. We are also at YouTube, and we are at the Score Chicago on YouTube as well. So you can join us there if you like.

We broadcast live through our scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. And Wildfire has joined us back for the breaking news sponsor. Breaking news on the score when we have it, and you know we'll tell you, is brought to you by Wildfire. Enjoy a delicious meal at Wildfire restaurants with five Chicago land locations. I have enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc or two at a wildfire. I will say that. That looks good on you. Leila, just hanging out, having herself a nice glass of what?

Savon Yon. Savon Blanc. Is that a long block? Okay. Yes. I don't know my wine. Sorry. That's good, though.

I-O-D-D-D-D-D-Bo. Who is it again? Di-O-D-D-D-A-O-D-D-B. Here's what scares me. The more we say it, the more we're likely to mess it up. It's a slippery slope. It's Zipil-L-O-L-L-A-L-A-U-V-I-G-N. What did you say?

I don't know how to say those wine words. Sov-B-S-V-B-S-V-B. Savvy-B-B-S-V-B-S-V-V-B-S-V-V-N. Sauvignon Blanc. Correct. Got it. Also, just white wine. There you go.

White wine? What wine? It's a little easier. Is white wine for the daytime? Is white wine more summer or where do the white wine? More of a white meat thing, fish, chicken? They say you're supposed to drink white wine with fish, but those rules are kind of antiquated.

Okay. You know, like they don't recommend you drink red wine with fish. I don't necessarily think it matters. I don't care. I did use to enjoy it. I'm not going to criticize. Beef and red wine. Like steak and red wine.

steak and like that's delicious. Or if you're Seinfeld and you're trying to steal your dates toys and you're at her house, more turkey and red wine and then she falls asleep so you can play with all the vintage toys. Oh, yeah. The exciting whites. I mean. There's that as well. Yeah, you missed Danny Parkings yesterday.

Well, I heard him talking about a boo thing there. That's your one boo thing. Yeah, that was pretty good. Okay, so coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grady, since Mark is here, I think now that free agency has died down a little bit, we expect to hear from the Bears later today at Hallis Hall. We've got to ask the question, given how many one-score games, the Bears were in and they won,

and I know you remember because you were stressed out watching them too. It came down to a lot of playmakers, and a couple of them we know are no longer with the team. So, do you feel like enough was done in free agency to replace some people who really did matter last season? We'll talk about that next.