Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Is the dream of Maxx Crosby and the Bears joining forces officially dead? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote opened their show by wondering if the possibility of the Bears acquiring Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby is still alive or dead. After that, they debated whether the Bears have done enough to replace their difference-makers from the 2025 roster who have left the organization this offseason.

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

Okay, thanks. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. We talk to our friend, Danny, Parkins. Hey, Danny, how are you? I absolutely think the bears are live for Max Crosby as we sit here today. But I guarantee Ryan Poles made that call last night.

I guarantee it. We all said yesterday's price is not today's price. If you like watching the NFL. Yesterday's price is not today's price. I don't know if that means Caleb Williams is interested or not. I think the podcast, there was definitely some flirting going on. It reminded me, Danny, of when Bryce Harper was flirting with the Cubs. I will show you.

well I flirt. In fact, I will get her phone number. Do you make the pizzas in one of those wood burning ovens? No, actually, I think they're gas. Gas? Wow. Intense. That wasn't flirting. That was heavy

petting. They, they were... No, no, it wasn't heavy petting. Some articles of clothing had already been removed because Bryce Harper told us after the fact I wanted to be a cub. This is totally going to get aggregated the wrong way. I happen to be very proud of my big ears.

I mean, a lot of women consider them a rogynous zones during a heavy petting. It was, you know, like a snowball at a bar mitzvah, but when they say snowball, you're not going to any other partners. You're just staying there with your one boo-thang. Like, yeah, they were absolutely, that's a Jewish reference there that maybe flew right over over. It's okay. I just want to hear you see boo-thing again. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say boo-thing ever.

I've heard Boothang, but not Blue-Dang. thing, but I like it. That's, yeah, that's the difference right there. That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, yeah, no problem. No problem. Ain't no thing. No, it is a thing.

Lela Rahini, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to two on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, the score. As it usually does, our show takes some twists and turns, and, and, you know, and, and, you know, I'm and perhaps more left turns when it comes to some of our discussions. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody on 104-3 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,

GIF 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. Osby, 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. Leila, 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 two 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 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 mind bleed 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 Angels 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? 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 Tube 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. He said 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 Blake. And then there was an eagle. And a. 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. or bong. 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.

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, too, 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 Lockenfora, 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.

Danny 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. 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 do 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 day. 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 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 bear. bears were the team to fall for the banana in the tailpipe. The bears were the team 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 buyer's 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? 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. I can do it, everybody. Yes. He said the Baltimore Ravens ultimately failed him on their physical, and that

Shan 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, 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're talking about it in transition a little bit with Mullen 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 occurred, 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. Yes, he was. And then, you know, I 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 Cross. me 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, just relative to the position. 27 mildo.

It really was ridiculously high. 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

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 rushers 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 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, and they're 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, 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.

But 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 Ogan Joby example. I never forget the Larry Ogan-Jobie 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 Ogon 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 Poles 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 off season. 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 Poles even said that at the combine. There's got to be a level of acceptance and understanding that they signed Dio Dengbo and Grady Jarrett 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 the 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 said. Now it's the same thing. And Dan and I always say to take the north of the bears are kind of hiring from within. That they can't make the big splash because they are still depending on Dio O'Dangbo 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 bang-bow. Oh, yeah, that was a caller yesterday, Grady. You didn't hear that. What was it? I owe the dangbo. I owed the dang-bo.

Close enough. We got what he was saying. We accept it. Yeah, so there's that. But that's Mark Grotie. I'm Leila Rahimi. Our producers, as you heard, them speak through our audio earlier.

Ray Diaz, Tyler Beterbaugh, Brandon Fryer 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, 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. Layla just hanging out, having herself a nice glass of what?

Savoniannion Blanc? Savon. Okay. Yes. I don't know my wines. Sorry. That's good, though. I.o de dangbo.

Who is it again? Diode. I.O. de dangbo. 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 Zipillo. That's all I have to say.

Savon Blanc. What did you say? I don't know how to say those wine. words. Savvy. Savvy B. Savie Blanc? Saviv.

Savian. Savian. Savian. Like, S-A-U-V-I-G-N-O-N. Savian 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 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. Yeah. The exciting whites. There's that as well. Yeah, you missed Danny Parkins yesterday. Oh, well, I heard him talking about a boo thing

there. It's your one boo thing. Yeah, that was pretty good. Okay, so coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison-Rody, 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. Amy Harrison Grody. Can you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best.

Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 the score. Mark Grody and Layla Rahimi are in with. you on this Thursday. And we are awaiting later today to hear from the Bears front office. Ryan Poles is speaking and I think that that's important because we haven't heard from him a lot, which is really, really good to know. So we'll hear from him. I think we're also expecting to hear

from some of the Bears' new acquisitions. So that'll be really helpful to help fill in our gaps over at Hallis Hall. But in the meantime, Marshall and I were talking about this yesterday, Mark, the waves of free agency and how you kind of time them. feel like this is the close of the first major wave of free agency. When the league tampering window opens on Monday, you get all the smattering of free agent news on the first day, and then it kind of closes out. And then the GM speaks because it's a new league year. And then we'll get like the details guys signing like Nashan Wright did last year. You know, that was the, the Bears have also added these guys and it's like 10 guys who they've

signed or something. So now that this first wave of free agency is closed, do you, Mark, feel like the bears have done enough in replacing the players who left with guys who can help this team improve on the record they had last year? I think it's a good start to what they have done with, you know, specifically the signing of Kobe Bryant was a good signing. The fact that Kevin Byard is not coming back to the Bears is bad. So there's another hole. And I don't think Joaquin Brisker is, walking through that door either. I'm okay with Devin Bush as well to be paired with DeMarco Jackson and T.J. Edwards and maybe, maybe the speedy Ruben Hippolyte as well. You added a little depth

on the line with Neville Gallimore. You went out and got your center and then you got a bunch of depth pieces as well. To me, it's a good start, but there's still lots of holes as we sit here right now, there's no way I can say that this Bears team is better on paper than what they had than what they won 11 games for them last year. And that's where I sit with this is when I consider how many one-score games the Bears won and how we talk about so much, how we discuss the plays that a guy like, yeah, Tremaine Edmonds may have not been what you wanted him to be in the totality of his career with the Bears. He got released in the last year of his contract. But he still led the team

and tackles in the regular season despite missing four games. He had 112 tackles. He had four interceptions. That was near the top of the league. Thankfully, Kobe Bryant also had four interceptions in the regular season, so that puts him in familiar territory. But Kevin Byard was an outright playmaker last year. He obviously helped win you a couple games. And then there's the play of Nashan Wright, who helped you out in some close games, especially against the Vikings as well. Like I think about that interception in the end zone. Well, when it's a two point win, Mark, how can you tell me taking a touchdown away, it doesn't matter. So then when you try to put into place those performances and how they actually affected points on the board and wins and losses, it's really hard for me to see right now

based on who they've signed how that's going to help the team. Because when playmakers go away, do you have enough playmakers in their places at the prices you need them to be under a salary cap? The Bears had 33 takeaways last year, and you just mentioned the two key guys. Kevin Byard and Nashon Wright were responsible for, including fumbles, at least 12 interceptions and at least, what, three fumble recovery? So let's just say. And then add in Tremains four interceptions. Oh, yeah, Ad in Tremains.

And didn't he have a fumble too, I believe, like a recovery. Yeah, he did. He had a scoop and nearly score, I think. He thought he had scored or maybe. So that's how many? 17. 17. 17 of the 33 takeaways.

Those guys are gone. And if you want to even narrow it down a little bit more just to the interceptions, the Bears had 23 picks last year. So 12, I guess that would be more than half. Oh, and then add in to Edmonds. What was it for? Edmonds. So seven for Bayard, five for Nashon Wright.

That's 12. Uh-huh. Another four for edgings. 16 of the 23 picks are gone. And that's what I'm trying to figure out. That is the part that I try to quantify. And then without those, Leila, real quick, without the takeaways, which I think we could all agree that to some degree,

takeaways are fortunate. Right place, right time. I'm not saying that some of them aren't schemed and some of them aren't from watching tape and knowing what the other team is doing. I would be insulting people's sensibilities if that wasn't part of it. But let's face it, there's a luck fact. The Bears, with all the takeaways they had last year, Bears passing defense, 22nd, the rush defense, 27th in the league,

total defense, 29th, sacks for the Bears. They had 35 of them tied for 22nd. So even with all of, that's how dependent the Bears' defense was on takeaways last year. And teams, they're nice, and maybe the Bears will have another 33 takeaways next year. But you cannot depend on that going into a season. matter of fact, you have to look at it as if maybe this guy will have two or three or four interceptions, but not seven to ten. That's seven interceptions led the NFL this year.

Well, and that's it. I know that it was a stroke of luck. We talk about that. We all knew that it wasn't sustainable, at least not for multiple seasons. We knew that. We did. The fact that it was sustainable for a season is wild. And then do you know who's behind on who also left and is behind those guys on interceptions?

He is two. C.D. Gardner Johnson. So everybody who had multiple interceptions for you last year is gone. God, is there anybody who had multiple interceptions or fumble recoveries or force fumbles that is left on this team? Yes, DeMarco Jackson. Thank you, DeMarco. Welcome back, buddy. 7.5 million.

This is a long table. Tyreek Stevenson, two forced fumbles. And they don't really like Tyreek Stevenson. So that doesn't really help us. Montes, what, had three force. Okay. That's legit. That's legit. He had 10 sacks too.

And listen, that's the thing. Montes-Watt performed better last year than he did the year before. He came on strong. Do I still have some residual issue with what happened the year before? Yes. Well, you should. And even the beginning of the season, there were times, remember when I had that interview with him. The interview, I think he had had a sack, but I had to ask him about, like, where has the production been? And he told me, look, it's a new defense. People don't realize that.

Dennis Allen's defense, and we're all learning. And then he slowly progressed and got to 10 sacks on the season. And that's slow and steady won his race. It did. But when you watch the Super Bowl and you see the exemplary defense in the league, and that's the last game I watched, I'm like, oh, man. Yeah, it sticks near. But we got there, Kobe Bryant.

And I'm happy about that. I thought that that was a good pickup. It's a good pickup, yeah. When you consider the way the bear season went last year, and you just name off how many people we told you made significant impact, significant to the point where the previous head coach, not as much Ben Johnson,

but Maddie Rufluse told you how much turnover determine wins and losses. To lose your seven interception guy, your five interception guy with three fumble recoveries, your four interception guy with a fumble recovery, and your two interception guy,

that leaves a big hole. And is it enough to ask yourself a question with a harder schedule? Can you get us from point A to be and get us back in the playoffs. Doesn't mean the Bears won't get back in the playoffs, but they are not as good right now at this moment, just looking through it. And part of it is because they're literally missing starters right now.

And Leila, we just talked about the defense for the last 12, 13 minutes. We didn't even get into the offense and the fact that maybe their most important offensive linemen is not on this team in Drew Dalman. The patchwork is coming for the, for the, for the, the left tackle spot. Can they do it too? I know they put it together last year with Braxton Jones and Theo Benedet and Ozzie Tripillo when he was healthy, but that was hard. That was maximum effort for the bears to make left tackle work last year. Yeah, that's not the max that we want to talk about. I mean, it is, but it wasn't the max of the day that we wanted to

prioritize. 312, 6444, 67, 67 is our number. We've gotten a lot of texts. We're getting some calls. So we will talk about this more coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell at person. Can we handle more Anthony Herron? Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. I think when you see it across the league all the time, you panic and you want to do crazy things that everybody else wants you to do, it leads to.

some situations that you can't get out of. So we want to stay flexible. We want to stay open-minded. We want to stay committed to building this team the right way because I think that's the best way to sustain success. We're always going to be opportunities. We're going to go through opportunities that pop up and talk through them. Is this best for us short term?

Is it best for us long-term? And then we move from there. That is Ryan Poles. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. and we're asking the question whether or not you think the bears have done enough so far in free agency to replace some guys who really made some big plays for this team

and that's the hard part. Now Mark, I did think about this. I know we want to talk offense, but I wanted to think about the defensive side of the ball. Two of the main playmakers for this team, two of the other highest paid dudes, were largely unavailable for much of the season in Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon. Callag Gordon was slightly more available,

but not by much. So can they make up some of this ground? I'm assuming the bears are betting that happens. But when you consider what happened last year, it's hard to kind of understand how they fit in the Dennis Allen defense, how you visualize it when we didn't get to see a lot of it last year. Well, and the other part two is, like in theory, that's correct. But Kyler Gordon has had some issues staying healthy in general.

So can you just say, yep, they're getting Kyler Gordon back. They're going to be fine. and I need to see Jalen Johnson healthy as well because I give that guy a ton of credit for gutting it out. A lot of people thought, remember when he got injured, there was a lot of consternation on whether he would be back or not. Initially he was out for the season. Then he said he would be back.

He did come back. He wasn't particularly effective when he came back. And Jalen Johnson admitted it. Like after every game, he would, anytime I would ask or any other reporters would ask, he'd say, that ain't me. That's not me out there. I assume he's going to return to being him, but I still need to see that. There were times where especially in that first game back against the Packers, the playoff game,

man, he just, he looked slow. Yes, yes, he looked slow. And the body language where you know how it is when you're slightly hunched over and you're running because you're trying to make up ground and you need to be closer to who you're defending, there were times where the pursuit just was not as effective. And I think the Rams game, he looked faster. He looked a bit more where he was supposed to be also in the defensive formation. Dan Weiderer brought that up.

The time, yeah, weed man, there's a time where when you're thinking about where you need to be, that lag time, how does that show up? You know, if the defense is new to you, did that, was that part of it? Was that part of why he maybe looks slow at first to us? It wasn't competitive at times, which was weird to see. And then this, again, I believe it was the injury and not Jalen Johnson, like nothing mental or anything like that. But I need to see it. I need to see him being back to number one. And this isn't his fault.

And I believe he can get back there. Yes. But I just, I just can't shake the fact that I feel like defenses in the NFL, especially when you pay for really good ones and you reward people, how quickly sometimes they can, turn into older and slower than they need to be. Like, the step slow, suddenly it becomes a very expensive defense, slower defense. Think about just the criticism on Montes swept from a lot of scouts. Brad Biggs wrote about this.

Again, going from last year into this season, he had 10 sacks this season. But they talked about how that explosiveness that the line wasn't there. And it just, I just keep it in. mind. Well, there's two players that in the name of what you are saying that do improve the speed, Kobe Bryant, faster than Kevin Byrd and Jaquan Brisker. Devin Bush, faster than, for sure, T.J. Edwards, probably Tremaine Edmonds as well. DeMarco Jackson pretty fast. But Devin Bush, you know, 27 years old, he's got the speed. So that's another reason I can't wait to hear what Ryan Poles has to say as it pertains to Kevin Byard and how hard they went after him.

I believe that they loved him. But did they say, oh, we can get Kobe Bryant. That's an upgrade just in terms of the age and the speed and the type of player that Dennis Allen wants. And that's a part of it too. He didn't have a lot of his prototypical guys. Now he got some when Al Harris got to help recommend to Sean, right? When they got to get C.G.

C.D. Gardner Johnson, C.J. Gardner Johnson. whoever he is. Well, he says call him CD, so I go with him. Oh, yeah, I always asked him every time I interview him, what are we calling you today? Who would you like to be today? And he always gave a different answer. Maybe he knew the bit. If you said today, maybe he knew it was conceptual.

It could be. That was, the weedsy and I, we took a walk up to him one day. It was like early on in the tenure of, if you want to call it that, of C.J. Gardner Johnson, and we're like, what are we going to get? What are we going to get? And we got some good stuff from him on one of our episodes earlier this year. I feel like he was very informative all season long. He was, and he was another challenging interview subject because he'd throw it back at us.

When he got tired of questions and didn't like what we were saying, he would challenge us, which I always embrace as long as I'm ready. Yeah, when somebody asks you a question and you have a certain answer, I mean, AJ Pierzinski does that in conversations. Amen. That's a great example. And we was a player. I covered AJ as a player because I covered the whole 2005 White Sock World Series. AJ could be difficult. But that's, hey, man, that's what we have to deal with as reporters. It's not on AJ. That's on us.

And when we talk about this free agency state that we're in, the state of Bears free agency. State of Bearsness. Yes. Trying to fill your positions for need. You know, trying to fill the gaps that your salary cap and contracts created. and retirement created. You're right. We've heard one of the criticisms on Garrett Bradbury was anchor,

that he was overdrafted in Minnesota. Did he do a great job in New England? Yes. And now they get to slide over their guard slash center prospect over to center. But it does make you wonder, is this a bridge or is this somebody who they want to rely on for the same time window? Is it a two-year thing? And when I think about guys who can't anchor,

you know Braxton Jones comes up because that was always a criticism of him, Mark, and now he's likely your left tackle by defaults going into at least game one and for how long? Yeah, I mean, going back to what you're saying about Bradbury, Bradbury's fine. He's not as good as Drew Dalman. Very simple. I don't think I need to go beyond that. And then Braxton Jones, let's see what he does in a year where, again, in theory, I need to see it. he had a very injury riddled season last year. And I remember talking to him. And this was during the competition for left tackle.

And him being just a little bit frustrated with everything that was going on, like kind of pleading with us to say, look, man, I am still recovering essentially. I am still trying to get back to being 100% healthy. So I guess this is just maybe I'm grasping at straws with the hope that him being healthy this year, that he will be better. And when he has played left tackle, again, I'll use the word again, he's fine. Not special, not a guy that is obviously replaceable, or the Bears wouldn't have been trying to replace him. But they hopefully will have a couple of other options, one of those being Theo Benedet, who knows what goes on in the draft, who knows how versatile Jedrick Willis Jr. is,

the offensive lineman who missed all of last year, who the Bears have on their roster. Jordan McFadden, who I know played guard for the Bears down the end of the season. and we'll see what that sort of depth and versatility can do for the offensive line as well. But it's going to be maximum effort again, I think, at left tackle. Not the max you want, though. No, no, not maximum effort is important. Max effort is absolutely critical. Yes.

The Max Crosby today would have been better. Two X's. Two X is always better than one, right? Indeed. It's only Max's I know with two X's. Or there's the Vin Diesel movie, Triple X. Oh, yeah. I have no idea what that movie was about.

Didn't wear a white t-shirt in it? I was just going to ask if you're a Vin Diesel fan, but you just answered the question. I like his voice. I admire how he's made a ridiculous amount of money. Yeah, I guess that is admirable. It is. Because you're like, how'd you do all this? How'd you make all these movies, man?

Yeah, it's the jokes on us. Those of us who don't like it, jokes on us. If actors want to pick a lane and just be themselves and have fun at their jobs, I think he's gotten it figured out. I said that on Take the North the other day. I gave a lesson to all of our listeners on the podcast. Once you accept who you are and what your limitations might be, what your strengths are, you become a very happy and made person.

I've not personally reached that spot yet, but if you can get to that place where you just know who you are, you know what you're best at. And Rod Marinelli, Rod Marinelli once lost 16 games. Back in the old 16 game schedule days, he lost 16 games, he was on 16. He realized, you know what, I'm just a defensive coordinator. Vic Fangio. Same thing. One of the greatest DC got a chance, got a big bite at the Apple to be a head coach, didn't work out. And I was like, you know what?

This is who I am. I'm a defensive coordinator and I'm one of the best. So just be that. Be you. Be you. That's Mark Grady. I'm Laila Rahimi. Coming up next, former Packers executive and podcast host, he's just a good guy to talk to

when it comes to GM stuff, both free agency, physicals, that type of thing. Andrew Brandt joins us next here on Rahimi Harrison. Roody.