Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Jim Schwantz talks Bears' stadium pursuit, Caleb Williams' 4th-quarter magic

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by former Bears linebacker and current Palatine mayor Jim Schwantz to discuss the organization’s stadium saga, quarterback Caleb Williams’ progression and more.

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I am moved by all of you. But let's talk Chicago Bears here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. This is a guy that I've been wanting to talk to for a while. He lives the life, Marshall. Jim Schwantz is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears at Cowboys, 49ers. He's a Super Bowl champion of Super Bowl 30 specifically. He's a pro bowler as a special teams player in 1996 and maybe most importantly, the mayor of Palatine. Jim Schwantz is joining us right now on the Circus Sports Illinois Hotline.

Download the Circus Sports app today. Jim, how are you, my friend? I am good. How are you guys? doing today. I think we're doing well. We are. And what is great, what has been great about talking on the radio, amongst other things,

is the fact that we get to say nice things about the Bears. I was even saying nice things about Ryan Poles. It's like the light has come on. Things have warmed and things feel better. Jim, I haven't really had a chance to talk to you, obviously. How did you

consume this season for the Chicago Bears? What did it look like to you? You know, Mark, It's interesting because for doing pre-and-post game for whatever, 22 or 23 years, you watch a game from a much different lens, more of a cynical, you know, you want to, you got to be critical. You got to, the last couple years, man, watching the games as a fan is really pretty cool. You know, just sitting down and watching and getting back to my bare fandom.

Obviously, I was a fan during my analyst days, but with a little bit of a jaded side, I just had an awful lot of fun watching them play, watching the continued descent of the team, obviously the fourth quarter of the one-score games, having those break our way. Just a magical season. And to be able to watch it as a fan was really refreshing. Jim, because you are not only a former bear,

former NFL player, but also the mayor of Palatine, I'm so curious as to if you've noticed a change, in the tone about which people talk to you about the Chicago Bears? Yeah, you know, with the obvious purchase of the land in Arlington Heights and the potential impact it will have on Palatine, it's a really kind of fine line that I've been walking. You know, when they first talked about the letter of intent to purchase the land, I couldn't be happier.

I was excited. I was still doing the analyst stuff for the Bears. I could ride my bike to work. You know, I hear this is going to be the best. And then I quickly got pulled aside by some pretty small. our people in Palatine to say, hey, we got to temper us a little bit because, you know, there's a potential for some really major impacts on Palatine, and we've got to see everything before we can really jump on board. So that's kind of where we've been. We've continued to kind

to hold the line that we believe this is going to be an unbelievable win for the whole region, if it's done correctly. But right now, everything's continued to kind of be speculative until we know exactly what's going on. We've asked for traffic studies. We haven't seen a traffic study yet, to see what the potential impact would be. Because, to be quite frank, Palatine and Rolling Meadows are going to be way more impacted traffic-wise than even Arlington Heights. And so we obviously will see no tax benefits from it. So as a fan, absolutely, would be great to be able to, you know, like I said, ride my bike to a game

or be close by. And one of the first things I said back when Ted Phillips was still involved in the process was, just tell me one thing, Ted, there's going to be a Bears Hall of Fame with this, correct? He says, absolutely, because that's been my thing is there is no Bears Hall of Fame that us fans can go to and watch and go see and visit. I keep being told by the people at the Bears, yeah, we have a Bears Hall of Fame. It's called Canton. We've got the Most Hall of Fame. If you want to go see the Bears Hall of Fame, you have to go to Canton.

Well, I want to be able to go to one right here close by and have the ability to go out and see the Hall of Fame right in my backyard. So, Jim, would you say that the cloud of a possible stadium or not stadium has taken away maybe some of the sunshine of this bear season for you? It's just, you know, it's so kind of bare, it's a total bear thing, right? You know, a total bear thing that they have this great season, and there's got to be a but with it, you know, a but four with regards to the stadium thing. You know, they're rolling, right? They're winning the one-score games.

It's a magical season, and out comes a letter that punches you right in the gut that says, oh, now we're going to start looking in Indiana. And it's just as Bear fans, it's like we just can't have that, we just can't have everything at once, right? It's got to be a, there's got to be a but-for. There's got to be something that kind of takes the steam away from it, which is just unfortunate, you know, because at the end of the day, we've been starving for a team on the field that is competitive, that is fun to root for, that's got, you know, characters on the team, you know, that we can get behind, and guys that we can see.

a future, right? We see what the future could potentially look like where we've had so many dark years where, you know, the press conference was just kind of a disaster. And this end of the year press conference, you see hope. You see, you see a guy that's got his hand, you know, hand on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the tiller that's, that knows exactly where this thing is going, and we've got that confidence. Yeah, and you, you've always been very honest in your analysis on the radio, off the radio, uh, in all your years as you mentioned doing the pre-impost on WBBM, you were in a position to give you your opinion. What did you think watching Caleb Williams this year? And where did you start with Caleb Williams?

Where did you end up with Caleb Williams? And what do you think the future is for Caleb Williams? Well, I obviously, I think what they've done, you know, in the league today, you know, getting out of the shotgun, more under center, you know, establishing the running game, giving yourself play action. It's so hard in this league to hit chunk plays. It just is. And teams will let you go with the underneath stuff. They'll rally. They'll tackle. They'll force you the third downs.

They'll try to force the turnovers. They get the big chunk plays, it has to come with the running game. So hand in hand, when the running game started really progressed with Swift and Menongai and the guys up front, especially the three guys on the inside, Tuny, Dolman, and Jackson. When you saw that thing start to kind of really make. materialize is when you saw the steps kind of taken in the proper direction. We still get frustrated, right, with Caleb and missing the easy throws, his completion percentage is QBR, but what the guy does in the fourth quarter,

right, wrong, it's magical. It's absolutely magical. His arm talent is second to none. He sees the field incredibly well, and the guy is an absolute magician when it comes to escaping the pass rush and extending play. So, you know, the things that you can't measure, the unmeasurable are just unbelievable off the charts. He just needs to get way more consistent, way more consistent than the easy throws, the on-time throws, the schedule throws, and hit guys in stride where they can get yards after the catch.

And all that stuff will come because he's got – obviously he's got incredible armed talent. It's just a matter as the game continues to slow down as he continues to get reps. You know, I've said this before. The quarterback position is the hardest position. in any sport to play. I mean, gosh, you think back to the Super Bowl when the Rams and the Patriots played each other. I think it was the very first throw that Tom Brady threw, he threw a pick. And how come he threw a pick? Because he got fooled. Tom Brady's seen more defense than any player in the history of the sport at the quarterback position, and he got fooled. And this is a guy,

you know, whatever, it's 14th or 15th year, whatever it was, when he was in that Super Bowl, and he got fooled. And so it happens. And so you can't expect a young quarterback to be able to see everything at this point. I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver. Ready for honest conversations about thriving in midlife? Listen to and follow my new podcast, Unpaused, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Joined by Jim Schwantz. He is the mayor of Palthime, but he's also a former NFL linebacker who played for

the Bears, the Cowboys, and the 49ers, Super Bowl 30 champion, and a pro bowlers as a special teams player back in 1996. Jim, when you look at this Bears team and what Ryan Poles has done, you know, done. I know you know about the news about Ian Cunningham, now becoming a part of the Falcons organization as their general manager. Are you as dismayed about the kind of anti-climactic result of the Rooney Rule in this situation, the fact that the bears are not getting competitive, third-round picks this year and next? You know, it's kind of a thing as you look at it from the outside. Yeah, yeah, obviously as a bear fan, you'd love to see the compensatory picks

because we see what Ryan Poles has been able to do with some of those picks and being able to package some of those picks and move around in the draft and continue to fill in the holes on this team. So, yeah, it would be nice if we would see those compensatory picks. You know, unfortunately, I guess it appears that they're not going to be coming our way this time. Yeah, what did you think about the – how did you consume the Bears' defense this year? Obviously, the note – it – turnovers are – a wonderful thing. They can absolutely smooth out a lot of imperfections. And I think that's kind of

what we saw this year. I think it's a flawed defense. There's certainly there are, you can run the football against them. They didn't get much pressure on the quarterback. But the, but the turnovers just kind of turn the tide of everything. I think this is an organization with Ryan Poles and certainly with Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen, that I think they know that. And I think they know where the deficiencies are, and I think they're going to do the best they can this off season. I know they will do the best they can this off season to try to fill in those holes. You know, pass rush is certainly something this team is going to need. I think the linebacker position is going to get retooled a little bit.

The defensive backs, you know, I think, you know, Kevin Byer would love to have that guy back. What Nishon Wright was able to do this year as a kind of an unknown commodity and just rise to every occasion, I'm cautiously optimistic. It's a defense that has a lot of good parts, but at the end of the day, it certainly is a flawed defense that was kind of picked up, for lack of a better word, by the turnovers. Really, the turnover kind of masked a lot of the imperfections.

And you're looking at this defense going next year. Is there a specific thing that you want to see change? Because we thought, you know, the Bears were going to possibly lose Al Harris. You see that the coaches seem to be coming back, and now they have to make all these decisions about who to keep, who to move on from, and also maybe who to cut trade. I mean, there's so many different things.

Yeah, and, you know, certainly you think where they're at on the offensive side of the football, with some of the younger players, what they're going to do with DJ Moore, so that's going to impact on the defensive side as well because, you know, because of the cap situation. So, you know, certainly it's a group on the defensive side. as I said, there's going to be a different group. It's going to always be a different team each and every year, so you know that's going to happen.

But they've got some core. They've got some really solid young players. They've paid a couple of their guys on defense, so there is some stability there at certain positions. But at the end of the day, they're going to have to draft well, as they have to have to continue to draft well. You saw what they did with the draft on the offensive side last year. Maybe it's the defense's turn to get some of those high picks

and start filling in those holes. And does it feel sustainable to you, unlike as we know, Jim, from watching? It's not always sustainable. Does this feel more sustainable to you? There's a jaded part of me that is, you know, that is crying out, and I'm trying to push it back as far as I can. It is, it appears to be because at the end of the day, you know, you get the, you finally got the coach right.

You know, I think that's the number one thing. You've got a coach that's just not going to be satisfied with. anything. I mean, this guy is driven by a lot of things by success, obviously, and perfection. And you've got a quarterback and a coach that believe in each other,

that seem to kind of ham and egg off each other, and both of them kind of, you know, they almost look mirrored at the podium after a game, after a winner or loss. It's just an even keel, even temper. They've embraced this city.

They've embraced the, you know, the rivalries that are out there. And so I think you got the general manager, you got the head coach, you got the quarterback. I think that's a lot of what this NFL is right now and a lot of what the NFL appears to be. And so they're cautiously optimistic, Mark, that this is something that is sustainable, for sure. Jim Swans, of course, a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears, Cowboys, and 49ers, joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. And Jim, because you were a pro bowler as a special team,

I got to talk about special teams with you. Richard Hightower, I mean, you talk about a guy who's had a turnaround in image. He was the target of a lot of criticism last year. And now all of a sudden, it seems like special teams is indeed a strength of the Chicago Bears. What do you see as being the difference for this turnaround? Well, I just think it's a push for these guys to get more and more athletic and speed throughout the roster. You know, this is the special teams unit in Chicago for years where just, you know, you're a backup up tight end, go play special teams, you're a backup line, but go play special teams.

And there's an emphasis on it now, and you can see it. You can see guys, they fly around, there's roles to play. And when you get that, when you get pride in what it is that you do, you know, I was a backup linebacker. I never started a game in my career. I covered kicks for 11, back when it was a big deal, back when it was a big deal, back when, you know, there were guys that made the football team because of special teams. Well, then for a bunch of years, whether it because the kicker, kickers are putting the ball through the end zone,

there were no real kickoff return opportunities or opportunities to cover anymore because of all the touchbacks. It seemed to take a big backseat. Now, I'm not a huge fan in a lot of the different rules that the NFL's rolled out, but the fact that there are more opportunities to return kicks is an exciting thing. And for a guy like me who wouldn't have been in the NFL had not been for special. teams to see the guys go around, make plays, guys, you know, being enthusiastic and excited about their role, it makes me happy. It makes me happy. It makes me excited to watch special teams again. And, yeah, and Coach Hightower has done an unbelievable job of turning it around. I mean, this is a,

you know, we were talking earlier in the season with the kicker situation back and forth, you know, what, think about the very first game. Hey, can you get the ball in the end zone? No, yeah, I can get it through the end. I can get it through the end zone or whatever. and it didn't happen. And so to turn it around and the return game was magical and electric throughout the seasons, it's a really good story. And I'm happy for Coach Hightower. Well, you know what?

And I'm happy for you, Jim Schwantz, because I was just thinking about what you said as you can. We've talked about this before. You played football, obviously, your whole life. Then you went right into working on the Bears Radio Network when it was here at Odyssey and WBBM. And now for the last two years, you have, for the first time in your life, become a watcher of the Chicago Bears, a pure fan of the Chicago Bears. So how does that manifest itself? Do you need to be alone watching the game?

Are you a yeller? Do you allow yourself to go out? Do you get inebriated? What happens to you watching Bears game as a person who has been football, football, football, and there and on the scene and at the stadiums? And now all of a sudden you're on a couch. It is, it is magical. I never thought, you know, it was fun.

when I was playing, when I retired, I went to my first tailgate. I'm like, what's tailgate? I don't know. Like, how, when did you start playing football? 11? I was a freshman in high school, so I didn't start to all the freshman. I'm like, what's this? I want to check out this tailgating thing, see what this is all about.

And that was unbelievable, spectacular. I could have, this tailgates are pretty good. Yeah. It's a pretty fun. You get drunk and you overeat. Yeah. There's a lot of people out there. really, really, really good at it.

I know. And so, and so this is my opportunity to take the next step, right, become just a fan. And it's my wife and I that just sit on the couch. We have the multi-view. So we put the multi-view for the Bears game. The Bears game is the only game on the television. So that is a front and center. And, you know, this year, they're very superstitious, both my wife and I.

So if my wife is folding laundry and they're playing well, she finds more laundry to fold. If I'm sitting on one side of the couch and they're playing well, I stay on that side of the couch. So we're very, very superstitious as it pertains to the Bears. And a lot of yelling and a lot of screaming, good and bad. So I'm all in. I'm all in on the Bear fan thing. I love it. I absolutely love it.

I'm always heartened by so many former Bears players that are just so into it. Maybe at first because maybe they were mad. They left the Bears or whatever, but everybody comes home and everybody's a fan. Jim, you're the best. It was great to catch up. Let's make sure to not make you a stranger. Let's keep talking to you, Jimbo, all right? I appreciate you, guys.

You have a great day. Thanks, Jim. It is Jim Schwantz right there here on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Tailgates are cool. They're fun. I can't imagine going that long not having experience to tailgate. I don't understand your tailgate world, your food and your drink. Have you done a lot of tailgating in your life?

Come on, man. Just real quickly, I'll just say this. First of all, SEC, first of all, went to Mississippi State University, to a bunch of different places visiting games. Also, when I worked in Philadelphia for 11 years, I worked inside the Wells Fargo Center. You've been to Philadelphia. You know the setup there. That means every day I go to work and there's a game, there's a tailgate.

Oh, my God. Okay, yes. Your credibility is real. it is amazing the one-upsmanship that goes on. I've been to many dozens of Bears' tailgates. And it's just hilarious. And its whole communities that know each other because they park in the same place every week. The setups, the tents.

I'm over here flipping burgers and broths and got some guy cooking a turkey behind me. Or, you know, a certain like... Pig roast. Yes! Like, really... I've seen it all gross. Ambitious things. I'm like, oh, we got nothing.

Like, and we're excited about our chili. And, oh, we're going to make... It's all relative. I guess. I guess. But it is. It's like walking through, I don't know, like a flea market or something when you go to a tailgate. Like everybody's got their own little setup. Here's what I offer. And Bears fans, at least in my experiences, it's very neighborly.

And I'm sure it's like that with the tailgate. Like people get to know each other. You can walk. People are always offering up their food and their drinks. It's a whole thing for people who have not been involved in tailgate. It's a lifestyle, really, tailgating. It is a lifestyle. Everybody can't hang.

Everybody can't hang. Make sure you can make it through the tailgate and the game. I retired. There you go. His jerseys in the rafters. I was forced into tailgate retirement in a lot of different ways. When we returned, we were talking about Ryan Poles a little bit earlier. We had not necessarily intended to do that, but that's just the way the world works. So we're going to keep this cooking.

We're going to ask a question here. And I know that you have an answer because you brought up this topic before we came on here, Marshall Harris, and you have what you believe to be the most important off-season move by Ryan Poles heading into what was a winning season for the Bears. So Marshall will reveal that. I will tell you if I agree with him or think it's somebody else. And we certainly invite you to play along with us as well. 312, 64, 67, Rahimi, Harris, and Grotie on the score. Hi, I'm PJ Vote, and I want to tell you about my podcast search engine. We try to make sense of the world, one question at a time.

No question too big, no question too small. We will even answer your questions if you send them in. Stuff like, what happens when a cemetery goes out of business? What should we do about teens using AI to do their homework? Who buys luggage at the airport luggage store? Follow and listen to Search Engine, in partnership with Odyssey, wherever you get your podcasts.