Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Jim Schwantz talks Bears' stadium pursuit, Caleb Williams' 4th-quarter magic (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

In the second hour, 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. After that, Harris and Grote debated if left guard Joe Thuney was the Bears’ most important acquisition in 2025. Later, they held the Halftime segment.

This hour is sponsored by almost-freeteeth.com. Affordable implants, life-changing smiles. Here we go. Fourth and four. The man in motion. Williams, drifting. Sprinting for space. In all kinds of trouble, put it up for next to the end.

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Jim Schwantz is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears, 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. How did, 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've got to be critical.

The last couple years, man, watching the games as a fan is really pretty cool. You know, just sitting down and watching and, And getting back to my bear 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 dissent 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 bear. And 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 smart 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 of hold the line that we believe this is going to be an unbolical. 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? And he said, 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 with the Bears, yeah, we have a Bears Hall of Fame. Canton. We've got the most Hall of Famers in Canton. 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 It's so kind of bare, it's a total bear thing, right? You know, the total bear thing that they have this great season, and there's got to be a butt 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, you know, 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 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 a guy that's got his hand, you know, hand on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, 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, and all your years, as you mentioned, doing the pre and post on WBBM, you were in a position to, 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, you know, with the underneath stuff, they'll rally, they'll, they'll tackle, they'll force you the third downs. I'll try to force the turnovers. that get the big chunk plays has to come with the running game.

And 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 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 and 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 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. Joined by Jim Swansky 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, a special teams player back in 1996. Jim, when you look at this Bears team and what Ryan Poles has done, and 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 anticlimactic result of the Rooney Rule in this situation, the fact that the bears are not getting competitiveatory 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 no, it's, turnovers are a wonderful thing. They can, 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, it's a flawed defense. There's certainly there are, you could run the football against them. You know, they didn't get much pressure on the quarterback. But the, 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 offseason. I know they will do the best they can this offseason 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 Nassan 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 or trade. I mean, there's so many different things. Yeah. And, you know, certainly think where they're at on the offensive side of the football,

you know, 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 some – it'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. You know, 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 a – They have been doing the last few years and 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. 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 crying out, and I'm trying to push it back as far as I can.

And 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, you know, 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 Swansch, 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, the special teams unit in Chicago for years were just, you know, you're a backup tight end, go play special teams.

You're a back-of-line, 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, 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 there were guys that made the football team because of special teams, well then for a bunch of years, whether 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, you 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 zone or whatever. And it didn't happen. And so to turn it around and the return game was it 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 Schwant. 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's magical. I never thought, you know, it was funny when I was playing, when I retired, I went to my first tailgate. I'm like, what's tailgate all? I never did a tailgate? Right, right? Like, when did you start playing football?

11? I was a freshman in high school, so I didn't start to all the freshman. And so 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. Pretty fun.

You get drunk and you over eat. Yeah. There's a lot of people out there that are really, really, really good at it. I know. And so this is my opportunity to take the next step, right? Become just a fan. And it's my wife and Brendan 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 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 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 shirt like this. 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 gonna make... It's all relative, Brody. It's all right.

I guess. I guess. But it is, it's fast. 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 tailgating. It's a lifestyle, really, tailgating. It is a lifestyle, and 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 and 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 bear. 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, 644, 67, Rahimi, Harris and Grody on the score.

Rahimi Harris and Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 to score. I don't think the process changes. You're going to identify the guys that fit what we want in our football team, which coach hit, and you just keep trying to acquire those players. We know what they look like. We know how they act. They know how to talk. And we'll continue to do that.

I think that's part of the thing is, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you just keep pounded away and stick into your process? You make tweaks, of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people. That is the Bears general manager, Ryan Poles, right there, talking about the hope for Ryan Poles and his front office. and obviously it would trickle down to the fans is building a Super Bowl roster. That's what the Bears are, we can say, for real in the business of doing. If we are all on the same page that what the Bears did this past year is legitimate and that they can keep it going.

We welcome you back into the Rahimi Harris and Grotie show here on Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score. And if it at all sounds just a little bit different today, it's because we are in our performance studio today at the score. the Odyssey Performance Studio where we usually have bands and sometimes we do score shows here when we do big events. But that is because they are redoing the studio from which we usually work to get the FM signal in there, which will occur on Monday.

We'll talk more about that later as well. But you brought up something interesting, Marshall Harris, in backstage. Backstage. Backstage. And that is about Ryan Poles and the most important move that he made. made in the offseason heading into what we just saw this past season, 11 and 6, and a playoff win over the Packers, lost to the Rams, and now hopefully on to the next. But who is the most important either acquisition, signing, or draft pick?

Ryan Poles putting the roster together. Who is that person for you, Marshall Harris? I want to be very clear about this. The way you build a football team is so important, and we know you start from the inside going out if you're doing it the correct way. Ryan Poles first attempted that didn't seem to be of that mold. But I want to say, as much grief as I give Ryan Poles for the mistakes that he's made along the way, I will give credit where credit is due. What I'm about to tell you is not just the move that Ryan Poles had last offseason being the best of last off season. I will say

it is the second biggest acquisition he has made in his tenure as GM of the Bears. And that acquisition was trading a fourth round pick in this year's upcoming draft for Joe Tooney, who is now all pro yet again. He's been in the league for nine years. And in every season he's been in the league, he's won a division title. He is a winner through and through. he is likely a future Hall of Famer, and for him to have

just the understanding that this is something that had to be done is where I would give Ryan Poles all the credit. Joe Tooney is that important to the Bears' current success and future success. I think you make the argument that it's difficult with offensive linemen because it's proportionate and it's relative, that he was the best player on their team this year. Oh, no, he was team. Remember when we did Team MVP? I said he's the team MVP.

I mean, that's not a bad pick. I mean, like you're getting into the tournament. trenches when we talk about offensive line. But yeah, I don't have a huge argument against that. I mean, I could definitely, we could point to another guy on that offensive line, though, too, who wasn't as good at his position as Joe Tunney was at his. But order, ladies and gentlemen, order was restored at the center position. Finally, we don't have to think about Lucas Patrick anymore.

We don't have to think about, is Ryan Bates going to be the center for this team? is it going to be Coleman Shelton? And shout out to Coleman Shelton. He's having a fine career, I think, relative to what maybe the expectations were for him. Is it Sam Mustifer? It's not Sam's fault that he got forced into being the Bears center for a while. And what a great soldier that guy was in the Bears locker room. But my goodness, I've been waiting my whole Bears covering career to see the Bears restore order at the center position.

So I might even like that a little bit more just because of, going through the shuffles and the failures at that position. So he certainly restored some order there. And we shouldn't, I mean, while we're there, throw Jonah Jackson into the mix. At right guard, pretty good at that position. And they were so indicative of this Bears team, too, because just like almost everybody and the team in general, they got better as the season went along.

There was some agonizing moments I thought early on with that interior. Well, they were still trying to get it together with like trying to get, you know, one yard on back-to-back plays early in the season. And literally, that was where, okay, I'm in the locker room. Now I got to do it. Now you've done it, Bears. Now I've got to go talk to the offensive line about why they couldn't get one yard. And I remember talking to Drew Dalman. And he literally said to me, we have it somewhere.

He said, yeah, I mean, he admitted that they're a work in progress. And there's some things that they're still trying to get right in terms of chemistry. He put it much better than I'm putting it right now, but you know what I mean. This team required patience early, and if you had it, you were rewarded towards the end, and the offensive line is indicative of that, as is Joe Tooney, your guy. Yeah, Tuny is the answer to this question, even though you bring up some nice suggestions, some nice honorable mentions. Yeah, they're texture of players now.

Tuny is the answer to this question because this man went 1,149 snaps, played all 17 games, did not give up a sack, okay? in a year in which we saw Caleb's sack total go from 68 in his rookie season to 24 in his second season. Understand he is at the root of that. Also, the last time I checked, the last two times Joe Tuny, who's already a four-time Super Bowl champion, the last two times he played in a playoff game to end seasons, he was playing out of position at left tackle. Did that for the Kansas City Chiefs, did that for the Bears. He does whatever is needed of him in any given moment.

he is that dude and he's also one of the six finalists for NFL Protector the Year and I believe he should win that award. NFL Protector of the Year. We are lucky to have that guy here and like sort of understand. It's great when there's a good offensive lineman or in his case a great offense on it because you get to see what it's like. You get to see the difference in a great offensive lineman as opposed to one who needs a little help sometimes. And you can look at that as your left tackle. And that's another guy, too, even though it's very complicated right now, that started to look like a good signing.

And that was the second round pick, Ozzie Tripillo, who a lot of us left for dead in the OTAs in the left tackle competition. They told us he couldn't play left tackle. They told us that. They did tell us that. He said, he is not a left tackle. What does he end up doing? He ended up playing left tackle.

Even if they didn't tell us that, they told us by putting Theo Benedet in there. If there's not a bigger slap in the face, with all due respect, at the time, that's a slap in the face for an undrafted guy to a guy in Tripilla who's a second rounder who a lot of people thought that, oh yeah, you just slide this guy right in. I mean, this guy, I mean, they did it with Braxton Jones as a fifth rounder. How come you can't do it with Ozzie Tripillo? And they couldn't.

It confused me. It disappointed me. But much like this season, they recovered. They got better. Tripillo got better. I'm not going to say, like, he's not in the class of those other guys because he did need help at that position. but comported himself, I'll just say just fine, right? And sometimes that's acceptable to get through a season, which the Bears did.

Unfortunately, Tripillo will be nowhere near playing a game until late in next season, if he's lucky because of the injury. It's Zapillow. Thank you. I was wondering. I needed the clarification, and I got it. Thanks, Emma. Listen, whether it's Tripillo or Zipillo, I honestly, I would be surprised if he plays left tackle in 2026.

I will be surprised because of the nature of the injury and what we understand. understand it to be and how you have to work yourself back and how the standard has been raised by Ben Johnson, I think, for every position on that field, specifically on his offense. I'll be surprised if he plays there. I just want to make sure I got clarification from you, though, Mark Grotie. Caleb Williams is the biggest acquisition of the Ryan Polls era. Sure, sure. Joe Tuny is the second biggest acquisition of the Ryan Poles era. Are you with me? I think so. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so. Like, I can't really come up with, as I'm trying to, like, I thought, Nishon Wright went through my brain. Sure. Because that is, and to some degree there's a little bit of luck involved in that.

I mean, but they did, to their credit, they identified this player on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad, looked at the size, looked at the traits, and said, yeah, we are building an identity here, and Deshawn Wright starts to fit that. I know Nishon Wright at times certainly got exposed as a cornerback, but boy, did he save the day in a lot of ways, at a lot of times, in a secondary that was hurt, J.L. Johnson, and that was inconsistent. Tyreek Stevenson. Nishon Wright should be given, I guess it's all honorable mention at this point, but Nishon Wright, that's a big pickup for polls.

773 on the text line. Hit me, which got also... Polls has consistently mis-evaluated and overpaid middling talent, his fourth for Tuni, salary dump for the KC market, not his wichistry, come on. And all I have to say that is, you still got to be the team that goes out and gets Joe Tuni. Other teams could have gone out and gotten Joe Tuni. he's the one who did it. Yeah, he did.

Respect. Right. He brought him here. They identified that it's the best thing the Bears did was in general, fixing the up, finally saying, all right, it's the priority. It was like they gave in. They're like, maybe they listened to Olin Croutes finally and said, you have to use resources. You have to use draft picks.

And the Bears did both finally on the offensive line. They finally used their values and their riches to work on the offensive. offensive line. I'm trying to think of other guys that you look at and say, well, obviously, there's the obvious ones like Luther Burden, Colston Loveland probably should be closer to the top if we're doing the most important acquisitions by Ryan Poles because that wasn't an easy one. It would have been very tempting to take Tyler Warren in that spot. And we still don't know what will have been the better selection, but I'm pretty comfortable with the guy that- It's a fun conversation though now as opposed to what it was five games into the season.

It wasn't a fair fight then. It was it. It was like, Tyler Warren. And some of us are like thinking, I knew it. But no, it might be Colston Loveland. So I put, like, if we're doing like everybody underneath Tooney, might he be second? That argument has gone the way of the Jaden Daniels, Caleb Williams discussion, where we thought, oh, he's running laps around Caleb Williams. And then I was like, can the man have, I don't know, a year in a functional offense? And he's had a year in a functional offense.

And all of a sudden, it's a very different conversation. when you talk about the number one and number two pick of the 2025 draft. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been a lot of value there. 2024 draft. When we return, it is, is it halftime? It is halftime already. What do ye have?

Oh, you know, I got something for you? Do you want to surprise me with it? So listen, who doesn't love something free? We all love something free? I work in media. But what if you get something free and then they tell you, oh, we don't like what you're doing, so it's really not as free as you thought, because you are going to do something for us in order to receive this free thing.

Doesn't it become not free at that point? Yeah, I guess it would by definition. That's what's going on right now in Baden Roos. I'll explain on the other side. Oh, yeah, we'll also tell you what we've talked about so far and what to look forward to on the rest of the show here today. It's Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score. What time is it?

It's halftime. Rehemi Harris and Grody. So far today, we've had a pop and show here from the Odyssey Performance Studio at the score. We discussed Ian Cunningham being named the Falcons General Manager and the Bears not receiving compensatory picks because Matt Ryan. We talked about edge rushers for the Bears. We talked about the Bears' best acquisitions and we landed on Joe Tooney in the work of Ryan Poles. We also had a great Bears discussion with a former bear himself, Jim Schwantz. It's nap time.

And how about this? This is just in to us here. Some breaking news. Breaking news on the score is brought to you by the Take the North podcast, featuring host Mark Grody and Dan Reeder. And on the latest episode, Mark Podash, that's a treat. You should listen to Mark Podash right now on the Take the North podcast. Not right now.

Well, yeah, just come back. Come back. Come back. Come back. Jack. Come back. According to Adam Schaefter, if you got that reference, text me. According to Adam Schaefter, the Minnesota Vikings have fired their general manager, Quessi Adolpho Mensa. He is out.

The boss in Minnesota is out, hired in the same. The name should sound familiar because he was hired in the same cycle as Ryan Poles. It should sound familiar because you should know your GMs in the Bears Division. But he is out, and that is fascinating. They just got the quarterback, but maybe they don't got the quarterback. What's crazy is if I told you last year that he would be gone before Ryan Poles. Like at the end of last season, you would have said what to me? You're crazy because there was a time where people were like, oh God, which we had that guy.

And then things went poorly in Minnesota. And there was lots of friction throughout this year. So he is out and that is interesting. So we will obviously follow the ongoings of Minnesota and who the replacement parts might be. A Dofell Minza, by the way, just spent the week at the Senior Bowl. So this is a major surprise. Yeah. It sounds like almost as if they thought about doing it, and then they were like, nah, we're keeping them.

And then something changed their minds again. Because to let him continue to be at the Senior Bowl, that is fascinating. It's halftime. Yes, it is halftime. You ready? Yes. Grody. You talked about tailgating earlier.

Have you been a part of it? a rowdy student section at a college basketball game? I'm going to say no. Because those are fun. I bet. Those are fun. That's the ideas. You get the students, you get them in the building.

They are, you know, the most vital part of your support. They'll stand, they'll scream. They'll do all the things. They'll paint their face. They'll wear you. They'll do whatever they have to do to be a fan. You said wear. That's where we're going with this.

So a lot of times they'll give you like cool matching shirts to wear. as part of the student section, like you'll see them all in black or all in whatever the school colors are that they give you when you get there. LSU's got a problem right now, sir. Oh? A new LSU athletics policy

aims to keep fans from leaving after basketball giveaways. Follow me on this. LSU has implemented a new method to reward students for waiting in line before giveaway games and staying to support the teams. For those who don't oblige,

their season tickets can now be at risk. Here's what was going on. LSU would have these cool giveaways of T-shirts and hats and things And students would line up as they are want to do to get the best seat in the house And to get these giveaways more importantly Because they're like vintage that the merch has gotten so much better since we were in school And they would get this and then they would just walk away and leave And not even like go and watch the whole game

So LSU because it's a number of people that can be let in with student tickets, people with the student tickets. They weren't staying for the games, Grotie. Wow, okay. And so now LSU is fighting. Get the free stuff and go? And keep it moving. Free and G? Is there a name for it?

Free and G, that's it. I think I just got it. Whatever you want to tag it. Free and G. That's what it is. That's it. Here's a quote from LSU Athletics. Any student that leaves the PMAC, that's their arena, prior to tip off, will be exit scanned and will lose the privileges to their LSU basketball student tickets for the remainder of the season.

Wow. That memo... Damn it, kids! This happened because against Kentucky of all teams, like it's a very big power in SEC basketball. They had free t-shirts

to the first 500 fans in the door. The memo has now been used before every men's basketball where they have a giveaway because it was that bad. There was no one in the student section for the Kentucky LSU game.

Oh my God. Because guess what? LSU basketball is not very good. and so now they're saying we're just going to take away your season tickets if we find out that you left the game early and give them to somebody else because there's like a waiting list like it's not like bear stadium waiting list but yeah i mean i i support that don't you like if they're just doing the trying to get freebies and ditching the right i have a compelling i have a compelling counter argument oh ls u by the way was 12 and when SEC's play started. Their record is now 13 and 8 because they are 1 in conference. Maybe you just have a better basketball team and people want to stay and watch your games.

Yeah, do that and you won't have these complications. We won't have to be doing silly things. Because you told me I was getting something for free and now you're trying to take it away from me because your product is bad. Do you not know of people who have gone to White Sox games to pick up whatever the giveaway was and do they stay for the nine innings? It is a pretty soft. suspect move, though, to just grab and go, like, I understand leaving early is one thing,

but just to, I don't know, feels pretty cheap to just do that, take your goods and go. I mean, at least put some time in. I'm trying to remember what the item was, but I had friends who literally, I think it was like a white socks jacket last year or the year before, and they literally got tickets secondhand just so they could go, jump on the red line, go, grab their stuff, and then do. didn't even go into the stadium. For real, for real. Like, scan their ticket, got the free thing.

You know, they give it to you right when you walk in. I mean, is the free stuff really worth going through all of that? That's the next question. I guess it is. I guess it is. Yeah. Like, you really want to go through all that. There's some pretty cool stuff that's giving away.

Yeah, I guess. I guess if it's like legitimate stuff, which is not always, you don't always get the best quality at stadium giveaway. Let's be honest here. So what I'm not doing it is putting this on the college students who are paying a lot of money to go to these schools, right? You know how much college tuition is now? It's a lot. It's a lot of money. Yeah, you really got to plan. Just make your product better. I am completely with the students on this. Make it better. In fact, find another way out of the building so they can't scan your ticket. Keep your ticket. Keep getting your giveaways. LSU basketball, do better.

Yeah. And a text her at the top 7.773. Mark! Triple exclamation point. As Steve Rosenblum would call those bangs. Bang, bang, bang. They are paying for season ticket. it's not free at all. I guess. That's why I was trying to come up with the right word. It cheapens it. It's circumventing the system. It's not illegal. Just be better. Just be better at basketball and people will stay for your games. Okay.

I guess I can land on that. Have fun, kids. Yeah, I'm completely with the students here. Do what you got to do. We are, by the way, we are excited about our, we've alluded to it a couple times. Don't allude to it. Just say it. We're going FM baby we're going big time it's happening it's going down 104 3 the score oh my god monday 8 a mullion hall there's going to be a big switch and everything you've been hearing about it and now it's for real real because sometimes things are like a rush concert like i was talking 2112 it's a long way away it's going to be like 80

degrees when i'm seeing yeah that's right when i'm seeing rush hopefully hopefully from our radio complex here i can find a handful of tickets that that you even are saying this out loud is hilarious to me, and you know it is. You're trolling the listeners who also want to go see Rush. Why wouldn't I do something? No, I'm not trolling the listeners. I'm trolling the company. Trying to get tickets.

That's really all that's going on here. But it's like you wait and you wait and you wait and you hear about it. It's about to go down. That's right. All score shows, Cubs, Bulls, games on FM, high fidelity. High fidelity. High-fi. All the time.

including in downtown Chicago. High-fi. The score will still be heard on 670 a.m. I know that we literally had questions on the text line in the last hour about that. Yes, 670 a.m. stays. It never goes. It's still there.

It's still huge. But starting Monday at 8 a.m. during our show, well, I guess that's not our show. It is the debut of 104-3 on FM. The simulcast is presented by the official sports book of the score, Circus Sports, Sports, Sports. betting the way it should be with no-bet fees. You said it's not our show. You're right. It's our pre-game show. It's the pre-show. It's the pre-show. It's the pre-game show for Rahimi-Harrison and Grotie, otherwise known as Mollion Hall.

Yeah, so Mullen Hall will actually be the one. Mully and them boys, I believe it's also called from time to time. Is that not the reference? The boys or, no, that was Wiz Khalifa who said that. David Haw, I think, no, no, it was, who was Wani. It was Lawrence and Matt. It was Wally and them guys or those guys. Mully and them boys. We them boys? That's what I was told. It's Mully and Haugh and then sometimes it's Mully and the boys.

Mully and the boys. It's a rebranding. Dem boys. DEM. You think the meetings over the last decade have been for the FM station? No, it's been for the repurposing and rebranding of the Mully and Haw show. We have decided that it's best being Mully and them boys. Tune in.

You'll still get your jams. It'll be Mully and them boys. is jamming. Yeah, they'll play Jha Rule at the top of the hour. All the intro music will be Val Rueh. I know Brandon Fryer's going to get a hold of this and he knows. He will have some jams ready to go. Oh, he will and he'll have some hot takes in your face about

the Chicago Bulls. They're not hot takes. In your face, Marshall Harris. The Bulls are going to be fine. In my life. I do. No, actually, I love it when you two go at it. Like I said, we need more Friarer. We all need that in our lives. What we have next in our lives, though, on Rahimi Harrison Grotty, one of our favorite segments.

It is time for five odd and five big topics that we will discuss and perhaps even debate next on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on the score.