Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Listen To This: Best sound from the NFL owners meetings! | Take The North

Episode Date: April 4, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): It's a special NFL owners meetings edition of Listen To This! In this episode, Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote hear from Titans head coach Robert Saleh as well as Bears head coach Ben Johnson, general manager Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Dan Weiderer. The whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads. And Mark Grody. We're allowed to at this point. Bears fans are allowed to right now dream big and predict what you want out of the season. We're going to take the North and never give it back. Hello again.

buddy and welcome in to the Take the North podcast along with Mr. I-L-L-L-I-N-I, Dan Wheater of the athletic, freshly returned from the owner's meetings in Phoenix, Arizona. And if you're watching on video popping up and showing off all of his orangeness, I am Mark Rohdey of 1043, the score, Dan, and I finally back together in the great big, beautiful city of Chicago. And this is going to be a very special edition of Listen to this. We are going to hear from several people that Dan spoke to at the owner's meeting. including Robert Sala on Caleb Williams.

We'll hear from Ryan Poles, Kevin Warren, Ben Johnson, all sorts of good stuff. But Dan, how are you? Look at this guy. Just for people who are not watching the video, and we always invite you to check out the video, even if you listen from the auditory standpoint only. Dan right now is wearing his Aligni baseball cap and an orange crush t-shirt, which is the fan section, right, Weezie? section yeah the student section um just so you know i've given myself like a 72 to 96 hour window to be

real real obnoxious about this and so we're smack dab in the middle of it listen like there was a year probably about a decade ago when northwestern basketball got hot and every northwestern alum came out of the woodworks and had to tell you all about that talking about you kevin fishpane there were there there's times when syracuse gets hot and everybody comes out of the the woodwork to tell you how good they are Hey, Zach, save me, how's the call, buddy? This is my chance. This is my chance to shine here, Grody. And so this morning, as I was starting to get ready for this trip down to Indianapolis,

I went down in the dungeon in our house and found a box that's amongst the attic, or the crawl space, I guess you'd call it, that was called vintage teas. And inside vintage teas, Grody, was this 1997-98 orange crush shirt. At that point in my life, I would have been approaching my 21st birthday, or maybe it had already experienced, yeah, approaching my 21st birthday, that team, my God, that's a long time ago now. I was living at a house on 2nd Street down in Champaign that when we moved out of that house, we were sure it was going to be bulldozed within like three months.

It's still standing today, Grouty, so that gives you a little indication here. But this shirt that I'm wearing has signatures all over it from that team. And you went to your archives to look up some of the names that were on this 1997-98 Big Ten Championship team and stumbled upon some connection to yourself. Yeah. I mean, the first name that pops off the page for me is Sergio McLean, who was a very prominent Alina, his father, Wayne McLean, ended up being an assistant. And Wayne McLean and Sergio McLean were almost as famous for going to Illinois as they

were famous for being at Peoria Manuel. While you were down at the, in Champaign, screwing around and drinking and do whatever you did. Old Marky Mark was on his first job in radio, which was in Peoria, Illinois. So I had the privilege to cover what was, honest to God, Peoria was the pipeline in those Lon Kruger years. So I got to cover Sergio McLean and Frankie Williams. Marcus Griffin. Marcus Griffin at all those great Peoria schools. We're talking about Sean Livingston, who was a Peoria Central guy. But yes, Sergio McLean on that particular roster. You had, let's see, Jerry Hester.

Yeah, was a senior that year? Jared, was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, Jerry Gee or Jerry G? It was Jerry G. And then he was, he started his college career as Jerry and he ended it as Jared. So he kind of had a transformation during that, but had a really good year there. Brian Johnson was on that team. Yeah, man.

Kevin Turner, the out of Simian was kind of, you know, it kind of been low profile for a few years and really emerged that year as a big time scorer for that thing. Another guy that I also worked in Springfield, I believe Victor Chuck Wudeb. Chukwadebe. You know what I knew that. Victor Chucadabe, Brody, arrived in Champaign as part of my dorm floor. Really? He was living with Fess Hawkins, who was only there for a year, but Illinois fans will

remember him. And Victor Chukadee lived right down the hall for me. And I recall vividly, he was a freshman. I believe I was a sophomore when he came in. We had that first day of school meeting and they were like, oh, there's going to be a three-on-three tournament. And Victor Chukadabia and Fess Hoggins were looking for a third. That's amazing, man. And we're like, who are these guys?

And then the next day, we're like, oh, they're the freshman, incoming freshman for the basketball team. Oh, man. Yeah, great. I remember him being a terrific defensive player. If I recall correctly in Champaign, he was a little bit more of an offensive player when I believe, I want to get this right, because this will upset my Springfield contingency. but I believe he was a landfair guy. Springfield Landfier, I believe is where he went.

The other name, too, because this guy was, he was a scorer. Old Corey Bradford was a freshman that year. No, not yet for this team. No, he was the following year, I believe. Really? Oh, okay. I got a reference page open. Maybe you saw, oh, yeah, 97, 98. He was following you. The other guy here, good shooter out of Libertyville.

Unfortunately, he passed away in a car accident, I believe. Matt Helden. He could fill it. He could fill it. Absolutely great shooter. But maybe Corey Bradford was a freshman that year. I'm looking at the same roster you're looking at. And maybe he was a freshman that year.

I thought he came in the following year. But I am mistaken. You know what? As a matter, hold on a second here. You may have just corrected me very nicely. Yeah. Yeah, you always tell me, never correct you on this podcast. So I try to try to.

I don't buy the weird. He's got rules. Grotie, don't you do that? Oh, man. I can go down this path. forever. Well, I should tell you this. I should tell you this on the score on what will be Friday on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Dee Brown will be in the house. I was told. Yeah, I was told here today. Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's right. You were on the score today without me.

That's right. That's why we're talking now. I was on your show today without you. Which I wasn't on. I'm getting my weedsy fill as we speak here right now. So yeah, I mean, like, it's going to be an absolute blast seeing Illinois. in the final four. And I mean, the fact of the matter is, is they have a real chance to win that game against Yukon. All bets are off when you get to the title game against one of those two heavyweights that they're going to have to go go up against in the final game. But, but hell, man, it's very possible that your line eye and mine kind of are going to be in that championship game. Two more quick things about this t-shirt that I'm wearing here. And it's really

pretty ugly. There is the, the chief is on the back, which is great. But I put it on today. And I was like, man, you remember how baggy the style was in the late 90s? Like, you put it out of my going to swimming in this thing. Like, how did I wear it way back then? Yeah. Then I also recall, one of my most vivid memories of this year is they played a Friday night game against Georgia Southern. And there was a huge pregame party for the Orange Crush at CAMs.

So you're going over to the game, not quite clear-eyed, if you know what I mean. Right. And so there used to be a cut through. Like you could walk through the six-pack and you could walk through. to the stadium and you could get into Memorial Stadium, the football stadium, and walk directly through and get to Assembly Hall that way. Well, we go through there, and on that night, Michigan State football happened to be in town doing their walkthrough on the field.

And my buddy, Matt, last name not to be revealed here on this show, walked straight down between the hashes with his arms out through the middle of a Michigan State walkthrough the night before Illinois football played them. In one end, out the other end, straight down the tunnel, which we were not. not supposed to go in the tunnel at the Orange Crush into the Assembly Hall. And so we're down basically just outside the Illinois locker room in the assembly hall. And Kevin Turner, the aforementioned Kevin Turner came out.

And my buddy Matt, whose last name should not be mentioned, grabs Kevin Turner by the shoulder. And he goes, hey, KT, keep it up tempo tonight. And he goes, you got it. You got it. Is Matt, Matt Helman, by any chance? It's not. No. Okay.

Who played for the line? I'm kidding. I'm just looking at bats on the roster right now. Great stuff. Go aligni. That will do it for now for the college basketball portion of our... Great taxi out there. Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or macho.

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How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. Let's get back to take the north now and talk some bears. As I said, this is a special edition of listen to this, where we like to bring you the best of audio or just stuff that Dan and I have heard or generated. In this case, our guy Weiderer has generated all of this. And if I might make a request to get this going, because I look at the stuff that you sent us on our group chat, what is peaking my interest right now is you talk to the Tennessee Titans coach Robert Sala. What did he talk about?

Tell our audience what he discussed and lead us into that particular audio here on TTN. Yeah, so there's always two breakfasts at the owner's meetings, one for the NSC coaches, one for the AFC coaches. obviously on NFC day you plant yourself by Ben Johnson and you don't leave that table. You're able to bounce around during the AFC breakfast and Robert Sala didn't have a very large crowd at his table. He was the 49ers defensive coordinator last year. That put him in position to have a really good view of that week 17 game against the Bears that was a Sunday night classic. You know, an absolute shootout that came down to the final play. The Bears ended up stalling out there right inside the five, I believe on the last play where they didn't get a proper playoff and lost the game.

but Robert Sala saw Caleb Williams at his best, the 330-yard night, two touchdowns. You remember that game and just how much of a pinball machine scoring game it was. And so we had an opportunity to visit with him a little bit about defending Caleb Williams and the challenges that he experienced as an opposing defensive play caller going up against Ben and Caleb. Here's a little bit of what Robert Sala had to say. Ben did such a nice job with Caleb is here in that player offense. He reminds me a little bit of a little bit of. Russell where you know you're

and he's only scratching the surface so he might even be more I don't want to put a ceiling on him but where you can't get comfortable at any moment in the down especially as the game gets bigger and bigger he gets better and better the last year his fourth quarter of

heroics all last year were ridiculous and we're fortunate to escape on that two the pressure is the fact that he can you're defending two plays you're defending the coordinator's scheme and then you're defending his ability to go off schedule

and everybody playing backyard football and he has the arm talented to get the ball wherever he needs to and I mean shoot the throw he made in a playoff game against the Rams probably the most one of the most ridiculous throws I've ever seen in my life but he's a talented young man and he's a game slows down

and he's only going to get better. God, that's good man. I love, love that last part right there talking about having to defend two different things, the scheme. And then Caleb, which Ben Johnson has admitted at times, bailed his ass out sometimes when he didn't think he had the proper call. Caleb made a play out of something that Ben Johnson put in and maybe was a failed play call. It marries up with something you and I were

talking about earlier in the week that if the bears could even go to another level with their scramble drill with that second play that defenses have to defend, the exhaustion that is going cause for opposing defenses is second to none. And so you listen to a coach there with very genuine admiration, not only for Caleb, but for what Ben is able to do with Caleb. And then again, what you just touched on, that idea that every single down has doubled the responsibility because you're trying to anticipate what's going to be run and defend what's being run. And then all of a sudden the play goes into a different mode and you've got to find a way to figure out how to slow that down. And so, man, like the danger level for this bear's offense is off the charts if they can

find their stride. And it's why so much of this offseason is going to be fascinating for us to have a firsthand look at as they target areas of improvement and then accentuate strengths. My God, they've got they've got so much potential here. And when you hear that, and Robert Sala wasn't the only one to talk about this the other day, Jeff Halfley, who faced Caleb Williams three times in about six weeks there with the Packers down the stretch echoed some of the sentiments of just how difficult it is to, again, it's not only defending two plays every down. It's the idea that you, like Jeff Hathley, played three sensational defensive football games for about 50 to 55 minutes and lost twice, right?

Because they couldn't finish and they couldn't kill Caleb Williams. And so that's another part of this that is clearly caught the attention of people around the league. Yeah. And we have discussed it, you know, the theme of that there, the seven fourth quarter comebacks, even in the last couple of minutes. And we have discussed it this week on this podcast, the 58.1 completion percentage.

That has to get better. His receivers have to get better, have to be fewer drops, fewer throwaways, all of that stuff. But that is a great job of accentuating the part that Caleb is really good at and is shining through. I also thought the Russell Wilson comp was interesting.

A guy who the bears at one point in time, we're going to hire to be there, their starting quarterback. at one point in time. But hey, man, don't think of Russell now. Remember Russell and his prime. And that's a comp that I will take. Well, yeah.

And it's, it's Salah offering that comp up and then almost catching himself and being like, well, Caleb may even be better than that. You know what I mean? And like, and like, and that's what catches your attention because Russell Wilson went to two Super Bowls. You know, Russell Wilson had the Seahawks in the playoffs every single year.

If you're signing up for that existence from a quarterback, QB1, like auto-subscribe, auto-renew, you know, just keep it going for as long as it'll possibly go. Absolutely. Good stuff there from Robert Sala, now the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Another thing, Dan, that you and I have spoken about constantly before this season, during this season, and after this season is sustained success. It was a great year last year.

But what might have the Bears general manager, Ryan Poles, have to say about the idea of, hey, go to the playoffs two years in a row. Is that possible, Mr. Poles? Yeah, I mean, this is a theme that you and I are going to hammer on, right, for the next several months and even beyond. And so, look, we understand the history of this organization. We understand that it's way back in the 80s was the last time they had three consecutive winning seasons.

And so trying to figure that out is something that Ryan Poles is responsible for and all the coaches and players as well. But here's what the general manager had to say on that very topic. Your riddle for the Bears is how do you sustain a season like last year? What did you see from last year that gives you the most belief that, okay, the momentum is very real. Yeah, I would say the conversations we had with the guys at the end of this season, just in terms of their feedback and how the year went. But what I'm looking for is just the kind of the hunger to get back to it,

and the hunger to pick up where we left off. I think there's good awareness so the guys know they can't just show up and it just happens. I think Benz did a great job just in terms of a leader maintaining like this is a new year

and we've got to get back to work. But you see this hunger from this young group of guys that want to string year after year together. They see it, they know what kind of work they have to do. Again, you have an organization

that's constant learning from the past and seeing where the voids are, where we need to get better, if that's from a front office, coaching and playing standpoint. So you hear all of those things and it gives me a lot of hope. I think it's very easy to take in information and say, you know, we're really good and it's just going to happen. But you can feel the hunger to put the time in to get back to where the words, kind of an addiction that you kind of feel from the guys. I like that. I like that.

Look, Ben Johnson has led this charge. He has led this charge since being at the lectern postgame against the L.A. ramp. So I kind of like that more or less, Dan, what I'm hearing is Ryan Poles following the lead of his head coach. Yeah, and the operative word there that he repeated a bunch of times is hunger, right? And it sounds like they are very confident that they are not going to have to revive that hunger, that it's still there amid the returning players, that it's there within some of the newcomers they brought in. And that hunger is just going to have to be present from the time they report to the offseason. program on April 20th all the way until the time that next season ends. And so they're leaning

into hunger. And they certainly feel like they have a coach that can bring it out of them. One of the things that George McCasky told me in our side session was he doesn't really feel like even though Ben has brought up the quality complacency a lot. He doesn't feel like there is going to be a problem at any time under Ben's watch of complacency entering the building just because of the way the head coach is wired and then the natural hunger these players have. Well, then the, you know, the guy who might be the most hungry would be the quarterback. And because if he is earnest and his desire to be elite and to be great, and I think he is,

I mean, he wants all of that. He wants all of the glory of being a great quarterback. It starts right there because, as he said, like, there's going to be a lot of new faces, not necessarily on offense, but on the defensive side of the ball and special teams. So to say that there's hunger now, I don't know. I don't know about some of the new guys. I think that there will be, but at least we know that the man wearing jersey number 18 whose leadership is probably continuing to grow and evolve.

He's got that, I believe. Yeah. Well, and it's going to have to be consistent, you know, and you're going to have to be able to maintain that not only over months and weeks, but years. You know, and that that's going to be something that Caleb's going to learn how to do as his career evolves. But it's going to have to be there. And one of the things that I've loved about Ben's sentiments this week, you know, he, he, he, he, He's heard Caleb speak it out loud. He wants to be one of the best offenses of all time.

He wants to be one of the elite quarterbacks of his generation. Okay, well, that's the standard now. You vocalize that yourself and we're holding that to you. So when we talk previously about the 70% benchmark, Ben's not going to lower that because that's not going to allow Caleb to be an elite quarterback in this league. His point is every quarterback has drops. Every quarterback has throwaways. If you really want to be what you say you want to be,

understand what this work is and the hunger that that involves. And so I think it all ties. together. You had some great stuff in the athletic this week, some quotes from Ben Johnson. I know we played some of it on Take the North. But what else do you have from the Bears Head Coach while we were on the topic? Okay. So yeah, we'll go to Ben next. And look, like, we understand his understanding of what this city is and what it can be. And so he offered up at his breakfast that, you know, some of the hats in the back that the coaches and the players are getting out in the public for the dream 2025 season that they put together are nice and all, but he's kind of over it. And so we kind

of went back and forth on, you know, Ben, Ben recently has been at the United Center for Blackhawks and Bulls games. He's gone to Wrigley for the Cubs game. And so you get out in public a little bit, and you feel that love a little bit more than you do when you're inside the coaching silo during the season. And so just kind of trying to react to his reaction to the reaction, if that makes sense, and how that's resonating with him. Here's Ben Johnson on that topic. Are you reversed to that when you're making the rounds and you're going to these other games

and you're getting a little bit of fanfare? How does it resonate with you knowing how you're wired? Well, I think that's the beauty of being in a place that cares is when you do well, they let you know it. And when you don't do well, they let you know it. And so there's a little seesaw effect to it. And I'll never forget, you know, you lose your first game. which was Monday night football against the Vikings,

and there were lots of booze. And so you've got to roll with it a little bit. You know, the ups and the downs, I think the biggest thing for myself, our staff, this team, is what's in the past is in the past, and we can put that to bed here at this point. And when we come back here, I think it's April 20th that we start officially with the players,

and we can start focusing on the next season. That's the most important thing. What's been the most notable thing for you out in public of feeling the love that you probably didn't feel inside the season because you're so silo. Well, I want to say last year, I can't remember what time of year it was, but my family stayed downtown for a couple nights, and we could do a lot more. And now it's just the recognition factors a little bit higher. That's fine.

That's not why we go down there. I'm trying to spend some time with my kids and trying to earn that Father in the Year award that I miss for the other half of the year. But no, I think it is such a wonderful city that we love going down there, exploring restaurants, museums, sporting events, whatever that is, and really getting to experience it ourselves. One thing you said last year at this time was I'm recognizing the sleeping giant that you were walking into. What parts do you feel like have been gently awakened at this point?

Yeah, I felt it at the end of the year. Just everybody coming out full force as the test. temperatures dropped and being in Soldier and yet the excitement was sky high. You could feel it. You could feel it throughout the game. You could feel it in pre-game. Certainly at the end of games. And I thought our fans, I mean, they came out in full force.

You could really feel their support. I always knew that, you know, you're in such a big market that, you know, and everyone's saying this is a mayor city. And yet it took me half the season. before I truly realized what that meant. I mean, I'll never forget those two playoff games. It gives me chills to think about. You got a lot of think about it, though, Ben.

Don't be thick. Don't be getting chills, man. That is over, good, better, best. No more of that stuff. A lot of great layers to that. And like some of the things I was thinking as I was listening to that, him, you know, saying when he had his family downtown and he's kind of become a celebrity as justifiable. I remember in the preseason seeing him at a Cubs game,

and he was just Ben from the block. Nobody really, a couple people knew who he was. And now he can't. And it feels like he is, because as you and I both know, being in this town, our whole lives in all sports, some guys can take the glow of Chicago, and some cannot. I think he is.

And the word wired was used throughout that great conversation you had with him just now. he is wired correctly to be a Chicago sports star. Yeah, well, it's funny. Yeah, because you mentioned it. The anonymity is gone now, right? Like you're out in public and people know that you're the guy from the videos that's ripping your shirt off and telling everybody to get better and then get best, you know.

And so that's a real thing now for Ben that he's got to navigate and he will. He'll be fine with that. The other thing that I noted and you talk about the wiring, he brings up week one to last season. He brings up his first game as Bears coach. He brings up a Monday night loss to the Vikings. And he brings it up in a way where it's, you can tell it's still there that he's never going to just put that in a back bin

and push it away. He was booed, right? Like the bears were booed that night for blowing a lead. And certainly I wouldn't be surprised if he took a little copy of take the North post game after the Detroit game the following Sunday and said, let's, let's keep this around just to stoke my flames every once in a while because the tone wasn't great right out of the gates. And there was a lot of feeling of here we go.

go again for the bears. And I think, you know, to use a last dance phrase, I think he took it personally. And so like that's it, right? Like that's the wiring of hyper-competitive people. I heard an interview with Press Taylor recently with Jeff Joniak, where he said that Ben just has this desire to achieve that really is felt every single day. And I think you can tell, by the way, he speaks about every topic that it's there, you know, that they're, There's still a target way out there in the distance that he's not going to settle until he reaches. Yeah. And it's thinking about the booze too.

And again, having been around here my whole life, being going to Bears games, growing up at all different ages and now covering the team, the booing, fans feel more enabled, I think, than ever to be pretty harsh at these Bears games. And it started, you know, this is just my opinion, it started like when the expectations, when it's, When you started to first round quarterbacks, Mitch Tabisky, Justin Fields, now Caleb Williams, and an array of coaches, Bears fans ain't like, and we always talk about it. The first game of 2019 after a spectacular and fun 2018, they were booing in the first half of the game. So it's a real thing that you, another thing that one has to, and it hurts, man. Boowing is harsh. It hurts. And I get it why he would remember that.

Well, and I think it's great that in his first season, he got the full range. You know, you got the absolute full range of what the city can be in terms of discontent and then like the celebration of like when, you know, because you get that and you're like, screw these people. Like I just got here. I'm trying to fix this complete mess. We stepped in a little bit and they're booing. And then you go to a playoff game in January and you've got two of them at home and you feel

the stadium literally shake and you, and you know, you're part of that environment and you're like, oh, you know, he said like it took them halfway through the year before he realized what people meant when they were. they said this is a Bears town and then and then he's sitting there with chills on his arms right like in a in a conference room in Phoenix in March because he understands what this means to this city and that he can be a big part of enlivening all of that the one other thing I want to bring up and maybe this is like a bigger discussion but this is probably a good time to bring it up do you ever think about Ben Johnson now relative to what he would be like let's say if he makes it to his

eighth year as the Bears head coach and can he maintain this level of wiredness that he is at now. Do I ever think about it? Yeah. And I wonder how much Ben thinks about it because you do wonder. It looked like Khalif Raymond came in being introduced as a free agent a few weeks back and was like talking about how he has had this experience with Ben where he's like, all right, you know, you can go home now and you can go, you know, say hello to your wife and kids.

But again, that desire to achieve creates this drive. And like Ben's going to have to figure out how to navigate that. It's going to be time allocation. It's going to be, you know, just kind of time management. And then really kind of, I guess, intensity management over time to realize that there isn't an infinite amount of human energy as much as you want there to be. And so how does that fatigue you and how does that keep you from getting better and being at your best? See what I did there. Very good.

Yes. And it still remains. But I do think about that because, you know, look like I'm knocking on the door 50. I know I don't have the same fuel tank that I once did. Ben's, I think he's 40 now, 40, 41.

You're going to have to figure out how to navigate that. Yeah, yeah, navigate it and how you can change. You're right, man. I have, I'm in the 50 club and yeah, things are very different now than they were when I was 40. So it's just the

it is human nature, ladies a gentleman. And Grody, Grotie, really different than they were when you were 21. As Dan holds up the 1997, 1998, a line-eye shirt that he's rocking right now. All right, one more here from Kevin Warren.

Yeah, Kevin Warren. We had to do some stadium stuff here before we got out of here. And Kevin, obviously, at the forefront of the stadium project stuff. This is a little insight into just kind of his patience level and just looking around the league. Because right now, Grotie, there's a lot of stuff going on. around the league with stadiums. The Bears will visit a brand new stadium this fall in Buffalo.

Tennessee's on the horizon. Washington's got some movement in their efforts to get a new stadium. Kansas City, Cleveland. It's all happening. So that was an entry point for Kevin to talk about that a little bit. And then using that as a launching point to figure out what's going to happen with the actual stadium itself when we have an actual building to walk into. Here's Kevin Warren. Why, you guys aren't the only one at some phase of a stadium project.

When you look around, say, Tennessee or Buffalo or Washington, are there things that you can borrow from pages of their playbook? Other things that test your patience because other places are moving at different rates. No, I don't take – this is – every location is different, but that's a great question, is yes, every one of these stadiums, and especially the further they get to getting complete, you can learn. And I think the biggest thing you learn is your stadium has to fit your home environment. And so you look at Tennessee, I think one of the things that's exciting about that,

you know, Nashville is a renowned music environment. And so I think you're going to, you know, get that feel. And so Buffalo fits Buffalo. I think the ones who are the purchase along Buffalo opening this year, we played there. I'm excited about seeing it in Tennessee opening in 27. I think the thing that we take away is that it fits those environments. And so that's one of the things that we'll have in our new stadium. stress that in there that Chicago has to be a part

of the fabric of this? What things can you use to blend into it that says? I think the thing, and you know, I love Chicago. It's home and it's been home for a while now is that I think what it is our fan fans love the game day environment.

So I think wherever we build our stadium, I think one of the things that it's going to have to have is robust tailgating, you know, mixed use development, you know, a place where they can embrace, you know, food, beverages, and really just family of being around. Now, that's one of the things that, that's what has made Chicago, you know, Chicago. It's, you know, I think it's the greatest food city, you know, in the world. Yeah. So you got to build, you know, that environment where you look. And as I said, you will,

in our stadium, you'll be able to know we're in Chicago land. Yeah. I mean, we get a feel for it. So a combination of music and food and family and environment because the notes and the letters and the emails and text messages I get from fans, it's all about, it's not only, it was a great game, it was a great game because I got a chance to go with my dad. Sure. It was a great game because our kids were home from school where we were able to, you know, eat our favorite food. And they love the Chicago Bears. It really was. People stay from 9 a.m.

Yes. That's exactly one. So I think that's, you know, since that will be part of the foundational element. And our fans are unique. They're very bright. They understand the game. And the thing that amazes me, it's male, females, young, older. They understand football and they're passionate about it.

But they want to make sure, so the focus will be is how we can take the feeling of you being at home in your basement with a bunch of family and friends. How can we transcend that to actually our game day environment? Yeah. From what I understand, Dan, wherever the stadium is, it's going to be in the shape of a hot dog. That is what they need to do, or maybe a can of old style. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you've got to add some of these elements, right? Like, I don't want this to be some cookie cutter stadium where you just, you feel like, oh, man,

they, you know, they cut some corners and they weren't as creative with this as they could be. I'd like to see that. I like that Kevin acknowledges the desire of Bears fans to get out there early, stay late, get to parking lots and do some drink. and eating, right? Robust alienating. That was a good turn of phrase by Kevin Ward. And then my other favorite part at the end there,

he's obviously borrowed a book from Take the North and really just playing to the audience, right? Like we know of this fan base that he describes as very bright and understanding the game and passionate about it. No one is brighter and more into the game and passionate about it than the Take the North audience, right? Like we know of podcast audience

that follow the Bears. nobody reaches that criteria more than this. Take the North audience, bright, passionate, full of intelligence about the game. So good job on Kevin of recognizing that and echoing the sentiments that we always talk about here. No doubt. And Kevin Warren knows this as hopefully a listener to take the North that he is welcome on this podcast any time to talk about robust tailgating or whatever. And at all honest. Maybe when we get a shovel in the ground, we make sure that we get Kevin to jump on and talk about the tailgating. I think that would be absolutely awesome. And in all honesty, like the one thing I've never been critical of Kevin Warren throughout the process who hasn't been.

I mean, it's been a long process. But one thing that I've never worried about, honestly, is whatever the aesthetics of the stadium are going to be that that's not the part. Like, once this thing happens, I think that it will be spectacular, no matter where it ends up being. When's it going to happen and where's it going to be? Well, Dan, I actually do have a prediction on the table. I think that you might have made a prediction too. I think we did. Yeah, late, late, I had, I believe, July 26th or 7th, I said, of this year.

Important students is going to keep these on a marker board in his house so that we don't forget these, these bold predictions that we make. Oh, don't worry. The comments on YouTube or wherever people comment, they'll let us know when we're wrong. Don't you worry, Dan. Speaking of that here before we wind down and get out of here, we do have, it's coming right up. Our Take the North Live special is coming up. April 16th from 6 to 8 p.m.

In our Odyssey Blue Cross Blue Shield Performance Studio, which is really cool. Lots of cool bands have been. I was just talking to somebody about Wilco having been there recently and all sorts of cool acts that I have gotten, been very lucky to see. And we ain't charging anybody anything to come to see us live that night. And it is my understanding that we are allowed to give out a few more tickets. So if people are interested in, in. joining our live studio audience. This will be live on 104.3, The Score.

It'll obviously be podcast here on TTIN. Real quick, if we can, if we can bring in Adam Stitzinski, just to invite listeners and viewers if you would like to reach out and see if you get, I can't guarantee it, but probably some tickets still available. Studs, where can people turn their attention

if they would like to be part of our live studio audience? So, a few different ways. you can DM us on Twitter. We're at Take the North Pod on Twitter. Or you can DM myself. I'm at Tristler Studs on Twitter. You could also email us, which is take the northpod at gmail.com. So again, that's take the north pot at gmail.com.

Any of those ways, just hit us up and we'll see if we can help you out. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I don't have an exact number in front of me about how many spots we have. Yeah, no, no, I mean, I can't guarantee you, but I was told. And look, I'll open my DMs too on Instagram, Mark double underscore grody or just Google it. You'll find me, DM me, and we'll let you know if we can get you in for our live studio. Because we had a blast doing this.

The only second time we've done it. We did it last year and it was fantastic. Yeah, look, like I'm pumped. The calendar flips to April and you start to realize how quick all this is coming. And so we've got that. And then I know we're going to do our draft bonanza episode before we get to actual draft night. and we're going to do that for the second year in a row. And so like, okay, we're picking up steam here as we get to the closing stages of

this phase of the offseason. So it should be a lot of fun. And that show with the live audience last year was great. Yeah, yeah, it was blast. And this year's draft is going to be even more interesting because it can go in any direction. You could probably justify a whole bunch of different positions, but we will save that for another podcast and close out today. I hope you guys enjoyed listening to this very special.

of listen to this and so for Dan Weiderer of the Illini and of the athletic and all the blue for crazy weedsie for our guy our executive producer Adam Stizinski I am Mark Grody of 104 104 3 to score saying thank you so much for watching and listening to to the Take the Nourn podcast. Great talk. See out there. Thank you, everybody.