Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Reacting to Seahawks' 29-13 victory over Patriots in Super Bowl LX (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote opened their show by sharing their takeaways from the Seahawks' 29-13 win against the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday. After that, they discussed the Bears' need to address their left tackle position this offseason. Later, they reacted to Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III being named the Super Bowl MVP.

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

Okay, thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104 3. The score. I say C-Hawks, but they don't cover 24 to 17. Really low scoring, and I don't know why.

So that is my, that's my prediction. Seahawks beating the Patriots. I did pick on Take to North. I did pick the New England Patriots to beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24 to 20. Yes, some of it has to do with the fact that Dave the Cat did without hesitation choose the New England Patriots. My East Coast family is not going to like this, but I am picking the Seahawks to win 27 to 24. Like Grotie, I'm a cat guy. So I'm rolling with Dave the Cat.

23 20 Patriots. Tops up. George Velati's the running back. Big to him. It was the first touchdown of Super Bowl 60. There goes May on first and 10, heaving and long. Tows, caught touchdown. Far side.

On that far side by Matt Collins and over the shoulder catch at the pilot, far side of the end zone. And the clock is kicking at 438, and they trail 22-7. Shotgun snap, 44 Seattle. He's hit as he drops back. The ball three. Pickup by, no Osu, running down the side. 30, 20, 10, 5.

Touchtown! In the hands, Trebion Anderson, trying to get to the sideline. He's rolling to 29. And that will do it. Seattle's above the ball. The Seahawks, Super Bowl champions for the second time. All my teammates, all my coaches I've ever had, always believing in me.

I've always believed in myself because of my family and my friends. So it's as simple as that. As long as you believe in yourself, Anything's possible. Lela Rahini, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, the score. What's that you say, Sam Darnold? Anything is possible?

Why, I feel like I've heard that before. Was it Kevin Garnett? The great philosopher. It was. Anything is possible. There it is. The Seahawks are a Super Bowl champion. after that 29 to 13 went over the Patriots

where I forgot that the point spread of 4.5. So I did pick the Seahawks to cover. I don't know that it was that exciting. But we watched it. We watched it together as a team, as a family, because it's what we do. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. We are happy to have you here with us on this Monday

where I wonder if everybody went into work a little bit slower pace than they did, you know, the Monday before because this should be able. holiday, you know, the day after the Super Bowl. Did you enjoy your Super Bowl party last night if you went to one? Did you eat something special? Did you get your commercials in? Did you watch your respective halftime show?

Did you enjoy your life enough to watch the game? And for everybody who, you know, loves the Bears defense and old school football in the running game, that was a game for you last night because that was what was working. Let me tell you something. Both of you. I'm just happy. I got paid to watch that game. I was at work last night, so I got paid to watch that game.

Otherwise, I don't know that I would have watched it and consumed it in the same manner in which I did. I probably would have watched it after the fact, fast forwarding through everything, because I knew it was going to be a bad game. I just didn't know how bad of a game it was going to be in terms of competitive. This took me back to being a young Buffalo Bills fan watching after the missed field goal, what happened in the next three Super Bowls with those same Buffalo Bills. got absolutely trounced. I'm thinking about what Layla said that it might agree, at least indicating that a game like that, like the old school nature of it, might appeal to some

people. And I'm saying no. I'm saying no. I'm saying that I think we're past that. I was at a party with people that you would think would think old school. And there were people drifting off at the gathering. Real football fans, too. What does that mean drifting off? Just kind of not just kind of slouching in their seats, getting a little lower, eating food, and just kind of... Letting the idas take over. Yeah, because, right, so even people, like, I think we are officially conditioned for lots of scoring in the NFL for big time quarterback play, and we didn't have it. And even the people who think they're old school, they're not old school anymore. We want offense, period.

I don't know. I mean, we do. We knew based on, you know, Olin says. this and it's true, like the tape speaks to you. So if you watch these two teams, if you slogged through the Patriots Broncos game, if you understood how the Seahawks

got to this point, you had a feeling that it was going to be a low scoring game. But you're right. I don't necessarily know that that's the appetite for everybody. I don't think so. It took me back to a simpler time. Like, it did take me back. Because the Seahawks, a lot of time, didn't even

have exotic blitz packages. Yes, Devin Witherspoon would rush off the educationally and well I might add he had a tremendous game I dare to say he had a great playoffs so he was one part of it but it was it was a lot of a simple you know four man rushes out of the seahawks defense they were like we're going to make it hell for you to run the ball you knew that on the other side unfortunately the seahawks bull compliment of offensive weapons wasn't the same jackson smith and jigma with with it goes into concussion protocol he ends up leaving the game we finally get points, you know, but it took forever. What was it? It was nine, nothing at the

half, right? And I wrote down the halftime stats. And boy, are they bad. Did Drake may have over 60 yards? He had 88 yards passing, but he was sacked for 30 yards. So it was only 18 net passing yard or it was 48. Oh, Seattle had 88 passing yards. My bad. That was the better number. Drake may had 48 net passing yards and then 30 of it was taken away via sacks. So the Patriots had 18 net passing yards at the half. At the half. At the point, I texted Tannie and I go, oh, no, the Patriots have the ball again. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're texting somebody from another show while we're on the text

thread. Will you care to share this? You're texting with their show? I feel like this is a safe space. What's going out of here? What is you and Tanny? What is that all about? I like that this is a safe space where she feels comfortable enough and secure enough, and she knows that Mark Grotty is secure enough that she could text other people about the game as well. Here's a way to really make it hit home. Taney and I will occasionally just get our own

to, you know, like, bits off. I love texting Tanny. Tanny. I text him all the time. I do. I do. Yes, I do. Next thing you know, we're going to all say we text Lauren. He's next. He's next. But with, to really hit at home, Leila, to add to what you're saying, with 1256 to go in the game.

I jotted this one down, even at the gathering that I attended. Magic, the gathering. That's right. May makes that 20, it's 19-0-0 Seattle. Drake May finally makes a big pass. The pass to Matt Collins ahead of the Holland's TD. And it was great.

Like that float, I mean, like, of all the bad passes, that was beautiful. Gets it to the Seattle 41. Again, 1256 to go in the game. That would be the first time in the game, in the game, that the Patriots would take a snap inside the 43-yard line. Imagine that. Did that even happen in the NFL this year? And all of the games that were played?

Did it take a team? until the fourth quarter to get within the 43 yard line of another team? You didn't watch a lot of Browns football, did you? Well, I admit I stayed away from Browns football. Do you have information to tell me that even them, I would doubt.

It took till the fourth quarter to get to the 43 yard line of an opponent. All right, let's also do this. Since we're here, since we're talking about how random this game ended up being when you consider how we've been watching modern football lately, every, I said this many times to myself, wrote it down, and talked about it during our group thread and in our pre-show meeting. Michael Dixon, the Seahawks punter. My God, that guy is good.

Every single time I was like, oh, they really need a good one here. And he delivered every time. I was like, oh, no, this actually could get the Patriots to closer field position. Like, I was watching this, like the most old school defensive coordinator ever. I don't know. who would have been proud because I'm still not good enough for an old school defensive coordinator, but it's the idea, you know, it's the idea. What about one Jason Myers? If we're talking about kicking, I would start with him, the MVP runner-up. Now, see, you say MVP runner-up. I'm not so sure about that. I'm honestly not so sure about

that. I thought it was an interesting game in that it became at some point, probably around halftime when it was not enough. It's like, okay, is this game more about who's going to win or more about how, putrid is this offense from New England going to end up being when it's all said and done. So I was pleasantly surprised when Mack Hollins gets a couple of catches, including the touchdown. Oh, they are alive over there.

It just took them a long time to warm up. This segment is sponsored by almost free teeth.com. Affordable implants, life-changing smiles. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie talking a little Super Bowl on 104-3 of the score. Yeah, they finally get some forward passes going. That's the other part

of this. Like for all the Brable talk and the Drake May talk and the almost MVP talk, Coach of the Year, you know who else should be getting some ire here? All assistant coach of the year who always gets the benefit of the doubt at all times, Josh McDaniels. Like, I think, I think there was a really good point that was made by Chris Collinsworth when he talked about how the Patriots were calling the same plays that they did in the snow against the Broncos, just running up the middle on purpose at times, in cruiseries. yardage and crucial downs.

Like, you can do that if you're getting a V-shaped pocket and you get that penetration up front. But you weren't getting that. You're just doing it to be stubborn at that point. And I thought that of all people who was going to adjust, that was going to be the dude, and it didn't happen. I just, I feel like the Patriots offense has not been good for a while, right? But it's not just that.

The Seattle Seahawks showed you exactly. what type of defense you were going to have to be able to beat to win a championship. And for the better part of the season, no one could do enough damage against that specific defense. And it all came to fruition. When you look at, unfortunately, the Patriots rode to the Super Bowl and how they got there. And it was a lesser road. I think we could say that unequivocably that their road was lesser to get to the Super Bowl. Whether it's the snow game in Denver against a backup quarterback.

That's a 50-50 game too because of the snow. And it was in Denver. Yeah, and it just didn't feel like the Patriots had done this great thing. Like, oh, look at that dominance to get to the Super Bowl. And you get to the Super Bowl and a team that has been truly dominant, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. And I want to give Mike McDonald some credit here. Mike McDonald is the first head coach in Super Bowl history to win

calling defensive plays as a head coach. I think that says everything right there. man had these guys locked TF in. Vrable did a hell of a job, too. Let's not forget that they were forcing field goal after field goal after field goal, after field goal against an explosive Seattle offense. So I give a lot of credit to Vrable. He kept it as close as he possibly could for as long as he possibly could. The defense gave the Patriots a chance to win.

They were in it until the pick six at the very end from Ocena, New Lise. Well, also, look at that first drive, you know, to what you're talking about. After we saw the 10-yard run to open the game after the kickoff, then you saw a 15-yard pass, and then that passed a Cooper Cup where he just looked like nobody was going to take him down. The Seahawks moved the ball incredibly well, and then to get stopped enough to be able to have to kick the field goal. It's like the bear's defense. I mean, but that's the point.

So there was a, but there's a defined strategy, and I'll get into it in a second. But when it came to, at least on the Patriot side of the ball, being able to stop that from happening, another part of this that's so compelling to me is, you know, for all of the jokes that we make about send it and fourth downs don't matter and everything is four down territory. And even Sean Payton says, here I am watching the Bears game, knowing they should have, they should have kicked the field goal instead of gone for it. What did we see happen in this game? and what has been the Seahawks strategy, the entire playoffs. If they have a chance for points, they take them every single time. Like the reason we're having a joke and a laugh about, I don't know, people who actually touch the ball with their foot and football

when it comes to Jason Myers the kicker and Michael Dixon the punter, we're saying that because the Seahawks did not subscribe to that theory. And they're the Super Bowl champions today. So you think Ben Johnson goes for it too much on fourth down? They should tighten it up a little bit? I think we were talking like at the gathering out. was at. Like, people were joking.

When it was fourth and seven at the national, the, on the first drive, people, there were jokes, oh, well, Ben Johnson would go for it. That's what it was. But people were joking, oh, Ben Johnson would totally go for it in this spot. I think Dan Campbell, you can guarantee. I don't know that it's his lock with Ben Johnson. It's getting close, man. It's getting close.

I'm not even saying this is an open indictment on Ben Johnson. And I'm not saying, oh, look at this. This is how you should do it. It's hard not to think about Ben Johnson. I'm saying, but that's the point. I'm watching this going. Should I learn from this? this strategy because it was ultimately correct.

But the reason it was ultimately correct was they had a remarkable good defense on the other side. You could trust your defense. Like that's the difference is when your best defense is your offense, like it is for, say, the bears at times, especially after injuries, it's a different strategy altogether. But theirs remained the same because their defense was so good. Yeah. If Ben Johnson had the Seattle Seahawks defense, he would, of course, punt more or just

kick the field goal. Because guess what? He, remember where we were going. into the last game. We were like, how much do you trust the Bears' defense? Well, and I remember Ben Johnson answering those questions because we all assumed he was doing what he was doing, going for it, and whatnot, because

he didn't trust the defense. And he was like, oh, no, it's the opposite. I do trust this defense, and he tried to defend them. But I don't know, man. There's a little bit of both in that, Marshall, because Ben Johnson is going to be aggressive, I think. It's his mentality, no matter what, just like

Dan Campbell's, like, if the Bears have a great defense next year, you don't think Ben Johnson's going to go for it on a fourth and four on the on the team's 47 yard line he probably will probably will he probably will but there's a lesson in there to see how the seahawks did it you absolutely no yeah you don't have to be as you know a gambler like ben jonson and most of the coaches i don't know what i would prefer in my coach so i kind of like watching ben jonson be ben jons are you saying you have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them i think you should know when to walk away and know when to run that's just my personal appearance

Never count your money when you're sitting at the table. Yeah, not at the table. You do that. Walk away. Just walk away. Or run. Or run. Did not expect that to happen, but it really was that type of game.

Like this was a game where the field position mattered. The near miss mattered. The decision to kick a field goal mattered. Field goals being an afterthought as far as making them matter. The punter, the fact that we're talking about the Seahawks punter, so glowingly. That's what happens when defense dominates a ball game. Yeah, when it was like, was it 12 to nothing at one point in time? Was it that many field goals?

I was like, okay, this is what we're doing, huh? Yeah, it's going to be, there's not going to be explosives and eventually the... Do you know how many first downs New England had at the half? I'm going to get, can I guess? Oh, you got it. Four. I would have taken the under, to be honest with you. But fair enough.

No, they had four, and I think there was a point when it was 12-0, and Myers kicked another field goal, right? where the announcers said, Mike Tirichiro was like, you get the feeling, or no, I think it was Chris Collinsworth. He said, you get the feeling. If they get a fifth field goal, the game's basically over. I was saying, because that's a two touchdown lead. When the touchdown was scored, I was like, oh, it's it.

The talk at the gathering was next touchdown wins, whichever team was to get a touchdown, whichever team was able to have the formula to break through against these two very good defenses. Are you that reluctant to call it a party? I think, didn't we define it? as a gathering. I thought it was you. Why was it a gathering not a party? Because there wasn't a there wasn't like a lot of like frivolous people there. You know what I'm saying? There weren't

friends of friends and dates and things like that. There was some of that, but there wasn't, I don't know, it was less than 10 people. Is that, that's why I call it a gathering. So at that point, is it just your buddy sales? Like, well, I don't know. That's a good. And every time you say gathering, I think of magic the gathering. Well, it was low key too. Like nobody really wanted to to label it as a party or else. That's a bunch of adults getting together. That's what that is. It's not a bunch of 20-year-olds.

So you're calling it a get-together, gathering. I'm calling it a party. It's just an adult party as opposed to a freaking race. I have a different idea of adult parties. Do you think frivolous people who've been invited to parties know that they're on the frivolous side? Do you know what I mean? Like a friend invites, hey, can I bring my buddy, you know, Joe or whatever? Who's your buddy?

Which one? Doug? Doug. It's funny, Doug. Like, if he was to bring Doug, that would be a little friend. It wasn't like a party that I went to where you had to get to know people. You don't have to have conversations. There's a little bit of that at the gathering.

It was just straight subsets. No mingling if you didn't want to mingle. A little bit of mingling, but we were all very comfortable with each other that we didn't have to. We could watch the game. Almost sounds like a dinner party. Okay. We'll call it that. Which has the word party in it, by the way.

So Bucco was the meal of choice. What? Tell me you've seen the office dinner party episode. Oh, wait. What was the food, though, that you said? Osbuko at the office dinner party? Maybe that's... See, I've got blind spots through the episodes because of the way I watch it.

In order. No, he can't. He has to absorb it via cable. Chaos agent. Mark Grady. I am a non-linear human. Yeah, everybody was bright. Next year, the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day, and a lot of people are going to have to make a choice. And the best part about that? Or it's the best excuse ever. It's the

best part about that is, the Monday, the day after the Super Bowl is an actual holiday president's day. I'm already predicting all sorts of pregnancies. that will have occurred from Valentine's Day on the Super. Come on. Like that ferocious of a holiday is coming to get the drinking, eating holiday. If this Super Bowl had happened, you really think anybody got pregnant after watching that

Super Bowl? Well, maybe because it was so boring that it's like, hey, you want to go hang out? Mark makes a good point. Mark makes a good point. Bortem brings that kind of thing on. People legit got married at the Super Bowl, but that's for our halftime. It was a good buddy. We're going to talk about halftime.

And halftime. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104. 3 The Score. We thank you for joining us today. You can text and call us and we've had some funny lines already. 312-644-67-67 is our number. You can also join us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago. That is our YouTube address as well, The Score, Chicago. There, we broadcast live from our Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Bearderbaugh with a tremendous open. Brandon Fryer helps us out as well. and our video team is Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis. Coming up next, I want to get into some of the details where people we know from former drafts really made a difference in this.

Like people, the bears had their eyes on. And then also just some of the strategy that we talked about as well. So more Super Bowl talk and appreciation for some defense and running game next. Rahimi Harris and Groh. Midday's Tidal 2 on Chicago Sports Radio. The outside. 46-yard line. What a strong run by Walker for the first down.

30 on the game. We had a chance to watch Kenneth Walker in practice the other day. And so many times he's casual with the ball at first. And then he makes one of those jump cuts and takes off. I don't think I've seen a guy in practice faster than he is. That is courtesy of NBC. That is Mike Tariko and Chris Collinsworth on the call. This is where hemi Harrison Brody is.

we continued to recap Super Bowl 60 and discuss some of the finer points. And Nick Costos was funny. Yeah, he's going to say the game stunk. And I get it. It wasn't great. But there was still, I think, a lot of lessons to be learned in observations. After watching the Bears play not one but two games in this NFL playoffs, and then understanding how the Seahawks got there and how the Patriots fared as well.

So to me, there's still a lot of finer points that you can take away with. Like, there are lessons to be learned. strategy to be understood. And I don't know, just if you like football, you're still watching through a lens that has the Bears also helping you figure it out. The biggest takeaway from me was understanding just how good that Seahawks defense is. Not like I didn't understand it, but to see it on the biggest stage and the biggest moment, just the ferocity of it all, right?

Like the amount of upgrade that's not only going to have to happen with the Bears defense, but also with their offense to be able to attack a defense like that in the same manner that the, let's say the Rams did. Because the Rams put up numbers on the Seahawks defense. They became shootouts. That's what I'm looking for. And that's why I was so disappointing to see just how bad the Patriots looked. Yeah, I mean, they did. I mean, at times, yeah, they looked like they didn't belong.

Exactly. And that was the part where I was like, oh, wow. Like there's some embarrassment going on here. But then how much of it is Seattle? And I like what you're saying too about, like if we are applying things to the Bears. Yeah. Some of the ballsy blitzes by both teams, even Rable, leaving cover zero. And to Chris Collinsworth's credit, when that blitz happened, he would say, that's going to leave somebody wide open.

And in a couple cases it was. Actually, it was a Denver all-out blitz that left somebody open for Seattle. And, Darnold, he missed a few passes himself. on plays. There was enough inconsistent offense to go around. Both sides. But you know, Ernest Jones had a really good post-game interview on the four-letter network post-game show. I was watching it. And he talked about two things that really stuck with me. Number one, he said to Berger McFarlane, the game plan was we were not going to

put a spy or put an extra man on Drake May just knowing he could run. They said, we're going to let him to get his yards. We're not going to change our defensive plan. just because of Drake May's running. And I think that what we've seen, even for teams who defended Caleb Williams and the Bears, we saw a lot of teams put a spy in Caleb Williams, notably the Cowboys, you know, Maddieber Fluss's defense, they did that

because Caleb was running more in that game. But there are other teams who would commit somebody defensively to Drake May's legs or have a spy on him or something that would cause somebody else to get open or open up, and then that would change the plan. I thought that that was a really sound scouting point that he made when it came to how confident this team is in their personnel. And that's why you're able to do that is because you don't necessarily have to have extra resources on somebody because you trust everybody's assignments too. I thought that was such a good point that was made.

I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone to play in the game. Obviously, you get to the game. You're supposed to do well in the game. Did you feel like Drake May's shoulder injury was a factor here? And if so, how much? That's the question I kept wrestling with watching him play. This guy was the most accurate passer in the regular season. And all of a sudden, he is missing.

Now, some of that was due to pressure, but I saw some of the time where he looked like he had time and still couldn't hit the guy in the window that he needed to hit the guy. I saw two quarterbacks in this game as well. I was thinking during the game, during the first half, I saw two quarterbacks who didn't want to be the ones to screw it up for their teams. and I think that or for themselves, for an individual, for their own legacy. And I could see, I felt like on the Drake May side that he was told you don't have to be the superhero out there.

Just be you out there. We'll take care of you. We've got this. We've got the defense. So there's a second year quarterback being told just it's a big moment for you. And then on the other side you have Sam Narnold, for whom this is like this revenge tour, or this like, can you make it all the way back? It felt like he was tight to maybe having that on his mind

and he didn't even come close to getting MVP. So I saw two tight quarterbacks for different reasons. Well, I also think that the Seahawks did an excellent job of rattling the cage early with Drake May. Yeah, that was another part of this. Big time. They decided to go after the left side of Will Campbell. And, you know, I think it's a friendly time to remind everybody

that Will Campbell was drafted in 2025. you know, this is not an old hat for him either. Everybody wanted the Bears to take him. I really liked him. Everybody liked him. I thought he would have been a good addition to the Bears' offensive line. Can you believe the Bears? What is going on in this world that we're looking at a Super Bowl and the Bears got the better end of the first round of the draft too?

You didn't need Will Campbell. You got Colston Loveland. I will say this, though. Do you think the book is written on him? I don't, I mean. No, but I mean, I'm just saying so far so good. No, of course. Of course Will Campbell could still be good.

But right at this moment, would you bet on Will Campbell? Would you rather have Colston Lovel? Yeah, no, I would say Colson Loveling, given the utilization of that position for the team. Now, do the Bears still need a left tackle? Yes, they do. That might have shown that, yeah. So that's my ultimate takeaway through a Bears lens watching this game is I have changed what I believe the priority should be. I think left tackle is something that needs to be addressed.

Because last I checked, the Bears have a game at Seattle next season, in the regular season. and I was thinking, how did the Bears level up against Seattle? I know one way they need to level up if they have a chance to beat the Seahawks. They have to have the left tackle question answered in full. Will Campbell, to say he had a bad game is quite the understatement. He had such a bad game. He didn't talk to reporters after the game. He allowed 14 pressures in a single game.

That's the most pressures allowed by an offensive lineman in any game during the regular season or postseason of last year. And does he have a future? I mean, it's a bad game, but I think... I'm not writing him off. Yeah, I'm not writing him off. But they better get left tackle address because you go up against a guy like Mike McDonald. He sees a point of emphasis he thinks he can exploit.

He does it. And he did it to perfection in that game. Well, and I think it also illustrates how far you get into the playoffs, what the difference is and what the margins are and how you just attack where you know you absolutely have trust in your team. Don't overthink it. It gets you to, he got him to the, he got him to the Super Bowl, you know, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to win you the Super Bowl.

These are the details that I think, as we watch the Bears in the playoffs, you know, this is the stuff where it comes to matter more and how those details, you can get by with them in the regular season. You can get by with them in the divisional. They got by with them in the championship round in the conference championship. But it doesn't win you a Super Bowl against, what was such a good defense. Well, and the other thing is,

it's a lesson you can really take to heart understanding. For the second straight year, a team was good enough to get to the Super Bowl, and then they sit there and watch their quarterback get sacked six times. Joe Tuny could speak on this, by the way. Happen of Homes, who is going to go straight to the Hall of Fame whenever he retires, and now it happened to a lesser quarterback,

a more inexperienced quarterback, and Drake May. But that consistency of, what gets you Super Bowl wins versus getting to the Super Bowl to me that's what sticks out. You got to be able to put the quarterback on his back and pressure the dog out of him and that's exactly what the last two Super Bowl champions now have done.

But again, you know, I thought that the assistant coach of the year who gets every award when he has the chance and he's nominated in Josh McDaniels, I thought that that was part of what he's there for, you know, is to help his team adjust. And not just at the half, but during the game. That's why, I mean,

I'm going to bang that drum for a little bit because we didn't see that. We didn't see the offense for the Patriots make adjustments, especially with this vaunted coaching style. We didn't see them do enough to make a difference. No, when you're running the ball defiantly up the middle where you're getting nothing and crucial yardage, come on. No, no, no, I'm saying I don't know that there were adjustments to be made that would have led to a Patriots window.

My thing is the Seahawks. You can chip away. You can work the middle of the field. The Seahawks were just that much better. than the Patriots. And again, going through the Patriots and how they got here, it kind of reestablished it. I just don't think they're that good. They were good enough this year to get to the Super Bowl through the AFC, but I don't think they're that good. So you think that the Patriots are kind of like what I was worried about with the Bears early on, like is this legitimate? Like, because

I became, like, as the season went on with the Bears, as you guys know, I was like, this is not going to stick. This is not doing. And then I became convinced that what the Bears are doing, seem sustainable. You don't think that they're sustainable? I think what the Patriots did this year is sustainable in the aspect that they should be good enough to get back to the playoffs. Good, not great. Yeah, not a Super Bowl team. I saw what great looks like when I saw the Seattle Seahawks and really most teams in the NFC.

And then when you look at the Patriot's actual schedule and how they built up their record, you're like, oh, okay, I can see why they got where they got, but they're not as good as the Seattle Seahawks. I think it came down to Bo Nix's health. Yeah, that there's an argument to be made that if Bo Nix is healthy, then this is not the Super Bowl that we get. Yeah, that's... But I don't know. I mean, I still think that they game because of the elements, like, that's still, like, they couldn't see. Like, if Bo Nix is playing in the AFC title game, could he magically see? I don't...

So more on Sean Payton. You get a matchup of two incredibly good defenses at that point. Yeah, well, it's just, like, coin flip in that game still. I'm talking about the AFC championship game. No, I'm saying, Sean Payton and his... his decision making, though, I think that's what cost them. You know, they still could have won that game even with Jarrett Stidham. But that goes to say...

I think the phoneics is healthy. They're at home. They win the game. They go to the Super Bowl. I think it can be that simple. And I just... Yes. If it's that simple, then we know the Patriots aren't that good. That's my point. I just, I think it was a 50-50 game. Elements. I think it didn't matter who was quarterbacking, who was playing. Everybody looked terrible in that game because they couldn't see. I mean, ASC Championship game good versus Super Bowl. good is a pretty good level

of good. They could see in the first quarter that game. That's when decisions need to be made. That's true. They could see in the first quarter. Yeah. Things got bad quickly in the second half. And it's not like they didn't know what the weather forecast was.

They were the home team. Can you ever be prepared to not see? Sorry, you can't. You can't really. You can be prepared by getting all the points, all the field goals you can while you can. That's very Mr. Miyagi of you. That's like something you would hear.

That's like a, wax on, wax off. I would hear in a movie, yeah. Can you be prepared to not see? Yeah. Can anything prepare you for not seeing? What are they going to put masks on the players? Didn't Danielson wear a blindfold in the karate kids?

I guess that's where Layla's coming from. Is that what you're saying? It just seemed like very 80s movie, like, philosophy. I'm going to catch this fly with some chopsticks and we'll talk about it after. How about that? Yeah. You know, I always say Ben Johnson looks like his high school picture. It looks like Cobra Kai to me.

his high school football I don't know that I've seen his high school picture Yeah you have He's very He's like stereotypical He has a game face on

What year would he have been in high school Early 2000s He's 40 right 41 I'm just trying to think of No Ben Johnson's like 38 I thought My McDonald's 38

Yeah Ben may have had a birthday They're all around 40 They're all around 40 How about that 40ish They all play mad Which is how they got here

39 years old 39. So Ben Johnson had a birthday. Interesting. Yes. May 11th. When Miss Ben Johnson's birthday, I feel terrible. He was 38 when he was hired and then he was, he was 39 coaching the team.

He was aged to 39. I think everybody does. They tell me, but I don't know. I mean, I don't know if a birthday happened on the score today or not. I just don't know. Don't you have a birthday coming up, Mars? Not till Memorial Day. May 27th.

Oh, okay. You wear our little ways off. Summertime. When my birthday, it's time. Because of how well you guys treated me, I just want to make sure that I know your birthday. You're fine. So we can party. The next one, I think maybe either David Haw or I got to refresh my mind and when Spiegel's is.

He's in my calendar. I'll find out. We'll tell you next. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043 The Score. And we're still breaking down some of the lessons that we learned in the discuss. surrounding the Super Bowl because it all means more

once you know the Bears are in the playoffs and they played two games and they faced a team who ultimately lost to the Seahawks and the Rams twice. And then we saw what happened after that. By the way, that Rams game, I thought this was a great point too that Ernest Jones

had made was that the first loss that the Seahawks had to the Rams when they lost 21 to 19 back in November. if you look at the schedule after that, that's when the magic started to happen. They won 10 straight games,

including the Super Bowl. Is that good? I think that's pretty good, good, guys. Strong finish. It's very hard to do to get through, especially the back half of a season when obviously everyone's injured. Remember, they just locked Zach Straberna.

Yes, we don't even talk about that. You know why? Because Kenneth Walker, the third, exist. And he doesn't just exist. He was freaking awesome. It's an incredible adjustment when you think about it. He said, like, he said that was when, you know, the team set upon themselves, like, we don't want to have this happen again.

It wasn't their standard, you know, it was at the Rams on Sunday, November 16th. Then it was beat the Tennessee Titans 30 to 24. Okay, it's the Titans, I get it. 26-0 over the Vikings, 37 to 9 over the Falcons, 18 to 16 against the, the Colts. That was Mark Rodi's favorite early season team. Yeah, I love did. They were great early and then they fell apart. Then it was the 38,

37, exciting game and overtime against the Rams. Then it was beating Carolina, 27 to 10, 13 to 3 over the 49ers to end the regular season. 41 to 6 over the 49ers in the playoffs and the divisional, 31,

27 over the Rams, and then 29 to 13. 10 straight. Outstanding. Yeah, they were the best team in football And sometimes the best team That people feel like is the best team Doesn't actually win the Super Bowl But I think everything checks out

Team that won the best division in football Team that had to vanquish some of its division rivals Just to get to the Super Bowl And to get to this stage It's pretty remarkable And I think there's a level of anonymity That comes with playing in the great Northwest Way out there

Where they just don't get talked about as much and I think for once, people are going to have to say, hey, the Seahawks have become somewhat of a standard barrier here when we talk about the fact that their defense led the way and their quarterback doesn't have to be a top five quarterback in the NFL to get the job done. That might start making people look at the formula a little bit differently. But that one constant, it would be the running game

because Kenneth Walker III, 157 total yards of offense. And he, you talk about the field goals, but a lot of the reasons they got field goal after field goal is because he was toting that thing. That's true. Could not have gotten Jason Myers into position for 15 field goals without Kenneth Walker on several of those drives. But it's pretty amazing because the voters of MVP, the NFL, probably viewers, everybody wants the quarterback to get the MVP or a wide receiver. It just doesn't happen.

I mean, there hasn't been a running back win the MVP since Terrell Davis. in the late 90s with the Denver Broncos. 98. 98, right. So this year's Kenneth Walker. I'm just rattling off the recent MVP's. Jalen Hertz, Philly, Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes, Cooper Cup, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Julian Edelman, Nick Foles, Tom Brady.

Oh, there was a... Von Miller in Super Bowl 50, as we remember. Defense. He was badass in that way. They destroyed that team. But you get the point. The voters like to avoid defense and run. running backs in this era. It's more wide receivers and quarterback. So we all had to just take a deep breath and accept that Kenneth Walker or Jason Myers were the best players in that game.

I love that you're still standing up for Jason Myers. Why would you? I mean, the guy, he made five, he was responsible for 15 points. So why would that, why would that be a problem sticking up for Jason Myers? More than 15 points. Don't forget the extras. And the extra points. Exactly. So I'm accepting that Kenneth Walker is the MVP, but you don't. None of us wants to, but you have to mention the guy who accounted for 15 points in a Super Bowl. I'm not just saying this because he's in a line eye. But Devin Witherspoon, like I said, had a tremendous playoffs, had an excellent Super Bowl. He had 21 pass rush snaps in 14 games this season. He had six in the Super Bowl. That was like a whole new wrinkle they unveiled for this game.

He was a disruptor. I love the fact that this guy was coming in and, Apparently, checking for the Blitz was not at high on the priority list for either team. If you followed the way the defense rained havoc on both players, and just one quarterback made one play more than the other. And Sam Darnold, maybe the most remarkable thing about this whole Super Bowl run for him, big knock on him is not good in big games. Implodes.

Remember how they lost to the Rams last year in the playoffs. This man didn't have a single turnover in three games in a postseason run. That is impressive. Meanwhile, as mentioned, not only did he get sacked six times, Drake May, he put the ball on the ground once and he threw two picks. One of them, of course, returned to the house. I'll give a shout out to Spoonie's counterpart on the other side. Did you call Spoonie?

Is that what we're doing? Yeah, I did it. Mark Rody has dubbed Devin Wither Spoon on this show, Spoonie. How you like that, ILL, and I, folks? On this, the 9th of February. I will give credit to Christian Gonzalez. That's a badass player right there for the Patriots. He made two big-time plays in that game.

But yeah, give it the Witherspoon. What are we giving him? A spoon? A, we thought you could have had a good shot for MVP in the Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah. You got a shout-out on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. I think that's enough right there. We have a special award on this show that could be utilized for this very moment.

The Mark Grotty, he deserved better. Award. Oh. That would be for Gonzalez. Yeah. That's why I thought you were referring to. Christian Gonzalez. I'm sorry.

Better. Yes. But she, Layla wanted to give an award to Spoonie. With a Spoonie. Yeah. Yeah. Also, how about this? I'd forgotten about this little quote that made the airwaves.

DeMarcus Lawrence. Do you remember what he said? Dallas is my home. I was never going to win a Super Bowl there. Spot on. Spot on. Spot on. DeMarcus, spot on.

If only everyone could call their shots. clearly. I thought that was pretty good. Coming up next here on Rehemi Harrison Grotie, you've heard a lot of our thoughts. Well, we brought in just the guy. Big and Heron, our defensive specialist is going to join us for the next two segments to talk about what

he saw, and also maybe some of the Bears related thoughts he had as well. That's next.