Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ryan Poles: Bears are seeing 'impressive' growth from Caleb Williams

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote listened and reacted to Bears general manager Ryan Poles' recent comments about quarterback Caleb Williams' development.

Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043 The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. We thank you for joining us on the sunny Monday. Yeah, real nice to have you today. Real good. It is. And we're talking about just the wrap-up of the NFL Combine, where for the Bears this year as opposed to last,

it may not have been as much about which prospect looks the best, even though that is very much front and center. There's also just a lot of business done at the league. People talk for the first time in a couple months. You might have an easier discussion or a more salient point that's made once you're removed from a gutting loss in the playoffs, for example. And that's where I feel like Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles were when asked about the conversation surrounding what's the next order of business for Caleb Williams? How do you build on the progress that he made? We heard from Ben Johnson.

So what about Ryan Poles? Well, Cassie Carlson sat down with him on Fox 32. If you missed it, it is on their YouTube channel. Fox 32 Sports has a great YouTube channel. And she asked him his thoughts on his young quarterback's goals for the team's offense. Caleb was on obviously a podcast, and he said he wants to be the number one offense in the league next year. Also talked about being a little bit of a maniac and just in terms of how he wants to be the best on the field. When you hear your quarterback continue to make that message public, I mean, what excites you about that?

I mean, his overall maturity from the day he got into the league to what it is today, It's really impressive. That growth is really impressive. I've got to give Ben a lot of credit for that. They spent a lot of time together. He's starting to do the things, not just say, but do the things that professional quarterbacks do. And that gets me excited because if his mentality is that,

it'll start rubbing off on a lot of the other guys. And if we get the whole crew moving with that mentality, trying to be the absolute best in the league, one of one, we're going to be in a really good spot. That's as optimistic as I've ever heard Rampol's sound. I loved what he said about don't just say it because Caleb Williams, from the second he was at that podium at the NFL Combine there, he was very good with his words.

I can throw any ball. I could throw. That's right. I can throw it. I love that for you, but you had a 50-some-odd completion percentage. But the problem was... Your receivers did not help you. In his first year, despite not having...

a good infrastructure. Caleb Williams was not, and I'm not saying like there was no laziness, none of that stuff. He did not know what it really meant to be a professional quarterback in this league. So that part is real. And I'm not saying he's got this yet, but he's taken some huge strides. And before I forget, by the way, Cassie Carlson will be on TTIN, Take the North, I believe tomorrow. I do believe I can confirm that with our guy Weedsie when the weed man

joins us at 1 o'clock. So shout out to Cassie Carlson. And by the way, Dan Weiderer expanded on this. You can read his article in The Athletic. Yes. And shout out to Cassie Carlson. I didn't realize that was her first time co-hosting a whole show with David Haw last week. I didn't realize that either. Did a great job. Way to go. I hope you guys do the wrap up with her. Ask her how she felt. You know, like what did she see in those hours that she was with David? I think she said. And this is what we all do the first time we work a morning show. I think she said you got up at like 2.30 or something

like that because you're just nervous and you got that weird energy. You don't really heart thought. It's a very, very lonely feeling. That's the only the way I could describe getting up in the middle of the night to go to work. It's stressful. It's it's angst writing. It's all of that. So, yeah, I'd like to, I will ask her about that. Well, she did a great job. And it takes years off your life. So credit to everybody. So don't do it again. Everybody who's does that on a day-to-day basis and also fills in with us. We appreciate it. So it was a good interview, and Fox 32 has a YouTube channel, as I mentioned, so you can check it out. But Ryan Poles is the one who really kind of tap the collective breaks that everybody was very much gearing up toward when

he was asked about a possible extension for Caleb Williams. Now, he addressed it. He understands that as part of the budget. That's good business. But he doesn't sound like he's there yet. And I think that was important, too, that he still has work to do. And that was something that was notable to you when he said that as well. Oh, I've been tracking that since the end of the season press conferences that both Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles said the exact same thing. Yeah, we saw what you saw. It was pretty spectacular in the second half of the season. We saw some discernible improvement. You like that. I do like that. I like saying that. I really do. I think Kirk Cusses might be back in the division.

Really? Yeah. Wait a minute. Yep. Where? His old team. Oh, wow. Yeah, he could go to.

Are they really done with J.J. McCarthy? I don't know that they're done with J.J., but that would buy him some time. Do you think there's a fatal flaw with that's another phrase I like? Fatal flaw with J.J. McCarthy that they're seeing now. Can I just do the take? Do you want me to do the take here on J.J.? Since life is good in Caleb land, we can focus on other teams. Would you like for me to just?

Here's the thing. Bring it. J.J. McCarthy ran a run heavy offense at Michigan. J.G. McCarthy was known for being a hell of a leader. He came from a good coach. So not only did he have his own personal pedigree that he built up and earned, he also had the blessing of a respected coach in Jim Harbaugh. So because of that, I think a lot of scouts saw a lot of potential in him,

and they saw the intangibles. But I think they tried to fill the tangible part with intangibles, and that's why there's a bit of a disconnect now that's happening in Minnesota. Yeah, that's pretty good. I mean, and we all saw it. We all know what he was at Michigan, and Jim Harbaugh was heavily lauded for it. He should be. They won.

They won a national championship with him, which is another reason that people were so into him, but he didn't have to do a lot. But similar to proximity with greatness when it comes to say, Roshan Johnson backing up Bejan Robinson. You also had to factor in the other part of it, which is the other individual's talent, your proximity is too. So, for example, maybe at Texas, they didn't care as much about the backup running back being elite

because they had the best running back of the nation at the time. Maybe Jim Harbaugh, knowing that he's a hell of a coach, knew what exactly to do to make J.J. McCarthy look good. Right. Additionally, like, you know, there's the Justin Jefferson dynamic there, which I think if you like ball, you want to see that guy catch passes, not against the bears, but you want to see he deserves his talent to be put on a state. right, he deserves to flourish. And so when he's your first option, and then you've got all these other issues,

it's going to be by nature a pass-first offense. Well, you drafted a run for a system quarterback. So that's how I feel. He was one of the darlings of the low-key, I should say, low-key darlings of the combine a couple of years back. And scouts for that reason. Oh, yeah, man. It was the combination of factors that led them to want to believe X would fill in the gap.

Ryan Poles. We know he loved Caleb Williams. Everybody who's worked with him has too. Love Caleb. That was the guy. Caleb Williams is the guy. But Ryan Poles love J.J. McCarthy too. A lot of GMs love J.J. McCarthy. GMs and scouts.

Absolutely. And so that's why it's hard for me to believe that they will have left him for dead. If they're trying to challenge him by bringing somebody else in to shake him up a little bit. Or if there is actually something. that they notice, and they got a pretty good head coach there, pretty good scout who didn't necessarily want that, who could look at that, Jay J.J. McCarthy, and say, yeah, he does this thing that we can't overcome,

and that's why we have to bring in other guys. My issue was always just that. If you knew how Caleb Williams felt, did you do enough for your team in not talking to Jaden Daniels? Like, I would have talked to Jaden Daniels. I would have, but he can't really argue with what's going on right now. Right now.

The Bears have a quarterback. Well, because that's the beauty of a team sport. Yeah, so he might have gotten lucky, you know, by not talking to others. The result happened. To fix it, they brought in the right guy. Like in football, it's never too late to fix a mistake, especially. You know, so I think in that case, not that it was a mistake, but that, you know, if you're not going to at least talk to another guy because you're so hell bent on this,

well, you'd better make that situation work. Yeah, I can't. pay for it and they did. Yeah, I can't lament that at this moment. I mean, that made sense last year with Jaden Daniels this season. I'm saying, I guess two years ago now when Jaden Daniels was excellent and Caleb Williams was just kind of meh. And it felt like I said, it's the Dunkin Donuts race at the United Center where you think you know who's got that's Jaden Daniels. Oh, no, it's not going to do. J.J. McCarthy looks pretty, no, no, no. Oh, but in that out of nowhere, you think Caleb's going to lose the race? You're getting excited at the UC right now. Here comes

Speeding around the outside. So it's pretty amazing that class of quarterbacks. I can't wait to see where it ends. Well, and the thing, the other part is, too, is Drake May didn't have a terrible year. No. I didn't even mention them in my little Dunkin' Donuts race. Yeah. But as part of this, I think it's also just, why wouldn't you leave every stone unturned? Like if nothing else, it reinforces your decision about Caleb Williams, if you talk to somebody else? And Ryan Pace did the same thing with Mitch Tribes. by just looking at him and saying, yeah, that's all we're in.

Dan Weederer can tell us all about that if we really want to go back into the past. I can't go there again. No, I'm not interested. But you know what? It is why I bring it up because that was a mistake. And if you had scouted other quarterbacks, I don't know that you'd have been in the same position. Yeah, they didn't get away with it.

In this case, they may get away with it. Well, they got away with it because they made the right decision to head coach. You know, they took the offensive genius out of the building. building next door. Wow, that's a good. You just, I know we don't have time to get into it, but you just brought up the chicken or the egg question right there saying,

so you're talking about Ben Johnson has made the difference with Caleb, without Ben Johnson, you know, you don't think Caleb would have this. I don't think he would have been as good. That's because Ben Johnson put his players in better positions to succeed. I mean,

he's a great coach, but it's also a great question. Like, is, could, does Caleb Williams, like, is,

Ben Johnson isn't throwing the football in the field. Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson isn't backing up 26 yards behind the line of scrimmage and throwing a dart to Cole Commet. But no matter what, if all things were equal, would Caleb Williams have needed an elite head coach to be successful in the league? Is that the only way for him? Like he needed, there is guidance that he needed that he couldn't have an average coach. He's not talented enough to overcome stuff. Now that I think he is, but he didn't have an average coach before he had a below average coach.

He did. So it's a great question. Like, and we've kind of, and it's been a big talking point. all year. The star of the season was Ben Johnson. It wasn't Caleb Williams. I mean, 1B, I suppose. You and I have a couple of Laila Grady shows later this week. I'm going to collect

some receipts from one from one little known source called Tom Brady. And I'm going to play them for you. And then we can discuss how much a coach can make a difference in a quarterback's career. I would love to hear that. Yes, we will be doing what, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? Is that

our? Yep. It's Marshall and Me to It's you and me Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Rahimi's receipts are back. I don't know that they left. They just got, you know, then it became the whole show, and then it's not really receipts. We're doing it together. Right.

They were very well-featured back when you were in my chair. Yes. Back in the day. It was like, Rehemi's receipts were heavy. That's also because we had a dude who thought he was real smart, would roll out empty with a full-back read as the hot read against a blitz-heavy offense in Minnesota. Wait a minute.

Who's that person you're talking about? about. Luke Getzey. Oh, the Getsmeister. I thought you were talking about a host at first. Oh, God, no. If a host, if a host called that play, I'd be like, yo, what were you thinking? I am smart. Why do you think I'm not smart? A host rolling out empty would be really bad, huh? I'm unfiltered. How does that, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. Un-filtered. Dan Weederer is next.