Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - What are the Bears’ expectations for 2026?

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed what the Bears' expectations will be for the 2026 season.

We're talking to play-by-play man, Kevin Harlan. You're the best way when it comes to play-by-play of life. We're sending Marshall Harris to D.C. to run out of the field. Come on, Marshall. We're at home, baby. We're ready for you. The Rahimi Harris and Grody Show. Midday's 10 to 2 on 670 the score.

I think the biggest thing was just obviously making the plays that come to me, making the most of my opportunities. I feel like this season I had way too many opportunities that left out there on the field. And, you know, that's never been the player. I feel like I've ever been in my career. So just capitalizing on those opportunities. But, you know, I've got to go into the offseason

and put into work to be able to do those things. That was Ruma Dunezay on Locker Cleanout Day. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 670 The Score. And we're listening to Antoine Randall's conversation with Jared Payton of WGN Sports. Thanks to WGN for letting us use the audio. He talked about DJ Moore. If you missed it, you can go back and listen to that segment.

compelling when it came to what he meant to the team and also that final play we saw the bears run offensively against the Rams. He also talked about Rome Adunze. So before we wanted to get to the standard conversation, which I think is very important, listen to what Jared had to say about Rome Adunzee self-criticism. I think this answers a couple questions we had about how he thought about his injury earlier in the year. I think when you look at Rome, I mean, here's a who he understands hard work, not going to shy away from it, doesn't want to shy away from it, doesn't want to take a rep off, a playoff, wants to be in there. So we had to really, at one point, we had to kind of keep him from himself in terms of,

hey, let's rest his foot, not get back out there, you know, give it some time and let it heal up. Like, he was chomping at the bit to get back out there. And the criticism that he and how critical he is of himself, man, that is, that's what you want to see and hear when those things take place. When a guy takes, he takes the onus on, like, yes, I messed up. Now, I got to try to find a way to fix it. You know, yes, this is, I didn't play my best ball, man. I'm chomping at the bit to get out to get back to work to play my best ball.

when you get guys who see their fault, so to speak, and go work on it, man, that's easier for a coach to coach. Because at the end of the day, like, you see it, you're going to tell him about it, but before sometimes I even tell him about different things. And again, it goes to other guys in my room as well. And I would say just most all of them. Like he wants to, like, yeah, coach, I saw it.

Now I'm still hitting him on it, let him know it. But man, he's already one of them. to go work at it and get better. And you talk about being on pace to have such a great year and so on and so forth. So when these things happen, like there's some disappointment that takes place, you know, the injuries or whatever. So it comes down to, man, picking yourself up, continue to push forward. Hey, let us take care of why you're out.

But man, get your body ready to get ready to come back. And again, next year, he'll be much better. We got some things we're going to work on in the offseason. but he is he's going to be ready to go because that's the mindset and the mentality that he takes you know into the game into practice man how can I get better in this practice we got seven on seven on seven well how can I get better in seven on seven we got the team periods how can I get better in team period one team period two and three and so on and so forth being able to break it down like that hey I had six plays man I was perfect on five I got to get back to I got to get back

to being perfect on six of them that type deal. So that's the thought process that he takes into the practices, and that's how we operate. And he's going to be back full board ready to go, I believe, no question, just because he has that mentality for sure. Okay, so that confirms it, right?

Pretty much. Well, we all suspected it. I just feel like the injury, and the thing is, like, separating the injury from the performance, because the performance was lacking before the, injury. And I think that's the thing. And a lot of what happened in the first half of the season, I just put on trying to

assimilate to Ben Johnson's offense and figuring out, you know, it's new for everyone, right? And I just think the timelessness of the injury and his effort to come back, but not make it all the way back the first time around, remember pregame warmups. Oh, I remember. And. Kyler Gordon, too. knowing how good he was in college, but this isn't college.

I get that. But the standard that he has for himself sounds like it's going to meet the standard that Ben Johnson and Antoine Randall have for him now. But it's just a season where it was just disappointing. And it came down to can you catch the ball a lot of times? And the answer was too many times, no. That's it. Ben Johnson said in the press conference,

we need to do a better job of catching the ball. That was clear as crystal. and so because of that like that's it hi I'm Layla I'd like to know what's your objective catch the damn ball you can't alligator armed stuff

especially in the end zone and I don't think that's even the issue here it's that when you are healthy number one be honest and truthful about your health I'm not saying he was lying I'm saying be honest with yourself you know be honest with yourself everybody wants to get back out there

everybody wants to play for a winning team we saw that with Jalen Johnson too he pushed himself you want to play for a winner. Poor T.J. Edwards pushed himself. That doesn't prevent a broken leg. Like that's a different injury. But guys were pushing themselves to get out there. And once you're out there, what can you bring to this team?

Especially the secondary being a good example. If an unhealthy you takes down the overall performance of the unit, we can't have that. Once you are healthy, are you doing your job? Are you catching the football enough? The Bears as a whole did not. Romadunze was a part of that. I would say he's the leading guy that you remember between him and Alameda Zakias, different reasons because different level of number of targets.

I mean, look, the guy led the targets and he missed a bunch of games. That's what's crazy about it, right? And he was supposed to be because he is in that same draft class. He is a top 10 pick with Caleb Williams. He was supposed to be the main guy at some point. DJ Moore, receiver won, but Rome was supposed to be. to at some point, I would say, eclipse him. I think that was the Bears original plan.

If you remember how Matt Nagy spoke to Rome on the phone at the draft, he said, just like we drew this up, right? Well, Ryan Poles. Yeah. No, I see Matt Nagy. He's on my mind. And he's in an article sitting in front of me. We'll get into that later.

That's at 1125. So, yeah, it was Matt Eberfluse who called Rome and was on the phone saying just how he drew it up. That's all well and good. Things change. like I don't need some wide receiver one to be anointed or like that you need to maintain who you thought that that player was prior to this offense being installed.

Like I care about this offense. I care about this head coach. I care about this group and how they want to move forward. But either way, catch the football. So now that that's established, what about overall for the season? Antoine Randall L said this to Jared Payton regarding the expectations. We take a break because we lost and that's the way we look at it and we know

that the team won't be the same. You know, you won't have all the same players. It just, it just doesn't work out like that. But with that being said, there is the siege that we've planted in terms of this is the norm. And the norm is getting into playoffs and have an opportunity to go win the Super That has to become the norm. And that's what we want that to be. And obviously, the norm is to win it all. But you've got to get in the dance to be able to do it. Just get in the dance.

I've been in the dance, man, as the one seed, as the two seed, as the six seed when it was only six teams in the, on each side in terms of the NFC and AFCs. So you just got to get in. And once you get in, that's when, you know, obviously you want to be able to be playing. playing your best ball. So we planted to see we got it done this first year. Now, starting out in the spring, guess what? We got to build it all over again. Because it's not, hey, we're just

going to leave off what we left. No, we got to build, build it again and get and surpass what we left off the previous year. And we can. We can definitely do that. It's just a matter of us getting back to it. What I like to say is careful planning and harrow. work, produce prosperity. You take shortcuts. It leads to poverty. We're not going to take shortcuts. We're going to plan well,

get to work, and expect us to be able to prosper for sure. I love that. That's courtesy of WGNTV sports. And it's a good way of saying petty wise and pound foolish. You make out a corner and it may be satisfactory to begin with. But if greater investment isn't made,

you lose the ultimate goal. I just want to remind people when Antoine Rendell is speaking to his personal playoff experience, he understands it. You know why he understands it? He was on a Pittsburgh Steelers team that I covered. That was the sixth seat in the playoffs and went on the road for every single game and won every single game to win a championship, a Super Bowl. And that's when that type of thing did not happen.

Right. Not common at all. Ben Rothensberger, you know, I remember. win it for the bus because it was Jerome Bettis's farewell year and the Super Bowl was in his hometown of Detroit. And so Antoine Randall L can speak to how difficult it is to not only just make the playoffs. He played for a winner, like a real winner in the Pittsburgh Steelers. They don't lose much over there.

But also what it takes to win a title in different roles. Like Randall L was that dude. No, he was. and he just brings that innate energy. And you see it, you saw it when he was the wide receivers coach with Detroit. You see it even in the interview with Jared Payton. You see it when you see him on the sideline. Like I'll never forget, he'll run with guys down the sideline.

He's still got speed. You know, he's that type of person. He's one of those magnetic personalities where you're drawn to what he says, you respect what he says. And then you also want to play for the guy. That's a fantastic combination. And it makes perfect sense as to why Ben Johnson brought him over here. And if the goal or what you need to tell the team is, just get in, we'll take care of this once we get in, then you can't argue with it not working.

It definitely worked this year. The hard part is maintaining the standard. The hard part is knowing that in the past we've seen one and done's. In the past, we hadn't seen a playoff win, 15 years between the two. So that becomes the next challenge. Do I feel more confident in this group? Absolutely. Do I worry about adjustments or if they can make them?

No. And that's something that I don't think I've been able to say for a long time. When you think about what goes wrong after you have the type of season the Bears have, part of it is injuries, right? And you just have to expect that at some point your season's going to be somewhat derailed by an injury or two or if you're the lion, several. But can you overcome that because you have good depth? That becomes one of the things like when I focus on wool,

how would they not get back to at least being a playoff team next year? And that's the first thing that comes in my mind because that's the most common thing that happens in the NFL. But despite the possibility and the likelihood of some type of injuries, if you just look at Ben Johnson being a year wiser, like they're still ascending. The number of players on this roster who are still, ascending. Caleb Williams. We just heard from Roma Dunesay, or about Roma Dunesay, and we heard

from them too on the way in. And if it's Caleb Williams and it's Roma Dunesay and it's Colston Loveland and it's darn all right even. He's like, oh, I want to be first team all pro. And whatever happens at left tackle. And Luther Bird and the third, there's so many guys who you know are not to the peak of where their career is going to be. Like there's Joe Tooney level guys out here, Kevin Byard, who you worry about, hey, can they just maintain where they are because they're so good. But I love the upside of so many different players on this roster. Yeah, that's the beauty of having a younger team when everybody's moving up together. But I think this is something to keep in mind, if the coaches are telling you what their standard is,

if the coaches are telling you a Super Bowl team is what they are trying to coach, that means that the front office needs to be held accountable for a Super Bowl team that they need to add to in the draft. That means that in games we watch, the team needs to be held accountable for the type of games that we have. That it can't just be necessarily the upside. Consistency has to be part of this as well. That's what makes us challenging. That's the devil in the details. That's the difference between going from good to great, or in this case, better to best. So that's the part where if they're communicating it, it is okay to be a little bit harder on your team. It's going to be okay.

You know what winning actually feels like now. You know what winning in the playoffs feels like. Yesterday was the 40-year anniversary of the Bears winning the Super Bowl. I would like for that to happen again. But not in another 40 years. You're saying more recently. Precisely. So that's that is where that comes in.

When the coaches are telling you how they feel about the team, when they're in public telling you the standard that they are holding them to have, it is okay to level up as well. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 670 The Score. We have a shortened show today for a very, very big reason. Tune in today from 12 to 7 p.m. For honoring an original, a Terry Boar's celebration of life, which will include former coworkers of Terry's,

as well as current and former score personalities. The show is hosted by Matt Spiegel. It will be a true celebration of Terry's life. That's today, starting at noon on the score and the Odyssey app. Last night, the Lake Show came to town to the United Center. And I thought, you know, the leading score in the league of Luca Donchich and LeBron would be the reason the Lakers were winning this game, but I did not prepare for what Marshall says is the true reason.

So we're going to discuss that next. Thank you.