Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - What's it going to take for the Bears to beat the Patriots? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote opened their show by previewing the Bears-Patriots matchup on Thursday Night Football. What’s it going to take for the Bears to beat the Patriots? After that, they checked in on how Boston media members are feeling about the Patriots’ chances against the Bears. Later, they reacted to the Bulls’ ugly 135-92 loss to the Raptors on Wednesday in their season opener.

Love you, Chuck. Welcome into Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3, the score. You are absolutely listening to a four-seasoning, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, and electric football game day presented by your local four dealers and Advent. It is the Bears and Patriots in primetime part of this. If you'd like to call it, the Bears' primetime gauntlet with this game, then at Seattle on Monday night football. And we think Sunday night football against Tampa Bay, the week at the next. that unless it is flexed, which is not out of the realm of possibility.

You know, once they flex bears packers to noon, you kind of know that that's a possibility at any given time. We are all at risk for being flexed at some point in time. It could happen to you. It could happen to me. We welcome you. Great to have you here with us. We love interacting with you on the text line or the phone lines.

312, 644, 67, 67 on Twitch and YouTube. What's going on, everybody? Good to see you. Hope that you are getting the opportunity to see us here as well today. As we get right into the Bears and Patriots, I am pumped up for prime time. It's been a weird week with just coming off the Falcons win, and now it is the Bears and Patriots, two big markets, two big-time quarterbacks for the Bears. And I think that's a good place to start, Leila, and that is how do the Bears stop Drake May? who is like we've got the Caleb Williams bias,

but at this point, Drake May has accomplished a little bit more than Caleb Williams has and is simply one of the best quarterbacks in the league despite his terrible start to his season. He's been great in his last three games. Yeah, and I guess if you're Dennis Allen, you're trying to figure out how to replicate that success the Seahawks defense had against Allen,

or may rather. And I think part of the issue, though, is that he was pressing. We knew that. Three of the interceptions in that game were in the fourth quarter, quarter. So are you going to see the Drake May that, for example, showed up? I don't even count the Jets game as much, but the

Raiders game, for example, or are you going to see the Drake May that showed up earlier in the season? Scuttleblot out of Boston seems to be that they are concerned about the lack of consistency out of New England, out of the Patriots, and then combine that with the injuries, especially to that offensive line. That's where DA might be

able to cook. But here's the other flip side of this. If we're going to do fake edge NFL matchup, that's what we do. Is it Rahimi and Grotie NFL matchup. Match up. It was a good show. But it's that your pass rush isn't great right now either. It's certainly not at 100%. And this guy can throw the ball.

So when your secondary is your best pass rush, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? I'll tell you what the Bears are going to do about it. And Drake May, by the way, three consecutive games with at least three touchdowns. And that's just one stat to illustrate how good he has been recently, despite the bad start where everybody was piling on Drake May. It seems like he's back to being Drake May. But the reality for the New England Patriots is that their offensive line is in big time injury trouble.

They will be, it is official now, they will be without both of their starting guards tonight. Elijah Vera Tucker is out. Ben Brown, not our Ben Brown, their Ben Brown. Well, Ben Brown has also been out, so yes. Poor Ben Brown. Is his neck okay? All Ben Browns are out, unfortunately. The quick baseball report. Ben Brown's still out. Will Vennible got some sort of award as a manager.

Sporting news manager of the year. That's it. Sporting news manager of the year, which is good and well-deserved. And Jared Banner is with the Orioles. It's a Cubs anniversary winning the pennant to go to the World Series. And didn't even mention it. This is I think the 21st anniversary of the White Sox winning the first game of the World Series. My buddy Dorfman just texted me that right before the show started. So there's your baseball report.

report in all of this. But those two guards are out. Vera Tucker and Ben Brown, and while I'm at it, their right tackle. Morgan Moses is questionable. That was my Pat Somerall right there. He is questionable for the game. He is 50-50. Welcome to

Lambo field. Ryan Mundy. He used to play for the Bears. He was a safety. It was a great... Well, just you want to do here is this bird on the field and I'm going to circle it with my telestrator. Boom! Right there! Look at that hit.

Boom. And that's who taught me football. By the way, kids, yes. John Madden. John Madden, kids, used to be an announcer. I'm sorry. He announced football. And you know what, Leila?

Because the kids don't know. He was a head coach for the Oak. There was a team called the Oakland Raiders, too. Did you know that? Did you know that Buter Ball? Buter Ball so young, he may not have even known that. I knew about the Oakland Raiders. I know.

I'm just giving you crap, man. But more that John Madden was a head coach for the Oakland Rangers. Layla might be a better John Madden than Nicholas Cage. Well, you know how I feel about that movie. I don't know how you feel about that movie. Adam Venetary. One of them in there is too good looking to play somebody. One of them is too good looking to play.

I'm like, I don't need good looking actors messing up my Summerall in Madden. Also, that's not what I'm doing. The trailer just looks horrible. Drake May. Isn't Christian Bale in that movie or something? Hot Christian Bale. I don't know. Like, I don't need Christian Bale distracting me for my football.

He is a haughty. There is no doubt about that. Yes, you're right. He's Al Davis. Yeah, that's, yeah, I do not need Christian Bale as Al Davis. Like, no, you guys remember Al Davis. What about him says Christian Bale? Like, I know, that's enough to make me not watch the movie.

Does he not look like Al Davis in the movie? Not enough. Really? He looks like Christian Bail is Al Davis. I have a hard time believing that in this era of high. Hollywood. You can make anybody look like anybody. Layla's right. I'm looking right at the picture. She's too good looking to be Al Davis.

I can't. No, I don't sign off on it. I don't sign off on this. Then it boom. Look at this off. It's a line sweat. Elijah Vera Tucker is out. Morgan Moses might be out. So I think, all right, look, it's very easy to then, in this case, say, like,

here comes Kyler Gordon again. maybe Austin Booker has a day, again, James Lynch. But how about this? How about Grady Jared breaking on through in this game? How about Cantavius Street, who had a nice game last week? How about he's busting through? I'm talking about the interior defensive lineman busting through that battered offensive line. And I am not taking away from the fact that they probably have caught, like Matt Pryor, former Bear, is one of their backup.

So you will see the former Bear Pryor out there tonight. It doesn't mean these guys are bad, but they are vulnerable in that spot. How about our guy, Neville Gallimore? How about Neville Gallimore breaks on through in this game? I would like to see an increased snap count for Neville. And frankly, is this a time for the increased snap count for Jordan Vandenberg? I was just going to say him next. Yeah, I think so.

It's about time. Yeah, run the 13-man rotation, so to speak, that we saw the Bulls do yesterday with your D-line. What's stopping you? Who's the Patrick Williams in this scenario? Oh, who's going to just sitting on the ventral? Who's going to sit there a whole time? You know basketball brain sneaks into my head and then that's all I can think about. You know I'm going to be thinking about that for a while, right?

Like you just know that I'm going to be like sitting there in silence and I'm like, I can't believe this happened when you had a 13-man rotation. I think that you're just, I think that's latent anger from you and Haw and everybody else just about Patrick Williams being a bust for the Bulls. Like you don't really want to see him play, do you? If you're going to give everybody. else minutes and a 40 point loss. Give him minutes too.

But why? For what? Because we're all suffering. And therefore we all deserve to suffer together. Oh, so this is just, you need to be out there and to, we want you working. I'd rather see all the young bulls. Like, I saw what I wanted to see. Caleb Wilson playing 32 minutes last night. If it's about fits, then you want to see what all the fits are. That says a lot.

Going back to the Patriots game, I do think that it seems like for them. that when you hear the word on the street, whether it's WEEEI, whether it's NBC Sports Boston. How we doing everybody? Yeah, take your pick as to who you want to hear. I love the Boston accent because it's such the opposite of mine from where I grew up. They used to say Laylor and I just thought that was fascinating and precious. She's the Layler. I do have to rewind the town many times to figure out what Blake lively is saying.

All of that said, they seem to think that from what I heard, the overwhelming majority of opinionists that I consumed are more concerned about the game in 10 days that they have against Miami and their divisional record, which kind of sounds familiar if you're considering what the bears are dealing with, but the bears don't have the luxury of just focusing on divisional record. And then that the injuries combined with the short week and it being a road game might be too much to bear for them. Bear. Yes.

Pun intended. Obviously, yeah, it's out of conference game, AFC, NFC matchup. It would be, boy, it would be neat to see these two teams play in the Super Bowl. Mike Florio even came on yesterday, and he was lamenting a previous game that had been built up as a Super Bowl preview matchup. This might be. I mean, this could be. Would these two teams four and two have had some bad moments this year? But both teams are rolling right now, and there was a certain Super Bowl 20 that looked very good in a 46 to 10 fashion once upon a time ago.

That was John Greenberg's. score prediction. Was it really? Oh, shout out to Greenberg. Nice job, Greenberg. I appreciate that. 4610 absolutely never goes out of style. So we have, I think, two teams that mirror each other a bit in some of the score

aberrations. This is what you came here for, statistical analysis. Score aberrations, yeah. Yes, it's on Sunday morning. So the Raiders win was 45 to 17. That's kind of how I judge, like peak Drake May, peak Patriots offense. But then on the. flip side, you know, that's, that could be the equivalent of the Bears 5937 win over the Panthers.

Yeah. Except the Raiders didn't score nearly as much. So, so, you know, how are you evaluating that? Like, you prepare for the best version. Like, I'm sure the Patriots are preparing for the Bears best version. But, like, I don't know. You might argue that the best version was the game last week for them. Sunday, this past week.

I don't know how to explain time. Bears, Atlanta. Yeah, this week is very difficult. You're talking about the Bears beating of Atlanta. Yes. Yeah, that's a good question. like what was the best, the Bears best win this year? And actually, I'm going to say, I know it's the recency bias, but yeah, like in terms of

offense, defense, and special teams, except for a few hiccups, I think that was the Bears most complete game. I mean, you look at the Carolina game and the offense was spectacular, but we were, what were worried about? I was worried sick about the defense after the Carolina game, and they have recovered relatively nicely since then. Well, as well, you should. be. But I think at the same time, you saw what Atlanta did to try to get two quick

touchdowns in that game. Damns can break any time. Yeah, no doubt. Right. You take the foot off the proverbial gas pedal, as Ben Johnson did in that case. But just looking at the wins that New England has had this year, you mentioned the Vegas game where they ran it up. They did win at Buffalo. They just came off an ugly win, by the way, over the New York Jets. So that was the 26 to 19 win. And that was sort of the consensus out of there that they got away with one against what is starting to show themselves. So there's another bad Jets team. They also beat the Steelers.

They lost at Seattle. They lost at Jacksonville two quality teams. Oh, yeah. And they got whipped by Jacksonville. They did. Jacksonville might be really good. Oh, no. I think so.

You know I had Trevor Lawrence in my list of top 10 quarterbacks for 20s, 26. Yes, you did. So the thing about the Patriots Pills game, not. just that it was incredibly exciting, but that it's kind of the mixed bag game for Drake May, where he overcame his turnovers. So three touchdowns to the two turnovers. So that's also good analysis on this team has been inconsistent enough to where if you factor in the injuries and the travel and the short week and maybe what their priorities are and their division and vice versa compared to the bears, you already kind of know which way I'm leaning. The guys in Boston

kind of sent me over the edge with that. Ah, well, tell you. But why don't we do this when we return on Rahimi and Grotie? Let's go ahead and tap into Boston and their sports talk and what they're saying. You've been hearing us all week. You'll hear us all day today. But to Layla's point, let's eavesdrop a little bit and hear it from their side of things. The mob is checking in. Yes.

The score Chicago on Twitch on YouTube. Hi. Hi, guys. Dan's plastic pants wants me to tell you, please tell Mark, bears, Bears. Bears. Right here. I'm wearing my bears shirt.

So that's the word. Yeah, the word up. I appreciate it. Glad that you guys are all here. We may even slide in a phone call. 312, 644, 67, and we are open for you. We are talking bears and patriots on Rahimi and Grody on 1043, the score. Rahimi and Grody.

Tim Jenkins founder and CEO of Jenkins Elite. He is our quarterback. Tim, welcome back to the score, man. you. I'm fired up. I'm happy to be back. You guys are the best. Midday, 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. It's excellent. It's very good. And so, you know, I think we have to stay balanced, but also find ways to run the football. And, you know, they just haven't had a lot of plays against them. And when you play with the lead, then you don't see a lot of runs. So that's, that's the challenge is being able to flip the script a little bit and not let them run 73 plays

and only have to defend 50. We come to you live from Soldier Field. It's the NFL on CBS. I can't do it. I can't do the Pat Summerall. I do not have the pipes. Ryan Mundy. Tom Brady.

The soldier has a lot of birds on the field. You got to throw in some booms and whatnot. Right there. Boom on the sideline. I miss them. He started all that. Summerall and Madden as done by two people who can't. Yes.

originally on CBS with Brent Mossberger and all those guys. And they went to Fox 32, sort of like the Joe Buck, Troy Aikman moves. By the way, have you been reading into Joe Buck and Troy Akeman like everybody else is trying to? Oh boy, they were looking angrily at each other. So if I just told you that I grew up watching Cowboys games and Summerall in Madden, who do you think, who do you think's team I'm on? Or whose team do you think I'm on? there we go. Eight. Oh, right.

The end. Ake. Yep. Well, eight. Troy Akeman's number was eight. That's right. Troy Aikman. Aitman.

Who apparently does not have a new deal yet with the ESPN, but Joe Buck does. So everybody, I'll be honest with you. Like, I'm here for the drama with all of that, but people keep on trying to say, like, Troy Aikman was looking hatefully at Joe Buck. I think he had the same exact expression that he has on his. face all the time. Troy Aikman doesn't really have a lot of animated looks on it. He's always got the same look, doesn't he?

Troy? Yeah. I didn't really notice anything. Anyway, Rehemi and Grotie here on 1043, the score. Welcome back in. Something tells me they'll all get paid. That's all. Yeah.

Yeah, and they've been paid handsomely. I think that they'll both be okay. Yes. When it comes right down too. There's a lot of rumors about job changes and most of them are not true. That's true. That is very true. A quick text here from 773.

Mark, you're dreaming, lapping my ass off over scrub D-line for the bears. Could not get around my grandmother. They've actually had decent pressure this year, not getting home enough. Sounds like your grandmother might know ball. That's true. Here's the thing is that that the lines are always where I start, but I do think the question might just be in the war of attrition,

do you like the injured Bears D line better than you like the injured Patriots offensive line? And we know Matt Pryor, he's a known commodity. Yeah, that's true. Right. I don't want to completely underestimate it just because both of their starting guards are out.

It is still possible that they could be very good tonight. Right. And Matt Pryor is a capable backup in my mind. The better question might be, you know, as we look at it as well, is just can the Bears force some fumbles here too? You know, can the Bears get, say, Trevion Henderson to fumble? You know, is that a possibility?

I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. Yeah, they're okay running the football. Ramandre Stevenson, who played for the Patriots the last time the Bears played them back in 2024, that awful tragic game that we were talking about, Trayvion Henderson, indeed as well. Right now, the Patriots are actually they're, they're, in rushing yards. The Bears, as Mike Vrable was just talking about in the name of time of possession, the Bears' defense has been pretty good, actually, against the rush this year.

Statistically, they are sixth against the rush this year. So that's a huge improvement over last year when there were too many explosive runs. That's, and that's part of this too, is, are the Patriots confident enough to use their run game, especially with an injured offensive line against the Bears? They are better against the run, but they're still not very good. That's true. Yeah, they will allow some. Like my biggest concern, and that's why we started with the defensive line

and can they get home against the battered offensive line of the Patriots is, as always, the bare secondary and stopping receivers and, you know, that he could have a field day with the problems this year that Jalen Johnson has had. Is Tyreek Stevenson even going to play out there tonight? Does Kyler Gordon actually play more standard cornerback in this game? And does Dylan Thineman have a big game? Because he's been a little bit inconsistent as of late as well. So there's a lot going on in the Bears secondary.

And we'll get to more of that later on when we get into our concerns. I also think that Mike Grable brought up a really good point when he talked about just the simple concept that the Bears are executing. Not easy, but simple about it's a real challenge when you were only running, say 60 plays as a team and their bears are running 15, 20 more plays than you. Yeah. Yeah. And it can be about the math of just

the amount of plays you run and how that factors in. No doubt. They have helped the Bears defense for sure. The Bears are number one in time of possession this season and that's been a key to a couple of their victories. Obviously, the game that we just saw against Atlanta and then the Jets would

be the other really good example. But we said that we would tap into a little bit of what they're saying on the Patriots side of the world. And former Patriots tight end and WEEEI contributor, Jermaine Wiggins, was on with Lawrence Holmes and Anthony Herron yesterday, filling

in for Matt Spiegel on the Spiegel and Holmes show. It was a great interview. Very insightful, very analytical, very Boston sounding, as you will hear in just a second. And he discussed how New England quarterback Drake May bounced back after a

rough start to his season. I think you can see a lot of his his kind of evolution as a quarterback, especially with Josh McDaniels and this being his second year in the offense. And last year, some of those things being able to get you, but now a year on the belt, you understand the offense,

you understand why Josh is calling specific plays, you understand where the weak spots might be on those specific plays. And one thing that you start incorporating, you know, when I played with, you know, I played with Tom Brady, I played with Peyton Manning, And what they did a great job of of being able to have dummy snap counts, you know, make it look like you're going to snap the ball so maybe what you can do is the defense will tip their hand a little bit.

And I think Drake May has gotten better at that. You can kind of see him incorporating that into the way he kind of runs things. And that's the most important thing is to try to, because football is a game of chess, especially offense versus defense. And if you can get the defense to maybe show their hand a half second early, because you're able to get them with a snap count or a dummy count. Those are one of the things that I think you've seen Drake May's evolution becoming because he understands and he's learning

and he understands that playbook a lot better now. And him and Josh both are like they're obviously on the same page, but Josh is able to see his growth as a quarterback and understanding how the game looks. I think that there's some real value there in that the Patriots are successful too, typically on a when they have successful drives third down is a key for them their third down conversion number so I feel like that's that's something that's a hallmark of what we've seen out of the Patriots as well as that Josh McDaniels has similar to Ben Johnson will drop a lot of successful

third down calls if they need them you know you I think I think still Ben Johnson doesn't want to have to move the chains on a third down he'd rather do it on a second as most coordinators would but I do feel like that's that's part of it right is getting out of jams and I I feel like that's an element of May's game that's starting to evolve. No doubt about it. Yeah, they are right now just looking at the Patriots offense. They are 15th in the league right now on third down. I was surprised to see the bear.

I thought, and maybe it was because of a couple of really nice third down passes by Caleb Williams last week. I just going back to the Falcons game, the third and 11 hook and ladder on the first drive. And then the second drive, the third and 17 to Roma Dunesay, where Roma Dunesay goes up and gets it. the bears right now are 14th as far as third down is concerned. But it's interesting to hear because it's been an evolution with both of the quarterbacks, obviously with Caleb Williams and all that has gone on with Ben Johnson and adding more and more and more to his plate, evolving as a quarterback doing things that are probably difficult and awkward for Caleb Williams.

And then you hear him talking about the same thing with Josh McDaniels and Drake May in this developing quarterback, as much as we all want to think that these are just made men and the development has stopped. Even with Drake May, who was runner up in MVP, he's still adding to his repertoire as a quarterback, and they are still adding things to his plate the same way Ben Johnson is still adding new things to the plate of Caleb Williams. Well, no doubt, and I think May played it safe, and that's why the Patriots partially got to the Super Bowl last year when it came to risks with throwing the football. and maybe that's why we're seeing so many interceptions so far, relatively speaking, to begin the year for him. I think that's part of knowing who you are and what your limits are as a young quarterback.

Greg Bedard was on with Anthony Heron and Carmen Vitale earlier in the week. He's also been talking about this on a couple different stations, so I thought it was worthy of bringing through. This is on CLNS. It's after the Pats went over the Raiders, which is the game that I really kind of say, well, that's the game you don't want Drake May to have. talked about his performance in that game. You know, he did a great job.

It's just I'm not going to get overly excited against a defense that isn't, it's just not that good. And I do think that they did a good job mitigating Max Crosby. I think his impact on the game was a lot more than maybe the stats and PFF will say on their initial grading. I do think he was around Drake May all day, but I thought Drake did a great job of getting the ball, you know, getting rid of it, like right before Max Crosby got there about like six times. And, you know, I think you can, you can deal with, you know, Caleb Lomu being in there for Will Campbell

when Max Crosby is over the right tackle and Morgan Moses. And so, you know, I wouldn't, I would give the defense a lot more credit. I don't think the, the offense was like a jalopy out there. He also went on to say to Carvin and aunt that he thinks that. after the Jets game that Drake May so far has been a bit of a defensive bum slayer, is how I would put it. Bum slayer is our word in this town, obviously. But yeah, that seemed to be the assumption from Baderd as far as May's performance up to this point this year. Are the Bears a bum defense, middle of the road? Probably M-O-R. Middle of the Road defense.

Is it going to be bum-slaying Jalen Johnson tonight? I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth. Yeah, that might be, that might be the biggest test is the Jalen Johnson factor in this. T.J. Edwards out still. Do you have to measure an inconsistent link? Here's the thing is by yards per game, the bears are not. And by scoring, they're not. So then how do you put it?

Seattle, of course, is number one. Are we shocked? Minnesota's number two? Anybody surprised? Nope. No. No. So the Bears are seventh right now in yards per game.

Yeah. Yeah. And the scoring defense is high. Somebody asked about the over, and I actually think the under might be the move here. Yeah, their worst statistical category defensively, and we just look at the traditional stuff, it should not be shocking.

It's past defense. It's 17th, but I don't think they're in the 20s in any of the major categories where they lived last year. They're sixth against the rush, 17th against the past this year. Their sack numbers are way up relative to last year, and that helped too with what Kyler Gordon did in this previous. game. That's it. I mean, we're talking about six games. So a guy with three sacks and a single

game in 17 snaps is going to really up the average here. Of course, but you take it. And if that, hey, if it takes scheming up sacks and that's the way they have to do it, then good on the bears and good on Dennis Allen. We'll see if we see more of that tonight. We shall resume talking about the bears a little bit later on today. But coming up next, we feel as a team, as a program that we do have to address what happened with the Bulls last night. It was a rough watch, a rough listen,

and that's no offense to any of the broadcasters. They're all great, but tough times, but we'll zero in on Caleb Wilson and what went down with the Bulls last night and their season opener in Toronto. That is coming up next on Rahimi and Grotie on 1043, the score.

Rahimi and Grody, Midday's 10 a.m. 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. And Sellers will just walk it over the mid-court line, and they're going to eat the trouble, and the Bulls get ready for Milwaukee on Friday afternoon. We appreciate you listening, folks. This has been a very, very tough game. So the final here from Toronto in the NBA season opener for both teams, Raptors 135 and the Bulls 92.

Chuck Swirsky with the call last night right here on 104-3, the score. as we welcome you back into Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3, the score. Tough, tough night for the Bulls last night. Raptors 135, Bulls 92. The Bulls were in a 70 hole right away. The old Tiago Splitter calling his first timeout ever as a Bulls head coach pretty early into the first quarter. Hey, man, I knew what I was getting into watching the Bulls or anybody should know what they're getting into if they watched the Bulls this year because the Bulls told you.

They actually literally have not been afraid to use the word rebuild. That is what Bryson Graham has said. That is what Tiago Splitter has said. The words Rebuild have come out of their mouth. And so when you're watching the game, really, really, you just want to see what Caleb Wilson is all about. He had 16 points, 7 for 21 from the field, one for eight from three, which was everybody, by the way. The problem with Caleb Wilson, and he's going to get a lot of great. and there are no conclusions to be drawn from Caleb Wilson,

but nine turnovers. The turnovers were ugly all night for this team. It was just so sloppy that it was difficult for me, Leila, to keep in perspective that this is a rebuild, that this is game one. I didn't expect the slaughtering to be that bad last night in Toronto. Well, and I think part of it is because we got used to watching years of Billy Donovan just coach the ever-loving tar out of every game possible. in the best way possible.

With all of his guards. I mean, he just, he was that guy. I'm not saying Tiago Splitter isn't a good coach. I'm just saying that's kind of what Billy would try to do in every single way, shape, and form. It's a Hall of Famer. So, yes, we can sit. Tiago Splitter might end up being great, but Billy Donovan was a better head coach than the man they have right now.

But even when I saw the first quarter where the Bulls got outscored by 20, where Toronto had 43 points in the first quarter and the Bulls had 23, You know what I thought about was the Bryson Graham joke after the NBA draft press conference where he's joking about the shooting. A lot of people might, you know, where's the shooting at, you know, and things of that nature. Yeah, things of that nature. Where's the shooting at? Yeah. Where was the shooting at?

And I'm not here to make any proclamations after game one. But you are figuring out what people's usage rates are. You are figuring out how the adjustments need to be made, what the evaluations. are. And by the way, if you didn't know, that game against the Bucks on Friday is a three o'clock game, so that'll be on 670 the score. Tomorrow. Yeah, that's right. We've still got a 670 signal. Isn't that neat? Shout out to downstate Illinois. I listen on 670 the score right now. Or the Rockford area? You listen to 670 for distance, 1043 for behind buildings downtown. So when I consider the fact that this is a 13-man rotation that the Bulls used,

where guys like Toby Akawa gets 14 minutes, Noah Essingay gets to, 10 minutes. Buddy Healed had 14. Trey Jones had 13. More minutes for Trey Jones, please. And then Patrick Williams didn't play? So what? So what? He is not part of this core. Who cares about Patrick Williams? Do you really think that

Toby Akawa is? I don't care about him either. I'm not picking on him. I'm just using him as an example. But like, why would you want, haven't you and everybody else who is mad that Patrick Williams didn't play, or just stunned that he didn't play in the game,

do you need to see more from Patrick Williams? Haven't we seen enough of Patrick Williams? So what I was going to say is there's a statement that's made there. Okay. When everybody in their dog got in this game and he didn't, that's more of a statement that's made about just not just how they see him fitting on this team, just what the value is to them.

Well, I'm happy with that statement that he is, that they are saying, they're finally saying, sorry, Patrick Williams is not valid. to this team. He comes from a different time, a different era. He comes from a prehistoric time, a different time of hope, a different rebuild, a different core. He has proved to not be a valuable player for the Chicago Bulls. And there are other players that they want to give time to, even if it's that one guy that you just mentioned. Yeah, but I mean, we can laugh about it is the thing. Like, nobody's making, we knew what was going on. But if you needed the rubber stamp, triple stamp,

the double stamp, put it up in a drone show fireworks. Last night was the night. Okay, it is jarring, I guess. If you're making the point, like, can you believe that this guy who was... I mean, it's just funny. Like, it's sad, but it's, it's, you're just like, man, you can't play in this game? Yeah. I did see him come off the bench on that preseason game I went to, the final preseason

game of the year. So I got, I got enough Patrick Williams out of that game to tell you the truth. Um, but yeah, it was, I mean, I, I am not worried. about Caleb Wilson based on one game. He had some nice moments. At one point in time, he scored in transition, and then the very next play. He hits a three. He was still going hard in the fourth quarter, and why wouldn't you?

You start to see some of the athleticism out of him. But nine turnovers. The Bulls as a team had 27 turnovers in this game, and you were talking about, too, the 43 points that Toronto scored in the first quarter. What's really hilarious about that. So they score 43 points in the first quarter. The Bulls scored 44 points in the first half of the game. That's how ridiculous this game was last night.

And they had 37. By the way, Toronto had 35 points off of the Bulls 27 turnovers. And additionally, you want to talk about where's the shooting? Well, it wasn't for the Bulls. They only had 32% shooting compared to 45 for the Raptors. So you didn't need more than a half to figure out what time it was with this game. But you're trying to figure out what the team is doing or what the fits are going to be or who they're trying to use on the floor.

Did you figure it out? I didn't. But it was pretty funny to see that in all of that, you know, there was one guy didn't get a single minute. In the meantime, Josh Giddy's injured? What? Okay. News to me.

Where did that come from all of a sudden? Yeah, Giddy two points last night. Yeah. So it's a left wrist injury. And he essentially said that he's going to have to, it's his new normal, I guess. he's going to have to manage that throughout the season. He was one for 10 shooting. Yeah.

The Bulls. That's not going to be a new normal. That just rest. Yeah, but the Bulls were four for 36 from three last night. Norman Powell. Hey, how's it going, Norman Powell? You're happy to be here. You're happy that you're in the latter portion of your career

and you decided to sign a two-year deal with the Bulls. It was the only player on the Bulls to have made more than one three-pointer. He made two. And the Bulls were four of 36 from three. Modus Bezellis, 17 points, two for eight from the field. He was 0 for four on the overall. Shout out to Jalen Smith, I guess. Relatively nice game, 15 points, 5 of 10 from the field,

0 for 3 from the field. But boy, man. And like you said, the Bulls are right back on tomorrow and then they have their home opener on Saturday against Washington. Yeah, so it's a rough goal. I mean, the new look wizards is we try to figure out who they are. But yeah, I just, with Anthony Davis, he had 34 and 12 last night, by the way, against the bucks, who ended up losing to them. So I'm kind of excited to see that game, but also kind of worried it might be, it might be ugly.

I think they were going to get a lot of adventures. You know there's going to be a couple games here and there that the Bulls are going to look really good in and surprise us and thrive in. But yeah, this could be, we're all in this together. Yeah, turnovers aren't bothering me yet. I just don't care. Learn who you are as a player. But in the meantime, I'm learning who the minutes are going to, and that's an interesting one. I like that you're zeroing in on that. That's a good way to watch the Bulls, because we're all figuring out good ways to watch the Bulls this year.

Caleb Wilson, Modis Bezellis, whatever it might be, Norman Powell, what he's going to give you this year as well. Keep listening for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Matchbox 20 at Credit Union One Amphitheater. That'll be July 3rd, or excuse me, July 23rd tickets provided by. Live Nation. Coming up next, let's get back into Bears and Patriots, and we'll go to Boston and talk to a former Patriots linebacker, Matt Chatham, returning to the Rahimi and Grotie show. That is next on 104.3, The Score.