Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
5 On It: Bromance between Caleb Williams, Pete Crow-Armstrong is awesome
21 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the biggest takeaways from the Bears' end-of-season press conference?
What was your biggest takeaway from the Bears' end-of-season press conference?
Well, Ryan Pohl said he's got some difficult decisions to make regarding his roster, and he could not be more correct about that. We spent the first hour of our show talking about what's going on in the secondary. You likely can't keep both Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard. And unfortunately, until now it's unfortunate, it wasn't previously. They both did a lot, especially in these last two games.
So when you consider that, you know, it's a hard decision that Ryan Pulse had to make. He's absolutely correct about that. As far as Ben Johnson was concerned, I'm happy to see that he got to take a step back, at least momentarily, to collect his flowers. He deserves credit, and the coaching staff does as well, for the performance that this team had this year.
Chapter 2: What roster decisions are facing Ryan Pohl and the Bears?
And he's right at the same time. It's not good enough. Not for his standard. And that's the standard we should all hold this team to because that's how you get better. The other thing that he said that I thought was really important was when he talked about how they need to work on catching the ball as a team in the offseason. There's no doubt about that.
Maybe if they had worked more on that in the offseason this past year, we'd be talking about another game right now. That goes for everyone. All of yous. So those are my, I think, two biggest takeaways.
Chapter 3: How will the Bears address the secondary issues this offseason?
But the credit should be given to both of those two for making this work to the extent of winning your first playoff game in 15 years. That's a big deal.
Nothing that either of these gentlemen said at these press conferences did anything to knock the fervor, the excitement, the enthusiasm about the Bears going forward. I learned that Kevin Byard is definitely a priority in terms of that defensive backs room and what they're trying to do. And they'll see if they can get something financially that makes sense for both sides.
I learned that Ben Johnson, even though he believes his team did a good number of things on offense... Feels like they haven't even scratched the surface. And that's honestly a little bit scary in a good way. Scary for opposing defenses around the league. He said that Caleb Williams is going to be a special player.
And that lets you know he likes what he saw from Caleb Williams, but there's so much more he's getting ready to unleash. The catch the ball thing, that might've been one of the headlines because my goodness, he saw what we all saw and he was not afraid to acknowledge it
The Florida Gator chomp is not an acceptable way to catch a football.
He was very clear that that was going to be, as you said, Layla, a point of emphasis. Those are his words. He thought that they have a poised unit, Ben Johnson, and that they handled pressure better than most because let's be honest, most NFL games are one score games. And you can look at teams like the Lions and others that didn't quite come up
big enough this year and you can look at the Bears who came up very big in those situations and that's how they had as successful a season as they did I'm just excited that we get to kind of follow this from a very different lens from 365 days ago we were talking about some very different things
Number two.
This will continue to be a big Bears day on Rahimi Harris and Grody.
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Chapter 4: Why is Caleb Williams considered a special player by his coach?
We've got Mark Grody coming up at 1225 bringing us his perspective from Hallis Hall. We've got Danny Parkins coming up at one who will discuss everything that's gone down in Bears world since Sunday. But we've had some... Big Chicago baseball news break late last night. The White Sox are reportedly in agreement with the Mets on a trade that will send center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to New York.
Yeah, it finally happened. So what's your reaction to the Southsiders moving on from La Pantera?
I was not expecting this to happen. I was on the record as saying I don't see the need in paying somebody $20 million when you can let them walk for free when $20 million would be the highest paid player on the team. That is not me making excuses for the Jerry Reinsdorf White Sox payroll.
That is me pointing out the relative value to the rest of the team for somebody you hope gets value somewhere else. But he got value somewhere else. Was this the backup plan for the Mets when they didn't get Kyle Tucker, was to try to go after Luis Robert? He can patrol center field, and city field has a lot of that to go around.
For them to not only trade Luis Robert, but get something in exchange, which is what they wanted. Maybe they wanted three prospects, some sort of haul. You weren't going to get it. So the fact that they got Ronald Acuna's younger brother, Luis Angel, and that he has had a very successful stint in the Winter League in Venezuela, that gives you some hope.
And then also to get a pitching prospect as well.
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Chapter 5: What impact does catching the ball have on the Bears' performance?
Always throw in an arm in a deal. Always. That's just sound baseball. So credit to the White Sox for, I think, getting something in return when a lot of people thought you weren't going to get anything.
You know what my feeling was, my reaction? A feeling of vindication because we sat here when they punched this option and I said, guys, I don't understand why you guys are so upset about it. I was like, this is the perfect move for the White Sox because unlike Layla and others, I believe that they would be able to get a deal done when the time came or that Luis Robert Jr.
would be a productive outfielder for the White Sox until he got hurt. But I didn't think they were going to be on the hook of anything. In fact, I was in favor of them paying part of this $22 million we're talking about to get more prospects because that's the way of the world. Buy more prospects if you can.
So the fact that they don't have to pay anything and they got a prospect, a couple, a pitcher in this infielder in Luis Angel Acuna, I'm good with it. And I feel like the White Sox now, we've already got Chris Goetz as the deal has gone official on the record saying they are going to be Adding more with that extra money. And that's all you want to hear.
Not exactly a Cody Bellinger situation, if you get my drift from a year ago.
Five on it. Number three. It's five on it on 670 Discord with Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody coming your way with a report from Hallis Hall at 1225. Here's question number three.
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Chapter 6: How did the Chicago Bulls perform against the Clippers?
Carlos Beltran and Andrew Jones were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. What are your thoughts? What are your thoughts on this year's Hall of Fame vote?
Okay, congratulations to Carlos Beltran and Andrew Jones. So I guess we're okay with you serving some punishment sometimes. Is that how you put what happened to Carlos Beltran? Now...
It's a different, I think this is different than what you're talking about because, I'm sorry, not different from what you're talking about. I think the reference of the steroids is very different from the reference of the cheating. Yeah, this type, two different types of things.
Suddenly it was like, Carlos Beltran is no longer the manager of the Mets. Wait, what? Oh, okay, that's how we're doing this? But you're cool with him now getting into the Hall of Fame, which he deserves, by the way. Let's be honest about that. So does Andrew Jones. Did Chase Ulley get snubbed?
I don't think so.
249 home runs, 1,025 RBI, 64.6 war.
I think he's in the conversation.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the White Sox trading Luis Robert Jr.?
It's funny. You get to that 60, between 60 and 65 war.
Yes.
And it's very much on the line. We all understand and recognize what it is.
Okay. Here's two more where I'm asking questions or raising an eyebrow. Andy Pettit. especially because of his time with the Yankees. 60.7 war, 385 career ERA. If you're still into this sort of thing, his record was 256 and 153. And then also Mark Burley, and I'm not just saying that because he's White Sox, career record of 214 and 160 with a 60.0 war. How about that? He's at 60 and a 381 ERA.
I think his resume will age better over time. Look, I like these elections. Like, I thought Andrew Jones was overdue. Yeah. Because sometimes if you just go strictly by the box score. You might not feel like he's ā because I've seen comparisons to Jim Edmonds, right, to Gary Sheffield and others who played and had similar offensive contributions.
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of the bromance between Caleb Williams and Pete Crow-Armstrong?
But let me be very clear. Andrew Jones in his prime and for, I'd say, a decade window was the best outfielder in baseball. defensively. And when you add that to what he was able to do on that Braves team and beyond, I think you have to give the nod.
He was really like another starting pitcher for them because of how many runs he saved.
Yeah.
You know, like he was as much a part of run prevention as they were.
I will be interested like going forward to see how many of the votes some of these other guys who were there, like A-Rod, admitted cheater A-Rod, Got 40% of the balance.
If they let A-Rod in, the rest of them should riot. Because the only reason A-Rod gets in and they don't is because of all the work he's doing for baseball.
You mean like for Fox? Uh-huh. And like all the other networks he works for? Yeah. He's a billionaire. I don't know if he's a billionaire. I assume he's a billionaire. He should be a billionaire.
Are you kidding? With interest rates in the market after that contract the Rangers gave him? Probably.
Yeah.
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