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Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Bears should prioritize left tackle position this offseason

09 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.487 - 26.848 Unknown

Rahimi Harrison-Groovy, Midday's Table 2, on Chicago Sports Radio 1243. They're going to take it. Right again, Walker to bounce to the outside. There he goes. Walker down the sideline. Kenneth Walker into Patriots territory. Might be out of bounds farther back around the 46-yard line. What a strong run by Walker for the first half.

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27.537 - 41.968 Marshall Harris

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.

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43.923 - 61.678 Leila Rahimi

That is courtesy of NBC. That is Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody as we continue 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.

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61.658 - 82.707 Leila Rahimi

It wasn't great, but there was still, I think, a lot of lessons to be learned and 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. There are lessons to be learned and strategy to be understood.

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82.747 - 90.417 Leila Rahimi

And I don't know, if you like football, you're still watching through a lens that has the Bears also helping you figure it out.

91.915 - 105.165 Mark Grote

The biggest takeaway for 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?

105.517 - 125.938 Mark Grote

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, 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 disappointed to see just how bad the Patriots looked.

127.117 - 143.827 Unknown

Yeah, I mean, at times, yeah, they look 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.

144.008 - 144.248 Leila Rahimi

Yeah.

Chapter 2: Why is the left tackle position crucial for the Bears this offseason?

342.034 - 343.778 Unknown

Everybody wanted the Bears to take him.

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343.758 - 348.766 Leila Rahimi

I really liked him. Everybody liked him. I thought he would have been a good addition to the Bears' offensive line.

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348.786 - 359.181 Unknown

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.

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359.222 - 363.488 Leila Rahimi

Congratulations. I will say this, though. Do you think the book is written on him? I don't.

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363.468 - 371.94 Unknown

No, but I'm just saying so far, so good. Of course, Will Campbell could still be good. But right at this moment, would you bet on Will Campbell or would you rather have Colston Loveling?

Chapter 3: What lessons can the Bears learn from the Seahawks' defense?

371.96 - 379.791 Leila Rahimi

Yeah, no, I would take Colston Loveling given the utilization of that position for the team. Now, do the Bears still need a left tackle? Yes, they do.

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379.851 - 401.502 Mark Grote

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 do the Bears level up against Seattle?

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401.542 - 420.509 Mark Grote

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. Really? I didn't realize that. He allowed 14 pressures. In a single game.

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420.89 - 436.329 Mark Grote

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... Not writing him off. Yeah, I'm not writing him off. But they better get left tackle addressed.

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436.349 - 444.66 Mark Grote

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.

444.92 - 464.983 Leila Rahimi

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. He got him to the Super Bowl. But that doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to win you the Super Bowl.

465.043 - 487.738 Leila Rahimi

These are the details that I think, as we watch the Bears in the playoffs, 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 and the conference championship. But it doesn't win you a Super Bowl against what was such a good defense.

487.718 - 508.454 Mark Grote

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 Tooney can speak on this, by the way. Habit of Patrick Mahomes. who is going to go straight to the Hall of Fame whenever he retires.

508.975 - 525.045 Mark Grote

And now it happened to a lesser quarterback, a more inexperienced quarterback in 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.

Chapter 4: How did the Bears' performance compare to the Patriots in the playoffs?

525.065 - 527.85 Mark Grote

And that's exactly what the last two Super Bowl champions now have done.

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527.83 - 549.686 Leila Rahimi

But again, 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, 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.

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549.886 - 564.79 Leila Rahimi

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.

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564.77 - 570.88 Mark Grote

No, no, no. I'm saying I don't know that there were adjustments to be made that would have led to a Patriots win, though. My thing is the Seahawks... You can get some yards.

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570.9 - 573.204 Leila Rahimi

You can chip away. You can work the middle of the field.

573.384 - 587.085 Mark Grote

The Seahawks were just that much better than the Patriots. And again, going through the Patriots and how they got here, it kind of re... established that 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.

587.105 - 607.772 Unknown

So you think that the Patriots are kind of like what I was worried about with the Bears early on, like, is this legitimate? Because as the season went on with the Bears, as you guys know, I was like, this is not going to stick. And then I became convinced that what the Bears are doing seems sustainable. You don't think that they're sustainable?

607.792 - 614.76 Mark Grote

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.

615.541 - 616.542 Unknown

Not a Super Bowl team.

Chapter 5: What strategies should the Bears consider for improving their offensive line?

684.352 - 684.933 Mark Grote

That's my point.

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685.074 - 693.327 Unknown

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.

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693.307 - 698.712 Leila Rahimi

I mean, AFC championship game good versus Super Bowl good is a pretty good level of good.

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698.892 - 701.635 Mark Grote

They could see in the first quarter that game. That's when decisions need to be made.

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701.655 - 706.659 Unknown

That's true. They could see in the first quarter. Yeah. Things got bad quickly in the second half.

706.679 - 708.701 Mark Grote

And it's not like they didn't know what the weather forecast was.

709.001 - 714.586 Unknown

They were the home team. Can you ever be prepared to not see? Sorry, you can't. You can't really.

714.706 - 718.33 Mark Grote

You can be prepared by getting all the points, all the field goals you can while you can.

718.97 - 729.376 Leila Rahimi

That's very Mr. Miyagi of you. That's like something you would hear. That's like something I would hear in a movie. Can you be prepared to not see?

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