Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Best of the Bears: Ben Johnson is becoming an NFL villain

17 Jan 2026

Transcription

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

0.031 - 14.448 Laurence Holmes

We got another hour to go before we are up out of here. Big Ann Heron is sitting in for Speegs. Carmen Vitale will be hosting the show with me tomorrow as Speegs is participating in Hell Week.

0

15.63 - 33.014 Anthony Herron

Sounds strenuous. It does. Just based off the label, not when you actually get into the minutia of what it entails, but it does. Like Hell Week sounds like he's really going through something this week. Hell Week sounds like he's rushing a fraternity. That's what it sounds like. Hell Week sounds like he's enlisted in basic training.

0

33.034 - 35.699 Brian Baldinger

Yeah. A fraternity he's already in, by the way.

0

35.739 - 49.686 Laurence Holmes

Yes. Yes. Nothing will change. You're 100% right about that, Tanny. A fraternity that he is the president of. And yet, it is hell week for him. He will be back on Thursday.

0

49.786 - 51.428 Anthony Herron

Kappa Alpha Spiegel? Something like that?

51.448 - 60.801 Laurence Holmes

Sure. We can figure something out. They got canes and everything. There you go. They do a stroll. They love Indiana for some strange reason.

60.821 - 61.682 Anthony Herron

For some weird reason.

61.702 - 85.831 Laurence Holmes

All that good stuff. It's Alpha Chapter. I understand why the Kappas love Indiana. Anyway, let's talk about Ben Johnson. Because what has been a fun story for us to kind of cover here locally... has now taken a turn. And nationally, people are paying attention to what has been the beef between Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur.

85.911 - 111.726 Stephen A. Smith

It's bad enough where friends of Matt LaFleur around the league who will remain nameless can't stand Ben Johnson because of the feelings and the treatment they know he has towards Matt LaFleur. So the point that I'm telling you this is me, I ain't giving you an opinion. I'm telling you what I was told. That's what Stephen A. Smith had to say about it.

Chapter 2: How is Ben Johnson becoming an NFL villain?

229.147 - 231.691 Anthony Herron

Around the throat of an opposing – oh.

0

232.853 - 248.957 Laurence Holmes

Metaphorically speaking. Metaphorically, yes. And I'll just say that I listened to Matt LaFleur on the Pivot podcast back in August, and I thought he was great. I was like, I like this guy. He seems like he's a really interesting guy with a great –

0

248.937 - 251.98 Anthony Herron

I haven't seen anything that I dislike about Matt LaFleur.

0

252 - 278.946 Laurence Holmes

I haven't done a deep dive yet or anything. If you look at the careers of LaFleur and Shanahan and McVay and Johnson and McDaniel, they're all similar but not the same. They all had, at some point, they were the man. Ben was a state championship quarterback. And didn't McVay win player of the year once? Was it over Calvin Johnson in Georgia?

0

278.966 - 279.767 Anthony Herron

Oh, that sounds familiar.

279.787 - 303.75 Laurence Holmes

I think he won Georgia State Player of the Year over him. So they all have got these stories. LeFleur was a quarterback in college, and McDaniel played in the Ivy League. These are high achievers. Yeah, these are really high achievers all the way around. And I keep wondering, was there some sort of slight –

304.372 - 312.871 Laurence Holmes

Like, was there a slight that no one at the Bears even knows about that Ben's been holding on to for a long time?

312.971 - 336.312 Anthony Herron

Seeking, like, a logical explanation for what feels like the directed ire from Ben Johnson to Matt LaFleur. Yeah. Matt LeFleur's initial reaction is, we went so deep into the season without a Bears-Packers game. So the Bears season could really have this major arc to it. The Packers season could ride these waves. And then we finally got that. What was the first matchup?

336.332 - 358.401 Anthony Herron

Was it like week 14 or something? When they finally met in the regular season and they saw each other two out of three weeks. And... Everything leading into that final first time where Ben Johnson was going to be on the opposite sideline from Matt LaFleur was about Ben Johnson's comments from the opening press conference about enjoying beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.

Chapter 3: What are the dynamics of the rivalry between Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur?

746.733 - 757.187 Anthony Herron

And so he gave them the business down there. And all these things are open interpretations. It was a very quick handshake. It was a very quick handshake. Every time. You can find clips where all three handshakes are just spliced together.

0

757.207 - 778.539 Laurence Holmes

It was just harumph, harumph. Now, I, my level of petty, would not have been to do the quick handshake. I'd have looked that man dead in his eye. You'd have held on to the hand for an extra minute. You guys remember what C.J. Stroud did to Caleb? You remember when he tried to sun Caleb?

0

778.559 - 781.844 Unknown

Or what Tom Brady did to every quarterback for over a decade?

0

782.044 - 795.143 Laurence Holmes

Yeah. You remember when C.J. Stroud was like, all right, little bro, yeah, man, it's going to be all right. That's what I would have done to the floor. I'd be like, hey, you guys played a really great game, man. It's going to get better.

0

795.804 - 818.851 Anthony Herron

See you next year. And just a side note to Alex's point about Tom Brady. In Tampa, the one time that Tom Brady couldn't wait to rush off the field was when Nick Foles and the Bears beat Tom Brady. And every other time, it was like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retirement tour. Tom shaking everybody's hand, dapping everybody up. Nick Foles beat him again that season with the Bears.

819.131 - 823.416 Anthony Herron

Tom was off the field in a heartbeat. Could not wait to get out of there. That goes back to that Super Bowl.

823.476 - 824.097 Laurence Holmes

Exactly.

824.397 - 826.74 Anthony Herron

Talking about petty. Y'all remember that game.

826.72 - 827.182 Laurence Holmes

Remember?

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.