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Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Breaking down a Bears playoff win that was 15 years in the making

12 Jan 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What are the initial reactions to the Bears' playoff win?

0.031 - 21.676 Layla Rahimi

Man, poor one out for George Kittle. I'm pretty sure he did that in the locker room yesterday. This is Brahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. We are delighted to have you join us today. We're always happy, but today we're delighted. How'd that get back feel, Packers? How'd that get back go for you? How'd coming here again go for you?

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21.976 - 29.907 Layla Rahimi

How's all those fake play-by-play dudes who do that thing on the mic in Wisconsin? How are they today? I just want to know how everybody's feeling up there. That's all.

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30.288 - 33.293 Marshall Harris

At the end of the day, it's after Packers always.

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33.313 - 34.816 Layla Rahimi

How are you feeling today?

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34.856 - 50.946 Marshall Harris

You know what? I know I feel a lot better than anybody from north of the border. I can tell you that. I feel, first of all, sorry. But at the same time, I'm glad I'm along for this ride. Because this ride's been a long time coming.

52.141 - 70.774 Mark Grote

Absolutely. Yes, yes. And the Packers choked. And the Bears were awesome in the fourth quarter. Awesome in the fourth quarter. So, yeah, if we're doing petty Packers stuff right now, if that's where we're going right now, that's what you guys are looking at me for here right now. Yeah, I tuned into Packers radio today, and you know what all they were talking about today was?

70.754 - 93.592 Mark Grote

They were talking about firing their coach and whether the coach, let's take another call. Should Matt LaFleur be canned? Let's take another call. Oh my God, I can't believe the Packers choked against the Bears. They did choke. You choked, Green Bay. Yes, you did. Badly. And guess what? It's a new day. And this day is going to continue. So live with that, Green Bay. You got nothing.

93.832 - 95.395 Mark Grote

You have nothing today.

95.375 - 116.019 Layla Rahimi

Well, that's funny because everybody seemed to say last week that that was a far-fetched idea. John Harbaugh is available. Suddenly I'm hearing about the Upper Peninsula being a factor in a coaching search, which I still think the state of Wisconsin should have annexed. I don't care about your agreement. And I don't care about him today. The bottom line is 15 years in the making.

Chapter 2: How did the Bears perform in the fourth quarter?

145.077 - 160.423 Marshall Harris

I thought the Packers would win. You know why I thought the Packers would win? Because even after this game, they still have not run a single offensive play against the Packers this season in which they had the lead. Like, they haven't run an offensive play with a lead in three games, but yet they found a way to win two out of the three games.

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160.483 - 180.467 Marshall Harris

And understanding that even after Caleb Williams had already led sixth, fourth quarter comebacks, to think that he couldn't do a seventh even while watching the game. Shame on me. I guess shame on all of us who thought that the game was over at some point. Because the game clearly was not over until the final game. whistle went off.

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180.507 - 198.928 Layla Rahimi

Then be honest with yourselves. That's all of us. Is it all of us? Yes. And you know what? You don't have to tell me this is not confessional. But just be honest with yourself in a private thought. Don't write it down. Type it in your notes app. Some other app will get a hold of it. Just be honest with yourself.

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199.249 - 222.734 Mark Grote

Yes, and if it makes you feel good to slam Marshall and I for picking the Packers, and I get it. That's all part of it. I was right. You were wrong. It's not like I picked them by 50. If it makes you feel better, if that's your comfort area, we gave that to you. And Layla picked the Bears, and she is saying it. And I think she's speaking for a lot of people who picked the Bears.

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223.114 - 225.639 Mark Grote

You didn't think they were going to win that game. I'm not looking at you, Layla.

225.659 - 227.642 Layla Rahimi

I'm talking to the audience. No, it's okay. You can look at me.

227.662 - 234.175 Mark Grote

Yes, you didn't think they were going to win that game at several times. Several times. Several times. Or at least maybe that's just, maybe I'm going back to me.

234.195 - 239.084 Layla Rahimi

No, no, I typed it in my Bears Google Doc several times. Right. I was like, oh, crap, this is over.

239.104 - 246.559 Mark Grote

If you're being intellectually honest, Bears fans, again, if you need us, if you need us, like, I'm here. I'll be your budget bag today. Call for it.

Chapter 3: What were the key moments that shifted the game's momentum?

334.845 - 342.676 Layla Rahimi

And also, guess what? It is a first for me today. This is my first Bears playoff win Monday.

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342.736 - 343.598 Mark Grote

Yeah, Layla.

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344.098 - 345.861 Layla Rahimi

Let's go. Let's go.

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345.881 - 349.286 Mark Grote

I have a first. This is it. How you feeling? Does it feel okay? You look good.

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349.767 - 356.055 Layla Rahimi

I don't know how to feel. Do you? Do you really? Layla.

356.516 - 378.304 Marshall Harris

Do you? When you don't know how to feel, this is what I do. I look at the text line. Let me tell you something about how to feel. Some of these texts will tell you not only how you did feel, but maybe how you still feel, but understandable. They're all relatable. My favorite of these texts so far, 815. I did consider switching from vodka to bleach at halftime.

378.503 - 398.584 Marshall Harris

Like, that's where people were watching. It was 21-3. It's dark, man. And before it was 21-6 going into the fourth quarter, even at 21-3, I was like, look, I know they've made comebacks, but I'm watching Jordan Love do the things that I talked about him not being able to do. Like, you can't let him stand back there like a statue and just do what he wants.

398.604 - 401.167 Marshall Harris

It was like a flashback to the first game. Was it not?

401.688 - 426.81 Layla Rahimi

Oh, 100%. And that's where I also sit with this. Like... Does it feel better or worse that they were down so much and you felt whatever you were watching at the time and now you're having to deal with it on the other side? You didn't get the outright whooping that you may have wanted. You also got to feel defeat in this game many times.

Chapter 4: How did the Bears' strategy evolve throughout the game?

491.464 - 512.756 Mark Grote

You get to go down. You're going up the Raging Bull, and now you're about to come down. The first three quarters is the two-hour line you have to stand in. That's what that is. That's the line to get on Raging Bull. That's the line to get on the American Eagle. That's the line to get on the Batman ride. It sucks. It's painful. I'm thinking about, oh, my God, are the Bears going to hold a 9 a.m.

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512.836 - 526.737 Mark Grote

locker cleanout? I'm going to get home at 3 o'clock in the morning, and I got to get up two hours later to go to Hallis Hall and talk to players who are going to be reflective about a horrible loss to Green Bay, and then we have to ask them about next season and all that stuff. I was dreading that. Dreading that.

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526.797 - 529.581 Layla Rahimi

You were thinking about questions already, weren't you?

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529.601 - 531.464 Mark Grote

Of course I was. I mean, that's, yes.

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531.484 - 537.132 Marshall Harris

Can we agree, though, that we could just, you know, spend a little extra money and get Caleb and company a Fast Pass? Fast Pass. Fast Pass.

537.112 - 542.46 Layla Rahimi

Would that help? Yeah, man. Skip the middle school kids with too much PDA in line.

543.101 - 557.342 Mark Grote

Yeah, the fast pass is a dream. Yes, that's what we'll work towards for this game. I'm not giving up for the Bears to have four quarters of good football against the Rams, but we'll really work on that fast pass in the offseason. Write that down, Marshall Harris.

557.362 - 568.661 Layla Rahimi

Also, we are Tyler Ferengul, an apology. Don't you remember he broke out his just-gotten-for-Christmas Caleb Williams jersey for the game despite wearing green on Friday?

568.681 - 569.563 Mark Grote

Yeah.

Chapter 5: What were the critical decisions made by the coaches?

621.723 - 627.649 Layla Rahimi

I'm not making you talk out loud. We'll do that at 1045. At what point did you think this game was over?

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629.691 - 648.84 Marshall Harris

I thought the game was over. when the Bears couldn't score. Not when they went for it on fourth and five from their own 32. Because I understood that and I was with that decision. I was like, this makes sense because the middle eight is a thing and I don't agree with Ben Johnson's decision to take the football.

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648.98 - 663.178 Marshall Harris

I understand what he was trying to do, but the middle eight's too important, especially in a game like this. I was like, if you know you can't stop them, you don't want to punt and then they run out the rest of the clock and then score a touchdown or a field goal. At least this way, give your team a chance to hold them to a field goal.

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663.318 - 677.422 Marshall Harris

You get one more shot to score a touchdown and that kind of gets you some momentum going into halftime. But when they didn't score... at the end of the first half, that's when I was like, all right, this game's over. It's 21-3. And then when they missed the field goal, I was like, there's no way they're slowing this team down.

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678.043 - 687.522 Layla Rahimi

21-3, a buzzsaw. And at that point, over three games against the Packers, they had a total of six points to show for it. When was it for you?

688.345 - 713.007 Mark Grote

It was the Matthew Golden 23-yard. It was 21-16 Green Bay. And in my mind, I'm like, they can do this, but the Bears have to be perfect. They have to be perfect in this quarter, in this half. He makes that deadly Matthew Golden, the 23-yard catch and run where he's just bowling over guys. It's like, I don't know. Bears players were just falling at his feet as he runs into the end zone.

713.448 - 731.329 Mark Grote

It makes it 27-16. They do miss the extra point. 27-16 with 636 left. To me, that's where I was like, okay. It's as if I didn't already kind of think that with the halftime score. That was the point at which I'm like, I'm out. The Bears are going to lose this game because of that play.

731.309 - 754.716 Layla Rahimi

So I was even more despondent earlier after 14-3 and seeing TJ Edwards go down on the cart and then he's in an air cast. And I do think that they've done a better job with the turf. We all know that at Soldier Field. But there's so much slipping and falling and the surface combined with the weather. That was unfortunate to see. I'm worried about Ozzie Trapillo. That's a separate topic.

755.377 - 755.477

Yeah.

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