Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Chris Simms breaks down why he believes Bears will beat Packers (Hour 2)
08 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: Why does Chris Simms believe the Bears can beat the Packers?
Outstanding arm, a lefty who can sling it around the field, and I'll tell you what, when you look at Chris Simms, the tools are there. He's had such poise and presence, command of the huddle. Simms fires to the end zone, touchdown! Joey Galloway on the 15th play of this drive. I don't trust a quarterback having to make a playoff start who hasn't played in three weeks.
I think that's what bothered me with Jordan Love a little bit, right? So that's where I leaned with the Bears. And I do think Ben Johnson ripping the offense and the way they played last week will actually end up helping them this week to be on their game and maybe take a few chances and jumpstart them early on in the football game. Brahimi Harrison-Grody on Chicago Sports Radio. 670 The Score.
Is your top button buttons? It better be if you're going to talk to Chris Sims. He joins us via the Circa Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circa app today. Chris Sims, an NFL analyst for NBC Sports. He's the co-host of Pro Football Talk Live. That's with our friend Mike Florio. And he is the host of the Chris Sims Unbuttoned podcast. You get the drift. He's at CSimsQB on Twitter.
And he joins us now. Chris, thanks for coming on.
Of course. No problem. I mean, you know, I feel bad for you guys. You got to deal with Mike Florio. It sounds like on a once a week basis.
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Chapter 2: What key factors does Chris Simms identify for the Bears' playoff success?
That's tough. So I figured, you know, I'd show you that, you know, the other side of his working partner is not so bad and not such a jerk like he is. So I figured I'd owe that to you.
Chris, I used to interview from time to time on NBC Sports Chicago, and yes, I appreciate the level-headedness, but yesterday was the perfect day to work with Mike because we went down a billion different rabbit holes after John Harbaugh got fired.
Right. I'm sure. And he's the master of going, you know, that's the one thing about Florio, right? He's not into always breaking news. He knows a lot of people behind the scenes in the NFL, right? He's very good at connecting dots. What I always call his pasta and meatballs, his stomach, his guts. His intuition are top-notch that way.
And yeah, this is the time of the year usually where he thrives, calling his shots about things he's heard, things he thinks might happen and all that. So I'm sure you guys had some good combos yesterday.
It's been a long time since the Bears have thrived in this situation because they don't usually get to this situation, but they have a chance to get their first playoff win in 15 years. When you look at this matchup, Bears-Packers, I'm having trouble finding a way where the Bears, based on the previous two matchups, would win this game.
Can you tell me if you think the Bears are going to win this game?
I do think they can win this football game. I mean, I think this is a coin flip type of football game. I think that's the first thing I would say. I wouldn't want to bet money. I'm not doing that on this game because it could go either way. I think it's a field goal game either way. But at the same time, yeah, there are ways they can win this football game. But I understand what you're saying.
There's no doubt in the first two matchups, the Packers played better football than the Bears. The Bears miraculously pulled that week 16 matchup out with two late fourth quarter drives and of course the overtime drive was really the full extent of their offensive performance that day. Everything else was a struggle. Jeff Halfley has had his way a little bit with Ben Johnson, which is very rare.
And I know you guys are looking for your first playoff win, and they're coming because I don't think the Bears are going anywhere for a long, long time with this guy at head coach and this guy at quarterback. I'll say that. But at the same time, I think the biggest thing I look at here, and I think in the second matchup,
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Chapter 3: How is Bears' coach Ben Johnson preparing for the playoffs?
So that's why I go with the Bears. But the Bears, there's no doubt, one thing in particular shows to me that has to be better if they want to win this game is the drop back pass game. That's it, plain and simple. The first game, they ran the ball. They ran bootlegs. They did a little of that. They left yards and plays there to be had in the drop-back pass game.
The second time around, the drop-back pass game didn't deliver until late in the game, and the Packers got a little conservative trying to protect their lead. This is a game where, yes, I do believe Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are going to have to win through the pass game. You're not going to be able to just run the ball at will on Green Bay. And that's kind of how I look at it.
I picked them to win 23-20, but like I said, I think it's going to be a nail-biter.
Chris, I'm glad you brought that up because especially here in Chicago, run the ball, right? Like that's the mantra. That's the solution. That's the ethos. And we all noticed that there was more of a deliberate pocket-based game for the Bears, not only that second game against the Packers, but even in contrast in the first game to what we had seen prior to the rest of the season.
You're hitting on something that I think Ben Johnson has communicated via his game plan, right? What makes you think that the drop back pass game has to be so quintessential where you think that the run game is going to be so stifled? Like what's the delta there and it working and it not working?
Right. I think the big thing is that, first off, let's take it from the Packers' perspective. They're going to look at it and think some of the same things you just said, some of the things I've said. They're going to go, man, if they get the run game going, everything starts going in Chicago. So I think that's going to be their biggest thing.
Like, let's stop the run game because then that slows down some of the bootlegs and the play-action pass game. And now, if there's anything that's going to happen ā I got to see Caleb Williams can beat us in the drop back pass game. And we know he can do that, but it's not been a consistent ride there in that department, right?
I mean, if he plays like he did in the 49er football game, I go, don't you worry then Chicago, the Bears will win. But if it's like some other games this year where we've seen and gone, wait, why didn't he throw that? Or damn, you're too good and talented to miss that throw right there.
and it's been a little in between and again this is part of the rewiring of the new robot of caleb williams he's never been a part of anything like this ben johnson offensive genius been throwing more things on his plate than he's ever had to deal with in the history of his life in football and this is a guy too throughout his whole career high school college whatever has been so talented that he could just go out there and make it happen
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Jordan Love's recent performance?
Watch out for the Bears in years to come. This offseason, when you guys got some money and can spend, you know, another pretty penny on maybe another pass rusher and another cover corner and all that. You guys will be dangerous with Dennis Allen. But yes, you're not a great defense. There's no doubt about that. And you're going to have to pick your point.
My big thing with them is, yeah, you want to take some tactical chances. I think blitzing Jordan Love. But don't make it a habit. Because the one thing to me with the Green Bay Packers, they love when you blitz and play man to man. And it go back to game number one when he had a few deep touchdown passes.
Or even if you remember game number one in Green Bay through the slant pass to Christian Watson who ran down the field for a touchdown. Those are all against aggressive Bears defenses where I go, that's what Jordan Love wants. If you look at the Packers, they want to run the ball, throw some screens, and throw bombs down the field. That's how they operate.
When they've struggled, teams have taken away those big plays. And then the one thing I'll say about Jordan Love where I think he can get better in his game is he's not the most surgical intermediate passer in all of football. those plays between five and ten yards, those type of throws, they're not usually real consistent in that department and dicing up defenses that way.
So that's where I go, the Bears have to have a blend there. But to your point, that's why anybody that's listened to my stuff, I love the Bears. I love Ben Johnson. I love Caleb Williams. Everybody knows that. I haven't been a total believer in the Bears or the 49ers to make a deep playoff run because of what you said.
The defenses are just below average, and it's hard to go through the playoffs with a below average defense and think you're going to get to the Super Bowl.
Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, it's a concerning factor for us as well. And Chris, since you study the tape so much, you know, the two games, we joked about how similar not only the two games were against these two teams, but how similar the discussions are for both fan bases as to the criticisms of certain players or the criticisms of certain aspects of the team.
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Chapter 5: How do the previous matchups between Bears and Packers influence the upcoming game?
What do you think could be different that we haven't seen out of these two? Or do you think it's going to be more of the same on Saturday?
No, I think it's going to be, you know, very, very close to kind of similar to what we've seen. But I guess if I'm sitting here looking at my crystal ball, I think we're going to see a different drop back pass game. I think this is a game finally where Ben Johnson's like, listen, you know, Hey, we've had 18 weeks here. It's green Bay. They got some talent on their football team.
I'm going to open the vault a little bit in the drop back passing. And Caleb, we're going to run a few plays that maybe I haven't asked you to run this year. We might have a few checks at the line of scrimmage where I go, I haven't asked you to do all this mental gymnastics at the line of scrimmage, but this week it's win or go home.
So we got to do it or we're going and planning a vacation next week. And that's where I kind of look at it being different. And then the other things that I talk about with Green Bay, it's just where's their mental state as a football team right now? I mean, not many teams have had real successful playoff runs going. We lost four in a row and our quarterback hasn't played in three weeks.
That's usually not a recipe for success. And that's where I got to kind of see it to believe it, to think Green Bay can win the game that way.
Chris Sims, the NBC Sports NFL analyst. He's the co-host of PFT Live alongside Mike Florio and also the host of the Chris Sims Unbuttoned podcast. Joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grody. Mark Grody, by the way, joins us at 1225 from House Hall with the latest there. Okay, Chris. So what do you see as the ceiling for this Bears team? You mentioned, you know, don't have a good defense.
You're not going far. But what do you see the ceiling? Because, you know, they win this game. There's a chance they can, you know, play the Eagles next week. But they've got Soldier Field in their back pocket.
Yeah, and that's what's amazing too. Again, it's a matchup league. It's a matchup league. Now, I certainly think the Eagles are a more talented team than the Bears. The Eagles are one of the most talented teams I've ever seen. But as I've discussed a million times and I always say, I mean, the Eagles offense is horrible. The quarterback play is horrible.
So that gives ā that's why you guys match up. We just talked about your defense not being all that well. Well, the Eagles run like five plays on offense and they have a quarterback that just won't throw to the open guy. He won't do it. And in fact, sometimes he doesn't even look at him. He just looks at the rush and tries to play backyard football.
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Chapter 6: What strategies must the Bears employ to win against the Packers?
Oh, yeah. I don't blame him for that either. Either. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison-Groney, we spend a lot of time talking about life according to the Packers. But what about life according to the Bears? Let's have some main character energy here. Colston Loveland let everybody know what the direction was, so we will relay it to you next.
Rahimi Harrison-Grody, middays 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 The Score.
Just like I told those guys after the game, you know, we're mentally prepared to play for five more weeks. And so that's our intent. How do you do that? You go out and you win the first one.
This is Rahimi Harrison-Brody on 670 The Score, and we just finished up a really good conversation with Chris Sims, the NFL analyst for NBC Sports. If you missed it, go back on our Odyssey app. You can listen on the Rewind feature. And in the meantime, we spent a lot of our first hour talking about the Green Bay Packers side of things.
Heard from Jeff Halfley, heard from Keyshawn Nixon, and heard from other players as they talked about their strategy, why they want to face the Bears, etc. Well, what about the Bears side of things? It's not necessarily as focused on the single game of facing the Packers. It's a little more wide-ranging, like we just heard Ben Johnson say.
He wants to make sure people understand the regular season is over. It's cute that you were the NFC North champions. It's great that you have accomplished the two seed. But all that is for naught if you don't take advantage of this situation. You are highly seeded in a tournament. It is a very simple tournament.
You win four games, you get to hoist a trophy, and the city of Chicago loves you forever.
Forever. Colston Loveland was the one who put everybody on notice yesterday because I know we've talked about the sense of urgency coming out of guys like Christian Watson, Josh Jacobs, etc. But we haven't really heard it as much when it comes to hearing from the Bears. It's been, I think, a little more tactical, a little more game-related. Caleb Williams is as cool as a cucumber.
He's not going to be that guy. Listen to what Colston Loveland had to say about what the message you just heard was from Ben Johnson.
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Chapter 7: How does playoff experience impact team performance?
See?
They didn't get much better than next year.
I don't know that we're in worry town, you know, with Spiegel and Holmes, but I don't know that we're not in it. I think we're in the county. We're in the unincorporated area.
I'll tell you what, I feel better about the cast this time around than I do that time around.
And part of the reason why I feel good about this year is because... Ray had a cast on his arm. Oh, I sure did. Yeah, that sucked. You have a great mix of players here who have not done this before, who it's been too long since they have done this, and other veterans who've done this several times so they understand exactly what's going on.
But they didn't do it with this team necessarily, like Kevin Bayard.
You've been part of a 9-7 team that went to the conference championship game. You've been part of a one seed that lost in the first round. How do you process that whole dynamic of what this is?
Yeah, I mean, I haven't ā I actually haven't won a playoff game since then. You know what I mean? So I understand how ā How special these opportunities are and they don't come around that often. I know just even this 2019 team, like they were saying even back then, like we were too early, like as far as like we had snuck into the playoffs and they're not going to do anything.
You know what I mean? Like they don't have all the pieces and we went on the run and obviously we're a game short. We're going to the Super Bowl. So yeah. I've been hearing the same noise about this team this year as well. So I just think for us all together, just understanding how special this group is and going out there and just playing for each other.
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