Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Does Ben Johnson have a shot at winning NFL Coach of the Year? (Hour 1)
22 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This hour is sponsored by Wintrust.
Chapter 2: Does Ben Johnson have a shot at winning NFL Coach of the Year?
The views and opinions of Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks, bye.
Rahimi, Harris, and Grody. 10 to 2 on 670 The Show.
Listen to Tom Izzo calling out one of his players' defense.
You can't guard my mother.
My mother. Tom Izzo is 70 years old.
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Chapter 3: What impact do Al Harris and Declan Doyle have on the Bears coaching staff?
We're to that point.
Dorothy Izzo, his mother, 99 years old.
Tom Izzo was asked about it in the post-game press conference. Has to be.
I'm hoping that it ticks him off and maybe he'll play better angry because check USA Today tomorrow, him and my mom will be going at it in a nursing home and a gym and we'll see how he does. I'm glad he added the gym part. Nursing home?
do you have any idea what happens in those places dude some of it was unstomachable that might be my new favorite i'm adding that to the the widely used lexicon it's going to be up in the suggested because i'm going to start texting people unstomachable in the more modern lexicon of chemistry one that has been obsolete for years well it's better than when you use the word defecate what's wrong with the word defecate it is a medical term it's
just violent it sounds so violent on the air come on everybody defecates also why did he have to give his mom the extra six months at 99 my mom is 99 and a half you know what i'm with that i think the younger you are and the older you are you bring in the months how old am i 384 months and i'll say this about the defecation part
He defecated on his own player's defense. That's exactly what he did. I'm hoping that it ticks him off.
Grody would be so offended right now.
He's not here. But I'll make sure to make a defecation reference tomorrow when Grody's back in studio. Layla Rahimi.
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Chapter 4: How is DJ Moore's future with the Bears being evaluated?
Marshall Harris. Mark Grody. Middays 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 670 The Score. The Score.
Well, well, well, thanks to Tyler Buterbaugh and that fabulous open. Grody is all caught up. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. Mark Grody is back from Hallis Hall. And the good news is we got some news in the NFL. This was something that I expected to see at some point. I felt like I felt this way for many months, at least dating back to like early October or so.
Ben Johnson deserved to be in the Coach of the Year conversation, and now he is one of the nominees. So when you consider Coach of the Year and Ben Johnson, I don't think it's any surprise that he's part of the group who is nominee. Nominated? There we go. as part of the group who is nominated.
You have been nominee.
You've been nominated. Wait a second.
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Chapter 5: What factors contribute to Ben Johnson being a Coach of the Year nominee?
That's not how this works.
In the known.
Yes. The other knowns are Jaguars coach, Liam Cohen, Seahawks coach, Mike McDonald, Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers, and perhaps his biggest contender, Mike Vrabel. But yet another reason why this bear season was such a positive. And on the heels of hearing Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles talk yesterday about I've thought this for a while, that Ben Johnson should be a part of it.
And I think given the turnaround of this particular team, you can make the argument that he should be coach of the year. That's how I feel. But it's stiff competition when you consider the group that he's among.
Well, look. He certainly was going to be a finalist because this is how finalists work when you talk about the NFL Honors Awards. AP vote, top five vote getters. They're the ones that are invited to the honors because they are the top five vote getters. That's what being a finalist means in this case.
Unfortunately for Ben Johnson, his team didn't have as much of an ascension as some of the other coaches' teams. Now, if I had to vote, I would vote for Liam Cohen. I think his turnaround, his being a first-time head coach in the first year, he had the most impressive regular season showing. I know a lot of people are on Mike Vrabel. He's been here, done that.
And what he did was impressive with the New England Patriots, but it's not the type of turnaround that the Jacksonville Jaguars or even the Bears had from a historical standpoint. So for me, I'm not surprised that he's one of the finals because, again, that's just a top-five vote-getter. But I think Liam Cohen... is the deserving winner of this award.
Mike Vrabel probably will be the one because of name recognition and because of Patriots bias gets the award.
I love where you're going with Liam Cohen because he had to overcome some things. A bad first press conference with all the Duvall stuff.
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Chapter 6: How do coaching nominations reflect team performance?
It was not good.
That part was bad.
I remember hearing about that simultaneously while being at the Ben Johnson introductory press conference and seeing how impressive he was from the beginning. The other thing that Liam Cohen did is finally, finally, finally, somebody got through, it appears, to Trevor Lawrence, who's never been a bad quarterback.
But he became an MVP candidate this year with his over 4,000 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 picks. So, I mean, the resume looks great for Liam Cohen. Ben Johnson is the quintessential, as is Liam Cohen, but even more so, Ben Johnson goes from worst to first. Those guys are always candidates. But, guys, I am going to go on this.
My vote would probably go to ā and you know how impressed I am with Ben Johnson ā It's Kyle Shanahan, and here's why. Because that guy, that type of coach, the coach that is established in his great year after year after year, never gets the proper attention. How many coaches of the year did Bill Belichick get in his life? Probably not enough. Kyle Shanahan has been coaching since 2017.
In his life... In 2016, this was before he was a head coach. These are the only two awards he's ever had. 2016, the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year. And then in 2019, he got the Sporting News Coach of the Year. He is 82-67 as a coach overall. He is 9-5 in the playoffs. Did what they did, have been doing this year, Kyle Shanahan in the 49ers.
So I've got to give my vote to a guy who is otherwise going to be be glossed over just because he's so good and the record is always good.
I think the thing about Liam Cohen is, yeah, the margin for the turnaround is more because they had one fewer loss than the Bears did last year. Jacksonville was 4-13. Bears were 5-12. The Bears found ways to lose. And I'm probably being in-town stupid here, biased.
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Chapter 7: What challenges do the Bears face with potential coaching changes?
But when I consider teaching a team to win and developing a quarterback who's younger than Trevor Lawrence is when it comes to years in the NFL, who had, I think, more habits to break given his background, and even though it was only one season, considering stripping it down to the studs for a guy who was practically a rookie quarterback when you consider him being in his first year of another offense in his second year in the league,
It sounds like it could be construed as an excuse, but I feel like Drake May will also get the same consideration when it comes to that. The AFC has now defaulted, I think, into the hands of Vrabel. Shanahan is compelling, though, because he's not somebody who's gotten the major awards, as you've mentioned, like that.
And other coaches copy him.
That's, well, yes, in the tree. We've talked a lot about the warring trees of the past NFC playoff weeks. Shanahan does deserve credit, but at the same time, Mike McDonald, if you're going to talk about the success and just the outright what you're seeing, Mike McDonald may be the winner just because the Seahawks were 14-3. They're the NFC's one seed.
They dismantled the 49ers, and the 49ers have had their fair share of injuries. But the most consistent team in the NFL, far and away, has probably been Seattle. If you're going to make an argument for somebody coming out of the NFC West, which I've said I think is the best division in football, they all have their reasons to be part of this.
But from a pure turnaround to me, Ben Johnson wins at least that turnaround portion of the Coach of the Year discussion.
So you're falling for the turnaround. You think the turnaround he had is greater than the turnaround Liam Cohen had? Why?
Well, I just said. I mean, it's the fact that the Bears, for example, had a 10-game losing streak. Trevor Lawrence has more years in the league. You know, that veteran presence can help you.
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Chapter 8: What insights did Ryan Poles provide about the team's direction?
Caleb Williams had less to build on than Lawrence did when it came to a base and at least an understanding of opposing teams' defenses. Then he had to learn a new offense. And he taught an entire team to win. And to be able to come back in the way that they did showed me that there was a lot to be appreciated about what they were doing as a team and as a whole.
I'll say this about the Kyle Shanahan before I address that one. The Kyle Shanahan, twice he's been the runner-up
and 19 and 22 and if it's a lifetime achievement award you're after yes kyle shanahan should probably learn a pretty good year this year though didn't he not he had a pretty good year yeah he didn't win his division i think that's i think that's the bare minimum right because there's there's eight division winners and if you don't win your division i don't think you can win the award
Now, I don't think he got dismantled by the Seahawks, by the way. They split the series. They won by four points, 17-13 in the first meeting. They lost by one point in the second game against the Seahawks. I'll say this. Shanahan is a great coach. We've seen great coaches. As you mentioned, Bill Belichick, you can end up a Hall of Famer and never win Coach of the Year.
Yeah, and that's why it should just be called the best turnaround coach. Okay.
That's a comeback Coach of the Year? That's how Nagy won it, yeah.
Absolutely. Yes, and maybe that's why I'm gun-shy about it, because I've seen Dick Geron, I think, won it in his first year. Matt Nagy won it in his first year. I might be missing somebody.
Dick Geron, I think that was 11, right, for Dick Geron? So my list has, at least for AP NFL Coach of the Year, which is what I go by, 11 was Jim Harbaugh.
2011? Yeah. With San Fran?
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