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

Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

[FULL EPISODE] Bears' season ends with OT loss to the Rams | Take The North

20 Jan 2026

Transcription

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

0.571 - 28.962 Unknown

Every sip of Coca-Cola brings you closer to the excitement of the FIFA World Cup 26. Because nothing compares to the joy... So grab a Coke and drink in the FIFA World Cup 26. No purchase necessary. 13 plus in 50 U.S. states and D.C. with a web-enabled device. Ends March 1st with eight entry periods. Rules at cokeurl.com slash soccer rules.

0

29.783 - 46.108 Unknown

At Sierra, discover top workout gear at incredible prices, which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. What's good, y'all?

0

46.248 - 64.152 Von Miller

It's Von Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets real talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league?

0

64.172 - 75.027 Von Miller

Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcasts.

0

75.479 - 102.617 Mark Grote

bears fans this is take the north what's the reason duck it's here with your host all these guys dan wieterer the whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads and mark grody we're allowed to at this point bears fans are allowed to right now dream big and predict what you want out of the season we're going to take the north and never give it back

104.285 - 127.255 Mark Grote

Hello again, everybody, and welcome into the Take the North podcast, along with Adam Studzinski, who is filling in for our guy, Dan Weterer. I am Mark Brody of 670 The Score. I am at Soldier Field right now. If you're watching on video, you might be able to kind of see some of the field behind me. Oh, there it is. Some of the field right there. Dan's always got the much better picture than I do.

127.235 - 143.995 Mark Grote

Wow, wow, wow. Just another wow night watching the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately for the Bears, this is the end of the road. The Rams beat the Bears by a final of 20-17 in overtime. Another

143.975 - 173.824 Mark Grote

unbelievable ending to it well the real ending was a 42-yard game-winning field goal for the la rams kicker harrison mavis he wins the game for the rams but he did it again he did it again caleb williams a 14-yard touchdown pass to Cole commit with 18 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 17.

174.665 - 191.307 Mark Grote

Unbelievable on a fourth down play with time winding down over time, the Rams get the ball first, the defense holes, they, they stop them. Bears get the ball. They start to move it down the field.

Chapter 2: What were the key moments in the Bears' overtime loss to the Rams?

314.505 - 340.409 Adam Studzinski

And then it somehow finds its way into Cole Komet's hands. And yeah, it's just preposterous. And there's no other word for that. The guy is absolutely magic. There's no other word for that. And it sucks that the season had to end. I think I actually went through all five stages of grief in the last two hours. I'm at acceptance right now. I'm good. But I went through all the, like, very quickly.

0

341.55 - 345.795 Adam Studzinski

Went through all of them. Let's get you through it.

0

346.496 - 370.813 Mark Grote

We'll get you through it. I'm very looking forward to what you have to say about that final interception for sure. So we will get into that with you. And by the way, you talked about how far the ball actually traveled on that Caleb Williams play, the improbable play to Cole Clement. According to next-gen stats, so again, it's a 14-yard touchdown pass.

0

371.535 - 389.074 Mark Grote

The ball traveled 51.2 yards in the air to get to Cole Kmet. And it's just, it's astounding. Astounding is the word. All right. We could get stuck on that forever, but there's so much we have to talk about. Like I said, Weider can't be with us for the whole show, but I did chat with him.

0

389.114 - 401.777 Mark Grote

He and I, as we were walking up from the interview room, we had both been in the locker room, and I did my interview with our guy, one of our founding fathers. Here's Dan Weider. Dan, your initial reaction to this?

402.061 - 421.908 Dan Wiederer

Yeah, I think the emotions are really raw inside Soldier Field right now. I think you could feel that in the Bears locker room. You could feel that in the postgame press conferences of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. I think you could feel it when Harrison Mevis made that kick to win the game. You felt an entire city's stomach drop. This place hasn't been that quiet the entire season.

422.068 - 437.589 Dan Wiederer

And that kick goes through the uprights, and it's just like, man, this is how it ends. I think everyone understands the perspective of how remarkable of a year this was and how extraordinary the achievements – The Bears had, were, but then it just abruptly ends. And I think we saw it on Saturday night with Josh Allen and Buffalo shedding tears.

437.649 - 453.33 Dan Wiederer

You're reminded constantly of how cruel this league is, how hard this league is. And I think that's the biggest thing these Bears are going to take away from tonight is it's really, really, really freaking hard to go a long way in the playoffs. And they learned that lesson the hard way, obviously, overtime loss.

453.31 - 472.585 Mark Grote

You talked about how it's the stomach-dropping feeling. Jalen Johnson literally said by his locker that it was like being on a roller coaster where you're at the top, you come down, and your stomach drops. And, oh, my God, Dan, the fourth and 14 touchdown at the end of Cole Komet.

Chapter 3: How did Caleb Williams perform in the crucial moments of the game?

841.49 - 861.075 Dan Wiederer

A big one to Parkinson to start the drive. They got some defensive backs caught up in traffic there. There's a bunch of those. The one where Tyreek Stevenson seemed like he maybe had a strip on Devontae Adams, but he was down. Those are the minuscule inches in this game that change everything. Those guys will hate reliving that.

0

861.115 - 877.363 Dan Wiederer

But they played really well tonight on a playoff stage against the league's number one offense. Ben Johnson was very complimentary of the way the defense played tonight. And like I say, this league is really freaking hard. And you just you got that lesson again tonight. Look, like we're in Chicago.

0

877.684 - 891.219 Dan Wiederer

We realize that sometimes you have a loss like this and then you're not back in the postseason for seven years. I don't think that's going to be the case with this team, but we didn't think that was going to be the case with the 2019 Bears. And so you just kind of have to process it all in real time.

0

891.34 - 903.212 Dan Wiederer

I think when we talk about the emotions we felt from the fans and the players and the coaches in that locker room, it's like heavy. It's a heavy feeling that they're going to turn the lights off here at Soldier Field tonight, and that's just it.

0

903.252 - 912.162 Dan Wiederer

The season's over, and they're going to be spectators for the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, and we'll see where everything goes from there. But holy cow, it's just over. It's just over. Yeah.

912.142 - 927.127 Mark Grote

Yeah, just like that. And as Dan and I are doing this, literally looking out at the empty field with the bright lights still on, a few people walking around, the snow on the field. It's always a very, pardon the pun, a very chilly feeling. But Dan and I will, I promise, we'll continue to break this game down.

927.208 - 947.583 Mark Grote

Like I said, the offseason is going to be incredible for the Take the North podcast because there's so much to review. There's so much to look forward to. Changes inevitably are coming for the Bears. That was something that was lamented by several players, including Jaquan Brisker, who said, you know, this is it for this locker room. He knows it. Maybe Jaquan Brisker won't be back next year.

948.344 - 953.573 Mark Grote

But Dan, before I let you go and do your full-time job, anything else before I let you rock?

953.553 - 966.365 Dan Wiederer

I'll just echo the sentiments of Ben Johnson from the postgame. He's expressed this for a couple months now. He really felt that this particular group was very special in terms of their unity, their investment, their ability to get the most out of themselves and each other.

Chapter 4: What lessons did the Bears learn from this playoff loss?

1767.167 - 1790.708 Adam Studzinski

And I immediately say to myself, don't run the ball. They're in shotgun. Don't run the ball here. Yeah, don't run the ball. And they ran the ball. And DeAndre Swift had an incredible effort and got knocked down for no gain. But it just... So, again, you don't know how much they got a wrench thrown into their game plan of what was going to be happening on short yardage. But it just...

0

1790.688 - 1803.616 Adam Studzinski

Ben needs to be better. And it's not a takeaway from how incredible this season was, man. It just sucks that it came down to this.

0

1805.059 - 1826.148 Mark Grote

Yeah, of course it came down to this. I mean, that's just... the way the bear season was. And yeah, we'll, we'll, you know, as we did, as I did in my talk with Dan, we'll get, we'll have all off season, talk about the off season and we'll get it. We'll even get into it a little bit more at the end of the podcast. What I want to talk about right now though, is just defensively.

0

1826.208 - 1850.809 Mark Grote

I was so impressed with the bears defense on this night. I know that there are, there are moments that we could look back on that were not good for the defense, but yeah, to handle Matthew Stafford and have that veteran potential MVP look rattled for a lot of the game and incompleting incompletions playing really well against him.

0

1850.849 - 1878.575 Mark Grote

Puka Nakua, who we obsessed over understandably all week had five catches for 56 yards. Um, He also ran the ball a couple of times for six yards as well. Davante Adams was not a factor. Two catches for 24 yards in this game. So the defense did. And I've got all sorts of different examples of the defense. Let's get into it in a second. But first, first. Let's go in the locker room.

1878.595 - 1898.904 Mark Grote

I got one guy that I want to bring to you just because we got a lot to say here. So Jaquan Brisker, let me set the scene for you, Adam. Usually when we get into the locker room, win or lose, the players are out of their uniforms and they're either in the shower or they're by their locker or they're getting dressed or they're getting ready to get out of there. Just every player is different.

1899.385 - 1921.641 Mark Grote

Jaquan Brisker was sitting there in full Bears uniform. full uniform by his locker, just kind of staring at the ground. And I was like, well, I'm going to go see if Jaquan Brisker would like to talk. So I walked over to him and I started a conversation with him about the game. Let's take a listen to it right here.

1921.621 - 1935.881 Jaquan Brisker

I mean, we fought hard, you know, fought hard to the end, took an overtime, you know, tried our best. And we just didn't get the job done. But, you know, I appreciate every guy in the locker room, you know, for their fight, you know, for everything that they, you know, have done for us this season.

1936.682 - 1948.438 Mark Grote

You had an incredible series in the second quarter where you had a pass breakup and you had a sack. Why were you guys so good against this explosive Rams offense that nobody thought you guys were going to stop?

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.