Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
This hour is brought to you by Chicago Golf Show. Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10-2 on 104.3 The Score.
Emory Hunt, that is good stuff. He's the analyst for CBS Sports HQ. He was at the HBCU Legacy Bowl this weekend. He is the owner of Football Game Plan. Thanks for coming on, Emory.
You know what's fascinating about that is the fact that, you know, when you look at this thing holistically, and I'm not a fan of any team, I'm just a fan of being right.
Okay, look, you didn't trust me. You can trust one thing.
love to be right is there going to be something at 25 that can help them immediately and is that more likely to happen at edge or left tackle if so glad you asked that question because i've been compiling a list of things in life that were a mistake number one speakerphone speakerphone number one and number two might be airports but why airports i know you don't i i'm usually very good with names but i'll be damned if i haven't forgotten yours you stole my cab
I've never stole anything in my life. I hailed a cab on Park Avenue this afternoon, and before I could get in it, you stole it.
You're the guy who tried to get my cab. I knew I knew you. Yeah. I just flew back from the Legacy Bowl, like you mentioned. It was 10 a.m. in the morning in New Orleans Airport. There were three young ladies sitting there eating a big plate of nachos. Like, how do you even have the taste for that at 10 in the morning? Well, Chris, since you're royalty now, I made your favorites.
Dinner for breakfast? Third and fighting hard for third might be...
mock drafts have you done a mock draft yet and where would you who do you have going to the bears at 25 if you have i only do two a year okay.com one is a small school only mock draft small schools are schools that are fcs d2d3 because what they've now tried to do nowadays that made me add to my list of things that were a mistake uh they're adding now oh this guy goes to a small school oh yeah what school
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Chapter 2: How does Ryan Poles view the Bears' draft strategy?
In addition to Ray Diaz. So without further ado, we're going to pause when we want to react to something, but we will play. Ryan pulls his comments to the media here from the combine this morning.
Yeah, that's a great question. I think, um, I kind of put that whole thing into two buckets. One, really proud that Ian has the opportunity to be a general manager. Something we've talked about for a long time before we were even employed by the Bears. It was our vision to climb through the ranks, get a seat, the GM seat, and then help the other one get to their position as well.
So really happy for him. How we do that and why we do that has nothing to do with compensation whatsoever. I want to make that very clear. On the other side, there's a set of rules that were put in place that I think can be applied to this situation. So we've communicated through the right channels, so we'll see what happens as we move forward. I'm not sure. We'll just wait for a response.
No one personally called me from the league.
He and Mr. Sears said that he thinks you should, and you think you should. So the Bears think you should, the Falcons think you should.
It seems like it. Yeah, so it'll be up to the league and how they see it.
So you formally have appealed it to the league?
We've had conversations, yeah.
What's your overall opinion of the rule itself? Are you going to purchase from your team?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Ian Cunningham's departure?
You're probably right, Mark. They're probably not going to get the picks, but exhaust every avenue to try to find out, hey, this process seems like it didn't work in the way it was intended by the way you guys set it out. Me, I can speak to this personally because... I actually got a job with the Bears and saw the extra players that the Chiefs got.
So the fact that they were on the field tells me that you guys do give out the picks. It's not something that doesn't happen. Why is it not happening here? We've heard the explanation, but you pair this with what Ian Cunningham said, and it seems like the NFL is getting a consistent message from both camps.
Well, and that's it. Ian Cunningham also spoke at the Combine today, and he said that he thinks that that should be in place. And if you guys don't advocate for yourselves when the league has already selectively applied this rule, you're not doing yourself any favors if you don't. So credit to Ryan Poles, credit to Ian Cunningham for being in their positions.
The Combine is as much a front office business as it is looking at potential players for the league business. This is where everybody talks. What did Bragg Biggs call it? Legal tampering is done. But let's face it, we know that everybody talks about players in the NFL.
Lots of room to do that.
I'm not here to legislate it. I do want to let our listeners know we are going to listen to this, pause it. You'll hear the whole thing with us, but we do want to react when we hear stuff. Just because it's the easiest way, that's how we do it. So you will hear Ryan polls in the entirety throughout this hour here on 104.3 The Score with Rahimi Harrison-Grote. We want to get back to it.
One more thing I wanted to say from that first little part there. When Ian Cunningham first came into the building with the Chicago Bears, it felt like from day one he was being ushered out because they wanted him to get an opportunity. So it was always hilarious to me that that was, okay, let's see every – Two or three months.
Ian Cunningham has heard from this team or that, or we're trying to give him the opportunity. And so get to know Jeff King because he'll probably be gone soon as well. The new assistant GM for the Bears, if the Bears are to continue to succeed.
Yeah, Jeff King is the director. He was a director. He's now the assistant GM. He was the director of player personnel. And from what everybody says, and this seems to be the overall sentiment, a well-deserved promotion for him, for sure. We continue our Combine press conference with Ryan Poles, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers here on 104.3 The Score.
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Chapter 4: How does Ryan Poles address the quarterback situation?
Well, I thought Poles put it perfectly, too, that we hope to be in that position to be paying a young quarterback that they'd like to do it. And maybe he's already hinting at, let's do the restructuring of the contract before we give out the contract so we can pay other people and get more creative because it is one of the biggest issues ever.
The Chiefs are going through it right now with Patrick Mahomes. When you're in that rookie contract, life is good. But when you pay what we hope to be an elite quarterback, that's a lot of dough. Yeah, the Chiefs have gone through it for so long now.
It's really been the better part of a decade that the Chiefs have been trying to figure things out because their quarterback, when he got paid that half a billion dollar deal, it was like, all right, well, now every year you're going to have to figure it out. And we've seen things like the departure of Tyreek Hill.
And obviously it gets to a point, and correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but what I've seen is once you have an elite quarterback getting paid, let's say top five, even top ten money, you put your money in your defense and you tell your quarterback, figure it out.
Additionally, that's how the Bears got Joe Tooney. Joe Tooney, they had to move from Kansas City because they didn't have enough cap room to pay everyone. And they had drafted offensive linemen that were on lower parts of the depth chart in high rounds, like the second round or the first round. So because of that...
Yes, you know, you reap the benefits of it when you've got Caleb Williams on a rookie deal, but Patrick Mahomes' deal with the Chiefs does affect it. So for Ryan Pulse to say that, I think there's a couple pieces here that he's establishing. Number one, they already have... Not the best amount of cap flexibility to work with, as we mentioned.
And then number two, that contract extension, I wonder if it comes a little bit earlier than we're used to seeing. Because remember, Caleb Williams was a guy who wanted to do things at this combine differently. He wanted to structure his contract differently. Remember how long it took for he and the Bears to come to an actual contractual agreement.
So I wonder if that comes into play here sooner than we may think. I'm not saying like this year. But I'm saying perhaps maybe before even the fifth-year option gets discussed.
Well, that would be next offseason is basically what you're talking about. And that wouldn't surprise me at all. I think everything that they do, whether it's Ryan Poles, Matt Feinstein, Jeff King, it's got to be geared to we need to make the most out of this rookie contract, but also be malleable when we know Caleb's got to get paid. And so everybody that they sign, everybody that they draft –
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Chapter 5: What insights does Ben Johnson share about Eric Bieniemy's departure?
He brings a demanding presence. The standard is the standard with Eric Bien-Ami, and, you know, those are big shoes to fill. Fortunately, I do feel strongly about Eric Studesville from Miami, a guy that I worked with before. He's been around the block a few times. He's been a part of really good rushing offenses in his past, and I know he's going to bring a great flavor for us.
That is a glowing recommendation from Ben Johnson when it came to not only Eric Biennemi leaving, but just letting us into the process of what happened because his hiring here was notable.
And it makes sense the way he talks about Eric Stoosville because of their time together in Miami and understanding that it's a continuation of – let's be honest, guys. One of the more surprising stories of 2025 was the running backs and their production.
Chapter 6: How do the Bears' running backs impact the offense?
You could have said, hey, DeAndre Swift might have a decent season. You probably didn't expect him to have – Maybe the best year of his career. And then Kyle Mungai, for him to bust onto the scene in the manner in which he did with multiple 100-yard rushing games. In fact, games where both of them rushed for 100 yards.
That tells you they built what Ben Johnson felt like was fundamentally important to him having a top-flight offense, which is a rushing game. I remember the bye week this year ahead of the Washington game, and there you had Ben Johnson telling the world that, yeah, we got the right guys in here.
The production was not good early on, but I think they also knew they had the right guy to coach them, and that was Eric Biennemi. The hope is that, all right, you have soaked in, you have taken in everything you could possibly take in from Eric Biennemi. The running back goes to get you on this path. Hopefully the baton goes to Studesville, who looks like he is extremely capable of
veteran been all over the place so i'm not ultimately not worried but that doesn't mean i can't praise what eric bnb did you know what i really like about the bears position coaches that we had this past season you know a lot about the details of what they did on the job like for example how many times did one of the secondary members say to us you know al harris says i need more turnovers i'm still hungry they would tell you what he would say to them in practice
I feel the same way about Eric B enemy. For example, you knew that he was a guy who would say, I need you to run between the tackles. Like he put it out there. You know, when he talked in the off season on the bears, et cetera, podcast, I believe it was where last this time last year, he talked about what he wanted Deandre Swift to do, what he wanted the bears running backs to do.
He didn't back away. He was unapologetic. When you have that understanding and, as a layman of what the position coaches want out of their players, it lets you know how good the coaching is.
I want to say with Ben Johnson, the consistency from day one, and now I'm looking at it into year two, right, about his message to us, but also his message to threw us to his own team and his coaching staff. And it feels like there's a level of consistency that maybe we had been lacking in coaches past. Is that a fair statement to make?
An understatement to make? I haven't heard any of that.
But here's the thing, guys. It was bad. And maybe we knew it was bad, but maybe we didn't realize how far that bad was compared to what it takes to actually win. And now we have a fair sample of the just range, the gap, a sizable canyon of a gap. that Ben Johnson has been able to fill with his ideas, his messaging, most importantly, his execution, and just getting the freaking job done.
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Chapter 7: What are the challenges facing the Bears' coaching staff?
What does hearing from a good head coach really sound like every single day? And while we've had that in spurts through the years, where a coach will locate, like, man, Aggie. Sounded pretty good when he talked in 2018. Yeah, things sort of made sense.
And then all of a sudden, 2019 and 2020, he starts saying things that don't make as much sense or maybe things that you let go, like with Ben Johnson. And I know he just had a winning season, so you could say the same thing, that everything sounds good. But we know that there is substance to the things that he says that, to your point, Marshall, we hadn't heard previously.
And also, guess what a good coach does? He hires other good coaches. And Matt Nagy, at this point already, after his first season with the Bears, there was a big turnover in assistant coaches. Do you remember that and how that changed? And there's a lot of people who said Matt Nagy brought in a lot of yes men. And you need that contradiction on a coaching staff.
You need that friction because those guys are looking out for your blind spots. And if everybody agrees, that makes it hard because you know what the other team is doing? They're trying to find your weaknesses.
Yes.
They're going to be your no-men, and you'd rather have them on your own staff in your own building.
You say you're no-men?
Mm-hmm. That's the opposite. Really, that's what that was. No! I can't get over it.
Is that what it was? Layla, here's my question, though. Remember last year when we were talking about the fact that... He sits in VIP! To your point about the yes-men, Mark and Layla. Yes. Yes, Marshall.
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Chapter 8: How is Ryan Poles approaching the team's future and draft picks?
No! No, the yes-men... No! He hired people he wasn't necessarily familiar with and hadn't worked with firsthand. But now, much in the vein of what you're describing, he is hiring people that he is very, very familiar with.
He is.
That sounded real good to say last year, didn't it? Maybe when he didn't have the power.
Fair enough.
When he didn't have the power to hire everybody. Fair enough. It gives me just not a big pause. That's a good point, man. But a tiny bit of pause to make sure we keep monitoring the situation. I mean, we will. But specifically on that coaching staff front of, does he have guys who will push back? Eric Biennium is going to push back. That's it. But Studsville, they've worked together before.
Ben Johnson's in charge. Yeah. I don't know his personality yet.
I learned Biennium is fast. We keep wanting to call him Studsville. Yeah. Right. Shout out Studs.
And then Press Taylor gets elevated. And you just kind of wonder, in the grand scheme of things, is there going to be enough And maybe calling into question the plan, whether that's on an everyday basis, a front office basis. I'm curious as to if those discussions will differ in a big way from this time last year.
I have a question for you.
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