Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
This hour is brought to you by Jewel Osco. Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10-2 on 670. What is your first blush letter grade for the Bears' 2025 season?
For that alone, A. Not an A+, not a mid-A. You're at a 90 because you made the playoffs, you took the North, which is something you set out to do millions of years ago.
And the last thing, the most important piece, is we're going to take the North and never give it back.
A+, is like, you know, you made the title game of the Super Bowl. Hold up.
Like the Super Bowl. Super Bowl. I agree. A, 95.
Oh, 95.
95. Well, that is exceedingly generous. You got to leave room. If they had won that game, probably a 96 or 97. If they win the next game, it's a 98. And if they win the Super Bowl. Well, it's 100. The ceiling is the roof.
Is there a team that would say, like, Super Bowl winner but not 100? No! Is it like the 2012 Ravens, you know?
Because if we're being honest, it's not pass-fail, but winning the Super Bowl is the goal. If you achieve the goal, it's 100.
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Chapter 2: What grade do the hosts give the Bears' 2025 season?
Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody. Middays, 10 a.m. to 2, on Chicago Sports Radio 670, The Score. The Score.
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. A happy Wednesday to you. Yeah, when we were giving grades, Big Cat gave his out and he said 89. Here we were thinking we were being reasonable. Those Gen Xers, man. You're included in that. I was about to say, I'm an exennial. I'm right on the cusp. Exennial. It sounds like a... You know what it sounds like?
The next great show on that new series you just created streaming. Netflix Max Minus.
Oh, Xenial.
Plus Minus. Yes.
Two-thirds to the third power.
That thing. Max. I feel like all of that. Also, the 2012 Ravens. Joe Flacco was the quarterback. I think he's actually a better quarterback this past year than he was then.
No. He had a postseason run for the ages. Go look at his postseason game log.
That was the origin of elite.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Ryan Poles face in the offseason?
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 670 The Score. And we also want to know what you guys think, because you get to put your GM hat on here. We've all had our fair share of watching this Bears team. You've seen a lot from guys like Nashawn Wright, Jaquan Brisker, Kevin Byard. What do you think? Who were you keeping? 3-1-2, 6-44, 67-67. The other part of this, too, is...
As much as we talk about everybody deserving a raise, and that's when this gets hard, is trying to figure out who to reward and how. There's also the side of it of maybe, and this is a big if, you hear about guys, especially in the NFL, giving teams a hometown discount or giving teams a I want to win here discount. Is there a Ben Johnson discount now? Can we hope that Al Harris stays?
And if so, is there an Al Harris discount? Is there a Dennis Allen discount? Will players perhaps be motivated to not take the best financial deal because they want to stay with the Bears and they like it here? I... I don't know how likely that is, but I know it happens. The biggest and most obvious example is Tampa. There were a lot of players who wanted to play with Tom Brady.
So they were willing to give Brady and the Bucs a discount. But it resulted in a Super Bowl win, so that was successful. The Bears weren't as close to a Super Bowl as the Bucs were at the time. But... I know that that also exists. It happens. But you have to understand the market. And these guys are going to get paid because they did the work and they earned it.
Yeah, I think that's the big internal battle most of these players face. Maybe a little bit different for a guy like Bayard who's already been paid a substantial amount of money to get this far in his career. And I believe him. I take him at his word when he says Chicago's at the top of his list.
Let's listen to Kevin Bayard because we have his word on the microphone.
You know, I would love to be back here. You know, when when polls came and got me last year, you know, I had had a tough couple of years, you know, just personally. But then obviously just getting traded and all that stuff and coming here, you know, I wanted to be able to prove that I was still that guy that I always been my career. And I think I've done that the past couple of years.
Obviously, I just had to meet with Ben and Pose and all that good stuff. I definitely think there's mutual interest for me to be back, but at the end of the day, I truly don't have any real control over it. I think with the success that we all had this season as a team, I think a lot of guys on this team is going to be covered around this league, honestly.
I think the same way the organization is always going to do what's best for the team, I think I owe that to my family as well, even though, like I said, I think my first option would be to come back here to Chicago and kind of finish what we got started this year. Because, like I said, I just enjoy this locker room. I enjoy this team. I enjoy being the leader.
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Chapter 4: How do the hosts evaluate the Bears' player contracts and roster decisions?
And for Brisker... You've got to get paid. And I don't know that the Bears are going to be the team in a position to say we're going to pay you knowing his medical history and his availability problem from time to time.
I think also Ryan Poles caught the NFL spending habits at the safety position at a crucial time. You know, timing is a part of this. I mentioned two years, 15 for Kevin Byard, 15 million. And I feel like it's a theoretically more fungible position in a way. It's gotten that way. And I don't know if it's necessarily because of what you think. I think it's more supply and demand.
And at that time, safety, I think, combined with age, kind of like running back, had gotten to a point where the league had decided to pay it less.
Right.
Sometimes it's just a trend. Sometimes it's a big pattern that results in a change in how you pay the market. Sometimes there's a game changer. The best example of a game changer for running back is Saquon Barkley when it came to changing the market value. Derrick Henry, obviously.
Derrick Henry.
But I think Ryan Poles was the recipient of a good. At that point, there was a pretty good supply of free agent safeties. So that may be a factor in this as well. The thing is, if we're talking about Jaquan Brisker's medicals, then other people are too. And he did miss so much of that season.
And even though concussions weren't a problem for him, at least a reported problem, he never had to deal with them in college. He may have not known he had had one at the time. A lot of kids I know may not realize later they may have had one in high school and they didn't know. So I'll put that in there as a variable, even though it's not how it was reported or discussed at the time.
It didn't affect his playing career at the time. You know, you just wonder, is he one bad hit away from something really bad happening?
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Chapter 5: What are the key takeaways from the Bears' end-of-season press conference?
I don't know. But the way he said it was not – I didn't think that at all. I think when it's a concussion and, you know, the protocol is seven days, there's no reason to talk about it affecting your offseason. But he said that the Jordan McFadden ankle injury would be worked on in the offseason. He just said injury.
I thought it was like a high ankle sprain or something. I didn't take it as, he didn't say he's going to have surgery like he talked about surgery for other players.
No, Jordan McFadden had an ankle injury and he has to get worked on. He will be back and ready to go at some point this offseason. So by no means did I think that was minor when he said that.
Chapter 6: How are injuries affecting the Bears' offseason plans?
Hmm. Okay.
No, I'm not like trying. No, no, no, I'm saying. This is just us interpreting it two different ways.
The interpretation is real.
But that's why I don't, I think concussion would, you're thinking about a concussion in terms of how it affects your next game. And with no next game, there's no need to bring it up when you don't have to. The NFL standard operating procedure is they're not going to bring up stuff unless they have to. And by the way, that's how it is in practically every sport.
Chapter 7: What is the significance of DJ Moore's role moving forward?
They're not going to bring up the injury minutia unless they have to. Not that DJ Moore's head isn't important, just that it doesn't affect anything moving forward.
All I say is some of those other injuries he didn't have to bring up based on that standard you just presented, but he did. He offered and volunteered.
If Jordan McFadden has an ankle injury that was suffered in the last game of the year and he's not in the offseason program in the spring, then yeah, that would affect that timeline. Just for an example.
No, I got you.
We have more to come here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. Coming up next, it is time for 5 on it. And in the meantime, we want to let you know about some things as well.
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Chapter 8: How does the Bears' defense need to improve for next season?
Caller 6 to The Score. We're doing it now. To our contest line, 312-540-0670. will score a four-pack of tickets to the 2026 Chicago Auto Show, running February 7th through 16th at McCormick Place. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit chicagoautoshow.com. Five on it next.
The score! I got five on it! It's time for Five on it. Nailah Rahimi and Marshall Harris with Mark Grote. Bringing you five topics on their mind today. On Chicago Sports Radio 670, The Score. I got five on it! Number one. What was your biggest takeaway from the Bears' end of season press conference?
Well, Ryan Pohl said he's got some difficult decisions to make regarding his roster, and he could not be more correct about that. We spent the first hour of our show talking about what's going on in the secondary. You likely can't keep both Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard. And unfortunately, until now it's unfortunate, it wasn't previously. They both did a lot, especially in these last two games.
So when you consider that, you know, it's a hard decision that Ryan Pulse had to make. He's absolutely correct about that. As far as Ben Johnson was concerned, I'm happy to see that he got to take a step back, at least momentarily, to collect his flowers. He deserves credit, and the coaching staff does as well, for the performance that this team had this year. And he's right at the same time.
It's not good enough. Not for his standard. And that's the standard we should all hold this team to because that's how you get better. The other thing that he said that I thought was really important was when he talked about how they need to work on catching the ball as a team in the offseason. There's no doubt about that.
Maybe if they had worked more on that in the offseason this past year, we'd be talking about another game right now. That goes for everyone. All of yous. So those are my, I think, two biggest takeaways. But the credit should be given to both of those two for making this work to the extent of winning your first playoff game in 15 years. That's a big deal.
Nothing that either of these gentlemen said at these press conferences did anything to knock the fervor, the excitement, the enthusiasm about the Bears going forward. I learned that Kevin Byard is definitely a priority in terms of that defensive backs room and what they're trying to do. And they'll see if they can get something financially that makes sense for both sides.
I learned that Ben Johnson, even though... He believes his team did a good number of things on offense. Feels like they haven't even scratched the surface. And that's honestly a little bit scary in a good way. Scary for opposing defenses around the league. He said that Caleb Williams is going to be a special player.
And that lets you know he likes what he saw from Caleb Williams, but there's so much more he's getting ready to unleash. The catch the ball thing, that might have been one of the headlines because my goodness, he saw what we all saw and he was not afraid to acknowledge it. unsolicited.
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