Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Herm Edwards talks Caleb Williams & we reflect on Derrick Rose's jersey retirement (Hour 2)
26 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on the Patriots and Seahawks heading to the Super Bowl?
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May with his hands under center, drops to his knee, and that's it. The New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. The Patriots win the AFC Championship, beating the Denver Broncos 10-7. Desperation for Stafford. Eight seconds left. Low nut nearside. Is he out of bounds? Oh, my God. Three seconds. He's waiting on the clock. That's going to do it. The Seahawks soar to Super Bowl 60.
That's Westwood 1 on the call. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. And there's no better guest to bring into this type of music now that we know our Super Bowl matchup than the coach. Joining us on the Circa Sports Illinois hotline, download the Circa app today, is Herm Edwards. Herm, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for allowing me to be on your show.
Trust me, Herm, this is our pleasure. We get to learn knowledge from you right now.
Well, I don't know about that. I don't know how much knowledge I have, but we'll try to talk and figure it out and see what's what.
As we try to figure this out, tell me, Herm, in your view, how did we get here? A Seahawks versus Patriots Super Bowl. Sam Darnold was a cast-off not too long ago, and now look at him. And then you've got, of course, Drake May in season number two leading a Patriots team, even though he didn't throw for 100 yards in the AFC Championship game.
Well, I think when you think about the Seattle situation and Sam Donaldson, it's going to be a great story. I think it encapsulates just the ability to never give up on yourself and to continue to bet on yourself. I can remember saying that when I was a father, I told my kids, my daughters, I said, you always got to have enough gumption to bet on yourself regardless of what other people may say.
And he's been able to do that. And now he finds himself in the Super Bowl with Seattle, obviously. And you look at the other situation with the... You know, Patriots, everyone during the season was saying, well, they got an easy schedule and their schedule is their schedule. But at the end of the day, their schedule, they won all those games to get to where they're at.
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Chapter 2: How does Herm Edwards evaluate the performance of Caleb Williams this season?
I know when you're in the moment, That's when you try to make the decision. I've always said this. With analytics being a real part of this now, all of a sudden that kind of blurs things, right? All the fans have the analytic information and you have analytics as a coach. I just believe in the old-fashioned way.
When I was a coach and had the great responsibility of being a head coach and a decision maker, the one thing I've always learned is I should listen to my eyes. And I don't worry about analytics. I listen to my eyes. I look at the field and say, this is what's happening. Here's the situation. And this is what I'm about to do. And so that's all you can do.
And sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong. And when you're wrong and you lose, that's the big talking point, right? Especially the day after the game.
Talking about listening to your eyes as we talk to Herm Edwards, longtime coach, former NFL player, now an analyst. I got to ask you, Herm, based on your eyes, fourth and one from the New England 14 in the second quarter, you can get a chip shot and go up by two scores. They decide to go for it. What would you have done in that situation? And obviously they didn't score again in that game.
Well, the momentum of the game tells me at that point I'm going to rely, and I learned this being a coach, when you get in that situation, fourth and one, the first thing I'm doing is I'm going to go for it, but I'm going to run the ball. I'm going to put it on the big fellas.
You know, it's almost one of those deals when you get in situations like that, and I'm not saying whatever he decided was wrong, but I do know this. The big guys that really determine the game, offensively and defensively, the guys that put their hands in the dirt, When you're a coach and a fourth and one and you throw a pass, you got to deal with those big guys when it don't work now.
Coach, you mean to tell me that you don't think we can knock these guys off the ball for a yard? I learned that as a head coach with the Jets. Kevin, my wife, remember Kevin, my wife. Coach, when it's fourth and one, if you decide to go, coach, it got to be a run. I had Curtis Martin. I said, you're exactly right. And I didn't care if the other team knew it. We're going for it.
We're running the ball. We ain't going to throw a pass. We're going to run the ball.
And, Coach, I think what stands out to me in that decision is not only does it motivate your players, at least how I see it, is that you can know it's coming, but then it's still the other team's job to try to stop it.
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Chapter 3: What pivotal decisions influenced the AFC Championship game outcomes?
That's why you do all those drills. That's what all that off-season training and all those drills are about. Team huddles around, everybody's watching, and they go, okay, let's see who can move the line of scrimmage.
You've got two weeks to figure this out before the Super Bowl. Super Bowl 60 takes place. Coach, I'm very curious. Who do you like in this game and why?
Well, I think I like Seattle in this sense. I'm a defensive-minded guy. I just like the way they play defense. They can rush the quarterback. They can cover the wide receivers. And they've got some talented players of their own. I think it's a great story for Sam Darnold, not taking anything away from anyone else, obviously. But I like their story. It's a nice story to have.
And if they win, can you imagine the platform Sam Darnold will be put on? I think that's a platform where a lot of people can look and say, you know what, this is what tenacity, this is what,
betting on yourself can do when you have the ability to do that and so that's why i like that story obviously in new england obviously the story of their coach grable coming in and taking a team that no one anticipated those guys to even be here no less win as many games as they did during the season and now they find theirself in the super bowl with a young quarterback that
as I said before, basically ran him into the Super Bowl. He didn't pass him into the Super Bowl. He used his legs and just, you know, ran him into the Super Bowl. He had more rushing yards than anybody on the field.
Yeah, the yards were at a premium in that game. That's for sure, Herm. We were talking to Herm Edwards, the ESPN analyst, and, of course, the longtime NFL and college head coach here, Rahimi Harrison-Grody, on 670 The Score. And you've mentioned Sam Darnold a couple times.
Of course, we're drawn to him because not only was his time in the division in the NFC North when he was with the Vikings so pivotal, but also just the redemption that he's had. And to do it twice, you know, to come into –
Minnesota and have the year he had with Kevin O'Connell and then to not get paid by Minnesota, even though he could have earned a lot of money, then to do it again in Seattle. You know, what stands out about what he's done, even to you as a former head coach who's seen so many things, about how he's been able to succeed once and then again like this?
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Chapter 4: What insights does Herm Edwards provide on coaching decisions in high-stakes games?
That's what they do. You know, and beside the coaching, I mean, you think about coaches, nine coaches were let go. That's 200 jobs. Because they have assistant coaches, too. There's about 20 on the staff. That's about 200 jobs. There's 200 NFL jobs out there. Now, they fill some of the positions. But at that one point, there was 200 jobs. I sat there and looked at my wife.
I said, that's 200 jobs. She looked at me and said, wait a minute. I said, you know, all the assistant coaches, they go with these guys. But that's the occupation. You know it. You signed on to do it. You just, you know, you hope that you can win enough and stay in the place. And if not, you know, you never unpack your suitcase fully when you're a coach. You're half unpacked.
One of the interesting things that's already happened, Diana Rossini reporting that Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Eagles offensive coordinator vacancy. Now, this is interesting because he's not the first guy to be in the running for a job and pull back and says, I'm just going to go back to where I was.
We've seen that with former head coaches, whether it's Mike McDaniel down with the Dolphins, who's now looking to be the Chargers offensive coordinator as opposed to being a potential head coach in other spots. What do you make of the timing of this all?
Here in Chicago, we know Ben Johnson was the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator and said, I'll run it back, and then, of course, waited for this job to become open.
Well, I think when you're a good coordinator, you just bet on yourself, knowing that there's always going to be jobs available. That's the NFL. Kidding me? There's always going to be jobs. We know that. We see it. And historically, you know, I've been in the league, what, coaching and playing 30 plus years. That doesn't change. It's always going to be a job.
And that's coaches knowing, you know what, I'm going to bet on myself. I'm going to be fine. I like my team. I like this situation. I think we can get further in the playoffs. I'm going to continue to be a good coach and I'm going to get a job. And that's, they're betting on themselves. Nothing wrong with that.
We're talking to Herm Edwards, the longtime NFL coach, the ESPN analyst, kind enough to join us on Rahimi Harrison Grote on 670 The Score. And it's funny, Coach, because you bring up the timeline that we've seen the Patriots and Mike Vrabel have.
But then he's beating a team coached by Sean Payton, who unfortunately lost Bo Nix due to a broken bone in his ankle in that last game, which was an incredible game in and of itself. Coming down to luck, but I think to even do what Sean Payton has done, a guy known for his offensive mind, far and away one of the best defenses in the league, too.
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Chapter 5: How does Herm view the impact of analytics on coaching strategies?
He just kept running up the middle. When it was voided, he went back to throw. He had no intention to throw half the time. He just took off, and he ran, and he made first downs. That was a game that, you know, it wasn't going to be a high-scoring game. You knew that. As soon as his weather changed, you go, here we go, boys. This is field position. This is kicking game. This is protect the ball.
Don't turn the ball over. The first one that blinks is going to lose. And he just made some runs on the defense. That put him in position, you know, and the big fumble, obviously, we stood him at. But other than that, it was a game of just field position and, you know, who's going to make a play or two. And the quarterback basically made the plays for him. He ran.
Herm, what do you think about the Bears' season this past year and their potential for next year?
Fabulous. Fabulous. I think hopefully all the naysayers about who their quarterback was last year obviously have to be quiet right now because I can remember all the noise that was coming out of Chicago when Caleb Williams' rookie season came in there with Jaden Daniels, and Jaden Daniels had a phenomenal year, and everyone was saying, well, we picked the wrong guy. Well, not so fast.
I think this year that noise got quieted. I think coaching matters. Ben Johnson came in there and established an offense, put him under center, said this is what you're going to do. He took heed to that. He's a talented guy. I can remember playing against him when I had Jaden at Arizona State. We used to play that scene. I saw him in college. I said, this dude, boy, he really good.
And then this year, he just showed off. If you're a Bear fan, just think about it. You can go to bed every night on the office and say, we got a quarterback for the next decade. We got a quarterback. And they're going to get better. The team's going to get better. There's no doubt about that.
We just threw up our hands in elation here in the studio, Coach. That was good news for us. And I feel like Marshall has been saying almost the exact same phrasing.
Yeah, for the next decade. They got their franchise quarterback, right, Yerm?
They do. And I think at the end of the day, look, it's just good for football. When you got a quarterback, no matter what town you're in, what team you root for, you got a chance. It gives you a chance. It's just like people used to always get mad at Green Bay because they always had a quarterback. Oh, Green Bay always got the quarterback. We got to get a quarterback. Well, you got a quarterback.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Sam Darnold's journey for the Seahawks?
Taj, Taj, get me crunk. Taj, get me crunk, man.
Chicago! What's up?
You know why we here tonight? We put my boy in the rafters.
And Taj is from Brooklyn. And if you needed any indication, that New York accent was strong on Saturday night. He did a nice job as the hype man. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score.
And that was former Bull Taj Gibson as part of the festivities and the ceremony that honored Derrick Rose retiring after 16 years in the NBA and getting his number one hung up in the rafters at the United Center on Saturday night.
Not ideal weather conditions. It was a late one. But I think the quality of the game kept people energized to get to that moment. You know why we're here. The people who made their way to the United Center. Yeah, they get the 114-111 win over the Celtics. And that's just a precursor to what happened next, which is one of the nights that I don't think the city of Chicago is ever going to forget.
No, and I'm pretty sure Kevin Herter, after the three that he shot, he emulated D. Rose when he did the stone face lean back.
His teammates weren't. Nobody grabbed him.
No, but he still did it. He still did the stone face lean back. And for that, Kevin Herter, I salute you because somebody paid attention and someone, in the words of Stacey King, got the memo. And that was Kevin Herter nicely done on the Tribute. And that's what this was.
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Chapter 7: What emotions surrounded Derrick Rose's jersey retirement ceremony?
Michael Jordan had a message of congratulations. Tom Thibodeau was in a suit. He was in a suit and he was at the ceremony. Lewald Dang spoke. And Derrick Rose's family. And that was my biggest takeaway, was hearing him speak to his brother in a way that I don't think gets platformed enough.
For everybody in this pit, Reds, love the way that you protected me. Love the way that you took me everywhere, bro. Love the way you sacrificed being on the road, New Orleans days, being there talking, me being afraid, and you being there. I appreciate you for that. Don't go unnoticed. Greedy. You always be in there. Esco get killed. You go and go into the streets.
You come home and you tell me, stay away from the streets while you're doing nefarious things. Why are you being a ruffian? You telling me to stay away from it while you're doing it. I appreciate that. That's something that I'll never look over because I could have been you when Stephon died. I wasn't able to go to his funeral. I could have been mad when Ma told me I couldn't go.
She said that she was going to represent us, and that made me feel like I had a chance and I could separate myself and be different in the path that you went down because of that. So thank you, Ma. For my big growth, My big bro that people don't talk about. I got the best big brother in the world. In the world. My big bro don't cheat. My big bro was with his family the whole life.
My big brother, whenever I needed something, he was there. My big brother, if mama needed something, he was there. My big brother, if mama needs something right now, he's there. Blame. You set the example, bro, as being the big brother, man. That's something as a husband. Now, that's something I thrive to be like you, bro. So thank you. I appreciate that.
I had already had tears the day before after learning about the news about Terry. But to anybody who has a sibling...
to have to say that in front of so many people at the united center and the way he did and his his brother was visibly moved and had every right to be but that was about in that moment that was about him and his family and i just thought it was you don't get to hear that like spoken like that in a place like that very often it was moving
I found it to be highly appropriate that on a night in which a man whose last name is Rose was set to get his flowers, he ended up giving out some bouquets with his time on the mic. And that's when it became clear how we got here, you know, like how, how this Rose was able to grow in such a manner that, Through some thorny times, it sounds like.
I mean, just the way he framed it, pictured it, getting to not only becoming a national star, Simeon Memphis, and then, of course, back home with the Bulls. It's a fairy tale.
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Chapter 8: What does Derrick Rose's legacy mean for Chicago basketball and its fans?
Point being, you should listen. And thank you to everybody who called in to remember him as well. We wanted to keep it going. This is a clip from the day Terry Boers announced that after 25 years, he was retiring here at 670 The Score.
I'm going to keep this fairly simple. And I want to emphasize that this decision was made a long time ago. The decision was actually made before my illness, which has certainly hastened in some ways the decision. It's made it a very, very difficult year for me. And any time I have to be away from as much work as I've had to do this year, it makes me sad. It makes me feel bad.
It has done so since mid-June. And I still feel the same way today. And a lot of it swirls around work. And you're probably saying, what's wrong with you? Well, I don't know. But anyway, I want to emphasize that the way this year has gone for me, which is horribly, has nothing to do with this decision, which is a decision to retire, which will happen at the end of this year.
My last show will be January 5th. So I do this wanting you to understand. It's been a... Very difficult year, and it wasn't a difficult decision to make, but I want you to understand that I'm not being driven from the business.
I'm not being as disappointing as all this has been to me because I'm a guy who's worked for 50 years, and I would have happily worked the last six months of this as well every damn day. It hasn't turned out that way, and I don't know that it ever will again. I mean, I couldn't, even if I wanted to say to myself, well, hold off a while. No, I can't because I don't know what the future holds.
I really don't. And I know that if I retire, which I was going to do, I wanted to make it 25 years. 25 years started on January 2nd, 1991 at the score, or 1992. And this would be 25 years on January 2nd of this year. I wanted to make it to 25 years. And you say, what's wrong? I don't know why. I just did. It'd be 20 years of writing for a living and 25 years of doing this for a living.
And I can promise you that these last 25 years have been a hell of a lot better than the first 20. And it's meant the world to me. And it continues to do so. It continues to do so even as I face the last stages of it. So, you know, I do it. Column experience is better than I can probably at this point. No, you're doing fine. I think there's a – reach a breaking point.
And I reached it a while ago just in general. And then when this other breaking point hit me, as hard as it hit me, I had a lot of time to reflect, a lot of time to think about, a lot of time – because nothing was ever announced. Nothing was ever said publicly or anything about it. So I could have changed my mind at any point. And I don't think at this point I can rely on it. I can't do it.
I can't possibly face this again because missing what I missed this year, including the Cubs – Although I was there for a week, wasn't I? The World Series opener. I just, it was tough on me in every way possible, not only physically but mentally. And I hate to be away. I just hate to miss what we missed, what I missed. And I thank Dan and everybody who filled in.
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