Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Jim Schwantz talks Bears' stadium pursuit, Caleb Williams' 4th-quarter magic
30 Jan 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What insights does Jim Schwantz share about the Chicago Bears' current season?
Here we go, fourth and four. The man in motion, Williams, drifting, sprinting for space, in all kinds of trouble, put it up for grabs, and he ends up staying! He got it! For the touchdown!
They've done it again! Unbelievable!
Bring me Harrison Grote on the score. Tyler Buterbaugh just all over it. That's Rush playing right there. Oh, man. Sounds so good. Shout out to all of the texters. Thank you. Many of you. Too many of you to read the individual text for helping me out.
Chapter 2: How does Jim Schwantz feel about the Bears' stadium saga and its impact on the community?
You'll be shocked that I own no Rush albums.
It's okay. I didn't expect you to. You know what I don't know, and I know what you don't know. That's why it works. 21-12, ladies and gentlemen. Geddy Lee, unfortunately, no more Neil Peart. But Rush is back together, and they're going to be rocking in July. So thank you for all the participation on the Rush Answers. I am moved by all of you. But let's talk.
Chicago Bears here on Rahimi Harris and Grody. This is a guy that I've been wanting to talk to for a while. He lives the life, Marshall. Jim Schwantz is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears, Cowboys, 49ers.
Chapter 3: What is Jim Schwantz's perspective on Caleb Williams' performance in the fourth quarter?
He's a Super Bowl champion of Super Bowl XXX specifically. He's a pro bowler as a special teams player in 1996 and maybe most importantly now. the mayor of Palatine. Jim Schwantz is joining us right now on the Circa Sports Illinois Hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. Jim, how are you, my friend?
I am good. How are you guys doing today?
I think we're doing well. We are, and what is great, what has been great about talking on the radio, amongst other things, is the fact that we get to say nice things about the Bears. I was even saying nice things about Ryan Poles. It's like the light has come on, things have warmed, and things feel better. Jim, I haven't really had a chance to talk to you, obviously.
How did you consume this season for the Chicago Bears? What did it look like to you?
Chapter 4: How does Jim Schwantz compare the current Bears defense to previous seasons?
You know, Mark, it's interesting because for doing pre- and post-game for whatever, 22 or 23 years, you watch a game from a much different lens, more of a cynical, you know, you got to be critical. The last couple years, man, watching the games as a fan is really pretty cool. You know, just sitting down and watching and getting back to my Bear fandom. Obviously, I was a fan before.
during my analyst days, but with a little bit of a jaded side. I just had an awful lot of fun watching them play, watching the continued ascent of the team, obviously the fourth quarter, the one-score games, having those break our way. Just a magical season, and to be able to watch it as a fan was really refreshing.
Jim, because you are not only a former Bear, former NFL player, but also the mayor of Palatine, I'm so curious as to if you've noticed a change in the tone about which people talk to you about the Chicago Bears.
Yeah, with the obvious purchase of the land in Arlington Heights and the potential impact it will have on Palatine, it's It's a really kind of fine line that I've been walking. You know, when they first talked about the letter of intent to purchase the land, I couldn't be happier. I was excited. I was still doing the analyst stuff for the Bears. I could ride my bike to work.
You know, here, this is going to be the best.
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Chapter 5: What changes does Jim Schwantz foresee for the Bears' defense in the offseason?
And then I quickly got pulled aside by some pretty smart people in Palatine to say, hey, we got to – We've got to temper us a little bit because there's a potential for some really major impacts on Palatine, and we've got to see everything before we can really jump on board. So that's kind of where we've been.
We've continued to kind of hold the line that we believe this is going to be an unbelievable win for the whole region if it's done correctly. But right now, everything's continued to kind of be speculative until we know exactly what's going on. There's We've asked for traffic studies.
We haven't seen a traffic study yet to see what the potential impact would be because, to be quite frank, Peloton and Rolling Meadows are going to be way more impacted traffic-wise than even Arlington Heights. And so we obviously will see no tax benefits from it. So as a fan, absolutely would be great to be able to, like I said, ride my bike to a game or be close by.
And one of the first things I said back when Ted Phillips was still involved in the process was, just tell me one thing, Ted, there's going to be a Bears Hall of Fame with this, correct? And he said, absolutely, because that's been my thing is there is no Bears Hall of Fame that us fans can go to and watch and go see and visit.
I keep being told by the people at the Bears, yeah, we have a Bears Hall of Fame. It's called Canton.
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Chapter 6: What role does special teams play in the Bears' current strategy according to Jim Schwantz?
We've got the most Hall of Famers in Canton. If you want to go see the Bears Hall of Fame, you have to go to Canton. Well, I want to be able to go to one right here close by and have the ability to go out and and see the Hall of Fame right in my backyard.
So, Jim, would you say that the cloud of a possible stadium or not stadium has taken away maybe some of the sunshine of this very season for you?
It's just, you know, it's so kind of bare. It's a total bare thing, right? It's a total bare thing that they have this great season, and there's got to be a but with it, you know, a but for with regards to the stadium thing. You know, they're rolling, right? They're winning the one-score games.
It's a magical season, and out comes a letter, you know, that punches you right in the gut that says, oh, now we're going to start looking in Indiana. As Bear fans, we just can't have everything at once. There's got to be a but-for. There's got to be something that takes the steam away from it, which is just unfortunate.
At the end of the day, we've been starving for a team on the field that is competitive, that is fun to root for, that's got characters on the team that we can get behind, and guys that we can see a future.
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Chapter 7: How does Jim Schwantz describe the experience of being a fan after being a player?
We see what the future could potentially look like where we've had so many dark years where The press conference was just kind of a disaster, and this end-of-the-year press conference, you see hope. You see a guy that's got his hand on the tiller that knows exactly where this thing is going, and we've got that confidence.
Yeah, and you've always been very honest in your analysis on the radio, off the radio. In all your years, as you mentioned, doing the pre and post on WBBM, you were in a position to give your opinion. What did you think watching Caleb Williams this year? And where did you start with Caleb Williams? Where did you end up with Caleb Williams? And what do you think the future is for Caleb Williams?
Well, obviously, I think what they've done in the league today, getting out of the shotgun more under center, establishing the running game, giving yourself play action. It's so hard in this league to hit chunk plays. It just is. And teams will let you go with the underneath stuff. They'll rally. They'll tackle.
Chapter 8: What are the key offseason moves that Jim Schwantz believes the Bears should consider?
They'll force you to third downs. They'll try to force the turnovers. To get the big chunk plays has to come with the running game. So,
Hand in hand, when the running game started to really progress with Swift and Menungai and the guys up front, especially the three guys on the inside, Tooney, Dahlman, and Jackson, when you saw that thing start to kind of really materialize is when you saw the steps kind of taken in the proper direction.
We still get frustrated with Caleb and missing the easy throws, his completion percentages, QBR. But what the guy does in the fourth quarter, right, wrong, it's magical. It's absolutely magical. His arm talent is second to none. He sees the field incredibly well. And the guy is an absolute magician when it comes to escaping the – the pass rush and extending plays.
So, you know, the things that you can't measure, the unmeasurables are just unbelievable off the charts. He just needs to get way more consistent, way more consistent in the easy throws, the on-time throws, the scheduled throws, and hit guys in stride where they can get yards after the catch. And all that stuff will come because he's got – obviously he's got incredible arm talent.
It's just a matter of as the game continues to slow down, as he continues to get reps – I've said this before, the quarterback position is the hardest position in any sport to play. I mean, gosh, you think back to the Super Bowl when the Rams and the Patriots played each other. I think it was the very first throw that Tom Brady threw, he threw a pick. And how come he threw a pick?
Because he got fooled. Tom Brady's seen more defense than any player in the history of the sport at the quarterback position ever. and he got fooled. And this is a guy, you know, whatever it is, 14th or 15th year or whatever it was when he was in that Super Bowl, and he got fooled. And so it happens, and so you can't expect a young quarterback to be able to see everything at this point.
joined by Jim Schwanch. He is the mayor of Paltime, but he's also a former NFL linebacker who played for the Bears, the Cowboys, and the 49ers, Super Bowl XXX champion, and a pro bowler as a special teams player back in 1996.
Jim, when you look at this Bears team and what Ryan Poles has done, and I know you know about the news about Ian Cunningham now becoming a part of the Falcons organization as their general manager. Are you as dismayed about the kind of anticlimactic result of the Rooney rule in this situation, the fact that the Bears are not getting compensatory third-round picks this year and next?
You know, it's... It's kind of a thing as you look at it from the outside. Yeah, obviously as a Bear fan you'd love to see the compensatory picks because we see what Ryan Poles has been able to do with some of those picks and being able to package some of those picks and move around in the draft. and continue to fill in the holes on this team.
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