Making the case against Bears regression in 2026

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Rahimi & Grote Show 10 min 2 speakers 8 chapters transcribed 26 days ago

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Why do Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris argue the Bears won’t regress in 2026?

Marshall Harris 0:01

Rahimi, Harris, and Grody. It's a team sport. If uh you're mad about it, you know, take your ass to go play, you know, tennis. We like sports so we don't care

Unknown 0:09

who knows. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Really what I wanna see, I wanna see alignment assignment um pre-SNAP um taken care of. A a year ago those joint practices they were they were discombobulated, so that's not what we're looking for. Um I just wanna see clean, concise, what we've been doing over the last couple of weeks, just see that translate. Uh everybody keep their composure throughout throughout practice here and and operate at a high level.

Vinny Rotino 0:39

That is Ben Johnson talking about what he wanted to see out of the joint practices with Cincinnati ahead of the game tomorrow. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody at 1043 the score. And Ben Solak did a whole dissertation on ESPN.com entitled Why Ben Johnson's Bears Offense Works and 2026 Expectations. And I don't think there's any way to possibly break down all of the Aspects of this into a single segment, Marshall. But man, did he say some things in this article that really got me thinking because I I think a lot of it is uh I think a lot of it's true and it it kind of uh breaks my brain a little bit. Like for example

What does Ben Solak’s ESPN article say about Ben Johnson’s offensive philosophy?

Vinny Rotino 1:20

In fact, he says, much of Johnson's first year in Chicago was not about Williams' game at all. The Bears' offense was stripped down to the studs and rebuilt anew, and a process knew Johnson would be painful and slow. And he talked about those pre snap penalties hurting the Bears in ways that go far beyond just frustrating a drive. They go to EPA. They went to how the first four games pre bye look so much better. Different from the last part of the season that we saw. Solak did a dissertation on this that I absolutely think was really brilliant in some of his assessments.

Marshall Harris 1:54

I love the fact that they were able to kind of detail with the EPA First of all, from the left side to the right side, the idea that water finds its level. But the thing that jumped out the biggest to me in this whole article was the way they talked about unleashing the explosive plays and the fact that we're often taught the run sets up the pass, and it does to a degree with play action, because that's how coaches have always been taught and have always taught their players to do. That's how I That's how

Vinny Rotino 2:24

I've been taught.

Marshall Harris 2:25

But it's but it's deeper than that with Ben Johnson because when they talk about explosive plays, they're literally also talking about the run game, not just the pass.

Vinny Rotino 2:34

Well and and to that end, there's a couple of notes in here on that where well that's it. It's oh yeah, you thought the run set up the past. That's what every coach has taught you. That's what every coach wants.

How do pre‑snap penalties affect the Bears’ EPA and overall performance?

Vinny Rotino 2:45

That's how it looks. But what do we know about Ben Johnson? Make the same things look different and different things look the same. And that's it. But so much of it is based on and and Solak gets into this, talking about the obsession with how wide receivers are allowed. line on the splits. How pre-snap and I'm obsessed with this too, and I I hate to say it, but the guy who's the best at the pre-snap reading of a field is one Aaron Rodgers. To me, ninety percent of your work is done pre snap. Ten percent is the play that actually results after the snap.

Marshall Harris 3:15

Don't tell that to Ray Diaz because he's over here talking about Aaron Rodgers. No, I am t I am

Vinny Rotino 3:20

too. I am too. But that that's kind of the point here is that The every single detail has meaning in Ben Johnson's offense to the point where And this is another thing that I think Solak wanted to discuss. Johnson still installs the running game on a weekly basis himself as he did in Detroit. And the quote is from Cole Komet about this.

Why is the run game considered the key to explosive plays in Johnson’s system?

Vinny Rotino 3:42

I haven't been about around a play caller, let alone a head coach, that installs his own running game. He has everybody in the room, receivers, tight ends, backs, quarterbacks, linemen. We're all together as he installs. And the complexity Of that run game is part of it. And he talked about feeding Darnell Wright. Instead of just feeding Williams, feed a feed a position player, it was running to the right side.