Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Mike Florio talks NFL & Danny Parkins previews Cubs for a Cure (Hour 2)
20 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What insights does Mike Florio share about the Bears' stadium saga?
This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids.
Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain.
Mike Florio.
He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet.
NBC Sports. I'm sorry I'm late, I was talking to Robert Kraft. That isn't the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk. I got a lot of problems with you people. No, you're going to hear about it. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. I want to keep talking Legos.
We do too, but we have to talk about NFL stuff because Mike Florio is the man for that. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He joins us every Wednesday on Rahimi Harrison-Grody on The Score.
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Chapter 2: How does the NFL commissioner view the Bears' stadium situation?
He is at Pro Football Talk on X, and he joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago, where there are fireworks, there's other special effects, and the like. Mike, how are you today?
I'm doing good, I'm doing good. The fireworks aren't working though. Oh, there they are. Took a few tries, had to light it a few times. You know, sometimes you gotta click the lighter a couple of times to get it going.
Okay, so Mike just showed thumbs up to the camera and then it did a thumbs up like bubble graphic and then he got the fireworks. So we're gonna figure this thing out if it's the last thing we do. It's like Aaron Rodgers and the hand signals for his receivers. I guess that's where I could start. This is finally concluded. Aaron Rodgers, much to nobody's surprise, is going to be a stealer.
I feel like this is a very anticlimactic way to get into the year for him.
Well, but it's still strange because there's been this...
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Caleb Williams pursuing the 'Iceman' trademark?
talking point that's emerged from Rogers agreeing to terms with the Steelers that this is always what was going to happen. This is the way it was always going to be. Everybody knew it was going to happen. Why did the Steelers use the unrestricted free agent tender on Rogers three weeks ago to protect themselves in the event that he signed with another team if they knew he was coming back?
That makes no sense. The fact that they applied that tender to qualify them for a compensatory draft pick if he signed with another team and to make him their exclusive negotiating property as of July 22, why do that if you know he's coming back? That one fact shows me that they didn't know. If they didn't know, we didn't know. Nobody knew.
And one of my theories is Rogers deliberately waited until after the schedule was out So the league couldn't load the Steelers up with short week games, primetime games, making it more difficult like they did in 2024, his second year with the Jets, six primetime games in the first 11 weeks, two short week games Sunday to Thursday in the first half of the season.
I would not be surprised if the truth is he deliberately waited and deliberately kept it vague until after the schedule was out and then it lined up perfectly with the start of their OTAs on Monday. That weekend is the weekend where you would sign if you're trying to keep the league in the dark before you show up to work for the Steelers.
Mike, Jackson Smith in Jigba is supposed to be having an offseason of celebration.
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Chapter 4: How does Mike Florio assess Aaron Rodgers' move to the Steelers?
He won the Super Bowl. He was the offensive player of the year last year in the NFL. And yet that honor has become a source of trauma and disrespect after we know what happened with the award ceremony itself with Drewski mispronouncing his name to the tune of a racial slur. And then he gets the actual trophy and it's... Misspelled, according to the NFL, not defensive player of the year.
They're saying that's a block. Oh, what do you make of this? And how does this happen?
I mean, what's worse than it says defensive instead of offensive or it says offensive OEF like defensive? I think that's worse than just admitting that they accidentally dialed up defensive instead of offensive. Either way, they're sending him a new trophy with the proper engraving. My suggestion is auction off the one with the mistake and give the proceeds to charity.
I'm sure there's someone out there that would pay a pretty penny for a one of a kind item that has created an unexpected little news blip in a slow week. So, you know, accidents happen. The NFL's not immune to it.
Chapter 5: What controversies surround Jackson Smith-Njigba's award ceremony?
Kudos to the NFL for taking responsibility. We asked the AP right away, who makes these trophies? Because the AP is responsible for lining up the panel of voters, getting the votes, harvesting, tabulating, and handing the NFL the results. The NFL's the one that makes the trophies. So this was their mistake. They owned up to it because they had to.
The visual evidence was clear and obvious, more clear and obvious than any call you'd ever seen overturned during a game. So... Yeah. Hey, no one's perfect. I just I wish they would have just said we accidentally put defensive instead of this convoluted idea that it was a typo, not the wrong word.
Additionally, Mike, there's only one way to really find out. Ask Miles Garrett. Did he get the NFL Offensive Player of the Year trophy instead? Miles Garrett could do something funny, and I know he's not afraid of a funny slash uncomfortable conversation.
Chapter 6: How does the NFL plan to expand its international presence?
So maybe we just find out if Miles Garrett got the right trophy, and that would help shed some light on it.
Yeah, that's a great point. That's a great point. So there could be two one of a kind items, Miles Garrett's offensive player of the year trophy and Jackson Smith and Jigba's defensive player of the year trophy available on eBay. And I really like that idea. I mean, what are they going to do with it? What's he going to do with it? The other one's meaningless to him.
It would be a great way to raise a little money for charity if that's what he chooses to do.
That's Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk, Rahimi Harrison, Grody here on The Score. And I was looking at the Pro Football Talk website, and I saw the story in regards to the Titans' new stadium, the headline. They say that their stadium remains on schedule to open in the spring of 2027, a Super Bowl there in 2030.
Meantime, what counts for news and an update around here on the Bears' stadium is the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, saying that there are two viable sites for the Bears stadium and neither is in Chicago. We know that.
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Chapter 7: What are the details of the upcoming Cubs for a Cure Radiothon?
Duh. It's been chaotic around here, Mike. It has been crazy. It has been embarrassing at times. It has been exhilarating at times. What is the latest as far as you know surrounding the Bears stadium and what is the perspective from the rest of the world watching what's going on with the Bears when the Titans move in and they're able to get their stadium taken care of?
I really do think that someone within the organization had a light bulb go off when the Chiefs did a deal with Kansas to cross state lines from Missouri, after the Chiefs had been unable to get the package of public money that they wanted to renovate Arrowhead Stadium. Hey, we can just go to Indiana. And I think Indiana continues to be the leverage to get the best possible deal in Illinois.
My question will be, is there a minimum below which the Bears say, we will go to Indiana? Or is this just, we're using Indiana to get the best we can in Illinois and we'll ultimately take whatever that best deal is, even if it falls short of what we want? Kevin Warren told us back in March, There's no deadline, but they think there'll be an answer by early summer.
And I just think this whole Indiana effort is about applying enough pressure to the people in Illinois to make them think the Bears will leave and to get them to give the Bears something close to what they want.
Chapter 8: How can listeners contribute to the Cubs for a Cure initiative?
Well, and we're trying to figure out still what is going on with the actual stadium locations. The mayor of Arlington Heights, who was an architect by practice before he was now the mayor of Arlington Heights, had talked to the Chicago Tribune about the site for the Bears stadium, which was still under discussion in Hammond when it came to construction.
the environmentals and some of those further tests. There were initial tests done. And it was reported yesterday about it being built on a slag heap. Now there's already a golf course built on that, and there's a way that they can rehabilitate the land, which ultimately I think is a good thing.
But it does give pause when it comes to asking a lot of questions about just exactly what the plan is and how feasible, and if it can be expedited at all as well.
This is all part of the political push and pull. If the Bears are going to say, hey, we'll go to Indiana, Illinois, if you don't give us what we want, then it's incumbent on the people in Illinois with the vested interest in this to say, hey, your site in Indiana is flawed. We know it's fugazi. We know you're not going to go there.
Now, can we focus on trying to work something out here in Illinois? These are very, very high stakes projects, and the league has a habit of trying to get as much taxpayer money as possible for the stadium and all of the stuff around it, to the point where when a deal is done, it's not done until the other owners approve of it. Think about that.
The Bears run an independent, multi-billion dollar business. They're not free to do a deal to do a stadium in Indiana or Illinois until at least 23 of the other 31 owners say it's okay. So that's part of this too.
And they don't want, they being the owners collectively, they don't want teams doing bad deals because then a bad deal becomes precedent the next time a team is trying to shake taxpayer money out of the tree. It's just free money. They've come up with this argument that continues to be viable as long as it's never on a ballot. If it's on a ballot, it loses.
If you can work it in the back rooms with the elected officials, you have a much better chance of pulling it off. But the Bears have had more opposition and resistance than we usually see teams encounter when they're trying to get their public money.
Mike Flora joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grody on the score. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. And Mike, you know, that NFL ownership and commissioner, it's all about control. And now the NFL's removed teams' ability to protect teams
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