Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Patrick Finley shares observations from Bears minicamp (Hour 4)
11 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What were the main observations from Bears minicamp?
really good offseason program. Talked with the players this morning and we really accomplished a lot just in terms of the goals that we set out. Strength and conditioning first and foremost. Technique, fundamentals, scheme installation and then some situational football which we've continued to work on and we'll get another good day of again today. So really pleased with how they're working.
I said to you guys a few weeks ago that it's a really hard working group. They're taking it very seriously, very professional and Couldn't be more grateful for the attendance we've had so far this offseason program and close it out on a great week this week.
Sounding like a pretty satisfied Bears head coach, Ben Johnson, right there, as we welcome you back into Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. Today is day three of the mandatory minicamp, and practice is just getting going on out at Hallis Hall, and that is where we find our Bears correspondent for today, Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Chapter 2: How did the players perform during the offseason program?
He is the beat reporter for them, covers the NFL as well. Are we dry still, Patrick? Have we had to run into the Walter Payton Center? Is everything okay, for God's sakes?
No, but they might in a matter of minutes. When I ducked into a dry locale, it was just starting to sprinkle enough that I had to pull out my umbrella to finish the walk back.
Okay, do you have a good umbrella? Because I'm in the market for an actual expensive umbrella that will not break on every single walk I take in downtown Chicago.
My current umbrella, the only one that was in my car, is bright yellow and has a duck, like a wooden duck carved at the handle. It's falling apart.
Chapter 3: What improvements have been noted in the Bears' coaching staff?
So, you know, I believe the Costco down the street, Grody, has got a good golf umbrella for like $20.
That may be a stop on the way home. The golf umbrellas, those are for real.
That sounds like a bougie umbrella. I kind of like it. I'm into it, Patrick. I'm into it. If it gets me called bougie, it gets me called bougie. It's a giant umbrella. Just remember, if I get it at a discount, it makes it a little less so.
Patrick, what have you thought? You may have heard Ben Johnson just talking about how he likes the group that he's working with. Sounds pretty satisfied with what he's seen so far. What has stood out to you here as we enter day three of the mandatory minicamp for the Bears?
First of all, that's what they all say. I don't think we've ever had a coach in the middle of June be like, I don't know about this team, guys. It looks so much different than a year ago. The big takeaway I have is just
The players knowing what to expect from Ben, the new players being told what to expect from the guys who were here last year, goes such a long way to making these practices seem seamless, making the work go by faster and with less confrontation. You know, remember at Rookie Minicamp last year, Grody,
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Chapter 4: Which players stood out during the mandatory minicamp?
Ben would stop practice and cut the music just to yell at people. That's not happening quite as much this time around, and it's because they know what's expected of them at this time of year, and they will know what's expected of them in training camp.
We've heard a couple of different players already say that they are either looking forward to it or absolutely dreading the training camp coming up here at the end of July. It is amazing, Patrick, the difference that one year can make and what a team looks like in year two as opposed to year one. And we all kind of were on the same page.
This does not look good with Ben Johnson stopping practices. Like you say, who has flashed for you of the new players or maybe players who were hurt and are now healthier out there and, you know, not pads? I'll give you the caveat that Ben gave the other day, which is it's really easy to fall in love with these guys at this time of year.
And then when pads come on, sometimes you never think about them ever again. So with that as a caveat, the most important thing I've seen is Dio Denbo on the field. He is weeks, if not multiple months ahead of schedule recovering from an Achilles injury. And, you know, the Achilles, it's one of the ones you don't want to get in terms of injuries, especially when you're built the way he's built.
I think it's intriguing to see him back so quickly and to be able to dream on him. I mean, just a year ago, they spent a ton of money on him with the idea that he could play on the outside and then on third down move inside.
I'd rather have Austin Booker rushing the quarterback, to be quite honest, but maybe Dio's an improvement over one of the two D tackles that they have on the field on third and eighth. And if he can do that and get seven or eight sacks, that's a very useful player.
And I think that there are some Bears fans, particularly the ones who joke about a motivated Dio Odegbo, who have probably written him off as somebody who can help. So his very presence out here has been, for me, the most interesting thing that I've seen.
Well, on the other side, yeah, it was. It was a revelation to have seen Shamar Turner, number 55, running around out there when some of us wondered if he was even going to be ready for training camp, even though they said they did say that he would be back, and I guess it's actually happening.
But on the other side of that, there is this conundrum building around Kyler Gordon, and I assume he's probably not practicing again out there today. I know that you can't really say a whole lot while the practice is going on, but... Is there more to this? Layla and I were kind of discussing this yesterday.
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Chapter 5: What are the expectations for training camp this year?
And that's an honesty that I'm not sure we've gotten from previous coaches. Matt Eberfuss, I think at the end you can tell that he was really annoyed with, oh, my God, Brody, what's his name? The guard from the Titans who never played for them.
Oh, God. Nate Davis.
Nate Davis. There was pressure there being put on Nate Davis. I'm not sure that we're exactly there yet with Kyler. I mean, he's here. He is rehabbing. He's just not out on the practice field. I don't know if there's more to it. I know that Ben Johnson... does a pretty good job of delivering the similar messages in-house that he does with the camera on him.
And you can rest assured that I'm sure that message has reached Tyler that we need to see you out here on the field. And just real quick, getting back to the Dio Odenbo thing, just as intriguing as Dio being out there is what Ben Johnson said when we asked him about Shamar Turner, which was essentially like, geez, the next seven weeks are going to be really important for him.
That sounded ominous to me. And this is the second round pick last year who, like Dio, can go from end to tackle and gives us some really important depth at a position where you really need all the help you can get. I will be very curious to see whether he starts camp healthy because Ben made no assurances that he would.
When you look, Patrick, at the totality of the Bears, I know there's been a lot of pressure on the defensive line to be better, and the answers that we've gotten from Dennis Allen anyway is that they're going to do a better job of coaching and, I guess, scheming to get what they want out of the front.
Do you feel like that's a reasonable expectation given what we saw last year, a turnover-based defense, a takeaway-based defense? I don't think it's reasonable to expect the defensive ends that they have on the roster to be that much better than they were last year. Like, why would they be? You know, and Dennis Allen can say, we've got to coach him better, but what's Dennis Allen supposed to say?
Hey, I wish we had, I wish we had some extra help here. I think that in both cases, in both instances there, I think Ben and Dennis Allen are saying what you're supposed to say in the middle of the off season, which is, well, we all accept responsibility for not being good enough and it's all of our jobs to make it better. And I don't pay too much more attention to it than that.
I know that there are people who have read, I think, way too much into it. This is just a coach saying that he needs to be better to, as a way to, I think, deflect some of the attention away from Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, and, you know, Dio and Turner.
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Chapter 6: How is Kyler Gordon's injury impacting the team?
You know, some of these free agent guys who appear right now from where I sit to be not more than, you know, a death piece at best.
Talking to Pat Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. He is at Alice Hall right now. This is the Raimi Harrison-Grody Show on the score. I know Caleb Williams spoke today. Caleb, do you have anything interesting to say today? And did anybody happen to get around to asking Caleb his reaction to Micah Parsons of the Packers saying that he's the number one player in the NFL?
Ask me in an hour and a half when he talks. Oh, he hasn't spoken yet. Oh. He's after practice. He's after practice today. I mean, that's on my list of questions, which is, what do you make of this? And, Cody, I think it's a really interesting topic, actually. In a way, it has nothing to do with Caleb. I mean, there are two questions that I have.
Number one, does Micah Parsons know exactly what the Bears-Packers rivalry is? Like, really? Maybe not. And if possible, if he truly understood it, I can't imagine he would have said a Bears player.
And number two, what in the world does Jordan Love think when he hears that his own teammate is sitting there and saying that their rival, the guy that they're competing with every season for a divisional title for a playoff berth is better than him already? Let's be clear, by the way. Calling Caleb Williams the best player in football is putting the cart before the horse.
It's putting 50 carts before the horse. Yeah, it is. No, I agree with that. But you sit there and go, what message is Micah Parsons trying to send? And to who? Is it to his own guys? Is it to just mess with Caleb's head?
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of Dio Odenbo's return to the field?
Hey, man, especially when Ben Johnson hates the head coach, Matt LaFleur. I mean, that's got to be rattling to him, too. Yeah, I mean, this is a Micah Parsons story that Caleb Williams plays a very small role in as far as I'm concerned. I think that Micah's got some explaining to do. And Caleb, I'm sure, will say that he respects Micah Parsons and that it was flattering to hear.
Caleb kind of, you know, I think we all know this, but it's a good reminder. Caleb's been famous since he was 16 years old. Correct. Caleb is getting a bobblehead from the White Sox next month. Caleb got a bobblehead from the Dodgers when he was a sophomore in college. He's amazing. Yeah, this guy knows how to handle fame.
This guy, I think, does a really good job of not letting it get to his head. And he also knows how to take a compliment and maybe not. My guess is he's going to say he's flattered and leave it at that. That's typically the way he's operated.
Patrick, I got to know, is there something that you have seen that really surprised you besides the obvious of having guys on the field that maybe you weren't expecting to be actually early? Is anything as far as what you expected to see from the Bears at mandatory minicamp that maybe you're like, oh, that's interesting? I don't know if it surprised me, but they wanted to get faster.
And then, you know, I think you look at the receiving core, and the receiving core is ā
faster i mean khalif raymond is is not going to get any khalif raymond's not going to be on anybody's fantasy team when the season starts right like he is a punt returner who maybe can help you on offense but boy you stand there and you watch him run and he's somebody who i think could be a weapon obviously they drafted somebody who's a speed demon as well and davian thomas like he's
To see that up close, I think, has been a confirmation of what we know that they wanted to do. Beyond that, it's just really hard to look at them running around in... I forget what Claire said, but running around in pajamas and make any grand statement about what's going to happen or who's going to pop. I asked Ben about that today. How much camp do you need...
to be able to see what you're looking to see, knowing that this time of year you really can't. And he said about halfway through. His point was right before maybe that first preseason game, he's going to have a sense of the guys who can help him and the guys who can't.
And so in that way, that makes the first two, two and a half weeks of training camp so much more relevant than what we've been doing here.
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Chapter 8: What challenges does the Bears' defensive line face moving forward?
I think I've heard it, but tell the people, Brody.
Yeah. Because, yeah, it was two years ago now? That wasn't last year. It was two years ago, right? It was two years ago. Obviously, yeah. That was not on Ben Johnson's watch. Yeah, Nate Davis was in this weird, ambiguous place where he wasn't playing. We didn't know if he was hurt. Does he not want to play? Is he just done with the Bears?
And every day, reporters, we would all try to get interviews with him, and I would shoot my shots.
on the daily and he would always have like well he'd always push me off to tomorrow it'd be nice about not right now i gotta go get treatment or i gotta do this or i gotta do that and and he finally was like yeah come back to me tomorrow and we'll talk and so i think it was a friday and i said all right nate you got some time to talk and he puts his hand on my shoulder and he just says you know what i can't right now i gotta go play ping pong
And that was that.
At least he's honest. I'll give him credit for that. But we've all had players say that they need to go get something in the other room and we'll be right back. And then you see them three days later. I'm picturing him having like a paddle, his own personal paddle in the other hand as he puts his hand on your shoulder. That's how I picture that.
I got to say, I did like literally my reaction when he said it was I laughed because he knew that I knew that he was making it up and he didn't want to talk and he wasn't going to talk and he wasn't going to play in Chicago anymore.
Pat. Delightful guy, by the way. Not a good football player. Delightful human being.
He really was. He was a nice man.
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