Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Patrick Finley talks Ryan Poles' blunt assessment of Bears' recent moves
13 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What did you learn from the Super Bowl run that you think you can apply to your own career and apply to these teammates who have it? Yeah, just controlling what you can control. And like I said, just taking it one week at a time. It's a long season. And like I said, don't get complacent. And each week just continues to get better.
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 104.3 The Score, and that is Patrick Finley, the writer for The Sun-Times, who was asking a lot of good questions yesterday. He was part of the Bears media, who talked to the new Bears like Kobe Bryant, and then also got to hear from Ryan Poles. And he joins us via our hotline, Patrick Finley, the Bears and NFL reporter for The Sun-Times.
And he's also on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. Hey, Patrick, good to hear from you. Hey, guys, how are you? We're good. You, as usual, did a fantastic job asking questions during the press conference. But we have to ask you the most distracting one first. Whose baby was it?
One of the free agents, but they were in the back of the room and I was sitting in the front row and it would have been rude to turn around and look. So I didn't. I'm sorry. Sorry to report. I don't know who that was. Well, that baby was making some good points. I'll say that. They had some good things to say. In the meantime, what were your impressions of, let's just start with Ryan Poles.
A lot said in the opening statement about the direction of the team he wants to see from a player standpoint. And then also what he had to say about like DJ Moore, Drew Dallman, for example. What were your takeaways? I think polls' default is to be pretty honest with us, and I really do appreciate that. You know, you ask them, why did you trade DJ? And the answer is because Luther Burden exists.
You ask, why didn't you bring back Kevin Byard? And the answer is because we got Kobe Bryant. Like, that's pretty straightforward, and I do appreciate that in terms of what we do, you know, every day trying to get – at the truth as best we can. I thought he was straightforward about this. To me, it's very clear that the Bears decided that their defense wasn't good enough.
And if you take away the takeaways, they're right. I think they gave up the fourth most yards and the tenth most points, something like that. So they are not being sentimental about keeping Bayard or Brisker or C.J. Gardner-Johnson or Nashawn Wright. They want to get faster. They want to get more physical. And that's what they're doing.
So they're trying to overhaul this thing, kind of maybe a low-key overhaul on the defense. So was Ryan Poles then, Patrick, just being sentimental when he talked about Kevin Bayard multiple times and how much he loved the player and the leader and all of that? Do you think he ever had truly intended to even potentially bring back Kevin Bayard? I don't know.
Of the four guys I mentioned, I think Bayard was by far the most likely to come back. Who knows? If Kobe Bryant had said no, or if Kobe Bryant had said, listen, I just want a Super Bowl at this place. I want to stay here and enjoy it. Maybe Kevin Bayard is back. But I was telling somebody earlier today, All those safeties and corners got one-year deals.
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Chapter 2: What insights did Ryan Poles share about the Bears' offseason moves?
He is the Bears and NFL reporter for the Sun-Times. And that was always the question regarding Brisker. When he was available, he was great. And this past season, I think, proved that. He had a key game against Pittsburgh, for example, that helped seal the win for the Bears. He had a great game against the Rams, which I think really was perfectly timed.
So that was always the issue was whether or not if he got another concussion, given what had happened to him. I think that was always the concern. It's just a little bit surprising when you see the prices of the deals, knowing that that could have been doable for the Bears. This all could have been doable. I mean, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, what is it? He's getting $6 million from the bills.
Chapter 3: What was the significance of the DJ Moore trade mentioned by Poles?
That's doable. Kevin Byard's doable. What was it? Five and a half for Nashawn Wright? I mean, not only could they bring one of those guys back, in theory, they could bring all of those guys back at those prices. But that's not the direction they want to go in. And that's why I think that this upcoming season is going to be all about Dennis Allen.
They are rebuilding this defense in Dennis Allen's likeness, finding the kind of player that he wants. I mean, on paper, Devin Bush isn't better than Tremaine Edmonds, but Devin Bush is faster. What, five inches shorter? And can close in a way that Dennis Allen needs. You know, on paper, Kobe Bryant is not better than Kevin Byard.
But he's got the versatility to defend outside and in the slot and from the safety position. And he can guard tight ends that Dennis Allen really wants. And it'll be interesting to see whether this defense can make a leap just stylistically, right?
because of the kind of player they're bringing in, because I think we'd all agree that as we sit here right now, I'm not sure that they've made any position markedly better, at least on paper.
Well, and that can bring us to the Max Crosby thing, because you're right, it sure sounds like they are just going to depend on being better, depend on Dio Dangbo being healthy, Shamar Turner being healthy, but what did you make of Patrick Finley, the Max Crosby explanation from Ryan Poles? First of all, I think it was Adam Hogue who asked the question at the end.
We had asked a couple of questions kind of vaguely about it because I didn't think that he would talk about somebody who's on another team's roster. And he didn't speak for too long about it. But I would tell you this. It sounded like a was to me, not an is. It sounded like past tense. that we checked on him and we didn't match up and that was that.
Now, there are enough twists and turns in this thing that I'm not going to sit here and say the Bears are out on anybody. But it sure seemed to me that it didn't seem like Ryan thought that the ability to match up on a trade was there in the past and there's no reason to think it'll be there in the future.
I don't think the Raiders are going to turn around and give them away for two threes now just because Ryan Poles would like them to do that. Pat, I also thought about this, and maybe this is just because I've been thinking about the Max Crosby trade for way too long, but I wonder if the NFL was a little more ready to let him stay with Las Vegas because he's on a bad team.
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Chapter 4: How did Ryan Poles assess the team's current defensive strategy?
So if he was on a contending team or a team that was maybe even close, with the addition of a quarterback and you've got the first overall pick, that they would threaten or something along those lines. Maybe they would have been a little more quick to try to trade, knowing that they would be taking away a player from a competition. Even like a Cowboys-Packers situation.
Say the Raiders were as good as the Packers, or the Cowboys in this scenario. I wonder if maybe that would have caused a team to want to trade for him. Yeah, well, and if the Raiders were as good as the Packers or the Cowboys, Max Crosby would probably want to continue playing for them.
I know that some of his issues, at least reportedly, have been with some of the people inside of the Raiders facility. But this is a guy who just wants to win. And I would keep this in mind. You know, the next... The next, I guess, the next target date that you could watch if you think he's going to get traded is going to be the draft. But remember, Khalil Mack was traded on Labor Day weekend.
I could tell you exactly where I was on Labor Day weekend when it happened. You know, when the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons last year, that was, I believe, on Labor Day weekend. there's a world where Max Crosby stays exactly where he is and tweets about how much he loves the Raiders. And then, you know, two weeks before the season starts can be on the move. I think that that's possible.
And until he comes out and says explicitly, that he is going to play for the Raiders in 2026. I continue to think of that as at least having a chance. And what he posted on social media the other day didn't do that for me.
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Chapter 5: Why did the Bears prioritize speed and physicality in their player acquisitions?
For all I know, that post on social media was telling the world that his knee was okay and maybe doing the Raiders a solid by helping the Raiders try to gain a little bit more leverage after they lost it this week. No doubt. That is the voice of Patrick Finley, Bears beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grody.
What do you think about the Drew Dolman explanation, which was, for the benefit of our listeners, was very little, called it, it kind of popped up on us or pop up on us, but he wouldn't go into any kind of depth on Drew Dolman. Where do things stand with you on that? What we might or might not ever find out? What did you think about that?
And knowing Drew Dahlman, I don't think we're going to get a long explanation.
Chapter 6: What factors influenced the Bears' decision to let go of Kevin Byard?
He is not the type to do that. And if this is really a personal decision, you know, his bosses know it. I'm not sure that he owes it to the rest of the world unless he wants to give it. Polls, I found it interesting that polls said very early, I'm not going to get into this. But I'll tell you what. They did a good job pivoting. They really did. I think it's my favorite move of theirs.
When you look around the league and see that the Raiders made Tyler Linderbaum the most expensive center in the history of the world by like $10 million or whatever it was. And then what Conor McGovern got to stay in Buffalo. Boy, you get the center for a team that played in the Super Bowl last year that started every game that was there and helped Drake May turn into Drake May.
You get him for like a $5.7 million cap hit and a 20-27-5. Like that's a 20-27 fifth round pick is like a sixth round pick. This year? Like, that's change you find in the couch, man. I thought that they were really smart to do that. I don't think it solves the problem long, long term. But boy, it would have been really easy to panic and do something drastic.
And I give them credit for finding the deal that they did. I actually also was just, I enjoyed the Garrett Bradbury press conference and his availability to you guys. I thought he was really insightful, answered a lot of questions. And you can tell that his time with Joe Tooney at North Carolina State really meant a lot to him, Patrick.
Yeah, he won the Good Guy Award, by the way, in New England last year, which is the award that the PFWA chapters give to the guys who are the most helpful to the local media core. So we lose a good guy in Kevin Byard, which is heartbreaking, but we gain a good guy in Garrett Bradbury.
Yeah, I thought that the best line he had maybe all day, and he had a lot of them, was that he was talking about Tooney, and he said, I can't believe two different teams let him walk out the door. Huh? Yeah, he's darn right. I mean, he's a Hall of Famer. Caleb Williams, I think on the Crosby podcast, called him the best left guard ever, something like that.
Yeah, that might be overstating it a little bit, but boy, he is a professional. Where would the Bears be without Joe Tooney? Also, I enjoyed him being asked about what Avenger he would be. Phil Thompson did a nice job with that question. And Bradbury. Bradbury didn't want to ascribe himself a character, did he? No, he didn't. He was funny. He said a couple of different times, no comparing.
I think he was cautious of – he knew he was going to be asked about Drake May and Caleb Williams. He knew he was going to be asked about the Patriots turnaround and what the Bears were able to do. He knew he was going to be asked about Mike Vrabel compared to –
to Ben Johnson, and he really caught himself a couple of times and said, like, we don't, like, comparing is, I think he said comparing is lame, I think was the line. And then there at the very end, he said that Ben Johnson reminded him of Mike Vrabel. And I think that's a compliment. I think so. Hey, while we're doing the fun stuff, I got some quick hits for you.
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