Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Patrick Mannelly on Bears-Packers wild-card game: 'Anything can happen'
06 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Bears-Packers wild-card game?
We talk to Patrick Manley every Tuesday during the football season. At this time, he joins us via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today. Patrick Manley, the longest tenured bear. He is also a part of our pre- and post-game coverage on our football Sundays, and he watches every game that we care about because he's good like that.
Patrick, thanks for joining us today.
It's good to talk to you guys and it's actually fun to talk about a game this week and not talk about coaching searches and a draft pick and all that kind of crap.
It absolutely is fun to not talk about that crap because I don't care about it right now either. We had a heated debate earlier on the show talking about Ben Johnson's comments saying that he's simply focused right now on his defense not giving up the points. Where do you stand on this?
I just feel like he needs ā he feels like he has to outscore his opponent. And I think that 49ers game kind of summed it up. I think he knows what he has defensively right now. You know, they show they cannot get after the quarterback. They're struggling with man-to-man. And if they don't get the turnovers, they struggle.
And I'm just hoping that turnover machine, whatever they had, that magic stuff they had going on in the middle of the season, comes back. Because if they do, I think they can go on a run. But I just think he realistically looks at this team and understands that this defense ā It's not good. They've had a lot of injuries, and they haven't performed up to the level.
Montez Sweat is not performing up to a $100 million contract. They've had a lot of injuries, of course, and Kyler Gordon, hopefully he comes back and helps. But again, I just think he's trying to say, hey, I've got to outscore him. I've brought here to score points, and let's go.
This segment with Patrick Manley is sponsored by Packy Webb Ford. Patrick, let's be honest. If we wanted to load up all the good players on defense into that El Camino of yours, you'd have plenty of room left over. Listen, can we all just accept it is what it is? I don't understand how we're here to the playoffs. I mean, 17 games have been played, and we aren't all on the same page.
It does have to be the offense if they're going to advance in the playoffs.
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Chapter 2: How does Patrick Mannelly assess the Bears' defense ahead of the game?
It's exciting to say that about the Chicago Bears. And, you know, Dennis Allen has a tough job. He has a real tough job with a lot of injuries, but they're just not the strength of this team. And again, it just has to be the takeaway machine, the turnovers, whatever you want to call it. If they can get those things going again, we'll be OK. But that's not a given.
I think it's kind of shown that that was a nice little streak they were on. Al Harris talks about it. We should get them every week. Sure, but it's not happening the last few weeks. And I'm nervous about that. I'm very nervous about that. Just because this, guys, you go into that last week.
And you expect the Bears to kind of take care of business against the depleted Lions team, and they didn't. They didn't show up offensively. They obviously didn't show up defensively. They did in the red zone, I will say that. They didn't allow them to score points, but it didn't look good in between the 20s.
So this makes you nervous going into the playoffs where you thought a game against the Lions. You know, like, all right, let's build our confidence. Let's get going. Let's execute, not make mistakes, step up our game on defense and be ready for this run. And I just finished that game being a little more nervous than I thought I would be.
All right, this is driving me crazy. First of all, Pat, we're watching Pat on Twitch, and you can join in on Twitch, too, if you like twitch.tv slash Chicago670, the score. Are you wearing a Pat Foley t-shirt, like as in the Blackhawks broadcaster? What does it say?
That's my guy, man.
Pat Foley is a legend. He is a legend. What is your shirt? He is a legend. Oh, it says Pat Foley is a legend. Okay.
Yes, I had him made for him when he had his big retirement thing for the Blackhawks.
Oh, wow.
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Chapter 3: What concerns does Mannelly have about the Bears' offensive performance?
But it is. I forgot I had this on. Pat Foley is a legend.
The voice of success with the Chicago Blackhawks. And hopefully we'll get back on track. But, all right, let's do this, Pat. Let's start to look at Bears and the Green Bay Packers for a third time this season. What's the first thing you're looking at in breaking this game down and getting the Bears to win a playoff game?
Jordan Love has not taken a snap since December 20th. You know, is there rust there? I'm curious about that because it has been a while since the last time he's played was against the Bears. So was there rust there? And you're hoping for that. But then the other part is, guys, that last week, both teams... took week 18 and prepared like it's the preseason.
The Packers rested their starters, but the Bears played like it was the preseason. So I'm nervous about the rest that they have and that they are a lot of veteran players on that team that that rest might be. I think Matt LaFleur made the right decision with that team and resting those guys. They've been there before. they understand what this playoff run is like. So that scares me as well.
But the biggest thing, Grody, is Jordan Love. So does he have rust? Does it take time to knock that rust off? And can the Bears take advantage of that early on and get some of those takeaways? So we'll see what he looks like when he comes back from his injury.
Well, and additionally, Patrick, I feel like when Jordan Love was at his best this season against the Bears, it was recognizing the blitz looks that he was seeing out of the defense. He didn't seem to find it confusing. He had a check down answer practically every time. And that's how they were able to pick apart the defense so well, especially in that first game.
Yeah, and I think Dennis Allen has a... I'm excited to see what he draws up. I think he's seen some of the deficiencies with this defense playing as much man-to-man and blitzing as much as he has. The second game against the Packers, he didn't bring as much. And they were a little better. Obviously, they were really good in the red zone. I think 0-5 in the red zone for the Packers.
It will be interesting to see what he dials up and kind of figures out if C.J. Gardner-Johnson can't go, who fills in for him. Can Kyler Gordon come in and play as much as we hope and be as healthy as we hope? But I just want to see his game plan going against Matt LaFleur and what he does against Jordan Love just because he's shown what he did against Kyle Shanahan didn't work.
You know, they targeted Nashawn Wright, which is scaring me right now late in the season that Teams have all this film on a player who had a great year and calls all those takeaways, but is really struggling one-on-one. And we saw that last week as well against the Lions.
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Chapter 4: How might Jordan Love's absence affect the Packers' game strategy?
Yeah, it's crazy. I heard that with Mike Florio this morning, and that is true, because it's the seventh seed, but they've been the seventh seed every year. Is he doing a good enough job, and what is it like at Halsall, up there at Lambeau right now? I don't know, and he could be, but... The four-game losing streak is tough, but they have enough guys who have been in this position before.
Again, I said that earlier. That's what scares me a little bit. It's a different animal this week. This preparation is different. Your mindset is different. Everything is different, and they've been there before. So it's great the young guys from the Bears are going through it, but that's what scares me a little bit and gives the Packers a little bit of an edge. They've been there before.
They've run out that tunnel before. and embrace these games before and know what it's going to be like, that it is turned up quite a bit. People talk, you go from preseason to the regular season, everything turns up. Well, it double turns up from the regular season to the playoffs. That intensity and everything like that is definitely turned up.
But there is one thing I do want to say about last week's game. I don't want to get this out there. Ben Johnson came to the podium when he got hired. He said, I want guys to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Well, I think they've learned how to do that.
And I think this week at Hallis Hall, after that loss and after that press conference and his demeanor and the way he talked, guys are going to be extremely uncomfortable at Hallis Hall. And I find that a good thing. I don't want them to be comfortable going into this game. I want them to be on top of everything, not being overconfident, and let Ben Johnson be hard and coach the way he does.
And I like that, and I kind of like that going into this week. They are going to be uncomfortable. They walk into that meeting the day after the game against the Lions, and they're like, oh, blank. This is not going to be comfortable with their head down waiting to be coached hard. And I think that's going to pay dividends for this team.
Patrick Manley, we always appreciate your conversation. And before we let you go, there's no better person to talk to about the game last night. Okay, so some are blaming the snap, some are blaming the holder, some are blaming the kicker when it came to the blocked or ultimately blocked field goal that could have helped Illinois State. Poor Mark Grody, he's taken the surrender Cobra position.
So how do you feel about the apparatus of the special teams last night for the Redbirds?
As a person who's been with those units, everybody takes blame. But as a coach, I'll coach it. The snap was not good. If that was me, I would be upset. I would be disappointed. I thought the holder did as well as he could. The kicker, that's tough. I think he, a lot of times when that happens, that's happened before.
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Chapter 5: What strategies will the Bears employ to exploit the Packers' weaknesses?
Hey, not everybody can do it.
Should they have gone for it? Because the quarterback wanted it so bad.
Yes, if I'm a coach, knowing that I have an issue with the operation there, yes. But it is something so simple that you can do in high school. But again, pressure bus pipes, as they say, and all that stuff. Yeah. It's difficult. It was so hard to watch, man. My head just went down and I just felt for him and felt for his family and felt for the Illinois State because they had it won.
The big comeback to come back and do what they did. It's just difficult to see when you you have something so simple you see every week in and out. High school, college and pros executed flawlessly to come down to that. It's just it was unfortunate.
heartbreaking and then also we just didn't know who was responsible there like that that was unfortunately the snap needs to be better i mean that's if you're coaching it the snap has to be better he will never be nicknamed snappy yeah yeah did you hear that did you did you hear what did he say i said he will never be nicknamed snappy he will never earn that nickname that you have been given by me only and me only i thought we weren't gonna use that anymore there brody do you two need to settle this
Oh, man. Oh, we will. Yeah, we will.
I'm going to call in on that special tonight and get on Brody.
We may only ā I mean, think about it. You, me, Olin, and Patrick may only have one more pregame to just cut ā No, we don't. No, we don't. Oh, yeah. You're right.
We've got more. We've got more.
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