Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Should the Bears have gone for 2 and the win against the Rams?
20 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What emotions did fans feel after the Bears' playoff loss?
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. And I feel like there was so much yesterday. Holiday, too, so thanks to everybody for calling in. Maybe you slept in a little late yesterday and hung out with us instead. Just the emotion and understanding that the ride has come to an end of the 2025 Bears season. and they got so, so close, so close, as we know.
Do you feel any different about it today? Is there anything where maybe you were still very fired up after the game that ended later than usual on Sunday night? You're watching postgame, you wake up, you still feel very strongly about the Bears, and then a day later, Are you looking at things any differently?
Chapter 2: What decisions were made during the Bears vs. Rams game?
We had so much to talk about after the Bears had their locker clean-out interviews, their exit interviews not just with the team and themselves but with the media as well yesterday. Today's a different story, and we're still parsing through some of the decisions that were made during the game. After you had the initial reaction to...
The magic running out after you had the reaction to, yes, there were three interceptions thrown, but we know at this juncture in time, you can't put an interception all on one player in these cases. We saw how that unfolded.
We discussed what happened on that final possible play, the cam curl interception that ended effectively the Bears season because the field goal was kicked for the Rams to win after that. So then there's also the discussion nationally now that we're seeing as well. How do you feel a day after Marshall?
Are you any different about the thoughts and the thought processes and decisions that were made in that game?
No, I think as far as Ben Johnson deciding he was going to go for it early on fourth down before he knew what type of game it truly was going to be in those weather conditions, I don't have a problem with that. That's who he is. I thought he adjusted nicely as the game went on, and the defense proved, well...
There's going to be a defensive effort from the Bears, unlike really any we had seen all season long. That was their best defensive game of the year, against the best offense in football. Not to say that Sean McVay was at his best, because he was not, and there's countless examples of that.
But as far as Ben Johnson, his decision-making, I thought it was sound, all the way to even deciding he wasn't going to go for two when they scored what ended up being the game-time touchdown regulation.
And that's become the flashpoint today. I don't feel as passionately about that one. I talked about this yesterday. You know, in the first quarter, when you're leaving points on the board, and when you decide to go for it on fourth down on that first drive, for example, I'm aware that the touchdowns that they scored were also on fourth down tries. But when you're at the 21...
It's okay to take the points. And I know we got a lot of response yesterday. Like somebody said, well, you're not going to beat the Rams kick and field goals. No, but you're not going to beat them getting no points either. So when you realize what you're up against, that's the case. Now I say that because that established the thought process in the game that we saw.
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Chapter 3: Why did the Bears choose to kick the extra point instead of going for two?
about the touchdown that led to overtime. I did not feel that way about what ended up tying the game at 17. I assumed Cairo Santos was going to walk out on that field. The Bears were at home. It made sense at the time, especially after that incredible prayer of a play and the ball that Caleb Williams threw up to Cole Komet. One of the best throws of the year. There's not even a doubt about that.
I didn't think that going for two made a lot of sense there because you're at home, and at that point you can play into overtime knowing your offense is good enough and your defense can get a stop.
And the defense did get a stop to start overtime, and you did get the football, and you were moving down the field in little short chunks like I wanted, and then they decided to go down the field, and that's when things went awry. But no, I agree with you completely. And here's the evidence that I go back to. What Ben Johnson said after the game is exactly how I felt.
But before that, they had not one but two games in the regular season against the Packers. One where Ben Johnson let you know, yes, if we had gotten that touchdown at the end of the game at Lambeau, we were going to go for two. Because at that point, to come all the way back and have all that momentum, it made sense.
On the other side, when they were at home against the Packers, they played for overtime because it also made the most sense from a Ben Johnson standpoint of how his offense and his defense were playing and the fact that the Packers had struggled so much in the second half of that game. It made sense.
And I think this game fell under the same umbrella of that second Packers game, the one that was at Soldier Field, and that it made sense because of the flow of the game. It wasn't like the Rams had been unstoppable going up and down the field. That's not the type of game it was. So I completely agree with the decision not to go for two there.
It didn't cross my mind. The Bears have an analytics department. They've talked about it. It's been quoted in several stories. Harrison Freed is the coach who heads that up for the team. They make decisions. I haven't questioned a lot of their decisions, and so much so that I think last year I assumed Matt Eberflus ignored them whenever he went on his own.
That's how much that I felt like that part of the team was sound. So they do follow their analytics.
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Chapter 4: How did the Bears' defense perform against the Rams?
They do have a discussion about it. And if they've decided to deviate from that, it's been in a way where I hadn't questioned it. So I was pretty surprised when I heard Rex Ryan, the former head coach who has also been in playoff games, say this.
Miracles ran out at the very end. Yeah, but that's why you go for two. Yeah. You would have gone for the two, and that's the truth. 100%. And if I was a bet man, I thought everybody would have said Ben Johnson's going for two. All right, that's who he is. That's who he's been all season. He wasn't the guy he was during the entire season. So to me, no. Are you going to get more momentum?
than what you did by converting a one-in-a-million chance play by a quarterback.
Why do you think that happens in the playoffs to a coach, that he goes against character and goes for the extra point?
Well, I mean, look, if you're playing by the book, right? By the book, it always says when you're the better team, number one, the better team, you make the kick, right? You tie it. When you're at home, you kick it. No way in hell... That's why you don't play that game on a computer or all that type of crap. You go for it. 100%.
Even if you don't make it, every single Bear fan is like, that's who the hell we are. I thought Ben Johnson, absolutely. Why did you tighten up? Why?
Okay, that's Rex Ryan on Get Up on ESPN. The thing is, this isn't a movie. And even in Rex describing his thought process, you see where the emotion starts to overtake him. The whole point of having other staff members and other people, and frankly, yes, computer models. And so that way you can take the emotion out of it. I'm not telling you not to feel.
I'm telling you to understand that your feelings don't outweigh an algorithm. You got to quantify it all. And that's why I was kind of surprised to hear how much this has started to really rise up in the discussion surrounding Bears and Rams and who should be part of that NFC championship game.
My issue with this was the way he went to the resume of Ben Johnson for this season and said, that's who he is. I was like, no, I just gave you an example. The last Packers game, when they come back and tie the game at the end of the game, and he does not go for two. That is not who he is. He's more analytics-based than anything else, I would argue, like Ben Johnson and his character.
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Chapter 5: What were the implications of the Bears' final offensive play?
early yeah so when that happened that was the Bears first drive defense has not been on the field yet and so he doesn't know all he can go by is I know how my defense has started games over the last let's say month right and it hasn't been good because even when you look at what they were able to do in the win against the Packers in the playoffs that was a second half effort from the defense I
Absolutely.
You don't know if that's going to carry over against a much more dynamic offense in the Rams. Again, let the league not only score, but also total yards. And Matt Stafford is a frontrunner for MVP. So understanding that. And you have the ball first. I understood why he went for it. Did I want him to kick the field goal? Sure. But I can understand the decision. You know what I really wanted?
I want to run with Modunze to catch the ball. That's what I wanted. Because then we're not having that type of discussion. Your team goes on the field defensively for the first time with a 7-0 lead, which if you remember in the never-heard-of-before thing that we do, Keys to the Game, my key was just get a lead. Just get a lead.
You did say just get a lead. And the Bears practically got that because the game was tied at 10 at the half. At one point, they led 10-7. Sexy. But it was different. And we'll talk about Rome a little bit in our 125 segment. He had a very candid interview talking after the locker cleanout that we mentioned. So that's at 125.
But we say all of that to understand, and maybe we're in town, I wouldn't say stupid, we're just in town in lockstep when it came to understanding why Carlos Santos came out there at that point, in that point in the game. Ben Johnson, if you remember, said this when asked about the possibility of going for too late.
Did you give much consideration to going for too late? Thought about it, yeah. Thought about it. Probably what played a little bit of a factor was You know, our goal to go situations hadn't gone very clean. Our inside the five plan hadn't worked out quite like we had hoped. And so I just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime.
All of that made sense to me. And frankly, it made sense when he wanted to go for two in the first game against the Packers. When the idea was throw for the touchdown and then go for two. At that point, the game flow, in my opinion, dictated that that was the likely possibility. But for whatever reason, I was like, all right, Kairos Santos is coming out now, get the PAT.
Didn't even think twice about it.
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Chapter 6: How does analytics influence coaching decisions in the NFL?
So that's why I'm kind of like, maybe shotgun wasn't the best call. And so many of them, so many. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score. You just heard Rex Ryan, so thanks to ESPN and GetUp for that content. This is Marshall Harris. I'm Layla Rahimi.
Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Buterbaugh, Britton Fryer helps us out, as well as we broadcast live from The Score's Hyundai Studios, brought to you by... your local Hyundai dealers. We mentioned it. We will take your calls at 1045 if you got a bear's thought that maybe you were marinating on after yesterday. 312-644-6767 is our number.
A lot of good points being made on our text line right now, as well as, of course, on Twitch. Twitch.tv slash Chicago 670. The score, that is where our Twitch mob... And our Twitch chat hangs out. It's a show within a show. And we're on YouTube. YouTube at 670thescore is our address there. Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis are our video team. Now, we mentioned this earlier.
They were a bit of an unheralded hero. But when we can give the Bears defense some love, starting from the very front seven, we should be able to do so. So we will do that next.