Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
You can't count the Bears out of their divisional round game against Rams (Hour 1)
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the key matchups in the Bears-Rams divisional round game?
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The views and opinions of Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks, bye! Rahimi, Harris, and Grody. 10 to 2. On 670 The...
Sean McVeigh, I think it was inevitable that he was going to be asked about this, especially when Stephen A. Smith decided to stoke those flames, saying he had sources. But the circle close to Matt LaFleur doesn't like the way Ben Johnson had treated him.
We watch the tape, we do our work, and Matt is a very close friend of mine.
I'm still trying to draw that circle and figure out who all is inside of it.
It's like that gif from Always Sunny where there's the whole setup. I believe it is Charlie who's got it all mapped out. And there's like post-it notes. Pins. Yeah. Lines to other people and whatnot.
I'm dying to talk about the mail for you all day, okay?
Ben Johnson.
This name keeps coming up over and over again. Every day, Ben Faye's mail is getting sent back to me. Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson. Yeah, look at the mail. Look at this whole box.
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Chapter 2: What strengths does Bears quarterback Caleb Williams bring to the game?
Ben Johnson. So I say to myself, I got to find this guy. Matt LaFleur has a younger brother named Mike LaFleur. Did you know that he coaches in the NFL as well?
You mean to tell me that family members coach in the National Football League?
I just looked through everything as we all should through the Fast and Furious lens. I don't have friends. I got family.
Sean McVay kind of let you know he's team LaFleur, didn't he?
No, because he said, yeah, we're friends. No, he said, he is a very close friend of mine.
He's not necessarily calling him for any insider information.
They're just shooting the breeze. But when you're just shooting the breeze, what do people tend to talk about when they're talking to their very close friends?
Man, can you believe what happened to me on Sunday? It builds like that, right?
Hey, I got more free time to chat right now. I don't know about you. Hi, Sean. It's your close friend, Matt LaFleur. That guy, Ben Johnson, gave me a pity handshake, and I need revenge. Can you handle that for me? Thanks. Love, Matt.
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Chapter 3: How does head coach Ben Johnson describe Caleb Williams' clutch performance?
That is not an actual conversation. That is one realized via Google Translate from Tyler Biederbaugh.
Man, Alexa be helping folks, you know, live out their wildest dreams.
I can't. That's tremendous. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 670 The Score on yet another playoff edition of the show. We love to hear it. A four seasons heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electric football Friday presented by Pottawatomie Casino Hotel and Chicago Roofing Contractors.org. The divisional edition of the Plumbers football Friday.
A four seasons heating and air conditioning football Friday. I can't. I can't with this. Like, I... It's so nice to just be able to be in this space and have another Playoff Preview Friday show.
The important thing is that you can and you will. And we all will. And the excitement for this game on Sunday. And I love that it's the last playoff game. So you already know the other scenarios leading into the game. And it's like, hey, either you're earning a trip to Seattle or... Or you might get to host the NFC Championship game.
And to me, this weekend and the buildup to that Sunday night, are people going to call out? I mean, it's a 530 kick, so maybe people won't be calling out Monday. But if they win that game, there might be a healthy percentage of people just calling out for Monday.
It's a holiday for everybody, Marshall. Not for us. Not for us.
All bets are off. Weter and I were talking about this after the Take the North podcast yesterday. Really, we're trying to wrap our heads around it.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do the Bears face against the Rams' offense?
What if we're talking about the Bears with a chance? To go to the Super Bowl. And I know, like, right now we're all three guilty of looking past. But we're not that far away from that possibility. It is not unrealistic to think that the Chicago Bears can go to the Super Bowl this year.
The Chicago Bears are in the Final Four of the NFC.
Wild!
The Chicago Bears are in the Final Four of the conference this year.
They're in the NFL's Elite Eight, and they have been playing elite football in certain phases of the game. And that's what's got us to this point. And the biggest surprise probably for anybody who's followed the Bears their entire lives is that elite phase is on the offensive side of the ball.
That's it. Yeah, let's... Because it's fun and because it's different, let's establish the fun facts just about today existing yet again. Number one, we get another playoff preview Friday show. Number two, it's the first time we've been able to do this in 15 years because they hadn't won a playoff game since then.
Number three, we're talking about the divisional round, which for this team and the expectations is not only exceeding them, but taking us to places our brains haven't gone before. And number four, they aren't doing it with necessarily the best defense and the most consistent run game right now, although it has been a reason they've gotten here.
It's because of the passing game, the quarterback, and the offense. Glory B.
The fact that we are looking at this game specifically and saying, okay, it's the Rams. They've been mentioned as the best team in football through stretches of the season. They may still be the best team in football. They may still be the Super Bowl favorite in some people's eyes. And understanding they have, bar none, the best offense in all of football.
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Chapter 5: Can the Bears defense contain the Rams' high-powered offense?
It's about Caleb. It's about Caleb. And just for a moment, I let that soak in and just think about my entire career as a Bears fan or one who covers the Bears. That's the first time we've ever said that in my lifetime. In my lifetime. Well, you got the quarterback. If the quarterback can run it up, then you're going to be in good shape.
And it is wholly plausible that Caleb Williams and the Bears offense could put up 30 to 35 points.
Well, and the real question becomes then, because we knew that at some point, if you wanted to survive in the playoffs, you were going to have to have your quarterback win one of these games for you. Doesn't have to win all of them. Doesn't have to win the majority of them.
But somebody had to take the game, put it on his back and take it out there and go win, which is why I asked the question, can you ever count this team out? Can you ever? Even knowing that they're facing far and away the best offense in the National Football League. We've talked a lot about their passing game. Their running game is also quality.
Seventh in rushing in the league.
People forget that, Layla. And they base that passing game off of the run. And you know that because that's what we've seen this offense do largely. So when you consider that, when you understand the dragon that is to be slayed in the Los Angeles Rams, who at one point I thought were the best team in the NFL, Not as confident now because of the last, I'd say, six weeks.
Leaky defense.
And unstable special teams. But even then, even then, knowing that your team has a shot, and not just a shot, but a very solid chance to win, and they have the home field advantage against, you know what I say is, I joke about the Rams being the greatest show on turf. They're not the original. But they look like every bit of the offensive juggernaut that they can be.
They had to come back against the Panthers. You can't count the Bears out of this game, no matter what you do.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of home-field advantage for the Bears?
Mark Grody and I learned last week, and really the whole city of Chicago, because there's not a single Chicago Bears fan, if they're being honest with themselves, that didn't think at some point during that game last week, when you're down 21-3 at half, that the Bears were going to come back, based on what they looked like, specifically on defense more so than offense.
Offense was just out here gunning for it every time, fourth down, whatever, our own territory, does not matter. But the recency bias tells you, I just saw them come back from something that looked like it was impossible. Why wouldn't they be able to do that again tomorrow? This week, against what you could argue is a terrible secondary in the Los Angeles Rams.
They are, yeah, 19th against the pass is the Rams' defense. They are 12th against the run. And, look, this is what this whole season has been about. Like, the absolute improbable, like, to your point... Even if you are one of those Bears fans who at the beginning of the season said, yes, the Bears are going to be a winning team. They're going to win 11 games. You didn't have it going like this.
You didn't know. And if there are people out there who were able to track it and say that, then I give you credit. And even the people that picked the Bears to win last week, as Marshall said, you didn't see it going that way.
I picked the Bears to win last week, and I didn't see it going that way. You are the example. I'm sitting in the room with you.
You know what's so fun about this point in the season is I get to bring two things that I've been preaching and I've had to convince you, and I feel like I don't have to convince you about a couple of things anymore. Number one, back to the beginning of the season, more faith in the offense than the defense. No longer have to convince you about that. Number two, Caleb over everything.
Most important person on this team, and if they win, it will be because of him. I don't think I have to convince you of that.
I'm sorry to interrupt you. No, you're good. I was done. But hasn't COE, Caleb over everything, hasn't that
changed a little bit like the definition because it was all about do we at least speaking for me and it was on the intro to our podcast for weeks and weeks and weeks all i was concerned with for this season was do you have a quarterback i don't care about the win-loss record necessarily but it was all about that and i think that's the spirit of the way of what you said right coe at the beginning of the season now it's different right now it's caleb over everything because caleb is the guy that has the power to win the game
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Chapter 7: How do past performances influence expectations for the Bears?
Well, I also think that in the National Football League, in the year of our Lord, 2026, dare I say, going back to, I don't even know.
2000 you have to have a quarterback who can win you a game like period paragraph you have to have that is the most important person and i don't know how many different ways we need to tell you and even tom brady has had to re-explain to people tom brady how important it is to have the infrastructure in place where your head coach and your team can develop quarterbacks see Sam Darnold.
Good talent goes undeveloped all the time, and we don't see the true potential.
So that said, to have the head coach in place while we've gotten to laughing point all week and enjoy the ballet and the dance and whatever you want to call it that is the head coaching searches around the league, and then you know that you're not in that space like this for the first time in a while, and then you also know that
Your head coach can develop a quarterback, and he can have him improve while the team is also trying to win games. This is a space that we have not been able to be in. And the fact that the Bears are doing it, that's what makes this so remarkably different. Even that alone, we could talk about forever, and it's going to be a sharp contrast to what we've seen in years past.
I was going to say, it's also shown while we're at it, They can develop a quarterback. They can develop a wide receiver. Tight end. They can develop a left tackle. They can develop a tight end, who, by the way, will be featured in Inside the Locker Room a little bit later on. Colston Loveland will be a part of that, and he was really good yesterday.
Inside the Locker Room is at 125 today on Rahimi Harrison-Garoti. RHG if you need a shortener.
I think what's more important than us necessarily believing what the Bears are capable of on a football field, and to counter Layla's point about you need a quarterback to win a game. No, no, no. You need this quarterback to win you all the games the way this is laid out. I can't see them being in a situation where it's not Caleb leading them to victory.
Now, if the run game shows back up at some point, then that's a different discussion. But what they've looked like in the last month or so, it's going to be squarely on Caleb to lead them. I think. I think.
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Chapter 8: What does the team need to do to secure a win in the playoffs?
But the fact that we're like, okay, yeah, left tackle, one of the most important spots in the league. And we're like, yeah, okay, we understand, you know, like the preferred left tackle won't be available. I worry about Ozzie Trapillo's long-term health. That's not the topic for today's show. But the fact that they've been able to withstand that, and we're discussing it in this way.
Like, Mark, I don't know if that came up a lot while you were at Hollis Hall, but... the way that we're able to just absorb it is a sign of success for this team.
Yeah, I mean, you think about, and that starts with the guy that's next to the left tackle, and that would be Joe Tooney. I mean, to have that... MVP. Yeah. MVP. I mean, when you have that guy and you have willing helpers like Cole Komet and Colston Loveland and maybe even an extra offensive lineman, the Bears have done a good job of, to some degree, covering up
the deficiencies, like the one-on-one deficiencies that may still exist with Ozzie Trapillo and or Theo Bennett. They are not perfect products yet, and they have gotten a decent amount of help, but that's the way you do it.
That's what we've been begging for and wanting is just to see a representative offensive line that even if there is a weak link, and I don't even know if I want to go that far in calling the left tackle position a weak link, it just needs a little extra help, and the Bears have done a terrific job in making sure that that occurs.
I also want to point this out, though. As much as we've talked about guys, quote, taking care of their 111th, end quote, when you have an offensive line that is as good as the Bears, guard, center guard, and right tackle, they're doing more than their 111th. And that's why it's okay. Yeah. for left tackle to be in flux like this.
A little help. It's a little help. That's okay. And I'm not saying these guys can't hold their own either. Many examples where whomever the left tackle has been this year, they're holding their own.
But it's also okay to say, okay, you've got one guy in Theo Benedet who came from British Columbia and never played in an NFL game, comes in and thrives in Ozzie Trapillo, who we sort of left for dead at the beginning of the season. Yeah, they need a little bit of help, but that's okay.
I think to your point, Just in a how-did-we-get-here type of scenario, which is what we're looking at now, when they go back and look, I mean, do you remember the conversations we were having about the left tackle position, about how Ben Johnson effectively said nobody was grabbing the job by the horns and holding on to it?
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