Die-Hard Cub Fan & NFL Pro: Tim Grunhard’s Unique Chicago Cubs Perspective

Die-Hard Cub Fan & NFL Pro: Tim Grunhard’s Unique Chicago Cubs Perspective

We talk 2025 Cubs, a little 26 Cubs, even a little football and baseball with a very special guest coming up next. You are Locked on Cubs, your daily Chicago Cubs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are Locked On Cubs, part of the Locked On Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. We are your team every day. I’m Samurn. I’m a lifelong fan taking my passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. We have a very special guest today, Mr. Tim Grunhard, 20 2021 Chiefs Hall of Honor inductee, 11-year NFL career, 1999 Pro Bowler, 1988 national champion at Notre Dame. But more important than all of that is a diehard Chicago Cub sports fan. Uh Tim currently is doing radio in Kansas City. But, uh, Tim, just talk about real quick your your Cubs roots, how you became a Cub fan, and, uh, you know, you and I have messaged a lot, uh, the last couple years. It’s great to have you on. Yeah, it’s great to be on with you guys. I’m an everydayer. I listen every day from the streets of Kansas City to the beaches of Florida uh, in January, February, and March. My wife is thinks I’m crazy as I bring my little speaker down and I get you guys on the beach. People are walking down the beach and they’re hearing people talking about the Chicago Cubs. But that’s what that’s how I roll. I’m a huge huge Cub fan. Uh really started watching the Cubs in about 197677 when uh you know Rick Russell and Bobby Mercer and and uh uh Steve and George Mwall and I could keep going and and then of course in 1984 uh when the Cubs had their run with Rick Suckliffe who’s a very very good friend of mine was my neighbor for a long time when I lived in a different part of Kansas City. In fact, I used to stalk him, Sam. I would watch him because I was I was so nervous to talk to him. He would the Red Baron. Are you kidding me? Right. Uh so, uh he he would uh pull into his house and I’ I’d kind of drive by and watch him kind of unpack after the offseason and finally I ran into him somewhere and we became really good friends and uh the rest is history. But yeah, huge Cub fan. Uh grew up on the south side of Chicago. uh which you know you had to fight for your for your your fan fandom in the southside and uh you know my uncle uh was in charge of security at White Sox Park. My dad was Chicago policeman and they for some reason my dad picked the Cubs and he picked the Socks and the rest is history. But yeah, I’ve been watching the Cub game. I probably watch 150 games a year. Um it’s just what I do. I I just love the Chicago Cubs and and and and love listening to you guys as an everydayer. So, real quick before we get into Cub stuff, when you became friends with Scliffe, so 84 was before you were an established football football player. What was that? Be a year, your senior year of high school, right? Yeah, I was about my junior year of high school. High school. Yeah. So, I was in my junior year of high school and yeah, this um watching the Cubs and you know, broke my heart when uh the ball went through uh what was his name? The first baseman. I’m drawn. Um uh who was the first baseman for the Cubs? Dur Durham. Durham Leon Durham. Leon Durham. Leon Durham had the ball go between his legs. You know, remember Rick Suckliffe in I think the first or second game hit a couple. He had a homer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t remember it. I wasn’t alive, but I I I was I was told about it a lot. No, it was a great great year for the Cubs and and then of course for the whole uh Bartman game and all those kind of things. Been watching the Cubs, been a suffering Cub fan. But in 2016 was awesome. But yeah, Rick and I became fast friends. Uh he would come to the Chiefs games. I’d go to the Cubs games and and this is later on obviously when uh when he was retired and I was still playing. Uh but we became really good friends. In fact, I talked to him about once or twice a month just about Cub stuff and see how he’s doing. He’s living out in San Diego now and uh he’s going to be doing more Cub games this year. He has some personal things he was dealing with. He didn’t do as many games this year if you probably noticed, but next year he’s going to get back into the fold. So, hey, great Cub great Cub guy. him and Jody Davis and of course Mark Grace was his sidekick and used to hang around Gracie a little bit too. Good good people, great people and and uh you know that that’s why I love listening to you guys because I love to hear the inside. I love to hear what’s going on with Chicago Cubs behind the scenes and kind of the little things and and that’s what’s so important when you’re a Cub fan is you know those little things that you have to hang on to because a lot of times decisions are made by the Chicago Cubs and Tom Ricketts and you’re not quite sure what the hell’s going on but when you listen to you guys you get a good feel. So, thanks for what you guys do. Oh, I appreciate you saying that. Uh, let’s jump into it. So, I I want to talk just I want to talk mostly offseason stuff. I want to talk some some football baseball comparisons because obviously you played uh uh football at the highest level, but what were your thoughts of the 2025 team? Uh um what got you uh uh excited? You know, what what disappointed you? Just, you know, reflect on the season real quick. Well, I love watching the young guys develop, you know, Carl Armstrong and and and you know, of course, Shaw and and then Horton coming in and playing as well as he did. And one of the things we’ll talk about a little bit later here is there’s a thing called the rookie wall, which you hit as a rookie. It doesn’t matter what the sport is. Psychologically, it’s a tough grind to play a whole season, whether it’s the NFL or whether it’s MLB. You know, I know that people consider the MLB MLB a marathon, but the NFL is a marathon also. It’s a long season. Remember, yeah, if you have a bad game on a Sunday, you got to wait a whole week to make up for it. So, it’s a psychological grind. Uh, and I had some help with that. But that it was fun watching the young guys develop. Um, little disappointed with the second half. You know, it started to uh get a little bit ugly in August and September. And then, uh, just, you know, that that that nice series against San Diego, which I thought I was gonna have a heart attack watching games. And then of course we all if you’re a Cub fan you you you you don’t like the Brewers and but you know they hung with the Brewers which is the best team in baseball. So overall good year but you know they’re going to lose Tucker and you know showed us coming back which is a good thing and a bad thing but uh listen uh I’m going to be there for the Cubs and and maybe that’s part of the problem we have Sam to be brilli fans are such dieh hard fans so we’re always going to be a fan. we’re always going to go to the stadium and you know I think Tom knows that. Tom Ricketts knows that. So you know he could just make sure the team is good enough where people are excited about going out to the games but the reality of the Cub brand it’s a bucket list. People want to go to Cub games you from all over the country. I talked to people here in Kansas City. They make weekends out of going to Chicago just to go to Wrigley Field. So the place is always going to be packed. So you know we had to deal with that as a Cub fan and a Cub base. Uh but um as the year went on, you know, I thought that they got tired and both mentally physically. Yeah. Well, let me let me cut you off for a sec because I want to elaborate that because I I think they got tired and I think the young guys, particularly Pete and some of these guys got tired. uh elaborate real quick on the rookie wall and and you know you you kind of hinted at it like when you were a rookie which I I can’t imagine being a rookie offensive lineman in the National Football League, you know, did you have a guy that that kind of helped you get through it and and and was that did the Cubs have a guy? Did you notice any of that? Yeah, I think that uh uh Justin Turner was that guy for the young guys and and you could watch and as you guys watch the games and as we all do, you could see that the young guys were gravitating towards Justin Turner and I had Mike Webster who is a Hall of Fame guy for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He came to Kansas City at the end of his career really just to come as a as a kind of a utility guy to maybe play a little bit of center, maybe play a little bit of guard and he was actually going to get into coaching, which he never really did. But I had him. So, I had a guy I could lean on. And I remember uh hitting what we call the rookie wall. And it happens right around game eight or nine in the NFL. And why do you say game eight or nine? Because if you think about it, you play, this is back when I was playing, you played four preseason games and all of a sudden you got eight or nine games in the NFL and that equals a college football season. Exactly. So, and then you look up and you look at the at the at the schedule and you see, man, we’re only halfway there. And it just wears on you both mentally and physically. And I contend that most rookies struggle. And we saw Pete Crow Armstrong struggle a little bit this year. We saw Shaw struggle. Obviously, he had good and bads. And Horton, you know, he had these injury problems. But the reality is it’s more psychologically draining than physically draining. I mean, you got to be up for every game. You you’ve got to be on your you got to be on your your your best uh uh ability every time you step up to the plate or every time you walk on the mound. And the same thing in the NFL. Once you walk out there, you put your hand on the football and you’re going up against guys like Howy Long and Cortez Kennedy and you know and looking over and seeing Mike Singleary playing the Mike linebacker up against you, a guy that you idolized and had his picture on your wall when you were growing up, right? You know, it’s a it’s a mental drunk grind and you get tired. And u that’s why I thought that Turner did such a really good job this year kind of keeping those guys focused not only by, you know, good advice, but also keeping them loose. And we saw a couple things in the dugout that he did that kind of kept the guys loose a little bit which I thought was cool. Yeah. But that’s so important. So, uh, I thought that he was worth his weight and gold. I get it. He didn’t do as well as we all hoped he would do, you know, coming in. He had a nice home run to win a game for the Cubs, but that was basically it. But you can’t discount what he did for the young guys to try to keep them going as the season progressed. And that’s and that’s stuff we talk about on the show all the time, right? Like that’s that’s not in anybody’s computer, you know? that doesn’t register in the computer, the leadership, the off the- field stuff. Um, all things that aren’t in the the model, if you will, with with all this analytic stuff. And it’s so refreshing, uh, talking to an accomplished professional athlete about these things that that that matter that that aren’t necessarily have to have a metric for. So, um, coming up next, I I want to hear about what you want. What’s your wish list in 2026 uh for this Cubs team to get to that next level? More with Tim coming up next. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. The NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. 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Thank you for making Lockdown Cubs your first listener of the day and thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. We are back here with Tim Grunhard, former NFL center pro bowler, national champion at college. Uh I want to ask him some of that that stuff uh at the end. Uh Tim, as a as a 5 foot 11, 160 pound uh uh uh young adult, I don’t think center was ever really for me or football in general, but uh you know, a lot of respect to you and a lot of admiration for you to be able to uh to do that stuff. All right, 2026 Cubs. Well, well, give me give me some of your give me your two biggest needs and and if you want to throw out a specific player, I’m here for it. Let’s see. Let’s hear about it. Yeah, you probably better with me if it’s the specific players that are are available. But sure, I think number one, uh, I’d like to see the go out and get another starting pitcher. I I know that King is one of the guys everybody’s been talking about. I do have a little bit of a connection with a guy here in Kansas City, who works for ESPN that you and I will sometimes Yes. Uh, u use a little bit of his knowledge and he says Chicago Cubs really like him. Uh, King, this we’re talking about. Um and and remember they signed Boyd who is a very similar kind of guy you know as far as injury-wise a guy that’s coming off injuries a guy just still wants to go out and prove himself I think you know king and um uh you know with with his injuries and then Boyd kind of had the same thing you know he he’s coming off of a a year where he had some injuries and came back and I remember on December 2nd last year is when they signed Boyd and we were all kind of excited about it, but we thought there may be a bigger splash. I think King may be the guy that they get this year. I’d like to see them also go get a guy who can hit left-handed pitching. I think that that’s something that they certainly and and I like what you guys have been talking about and I get it. You know, in Wrigley Field, the way it’s been been playing over the last four or five years to hit the ball out in right center is almost impossible. So, I want to get crazy. Yeah, it it used to be guys. I mean, I’m telling you, back, you know, when I was going to the games in the in the late 70s and 80s, even in the 90s, the ball was flying out of that park. And now, for some reason, just the way it, you know, it’s set up now with the wind, it seems like it’s blowing in all the time. So, a contact hitter. Nico her is a perfect guy for the Chicago Cubs. He’s one of my favorite players because, you know, when he gets up to the plate that he’s got a plan, he’s got an idea what he wants to do, and he puts the ball in play. You can’t have a guy going up there that’s going to look at a couple pitches and then swinging a ball. Nothing drives me more crazy when Chicago Cup B uh batters go up to the plate and they look at a pitch for the first pitch and then they let it go and then they foul one off and then they swing at a crappy pitch. So, I I I want to watch uh the Chicago Cubs bring in a guy who can get some good contact. Now, listen, I’m a huge Schwarberg guy. I’ve been a Schwarberg guy for a long long time. He would be great to come back to the Cubs. Uh I get it. If they can’t get him, they can’t afford him. I I you know I think they can but whether they will or not but there’s my wishes and then of course you’re going to have to fill the bullpen up again and and we’ll see what they do with that but I think if Paul comes back I think the bar has a chance of coming back and uh I think the Cubs will find figure out a way to put some good guys in the bullpen but they need another starter. They need a guy that they can rely on and I like what you guys been talking about all week about a six-man rotation. I think in this day and age, this the way of injuries and everything else, a six-man rotation is the way to go to at least for a part of the year to keep guys fresh. When you have a guy like Steel coming back off of injury and Horton, who they’re probably going to limit even next year as a younger player, I think you need to have a solid number one starter. I I I have nothing to add. Those are everything that we’ve covered. I I want to ask you real quick before we talk a little football baseball together. you have a really good perspective and and you hinted at it earlier. I want to formally ask you about it. I think a lot of Cub fans uh when the off season hits and you look up and they’re 10th, 11th, 12th in payroll have this this kind of pushpull of like, well, are we part of the problem, but we’re also this is this is our life. This is this is how we were raised. This is our blood. I mean, I think you might be the the perfect example of somebody that, you know, has accomplished great things in different cities. I mean, you’re now really associated with with Kansas City and the Chiefs, but no matter what, you still come back to the Chicago Cubs. Um, talk about how you personally when when you get frustrated, like you just said, well, maybe they come out and they they and I’m putting quotes for the audio people out there, can’t afford Schwarber. How do you balance the frustration sometimes with the payroll, but also just saying, you know what, this is still who I am, and no matter what, they’re they’re going to have my attention. You know, it’s a blessing and a curse to be a Cub fan. We all know that. And the blessing is that you have the opportunity to watch uh the Chicago Cubs, a team that you probably grew up with. Most Cub fans are guys that and gals that they grew up, their parents were Cub fans, their grandparents were Cub fans. U it’s kind of in us. It’s embred in us. It’s what we do. It’s what we do in the summer. It’s it’s part of the the routine for me is every evening sitting down and putting my feet up and watching a Chicago Cup game. It gets frustrating when when you know that the Cubs have the opportunity like the Yankees and like the Mets and like the Dodgers and and like the Phillies to go out and spend some money and do that and they don’t. And I think once kind of like what I talked about a little bit earlier, I think the Cubs brand is so strong and and it’s such a a iconic brand that it kind of feeds on itself and and you know it’s almost like hey we know that they’re going to be there like this and I’m not saying anything about the Kansas City Royals but you know in August and September if the Royals aren’t doing good there’s there’s a hund there’s 10 10,000 people in the stands. You know, you look in Chicago and the Cubs aren’t doing that great. You still got 3540,000 people going to the games and that that’s just kind of what we have to live with. But it’s frustrating. I, you know, listen, I get it. You know, Tom Ricketts is trying to make money and he’s got investors that make money. U some some guys don’t consider that a big priority. They want to win. It’s part of that that they whether it’s a psyche that they have. Now, remember we talked you guys well you guys talked about I didn’t talk about we talked about Otani back in the day. It cost basically $700 million to bring Otani in into uh LA. But remember, right after that was done, they just about doubled that with a media deal in Japan. So they made about3 $400 million on that deal just signing that guy. That’s the kind of stuff that the Cubs have got to start to do. Yeah. And and and so much of the money was deferred anyway. It wasn’t even worth all that. So yeah, I was talking to Sut and he’s like, “Hey, listen. He doesn’t want to pay taxes in California, so he’s pushing all that back. So, he’ll move back to Japan and take all the money that he’s getting, which you don’t blame the guy, but the reality is, yeah, I know we got the CBA coming up here next year and and that’s why there’s going to be a lot of one-year contracts going up with all this, but but the reality is, guys, that u you know, the Cubs have got to get out of their comfort zone. You said it just a couple days ago talking about comfort zone. That’s how you grow as a football player, as a baseball player, as an owner, as anything you do in life. Getting out of your comfort zone is the only way you can grow. And I want to see the Cubs get out of their comfort zone one of this time, one of these times, and give us an opportunity to root for a world champion. And I’m going to get out of my comfort zone uh coming up next, talking uh a little football uh uh uh with Tim. We talk a little Chiefs, Bears, football, baseball. We’re going to do that all next. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Speaking of a team that meet needs to make a late push, the the team of the 2020s, the Kansas City Chiefs, Tim’s team has a must-win game on Sunday against the first place Indianapolis Colts. The Chiefs are minus three and a half. I will be taking Kansas City in that game. I still trust Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid to find a way to make a run here late. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel. the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, we’re back here with Tim Grunhard on Locked On Cubs. And thank you to the all the everydayers uh out there that support us. You can become a locked on Cubs every day or by joining us for every episode throughout the week. All right, before we get into uh some Chief stuff, um I want you to just talk about like you said, you talked a little bit about it earlier, you played 16 game seasons in the NFL, 162 game season of baseball. Obviously, way different when it comes to the to the part of the game, but but compare and contrast a little bit like the the the psychological element of a of a marathon season versus a football season. And maybe it’s not that different than than we think. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think the number one thing is just, you know, injuries. Obviously in football, you know, you start out basically on on Monday and you’re feeling like you just got hit by a truck and you’re working your way through the week and then when you get to Saturday, hopefully you’re about 70% and then you start the whole process over. So it it’s a grind physically. Uh mentally it’s a grind because if you don’t have a good game on a Sunday, you got to wait basically a whole week to go and and reprove yourself, which is a hard thing to do. Sure. Uh but in in baseball, you know, you have you go 0 for four, 0 for five, you got enough, you can go back out there the next day. The problem with baseball is is you can get in those ruts and you just keep going and going and going and you can’t get out of it. And we’ve seen that a little bit with some of the Cubs this year. But like, you know, I always say that, you know, one baseball g equals like 10 baseball games. So, you know, um you you have to find a way to limit the damage. You got to find a way to get yourself out of those those ruts, out of those slumps, out of those issues you’re having. And in football, you could do it by practice. In baseball, you got to do it by playing. So, I think that’s the biggest difference. And and you know, when you’re out there practicing, you don’t have everybody watching. Now, you have an eye in the sky of the video camera because they video camera a videotape every practice and you watch every step, every rep, everything you do, and you’re being criticized for that. But you’re not on TV where everybody’s watching. So it is a difficult thing in baseball to kind of get out of those ruts. So I think that’s the major difference. I think too what I would add that’s interesting to me especially talking to you is in football with baseball every player so pitcher and every position player when they make a mistake you see it and when they do something really good you see it. Whereas in your profession you could have a really really good game and the odds are nobody’s really going to talk about it right. I mean, you know, the the only time you’re going to get talked about for the most part, at least they have better numbers for it now with analytics and stuff, but back when you played, you know, if you move early, you know, you miss a block, you have a bad snap, whatever it is. Um, you only kind of get talked about as an offensive lineman when you’re struggling. Talk about just just that part of it. Uh, you know, when you were playing because that that can’t be that fun like like you probably got to tell your buddies, hey, I had a good game. Yeah, I had a good game, but I did have that holding call on uh you know on that touchdown pass, right? Which, you know, I’ve had a couple of those and that might be the worst feeling in sport that you know, somebody the quarterback steps back, throws a great ball, the wide receiver makes a nice catch in the end zone, gets two feet in, and all of a sudden there’s a flag coming holding number 61. Nothing worse than that. So, yeah, that that was a challenge. It certainly was a challenge. But you know, the the cool thing about, you know, kind of getting into the Chicago Bears, I want to mention one guy that I thought was a huge signing for you guys coming, Joe Tuni. Joe Tuni is a pro. That guy knows how to win. When he was here in Kansas City, he was the glue that kept that offensive line together. When he went to Chicago, I knew that the Chicago Bears were going to be better, especially up front, just with his presence, his leadership, and what he does on the football field. Now, Ben Johnson’s a great coach. I love him. He’s an old school coach. After wins, he’s in a bad mood. I love that. That That’s what a football coach is like. But Caleb Williams, you guys, we’re talking about that rookie wall. Last year, he hit that rookie wall. It hit it hard. This year, he’s doing better. I think it’s a little bit of Ben Johnson. It’s a little bit of better offensive line. But getting into the psychological part, and it kind of proves our point that he’s kind of been through the rigors of a whole NFL season, knows what to expect, and knows how to go about his business. And you’re seeing that uh play out. I’m glad he’s having even though he’s a USC guy and I can’t stand USFC guys. All right. I’m glad he’s having a good year. It’s been great for the Chicago Bears and I love that they what they’re seven and three now. This outstanding. They’re seven and three and the Chiefs are five and five. And my guess would be if the Bears and Chiefs met on a neutral field, the Chiefs would be favored by at least four and a half, five and a half, maybe even more than that. Um here’s my hot take uh on the Chiefs. Then I just want to ask you a couple questions about your career because I’m fascinated by it. Uh my hot take is I if you were to tell me I had to pick a team to come out of the AFC, I’d still pick Kansas City. I still would. I I think that you know they right now are are seeing what I I call it’s it’s it’s over reggression. They they strug they they won every one game last year and now it’s becoming ridiculous. Uh some of the games they lost, they had the fluky pick six against the Jags that Mahomes never makes that throw. Um, I I thought they should have won the Denver game. They’re five and five. They’re probably not going to win the division, but you know, I if they get in as a 67 seed, they’re going to open, I’m sure, uh, uh, very comfortable. No, with no disrespect to to Denver, Indianapolis, or uh, it would be New England, one of those teams on the road. I still think the pass there to make a deep run. Do you agree? Yeah, I do. I mean, if they get invited to the dance, if they make the playoffs, if they’re going to make a run, they showed that a couple years ago when they had to go on the road all the way through the playoffs and get to the Super Bowl. Listen, I think Patrick Mahomes is pressing a little bit. I think he needs to relax. I think he’s made some throws. He’s trying to make too many plays. Uh, defensively, they got to find some pressure with their front four. They haven’t been able to do that. But overall, listen, if they got to win five out of the next seven, six out of the next seven would be great. Definitely get them in. five out of next seven with tie breakers and everything else. We’ll see what happens. But they get in, that’s a dangerous team because they know what it takes to win. And listen, look at the Dodgers this year. There was a couple month and a half, two months where the Dodgers were horrendous. And when they’re playing the Brewers and losing the Brewers, you know, six times. Yeah. I mean, I I was like, you know, great comparison. Give us a break here. But once they got in, they have a bunch of guys who’ve been there. They know how to do it. they trust in themselves and and and they’ve had the opportunity to go all the way and I think that’s what makes the the Chiefs dangerous just like it made the Dodgers dangerous when they got to the playoffs. Yeah, it’s a it’s a great comparison. I think they’re going to go um 11 and six. Uh I feel pretty good about that prediction. Um you you had a a really successful career. You you you know played for you know famous you know played for a famous coach like Lou Holtz. You you me you name dropped some guys. Is there one nugget from your career, whether it was winning a national title, going up against a certain player, playing with a certain guy that you want to share with the audience, the people like myself that have never played pro sports, that was just like, man, this is I I’ll never forget this. One of the reasons why you bring in a superstar like we we did with with with uh uh Tucker this year, we’re hoping that he would bring that winning attitude and understanding and be that difference maker. When I played with Joe Montana for the the two years I played with Joe here in Kansas City, the guy just expected to win. And one of the most famous Monday night football games was the Denver Broncos against the the the Kansas City Chiefs. We could never win up there. We always lost. Joe Montana walked into that huddle and looked at us said, “Guys, you give me some time, we’re going to win this football game because that’s what I do.” And we believed him and we went down and did it. And you know, I talk he is by far the definition of being a winner. And that’s the kind of guys you got to bring into the locker room. The guys that bring into the clubhouse are winners. So I would like them to get Schwarberg, not only because he’s he he he’s a big hitter, but the guy knows how to win. The guy’s a winner. He’s a winning personality both on and off the field. That’s the guy I want them to bring in because he’s going to bring so many intangibles to this this baseball team. And they’ve got to do something. They’ve got to prove to the guys in that clubhouse that, hey, we do want to win. I have to we have to bring in one superstar. That’s what the Chiefs did when they brought in Joe Montana. Unfortunately, we lost an AFC Championship, but the reality is that Joe Montana made a big difference in the years he was here in Kansas City. I totally forgot that you snapped the ball to Joe Montana. So, what was that? So, that was so that was when Steve Young took over in San Fran. So, it’s mid90s. Are we talking here? Yeah, it was 92, 93, and and into 94, I believe. Yep. And who did you guys lose to in the AFC title game? The Buffalo Bills. Joe got he got knocked out uh in the middle of the second quarter, and the rest was history. But that was one of the the one of the four years in a row they lost in the Super Bowl. Yep. Absolutely. Wow. That is that is that’s I got I got I’m gonna have to clip that one. Uh that that’s one of the cooler moments of the show. I totally I totally I love football. I’m a football story. My dad’s going to watch this tomorrow and be like, “Sam, duh. I totally didn’t put that to put two and two together.” Well, that was awesome. Tim, you are welcome back anytime. That was great stuff. It seems like uh I I get now talking to you for a half an hour. I get why you like the show because it feels like we have kind of similar personalities of of how we uh how we look at the game and and and look at the uh look at the the Cubs. So, it was it was really an honor to have you on. It was excellent. Sam, you and Matt do such a great job. Thank you for making my Cubs season that much more enjoyable. I mean, I I I can’t thank you enough. I mean, I I I’m an everydayer. This ain’t no bull crap. I’m an everyday. I listen every day. You guys do a great job. And uh and I’ll be listening tomorrow, that’s for sure. Well, thank you so much, Tim. Uh I’m Sam Olber. Uh he’s Tim Grunhard. This is Locked On Cubs, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Have a great weekend, everybody.

Sam has former Pro bowler and Die Hard Cub fan Tim Grunhard on the show to talk Cubs. They talk 2025 Cubs and then some 2026 off-season wish list items. The show wraps up with Tim telling some cool football stories and comparing the two sports.

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