Former NFL wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad once said that Chicago is “where receivers go to die.” Muhammad said this on his way out of town after playing with the Chicago Bears for three seasons in the mid 2000s.
For a while, it seemed he was right as the Bears failed to have any receiver post a 1,000-yard or Pro-Bowl season since 2002. But that changed 10 years ago when the Bears made a daring move to trade for arguably the most talented receiver they’ve ever had in Brandon Marshall.
Marshall was acquired from the Miami Dolphins for a pair of third-round draft picks. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2006 and quickly became one of the best young pass catchers in the league. He was dealt to Miami where he spent two seasons before being traded to the Bears.
It was the first significant move from former general manager Phil Emery, who in his first year, sought to fix a glaring need on the offense and reunite Marshall with his former quarterback Jay Cutler.
Though Marshall was only a Bear for three seasons from 2012-2014 and seemingly had issues with multiple players in the locker room during his time in Chicago, he was unstoppable on the field. Marshall caught 279 passes for 3,524 yards and 31 touchdowns in three seasons, while earning two Pro Bowl nominations as well as making first-team All-Pro in 2012. It was a trade that immediately improved the Bears’ passing attack and offense as a whole.
While the marriage was short lived, many applauded Emery for his execution of the trade and his willingness to improve the offense. But as one Chicago sports radio producer reveals, this trade probably wouldn’t have happened if a chance interview didn’t take place just weeks before the deal.
Randy Merkin, an executive producer for WMVP ESPN 1000 recently authored a book titled Behind the Glass: Stories from a Sports Radio Producer. The book details many of his bookings as a radio producer with dozens of athletes and iconic figures, from George Steinbrenner and Charles Barkley, to Dabo Swinney and Peyton Manning.
One of his guests that he details in the book is Marshall. Merkin recalls contacting Marshall at the Pro Bowl hotel in Honolulu, HI, prior to the game taking place in February of 2012 to see if he would come on the radio station for a few minutes.
A few weeks prior, Marshall was tweeting with Cutler during the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints playoff game, reminiscing about their old playing days with the Denver Broncos.
“These young duos are the old us,” Marshall tweeted at Cutler while watching players like a young Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson.
“Please. We can run circles around these guys,” Cutler responded.
The game was a shootout and the tweets had Bears fans salivating over the possibilities of Cutler and Marshall together again.
Merkin took note of the exchange and saw it as the perfect opportunity to get him on Chicago radio to ask him about how he felt about possibly reuniting with Cutler. Merkin details how the interview went down with the Waddle and Silvy show:
I put Brandon on with Silvy [Marc Silverman] and JD [Jeff Dickerson], who was filling in for [Tom] Waddle that day. The guys did a great job and Brandon Marshall is an outstanding interview. The guys had a great conversation when Silvy asked him about his tweets with Jay Cutler. Silvy said ‘Brandon, why don’t you get the band back together!’ He seemed intrigued!
Just over a month later, we get breaking news. Brandon Marshall was now a Chicago Bear!! Holy cow! We figured we were going to the Super Bowl. Over the next couple of years, we started The Jay Cutler Show, It was a huge success and always had a giant crowd. One week, Brandon was filling for Jay. During the show, he told Waddle and Silvy that our interview with him at the Pro Bowl was the impetus for his asking to be traded to the Bears. He wasn’t kidding! It was a very cool moment for us.
Reading that Marshall landing with the Bears all started with a radio interview was surprising to say the least. We caught up with Merkin, who elaborated on the story and detailed how everything went into motion following the interview.
“Brandon started filling in for the Jay Cutler Show and it kind of became the Brandon Show after Jay split,” Merkin told Bears Wire. “One time, Marshall randomly said, ‘you know, when I came on with you guys at the Pro Bowl, I was a Dolphin. You guys were the reason that I reached out to Jay and said, we got to get this done. I have to come back. I have to come to Chicago and play with you.’
“And that started the whole wheels in motion. Jay went to the Bears brass and said let’s get this done. Let’s get Brandon here. So yeah, I think we played a small part. You know, they still have to make the trade of course, but it helped.”
There’s a significant chance that if Merkin doesn’t make the call to the Pro Bowl hotel back in early 2012, or if Marshall never answered the phone, that trade would have never taken place. Of course, both teams could have had interest regardless, but it seems like that one interview sparked both players to push for a deal. The result was one of the most dominating stretches by a Bears offensive player in team history, even if it was brief.
Perhaps the next football interview that Merkin books has major ramifications for the Bears, too. The executive producer continues to work at ESPN 1000 during the middays, still working his magic to bring the best guests to the radio.
Behind the Glass: Stories from a Sports Radio Producer is available for purchase online.