Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / Bears STUN Packers, Rams SURVIVE Panthers on NFL Wild Card Weekend

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Bears STUN Packers, Rams SURVIVE Panthers on NFL Wild Card Weekend · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

0:01
Speaker 1: The volume What is going on Everybody? John Middlecock three
0:18
Speaker 1: and out podcast brought to you by my friends at
0:22
Speaker 1: Zone Pouches. What a night in Chicago. Remarkable, incredible, glorious.
0:31
Speaker 1: It's gotta be cool to be a Bears fan because
0:34
Speaker 1: that is doesn't get any better. We will obviously talk
0:37
Speaker 1: about what we just witnessed. I'm recording this late on
0:40
Speaker 1: a Saturday night. Chicago Bear score twenty five points, come
0:44
Speaker 1: storming back to beat the Green Bay Packers in just
0:48
Speaker 1: an epic, epic game Caleb makes, I think the play
0:52
Speaker 1: of his career. Matt Lafleura and the Packers kind of
0:56
Speaker 1: melt down, even as they kind of don't melt down.
1:00
Speaker 1: Just it was crazy. So we will dive deep into
1:03
Speaker 1: that game. There happened to be a game before that
1:05
Speaker 1: which shouldn't have been entertaining, but it kind of was.
1:09
Speaker 1: That the Rams barely beat the Panthers as a massive underdog.
1:15
Speaker 1: Bryce Young made some plays, Matt Stafford made some plays
1:19
Speaker 1: that he didn't make some plays. Rams Special teams is
1:22
Speaker 1: a disaster. So we will talk some We'll just talk
1:27
Speaker 1: football to night. We'll talk those two games, and here's
1:30
Speaker 1: the plan. This podcast is also on YouTube. Starting tomorrow night,
1:35
Speaker 1: all of our video podcasts will live on Netflix. So
1:39
Speaker 1: Sunday Nights pod we'll go up live on Netflix on
1:46
Speaker 1: Monday morning, and then moving forward, all of the podcasts
1:49
Speaker 1: will be on Netflix, so exciting times for the three
1:54
Speaker 1: and Out crew. And audio won't change a bit. We'll
1:57
Speaker 1: just keep rocking and rolling we obviously do. This is
2:00
Speaker 1: an audio podcast first and foremost before video ever came around,
2:04
Speaker 1: so we have a large group of people that listen
2:06
Speaker 1: on audio. Nothing's gonna change. If you want to check
2:08
Speaker 1: it out, check it out on Netflix, because that's where
2:11
Speaker 1: we are and that's where we're gonna be. So appreciate everyone.
2:16
Speaker 1: And I guess let's talk some football, But let's start
2:21
Speaker 1: with what we witnessed tonight. My thought all along for
2:25
Speaker 1: this game, before the kickoff and before we saw the
2:28
Speaker 1: context of the actual experience. The Chicago Bears have had
2:32
Speaker 1: a miraculous season. They have pulled games out of crevices
2:37
Speaker 1: of their body that we didn't know exist. It's been
2:40
Speaker 1: fun to watch, and the two previous Packer Bears games
2:44
Speaker 1: have been must see television. Right, I remember the Bears
2:48
Speaker 1: in a loss, I earn more respect from the Bears
2:52
Speaker 1: and that loss to the Packers and Lambeau than a
2:55
Speaker 1: lot of their wins, and then obviously the game that
2:58
Speaker 1: they pulled off several weeks ago in the comeback fashion
3:02
Speaker 1: on Saturday Night against Green Bay, which was one of
3:07
Speaker 1: the cooler nights probably in Chicago when it came to
3:10
Speaker 1: football in the last fifteen years. But you're the two seed.
3:14
Speaker 1: You're hosting Green Bay, who's this bitter rival who's kind
3:17
Speaker 1: of owned you as a franchise for a long time.
3:20
Speaker 1: They've had Far, they've had Rogers, and then they just
3:23
Speaker 1: are beating your brains in. You're down twenty one to three.
3:27
Speaker 1: It feels like forty to nothing. You then kind of
3:30
Speaker 1: come back in the second half, but you look up
3:33
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, Jordan Love drives them down the field.
3:35
Speaker 1: You're still down twenty seven to sixteen. There's a fourth
3:39
Speaker 1: and eight play that it for a split second it
3:42
Speaker 1: looks like Caleb's gonna get sacked, and five minutes later
3:48
Speaker 1: you have thirty one points. They have twenty seven points.
3:51
Speaker 1: And I can't imagine the experience, not just of the
3:54
Speaker 1: city but the paying customer, you know, because this league
3:59
Speaker 1: is built upon you and I those of us that
4:02
Speaker 1: sit on our couch and watch the games. That's where
4:05
Speaker 1: the league makes all their money. That's what pays for
4:07
Speaker 1: the players, That's what pays for everything. That's what makes
4:11
Speaker 1: these teams worth billions of dollars is their television contract.
4:16
Speaker 1: But as someone who has been to a lot of
4:18
Speaker 1: NFL games, great ones, bad ones, you never know what
4:22
Speaker 1: you're getting. But when you go to a playoff game
4:25
Speaker 1: and an experience like this with this team and then
4:27
Speaker 1: you're getting your ass kicked, you're like, obviously, we have
4:31
Speaker 1: this special coach and we have this quarterback who's proven
4:34
Speaker 1: these late quarter comebacks there's no disputing as physical skills,
4:39
Speaker 1: but it's all just going wrong. And then for it
4:41
Speaker 1: to flip like that and score twenty five points in
4:44
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, and to beat the fucking Green Bay Packers,
4:48
Speaker 1: and to put Matt Leforre's job status in major questions
4:52
Speaker 1: and head to the second round where you host another
4:55
Speaker 1: playoff game, that there can't be a sweeter feeling as
5:00
Speaker 1: a sports fan. If you're a Chicago Bears fan, that's
5:03
Speaker 1: as good as it gets right there. I mean, honestly,
5:05
Speaker 1: besides like winning the super Bowl, that's worth like ten
5:09
Speaker 1: playoff victories by itself. The crazy part about this rivalry
5:13
Speaker 1: between these two teams is they've only played twice in
5:16
Speaker 1: the history of the playoffs, and they've both been around
5:19
Speaker 1: since like eighteen fifty, once in the forties and once
5:23
Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, and the Packers were one of both,
5:26
Speaker 1: and it felt like it was going that way again.
5:28
Speaker 1: And I'll be honest my take. I didn't have any
5:31
Speaker 1: money on this game. I picked the Bears just because
5:35
Speaker 1: I kind of trusted the football gods. Did not feel
5:38
Speaker 1: good about that. Ben Johnson was really letting me down,
5:42
Speaker 1: you know, Kleb and the run. It was just off
5:46
Speaker 1: that their play calling was off. The fourth down calls
5:48
Speaker 1: in the first half I thought were reckless. I know,
5:52
Speaker 1: the analytical guys are all like giving each other reach arounds,
5:56
Speaker 1: like what ew. Yeah, it's like, you can't go for
5:58
Speaker 1: it in a fourteen three game at your own thirty.
6:01
Speaker 1: You can't do that, not now, not twenty not ever.
6:05
Speaker 1: That is moronic. Well, we don't know if our defense
6:09
Speaker 1: could play let the game play out. If you've got
6:11
Speaker 1: to do that in the second half, okay, but with
6:14
Speaker 1: five minutes left to go in the second quarter, that
6:17
Speaker 1: is dumb. It really is. And Ben Johnson was a
6:21
Speaker 1: part of a team that had a huge lead against
6:25
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers a couple of years ago in
6:27
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game, and they got reckless. You can't
6:29
Speaker 1: be reckless with these fourth down calls, and it almost
6:33
Speaker 1: cost them the game. But then luckily, I mean, the
6:36
Speaker 1: craziest experience of this game is the Chicago Bears defense
6:40
Speaker 1: in the first half looked like it had been looking
6:43
Speaker 1: not very good. They can't cover a soul. I mean,
6:46
Speaker 1: they cannot cover a soul, and honestly, even toward the
6:48
Speaker 1: end of the game, they can't cover a soul. But
6:51
Speaker 1: they have pulled turnovers just constantly, so they just make
6:56
Speaker 1: plays and flip the game that way. But it wasn't
6:59
Speaker 1: really happening. Jordan Love isn't even putting the ball in
7:01
Speaker 1: Harm's way. And then the second half comes, they're getting
7:04
Speaker 1: the ball. Obviously, McManus misses the field goal at the
7:07
Speaker 1: end of the first half, which would have made it
7:09
Speaker 1: twenty four to three. Still twenty one three. They get
7:11
Speaker 1: the ball and their next four drives are punt, punt, punt, punt.
7:16
Speaker 1: They gained one first down over that experience and gain
7:20
Speaker 1: a total of twenty nine yards. So whatever Dennis Allen
7:24
Speaker 1: and the defensive players said to each other, they obviously
7:27
Speaker 1: lost TJ. Edwards to what looked like a shattered ankle
7:30
Speaker 1: or dislocated ankle. And he's like, I don't know. I
7:33
Speaker 1: looked at my wife. I'm like, they just don't have
7:35
Speaker 1: the bodies, even the guys they're rolling out. You know,
7:39
Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson, who's a you know, former Pro Bowl level
7:41
Speaker 1: guys come back from injury. You know, he's had growing surgery.
7:44
Speaker 1: I think over the offseason or early on in the season.
7:48
Speaker 1: Clearly he's just not running as fast as he used to.
7:50
Speaker 1: He's never been like a burner. But he doesn't look
7:52
Speaker 1: to say they're their defensive backs can't really cover anybody,
7:55
Speaker 1: but they listen. I don't blame the floor. You start
7:57
Speaker 1: running the ball. You start run the ball. You try
7:59
Speaker 1: to kind of shorten the game, control of the clock.
8:01
Speaker 1: They couldn't go anywhere. I don't have the numbers in
8:03
Speaker 1: the second half from a run game perspective, my guess
8:06
Speaker 1: is Josh Jacobs in gain over twenty yards the entire
8:09
Speaker 1: second half. Honestly, it might be like under fifteen or
8:11
Speaker 1: twelve yards. It was a dominant dominant performance, and then
8:15
Speaker 1: they were getting pressure on Jordan Love and then it
8:18
Speaker 1: kind of flipped and what still Then the offense for
8:22
Speaker 1: the Bears kind of sputtered. You know, Caleb was inaccurate
8:26
Speaker 1: at times. They just couldn't get any drives going. They
8:28
Speaker 1: had to settle for some field goals. They went forward
8:32
Speaker 1: on a fourth down, which he ended up throwing an interception.
8:35
Speaker 1: He threw two interceptions on fourth downs, which my take
8:39
Speaker 1: on that would be those aren't as bad as like
8:42
Speaker 1: interception on a second or first down, because you have
8:44
Speaker 1: no choice, like you got to throw the ball. You
8:47
Speaker 1: got to get rid of the ball. It's you can't
8:49
Speaker 1: think a sack. So it's it's it's not as bad
8:53
Speaker 1: as you know, other down interceptions, but obviously it didn't
8:57
Speaker 1: feel good when it happened. And then it's twenty seven
9:01
Speaker 1: to sixteen. Lovelin turns into Kelsey and his prime or
9:06
Speaker 1: Shannon Sharp and is just dominating the game. He had
9:11
Speaker 1: eight catches for one hundred and thirty seven yards. Honestly,
9:13
Speaker 1: it felt like he had two hundred. He was getting
9:15
Speaker 1: open with ease, even balls that were called incompletions or drops.
9:19
Speaker 1: He was just no one could cover him. He was
9:21
Speaker 1: fucking dominating the game. And as twenty one to sixteen,
9:26
Speaker 1: they get the ball back and Jordan Lovely's them right
9:28
Speaker 1: down the field. I think they go six plays, he
9:31
Speaker 1: has four completions. Golden with the play so far of
9:33
Speaker 1: his early you know, young career has that play. I
9:36
Speaker 1: think he goes like twenty three yards for a touchdown,
9:39
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it's you think gonna be
9:41
Speaker 1: twenty eight to sixteen, but he misses the extra point,
9:44
Speaker 1: so it's twenty seven to sixteen, and he's just kind
9:47
Speaker 1: of doing the math. You've watched the Bears, who, let's
9:49
Speaker 1: face it, have been awful most of the game. I
9:53
Speaker 1: mean have been awful. Their defense came to play there
9:56
Speaker 1: for a stretch in the third quarter, but then Jordan
9:58
Speaker 1: love drove right back down like, well, they're just probably
10:00
Speaker 1: runing out of gas. And offensively, Ben Johnson, who's been brilliant,
10:05
Speaker 1: it just there's been no rhyme or rhythm to what
10:07
Speaker 1: they've been doing. He fell off. He honestly kind of
10:10
Speaker 1: looked off. I don't know if it was the freezing
10:12
Speaker 1: cold temperatures, but I just I didn't have that much faith.
10:16
Speaker 1: And then they got in that situation on fourth and
10:19
Speaker 1: was it fourth and eight or fourth and six when
10:22
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams I think it's the play of his career.
10:28
Speaker 1: It was fourth and eight at the Chicago forty three.
10:32
Speaker 1: He hit Rome rolling to his left. I mean there
10:35
Speaker 1: is Josh Allen Herbert are probably the only two guys
10:38
Speaker 1: that can make that play who physically I'm not saying
10:40
Speaker 1: they do make that play. I'm just saying have the
10:42
Speaker 1: capability to make that play. And when we nitpick, like
10:46
Speaker 1: like when Fernando Mendoza gets nitpicked, you know how great
10:50
Speaker 1: are his physical attributes, Like he can't make that play, right,
10:54
Speaker 1: So there are elements And this is where I can
10:56
Speaker 1: live with Caleb's inaccuracies because he does miss a lot
10:59
Speaker 1: of throats, but he also can make throws that no
11:02
Speaker 1: one else can make, and he does make them in
11:05
Speaker 1: huge spots. And that individual play saved the game because
11:10
Speaker 1: two plays later he's a twenty two yard pass him
11:13
Speaker 1: a nunji. A couple of plays later he throws the
11:16
Speaker 1: touchdown pass to Zakias and then they get the ball,
11:20
Speaker 1: they drive right down the field. Of course, mcmannus misses
11:23
Speaker 1: a field goal again, I mean he was he was
11:27
Speaker 1: bad tonight. You had no faith when he lined up,
11:30
Speaker 1: and then the Bears get the ball, drive rut down
11:31
Speaker 1: the field and score another touchdown twenty five points in
11:34
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. That is that's his exhilarating of a
11:41
Speaker 1: sports ending as you're gonna see, and it kind of
11:45
Speaker 1: symbolizes their season that these are this is a team
11:49
Speaker 1: that just you can't out count out because how many
11:52
Speaker 1: of us are texting people this game's a wrap, this
11:55
Speaker 1: game's over. They look like shit, we all were doing
11:59
Speaker 1: it because they did it looked that bad. You're watching
12:03
Speaker 1: them and you're like, they can't cover a soul, and
12:07
Speaker 1: you look at the Packagers, like, well, they got good
12:09
Speaker 1: wide receivers. Dobbs when he's on is excellent. He had
12:12
Speaker 1: a big game. Golden starts making plays. The route he
12:16
Speaker 1: ran on that final drive because Jordan Love was driving
12:19
Speaker 1: him right down the field. Hit Golden for a first down,
12:22
Speaker 1: hit Dobbs for a first down, he hit was its yeah,
12:28
Speaker 1: read for a first down. Hit three big first downs
12:31
Speaker 1: to drive them, and obviously the center gets hurt and
12:36
Speaker 1: they're deep. At where are they They're at the forty No,
12:40
Speaker 1: they were they were at like the twenty yard line.
12:44
Speaker 1: Twenty three yard line, the center gets hurt and they
12:46
Speaker 1: have the ten second runoff, and then they ended up
12:49
Speaker 1: getting a delay a game. I thought, I thought lafloor
12:53
Speaker 1: with the timeout on the delay of game, Well he
12:56
Speaker 1: didn't call a timeout on the delay a game up,
13:00
Speaker 1: pushing them back a little bit for the field goal,
13:02
Speaker 1: and then he called the time out when they were
13:04
Speaker 1: on defense with a bunch of time left against the Bears.
13:07
Speaker 1: We'll dive into Lafleur here in a second, but you know,
13:11
Speaker 1: things just come up the Bears, and a lot of
13:13
Speaker 1: it is their defense makes tonight it was timely stops
13:17
Speaker 1: and throughout the season it's been timely interceptions and they're
13:22
Speaker 1: defining characteristic are these huge plays by Caleb and the
13:26
Speaker 1: Caleb talent and the ceiling that everyone agreed upon when
13:30
Speaker 1: he was coming out, Like a small percentage of people
13:34
Speaker 1: have that physical ceiling right, the arm strength, the mobility,
13:41
Speaker 1: the ability to run and throw to your left. Like
13:45
Speaker 1: a lot of talented guys can roll right and throw right.
13:49
Speaker 1: Jordan Love can do that right, roll right, throw right. Now.
13:53
Speaker 1: Certain people can throw it farther or a little bit harder,
13:56
Speaker 1: but most guys with athleticism in the NFL, well can
14:00
Speaker 1: roll right and throw right. A very small percentage of
14:04
Speaker 1: people can avoid sacks. Right handed quarterbacks roll left, throw
14:09
Speaker 1: a ball forty plus yards in the air on a
14:13
Speaker 1: dot to a guy on fourth down to save a season.
14:18
Speaker 1: And when we talk about attributes, it matters. Now here's
14:21
Speaker 1: the thing about physical attributes. There are a lot of
14:24
Speaker 1: guys that have them that don't even ever make plays.
14:26
Speaker 1: So then you get like the inaccuracy and you don't
14:28
Speaker 1: get any place. You just beget it and become a
14:30
Speaker 1: bad player. But you can live with some of the
14:33
Speaker 1: misshots when you're making the great plays. And obviously when
14:37
Speaker 1: he had do tonight on some of those big drives,
14:39
Speaker 1: he hit quote unquote routine passes and then on the
14:43
Speaker 1: schemed kind of fake screen that slipped Dj Moore down
14:47
Speaker 1: the sideline, Caleb hit him in stride, he walked in
14:49
Speaker 1: the end zone. And that's, you know, at the end
14:52
Speaker 1: of the day, kind of the difference in the game, right,
14:54
Speaker 1: I mean, that was the game right there, when Dj
14:58
Speaker 1: Moore scores touchdown twenty seven ballgame, like Jordan Love I
15:04
Speaker 1: was actually making routine passes, doing well from within the pocket,
15:08
Speaker 1: hitting Dobbs, hitting Reid hitting Golden like I thought Jordan
15:11
Speaker 1: Love for a lot of the game played pretty well,
15:14
Speaker 1: definitely in the first half and definitely you know, down
15:16
Speaker 1: the stretch of the game. But he doesn't always give
15:19
Speaker 1: you the miraculous and that's part of why he was
15:23
Speaker 1: more of a late first round pick, right even as
15:26
Speaker 1: a quote unquote project. He still has good physical attributes.
15:29
Speaker 1: Pretty good athlete, not great, you know for NFL standards,
15:33
Speaker 1: probably average, and has a good arm, and when he's
15:36
Speaker 1: in rhythm and playing on time, he can look really good.
15:39
Speaker 1: You know, I think he can get a little reckless,
15:41
Speaker 1: like the back foot throws. He's not gonna have the
15:45
Speaker 1: same physical talent as Caleb kind of freelancing with his
15:49
Speaker 1: lower half, and it cost him a couple times to
15:51
Speaker 1: night on some misses, a couple underthrows on some big spots,
15:57
Speaker 1: and that's reason one team moving on the other team's
16:01
Speaker 1: not going anywhere, right. It's it's really that simple. Is
16:05
Speaker 1: one team has these crazy plays in their back pocket
16:09
Speaker 1: because of their quarterback, and the other team doesn't. Really
16:12
Speaker 1: they kind of have to scheme to play and then
16:14
Speaker 1: he's got executed. Like say what you want, Like I
16:17
Speaker 1: didn't think Ben Johnson was that great tonight. That's probably
16:21
Speaker 1: the worst game I've seen him have. But Caleb bails
16:25
Speaker 1: them out. And this is a thing. With a great
16:27
Speaker 1: play caller, they're gonna have bad games. They're gonna do
16:30
Speaker 1: stupid shit. I've watched Kyle Shanahan do it for a
16:33
Speaker 1: long time. Sean mcvaigh today, I thought was really bad
16:37
Speaker 1: at stretches. It's like, Sean, your quarterback has a hurt finger.
16:41
Speaker 1: He's clearly off. Your team is averaging over five yards
16:44
Speaker 1: of carry. Run the ball. Sean's like, pass it again,
16:48
Speaker 1: and pass it again, And it's like, bro, just call
16:51
Speaker 1: some runs. Slow down the game. Coaches can get in
16:54
Speaker 1: a bad rhythm, they can make mistakes. It happens. It's football.
16:57
Speaker 1: It's really hard. Bill Walsh a lot of games, Belichick
17:01
Speaker 1: lost a lot of games, playoff games, Super Bowls. Like
17:04
Speaker 1: it happens. Sometimes players can bail you out, and in
17:08
Speaker 1: a weird way, like this guy, I'm watching him, like, God,
17:12
Speaker 1: you know, it's not all his fault. It's not like
17:14
Speaker 1: he's got Mike Singletary and er Locker and Briggs out there.
17:17
Speaker 1: So the talent is not great. I mean, clearly six
17:20
Speaker 1: was a major liability. The Packers were going at him
17:23
Speaker 1: over and over. It just didn't feel like they have
17:27
Speaker 1: much team speed on defense. But it felt like, God,
17:31
Speaker 1: just this, Dennis Allen is going to go down like
17:33
Speaker 1: this and whatever adjustment they made loading the box, maybe
17:36
Speaker 1: these guys just started playing a little bit more focused.
17:39
Speaker 1: Maybe they play a little harder. I don't know, but
17:41
Speaker 1: they definitely looked at because they started dominating the line
17:44
Speaker 1: of scrimmage against the Green Bay Packers. They owned the
17:47
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. I mean, Josh Jacobs kid just take
17:52
Speaker 1: over a game. Hell we saw last year in a loss,
17:54
Speaker 1: remember against the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs.
17:58
Speaker 1: Jacobs was every bit at the player on that field.
18:01
Speaker 1: He was just a dominant force. And he has games
18:03
Speaker 1: where he just imposes as well. Today there was nowhere
18:06
Speaker 1: to go. I mean, the best run for him today
18:09
Speaker 1: was when they put him at kickoff returner and first
18:12
Speaker 1: one second like is he gonna take this in the house,
18:13
Speaker 1: he ended up fumbling. I mean, there were also some
18:16
Speaker 1: crazy plays with fumbles. That fumble. There was the fumble
18:21
Speaker 1: on the play where the Packers threw to the offensive
18:24
Speaker 1: lineman who I think got a little cocky and then
18:28
Speaker 1: got very lucky the ball went out of bounds. You
18:31
Speaker 1: have the Christian Watson play in the first half. They
18:34
Speaker 1: end up scoring a touchdown anyway, but they got extremely
18:37
Speaker 1: lucky that his ball didn't go out of bounds and
18:41
Speaker 1: stayed inbounds. And you can't advounce advancing, but if that
18:44
Speaker 1: thing goes out of bounds as a touchback. There was
18:46
Speaker 1: just some crazy shit going on. The football gods had
18:50
Speaker 1: their hands all over this thing. That's why. As the
18:53
Speaker 1: game kind of went and it never got quite like
18:56
Speaker 1: if it had got to twenty eight to three or
18:59
Speaker 1: thirty one one to six or something, there would have
19:02
Speaker 1: been a gap. But the gap never widened enough where
19:05
Speaker 1: even if you're someone listen, Not that I think they're frauds,
19:10
Speaker 1: but like, if they lose tonight, they would have been
19:13
Speaker 1: two and five in the division and like three or
19:16
Speaker 1: four plays away from being a seven or eight win team.
19:19
Speaker 1: That doesn't take away they have a ton of talent,
19:21
Speaker 1: they have an excellent play caller. They've just had a
19:23
Speaker 1: lot of shit go their way in big moments, and
19:26
Speaker 1: you hit credit for that. The Commanders did too. But
19:30
Speaker 1: the Commanders last year ended up in the NFC championship game,
19:33
Speaker 1: so like, yeah, they're playing with house money in the
19:36
Speaker 1: sense that no one thought the Bears were gonna be
19:38
Speaker 1: this good, not a Soult, Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles,
19:41
Speaker 1: the mccaskeys in August, didn't think they were gonna be
19:45
Speaker 1: the two seat. But then you are the two seed, right,
19:48
Speaker 1: It's like I don't have any money, and all of
19:50
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're rich. It's like, well, you better start
19:52
Speaker 1: investing your money or figuring out where you want to
19:54
Speaker 1: put it. Maybe buy some I do something with it,
19:57
Speaker 1: because you're here now, this is where you're the two
19:59
Speaker 1: seed at home against his rival, and now you win
20:03
Speaker 1: this game, Like obviously, who knows the sky's the limit.
20:07
Speaker 1: Maybe the football guys just carry you to the to
20:09
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I do think it's hard to ever
20:12
Speaker 1: top that. I've been watching football for thirty plus years.
20:16
Speaker 1: We've all seen crazy playoff games. When you factor in
20:19
Speaker 1: a crazy playoff game against the connection you have with
20:23
Speaker 1: the team you're playing, factored in with the setup of
20:26
Speaker 1: the game, given that you're down eleven points with like
20:29
Speaker 1: five minutes to go, and then you score twenty five
20:32
Speaker 1: points in the fourth quarter, you win the game at home.
20:35
Speaker 1: I don't think it gets any better than that. Like
20:38
Speaker 1: if if they would have just played the Rams or
20:42
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers and just won the first round,
20:45
Speaker 1: like just won a game like thirty one to ten,
20:47
Speaker 1: like kick their ass, that would not have been as
20:49
Speaker 1: cool as this. This is as good as it gets
20:53
Speaker 1: in Chicago, right beside like winning NBA Finals with Michael
20:58
Speaker 1: Jordan with the Chicago cub Obviously winning the championship is
21:02
Speaker 1: the best possible outcome, but I think this is right
21:06
Speaker 1: behind it. And I think most Bears fans would agree.
21:09
Speaker 1: Biggest win for a lot of people. I mean, when's
21:13
Speaker 1: last time the Bears have had a bigger win. You'd
21:15
Speaker 1: have to go back twenty plus years on that Super
21:17
Speaker 1: Bowl run team with Rex Grossman, And this feels a
21:21
Speaker 1: little bit different because, like you have a quarterback he
21:25
Speaker 1: just drafted number one overall, you have a coach who,
21:29
Speaker 1: again bad night happens, feels like a star right and
21:34
Speaker 1: it's like you just get some more defensive pieces that
21:37
Speaker 1: this team could be something because Lovelin looks special, Burden's
21:42
Speaker 1: really good. DJ Moore is kind of a bizarre player.
21:45
Speaker 1: I thought Ben Johnson there were plays, there were times
21:48
Speaker 1: a night where he got away from Swift, which I
21:50
Speaker 1: didn't understand. I mean, he gave Dj moorecerry in a
21:54
Speaker 1: big spot. It's like the under Swift had the best
21:57
Speaker 1: year of his career. He just a fantastic player, Like
22:01
Speaker 1: he's the confidence in which he runs, he's breaking tackles.
22:05
Speaker 1: I mean he had the one run today. I think
22:07
Speaker 1: it might have been a pass, but he cut it
22:09
Speaker 1: all the way back gain like seven yards when it
22:11
Speaker 1: could have been like a ten yard loss. Looking Barry
22:13
Speaker 1: Sanders out there, I don't think he had enough touches
22:16
Speaker 1: to night. You only had thirteen carries. To me. I
22:19
Speaker 1: bet Ben would admit, like he's got to be closer
22:23
Speaker 1: to like eighteen nineteen twenty carries. He's too good of
22:26
Speaker 1: a player. He's playing too well this season, and he's
22:29
Speaker 1: just too impactful. Now. I understand they were down so
22:32
Speaker 1: he kind of had to get a little pass happy,
22:34
Speaker 1: but I bet Ben Johnson be the first to agree
22:37
Speaker 1: that forty eight pass attempts for Caleb is not the
22:40
Speaker 1: way we want to play. I mean, he threw fifty
22:43
Speaker 1: percent right and obviously the two picks, but like I said,
22:45
Speaker 1: I the picks, It's not like he's throwing first down picks.
22:49
Speaker 1: This is Dante Moore last night throwing pick six on
22:52
Speaker 1: a first and ten. You throw interceptions on fourth down
22:56
Speaker 1: or you don't have a choice. I mean, you just
22:57
Speaker 1: got to throw the ball up. The play call where
23:01
Speaker 1: it was clearly going to DJ Morty slipped like. I
23:04
Speaker 1: don't love forth down calls. One I thought you could
23:06
Speaker 1: have run it there and two fourth down calls when
23:09
Speaker 1: you clearly have one distinct option if something goes wrong,
23:13
Speaker 1: and listen, it's we're human beings. It's a field like
23:16
Speaker 1: you can it's freezing cold, you might fall on the ground,
23:20
Speaker 1: and it just you gotta hope Caleb pull something out
23:23
Speaker 1: of as you know what. He tried to overthrow it
23:25
Speaker 1: a little bit, but I saw I think Portanoy said,
23:30
Speaker 1: big pet peeve when a guy intercepts the ball and
23:34
Speaker 1: ended up losing their team like twenty yards, because they'd
23:37
Speaker 1: be better off just knocking the ball to the ground.
23:40
Speaker 1: You get the ball farther up the field. But you know,
23:42
Speaker 1: I don't blame defensive players just in the mode. But yeah,
23:46
Speaker 1: twenty four or forty eight, a couple touchdowns three or
23:48
Speaker 1: sixty yards, but the touchdowns down the stretch, just the
23:51
Speaker 1: massive plays and that Rome play, I truly believe that's
23:56
Speaker 1: that's one of the more miraculous plays you'll ever see
23:59
Speaker 1: given on the line. Speaking of what's not miraculous is
24:05
Speaker 1: I think it's just hard to shake this. If you're
24:06
Speaker 1: Matt it really is. Now your best player comes into
24:12
Speaker 1: the game in sweats on crutches, so you had a
24:15
Speaker 1: built in excuse. We trade all this for Micah Parsons.
24:17
Speaker 1: He tears his knee. You lose your star linebacker in
24:21
Speaker 1: the middle of that game, right gets hitting a pile
24:24
Speaker 1: in the shin or ankle or whatever. He gets kioed.
24:26
Speaker 1: You lose some offensive lineman. I get it. It's football things.
24:29
Speaker 1: Things happen, you lose players. The Bears lost guys tonight.
24:33
Speaker 1: You're up twenty one to three on the road, getting
24:35
Speaker 1: the ball at halftime. You gotta win that game. You
24:39
Speaker 1: just do. And you talk about no rhythm to the
24:42
Speaker 1: play calling, that's stretching. The second half kind of did
24:46
Speaker 1: them in because if they just get a couple field
24:49
Speaker 1: goal drives, and obviously their field goal kicker was not
24:52
Speaker 1: reliable tonight, so there's no guarantee even if you've got
24:54
Speaker 1: a field goal range. He's gonna make the kick, but
24:59
Speaker 1: everyone and let's I've watched a lot of his press conferences.
25:02
Speaker 1: He feels like an impressive guy, and I followed his
25:04
Speaker 1: career since he was a dB coach. When I used
25:06
Speaker 1: to go to Niner practice in like twenty fifteen sixteen range.
25:11
Speaker 1: He actually worked for Chip Kelly and Kyle Shanahan. I
25:14
Speaker 1: didn't even know much about him. I remember asking people.
25:15
Speaker 1: They're like, hey, he's pretty impressive. Forty nine er spoke Islum.
25:18
Speaker 1: So I've followed Halfley's career ever since then Ohio State,
25:22
Speaker 1: Boston College, obviously the last couple years. But it's a
25:25
Speaker 1: rough night for those two guys, and one guy wants
25:28
Speaker 1: to become a head coach in your season and your
25:31
Speaker 1: career is not defined on one half of football. But
25:35
Speaker 1: like you gotta find a way. You can't. You just
25:38
Speaker 1: can't lose that game. And the laflor time out situation,
25:41
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just the delay a game situation when
25:46
Speaker 1: you're in field goal range, like the points are at
25:48
Speaker 1: such a premium there you're up three points to go
25:52
Speaker 1: up like a field goal camp beat you is so
25:56
Speaker 1: big and honestly, like your wide receivers have got open
26:00
Speaker 1: to put yourself into third and long. When you're in
26:02
Speaker 1: third and eight or third nine, or third and ten
26:04
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, you gotta call the time out there.
26:08
Speaker 1: And clearly he was willing to use him because he
26:10
Speaker 1: used it on defense a couple of plays later when
26:12
Speaker 1: the Bears had the ball. This was a guy that
26:17
Speaker 1: came into this season on an established platform by his
26:21
Speaker 1: new president who was essentially the owner of like we're evaluating,
26:26
Speaker 1: and their record down nine to seven to one, essentially
26:29
Speaker 1: nine to eight in one, loose to the Bears twice
26:32
Speaker 1: in less than a month, getting knocked out of the playoffs,
26:36
Speaker 1: where it felt, I mean I even wrote down they
26:39
Speaker 1: are gonna have two wins as a seventh seed in
26:41
Speaker 1: the last three years. That's an incredible accomplishment. A couple
26:46
Speaker 1: of years ago they went to Dallas ended Mike McCarthy's career.
26:50
Speaker 1: This year, it felt like they're gonna go to Chicago
26:52
Speaker 1: and ruin their season. After all, the Bears fans are
26:57
Speaker 1: wearing cheese graders on their head, feeling themselves like, damn lafleur,
27:02
Speaker 1: that's that's a big one. And and listen, I'm not
27:05
Speaker 1: saying I'll probably get into Matt Ryan more tomorrow. If
27:09
Speaker 1: Lafloor's available, Lafour's Ben Matt Ryan's quarterback coach. I would
27:14
Speaker 1: imagine that the Atlanta Falcons would be extremely interested in Lafloor.
27:19
Speaker 1: So I'm not acting like Laflour is just gonna go
27:21
Speaker 1: to the unemployment line, have to go on food stamps
27:24
Speaker 1: and bake for food. Like He'll be fine. He more
27:26
Speaker 1: than likely would be one hundred percent immediate head coach.
27:30
Speaker 1: But there's not many better jobs in America any industry
27:33
Speaker 1: than the Green Bay Packers. About as good as it gets,
27:37
Speaker 1: and I think his job status is very in jeopardy
27:40
Speaker 1: over the next forty eight hours. It's something to keep
27:43
Speaker 1: a close eye on. And I'm recording this at ten
27:47
Speaker 1: thirty Arizona time. It would not shock me at all
27:51
Speaker 1: if leading into that Jags Bills game schefter and Glazier
27:54
Speaker 1: and those guys talk. It's going to be like the
27:58
Speaker 1: Packers are going to have a lot of Discsessis over
28:00
Speaker 1: the next couple of days and he's gonna talk with them.
28:02
Speaker 1: They're gonna talk with him. I personally would keep them,
28:07
Speaker 1: But you watch something like this this season, like I
28:10
Speaker 1: understand the question marks, I do he's not a dominant
28:14
Speaker 1: enough coach that like, oh, you can't get rid of
28:16
Speaker 1: this guy. Now, who you replace him with? How do
28:19
Speaker 1: you just elevate Halfley? After that twenty five fucking points
28:23
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, You're just giving it to Halfley.
28:26
Speaker 1: So if I'm a Packer fan, I like Jeff Halfley
28:29
Speaker 1: a lot. But I don't know. We're kind of in
28:33
Speaker 1: a weird spot. And the great unknown is there's not
28:36
Speaker 1: an owner. He just does not exist. There's just this
28:39
Speaker 1: president who gets to act as the pseudo owner and
28:43
Speaker 1: make these decisions. Gudakin's a made guy. He's not going anywhere,
28:47
Speaker 1: and who knows, I don't know all the inner dynamics
28:50
Speaker 1: of the organization. How much juice he has to fight
28:52
Speaker 1: for la floor? Does he have another guy in mind?
28:54
Speaker 1: Does he want Halfley more than the floor? But then
28:57
Speaker 1: you just put yourself in a position like who's your
28:58
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator? There are a lot of question marks for
29:01
Speaker 1: the Packers, which you know, forty five minutes ago felt
29:05
Speaker 1: like gonna be one of their finest moments in years.
29:09
Speaker 1: Ruining the Bear season on the road is a seventh
29:12
Speaker 1: seed to now, like, does their coach get fired? Is
29:15
Speaker 1: Matt Lafour gonna get fired and after tonight choking a
29:19
Speaker 1: game like that, because that's what choking a game like that,
29:23
Speaker 1: I get the Bears make a lot of people choke,
29:25
Speaker 1: but they were on the choke side. I think these
29:28
Speaker 1: people are asking these questions and it's to me the
29:31
Speaker 1: number one story to go. And there's still obviously a
29:33
Speaker 1: lot of talent on this team moving forward, assuming that
29:36
Speaker 1: Micaeh Parks has come back. It's a team that next
29:39
Speaker 1: year can be very good. Like they always draft well,
29:44
Speaker 1: they were missing their right tackle tonight, they had a
29:46
Speaker 1: bunch of offensive line injuries. They have a lot of
29:49
Speaker 1: talent on the team, and they easily could be competitive
29:52
Speaker 1: for like the number one seed next year. Right. But
29:56
Speaker 1: I think these next forty eight, three or four days,
29:58
Speaker 1: I guess it could bleed into like Tuesday or Wednesday.
30:02
Speaker 1: Is something really to watch when it comes to the
30:03
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers, because that's tough. That's losing. Football games
30:09
Speaker 1: are always bad. You only play one game a week.
30:11
Speaker 1: This is not basketball, this is not baseball. You don't
30:14
Speaker 1: get to just well, it's play again tomorrow. It's not
30:16
Speaker 1: the way this works. But playoff losses in this type
30:20
Speaker 1: manner just sting as hard as possible. It's just it's
30:25
Speaker 1: hard to it's hard to get over this sometimes, and
30:30
Speaker 1: people in power sometimes never look at you the same Again,
30:33
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, it's this is an apples
30:35
Speaker 1: to apples, But Mike McCarthy, when he blew that game
30:39
Speaker 1: against the Green Bay Packers, he was clearly a dead
30:42
Speaker 1: man walking. Next year, the season didn't go well, and
30:44
Speaker 1: it was a no brainer, but he was. He was
30:47
Speaker 1: done that year. Jerry just didn't want to pay him
30:49
Speaker 1: to go away, so he rolled him back. But his
30:51
Speaker 1: career unofficially ended that night. And you have to wonder
30:54
Speaker 1: if tonight officially ended Lafleur, which I like. I said,
30:59
Speaker 1: I think Atlanta would hire him yesterday. I think Matt
31:02
Speaker 1: Ryan it'd be a go to again. He coached Matt
31:05
Speaker 1: Ryan with Kyle Shanahan on the year that he won
31:07
Speaker 1: the MVP, so I'm assuming they have a good relationship
31:12
Speaker 1: and it would make some sense. A guy with a
31:14
Speaker 1: ton of experience, a guy with a ton of playoff experience,
31:16
Speaker 1: a guy that you no can coach quarterbacks, So I
31:19
Speaker 1: think he would immediately get another job. But this is
31:21
Speaker 1: a conversation that has been brewing in Green Bay. You're
31:25
Speaker 1: sitting there as a Bears fan, You're going, wait, our
31:28
Speaker 1: coach is this guy that everyone loves who thinks the
31:30
Speaker 1: star and the Packers have questions about their coach, they
31:34
Speaker 1: might fire and have to go on a coaching search.
31:37
Speaker 1: What world are we? Is this really what twenty twenty
31:40
Speaker 1: six is? And I've never been to Soldier Field, and
31:45
Speaker 1: I would guess part of the reason the aspirations to
31:49
Speaker 1: get the new stadium is the outdated sweet situation. You
31:53
Speaker 1: make so much. These new stadiums come equipped with just
31:56
Speaker 1: so many suitees that that's how you print money, right
32:00
Speaker 1: any of these you know, the Staple Center changed the
32:03
Speaker 1: game with the amount of suites they have. That's where
32:05
Speaker 1: you make your big cash. You can sell the suites
32:08
Speaker 1: at the price of like I don't even know how
32:09
Speaker 1: many normal seats, but it's they go. They're very expensive
32:13
Speaker 1: and after a while they start just being free cash
32:17
Speaker 1: for the owner. So I understand the aspirations to build
32:20
Speaker 1: the more of a modern stadium, but I will say this,
32:24
Speaker 1: that stadium at night, with that crowd, you know clearly
32:28
Speaker 1: they've renovated the press box over the years. I think
32:31
Speaker 1: it looks fantastic like that does not feel like some
32:35
Speaker 1: Decrepit doesn't feel like the Oakland Coliseum or Candlestick like
32:39
Speaker 1: that place feels badass. And again I'm not speaking from experience.
32:43
Speaker 1: I've never been there. Clearly, there are financial reasons to
32:47
Speaker 1: one upgrade. I get it, Like who's not in the
32:50
Speaker 1: business of trying to make more money or as much
32:52
Speaker 1: money as possible? Like I understand it. I'm not one
32:55
Speaker 1: of those like you know Big Jay's that just hate
32:58
Speaker 1: on people trying to make more money. We celebrate that
33:00
Speaker 1: here on this show. But I will say this my
33:03
Speaker 1: experience this year of just being a fan of football
33:07
Speaker 1: and a lover of great environments at night, It's why
33:10
Speaker 1: I gravitate towards these SEC games that the Bears games
33:13
Speaker 1: at night are fucking awesome. That was that crowd erupting
33:19
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. That experience down the stretch doesn't
33:22
Speaker 1: get any better in that like that. Chicago has something special.
33:25
Speaker 1: Obviously the stadium's downtown. I can't imagine that vibe of
33:29
Speaker 1: the people leaving, the excitement, everyone going to different bars,
33:32
Speaker 1: freezing their ass off, having cocktails and beers with each other.
33:37
Speaker 1: There's something pretty special, you know, in this day and
33:40
Speaker 1: age of I try to spend less and less time
33:43
Speaker 1: on social media. It's just the same old shit over
33:45
Speaker 1: and over. People scream at each other. It's just not
33:47
Speaker 1: real life. I go out. In real life, everyone's friendly
33:49
Speaker 1: to each other. But there's something so communal and just
33:55
Speaker 1: what sports, and specifically football and football towns in people together,
34:01
Speaker 1: people that don't know each other, people from different sides
34:04
Speaker 1: of town, and everyone pulling in the same direction for
34:08
Speaker 1: the same common goal and celebrating it together. It's just
34:12
Speaker 1: something we don't get very often, and football brings it.
34:15
Speaker 1: I don't think it's shocking white. It's the number one
34:17
Speaker 1: sport in America. In that game, the night probably had
34:19
Speaker 1: forty million people watching. It's fucking awesome. Congratulate Chicago Bears,
34:23
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson for moving on. Get to
34:26
Speaker 1: host another game, you know, you get to those another game.
34:30
Speaker 1: So it's it'll either be It'll either be the Rams
34:36
Speaker 1: or the Eagles, I guess right. So if the forty
34:39
Speaker 1: nine Ers win, they'd play Seattle, and if the Eagles win,
34:44
Speaker 1: the Rams will play The Rams will play Seattle. So
34:47
Speaker 1: we'll learn tomorrow the matchups. Today's show is brought to
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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. On the Panthers Bears game,
36:47
Speaker 1: went over to a buddy's house with my wife, Chris
36:51
Speaker 1: and Sarah. We had a little midday Chili just kind
36:54
Speaker 1: of seeing his new pad, enjoying ourselves. I watched the
36:56
Speaker 1: first quarter there and I'm not gonna lie. We both
36:59
Speaker 1: looked at each other like this, this game is so stupid.
37:02
Speaker 1: Why are we playing this game? What is going on?
37:06
Speaker 1: It felt like when it was seventeen to seven and
37:09
Speaker 1: the Rams were driving at the end of the first half.
37:12
Speaker 1: This thing's got like forty to ten written all over it,
37:16
Speaker 1: and obviously they go for it on fourth down at
37:18
Speaker 1: the end of the first half. They don't get it.
37:21
Speaker 1: Carolina drives scores seventeen to fourteen. And as the game
37:25
Speaker 1: played out, Stafford was atrocious for most of the game.
37:29
Speaker 1: And I thought Sean McVay was not good either. You know,
37:32
Speaker 1: he gets very east. He's much closer like his style
37:36
Speaker 1: of a coach. I've said this forever. He's a pass
37:39
Speaker 1: game guy, right. He wants to pass. He wants like
37:42
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, will not love seeing forty eight attempts. That's
37:45
Speaker 1: not the way he wants to play football. Right. He
37:48
Speaker 1: would much rather have Caleb Bee like in the low
37:51
Speaker 1: thirties and they had twenty eight rush attempts. He'd rather
37:54
Speaker 1: have forty rush attempts. He'd rather flip that number. He'd
37:58
Speaker 1: rather have forty eight rush attempts in twenty eight pass attempts.
38:01
Speaker 1: Sean mcvay's like Andy Reid. He'd throw it sixty times
38:04
Speaker 1: a game if he could. But tonight there were stretches
38:07
Speaker 1: in that second half after I don't know if it's
38:09
Speaker 1: Stafford's finger. I don't know if he just started playing bad,
38:12
Speaker 1: but it was not working. And their running game at
38:15
Speaker 1: the time, I remember looking the two running backs were
38:17
Speaker 1: averaging over five yards of carry. Blake I've loved Blake
38:20
Speaker 1: Corms as he was a Michigan. Kyen Williams is one
38:23
Speaker 1: of the more steady eddy players when he's not fumbling
38:25
Speaker 1: the ball in the league. Just run the ball. You're
38:28
Speaker 1: in control of the game. It's it's fourteen I guess
38:34
Speaker 1: it was seventeen fourteen at the end of the first half.
38:36
Speaker 1: Then they kick a field goal, so it's twenty to fourteen.
38:40
Speaker 1: But they get back in the game, so it kind
38:42
Speaker 1: of abed in flowed like Carolina would not die. And
38:44
Speaker 1: then the ironic part about the Rams is they had
38:47
Speaker 1: fired their special teams coach Chase Blackburn, former New York Giant.
38:51
Speaker 1: I think he's won like two Super Bowls as a player,
38:53
Speaker 1: definitely won one. And you know, anytime a unit sucks,
38:58
Speaker 1: head coach loves going. It's all that guy's but like, hey,
39:01
Speaker 1: we really appreciate you, wish you and your wife and
39:04
Speaker 1: your children best of your future endeavors. Like bullshit, you
39:07
Speaker 1: just fucking told the guy to pack up a shit
39:09
Speaker 1: and leave that there's nothing more fraudulent in sports when
39:13
Speaker 1: they wish them the best mid season with the coordinator,
39:16
Speaker 1: it's like you just love me like a week ago,
39:18
Speaker 1: and now you're firing me because something screwed up, Like,
39:20
Speaker 1: is the owner GM want you to fire me now?
39:22
Speaker 1: Their special teams have been bad, but like was it
39:24
Speaker 1: the coach or is it the players? Because when they
39:28
Speaker 1: got that punt blocked and then all of a sudden
39:31
Speaker 1: the Panthers score and take the lead thirty one to
39:35
Speaker 1: twenty seven, You're like, the Rams are going to lose
39:39
Speaker 1: this game on the road to an eight to nine
39:41
Speaker 1: Panther team because of their special teams. And I had
39:45
Speaker 1: people because during the season like the downfall of this
39:47
Speaker 1: Rams team is gonna be their secondary. And the ten
39:51
Speaker 1: Rams fans that exist were DM and me like Middlecoff,
39:54
Speaker 1: it's not our secondary, it's our special teams. It sucks.
39:58
Speaker 1: And on that punt block, ISAIAHS Simmons, who might be
40:01
Speaker 1: the best special team or former first round pick like listen,
40:04
Speaker 1: not a defensive player, clearly overdrafted, but when you're six
40:08
Speaker 1: foot four and the dude on the edge just kind
40:11
Speaker 1: of goes like this, he just walked right into the punter.
40:15
Speaker 1: A lot of times when a punt or a field
40:17
Speaker 1: goal gets blocked off the edge, the dude has to
40:20
Speaker 1: like come out the blocks like he's Carl Lewis, layout
40:23
Speaker 1: like he's Ricky Henderson. You're like, that is peak athleticism
40:27
Speaker 1: right there, that explosion out of the blocks, the leap
40:31
Speaker 1: like it doesn't get it. It's a great play, right
40:33
Speaker 1: when a punt or a field goal is blocked coming
40:35
Speaker 1: around the edge. This play, the dude on the Rams
40:38
Speaker 1: honestly gave a pat on the ass, like, go get him, Tiger,
40:42
Speaker 1: Like that play was an embarrassment they deserve when that
40:46
Speaker 1: play happened to lose the game. But then Stafford seven
40:48
Speaker 1: plays later leads him on the game winning drive. And
40:51
Speaker 1: I think I saw on social media that he said
40:55
Speaker 1: told DeVante like let's rip their heart out or some
40:59
Speaker 1: cliche comment, and he did it. And he's done a
41:01
Speaker 1: lot in his career. And the Rams should beat the Panthers.
41:05
Speaker 1: They should never lose to the Panthers. But you watch
41:08
Speaker 1: that game thirty four to thirty one, and you go,
41:12
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to trust this team. It really is.
41:14
Speaker 1: Now we'll have to see, you know, the bearers have
41:17
Speaker 1: defensive issues. Want to see the Eagles and the forty
41:20
Speaker 1: nine ers tomorrow. You know, Seattle still got Sam Darnold.
41:23
Speaker 1: Like all these teams have question marks. It's hard to
41:26
Speaker 1: watch the Rams today and go, yeah, team that can
41:29
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, that team that can win three
41:33
Speaker 1: more playoff games. They're just not playing that well that
41:36
Speaker 1: they lost to Seattle. Obviously they were getting Their defense
41:41
Speaker 1: was getting cooked by Jacoby Brissett for two and a
41:43
Speaker 1: half quarters. Cooked, And you're watching today Bryce Young just
41:47
Speaker 1: scrambled around making throws to what's his name, I mean
41:52
Speaker 1: cocher nine catches, one hundred and thirty four yards. Guy
41:56
Speaker 1: was dominating McMillan at five for eighty one one. Mccocher
42:01
Speaker 1: had that play that they dialed up for what felt
42:05
Speaker 1: like for a second, potentially the game winning touchdown. Was
42:07
Speaker 1: beautiful play, beautiful pass. But you go, you have to
42:12
Speaker 1: stress this much to beat an eight to nineteen in
42:15
Speaker 1: a beautiful day too, Like this is not Soldier Field
42:18
Speaker 1: where it's freezing cold. What was it like sixty eight
42:21
Speaker 1: degrees there? Gorgeous, It's it was one of those when
42:28
Speaker 1: they took the lead and I was thinking, well, if
42:30
Speaker 1: the Rams don't drive the field and score. Does McVeigh
42:33
Speaker 1: just quit and go to Amazon, you know, Raheem and Tom.
42:37
Speaker 1: And if I'm McVeigh, I just get out ahead of it,
42:39
Speaker 1: like I just steal their chair. I go, actually, I'm done.
42:42
Speaker 1: Like he kind of had this look on his face.
42:45
Speaker 1: They're gonna lose this game to the fucking Panthers as
42:48
Speaker 1: a ten and a half point favorite special team. When
42:51
Speaker 1: your special teams can't be trusted, Listen, I gave the
42:54
Speaker 1: Bears a lot of credit. I can't take you seriously,
42:57
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl contender, whin your defense like that, you
43:00
Speaker 1: can only pull so many games, like eventually, you can't
43:02
Speaker 1: go down twenty one to three and come back when
43:05
Speaker 1: your defense is not trustworthy. It can't happen. When your
43:08
Speaker 1: special teams at any moment can just like give up
43:11
Speaker 1: a block field goal for a touchdown, can give up
43:13
Speaker 1: a block punt at the thirty yard line, can just
43:16
Speaker 1: have a disaster happen anymore. I just can't take you
43:18
Speaker 1: that seriously. And you know clearly Stafford, who I think
43:22
Speaker 1: is numbers twenty four to forty two, three hundred yards,
43:26
Speaker 1: I mean not great. I think he started the game
43:28
Speaker 1: like eight of eight or nine of nine, and then
43:30
Speaker 1: they didn't have a completion for a while. Through a
43:33
Speaker 1: couple of touchdowns, Now two of them were Pooka technically
43:36
Speaker 1: probably should have been four. They counted one as a run.
43:39
Speaker 1: Puka also dropped one. In fairness to Stafford, he would
43:42
Speaker 1: have walked right into the end zone. But I don't know,
43:45
Speaker 1: I what the hell's the difference? You know, people nitpick
43:50
Speaker 1: the Bears, like what's the difference with the Rams because
43:52
Speaker 1: their coaches won a Super Bowl? Because their quarterbacks won
43:55
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl? Like you watch them play, it's hard
43:58
Speaker 1: to have faith in them. There's hard to be trusted. Now,
44:01
Speaker 1: Pooka Naku is a dominant force. I think he's I
44:05
Speaker 1: feel like he's one of the best players I've ever seen.
44:07
Speaker 1: That might be a little over the top, but like
44:09
Speaker 1: when you're watching him and he's rolling, you're like, what
44:12
Speaker 1: is this? How's the guy's unstoppable? And Devonte coming back
44:16
Speaker 1: obviously helps him. Parkers in touchdown catch with Sweet that
44:22
Speaker 1: was nice. And I gotta say one area I was wrong.
44:25
Speaker 1: I've been hard on this guy. I didn't think he
44:27
Speaker 1: could play. And this morning, Chefter I think tweeted or
44:32
Speaker 1: might have said on TV, and then he tweeted that
44:34
Speaker 1: the expectation is for the Panthers to pick up the
44:37
Speaker 1: Bryce Young fifth year option. And I've talked about it.
44:42
Speaker 1: I said I would not do that. I think I've
44:45
Speaker 1: come around a little bit. I at least can understand it.
44:48
Speaker 1: He's still not my ideal quarterback, a little small for me.
44:52
Speaker 1: Clearly not terrible. He's had some moments over the course
44:57
Speaker 1: of the last month. Today he was pretty good, made
45:00
Speaker 1: some big plays, made some beautiful throws. And at the
45:03
Speaker 1: end of the day, if you pick up the fifth
45:05
Speaker 1: year option, and this is according to Google, I'm not
45:08
Speaker 1: a cap manager says the number will be around twenty
45:10
Speaker 1: six twenty seven million dollars they owe him because on
45:13
Speaker 1: these rookie deals, they pay him a ton of upfront money.
45:16
Speaker 1: So the cash they pay him next year is like
45:18
Speaker 1: five point five million dollars. So basically over the course
45:21
Speaker 1: of the next two years, it'd be sixteen million dollars
45:23
Speaker 1: a year. Well, you know, Bridge Gardner, Minshew's like a
45:27
Speaker 1: ten to fourteen million dollar quarterback, Like that's how much
45:30
Speaker 1: kind of those guys cost. So you get this guy
45:32
Speaker 1: for two years, keep building up the team and figuring
45:35
Speaker 1: it out. He's shown enough that's like, what are other options?
45:40
Speaker 1: What are we gonna do? I understand it. And there
45:43
Speaker 1: are individual plays you watch him, he grows on you.
45:46
Speaker 1: Now he also makes plays where it's like, ugh, don't
45:48
Speaker 1: love that. I mean, there was a throw today early
45:50
Speaker 1: in the game, McMillan coming around or coming over across
45:55
Speaker 1: the middle that he just hits him in stride. I
45:57
Speaker 1: think McMillan walks into the end zone, but for it
46:00
Speaker 1: would have been like a forty yard touchdown, like twenty
46:02
Speaker 1: yard throw and McMillan would have ran another fifteen twenty yards.
46:05
Speaker 1: But he throws like this wobbly duck and you know
46:08
Speaker 1: it's not totally his fault. The last play of the game,
46:11
Speaker 1: when I think was at Horn Junior from I think
46:14
Speaker 1: he played a Colorado last year. Just needs to hit
46:17
Speaker 1: the ground. Greg Olsen was like, Bro, you can't try
46:18
Speaker 1: to kiss out with your hands. So that's not totally
46:20
Speaker 1: his fault. But not the biggest Canalist guy. But Bryce
46:30
Speaker 1: has definitely improved. And for sixteen million dollars a year
46:34
Speaker 1: for two years, I would not be in favor. There
46:37
Speaker 1: can be no discussion about future big contract, even like
46:42
Speaker 1: three year one hundred million dollars like none of that,
46:45
Speaker 1: But I do understand when you look at the landscape
46:48
Speaker 1: and the costs of the league. You know, Daniel Jones
46:51
Speaker 1: just went for fifteen million dollars to the culture fourteen
46:53
Speaker 1: million dollars. Getting a guy that you drafted, you clearly
46:56
Speaker 1: like a lot that the team likes. High character guy.
46:59
Speaker 1: He just has the laws. Small, can't really see. Not
47:02
Speaker 1: a great athlete, not a huge arm, so he's got
47:05
Speaker 1: to be on time. When he gets in rhythm, he
47:08
Speaker 1: you know, he kind of becomes a playmaker. But if
47:11
Speaker 1: you get him scrambling and moving like it's not like
47:13
Speaker 1: he's running away from anybody. Take some bad sacks, but
47:19
Speaker 1: a lot of guys at his price point two. So
47:22
Speaker 1: I've come around to at least understand the logic of
47:26
Speaker 1: picking it up and trying to continue to build this
47:29
Speaker 1: team because they do have some building blocks. I mean,
47:32
Speaker 1: their young wide receiver corps is very interesting. There's a
47:35
Speaker 1: couple running backs are pretty good. You know, they have
47:38
Speaker 1: good defensive backs. You know, Horn got hit in the
47:41
Speaker 1: head to day, had to go to the tent. But
47:44
Speaker 1: Mike Johnson was I didn't know that much about that guy.
47:46
Speaker 1: He's guy was making plays all over the place. If
47:48
Speaker 1: they can improve their defensive line, they just got a
47:52
Speaker 1: little foundation there to be a very very competitive team.
47:56
Speaker 1: Their defensive coordinator UC Davis, Guy Avauro, he's pretty good
47:59
Speaker 1: like him. And you know, Dan Morgan's done a good
48:02
Speaker 1: job of just kind of getting this franchise going in
48:04
Speaker 1: the right direction. Now. I like I said, I would
48:07
Speaker 1: not compare Canalis to you know, the top offensive coaches
48:11
Speaker 1: in the league. Going back to last week where he
48:12
Speaker 1: ran a flea flicker in a rainstorm, but it happens.
48:18
Speaker 1: You know, that's I do dumb shit too. I think
48:20
Speaker 1: he'd liked that one back though. That was that was
48:23
Speaker 1: pretty bad, and his justification for it might have been worse.
48:27
Speaker 1: But today they fought, They fought really hard, and they
48:31
Speaker 1: made some big plays when they had to. And the
48:35
Speaker 1: the Rams just I'm telling you, I thought they just
48:37
Speaker 1: looked like shit most of the game. But today's all
48:40
Speaker 1: about the Chicago Bears. And again, we will be live
48:45
Speaker 1: on Netflix Monday eight am Eastern reacting to all the games.
48:50
Speaker 1: Tomorrow I'll be on YouTube with Coward tomorrow afternoon after
48:55
Speaker 1: the forty nine er Eagle game. Have a great Saturday,
48:58
Speaker 1: night and for you, I go Bears fans, Congratulations. That
49:01
Speaker 1: was really really cool. Okay, before we get out of here,
49:05
Speaker 1: let's talk about someone that needs his zone in. I'm
49:07
Speaker 1: a defender of Justin Herbert ever since he ran that
49:11
Speaker 1: ball in and the Rose Bowl, been rooting for the guy.
49:14
Speaker 1: No disputing his talent. This year, what he's done has
49:17
Speaker 1: been remarkable as offensive lineman, injured reserve, torn knees, broken hand.
49:24
Speaker 1: His playoff record is not great. I mean last year
49:29
Speaker 1: was a trocious I mean I think he just threw
49:31
Speaker 1: another interception in that game. It was really bad. And
49:34
Speaker 1: obviously the legendary loss of the Jacksonville Jags. I think
49:38
Speaker 1: on a Saturday night when they just melt it down,
49:42
Speaker 1: you get to go on the road, big underdog against
49:45
Speaker 1: a second year quarterback, kind of with nothing to lose.
49:49
Speaker 1: But I do think Sunday night football a lot of eyeballs.
49:54
Speaker 1: Having a good performance can just go a long way
49:57
Speaker 1: of quieting everybody. You can lose the game, but if
50:00
Speaker 1: you play well, because right now, if you have another
50:03
Speaker 1: one of those games where it does not look good,
50:05
Speaker 1: you throw some picks, it's gonna be hard to dispute.
50:09
Speaker 1: Three playoff games three bad performances. I'm a Herbert guy.
50:13
Speaker 1: I got the Chargers tomorrow, but if they're gonna make
50:16
Speaker 1: a little run here, specifically, just win this game as
50:19
Speaker 1: a road underdog, flying five thousand miles taking on the
50:23
Speaker 1: number two seed. My guy, justin Herbert is gonna have
50:26
Speaker 1: to zone in the volume