January 12, 2026 • 32 mins
Colin talks to First Things First co-host Danny Parkins about the Bears epic comeback win over the Packers on Sunday, Ben Johnson's coaching style, Caleb Williams being a leader and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Danny Parkins is now joining US Live. He had a
pretty good seat for all of this. We met in
the morning for coffee and I told him take a jacket.
It's going to be cold. You know, as a guy
that's not from here, I knew it was going to
be cold. So take me to the first half where
the Bears looked out of sorts.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
How dejected were you?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
First half? Not as fun as the second half, Colin.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
I'm willing to say that right now, but.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I will say.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Not as dejected as you would think, even though I
don't fully remember what I said in all of those video,
and I credit the pregame tailgate for that, but it
was the type of situation where that ended up being
the seventh fourth quarter comeback that the Bears have had
this year, and so I had seen six of them,
so McManus misses the field goal at the end of
(01:14):
the first half. We're talking at halftime, me and my
nephew and my friends who were all at the game together,
were like, all right, get a stop to start the
third quarter, and then it's time for Caleb Magic to
kick in a little bit. They got to stop to
stop their start the third quarter. They outscored him twenty
five to six in the fourth quarter. I'm not willing
to write off Pope Leo. I think it's a great
(01:34):
theory because you got to remember before he was Pope Leo,
he was babbed from the South Side, like he was
a white Sox fan.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
At the World Series.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
He probably called into my old radio show, like he's
definitely seen my clips on the internet. So yeah, if
the Blues Brothers could be on a mission from God,
why can't this Bears team.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
I think it's totally logical.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
What of the this play here in the fourth What
was the stadium reaction? Because you were in row one.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Rolling left towards me and he does, I mean rolling
left thirty five air yards, throwing across his body and
he makes the completion, and you're watching Caleb and then
you turn to your left and you're.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Like, oh, he's got it.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Dune say, does that have enough arm on it? And
it did and it was an amazing moment. And I knew,
of course right away that it was an insane throw,
and like the game wasn't officially over, but it still
is tick tick tick tick tick tick tick less than
six minutes left in the fourth quarter and they're still
down eleven. So that throw gets forgotten to history if
(02:34):
everything else doesn't happen after it. But as soon as
the game ended and you started to try to like
collecting what was the craziest play, everybody knew that that
was the throw of the moment because it extended it,
it kept it alive, but it becomes immortal because of
what happened afterwards.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, I was saying, this is Josh Allen and Caleb
Williams are often better late. And my take is, like
a basketball player, they're momentum player. And Matt Hasselbeck said
this eart of year. He said, Caleb, maybe it's a
little street football. He said, he may be more comfortable
kind of like, coach, give me the structure.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'm gonna do stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
When you watch Caleb, because anytime I go to a game,
it feels different than watching on TV. When you watch Caleb,
there is a sense, and I've seen this with Josh
this year. The second half isn't Bend's half, it's Caleb's half.
And it does it feel like that where the second
half it's a little symphony. It's you know, football is
(03:32):
you want to be complimentary, but I do think Bend's
the mad sciences supstairs and the virtuoso stuff. Caleb's better
off script it looks like to me routinely.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So two things there, and I'll get to the Caleb
part in a second. I don't want to undersell what
Ben Johnson's impact was there on the second half of
that game, because they consistently get better late, so I
think there has to be something to the halftime adjustment.
And a couple of the stories that have come out
since that game. One was he called back to a
lesson I guess that he gave them in training camp.
(04:08):
Grady Jarrett was on the Falcons, Joe Tooney was on
the Patriots. He apparently had both of those players speak
to the Bears about the twenty eight to three comeback
or collapse, depending on your perspective to give them the
idea of we're never out of this game. You know
it's sixty minutes, don't give up. And he referenced that
at halftime, saying that this was going to be the
(04:28):
biggest comeback in Bear's history. Bigger comebacks have happened before,
we can do this. So I do think Ben Johnson
being able to call back to something from preseason mattered.
And then the touchdown that you've shown a bunch to
DJ Moore that ultimately ended up being the game winner
was a perfect call in the perfect spot because it
was a play that built Yeah, this one right here.
It was a play that built off a wide receiver
(04:49):
screen early exact same formation, exact same blocking moment, movement,
exact same three receivers split out to the left, except
this time it was more of a pump and go
and Dj Moore took it deep. So think that was
Ben Johnson like the scheme and the brilliance there. But
there is no question that Caleb Williams is an artist,
that he is a field guy, that he is better
(05:11):
off schedule on the run, playing with feel eyes in
the back of his head, and that Ben Johnson's job
is to continue to get him better on schedule, and
I will take that as a Chicagoan and a Bears fan,
because I have to believe that you could coach the
guy to hit the layups and that throw where he's
escaping down down eleven with five minutes left, six minutes left,
(05:34):
you know on fourth and eight. How many guys in
the world to make that Josh Allen, Patrick mahomes end
of list, like Drake May maybe justin Herbert, maybe it
is such a special.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Thing that can't be taught that, you know.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'll take that combination of brains and artists.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I wouldn't fire Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I think it's very difficult taking a huge lead and
then going in a halftime and thinking I don't want
to put my Jordan Love's been banged up this year.
I'm not put them in the crosshairs. We're gonna run
the ball. Then it's cold, then Jordan Love gets a
little out of sync. I've seen this a thousand times,
so have you, collegen pro I don't put it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
On Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I think it's very hard to play a perfect first
half and then tell your team we're gonna take that.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
You know, and then coach, you take the foot off
the pedal and then expect them to be re energized.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I think it's really difficult to hold leads, especially in
the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Your thoughts, Yeah, and the other team gets paid too,
I listen. I wouldn't fire Matt Lafluor either, partly because
the Bears Packers' rivalry is finally a real rivalry, and
Ben Johnson seems to hate Matt Lafleur, and Matt Lafloor
seems to hate Ben Johnson, and I don't want that
to go away because one of my like Bedrock principles
(06:46):
is less hate in the world and more Hayen sports.
So I love that these guys hate each other. I
think it makes the rivalry better. So I want Matt
laflor to stay. But no, listen, matla Floor is a
good coach. He got Aaron Rodgers, a couple of late MVPs.
He's gotten Jordan Love to be very good immediately.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
When that was no sure thing.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I think the thing that the Packers tend to do
is actually be a little too aggressive, Like they kept
throwing the ball downfield fifteen to twenty yards down the
field within the four minute offense late. That's just over aggressive.
I'm not saying you have to just do half back dive,
but there's got to be some sort of combination of
screen passes, RPOs, more simple things where you can have
(07:23):
an easier shot of keeping the clock running.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's his third.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Playoff loss as a favorite.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
That's bad.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Getting a delay a game out of a timeout, that's bad.
Getting out scored twenty five to six in the fourth
quarter that's bad. But generally speaking, if you would fire
your coach and five or six teams would immediately hire him,
you probably shouldn't fire your coach.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay, I'll leave you this. He's on First Things First
today as well, Danny. The Rams are a weird team.
It feels like they peaked seven weeks ago. They have
all this great defensive personnel, but they've been gashed twice.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
With the Panthers.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So you sit and watch them and it's like, oh,
this team is just They also have the only quarterback
that didn't rush for a first down. So if the
scheme and the play doesn't work, the play's over.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
In Chicago.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
If the play scheme doesn't work, you get a second
play with Kleeb.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Also, you have.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean between Loveland, the tight ends, Dj Moore, Romadnde's healthy,
even Cole commit. You have big Luther Burden. The Rams
secondary very vulnerable. Weakness of the team could be corner
your thoughts about a Bear fan at home, could be
seven degrees playing an LA team which is not playing
(08:37):
particularly well.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Yeah, I love the Bears plus four and a half
that that has already been made.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
I'll tell you that right now. And okay, because.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
The last thing, the warm weather team flying east to
the sub zero temperature on the feels like if we,
you know, get the weather.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Gods on our side.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
And again, Bob, I do think that a lot of
those things favor Chicago and the Rams defense. They're giving
up the twenty eight points pert they leak eleven on
it's now over twenty eight points per game. As you mentioned,
Carolina had their way with them. They beat him last time,
easily could have beat him this time.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So I think the Bears will move the ball.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
And my guess is Ben Johnson says, hey, guys, you
were not able to run it against Green Bay. That's unacceptable,
and they'll be able to run it against the Rams.
So I think it's another game that comes down to
the fourth quarter. But also like period next paragraph, Matt
Stafford could throw for six hundred yards on the Bears set.
The Bears defense is a huge problem right now, Colin.
(09:42):
So I'm confident Bears offense against Rams defense not quite
so much Rams offense against Bears defense.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
If you take the Bears and the Rams offensive talent
and stack it up, it's a Pro Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
There are so yes.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
When the tight ends alone, You've got Pooka, Uh, Devonte Adams,
DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, Luther Burden has become now a
real weapon.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
So kennot wait, Legwyn is a superstar. Colston Loveland is
a superstar. He's going to be great for a decade.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
His jersey had so much chalk and it didn't looked
like honestly, just rolled around in it for several hours.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Danny is always great stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Good to see you this weekend, Colin. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, what a magical moment.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
We'd have had coffee in the morning and he's like, listen,
it's it's Bulls Jordan games, It's the Cubs. That last
game they played at home as they went on the
road in that World Series and he goes in this game.
It felt so iconic and important for the city of Chicago.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
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Speaker 1 (11:27):
So tomorrow I'll do a hurd higher q, a hurd hierarchy.
I'll go one through eight, and I'm just kind of
penciling around Seattle's won Chicago now missing a left tackle
and their first or second best defenders got to be
seven or eight now right, they're a four and a
half point dog at home. But two through seven, I'll
(11:50):
watch the Texans tonight.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Playoffs are just fine without Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
There just fine.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Appropriately named wild Card weekend.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
J Mack with the news. Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 7 (12:11):
All right, let's start with that wild Rams Panthers game.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
Colin Rams were in total control.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
Fourteen nothing, you're feeling good, and then Bryce Young started
doing things.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Man, I was impressed.
Speaker 7 (12:21):
It came down to Stafford late trailing and he had
a two minute drive, unbelievable touchdown pass to Kobe Parkinson.
Speaker 6 (12:30):
I mean, great cats by the tight end.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
Here's Stafford and DeVante Adams on the quarterback's message to
the team on the final drive.
Speaker 8 (12:36):
I love this an opportunity. Like tonight, I walked behind
Say on the way out and it was like for
that flash Drivet. I forget what I said to him,
but I was like, let's go snatch these guys, you know, like,
let's go snatch this from back man, let's.
Speaker 9 (12:46):
Go Yeah, I think you said let's go snatch these
guys hearts and that was that was pretty Uh, that
was pretty cold. Was pretty cold just to hear that.
And I actually like literally smiled in the moment because
I thought that I was like, when there's the most
gangster things you could say in that moment.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, I mean that's kind of when Stafford's really really good.
And again Stafford falls into the brock pretty Darnold Andrew Lockworth,
there's bad picks. They're like, whoa what, But in the
end he's good. Pre staff you know, he had a
couple to look one way through the other. They have
a really it's you know, I think Greg Olsen said
this during the broadcast, and he's a former tight end.
(13:23):
It's probably the best tight end group in the league.
They go, they go three four deep at tight end,
and they use their tight ends a lot. Coolby Parkinson
was a Stanford kid, went to Seattle and then they
got him and it was kind of under the radar.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I mean, hig me now healthy.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
They got Terrence Ferguson out of Oregon, Davis Allen a
couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
He's there. He's there.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Four But they're all capable guys, all block at some
level fairly well. But they're all guys that can make
they all have good hands and they're used regularly in
this offense.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Yeah, it's the defense of the Rams. That is the concern,
right a strange. I thought Quinton Lake would shore up
the back end.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
He got cooked.
Speaker 7 (14:03):
I mean it was a rough one for the secondary.
I will say this about Stafford. As good as he
was in the final drive, he nearly threw that pick
in the end zone. Pooka had to a juma defense
is ashy.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Pooka had the play of the game and it wasn't
a catch. He knocked that out. The other thing is
that Carolina has skill. I mean between Dowdell, Bryce.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Well, Doubdell by the way, real quick, he had like
five carries for nine yards. I don't know what that
game plan was. He was a monster this year. Any
idea what Kanalis.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Would do life, because I think they wanted to pick
on the Rams secondary, and I think they did. I
think Carolina's offensive talent and offensive coaching. I think it's
pretty clever. It's young. It's a lot of young. I
mean they've got a rookie, I mean the rookie t
mac sensational guy, Bryce Young.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Is it what in his third year? I think third
or fourth.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So it's a very very young offense and I think
it's only going to get better. But you can see
the Rams have struggled twice playing them, and they beat
the Rams red zone and down the field.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
Yeah, I was way off on this. Just as a tease.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Again, I have zero bets yet for this coming week.
Do you have any, because I you know when when
I when I hoop my pants like that, I do
not want to fire earth.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You know my en I want to see New England
would be about a one and a half to two
point favorite if they played the Texans.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That's I want to watch the Texans to night. See
what I get that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I want to see New England Texas Texans line.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
I bring that up because I'm looking at the Rams
and I was just about to dig into this. Matthew
Stafford versus Dennis Allen defenses historically, might want to do
any do some homework on that one before firing.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
If you're liking the bears by go for it.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
But Stafford has had some success against Dennis Allen defenses. Sorry,
let's move on to the next way, and that's Chargers Patriots.
Just disheartening effort from the Chargers offense. I didn't like
it at all. Justin Herbert got sacked six times. They
were zero for to in the red zone, three points
and two hundred and seven yards of total offense. Jim
Harbaugh asked afterwards how they'll approach the offense this offseason.
(16:10):
I really don't have the answers I wish I did.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
If I did there there would have been would have
been a different result.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
But that I am, you know, going to be spending.
Speaker 9 (16:25):
We'll be spending a lot of hard work and maybe
even sleepless nights getting it figured out.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I mean they the first pick. There's a Miami offensive
lineman that can go tackle or interior, and I think
with their tackle health issues, that's the pick. So he
can be He'll start on the inside where they're really
weak guard center guard, but he can in a pinch
play right tackle. They also probably need another edge rusher.
Other than that, another tight end would help. They're not
(16:56):
good on the O line. But even if they get
their tackles back, they probably have to address get a
third tackle in the building they trust.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
I was gonna say skill position because Colin, Now you
see the stat there one TD on twenty four drives.
I think it's twenty two if you strip out the
kneel downs. But like it just doesn't really make sense.
How they're priority in the off season was, Oh, let's
go get Keenan Allen, Let's go get Trey Harris, the
kid from Oklahoma, Let's get O'maron Hampton combined, they did
like nothing in this playoff game.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
And we would agree with Patriots.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
Defense is middle of the pack and most stats are
not elite. Just disappointing stuff. And some of the film
guys are now breaking down Herbert. He did miss a
couple of passes to mconkie, didn't even throw them, just
didn't see them. And this could have been a different game.
But how about Mike McDaniel. Can they get him as
the offensive coordinator Colin, Oh.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'm sure they could. He's lived in the Bay Area,
he's been in California before. I'm sure they could.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
Yeah, I'm thinking that would be a home run. Now
m McDaniel apparently he's interviewing for the Falcons job right now.
And mcdail was going to be a hot commodity man.
He knows offense. I just need a no C for
the Chargers. We got we gotta get some playoff wins
for them. Final story Colin college football got some news today.
Lane Kiffin securing his quarterback in the transfer portal. Reports
(18:15):
are indicating that Arizona State Sam Levitt, who was pretty
freaking awesome last season, leading Arizona State to the playoff
memorable game against Texas he's a he's a he's a gamer.
He's intending to sign with LSU. Levitt had a lot
of interest around college football.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You remember this guy. He had cam'skataboo. Yeah, and he's
a good player. It kind of ended ugly.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
In I like him.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He's a very competitive kid. I think he's that's a
really good signed by Kiffin. I like him a lot.
I thought he was the best he to me. He
and the quarterback that went to Texas Tech, the Soresby
kid that played at Cincinnati, those are the two guys
to get in the portal, and they Lane got one
in Texas Tech got the other.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
He's a really good quarterback, very good.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
He will raise LSU. I.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
I just don't know if this is a playoff worthy
team next year. If you look at the roster, there's
some holes. The sec schedules are brutal. So I know
people are excited about Lane. I'm just telling you next year,
like reasonable expectations in Baton Rouge.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
That's normal, right, I'm sure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
They'll be reasonable.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's what I think.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The Herdline.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
News Mike Tomlin twenty three and five. On Monday Night,
we go to Pittsburgh next the Herd.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Well. He used to cover the Steelers for the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette. He graduated to the Athletic does a great job.
His name is Mike de Fabo and the Steelers Tonight
hosting the Houston Texans. They're an underdog and Monday Night,
for whatever reasons, Mike Tomlin, like Bill Walsh meets Belichick
meets Andy Reid, he dominates Monday.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Let's start with this.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I've been very kind of I don't know if cynical
is the right word, but my take all year is
Aaron's forty two.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
They don't have a number two receiver. I think they're limited.
And then over the last month.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Gain well Jalen Warren Friar Mussol has been good.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
DK now returns.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I do feel like there's something in the last four
or five weeks that's clicked. You've watched every snap. Does
it feel that way for you offensively?
Speaker 10 (20:33):
Yeah, Colin, I don't think that you were wrong to
be skeptical of this team coming into the year, and
even midway through the season, the Steelers were a very
inconsistent football team.
Speaker 11 (20:42):
When they sat at six and six at the.
Speaker 10 (20:44):
Midpoint, fans were chanting to fire Mike Tomlin. And at
that point the team could have gone one of two
directions and you would have seen a lot of teams
fold at that point and fall apart. But that was
really the turning point was when they went to Baltimore
and when they need he did Aaron Rodgers at his best.
The forty two year old quarterback delivered. It was his
(21:06):
best game of the season to date, and he also
even rushed for a touchdown for the first time since
twenty twenty two. And over this last stretch and down
the stretch, Aaron Rodgers has played some of his best
football as a Steeler when the Steelers have needed it
most out of him, and to me, it kind of
reminds me of the old Toby Keith song. If you're
a country music fan, I ain't as.
Speaker 11 (21:26):
Good as I once was, but I'm as good once
as I ever was.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
And that's really what the Steelers were betting on with
Aaron Rodgers here was when they needed a game winning drive,
not even a great game, but a great moment in
a great drive. Aaron Rodgers has delivered, and especially last
week with those two two minute life situations where he
ultimately led the Steelers into the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
So I've seen this before where you have a dominant
personality as a number one receiver like an AJ Brown
or I remember Dez Bryant, and they leave and the
offense flourishes because the quarterback doesn't feel a burden I
having to get the ball to DK Metcalf. So DK
leaves and I'm watching last week and I'm like, oh,
Aaron's very comfortable. He's having a good time here. He's
(22:08):
spreading around the infield. So now DK Metcalf comes back tonight.
Obviously he's going to be essential, but it didn't it
feel like last week in a weird way without Dk,
everybody else got a flourish.
Speaker 10 (22:23):
Well, that's kind of been the Steelers offense this year,
it really was constructed that it was DK metcalf as
the number one weapon, a big gap, and then everybody
else and everybody else everyone kind of filled in where
some games maybe it was John hu Smith who was
kind of like a wide receiver too. Sometimes it was
Calvin Austin the third stepping up like a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Two.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
And then they've remade this wide receiver room on the
fly with some veteran guys that Aaron Rodgers has classified
himself as cast offs, Adam Feeln and Marquez Valdez Scantling,
you know.
Speaker 11 (22:54):
So that was kind of the construction of this team.
Speaker 10 (22:56):
And really you have to give a lot of credit
also to Kenneth Gainwell, because part of this offense has
been when Aaron Rodgers is not able to throw the
ball deep, he's just been checking it down to Kenneth
game while and creating yards after the catch. So that's
kind of what their offense is is. You can't really
key on any one guy. Obviously DK is the guy,
(23:17):
but if it's not him, really it can be any
one of those guys that I just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Arthur Smith and Aaron. I mean, Aaron has a way
of seeing the world. You're asking him to embrace another
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
How much of the growth is just.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Aaron like, Okay, I mean we are when all of
us get older, there's a little more rigidity to us.
Some of this does feel like Aaron and Arthur have
kind of clicked. Is that part of it?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (23:45):
I think that you're right.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
Some things that are a little bit different than what
Aaron Rodgers has done in the past.
Speaker 11 (23:50):
The biggest thing is probably the use of tight ends.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (23:52):
Really, Aaron Rodgers is somebody who likes having three wide
sets eleven personnel, and the Steelers are a very heavy
thirteen person an l twelve personnel team. So Aaron Rodgers
has been willing to evolve to a degree. At the
same time, I give Arthur Smith credit because he's allowed
Aaron Rodgers to be Aaron Rodgers. And I think that
the Steelers realize that when you bring in a forty
(24:14):
two year old Aaron Rodgers, physically he might not be
what he once was, especially in terms of his mobility,
But if you're going to get the best out of him,
it's because you're tapping into that experience in that brain.
And let's just go back to the game winning drive
against the Baltimore Ravens, and they're in the huddle and
Aaron Rodgers looks at Kalvanos and the third and says to.
Speaker 11 (24:35):
Him, what route do you want? What do you want
to do?
Speaker 10 (24:39):
And they're literally drawing some plays or at least routes
up in the dirt. And Scotty Miller, one of the
other receivers, said that frees them up because he said
it was almost like backyard football. And he said, when
you're playing backyard football, you're not stressed out, you're not concerned,
You're just having fun. And I think that that level
of comfort and experience really showed in the most critical
(25:01):
of moments last week against the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
How do you explain Tomlin's always been awful on Thursday night,
unbeatable on Monday.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
So there's got to be you know, whenever.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Something jumps out to you like that might take his
Mike's not good on short rest. It's hard to motivate
guys and use sort of his motivational kind of tactics
and skills when Thursday is.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Just an attrition game.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
You're just trying to get in get out, and nobody's
hurt Monday. It feels like to me, Mike really gets
to build everything up to a crescendo. That's Mike and
his bad That's the only thing I can think of.
You give me your theory on why is Mike Tomlin
the greatest Monday Night coach ever?
Speaker 10 (25:44):
You know, Mike Tomlin used to have a saying a
couple of years ago where he would say, it's a
five star matchup.
Speaker 11 (25:50):
Because we're in it.
Speaker 10 (25:51):
And I think one of the things that Mike Tomlin
does best is he has the pulse of his team
and he knows how to poking prod. Last team, Cam
Hayward was saying, he knows when to stir the pot
and when to poke the bear, and I think that
that's what he does with this team, is he keys
them up and he knows what buttons to push to
get them motivated. Another factor of that, also, I think,
(26:12):
is just the environment that's created in Pittsburgh on Monday
night when you have the insers in the parking lot
drinking those icy lights all day long, getting fired up.
They come in there with their terrible towels, and those
terrible towels are twirling and they play renegade and the
other team can hear it. So I think that the
environment and that's going to be a big factor in
(26:34):
this one, because this is going to be the Steelers'
first home playoff game at full capacity since the twenty
seven team season. So fans have been waiting a long
time for a playoff win. They've also been waiting a
long time just to see a playoff game here at
Akroshure Stadium.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Mike de Fabo final question. Let's say, let's do the
negative side, the pessimistic. Houston's defense suffocating. They hit Aaron
six to eight times, he gets beat up. You know,
it's a twenty three seven loss. You're a little outmanned.
This is an old, expensive defense. Is it possible? You know,
(27:12):
Aaron walks off the field and he just and by
the way, this wouldn't be on Aaron. Houston made it
rough for Stafford. They make it rough for everybody. But
it's just one of those nights where Aaron takes a
lot of hits, several sacks, can't move the chains. Is
it you think it's possible? Aaron would be like, listen,
what a great experience. I'm seacrest out.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
It's over. Is that possible.
Speaker 11 (27:35):
I think it's possible.
Speaker 10 (27:36):
And what I'll tell you is, going into that Week
eighteen game against the Baltimore Ravens, we asked Aaron Rodgers
about his future and he could have said, look, I'm
focused only on this game at hand.
Speaker 11 (27:46):
That's the only thing that has my attention. That's not
what he said.
Speaker 10 (27:49):
What he said, and I'm paraphrasing him here, was after
the year, I'm going to be a free agent and
I'm going to have some options. And so my interpretation,
and always you're or have to be careful when you
try to interpret what Aaron Rodgers means or read between
the lines is Rogers is at least open to coming
back next year. And I think what that means is
(28:10):
it could be in Pittsburgh, it could be somewhere else.
You know, the Minnesota Vikings, their quarterback situation hasn't exactly
panned out his hope, and I think Aaron had at
least some interest in joining the Vikings. And I think
also retirement is a realistic possibility. So if I were
to put percentages on it, you know, and I'm speculating obviously,
I think maybe forty percent he retires, you know, maybe
(28:35):
thirty percent he's somewhere else, and maybe thirty percent he's
in Pittsburgh. And I think some of the thirty percent
in Pittsburgh has to do with what happens with Mike
Tomlin going forward. I can see no world where he's fired.
But I have wondered throughout the course of this year,
as he hears his own fans in his own stadium
chant to fire Tomlin, is there at least a part
(28:56):
of him that's thinking, how much longer do I want
to coach for a fan bab that no longer seems
to appreciate me. So I think all those factors are
going to be in play as we look at Aaron Rodgers' future,
Mike Tomlin's future, in the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
How many times does that happen? This year? The negative
Tomlin champs.
Speaker 10 (29:15):
Really, it was only one time that I can ever
remember in my entire life, and I grew up in Latrop, Pennsylvania.
I've been to tons of Steelers games. Obviously, you hear
talk radio, there are calls for Mike Tomlin's job. You
read the newspaper or read an outlet like The Athletic,
there are going to be critical comments from Mike Tomlin,
but I've never heard it fans inside his own building
(29:38):
chanting fire Tomlin. And so that was something that I
think really brought things through ahead, and I think.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
That there's a chance now.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
On the flip side of that, I should also mention
Mike Tomlin is the ultimate competitor, and I think it's
part of his personality that back into a corner, he
wants to fight his way out of it, and he's
the guy.
Speaker 11 (29:58):
Himself who says do not seek comfort.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
And so really I think it's going to be interesting
if they are to lose tonight, what ends up happening
with tom and what he ultimately decides for his future.
Speaker 11 (30:11):
But again, I see no world where he's fired.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
I think that Mike Tomlin is the one that's going
to have the greatest saying where things go.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
From here, Mike to Fable, the athletic, great stuff as always, Mike, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (30:23):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me. Colin.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, I think how it plays out tonight, you know, listen,
you could visualize Houston is so good at corner, so physical,
so hard to block on the edge. You could see
him at be twenty three to seven and just Aaron
is just can't get loose, you know what I mean,
like a couple of big shots down the field.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
You know, it's just a cold night. You're taking a
lot of hits.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
You get sacked three times, you get hit eight, and
it's frustrating. But they have played. It's pretty clear. This
was my first point with Mike that early in the season.
I'm like, you just can't generate enough offense. The defense
is old and expense, but they find ways to get
points somehow, some way. In games like tonight when you're like,
(31:09):
what are they going to score nine points? Three field goals?
They find ways to score. They win the field position game,
and when this one's decided, winner of this gets to
take on the New England Patriots.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
So, Colin, they were three road winners wild card weekend.
I saw they were three total the previous three years.
How many you over under one and a half in
divisional weekend road teams getting the win.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
So that would be Buffalo over ooh over, oh my,
that ransom Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
When you don't have dominant teams dynasties playing at home,
that's when the road dogs win. Yep, all right, we're
done Matt Hasselbeck. How about Danny Parkins, Mike the Fable?
All good, First things first, right around the corner,
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us Live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream US live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Danny Parkins is now joining US Live. He had a
pretty good seat for all of this. We met in
the morning for coffee and I told him take a jacket.
It's going to be cold. You know, as a guy
that's not from here, I knew it was going to
be cold. So take me to the first half where
the Bears looked out of sorts.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
How dejected were you?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
First half? Not as fun as the second half, Colin.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
I'm willing to say that right now, but.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
I will say.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Not as dejected as you would think, even though I
don't fully remember what I said in all of those video,
and I credit the pregame tailgate for that, but it
was the type of situation where that ended up being
the seventh fourth quarter comeback that the Bears have had
this year, and so I had seen six of them,
so McManus misses the field goal at the end of
(01:14):
the first half. We're talking at halftime, me and my
nephew and my friends who were all at the game together,
were like, all right, get a stop to start the
third quarter, and then it's time for Caleb Magic to
kick in a little bit. They got to stop to
stop their start the third quarter. They outscored him twenty
five to six in the fourth quarter. I'm not willing
to write off Pope Leo. I think it's a great
(01:34):
theory because you got to remember before he was Pope Leo,
he was babbed from the South Side, like he was
a white Sox fan.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
At the World Series.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
He probably called into my old radio show, like he's
definitely seen my clips on the internet. So yeah, if
the Blues Brothers could be on a mission from God,
why can't this Bears team.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
I think it's totally logical.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
What of the this play here in the fourth What
was the stadium reaction? Because you were in row one.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Rolling left towards me and he does, I mean rolling
left thirty five air yards, throwing across his body and
he makes the completion, and you're watching Caleb and then
you turn to your left and you're.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Like, oh, he's got it.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Dune say, does that have enough arm on it? And
it did and it was an amazing moment. And I knew,
of course right away that it was an insane throw,
and like the game wasn't officially over, but it still
is tick tick tick tick tick tick tick less than
six minutes left in the fourth quarter and they're still
down eleven. So that throw gets forgotten to history if
(02:34):
everything else doesn't happen after it. But as soon as
the game ended and you started to try to like
collecting what was the craziest play, everybody knew that that
was the throw of the moment because it extended it,
it kept it alive, but it becomes immortal because of
what happened afterwards.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, I was saying, this is Josh Allen and Caleb
Williams are often better late. And my take is, like
a basketball player, they're momentum player. And Matt Hasselbeck said
this eart of year. He said, Caleb, maybe it's a
little street football. He said, he may be more comfortable
kind of like, coach, give me the structure.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'm gonna do stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
When you watch Caleb, because anytime I go to a game,
it feels different than watching on TV. When you watch Caleb,
there is a sense, and I've seen this with Josh
this year. The second half isn't Bend's half, it's Caleb's half.
And it does it feel like that where the second
half it's a little symphony. It's you know, football is
(03:32):
you want to be complimentary, but I do think Bend's
the mad sciences supstairs and the virtuoso stuff. Caleb's better
off script it looks like to me routinely.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So two things there, and I'll get to the Caleb
part in a second. I don't want to undersell what
Ben Johnson's impact was there on the second half of
that game, because they consistently get better late, so I
think there has to be something to the halftime adjustment.
And a couple of the stories that have come out
since that game. One was he called back to a
lesson I guess that he gave them in training camp.
(04:08):
Grady Jarrett was on the Falcons, Joe Tooney was on
the Patriots. He apparently had both of those players speak
to the Bears about the twenty eight to three comeback
or collapse, depending on your perspective to give them the
idea of we're never out of this game. You know
it's sixty minutes, don't give up. And he referenced that
at halftime, saying that this was going to be the
(04:28):
biggest comeback in Bear's history. Bigger comebacks have happened before,
we can do this. So I do think Ben Johnson
being able to call back to something from preseason mattered.
And then the touchdown that you've shown a bunch to
DJ Moore that ultimately ended up being the game winner
was a perfect call in the perfect spot because it
was a play that built Yeah, this one right here.
It was a play that built off a wide receiver
(04:49):
screen early exact same formation, exact same blocking moment, movement,
exact same three receivers split out to the left, except
this time it was more of a pump and go
and Dj Moore took it deep. So think that was
Ben Johnson like the scheme and the brilliance there. But
there is no question that Caleb Williams is an artist,
that he is a field guy, that he is better
(05:11):
off schedule on the run, playing with feel eyes in
the back of his head, and that Ben Johnson's job
is to continue to get him better on schedule, and
I will take that as a Chicagoan and a Bears fan,
because I have to believe that you could coach the
guy to hit the layups and that throw where he's
escaping down down eleven with five minutes left, six minutes left,
(05:34):
you know on fourth and eight. How many guys in
the world to make that Josh Allen, Patrick mahomes end
of list, like Drake May maybe justin Herbert, maybe it
is such a special.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Thing that can't be taught that, you know.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'll take that combination of brains and artists.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
So I wouldn't fire Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
I think it's very difficult taking a huge lead and
then going in a halftime and thinking I don't want
to put my Jordan Love's been banged up this year.
I'm not put them in the crosshairs. We're gonna run
the ball. Then it's cold, then Jordan Love gets a
little out of sync. I've seen this a thousand times,
so have you, collegen pro I don't put it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
On Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I think it's very hard to play a perfect first
half and then tell your team we're gonna take that.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
You know, and then coach, you take the foot off
the pedal and then expect them to be re energized.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I think it's really difficult to hold leads, especially in
the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Your thoughts, Yeah, and the other team gets paid too,
I listen. I wouldn't fire Matt Lafluor either, partly because
the Bears Packers' rivalry is finally a real rivalry, and
Ben Johnson seems to hate Matt Lafleur, and Matt Lafloor
seems to hate Ben Johnson, and I don't want that
to go away because one of my like Bedrock principles
(06:46):
is less hate in the world and more Hayen sports.
So I love that these guys hate each other. I
think it makes the rivalry better. So I want Matt
laflor to stay. But no, listen, matla Floor is a
good coach. He got Aaron Rodgers, a couple of late MVPs.
He's gotten Jordan Love to be very good immediately.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
When that was no sure thing.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I think the thing that the Packers tend to do
is actually be a little too aggressive, Like they kept
throwing the ball downfield fifteen to twenty yards down the
field within the four minute offense late. That's just over aggressive.
I'm not saying you have to just do half back dive,
but there's got to be some sort of combination of
screen passes, RPOs, more simple things where you can have
(07:23):
an easier shot of keeping the clock running.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's his third.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Playoff loss as a favorite.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
That's bad.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Getting a delay a game out of a timeout, that's bad.
Getting out scored twenty five to six in the fourth
quarter that's bad. But generally speaking, if you would fire
your coach and five or six teams would immediately hire him,
you probably shouldn't fire your coach.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay, I'll leave you this. He's on First Things First
today as well, Danny. The Rams are a weird team.
It feels like they peaked seven weeks ago. They have
all this great defensive personnel, but they've been gashed twice.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
With the Panthers.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So you sit and watch them and it's like, oh,
this team is just They also have the only quarterback
that didn't rush for a first down. So if the
scheme and the play doesn't work, the play's over.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
In Chicago.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
If the play scheme doesn't work, you get a second
play with Kleeb.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Also, you have.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I mean between Loveland, the tight ends, Dj Moore, Romadnde's healthy,
even Cole commit. You have big Luther Burden. The Rams
secondary very vulnerable. Weakness of the team could be corner
your thoughts about a Bear fan at home, could be
seven degrees playing an LA team which is not playing
(08:37):
particularly well.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Yeah, I love the Bears plus four and a half
that that has already been made.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
I'll tell you that right now. And okay, because.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
The last thing, the warm weather team flying east to
the sub zero temperature on the feels like if we,
you know, get the weather.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Gods on our side.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
And again, Bob, I do think that a lot of
those things favor Chicago and the Rams defense. They're giving
up the twenty eight points pert they leak eleven on
it's now over twenty eight points per game. As you mentioned,
Carolina had their way with them. They beat him last time,
easily could have beat him this time.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So I think the Bears will move the ball.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
And my guess is Ben Johnson says, hey, guys, you
were not able to run it against Green Bay. That's unacceptable,
and they'll be able to run it against the Rams.
So I think it's another game that comes down to
the fourth quarter. But also like period next paragraph, Matt
Stafford could throw for six hundred yards on the Bears set.
The Bears defense is a huge problem right now, Colin.
(09:42):
So I'm confident Bears offense against Rams defense not quite
so much Rams offense against Bears defense.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
If you take the Bears and the Rams offensive talent
and stack it up, it's a Pro Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
There are so yes.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
When the tight ends alone, You've got Pooka, Uh, Devonte Adams,
DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, Luther Burden has become now a
real weapon.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
So kennot wait, Legwyn is a superstar. Colston Loveland is
a superstar. He's going to be great for a decade.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
His jersey had so much chalk and it didn't looked
like honestly, just rolled around in it for several hours.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Danny is always great stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Good to see you this weekend, Colin. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, what a magical moment.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
We'd have had coffee in the morning and he's like, listen,
it's it's Bulls Jordan games, It's the Cubs. That last
game they played at home as they went on the
road in that World Series and he goes in this game.
It felt so iconic and important for the city of Chicago.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
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(11:07):
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Two Pros and.
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Speaker 6 (11:20):
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Speaker 5 (11:22):
Subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and coming away.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
So tomorrow I'll do a hurd higher q, a hurd hierarchy.
I'll go one through eight, and I'm just kind of
penciling around Seattle's won Chicago now missing a left tackle
and their first or second best defenders got to be
seven or eight now right, they're a four and a
half point dog at home. But two through seven, I'll
(11:50):
watch the Texans tonight.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Playoffs are just fine without Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
There just fine.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Appropriately named wild Card weekend.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
J Mack with the news. Turn on the news.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 7 (12:11):
All right, let's start with that wild Rams Panthers game.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
Colin Rams were in total control.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
Fourteen nothing, you're feeling good, and then Bryce Young started
doing things.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Man, I was impressed.
Speaker 7 (12:21):
It came down to Stafford late trailing and he had
a two minute drive, unbelievable touchdown pass to Kobe Parkinson.
Speaker 6 (12:30):
I mean, great cats by the tight end.
Speaker 7 (12:31):
Here's Stafford and DeVante Adams on the quarterback's message to
the team on the final drive.
Speaker 8 (12:36):
I love this an opportunity. Like tonight, I walked behind
Say on the way out and it was like for
that flash Drivet. I forget what I said to him,
but I was like, let's go snatch these guys, you know, like,
let's go snatch this from back man, let's.
Speaker 9 (12:46):
Go Yeah, I think you said let's go snatch these
guys hearts and that was that was pretty Uh, that
was pretty cold. Was pretty cold just to hear that.
And I actually like literally smiled in the moment because
I thought that I was like, when there's the most
gangster things you could say in that moment.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, I mean that's kind of when Stafford's really really good.
And again Stafford falls into the brock pretty Darnold Andrew Lockworth,
there's bad picks. They're like, whoa what, But in the
end he's good. Pre staff you know, he had a
couple to look one way through the other. They have
a really it's you know, I think Greg Olsen said
this during the broadcast, and he's a former tight end.
(13:23):
It's probably the best tight end group in the league.
They go, they go three four deep at tight end,
and they use their tight ends a lot. Coolby Parkinson
was a Stanford kid, went to Seattle and then they
got him and it was kind of under the radar.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I mean, hig me now healthy.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
They got Terrence Ferguson out of Oregon, Davis Allen a
couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
He's there. He's there.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Four But they're all capable guys, all block at some
level fairly well. But they're all guys that can make
they all have good hands and they're used regularly in
this offense.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Yeah, it's the defense of the Rams. That is the concern,
right a strange. I thought Quinton Lake would shore up
the back end.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
He got cooked.
Speaker 7 (14:03):
I mean it was a rough one for the secondary.
I will say this about Stafford. As good as he
was in the final drive, he nearly threw that pick
in the end zone. Pooka had to a juma defense
is ashy.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Pooka had the play of the game and it wasn't
a catch. He knocked that out. The other thing is
that Carolina has skill. I mean between Dowdell, Bryce.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Well, Doubdell by the way, real quick, he had like
five carries for nine yards. I don't know what that
game plan was. He was a monster this year. Any
idea what Kanalis.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Would do life, because I think they wanted to pick
on the Rams secondary, and I think they did. I
think Carolina's offensive talent and offensive coaching. I think it's
pretty clever. It's young. It's a lot of young. I
mean they've got a rookie, I mean the rookie t
mac sensational guy, Bryce Young.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Is it what in his third year? I think third
or fourth.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
So it's a very very young offense and I think
it's only going to get better. But you can see
the Rams have struggled twice playing them, and they beat
the Rams red zone and down the field.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
Yeah, I was way off on this. Just as a tease.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
Again, I have zero bets yet for this coming week.
Do you have any, because I you know when when
I when I hoop my pants like that, I do
not want to fire earth.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You know my en I want to see New England
would be about a one and a half to two
point favorite if they played the Texans.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That's I want to watch the Texans to night. See
what I get that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I want to see New England Texas Texans line.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
I bring that up because I'm looking at the Rams
and I was just about to dig into this. Matthew
Stafford versus Dennis Allen defenses historically, might want to do
any do some homework on that one before firing.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
If you're liking the bears by go for it.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
But Stafford has had some success against Dennis Allen defenses. Sorry,
let's move on to the next way, and that's Chargers Patriots.
Just disheartening effort from the Chargers offense. I didn't like
it at all. Justin Herbert got sacked six times. They
were zero for to in the red zone, three points
and two hundred and seven yards of total offense. Jim
Harbaugh asked afterwards how they'll approach the offense this offseason.
(16:10):
I really don't have the answers I wish I did.
Speaker 9 (16:15):
If I did there there would have been would have
been a different result.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
But that I am, you know, going to be spending.
Speaker 9 (16:25):
We'll be spending a lot of hard work and maybe
even sleepless nights getting it figured out.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I mean they the first pick. There's a Miami offensive
lineman that can go tackle or interior, and I think
with their tackle health issues, that's the pick. So he
can be He'll start on the inside where they're really
weak guard center guard, but he can in a pinch
play right tackle. They also probably need another edge rusher.
Other than that, another tight end would help. They're not
(16:56):
good on the O line. But even if they get
their tackles back, they probably have to address get a
third tackle in the building they trust.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
I was gonna say skill position because Colin, Now you
see the stat there one TD on twenty four drives.
I think it's twenty two if you strip out the
kneel downs. But like it just doesn't really make sense.
How they're priority in the off season was, Oh, let's
go get Keenan Allen, Let's go get Trey Harris, the
kid from Oklahoma, Let's get O'maron Hampton combined, they did
like nothing in this playoff game.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
And we would agree with Patriots.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
Defense is middle of the pack and most stats are
not elite. Just disappointing stuff. And some of the film
guys are now breaking down Herbert. He did miss a
couple of passes to mconkie, didn't even throw them, just
didn't see them. And this could have been a different game.
But how about Mike McDaniel. Can they get him as
the offensive coordinator Colin, Oh.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'm sure they could. He's lived in the Bay Area,
he's been in California before. I'm sure they could.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
Yeah, I'm thinking that would be a home run. Now
m McDaniel apparently he's interviewing for the Falcons job right now.
And mcdail was going to be a hot commodity man.
He knows offense. I just need a no C for
the Chargers. We got we gotta get some playoff wins
for them. Final story Colin college football got some news today.
Lane Kiffin securing his quarterback in the transfer portal. Reports
(18:15):
are indicating that Arizona State Sam Levitt, who was pretty
freaking awesome last season, leading Arizona State to the playoff
memorable game against Texas he's a he's a he's a gamer.
He's intending to sign with LSU. Levitt had a lot
of interest around college football.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
You remember this guy. He had cam'skataboo. Yeah, and he's
a good player. It kind of ended ugly.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
In I like him.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He's a very competitive kid. I think he's that's a
really good signed by Kiffin. I like him a lot.
I thought he was the best he to me. He
and the quarterback that went to Texas Tech, the Soresby
kid that played at Cincinnati, those are the two guys
to get in the portal, and they Lane got one
in Texas Tech got the other.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
He's a really good quarterback, very good.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
He will raise LSU. I.
Speaker 7 (19:02):
I just don't know if this is a playoff worthy
team next year. If you look at the roster, there's
some holes. The sec schedules are brutal. So I know
people are excited about Lane. I'm just telling you next year,
like reasonable expectations in Baton Rouge.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
That's normal, right, I'm sure, yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
They'll be reasonable.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's what I think.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The Herdline.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
News Mike Tomlin twenty three and five. On Monday Night,
we go to Pittsburgh next the Herd.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Well. He used to cover the Steelers for the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette. He graduated to the Athletic does a great job.
His name is Mike de Fabo and the Steelers Tonight
hosting the Houston Texans. They're an underdog and Monday Night,
for whatever reasons, Mike Tomlin, like Bill Walsh meets Belichick
meets Andy Reid, he dominates Monday.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Let's start with this.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I've been very kind of I don't know if cynical
is the right word, but my take all year is
Aaron's forty two.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
They don't have a number two receiver. I think they're limited.
And then over the last month.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Gain well Jalen Warren Friar Mussol has been good.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
DK now returns.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I do feel like there's something in the last four
or five weeks that's clicked. You've watched every snap. Does
it feel that way for you offensively?
Speaker 10 (20:33):
Yeah, Colin, I don't think that you were wrong to
be skeptical of this team coming into the year, and
even midway through the season, the Steelers were a very
inconsistent football team.
Speaker 11 (20:42):
When they sat at six and six at the.
Speaker 10 (20:44):
Midpoint, fans were chanting to fire Mike Tomlin. And at
that point the team could have gone one of two
directions and you would have seen a lot of teams
fold at that point and fall apart. But that was
really the turning point was when they went to Baltimore
and when they need he did Aaron Rodgers at his best.
The forty two year old quarterback delivered. It was his
(21:06):
best game of the season to date, and he also
even rushed for a touchdown for the first time since
twenty twenty two. And over this last stretch and down
the stretch, Aaron Rodgers has played some of his best
football as a Steeler when the Steelers have needed it
most out of him, and to me, it kind of
reminds me of the old Toby Keith song. If you're
a country music fan, I ain't as.
Speaker 11 (21:26):
Good as I once was, but I'm as good once
as I ever was.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
And that's really what the Steelers were betting on with
Aaron Rodgers here was when they needed a game winning drive,
not even a great game, but a great moment in
a great drive. Aaron Rodgers has delivered, and especially last
week with those two two minute life situations where he
ultimately led the Steelers into the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
So I've seen this before where you have a dominant
personality as a number one receiver like an AJ Brown
or I remember Dez Bryant, and they leave and the
offense flourishes because the quarterback doesn't feel a burden I
having to get the ball to DK Metcalf. So DK
leaves and I'm watching last week and I'm like, oh,
Aaron's very comfortable. He's having a good time here. He's
(22:08):
spreading around the infield. So now DK Metcalf comes back tonight.
Obviously he's going to be essential, but it didn't it
feel like last week in a weird way without Dk,
everybody else got a flourish.
Speaker 10 (22:23):
Well, that's kind of been the Steelers offense this year,
it really was constructed that it was DK metcalf as
the number one weapon, a big gap, and then everybody
else and everybody else everyone kind of filled in where
some games maybe it was John hu Smith who was
kind of like a wide receiver too. Sometimes it was
Calvin Austin the third stepping up like a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Two.
Speaker 10 (22:44):
And then they've remade this wide receiver room on the
fly with some veteran guys that Aaron Rodgers has classified
himself as cast offs, Adam Feeln and Marquez Valdez Scantling,
you know.
Speaker 11 (22:54):
So that was kind of the construction of this team.
Speaker 10 (22:56):
And really you have to give a lot of credit
also to Kenneth Gainwell, because part of this offense has
been when Aaron Rodgers is not able to throw the
ball deep, he's just been checking it down to Kenneth
game while and creating yards after the catch. So that's
kind of what their offense is is. You can't really
key on any one guy. Obviously DK is the guy,
(23:17):
but if it's not him, really it can be any
one of those guys that I just mentioned.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Arthur Smith and Aaron. I mean, Aaron has a way
of seeing the world. You're asking him to embrace another
offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
How much of the growth is just.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Aaron like, Okay, I mean we are when all of
us get older, there's a little more rigidity to us.
Some of this does feel like Aaron and Arthur have
kind of clicked. Is that part of it?
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 11 (23:45):
I think that you're right.
Speaker 10 (23:46):
Some things that are a little bit different than what
Aaron Rodgers has done in the past.
Speaker 11 (23:50):
The biggest thing is probably the use of tight ends.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (23:52):
Really, Aaron Rodgers is somebody who likes having three wide
sets eleven personnel, and the Steelers are a very heavy
thirteen person an l twelve personnel team. So Aaron Rodgers
has been willing to evolve to a degree. At the
same time, I give Arthur Smith credit because he's allowed
Aaron Rodgers to be Aaron Rodgers. And I think that
the Steelers realize that when you bring in a forty
(24:14):
two year old Aaron Rodgers, physically he might not be
what he once was, especially in terms of his mobility,
But if you're going to get the best out of him,
it's because you're tapping into that experience in that brain.
And let's just go back to the game winning drive
against the Baltimore Ravens, and they're in the huddle and
Aaron Rodgers looks at Kalvanos and the third and says to.
Speaker 11 (24:35):
Him, what route do you want? What do you want
to do?
Speaker 10 (24:39):
And they're literally drawing some plays or at least routes
up in the dirt. And Scotty Miller, one of the
other receivers, said that frees them up because he said
it was almost like backyard football. And he said, when
you're playing backyard football, you're not stressed out, you're not concerned,
You're just having fun. And I think that that level
of comfort and experience really showed in the most critical
(25:01):
of moments last week against the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
How do you explain Tomlin's always been awful on Thursday night,
unbeatable on Monday.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
So there's got to be you know, whenever.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Something jumps out to you like that might take his
Mike's not good on short rest. It's hard to motivate
guys and use sort of his motivational kind of tactics
and skills when Thursday is.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Just an attrition game.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
You're just trying to get in get out, and nobody's
hurt Monday. It feels like to me, Mike really gets
to build everything up to a crescendo. That's Mike and
his bad That's the only thing I can think of.
You give me your theory on why is Mike Tomlin
the greatest Monday Night coach ever?
Speaker 10 (25:44):
You know, Mike Tomlin used to have a saying a
couple of years ago where he would say, it's a
five star matchup.
Speaker 11 (25:50):
Because we're in it.
Speaker 10 (25:51):
And I think one of the things that Mike Tomlin
does best is he has the pulse of his team
and he knows how to poking prod. Last team, Cam
Hayward was saying, he knows when to stir the pot
and when to poke the bear, and I think that
that's what he does with this team, is he keys
them up and he knows what buttons to push to
get them motivated. Another factor of that, also, I think,
(26:12):
is just the environment that's created in Pittsburgh on Monday
night when you have the insers in the parking lot
drinking those icy lights all day long, getting fired up.
They come in there with their terrible towels, and those
terrible towels are twirling and they play renegade and the
other team can hear it. So I think that the
environment and that's going to be a big factor in
(26:34):
this one, because this is going to be the Steelers'
first home playoff game at full capacity since the twenty
seven team season. So fans have been waiting a long
time for a playoff win. They've also been waiting a
long time just to see a playoff game here at
Akroshure Stadium.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Mike de Fabo final question. Let's say, let's do the
negative side, the pessimistic. Houston's defense suffocating. They hit Aaron
six to eight times, he gets beat up. You know,
it's a twenty three seven loss. You're a little outmanned.
This is an old, expensive defense. Is it possible? You know,
(27:12):
Aaron walks off the field and he just and by
the way, this wouldn't be on Aaron. Houston made it
rough for Stafford. They make it rough for everybody. But
it's just one of those nights where Aaron takes a
lot of hits, several sacks, can't move the chains. Is
it you think it's possible? Aaron would be like, listen,
what a great experience. I'm seacrest out.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
It's over. Is that possible.
Speaker 11 (27:35):
I think it's possible.
Speaker 10 (27:36):
And what I'll tell you is, going into that Week
eighteen game against the Baltimore Ravens, we asked Aaron Rodgers
about his future and he could have said, look, I'm
focused only on this game at hand.
Speaker 11 (27:46):
That's the only thing that has my attention. That's not
what he said.
Speaker 10 (27:49):
What he said, and I'm paraphrasing him here, was after
the year, I'm going to be a free agent and
I'm going to have some options. And so my interpretation,
and always you're or have to be careful when you
try to interpret what Aaron Rodgers means or read between
the lines is Rogers is at least open to coming
back next year. And I think what that means is
(28:10):
it could be in Pittsburgh, it could be somewhere else.
You know, the Minnesota Vikings, their quarterback situation hasn't exactly
panned out his hope, and I think Aaron had at
least some interest in joining the Vikings. And I think
also retirement is a realistic possibility. So if I were
to put percentages on it, you know, and I'm speculating obviously,
I think maybe forty percent he retires, you know, maybe
(28:35):
thirty percent he's somewhere else, and maybe thirty percent he's
in Pittsburgh. And I think some of the thirty percent
in Pittsburgh has to do with what happens with Mike
Tomlin going forward. I can see no world where he's fired.
But I have wondered throughout the course of this year,
as he hears his own fans in his own stadium
chant to fire Tomlin, is there at least a part
(28:56):
of him that's thinking, how much longer do I want
to coach for a fan bab that no longer seems
to appreciate me. So I think all those factors are
going to be in play as we look at Aaron Rodgers' future,
Mike Tomlin's future, in the future of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
How many times does that happen? This year? The negative
Tomlin champs.
Speaker 10 (29:15):
Really, it was only one time that I can ever
remember in my entire life, and I grew up in Latrop, Pennsylvania.
I've been to tons of Steelers games. Obviously, you hear
talk radio, there are calls for Mike Tomlin's job. You
read the newspaper or read an outlet like The Athletic,
there are going to be critical comments from Mike Tomlin,
but I've never heard it fans inside his own building
(29:38):
chanting fire Tomlin. And so that was something that I
think really brought things through ahead, and I think.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
That there's a chance now.
Speaker 10 (29:48):
On the flip side of that, I should also mention
Mike Tomlin is the ultimate competitor, and I think it's
part of his personality that back into a corner, he
wants to fight his way out of it, and he's
the guy.
Speaker 11 (29:58):
Himself who says do not seek comfort.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
And so really I think it's going to be interesting
if they are to lose tonight, what ends up happening
with tom and what he ultimately decides for his future.
Speaker 11 (30:11):
But again, I see no world where he's fired.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
I think that Mike Tomlin is the one that's going
to have the greatest saying where things go.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
From here, Mike to Fable, the athletic, great stuff as always, Mike, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (30:23):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me. Colin.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, I think how it plays out tonight, you know, listen,
you could visualize Houston is so good at corner, so physical,
so hard to block on the edge. You could see
him at be twenty three to seven and just Aaron
is just can't get loose, you know what I mean,
like a couple of big shots down the field.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
You know, it's just a cold night. You're taking a
lot of hits.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
You get sacked three times, you get hit eight, and
it's frustrating. But they have played. It's pretty clear. This
was my first point with Mike that early in the season.
I'm like, you just can't generate enough offense. The defense
is old and expense, but they find ways to get
points somehow, some way. In games like tonight when you're like,
(31:09):
what are they going to score nine points? Three field goals?
They find ways to score. They win the field position game,
and when this one's decided, winner of this gets to
take on the New England Patriots.
Speaker 7 (31:24):
So, Colin, they were three road winners wild card weekend.
I saw they were three total the previous three years.
How many you over under one and a half in
divisional weekend road teams getting the win.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
So that would be Buffalo over ooh over, oh my,
that ransom Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
When you don't have dominant teams dynasties playing at home,
that's when the road dogs win. Yep, all right, we're
done Matt Hasselbeck. How about Danny Parkins, Mike the Fable?
All good, First things first, right around the corner,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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