← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 3 - More on the Bears huge comeback win over the Packers, Danny Parkins
00:32:03
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an I Heart podcast Guaranteed.
- [00:03]
Danny Parkins
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- [01:17]
Walton Goggins
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- [01:48]
Danny Parkins
For listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started.
- [02:09]
Mike DeFeo
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
- [02:12]
Danny Parkins
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, 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. How dejected were you.
- [02:33]
Mike DeFeo
First half? Not as fun as the second half, Colin. I'm willing to. I'm willing to say that right now, but I will say not as dejected as you would think, even though I don't fully remember what I said in all of those videos, 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 the first half. We're talking at halftime, me and my. My nephew and my friends who are all at the game together, 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 the stop to stop the third. Start the third quarter. They outscored him 25 to 6 in the fourth quarter. I'm not willing to write off Pope Leo. I think it's a great theory because you got to remember before he was Pope Leo, he was Bob from the south side. Like, he was a White Sox fan at the World Series. 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? I think it's totally logical.
- [03:41]
Danny Parkins
What did this state, this play here in the fourth? What did the. What was the stadium reaction? Because you were in row one, he's.
- [03:47]
Mike DeFeo
Rolling left towards me and he does, I mean, rolling left, 35 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 like, oh, he's got it. Dunesay, 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 11. So that throw gets forgotten to history if everything else doesn't happen after it. But as soon as the game ended and you started to try to, like, collect, like, 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.
- [04:38]
Danny Parkins
You know, 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 players. And Matt Hasselbeck said this earlier. 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. I'm going to do stuff 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 Ben'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. You want to be complimentary and. But I do think Ben's the mad scientist upstairs and the virtuoso stuff. Caleb's better off script, it looks like to me, routinely.
- [05:34]
Mike DeFeo
So two. 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 adjustments 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. Grady Jarrett was on the Falcons, Joe Tunney was on the Patriots. He apparently had both of those players speak to the bears about the 283 comeback or collapse, depending on your perspective, to give them the idea of, we're never out of this game. You know, it's 60 minutes. Don't give up. And he referenced that at halftime, saying that this was going to be the biggest comeback in Bears 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 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 I do 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 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 11 with five minutes left, six minutes left. You know, on fourth and eight, how many guys in the world make that? Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, end of list. Like Drake may, maybe Justin Herbert. Maybe it is such a special thing that can't be taught that, you know, I'll take that combination of brains and artists.
- [07:37]
Danny Parkins
So I wouldn't fire Matt LaFleur. I think it's very difficult taking a huge lead and then going into halftime and thinking, I don't want to put my. Jordan Love's been banged up this year. I'm not putting him in the crosshairs. We're going to 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. College and pro. I don't put it on Matt Lafleur. I think it's very hard to play a perfect first half and then tell your team, go take the, you know, and then coach you. Take the foot off the pedal and then expect them to be re energized. I think it's really difficult to hold leads, especially in the playoffs. Your thoughts?
- [08:14]
Mike DeFeo
Yeah. And the other team gets paid too. I listen. I wouldn't fire Matt LaFleur either. Partly because the Bears packers rivalry is finally a real rivalry. And Ben Johnson seems to hate Matt Lafleur and Matt lafleur seems to hate Ben Johnson. And I don't want that to go away because one of my like bedrock principles is less hate in the world and more hate in sports. So I love that these guys hate each other. I think it makes the rivalry better. So I want Matt Lafleur to stay. Stay. But no, listen, Matt Leflore is a good coach. He got Aaron Rodgers a couple of late MVPs. He's gotten Jordan Love to be very good immediately when that was no sure thing. I think the thing that the packers tend to do is actually be a little too aggressive. Like they kept throwing the ball downfield, 15, 20 yards down the field within the four minute offense late. That's just over aggressive. I'm not saying you have to just do halfback dive, but there's got to be some sort of combination of screen passes, RPOs, more simple things where you can have an easier shot of keeping the clock running. It's his third playoff loss as a favorite. That's bad. Getting a delay a game out of a timeout, that's bad. Getting outscored 25 to 6 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.
- [09:33]
Danny Parkins
Okay, I'll leave you with 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 for the Panthers. 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 in Chicago. If the play scheme doesn't work, you get a second play with Caleb. Also you have I mean between Loveland, the tight ends D.J. moore, Roma Dun is 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 7 degrees playing an L A team which is not playing particularly well.
- [10:28]
Mike DeFeo
Yeah, I love the Bears plus four and a half that that has already been made. I'll tell you that right now. And okay because the last thing the cold the warm weather team flying east to the sub zero temperature on the feels like if we, you know get the weather gods on our side and again Pope Bob, I do think that a lot of those things favor Chicago and the Rams defense. They're giving up like 28 points for they week 11 on it's now over 28 points per game. As you mentioned, Carolina had their way with them. They beat him last time easily could have beat him this time. So I think the Bears will move the ball. 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. I think it's another game that comes down to the fourth quarter but also like period next paragraph. Matt Stafford could throw for 600 yards on the Bears because the Bears defense is a huge problem right now. Colin. So I'm confident Bears offense against Rams defense, not quite so much. Rams offense against Bears defense.
- [11:36]
Danny Parkins
Yeah, there's. I'll tell you what. If you take the Bears and the Rams offensive talent and stack it up, it's a Pro bowl team. There are so I mean the tight ends Alone you've got Puka Devonte Adams, DJ Moore, Roma Dun. Luther Burden has become now a real weapon. So cannot wait.
- [11:57]
Mike DeFeo
Loveland is a superstar. Colston Loveland is a superstar. He's going to be great for a decade.
- [12:03]
Danny Parkins
Yeah. His jersey had so much chalk and it, it looked like honestly just rolled around in it for several hours. Danny is always great stuff.
- [12:12]
Mike DeFeo
Good to see you this weekend, Colin. Thank you, sir.
- [12:14]
Danny Parkins
Yeah. What, what a magical moment. We 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, and this game, it felt so iconic and important for the city of Chicago.
- [12:34]
Mike DeFeo
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio F1 and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube and you can be a part of it. Pay attention. Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio. Hit that subscribe button and smash that notification bell and catch all the videos from your favorite shows. Two pros and a cup of Joe. Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb, Kavino and Rich. The Odd couple with Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington, the Jason Smith show with.
- [13:05]
Danny Parkins
Mike Harmon and the Ben Ma show.
- [13:08]
Mike DeFeo
Fox sports radio on YouTube.
- [13:10]
Danny Parkins
Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
- [13:13]
Walton Goggins
So you want to start a business. You might think you need a team of people and fancy tech skills, but you don't. You just need GoDaddy arrow. I'm Walton Goggins and as an actor, I'm an expert in looking like I know what I'm doing. GoDaddy Arrow uses AI to create everything you need to grow a business. It'll make you a unique logo, it'll create a custom website, it'll write social posts for you and even set you up with a social media calendar. Get started@godaddy.com Arrow that's godaddy.com Airo so.
- [13:45]
Danny Parkins
Tomorrow I'll do a herd hierarchy. A herd hierarchy. I'll go one through eight and I'm just kind of penciling around Seattle's one Chicago now missing a left tackle and their first or second best defender's 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 watch the Texans tonight. I don't know. Playoffs are just fine without Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, they're just fine. Appropriately named Wild card weekend. J. Mac with the news.
- [14:24]
Colin Cowherd
No, no, no, turn on the news.
- [14:26]
Mike DeFeo
This is the Herd line news.
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Eric Eager
All right, let's start with that wild Rams Panthers game. Colin Rams were in total control. 14 nothing. You're feeling good. And then Bryce Young started doing things. Man, I was impressed. It came down to Stafford late trailing and he had a two minute drive. Unbelievable touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson. I mean, great catch by the tight end. Here's Stafford and Devonte Adams on the quarterback's message to the team on the final drive.
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Mike DeFeo
I love this, an opportunity like tonight.
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Danny Parkins
I walked behind Tay on the way.
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Mike DeFeo
Out and was like, for that last drive, I forget what I said to.
- [15:00]
Danny Parkins
Him, but I was like, let's go snatch these guys.
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Colin Cowherd
You know, like, let's go snatch this one back, man.
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Danny Parkins
Let's go.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I think he said, let's go snatch these guys hearts. And that was, that was pretty, that was pretty cold. That was pretty cold just to hear that. And I actually like literally smiled in the moment because I thought that that was like one of the most gangster.
- [15:17]
Eric Eager
Things you could say in that moment.
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Danny Parkins
Yeah, I mean, that's kind of when Stafford's really, really good. And again, Stafford falls into the Brock, Purdy Darnold, Andrew Lockworth, there's bad picks. They're like, whoa, what? But in the end, he's good pre snap, you know, he had a couple to look one way, throw the other. They have a really, it's, you know, I think Greg Olson said this during the broadcast and he's a former tight end. 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. Colby Parkinson was a Stanford kid, went to Seattle and then they got him and it was kind of under the radar. I mean, Higby now healthy. They got Terrence Ferguson out of Oregon, Davis Allen a couple years ago. He's there, he's there for. 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.
- [16:13]
Eric Eager
Yeah, it's the defense of the Rams that is the concern. Right. I strangely, I thought Quinton Lake would shore up the back end.
- [16:20]
Mike DeFeo
He got cooked.
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Eric Eager
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. Puka had to adjust play of the game defense. Essentially.
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Danny Parkins
Puka 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 Dowdle, Bryce.
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Eric Eager
Well, Dowdle, 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 why Canales would do it?
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Danny Parkins
Well, 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. Is it what in his third year? I think third or fourth. 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.
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Eric Eager
Yeah, I was way off on this. Just as a tease again. I have zero bets yet for this coming week. Do you have any? Because I, you know, when, when I, when I poop my pants like that, I do not want to fire early.
- [17:30]
Danny Parkins
You know my initial. I want to see New England would be about a 1 1/2 to 2 point favorite if they played the Texans. That's in. I want to watch the Texans tonight, see what I get that that I want to see New England Texas Texans line.
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Eric Eager
I bring that up because I'm looking at the Rams and I. I was just about to dig into this Matth versus Dennis Allen defenses historically might. Might want to do any. Do some homework on that one before firing. If you're liking the Bears, hey, go for it. But Stafford has had some success against Dennis Allen defenses. All right, let's move on to the next story. 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 over two in the red zone. Three points and 207 yards of total offense. Jim Harbaugh asked afterwards how they'll approach the offense this offseason.
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Danny Parkins
I really don't have the answers.
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Eric Eager
I wish I did.
- [18:33]
Danny Parkins
If I did, there would have been. Would have been a different result. But that I am, you know, gonna be spending. We'll be spending a lot of hard work and maybe even sleepless nights getting it figured out. Yeah, 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 good on the O line, but even if they get their tackles back, they probably have to address it, get a third tackle in the building. They trust.
- [19:21]
Eric Eager
I was going to say skill position because Colin, now you see the stat there. One TD on 24 drives. I think it's 22 if you strip out the kneel downs. But, like, it just doesn't really make sense how they. Their priority in the offseason was, oh, let's go get Keenan Allen. Let's go get Trey Harris, the kid from Oklahoma. Let's get Omarion Hampton. Combined, they did like, nothing in this playoff game. And we would agree the Patriots defense is middle of the pack in most stats are not elite, just disappointing stuff. And some of the film guys are now breaking down.
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Walton Goggins
Herbert.
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Eric Eager
He did miss a couple of passes to McConkey. Didn't even throw them. Just didn't see him. And this could have been a different game. But how about Mike McDaniel? Can they get him as the offensive coordinator? Colin?
- [20:05]
Danny Parkins
Oh, I'm sure they could. He's lived in. He's lived in the Bay Area. He's been in California before. I'm sure they could.
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Eric Eager
Yeah, I'm thinking that would be a home run. Now, Mike McDaniel apparently is interviewing for the Falcons job right now. And McDaniel's going to be a hot commodity, man. He knows offense. I. I just need an OC for the Chargers. We got it. We got to 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 are indicating that Arizona State. Sam Levitt, who was pretty freaking awesome last season, leading Arizona State to the playoff, memorable game against Texas.
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Colin Cowherd
He's a.
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Eric Eager
He's a. He's a gamer. He's intending to sign with lsu. Levitt had a lot of interest around college football. You remember this guy? He had Cam scatter Boo.
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Danny Parkins
Yeah.
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Eric Eager
And he's a good player. It kind of ended ugly.
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Danny Parkins
No, I like him. He's a very competitive kid. I think he's. That's a really good sign by Kiffin. I like him a lot. I thought he was the best. To me, he and the quarterback that went to Texas Tech, the Sourcebee kid that played at Cincinnati. Those are the two guys to get in the portal and they Lane got one and Texas Tech got the other. He's a really good quarterback.
- [21:17]
Eric Eager
Very good. He will raise lsu. I 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.
- [21:34]
Danny Parkins
That's normal, right?
- [21:34]
Colin Cowherd
I'm sure.
- [21:35]
Danny Parkins
Yeah, reasonable. That's what I think. J. Mac with the news well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news Mike Tomlin, 23 and 5 on Monday night. We go to Pittsburgh next, the Herd.
- [21:53]
Mike DeFeo
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.
- [22:04]
Danny Parkins
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 defebo and the Steelers tonight hosting the Houston Texans. They are an underdog and Monday night, for whatever reasons, Mike Tomlin is like Bill Walsh meets Belichick meets Andy Reid. He dominates Monday. Let's start with this. I've been very kind of. I don't know if cynical is the right word, but my take all year is Aaron's 42. They don't have a number two receiver. I think they're limited. And then over the last month, Gainwell, Jalen, Warren, Friar, Musso has been good. DK now returns. 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?
- [22:51]
Colin Cowherd
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 when they sat at 6 and 6. At the 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 needed Aaron Rodgers at his best. The 42 year old quarterback delivered. It was his best game of the season to date and he also even rushed for a touchdown for the first time since 2022. 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 good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. 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 and a great drive. Aaron Rodgers has delivered and especially last week with those two two minute light situations where he ultimately led the Steelers into the playoffs.
- [24:05]
Danny Parkins
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 burdened by 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, he's spreading it 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.
- [24:41]
Colin Cowherd
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 who Smith, who was kind of like a wide receiver too sometimes it was Calvin Austin III stepping up like a wide receiver too. And then they remade this wide receiver room on the fly with some veteran guys that Aaron Rodgers has classified himself as cast offs. Adam Thielen and Marquez Valdez scantling, you know, so that was kind of the construction of this team. And really you have to give a lot of credit also to Kenneth Gainwell because a big 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 Gainwell 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, but if it's not him, really it can be any one of those guys that I just mentioned.
- [25:41]
Danny Parkins
Arthur Smith and Aaron. I mean Aaron has a way of seeing the world. You're asking him to embrace another offensive coordinator. How much of the growth is just Aaron like, okay, I mean 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?
- [26:02]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I think that you're right. Some things that are a little bit different than what Aaron Rodgers has done in the past. The biggest thing is probably the use of tight ends that really Aaron Rodgers is somebody who likes having three wide sets, 11 personnel, and the Steelers are a very heavy 13 personnel, 12 personnel team. So Aaron Rodgers has been willing to, 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 realized that when you bring in a 42 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 Calvin Austin III and says to him, what, what route do you want? What do you want to do? 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 of moments last week against the Ravens.
- [27:22]
Danny Parkins
How do you explain Tomlins always been awful on Thursday night, unbeatable on Monday? So there's got to be, you know, whenever something jumps out to you like that, my take is 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, when Thursday is just an attrition game. You're just trying to get in, get out, nobody's hurt. Monday, it feels like to me, Mike really gets to build everything up to a crescendo. That's Mike at his back. 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?
- [28:01]
Colin Cowherd
You know, Mike Tomlin used to have a saying a couple of years ago where he would say it's a five star matchup because we're in it.
- [28:09]
Mike DeFeo
And I think one of the things.
- [28:10]
Colin Cowherd
That Mike Tomlin does best is he has the pulse of his team and he knows how to poke and prod. Last game, Cam Heyward 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. He keys them up and he knows what buttons to push to get them motivated. Another factor of that also, I think, is just the environment that's created in Pittsburgh on Monday night when you have the yinzers 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, that's going to be a big factor in this one because this is going to be the Steelers first home playoff game at full capacity since the 20, 2017 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 Akashire Stadium.
- [29:09]
Danny Parkins
Mike defebo, final question. Let's say, let's do the negative side. The pessimistic Houston's defense is suffocating. They hit Aaron six to eight times. He gets beat up. You know, it's a 237 loss. You're a little outmanned. This is an old, expensive defense. Is it possible, you know, 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, what a great experience. I'm Seacrest out, it's over. Is that possible?
- [29:53]
Colin Cowherd
I think it's possible. And what I'll tell you is going into that Week 18 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. That's the only thing that has my attention. That's not what he said. 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 have to be careful when you try to interpret what Aaron Rodgers means or read between the lines, is Rodgers is at least open to coming back next year. And I think what that means is it could be in Pittsburgh, it could be somewhere else. You know, the Minnesota Vikings, their quarterback situation hasn't exactly panned out as hoped. 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 40% he retires, you know, maybe 30% he's somewhere else, and maybe 30%, he's in Pittsburgh. And I think some of the 30% 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 of him that's thinking, how much longer do I want to coach for a fan base 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.
- [31:26]
Danny Parkins
How many times does that happen this year? The negative Tomlin chance, really, it was.
- [31:33]
Colin Cowherd
Only one time that I can ever remember in my entire life. And I grew up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. 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 Tomlinson, but I've never heard it. Fans inside his own building chanting, fire Tomlin. And so that was something that I think really brought things to a head, and I think that there's a chance. Now, 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 backed into a corner. He wants to fight his way out of it. And he's the guy himself who says, I do not seek comfort. And so really, I think it's going to be interesting if they are to lose tonight, what ends up happening with Tomlin and what he ultimately decides for his future. But again, I see no world where he's fired. I think that Mike Tomlin is the one that's going to have the greatest say in where things go from here.
- [32:36]
Danny Parkins
Mike Defebo, the Athletic. Great stuff as always, Mike.
- [32:40]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Colin.
- [32:43]
Danny Parkins
Yeah, I. I think how it plays out tonight, I, you know, listen, you can. You could visualize Houston is so good at corner, so physical, so hard to block on the edge. You could see him at be 23 to 7 and just Aaron is just can't get loose, you know what I mean? Like couple big shots down the field, you know, it's just a cold night. You're taking a lot of hits. You get sacked three times, you get hit eight. And it's frustrating, but they have played. It's pretty clear. This is 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 expensive, but they find ways to get points somehow, some way. In games like tonight, when you're like, what are they going to score? 9 points, 3 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.
- [33:42]
Eric Eager
So, Colin, there were three road winners wild card weekend. I saw there were three total the previous three years. How many you over? Under one and a half in divisional weekend road teams getting the win. So that would be Buffalo over.
- [33:57]
Mike DeFeo
Oh, over.
- [33:59]
Eric Eager
Oh, my. You got rams in Buffalo.
- [34:01]
Danny Parkins
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 DeFeo? All good. First things first, right around the corner.
- [34:20]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.