Green Light with Chris Long - Trevor Lawrence's Dominance, Caleb Williams' Comeback & Justin Herbert | Chris Long Reactions

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Chris Long reacts to the 1 and 4 pm games from the NFL's Week 16 slate. Trevor Lawrence was phenomenal in the Jaguars victory over the Denver Broncos. Caleb Williams led a comeback against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday. Joe Burrow dominated the Miami Dolphins, Justin Herbert was superb against the Dallas Cowboys and Cam Ward played his best game as an NFL pro. The Bills rolled the Browns and in the biggest game of the day, Bryce Young and the Panthers knocked off Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers to take the lead in the NFC South. For the NFL's My Cause My Cleats, visit these sites to support:https://mcmc.rayzeapp.com/beauallen http://strongerthanyouthink.org/ Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Also, check out our paddling partners at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Appomattox River Company ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. Green Light's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you can catch all the latest GL action: If you want some Black Friday merch, check out our sale:https://greenlightpodcast.shop/?fbclid=PAZnRzaAOR1RFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAad3Jup6i1N2qH77pK8eUeSbKt2Y0OXMldIw1dRTq_xDRuY3Ctp99Qj4pfyGAw_aem_w9tp_XwGL-ZptFIHvlrM1g Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live, live, live. What's up, y'all? Hold on. Let me get in the chat here so I can be with y'all. Oh, I got a fancy new, fancy new monitor. Well, it's good. Yeah, oh, this is crazy. This is so much better. Shout out to Tanner. Sending up the home, the home setup. This is my forever monitor. Feels good to have one. that was wild man i mean like bloodbath sunday for for most fans i feel like i felt like looking at the the slate this week it was really hard uh to make plays to make picks um actually ended up three and two in the picks but some of the big ones man for me that just blind spots for me obviously jacksonville in absolute wagon mode and we are going to have to deal with it tomorrow we're going to have to feel dr fax's wrath i don't know how to handle it

do we just let him go to start the show? You know, there's been talk. Our group chat for probably the final 90 minutes of that game was dead silent, but for one person. It's like the entire office was like, yeah, we're not exactly rooting against the Jags. But dealing with Nate tomorrow is going to be a motherfucker if they win. And they were fantastic today, dude.

I felt like for Denver before the half, there were two plays that drove me crazy if you're Denver. Before the half, not going on fourth down, the field immediately flipping. And Jacksonville getting three points before the half, 1710. It puts a lot of pressure on your offense to answer. Obviously, they played that game a little bit in the second half. But once you're down two scores to Jacksonville, because Jacksonville can do both things. They can run the football.

They can complete passes in key moments in the game. Like Trevor Lawrence was great. right down to that scramble at the end of the game that kind of he dove over the line to gain and he just had a really good feel early in the game he got sacked two three times but i felt like for a long stretch of this game denver couldn't lay hands on him you know i thought the roach penalty was maddening if you're a denver fan um there were little things like that obviously you might not love the pass interference in the end zone on parker washington but you got beat you just playing got beat and you know for a team i don't know what to think about

the NFL this year. This is a perfectly encapsulated two-week period where last week Denver looks like a Super Bowl team. And then this week, it's like they gave that superpower to Jacksonville and Jacksonville looked like a damn Super Bowl team today. And the reason Jacksonville was so good today, and I thought Denver came out and tackled real well. But as the game went on, Denver started missing these tackles outside the numbers and just gave way to explosives for Jacksonville. I thought the quarterback play was great. And the red zone, man. Talk about being really plugged in in the red zone.

Talk about having a great week. You can tell I don't even need to see their practice tape to know they had a fabulous week of red zone in practice. It felt like Jacksonville just had the better week of prep and out executed these guys, man. There was also a play that Denver ran, I believe at this point, you're down one possession. And I don't know if you get used to come. kind of coming back late in games or, you know, eating up chunks quickly if you're Denver.

But in my opinion, if you have any feel for the game at all, not to mention not going before the end of the first half, because I'd rather play that game from ahead if I'm Denver, right? Okay. But then the other one was when you're down a possession at midfield and Denver has had some really suspect calls where they get too cute, especially around midfield. I don't know if they consider it like a, you know, a total whack job concept area of the field. A lot of people call that shot zone. Maybe they're just like, hey, I was stone on those good edibles, those good Denver edibles when I made this play up. But let's run a reverse pass on second down and set up or whatever it was.

It was early down. And let's set up a behind the stick situation against the very good defense. you know, I just think for a team to look as good as they looked last week, they did not look the part this week. And that includes the rushers. I thought in in spots, Jacksonville, and you got to give credit to that offensive line, did a great job in key moments of keeping Trevor clean. And then when he wasn't, he made plays with his legs.

That performance there looks like the culmination of a lot of ups and downs in Jacksonville. I mean, you think about like the power of a coach who always talk about this. And, you know, somebody like me doubted Trevor Lawrence. you know, right up until the last month of the season here. And I'm not looking to jump on the bandwagon. I'm just saying it's amazing what a coach can do. And we outlined this on Thursday. You know, I think he should have been given more grace

at the beginning of the hand up. Should have been given more grace at the beginning of the season because you're in a new offense. You've got a rookie phenom who you're trying to work in, who by the way, plays both sides of the ball. And I'm not a huge fan of that at a, you know, a full-time basis. I think he's a I think his ceiling at corners higher. Fax and I talked about this this week,

and he was like, listen, he leads the league. You know, he's top five or top 10 in the league and mistackles cause and all that stuff. But I think the ceiling of this offense raised when they added Jacoby Meyer, Jacoby Myers. And I think Parker Washington being the guy he was today and the guy he's been all season long

gives Trevor a really good outlet in the middle of field. I mean, Brian Thomas Jr., when you roll out, start the season, he's uber talented. You want to get him the ball. You've got Travis Hunter, Jr., who is a draft pick, and you're trying to justify playing him on offense. You're kind of like trying to do it a certain way. And obviously, at some point in the season, you lose Cole Strange. That disrupts the flow.

So you have the drops, and the drop rate really didn't improve that much the second half of the season. We went back and looked at the numbers. but what it is is I feel like having some high floor receivers beats having high ceiling receivers for this team right now at this juncture and you know Brian Thomas Jr. is a high ceiling receiver. I'm sure Travis Hunter could be a high ceiling receiver at some point. But when you look at the pros that they have catching the football for them in the middle of the field

and when you couple that with the fact that Denver's playing guys like Locke in the secondary, it just wasn't a good matchup. And Denver was going to have to score to win this game, and they weren't sharp enough in the areas that Jacksonville was. Third downs, Red Zone, Jacksonville won this game, playing situational football, which is the mark of a very good football team. And when you talk about, hey, where do you, somebody said this in the chat right now, bet the Ravens.

I know I already did. I'm trying to figure out ways to bet them more. Your boy, had a rough day. Not that you're interested. What do you think? Ravens team total? I'm going to do the Ravens team total too. Why not?

Let's do it. Let's have some fun. Let's have some fun. Let's see. We talk about the best teams in the AFC right now. Let's go through the standings real quick. ESPN standings. I like my standings on ESPN.

Okay. So you've got 11 win teams in the AISPN. AFCR, and I'm reading top to bottom, don't take a personal if your team doesn't come out first. But New England, Buffalo, Jacksonville. That's 11 for Jacksonville, yeah? I don't want to short. I do not want to short change, y'all. And then Denver obviously still in first place.

So Denver's still in control, right? You know, you just can't lose any more games, assuming the Jacksonville possibly wins out. If I had to go ahead. And the charges 11 as well. So the AFC is, and I'll go team by team. I think, you know, the Chargers who did it again today, you know, just continue to win with the less than perfect setup. And I don't think they think about it that way.

I've talked about a lot about the way their mentality kind of matches their head coach where it's like we can win ugly if we have to or we can throw the ball around the yard like we did today. And, you know, it's fireworks. It's a beautiful go ball to, you know, was that Quentin John? And then, you know, it's the efficiency in the passing game in front of an offensive line that you talk about the Cleveland Browns is having an inopportune setup up front and all the changes they've had to make, re-point this out to me today. I think the charges have had double the O-line changes and combinations that the Browns have. Put that into perspective. I think that speaks to how good the quarterback is.

I really do. You know, I don't think of Greg Roman as, you know, like a NASA scientist when it comes to designing offense. and certainly fans let him know it from time to time, but they've done a good job of making it work. And I think Justin Herbert, if you've been watching their games and paying attention to their games, like you talk about AFC quarterbacks that are playing at a high, high level, the guy we just talked about,

Trevor Lawrence is playing as well as anybody in the AFC the last five, six weeks of the season. He'll be out to prove that that's a thing, you know. And then, you know, Bo Nix was playing fantastic before today, and I thought he still played pretty well. you know, the self-inflicted wounds and the exchanges, that type of thing, the attention, detail on third down, that's a team problem. They'll be in the meeting room getting that stuff right. But I think when you think about quarterbacks playing at a high level in the AFC,

you got to put Justin Herbert right there considering what he's playing behind. And I think, you know, a day like today where Josh wasn't perfect, but Josh is just still like he's kind of inevitable. You think about how many games come down to, you know, third and three, fourth and two, these money downs, not just a great throw of the football, but also a guy that can move the sticks. You know, you think about the AFC and Drake May as well. I mean, this is a quarterback heavy deal right now. I know it's not the quarterbacks we drew it up, you know, is having Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. And I know there's some narratives about what has happened to offensive football and this,

that and the third. But you talk about some of these quarterbacks in the AFC, not to mention a team that maybe we aren't taking seriously enough, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who just won a game. So, and they happen to have a Hall of Fame quarterback. So, you know, like, I'm not really sure what to make of the AFC right now. I think everything is so matchup dependent. And, you know, I think what Jacksonville approved today is that they can beat anybody in the AFC. Because you think about, you know, Buffalo, and that's a nightmare scenario for people who don't like hearing me and Nate yell at each other on Monday.

There's a possibility that Buffalo and Jacksonville play the first round of the playoffs. that's a matchup that worries me for Buffalo because of their ability to run the football and because their ability to have one more guy than you in coverage. I mean, they just have, they have horses outside. They have dependable players in the middle of the field. You know, Buffalo's depending on a lot of guys to play snaps in the middle of the field that, you know, probably it wasn't drawn up that way, like Poirer for one, who made some good plays today and everything.

But, like, you know, there's just, And I do think Buffalo can score with teams. Certainly they just show they can play with New England and beat New England. But the wild card in here is Houston who hung on today to beat the Raiders. And they're going to slide in the playoffs it looks like. And that's a team I don't think anybody wants to see. So, AFC playoffs, wild deal. You want to talk about a crazy game that I didn't see going this way.

I mean, I had the words bloodbath. I used the words bloodbath. I said, Pittsburgh, this could be a bloodbath. I'm just not a believer in Pittsburgh. A day like today goes a lot longer towards me believing in Pittsburgh. I'm not saying I'm there yet. I mean, you know, I'm just getting started. So forgive me.

But, you know, that's a gritty football team in the Lions who, you know, you look up in third quarter, they've rushed the ball for 18 yards. That's a wild deal. You know, for three years, we hung our hats on, you know, Detroit, when they lose a game the next week, they get down to business and they take it out on that team, especially if they came to Detroit. And to look up in that game through much of the game, them not be able to get their run game going. Jared Goff kind of up and down, they do look like a shell of them for their former selves. I mean, they really do at this point.

And to not be able to pull that game out at the end, it's a heartbreaker because down in the red zone, I didn't love the Tesla penalty. I didn't. I'll be honest with you. But, you know, the end of the game sequence, whether they were right or wrong is heart wrenching if you're in that stadium. I'm watching people stand there just trying to make sense of what happened. And I got to be honest with you on the couch. That's a situation you don't normally see as a football fan. So I didn't know exactly what the fuck was happening there. But it was kind of like Aaron Rogers and Jared Goss standing on the field watching the play together. Everybody five feet off the sideline waiting for somebody to announce something. The head referee is fumbling over his words. That was just a shit show. You want to talk about a Hemingway game. We pointed this out earlier. Hemingway game. That's going to be the one.

You had a safety. You had the game ending on a totally confusing deal. You had D.K. Metcalfe punching a fan. Now listen, I'm all for if somebody says a certain couple words, it's kind of like all bets off. But it's, I mean, nonetheless, it's going to be a crazy deal. in the aftermath this game. I was kind of shocked that D.K. Metcalf was still in the game after what he did.

I mean, I'm just being, I'm not admonishing him. I'm not saying, you know, the guy didn't say something really foul because, like, think about a guy that's played in the NFL for this much time. He's in the middle of a playoff race. Things are looking up for your team. You're on the road and all of a sudden you decided to walk over and punch somebody in the face. I figure something really gnarly had to be said. But at the same time, like you come out looking bad, which is reality.

You want me to tell you what's fair? What's not fair? I don't know. But like at this point, I kind of wonder what's going to happen to him going forward and you're in the middle of the playoff race. You know, but the one good thing for Pittsburgh was the time possession. Time possession was nuts. To own time of possession to walk into Detroit and own time possession like that in the second half,

kind of out physical that team that's a bad deal that's a bad deal so it looks to me like is Detroit pretty much done like that that's a that's a bad deal for Detroit 8% chance to make the playoffs and listen again you know like I'm not right on everything certainly you know I thought Denver would win today I thought shit I thought Detroit would win today but I was right about Detroit and who they were going to be this year, you know, just so you know, and it's important, you know, because I plan on doing this a while, if you get used to watching this show, like, year to year, one year you might think I love your team, the next year you might think I hate your team, but it really isn't like that. I'm just trying to call it down the middle. And if you're a

Detroit fan, like, start this season when, I took the Packers to win the division, I said, Detroit's going to take a step back. There's still going to be a good football team, but the interior offensive lines are a problem. You know, there are problems in coverage with their depth. There's always guys hurt and you're replacing an offensive coordinator. And I don't think Jared Goff is a top five quarterback, but he's a top 10 to 15 quarterback for sure when he's humming. But the balance is off when you don't have that run game with the consistency that they've had in the past.

And you talk about like pummeling people. They used to pummel people in recent memory. And now, you know, you're the one getting pummeled by a team that, you know, quite honestly, like early in parts of the season, Pittsburgh couldn't fight the wear out of paper bag, you know, like from a physicality standpoint, you know, they, they out physicaled you. So, um, tough deal, tough deal. You think all the way back to like, what does any of this shit mean? Like, remember when, when Detroit beat, uh, Baltimore real bad on Monday night and it's like, hey, they're back and, you know, you go through the year and you're

like, well, maybe that, that wind didn't mean much, you know, because Baltimore didn't look any good. And like, we'll see what happens tonight, but Baltimore's got a chance for a, big win against the New England Patriots. And so, you know, just, I just think about, like, where we are, like, month to month in the NFL. And you talk about narratives. I just went through a lot of games in the, in the, um, the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. slate today. Like, I haven't mentioned Bryce Young yet, but I think that team's a year ahead. And I'm so happy for the, for the player. You know, like, I don't think it's a secret. I've become, like, kind of a fan of the, of the quarterback. I think the quarterback is a really good player. And I think he's played them into some really great spots. And

now they're in the driver's seat in the in the NFC south which is kind of a deal where it's like who wants to win it but they're showing that they do they looked a lot more like they wanted to win it today than Tampa Bay Tampa Bay just continues at the end of games to not play with a sense of urgency and to execute you know you go all the way back to that playoff game last year with they lost you know I just felt like the the sense of urgency the attention detail the the boneheaded plays you saw last week against Atlanta and you think it couldn't it couldn't end that way again this week. And it's a tough deal. Listen, like, I understand if you're a receiver, the scramble drone, you know, it's kind of a deal where it, when you see the quarterback duck his

head and start to climb the pocket, like you kind of turn into the scramble drope receiver. And I think Baker's looking for him to continue across the field. And it's those little things that have killed them all season, you know, and eventually, I do think Baker's health, there were parts of the season where he wasn't his healthiest. And obviously losing players like McMillan, you know, McColl, him, losing players like Colaja Cancy. I think the decline, the subtle decline of like a Levante David, you know, having to put players out on the field at times on the offensive line and they overcame it where you're like, man, this team, they got guts.

And they do sometimes, but sometimes you watch them and you're like, they're just poorly coached. And I hate to say that because, you know, I'm a big fan of Todd Bowles. And I think, I think, you know, this is kind of the deal in the NFL. we go up and down on coaches like one minute we're like damn maybe he should be coach of the year like he'll have a streak like that and then he'll have the streak that'll have you pulling you know tearing your hair out watching the game so um i think uh if the bucks collapse and don't and don't make the playoffs this year it's perfectly um it's perfectly reasonable to be having a conversation about the coach

and um i hate to say that because you know i'm sure as he's sitting up at the podium last week talking about about 14 F-bombs about how the guys played bad deal but your team keeps making these types of mistakes and I thought you know like Bryce today outplayed Baker Mayfield right and we said coming to the game I think with cocker emerging like they're actually a man up on them in coverage and it felt like Bryce came out today and was empowered by the offense and the play caller and said, hey, like, in the past, we're going to be first and second now. We're running the football, the whole thing. We're still going to run it on third and four sometimes, right?

Because that's kind of what we like doing. But we're going to come out and let Bryce Young throw the football. We're going to leave with that. And, you know, one of my favorite things about him when he playing a game like this and he's not under, you know, immense pressure, right? And I'm talking about, like, the oppressive pressure that, like, you just don't have a chance as a quarterback. He's really hard to get down.

He's not for as small as he is. And, you know, people call him demeanor. miniative and funny words like that and shit. But he can work his way around the pocket. He knows his way around the pocket. And he keeps his eyes downfield. He really does. So I think

I think he deserves a lot of credit. I don't know if the Panthers are for real, for real. I still think the Bucks could win the damn division, which pains me to say, right, because his Panthers thing is so fun, they're going to get another shot at them in two weeks in Tampa. You know, I think as long as Carolina doesn't beat Seattle, and Tampa doesn't lose to Miami this week, which you never know with Quinn Ewer's back there, the way he was looking earlier in that game.

You never know. But I look forward to getting into that game a little bit more. You know, again, some of these games I don't get a chance to get a second look at before we talk here. But we will talk about it tomorrow. We will absolutely talk about it tomorrow. This holiday season, BetMGM, has given you the gift of another chance at first touchdown scores with BetMGM's second chance promotion. you'll get your stake back in cash if your first touchdown score or score second instead. Bet on any pro football player to score the first touchdown of the game.

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Whether you like fresh mint, like a fresh mint flavor you're into citrus flavor check out their roster of options and use promo code g l20 at nicohicic.com slash zone for 20% off at checkout the games i wanted to talk about from saturday real quick before i get to watching this sunday night game which i hope is going well for the ravens okay just kicked off um the eagles you know people are going to ask you know are we good are we good are we good yeah i mean you look good you look that that's an improvement me you can only handle you can only play who's on your schedule and you know i said coming in like watchin's better than you think on defense right now like they're not the same group that you saw

through the first eight to nine weeks of the season when joe whit was calling plays and you know there's some guys that got hurt and that sort of thing but dan quinn's kind of reshuffled the way they do coverages and i felt like they were playing a little bit more sound in the passing game the first half of the game was kind of touch and go you know it was the kind of game where you could see washington figuring out a way to win this thing right but in the second half felt like they really came out and play with a sense of urgency. You know, as for Jalen's performance, I'll look at the All-22 tonight, right? Didn't get to that All-22, but what I did see watching in real-time was probably one of my

favorite throws he made all season. The touchdown to Dallas Goddard. You know what I liked about that throw? It's the pocket mobility, right, which obviously he has, but the under control kind of step up into the pocket, play with timing, but extend the play, and hit Dallas Goddard where only he can catch the football. That's a brilliant throw in the red zone. Okay. Like, and, you know, like we've been saying, we've been harping on like the deep balls outside the numbers, you know, skinny posts, that sort of thing. And then some of the checkdowns are always there for them,

the RPO's, if they can run more of them. But I love seeing the off-script stuff in the middle of the field. I love seeing the off-script stuff in the red zone, right, that doesn't ending a checkdown or a scramble. And I thought the inside run portion of this thing was a lot better, right? We've seen that the last couple weeks. I don't know if it's a byproduct of the guys getting more healthy inside. We talked about like just putting some things on tape, like being under center, right? Little things like that.

You just hadn't fucking seen it yet. What is that going to do for the offense? More motion. It's all great. I'll talk more about the Eagles tomorrow. The thing about the Eagles is they've been there, you know, And that's, are they perfect? No, are they the best team in the NFC?

I think most people would say that's probably the Rams, right? But can they beat the Rams? Yeah, they've done it year after year the last couple years. Do I think the Rams will be favored, even in Philly? Probably. But that's not stopped an Eagles team from winning before, just being a dog in a game. You know, so listen, I think the Eagles just got to get in with good positive momentum. them. They might be in a situation where they rest some guys and their seeds locked in. Week 18,

I don't know what the stakes look like next week. I think you probably like, you probably play. I mean, I don't, I haven't heard. We haven't gotten there yet. But, you know, there was some talk leading in that maybe they're locked into a seed. And, you know, I think you play the damn game. I think you play your guys. I don't think you can give guys two weeks rest going in the playoffs. So the Thursday night game was fantastic. We're not going to go all the way back there, but I just think like 60 minutes earlier, people are firing off their Sam Donald takes.

And I don't know, listen, does he still make me nervous? Yeah. And if you're a Seattle fan, he's going to make you nervous the whole playoff. But if you get home field advantage, that's the type of magic that happens in that building. I remember it annually. You know, Ravens touchdown, fucking right.

Fucking right. Yeah, get it together, Mike. Talk to him. tackle the guy. You see that guy the size of a Mitsubishi? You don't want to tackle him. So we, listen, I think that's the magic of that building. I played there every year, and it'd be a thing where, you know, you got them,

you got them on the ropes. It'd be Russ hitting some off-scheduled deep ball, right? Or Cam Chancellor knocking the dog shit out of somebody in the ball popping up in the air. You know, some linebacker picking it up and running for a touchdown. on. That's as loud of places there is in the NFL. So just winning that game, you know, the end of the game going for two, obviously you kind of have to in that situation. But, you know, to have the wherewithal, Darnold worked across the formation. He went through his progression and made that play. And so good for him because, you know, a certain point that

night, it kind of seemed like, oh, this guy's A, never going to beat the Rams and B, he's never going to beat the allegations. And you know the allegations I'm talking about, being the guy that sees ghosts in the biggest moments. And, you know, I thought that ball that he delivered on the right sideline towards the end of the game with an earhole of somebody. I can't remember who was, that was, I don't know if he's like fully vindicated, but that that was the type of throw you got to make. So just a great Thursday night game. And then the game of the week, you know, which we'll talk about tomorrow, Bears Packers. This game was absurd.

And I will tell you, like in football sometimes, I don't think we really realize how close we are to saying a whole different thing after a football game. All right. One five minutes swing in real time of football. Two minutes to go in the game. I'm sitting there outside, have my outdoor TV set up, had the fire going. Awesome. My friends left because they thought the game was over. So I was sitting there alone watching the game. No complaints. But maybe they were bad luck. Maybe they were good luck. Depends on which side of it you're on. Two minutes to go in the game. The narrative in my head is like, nothing negative about the bears. Nothing negative about the bears. The narrative in my head is honestly, the Packers might still be able to do this. Halfley was bringing. in pressure, they were figuring out ways to get them into third down.

They were winning on third down. And I was thinking to myself, like, maybe they can still do it. Because I thought Chicago would keep them on the field and keep them on the field and keep them on the field. And the other narrative is this. Like, the whole game, I got a buddy from Chicago. I always tell him, I'm like, Caleb Williams is actually very good. And I think there was like confirmation bias deal with this guy. And he's just kind of like, he doesn't want to believe it, even though he's a Bears fan.

And it's like right there. I think after last night he might be on my side of it where he's like, yeah, this kid's pretty fucking good. But, you know, if the game ends with two minutes to go, which is a big if, like, Caleb's completed 50% of his passes. They're like one for 10 on third down. They're about to lose to Malik Willis at home for the division. They just rushed the kicker out and took 33 seconds to kick the ball right up to the two minute. Everybody's sitting at home like, you got to get this kickoff. Bajorquez, his name Bajorquez, right?

I get all my kickers mixed up. Santos, Cairo Santos. Bhorquez is damn Browns punter. So Santos is out there, and he's just taking a sweet fucking time. He's just walking it off. He's lining it up. He's doing his little, like, I got a special superstition type thing. And it takes 33 seconds, and you're like, damn.

And that's on the heels of. of DJ Moore being too tired to line up. And I'm thinking they're going to want, you know, his head on a platter. They're going to be talking about this quarterback's not the guy. See, he's just not the guy. He's just not the guy. You know, he's 50% completion. You know, he just threw the ball off the fucking upright, you know, maybe he might

have missed combat at the pylon. I'm not sitting there thinking that because, you know, once I believe something in a quarterback, I kind of have a hard time. And I think he's, I think it was. was a tough night to throw the football. That's two minutes ago in the game. All the things kind of going through your head. And then Dobbs drops the onside kick.

And that's up there for me with if your Green Bay, like you had, what'd you have in the past year? Was it Finley? Who was the, no, who was the tight end that dropped the damn onside kick against Seattle? I'll never forget that one. It was one of the most, it was one of the most. unreal bostick bostick and then michael bennett's riding around the field on a fucking bicycle that's the type of stuff that happens in seattle now i'll never forget watching that in real time and at that point

michael bennett's not my friend and i'm like fuck this guy hope the bicycle breaks dude like honestly you guys are the luckiest team ever um but the unluckiest team ever when it comes to onside kicks as the green bay packers because romeo dobs my guy just dropped the ball and um you know the throw-on-for down there is incredible it's a movie throw i know the guys open i know you know nixon and they didn't work it out on the on the perimeter oh my god thigs is lucky he didn't fuck his leg up there um but that's an unbelievable throw you think about what what would had transpired before that and and just being able to kind of loft that thing off your back foot and i know there's a bone coverage but that's the kind of throw that like wins a city over dude and um you know if it's

not for romeo dobbs just dropping the ball we're probably coming out of the we're probably coming out of the uh the on-side kick that gets recovered and saying you know that's just not good enough i know we're missing two receivers but it's just not good enough you got to complete more than 50% of your passes, you've got to be able to get the ball in the end zone. You can't lose to Malik Willis. Well, Romeo Dobbs drops the ball and everything changes. And, you know, you're going to overtime. And that ball to DJ Moore was beautiful. There's only a couple guys who can throw that ball and make it look like that in the NFL. And I'm easily counting on one hand, I think. Just to make it look that way falling away, they're Quay Walker. He's a

fingertip away. You know, Nixon, he's right on the ball. It's an incredible catch. You talk about vindicated. DJ Moore, vindicated, Caleb Williams, stamped. You know, he's taking these guys. Ben Johnson and him are taking these guys places that they haven't been in a while. And it feels more sustainable than it has in at least my memory of the Chicago Bears as an adult.

You know, like, it really does. I know the bears have been there before, but this was unbelievable. And, you know, I think also in the run game, Darnel Wright, just road grading people running behind him. But Nungai runs so hard. I thought Swift ran really hard. There were plays in overtime that you're like, the momentum changes so much when you cross midfield in that situation, right?

And, you know, you thought, and you thought you might have them knocked down for, like, no gain on second down, and you're going to have second in, you know, third and ten or what have you. And it'd just be like, hey, seven yards dragging somebody first contact, seven yards later, we come to a stop. They're just those running backs played hard, man. And I brought up Santos earlier, taking his sweet time. He hooked the fuck out of some of those kicks.

You look at that big ass American flag out there, that big 40-foot American flag. I think it was whipping, man. That thing was just in the wind. And, you know, I'm thinking if I have to kick a ball in this situation, how much hook do I have to put on it? Well, Santos was, I mean, he was throwing curveballs, man. Dennis Allen's defense, the attitude, that's that New Orleans attitude.

Now, I don't think the hit was dirty on love. I don't. It ruined my night. I think the Packers can find a way to win that game. You know, I know Malik played really well, but obviously getting knocked out of the game changes everything because you were going to have to hit those throws outside the numbers to really move the ball in a way that I thought they wanted to come out

and be aggressive and get a lead in this game. And I think Red Zone ends up being what killed them, right? You know, you get down there, fourth down, and not to mention, you know, I know Chicago fans are saying, we got down there and Big Brain Ben Johnson, he's like, yeah, let's, we've been run, we can run the ball at these guys, as, but let's get in Wildcat, which is a high percentage play, actually.

And then we're going to put the tight end under center and have the snap or snap, like through his legs or some shit. And at that point I was like, damn, Ben's pressing, big brain Ben. But they ended up just getting it done. And, you know, but on the other end, it was the Packers, man, with all these damn red zone mishaps. And you talk about a tough throw on fourth and one early in the game.

I know you check them into a man-beater. And I always like laud the Packers for getting into the right looks. But that's like a 30-yard throw for one yard. to Christian Watson at the pylon in that weather. I don't love that call. I understand he should make that throw, and he almost did. Not the easiest throw to make.

You know, I think there's other throws you can make in that situation. You get down there, you're ultra-aggressive on fourth and one, but then you get down there and you're throwing screens in the low red. I just didn't love their red zone plan, and I think to Chicago's credit, they just played their asses off down there. So, you know, and what does it mean? for Green Bay, I don't know. I don't know if it's over for them. That's a really good football team.

They've lost to it at home. That team's got a chance to be a number one seed in the NFC. Right. Like, so that's a damn good football team with one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC right now, right now. One of the best quarterbacks in the NFC right now. Or one of the quarterbacks that I'd least like to see in the playoffs. I'll put it that way. Um, so you look at you look at what's it mean for Green Bay. I think You know, there's a glimmer of we can get this thing done without Michael Parsons. You know, we can get this thing done halfly before the fourth quarter of this game. And I said this coming in. Go back to the show.

Listen to the show. I said, they need to blitz on early downs. He needs to change who he is and get them in third and longer. They did 58% early down blitz rate. Weeks 1 through 15, 21% early down blitzing. Now, of course, I omitted the fourth quarter in that they didn't blitz in the fourth quarter. And that's one of my biggest gripes is, you know, Chicago's got the ball down multiple scores.

I understand you want to make them work for it, but I also know that you've been off the field a lot tonight, and you brought pressure, and it's worked. And so in this situation, why are you getting away with it? Why are you getting away from it? And, you know, why are you letting your foot off the gas pedal?

When you know the reason you were blitzing early in the game was because Batman's not on the field anymore. And that proved, I mean, their weakness was really glaring down the stress. They just got carved up. And so credit to the bears. And, you know, one guy that I think played really well for the Packers since I'm ranting about this game was Bullard.

I thought he played his ass off. But the guys didn't create enough pressure. And obviously the corners come back to bite him at some point. Nixon, he was on the right side of it the last game. But he was on the wrong side of it on a couple of plays in this game. So, you know, Packers, you know, if you don't win out, and San Francisco wins one more game. Detroit wins out.

Well, Detroit didn't win out. So that answered itself. What is the Packers situation here? Do you all know the Packers situation? That's my 94 to make it. 8% to win the division. And we could get this matchup again in the playoffs. And, you know, I just have a feeling that the Packers,

and this is the unfortunate part, I have a feeling the Packers are going to, I said they were going to win this game. They didn't, but boy, did I look smart for a while. and Malik Willis, Malik Willis, if I were a team that was in need of a bridge, Miami Dolphins,

I would pay him. I would pay him one year deal, two year deal, like something, second year fake, I don't know, fucking make it up. It doesn't have to cost you that much.

This guy hasn't, like, had a track record long enough to justify a real deal, but like I would give him a deal and I would see if you can spend it for my team. You know, I think Miami would be a lot of fun. somebody mentioned the Colts, obviously that situation has changed a lot.

But, you know, I would pay money to see Malik Willis and Mike McDaniel's offense. You see the way they've been run first when he's in the game, when Green Bay is playing. You talk about like third and one, fourth and one, money downs. You could see throughout much of the game, like you're almost better in those situations with him in the game, you know, because he does add a lot from a scrambling perspective, even relative to love. and he can still hit the big intermediate throws off play action. You know, so I thought he made himself some money again last night. You'd hate to see it come down to a couple mishaps.

But just an awesome game, awesome game. The type of game that you were like, when it ended, I was like, holy shit, this is why the NFL is king. You know, it's not like that. In other sports, you just don't get this, man. You don't get that moment at the end of that game where you go from 95% chance to win to losing that thing. And that place was so loud at the end of the game, dude.

And that's why I thought Green Bay should put them away. That's why I thought Green Bay should be more aggressive early in the game. Obviously, no Jordan Love that changes things a little bit, but, you know, just not the way they drew it up, but the Bears deserve a lot of credit. Bears deserve a lot of credit. So tomorrow, 340. I don't think Malice under contract one more season.

I could be wrong. He's up. Yeah, he's up. But anyways, y'all, just a wonderful day. Congrats again to the Jags fans in the really not a tough team to root for her if you just relent and say, hey, you know what facts, you got it, bro. See if they got an extra seat on the bandwagon. Because it's a lot of fun watching that team play right now.

I got to tip my cap to Liam. Cohen and tip my cap to Trevor Lawrence and really the whole team because the defense camp doing a great job calling defense the rushers man you would like honestly at one point this game I was like who's who's the fearsome for some out here dude fuck there were times in this game where I was like Denver where are you I know you have five sacks but right cowboy we're stretches where you know T law just you know um So we're going to finish watching this Baltimore, hopefully, but whooping here, nothing personal. It's just business.

But we will be, there's Jack Givens. He's out there. Jack Givens signing. Dr. Givie, as they call them. Call the landline tomorrow. Locals landline. 202-991-0723 presented by zone. Questions?

Yeah. Ask questions. Ask us some questions. Tell us some, tell us, damn, Drake threw a pick in the red zone? You don't say, look at that. Come on, Ravens. I'm going to bet them in the second half, too.

Have a great night, y'all. We'll see you all tomorrow at 345.