Halford & Brough in the Morning - This Is Why I'm Mad

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they discuss Saturday's Canucks road loss in Toronto (3:00), plus they go around the NFL in what was a memorable Wild Card weekend (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and the third. The Maple Leafs go up five to nothing. Did we just lose a fucking Canucks? No, no, no, no. Alan in the shotgun, fakes the pass there, looks for Kincaid, and he's got him. Who carries it into the end zone for the touchdown? Her step's up, middle. Knocked away.

Do you? What a bit. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halpert and is brought to the SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halpert and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a death freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments

and three financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program, hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit the Middle 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, make 2026 your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. We got a big show ahead on a Monday. Tons to get

into today. Our guest list today, the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group, begins at 7 o'clock. Mike Tannier, our NFL insider from the two-deep zone is going to join the program. What a wildcard weekend in the National Football League so far, because it's not over yet. First four games of the five on the weekend all had fourth quarter comebacks for victories. Unbelievable entertainment. We got one more tonight as the Steelers host, the Texans. Yeah, Justin Herbert last night was like, watch this comeback. Oh, I am in pain. Never mind. Incredible amounts of pain. Mike's going to join us at 7 o'clock this morning to recap the weekend and preview tonight's game.

730 Ian McIntyre is going to join the program. Canucks reporter for SportsNet, IMAQ has been putting out some really strong efforts on the road, much stronger than the efforts of Vancouver Canucks have been putting out on the road. This includes his most recent interview with Jim Rutherford, the president of hockey ops, following Saturday's dismal 5-0 loss in Toronto. IMAX's going to join us with Tales from the Road. You're just going to join us from Montreal this morning at 7.30. 8 o'clock Satyar Shah is going to join the program.

Canucks Central, Canucks pre and postgame show host on SportsNet 650. Canucks are back in action tonight, as I mentioned, from Montreal. It's a 4.30 puck drop. It's an Amazon game tonight. So I'll remind you that you can hear Sat on the pregame show beginning at 3 o'clock right here on SportsNet 650. Pre-game, post-game, actual game all right here. Sat's going to join us at 8 a.m.

for some Canucks talk. Finally, also at 8 a.m. We are giving away our final pair of Chris Stapleton tickets. His All-American Road Show comes through this summer, July 22nd at Rogers Arena. Call number 5 at 8 a.m.

604-280650. That number again, 604-280650. Call it number 5 this morning. We'll get a pair of tickets to see Chris Stapleton this summer. That's it. That's what's happening on the program today.

Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game? last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.com.C.S.A. For better or worse, we are going to start with the Vancouver Canucks and their 5-0 loss in Toronto at Scotia Bank Arena on Saturday.

Quick recap for you. Dr. Demko allowed three goals on six shots, then got hurt. Kevin Lankin and out. Canucks go on to surrender two more goals to lose five nothing. Adam Foote said after the game that Demko will be placed on IR. That means that the Canucks lost their starting goalie, are 04 and 2 in their last six, are winless on this road trip and now sit alone, dead last in the National Hockey League, two points behind the 31st Place Winnipeg Jets.

Now something interesting happened, not during this game, but in the aftermath. There was a lot of anger and frustration from the fan base following a pathetic 5-0 loss to Toronto on national television on Saturday night. There was also a lot of pushback of and questioning of that anger and frustration. The pushback, it seemed anyway, centered around a particular line of questioning. why are Canucks fans mad? Isn't this what people want? Are they losing the wrong way for you? Canucks fans can never be happy

along those lines as if the tank or what some people think is a tank isn't stomached by the fan base. The question was why is everybody so mad? And I'll take it from there. Why am I still mad? I'm okay with the result, okay.

But I wrote this down last night because I wanted to organize my thoughts. I think there are two big reasons. The first reason I'm mad. Here's the first reason I am mad. Please don't tell the newspapers. I am mad. There is a lot of baggage that comes with

being a Canucks fan for the last decade or so. There are significant trust issues between the team and the fan base. And I think you can go back to 2014, which is over a decade now. When Trevor Lyndon and Jim Benning were hired and they said it was a team that could be turned around in a hurry. Eventually, Trevor Lyndon realized that it was going to require a more patient approach and he ended up leaving the organization because they disagreed with his assessment of the situation.

The Canucks have always, well not always, for the last decade or so, they've come across like they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to build a team for the future, but also win now. In the NHL, those are for the most part opposing forces. build a team for the future, but also win now.

Opposing forces. So for the last decade, we've seen them tradeaway draft picks and waste cap space signing veterans that haven't gotten them anywhere. Year after year, they've bled assets. In the meantime, and I think this is a big one, they've acted like their critics don't know what they're talking about. that they don't know what goes into building a winning team. There's a famous quote from Jim Benning back in the day when he talked about analytics

and it was right after the Eric Grantson trade and he was, he just couldn't believe that people could disagree with the Eric Garbranson trade. Well, we all know how the Eric Grantson trade went. And I think that's a big part of this. The arrogance that has been demonstrated at times, the dismissiveness, the sensitivity to the criticism. And now they find themselves dead last in the NHL. Dead last.

Not because they went into the season trying to be bad. No, they're just bad, bad. In fact, they're so bad that their captain and best player said, he didn't want to be on the team anymore. At the end of last season, their head coach said, he didn't want to be on the team anymore. So that's one reason I'm mad. They're bad, but they're not bad intentionally.

And I've been watching the same show for over a decade now. It's getting exhausting. You dare to criticize the philosophy. You turn out to be right and people call you negative. The second reason I'm mad. This team now has some toxic. assets on the books. You know what toxic assets are?

I don't really. Halford, do you remember the company Enron? I'm familiar with them. They had toxic assets on the books. Now, they tried to hide them. And when people figured it out, the company went bankrupt. Ooh, that's bad. The connects aren't trying to hide the contracts of Elias Pedersen,

Brock Besser, Thatcher Dempco, maybe a few others. But it's fair to wonder if the value of those contracts isn't negative. Not zero, but negative. Zero would be better. I'll give you an example of a negative value contract. Oliver Ekman Larson when he was on the Canucks. The Canucks actually acquired him. Yeah.

Then his value turned very negative despite giving up quite a bit to get him. So what are the Canucks going to do with these guys? Are they going to bleed even more assets to get rid of them? Are they going to just keep them and hope they turn it around? Well, here's the problem with that. And by the way, I hope they're not negative assets, right? I hope they're not. Maybe they can move them for something.

Who knows? Sure. But if they are and they decide to keep them, here's the problem with that. The Canucks are trying to build a good culture. and unhappy, overpaid, sour-faced-looking veterans are not conducive to that goal. Jim Rutherford says he wants good veterans that can mentor the up-and-coming players. In what world is Elias Pedersen a good mentor?

The team itself, the team itself, has taken issue with his practice habits. And many other things, by the way. There has never been any indication that the team considers him a good leader or a role model for the younger players. I'm mad at everyone for the Pedersen situation, not just management. I'm mad at them, though. I'm mad at Pedersen and himself. I'm mad at J.T. Miller. I'm mad at the coaching staff that couldn't figure it out.

It's just a bad situation. And so those are my two reasons that I'm still angry. And I would love to hear your thoughts on this. They're valid. They're very valid. But can I ask you kind of an awkward question, Halford? Yes. Okay.

I don't have great solutions to the Canucks other than it's going to take a few years. Right? That's my only solution. And you just got to switch things over. That's my only thing. Right? It's a decent solution, but it'll be tough to pull off. I get it.

And I know it's not a guarantee. Yes. But in the meantime, am I a bad? person that at this point, God, I kind of want my pound of flesh for what has happened to the Canucks. Like I, I, I do. I do. I do.

I do like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, what about, what about. You're a vengeful person. Right. That's different. What about just. Not that different. Just an acknowledgement that poor decisions have been made to lead us to this point. And that the overall philosophy of the organization.

organization for over a decade now has been a defective philosophy. I'm not I'm not asking for one of those you know those Japanese CEO apologies where they get up and they bow and they just like apologize and they wail and they scream and that would be awesome I would like I would like to see it let him not I'm not demanding it but it still doesn't seem like the Canucks the management truly understand why the fans are so frustrated, they haven't, they haven't really taken the time to listen to the fan base. They act like the current plan, and this goes for whenever, they act like the current plan has always been the plan, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. And I realize that it's very difficult to admit mistakes. Believe me, I do. But I do think it might be

necessary to regain the trust of this fan base simply an acknowledgement like, yeah, we've, we've kind of blown it on a bunch of situations. Yeah. We really have. I've thought about this, about the second part of the, your notion here, which is, is it not time for someone within the organization to just put a hand up and be like, our bad, this was wrong? We recognize that and we're going to go in a different direction.

you're not going to love this, but it's not going to happen. I don't think it's not going to happen. It is not going to happen. I don't know why. By that, I know why they won't do it. It's because part of it is hubris for sure, which is it's not just the arrogance leading to your downfall,

but it's also the complete lack of recognition that that's what led to the downfall. They'll never, that that's like an organizational ethos. I think the other part of it is the decision makers genuinely believe, I can't believe I'm saying genuinely believe that they got handed a raw deal and that things were out of their control. So when you pointed to their best player wanting to leave, the counter to that would be like,

well, he was going to leave anyway because he wanted to go play with his brothers. And when the head coach left, it was, well, there was nothing we could have done to keep him here because he wanted to go and coach in Philadelphia, which is where he's a folk hero. And all of it is see-through and flimsy and really more of an excuse than an actual explanation. But when you're in the business of trying to keep your job

and trying to answer for moves that don't work, oftentimes it's a lot easier and more effective to blame outside influences than to look inward and say we screwed up. Because unfortunately, sometimes when you acknowledge that and you say, hey, we screwed up, we made a mistake, you lose your job. Yeah. Well, another guy that, you know, that's taking a lot of heat right now, and I think is evidence of mistakes made by management is Marcus Pedersen, whose game looks awful right now. And credit for him, credit to him for him dropping the gloves against Max Toomey.

he's clearly not a fighter that was a bad situation but you know the connects gave up a mid first round pick for him and then they've signed him to another one of these contracts where he's got no trade protection and maybe that maybe you add

that to the list of you know toxic assets that the Canucks have where you might have to give something up to get off that contract now well here to me my main concern really is around the three guys

Pedersen, Besser, and Dempco. And I think it's some symbolism there too, because those guys have been part of the Canucks for so long that to me, when I watched them play, and I would say, especially Pedersen and Besser, I don't get to watch Demko play because

he's hurt much. He's hurt a lot. But Pedersen and Besser, like, I just, like, I'm done with it. I'm done with it. I've watched it for too long, and, you know, I'm watching them on these, that power play against Toronto. And I'm like,

are, is this, is this it? Like, are these, are these our headline offensive players where it looks impossible to get scoring chances on a four on three? Well, let's take, let's take the conversation back to something that you brought up earlier, which is Jim Rutherford saying that these guys that while they may not be performing great on the ice right now are still a very good veteran players that are willing to be good mentors for the young players on the team. I got major issue with that.

Now, I'll say this about Marcus Pedersen is taking the beating that he did on Saturday night and going out and fighting Domi when he's really not the guy that should be doing that. At the very least, very least, he went out and did it. Like, that's something that a vet should do. Even if it didn't turn out great. Like he almost understood the assignment.

Yeah. He's like someone's going to have to do something here. And I guess it's going to have to be me. I think it's an indictment or dare I say indictment of the rest of the team that it's left to Marcus Pedersen to get tuned up in a 5-0 loss in Toronto to do something of anything because there are so many guys right now that are just going through the motions. And that's on the ice. And that's answering the questions afterwards.

It's all of it. There are a bunch of highly paid veteran presences on this team. that I would say are the worst kind of mentors you could have around young players. Because right now, if I'm a young player for the Vancouver Canucks, you know what I'm learning about the NHL? You can make upwards of $7 million a year and just kind of coasts through the regular season

and there's really no retribution. Your ice time doesn't get docked. You don't get dropped from the lineup and you don't get shipped out of town because you've got to no movement clause. I'm learning about the business of the NHL from the Vancouver Canucks right now. It looks pretty comfortable.

for some of the older, more established players. So you can't tell me that any of this was the plan to tank. As you put it earlier in your rant, they're bad because they're bad. And not bad because they're designed to be bad. This is 70% of the roster that they put together for this season to try and make the playoffs. Like, can you fathom all these veterans with term back on the team next season

until they start moving out veterans with terms? term, I won't truly believe they're in a rebuild. Even though they do their PR videos and post them to social media and they, you know, try and get their messaging across, you know, until a Besser or a Pedersen or, I don't know, Demko or Lankan or, God, there's so many, so many of them. Garland, Debrusk, Marcus Patterson, like, am I forgetting any of them? Like, until a couple, two or three of these guys are traded, to me, you still got the same DNA there. You can introduce a bunch of younger players to the mix,

but like these are the veterans you want your guys learning from? No, but that's guys. And to go back to another part of, those guys? To go back to another part of your soliloquy, Like, that's part of the reason why this was not the plan. Are they the worst team in the NHL? Yep.

Clearly. I think definitively, if any, someone might argue for Winnipeg, but the Connox is the worst team in the NHL. If you were to ask a straw poll of 10 people that follow the NHL closely, I'd say eight would say, without question. Well, they're trending down now. But this is done with, again,

a large percentage of the roster that was built to try and make the playoffs this year to keep Quinn Hughes around. Also, what you're seeing now, the very, very delicate tap dance from Rutherford of, well, we can't just give these guys away. We have to try and keep them around. Part of that is what you were talking about with potentially toxic assets,

where between the lack of production, the listless play, which is the eye test stuff, and the fact most of them are armed with no movement clauses, you're not moving them. out. What are you going to do right now? What are you going to do with, I'd say, about three or four of those contracts? Are you going to give them away for pennies on the dollar? That doesn't aid a rebuild. I'd be okay with some of them. You'd be okay with it, but you'd be okay with it because you're mostly out of spite, right? You just want them gone.

I do. Right? I do. And I promise, I make a promise that if they were to get rid of those guys and the return was bad, I wouldn't complain about asset manager. No. But if you were... I promise. But if you go to your boss, you know, I got... The good news is I got rid of all those bad contracts that I signed. Yeah.

And your boss is like, that's fantastic. How did you do it? He's like, we had to give away a bunch more assets to get rid of them. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of people... This is Port Moody. Ollie. Good morning, guys.

I would love to hear you guys come up with franchisor sport where the management team has admitted mistakes in the past. I'll wait. Thank you. Juice from... the pomo. Yeah, I mean, it's dangerous sometimes to do that. You get fired. Mike Gillis kind of admitted that, you know, at the end of his tenure, he was like, I'm sick of, you know, I can't remember what it was like, sick of doing something that he didn't agree with, basically.

Hey, I'll tell you. A lot of that was hiring torts. He was fired. And Trevor Linden said, I don't know if we should be doing this. And there was an amicable departure there. So yeah, it is. So a lot of this philosophy, let's, let's be on. honest is coming from the top. It's coming from ownership. But it's not completely foreign or uncommon. For example, and I know this is a coach, not management, but the same logic applies. After a very disappointing 2025 season in which they missed the playoffs, the Detroit Lions put Dan Campbell up on the podium two days after their season was done. And he was asked point blank by a reporter what grade he would give himself for this year. And he said a freaking F.

he just said, I was terrible. I didn't do a good enough job. We missed the playoffs. We're going backwards. The response from the fan base and from the organization was important because they said, here's the guy that understands that it wasn't good enough this year, but we've got the faith in him to build it back and to get it back, right? And Dan Campbell put himself out there because it could have been,

well, Dan, we also agree you deserve an F for this season. and we're letting you go and we're going to get a new coach. And do that. There's a risk involved with all this stuff. But what you're talking about is... He knows he has some equity, though, with the fan base, Dan Campbell. Right. But that shouldn't be the deciding factor in all this.

If you've got equity with the fan base. What it should be is if you're going to preach accountability as an organization, we're going to hold our coaches accountable, and we're going to hold our players accountable, then theoretically the same thing should exist with executives. I personally don't think that there's anything wrong with acknowledging that you've made a mistake. If you're genuinely committed to fixing it.

But I also know that in this league and with certain organizations, that acknowledgement just will never happen because this is a sign of weakness. Yeah. It's a sign that you've acknowledged that you might not have all the answers and that you might be fallible.

And that's a problem when you exist in that kind of culture. Because then all you do is you just look for excuses why everything went wrong. Then you're just spinning. Yeah. Spin, spin. And then you're just like, well, it's not my fault. It's not my fault that Quinn Hughes has two brothers that also play in the NHL.

It's not my fault that the Flyers opened up a job for Rick Tocke. It's not my fault that my Vezna Calibur goal that keeps getting hurt. It's all someone else's fault. It's all the cosmos and the moons and the stars all aligned to conspire against us. It's fate and everything else. And it's left us with this, dead last in the NHL. on January 12th, 2026. It's a nice little opening segment.

Okay, I think we're going to do some football on the other side. Thank God. Pretty exciting weekend in the National Football League. Terrific, terrific theater from Wild Card Weekend, easily the best wildcard weekend that we've had since the NFL expanded the playoff field. We'll talk about it on the other side. 7 o'clock Mike Tanier is going to join the program for some NFL talk. Before we go to break, I do need to remind you that this segment of the show

was brought to by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal, and nobody has since 1926. Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them in Richmond and visit them online at the Duick Auto Group.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 632 on a Monday. This was the music that was actually playing during the entire Canucks game on Saturday. This was playing the entire game.

This was during the 10 power plays that they had while they threw the puck around on the outside. Yeah, they just kept it going. I relegated the Canucks to third. Third screen. Third screen. Third screen. Yeah. Football was on one.

Is it like a little Tamagachi screen? I refuse to feed it. I'm like, it'll die. It'll die. Just let it die. Yeah, it was that bad. I did manage to catch out of the corner of my eye. Pedersen getting tuned up by Domine.

I was like, that's not good. That is not good. I felt bad. That was one of the rare moments where I didn't feel angry at the current plight of the Vancouver Connects that just felt sad. Speaking of sad, you're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought

to you by Sands and Associates. Only a license insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees to learn how. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. Still in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on

scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. I do need to remind everybody that the Clayton Public House, your home of football, is currently taking reservations for the big football party. I think you guys can all use your minds and understand what I'm talking about. For what game is that? The biggest of the football parties.

Just like the biggest one? Biggest game and the biggest party. Can't get more specific though. Can't get any more specific than that. Email them at info at the clayton pub.com to get your spot now. Sportsnet 650 is hosting the big football party. party, Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Okay, what a weekend in the national football league.

It made up for all of the angst and sadness that the Vancouver Canucks brought to our lives. And I'm going to start, even though I don't think it was the best game, I think it was the most intriguing result. And shout out to Amro, the actor, who has texted twice asking us to talk about the bears. Sunny has also texted, and he's a Packers fan. He requests that we don't talk about this game. Sonny, you're not going to like what's coming up. Let's play the game-winning touchdown now.

A remarkable 18-point comeback, including some heroics in the fourth quarter. The Bears stunned the Packers. Here's Caleb Williams to DJ Moore for the game-winning touchdown. Caleb in the gun, swift to his left. Snap back, four-man rush. Caleb with a double move, throw down the left side line. DJ Moore inside the five. End zone.

Touchdown. Touchdown Bears. They've taken the lead on the Packers with one. 43 to go. 25 yards. The same connection. Week 16, a walk-off win. This connection, a three-point lead.

Wow. So I want to do justice by both stories here, okay? And we're going to start with the good, because without question, that's an all-time performance from Caleb Williams in the second half. That was a fantastic. That was a cool scene in Chicago, too.

Those fans had been waiting for that game for so long, and then they were being embarrassed for a lot of it and they're like oh my god we waited so long for the packers of all teams to come here not aaron rogers and the packers but the packers nonetheless to come here and embarrass us we're all here it's kind of cold and we're getting we're getting we're getting embarrassed and for that to turn around like that did i cannot imagine the happiness of that stadium on the way out of that stadium. That must have been so much fun. Chicago's first playoff victory in 15 years.

15 years. They've had to wait through countless crappy quarterbacks and everything else. Biggest postseason comeback win in Chicago Bears history. And it's an organization that's been around for a long time. Caleb Williams finishes with 361 yards passing. 183 of those came in the fourth quarter. Just think about that for a sec. 183 passing yards in a single quarter. Jalen Hertz threw 160 yesterday over the entire game.

He still missed a lot of passes. He ended up 24 or 48. But what he did in the fourth quarter was unbelievable. That play to Roma Dunesay on the drive that right before the game-winning touchdown on, I think it was fourth and nine, fourth and eight, where Williams rolled out of the pocket, there was nothing there, absolutely nothing there. And his ability to extend that drive and keep things going.

It was unbelievable. I'm very happy for the Bears and their fans. And for Caleb Williams, who's not everybody's cup of tea, and I think the jury was still out to some degree, that was unbelievable. Okay, can I just say, though, that I was mad at the Packers for choking so badly because earlier in the day, the Rams had barely beaten Carolina, but they won that game. So I said last week, I'm not afraid to say it, I'm a little scared of the Rams. Okay?

I'm a little scared of the Rams. So I didn't want them coming to Seattle next week. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to cheer for the Packers. And it looked good for a while. And I was like, I don't want to wish anyone to Seattle because it can be dangerous when you start picking your opponent. That's the Toronto Maple Leafs. And then they wanted Florida and got them and lost. Badly.

You know, I realize the Seahawks aren't a perfect team and they're, they can be beaten by anyone in the playoffs here. But I would have preferred the Packers to the Rams. So then I went into yesterday's action. We'll get to that in a little bit. Yeah. Like going like, oh, do I want the Niners or the Rams? Because I also have a lot of respect for the Niners, too. We'll talk about that game in a sec, because that's the next one on the slate, the Niners and Eagles.

But Sonny, if you're listening, avert your ears. Because what the Green Bay Packers did on the weekend, was a fireable offense for anyone involved with it. If you could get rid of anybody on the team after that, the coach, the general manager, countless players, that was an embarrassing second half of football. And sorry, the kicker as well, Brandon McManus, that is dismissable offense across the board.

An 18-point halftime lead. When you're moving the ball and playing with the kind of confidence that they did to go into that much of a shell with conservative play calling and a lack of finish, they came out of the first half and punted four consecutive times,

the Packers did. That alone is the sign of a team that is just trying to play it out and get this thing on to the next round. All of the creativity, and aggressiveness and everything else that got them out to that lead in the first half. They completely abandoned it.

Yeah, they had the two misses from McManus on the field goals, but they also had a ridiculous delay of game penalty coming out of a timeout on an important drive, which is like a cardinal sin for a coach. The final play of the game, you're talking about bad execution and a fumbled snap,

they just choked it away. There's no other way to put it. I love what the Bears did, and it's a great story, but Green Bay absolutely choked that game away. That was an all-time choke. They choked that game away. An absolute all-time choke.

And it's being reported this morning by ESPN's Adam Schaefter that the Packers are expected to try and keep head coach Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. LaFleur has one year remaining on his current contract, leaving his future in Green Bay, uncertain after the Packers president said last June that he would prefer not to have a lame duck. head coach. So we'll have to wait and see on the Packers. Which game do you want to go to? Do you want to go to the Niners?

Oh, okay. Got to go to the Niners because that's going to be the Seahawks next upon. Okay. Yeah. So Jason mentioned the biggest takeaway from this, and it's the 49ers, who beat the Philadelphia Eagles 23 to 19 in Philadelphia with another fourth quarter comeback. It's the most well-coached team in football, as far as I'm concerned. All due respect to the first place teams in the AFC and the NFC, including the Seattle Seahawks. Mike McDonald's done a fantastic job, but there is not a better and more well coached a more resilient football team in the NFL than the San Francisco 49ers. To do what they did yesterday with all the injuries they had going into the game

and then losing George Kittle during the game to a torn Achilles. Yeah, he's done. It would have ruined most other teams. It would have thrown them off kilter. It would have been their death now. But the 49ers just roll with it. They did get Trent Williams back, though, didn't they? Yeah, he was going to, I mean, he's a freak of nature, by the way.

But he had a hamstring injury. He wanted to play the final week of the regular season against the Seahawks. And they said, no, they said you're going to sit out and play. So it's great that they got him back. But the amount of injuries that they've got, from Bosa to Warner to Kittle to Pierce, all, you can go down the list. They had no business winning that game yesterday. And they pulled it out of the fire.

And they did it with a trick play where Joanne Jennings threw a touchdown on a reverse. And they did it with Brock Purdy, not having a great game. Yeah, lost the turnover battle there, but found a way to make plays when it mattered. Now, make sure that we get the entire part of this story. That was a bad performance by the Philadelphia Eagles. It felt like, I mean, we talked about the Bears fans. Can we talk about the Eagles fans for a bit? Because there were parts in that game where, you know, the Eagles were actually winning.

and the crowd was booing, though. And they are the defending Super Bowl champs. And I realized the offense has struggled this year. I understand it. And we saw it yesterday. But that is one of the weirdest relationships I've ever seen between a fan base and a defending champion team. It was almost like the fan base was waiting for exactly what happened yesterday to occur.

so that they could boo them, so that they could voice their displeasure. Yeah. And it was still more than within their grasp. Three point lead at halftime at home, against a team with a, I'd say above average offense without maybe their best pass catcher and George Kittle. You should be able to close that deal.

But they came out, very similar to the Packers, they came out after halftime and did nothing. They had 36 total yards in the third quarter. They ran 16 plays. It felt like every time they got the ball, they were content to run this very slow. And Tom Brady was talking about it incessantly during the broadcast. I have to say Brady was pretty good on that broadcast. But it was, he just kept hammering away at how slow and methodical and predictable.

Look, they couldn't get anything going in the passing game. And then it seemed like everything was going to Dallas Goddard, including their final play. To call a time out on fourth down and to come out and your game plan is we're going to throw to Goddard in triple coverage. He's crazy, but that's what happens. So anyway, the Eagles season is done. I'd say it was largely a disappointing season for the defending Super Bowl champions. The Niners move on and now they will face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC divisional round. Seahawks open a six and a half point favorites at home.

So. Terrified of that game is a Seahawks. Oh, I'm terrified. Terrified of that game. I'm terrified that the Seahawks are going to go one and done, right? Like I love the season that they had, but this is who I am as a sports fan. I don't want to influence anyone else's excitement. I think the Seahawks should win, but I'm scared that it'll be like, what a great season.

Oh, my God, the Seahawks are two wins, two home wins away from the Super Bowl, and then they'll just like lose as touchdown favorites or something. I think that it benefits the 49ers more than the Seahawks, that the 49ers got whooped like they did in week 18 against the Seahawks. I think so too. You know? And I think you all understand why. I don't even explain that. I think Mike McDonald acknowledged it.

He came out and said, like, yeah, like, this is unusual for this to happen. happen and you know he's got a lot of respect for Kyle Shanahan and he said you know like you give a coach like that the opportunity to go over a game and basically dial up a counter attack well I'm going to have to dial up a counter attack to the counterattack it don't love that the Seahawks are the biggest favorite on the board I don't love that they're so stacked on the money line I don't love any of it I still the 49ers the 49ers are limping into this game but they've limped through the entire season and they've limped their way into this game and they've got something going

there. I think they're well coached and I think Kyle Shanahan should be the coach of the year. He should win the coach of the year. Even though I think Mike McDonald and a few other guys did a really good job. I feel like I'm pulling a Brad Marchand here just like really buttering up the 49ers in hopes that the I don't know.

He is a genius. Marcia is a genius. Does that stuff all the time. The other thought I had was if the Seahawks are going to face the Rams in the playoffs. Because I do think there's a very good chance that the Rams go into Chicago and win.

I think so as well. Okay? Could this be the weak to play them considering Matt Stafford has that injury concern with his finger? Yeah, I mean, here's a thing. So the Rams game against the Panthers, which by the way I thought was the best game of the weekend,

the first one, four lead changes in the fourth. quarter sending an NFL record for postseason play, four lead changes. I saw enough flaws in the Rams that was exposed by a pretty spry and pretty game Carolina team. They were still flawed. They still had their issues, but they pushed the Rams. I think that health-wise, you could tell that Stafford was banged up. You could tell that Devante Adams was 100%. I know that the Rams had an unbelievable season. And offensively, they're the most dangerous team left. in the NFC, I would say.

I don't think anyone's going to argue with that. Puka is terrified. He's so good. He's so good. He's so good. So good. He's unbelievable. He's so talented.

I think you might be on to something, though. This might be the week to get them. Yeah. You know? I really do. However. Like Amro, the actor, you might be nervous about the Rams. Maybe, I don't know.

Maybe you're still on a high from that game. But if you're going to face them, this might be the week to get them. Yep. Now, all that said. if we are staring down the barrel of a potential Rams, Seahawks, NFC championship, and I know I'm getting way too far ahead of myself, but that would be poetry. That would be picturesque from a fan's perspective,

from the NFL's perspective too, to get a rematch of that regular season classic that those two teams played. Yeah. That would be amazing. So the Rams are three and a half point favorites on the road in Chicago. in Seattle. Six and a half or seven. I think they're seven.

Depending where you get it. Depending where you get it. A couple of people had it six and a half. So there's one other game finalized and that's the Bills and the Broncos. And based on ESPN scoreboard here, the Bills and the Broncos, the 49ers and the Seahawks,

they're going to play on Saturday. Sunday, it's going to be the Rams and the Bears and it's going to be the, the winner of the Steelers Texans game at New England to face the Patriots who took care of the Chargers. Did you see that Kyle Shanahan was lobbying for a Sunday game so they could get an extra day arrest? Yeah, too bad.

Too bad, buddy. You know what you got to finish first in the NFC and then see what happens. He looks like Lenny from the Simpsons. He does a little bit. He looks like Lenny. He does. He does, but he's got a cooler vibe

because he's got his flat-brimmed hat and his hoodies and his bomber jackets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but he does look like a little. I hate how he's so damn cool. So here's the other line that I, I'll just say it's out of the NFC, I don't really care who gets out. But if I had to choose right now, it would be a very easy choice.

I want to see the Buffalo Bills get to the Super Bowl, right? I think that they've earned it, they've deserved it. This is the year, if any. I hate, hate that the bills are going into Denver as big of favorites as they are. I know it's a slim margin for the points. But, I mean, I looked at the points in the money line yesterday. I was like, the Broncos are going to see that. They're going to be like, that's disrespect, right?

We are a number one seed. We just watched the bills eke out of victory. It was a decent victory, but they eked out of victory in Jacksonville. I don't think they blew the doors off anyone in terms of expectations or the way that they played. They grinded it out. Yeah, Jacksonville is a good team. But the bills now go into Denver as the favorite there, as the sixth seed. with the Broncos getting a week of rest and playing at home,

I hate that because I think that Denver is going to come out even more motivated now that they're going to play that no one believed in us card, and that's a shame because I would like to see the bills get to the Super Bowl. If any year, this is the year. That was disappointing by Trevor Lawrence, by the way. Yeah. Trevor Lawrence in the playoffs, this is the third time now. I know he had three touchdown passes, but he also had two picks,

including just... Well, the last pick was on... For me, that's on Jacobi Myers, who had terrible. game. Yeah. Make a catch. Like people were complaining in the Eagles Niners game yesterday about, you know, the passing game and J.

Helens. And I'm like, A.J. Brown was terrible. Yeah. A.J. Brown couldn't catch a cold yesterday. Like, he was awful. And I think part of it had to do with the fact that he was mentally checked out. You saw I'm jawing with Sirianney on the sideline. But anyway, back to that one.

You know, I think that Lawrence is still got some growth left in his game. But this is the third time now that he's not a young quarterback anymore. Like he's established in the NFL. He turns the ball over a lot in the playoffs. This is the third time he's done it. I guess we should mention what happened last night between the Patriots and the Chargers, where we all got to watch Justin Herbert nearly die on the football field.

That was about as thorough a beating as a quarterback can take in a playoff game. And I watched that. Chris Collinsworth was just killing them. Yeah. And I felt just Chris Collinsworth in. his sweater that looked like he was going fishing. It was a very, it was a look. It was a look.

Here's where I'm out on Herbert. I don't think a lot of what happened this season was particularly his fault. It was very established that he had maybe the worst offensive line in football, never mind of the playoff teams in football. And it was on display last night. They were turned styles for a lot of that. All that said, when we were texting back and forth last night, you did astutely point out like,

He doesn't get a lot of help, but he also doesn't help himself a lot. He misses a lot of throws. He rolled out a few times and had guys wide open, and they were tough throws to make. Absolutely. Tough throws to make. But making those throws is the difference between winning and losing. The touchdown pass that Drake made was perfection. That was a tough throw.

That was a tough throw. And he made it look. Just barely got it over the hands of the defenders. And it was one of the best throws I've ever seen. seen. I don't think you can put up three points in a playoff game and not shoulder, at the very least, half the responsibility, if you want to go percentage-wise, 50% of it, because Herbert did say after well, afterwards, I didn't play well enough, and I didn't make any plays, and when it mattered most, we didn't score any points, so he shouldered it, but he took a beating last night.

That was, you know, you watch those youth sports sometimes, and you're like, I think we might need to call the game on account of safety of the players. Like, that's where it got to for him yesterday because he was getting beat up. And I guess shout out to the New England Patriots who were back after a brief sojourn into the downward part of the National Football League standings. They're right back and they will, as you mentioned, will now face the winner of tonight's game,

the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans. We're going to talk to Mike Tanier coming up on the other side of the break. We'll get into all this and more. It gets some of Mike's stakes. I wanted to ask him about Herbert as well as all these other things. We will look back on the games that have happened. We'll preview tonight's game and we'll preview tonight's game and we'll also look ahead to the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

We've got a lot to get into with Mike Tanya, our NFL insider from the Two Deep Zone. He's coming up next. Don't worry. There's a lot more Canucks talk to come as well, although that might be a threat. Ian McIntyre is joining us at 7.30 and Sat's going to join us at 8. So the latter half of the program is going to be very Canucks heavy. And if you missed the first half hour, we did some ranting. So if you want to download the podcast on that.

There are two videos up on it as well. Two, not just one. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.