PTI - Who is Currently the Favorite For the Super Bowl?

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the recent firing of Michigan football head coach, Sherrone Moore, who's the Super Bowl favorites, and AJ Dybantsa's huge performance vs. Clemson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wobon. Tony. Archaeologists just discovered humans were making fire 400,000 years ago.

I'm Tony Kornheiser, and two of them are still making it every day right here at 5.30 p.m. Eastern. Yeah, that's right. Don't forget it. It's us. Light it up, maybe. We're also 400,000 years old. We are. What can I tell you? Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Michigan Fire is Sharon Moore. Peter Alonzo goes to the Orioles and Steve Young joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with a look at the long range of the NFL. Last year's Super Bowl teams, Philadelphia and Kansas City are struggling. The Eagles have lost three in a row and the chiefs are all but underwater at six and seven. So with the chiefs all but out and the Eagles

spiraling, Wilbon, which are your Super Bowl teams right now? Well, Tony, a couple of weeks ago, even particularly, I was more than that after the trade deadline, I told you, I thought I thought Seattle had the best team in the NFC. And I'm going to stick with that. You know, I know they got another game coming up with the Rams. That's going to be hugely important. And that division is so hard with the 49ers, Rams, and Seahawks. And I know I'm going with the least proven of the quarterbacks with Sam Darnel.

But I'm going to go with Seattle in the NFC. And, Tony, this week's game between the Patriots and Bills in the AFC will really make the determination. but since you're asking me like three days early who I'm taking, I'm going to take Buffalo. I'm going to take, you know, I am. I'm going to take Buffalo. I know the window's closing on them. I don't think they have as many offensive weapons as they perhaps need that great MVP quarterback to be.

And Josh is going to have to be MVP again maybe this week and maybe three of the last four. I'm taking a flyer, but I'm taking Buffalo in the eight. where it's muddier to me over New England. They'll have a rematch in the AFC championship game, but Seattle. Don't get me started on the Bears. You know, I want to take them, but I'm not going to be crazy. Seattle in the NFC. This is a very hard question for me to answer because I do not have the WPI,

the Wobon Power Index in front of me, and I do not participate in a confidence pool every single week. So I'll just babble for a while. You and I are both agreed that there is, not a great team in the NFL yet. And you and I are both agreed that every time we say somebody's good, they lose within the next week. Like Detroit lost early, the Packers lost early, the Chargers began to lose. Buffalo. Coaches are losing all the time. Buffalo started losing, and the Rams and Seattle have lost within the last couple of weeks. All right. The top of the AFC right now are

the Patriots, the Broncos, the Jaguars, and the Texans. Do we trust them? Two of them are on real turnarounds. The Jaguars and the Patriots are on real turnarounds. You know, Houston has a great defense, but not much of an offense. Not really much of an offense. So I don't know about that. And you mentioned the Buffalo game against New England. I don't know who's going to win that. I agree with you about the West. I agree that, you know, San Francisco and Seattle and the Rams are at the top. So I'm going to go there. But I don't know, like Detroit could beat the Rams this week. I will say I will agree with you on Buffalo,

and I'll go with the neighboring team in the conference. I will say the Rams, because I don't trust the young quarterbacks in their second and third years to get there. I don't. Let's move. Let's move to the NBA and the great run, the Oklahoma City Thunder are on as they attempt to defend their championship. They're 23 and 1, which conjures up visions of the Warriors from 2015,

when they started 24-0 and ultimately won a record. record 73 games. Tonight, Oklahoma City plays Phoenix in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Wilbine, you were adamant that the thunder would not repeat as NBA champions. Are you still feeling that way? No, not today I'm not. Not over the last month, Tony. It'd be stupid to feel that way in the face of what OKC is doing.

They haven't even put their preferred starting lineup out there on the floor. They haven't. Because, I mean, J. Dub is just working his way back. they haven't. They've had the MVP out there. SGA looks every bit of SGA from last year. And so therefore you go, my God, there's no weakness. They don't have a weakness. They've got depth.

They've got now experience. They've got an IQ that is just off the charts about how to play. They just look too good, Tony. But the reason I said no is because over the long haul, things happen. So I'm going to stay with that long haul and look toward February. March, April, and I'm going to say not repeat, but I ain't feeling that today. Let me just take a couple of seconds to talk about the NBA Cup, which nobody understands and nobody really cares about.

They seem to be regularly scheduled NBA games on different color courts. I like the different color courts. They should go to them all the time. But in terms of the cup, what is the goal, what is the aim, and how does it end? I don't really think anybody knows or anybody cares. Today, for example, on this network this morning was a graphic that said, and I'm quoting here, Orlando makes the NBA Cup semifinals for the first time. Like this is the final four.

This is the third time they've had this cup. There's 25 teams that haven't made the semifinals. All right, Oklahoma City, I'll be very brief. They're really good. They're still really young, and they play really hard. They got to go 50 and 8 from now to match the Warriors. they went 50 and 8 last year. Over two years span, they went 52 and 6.

They're really good and they're not jaded. They don't want to get off the court and go to dinner. They want to win. So I like them right now. Good point. They're not jaded, Tone. That's an important point. No, they're not.

They seem enthused about this. Not cynics. That's a point in their favor. Real important. I may wind up back and down yet. And now, to a big comeback in college hoops last night, 10th ranked Brigham Young. was down 22 to Clemson and Madison Square Garden

in the world's most famous arena last night, came back to win at the buzzer. The comeback was led by heralded freshman A.J. DeBanza, who had 22, 7, and 5 in the second half. Tony, you watch this. So, did deal, little deal or no deal? I think it's a big deal. And I think it's a big deal

because this is a guy who everybody projects to go in the top three of the draft. And as you said, they're down 20. points after the first half. They went, BYU went the last seven minutes of the first half with no points. Clemson outscored them 21-0. They're down 21 going into the second

half. And this kid, first of all, let's go over those numbers again in one half of a college game, not 48 minutes, college game. 22.7 rebounds, five assists. He outscored Clemson by himself in the second half, 22 to 21.

He shot 7 out of 11. Clemson shot 7 out of 20, And Mike, he did it in Madison Square Garden. You know what the song says. Do it there. You can do it anywhere. Clemson, having watched this game, Clemson, all they really had to do was walk out onto the court and win.

Yeah. You know, in the second. And they just couldn't do it. If you watch their offense, they just dribbled around the perimeter of the three-point line for 15 to 22 seconds. And they didn't get very many shots. We would say that was a good shot. And this kid overwhelmed them. He did.

I'm going to use, I'm going to go to a comparison that is blasphemous. But you and I have watched, and you more than me, every great player who has played in Madison Square Garden for 50 plus years. We've seen all of them. And now I'm going to say something. It may make you cringe. I'm going to say it anyway. When I was watching this kid a little bit about, I didn't watch as much of this game as you did. And I watched all the highlights later.

You know where he reminds me of? Bernard King with where he gets his shots when he's working at baseline. Yeah, not as thick. The jump may not be quite as quick, but he's, yeah, but he's got some.

But you get that comparison, right? I'm not totally crazy. No, BYU doesn't have a whole lot of history as a basketball power. They got one highlight. 1981, Danny Engage, coast to coast, beating Notre Dame, getting to the final eight.

It's a long time between high This is a highlight kid. Let's take a break. It is great. Coming up is Philip Rivers making the right decision. We will get perspective from Steve Young. We'll also ask him, what the hell's wrong with the Eagles offense? What's up with that? Tony, the kid looks, doesn't he look ready? I mean, most of these kids aren't ready and they get overstated.

This kid looks ready. He's very quick to take one dribble and go right up. Boom! He's very quick. Welcome back to Pardon the Interrupt. to pardon the interruption, presented by Gray Goose, part of Happy Hour. We've got NFL questions for our great friend, the man who taught me everything I know about private equity. Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, and we have to begin with Philip Rivers.

We have to. Philip Rivers said today, there's a direct quote, it's one of those deals where a door opens, and you either walk through it and find out if you can do it or you run from it, unquote. If a team had called you, Steve, years after you retired, and for all I know, maybe one did, how would you weigh that decision? Yeah, I mean, for a little while, there's a little bit of dance step because, like, let's go backwards.

I think we talk about this. When you're playing, you're one of the best in the world at something, and when it ends, it ends too early, and you crave it because it took all of you, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically. You poured yourself into it to be any good in the NFL and to be great.

You want to keep doing it. And it's just, it's hard to leave. And so we all talk about it. Jerry Rice and I talked about it for, I don't know, maybe for 20 years. Like, I think we could still do it. But you have to be honest with yourself. You have to be mature enough to realize it is a young man's game. It's an elite athletic event.

And you have been sitting on your couch. And I don't care how much you've been trying to stay in shape. If Philip says, I've been staying in shape, you've been preparing for pickleball or Pilates with your wife. Like, you have not been getting ready or the NFL and what's coming. So my biggest worry is that you blow the Achilles. You blow your knee out. Your shoulder gives out. The second but less worrisome is you look like a fool.

Because, I mean, look. Everyone says, you know, you've been out for four years. You look like a fool. I'm okay. But the only wants to get really hurt. You are not prepared. Nobody. The best athletes in the world get hurt after preparing year round.

And now you're going to show up after being on the couch for four years. That's tough. But I understand the draw. Philip, I understand the draw, brother. If someone called me right now, I'd be like, it is my era. Maybe, maybe. Is this really happening?

Honestly, is this really happening? Is he starting? What are we going to say? It's Wednesday. Is it happening? Right. Is that a Washington? Is it?

It's just, you know, he's not coming out. He's not coming out to sit on the bench though, Steve. And you know him. I mean, his ego is pretty damn healthy. If he does it, let me say it after I went off on and on there. If he does it, we all need to just bow down. and just see the great Philip Rivers, because that's amazing. No doubt, no doubt.

All right, we will move to something more realistic and problematic, which is the Philadelphia Eagles in their offense. I don't remember you ever having offensive issues once you got rolling in San Francisco, but you're looking at the Eagles. They seem to be struggling after they're struggling, not seem to be. After a Super Bowl run, what is the main thing that's broken here

and what do you fix? So last year, the Super Bowl run was fuel. by the running game. And it was like, and it augmented by some, you know, some explosive passing game. But it didn't ask Jalen to become a sophisticated passer. Like it didn't, it didn't say you can't do it. I'm just saying it didn't ask him. And they ran it all the way to the Super Bowl.

This year, the running game is not doing that. So you don't have that one, two punch that I think was Super Bowl ready. So now you have to integrate. If you're not going to be a great running team and dominance, and Sequin's not going to be MVP, essentially, then you've got to have an integrated effort to become a sophisticated offense, which includes both Sequin and these elite weapons.

And I think what's happening is they're getting the least out of both. And that's why they're struggling. And they're getting the least out of the quarterback because they've been asking so little. It's time to ask more, and it's hard to make that transition. Not that you can't do it, but you don't just go from first gear to eighth gear, I don't know, that's weird.

But, you know, you just can't do it that fast. And so I think that's the problem. They're in a tight spot that neither are working from last year. And the fact is they have not developed what you're seeing in Green Bay in San Francisco, in L.A. They have the innovation. They just didn't have been practicing it. We will get you out of here on this. Thank you for mentioning Green Bay.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur complained about Michael Parsons being held up by the Bears. without any flags and he said this direct quote, I guess I don't know what holding is anymore, unquote. Do you think there's more holding now or has this been happening forever? There's two things that you will hear the most on the football field. One is a receiver coming back to the huddle telling everyone that he's open.

That's number one. The number two thing that you hear everywhere on the football field is I'm being held by the defensive linemen. So that is like ubiquitous through time eons of time. So that's not going to change. I think that nuances now is that officials are now trying to get so specific and so nuanced. They're trying, everything's about getting more offense. Everything, all the rules, safety rules in the last 10 years have all been against the defense.

And so they're trying to have holding B nuanced so that it's contextual. And now the line judge and the head referee are like, that is holding. But contextually, I think I'm going to hold the flag. You know what I mean? So I think that's what's happening. is that they're trying to give the offense as much advantage as possible because that's what we've been doing for 10, 15 years. And we're trying to have holding, because holding's always around.

It always will be around, but how it gets flagged, you know, it seems to be that they're being a little bit more nuanced about it and in the favor of offensive linemen. That's what it looks like. Thank you, Steve. Always a pleasure to have you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right, maybe I will come back. Yeah. Good. If Philip Rivers, if Phil Verbers dominates, Jerry, we're doing it. I'm calling him up. He's down the street. We were talking about the other day. We're going to start going to throw in the ball around.

And it's happening. That would be great. That would be great. Yeah, it would come to see that. Yeah, let's take one last break. Still to come, Peter Lanzo leaves the Mets for the Orioles. And is ACC commissioner Jim Phillips right? The college football playoff needs more teams.

Tony, if they come back, we got to come back. We got to come back. We got to come back at sports riders and go cover. As sports writers? Steve and Jerry coming back. 8 and 81, 8 and 80, baby. 8 and 80. That's fine as long as I don't have to do it at night games when I'm asleep.

You covered Monday night games when you were a young man. I know, but I'm not a young man and neither are you. And neither are Jerry and Steve, to be fair. No, that's right. Pardon the Interruption is presented by Great Goose. Make time wait. Please enjoy responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. Happy time, people. Happy 29th birthday, Joe Burrow. I think Burrow is the best quarterback in football, but he gets hurt so regularly. He was drafted overall number one by the Bengals in 2020

after leaving LSU to the national championship. In his rookie year, he tore his ACL. In his second year, he won comeback player of the year and took the Bengals to the Super Bowl, completing 70.4% of his passes. Two years later in 2003, he hurt his wrist. In 2004, Burrow, again one comeback player of the year. Leading the NFL in passing yards, passing touchdowns, 43, and

completions. This year, he was out with turf toe. His career completion percentage is 68.2. It's the best ever in the NFL. In his typical game, Burrough scores 38 and the Bengals give up 42. With all that, here's who he ate. He ain't 15 on Kansas

City. He ain't Patrick Mahomes. I'm I'm not there for even sure he's Josh Allen. Tony, you're talking about passing. Marino was the greatest maybe at passing, but I ain't putting him as the best quarterback, not with Montana and Elway and Brady. And nowadays, best for Kenny Anderson completed like 70%.

He was never the best quarterback. So I am separating passer from quarterback. A little different for me. That's fine. As I always say, Patrick Mahomes is the best football player on the planet. I always say that. Happy anniversary, Scotty Pippet.

On this day, 23 years ago, with Pippin playing for Portland and Michael Jordan playing for Washington, the two former teammates on the Chicago Bulls faced each other for the only time in their careers. Pippin came out on top as the Bulls handily beat the Wizards 98 to 79. Pippin had 14 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Jordan, who also scored 14 points, said afterwards, and I quote, it was a sad, sad game we played. The most unfortunate thing is we can't take our game checks and give them to our fans. It was unfortunate they had to pay to see it.

His horses were ready. My mules were sick. I have to take rousing for the time being unquote. God bless Michael Jordan for that quote. Tony, you know, Pippen was on the Blazers then. I don't remember the game. I choose to forget it, I'm sure. I was there.

I know I had to cover it. More so, I remember Michael Jordan's first trip back with the Wizards, first trip back to play against the Bulls to play against Chicago. It was the same day as the fog bowl. I remember that because it was also depressing on some level, but Pippin versus Jordan, I choose to just not acknowledge it. Yeah, I should have said the Blazers. Obviously it was the Blazers.

Happy Trails, Sharon Moore. Michigan fired its head coach late this afternoon with cause after the university said it had found credible evidence that Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Moore had the Wolverine's job for two seasons after Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL. More went eight and five last season, nine and three this season. Michigan will play Texas in the citrus bowl on New Year's Eve. Associate head coach Biff Poggi will coach the team in that game.

Wow, you don't know what this means going forward for Michigan, not just this season, what was left of it, but beyond. And you don't know what it's going to mean for more. I guess there'll be more details in the coming days, weeks, and months. And a bonus, happy trails to the Mets for, Pete Alonzo. The slugger is reportedly finalizing a five-year $155 million deal with the Orioles. Alonzo led all Big League first baseman in home runs, doubles, and RBI last season. Since the start of 2022, the 31-year-old has averaged 39 homers per. The Mets have now lost Alonzo and Edwin Diaz to free agency. Isn't Camden Yards more friendly to hitters than City Field?

I don't know how that works out. I'll find out soon. I want to see him with the Orioles. I think it'll be great. quick to the big finish. Let's do it. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said today, he's in favor of expanding the playoffs. Are you with him? No, but Jim are most things, but not this. I'd rather see it at eight.

The NFL approved Philip Rivers wearing Daniel Jones number 17. Does that make sense? That was Rivers' number all the way through his career, mostly obviously with the charges, but in the one year in India as well. The White Sox won the lottery for the first pick in the 2006 baseball draft.

Is that significant? No, this isn't the NBA. Is it Wimbabonyama? at the top of this draft time. The commanders will start Marcus Berriota instead of the again-injured Jayton Daniels this week, but have made no decisions they claim for the rest

of the season, your thoughts. Shut him down. Don't get him injured again. Shut him down. Last one, the Nixon Magic advanced to the semis of the NBA Cup. I'll bet you're excited. Not one bit. As you know, and I echo your sentiment complete.

We're out of time. We'll try to do better than. So next time, I'm Tony Cornice. And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.