Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Are Packers fans too confident in Jordan Love?

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

Matthew Coller is joined by Bart Winkler of Infinity Sports Network to discuss the Packers outlook and whether there is too much confidence about Green Bay QB Jordan Love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and joining me on the show, national radio host with Infinity Sports Network. That used to be CBS radio and is now something else, but it's on the radio all over the place. And he's from Wisconsin, used to be on the radio there. Second time on the show, I think. Bart Winkler, what is going on, Bart? I miss the grandparents' basement with the wood paneling as your background. That felt very Midwestern. So we'll have to try to work in as many Midwestern vibe things we can do to make up for that.

What's going on, man? Yeah, good to be here. Good to talk to you again. I am in my basement, and we're slowly working towards the steps of finishing it and the inspiration is like i want it to look like how my grandparents basement looked in 1986 wood paneling shag brown shag carpet you know now my wife has not totally been on board with all of the suggestions. But I've, you know, chiseled away over the years.

So we'll see what the finished product turns out like. But for now, I'm in front of a tool board. I don't even have tools. Is there like a Magic Man poster somewhere down there? I just feel like that should be something that is happening. Don Mikulski's on thisccoskey's on there it is there it is i knew you know every wisconsin basement has don mccoskey sewing up somewhere like this acknowledgement that the packers existed before farve and you have to prove to everybody

else no no i like the packers before farve i promise i was not a bandwagoner as if anyone would think that uh people in wisconsin had anything else to cheer for aside from the packers anyway uh but that's that's funny that's great i isn't it great by the way that baseball and football cards have come back i i thought that it was a completely dead hobby and now i see people online talking about their cards all the time that was my that was my favorite thing growing up. Baseball cards, and I'd collect them, and I still have boxes. Like when you go to Walgreens or wherever, there's like those little dumb packs for six bucks that I always end up buying.

And, you know, I've got a bunch of cards here that I kind of – and my whole idea is – because recently I've been like, well, now I need like Emmitt Smith. I have a bunch, but I don't have him on the Cardinals, so I need that. And then Brett Favre, I need him on the Vikings, but then I also need him on the Jets. And I need to fill in all these gaps so I can show my son someday. I envision him going through my cards and me teaching about all these players.

And then, again, what if he doesn't care that's like i'm called i'm cultivating this project that like what if he doesn't care but i was it was great for me and i i still think it's a big reason why you learn as much as you do about sports like um the stats on the back or who played where when there was the special traded additions. And that's why I contend. And then so far I've been unsuccessful, but that my employers should pay me to gamble on the daily fantasy sites. Cause that's how I learn about players more than ever. Like I know more about the Vikings roster than I should, at least the offensive skill guys that I can plug in on draft Kings. I I don't know any of their offensive line but we could talk about uh who's the guy I

like who's who's the fourth guy was a Powell was there a Powell there for some reason oh Brandon Powell yeah Brandon Powell yeah I've had him I tried him on yeah okay KJ Osborne was a big play for me yeah I mean Brandon Powell is current wide receiver three. So that might be something for you. I had him in a keeper league. Well, that is what, what a find. We're going to be an underdog house here very soon on the show, which will be very cool when we have that sponsorship.

But to your point about the cards, I do envision you trying to tell your son like, this is when Favre was an Atlanta Falcon. And he's like, I just want to play the cello, dad. I don't want to have anything to do with this. But all those old cards where you get the, you know, the rookie or something. And now the guy is not only had this great NFL career, he's like in the hall of fame or something. And you've got the rookie card, which you thought was cool at the time, or you have ones that you thought the guy was going to be amazing. And then he turned out not to be amazing. Like you've got the rookie card which you thought was cool at the time or you have ones that you thought the guy was going to be amazing and then he turned out not to be amazing like i've

got a browning naggle somewhere he was like what did i have that for like his damn whole page of jim drunken miller a whole page but you know you talk about cards coming back so some of that was pandemic influence. Some of it wasn't. But I did sell a bunch of old cards that I had from my father-in-law and from me. And I took them to a hobby shop. And the guy was great. And it was just really nice. And then I slowly would watch. And the boom kind of started happening. And I called the guy back.

I go, I came in at the wrong time. He goes, oh, yeah, I could have got triple for your stuff now. would watch and like the boom kind of started happening and i called the guy back i go i came in at the wrong time right he goes oh yeah i could have got triple for for your stuff now just like that's like the bad timing of my life is i remember i quit a job in 2008 and i was driving home like i quit a job to drive back to my it was in lacrosse and I drove back to my hometown, and on the radio, I hear a report. Well, it's official. We are in a recession. And I'm like, what? I'm driving home.

I don't have a job. So just bad timing in my life. Oh, well, you got fired at the right time. That helped you become a national radio host. Oh, yeah, yes, yeah. Me too. Me too. Same thing.

Yeah, I really should change that language because when I tell the story of how Purple Insider happened, I'll be like, yeah, I got fired or whatever else. It sounds like you did something really bad. Like, oh, I said something terrible on the air. Like, no, it was just a pandemic thing, and they shut our station down. It was not that big of a deal. But anyway, so I wanted to talk about,

I'm trying to think of some sort of tie-in. Like, if you bought a jordan love baseball card now how much is that going to be worth by the end of next season maybe that's the right framing but here's i i want to i don't want to just ask you for like the next 20 minutes if you think jordan love's going to be good next year or not i want to find sillier ways to ask you that question. So how about this? Is Jordan Love, Favre, or Rodgers?

Like, compare them to me. Compare them after the first time that Favre or Rodgers looked good to you. And this may be going quite a ways back with Brett Favre to your childhood. But versus what you saw from Jordan Love last year. Compare them. There's been a lot of comparisons where I think people will settle on. There's a little bit of that and a little bit of the other guy. Although I don't know how any of like Favre would osmosis through 16 years of Rodgers into Love.

There are like, you know, the guy sat behind him for three years. And just like with Rodgers and Favre, when you sat behind him for three years and just like with rogers and farve when you sit behind someone for three years and you assume that you will take their job someday and this can be in any profession you are going to whether you do it on purpose or not realize the things that you think he's good at doing and also the things that you would maybe do a little bit differently. And with Rogers, I think there were some plays that are like, Oh,

that's like far best, far best being just, as you know, wild and crazy. And that shouldn't have worked, but it may have been good. Wow. Who else could get away with that with Rogers?

I think there was also, I don't want to throw as many interceptions, you know? So I want to be as good as he was, but I don't want to throw as many interceptions you know so I want to be as good as he was but I don't want to throw as many interceptions which led to other things maybe taking more sacks um is the big one and then I think with Jordan Love you see you see some of the footwork it's like he obviously learned this from watching Rodgers whether Rodgers took his feet like they were like on a golf date for the first time and you're showing you're like this is how you know it doesn't have to be that way but you just learn and you watch and and you go from there so

i'm really interested to see what the second year looks like because i think we've agreed he's good jordan loves a good quarterback mv MVP odds are very high for him. Favre, I think, statistically, there was a little bit of a regression, but I don't remember at the time people being so freaked out about it. Although there were spells where, oh, maybe it's Ty Detmer's turn. Maybe it's Mark Brunel's turn. I remember those conversations in the grandparents' basement a time or two after Favre threw just one too many interceptions.

I know he's good and he's got a great future, but these interceptions, one too many. So I hope that the tools are in place for him to continue to at least be what he was a year ago and not regress in any way. And I think with the skill players they have, it's a wide receiver group that they've built them a running back change which is different and interesting because there was that one hour we thought we had Jacobs and Jones and that was awesome and then that went away so I think that there's a little bit of both but certainly you can't watch Jordan Love and not

see the influence of Aaron Rogers, the good stuff. Yeah. When you listen to him talk, he doesn't sound a whole lot like Aaron Rogers. He sounds like a well-adjusted young gentleman. But I can envision your grandpa in the basement going Bart star protected the football. And that's why he won so much in comparison to far.

Yeah. When Rogers started playing, we didn't know right away that he was great, right? If I remember correctly, there was sort of this debate of like, is it good enough? Is it really all that special? Is it really just like Favre? And then there was a moment where the light came on. Now, my audience in particular, every time I talk about Jordan Love, you can guess what they have to say. Stop anointing him. Stop crowning Jordan Love. It was a half a season.

So you said that we kind of all agree that Jordan Love is good at football. I agree with you, which again, to the chagrin of the audience here that has not really liked that take, but what's the, what's the light come on type of moment there what's the oh okay like this is because i know what it is for me with jordan love it was when i saw him in person against the vikings at u.s bank stadium and he threw the touchdown off his back foot that traveled probably 50 yards in the air and it got there in an eye blink and i just thought this is a problem now and then to see Brian Flores's defense once struggle with it and then solve it the next time again that's a problem

because the better quarterbacks played well against that defense so that's what it was for me so that's later in the season than maybe when he first started playing well what was it for you well I'm just doing a Twitter search here of when I might have been overzealous and tweeting something about how Jordan Love is a Hall of Famer and he had a really good day statistically. And he had a really good game as well. And they beat the Bears again, which is funny for many reasons, coming off of the Rodgers to Love transition. And then I don't think I was ever worried about Love, but there was a four-game losing streak in there. I went and saw him.

I went to the game in Pittsburgh, and he did not. It wasn't a great game, but I don't know how much it was his fault. I think once they kind of went on that run towards the end and the Viking game was included in there, a Panther game, a Bears game. And certainly, I mean, the Dallas game was an exclamation point because it was just like the chief. There was a chief's game in there. Another line game, Thanksgiving, maybe Thanksgiving is I kind of have all these memories come back to me and he's eating the, well, they didn't give him the Turkey leg, right?

That was the thing. They didn't give him the Turkey leg, but I think along that stretch, because one of the things that I was the most upset about at the time, which I was wrong, but I thought you can't have a young quarterback with just all these young receivers. My whole thing was variables and experiments. If you're going to try to find something, you have the one variable. That's how you find a solution.

We had nine variables. And I thought we're trying to make sure and see if these tight ends are going to be good if these wide receivers are going to be good so they're not giving Jordan Love what he needs when he might not be able to yet give them what they need and it's a whole it's not going to work and then somehow in those last you know three weeks of the year into the playoffs everything started meshing and coming together and um it was definitely in that time where, and again, nobody is ready to say. I don't even think the most crazed of Packer fans are ready to like map out 15 years from now, the one Super Bowl that we'll get out of this, the one year with the Vikings, and then the time that he kind of goes crazy as a public persona. And then the hall of fame. We're not, we're not mapping all that out yet.

We're just, we're just like, all right, he's got good odds. You know, it's him and CJ Stroud. I think you can kind of put in the same, like, yeah, these guys had a really good year, a really good year. Now what are they going to look like in year two? So I'm there in terms of this was the right play and a good decision and he's the the right guy for an extension and if there's like 50 million bucks that's what it is now if it's 55 i mean that that's what it is now i'm i'm okay i think i do have some tweets where i i said pay him whatever

all the zeros you know because in the moment you're watching a game you're like well yeah this is awesome so i'm certainly i'm certainly where i need to be but i don't think that the packers fans are i don't think we're anointing as much as everyone's afraid of that it will be anointed i think it the anointing is quite an interesting thing here because we do this every year whatever we just saw then becomes the truth with football in general whether that's a pre-season game an ota practices i discovered can also become the truth uh after we saw that was like yeah that was good yeah he hit a ball he threw a ball last year down the sideline and i said he's the next guy there you go that's what i mean he's still coming at me but now in a

good way i didn't know that it was possible for the ota uh thing to become like the truth about a player but jj mccarthy uh his truth was last week when we witnessed exactly one hour and a half of ota performance but uh i want performance. But here's another way I want to look at this is like a confidence meter that he's going to be able to recreate it because there have been small sample sizes of quarterbacks where everything fit together. Now, the reason I would think that it will carry over is that he has the young receivers that are all the same. He has the coach that's the same and it's the system that are all the same. He has the coach that's the same and it's the system that it's the same. And there's not a ton that's going to change

around him at least immediately a couple of years into the extension. It probably will. But as of right now, this is the same football team he's going to have. What's the most confident thing you've ever felt in sports and then compare it to that like the thing that you absolutely knew was going to be the truth and where does it rank versus jordan love and your confidence that he will be a great quarterback next year that's a good uh chance for me to brag about when the milwaukee bucks were down oh two to the Phoenix Suns, and I set up parade chairs on the eventual route, got on the local news and all that stuff. But then it worked out.

But I was very confident. Very confident I went to have done that. I'm confident that they're going to be good. I think the Packers are going to be – they'll be a playoff team, I feel like I can confidently say. I think that that's a good – and if not, they're going to be – they'll be a playoff team, I feel like I can confidently say. I think that that's a good – and if not, they're going to win 10 games and lose in some weird, dumb way, just like the 1989 Packers did when they were 10 or was it the 90?

Was it this team? I think I showed you before. It might have been that team. They were 10-6. Infante was coach of the year. Didn't make the playoffs. Did the Vikings that year i mean them and then washington might have i don't know i feel like 89 there's a game at the end of the season where

the vikings have to win to get in the playoffs and maybe they did or didn't now now i'm struggling yeah now i care so much i was uh four so yeah i was i was maybe five or six um it had to be 89 1989 1989 because infante was coach of the year and we are doing this now and i am sorry but uh yeah the vikings won the nfc central 10 and 6 packers were 10 and 6 did the vikings beat washington in the last game of the season or something like that to get in. Well, I think Washington also got in.

Oh, Washington's in the mix somehow. Okay. Cause I seem to remember a Monday night football game that they had to win in the last game of the season. And then they got in. I wasn't sure if it was that year. Anyway,

it does, you know, we got, we got sidetracked. It doesn't matter. Cause clearly I've showed it does matter to me. It really does. Yeah. Washington was 10 and six. They didn't get in either. It doesn't matter because clearly I've showed it does matter to me. It really does.

Yeah, Washington was 10-6. They didn't get in either. So you must have won that game. Okay. But I'm confident that they're going to be like a 10-win team. I'm pretty confident they'll be in the playoffs. I don't know about winning the North. The Lions are going to be good.

I think the Bears will actually be fine and okay. I don't know what the Vikings are going to be good um I think the Bears will actually be fine and okay I don't know what the Vikings are going to look like I don't even have an idea um but I yeah I I don't know I like I I don't want to come out here and say the Packers are going to the Super Bowl but the Packers very well could go to the Super Bowl. I think they very well could go to the Super Bowl. We're still in a weird good spot where last year I enjoyed so much because there were no expectations. You just wanted to find out if love was good. And then the team was competitive, and you were finding out that love was good. Then they made a playoff run.

Then they win a playoff game. Then they lose a playoff game they should have won. And you're like, okay, that actually, that was a fun ride though. You know, as opposed to what we're used to, a 10-7 season with a division around loss. It's amazing how a year like that can suck. Like actually not be fun. Oh, I'd kill to be the Packers. They've had all this success.

No, you wouldn't. Like the joy, winning a championship, and I must, winning a championship is the greatest joy as a sports fan. But I think the best way for teams to model themselves is to win one and then suck for like six years. Cause then you, you read like,

then, then it's like, Oh, what do you want to do today? I guess I go to the Vikings game. Yeah. Okay. It's more like that.

Oh, that's what I'm coming. I'm coming to the Vikings game. Oh, good. I'll be here. It's going to be a road trip. Hey,

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Right now, U.S. Cellular customers get $1,200 off any phone plus $300 off any tablet. Terms apply. So there's a lot of different ways I could go with this, including... Yeah, I don't know. I do want to hear... I was like, hey, Matthew. I do want to hear more about why you set up chairs on the parade route at O2, but maybe that's a disturbing story. My heart and brain were lockstep. That's all you need to know.

Okay. That's fine. I was my best one ever. And there are many, many failures, but we'll just forget about those was tweeting that Patrick Mahomes would be the best quarterback in the draft class on the day of the draft as he was being picked. It's still out there. I keep it.

I printed it out. Have it close to my heart. So I'm not as confident that Jordan Love will take them to a Super Bowl as I guess I was that Patrick Mahomes would be the best quarterback in that draft class. But I am confident that they will be a contender because of the way the team is coached, the way it's constructed, the fact that young players should make progress and that there's enough players on that roster that showed something that even if they all don't take a step forward, you're still talking about a decent receiving core, maybe an improved offensive line and the defense that could not be worse coached than it was over the last couple of seasons.

But I really want to focus on what you said about the expectations, because this is a relatable place. When Kirk Cousins was here, every single season you went into, if they didn't reach the NFC championship, it was just a massive failure. And I remember in 2019, they were a good team. They won a lot of games and we all sort of looked around and went, yeah, you know, I don't know, whatever. Can they really win? I don't know. And we ignored a lot of great games or didn't make much of them and great wins for them because the expectation was you have to go deep into the playoffs or this doesn't matter. There's a different feeling when something has this momentum to it. Like, Oh, this is kind of happening. And this team is on the way up

that I think the Vikings are trying to capture this next year in these next couple of years that Green Bay captured last year so is the vibe going to be a lot different now when you've got that exciting windfall of oh wow okay like they've got a quarterback it's happening uh versus now if you don't go deep in the playoffs if you don't reach the super bowl then it's like the regular season games they lose a little bit of their juice and excitement i think when there's an expectation that's super high for where you go at the end of the day yeah i think that there will still be um it won't be as like maybe raw but it will be it will be less than what it was during the Rodgers years. Like if this Vikings team wins nine games and makes the playoffs,

fans will have more fun during that than any Cousins year. Just during the year, you'll have fun. That is a lot to it. With the Brewers, you know, council betrays the team, and then Corbin Burns gets traded, and you don't know what the product is, and they're four and a half up on Memorial Day, and it's like, oh, my God, this has been a fun two months. But then with the Bucs, they get an injury,

and then they lose in the playoffs now every year since they've been bounced, and the whole regular season sucks. It's just a waste of time and energy and is very very very dumb so i i would like you want your team to always be good and you want them to always be in the mix i would just say looking back to make sure that the years that there are no expectations that you are good those are just the most, they're just the most fun all the way around. Now, this year, I still think will be fun. I think it will be important that the Packers are like semi-okay early. They go to Brazil, which is going to be weird. Colts and the Titans come here. Packers go to Tennessee. Minnesota's on there, the Rams, the Cardinals.

That's a four and two stretch, probably at worst. And then now by doing that, look at the expectation that I've just set on them. Whereas last year, I might've said three and three, and then they'd be two and four. And I'd be like, oh, well, Jordan Love's getting better. But there's a little bit more of an expectation. I think the expectation is as long as they make the playoffs, then the playoffs will still feel like gravy. But I think there is a little more more of an expectation. I think the expectation is as long as they make the playoffs, then the playoffs will still feel like gravy. But I think there is a little more on the regular season. You've got a quarterback that, like I said,

is going to get a bunch of money moved on him to win the MVP. You've got a coach that could get Coach of the Year considerations, which that was a big part of last year too. It wasn't just a new quarterback. It was Matt LaFleur getting a new job with the Packers. It's the same job, but he had a new description. He was now the head coach of the Green Bay Packers rather than the co-manager of the Aaron Rodgers fun house.

So a lot different in that regard. There's expectations, but I still, you know, as long as they don't start like oh and three god forbid i think the season will mostly play out fine yeah this uh what you said about the vikings if they were to go nine and eight and jj mccarthy is playing then everyone would be kind of through the roof about that season and there's no question that it would be more interesting and that's why in some ways i'm sort of trying to urge vikings fans to just be like let's just see what happens i mean like don't go crazy like you did during the cousins era because every loss during the cousins era was a referendum on cousins contract and what they had spent to get him and whether he was going to

check down on fourth and eight or not in the playoffs and all those things. Is he clutch? Is he not clutch? Is he overpaid? Can they ever bid with it? You know, all that stuff. It doesn't have to be that way. Now, if you lose a close game to the Packers and Lambeau before it felt like Cousins just can't get it done. I mean, this is, this team's never going to go anywhere and now it could be, well, if JJ McCarthy played good, then none of this matters. And now it could be, well, if J.J. McCarthy played good, then none of this matters. And so that now shifts for Jordan Love. Let me try the other side of the coin, though, with Jordan Love,

because you and I are on the same page about him being good. What if I jumped in a time machine, saw the future, came back, put down a bunch of bets on it because I knew it, like in Back to the Future or whatever, and one of those bets that I was going to put down a bunch of bets on it because i knew it like in uh back to the future or whatever and one of those bets that came that i was uh gonna put down was that jordan love was actually a disappointment what will have had to have happened for jordan love to disappoint packers fans this year the big contract gets given out and then and then he doesn't live up to that. And he doesn't. And by that,

I mean, just play the way he did last year. Like, I think people are willing to talk about if, if, if he gets back to where he was last year, just making $50 million. Cause last year you could,

you know, he's making 25 or whatever the contract was. They agreed to. So he's got to play. That's the level that he's making $25 or whatever the contract was they agreed to. So that's the level that he's got to play at. And then the expectations as to what his career needs to be, I mean, it'd be nice to get back to a Super Bowl. I think that people just assume that they haven't been to a Super Bowl in 14 years.

And I know, I know. But the assumption isn't like that. It's like with the Niners or the Cowboys or the Celtics. You think of the Niners one way and then you go, they haven't won a Super Bowl since 94. And you're like, what? No, that can't be true because, oh, but, huh. The Cowboys.

The Cowboys haven't been to a championship game since, what, 99? And you're like, well, that can't be true because of the years they had. Well, I guess. The Celtics haven't won a championship since 2008, but they're in the Eastern Conference Finals every – Oh, I guess. So, and we'll see what happens there. But that, I think, helps set that – just get to a Super Bowl. I mean, if he gets to a Super Bowl.

If you get rid of his quarterback and they get get to a Super Bowl. I mean, if he gets to a Super Bowl, if you get rid of his quarterback and they get you to a Super Bowl after the other guy got you to a Super Bowl, you want to win it. But that's a big thing with the Kirk thing was, his whole point was to get him further than the NFC Championship. But then you couldn't get back there.

So every year was bad, no matter what happened. And that sucks. I would say also for vikings fans like every other team in the division feels better about their team than you do yours even the bears every team feels good so when you inevitably beat one two or three of them it's gonna suck but it's, but that's that much joy you can take in it. And if all of a sudden the Vikings rip off a nice little start, people are going to be beside themselves. So I would totally embrace the unexpected, at least for a year.

And then if McCarthy sucks and Darnold gets a disease again, not like a motto.. Not like Mono. But enjoy what you can. I forgot that he had Mono and that infamous ESPN graphic that's something like Darnold has Mono. I think he's past the age where you can get Mono. Is there an age where you can't get Mono anymore? I don't know. I think that's true with chicken where you could get mono. Is there an age where you can't get mono anymore?

I don't know. I think that's true with chicken pox, that you can get chicken pox, but we all assume you can't get it past the age of nine. If you've had mono once, can you not get mono again? Is it like that? I don't think it's like that. Has someone had mono a bunch of times? I don't even know what mono is.

I'm going to tell you the truth. I just knew it was a thing they told junior high kids don't be making out with each other you're gonna give each other mono right well you and i talked about someone got mono and you'd be like all right kev you got right right right uh you and i started the show talking about our football cards i don't think that we had a chance of getting mono in high school. So here's what I want you to do. I was six years old with the neighbor girl. Oh, congratulations. Yeah. Don't ask me when my second kiss was. Yeah. Well, I married my only girlfriend ever. So, you know, we met in college and that was it. Well, isn't that the dream? It actually is. Yeah. It's worked out incredibly well because we watch Sex and the City sometimes, like the old reruns that are on TV.

And every episode is just devastating heartbreak for Carrie Bradshaw. And I'm like, eh, never happened to me. So I don't know how to transition that into another point about football, but I had a challenge for you, though, because I did want to ask you what your thoughts are about the other teams in the NFC North. But I want you to do it in a passive aggressive way. I want you to analyze each team with passive aggressiveness. So why don't we just start with the Vikings and you can passively aggressively analyze what you think that their general outlook might be passive. That's a tough question. It could be something like that. I did a thing where I was like starting it while thinking in my head. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll start, I'll start with the Packers. It's like, Oh, you know, uh, it's a nice team you got there and,

uh, I'll be interested to see how they lose, uh, in the second round of the playoffs. Um, you know, it's the easiest one to do against us. Right, right, right, right. I don't do it against the other teams. It's easy to do against them.

Well, okay. So I kind of think the lions and bears are going to be okay. So that's a problem now for me, obviously the bears, how are you going to screw up Caleb Williams? Yeah. But the thing I said about the bears is,

and this wasn't passive aggressive. I thought they should have drafted probably McCarthy or Bo Nix at nine. Oh, two quarterbacks. Okay. This is a very Packers style take for sure. That's why I love the Pennix junior pick, obviously. But if you're the Bears, you know you're going to screw it up, right? You know you're going to screw it up.

So at least take two guys, and then if you screw up the one, because if they would have taken two guys at any other time, the one they want they screw up, and then the one that falls to them, that would actually probably be the better case for them. So if the Bears, if Caleb Williams doesn't work out, I don't think they should ever draft a quarterback again until the very end. You put your board up, you let everybody else select, and then you can take a guy in the seventh round and hope that he's Tom Brady or Brock Purdy or something. Again, until the very end, you put your board up, you let everybody else select,

and then you can take a guy in the seventh round and hope that he's Tom Brady or Brock Purdy or something. So the Bears probably should have taken two quarterbacks. The Lions, the only thing that makes me mad about the Lions is I was doing a radio hit the other day and I went on immediately after a Lions guy. And he goes, all right, just remember, the North runs through Detroit. The North runs through Detroit. Wasn't this their first championship

since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won one? So, first of all, somehow they think that holding a draft that wasn't a failure counts as like a 12-win season. They're all very excited about that draft, which I will do next year, I'm sure. But let's relax on that.

A lot of people came there to listen to the names be announced. Oh, I can't wait until it's in Green Bay next year. Where are people flying into there? Is that Appleton? Like everyone's just going to fly into Appleton rent car. The car has an airport. Crazy. Yeah.

But nobody flies there. Who flies there? No. People are just going to be driving through the woods, hitting deer on the way there for the draft. The problem is hotels. It really is. Like I live two hours away in Milwaukee.

I might, I might rent out a room i there's some town in the middle of nowhere that's a truck stop that i stay at that's like an hour away because the hotels are so expensive so i just wake up in the next morning and then drive in from is it wabasha or something what is the wabasha no what wasa wasa is a decently sized city okay wasa yeah it is not it's like a there's like a mcdonald's and an applebee's and that's like the only sounds like a rochester i don't know it's got the that's got a clinic rochester's got something there that people know it for uh it's not just a truck stop town anyway so that's what that's what i do man kato can you give me a man kato yeah okay a man kato might be a

comparable type of town but i like you are a more a little more on the aggressive side than passive aggressive i think about the uh the lions there but i would say vikings you know why that one was hard for me because they're so irrelevant. Ah, there you go. There you go. This is the least I've ever been mad that they exist. A lot of times, and I'll say this on the show, I'll say, look, there's a lot of teams that have a lot of, like,

why would you ever like that team? But I get it. You grow up, whatever. I would think at, like, the age of 10, you look you look around you're like i'm a fan of this team and then bug out and go somewhere else but there i don't think about them i'm like don draper to them right now i don't think about you at all yeah that's a yeah that's a great response uh with with this team though what i think that they are going to be able to do is make you think about them after this year. That this year, it's hard to see this team coming together and being seriously competitive in the NFC,

especially with the challenge of the NFC North and how every team is good. And even Chicago, I think overall, has a stronger roster at this point than the Vikings. So that could be pretty darn tough. But after this year, if JJ McCarthy clicks and then you could spend all the money because you've gotten rid of Kirk Cousins in free agency, then, you know, assuming they're extending Jefferson and you have Addison and you have this offensive system, that's pretty good, a good defensive coordinator that you can see it like that that's the thing that yeah this Vikings franchise has rarely had which is a future outlook most of the time it's well you know they could mess around and win 10 games this year and get to the playoffs

but it has rarely been oh this team is a step away from creating something that is a complete roster with a good young quarterback as long as aaron jones doesn't become the nfl equivalent of drew holiday where the packers think they make an upgrade and then aaron jones finds himself a super bowler then see we know he's running for a buck 50 on us both games. He might miss another six or seven, but in the games that he plays, he'll run for a buck 50 on us. Why did they let him go? By the way,

he's really good. Yeah. I don't know. Anything that I would say would just be a guess. I like, I think there's a lot to like about Josh Jacobs, but Jones has been so good and he's been such a big part of like the locker room and i don't know that teams value that as much anymore but he was basically every guy that had

a question about why why are you doing good why are you doing well well you know yeah i made a great move but the support i got from aaron jones seven weeks ago was really what, okay. He kept coming up and all those kind of questions. It's like, so then again, there was an hour we thought we had both. And oh man, the idea is then I'd be talking Super Bowl. If we start Aaron Jones, I'd be talking along with Josh Jacobs and everybody. I'd be talking Super Bowl. Now we have whatever's left of AJ Dillon. Not a lot of quads. he still does have the quads uh there's

something about aaron jones when he came in and sat down at the press conference and talked for like five minutes to us we're like man this guy's awesome there's just something to some people that have an energy about them a vibe about them that sort of brings in everybody, which I think is really important for this team. And I think he's going to trounce the Packers when they play them. One last thing for you, we could just kick around a bunch of nonsense for a long time, but eventually I figured you have things to do like be on national radio. Tell your former employer that, but well, it's actually the same employer yeah you know what i mean yeah but somebody let you go at some point and then you stuck it to them right uh so i don't know

one of the things that you're supposed to do as a national radio host is you're supposed to have hot takes right like that's a thing that you just are demanded to do i saw kendrick perkins blaming rudy gobert for this series with the wolves and i'm like that he knows what he's doing that's utter nonsense but he's he's doing something that'll get people worked up give me one of those give me show me show me that you're national oh hot take nfl doesn't have to be the packers just nfl give me like this off season what one you've been kind of working that angle to make sure that, you know, people, people know what you're doing. I'll tell you who's,

I'll tell you who's not going to make the playoffs is the San Francisco 49ers. Oh, okay. I like it. I like that. I think there's too much dysfunction going on. Everybody just wants the bag now. And you haven't even gotten the money to your quarterback yet.

Cause Brock Purdy, Brock Purdy. Hey, that, that thing was dumb. just wants the bag now and you haven't even gotten the money to your quarterback yet because brock purdy brock purdy hey that that thing was dumb it's like everybody would look at brock purdy be like yeah he's in a nice situation and then niners fans would go no no he's he's really good and then you'd look and be like okay i, I guess he's pretty good. Pretty good? He is like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Okay, maybe a top 10 quarterback. Top 10, he's the MVP, dude.

It was weird. Brock Purdy had a million bucks you can do that with. Are you ready to pay Brock Purdy 50 million? I am with Jordan. I don't know that I would be with brock purdy i need to see more which niners fans would probably say the same the other way but i don't know my hot take you want a hot take that's my hot take i like it uh i don't necessarily have to have rationale with it because it is a hot take yeah no that's right it doesn't it can have the smallest it has to have like a shred of truth kind of like bogus rumors and first coach fired will be brian dable yeah okay that's that i don't think that's that hot that they could start out well they could

beat the vikings week one but aside from that that could be a pretty tough situation i like that san francisco take though i was looking this up the other day and this even includes Aaron Rodgers, every quarterback who has averaged over nine yards per attempt for a season, the following season was eight or under. I mean, there there's almost no way to repeat nine and a half yards per attempt. Uh, I like Brock Purdy a lot. You can, if you throw bubble screens at Samuel and he runs 30 yards, but I like him a lot. You can if you throw bubble screens at D.O. Samuel and he runs for 30 yards. But I like him a lot. I mean, I think the way that you framed it was right, where if you're in that position where the national media,

that's like what they're doing or the debate shows is what they're doing is they just say the quarterback's name and then yell at each other about him. That means that he has done something really good. And the Vikings haven't been to a Superbowl in a long time. So if you have a quarterback that got there, I just respect the hell out of the guy. That's not easy to do. At the same time, his contract is a big part of it. The team strength is a big part of it. They have kind of weathered storms there though, as far as drama goes over the years. And it just seems like the Kyle Shanahan offense can't lose. And then they drafted another receiver who could probably play Ricky Pearsall in case they have to move on from IU. So I think they still will be really good. That division could be pretty

tough and Arizona will get better. But as far as, Hey, if you're trying to pick out a team that was good last year, that suddenly falls off. And I've also had this question too, about now that we play 17 games and 600 playoff games, by the time you get to the end of that, is your franchise just dead? Like it's very, it's gotta be very hard to come back from that. So there might be something that's happening in the NBA too. I mean,

all these injuries. Yeah, exactly. Bart Winkler, infinity sports map thing. Radio. It's kind of offensive. Yeah, exactly. Bart Winkler, Infinity Sports Map thing radio. It's kind of offensive. It's, you know, it is, but I'm just making fun of you. I'm actually, I am actually a huge fan of yours and I enjoy following you and on Twitter. Hey, I don't give you a hard time

about this what would i be doing but uh i really do appreciate the time it's a lot of fun to have you on the show again and uh i hope we can do it again soon i'm also still half uh doing my podcast so i'll get you on that at some point oh okay we're the national why why why just relegate you to the podcast i'll get you on the national show. I've been on your show. I have been on your show. When I was at Radio Row, we talked football. I know. Yeah, that was great.

Infinity Sports Network is exactly what I was. Oh, my gosh. Goodbye. I just said this is this too much. Football. Football.