Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles interprets Vikings JJ McCarthy comments

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

Former Vikings lineman Jeremiah Sirles joins the show to react to Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's comments about the state of the team and where J.J. McCarthy stands. Then, Maggie Robinson joins for our weekly Robinson Roundup to react to all of the latest NFL news. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fanduil. Matthew Collar here. And it is time for Tuesday morning left guard with Jeremiah Searles. And Jeremiah, there's so much to talk about with the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL. I just want to spin the topic wheel. Tick, click, tick, tick, tick, tick, take, take, where? No whammy, big money, no whammy. No arrest. No arrest. Oh, wait. No, we hit. Nope, too late.

Too late. No, that's on the wheel. Where would you like to begin on the topic wheel? We have to start there. Okay. You have to start there because it's just one of those things where we, we haven't even got to the point to have the episode to talk about distractions in the offseason. Like usually we have that conversation right before the draft, right? It was like, hey, this is the time of year that they've been away for a couple months.

Everything's starting to get a little squirrely. They're starting to feel their freedom before it sucks back into OTAs. Like, this is the time. apparently it's 10 days after the season closes is the time to have the it's really hard to win football games with distractions off the field and boone actually talked about it before with uh jim harbaw used to pull up before at the beginning of the season all the teams that won the super bowl had no issues off the field right and the ones that missed the playoffs had the most issues off the field and so it does correlate it is a real thing and it's just unfortunate because a guy that missed games already this year that hurt his team to go out and do another bonehead thing and get arrested and again, going to hurt this team and now they're getting cut, released, or probably being suspended again at the beginning part of next season. So that's the thing is when we have so few details,

it's hard to go too far down the road most of the time. Like sometimes there are just things that happen and it's not as big of a deal as it comes across or whatever else, right? Misunderstandings, if you will. But in the case of someone like Jordan Addison, he has not earned us giving him the benefit of the doubt that it's just whatever sort of misunderstanding. And the NFL, the way that they approach these things, has recently been a little more patient with the law playing out and what kind of charges are filed. And we remember with Jordan Addison, that's one of the reasons it took so long. And he ends up being suspended this year and not when it actually happened before 2024.

but I do think with players with a history that is more factored in by the NFL. And what this affects more than anything is I think the Vikings have really hoped that Jordan Addison would figure it out, have no off the field type of issues, and that they could sign him to an extension, pick up his fifth year option, and that he would go on to be the Chris Carter to the Randy Moss that you've had for many years. And they could say, well, you know, it was way back when he was 21 or 22. but after three years in the National Football League and then also a little mini tiny suspension overseas

for we're not really sure what. This is now a pattern that they cannot start committing major assets to. Even the fifth year option is up in the air. And usually teams will just do that because, you know, you drafted in the first round unless you really don't want a Laquan Treadwell or something. But I think even that has to be up in the air. there may even be a decision to try to convince Jalen Naylor to come back to this team on a fairly significant contract because they cannot count on their wide receiver too.

Yeah, that's the biggest issue now is when you start getting to this point where you can let a lot of stuff like this go on the rookie contract because we're paying it peanuts, right? We're paying him peanuts. He's a first round pick. He can produce when he's out on the field. But when you start talking second contract and you start talking about, I mean, if I know from, I don't know him at all, but if I know from stuff that's been happening, happening on social media around, he's not going to want a little amount of money, right? He's going to want a big check. And rightfully so is some of the stuff that he's done as far as when he's out there,

he's pretty dang incredible and things that he can do this year on the other with the drops and stuff. But before then, and now as an organization, you have to look at and go, okay, if he wants four-year deal starter receiver money, that's a huge commitment on our end. And we can't commit that kind of stuff to someone that, A, it's no different than being injury prone. Right. The best way to be the best availability. What was it? You can't make the club in the tub.

I try to think of the stupid word that I got. I got you. What is it? The best ability is available. Availability. Thank you. I've heard so many coachisms, right? But it is true when you're talking about investing millions of dollars. Right. Millions of dollars, you can't afford someone to miss six games a year on average, either for off the field issues or injuries. Very similar situation with him. I just don't think with the cap space also that we have that you can

just commit that much to him right now. A fifth year option is not too expensive in general, but when you're talking about contract extensions for wide receiver twos, and he is one of the better number two wide receivers in the NFL. So if we use the T. Higgins type of example, you are talking in the $20 to $25 million per year range, and they could have opened the door to start negotiating an extension with him this offseason. And instead, I mean, now that something you can't even consider. And even if he does keep his nose clean for the rest of the off season into next year, you're still going to be asking that question.

Is it possible that to give this person that much money, a four year, $100 million contract and not be up every single night wondering if you're going to get that phone call? And the other thing, too, is to me, at some point, it becomes you clearly don't learn from past behavior. and how can they approach it? There's no answer to, oh, well, we're going to find him or, oh, well, we're going to get him assistance or sit him down or whatever it might be. And I think that if he was coming off of, and this does matter because this is football, right? If he was coming off a hundred catch season, you might be more like, okay, we really need to

invest in figuring out how to get this to stop. But he's not. It was clearly his worst season catching the football. And I mean, it doesn't, that position to me does not have to be him. Like, it made sense to draft him to try to get your Thielen and digs. But this is not Justin Jefferson. This is not someone who is an all-time talent who is a complete immediate game changer. This is someone who's very good, but not irreplaceable.

And I would much rather have a 17 game good off the field type of player in Jalen who I know is not quite as gifted, then I would someone who I'm not sure if he's going to be able to play 17 games because there's another looming suspension. Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more. I think, you know, it's the risk reward factor that you have to weigh in and out and in a league and in a team that is cash strapped, pinching penny is going to have to really be very particular with every dollar that they spend. That's just not a risk that I'd be willing to make. And, you know, knowing the Wilts, I'm not sure they'd be willing to make that risk either, right? And it all starts with

ownership and, you know, the perception and the view of what they want to be and who they bring into their locker room. How many times we heard Kevin O'Connell say the culture matters or the players in which you want to bring in. And this can also be kind of a tone setting moment for the rest of the players on the team of, hey, there is a certain level in which we're able to go and protect you, but when you cross that line and there's nothing more we can do as an organization, there's nothing more I can do as a coach, we're going to move on. And, you know, so it's again, not a conversation that you want to be having in January if you're in your front office. But unfortunately, sometimes these are the positions that you get put in.

Okay. So we'll wait for further details on that. That is an initial reaction. And if things go the other way when details, more details come out, then we will analyze those as such. But when you get to this point with Addison and it's been a clear message from everybody, handle your stuff the right way, this is not the right way to make. that headline and find yourself arrested.

At the end of year press conference for Quasi Adaflmenza and Kevin O'Connell, they were directly asked if J.J. McCarthy is the guy for 2006. And every time I hear this, Lovie Smith, Rex is our quarterback, just goes off in my head every single time. Like, they play, they must have played that on ESPN 10,000 times. Rex is our quarterback. Rex is our quarterback. Well, there was no JJ as our quarterback.

In fact, Quasi Adolfo Menza said the Minnesota Vikings need to get back to the playoffs when he was asked about that. And what Kevin O'Connell said is we're looking for a deep and competitive quarterback room. So with those statements made, Jeremiah, does that influence how you thought that they were going to handle the quarterback position going forward? Publicly, yes. Internally, no. I am surprised that they publicly were that open with it. You know, I thought to quiet some of the noise. And I don't know if maybe they think this might be the other way of quieting it instead

of saying, oh, we're all in on JJ being like, no, no, you go speculate. You guys go out there and you tell us who we should go get, right? Like letting it more out there and letting it breathe. I think internally, I knew this conversation was going to happen. It had to. There was no way that you could go into 26 after what you saw this year. with just like, hey, no backup plan, JJ McCarthy, rocket, roll it, let's ride it back.

You have to then go, okay, these guys are serious about understanding the internal conversations they've got to have over the last two weeks. The film study they've already got to watch, understand the draft class, understanding free agency, what they might want to do. They made a clear statement to the rest of the league today that, hey, we're open for business, right?

That's what I read from that is it's telling the rest of the NFL, if you've got a quarterback that you're shopping, we may be buying. I definitely agree with you. And I thought to myself about, like, how I would approach that. Because sometimes I think when there's such an obvious question coming that they can stand in front of the mirror and be like deep and competitive. Like, you know, I would, like, I would prepare for a podcast with you. I would just think of like, all right, what am I going to say about this?

J.J. McCarthy. Right. Right. And deep and competitive. It is a active decision to not make those statements and say those words. because if they wanted to, and the other thing is, too, that they know that we've all been talking already about, hey, could you trade for Justin Herbert or Burrow or whatever? Like, they know that.

And if they wanted to come out and be defensive about that and say, you know, you guys, you're doing all these podcasts with Jeremiah Searle speculating about Kyler Burry to make Searle's upset, and you need to stop it because JJ's the guy, they didn't do that. And so you're right. They did open the door to there's somebody else that's going to be here. And that somebody else is probably not going to be a Carson Wentz, a Gardner Minchu, a Teddy Bridgewater, a veteran backup who can't be a starter. Whoever is here, Jeremiah, is competing or has the job. And those are the only two options.

It's either split in reps or it is this other dude is QB1 and J.J. McCarthy has to prove otherwise. or that's kind of the end of that road. Yeah, that's what I took out of that conversation as well, and even just the tone and the tenor of how they said it. I mean, because you're right, they didn't get surprised by that question, right? They didn't go after that and go back. I'm like, gosh, I didn't think they were going to ask us that.

Like, that's the thing, that's the question they knew they were going to be asked from the day the final whistle blew on the season. And so, you know, better than trying to just leave it behind closed doors, they just put it out there to 31 other teams, man. Hey, we're here, we're ready, we're looking, that means that all the agents and all the quarterbacks that are hitting free agency heard that as well, setting meetings for Harry and Izzy's already. So I think that the Vikings are going to be very active, whether trade or free agency claim with finding a quarterback based off of that.

All right. Who are we talking about here? Because that's the real question. I came out of it. And maybe this is just because this is one of my first impressions is Kyler Murray is got to be at least a discussion. internally because he's the only guy who is a real legit starter who's actually kind of won stuff and is not 37. I mean, Kirk Cousins, if you were to go back and take 2019, Kirk Cousins and plug him in here, I'd be like, okay, well, they'll definitely be back in the playoffs with this team and these, well, this receiver and the improved running game and the offensive line and everything else, the way the defense is with whoever it is that's going to be running it. We'll get on the wheel to that one soon. But you can't go back in time with

Kirk Cousins and get the old version. And Gino Smith is coming off of a year that was absolutely horrific, no matter the excuses for it, it was just awful. And Kyler was injured slash benched for tanking purposes so the Cardinals could get to the top of the draft. But his recent performance from 2024 was a good showing. It's not great. I don't think he's a great fit. I don't think he's a perfect quarterback. I wouldn't want him leading my locker room. I'm not sure how he's going to get along, you know, with a coach that likes to be very hands on and all those. I have no idea about those things, but that name instantly popped up to me, but there's also like 10 other names that you could see. So I guess I'm wondering which

quarterbacks want to be here is a major part of the question or which teams would be interested potentially in bailing on their expensive quarterbacks. You know, the one that comes to mind for me is make Harbaugh put his money where his mouth is. Like Harbaugh, we have your boy. We have your guy, right? We have your dude on a rookie scale contract. You're trying to rebuild that team. Why don't we just take Justin Herbert off your hands, right?

Why don't you just send him up here, get some more picks? We'll send nine back down to you and you can beat him back into submission like you had him in Michigan and he'll be the good little boy for you. send us Justin Herbert, right? And I get somebody like, well, he's, he's only three in the playoffs. And it's like his, his lines every time he's gotten to the playoffs have been horrendous and gotten him just murdered. I think that behind this offensive line and his natural skill set and the way he can throw the football, he would be vicious behind that's Vikings offensive line. The problem is his price tag is going to be steep. That's the problem there is when you get to a quarterback of that caliber, who,

is the franchise guy. And when you think of it from an ownership perspective, just look in the stands in Los Angeles. Now they actually have fans for the Chargers. Look at the relevancy that they have had. Well, Justin Herbert has been there. Yes, he has melted down in three attempts in the playoffs. It's kind of following a bit of a Matthew Stafford sort of ascension where it's big numbers,

but the playoff performances aren't there. There's some inconsistency from year to year. but Herbert is just entering his quarterback prime, which to me is mid-20s to early to mid-30s. And you could have this guy for 10 more years. Do you want to just say, you know what, forget it, send him to Minnesota for two first-round picks and Jonathan Granard and, yeah, I don't know, whatever else,

to bail on somebody that is that popular where you are, to bail on somebody who's had that much success for a quarterback who has the same rating, through 10 games as Christian Ponder, like that doesn't really scream realistic to me. And it's not like their ownership doesn't have cash to put it in Justin Herbert's pocket. I did have it go through my mind that Justin Herbert, we make Joe Burrow out to be the guy who might demand out. I don't know. Like Herbert might be tired of having his body completely brutalized. That could be it. I just don't see those options as realistic. Like play realistic with me.

I don't want to be realistic. I want to dream. Big, Matthew. I want to dream big because the real, the realistic, the reality of our problem is not good. Right. Again, that's the part that's hard is when you were talking about, okay, JJ's not the guy. And it's like, well, that's somewhat exciting because that means we're going to go get a name. But then you look at the list of names and it's just not exciting. It's not what it would have been two years ago when it was quarterback free agent frenzy. And there was quarterbacks moving everywhere. You're really hamstrung on who the free agencies are without having to give up a ton of picks.

And it's not like the Vikings have a ton of picks to give up. It's not, we don't have a stockpile of day three picks that we can package together with a player and move or in that piece there. And so from a realistic perspective, you're probably looking at a Mac Jones. You're probably looking at a Daniel Jones, a Kirk Cousins, maybe Baker Mayfield. I don't know, like if they'd move on from him either. But, you know, there's just not a ton of guys you're looking around going, that could be it. That could be it. It's a lot of, man, I don't know if I'd love that.

when O'Connell was talking and then, you know, Quasi brought this up as well, the word explosive plays kept coming up. And that's where I thought, is there any hint there about, you know, Kyler Murray having the arm to throw down field or because I don't see Mack Jones is that type of guy. But Mac Jones is a better anticipation thrower. It's just, yeah, any option that you bring up. And then you compare to the rest of the NFC North and you go, uh, well, you know, Murray was nine and five that one time and played okay. last year or Gino Smith took a team to the playoffs that one time. It really depends on whether you are, and we're going to find this out, are you out on the idea of McCarthy or are you one step in,

one step out? Because I think if you listen to the two different guys, you kind of got two different feelings because with Kevin O'Connell, and he's, you know, he does four press conferences a week in the regular season, he's a, you know, he's pretty good up there. and he went through this, well, here's all the things I like that J.J. McCarthy did and then dropped the butt at the end. But we plan to have a deep and competitive room where when Quasi dafflmensa was asked about it, there was a lot less of that, oh, we love this about and we love

that about him. But, you know, it was much more, it felt much more like what you said, we're open for business. One foot in, one foot out to me is Mack Jones. One foot in, one foot out is Gino Smith. And it's just hard to believe that in a division with Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur getting Michael Parsons and Tucker Kraft back next year, Caleb Williams in the assent that he has had. Jared Goff has, his offense is always in the top five, even when they have a bad offensive coordinator and they have to fire him. They still put up a lot of points. So it just doesn't feel like these are options to be able to compete if you have a half measure. I agree. And I think that's where you find yourself in the really hard spot of what do we do? Like where where do we turn? And yes,

we can have it deep and competitive, but deep and competitive for our standards does not mean it's competitive with the NFC North. And that's the real question you have to ask is it's easy for us to hone in on, okay, we need a competitive room at the Minnesota Vikings to come out and who's going to be our starter of the Minnesota Vikings. From a bigger level, who's going to compete against those three quarterbacks you just named and be able to go toe to toe with them twice a year when we're watching a superstar in the making in Chicago. We're watching a guy in Green Bay that if he doesn't go complete blue screen of death six times a year, they're going to win 13 games.

And then Jared Gough, if they get Mike McDaniel up there, is their offensive coordinator, like what does that look like with Gibbs and Ammonra? And so that's where, unless you have a name that I can't think of and you're ready to throw one out to me, I don't see an option in which developing J.J. McCarthy and trying to make him isn't the best option available without having to spend a whole lot of money. No, I think that that is true and yet the desperation. And I'm sure that you could talk yourself into it if you're them of if we had only had a Daniel Jones level of quarterback, then you're in the playoffs right now. And I wouldn't disagree with them. And the Daniel Jones thing

remains sort of hovering over this because it came up in the press conference. And my interpretation was we thought we had him. Like we thought that he was the option, the cheapish option in comparison to Sam Darnold, which would have cost a lot with the franchise tag, where you could sort of split the difference, still get a starting caliber quarterback to compete with JJ, but that they put all their eggs in that basket. And then when it didn't happen, it was like, Sam Howell, Carson, Wentz. And so I think there's like a different telling of this season that would have been so much different. People would have been absolutely. miserable that Daniel Jones was the quarterback and not J.J. McCarthy. They would have begged for

patience on J.J. McCarthy. Daniel Jones would have played pretty darn good and won a good amount of games. And then we would have been asking probably, if he didn't tear his Achilles, we would have been asking like, do they sign Daniel Jones after they lost in the wild card round? And it just would have been like, it's actually probably better to find out with J.J. McCarthy just how far away he actually is. But when the idea of mechanics and those things came up, when O'Connell gave his answer, if the answer was just, oh, well, it's just the timing. That's all. But it's a much longer answer than that. And I think that's the chat.

Maybe you could speak to this better than I can. The NFL offseason and how much you can get better as a young player, because we've seen it for sure. But it's not as long as it feels for players to actually develop themselves. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. The NFL off season feels longer than college because you don't have, you know, classes. You don't have to go through this regimented piece of it. But what you do have is, and this is where you see so many players take jumps from year one to year two, because you don't really have a developmental piece before your rookie year. It's a retrain your body to be a track athlete for four months and then come in and be ready to play football and play it at the highest level possible. And so you can have these. gaps now where McCarthy was hurt last off season. He's dinged this off season, but I'm not going to say he's hurt to where this is where you're going to really see him take that jump because I've always said this. I treated this year like his rookie year.

I get it. He was in the league his first year. He did the things, but he didn't do the damn thing. And so this year he got the chance. So he's going in. He's a little dinged, but he really now has all that game film, all the coaches, all his gurus, all his people around him to sit there and go, this has. to get fixed or your ass is gone. And if you can hone in, you can fix all those things in the

offseason. If you really work at it and if you really pick five things to say, I got to get better at these five things and not try and bite off the whole piece of it, that can improve. And so how to list those things one through five was always something I did with my agent. I did with my coach. Right. I talk, say, okay, what are the five things I got to come back to OTA's ready at? And then you leave OTAs and okay, what are the two things I got to come back to training camp that are at? And you have to just continue to improve. And so he's got a long, list, but those things are all things that if you're a professional athlete, you have to know how to fix. Right. And that's the hard part. And can you fix all of them as a quarterback? And I'm not saying that

your job wasn't hard. You had the hardest job in football trying to play tackle. But the quarterback position, there's so many different elements to it. And one of them, just being that you can fix something throwing routes on air, but then it's just different when you're out there actually playing. And this is why when people asked, what did you nerd reporters see in training camp? Why isn't it working the same? Because training camp practices are not Miles Garrett coming to destroy your body. And they're also not playing through injuries and things that, you know, we've seen a lot of veteran quarterbacks. They kind of figure those things out over the years of how to play through certain stuff. And that's something that he's going to have to deal with. But also, you know, Quasi Adafelmenza dropped

something similar, he said availability is a skill. And I find it very hard to develop if you're not healthy and you're not on the field. And it felt like every time progress was made, there was another stop and then progress and another stop. And then even adversity is progress because you're going through things and learning, but then there's another stop because you ran directly into the Packers guy and he slammed your head into the ground. And like if you're going to keep playing like that, it's hard to bet on availability.

But the bottom line is that there's two different ways for me to want to talk about this because I agree with what you're saying of, I mean, roll the dice because the highest ceiling outcome is probably J.J. McCarthy has a click and is awesome. But there's also the what I am hearing from them is not, yeah, we're just going to roll the dice and see if J.J's our guy because they are not in a position to do that. Now, one thing that when they project for next year, as of right now, that they can't count on is who their defensive coordinator is going to be. What Kevin O'Connell said today was that they are going to be aggressive or they are already being aggressive in their attempts to keep Brian Flores here. But once again, this raises a question of, well, if you've already been aggressive, I mean, what more can you offer Brian Flores as he hits the free. agent market, Washington is owned by some very wealthy people, including somehow Magic Johnson, but much more wealthy people than Magic Johnson. And they have Jade and Daniels and they have a fresh project to rebuild a legendary franchise with a very bad name that they should have just

stuck with Washington football team, but I don't think that'll impact it for Brian Flores. You got the Cowboys in the mix. You got the Ravens, which actually seem like a good fit. And now, Jeremiah, you've got the Pittsburgh Steelers who have arrived on the spot, the team that kept Brian Flores in the league. This is very complex, man. I honestly believe he's going to get a head coaching gig. I really do. And I think that's probably where they're saying they're trying to do, they might be trying to convince him it's better for him to stay and be a decontator

than go be the head coach at one of those places. No, because that's what they have to hope and pray for. They have to hope and pray that he is, if he gets offered a head coach gig, that he doesn't want to do it again and that he just wants to stay a decoordinator. right we don't know how he feels about that but i think that if i'm him i want redemption i want redemption i want a show i've grown i want a show i've learned and there's only 32 of these spots at any given time if i have an opportunity for one and the league's going to let me back in i got to take it and i i truly believe with all these openings he is too good of a coach and he's commanded

too much respect from his his team not his teammates his players that i really do think he deserves a shot at being headball coach if you take the lawsuit out of it and you just ranked by accomplishment over the last three years, he would go to the top of the list. 100%. Right? And not only that. Him and Harbaugh. I don't know.

Harbaugh might be one, but like he's, he's not far behind that. But even with Harbaugh and Tomlin, like there was an element of them sort of slipping from what they were. Whereas Flores, I mean, he has, he has been as innovative as anybody in the NFL. I think he's also a great fit for either one of those franchises. Yeah, I mean, he fits the way that they want to play football. He fits the way that they want to do things. You know, he's been in that division before.

So, yeah, I agree. He, he would be a, he's going to be a slam dunk higher for anyone, whether it's the giants, the Browns, the Steelers, whoever it might be the dolphins. I wonder if they'll know he's not coming back there. Right. Yeah, I don't think he's going on back there. I don't think that redemption story.

That redemption art doesn't quite end in Miami. You know, but all those programs that we just talked about would be lucky to have a Brian Flores come in and lead them. So here's my thing with that. is if you get a HC opportunity, you take it no matter what, no matter where the franchise is because it's your job to turn it around. And if they were too and great, they wouldn't be hiring you. Yeah. Even if you suck, you're going to get guaranteed money. Yeah, that's definitely true. The lateral move, though, what would it say if he took the lateral move?

Well, if it was for money, I can understand it. If it was for personal reasons, closer to home, closer to family, some tie to that, I could understand it. If it's just same, same across the board, I'm not really going to understand it. I'm not really going to be able to, and I don't think any of us will unless someone publicly comes out and says what the riff internally was, because that's all it would scream. It's just internal riff, somewhere there was not agreed upon or, hey, I want to seat at the table more than I had lately. I think that could be a conversation that he could come in and be like, hey, you realize without me, we're like a three-win football team this year. Like, so I want to seat at the table on big time decision making, whether it's coaching staff

options or it's quarterback play or personnel decisions. Like, I want more responsibility. I want more voice. And that's going to be between him and Kevin O'Connell and Quasi. And if they say, no, you're going to stay in your role. This is how we do things. Then I can see that being a lateral move piece as well. I also wonder about, like when you think about where he was raised,

in his NFL story. That was in New England. He came up with the scout and then he gets to coach defensive backs and linebackers before getting the head coaching job. He's there for a long time. So he's sort of like a card carrying Patriot Way type of guy. And well, one thing is they had Tom Brady there. I don't know if people know that throughout that time.

That helped everybody look a little bit better. But also they chased a championship every single year. And what I can't help but think about with Brian, Flores is everybody wants to win in the NFL. Of course they do. But somebody who came up in that environment where they're chasing a championship every year. And if you're going into the off season and they're talking about, well, it's either going to be JJ or Mack Jones or Gino Smith. And you're going, so I'm going to have to carry the franchise again is what you're telling me. And now I'm going to have to do it without Harrison Smith more likely than not. And, oh, we've kind of

used all of our cap space and we had to trade for. somebody that took up more cabs base, so that's another whatever that I don't get. Oh, and Jaden Daniels plays for Washington. And that team has not really won in a long time. They got to the NFC championship. They've sort of set a new standard there. Or the Cowboys, if you win in Dallas, you are iconic there, even if it's from a defensive coordinator perspective, and he will not be denied as I had coach if he wins in probably

either one of those two places, two of the biggest markets in the country. So I would wonder about that. Like what you said is fair. And I know that here the athletic John Crosinski kind of mentioned, well, what else is going on inside that building with Flores? And as you said, this is the front office, is the head coach, is whatever. I mean, they present the United Front, but we know this. There's only so much we know that goes on inside the compound.

So is there something else? I would lean more toward look at this division, look at your quarterback situation. I mean, if you have the opportunity to turn around another deep. and Jaden Daniels is going to make you right all the time. Maybe that's just a more favorable spot. I also wouldn't be shocked if he looked at his options and said, no, no, actually ownership wise, player wise, I've built this thing, head coach wise, that Minnesota is the right spot.

It feels very much up in the air, but every new team that gets added, the percentage goes down. I had it at like maybe 6040 he stays, but now Washington's interested. Dallas, I think we know has said that they're interested or there's been reports, there's a couple head coaching spots where he makes sense. Like that percentage just to me keeps going down. Yeah. And some of it just depends what kind of coach, like coaches brains are weird, right? Some coaches want to go and they want to build their system and build the right pieces and

just be able to sit and operate within the system and tinker. Right. They're tinkers now. Like, oh, we'll move this guy to that. Other guys are like orthopedic surgeons. I want to burn it all down and build it from scratch. And so I'm not sure which brain Brian Flores is. Because, you know, Because there might be a piece of him to your point where he goes, I've done all I can do here. And now I'm bored. Right. I'm bored. We were kicking everyone's teeth in.

Like, it's great. It's fun. Like, but I want to start from zero again. And if that's his case, then yeah, lateral move is probably going to happen because he's already done everything he can. He's put a whole new year on tape. He's going to have to basically start all over again. Why not try and go start over somewhere else?

But there is also a piece where he's going to feel maybe he's on that flip side where it's like, hey, I know that I need to add one or two pieces, but I'm not going to have to start at day one, page one install in OTAs. We're going to be able to flip ahead and I'm going to be able to make this even more elaborate and more fun and harder for a quarterback. So it really just depends what kind of brain he has. He said something interesting in our final press conference with him. He said, you know, the football lines up, which I think means that his relationship with the players

has been great and he feels like there's enough there to have an elite defense. but that's where it sends you down the path of the other factors. And when you say being aggressive, to me, that sounds like they've offered as much money as they can offer if they're being aggressive. And possibly even, as you said, more of a seat at the table. Maybe there's an assistant coach opportunity that gets thrown onto his title and more responsibility and more of a say. There could also be a head coach who would be a little concerned about that because you're talking about somebody who is a very strong. and powerful voice. And do you want any of that bleeding over?

Because I feel like what they've done so far of sort of segmenting Flores is over here with the defense. O'Connell's over here with the offense has really worked well. Like, do you want those two things bleeding into each other more than they have? Or does he want that? And like, it's very hard to figure out what's in somebody's head when they did tell us. And now we're left to sort of just wonder, why haven't you done it? And when we come back, it all comes back to that for me of, is he going to stay or leave?

Well, why, why haven't you just decided to stay? Because if you have a place that you're totally locked in and all set and all wonderful, then you're, I don't think you're squeezing every single penny or every single bit of power that you can get out of it, right? So there's something there that isn't lining up for him. And then also, I mean, if you're on the market and you played it this way, you might as well go see what's out there first. let's spin the wheel around to other subjects.

How about the Green Bay Packers? And the fallout from them losing to the Chicago Bears has been very interesting to watch because it seems like Packers fans and media want Matt LaFleur out. And I think that's something you've got to think really long and hard about. I don't think it's quite like a like Harbaugh is in his 60s and has been there for 20 years. And Mike Tomlin keeps getting the same results over and over again and feels like when I watch it, it's not the same as watching some other more innovative football teams. But with Matt LaFleur, I mean, he's had so much regular season success. His quarterbacks have played so well. That is a

think very, very long and hard about what you want to do there. Because if he comes on the market, somebody else is hiring him that day to be their head coach. Yeah, I mean, that's a let's let's let emotions calm down. Let's let get through the week and understand that we have a really good thing. Let's not move on because you can just point to not just how he's manages the team, but also the X's and the O's with him. Right. I think back to the beginning of last year when Jordan Luff hurt his knee, Malik Willis comes in and he rewrites his offense overnight and they have success. And same with Malik Willis comes in. He's able to in game adjust, boom, new offense, let's out there and run it. Those guys don't just pop up.

Those dudes are just special football minds that don't just run around. So if you have one, don't let him go, right? Give him the benefit of the doubt. And I get it. You can say, well, we haven't done it this year. Look at this division, man. You lost your $50 million pass rusher that you sent. You go on a skid.

The margin for error in this division is really small. So losing that piece there, do not lay that at the feet of Matt Lafleur and run him out of town. He has to take some responsibility, but that's not a fireball offense. up 21 to 3 in losing the game is the worst way it ever could have happened. I mean, if they just went back and forth and Chicago got the ball last, but this is one of those optics things when you have that big of a lead coming out of half and your offense completely stagnates and you let your biggest rival come back and then say, F you and have cheese graders.

And like there's more to it than just, oh, well, they lost the playoff game. It was, no, they lost it this way. kind of like with Brandon Staley with the Chargers. He didn't just lose the playoff game, but you blew this massive historic lead and the same thing happened, but also happened like three times to them in the regular season where they blew these leads.

It's also happened multiple times. They have six playoff losses under LaFleur. It feels like every single one of them is gone this way in some way, shape, or form. So I get it. But when you look around, are you upgrading by moving on for Matt LaFleur? I tend to not think so.

Let's do this. We usually do love to see it, hate to see it. And we have to wish the best of luck with the Oregon Ducks to Coy Perich and Dylan Riola. And wow, Dylan Payola more like it. So they've got... That Phil Knight Money hits different up there, man.

Well, I can't blame anybody for chasing the cash. And I'm sure those guys hit the jackpot. And here in, you know, the regular Big Ten, the real big. 10 of the Midwest left wondering, oh, you know, what would have been if you could have kept them around? But, you know, love to see it, hate to see it. We've got so much in the playoffs that I want to just get like two sentences from you about each game because I think our love to see it is obvious of football. Like, it's just been so good. Oh my gosh. I mean, four of those games were elite, two of those games were turds, but the elites made up for it. Like they made up for it. Like,

They just, they absolutely made up for how terrible those last two games we had to watch. Can I ask you a fan of football question? Because clearly we do this because we love football so much. Yes, but of course. I get really nervous at the end of games. Oh, absolutely. Even in the press box, when I'm writing, my hands get cold. Yeah, like I just, I give, it doesn't matter what the game is.

If it's at the end and there's like big plays happening, I get very nervous. And so this weekend was, I was exhausted. I did nothing. I just watched the games and walk the dog. And at the end, I was like, man, I got nothing left. I can't, I can't go on. I can't tweet anymore.

Totally dusted. See, I'm, I'm the other way. Like, I get so excited that my wife gets super. And I'm like, did you see that? I'm like, come here, quick. Like Josh's dress. She's like, shut up. I'm doing something.

Or I'll be like, like on the red zone when the freaking witching hour hits. You're like, shh, everyone comes sit down and watch. like just it's gonna be amazing. And you're just like, what did you, then you're pointing out stuff. Like, don't you see that block?

And I was like, dude, shut up. You're fine. I just get so excited at the end of games. And like, I'll stand up and cheer, but that was awesome.

Like, I still am like a child, but it's just for all football games, even for the college games. My wife, as you know, is a professional broadcaster. And so she likes to hear the broadcast,

which is a major problem because I do the same thing. And she's, she loves, especially wants to hear how like a Mike Tariko or Joe Buckner handles the final call. Like, it was the last play or the big play. And I'm, and I'm doing the same thing.

Did you see the running back in Passpro? I guess it's just like, that is one heck of a throw. And, uh, yeah, so there's, there's a little bit of, 100% dude,

a little back and forth there sometimes. But this was an ultimate weekend for, uh, me feeling exhausted and anxious at the end of, uh, every game. But I, I want two sentences from you about each one of these upcoming games.

Buffalo, Bills at Denver Broncos on Fanduel. The bills are a one and a half point favorite and the over under is 46.5 points. The game is at Denver. I'm very concerned for Josh Allen's health in this game. I'm also very interested to see if Bow Nix melts or rises in year two. I am most interested in who Josh Allen throws to because he had two wide receivers tear ACLs against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

and it feels like they're going to have to run the ball really effectively, which they did not do against the Jaguars and he just threw the heck out of it. But can you really do that at, I don't care what it's called now. It's mile high forever to me. Can you empower, I believe? Empower somebody else.

It's mile high stadium. So that, that atmosphere. And then, like, even the, you know how this is with the travel, like going from Jacksonville, then back home,

then out, to Denver. It's very challenging, and that is not a complete team, as we saw. If Trevor Lawrence is even halfway decent in that game, they probably end up winning it. All right, Jacksonville, or no, not Jacksonville, the San Francisco 49ers at the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers are seven-point underdogs. That's moved a little bit. They're seven-point underdogs. The over-under is 44.5. Well, first of all, San Francisco is going to have to move their practice facility now away from the electromagnetic field. It's a real thing. I'm in on it.

Okay. I'm actually, I'm here for that. No, but this is going to be for me, this is a true test because I think whoever wins this game has a legitimate shot at winning the Super Bowl. I think with the energy that they're going to build from this game, whether it's Seattle or San Fran, we'll give them the confidence because I don't know what's happened to L.A. And we'll get to them. But I think this Seattle team is primed and ready to go.

and I think that what they did to San Fran at the end of the regular season, San Fran still has the same issues. In fact, they've actually lost a few more players since that game. Seattle, in the other hand, is rested, loaded, home field. The 12th man will be loud and ready to go. I think Seattle probably rules in this game. The issue for me with San Francisco is that what we saw Brock Purdy have to do is take risks. And some of those risks turned into interceptions,

but there's no other way around it because you're not really going to be able to run the football against Seattle. They really couldn't run it that effectively against Philadelphia. So sometimes you've got to let that football go to a guy one-on-one and just sort of hope that he makes the play. And Quinnion Mitchell came away with a couple interceptions. But here's Philadelphia Eagles offense that, you know, when they do the thing at a minor league baseball game where a kid will put his head on a bat and run around and then all dizzy and then he falls down, that was the Philadelphia offense in this game. And as great as the coaching job was from Robert Sala, as great as Eric Kendricks, your former teammate was in that game. So cool to see him make a plays.

That offense was a bleep show. I mean, it was a mess. So this offense will probably not be a mess. They're going to run a lot. Charbonnet is going to run. Walker's going to run. And then Darnold has to stay within himself. And they have a pretty good chance here.

I just think that Purdy, it screams like three interceptions. Yeah. Seattle controls the football and wins this game. but it probably will be close. X Factor is what does Sam, if Sam tries to do too much, it could get ugly, right? I mean,

it also makes you really think, Matt, what could this San Fran team have been if they stayed healthy? Like what honestly, you talk about Bosa, Warner, Iyuk, purdy out for a lot of the year, kiddle out for a lot of the year, Trent missing some games.

Like, you just go down the list and superstar after superstar got hurt. That San Fran team could have been nasty, nasty if they would have stayed. healthy. And that really is the story of the San Francisco 49ers. And I did see that thing about the electromagnetic field and I don't know. I don't know what I'm a real problem. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that. But they have had this issue for years. I've always thought it's just the the style of play that, you know, Kyle Shanahan and how much he pushes them. But then, you know, some of it's just bad luck.

Like George Kittle, that was, that was just bad luck. Well, he's had years of EMF into his feet. There we go. Okay. Let's, what about the, no, I shouldn't say it. It'll get, the video will get like demonetized. If I, if I say something about the planes flying over or whatever. But anyway, this Sunday contest here, the Houston Texans at the New England Patriots on Fanduel, the Patriots are three point favorites. The over under here is the lowest of the weekend at 41.5. If C.J. Stroud melts like he did in this last game. They're not beating the Patriots. I mean, that was the worst I've seen CJ play in the last eight weeks. He's just dropping snaps. He's dropping the ball.

He's trying to create when he's getting sacked and fumbles and throwing picks. He was awful. Like, he was not good. Now, thankfully, that defense is unbelievable. I mean, what they did that just beat the poor, just poor old man of Aaron Rogers out was incredible. Daniel Hunter looks like he's ready and prime. Will Anderson's amazing. That back end's amazing.

So if that is. If they can get a 50% better C.J. Stroud, I like the Texans of this one over than Drake May because they looked very human as well in their first context. They did. And the Chargers have a good defense, but it's not the Texans. The Texans are the cream of the crop in the NFL. And for Drake May, hey, man, I know the MVP voting is already in. So whatever. We'll find out. But this is real MVP test stuff to be able to play against them. And the one thing that he has is he's got them. legs that Aaron Rogers, um, they, they left him a few years ago. So the playmaking of Drake may and I, I agree that C.J. Stroud. And this is why sometimes it bugs me with, well, you know, Sam Darnold saw ghosts in the playoffs or this guy can't win in the playoffs or whatever else. Like, well, if Sam Darnall, if the Vikings defense did that to Matthew Stafford last year, Sam Darnel could have handed off the whole game and won. So C.J. Stroud gets a, gets a W for that and does.

nothing in fact hurt his team constantly in the game it's you know that's kind of how it works narrative wise last game of the weekend is an absolute beauty the chicago bears are three and a half point underdogs on fanduel at home and the over under here is 48 and a half which just screams like the scoreboard being lit up at soldier field. Can Chicago do it again? That's they're not going to get 21 points against the ramps. It's just not going to happen. Like, they're not going to get that gift of the slow start and be the cardiac kids in the second half and make things happen again. Stafford already had that problem against the Panthers. And I promise you he's in that locker room going, no, I'm not here for this. We're here. We can't do that. We got away with it with the Panthers.

They won't get away with it here. I think the Bears defense finally bends and breaks this one, not against the turnovers at the timely time. I like the Rams here, but I am so excited to continue to watch Cadele Williams grow and develop because I've been doing film breakdowns with him, and he still has the ceiling for him has not even been close to becoming topped out yet. Which is crazy because it's the routine stuff that can still grow.

And that feels like it's very developable over a couple of years. This is the first year that they're putting in this offense. And his ability to avoid Sacks, has changed completely. And I think that his leadership has grown immensely. And it's funny about, you know, Tyler Dunn wrote that huge piece about what happened with Caleb Williams. And we had our doubts, you and I for sure with the things that we saw from him in college and early on his career. But information changes. People learn and grow. And that really is what determines that, you know, we can tie this back into J.J. McCarthy. It's do you grow or do you not? Because every player who's

drafted in the top 15 as a quarterback has the ability to be a franchise quarter. Every guy who's drafted number one absolutely has that ability, but it's really up to you whether you make it happen. Do you identify those problems? And I think Ben Johnson coming in and making him a serious NFL quarterback and saying, I am the captain now. Not we're going to run half your USC offense. We're going to go on your cadence, ready set go or something. Like, no, no, no, no. We're running real NFL stuff. And he looks like it at this point. The Rams, though, are most. much more human in recent weeks. And I don't know if this is true or not, but I feel like it is. So I'm going to say it. The Seattle loss, I don't think it broke them,

but I think it cracked them a little. And they just have not looked against Carolina. They just didn't look like quite the same team that they did going into that Seattle game. Because I thought that they were going to beat Seattle that night. I thought it was going to be, they're going to just cruise to the top seat and so forth. And that just did not happen.

Then they played this horrible game against the Atlanta Falcons where they didn't look anything like themselves. I just wonder if that kind of, I don't know, hurt the confidence of that team. Because there's not like an injury that I'm missing. I mean, Devante Adams was out for a little bit there, but he was healthy in the game against Carolina. Just doesn't have the same feel. Yeah, they're just not executing the same way they were early in the year. And I think a lot of that did have to do with Devante Adams missing. I mean, he had so many touchdowns from the inside.

the five yard line. It was insane. And so when he goes out and he moves that big production, now you're trying to run the football and now they've got Pook and a Kua on the screen game on the outside, but you're just seeing one or two bad drops or one or two miss blocks or not finishing the sack like you saw at the beginning part of the year. They're just not executing and finishing the way we're used to seeing. The thing that I do believe, though, is McFey's a good enough quarterback. There's not veterans on that team that it can't flip quickly. Like as soon as they get everything and starts and it kind of will come in bunches. Got to be the big play by Pukunakua.

Big sack here. Okay, now we're rolling. The machine is back in. We've worked everything out. I think this is probably the week that we're going to see that come back with them just because this bear's defense leaves a lot to be desired. They do get turnovers, which is great. But to just test this Graham's

offense the whole time, that's going to be really hard for them. I want Seahawks Rams. The nation wants Seahawks Rams. We'll see if it happens. last last thing who's winning the national championship. Can you believe college football is still going? What is the way in the world?

What even did it? Who made this? Who did it? No. Whose idea was this? This needed to be over two weeks ago. I've lost interest. I'm just like,

I mean, I'm going to watch it. I'm going to watch it. But I mean, it's one of those things we're like, it doesn't have the hype. It doesn't have the excitement that it used to have. But Indiana,

I think, wins the national championship. And we're going to see another really weird Mendoza speech at the end. his or the clue we're the clue that holds everything together if he had said it

looking at the reporter and not directly in the camera it was like camera reporter camera reporter it's like dude pick one

who's your public relations person and then he had another kind of crazy speech about stoicism or something I was like okay

I mean look we know you went you were recruited by Yale and all that stuff we got it we got it but I really, let me end on this, though.

He's probably going to be the number one pick. I saw a couple folks talking about a comparison with him and Sam Bradford. I don't quite see it because I don't, yeah, I don't think he's the athlete that Sam Bradford was coming out. That might be a like late stage Sam Bradford, who wasn't that mobile could probably be it. Post-ACL. Yeah, but I mean, the way he actually stands in the pocket and throws the ball,

I can actually see that from the throwing technique. I just don't think that it's quite to that level. Bradford was as a prospect, one of the better prospects to come out in the last 25 years. Yeah, I mean, I remember he was showing his videos in power cleaning like 365. And there's that we used to make fun of him about how slow he was. And he'd always pull up the clip where he'd chase down an interception. I think it was against the Saints. Yeah. And he ran him down. He's like, I see, I wasn't always slower. Like, yeah, now you can't even move. Sam, what's wrong with you? Right. Just making fun of him. But yeah, he was an unbelievable athlete. had maybe one of the purest arms the game had ever seen. Yeah, I like a lot about Mendoza. I think that's a little on the aggressive side. Okay, well, the next time we talk,

we will have conference championship games. Jeremiah Searle, thank you so much for your time and the little bit of an adjustment here with the press conference and so forth. So thank you very much, sir, and we will talk to you soon. Football. Football. All right, now it is time for the Robinson Roundup with special Purple insider contributor Maggie Robinson from the snowy campus of Syracuse University. Well, Maggie,

you know, there were times in our lives where you were looking for any possible NFL headline. What can I throw at Matt for this? And I don't think you're going to struggle for this one. The NFL has just been going absolutely wild with the coaching carousel, the playoffs. So where would you like to begin? So yeah, I was struggling in June for stuff. This January, totally. different story. And today, just a mere few hours ago, Mike Tomlin announced he was leaving the Steelers. And this was no firing. He is leaving on his own volition. And this is kind of similar to when Sean Payton left New Orleans, but the Broncos still had his rights. So by Ian Rappaport and a bunch of reporters notes, it sounds like he's going to take a year off coaching, but he's still kind of under

contract with the Steelers. So if he were to go to another team, it would be a trade. Like there would be trade viability in here. So this is an interesting thing that he is doing. Also, he's been there for 19 years. The man was tenured. This is a huge shakeup. We had John Harbaugh last week. Now it's Mike Tomlin. What do you make of this? So when he took over the job from Bill Cower, that would have made you maybe five years old. So your entire existence is basically Mike Tomlin is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And when you consider that he never had a losing record, when you consider all the times that he was able to reach the playoffs.

And I know recently that it's been hard for them to win in the postseason. And that will be part of his legacy as well, that they continue to get there year after year. But there's another side of that, which is they have not had the quarterback position settled since Ben Rathosberger. And I think if you're Mike Tomlin, you have to. And I think it's a mutual decision because. the Steelers probably want to get started on something else.

They might want to look for the next quarterback whisper and draft a quarterback and develop them. And I don't know if Mike Tomlin's the right guy to do that. And I also felt that some of the things that they were doing looked a little antiquated to me, especially on the defensive side, that I made the NFL moves extremely fast. And did he move along with it at that same pace? I think if he wants to go be a broadcaster that any network would want him and he would be fantastic.

Imagine the stories that this guy has. And if you've ever watched any of his press conferences, he is an incredibly good speaker. And it would really depend on how open he was willing to be in talking about other teams and things like that. But I think he would be great in terms of the perspective to listen to him, talk about football players, no matter what network he wants. There are also teams that it would make sense to try to trade something for Mike Tomlin teams like the Miami Dolphins, who have kind of been in peril for quite a while. McDaniel was good there at times, but they have, I think, some culture issues.

They don't know what they're doing at quarterback. Maybe they feel like someone needs to settle that franchise. I really don't know, just tossing out that that might be a team that could be interested. But it's all over the league now is an entire shakeup that even the things that were always the most solidified, like who's the coach of the Steelers and who's the coach of the Ravens, are now no longer solidified. The world is kind of his oyster, though, when you look at it, like you're saying, if you look on the broadcasting side, I was doing some research.

All right, Matt Ryan just took the president of football job at the Atlanta Falcons. CBS needs a spot. Imagine Cower and Mike Tomlin sitting next to each other on that pregame set going at it. That could be a good vibe. Don't know if they need two coaches. Then on the Fox side, Jimmy Johnson, that man was real old. He had to retire. They got an open spot.

Put him in there. But like you're saying, there's a lot of head coaching positions now that are wide open. And I think my one critique I have of Tomlin and of the way the media is treating this is everyone's like, he never had a losing season. Yeah, but they also haven't won a playoff game since 2016 and haven't gone to the Super Bowl since what, 2011? At some point, are we just going to call mediocrity what it is? Like, good enough is not winning.

And I think a lot of people are like, but it's not. losing okay congrats those aren't the same thing you can't equate them to being the same thing so i think you're right take a second maybe relearn some or learn some new coaching techniques see what is out there for him and what feels best but who do you think that the steelers are looking at to fill that slot yeah i think that you do make an excellent point that when you are stuck in the middle for a long time nobody knows this better than the nfc version which is the minnesota vikings and many a coach has tried to get the Vikings out of a similar rut and has not had success. So in Pittsburgh, I'm sure that there's a great deal of frustration of always getting to that

certain point. Now, you could argue that he coached them beyond their capabilities, considering the quarterbacks that they've had. It just all feels like purgatory and they need something to be shaken up. And it really goes back to that quarterback situation. This year, they filled the void with Aaron Rogers for a season. But if you're, trusting someone to get a new quarterback. Is it Mike Tomlin? I think the answer right now is probably not. And clearly it's not since they decided to part ways.

But to your point about who could be the next coach. Now, I've mentioned you want the quarterback whisper. You want the guy who is going to draft his next quarterback and develop them and so forth. But on the other side of that coin, Brian Flores worked for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Talk about the ultimate innovator. He has been that. They were the team that kept Brian Flores in the league.

I don't know that anybody else was going to hire him when they gave him, I think it was a linebacker's coach job. And he became close with, you know, Mike Tomlin during that time. And so they have familiarity with him. And then he has been nothing short of excellent for the Minnesota Vikings. He got interviewed by the Ravens, which may also make the Steelers consider, all right, well, if the Ravens are doing it and that's the team we hate the most, then maybe, you know, we need to take a look at Brian Flores and consider, consider him as well. And when you look at his track record since Miami, but even in Miami, as much drama as there was with the ownership and with maybe some players and the quarterback, you want a lot of football games for the Miami Dolphins as well. So I think his name has to be there.

But when you look at, you know, Kevin Stefansky is on the market, I would be insane if they hired John Harbaugh, but I don't think that's going to probably not going to happen. I think he might go to Atlanta, or the New York Giants. O'Brien Dable, I mean, could he be somebody that they take a look at after he got let go by the Giants or is he just an O.C? I mean, there's so many names that are out there now. It's hard to put a finger on who they could even be starting to look at. I want to throw a few at you. Do you think they elevate Arthur Smith from offensive coordinator? He's already there or have his head coaching days past him and he's done.

I don't think it's a worse idea I've ever heard. I mean, I don't love Arthur Smith as an offensive mind and as a play caller. He was good in Tennessee when they could get six yards to carry out of Derek Henry and run play action off of it. But, you know, I think it was Aaron Rogers offense, mostly this year more than it was Arthur Smith. He did not do a great job in Atlanta also was hamstrung by very poor quarterback play. Taylor Heineke and Desmond Ritter and, you know, those guys, Desmond Ritter is on the practice squad of the Packers right now. and they were starting him at quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons when Arthur Smith is there. So it's not a crazy idea.

But I also think if you're looking to make a shakeup and change things there, probably sticking with the Tomlin hire is not the way to go. Agreed. So if you're shaking it up, why don't you shake it real hard and get Marcus Freeman from over there in college football and take him away from Notre Dame? What do you think about that one? I mean, so Adam Schaefter did report and these things can change very fast. that market what it might mean when it says, oh, he's going to stay at Notre Dame.

It might be jack up that price or he's staying at Notre Dame if we're trying to read between the lines a little bit there. I'm always a little bit on the skeptical side when it comes to college coaches going to the NFL because so much in the college world is about recruiting. Now, that doesn't mean I don't think he can do X's and O's, but when you look at the history of it, it's not great. And I think the main reason is because, you know, culture is important as we saw from Mike Tomlin, but you're coaching grown men, not kids. And X's and O's are everything.

And the game planning is everything, the schemes, the play calling. That's how you win in the NFL. That's not always how you win in college football. It's usually we have more talent than you. So is that transition worth it? Or should you just stay at Notre Dame and be a legendary coach there and make gobs and gobs of money? or, you know, risk being fired quickly in the NFL, I could see why he might decide to stay at Notre Dame. But nothing is ever 100% if someone really, really wants him, then they might be able to get him.

Okay. So we talked about head coach. Let's look at quarterback because like you're saying, they keep putting band-aids over this issue since Ben Rothesberger left. No one has worked. And that ended up with this position of having Aaron Rogers, this man is like getting older, not in his prime quite clearly, but they have the 21st pick in the draft. So that kind of means they're not getting any of that top cream of the crop QB talent. Where do they look to?

Do they go and get yet another vet and put him on? Do they get someone who's been backing up who's been doing a solid job? Where does this leave them? It's such a hard thing as the Minnesota Vikings know. And as soon as Aaron Rogers loses in the playoffs, and you would think that he's not coming back there if he's coming back at all. my first thought is there's another team competing to get quarterbacks with the Minnesota Vikings, right?

And whoever they bring in and whatever history that person has, I guess will matter to that decision of what they do at quarterback. It does not seem as of this moment like there would be a quarterback that's drafted around that range that should really be that interested in. That said, it's not impossible to draft a quarterback in the 20s who works out. Jordan Love worked out pretty well. New Orleans feels very good about Tyler Shuck. The New York Giants feel good about Jackson. It's the same kind of range. Lamar Jackson, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr.

Yeah, there is quite a few recent starting quarterbacks who have been taken in the backside of the first round. And even you could even sort of shoehorn, Bo Nix, into that. I think he was 16th. So that's not that far away. But who is that going to be this year? That I don't know. did Trinidad Trinidad Chambliss do enough with Ole Miss to make himself interesting for a first round draft pick?

I mean, he was fantastic in the college football playoff and nearly won them that game. But what does his NFL prospects actually look like that? I am not a draft analyst and could not tell you. But I think the options are limited, especially in the free agent market. Guys, we've been talking about Kyler Murray, Gino Smith, Mac, Jones, every option that you say, Kirk Cousins, very realistic. Hey. Every option you throw out there, you go, oh, okay.

Well, you know, I suppose none of it sounds that promising. And that's something that whoever is looking at that job would have to consider. It's a really big challenge. And it's going to be one that really shows a lot about the head coach that they do bring in and how he meshes with that front office staff of like, yeah, who are you bringing in? And what does this new regime look like? because like you're saying, it's been super, I don't know, like Tomlin has just made these decisions and everyone's gone with it because it's Tomlin, but now it's going to be something wildly different.

So who's to say also just found it a little bit funny that we might have just seen Aaron Rogers last pass and it was a pick six. I can't see how he's happy with that. But also, is he really going to come back? Because at some point, let it go. Yeah, the irony of that is that Aaron Rogers had basically the best of, avoidance of pick six is in NFL history. Like it just never,

ever happened to him. And then he does it right at the end of his last start. I don't know how and I wouldn't want to get inside of Aaron Rogers head where it seems like it's a pretty scary place. But, you know, I wouldn't want to try to guess considering that he did play pretty well. But the question for him would have to be who wants you. I mean, is it the Vikings?

I don't know. They didn't do it last time. I don't know that they'll do it again. And can you actually? actually get 17 games and playoffs out of your body because it really looked like in this game that he was not physically up to the task of playing the Houston Texans. You could say, well, there's special defense. That's true.

But in the playoffs, you always play a special defense. And you're going to go up against teams that have monsters, edge rushers. And there were just a few moments in the game where you thought, you know, five years ago, Aaron Rogers shuffles out of the way or scrambles for a first down or whatever. it's just not there anymore. The arm is still very, very live, but that's not the whole NFL game. And it's certainly not who Aaron Rogers was at his prime.

I think going out on a 10 and 7 season where you played pretty well for an all-time legendary franchise, I think it's not the worst way to go out. I think people would remember the whole season and him going there much more than just how it ended. Go get your Hall of Fame award. Go sit there, enjoy the rest of your life. You can be a media pundit all you want.

can go do ayahuasca in a cave like enjoy live your life but you just spoke about people who are not at their prime let's talk about some on the coaching side Miami fired mike macdaniel after four seasons and they hired a new GM who's going to orchestrate this whole new coaching search then we look over to philadelphia eagles just fired their offensive coordinator we saw that one coming from miles away and it was just made so evident by their game against the 49ers where he was doing the least inventive play call is known to man. And that means there's nine total vacancies. Matt Lefleur has one year left in his contract with the Packers.

He just got exposed. His team did big time. I don't know if he's going to be a sitting deck, but it sounds like they're going to keep him for one more year, but there's a lot hanging in the balance here with coaching in the NFL. Right. I mean, just because they didn't make the Matt LaFleur change yet, doesn't mean that they won't.

And are they going to have him be a lame duck that would be, very strange. If he was coaching with only one year left on his contract, then you're coaching for your job every single week. I guess you are in the NFL no matter what, but to have no security, you can't be very happy if you're Matt LaFleur. And

LaFleur does have at least plausible deniability. Now, he has some of the same problem Tomlin does of getting to the playoffs and not making it happen. But at the same time, they were 9, 3, and one when Micah Parsons got hurt, and then just a completely different team after that happened. And you

can't tell me if Mike is there that it's not a little different with chasing around Caleb Williams. Also, Tucker Kraft getting hurt. Jordan Love had a top five statistical season by a lot of the metrics. And, you know, Matt LaFlor can point to that. If he were to get fired, though, think about the offensive minds that are out there. I mean, Kevin Stefansky already has been a great coordinator, a two-time coach of the year, and he might only end up with an OC job somewhere. Brian Daibble was brilliant with the Buffalo Bills and then got a playoff.

win here in Minnesota against the Vikings with the Giants and Daniel Jones and was talked about as the guy who turned around Daniel Jones. I mean, there's just a lot out there. So if you are the lions who have fired their OC or the Eagles and you've got a lot of talent to work with and a franchise type quarterback, some of the OC jobs seem like they are more attractive than some of the head coaching jobs, maybe by a lot. And then as you mentioned, you know, the dolphins. Like what is it?

What is attractive about that team, right? Like, who wants to go there? There are also some teams. Cleveland is another one. What are you doing at quarterback? Your owner seems like a whack nut. Like what, I mean, what can you really do there? So this thing, this carousel is spinning 10,000 miles an hour.

But I think if you're somebody out there with an offensive mind, you should have a lot of offers on the table from teams that expect to win. Agreed. They're going to get snapped up left and right. And you can imagine that if coaches fall the right way, there's going to be some powerhouse coaching going on, especially as some head coaches are relinquishing the play calling to their offensive and defensive coordinators saying,

you know what, hands off like y'all take it. And if it's someone who was formerly coach two-time coach of the year, yeah, okay, you be my play caller and now we're just going to have double trouble. Like that's even more powerful. You can do so much with that. So I think it's kind of going to be a shakeup of how we look at the way coaching is stacked

too potentially of you can actually have two superstar coaches. Let's see how this plays out. let's put our egos aside and do what's best for the team. Well, and that could be the case. So Washington interviewed or is requested to interview Brian Flores. And that could be the case there as well. If he decides to take the lateral move and move on from the Vikings and go to Washington, Dan Quinn is their head coach.

He would be much more of the overseer of the franchise like Nick Siriani is in Philadelphia. And then leave the defensive play calling to Brian Flores. Then you'd have a great culture coach and great manager along with a great schematic coach. And again, that's why so much is up in the air with Brian Flores and no one really knows, is he going to come back to Minnesota? Is he going to be a D.C. somewhere else? Are the Steelers or the Ravens going to hire him?

Like, we just don't know. And then each thing that happens is going to have a domino effect somewhere else. Cliff Kingsbury also got far. I forgot about Washington. That's another, my gosh, that's another, wouldn't you want that job? You get to inherit Jaden Daniels. I mean, so, yeah, if you're, if you're, you have called plays before and you know what you're doing offensively, you're in a great spot.

Absolutely. I want to look now, though, to the games that just happened. And we're going to bounce through some key takeaways from each game. Let's start with this Bears win. First and foremost, the Bears and Packers rivalry is alive and well. And Ben Johnson is only feeding into it. Did you see that three second handshake that he did? That was the funniest thing I saw on Twitter all night of Jim just like barely dapping up Matt Lafleur in the most disgraceful way. You know, I really like the idea of the rivalry between the Bears and the Packers and NFC North rivalries. It seems like the Vikings and Lions have clashed a lot recently. And sometimes just overall, some of that feels like it gets lost in the NFL.

Players change their teams a lot. Teams are changing coaches all the time. and where's where's the hate but I mean like not real life hate but the sports hate right the just general dislike for each other between fan bases and so forth so bringing enough of that back by saying you know bleep the packers and the cheese shredders and stuff it's that's all in fun I think everybody enjoys that but the question coming out of that is can they actually beat the Rams because if you play the same exact way you're probably not beating the Rams you Stafford is likely not letting you off the hook along with Sean McVeigh. Or is it going to be a Rams team that stumbled a little bit that goes into Soldier Field and can't get it done and Stafford's got this hand issue.

But I think the biggest takeaway is just you should be worried everyone in the North about the bears because teams rise and fall in this division all the time. And them already getting here to this point ahead of schedule with a young quarterback like that who's not a finished product and a coach like that who could get them there. that's not what anybody in Minnesota wanted to see. Absolutely not. And Caleb Williams was the person I wanted to touch on. I think he's solidifying his position. He's obviously still has his moments, as all quarterbacks do. But he's sometimes forcing the hard pass.

But then when that pays off, it works so well. And you're like, that's the most athletic pass I've ever seen this man do. That's incredible. And I will say, stat wise, he only took 13 sacks in the pocket this year compared to 56. last season at this point. That's huge. So regardless of what you think of him, he's making decisions quicker and getting the ball out of his hands. Is it always landing? Not necessarily, but a win is a win for the bears. There are quarterbacks in the past. Ryan Tannahill comes to mind. So does Deshaun Watson, who did improve their ability to not get sacked. I don't know if I've ever seen it as dramatic as this.

And a good amount of his completion percentage is him throwing the ball away when he's scrambling and just choosing, hey, I'm going to get rid of it rather than taking the sack. But I think his accuracy is also problematic at times, as you mentioned, where you have open guys and you're just straight up missing them. But his improvement in avoiding the sacks and his growth as a commander of the offense, that's where the league should be very concerned. Because if he could take that step, then he could probably take another step as well with throwing accuracy.

This is still somebody who's a pretty young quarterback. Has he turned 24 years old? I mean, like, that's when you start to see that assent for someone who has that level of talent, then they probably will continue to build on it. And the biggest thing for me that has taken a jump that I don't know if I've ever seen is confidence from K.A. Williams. Last year, he was when he was down in the game, when he was getting beat down, it just looked like a different person.

And now the belief when they're down in a game late is through the roof, even when it looks very bleak and they're down 21 to 3. So couldn't be more impressed with how he's fixed a lot of the problems. And there's another step to go, though, in order to be a true elite elite quarterback. If he gets there, again, that is many more years. The NFC North just got rid of Rogers, many more years of a top-notch quarterback. Someone who, on the other hand, got sacked quite a few times this past weekend. Justin Herbert hit a solid 21 times in their loss to the Patriots, 16 to 3.

their O line isn't effective. We've been saying it all season. Joe Alton Rishan Slater injured, they're out. Mackay Beckton really hasn't lived up to expectations since he came back from the Eagles and their Super Bowl season. I mean, he's injury prone. He's a $20 million contract. It just feels like an investment that has not paid off.

And Herbert is as good as he can be with a line that is doing absolutely no favors for him. It's true. And at the same time, I mean, you played sports at a hundred. higher level than me. Do you think that there are some people that when there's a lot of attention and pressure change who they are? Because it feels like that's Herbert that on a noon game or whatever it is in the West Coast, but you know that no one's watching. Justin Herbert can beat good teams, decent teams. But then a lot of times when they really, really need him to be more than just a good quarterback.

It has not happened. And this is always a tough one because I think physically he is gifted enough, which usually that works out as a quarterback goes through their career. But we're now getting a pretty big sample size of him either being sort of a mid-pack type of quarterback in the regular season or him getting into playoffs and not taking that next step with his team. And yeah, I know that they've had problems, but three points, I mean, three points should be looked at with a lot of scrutiny because that was a worse performance than what we saw

from Sam Darnold last year and everybody ripped Arnold to the ends of the earth. Narratives are always interesting with Herbert too. It seems like he is always the victim and that makes me ask a question as well. Like, well, at what point can he not just always be the victim of coaching and injuries and everything else with respect to that, you know, those things are real? I agree with the media narrative. I think one, he has kind of choked in these. big moments like you're saying he knows the cameras are on him and listen on that front he's made it

clear he doesn't want the cameras he doesn't want the media and yet we still give him the benefit of the doubt even to go so far as when he was getting interviewed for a sideline interview midgame or post game he wanted nothing to do with it he was like absolutely not was very rude to the sideline reporter everyone on twitter's like oh but that he probably just didn't want to do it like that's not his job actually it kind of is part of his job like that is contrary that if a team selects you, you got to talk to the sideline reporter. It's two questions, let it go. But it's the small things even like that, that just kind of put cracks in this

veneer of shiny Justin Herbert in L.A. And oh, my gosh, he's the golden child. He hasn't been living up to it as of recent. That's right. And it's always tough with this because the minute you think that, okay, he's a choker, can't ever work out, then something will go right or you get the right matchup and it can work out, right? Like I always go back to the Eagles first trip to the Super Bowl with Jalen Hertz where they played the Daniel Jones Giants, killed them. And then they went to play the 49ers and Brock Purdy tore his UCL and his arm early in the game.

And then their backup got a concussion and they had no other quarterback. It was like, yeah, it's and then they're in the Super Bowl, just like that. So it does take good breaks. It does take good health, but they also fired another coordinator and you go, how many firings has this guy been the quarterback for? And I used to say about Kirk Cousins, he was just good enough to get you fired. And it feels like the same way with Justin Herbert, where he's just good enough to set the bar to a point you can't reach it and then you end up on the hot seat.

And it feels like that's, I mean, that's certainly, you know, Greg Roman, that's another team that's going to have an offensive coordinator that is up for. grabs. So it is a fascinating player to talk about because it's sort of one of those, what is it, Roar Shark tests in plot where everybody sees something a little bit different with Justin Herbert. And I think that his flaws get overlooked because people are wowed by the great throws and the great plays, but the bigger sample has not produced elite level play. Yeah. And you kind of just alluded to that 49ers Eagles game back in 2023. Let's talk about it this year because that was a different outcome for sure. San Francisco taking the win there,

2319. George Kittle out. Huge loss for them. Also, just adding insult to literal injury for the 49ers. They're one of the most injured teams in the NFL, but they're still performing. And Brock Bertie, honestly, two interceptions, but otherwise, very solid. And he's a guy who those things happen, but you don't see him put his head down. Talk about someone who has good confidence. He trusts himself and his teammates understand that he's going to pick himself back up from those issues. But on the Eagles front, if coaching was their downfall, I think it was the saving grace for the 49ers. Two very different coaching styles going on here. You are dead on with that.

I mean, the coaching from Robert Sala and Kyle Shanahan, Shanahan hitting the trick play. Trick play is kind of driving me nuts sometimes, like the Texans dialing up a flea flicker as they're dominating on the run and you go into that, no. But when you're out George Kittle and you kind of need something to spark, they were able to pull off a trick play there and score a touchdown with Christian McCaffrey and Joanne Jennings throwing it. That was a great play call. But from the down to down basis, they just seem to understand each other. Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan so well of he knows every aspect of that offense. And down to down execution of an offense is not that sexy.

It's not that exciting. It's not a 60-yard bomb through the air or, you know, some rocket laser into tight coverage. But it is what ultimately wins you games. It's why, you know, Tom Brady, who did have a great arm, of course. But his big thing was just every, every play, execution, throwing it to the right spot, making the right read, making the right plays. And then Purdy has just enough playmaking to get him through. Also shows you how hard it is to evaluate quarterbacks because a lot of people said,

well, Brock Purdy's not that great. He's just a product of this, that, and the other thing. And no, I think he is pretty darn great. It really showed in that game. The question is they are seven and a half point underdogs on fan duel to the Seattle Seahawks. Do they have enough in the tank? Do they have enough bodies? They have enough players to without George Kittle to go toe to toe to tell with the team that smash them at the end of the year.

And it's hard to see considering the gap in talent on their rosters and health and the travel going to Seattle. but still a season, no matter what happens from here, that the 49ers really showed. We have the best coaching in the league, and we have a real franchise quarterback. And listen, you just talked about rest and rest discrepancy. That's huge for this Seattle 49ers game, because in 26 days, San Francisco will have played five games.

That means Seattle has only played three in that same time span. That is a huge difference, especially at the NFL, and especially when you're San Francisco, like we're saying with all these injuries racked up, that almost feels like a high school football schedule. Seattle's coming off of first round by. Like they should be feeling really good and rested. This feels like an added hurdle that San Francisco has to figure out how to overcome.

It does. And it really shows you the value of that last game, that week 18 game, because not only do they have to travel to Seattle, but they were just on the East Coast playing against a very physical. Philadelphia Eagles defense. And now they got those guys in the trenches have to go against possibly the best defensive line in the entire NFL that's maybe not Houston, but is right up there in the

Seattle Seahawks. That is going to be, I think, the toughest game for anybody on the divisional round slate. My eyes are on that one for sure. Also, I will be watching the Bills Broncos game. I mean, come on. What a monster matchup. Josh Allen, again, talk about injuries. If this guy can stay healthy and not just get injured every.

single play. I mean, they got their work cut out for them, but what a great matchup. It really is. And we have been blessed with a lot of great football so far in the playoffs. But this one is, I think, the best team versus team, the closest team versus team matchup in the playoffs because Denver has the same stuff. They have the home field and, you know, there's the time zone change for Buffalo. But Buffalo has the best quarterback and the best player in the entire national football league.

So you've got a great defense, a great home field advantage, a young quarterback who I think has continued to grow in Bo Nix, but you have Josh Allen. And he did lose two more of his wide receivers, though, to injuries against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's why that homefield advantage is so monster because you're sitting at home while the other team is getting banged up. The bills are my pick for the Super Bowl. I'm just rolling with the best player on Earth. But I agree with you. I think that's the best matchup of the upcoming weekend. And it's reflected in the in the odds that on Fandul,

the bills are one and a half point favorites, which is just a very, very small gap. So, Maggie, it's, uh, it's a lot.

Usually, you know, we're at about, you know, 20 minutes or so, but there's way too much here. We could probably carry on for a lot longer. But,

uh, love getting together with you every week. Only a couple more weeks left in the season for the, uh, Robinson Roundup. So thank you so much for your time and we'll do it again soon. Of course. See you guys next week. Football. Football.