The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD – HOUR 2 – Blazing 5: Bears at Packers, 49ers at Seahawks | Remembering Mike Ditka

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

Colin shares his Blazing 5 picks for week 5 of the NFL season: Bears at Packers, Giants at Commanders, Colts at Steelers, 49ers at Seahawks and Bills at Rams. Plus, Danny Parkins from First Things First joins the show to talk about Bears vs Packers and the passing of Mike Ditka.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome in. What a disaster performance by the Cowboys. Todd Bowles had his team ready to play. He's just not into math, and we'll get to that. I will tell you, we have done very well this year in the Blazing Five. Fifteen picks, our last 15, 11, 3, and 1, and I think we kind of got hosed on one last week. we had to, it was a push. And I think we were on the right side.

But be that as it may, uh, let's just say things are rolling. I wish we could take out week one, because I've always told you, week one picks are nonsense. I'm flying blind. I have no flight path.

Nobody played in the preseason. But because I'm America's honesty broker, I will count that. It should be like 70%, but whatever I don't want to bring it up. So here we go. Here's our blazing five picks. Blaze it up.

Fire it up. It's Collins, blazing fire. Bears at Packers. I'm left with no choice. I get the best time of possession team against the second worst time of possession team, which means even if Green Bay gets off to a hot start and they're not prone to,

that defense is going to get worn down. Three wins by 10 plus points this year with three different quarterbacks. I have a coaching edge. I think I have a physicality edge. 125 plus rushing in every game. What does Green Bay do well? They're two and seven over their last nine. Four of their last six home games they've lost.

Jordan Love, they don't run the ball at all. They're terrible on third down. So I think this is a game that could be close early because it's a rivalry, but Chicago will wear them down. Jaden Reed, Aaron Banks, Edgerman Cooper, Michael Parsons, still not there. I'm going to swallow the one and a half. I think Chicago, in my opinion, could be a top three team in the league. I really, really do coaching down 31-17 bears.

Giants hit commanders. I'm going to take the hook. I'm going to take New York three and a half. I've said it, folks. I like the Giants personnel. Eight takeaways ranked second in the NFL. That defense is twitchy and athletic. They're only lost this year.

It came on the road to the Rams. I like what I see. I think they have a coaching advantage. The commanders coming off a London game that didn't end well. They're banged up on defense. And Jaden Daniels, whatever happened to him since the start of last year, he's two and seven and completing less than 60% of his throat. Terry McLaurin didn't practice this week, and their defense is not good.

I know it's James, but if you look at what the Washington defense has allowed in imposing quarterbacks this year, it's 107 passer rating. I like the Giants to win it close. Again, three and a half is too many points for me, 24, 23 Giants. Cold said Steelers. I don't have a favorite game this week, but I do like Pittsburgh for a lot of reasons. They are coming off extra rest. I think that really matters with a veteran coach and a veteran quarterback,

and Colts are coming off a London game. Aaron Rogers, back-to-back games throwing for almost 300 yards. He's getting excellent running performance from Jalen Warren. So I kind of like where Pittsburgh is. They are also very good at takeaways when they play at home. They've won four straight home games dating back to last season. And the Colts have the worst turnover differential in the league. Daniel Jones, who's played well, but he's going to give you a one-plus pick,

one-plus turnover every game. their defense is allowing 6.2 yards of play. Pittsburgh always feels a little difference at home. Their defense is a little tougher and more prone to takeaways. I got a veteran team with extra prep time. This is the Steelers winning and covering 2724. 49ers at Seahawks. I'll take the Niners plus three.

The best third down offense against right now the second worst. Again, time of possession game. They're six and one, San Francisco has been, in one possession games in their last seven. The other big advantage here is the Niners who love physicality were humiliated the last two times they played Seattle. They were first round knockouts. They were humiliated by Seattle.

And the Seahawks defense is top five, but it's only top five against average quarterbacks. Purdy's not average. He's playing like an MVP. 113 dropbacks hasn't been sad. The Seahawks last week, 14 penalties. This is a new O-C. That's why I've said.

There's so many coordinator changes in the NFL. Too many penalties. Seattle is a little sloppier. I don't worry about Darnold, but they do not run the football this year. That is the big difference. That's why they're a bad third-down team. Seattle is not running the football,

forcing Darnold to try to make up ground. He makes more mistakes. I like the Niners to win close. 28, 27, take the points. Bills at Rams. I don't love the extra half point. I wish it was three. It's three and a half.

I'm going to swallow it. Rams minus three and a half. If I did Blazing Five on Monday, I'd get a better line. Whatever. Rams, the yards, the stars, the big plays are amazing. They're not scoring as much as their production would lead you to believe, but they lead the NFL in three games with 400 plus yards. They're a very healthy offense, and their defense has allowed an NFL,

NFL low, five big plays, 20 plus plays. Defense for Buffalo, once again, not as good as we hope. They're making more sloppy plays. They're allowing a lot of big chunk plays. And the Rams are one of those teams like the Cowboys, you know, obviously better coach in LA, better defense. The Rams can be a chunk play offense and the Buffalo defense is now allowing big chunk play.

So I don't like the match up here for Buffalo. and they're not playing particularly well. I'm going to take the Rams to win in cover. Again, I can't strongly recommend this because of the hook, three and a half. But I have been, I've got to be honest. It's got to keep a fire extinguisher on this thing lately. A little bit of a heater. Okay, here we go.

I have dog giants, dog niners, and their favorites after that. Okay, so, we got a lot to talk about and a couple years ago, several years ago. I like to listen to radio and I heard this guy named Danny Parkins in Chicago and I told the bosses, that guy's good and he knows his stuff. And today is for a variety of reasons, the passing of Mike Ditka, which we'll get into at length.

And the Bears and the Packers to me, I think it could flip the rivalry for 10 plus years. So with that, Danny Parkin, A new segment with Danny. Calling all sports fans. Calling all sports fans. It's time to park it for parking. We spare no expense on our introductions for Danny.

Wow. I didn't know that was coming. Old-timey radio. I was born in the wrong generation, Colin. I would have fame and fortune. I'm an old school radio guy at heart, but I'm trying to be the TV. guy now. I love that. Parkin,

Parkins. That's great. So let's talk about this. The last time the Bears were favored at Lambeau, Roger Goodell was in week two of his commissionership. This is rare, and it's not just, I think this really matters in rivalry games. Right? It does matter. I mean, when

Brandon Staley gave up 63 to the Raiders, the Chargers were like, okay, we're not going to stand that. We may not like him weeks ago. There is something about in this region that Chicago is not only better, they're physical. It's not a pretty team. It's a physical team. And Green Bay is the opposite. So my takeaway on this is it's not that Chicago's better. They are a physical, big city, tough, trash talking coach,

and that's going to hurt more. So your thoughts on this rivalry, which you've endured as a bear fan for years. The opportunity that's in front of the bears right now is one that I've really never dreamed of, frankly, Colin, because for my entire life, it was like Brett Favre destroying the Bears, then oh, they have to suffer from the transition from Brett Fav to Aaron Rogers. And then they go from Aaron Rogers.

And it's like, okay, well, now they're going to have, you know, 10 years of quarterback purgatory. Nope, Jordan Love, guy who's worthy of a $250 million contract. I remember this game in 2017 when Aaron Rogers got hurt and Brett Hunley replaced them and the bears were coming off the buy and the bears were

playing second overall pick Mitch Drabisky. and it was like, here we go. The Bears have their quarterback of the future. They're a four and a half point favorite. They're at home. They're going to beat a backup quarterback for the Packers. Nope. Brett Huntley came into Soldier Field and destroyed the Bears.

So it has been a rivalry in the way that a hammer is a rival with the nail and the bears have been the nail. And it feels like finally the tide is starting to turn and the bears have the better coach. And when Caleb is healthy, they have the better quarterback. And they are talking to talk and walking the walk in the walk. walk. So yeah, I think the bears are the better team, and they're certainly the more confident team going into this game. I said to start the show, my lead was there are 96 great coaching jobs in the NFL, 32 head coaches, 32 offensive coordinators, 32 defensive coordinators. These are

seven and eight figure jobs. They're just jam. If you get one, you're, you can, it's made for life. And I said, in any industry, it's reasonable assume 10 of those people aren't very good at their job. And last night I watched a lot of those guys aren't very good at their job. Let's start with Tampa because I did think Tampa came out focused and playing hard. They had a rookie undrafted quarterback on the road short week. That's a bad spot. I thought they played well. How egregious was the fourth down goal for it for you with Todd Bowles?

11 out of 10. It is not possible to make a worse game manager. decision. And listen, process v. results. The results ended up being fine because they won the game. So all that has to happen is he has to get talked about on shows like this and on social media and ask a question or two about it like he was in the post game press conference. And he gets to move on. But I honestly don't know that he can be the coach of Tampa today if Dallas comes back and wins that game. Right. There's eight and a half minutes left in the game. You're up 14. The difference between being up two scores and three scores is you've won the game.

There is no difference in three touchdowns versus two touchdowns in a field goal because there's eight and a half minutes left. It's about number of possessions, not number of points. So it is an end. I understand Dallas's defense is bad. I understand Tampa had been running the ball. I understand wanting to appear aggressive. But it's about possessions versus minutes left on the clock.

Totally indefensible by Todd Bowles and he got away with one. You know, I said about Dallas, Jerry's not cheap on stadium, roster, helicopter, yacht. He is chief, however, on coaching. And my argument is always been that's backwards. Because if you go look at the Rams success or the Niners, they have so many great players who are third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounders. Why? Because a great coach will extract more juice out of the squeeze than an average coach. Right?

So that's why the Rams, they never, they don't have to take receivers. tight ends, backs in the first round. They'll go find pooka in the fifth, and the Niners will find Purdy in the seven. Jerry does the opposite. He spends on everything but the great coach. And I said it's like having a mansion and a party, and then you order a subway platter in catering. It's like what, what's the whole point of going to there is the food and the drink in the moment? I think Dallas may be the worst coach team.

I'm serious on this relative to their talent in the league. What did you make of what you watch? I mean, it's a devastating loss, is the truth of the matter. And they made a ton of investment on personnel on defense. And yeah, they hired Christian Parker, you know, from the right tree, right from the Vic Fangio tree, the right defense for the modern NFL. And the dividends are not paying off yet. To have that performance against an undrafted rookie quarterback on the road on a short week

is simply indefensible. It had been 11 straight games going into last. night that the Cowboys hadn't held an opposing quarterback to a passer rating under 90. Over the last calendar year, starting quarterbacks for the other team going into last night night had 37 touchdowns against five turnovers. They had just made absolutely no progress and improvement on the defensive side of the ball, despite the two first round draft picks, despite the trades, despite the free agent signings, despite the new defensive coordinator. So, you know, you can talk about coaching, but also personnel at some point, like Dallas's personnel

should be better than that last night, and they weren't on either side of the ball. I want to talk about Mike Ditka has passed. And again, you grew up in this town. I did not. But I said, when I think of Chicago, I think of Jordan. I think of Harry Carey. I think of Mike Ditka. There's obviously Stan McKita in hockey.

There's Scotty Pippen, Phil Jackson. But Phil Jackson feels like the Lakers as much as the Bulls. I'm just, to me, Ditka was one of the few athletes, Jim Brown's the other, where they would be first round picks today at their position. He was like generationally strong and intimidating back when guys were five, seven. I mean, he just was a physical presence. But that, I wonder what it was like all the stories to cover him, to be around him. You tell me, we have a picture of you to apparently in a photo. What was it like to be in that space?

Yeah, so about five years ago, a little less, I was asked, I was in a casino company, I was endorsing in Chicago and I was doing Chicago radio. Mike Ditka was also an endorser. And they asked me to do something called Ditka Diaries, like a podcast series with him. We were in a hotel room for about two and a half hours with a film crew, just kind of going through his life and talking about growing up in Aliquippa and being a choir boy and thinking he was going to be a dentist, but being too good of an athlete. and Penn State and Notre Dame and ultimately going to pit and just kind of the whole way and the whole world and the trade to the Eagles and too much alcohol and he stopped taking football seriously

and how Tom Landry saved him and the stories were just amazing and you know so I'm born in 86 my father was a Packers fan from Wisconsin but revered Ditka even as he you know rooted for Ray Nitchke on the side of those Packers Bears rivalries in the 60s my dad born in the mid-40s

and my dad was suffering from dementia at the time, but when I told him and showed him the picture that I had hung out with Mike Ditka for an afternoon, he was just like, wow. Like he was a larger than life figure, not just a Chicago icon, but a national icon. I mean, Colin, the guy starred in a Will Ferrell movie. He played himself in the Cheers finale. He was on SNL. I mean, you could not have a larger than, more larger than life figure come out of sports than Mike Ditka. and to your point, I mean, as a player, he had the record for receiving yards for a rookie tight end.

He had that record for over six decades. Brock Bowers broke that record in 2024. He had over 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie tight end in the early 1960s. Brock Bowers broke the record. So an absolutely unbelievable player as well. Well, Chicago is a big city media. That means it's more critical. there's competing newspapers that's Philadelphia that's Boston when you get into those spaces

and you get a very combative guy it's fascinating give me some stories because um that you heard about Ditka and the Chicago press oh I mean so many of them so I mean he was always a great quote he was a great turn of phrase right when he when he when he left Chicago and he butted heads with George Hallis, you know, he famously said that he threw around nickels like manhole covers, just like flamed the owner on the way out the door. But then when he

came back, you know, he actually wrote George Hallis a letter when he was with the Cowboys on their coaching staff saying that he wanted to coach the Bears, him and Hallis reconciled. He takes over the Bears, rebuilds them in his likeness. But he was a very accessible coach to the media and a huge

personality, and he was okay with his players doing the Super Bowl shuffle and all of those things. And I mean, Dick could never met an endorsement that he didn't like, billboards and commercials and movies and spots, and it was everything. But he also, he had a radio show back on my old station, The Score, as the coach. And this iconic, legendary Chicago radio host, Terry Boers questioned him after a loss about, like, you know, where was your, where is the fire and the passion? And Dicka said, oh, well, hold on now, you were the same guy who when I would show the fire and the passion would get mad at me and

criticize me. So who you crappin? And who you crappin? And who you, Krapin became the most famous segment in Chicago radio. It was a part of the lexicon for 20 years in that city. There was one where he had a call-in show with fans. This guy, Neil and North Lake called in, and he called Ditka, Baby. And Ditka said, I'll Neil, I'm 53 years old, but my address for my office is 250, North Washington. You come down, you tell me when and where, and I'll kick your ass any time. Like, he was, he was, he would fight anybody, but, but but he was also generous and he was present and why people in chicago felt such a connection to him other than the toughness was because everyone in Chicago had a picture with him.

You could go to Ditka's Steakhouse, and Ditka would be there eating the pork chop, which was the Dicka special, smoking a Ditka cigar. He had Ditka branded cigars, and drinking a Dicka kick-ass red, which was his wine. Like, he was just, he was everywhere in Chicago. Here's a classic Dickka back and forth. Let's play this with the Chicago media. There's three quarterbacks on his football team. Whichever one starts, which everyone's don't will back him up.

Period. cut and drive. It's nobody's concerned but ours. Nobody's. Next. Injuries from the game. Talk to the trainer. Next. Mike, why are you in such a bad mood? What do you care? Okay. You were two and seven. You'd be in a bad mood too.

Yeah. Yeah, I think that was actually the New Orleans thing. after he had traded for Ricky Williams and, you know, he wore the gown and he traded every draft pick for Ricky Williams. And, you know, he had his convictions and it didn't end great for him as a coach.

But he was, he believed in what he believed in. He had a huge ego. I mean, he, it's a very famous story, but he said that the biggest regret of his life was not running for Illinois Senate in 2004 because

he believes he would have beaten Barack Obama and Obama would have never been president. Like, he honestly had these beliefs about himself. And I will say this too, Colin, this is very bad news for the Packers. He hated the Packers so much. Charles Martin, body slamming Jim McMahon,

you know, him and Ray Nichke going back and forth in the 60s. He wanted to fight him. He brought him to a bar, wanted to go to a bar after the game. His teammates had to separate him. Like, there's no way the week of Bears Packers when Dicka passes away that the Bears are going up to Lambo, and coming back with anything but a win.

Danny, I love this stuff. Danny's going to be when we can find him weekly to bring him on. And that kind of insight is just one of his many gifts. I really appreciate the stories, man. You made my Friday, and I think our audience enjoyed it as well, buddy. Oh, listen, anytime, Colin, thank you very much for the time, and appreciate it. We'll talk soon. All right, Danny Parkins.

Yeah, those are just great stories. Dicka was, you know, so much of, what Ditka did today, you know, people would really struggle to tolerate it. There was a kind of a rawness to Ditka, but, you know, that's why you get those Saturday night live moments. It's so memorable and so authentic and so flawed, but aren't we all? So the passing of the legendary Mike Ditka today, missed by many, remembered by all. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio?

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It's Dramos, and I want you to meet the disruptors who are setting today's trends and discover those who are building. what's next. People like Sebastian Yatra. Life is on the other side of fear. Introducing Global Flow, a new podcast where I sit down with disruptors across music, entertainment, business, and tech to break down what they're building, get the blueprint to how they got there, all while trying to figure out what's coming next. They'll share their stories, including not just the winds that we all see, but the moments they had to persevere through when everyone counted them out. People like the co-founder of Buddy's Coffee, Rachel, who quickly went from being a New York Times

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it all over that idea and he stepped on me. Listen to the global flow as a part of the Michael Tuja podcast network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. J. Max got his picks coming up next hour. Dodgers at the Brewers starts 8 Eastern on Fox on Sunday. It's going to be a fascinating series. The Tampa clearly looks like the best team in the American League,

like sweeping the Yankees. Milwaukee, to me, is a little bit more talented version of Tampa with a little bit more money. But can they beat the Dodgers? I think this is the third time that Brewers were in the National League Championship series. they took the Dodgers seven games in one of those series. Dodgers pitching with Scoobel is so starting pitching is so great. But it should be noted, the Yankees starting pitching was so great.

And they got swept by Tampa. And we all looked at the Yankee starting pitching as the advantage. Their starting pitching got outpitched. So it's not like Milwaukee doesn't have good arms. So I think it's a really, really interesting NLCS. And here's JMAQ with the news. This is the herd line news. Let's start with the Raiders, Colin.

They are going cross-country to face the Patriots on Sunday. Interesting matchup. It's a rematch of Kubiak versus Vrable. Kubiak got the better of them in the Super Bowl. Grable's defense did. They bet, but they didn't break. I think the Seax had five fuel goals. Here is Vrable talking about how Kubiak has gotten the Raiders back on track.

They certainly understand how not to beat themselves. the defense is very opportunistic. They hunt the football and force 10 fumbles, which is very impressive as a team. Disruptive, they do a lot defensively, which says a lot to not only the scheme and then the coaches, but the players for being able to handle as much as they do. No, I think the Raiders, sometimes the eye test is very true.

The Raiders look like, you said it last week, I think you're right. They looked like a playoff team so far. Now, again, Brock Bowers has been dinged up. Can he stay healthy? Ashton Gentie, Washington. Their offensive line has been very good in past protection. Kirk Cousins has had time to throw.

It was atrocious O' line last year, worst in the league. But when you watch them play, what Brable's saying is they don't beat themselves. And that's what Jimmy Johnson always said. You'll lose more games than you win. And they just look like the opposite of what I saw with the Cowboys last night, which is tons of talent. and they don't do, they're not buttoned up. The Raiders look like maybe a lower ceiling, but a buttoned up football operation.

And it's like that, it jumps through the TV. You're like, this is a real team. Not a lot of penalties. You know what I mean? They're not turning the ball over a lot. Pass protection is very strong. And this is why, by the way, Kirk Cousins, you and I both thought he was washed a year ago.

And all of a sudden you get the offensive coach, you get pass pro. It's like, oh, maybe he's not. Well, coming off the Achilles, he did not look good at all last year. Everybody would agree with that sentiment. He has looked better. I do still think, and maybe it's just me, that he's holding the offense back a little

because he's not throwing the ball deep down field. He just doesn't have the arm. That being said, you could argue, hey, the Raiders don't have the wide receivers. Not a deep threat, no. Yeah, let me ask you about this Raiders defense. So they have nine takeaways first in the league. How much of that is the flukiness? I mean, Colin, if I ask you,

who are the best three defensive players? It's not like they got all pros all over the field. They added to Kobe Dean. They upgraded. Their linebacking core is much. It's improved. Yeah, it's faster. It's more violent.

It's a more physical linebacking core. Again, that jumps off the TV. They got dudes in the linebacking group. I do wonder how they'll handle coming off that Chiefs game. You know, there's a tough emotional loss. They were, but undefeated. They're still undefeated against the spread. I don't know.

I'm not putting Kubiak in Ben Johnson territory, but he's trending that way for sure. He seems like, man, this guy offensively. He's doubt, I mean, like you said, Kirk Cousins looks pretty good. I don't have a play on this game. This was in Blazine 5 for you. No, I mean, again, the number is telling me not to, I think it's a field goal game either way. So this was a stayaway game for me. This is a game that, you know, they opened the season last year and the Raiders beat the Patriots, and that was a bad Raiders team.

So, I don't know. That's just. Pete Carroll, right, was a coach. Yeah. But, you know, Vrable's probably ticked off about celebrity. losing to the, I just, you know, to me, there's three teams this year, the Raiders, the Browns, and Atlanta. They, if they would have gone sideways and been four, five win teams, you'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah. It's like Cleveland, Monkin.

I mean, they're doing a, they could still, these teams could still end up winning six games. Absolutely. But it feels like to me, Atlanta, the Raiders and the Browns, you're like, there's, there's some, you know, the margins in the NFL, this is not college. The margin from the most talented team to a Cleveland to a Jets, it's not that great. It comes down to the Jets don't have the quarterback and the coach they want yet. But they're, I mean, I'm watching outside of Miami. It feels like there's a lot in the middle this year.

It a lot in the middle. I thought Tampa was going to be there, but not after last night. Let's move on to Sunday night football. This is going up against baseball. It sounds like there'll be no Lamar Jackson. But, hey, Derek Henry versus Bejohn Robinson, two elite running backs. It's funny.

Derek Henry was asked about Bejohn. And before the reporter could even finish his question, Bejohn knew the answer. He's the best in the game right now. He's doing it all. I mean, I ain't going to shout away from it. He's doing a great job. Eleval bat does a great job in their system. Then does a great job when their play is not, you know, exactly how they want it.

He knows how to thank God. miss and be able to get vertical and getting the most out of a play. Yeah, Derek Henry's career is fascinating. Came into the league first couple years, like didn't do anything. You're like, ah, it's not going to work. And then he has just been a freight train since. Bejohn, we all knew was going to be great. I remember when Bejohn came out, I had a scout tell me he's the most complete back

since Ladani and Tomlins. And it's like, catch, run, locker room, doesn't fumble, quality guy, great work at leadership skills. Oh, by the way, this is official. Just got, just got, Shephti came out with this. Lamar Jackson has been ruled out. Again, this is a stayaway game.

I know, but I think the Ravens backup quarterback can move the chains a little bit here. So I, after watching Tampa last night with an undrafted rookie quarterback, I'm like, anybody can beat anybody. I think it's, I think by, I have too much respect for Baltimore

to think the Falcons are going to drop another 40 points. I don't think so. Backup quarterbacks, I don't have the exact number. I think it's like eight and two after last night against the spread. Remember, I mean, Bayesian and Keenum are two of them. But backup James Winston has actually fit. Absolutely. Some of this is, you know, opponent-based.

I think Huntley is one of the better backups. Yeah, you say that. We'll see. I didn't see. I mean, he couldn't score last week against the Titans. They struggled to move the ball. Now, that was, hey, go in in the second half. That's right.

Don't blow this huge lead. I think we're going to see this hit four for Falcons. By the way, eight days ago, this line was Ravens six and a half. Then Lamar goes down, and the Falcons look really good. I think this is Falcons or pass. I'm sorry.

Bejohn Robinson? And I love what they're doing with him. It's not just Bijon. Brian Robinson, his backup is getting carries. You know, Jamir Gibbs is probably watching and being like, I miss Montgomery. I got to do everything out here. And Bejohn Robinson is just dominant.

He looks so fresh in the fourth quarter, Colin. And look at the 150 plus scrimmage yards dating back to last year. That's insane. We hype up Kenneth Walker. Bejohn Robinson is doubling his output. You also have four good offensive lines. Those backs have holes. It should be.

It's a great point. Final story. Let's go to the NBA last night. LeBron James made his Sixers preseason debut against the Brooklyn Nets. As expected, LeBron was a point forward, 10 points. A lot of free throws. I think he only took one shot. Five assists.

But what everybody's focusing on is Mike Breen, as a, you know, the long time announcer, he made a comment on air about LeBron calling out Joel and Bede for being late to practice. Now, I don't know what his source was, but LeBron instantly came out and was like, that's BS, not accurate. Stop with the drama. And Mike Breen apologized saying, oh, my guy was wrong. So you know what the media is trying to do here. They're trying to create friction.

Hey, Jalen Brown. Who's the alpha? Next question. Now this Embed's up. We're in the preseason, Colin, and the media is just going crazy looking to create drama with Embed, Maxie, LeBron, Brown, Edgecombe. It's going to be, LeBron's really a good fit because this is obviously a team where you've got a lot of scores. I mean, Embed's a score. Maxie's a score.

Jaylon Brown's a score. LeBron's a score. Hell, BJ Edgecombe. I mean, he'll, he wants 16 shots. So it's a really, and Nick Nurse is a good coach, but this is where I think LeBron's very unique. And that, you know, like Michael Jordan is going to take his shots. He's not going to worry about it. LeBron's always been a guy that makes the right basketball play.

And I do think this is the first time in LeBron's career where some of it's because of his age and injuries that he really knows that he's not going to have the best shot in a lot of possessions. It'll be fascinating to look at LeBron's numbers this year because, I mean, he could score 23 points a game. if he scored 14, just because he's going to be on the floor. And LeBron's always been like, he does the right thing. Well, this team in transition, Edgecombe runs the floor well.

Maxi runs the floor well. I mean, I want Maxie taking 20 shots. If Embed's playing, he's going to take 12. Brown's going to take 13. Sorry, Embedd's only going to take 12. Well, when he plays. So the distribution, numbers like matter here. And that's why I think LeBron's very unique as a superstar,

a little bit like Loke, Yolkich. Like he, if you're open, you'll get the ball in a perfect spot. And so LeBron's assist numbers. I don't know what his career high assist numbers are, but his assist numbers could be 30, 40 percent higher than most years. And remember last year when they said, hey, we want to make Austin Reeves the two. LeBron was like, sure, no problem. And the Lakers kind of cooked. Maybe LeBron will accept that here. Now, beneath the surface, LeBron and his folks were not happy because remember, they came out, the guy came out on the podcast and was like, Austin Reeves is the two, what's going. Remember, they waited. So full season. We'll see, obviously, this is going to be a really good team. I would say the floor is the conference semifinals, right? Second round. Yes. Oh, they'll, no, I think, I think the floor is the conference finals. That's a floor.

Well, I think the Knicks and the Sixers. I think Boston's going to be better than people think. Pacers. Yeah, Indiana is going to be good. I think this is to have this much athleticism on both ends of the floor, especially in the regular season. You know, in the postseason, it's different. In the regular season, Philadelphia is going to wear people out. They are as athletic in that back court.

They are the most athletic back court in the league. And now I've got LeBron and Jalen Brown. Like, they're going to wear people out with some pacing over the course of the season. And even if like Embed needs a day off or LeBron needs a week off, you still have Maxie and Brown. Those are two of the top 15 players, top 10 players in the league, top maybe 15. Yeah. Like, they're stacked. Oh, there's no question.

Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. We had a good one today. It is Friday. And Dodgers, Brewers, NLCS start Sunday. Seahawks 49ers on Fox Sunday, which is.

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Hey, everybody. I'm Chuck Bryan at The Stuff You Should Know podcast. And I'm Adam Pranica of the greatest generation and greatest trek. We decided to start a golf comedy podcast because we're both big golf lovers and we wanted to spread that joy and it's called three putt bogey. It's coming from the perspective of golfers who are sometimes good enough to hit two great shots in a row, but almost never good enough to hit three. And a three-putt bogey is kind of the purest expression of that. Every golfer knows what that's like. Obviously, we're going to talk a lot about the game of golf,

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You can listen to it now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The National League Championship Series begins Sunday night on Fox. Shohei Otani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and the two-time defending champion Dodgers faced the best team in baseball this season, the Milwaukee Brewers. In a rematch of last year's NLCS, game one Sunday, 8 Eastern, all part of Fox Toberfest.

I don't think there's going to be a lot of runs in that too. I don't know. It feels like a three, two outcomes. It's going to be really high-end pitching. Brewer staff's not going to give up a ton of home runs. And I think it's going to be a really good series. Mike Ditka's past, Danny Parkins, was on to talk about that. And there are certain people in the league now, Dan Campbell, Detroit.

People are hearing about the passing of Mike Ditka. Mike Ditka was, you know, it's funny. I remember I started watching football in like 1972 was the first Super Bowl. And it was Miami and Washington. And Washington had a coach that was super quirky named George Allen, who used to eat ice cream by the court. That was one of his weird quirks to settle his stomach. George Allen loved older players. So this old Washington team, I could name 15 players right now.

I have no life. Chris Hamburger, Larry Brown, Charles Taylor, Pat Fisher. Like, it had Billy Kilmer was the quarterback. It was all a quirky, quirky coach. The league, the NFL now has gotten very analytical, very smart. I mean, all the personnel groupings. You know, it used to be there were a lot of these kind of very quirky coaches. George Allen's the one that jumps out to me.

Mike Ditka had a lot of quirks. Mike Ditka is one of those guys where just the physical names. nature, it just kind of, you wanted to play hard for him. You felt like he was as tough as any of the players. So it's just, you know, now it's a lot of slick guys. They're offensive guys. They're smart guys. There's analytics.

You didn't have that back then. A lot of it was force of personality and force of nature and buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka. And, I mean, these guys were big personalities and rough around the edges. you'd have three-a-day practices. None of that stuff would work today. But Ditka was just a bigger-than-life personality. And here's Ben Johnson, the current Bears coach, on his passing. My condolences to the Ditka family.

Sad news here this morning, obviously, as far as I'm concerned, Coach Ditka is the gold standard in terms of this place. I mean, he's a legend around here as a player, as a coach. his impact is still being felt to this day. And as the head coach of the Bears, I feel humbled to be in that same chair that he was once in. And, you know, it's a sad day. Yeah, I will say the one thing Ben and Ditka have in common

is just a relentless intensity. They're both highly competitive. Now, they're different personalities, different generations. You know, it's just a different world today. People are just, you know, our parents are different than the parents back then. And, you know, every generation is a little softer and has a little easier route, they say. But Ditka was such a unique personality. And again, there are coaches that feel like they fit cities.

Mike Ditka fit Chicago. He really did, man. Just a tough, authentic, no bull. people in Chicago deal with tough winters. They take the train. You know, it's a tough city. You've got to endure some weather, some commutes. And it just, it didka feels like he fits the city.

I always felt that with the late Bill Walsh in San Francisco. You know, San Francisco Silicon Valley. It's always been this sort of progressive hub in North America. And Walsh literally created an offense that was copied by everybody. And there are just, there are a handful of these coaches all time that are not only great, not all great coaches feel like they just fit in a city. But boy, Dicka, he was one of one. Let's look at the schedule this weekend.

One of the big rivalry games, first time in 20 years, that is hard to wrap your brain around. The bears are favored in Green Bay. And just to show you how lob side of this rivalry has been, Chicago's the much better team, and they're barely favored over a Packer team that is probably as bad as they have been in 20 years over a six-game stretch. They're off. They don't do anything well, and it's still a one-and-a-half-point game. So our Thursday game, last Thursday, it was the Browns upsetting the Steelers.

This week, it was the box going on the road with an undrafted quarterback upsetting the Dallas Cowboys. So, yeah, I mean, I always ask, J-Mack, give me the upset. I'm waiting on Jamar Chase and Higgins in the Cincinnati Miami game, but that's come off to seven with six and a half. There's a lot. You're not the first person that has mentioned the dolphins beating the Bengals to me as an upset. Let me give you one more. So the model I built keeps telling me Chargers plus three and a half is the play.

And I'm like, I'm not backing these bums. I can't do it. And I say, look, that tackles are out. Matt McConkey's out, Derwin James, the model pushes back, you know, are Riley Moss and Patrick Zertan got to play for the Broncos? Because Quinton Johnson could have a field day. You know, there's some stress over the play calling. I don't know. I don't want to touch the Chargers, but Colin, three and a half at home? Yeah. I don't know. This is interesting talking about Mike Ditka. The Bears defense, and it's the best one-year defense I've ever seen. They were great in

back-to-back years, but there's the iconic year that they want it. But the Bears defense under Ditka for a four-year stretch was number one in scoring and number one in total. And that in that year that they won the Super Bowl, they had one loss. It was a Monday night football game down in Miami. I don't remember it well. Dan Marino. Yeah. But that was their one loss.

But they were, you know, there are two or three teams in my life. The Nebraska, 1995, Nebraska National Championship team in college. I honestly think that's the greatest one-season college football team. just pulverized people. Remember the Lawrence Phillips game against, I think it was a Florida game? They sure like 60 points. Their backups would have finished top five.

They were stacked. But that Bears defense is a one-of-one, just completely disassembled, really, really good teams, just humiliated physically. It's like Tyson in his peak. There's just nothing like it. This is an I-Heart podcast.

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