The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 3 - Greg Olsen stops by The Herd to discuss the Bears recent success

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Fox Sports NFL analyst Greg Olsen joins the show to talk and explains why Chicago Bears fans should be optimistic about rookie QB Caleb WilliamsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey, Jonas, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice.

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris.

Jen should win. She's an outsider to win the French name. and she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com. or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. It's got a very interesting game Sunday. The bills are in no mood to fool around there at the Panthers Sunday.

Greg Olson will be calling it Fox Sports, and he is joining me live. You know, I was, it's interesting when you have a great, I mean, you play with Cam Newton. When you have a dynamic quarterback, everybody thinks, well, things are easier. But, you know, a lot comes with that. And I look at Buffalo, the team you're doing, and I'm like, oh, my God, you want them to be Superman, but not too often. You break down the film on Buffalo. What is, is it just they need another perimeter weapon? Is it that simple?

Diagnose the problems, what you see in a team right now that feels they're a little lost, they're a little off center. Yeah, so I really just dove into their game, especially the most recent game, you know, had the buy. And so the week before in the loss against Atlanta. And so I saw the bills in preseason up in Chicago. None of the real stars played. Josh didn't play.

But had a chance to spend some time with McDermann, Joe Brady, and a lot of those guys from our Carolina days that we know. And I think they know how good they can be. I think they understand they have to continue to try to offload as much. as possible off Josh Allen. And now it goes without saying he's the best player in the league, the reigning MVP. The ball should be in his hand, right? And when you look at what they've been over the last couple years compared to what they

really tried to do, especially in the most recent game against Atlanta, I actually really liked it. You know, you saw in the Atlanta game, they're back, they're under center more. They're trying to do some more under center play action. First and second down, playing with some bigger bodies, multiple tight ends, jumbo tight ends, and trying to just get out of the mode where Josh stands in the shotgun every ball snapped to him. It's very hard to get play action out of the gun. You're seeing a lot of the really good teams. You've been seeing Mahomes do it now more

in Kansas City. Teams are starting to understand the best downs to throw the ball are first and second and the best way to do it oftentimes is through play action. So I think Buffalo is still trying to figure out what is that blend between keeping Josh in the gun, snap it to him and let him create both as a scramble runner, a designed runner, and of course as a passer, but also unloading some of the pressure and putting some more on Cook in the run game and putting some more on the offensive line and generating some free open receivers and the play action layers and whatnot. So I think Joe Brady still trying to figure out what that balance is,

but I like the again, it didn't result in a win, but I actually think going forward that's going to pay them some dividends because I don't care how good you are. Every single play, the ball being in the hands of your shotgun quarterback to just expect it to make a, magic, especially like to your point, you don't have like a Justin Jefferson, a true star single receiver. I think teams are finding it more and more difficult in today's NFL. So I said, I watch body language a lot with quarterbacks and coaches. And I watch Ben Johnson with Caleb Williams and there's a resting discouraged face. I look at this offense and I think Caleb's good at the podium. I like the run game. I like the defense. I think Ben's

excellent and smart. Is it possible that Caleb's going to be a franchise quarterback? He's never going to be 68%. You're going to get a lot of big plays. You're going to get a lot of horsepower. I think he's a good kid. But when I watch that offense, man, do they leave a lot on the floor? There are a lot of open looks. He's, you know, this was the knock in college. Consistent accuracy. It's the knock in the NFL. Is it possible? And I guess you could go back to Cam that it's like, hey, listen, we just know what he is and we know what he struggles with, and let's just build around it. And I think you also have to look at the point of where he is in his career. I mean, you look at last year as almost a lost year, right?

I know he played a lot of games, but there was a lot of dysfunction. There was a lot of turnover. There was coaching changes. So you look at, you know, you look at the year prior and you say, okay, what really was the benefit from that? Well, now in comes Ben Johnson. And I think you're seeing more and more franchises adopt, you know, there's a very famous phrase, right, that franchises fail young quarterbacks more than young quarterbacks fail franchises.

And I think you're seeing it with what Kevin O'Connell is doing with some of these rebirth of Sam Darnold, who now continued it in Seattle. And you know, you're seeing what goes on with so many of these quarterbacks that were left for dead. They couldn't play. Daniel Jones was thrown out in New York. And you make an argument in Indianapolis

is the best offense in the league. If not, they're in the conversation as the top two or three. So fit is such an important part of all this. and then you factor in just how young Caleb is and how fresh he is in his NFL career. I think there's been great growth. I think Ben Johnson is obviously wonderful at what he does. I think his energy, not only from an X's and O's, I think he's highly demanding. I think he comes across as this nice guy, but I think he is a real.

He is highly disciplined, holds guys to really high standards. He's very clear in his communication. And I think that's been good for Caleb. So I think we've seen a ton of growth here through the first half, call it rough third to 40% of the season thus far. I think the expectation is he continues to improve. I don't think anyone in Chicago right now should be having any conversations about looking anywhere else for quarterback for the foreseeable future than Caleb Williams

because he should just continue to improve. Now, what is the ceiling? Is he Patrick Mahomes? Is he Josh Allen? Who knows? Very few guys are. but I think their trajectory, the improvement, the turnaround we've seen already with, to your point, a lot of room left to grow.

I think if I'm a Bears fan, I'm highly encouraged. So you've been doing the tight end university down, I think Nashville, isn't that what you hold it every year? So I saw, I watched him play all last year at Penn State, Tyler Warren. I saw him have 17 catches against USC. He walks into the league. I mean, even Antonio Gates, it took him a year to find his space a little bit. I remember Gronk being very good, very early, but he had some injuries in college. I didn't know much about Gronk.

This kid has walked in, and pretty much, I always say, it's one thing to be productive. It's another to be open all the time. Did you spot this kid years ago? Did he come out of nowhere? Did you know about Tyler Warren years ago? Yeah, I was just surprised that he wasn't the first tight and taken. I'll be honest. I know, you know, the Bears took Loveland.

I'm pretty sure the Bears took Loveland if I have that right out of Michigan. So I thought the assumption was that Warren was going to be the top pick. I think Indianapolis from the very beginning did a really nice job. Chris Ballard, obviously Shane Stake and identifying just the value that a kid like him's bring. I think we all remember him from college lining up at Wildcat quarterback and some of the funky formations where he's lining up. I think there was the one play. He was the center in an unbalance and he ended up catching the ball. They did a lot of really creative things with him.

But I think Shane Steichen is as good of an offensive mind. And you think back a couple years ago under Siriani, his offense, his offense in that evolution of that team for their first Super Bowl run, when they ended up losing that game we covered, then obviously he went and got the head job with the Colts. Kind of disappeared maybe from the national scene as like the offensive grew just because the Colts weren't overly, you know, competitive and had some struggles. But I think now with Daniel Jones, job he's done i think tyler warren coming into the league you're exactly right when i came into

the league years ago there was an assumption that tight ends took a couple years to adopt the nfl game but you look recently what brock bowers did last year in his first year with the raiders and what tyler warren's doing i mean we're starting to see a faster evolution a faster growth i think part of that is just the tight end position in college is a little bit more it's less guys making a position change it's less guys, you know, were wide receivers when they were young or running backs. These kids are now growing up, a lot of them. I know Warren played some other positions, but they're growing up, understanding the position, playing true tight end at the college level.

I think the job that Penn State did with Warren and now the job that Shane Stuyken is doing with him, he's leading the league for tight ends and receiving yards. I think he's like third and catches. It's just unheard of from a rookie. And it seems like every game you watch, he's open. He's open in the end zone. He's dynamic with the ball. He's good enough that he can be on the field on first and second down and get his nose

bloody and get in there and compete in the run game. Yeah, he's, I don't know if he's as dynamic as Brock Bowers from just like a speed and just that top end, but from a production standpoint now, the last two years, we've seen tight ends really take the NFL by storm, and that's pretty hard to do. So when I watched Bow Nixon Jackson Dart this weekend, I mean, neither's got a huge arm. I think Jackson Darts arm's pretty good. There's something to be said about confidence.

And when I watched that game, my takeaway was more than anything. They're not overwhelmed by it. They're totally confident guys. Like Jackson Darts, like, bring it on. Bring that. I mean, he made a bad pick. I always said my favorite part of Andrew Luck. He would throw terrible picks. Laugh, blame himself, grab his helmet,

and throw the ball right at you again. Like, had a short memory. I think, I don't know, you've been around pro athletes your whole life. I watched Dart and Bo Nix. I can see the self-belief as a consumer watching on television. That's what I saw Sunday.

Dart's not afraid. Going to Denver on the road, altitude that defense. You played there. Brady struggled there. That's a rough place to play. Yeah, I mean, watching that game, I was in the airport in Minneapolis getting ready to fly home for my game and just, you know,

it was 19 nothing, they'd go for two, they don't get it, we could discuss whether that was right or wrong. And then the series of events that played out from that moment to obviously how the game ended on the field goal was just, I couldn't even believe what I was watching just from a game flow in the back and forth. But as far as the two young quarterbacks, yeah, I mean, there's a notion in the NFL, the only guys that aren't going to have bad days and the only guys that aren't going to play and have bad, you know, have bad moments of the guys that stand on the sideline. Like if you're afraid to make mistakes, if you're afraid to throw picks,

if you're afraid to drop the ball, fumble, whatever your position is, if the fear of failure paralyzes you, you're going to find yourself standing on the sideline quite a bit in this league because bad things are going to happen. Things are going to go against you. And the guys that have this uncanny ability to rally and to get their confidence back,

you don't know if they've thrown three picks or three or three touchdowns, their command of the, huddle, the way they interact with their teammates on the sideline. I mean, Jackson Dart, and I know they lost, but when he came off the sideline after his little quarterback design run on the goal line, which was a great play design, that he extends the ball, he gets the touchdown. I know it ended in heartbreak, and Bo Nix deserves a lot of credit. But like, when he came off the sideline, the way he greeted his coaches, the way he greeted

the veterans on the team, you can just tell they don't look at him as like, all right, you're a fun story, you're the rookie, but like, you go stand over there. And he is arguably the ringleader of that group. And he's only started now a couple games. So certain guys have that personality. They have a little charisma. There's a belief that when they're on the field, we have a chance. And I love his energy.

Is he going to throw picks? Yes. Is he going to have bad decisions? Of course, he's going to continue to get better. You can't teach competitive spirit. You either have it or you don't. And I think both those young quarterbacks have it. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio,

FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the eye test, we've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the IHartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's actually. Extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas. and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen should win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. The Chiefs look like the best team in the league by a touchdown. Do they not? I said this. It's amazing. They do a great job of everybody makes mistakes.

Every GM whiffs. It's impossible. They identify very quickly mistakes. They don't let pride or ego get in the way. They've got a sailboat mentality, even though they're an aircraft carrier. They can turn very quickly. Like, doesn't work, does work. Let's bring juju back.

Doesn't work. I watch Kansas City. And I'm like, I feel so much of their successes upstairs is before the snap. I don't know. You've been around a lot. You talk to a lot of players. I think sometimes they're functioning at just a higher level than everybody else. Yeah, and I think the part that you nailed is just their ability to reinvent themselves

and don't feel like they need to play the same cookie cutter approach week in, week out, let alone season in, season out. If you take a look at the last handful of years, right, the year they won the Super Bowl, when they beat Philadelphia, we covered a bunch of those games. Obviously, we covered the Super Bowl. We covered that part. They transitioned themselves through that draft and obviously Spags, the defensive coordinator is one of the best in the business.

They went from a quarterback-led offensive coach and Andy Reed and Mahomes and superstars, offensive driven. They knew they needed to invest themselves in all those young defensive talent. And they took their lumps early in that year. and that young defense got better and better and better. And then it kind of flipped on its head. The following year, the offense really struggled. Does Mahomes have enough weapons?

And all of a sudden, this young defense, you've now become a defensive-led team. And then they went from a shotgun. We're going to throw the ball on every down and put the ball on Mahomes' hand to, you know what, we're out, we're out, Rishie Rice, Xavier Worthy's out. We might have to get under center a little bit more.

And that's not really what Andy and Patrick Mooms have been in their Kansas City Chiefs. days are thrown at 35 times a game from gun but they don't have to play the same style of game to beat you it could be offensive led it could be defensive led when one is struggling the other seems to always kind of elevate their game i think now as you see them get healthy i think now as you see start getting some of their offensive weapons back you're starting to see that offense click i think from a i'm with you i think from a well-rounded balanced offense defense youth superstars at the correct positions. I think, and then obviously Andy Reid being one of the all-time greats

as a head coach play caller, I think when you add it all up, if they continue to stay healthy and they continue to keep these guys on the field that they've gotten back, I'm with you. I don't, it's going to be very hard, especially some of the AFC teams that we had high hopes for coming into the year that have really had disappointing seasons. With the exception of Buffalo, like, who do you really feel confident in the AFC with the game on the line is ready right now to beat them and i think the answer is nobody yeah that's how i feel greg olson fox sports uh as always it's great it's great chatting i love talking to you man appreciate it colin so it was good to be on man uh he's got the bills and the panthers this weekend uh Bryce young's beat up uh and buffalo's in a bad

mood so i uh i think buffalo's going to score some points this weekend j mac with the news Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, you're all excited about the Kansas City Chiefs, this big winning streak. They're on, they're hot. They got Rishi Rice. Oh, let's not look into who they beat. Anyways, Andy Reid was impressed with this Rishie Rice debut, absolutely cooking the Raiders.

Here's what Reed said about his star receiver. It was great to have them back. I think you saw, I got my voice. I think you saw the him, what, the trust that Pat has in him, which is so important for, you know, so important for Pat and the guys. I thought he came out and functioned at a high level for being gone for all this time. I mean, it's crazy that he can come back and do what he did. Yeah, Hollywood Brown, Jujius Smith-Schuster,

Elvis Kelsey, Xavier worthy, Rishie Rice. Who could stop that lineup, Palin? Jeez. I mean, it's like Jerry Rice, John Taylor. I mean, this is like, I mean, that receiving core is legendary. Just to recap, though. Let's go over the KC. wins, shall we? So they beat the Raiders, who might be a bottom four team in the league.

Right, 31-0. Raiders had like 90 yards of offense. The week before that, they beat the lions, who we know have looked very ordinary away from the friendly confines of Detroit's Dome. Before that, they lost to the Jags. Remember that choke job? Who could forget? And then, don't forget that Baltimore win.

Oh, that's right. Lamar got hurt midway through the game. And the Ravens' defense hasn't stopped anyway. So we can get excited. Yes, the Chiefs look better. That's undeniable. They're going to smash the Jaden Daniels list Washington commanders this week. By the way, they're 10-point favorites.

I think you just need to have some context around this dominance that you're excited about. All right. My eyes don't lie, but okay. No, the eye test. That always fails. Anyways, let's move on to the Miami Dolphins, Colin. How about that? One and six, lots of issues on both sides of the ball.

But Mike McDaniel's job is currently safe, according to Ian Rappaport and none of other reporters. As for Tua, he threw six picks in the last two weeks. Mike McDaniels was initially non-committal about to his role following the game, but he addressed his week eight starter yesterday. Specifically, when you're having, or when you go through a performance like that, you know, I never, I don't see it as, you know, all on a player or all on a coach. It's a working relationship, and we both have to get better together. He's going to take the snaps this week and he's going to be a start of this week.

my expectation is that we don't throw 10 picks. Got a little salty. Well, I mean, when your job's on the line, you got to. 2, oh, by the way, three fumbles since week six, six interceptions for the math majors out there. That's nine turnovers in the last two games, Colin. Holy hell. So they got the Falcons this week.

Now, you know I like the Falcons in a dome, but can you lay seven with Michael Panics against his Dolphins team? it's um that's a great teaser like can you do teasers in the uh blazing five that's too complicated for the audience oh my god come on our audience is a bunch of road scholars i got a bunch of people yelling at me when i started doing over unders and i've hit on all of them i think i think i'm like four or four or five a five that people get they want just picks i thought people just wanted money that's what i thought that's what i want so that's why i do one a week i do an over and under I have an under and an over I like this week.

I'm going to pick one of them. So basically you're telling me these guys, you're giving them free jet skis, and they're like, no, I don't want a jet ski. I'm doing diamond rings, four carrots, not interesting. All right. Final story, Colin, is NBA time. Oh, yeah. Got some heat here on the staff for loving the NBA.

Listen, we're going to do something on my Knicks here, Colin, and Carl Anthony Towns, right? He had a good season last year. Knicks made the Easter conference finals, but they fire their coach. The new coach is a guy named Mike Brown. Well, Carl Anthony Towns, remember, the season starts tonight. Carl Anthony Towns was asked about his role in the new offense,

and he said he doesn't really know what his new role is going to be. And said, we're figuring it out. Now, if that doesn't sound like a guy who's getting shipped for Janus, FedEx, I mean, just send him to Milwaukee right now. Bring on Janus. Well, Milwaukee's got Miles Turner and a bunch of guys jacking up three, so maybe they don't want to make him. Why do they want Carl Anthony Towns?

No, no, they've got to get rid of Janus before they lose them for nothing. I'd be careful. Miles Turner, Yonis, and a bunch of guys jacking up threes. They'll be better defensively this year with Miles and No Dame. What happens in the East? I wouldn't be shy. I'm dead serious. Orlando, Cleveland, New York, Milwaukee.

What separates them? Milwaukee? I'm just, Janus is on any given night the best player in the league. Miles Turner, we watched them in the finals. excellent player, smart veteran guy. You know what you're getting every night from him. Rim protector can hit a jumper. Miles Turner's a tough guy, can defend. And they're shooting a ton of threes. They'll be better defensively. The East is wide open. That's why I pick Orlando. You're crazy on this. I got a text from my agent, Jay Mack. Do you want to be the sixth man on the

Milwaukee Bucks? That's how bad they are. I said I'd rather be on the herd. I don't want to go lose 50 games and live in Milwaukee. They are not good. They're not top eight in the East College. I don't even know if they're a play-in team. If you have the best player in the East, with Tatum and Halliburton out, if you have the best player in the East, Yannis, you're a playoff team. Hey, how about this? Well, bet a steak dinner since you owe me 30, all right? Atlanta Hawks have a better record than the bucks this year.

The Hawks will be interesting. There you go. I mean, not like I'm saying the Wizards or the Hornets and your guy La Mello Ball. I just think, you know, this situation in the East, Knicks are going to be great, and Carleneutowns just trade them. for Janus now. I don't, I wouldn't want, why would I want Carl Anthony Towns?

What's a good, he's a good player? I'm giving you Janus. I'm telling you the team to watch out for, if I'm giving you Janus, like Dallas, I want lively. Cooper flag. I'm asking for Cooper.

I mean, seriously, I want Cooper flagging lively. And two first round pick. I'm giving you the best player in a conference. Do we? The honest is pretty damn good. Yeah. By the way, have you looked at any gambling props for the Lakers tonight on their season opener? Luca going for a 30 piece?

Don't bet the NBA in October. I know, I know. I'm just kidding around. Can I text you during the game? Will you be awake? Yeah. You know how late I stayed up until last night to watch that awful Seahawk performance? It was terrible.

It was one of the worst. I mean, it was, thank God they won. but oh, I had him in the Hurt hierarchy. I bounced him. I called Kyle. I text Kyle this morning. Get him out of there. I don't want them on the board.

J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurt Lye News. Um, yeah, the Hurt hierarchy, more in Chicago. It's the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHHRRour.

Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are

trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world. right now and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving well good luck consider this your court side seat to the french open listen to the rene stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts presented by capital one founding partner of iHeart women's sports so if the playoffs began today and i do apologize to the radio audience but we have these cool graphics of the AFC on the left and the NFC on the

right, the top seven teams 14 get in that would be in the playoffs. Now we put in both the AFC the one team that's just outside the playoffs in both conferences. So right now the number one seed in the AFC is the Colts

and the Patriots. Third seeds Denver, four seeds Pittsburgh. Those are division winning teams. The wild card teams would be Buffalo Chargers, Jags. The team just on the outside would be Kansas City. I think Kansas City gets in either by wild card, which I predicted before the year. Denver's leading the division. Kansas City's a wild card. That's what I had predicted before the year. I had the Chargers making it, and I do think

as they get healthy, the Chargers will be a playoff team. I don't have a ton of trust in Jacksonville. They're just too goofy and squirly, and I don't trust Pittsburgh, although I do think they have the good culture. So I think Kansas City gets in and Pittsburgh or Jacksonville misses. In the NFC, I think this is what it's going to look like. It doesn't take long for the cream to rise to the top. I mean, Mike Vrables turned around the Patriots in five, six, seven weeks. Green Bay is the number one seed followed by the incredibly resilient San Francisco 49ers. I'd give Shanahan the coach of the year. I can't believe with the injuries there at five and two. Eagles three, Tampa four, Wild card is Detroit, Seattle, and L.A., regardless of the order, I think the NFC is pretty clear.

Chicago's on the outside looking in. Now, if they beat Baltimore, and if Lamar plays, I don't suspect they will. John Harbaugh is great in a buy. I don't see Chicago right now as consistent enough to be a playoff team. So I think the NFC playoff picture, this is what's going to look like. It doesn't have to be in that order. In the AFC, I think Jacksonville's improved, but a little bit of fools gold. And, you know, if Pittsburgh knocks off Green Bay in terms to five and two, then I'm wrong. But I think Kansas City makes their way in. But it does go to show, you know, we're seven weeks in.

You know, we're 40% through the NFL season. And, you know, the picture, there's clarity very quickly, very quickly. New England, Mike Frable, five, six weeks, already built the culture. Washington is not going to be the same team they were last year. It's very clear. Jaden's hurt. They don't have the same juice. They caught everybody by surprise.

Now everybody's got tape. By the way, Jaden Daniels was great last year and has struggled this year. It's funny, Bo Nicks pretty good both years. This is what I see. So, yeah, I think the NFL playoff picture, I don't see massive changes. I do think when Hampton gets back and I think when the Chargers get healthier, They can't run the ball right now. Well, they're on their third running back.

So I think the charges will write the ship. They have too good of a coach and too good a quarterback play, solid defense. You know, a few years ago, Tennessee was the number one seed. Vrable was the coach. Tanna Hill was the quarterback, and they got bounced by Cincinnati. I don't think that's this Colts team. I think they're really formidable. I think they're online.

I think their playmakers are great. Daniel Jones and Tannahill, that comp may be close. but I buy indie and I have for years. I think their roster is excellent. And Green Bay is a very squishy number one seed in the NFC. I just, I want more. I'm not getting it. I think right now the NFC,

and this wasn't the case the previous three years, I think the NFC is much deeper than the AFC. It's just with Kansas City, the best team could be in the AFC. Here's yesterday, RG3 was talking about the resurgence of the chiefs now that they have all. their wide receivers healthy. What I've been most impressed with is Mahomes' ability to get it done with anybody.

And I think that is eerily reminiscent of what we saw from our colleague and the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady. He had that constant in Rob Gruncowski. And then it was Julian Edelman, West Welkers, all these different guys that they can throw in there to make plays happen. But it all boils down to Patrick Mahomes being the one that's just distributing the ball out. Yeah. If you didn't listen to the show today, Nick Wright and I discussed the LeBron and Russell Westbrook story, which is really kind of tasty. So there's a book out on LeBron's Laker career. And I had said when, and Russell Westbrook doesn't like LeBron, he thinks he's a phony. And LeBron's not going to punch down. That's not. LeBron doesn't do that. So, and I've talked to people around LeBron's circle about Westbrook before. and, you know, their take is, you know, Russell doesn't like anybody.

He doesn't get along with anybody long-term, which I don't know if that's right or not. I think Russell Westbrook runs really, really hot, and I think he always has. But the Lakers season starts tonight, and Nick Wright and I were talking about this earlier. It's interesting because Westbrook has such a kind of relentless personality, and it's probably worked to his detriment multiple times. I mean, getting into it with fans and teammates. and I mean I think Westbrook's one of those people that sometimes steps in it but he never asks anybody else to clean his shoes he steps in it deals with it owns it

and moves on so he's become kind of a bounce around the NBA guy huge energy guy but Iowa is the mistake to me was the front office of the Lakers these guys were never built to play together so in the new Laker book you know Westbrook is calling LeBron a phony LeBron's a billion dollar empire and at this point he's protecting his brand So he's not going to talk about this. And that's just not LeBron. LeBron, and I think it's hard for a lot of athletes to relate to LeBron. When you get to Brady's level, Rinaldo, you know, it's like when you get older with your net worth, you're protecting it.

You don't need to hit home runs. You need to hit doubles. LeBron at this point just didn't want to do anything dumb. He didn't want to get in the way of potential advertising deals and revenue and production deals. I get it. LeBron's got his legacy, his rings, his rings, his stuff. points. He's got everything. He just don't want to screw it up and he still loves playing basketball.

He wants to protect the brand. And so sometimes he's a bit calculated. I think that's a completely fair criticism. I don't think calculated equals phony. But that's how Westbrook sees it. And I would say that's just Westbrook wears his emotions

on his sleeve. He puts it out there. He's incredibly hot. You know, his temperature is, sometimes you want him to turn the governor down a little bit. But that's on who he is. Here was Nick earlier on LeBron James. Now, what people have come down to is, you know what? I don't like the cut of his jib, and I think he lies about reading books he hasn't read.

That's my problem with LeBron. Like, give me a break. Yes, of course, he is calculated. And yes, of course, anything he says or does is going to be dissected. So he has to be very careful with it. But I think that he has handled that spotlight. better than quite literally any other athlete of our lives. I mean, if you go back to Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan had the gambling issue, like when he took a couple years off. So, you know, Michael retired and went to baseball largely because he was exhausted. I mean, that was pre- Twitter, pre-social media.

I mean, Michael's just like, I got to step away from this stuff. I can't go out the dinner. and it's daunting to be messy or Otani. It's almost an advantage for Otani not to speak English. I mean, it's almost like a built-in advantage that he can just, you know, he doesn't have to answer every question, not that he would manipulate the media, but I look at it and I think a little bit of an advantage. I think being LeBron's difficult.

I think, and very few people can relate to it. Brady can relate to it. You know, that's why LeBron, by the way, LeBron, in the English Premier League. And I think, you know, he goes over there and he meets with the stars, and they get it. If you're in London and you're playing for a man city or man united, it's a whole different. It's hard to relate. I mean, you can't go out to dinner.

And that's been LeBron's life for 20 years. So I'm going to defend him. I don't think necessarily being calculated is phony. It's brand protection and the richest Americans and the richest. Global oligarchs do it every day. We'll see you tomorrow. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it.

But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the eye heart. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in.

I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless.

And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. Jenchian win. She's an outsider to win the French fame. and she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now

and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.