Funerals for non-playoff teams: Bears, Bengals, 49ers, Browns & more
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This episode of Football 301, Matt Harmon joins me to write some obituaries for some teams that did not make the playoffs, do not have playoff life. So we're going to be looking at seven teams, looking at what went wrong, what are some of the next steps they can take,

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Hello and welcome to Football 301. I am your host, Nate Tice. Fun show. I don't know if it's a fun show. I guess Irish wakes can be fun. But what we're doing today...

We are going over a few teams, half dozen or so teams in the NFL that have now fallen by the wayside. They have left us. They are departed or nearly departed from this NFL season, from the 2024 NFL season. We are having funerals for teams that we think are dead or dead.

or near dead maybe in a couple cases that we will talk about to help me do that as always on tuesdays well except for maybe last week but as always on tuesdays is my guy matt harman how you doing today matt

Yeah, Nate, I'm doing great. We're looking at teams that had some expectations and are now firmly below 500, do not have very good odds to make the playoffs. So, yeah, I mean, bust out the trumpets, play a little taps. To me, these teams are I'm perfectly comfortable saying all these teams are toast. They're six feet in the dirt. It's over. Whatever analogy you want to use.

Yeah, exactly. There's one. There's a couple that technically are still still have a pulse, but we're going to declare him brain dead.

I think as the show goes along. But yes, we are going to be looking at how many do we have here? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven teams that are out of the playoff hunt looking at the next steps, kind of what went wrong this season, what maybe their expectations going into the season and maybe what are the next steps. So, you know, you're going to Christmas past, Christmas present, Christmas future for some of these teams. But we are going to start

with the Cleveland Browns. As a kind of quasi-Monday Night Football recap with this one, the Browns are 3-9. They lost to the Broncos last night on Monday Night Football, 32-41 in a very entertaining Monday Night Football game that had haymakers getting thrown, not literally for once, actually after this weekend. There's no flag planning and haymakers thrown in that way, but just quarterbacks going at it. Someone tweeted me and said, this feels like a Mac game from 15 years ago, and I agree.

It was just two free-wheeling quarterbacks, offenses going at it. I thought the defenses would maybe step up a little bit more, but they did. We had two pick sixes, but also just a lot of big plays that were led up by both sides of the ball. But like I said, the Browns lost that game.

And they now have to deal with their situation. So we're going to start with what they, I, my bullet point for this was what they wanted to be when they grew up. This was my, Hey, this is looking at their childhood pictures before the season, but the Browns, I think,

Ever since they made the trade for Deshaun Watson, they are pushing to win the Super Bowl. And now the cause of death. What went wrong this season? Well, that quarterback that they traded for was the worst starting quarterback in the NFL. I think it's pretty cut and dry at this point, especially with the improved play of Bryce Young and Will Levis in recent weeks. Deshaun Watson was the worst player at his position in the league. They had a ton of injuries along the offensive line. They had some defenses of regression falling back to earth.

Yeah, the Browns. Matt, what else did you think went wrong for the Browns this season? What really tanked their season? Is it pretty obvious outside of just the quarterback, but anything else that you think was the cause of death for the Browns to have another losing season after a fun season last year?

Yeah, we can point out defensive regression and some of the issues on that side. I'm with you that I didn't think the defense is necessarily played. It's weird to say it's in a game that had, what, 73 combined points in it that I don't think – it actually kind of made me think a little bit of that – remember that Rams-Chiefs 2018 Monday night game that was so hyped up and all that stuff? And a lot of people coming out of that game was like –

I remember all of football media, myself included, being like, man, what an incredible game. I actually Googled it last night. Our buddy Frank Schwab wrote an article about was this the best football game ever played. And there were some people that after that contest kind of talked about, well, no, the defense sucks. If you go back and look, the defense has made plays in that game. It's just...

In the modern NFL, you can only stop the bleeding so much. There's only so much you can do from the defensive side of the football. And a lot of it is, hey, make plays and get some timely stops. I think both defenses did that. Your boy Bo Nix, 51.4% completion rate. They definitely got him a little antsy at times, although he still threw his deep passes. I don't know if you know this, Nate, but Bo Nix does...

He's very high in the completions over 20-plus yards. In play action and non-play action plays. None of you knew that, Nate. But anyways, and then obviously Jameis Winston with the pick sixes and things like that. There was some timely defense, and that's kind of my point with the Browns is that I think that it's so hard to untangle what's happened with them this year from the quarterback position because I do think you have seen –

just so much life from both sides of the ball in the post Deshaun Watson games. You know, Jameis is Jameis and he's something between like a carnival ride and like a wide receiver and wide receiver pump and dump like production scheme. Everybody that gets to play with Jameis, just all those stats are just going to get completely juiced up. And we've seen that obviously for Jerry Judy, even Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman, when he's been playing, it's the offense has more life, but I also think the defense has,

maybe kick the effort level up a notch. So it's kind of hard to untangle what's going on on the defensive side of the football with just the general malaise and hopelessness that has permeated throughout this team with Deshaun Watson under center.

Yeah, that's the game. And I've stated this on the show before. That sticks out to me the most was when the Browns played the commanders and they were taking it to the commanders in the first quarter. I would say taking it to us back and forth, at least for their defense against the commander's offense. Some big plays on both sides. I think they had a turnover in the end zone. The Browns created one.

And I just watched the Browns give up as that game went along. I saw them truly, the defense, I should say, just truly just say F it as that game went along because they said, hey, these commanders are getting hot. We're going to come out and get them. And they got them. And then their whole offense couldn't do a thing. I mean, their quarterback couldn't do a thing against the commander's defense. That hasn't been great. Hasn't had better moments lately, but hasn't been great this whole year.

And I think that human element is very real. Like they were even talking about last night on Monday Night Football about, you know, they returned so many of these players and you expect them to kind of stay sticky. And we know all these conversations that we have, whether defenses regress and all that, they should at least be good. You know, I'm not saying number one best defense in the league, top defense that we've seen in 20 years, but at least be top 12, top 10, somewhere sticky around there.

And I agree with you that I saw a little bit more of that, I think, in the recent weeks. And I think that is because Jameis is back there at quarterback. They have some life on offense. Nick Chubb is back now from injury. Again, that was a little, again, iffy last night, but he's back. And of course, he's a great person and leader and all those types of things is interesting.

I think they were just kind of, I don't want to say feeling bad for themselves, but kind of just going like, what? Like kind of almost a nihilistic season. Like, whatever. Like, whatever I do doesn't matter anyways. Like, all those types, that kind of, you could just kind of feel it when you're watching the Browns. And then you watch some life kind of get injected back into them. But...

Having said all that, Deshaun Watson isn't going anywhere. This is what they have to deal with next year. And I mean, really looking at the contracts and everything. Oh, by the way, the Broncos had a 50% rushing success rate last night. Just want to make sure we throw that out there, too. You know, they're poor run game, apparently. I've never seen a fan base hate their own team more just to hype up one other player more than the Broncos did to me last week. But anyways...

But we should have done. How are we not doing the whole hour on the on Nate Tice versus Broncos Twitter recap? You guys were not going to get me to get to my PC the day before Thanksgiving. I had a day off.

I was like, all of a sudden, I got all these notifications. I was like, what is going on? Oh, okay. Mute, mute, mute. Thank you for coming with some stats because I was not going to my computer to look up any stats. It was insane. I mean, look, you're my guy. Obviously, I'm going to cape up for you on Twitter. But still, yeah, I mean, we don't need to recap what happened on a damn social media site on the podcast. But it was truly insane. But that is just...

I thought last night was a good encapsulation of like the ups and downs of Bo Nix. So yeah, we don't, we don't have to go through the whole thing, but it was, it was wild only, only because I, this is what happens to when you're only focused on one team, you think like you're the worst version of everything. It's like, no, there's trust me. There's worse out there. There's way worse out there. And Cleveland's a great example of it. Like, Oh, you think your passing game is dead? Watch what was going on with the Browns earlier this year. It's just,

This great stat from Scott Barrett of Fantasy Points. I mentioned catchable and uncatchable air yards from their site previously. The Browns are literally dead last in the league with Deshaun Watson in catchable air yards per game. And they're first in the league with James Winston under center. So I know you mentioned like, OK, yeah, they're they'll probably bring Deshaun Watson back just contract wise. But like.

With a straight face, how can you walk into next year with him as the quarterback when it is obvious to everybody except, I don't know, maybe less than 1% of the population that's just utterly and completely unserious for whatever reason? Because we will find a couple of... One of them might own the Browns. Yeah, one of them might own the damn Browns. That's the big part of it here. But he's a great example that you could find...

someone to defend anything on the internet which is why us talking about like arguing with people online is like a it's a more of a reflection on ourselves than than on anyone else is because you can truly get anyone to debate you on anything and there were people that would keep up for Watson talk about like oh chemistry with the receivers well all these dudes are balling out with him out of there like all the run game with same damn run game uh right now like oh the defense well look at the way the defense places I just don't know

You can walk in with a straight face and have this guy as your quarterback because you're walking into week one next year, especially with the injury concerns too. That's the thing is now he's gotten hurt again. And you can talk about physical decline. Like he looked slower. He looked just – he looked older even though he should be in the prime of his career. Like he – mentally he looked slower. That's where – that's what stands out the most to me and why I've given up on –

any semblance of him even starting anymore is because I just could see he looked overwhelmed mentally. It looked like he was guessing a lot of the time. So it looked like he was just kind of, Oh, I'll figure this out once I kind of scramble and break out of the pocket. And it's like, you don't move that way anymore. And you don't just kind of have that aggression, aggressive nature when he throws and just, just everything he they're currently projected. So this is

The money, you know, is where you can kind of piece together where everyone's going to do the thinking of when you pay a quarterback like this, especially when you pay him 100 percent guaranteed money is OK. We will trade off from the bank of Deshaun Watson. We will take a loan from that to pay other players. And the Browns right now are forty seven million dollars over the cap projected next year. Curtis Boucher. Yeah.

And again, they have contracts they can fudge and that's what you do and why you pay the guaranteed money. But do you want to punt away more of your future money and future earnings and future cap space for a guy that you're probably moving on from? Or do you want to really start ripping the bandaid off? Now there's precedent of teams ripping the bandaid off. I mean, the Broncos this year with Russell Wilson and being able to, OK, we'll take the cap hit and we'll figure it out and we'll go with a different quarterback.

But like this team is built for one more push. Like there are lines like everybody's under contract. I was going through all their stuff. It's Nick Chubb's free agent, Elijah Moore and Moe Hurst. Those are kind of like the three significant players that are and you can gauge on how significant they are. But there are offensive lines all under contract. Petonio, Teller, Conklin, Pochich.

but they're 34, 31, 31, and 31 next year. So they, this is it. Like they have one more year. They don't have enough reinforcements coming on this offense. So are you going to waste it on the worst quarterback in the league? Or are you going to at least take a Jameis dice roll and see if you can get hot in the playoffs or see if you like, this is for next season, I'm saying, but it just can't go on anymore with this quarterback experience. I know all the commitments you made, but

sometimes the best move you can make is just saying, okay, that didn't work out. And I mean, everything is telling them that's what they should be doing. So yeah, I mean, when you have Jacoby Brissett outplays them, Joe Flacco outplays them, Jameis Winston outplays them, and I'm not counting DTR and Snoop Huntley in there, but those guys that have extended play, like with the same situation surrounding them have played a better with giving better vibes too. Yeah. That's an easy decision for at least me as a neutral person looking at this, but yeah,

Yeah, Browns, man. They make all these moves to shore up the one spot, and they still have the biggest question mark on their roster is at the exact same spot, which is just interesting. They probably can't even bring Jameis back next year, can they? Because he's on a one-year deal, and salary-wise, if Gardner Minshew can get that contract in free agency, let's get somebody. Listen, I'm purely thinking of which contract

which wayward wide receiver can he save next year? You know, like I can, can we get him to New York to play with, to play with Garrett Wilson or what's the deal there? Cause I mean, they're right now they're picking eighth in the draft. They're probably not. I know you said this is a weak quarterback class coming up. I don't know. They're going to, they're going to moonwalk into a solution there, like a Bo Nix type of cheap solution at the position. So it's just, it's tough. I, but I don't know how they can bring Jamis back. And that's,

part of the whole thing here is that he's probably, he's probably going to make them a little bit too good down the stretch to completely bottom out, which is, yeah, I know it's the painful in the middle for a team that needs as much resources that they can get. Yeah. James is under one year deal, but this is the Browns all the way. He has a cap void hits all the way through 2028.

Oh, cool. Yeah. So he's on the books for the Browns through 2028. It's not much. It's like $600,000. But still, that's just kind of – they have so many voided contracts and stuff pushed to the future. But yeah, so better figure it out. Moving on to the next team. Let's keep it with the Bs and keep it in the AFC North. This is the Bengals.

Bengals lost this week to another AFC North team and another shootout. That was actually a very entertaining game. They lost to the Steelers 38-44.

Oh, the Bengals. They had... I'll just... What they wanted to be this season, they wanted to... You have Joe Burrow. You have healthy receivers. You're pushing for the Super Bowl. That's... I don't think I'm saying anything crazy here. That's what the Bengals have been pushing for this year, last year, probably next year, too. But when you looked at this Bengals team, what was their cause of death, Matt Harmon? I think this one's kind of sort of cut and dry when you want to break this team down. Yeah, it's the defense, man. I mean...

I was, when I was doing the recap for last night's game, I was like, was this the highest scoring game of the, of the 2024 season? Just cause we haven't had that many high scoring games. Yeah, it wasn't the highest scoring game of the season actually happened this past week between the Steelers and the Bengals, the Bengals scored 38 points and they lose. And that's just like the perfect encapsulation of what this season has been for Cincinnati. And I, I,

I don't, we can do some like kind of little micro tweaks on the offense or, you know, I know some people want Zach Taylor out of there. I think this offense has been fine. I think the offense has been good enough to be a playoff team. If not a Superbowl team, it's just the other side of the ball is so far behind. And, and,

They've run into what's the worst problem for a unit, which is that their young players that they drafted didn't like a large majority of them didn't work out and they didn't develop. And they also ran out of time with a lot of these veterans. In addition to guys, they obviously had to let walk out of the door. You know, Jesse Bates, those type of players. But really, it's that they've.

Guys like Mike Hilton that we used to count on as reliable starters have now become a problem in the last few weeks. And that's the worst thing that can happen. I'm curious from your perspective when you're looking at this defense. Because I think Lou Anarumo is a guy who's gotten a lot of...

A lot of praise by a lot of really smart people. I've certainly enjoyed what I've seen him throw in these like individual game plans and things like that against really good teams. Does he shoulder any portion of the blame here? Because I mean, typically we think, oh, a defense is this bad. And it's obviously the reason that they have, they've disappointed this year. Well, you just fire that guy and you move on, but he's a guy that has a pretty good reputation. Like is it does, does what he's put on film, like share any of the blame in this?

I think it's so much a personnel issue. And I think even when Lou Anarmo's defenses were cooking, they never were like statistically way up there. It was more like what you were saying. They were more average-ish, but then they could come up with some one-week game plans that were fantastic. And that's why you respect them and appreciate them. But I think it's just a...

They got forced their hand. They wanted to invest more in their offensive stars. And so they have to let go of guys like DJ reader, you know, and, and Bates and Jesse Bates on the backend. And Bates was so expensive that that would have been hard for them to keep anyways. But, you know, when you lose, not only just players that,

are good starters, but true needle movers. And at the spine of the defense for so much of what this defense wants to do is be smart, be steady and all those things. They are, they're losing kind of their identity with those players. Like, I mean, Bates going to the Falcons has like been one of those where it's like, Oh, you're even better than I thought you were. Like, as I see with another team, I don't think Anna Rumo,

should get as much blame as maybe he like where it's like oh he's automatically fired because his defense is so bad it's like what do you want him to do you know that's kind of how I feel when I watch him and I've seen what he's been able to put together I've never really watched that defense and gone like well the scheme sucks or they can't do this I look at it and I watch like you know they've watched a linebacker who's not be able to cover any

anybody. The Steelers are just checking the ball down or Russell Wilson's just checking the ball down over the ball. And they're getting not only five yard gains, but like 20 yard first downs because the players just came in. It's just basic coverage too. And so that's why I, it's hard for me to parse that. Cause again, I'm not in the building and I can't go like, Oh, is Lou just moping and is a negative presence and all those things. But I always think this staff kind of gets, they, they get kind of dogged sometimes. I think,

I think Zach Taylor, too, where some of the limitations, quote unquote, on the offense is because that's what their personnel wants and is good at, you know, specifically the quarterback. And I just think the defense is always punched above their weight. The thing is, is they they just have no difference makers outside of Hawkinson.

And, you know, that Hawkinson has limitations to the amazing pass rusher, but he can't really defend the run that well. So to answer your question, we kind of like I don't put it. I put, you know, of course, maybe 10 percent of the blame on Luna Remo. You can't like let the coach out of there all the way. But I think this was just personnel.

them, like you said, they try to invest in a lot in the draft on defensive guys. The thing when you miss or maybe don't get the play you want out of a young guy is that you're wasting a lot of snaps on them and you're going to give them those snaps without going like, you know, if you just have some stopgap guy, it's easy to pull the trigger or pull the hook or get the hook on them and go, hey, get him out of there, get someone else in there. Well, we draft this guy in the second round.

Got to give them reps, right? All right. Well, we got to give them another 50 reps out there. Oh, shoot. They're all losing reps. All right. Well, we got to try this game now. But then by the time you figure it out, the season's all done with. But this isn't an eye test either. I mean, anyone watch the Bengals games just knows this. But the Bengals offense, their fifth in EPA per play, sixth in DVOA. Like you said, they have a Super Bowl winning offense. Burroughs playing phenomenal football offensively.

he's playing best overall football of his career as far as aggression, smart play, creating stuff with his legs. But the defense is 30th in EPA per play, 30th in success rate, 31st in rushing success rate allowed, 29th in DVOA. They've lost two games while scoring 35 or more points. The rest of the NFL is 35-0 when it scored 35 or more points this season. So, yeah, I don't think we're kind of,

anything new, but it has to be emphasized that it's really just been such a glaring weakness in this cost. If it really feels like those mid 2010s Saints teams with Drew Brees, offenses were just amazing. He's putting up 5,000 yards, all this stuff, and the defense can stop a cold. They couldn't stop anything. And it was just like, yeah, kind of a carnival team, as you guys like to put it, kind of like that. But that's kind of how the Bengals kind of feel right now. Maybe we haven't caught up. But going on to what they maybe have to fix,

Just brought up the defensive stuff. They have a lot of contract stuff they have to sort out. Tee Higgins' situation, still looming. Trent Brown's a free agent. They drafted him, Marius Mims, but he's been going through injury stuff. B.J. Hill's a free agent. Mike Hilton, they're really good slot players, a free agent. Von Bell, sit-back end safety, he's 31, is a free agent. Hilton's 31 as well. Man, I think draft-wise, they might get a nice, juicy pick. They can maybe go after Mason Graham, the defense tackle for Michigan. Mike L. Williams, DN from Georgia.

maybe spend a lot of money on Milton Williams, the defensive tackle, the end from the Eagles. But that for me, it's like, that's what they need to fix. I think everybody knows that figure out the Higgins situation and figure out their front seven on defense. But do you have anything else in there? The Bengals may be looking ahead.

No. Yeah. I mean, Trey Hendrickson is the guy who wanted a trade at one point because they were, he was unhappy with the contract or something like that. And, you know, you got to figure that situation out too. Cause that was, that was, that was one of the better ones too, where he's like, I want to trade. And they're like, fat chance, buddy. We are our own. You are maybe our only God. Yeah.

maybe our only above average player on the defense pal. So you will be staying right here. We got a lot of bigger fish to fry. It was like Jamar Chase wants a contract. T Higgins on the franchise tag. Trey Henderson. What about me?

Tough, buddy. Hang out for a little bit. We'll figure you out. Go get the quarterback again. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, please. Why don't you have another great season? Then your value will be up so we won't pay you next year. Why not? He'll get the parking spot every week. They'll do that for Offense Player of the Week and Defense Player of the Week after wins. He'll get the parking spot for Defense Player of the Week in the Bengals. He's had a very short walk into the facility every single week. He better at least shoot. He's earned it. But yeah, it's...

I think that if they can't bring T Higgins back, which, um,

They haven't even paid Chase yet. That's the crazy thing is they went through all this like holdout stuff with Chase last year and they haven't paid him yet. And it's so funny because we're talking like, oh, you got to pay your offense. They actually haven't paid anybody on offense besides Burrow. It's all like hypothetical stuff. I know they've invested in offensive linemen and stuff like that. I totally understand. But like top of the league type deals, they haven't even given that to Chase yet. They have to figure that part out. They have to get that done. But the Higgins thing is so tough because –

I know the offense is a Super Bowl winning offense, but when it's just different when Higgins is out there and it's not as if they've gotten Jermaine Burton up up to speed yet. Like he's not he's not ready to replace Higgins. Yoshi boss is not that type of guy. Like they don't have a succession plan like ready to go there, you know, a succession plan ready to go. So they they have to figure that out. And if he's gone, do they just double down again on offense and then they leave this defense to rot even further? I don't know, man. It's tough.

It is. It's because your identity is, oh, we're going to outscore you. And then it's like, well, this wasn't great. This wasn't a lot of fun. So I actually went through, I'll bring up kind of like a personal kind of like similar kind of situation was when my dad with the Vikings in 2005, they traded away Randy Moss.

It was not his decision. It was an ownership decision because of money. Get that on the record. Yes, I want to make sure he did not want to trade Randy Moss for the number seven overall pick. But he so they traded them and their thinking was, OK, we'll make that. We went through the last few seasons with top five offense and a bottom five defense. And we've seen what it is for an eight and eight type of team, nine, seven type of team. We're fun and interesting, but we're not good.

You know, that was and so how they kind of sold themselves on this. Okay, we're going to trade Moss, be more balanced on offense and be more balanced on defense because we'll take that money and spread it out.

And then you ended up with like the 15th best offense and like the 16th best defense. And they went nine and seven again. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's like one of these things where it's like, at least have a strength of your team. We all want balance. And I get that. But it's that's why I'm not saying like there's a good or bad answer here. But I'm just saying, like, sometimes it's we want these things and then you're

grasping an identity or a strength in another area. So they're just in a tough spot. I mean, we're kind of just shaking that out where it's like this team should have some good vibes with it, but they have a lot of questions to fill out. They could bounce back quickly next year if they nail this offseason. It's just a very important offseason for them to nail.

I wonder if that becomes a kind of a question. You mentioned those Saints teams, and at least the way I remember it was they bring in Greg Williams, and obviously a lot of stuff with Greg Williams there, but they bring in Greg Williams, and they just become like an

all-out effort defense you know they blitz they play kind of very aggressive on that side of the ball right and i wonder if the bangles can kind of maybe even though i i agree that i think anarumo is definitely a defensive coordinator he would be he's a good defensive coordinator he has really good ideas i don't know if they maybe maybe consider like a scheme change like we're not going to solve the problem here from a they're just they're not going to solve the personnel problem on defense in one off season especially when they have they have

fish to fry on the offensive side of the football. So maybe we just become live by the sword, die by the sword type of defense instead of...

Right, like the Cardinals or one of these teams. Because I think that Anarumo's a great coach, but again, at least this is my way of viewing the defense, is that they've thrown a lot at you from a coverage standpoint when they go against these high-end quarterbacks. But great, then you still get destroyed by Russell Wilson. We can't be doing that and trying to win. We're trying to be a playoff team. So I think, yeah, if maybe they just...

They move on from Anna Rumo, which is, hey, time for just a parting of the ways on both sides. Maybe they can frame it as mutual. And then they find like a live by the sword, die by the sword type of coach. No, that's a great idea, though. Like, it's that's why it's hard for me to talk about Anna Rumo, because it's like it, you know, Parcells always says you are what your record is.

you know, and it's kind of like, that's how I feel. You are where your defensive ranking is. And it's, again, it wasn't like even those good defenses were top four, top five units. There are more 12th, 14th, 18th, somewhere like that. No, that's a really good point. Even the Vikings, you know,

last year bringing in Flores that that offense had pieces but it wasn't I mean that defense I'm sorry I had a couple guys but it wasn't amazing unit talent wise and he got him to be a frisky 12th 14th type defense so I don't know that's that's a good point to make um all right we're gonna take a quick break and then we are gonna come back with a couple more teams that we're gonna be reading their obituary

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It's the two-door coupe that was there for your first drive, the hatchback that took you cross-country and back, and the minivan that tackles the weekly carpool. For the cars you couldn't live without, trust Amica Auto Insurance. Amica. Empathy is our best policy. All right, we are back. For one, no, this one, I don't want to take this lightly, the terms that I use in this, so I'll play this one more straight. This is the 49ers.

49ers have really gone through a season of hell. They're 5-7 right now. They're an NFC West battle with all these other teams. But just listening off, I mean, doing this exercise is always great to kind of just remind myself what some of these teams have been going through. The 49ers, of course, have the Christian McCaffrey injuries. Injuries, I'll say, multiple. Brandon Ayuk.

I are. Javon Hargrave. I are. Hufanga. I are. Purdy, their starting quarterback, has a hurt shoulder. Nick Bosa, their defensive player of the year, has been dealing with an injury. Traverius Ward has missed most of the season. Ricky Purcell, their first-round pick, was shot. Dre Greenlaw, their really talented linebacker, still coming back, working back from an injury. Then...

They had off-field tragedies. Trent Williams lost both of his twins, which, again, I do not want to take this lightly. This affects you. This is just impossible to deal with. And so I can only imagine what he's trying to do, trying to go through football in the football season. Travers Ward.

on top of his injuries, lost his one-year-old daughter. So I do want to just bring up that not only just on-field stuff, but off-field stuff that has gone on for this team and not, you know, arrests and all these things, but true, true tragedies that this team has been going through. So, but truly this is, this team had huge aspirations. We, everybody knows what this 49ers team, the strength of the offenses, the Shanahan innovations, a defense that we think was going to at least be top 10, top 12, somewhere in that way, some way, shape or form. It's just,

had, had a rough season as they're still sitting in contention for the playoffs. They are still alive shot to make the playoffs, but just want to kind of reiterate just how tough the season has been on field and off field for this entire franchise. So the 49ers though, uh,

Anything else to add on top of, I mean, I feel we've gone through every week or two. We've been going like, what's wrong with this team? What did they need to add on? So kind of any other ways to summarize kind of what the season has been for the 49ers, Matt? Yeah, I mean, you're right that every two weeks it feels like we do a what's wrong with the 49ers kind of check-in because, you know,

You're focused on one thing and then another thing crops up, you know, and it's not like another injury or something like that or like, hey, yeah, we've lost brand. Like, by the way, Brandon wasn't even performing up to the standard that he set last year because we forget about the drama now in the offseason with the contracts between him and Trent Williams. Right. It's like.

They've had nothing to kind of set their watch by all year long because even their healthiest players of their offensive superstars, I guess, has been Debo, which is like, what are we talking about here? He's been under 25 yards from scrimmage all three of the last games. He's not been impactful. And George Kittle's obviously missed some time too. He's probably been the guy that I think they can come close to

closest now jordan mason's on ir yeah i mean even jordan mason is on ir we're gonna play the eyes isaac correndo welcome to fantasy running back to world i guess who knows but um it's it's just when one thing happens like a whole other thing crops up and you're so right to point out just all the stuff that's happened here like this this team was gonna have to deal with a lot of

on their shoulders no matter what this year because they were already trying to come back from another devastating Super Bowl loss and there's going to be pressure from that. Then you talk about like, hey, we're trying to squeeze one more year out of Debo. We're trying to ride McCaffrey like 90% of the snaps again. Clearly, he comes off IR. They just immediately throw him back into 90% of the snaps and 90% of the running back usage and all that stuff.

They're already going to have to walk that tightrope anyways. And then, yeah, your first round pick gets shot. All of these personal tragedies and things like that. I have to imagine that even I'm sure everybody in that building is pissed off and really upset about the way the season's gone. I'm sure Shanahan feels the heat and feels the pressure. But this seems like the type of team that as soon as the final whistle blows on week 18, there's just going to be a

OK, we don't have to do this anymore. We don't have to do this anymore. And that's kind of where I feel with this 49ers team that for weeks now, it's just it's felt over for a minute. I do think now it is. It's beyond over here. Like McCaffrey, I think going out and then Mason going out right away, too, I think does signal that I think I think it's over for this team.

Yeah, and that's what's funny is that like talking about you look at their playoff odds and even looking at offensive rankings, I'm still like, okay, you know, you could, but just watching them in the snow,

on Sunday night, it just felt like a team that's like, yeah, we're, yeah, this isn't fun. But you know, the season's a slog and we all know that, especially when you're in those buildings, especially you got through some losses, you know, just on field losses and that's still a slog. And then when just other things are just not adding up or just when you think you get, you just said, Hey, one thing, you know, one hole opens another one, they have to fill up. That's how it kind of feels. It's like, okay, it's

CMC gets hurt. At least we have Purdy. This passing, oh, okay, but Purdy's shoulders hurt. Oh, and now we have to throw the ball in a snowstorm. It's just like they can't get a break. The game against the Cardinals that they had in San Francisco.

They are, of course, because they got to bring up the Cardinals, but they're moving the ball. They're finally marching on the Cardinals. They're really getting after them. Jordan Mason fumbles in the red zone. It's just one of those seasons. It's like just as they start to get something going, boom, something pops, something bad happens. And then just look at the next season.

I think first and foremost is that they don't walk under any ladders. I'll say that's my, my first piece of advice for them. Uh, second is pretty might have to change his Jersey number from 13 because maybe that that's not helping them with some stuff too. Yeah.

Just trying to think of everything. If any of them own a black cat, maybe you have to get rid of it. Like I'm just trying to think anything to help these guys out. Hope for, you know, they might end up with a decent pick. Hope for a Nick Bosa like rejuvenation, maybe of the defense, you know, just another guy that they get another player with pedigree in the top half of the first round. I'm not worried about the offense getting back on track because I just respect Kyle Shanahan so much, but they do have to figure out Debo.

I think that might be a movable piece. Travarius Ward's a free agent. They have to replenish the offensive line. Trent Williams is not getting any younger. Colton McKibbitz is a tragedy. Dominic Poonie is a good player, but they need more talent there because it just when it feels like this, I think that's really important.

The stuff that's come up with this team is an offensive line lifts your floor of your team, especially your offense, of course. But that's where it felt like this year, Shanahan is like, OK, I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to do this. The offensive line doesn't give him that kind of leeway to get away with stuff. Right now, everything has to be perfect or pretty has to play even better. You know, you're scrambling a little bit more this year.

But that not having an offensive line true strength doesn't make Jordan Mason's life any but easier. That's all on Shanahan and their offense coaching staff's design. So it's a benefit of this offense is that they can get away with average-ish line talent. You look at the Dolphins, 49ers, all this stuff.

But now it's kind of one of these things where I'm looking at them like, okay, now you got to invest. You got away with it for all these years. Now you got to get some pedigree, get some talent into that offensive line. So that's just one thing. And then replenish the defense and figure that out. But anything else for next steps that you think, Matt? Because it's just a team that

Has a lot of good things going, but still feels like they're going to be in flux this offseason. I kind of agree with you that I do think the offense can get itself back on track. I don't know if I've run this theory by you, but this is at least something I've thought that I think them taking Ricky Pearsall and then extending Juwan Jennings and then giving Brandon Ayuk the contract extension sort of signaled like,

Maybe they wanted to evolve a little bit. And by the way, they've played like they have this year, at least early on in the season when they're doing so much true dropback stuff and less play action and all that. They're not as reliant on the run game and things like that. By the way, you're going to do that dropback stuff. You probably need some better offensive line talent. That's a whole other thing. You're going to need more protection to do that, but really hard. I think they wanted to sort of...

move away from the, oh, we're a 22 team, two backs, two tight ends, the whole deal. We're a very heavy personal team, and we want to spread it out and get a lot of guys out on the route and have Purdy kind of do a little bit of point and shooting here and playing a little bit of point guard because even though I don't think Pearsall has been all that effective this year, and I don't want to really be too hard on him because he's coming back from literally being shot and also wasn't even healthy in the offseason before that.

Like, it wasn't as if he had a clean offseason regardless. He had the whole shoulder thing. He was dealing with stuff prior to being freaking shot through the chest. So when you watch him, you can see what they want him to do. They want to have him run a lot of those, like, return routes. Fake to the outside and break back inside and give Purdy, like, an easy answer, especially when teams go to man coverage. But again, it's...

They also tried to still keep a foot back in the old world where we didn't trade Debo. I'm sure they didn't get any great offers. I think if they had gotten like a third or a second round pick, he would have been out of there. Probably nobody wanted to trade that for Debo on that contract. Well, all right, I guess we got to kind of adjust this contract. Keep him here. Keep him happy. Put out fluff reports through reporters that, yeah, Iuke is being a big baby this offseason and Debo came into camp recently.

in great shape and he's crushing it. And like, let's feed up, let's feed him up a little bit. And you got people pointing out maybe the opposite at this point in the season in terms of what's going on with Devo. So like, and they kept, you know, obviously keep use check around and all this stuff. So I think they tried to kind of live in two different worlds. And I wonder if we see more of like a clean break from Devo

maybe what they've done previously to maybe what they want to be. But I don't really, I don't have like a lot of conviction that that's the right, like that's the right answer. But I think that that's just my theory and what they tried to do this year. Yeah, I know. And this is important. I just feel like this too is where it's like, do you guys have a plan? Like that's why I just, it feels like they do at times. And at times it feels like they're just winging it. And that's why I can never, you know,

I know Kyle Shanahan has a lot of influence there. And some of that might be some of his whims, you know, on how things go. Yeah, you've talked about that before. And it really just sticking with me now, too, is that Debo is such a signifier of kind of the old way to kind of hybrid offense, positionless football type. And what you're saying, which I agree with, is that maybe I still think he looks at the Rams, Kyle, and looks at what Sean McVay does with Stafford and goes, I want that.

Yes. I just wanted Stafford, right? I mean, literally. Yeah. He wants to get back to what the 2016 Falcons were, which was the merging of two worlds. And I think maybe, again, what LaFleur went through with the Packers and Rodgers. And I think maybe he talks to those guys and goes, man, that does sound nice. Where it's like, all right, dropback stuff actually is live. It's not all just stuff that we have to do off the play action. I don't have to waste time.

another four hours figuring out how to merge that stuff on a Tuesday. You know, I can, I can free up and actually hang out a little bit and work on other things. But yeah, the Debo contracts can be huge to kind of indicate those things. But like, yeah, if you just look at those skill sets of Jennings, Purcell and Iuke, I mean, isn't that an X, F and Z like all the way, like, you know, slot. I mean, just totally just Iuke's the X, you know, Purcell's the Z, Juwan Jennings is the jumbo slot, power slot.

I can bounce outside too. So I think you're really on to something. And like you said, you can see it. It's just, again, this was not the clean break season. This was them trying to figure it out. This was them trying to have their cake and eat it too a little bit. Like we're going to do all of this. And don't worry about the line. I'll work it out.

and then you see what happens. Don't worry about stopping the run. We'll just get a vet there. Oh, shoot, the linebackers can't step up outside Fred Warner. You know, all these things. And who also hasn't been healthy. He was not even on the field when James Cook ripped off his long run on Monday night. And sometimes, you know, Nate, the universe, I believe this, sometimes it pushes back. Like if you try to take too much from it, it's going to push back on you. And I do feel like the 49ers –

some of this stuff obviously again i want to be careful how we're talking about it because there's legitimate like personal tragedies going on with this team i know that you're right it's hard if it felt it felt like they they tried to do too much in an already high pressure situation and it just kind of combusted on them here and again maybe there's some like karmic stuff with all the injuries but like the thing the last thing i would say about this too another 49ers theory i've been thinking about is that like mcafree is almost like

It's like a drug to Shanahan, I think. It just made no sense to me. I don't think Jordan Mason is the perfect back or anything, but he's a perfectly competent runner. And I know he was dealing with injuries and things like that. It just made no sense to me that

Why would you not mix that guy in here? Even Garendo, who's at least been explosive this year. I don't think he's like the same tempo runner that Mason is, but he's been explosive. Why wouldn't you mix these guys in here when McCaffrey gets back? And he probably still would have gotten hurt. Who knows? I'm not saying that's why it happened, but it's almost like Shanahan can't help himself when McCaffrey's out there because he just –

He makes the plays come alive and it takes like a, it, it takes a sketch to a piece of art and all this stuff. And, and it just, and again, in a way it's like, I'm not, they want, obviously want McCaffrey back, but I just think they've got to like ease themselves off of that smack basically.

basically and become a little bit more normal because I think it would be better for him and it would be better for the offense overall if they just when he's out there let's use him 60% of the time instead of 95 it's like he had all these free agents and

day three running backs all these years and then finally he gets someone with talent with cmc and he's just like this is great this is amazing but uh yeah i also want to make one basketball comparison is that cal shanahan might be tom tibideau he might be football tom stibideau uh tom tibideau is a

It's a basketball coach, Matt. Yeah, he's with the Knicks now, but he's known for grinding his guys and playing them like 40 minutes or more every single night. They'll be blowing teams out by like 20. And he's got starters in there like late in the fourth. So, yeah. So, yeah. Kyle Shanahan, Tom Thibodeau, or Kindred Spirits. That was great discussion, though. 49 minutes on the 49ers. We're going to go on next to the Bears.

Four and eight Bears that lost on Thanksgiving 20 to 23 to the Lions in a game that didn't end in any crazy way because the Bears don't do that.

Yeah, we're looking at kind of how the season ended, where it went wrong. Situational football. That's where it went wrong for the Bears. Not just third downs and red zones. End of game sequencing, two-minute drills, anything of that sort. This should have been a good vibes year, and it was anything but. They have fired their offensive coordinator. They have fired their head coach. We have...

statements coming about out about when they should have fired their head coach and puff pieces about their team president. And it's just what went wrong for the Bears this season, Matt, because I feel like I just could keep going here.

Oh, man, dude. You almost got to love something that's so predictable because this is what the Bears always do is they keep the head coach or the GM for one year too long, and then they fire the guy, and then you're already getting the statements. Nope, Ryan Poles will pick the coach. Well, what happens when next year they're still –

They're five and nine or whatever at some point. And, and, and you're, the roster is not that good. There's serious holes in the, on the roster. And then you're moving on from polls. And then there's a lame duck, just the same cycle repeats itself over and over again. And you can see this coming from like four weeks ago, dude, DJ more even had a quote at some point this week to a, to a Chicago radio station where they asked him about the Iberflues firing it. And he literally said, this was the quote.

You could see that you could kind of see this coming for a while. Did you? I didn't know he had this in him. His interviews this year have been like,

It's like, I didn't know you had this much personality, DJ Moore. Yeah, and like, brother, this guy has seen some stuff. He's played for the Carolina Panthers. He played under Matt Rule. And he's at times been like, yeah, we don't script the first 15 plays. That's weird. Don't you guys think that's weird? Like, the call is coming from inside the house, folks. Yeah, it's tough. And look, this can easily be turned around, right? If they just get the head coach right. That's the thing. If they can just get the...

They get the offensive play-calling head coach right. It was just kind of predictable that this would happen, I think. Look, I liked the Bears this year, but this was the obvious fallout if they didn't meet expectations, which maybe also were a little flawed to begin with, that a team with a rookie quarterback was going to come in here and immediately be...

A playoff team. I think maybe that was always faulty to begin with. So I think a bit of a victim of their own expectations and also just a victim of the ghosts of their own past. Because again, this is what always happens to Chicago. Oh, the weight of every quarterback and every Bears thing that's happened. Like anytime the Bears play the Packers, you can just feel the weight of those games weighing on this entire franchise and their fans and everything. The Hail Mary against the Commanders. They allowed the 53-yard touchdown run.

with 12 seconds ago in the first half against the Cardinals. The end of game sequence last week just can't get out of their own way. And I think going into this year, I thought the defense would be so sound, good, smart that they would win a lot of ugly games is what I was kind of picturing this team and maybe be an 8-9, 9-8 type team. Sneaky good, you know, but not a playoff team. I don't think any of us

Did any of us have a league playoff team? I think I might have. Oh, okay, shoot. I was talking about myself, Nate. My bad, my bad. I didn't mean that. But no, I always just thought that the offensive line kind of got overlooked by a lot of people. I thought some of the pieces that they added, we've talked plenty about this, and even how Shane Waldron was using them didn't make sense. The Gerald Everett's.

Even Keenan Allen kind of just wasn't a great fit for the other receiver room, how they wanted to use everybody. He's come up, come along a little bit the last couple of weeks, but it just, even DeAndre Swift just being inconsistent in some ways, again, had some nice moments, but those were the guys that were supposed to kind of lift the floor of this team. And it just didn't happen. And they just didn't,

I mean, just offense always just felt inept. They felt like they were putting a ton on their rookie quarterback, which I thought was encouraging in a lot of ways. But also, like, you could see the woes of that. Shoot, even just what happened then against the Lions last week. Like, Caleb was not absolved of issues there either or blamed there either. But again, it goes on to head coach and the play caller as well. By the way, that play caller got promoted as now the head coach. So.

Just a beautiful disaster we got going on in Chicago. But I'm with you that they could turn this around with the right head coaching hire. But again, that's such an important thing. But I mean, just looking at their roster,

interior line, you know, Coleman Shelton is a free agent. Not that he's been a true needle mover. Um, Tevin Jenkins is a free agent, been inconsistent throughout his career. He's had injuries, had nice moments, but has had some bad ones too. Um, but they need to address that. Uh, Dane and I, Dane Bruber and I talked, it's not a great center draft, which is why I wanted them to take one last year. Um, I think they need a less is more receiver to kind of bow or another tight end to kind of balance out their personnel group. They also need to stop thinking Cole commit as a good leader.

It might be a good guy, but they keep acting like this guy's a big winning leader. And all I see him do is make mistakes for this team. D tackle, maybe safety. They got some draft capital. They got two second round picks, you know, coming from the Panthers trade. Yeah. They need to find this head coach. I was looking at just the list. I was like, Ben Johnson probably is one a, you know, but again, you're going to come in as you want to go with polls. So as you want to work with Kevin Warren, I mean, yeah,

Who are other offense coaches? Drew Petzing, you know, Liam Cohen, your guy. Cliff Kingsbury. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury, which would be interesting. You know, defensively, you know, Marcus Freeman from Notre Dame, Jesse Minner, Denard Wilson. I actually really liked what he was doing, but I don't know if he's a head coach type yet. The other name I was bringing up is Adam Stenovich. He's the OC with the Packers. Got a line background, but it's just that.

that's the big thing with this team. Like that's what they have to nail. And I think that's kind of sums it all up. It was the big issue and it's kind of still is going to be the issue until they fix it. Thanks, Bears. Thank you. Thank you for that. But we are going to take our last break and then we'll come back with the last couple teams that we are going to be looking at their funerals.

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All right. We are back for the home stretch of this Irish week. Next up...

Another team in green. We have the New York Jets, who, despite... Where do we start? Yeah, despite getting a whole bunch of special teams help from the Seahawks, still lose the game 21-26 at home in the Leonard Williams revenge game. Leonard Williams played out of his mind at a pick six, a blocked extra point, a couple sacks, a third sack that got called back for his own face mask. TFL. Yeah, but the Jets...

hell of a week for revenge games by the way week 14 or excuse me week 13 made with jerry judy and leonard williams they extended the life force of revenge game narratives for like another i don't know two decades motivated me to watch the entire john wick series this week i'm on john wick three uh i'm halfway through last yeah i don't know i hadn't seen the fourth one i was like oh i'm gonna re-watch more i think

I think I've only seen half of the third one too. Uh, just, just cause I, cause I started watching it on a plane when I didn't have like enough of the time left, but then I, and then I just never picked it back up. So I need to, I need to, I need to, cause I haven't seen the fourth one either. And I want to, it's fantastic. I know. And the third one's so, so, so good. But anyways, yeah. Great week for revenge games. Uh,

Where do you want to begin? What went wrong for the Jets this season, Matt? Well, they made a deal. They made a deal with the devil and the devil won, I guess. I don't know. The devil didn't show up. Their owner is no longer an international ambassador. I mean, that's what went wrong for them. Yeah.

He's not even going to be this this time around either. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. Joe Biden was elected in 2020, brought Woody Johnson back, and then everything went wrong for the Jets. I don't know. I mean, there's so many things we could talk about, like geopolitical issues. And that's that's like a legitimate Jets question. Yeah, everything went wrong. I think we all know what went wrong. We don't have to, like, spend a lot of time on on what's gone wrong with New York. I'm more curious, Nate.

What the hell are they going to do next? I mean, it's a full, you know, it really dawned on me the absurdity of Jeff Ulbrich being asked

after the game on Sunday, are you planning on making a quarterback change? Because like, what the hell's the point? I look, I'm a tie rod guy through and through Hampton VA's finest. I'm a tire, but like, what the hell's the point of starting tie rod down the stretch. Right. But then I'm also kind of like, what the hell's the point of starting Aaron Rogers for the rest of the season either. He's not going to be back there. I mean, he says he wants to be back, whether that's true or not, they probably don't want him back. Uh, so they're headed for another full scale tear down, uh,

At least they won't have the lame duck coach GM stuff going on anymore. It's a full clean slate, but who wants that job? Who the hell wants to go near this stuff? That's it. It's pretty toxic, and especially when all the stories come out about how, oh, yeah, that was the owner's fault. Well, the owner didn't fire himself.

He's still there too. So now we have a figure out a head coach, a GM, what you're doing with the quarterback in the near future, long future, everything. And you also have to deal with Woody Johnson, who's always going to be there. So yeah, even my notes for this, I just said, you know, what went wrong? I said, general mishaps, Woody Johnson, this, that, that, that's what happened. I mean, yeah.

train i mean i was in for a penny in for a pound all the way with this team trade for davante adams that's hot son reddick who has six tackles and half a sack this season by the way tyron smith you know with his injuries mike williams is already gone shoot even if rogers does stay just the lack of offensive innovation that's been happening there has been so disappointing because that's what rogers wants and i can tell and and just what he's comfortable with and i talked about this with charles but like

the Leonard Williams pick six was because they were trying to use an old answer to throw hot against a modern defensive answer, which is like, that's the issue is that everything is going to make Rogers comfortable. He's not the type of talent anymore to, uh,

appease this he's not moving the needle enough to like do everything to make sure it's all good um i do appreciate that he did try to throw a sick block um he got blown up on it but he was giving effort like yeah he saw those stories about him getting benched too so he was giving effort out there it wasn't all great but he was giving effort out there but when the joe douglas puff pieces were coming out after he got fired it was like they were highlighting the young talent they got

You know, Garrett Wilson, Brees Hall, Quinnen and Quincy Williams. Will McDonald's had a nice year. Sauce Gardner, Olufushanu had a nice game last week against Seattle, their first round pick this week. But they still need several linemen. They still need a QB. They still need tight ends. They still need to avoid defensive drop off of all the auxiliary pieces that they have. Like you said, who's going there? Like what?

The offensive innovator wants to go there, especially if Rogers is looming. Remember how long Rogers has taken to make any decision? So like also now you got that hanging over you. So like you don't even know if that's a clean break. You know, my hand might be forced, but who knows? And we're seeing all these teams firing coaches so they can get ahead of the head of the group ahead of the pack. But.

I don't know how much you can peacock yourself, Will Johnson to appeal to anybody. So do they go with a Vrabel? Do they go with somebody of that sort that, you know, uh, I'm just, I'm very curious who even the list that they will potentially interview for this, but, uh,

Yeah, that's all I got on the Jets because it's just kind of a they this is what they set up and then they just kind of went as bad as it could. So there's a lot of these teams. I think honestly, the last three that we've talked about where I feel like less is more is a little bit of a lesson on offense like that.

Get your young guys and like develop those players. Stop trying to sort of the veterans stop. Like, I mean, okay, well, yeah, we just like, wouldn't it have been better if, I mean, obviously Rogers show up to damn camp and like build, I don't know, chemistry with Gary Wilson.

Show up and get some chemistry with him in the offseason. For the Bears, I get it. Let's stack the deck for the rookie quarterback, but I think you almost did a fantasy football roster where none of these guys really go together. Obviously, we talk about the 49ers trying to straddle two worlds here. I think there's a little bit of a lesson in that, at least with these three teams here, that sometimes less can be more. If you have superstar players like

make them superstars like don't make or like develop them into superstars they're your youth for the long term and like keep because i saw something today i said i'm sorry i can't remember maybe i think connor hughes was on a show talking about these guys like bruce hall and garrett wilson we don't want to stick around this team in the long term like we're as much as you're scouting us we're scouting you you know and that's that's a lesson i think is that these guys like

obviously the idea of Devante Adams was great. He predictably did not help them with any of their problems. Right. And you think Garrett Wilson loves getting like side-eyed by Aaron Rogers and going like, well, I was rookie of the year before you, you know, and then all of a sudden you're going to bring in your, your buddy and then he's going to get all the touches that I was getting. And, and yeah, no, it, this is a big thing. This is what stuck with me with the bears and like roll, like,

And what teams invest in you matters so much about, you know, your clout on a team, like how much you can say, like not every receiver wants to do the dirty work. Like it is what it is. Some thrive and want to do it. And it's great, but not everyone's Chris Godwin. Not everyone's Robert Woods that like wants to do that stuff. So, all right, who am I going to tell to do that? The first round pick, like,

The guy I paid a whole bunch of money or the guy that usually the guys are really good blockers. And I actually do think that this is why the Packers get a lot of stuff. Usually the dirty work guys are the late round guys or the guys trying to make the team and try to get the Packers went, well, you're a third rounder, your fourth rounder, your second rounder, you're undrafted. Yeah, you got a block. And all those guys don't know any better. They're yeah. Okay. That just dawned on me that, you know, I mean, Dontavian Wicks can't catch a damn thing.

He's got an absurd drop rate this year. And obviously he separates all that stuff. That's nice. But he does block his ass off too. Yes, he does. I guarantee you the reason he keeps getting playing time despite the fact he can't catch is because he gives a lot of effort in the run game. And it's like, shoot, I better juice it up in the run game because I can't figure this hands thing out. That's the only way I can stay on the field. Yeah.

I mean, even Christian Watson, which has been one of my favorite running bets in football, is the Packers always trying to make him block. And anytime he's healthy, the first play of the game that he's healthy for, they make him like block a safety. It's the funniest thing.

he's actually picked up his blocking and it's like, okay. Yeah. Like, but again, like that, they, you can kind of trick guys when they're not a first round pick or a top 10 guy, they don't have any, but it was really hard to get Amari Cooper to block when he was picked fourth overall with the Raiders. It was a little, a little hard to tell him, Hey, Hey, get in there and fit up on the safety. Now he does because you know, as his career has gone along, but no, but I just think that, but when you look at this jets team, it was like, all right, who am I? I'm not going to tell this guy to do that.

And that's why you don't get those kind of cheap yards. Everybody has to be perfect and make sure they get their touches. And that creates mental strain. And it's a big thing. That's why balancing out roles and making sure everyone knows their hierarchy in the roles really matters. And I think that's why sometimes when we do want to build a fantasy team and go, oh, now drop this guy and drop this.

How these guys work together really does matter. So no, that's a great, great point to bring up in a nice little talking point too. When you want to put the, put these teams together. Next one. Speaking of a,

Kind of an all-star team skill, guys. We got the Dolphins, who I was, you know, they were doing some nice things before going to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. And I've seen enough weather stats. I'm sure Dolphins fans have seen enough weather stats. They know what their record is, sub-40, sub-50, sub-30 degree weather. I'm sure they know it in Celsius now. Maybe not Kelvin, but they know it at least in Fahrenheit. But they lost to the Packers 17-30.

They have about a 1-10 chance of making the playoffs at this point in time. Their rest of their schedule is Jets at Texans, host of 49ers at Browns at Jets. But we're looking at what went wrong for the Dolphins because I do not like their chances. But when you look at them, Matt, when you look at this Dolphins team, what led to them to this losing record or potential losing record? What led to them? What went wrong this season? Yeah, I think they're another team that had...

You know, some serious salary cap ramifications this offseason. You know, they're sort of in that final window here. A lot of what we talk about with Cleveland, where some of these guys are kind of probably in the last little glimpse of what we can get out of this era. Unfortunately, that also obviously caused them to lose players like Christian Wilkins. They probably couldn't address the offensive line like maybe they necessarily wanted to.

I think it's obviously it's easy to say what went wrong for them is their quarterback missed a large chunk of the season and they became a completely rudderless unit without Tua behind center with Tua under center. It's not as if all of the problems have been fixed here. And yeah, they go to Green Bay. And I mean, freaking Mike McDaniels like nose is red in the halftime interview. I was like, ah, they're toast. Yeah, they're going to they're yeah, they're done. They're losing this game. But

I think the more interesting question is just like, what do they do next? Cause I think it's a pretty, it's a pretty tough Mark on McDaniel's resume that they went just completely in the tank when two, it wasn't in the mix at the same time. Like a lot of stuff that I've really wanted them to do in the last couple of years, like develop a third option. Well,

Johnnie Smith is a really, really good third option for this team. And he's taken advantage of the space that the receivers create and some of the areas that there was just

It was available for and somebody's finally doing it's been him. The run game, I think, has been a little bit more dynamic at times this year than maybe in the past, or at least they've gotten a lot out of a chance as a pass catcher. So they've done some of the things offensively wanted them to do. It's just it still feels like they're kind of I need more out of that. So I don't think they're like headed for a full scale tear down, but.

You know, Tyreek's another year older. I don't think they got enough out of Jalen Waddle this year. And I think that was not really a Waddle issue. I just think it's a lack of opportunities issue. So I think they're they I can't decide, Nate, if they if they face like big pressing questions in the offseason or if this is just like a couple little window dressing things. Well, the thing is, is like I I kind of looking at the free agents or guys coming back from injury that they'll have next year, too. It's.

This is they're they're built. It's a fragile team, like not just injury sense, but it's just like, you know, even role sense, too. But that's what they are like. They're built on a lot of glass players, not only just the quarterback, but, you know, offensive line.

Shoot the defense, you know, a guy's getting hurt there. Bradley Chubbs, her, you know, Phillips, even offense lineman. They go with Toronto Armstead has had history of injuries, all those types of things. So it always just feels like they're built. They're a team built for one timeline that happens out of a hundred times where everybody stays healthy and everybody stays healthy for the majority of the season. The problem is, I don't know how they get out of that, because if you're saying, OK, we'll get someone that's healthier that we can have more consistency out of.

Where do you go to get that? What resources do you go to use on that? So I'm with you that I thought the offense without two, I was kind of excited because I sometimes want to see what these coaches do when they don't have their starter. And you saw what the Packers did, you know, with Malik Willis. And then you just see the Dolphins like, oh, you're just doing the same stuff. Yeah.

Oh, okay. That doesn't look as good. Okay. You're at like all these timing throws and, you know, anticipatory throws. She's stuttering through things, but that just wouldn't, I don't know. I just felt like this, they just kind of rolled the ball out there this year. You know, that, that, I don't know how to describe it, where I'm just kind of, I'm not going to say I'm like,

disappointed, but I am a little disappointed because it's just, I just thought I would see more. Like, I felt like they plateaued this year. And then I'm starting to look at where their next answers are and it's like, okay, well, they get some defensive reinforcements next year, but then they also have

Both their safeties are free agents. Both of their starting guards are free agents. Their main backup guard is a free agent. They've already invested in running back with draft picks and shooting him just even just vets and stuff like that. Oh, they'll take another one. Don't worry. They'll take another one in the third round. Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm trying to think who runs like a 4-3.

But yeah, no, they'll find another running back in the third round. Johnny Smith, you brought up good investment, but their O-line needs more investment. Now they need two starting guards. They have to figure out Tyreek Hill and Waddle are their receivers. And so, okay, we know what they're going to go in with that. So again, it's one of these where it's like, okay, where is the next tweak? Where is the improvement? Okay. You get a better offensive guards, right?

I guess that helps a little bit with the run game, but is that enough to go like, okay, we're the eighth best offense. Okay, we're number one, bonafide, juggernaut, all this stuff. So I feel like they can get back on track to maybe what they were last year, but is that a Super Bowl winning team or is that just a fun offense with a decent defense that makes the playoffs? You know, it's just...

What is the ceiling of this team? And I struggle to see what the actual one is, because now there's enough proof in the pudding of that this isn't enough or that they're not coming up with the answers or a new pathway to build. This is what they invested in. And I'm just struggling to find any new paths that they can build.

long-winded way to say to shrug my shoulders yeah it's a big shrug i don't know it's a big shrug i know and still like some of the offensive stuff they do but it's like geez it's just it leaves you frustrating a lot of times all right last team here a team that was all in according to their owner and they're now looking at with a four percent playoff odds they did win on thanksgiving so good for them that was the cowboys five and seven beat drew congrats play where's the parade

I know. It's just seeing Drew Locke out there. And then you have a couple throws, and people are like, oh, during the run for a touchdown, and then the rest of the game happened. I was like, oh, there's the Drew Locke I know and love. Yeah, but the Cowboys, who are all in this year, have another team that's had a season from hell. Where do you want to start with this team, Matt? What went wrong for the Dallas Cowboys this season? I mean...

Bad run game. I mean, what went right? Yeah, what went right? Defense. Quarterback gets hurt. O-line growing pains. Michael Parsons gets hurt. Anything else you want to throw in there? Zach Martin just got hurt. They're another team that had to absolutely walk the tightrope of –

things need to be perfect because they just took a pass on adding talent this offseason for the most part. And then like nothing really went right for them. Obviously, the Dak injury and everything there. But it's just this was this was a season that was always set up to fail. In my in my opinion, I mean, the Zimmer hire I thought was interesting, but the results couldn't have been worse than what we got that they just decided to

what was the plan at running back? Honestly, like what, what was the plan? Like, was it just a literal like pipe dream that Zeke was going to shoot? Now they needed him to turn. He was a nice player with the Patriots last year. I think he's just been worse this year. They needed, they needed him to like legitimately turn back the clock, which isn't a plan. And then like now Rico Dattles actually giving him something. It took,

12 weeks of the season to get to a point where he's like, we should probably just play him all the time. And I think he's not even like a needle mover. He's fine. The pass catch was beyond CD Lamb. Don't know what the plan was there. There's just a lot of things that there was really no plan. There was really no like, this is where we're going to get better, any of that stuff. A lot of just like hope and dreams. Like, are they even really committed to winning? It was the way that it felt like with this team in the offseason with some of the stuff that they were doing.

And I don't know, you know, they've won a few games here. You already hear Jerry Jones kind of say like, yeah, Mike McCarthy's a steadying hand. And we're probably going to get like a Mike McCarthy contract extension announcement like any minute is what it feels like, which is crazy considering where we were at a few weeks ago. But and by the way, it's not what I would do.

But they could beat the Bengals on Monday night this week. And then we're talking about a 6-7 team that maybe tricks themselves into thinking, like, let's do this again. But I don't even know what let's do this again looks like.

I don't either. Like, what is this? Nate, what did we do all year? That's what was just so frustrating about it is that we all knew what the woes of this team were, and they were just like, no, we're good. No, we're good. They gaslit us. Like, no, we're good. We're fine. We got Zeke. No, we got offensive line. We drafted two rookies. We're good. Like, you know, it was just, well, are you sure? Like, you got a second receiver. Oh, this guy's going to step up. You know, we still got Brandon Cooks. You know, it was just that they kept saying...

Everything's fine. You recognize the name. We got Eric Kendricks at linebacker. We're good. Yeah. And then they look into this season. Rico Dowell, who you just mentioned, free agent. Oso Odegizua, their one good defense tackle, free agent. Eric Kendricks, free agent, but not that matter much. Demarian Overshawn did step up. Overshawn did step up. So he has had a good year. I will give that a shout out. Zach Martin, free agent.

Has not played well either, Zach Martin. Has not. Sacrilegious because he's a great player, franchise legend. But even he's been – he's like playing through a back injury. Yeah. The O-line drop-off stuff is always hard to like –

like make a bold statement about because you're just like well it could be this it could be this i just want to make sure and then usually by the time you're like yeah no he has dropped off it's like too late so hopefully knowing the cowboys i bet you he's back doesn't matter what happens so hopefully it is just like maybe a little something that he's just working through but uh but like you said he's taking a drop off so like they have to make sure the o-line's kosher they need a second receiver have to have to have to have to get a second receiver it's just a

Help this offense out, help out. They need a running back that actually deserves the touches. It doesn't have to be Ashton Gentry in the first round, but it's a really good running back class, but they need to invest in it. Like they can't just do this again. They need beef in the defensive line. They, they need it. It's just, it's such a joke at this point, like what they have there and what they try to accomplish and,

It's like, I know when Parsons is out there and he did face an injury, but when he came back, this defense actually has had some nice moments. But that's the thing is it just can't be all on persons. It can't just be one guy. Just, I know he's a defensive player to your type can't type player, but it's just one of these things where it's like, you need other guys to help out, to lift up the floor of everything, offense and defense. That's what the whole team is. It's just, it's star hunting, which is fitting for what this team is, you know, with the, what they have on their helmet. But,

Yeah, I was on the Simmons show a few weeks ago and I said, like, my number one thing that I enjoyed this football season was telling the Cowboys, I told you so. And that's kind of I kind of feel the same. Like, it's just because this is how I felt every month going into the season. Every time we did a show, I'm like, this is still what they got, huh? And they feel good about it all in.

Okay. So we'll see how they pick up the pieces. They've nailed draft picks before, but it's just, again, they don't sign free agents usually. They got free agents they have to figure out, the ones that they have to re-sign. So they just have a lot of questions they have to answer. Man, I feel so negative now. Yeah, that's a tough way to end because I don't really know what to say about them. I don't know what to say about...

Because I really do think, if you made me guess right now, I think it's like 60-40 McCarthy's gone versus McCarthy stays. Which, that's high. That's high. 60% is not enough. It should be 90-10. It should be 90-10, but it's just the general complacency that this team has operated with.

I don't know. I really don't know. And also, there's also a part of me that's like, who are they going to get? You think Ben Johnson's begging to come in there? It's like when everybody used to talk about, oh, Sean Payton wants to find his way back to Dallas because of this, that, and the other. Dude, Sean Payton never wanted to go work with Jerry Jones. Are you kidding me? Nobody wants to do this. It's a clown show. It's not a serious operation. And they will probably be just – yeah, I can just see it in my head. Like,

I can see my Twitter timeline, you know, after the Mike McCarthy news drops, you know, post week 18, like, oh, Dallas has actually worked out a contract extension. It's going to be a one-year extension, so he's a lame duck coach again next year. Why not? Why not, man? Yeah, it's just, again, I really just don't know what the path forward is here because, like, this is what Dallas is. And until there's, like, kind of a wake-up moment where they decide, okay, it's

It's time to really change how we do things top down. I know it's funny to make fun of the tours and the facility and the sun and all that stuff, but it's all symptoms of the bigger disease here. And I think until they really look themselves in the mirror and approach it differently and become the type of team where I'd say, yeah, 90% McCarthy's gone just because they need to try something else. I just don't know that I can really take them seriously. Yeah, that's how I feel. It's...

It's just so many half measures or so much, so much where they're just like, no, we answered that we, or we addressed that or no, we're fine there. And it's just like, you know, we can see you, Jerry. Like we, we, I, I, I get your roster right here, right in front of me. I know how much everyone makes too. I know what your draft picks are too, but we're going to watch the games on Sunday. Like that team's going to play. I'm going to see you guys try out Cooper rush again with a straight face. Like I'm going to see you guys do it once again.

They put you in prime time enough, buddy. We're going to see the games. How many more do they have? I think it's only this Monday night one, I think. Okay. Oh, the Cowboys. Thank you. That's, yeah. Just come out with a straight face next year and actually be serious. Don't act like we're the crazy ones for pointing out that you are starting a rookie left tackle or rookie center, have no number two receiver, have Zico Elliott or running back. Don't make us look crazy because we're pointing those things out. Okay.

We're closing it out today. That was fun. Taps, play it right now. But Charles and I will be back on Thursday to preview week 14. We'll be recording that Wednesday night, however, but that's just a little behind the scenes. I don't even know why I said it. But anyways, we'll be previewing week 14. I'm Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice. Where can they find you, Matt? What 50 shows are you working on this week?

Yeah. Matt Harmon underscore VYB. Uh, we're still five days a week on the fantasy show for the next few weeks through the fantasy post season until we, uh, we find our way to week 18. Uh, then we'll be dialing back a little bit there, but excited to have you back on the show tomorrow. Uh, that's, it was weird. Not neither show, no football 301 for me last week, no fantasy film room. So, uh, glad to be back in the saddle here for, uh, you know, about a month more and then regular season is going to be over buddy. Isn't it crazy? I know week 14 that,

That's a, that's a, that's a big number, you know, and there's only 18 weeks guys. It's yeah. We're ramping up. I know breaking down schedules is a lot easier now. Like just going like, Oh, if they lose this, they're out. Oh, if they win, this is out. I don't have to like go through seven weeks. So it is nice. But yeah,

Again, you guys have been really great listening and sending those mailbag questions. Again, we'll try and get to those at the end of the Thursday show. Send them in the football 301 mailbag at YahooSports.com. Five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts. Go to the front of the line. Skip the line. Get the fast pass just like you do at Disney World.

You know, almost everybody gets the pass passing the lines 50 and I'm sorry, but subscribe to us. Follow us. Rate us five stars. Watch us on YouTube on the Yahoo sports YouTube channel. Thanks to Brent stone behind the scenes. Thank you to you, Matt. Thank you to everyone for listening. See you guys next time.

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