Brian Urlacher Explains Why Aaron Rodgers Is The GOAT & Why Caleb Williams Is NFL’s Best Young QB

Just how great was Aaron Rodgers in his prime? He was going to know exactly what we were doing every single play. You know, he was tough. His record versus us was pretty damn good. It was annoyingly really good. And they beat us in the 2010 NFC Championship to go to the Super Bowl. They ended up beating Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. But he is my number. Like, if I had to pick a guy for my quarterback, it'd be him. What's up, guys? Mystic Zach here. Welcome back to episode 13 of Double Coverage. Today I am honored and privileged to be joined by eight-time Pro Bowler, former NFL Defensive Player of the Year, NFL Hall of Famer, and College Football Hall of Famer, Mr. Brian Erlacher. How are you doing today? Doing good, man. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Nice to see you. Good to see you. I'm already liking the convos. You're telling me about your picks, you know, what you had before the season. This is my type of guy. Yeah, most of them are wrong. It's hard to pick. Betting-wise, the NFL is impossible. It's impossible. I don't know how they get those lines so damn close. I don't understand it. Yeah. The over-unders are like half a point off. I don't get it. Right now, they've been moving the lines without the public even doing it. I'm like, what's going on here? I don't understand how the public moves the lines. I just know when I see a line, I like it. They're picking the games right now a little bit. So, the public went undefeated last week, too, which was shocking. That never happened. 6-0. Well, they can't mess with the games as much in the playoffs, I guess, with those lines when they're as tight as they are. Yeah, it's a little different. They can't swim like they do sometimes. You feel like they do at least. How happy are you as a Bears guy? Unbelievable. Man, I just – I'm happy that – so I went back to Soldier Field for the first time in eight years last weekend to the game, to the Packers game. I don't think I've ever seen a stadium like that before. I don't remember a lot when I played being like that, but being on the field in that atmosphere was unbelievable. and they're playing great. Ben Johnson's done a great job. Caleb's doing a great job, and their defense is playing well enough to win. Talk to me about bringing Ben Johnson and just the invigoration that he's brought to this franchise. It was huge. I think they've hired some, they've had four coaches in 12 years or something like that since they fired Lovey. Lovey won 10 games and got fired, by the way. Anyway, that was 2012. What he did in Detroit was amazing, right? They've hired guys that have been coordinators, but not like the level that Ben Johnson is. He was the hot commodity when he finally hit the market last year. He's changed the whole culture. Caleb's gone this direction, and I think he's going to keep going that direction as well. They've still got some pieces to put in place, but he's done a great job with the culture and getting these guys ready to play. What do you think about his mentality? I hate them. I love it. Our fans love that. Lovey's thing was number one goal was to beat the Packers, and Ben takes another step a little further after the Packers. But now when you do it and they beat him two out of three games this year Our fans are ecstatic about it I know the Packers fans are a little hurt because you know the handshake at the end of the game wasn't to their standards Yeah, I mean they've been beating the Bears for what ten years now Yeah, another little whiny after they get beat two in a row should play better. Yeah beat. Yeah 21 to 3 comeback. What was that? Well, and then the regular season game they're up 16 to 6 with like two and a half minutes to go in the game The Bears had to score get the onside kick kick the field goal and then throw a touchdown Everything had to go right, and he did it all. Yeah, obviously it's team effort, but it seems like Caleb has that X factor that you need. I feel like he starts playing his best ball when they get down by 10 or more. I don't understand. Not necessarily a great thing, but he just, his athletic ability, he throws the ball great, don't get me wrong, but he gets out of things, like situations that no one else could do in the NFL. Lamar's great, but Caleb's side-to-side movement, and just, he's like a cat back there, man. He does some crazy things, and he's got a cannon. He makes all the throws. It's amazing. Yeah, cardiac Caleb. Yeah, they call him Iceman. Iceman. I love it, yep. He's a stud. He's better off-platform than he is from the pocket. It's unbelievable. He makes things happen, man. When the play breaks down, that's when he's at his best, like you said. But it's fun to watch. The second you're in the league, he's going to get better and better. Yeah, one thing I want to ask you, you guys were fortunate enough to have some great Chicago teams. We spoke about the Super Bowl appearance. How many Super Bowls would you have won if Caleb Williams was your quarterback? That's hard to answer. Our defense was really good. I had some good quarterbacks as well. Rex was the man. You know, we had Kyle Orton right after Rex. And we had Jay for a couple years there. We got to AMC Championship with Jay in 2010, and that's as close as we got after we lost Rex. I would like to think at least one. I mean, but our money was spent on defense when I played. So we should have been really good, right? That's the way it was back in the day. You pick a side of the ball. We had defensive head coach, so we spent our money on defense. We should have been good on defense, and we were. But, man, I would have really liked to play with Caleb. I think we would have done some really good things with our defense him at quarterback. And the greatest special team of all time. Devin. Right? Yeah. That was good for six to eight touchdowns a year. You know, returns are, the thing, and with the return game the way it is now with that weird kickoff, Devin would have crushed it because he'd have got more opportunities. What would his value be today? Oh, my gosh. I mean, they kick out of bounds. You're looking at a 40-yard start, at least 40 every time they kick off to you. Yeah, you're looking at a return specialist who's, like, getting a first-round pick, like, in return if you want to trade him. Like, that's unheard of. And it's worth it. Yeah, I can tell you from firsthand watching this dude. He changed field position for you every single game. Teams were they kicked they punted out of bounds on kickoff. They try to find a way to get away from him because we kicked it to him. He scored. Yeah, there's no doubt. How happy were you when he got into the Hall of Fame? How incredible? He deserved it. You know, it's hard. Everyone says specialist, whatever. He was the best at his position of all time. There's no one even close to Devin for return and the return game. Well, there may be now with the way the return game has changed, But the way he did things, and, you know, he was – his rookie year, I think he had seven returns for touchdowns. Just you'll never see anyone who did it the way he did it. Great guy, good teammate, made a lot of good times in Chicago. Yeah, absolutely. I was happy for him. He earned it. You know, I think he got on his third try. You know, he might be a little mad he didn't get on his first try, but they're weird about specialists. That's just the way it goes. They're weird about first try. I mean, DeMarcus Ware didn't get it first try. I was like, oh. Dwight Freene didn't go on his first try. Yeah, they're a bit much. Jared Allen was a second or third bout Hall of Famer. I just don't understand. Oh, Antonio Gates. We had him on the show. Did he go on his first try? No, second try. And this year, Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees will probably get in his first try. But Larry Fitzgerald should be in no doubt first battle. Terry Owens, third battle Hall of Famer. Yeah, well, that's only off field. Well, that's not. But you're voting on what they did on the field. Yeah, of course. From what I can gather. He should be a first battle Hall of Famer. He was in my class. He was not happy. Yeah. I don't think Antonio Brown's going to get in. You don't think so? I don't think they're going to let him in. Yeah. Well, now all the stuff going on, I don't think they will either. But I don't know if his numbers – I don't know his numbers are. I think he's like top ten in every – Is he? Yeah, monster numbers. A couple years there, he was probably the best receiver in the NFL. Yeah, like almost 2,000 years, yeah. In one season? Yeah. Oh, damn, I didn't know that. He was a – That's pretty good, yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the off-the-field stuff, which shouldn't matter. Yeah, he's done. Yeah, it is what it is. Speaking of the Steelers, Coach Tomlin decided to step away. Yes. From the Pittsburgh Steelers. What were your thoughts on that? I have a ton of respect for Coach Tomlin and that franchise. I mean, you look at they've had three head coaches in what, 55, 60 years? Yeah. No other franchise can say that. They do things the right way. Coach Solomon does things the right way. But I think Coach Solomon's looking ahead. You look at what they got coming back. And, you know, quarterback is not sure. Their defense is getting a little older. So I think he might have saw what was coming in the future and thought it was a good time. But I have ton of respect for him. He's just a winner. The guy just wins every year. What are your thoughts on all the Steelers fans who are calling for his head constantly over these years? I don't get it. You know, I think when you get spoiled as a fan base, you just get used to winning. And when you don't win, the head coach is the reason, right? You know, that's the reason. He's the easiest guy, I guess, to pick a target at. But I don't get it. Their fan base is spoiled. I get it. You know, they're used to winning every single year, and then you don't do what you think you're going to do. You want to get mad at somebody. Yeah. What did you think about the move to acquire Aaron Rodgers and try to go in with him? I love it. You know, you kind of put all your eggs in one basket with Aaron because you don't know. Is he two years removed from the Achilles? so he's probably going to be quite a bit better. I thought he played great this year. Their defense was down. They had some injuries, but everyone has injuries. They got banged up a little bit. Didn't play the way they wanted to, but I'm a huge Aaron Rodgers fan. I thought he played great this year. I just love how he doesn't give a **** what people think and he says what he wants to. I like that. Yeah, I mean, just how great was Aaron Rodgers in his prime? He was going to know exactly what we were doing every single play. He was tough. His record versus us was pretty damn good. It was annoyingly really good. And they beat us in the 2010 NFC Championship to go to the Super Bowl and they ended up beating Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. But he is my number – like, if I had to pick a guy for my quarterback, it'd be him. Oh, wow. Yeah, he's good. I mean, ability-wise and the way he played, from his teammate perspective, all the guys I talked to who played with him, they love him. I'm a Cowboys fan. So are you. So I grew up with Cowboys, yeah. So that's my team. He tortured us. Man, it's so frustrating. And I love Dak. I love – it's just so – I mean, every year I'm like, this is it, man. You know, every year. every year. We just fed every year and this year was definitely our year. Definitely. Until it wasn't. Even when we were like 6-6, I was like, we're going to win the division. Philly falling apart you know we doing good and then we just don play good It frustrating Pickens is great He be gone CD back but I mean they can only play I mean, Dax makes $60 million a year. It's going to be hard to play other guys on the team. I get it. That's just the way it goes. We have a great quarterback like Dax. Talk to me about your son who's currently at USC. Yeah, so he committed to Notre Dame, went to Notre Dame his freshman year. They went all the way to the national championship. Didn't win, obviously. And then the portal rolled around, and he ended up transferring to USC. He started the last four games of the year last year, and he's got two more years left. He likes it. I mean, the weather is significantly better in California than it is in South Bend, so we like that. It's easier for us to get to the games. Two great schools, obviously. Notre Dame's great. USC's great. So it really couldn't go wrong there. How would you describe him as a ball player? Physical. He likes contact. He plays free safety. whatever he hits, for the most part, goes backwards. And he is not scared to put his helmet in your chest. So I like watching him play, man. Obviously, he's my son. I have a little bias. But he gets to the football. And when he gets to the football, he punches the guy with the ball. Well, he's playing for USC. He's got to be pretty damn good, whether there's bias or not. Yeah, well, I was proud he got into Notre Dame. How about that? You know, that's a pretty hard school to get into. So I was proud that he got in there. And then, you know, like I said, two great traditions of football at both schools. Yeah, absolutely. The NFL playoffs. This is as tight of a race as I can remember. There's no clear-cut favorite, really. I mean, Seattle's been incredible, but the first game on the docket, the Bills are going at Denver. What do you think about this matchup? I love Josh Allen. I'm a huge – by the way, the injury bug has just crushed the Bills this year, and they still find a way to get there. They didn't win the division this year, but they're in the playoffs. It's hard for me to bet against them. You know, I think – I'm a huge Sean Payton fan as well, and what they've done this year has been great, but it's hard for me to bet against Josh Allen. I've been defending Josh Allen forever. I mean, the people that were blaming him for those playoff losses. They put up 35 points and lose. What else could he have done? I mean, going into this, he had the highest touchdown interception ratio in the history of the playoffs for any quarterback. I mean, you look at his QBR, his passer rating, what he does, rushing the ball. What more could he have done in any of those games? Well, the quarterback gets all the glory and they get all the blame, right? Or the head coach, you know how that goes. Yeah, I don't know why you have to defend him. I think he's unbelievable. I mean, he's another guy, by the way, who I would love to play as my quarterback. How many rings would we have won with him with our quarterback? Who might have been really good. Yeah, at least three. Right. Yeah, he's unbelievable. You would think. I don't know. You never know. It's hard to say. Yeah, I picked them to win the AFC, you know, before last week's up, just because of him. Yeah, I agree. He's awesome. How incredible is he against Jacksonville? I mean, he just, he has to wield them to victory every week, pretty much. If they're going to have a chance to win the game, he's going to have to play great, because their defense is really banged up. They're getting some guys back, but they've just been banged up all season long. How do you think that they match up with Denver's defense, obviously a vaunted defense, and you've got to go to the altitude. How tough is that as well? Yeah, altitude sucks, I'll tell you that much. We played in Denver in December, my fourth or fifth year. It's different. You know, you get it in your chest. The first quarter is a little different. It's week 20, so it shouldn't matter. They're all in shape. You know, then everyone's banged up. They're a little more rested than the Bills are, obviously, but I don't think there's a bad matchup for Josh Allen. I know their defense is really good, but there's no bad matchup for Josh. You think there's going to be any rust? You had the first seed at one point. You guys went against Seattle, went to overtime. And we lost my second year. We actually lost two. We had two buys in 2001, 2005. We lost the first game after our buy at home. So it is different, you know, because you're kind of getting on a roller late in the season. You're playing good football. I think Denver, what, eight, nine, ten games in a row there for a while? Yeah. So then you get that break. You always want the break because you want to get your guys rested up and get healthy. But there could be some – it could take a while to get going. But Sean Payton's been there before. He knows how to coach those guys. He knows how to get them ready to play. Yeah. I mean, how incredible is that acquisition? to get Sean Payton. Unreal. I love Sean DeVette. He's a great coach. He's a player's coach. He's fiery. Knows his offense. I mean, Bo Nix, who knew he'd be that good, right? First-round pick. That's his guy. I mean, he just went and got him. This is my guy. Yeah, and he's played great. He's gotten better and better. Both seasons, he's done well. Were there at the playoffs last year as well? They were. Yeah, they limped their way in there. Two for two with Bo. Yeah, unbelievable. Sean Payton, wow. Hall of Famer. He's a really good, great coach. Yeah. 49ers, Seahawks. Seahawks been the talk of the town. I mean, they get that one seed. You got to go into Seattle, the loudest stadium ever. How loud is that place? It's loud. I mean, I don't remember it being – like when I played it was before they really got hyper with that 12-man stuff. But now it's just – I mean, the false starts they create and that defense. I mean, you saw them at – was it at San Fran the last game of the year when they played for the division? Yeah, and they gave up three points. Three points. Yeah. I mean, they were – there's like 13 guys at the football. I feel like they have two extra guys on defense. But they're going to be tough to beat at home, you know. Shanahan, Purdy, who knows? And division games are weird, man. That division is the hardest division to bet, if you ask me. No, it absolutely is. I don't touch that division. Yeah, well, playoffs, it might be even tougher. Well, it's got to be tough, right? They're all scrappy. They are. You know, every game is a field goal. I feel like it's either a field goal or it's a blowout in that division, unless it's Arizona. They're a little different. They're not as hard to pick. No, they're a little easier to handicap. A little easier to handicap, yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I picked Seattle. I said, you got to go out there and you got to bet on this team. they're 30-1 when the Super Bowl they were like I don't know 13th and yeah they were starting the playoffs no no no week three oh you took them early yeah yeah that's a great yeah that's a really like yeah I'm like I'm looking at Leonard Williams Demarcus Lawrence Devon Witherspoon I'm like this defense is incredible Mike McDonald I mean yeah they're tough and they run the ball Kenneth Walker's a good running back Charbonnet and then Sam you know Sam played great again this year 14-3 twice what more can you say I know man just gotta get I wanted to get a playoff win so So people will shut their mouths. I like Sam. He's a great guy. I met him a couple times in these golf tournaments. So I just need him to win so everyone will shut their mouths. What do you think about Mike McDonald and what he's brought to that team? That guy's awesome. Well, look at their defense. I think their defense took the jump right away. And the culture, everyone talks about culture. That's a big deal like Ben Johnson did in Chicago. I think they've created the same thing in Seattle. That fan base is just nuts. Yeah. That stadium. It caused an earthquake once. Yeah. I mean, the 12th man flag is going up there. They're tough. Yeah, I've got Seattle as well. I think they take care of business. I agree with you. I love Brock Purdy. I like Shanahan. I mean, they've got nothing left. I mean, Kittle gets hurt last week. He's throwing to nobody. Not nobody. I don't mean that. But the receivers are down, and their defense is really banged up as well. No, the receivers are down. I mean, they do step up in big moments, some of those guys. You know what I mean? Even if we don't know their name. I feel like Juszczyk's probably their best weapon now. Probably. With George out, they've been banged up, man. Yeah, shout out to Juszczyk, another all-pro selection. Juszczyk, well, he's the only fullback in the NFL. He's the only fullback. He's awesome. I don't even know if he's a fullback. He's like a receiver, a fullback, a tailback. He does it all. He's been the best fullback forever. Yeah. Like the easiest lock for all decades. Was it this year they cut him or last year? Last year. And they brought him right back. They cut him and brought him right back. Thank goodness. But, yeah, that dude's a stud. Awesome. Texans, Patriots. This is an interesting matchup. That defense for Texans is good. Yeah. What they did to Pittsburgh last year. I just, they're going into New England. something about playing in New England in the playoffs is different. And Brable is going to have those guys ready to play as well. Drake made his stud too. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, their defense looked incredible against the Chargers. They were causing all sorts of havoc. Yeah, they were. I mean, poor Herbert was going to hit every single play. Stroud had me a little nervous last week the way he played. I wasn't expecting him to play like that. Three turnovers early on. Still, they end up winning the game, but he didn't play as well, I think, as he would have liked. You know, the turnovers are going to get you in the playoffs. And we take away his number one receiver now. Nico's going to be out. Is he out? Was it a concussion? That stinks. I did not know that. Yeah, I definitely like the Patriots in that game then. I know the Texas defense is good, but they're going to find ways to move the ball on them. Yeah, and the Patriots had weird success against great defenses this year. They played against the Browns, probably the second best defense. They put up like 420 yards of offense. McDaniels is a stud. I know Vrabel's an awesome head coach, but Josh McDaniels, That thing is how they score points, and they will game plan the out of you and find a way to move the ball on you and score on you. Yeah, he's a genius offensive coordinator. Yes, OC, for sure. And they go out, they get Travion Henderson in the second. Oh, that guy, he's so fast. He's so fast, man. Drake Mays playing great. Diggs is there now. They just find guys and plug them in. They all trade straight away. There we go again. Yeah, Vrabel had such a similar impact to Ben Johnson in Chicago. I mean, we flipped the conferences, but they both just shot him adrenaline. What were the Patriots last year? Four and five win team? Yeah, four or five win team, yeah. And you've got to remember, week one, they lose to the Raiders. This year? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. The over-under in wins was like five and a half. I mean, we're like, they're dead in the water. They lost to the Raiders. And then they just go off. Who do you think is MVP, by the way? MVP? I got Matthew Stafford. I agree with you. But they said Drake Mays in the conversation. I think Matt's the MVP. 46 touchdowns, 8 picks. What? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know. I don't look at numbers like you, dude. That's unbelievable. That's freaking incredible. Yeah, he's MVP, no doubt. What did you think about DK Metcalf and the guy in the stands? I think it was overblown. I don't think he was a good guy. So if you watch the whole video, all you saw was him going like this. That's the first thing I saw. If you watch the whole video, he reached up and grabbed his hair and he like pulled it. Yeah, all he did was he just grabbed him. Shouldn't have done that in the first place. I get it. But I don think it was egregious as the media made it out to be They voided all of his guaranteed money I think the Steelers said they weren going to do that Yeah the Steelers luckily they a class franchise They're a great organization. They don't do that to their players. But you can't interact with the fans. I know they do some stupid things. I've seen it firsthand. But you just can't do that with them. Would you even have a Twitter or an Instagram today if you were playing? There's any benefit. I think it would be hard not to because I like interacting with people. like good, bad, whatever. I like to stay on my ground sometimes. So, yeah, I think I would have a good time with it, but I wouldn't let it bother me. I wouldn't read the comments. How about that? Yeah, what about Lil Wayne tweets to Caleb Williams? Did you see that? Yeah, I saw it. One of the things I follow. It's good. Yeah, he apologized for it. You apologized. If your team gets beat like that, I guess you're told of your opinion. I told you, the Green Bay fans, man, they don't like getting beat by the Bears. They're not used to it. The more Lil Wayne type fans think better for the sport. Bring that back. Yeah, I agree. Get the big celebrities back involved to get into the games. Good. That's the energy we need. And he's like a real diehard hardcore fan. Why? He's from New Orleans, right? Yeah, I don't. Maybe he likes the colors. I don't know. He has that song, Green and Yellow. Black and Yellow. No, he made a remix, Green and Yellow. Oh, I didn't hear that one. Sorry. I'm not current. Sorry about that. Remember, they beat the Steelers that year. He made Green and Yellow. I remember because we were the team that the Packers beat to go to that game. Yeah. Oh, you guys were great that year. Not good enough. That was, oh, that should have been your year. Thanks. Did you feel that way? I mean, gosh, we had Julius Peppers, Charles Lance, Jay. Who was our – I'm trying to think. Yeah, Greg, we had some dudes, man. I felt like we should have – Jay got hurt in the second quarter in that game. That's not why we lost, but it didn't help that we didn't have our starting quarterback. Yeah, 4K. He was good for a couple games there. But, yeah, we just didn't play well enough. The final game, the big game, the one that we have to talk about. Yep. Rams at Chicago. Yes. Break this game down for me, Brian. It's going to be cold. I'll tell you that much. I'm glad we got it at home. The Rams, they can score in bunches. Like you said, 46 touchdowns for Matt. It's going to be cold. I've seen some numbers about Matt playing in cold weather that aren't very good for them, but those are the past two great head coaches. We'll see, man. I'm a Bears guy, so I'm going to lean towards the Bears, especially with getting four points. Betting purposes, the Bears are getting four, so I like that. It's going to be hard to beat them at Soldier Field, though. Those fans are, like I said, I've never seen it the way it was last week. I've never seen a stadium like that before. So I'm sure it's going to be even crazier this week. Talk to me about how this Bears defense matches up with the Rams offense. Secondary, we're good. We're loaded in the secondary. We're going to have to get pressure up front. Puga Nakua is a monster. They run the ball good. They protect Matt. The ball's gone fast. Sean McVay gets guys open. They're paying the ass. They were paying the ass for a defense, but we lost T.J. Edwards last week, too. T.J. got hurt there in the first quarter or second quarter. So we're banged up, but everyone's banged up this time of year. So just got to next man up and go in there and make some plays. Dennis Allen has done a good job this year with our defense. He puts them in good positions to make plays, but if you blitz Matt, he will make you pay. Yeah, absolutely. Puka's unbelievable. Oh, my God. I don't know how he does it. He catches everything. Did you see the catch he made that was out of bounds? Yeah, that was one of the best catches I've ever seen. Or whatever game it was. It was the very last game of the season. The catch, it was out of bounds, but he caught – I mean, the ball was in limbo for half a second. No, I think it was, yeah, against the Falcons. Falcons, yeah. Yeah. They lost that game. But, yeah, I mean, he's a badass. And then opposite side, they go out and get Devontae Adams. He had 14 touchdowns. Yeah. And he missed the last three games. He's good. Yeah. I'm not sure how healthy – I don't think he's fully healthy. After pulling a hamstring myself, it's hard to come back after two or three weeks and be full speed, especially at receiver. Yeah, in the cold, right, a little tougher. It's just your legs just feel like they're not moving in the cold. And we're all going to have to deal with it. It's supposed to be 8 degrees or something like that. Yeah. Perfect. No one's really talking about the climate. I mean. That has to be a big factor. There's no way not to mention it. I mean, I don't know how. I didn't like going to play in Chicago all season long. I didn't like going to play in Florida in November and December because it was hot as hell. Yeah. And I know they didn't like coming to Chicago in November and December because it was cold. So it's a dynamic there. You can't just get used to it in a quarter. It's a process to get used to the whole game, and you're not ever going to be comfortable. It sucks. Matthew Stafford, first ballot Hall of Famer. Yes, no doubt. No doubt. Especially after he gets the MVP this year. Yeah. Has he won it before? No. He has not. He's his first MVP. How many years is this for him, like 16, 17? Yeah, a lot. He was drafted in 09. So I played against him three or four years there in Detroit. He was good, just didn't have much around him there in Detroit. Yeah, that's the story of a lot of these quarterbacks when they're in the wrong situation. I know. Sam. How about Sam? Sam going to Minnesota. Baker. Baker. I love Baker, by the way. What a beast. What a dog. Oh, man, I love that dude. One of my favorite quarterbacks. That dude just plays hard. Yeah. Every game. Love it. What's the storybook on Stafford's career if he doesn't get to the Rams? He stays in Detroit the whole time. Well, Detroit got good. So, Dan comes in. You know, so maybe we would have got Dan. If he had Dan Campbell, he would have won. You never know. Yeah. It might have changed a little trajectory. I'm not saying their head coach is the reason he lost, but they got better players around him. Jared Goff's played really good there the last few years. So who knows? I think a rare win-win trade for both those teams. Oh, no doubt. Yeah, you know, Goff, I didn't want to leave there to go to the situation in Detroit, but it's worked out for both guys, that's for damn sure. Yeah, and you got two of the league's best coaches in McVay and Campbell. Yeah, I love Dan Campbell too. Yeah, oh my God, what a dog. He's a beast, man. He just tells you how it is, man. He goes to the mic, takes all the blame for everything. Anything that goes wrong, he takes the blame for it, like a good head coach should do. I got a lot of respect for that. He's your type of guy. He is my type of guy. Yeah, I could definitely play for Dan Campbell. Yeah, you definitely paid. I feel like I could, yeah. You could definitely fish with him. You could definitely play. Yeah. Yeah, he tells you what he's thinking. I like that. There's no in-between with him. I appreciate that as a player. Yeah, if you had to put money on one team to win the Super Bowl, who would you go with? One team right now besides the Bears. How about – can you just say besides the Bears? Besides the Bears. Besides the Bears and the Cowboys. We'll leave those two out. I'm going to go based on quarterbacks and it would be Josh. Josh. Yeah, it's just hard for me to – and I know he hasn't been to the big game yet, but it's hard for me to bet against him. Yeah. And if they play Seattle, it won't be in Seattle. It'll be in the Super Bowl. So it'll be at San Fran. It'll be out of that stadium, neutral field. But Josh is a badass. He is. Yeah. What about you? Who's your pick? My pick – Can you pick now or do you have to wait? No, no, no. I picked. I picked before the playoffs. I picked Rams-Bills. Oh, that's a good one. Okay. Yeah. So I'm thinking if the Bears don't make it, I'm going Seattle-Bills is my pick because of Josh. Dude, at Seattle's going to be so tough. It is going to be hard to beat them there. Yeah. I picked the Rams preseason. They were like 10th and odds behind the commanders even. So I'm just sticking with them. I got you. How about the Redskins this year? They had a tough season. Tough season. Tough year. Well, Jaden got hurt. I mean, it's a tough season. I didn't see them taking that stuff back. Tough season. I thought they were people in this direction. He is? Yep. Where'd he go? He hasn't gone anywhere yet. They mutually agreed to part ways. Yep. Oh, my gosh. I didn't know that. Yeah. That's not good. I like him. Yeah. Yeah. Basically I like everybody as you can tell. Yeah. You're very positive. I like that guy. Yeah. If I don't like it might as well say anything. Reverse Skip Bayless here. Yeah. If I don't like it might as well talk about him. Easier that way. If you don't have anything nice they don't say it at all. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. He's a they fired the defensive coordinator as well. They had a rough season defensively obviously. Yeah. It's always the coordinator's fault right. Yeah. Not the head coach. Not the players ever. It's never the players fault. You got to get rid of all these coaches. It's their fault. Yes. Yes. Well, we know we can play better. You know, we're making more money. I get it. So you want to keep the players and trade out the coaches because it's their fault. And you know when the guys aren't putting in the work that they're supposed to. Not the work. I know when they're not playing. You can see when guys aren't playing to their ability. And the coaches see it as well. So it's like getting to play their ability. Do you attribute that to more like off-field stuff? Maybe not a film study? No. I just, I mean, sometimes, I'll say this. There's a lot of guys hurt that you don't know that are hurt. I'll say that. And as players, we know, especially as teammates of the guys, you know who's hurt and who's playing hurt and who's playing through injuries. And most of the guys are this late in the season. They're all hurt. That's a great point. If you play 17, 18 games, you're going to get beat up. So the media doesn't know that. The coaches don't, the players won't talk about it. But pretty much everyone's hurt this time of year, unless you're a kicker or a holder. Absolutely. You know, you see guys posting from the surgery room, and it's like cleanup surgeries, but guys are like, I didn't even know you were hurt. Yeah. Bro, they're all hurt. Everyone's hurt. Usually after a week one or two, Everyone's banged up. And then you're just trying to stay healthy the rest of the season. Do what you can to get as healthy as you. Bi-weeks are huge. I didn't realize how big they were until probably fourth, fifth, sixth year of my career. I couldn't wait for the bi-weeks. I would look at them on the schedule and see when they were. Obviously a great weekend of playoff football coming up. But the coaching role we spoke about, Tomlin. Let's go Harbaugh here. Yeah. That's big news. He goes to the Giants five years, 100 million. The Giants fans are as excited as they've been since they probably won the Super Bowl last. I mean, they are ecstatic to bring that guy in the building. I can't believe they fired him. I was pretty shocked about that. But I mean, that's probably the best job. And I mean, you look at the quarterback. I think Jackson Dart's pretty good. Their defense is young. Neighbors didn't play this year. So you got him coming back next year. I think that probably the best You know when you look at the teams that were open the teams that he interviewed right because they didn interview him he interviewed them Like that was probably the best situation to be in Just New York's a tough place to coach football. Yeah, it is. The thing I can do is Harbaugh. I think he's a stud. Obviously, he's proven what he can do over the past few years. And you're a defensive guy. I mean, they've got some studs on the defense. They do. Thibodeau, Burns. Yeah, Dexter Lawrence. Oh, Dexter Lawrence. Yeah, they've got some dudes. You know, they've got all those guys up front getting a bunch of sacks. Abdul Carter. Abdul Qadir, yeah. He had a little trouble with shit, didn't he? A little bit, yeah. A little bit, yeah. They made up some reports. Yeah, I don't know. Media said it, so I'm not sure if it's true or not. Yeah, exactly. If I hear it from the horse's mouth, I'll believe it. Yeah, I think some of it probably fabricated. Yes. He did try to take LT's number, though. What did you think of that? Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of that. You know, that's a number, I think, around the whole NFL that's pretty sacred, 56. You don't want to try to bring that one out of retirement. Maybe get a few more sacks and you can talk about it. Lawrence Taylor, is he the GOAT? Defensively? Yeah. Him, Reggie White. I'm trying to think. I mean, those two stand up. Bruce Smith, 200-something sacks. We don't have to play a long time. I'm biased towards Dick Buckus because I play for the Bears. That's fair. The meanest dude of all time on the football field, he did and got away with, would not be – he'd be impressed if he did it. I mean, he was mean. I love it. But every time I got a chance to meet him, I cherish those times because he said what he thought all the time. There was no holding back, no political correctness. Just he said what he thought all the time. I like that about him. It's your type of guy. Yeah, it's my type of guy. There's no in-between. You know where you stand all the time with him. Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of other coaching spots available. We've got to mix and match them. I mean, if you're the Tennessee Titans, who would you go after? I mean, I don't know. You've got a young quarterback. You've got a lot of cap space. Yeah, I like their quarterback. Do they have a lot of cap space? They do? Yeah, they have a lot. They do. I don't know how that stuff works. I don't know who I go after. I mean, I think it depends on if you want a guy to work with a young quarterback, right? But they had a guy like that, right? Then they fired him? Yeah, they did fire him. Yeah, so I don't know. What about Mike McCarthy? You went against him for a lot of years. I love Coach McCarthy. Yeah, I didn't know. Is he in the mix? He is in the mix. Well, I like that. That's what I hire. I like Mike McCarthy. And he coached for the Cowboys, too. Yeah. Did a good job there. And Green Bay, we played against him at Green Bay. But he's another old school, kind of hard-nosed guy, and he works with both quarterbacks. I think he had Green, Brett, and Aaron. Yeah. They coach them both. So, he knows some pretty good quarterbacks there. He was awesome in Green Bay. He was great. I know. I was surprised he left there as well. Yeah. Just how open, like, Jordan Nelson would get down the field. Like, what is Mike McCarthy doing? That's what's – it's been – I'm going to go to Lincoln Riley. Yeah, yeah. It was amazing as you're watching USC play how many times these dudes are wide open. Like, he gets these dudes. Yeah. Like, there's no one within 20. I'm like, how the hell do you get this wide open against good football teams? I think good coaches have a knack for doing that. They just get their guys open, and that's what they do. Some of these other jobs, the Miami Dolphins. You got the weather. You got the – Not a very desirable – But you have the team. Not a very desirable job, in my opinion. Who's your quarterback? I mean, I got Ewers. I know that. I understand. He played this season. I just – chaos down there. I'm not sure that would be a job. I mean, if you're getting a head coaching job, you don't care where you're coaching, I guess, right? Yeah. And you always think you can turn the place around. You have to have that mindset. Yeah, what did you think about the decision to fire McDaniel a little bit early for you? How long has he been there? Three, four years? Yeah, he made the playoffs a couple times. I don't know, man. Winning record. I feel like they kind of quit early. Early in the season it was tough, and then they got hot there in the middle of the season. I didn't like benching Tua. I mean, I know he was struggling, but you paid him all this money. You might as well play him. Yeah. But if you're not going to play him, he's not going to be your guy for the future. You want to see what you have in yours, right? Yeah. I get that. I see both sides, but I just don't. I mean, I feel like you're just saying we're giving up. We're going to bench our guy who played $250 million. So we're going to bench him and see what we have and move on. Yeah. The Cardinals. These are rough jobs, some of them. I mean, yeah. Kyler's gone. Kyler's gone? Yeah, he's gone. I did not know that. Well, I don't know. That's not a very desirable job either. And I live in Arizona. Yeah, these are rough jobs. Yeah, that's tough, man. Jeez, bringing our kind of thing down here, bro. You're going the wrong direction. All right, we're at the Ravens. Oh, yeah, that's a good job. Where the job that is? You got Lamar. Anyone interview for that one? Anyone good there? I think Minter as well. Oh, yeah. Go back to him. Yeah. Yeah. I like him. That's a great job. How great is that job? First-team all-pro quarterback MVP guy right there. That's where I want to go. That's where I want to go, too. Yeah. Defense is pretty good. Yeah, that's where I'd want to go. That's a very desirable job. Yeah. Do you think they go with an offensive coach or a defensive coach? Good question. Harbaugh. What was Harbaugh? Special teams. Special teams guy. Yeah. Shout out to Harbs. I don't know, man. I think maybe you go with – I don't know. I would go with offense. And then because their defense, you know, I think it's fun to work with. When you have a head coach that marries up with a quarterback, I think it's a very successful chance to be successful. I definitely want to ask you this question. Okay. Philadelphia Eagles. I thought you were looking over there, bro. Philadelphia Eagles. They didn't fire their coach. All the blame goes to the offense of coordinator. Just the OC. His one year there, Kevin Batullo gets axed. His fault. everybody blames him and only him. All the players get alleviated of the blame. What are your thoughts on that situation? I mean, it helps when guys who are throwing the ball catch it. You know, when they hit them in the hands and they catch it, that definitely helps your situation. You know, when you don't take sacks, when you don't turn the ball over, it helps. I mean, it's easy to blame one guy. You know, nobody wants to be that guy, but they definitely gave him all the blame. I don't think that was very deserved. No. But that's the business, right? You can't fire Sirianni. Of course not. It's not his fault. But I'll tell you this. There's some situations in that football game versus Sam Fran that if certain guys make plays, if they catch the ball when they're supposed to or maybe do a better job of their job, they win that game. Yeah, I agree with everything you just said. No, I'm not going to name names, but if they just do a little better job of doing their job. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, a little more. I bet them that game, too. I didn't need him to win by six. I just need him to win. That was it. That was my miss, too, the weekend. I just need him to win. That's it. I hit the Bills, hit the Bears. I was on a great roll. Patriots. Yeah. Yeah. I was feeling good. I had the Bears. Yeah, there was another one I had, too. Oh, Carolina. 10 points. It was a lot. Home. In a playoff game, 10 and a half points? At home. That was like, I don't know, they're giving money away that game. What was going on? And they beat them three weeks before. Or a month before, whatever it was. Yeah, too easy. There's a lot of scandals right now involving point shaving, gambling, all that sort of thing. Was that a thing while you were playing? Did you ever get propositioned? No. I didn't understand the spread when I played. I didn't know what the plus or minus was. I didn't understand the totals, but I didn't understand who's a dog, who's a favorite. I had no idea. I didn't care. We never got approached and it wouldn't matter if we did. The people that can affect the games the most are the refs. The quarterbacks, the kickers, and the refs in my opinion are the ones that can affect the game the most. Yeah, I mean the refs are kind of if there was something weird happening, it would be the rest There are so many things that come out now that they they show you reasons why Certain plays are made or certain calls are made like like you're watching a game like there was someone was favored by I want to say seven and a half points and they're up by ten. I want to say it was a Raiders and somebody else and The clocks running down and the game's pretty much over and they throw a delayed game on the defense and and the team kicks a field goal to lose by seven, and the line was seven and a half or eight. I don't know. I want to say it was the Raiders and maybe the Seahawks. I don't know. It was Pete Carroll who made the decision. Pete Carroll to kick the field goal. Yeah. But that's not his fault. I mean, you're thinking you get an onside kick, but the clock is running out. I just remember the interview. The clock is running out either way. There's no time on the clock and you kick a field goal. Why? Throw it in the end zone. I mean, there's some things. Very questionable decision. But why did the guy throw the flag anyway? Yeah. The game's over. I just don't. There's some things that you're like, what the hell? I can't believe eight had coaching jobs. And to me, the Pittsburgh and the Baltimore shocked me. We had Chris Carter on. He was like, I wasn't surprised where there's smoke, there's fire. You know, we've been hearing about this for a long time. Yeah, but, I mean, just Tomlin never loses. I know they didn't go to the standards, and I know he stepped down, but I think it was a mutual split. The one that really shocked me was Baltimore. I mean, Harbaugh's the man. And they were competitive. You know, they had injuries this year. 189 and 124 win-loss record. most road playoff wins ever as a head coach. Super Bowl, obviously. Yeah, that one shocked me, but maybe it's kind of similar to Baltimore. You've been there so long, you kind of get monotonous. People get used to hearing the same voice. They don't listen anymore. Maybe your players get that way. I don't know. Yeah. It's an exciting time, though. Coaching carousel, NFL playoffs. Yeah, the playoffs are always fun. I love the playoffs. Especially when the Bears are in it. Yeah, this is very exciting. It's been a while since they've been in, so it's very exciting. Yeah, you'll be there, right? I'm not going to this game. Oh, you're not going to this game. No, man. I went last week and froze my butt off. and I tell Giddy for the first time ever at Soldier Field, the fans are phenomenal, man. I think I took 5,000 victories before the game. But I'm going to watch it on my couch this Sunday. Shout out to the Bears, but you're not going to get Brian Urlacher this weekend. Not this weekend. I'm not going to be there. I'm sorry, guys. They did okay without me up to this point, so I think they'll be just fine. Are you supporting at home? Yeah, I'm supporting. No worries. I'll be yelling at the TV from my couch. Double coverage. Thank you for tuning in. The legend, the Hall of Famer, Brian Urlacher. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Just like you.