It’s finally over Carolina Panthers fans

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See website for details. CBSSports.com. Jim Harbaugh, the next one, right? He's next to Carolina. You think Jim Harbaugh would work for David Tepper? Yeah, I mean, I don't know which one would be less. Simpatico, Jim Harbaugh, David Tepper, or Bill Belichick and David Tepper. I mean, look, if Tepper just wants a middle-aged, like, Caucasian with several, like, extra chins to tell him yes, all the transactions he wants, I'll do it for a couple million bucks a year.

Dude, you can walk around downtown Charlotte and find, like, one of those every 30 feet. Think about this, though. Think about David Tepper's mindset if he was not interested. I'm just going to use Harbaugh here. Forget about Belichick. If Jim Harbaugh was interested in the job, legitimately interested in the job, how fast should David Tepper hire him? Insanely fast. This is the craziest part to me, and I don't know the specifics of how this was leaked out, and I'm trying to think where I read it exactly, but reportedly, the Panthers are not interested in Jim Harbaugh.

Right, which, to me, like, why not just hit yourself in the head with a cast-iron frying pan? I don't get it. The guy is an elite football coach. Dude, Jim Harbaugh, the 49ers, we were talking about this on ATW over the weekend, the 49ers had not had a winning season since 2002. And Jim Harbaugh took over the 49ers in 2010, I think, and he took them to the NFC Championship Game. And then the next year, he took them to the Super Bowl. And then the next year after that, he took them to the NFC Championship Game. And then they went 8-8, and there was a bunch of infighting with him and Trent Baalke, and everything imploded. And people were like, oh, Harbaugh can't stay anywhere for more than three years. Yeah, I mean, his personality is intense. I think that's true.

Maybe so. Dude, he wins everywhere he goes. Michigan's about to win a national.

I mean, Washington could obviously win. But how many guys go to their alma mater and take a team that had a five-win powerhouse Big Ten football team that has to play some hard opponents. And you go from five wins into Brady Hoke, just fizzled out, looked like Michigan was toast. And Harbaugh wins 10 games immediately the next year.

And all of a sudden, he's scoop-slammed Ryan Day on his face. He's dominating this rivalry with Ohio State. He's going to the playoffs every year. He's winning Big Ten titles. And he's on the verge of winning a national championship. Like, how on earth could you look at this guy's resume and think, I don't want him to coach my football team.

I think it was my buddy Blaine said. He'd have Bryce Young in the Panthers in the playoffs in two years. Yeah, I don't know if you can overcome their personnel that quickly, but he's an elite football coach.

Every single place he has been. University of San Diego, they won. Stanford. Stanford. Like, the Stanford Cardinal that became a staple in BCS football, right? This is before the college football playoff. Like, the Stanford Cardinal were like a staple, dominant Pac-12 team under Jim Harbaugh. He left David Joffe. He was 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl at Stanford. Yeah. Christian McCatt won.

With a bunch of nerds. Yeah, it was incredible what they did. Then he goes to the 49ers, wins there, goes to Michigan. Now, it shouldn't be that hard to turn Michigan around. You should have to really screw Michigan up to not be a national factor.

But it wasn't as easy as all of that to get it back going. He's lost three games in the last three years. His record with the 49ers was 44-19-1.

That is a 69% winning percentage in the NFL. That's nice. Very nice.

It's real nice. He went 5-3 in the playoffs. Yeah. And his losses were a wild finish to the NFC Championship game his first year against the Giants.

Right. A last-second miss in the Super Bowl in a crazy comeback against his brother. His brother, yeah. And Joe Flacco who blacked out and won this. Somehow Joe Flacco is still playing. And then the Seahawks NFC Championship gave him the following. His first three years he takes over the Niners and just goes to the NFC Championship game three straight years.

And it's not like he took over San Diego. The Torreros went 7-4 and then the second year 11-1, third year 11-1. Takes over Stanford and has him at eight wins and six Pac-12 wins or Pac-10 wins I guess at the time or whatever the hell it was. Within three years and 12-1 in his fourth year jumps to San Francisco 13-11, 12-8. Jumps to Michigan 10-10, 8-10, 9 obviously in the 2020 season with 2-12, 13-14.

This dude just wins. Yeah. He's an incredible head coach. So let me just get back to the NFL and then we'll get to what we saw on the field yesterday. I keep hearing Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers because there is that connection sort of, the Chargers not in San Diego anymore, but they have Justin Herbert. Are they inclined to pay Jim Harbaugh $15 million a year? To me the killer in that is that the Chargers are notoriously cheap and maybe Jim Harbaugh will come cheap because he's kind of goofy, but do we anticipate that happening?

Now I remember Harbaugh, part of the thing with Harbs and leaving Michigan, which I think he's going to do after he wins the national title tonight. I think they lose by the way. I have Washington in the game.

Look, go either way. Yeah, you're right. Fascinating how college football, it's so weird to have this like Michigan-Washington national championship game. Really? Big 10-10 game. Georgia or Alabama, crazy.

I love it. Regardless, I think after the 2020 season when they went 2-4 in the COVID year, Michigan demanded that he like, because he hadn't beaten, he couldn't beat Urban Meyer and Michigan made him take a pay cut. And there's still, I think, beef between him and the administration over that. Sure. Harbaugh will hold a grudge.

Not afraid to do that. But I think the Chargers' job is really interesting because John Spanos, who is Dean Spanos' son, is the president of football operations. And he fancies himself a real football savant. Oh man, like David Tepper. He's been around football my whole life. Yeah, but at least like David Tepper paid for it, you know? Well, it's true. And now the Panthers fans are paying for it.

You bought it, you can break it. John Spanos just was a lucky swimmer, that's all he was. One in a million shot, Doc. And if you read his bio, and I need to see if they've updated it, but the bio did read that it's like, John Spanos ascension through the ranks.

Surely they've updated it. Spanos ascension within the organization coincided with one of the most successful errors in franchise history, from 0-4 to 0-9. Basically, he is in charge of everything, and I sort of wonder, like Tom Telesco was his buddy, and he got along with Brandon Staley, and I don't know how Jim Harbaugh would mesh with that.

I don't see it. And there's the issue of, they're way over the cap, they have a bunch of older players, all kinds of problems in that regard. But I'm doing the rankings of the head coach openings right now, and writing it up, and it's really hard not to have the Chargers either at 1 or 2. Oh no, it's at 1, I just don't think that they're going to be willing to pay Jim Harbaugh if he wants money. I think you could make the case that Washington's a better job. I think, I don't know if it's a better job, but I said this last week, that's where I think he ends up. The thing with Washington is, you have Josh Harris, who's a new owner, and appears to have a better process than other recent new owners. We'll see, the jury's still out on science, as Joe Bluth once said, but you have this owner who's going to be patient, who's taking this different avenue, you bring in Bob Myers from the NBA side of things, you bring in our power, Rick Spielman, to sort of advise. They're casting a wide net, they seem to be doing an earnest job in this, they're not like, I'm going to get in that role or else!

You know, like flying in a helicopter to Waco, Texas. So, you also have, if you take the Chargers job or the Raiders job, you are playing Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid twice a year. That's two games a year. I don't think it's that hard.

That shouldn't shy anybody away. It's a lot harder to win that division. The commanders have won their division more recently than the Chargers have.

Well, that's a problem with hiring. I'm just saying, I think Washington, because they have the number two overall pick, they have this new ownership invested in it, they have a great fan base, and if you turn the commanders around, you are a legend in DC. So, I tend to think Washington won just above the Chargers just to have concern about that, but Harvard is the reason why they're way up there, why Harbaugh might ultimately go there.

Maybe. Again, I think Washington is a better place for Jim Harbaugh. Let's get to some actual games. The Bills finished five and one against the playoff field. That is the best record among all of the playoff teams. The Ravens won six, they lost three. You can toss the last one if you want, but the Ravens, the Eagles went six and two, although the Eagles have lost five of their last six games overall. San Francisco was five and three against the playoff group, and again, that last game probably doesn't matter at all, since they didn't play their starters, the Rams didn't play their starters, it was a glorified preseason game. But the Bills looked like they actively tried to lose and just can't enough. What does that mean going into the playoffs?

Neither team looked like they wanted to win that game, and both had incredible incentive to do so last night. Follow pack therapy wherever you discover your favorite podcasts or watch it on YouTube. Are you feeling lucky? No purchase necessary. Voidware prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply.

See website for details. Actually, Miami should have played for a tie, because then they would have gotten, if they gave it in a tie, Miami would get the Steelers in Miami, and Buffalo would have to go to Kansas City on Peacock on Saturday night, which, by the way, all you sons out there of, and I guess, I'm like, I'm borderline on the edge of this, but all the kids out there who have dads, who have technologically incapable fathers, whether they're in the range of 35 to 75, 85, whatever it is, go ahead and text your dad, text your mom, text whoever loves football in your family, and say, Saturday night, when you can't find the game, it will be on this thing called Peacock. You need to download it if you want to watch Chiefs and Steelers, but you may not, because it's Saturday night. Go enjoy your Saturday night.

At any rate, like, I forgot what you asked me. Oh my god, I'm so sleep deprived. It's the, it's the, the Bills can't lose, even if they try. And by the way, I am Peacock because that's how I watch Premier League football. So I am, I am all in.

We've got Peacock, we've got Peacock on every device in our house, so we're all set. Hey, and of course, I'm sure you watch Love Island and all that stuff. I don't watch Love Island.

We watch a lot of Chicago Fire in our house. Oh, there you go. So, on the, on the, I think the Bills, the interesting thing is, Brian McFadden said this on CBS Sports HQ like a few weeks ago, when I was, I said I thought the Bills were going to make a run, win the division. You did. You said it on this show.

Yeah, I've been doing that for weeks. And I mocked you at the time. I mocked you at the time. Absolutely. And I'd never do that again.

And I took that mocking and that, I took that derision in stride, don't worry about it. But the, so I think the problem with the Bills is that when the Jaguars lost, it clinched a playoff berth for the Steelers and the Bills, and the Bills went from this team, Brian McFadden said they were in playoff mode starting like week 12. This happened with the Steelers in 2005.

Their bats were up against the wall. They had to flip on playoff mode way earlier than you would anticipate doing. And I think the Bills kind of found out they clinched, like playing that night was the worst thing for the Bills because they played like a team. It was like, ah, we're good again. Yeah, we made it.

We made it. You know, and I think they, they need to get that edge back there. I think we probably got a little regression to the mean in terms of their success early on in the year. Their offense actually took a step back, even though everyone thinks it's been, it's been better. Their offense has been Josh Allen making plays when, when needed. And the defense actually has been great. Defense has been really, really good.

Sean McDermott's done a great job coaching of the defense. Look, the Bills are as dangerous as anybody in the entire field. The team you don't want to play, because if Josh Allen gets on one, he's going to destroy you. But Josh Allen can also, it's a classic Josh Allen, giveth, Josh Allen taketh away, or Josh Allen taketh, Josh Allen giveth away, I guess.

Because he, I mean, some of those picks, their fadeaway jumper, I've got the arm talent to throw this off my back foot over a defender and in between another defender. It's, it's stuff that can really burn you in the playoffs. And so I'm very curious to see how they respond.

I think they'll destroy the Steelers on CBS on Saturday. That gives the biggest spread on the, on the board. Ten, ten points there. Oh, is it up to ten? The first thing I saw was seven and a half. Yeah, it shot up to ten by midnight.

It was up to ten before Arthur Smith got fired. Well, the TJ Watt injury is everything. The Steelers, I think, were one and ten without the TJ Watt. Yeah, the TJ Watt injury is everything.

It's bad, it's bad, yeah. So I think Buffalo rolls them and then they, I'm trying to think what the... Miami, Kansas City, Houston, Cleveland. Yeah, no, I'm just trying to think what their path is because it's the, so it's more likely that they will play Miami. Or Kansas City. I don't know if it's in Cleveland though. What if it recedes?

Right, it recedes. So if Miami wins, then they'll, they'll get the winner of Cleveland-Houston. Yes. But do you think Miami, who can't beat anybody right now, is going to Kansas City to win in ten degree weather? I do not.

Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't either. And I don't think the Chiefs are all that right now. No, but I mean, like, the problem is, like, the things the Dolphins have started, started doing well down the stretch, which is, like, play good defense. I don't know how this is going to apply to them because they have Jalen Ramsey who's been locking people down, Xavier Howard's hurt. They've lost all their pass rushers. Jalen Phillips earlier in the year, Bradley Chubb, and Ginkgo went out last night. It sounds like he's going to miss time. So you have no pass rush to get after Patrick Mahomes and your number one, like, your lockdown guy, you know, Jalen Ramsey, not necessarily going to travel all over the place against Travis Kelce.

So it's really, like, sort of just a very bad matchup for Miami. On the other hand, Tyreek Hill coming back to Arrowhead is a pretty awesome storyline. I'm not sure if you know this, he played for the Chiefs.

I didn't get a breakthrough this year because, yeah, I know, right? Matthew Stafford once played for the Lions, too. Well, you know, you're on the Rams.

We only have a couple more minutes left. I'm on the Rams, yeah. You have been on the Rams for the last couple of weeks. I'm not going to mock you.

Well, maybe I will. Like I did with the Buffalo selection. Ramsville Super Bowl coming. I haven't seen that for, like, three weeks. That is a very interesting matchup, the way both teams have played. I don't know, man, Detroit, the injury to the tight end is a bad one. They say it's not as bad, but I can't imagine he's playing this week.

So they're probably a couple of weeks away from getting him back. But, man, it's going to be absolutely, I mean, crazy in Detroit for their first playoff game in how long, right? And you get Matthew Stafford coming back. This is Matthew Stafford's first playoff game. He was drafted in 2009. This is his first playoff game in Detroit. He played one, I think it was in Dallas, right? He had three playoff games, I believe, in Dallas. On the road, and they lost all of them because they hadn't won a playoff game in forever.

They lost all of them for sure, yeah. All right, so do you really have a Rams-Bills Super Bowl? Yeah, I had Bills 49ers. Bills over the 49ers before the season, so I'll stick with that. But, I mean, I think it's going to be Rams. I think it's going to be Rams and 49ers. Actually, if the Rams win, they would more than likely go play the 49ers in the divisional round. So either the Rams or the 49ers against the Bills in the Super Bowl.

Vegas, baby. I don't see the 49ers losing to anybody. My wife's terrified of the Rams, even though they always beat the Rams lately. Except for yesterday.

Yeah, again. And the last time they played in the playoffs. It was the third preseason game yesterday. Yeah, that was the Rams' Super Bowl year, correct? Yep, NFC Championship game. Crazy, isn't it?

Yeah. So, I don't see anybody beating the 49ers in the NFC other than the Dallas Cowboys. And unfortunately for Dallas, that game will not be played in Dallas. I think they're the only team right now capable of beating the 49ers. I think the Rams are capable of beating the 49ers. I think the 49ers would be a really, really good playoff game.

I also think Sean McVay deserves a lot of Coach of the Year love. And I think the winner of that divisional round game, assuming the Rams get past the Lions, play the 49ers. I think the winner of that will play the Bills in the Super Bowl. Is Philly done? Yeah, they're toast. I mean, any other team, they're terrible. Tampa's not good. Tampa's not good? Philly's not good. I agree with that, but Tampa's not good. Philly's playing poorly. Tampa's not good.

Those are two different things to me. I don't think Philly's been bad. Philly's been kind of bad all year. They really should have lost six of their last seven. It was a luck box miracle. They beat the Chiefs in the Bills coming out of the bye.

And then they just said, let's go to Matt Patricia. Now, are you feeling lucky? No purchase necessary. 18 plus terms and conditions apply.

See website for details. Who hasn't been booed without Bill Belichick? Yeah, I didn't get that from Nick Sirian. It hadn't worked out because their defense has been tracked. AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts both got banged up yesterday. They're going to play.

The finger injury to Jalen Hurts is a big deal. This feels like a Tampa, I don't know, Philly blasted them in the regular season. Early in the year, I'll take Tampa 24, Philly 21, Tampa advances. Philly goes one and done. They're yelling about firing the coaching staff in Philly right now. Nick Sirianni, he needs to go back to playing rock, paper, scissors. That's where we have to go.

That's what he has to do. They were in the Super Bowl less than 12 months. The NFL is so crazy like that. This team won the NFC less than 12 months ago.

It's like get rid of everybody. They were 10 and 1. And they have completely fallen off the face of the earth. That's Will Brinson who is 10 and 1 in my book. The season's not over yet. Alright man, we'll talk to you next week. Alright buddy, thanks for having us here. Got it, Will Brinson here on the Adam Gold show. We'll be right back.