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Welcome into the Winkler Verse. I'm Bart Winkler. Joining us in the Winklerverse return guest, Matthew Collar, Purple Insider, covers the Vikings. Packers play the Vikings this weekend. Allegedly.
What happened to them this year, other than they made a big bet on McCarthy? Look, okay. I'm a mac Um, let me put it this way. I have a very soft spot. for quarterbacks.
I will not decree them to be bust. Until they're like three years out of the league. And Troy Aikman's been talking about how. Teams fail the quarterback. The quarterback doesn't fail the team.
And I love that he says that. I love that someone's saying that.
So, I'm not going to declare McCarthy a bust. Also, there's weeks where he does not look like a bust. Also, I have him in a Dynasty Fantasy League, and I wouldn't trade him for a couple of first-round picks, so I need him. To be good. I guess where I'll start.
Is Do the Vikings Feel like they made the right decision. Seeing Sam Darnold potentially playing for a one seed. And even Aaron Rodgers, if any of that was true. Playing for a playoff spot. Matthew Collar.
I introduced him now, I'll let him speak. You sure you don't want to talk about Max Brosmer versus Clayton Toon? I mean, it's a really great matchup. You less, you said you love quarterbacks. There is no worse.
football on earth. than the week 18 1 p.m. or noon slate. It is, it is like, why are and then I'm gonna then I'm gonna like build a fantasy lineup for DraftKings or some shit. I'm gonna be like, who needs their incentives?
And I'm gonna be like, I'm outgaming the system. And then. No, I don't want to talk about I don't want to say those names again the rest of this time.
Okay, I will not do that. But to your point about whether the Vikings believe that they made a mistake, I mean, I think that that is extremely obvious that they did. Because if they franchise tagged Sam Darnold, they could have had their cake and ate it too. They could have evaluated J.J. McCarthy behind the scenes, which was something that they were unable to do last year.
It is very real, as we see from Malik Willis and Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers, that if a quarterback gets- Oh, even Daniel Jones, sorry to interrupt, but even Daniel Jones, they had in the building for what? They did. They did. And they wanted to bring back Daniel Jones, but he went to Duke.
So he's got big brain and he figured out that Indianapolis did not have their anointed one like the Vikings, that they were already out on Anthony Richardson.
So he went there instead of losing a competition that he would have been the better quarterback in to J.J. McCarthy. But when we go back to the end of last year, that's where the story really begins, which is losing those last two games. For Sam Darnold. And I think that if you had ended the season after the victory at the end of 2024, where he beats the Packers and plays extremely well at home, and the team is carrying him off on their shoulders, then it would have been an easy choice to, at very least, franchise tag him.
But there was an argument through 17 weeks last year to sign Sam Darnold to a long-term contract and declare him your franchise quarterback and say, We love you, JJ, but we're trading you to whoever and move forward with Sam Darnold. Those last two games were so bad that no one can ever tell me it didn't influence exactly what they were thinking. And not just on Sam Darnold, though. This is a key point that I think people miss. The week 18 game was probably more Darnold.
The playoff game was more, they didn't have a good enough team to stop the Rams defense, and they got really wildly outcoached. But in that Rams game, they were the worst team in the trenches by a lot. And that influenced them to spend a lot of money on defensive tackles and interior offensive line. And the line of thinking was that if you took all the money that you'd have to give Darnold and a franchise tag and you put it into the trenches and they liked where J.J. McCarthy was coming out of 2024 training camp, if he was 75% of Sam Darnold as a quarterback, that they would have so much through the rest of the roster that they would be in the playoffs competing in his first year and really create a two-year window for themselves to try to chase the Super Bowl.
And I think what we've seen is that that idea was not that flawed considering how good the defense is right now. And they have been healthy, which is not often, their offensive line has been really good and they have the wide receivers. They added another running back.
So the theory was there that if you look at some other teams like just, for example, Philadelphia, they moved on from Carson Wentz, like a flawed franchise quarterback. Quarterback, and they put in Jalen Hurts, and Hurts reached a certain level, and the team around it was fantastic. It even goes for like Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy, where you see them just put so much money into the roster around Purdy, and you have good coaching, and you think, well, this guy can take you deep into the playoffs if you have. Everything else, right? And the thing that they missed was that JJ McCarthy has barely played any football in his entire life.
He played in high school, which means nothing. And then he went to college and threw under 750 passes, which is wild because that's almost one year of Michael Pennix in college or Bo Nix in college. And then he comes to the NFL. And he's not able to have a year behind the scenes of working on how to throw a football.
So then you put him into this circumstance with no net whatsoever because Daniel Jones decided to sign with Indianapolis and they elected they had an opportunity with Rogers. They elected not to go that way. And I think that's still the right decision. And what ended up happening was he just wasn't ready, and he wasn't anywhere close to being ready. And I think that McCarthy has the skills to eventually be a good quarterback.
But we get through this entire season, he's played exactly one half of one season, 8.5 games. And it still feels like we don't really know what they have. And he's hardly thrown any passes. He's two years into his career, and he's got 220 passes or something. I mean, how are you supposed to.
Go forward believing in that, and I think that was what they didn't consider enough of. They thought. We're different. We can coach him up. We can put so much on the field around him.
He'll barely have to do anything. And they miss that playing quarterback in the National Football League is really dang hard, and that Sam Darnold. I mean, it wasn't you. It was him. It was some you, but it wasn't all you.
It was a lot, him. And I think the world has kind of found that out this year with Sam Darnold. But I'm not shocked by that if you actually watched how he played. That was something that was a little bit annoying throughout last year, Bart. Is it was, oh, KOC's doing it.
Justin Jefferson's doing it. It's like, are you watching these throws? This man was a third overall draft pick because of the cannon, and he's making the plays out there. It's not just, oh, he's being coached up for wide open passes. And I think the same thing goes for someone like Brock Purdy.
It's like, oh, it's just the coaching.
Okay, let me know what Nick Mullins did when he played quarterback for Kyle Shanahan. There are rules to this man that there are certain people who are not capable of playing at a high level in the NFL. And JJ McCarthy at this moment has not shown to be. And will he ever be? Is up in the air still after year two of his NFL career.
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Valot through 17 selection varies by location while supplies last. Sure, in year one, of course, it was her. Year two, there's been injuries, and there's been some pretty low valleys. There have been some peaks. He was.
Offensive. Player of the week in week one is he'll never live down, just like Mitch Trubisky winning the MVP the first time. Um, but I think that. It's, and I want to know how you've been doing it and how people, Vikings fans, are going through it because Darnold is gone, Jones is gone, Roger's not there. It's JJ McCarthy now, and this is the guy that we have, so we got to see if he's going to be the guy.
The Packers Are on year three as a starter. Would Jordan love? I think Jordan Love's a hell of a quarterback. The problem with Jordan Love Is He makes some decisions. That for some reason.
A Packer fan. Waits one bad throw. The same as 100 good throws. It Boggles my mind. And it's not even like these fans are saying, well, we still want Rogers.
No one's really saying that. We're comparing him to Rogers. We're comparing him to Favre.
So, what I've realized is. If we're still doing this in year three, like. Um that first week I talked about this a lot. I was on a national show. I don't even heard.
I lost my job. What? Yeah. No, I haven't seen anything about it. I signed off and then I got an article.
Have you posted anything online about it? Drunk sometimes. I'll go to your online page and see if I can find any information about this. Hey, go to my socials. Hit up my socials.
But I was talking about Like Cam Ward is coming into this league. And no one is going to watch him. Just like with Trevor Lawrence. Nobody watched him for his first couple of years because he's in the AFC South and these games are never on TV. And Cam Ward is going to get the same opportunity that Trevor Lawrence got.
Which is, you can make mistakes. These are low-stakes games. You're our franchise guy. You can grow. Cam's gonna get that opportunity.
Uh love I feel like Because he got really signed to a big deal after nine games. He still gets criticized for that. And with McCarthy, he was coming in. to this to this season as if he was the number one pick. Like, we are, people are going to have their eyes on Minnesota.
Minnesota had expectations, and then they fell short last year. This has to work because you're going to be compared to Darnold.
So it's just, I just wonder like. It drives me nuts where you have to Dissect every throw a quarterback makes. Like now we're at the point where you can look back and say, well, here's what we got so far. But I just I'm not cut out for the Charting, okay, love. I remember doing this in the preseason.
Love miss to the left. Like, why the fuck am I writing that shit down?
Well, there's a question in there. Yeah, no, I think that the dialogue on the interwebs has never been worse about quarterbacks because it seems every single second is just all about I told you so for every single throw. Like it is a throw by throw, play by play, I told you so. The other day, when I was watching Justin Herbert score 16 points, and I know he played very well to get those 16 points, and he didn't miss the field goals. But I saw many people being like, imagine thinking Justin Herbert isn't great.
And I was like. What person are you talking to? What person is like, man, Herbert sucks? Like, I've never seen that person. I've never read that person.
I have no idea who that is. And I was told Steph Curry can't shoot anymore. But man, you dunked on him. You got him. You got that person good.
I'm like, but this is what it is: and this is what drives me crazy about Sam Darnold and NFL teams. You know, they're, you know, it happens to them too, where you judge Sam Darnold on a playoff game, judge Matthew Stafford on his first playoff game. Judge, you know, there's a bunch of quarterbacks. How about Eli Manning, who's up for the Hall of Fame right now? Go look at his first couple playoff games and we're going to judge, you know, go look at his last five seasons.
I mean, but I, but I mean, it happens a lot. Like, and it happens to Justin Herbert that his two playoff games are really terrible. And people are still out here just like, I will defend Justin Herbert with my life. And what I mean is that the dialogue is all bad. None of it's good.
Like, Darnold is about to. To play this game against San Francisco. I promise if he doesn't play well, it'll be like, that's why the Vikings let him go. Absolutely. Wait a minute.
If quarterbacks, and this is how I feel about Jordan Love. I think there's a chunk of quarterbacks right now in the league that are all Jordan Love. Justin Herbert is one of them. Sam Darnold is one of them. Deck Prescott is one of them.
Every one of these guys could win a Super Bowl if things went right for them. They are going to put you in the conversation because they're good enough, even if your team is not perfect to be in the playoffs, give you a chance, but they're not Josh Allen. They're not going to take this mid-team that's around Josh Allen and be like, yeah, they could definitely still win the Super Bowl because that guy is an alien. Love Darnold, Prescott, Goff, they're all human, and they all need. Josh Reynolds to catch the ball, or in Darnold's case, anyone on the offensive line to block Jared Verse, or whatever, whatever, whatever, when it gets to the playoffs, or they won't win.
And then. There will be the other side of it, which is, you know, this person can't win, and that kind of thing. And I was right to always doubt him, right? Like that kind of thing, because we just decided on whatever the last, they'll do this in preseason about quarterbacks. If Desmond Ritter has a nice pass in preseason, be like, I'm still buying Desmond Ritter.
So it's a little ridiculous with all that sort of stuff. But with the JJ McCarthy thing, I think what you're alluding to is that he was placed into an unfair situation. Which is why the Vikings should have franchise tagged Sam Darnold because he was asked to go out and perform like a veteran quarterback who had been in the league long enough to lead a team of guys who are 27 through 36, who are all ready to compete for a Super Bowl after a 14-win season. It's like, all right, kid, not only just do you have to jump in there, but you better be really, really stupidly ready to do it. And as you said, if he was playing for the Titans, this would be fine.
This would be totally fine performance to, I mean, yes and no, but like the Titans are so bad that Cam Ward and JJ have done basically the same stuff this year. And the analysis is: Cam Ward looks great because I saw some highlights and I liked him coming out in the draft. And, you know, JJ will have the same numbers, and it's JJ sucks forever. Uh but I think that in the situation they're in The Vikings don't have time like the Titans do to wait and see for two more seasons if their guy is going to take that next step. And having only played eight and a half games this year and not made that much progress.
It's hard to see them going forward, like, oh, yeah, we're good with this, we're just going to try it next year because this team was good enough to be eight and eight with the 34th out of 35 EPA from JJ McCarthy and Carson Wentz. And somehow they won a game with Max Brosmer throwing for three net yards. Like, that's how good the rest of the team is. And they might win this weekend. Who the hell knows?
I mean, they should be nine and eight. The Packers don't care. They should easily roll this game. My point is, I don't know how you can go into next year and just say. Hey, you're good.
You're the quarterback. Keep developing. We're going to take our time.
So, when are you interested in Malik Willis? I'm very interested in Malik Willis. Yes, Bill Packer fans. I got in a fight with one buddy who wants him to be the starter. I've seen that and that does happen a lot.
Because We've gone back a little bit to the backup quarterback is the most popular person. Like, people had expectations for Max Brosmer when he went in. And I was like, you know, I like him a little bit from training camp. I'm like, let's not go crazy here. I think the backup quarterback showing a little is always very popular.
And now the other thing is, too, every person is a general manager because we all have all the salary cap information and all the data and everything. Right.
So it's like, I am the big brain general manager who wants to trade Justin Jefferson. They're like, let's not, though. Let's not do that because that's a stupid idea. Although Jerry Jones traded Micah Parsons and that probably wasn't a good idea either. But Malik Willis.
No, I was thinking about it because then I got Jadavian Clowney. Yeah. And that just basically we stopped the run. We missed the playoffs. Again, so McCarthy.
Like, they're going to. Would you guess they draft a guy or they need a veteran? Because you're saying that, and I'm thinking, like. Yeah, this is a you know, it's football's not war, but this is a band of brothers. And your leader is your contemporary, he's your age.
He's been through it with you. And then now essentially you're being captained by some kid. Right.
And it's like What We just had, like, I relate to this guy. He's seen what I've seen. We've been in the league a long time now. Yeah, man, in in retrospect, oof. Yeah, Oof is right.
And just to go back to the Malika. Especially if they do go 9-8. Like, they're still winning games. Right, with Sam Darnold. It's pretty clear they'd be like a 12-win team.
So But with Malik Willis, I think that he has a really good chance to be a good quarterback in the league. My question is: How much does Malik Willis cost? And why would he come to Minnesota if J.J. McCarthy is still here?
Now, if the Vikings were going to go full Madden mode and trade away JJ McCarthy for like a second-round pick, go like the Josh Rosen, Kyler Murray situation, sign Malik Willis to a three-year, $75 million contract.
Okay, you've got my attention. But I don't think they're going to do that, which to me says Malik's going to end up in Miami or he's going to end up in Arizona or he's going to end up in Las Vegas where he could be the number one type of quarterback. The same way with Sam Darnold. They give the thing about Sam Darnold and the franchise tag that's complicated is that if Darnold was tagged and started, Because fans were so geeked up about JJ McCarthy, the first time he threw an interception, the fans would have been cheering for JJ and they would have been going insane, wanting JJ McCarthy. And they never bought into Sam Darnold.
Even as great as he was, Vikings fans never bought into him.
So Malik Willis is not going to go into a situation where he's not going to be the guy because he's earned that. And I do like, what I like most about Malik is that. He looked in total command when he had to go in the game against the Bears. I mean, when you're starting against the bad Ravens defense, like you should be pretty good against them. You have the whole week to prepare.
But he didn't against the Bears. It was like, buddy, your quarterbacks can cuss, go play. And he stepped right in. It was like total command. That means prepared, ready to go.
I also don't know, though, if he fits what Kevin O'Connell wants to do, which is a lot of anticipation throwing, a lot of. Downfield passing, like, I don't know if he wants the running quarterback type. Hard to say there, but I like Malik a ton. I just don't see it practically happening. I I bring up Malik, too, not just because uh the Packer angle, but The free agent I mean, it's basically right now it's Malik.
Right.
And the Vikings are already in a tough spot, as you mentioned, where They can bring someone in. But it'd be the same reason why Daniel Jones was like, there's a better situation for me. And the Vikings now. It's going to be like truly interesting because they could either. They could go with the sunk cost fallacy, like We've put this is what we've done.
We have to ride this out. Or they could like Overcorrect. and go mad in mode, like you said. I think at this point You gotta ride with McCarthy. For at least another season.
But if this season looks like next season I think that's your answer. Um but if you even do that Now you've got Justin Jefferson who doesn't seem happy. Um, you've got the defense, they're not gonna want like. These guys don't. This was the big problem with it: nobody wants to wait for McCarthy to be good.
So now that we're here, they were in this tough spot. They made their decision. which has brought up this new decision. Which I think seems even tougher for what they're supposed to do. That's right.
Because what you're saying in a very rational world, which the National Football League is so far away from that that's why we love it so much, in a very rational world, what you would say is give JJ McCarthy all of 2026 and see if he can do it. And then by the end, you'll have enough of a sample size to really know. The problem with that is that doesn't work for anybody. They have so many players that are in their primes. Justin Jefferson has no leverage right now to demand a trade, but he will next year because next year is when you start to get into that world of having to sign an extension to your contract to lower the massive cap hit, which is really the cheat code for megastars, where you just keep pushing that big cap hit down the road.
But if Justin Jefferson is not very happy with where he's at, then he's not going to do that for you. And the other part is, too, is Kevin O'Connell. I think we all agree that Kevin O'Connell is a very good coach. And if he gets to over. 500 here.
You look at the totality of his record. I mean, his win percentage is going to be really good. But if you go five years without a playoff win in the NFL, most coaches are fired. And if you're the guy directly responsible for moving on from Sam Darnold and believing you could coach up JJ McCarthy and it fails and then you believe in him again and it fails spectacularly twice, you are not keeping your job. It's just not going to happen.
So next year, the goal needs to be who can get them to the playoffs and win. And I think that JJ McCarthy, again, has a lot of talent, but is really far away from that. If he debuts next year as the starter, it'll feel like his rookie year again. It feels like we've barely seen JJ McCarthy because even in the games that they played, even the ones he was good, he threw like 20 passes. Like we've never seen a game where he was doing like what Brock Purdy and Caleb Williams were doing the other night, just going blow for blow.
And his three good games or two and a half good games came against the Cowboys, the Commanders, and the Giants, who are three of the worst defenses in the NFL in December, where they're banged up and unmotivated. And whatever else. Dallas was a little bit more, but the commanders just gave up in that game.
So there's not enough there for me to say that Kevin O'Connell should feel on any steady ground, which means the door is wide open for maybe Malik Willis, but Kyler Murray could be an option. Geno Smith after Vegas has successfully tanked, and congratulations to them on that. And, you know, there's the options, the PSA that I've been giving on my show every day is we're going to talk about quarterback options, and you are going to hate every single one of them. Just know that you're not going to like them. But At the same time, nobody liked them signing Sam Darnold.
Except this guy. I liked it. I was one of those like Sam likes Toby Goodguy. I was, well, you know, that's the point about why quarterbacks are so fascinating because it's like you just. I love this guy coming out.
And then he stinks. You're like, maybe someday. And then, you know, it worked out for him. And then it doesn't, and you're like, nah, the team ruined him. Right, right.
Exactly. I was right the whole time. Franchises fail quarterbacks. I mean, see, I actually don't even really agree with that. I think there's a lot of guys who can't play in the NFL.
I think there's some quarterbacks who have been ruined by their teams, and there's some dudes who just can't play. But the whole point being, I think they have to get a different quarterback. Uh purpleinsider.com. One more Non-Viking one. Do you think if the Packers are one and done in the playoffs, LaFleur should be fired?
See, this is always tough because He's got one year.
So it's not just like reaction to it. He's got a year on his contract. And they need to decide if he's going to be a lame duck or not. Right.
And I think Ed Policy has basically said: I'm not doing a lame duck thing. Right.
I mean Uh, you know, people do get fired, as you know, uh, Bart. I just got fired. You did? Oh, I was just making a general comment. I didn't know that.
If you want to watch me sign off, it's my pinned tweet. It is. Yeah. Well, I'd love to do some commentary on your sign-off. I'd like to break it down line by line.
Yeah, stop right here.
Okay, when he says this. Yeah. And then write an article. How far do we want to go with that? Maybe I should do that.
You know, technically. Behind the sign-off. I'll do like a behind-the-scenes documentary thing. Like I walked in and I'll take shots of the exterior of the building. I'll be like, I walked in there and I remember texting my producer from the Festival Foods: like, I'm going to talk about that meeting and sign off.
But you know, technically. Um because I own Purple Insider, I am I am an executive. At Purple A. Oh, yeah. You don't want to hire me now.
Sorry. My uh you know, not all uh not all executives see and think the same things.
So Anyway, what the hell did you ask? Oh, about Matt LaFleur. Yeah. And if he inspired, should he do a 10-minute sign-off? Yeah, well, you know, as long as it's aimed at.
He's got to think about his future employees. As long as it's not aimed at Packers' fans or, you know, the people who have enjoyed his games and more aimed at his next employer, then he should do that. Perfect. But anyhow, I think from the outside perspective. If you're Minnesota, you're like, yes, fire Matt LaFleur.
Yes, please do. Yeah, I keep seeing other fan bases say, please fire him. Yes.
Well, there's two reasons for that. Number one is I don't watch every single play of Packers football.
So I don't get frustrated like you do watching every play. And then you see Matt LaFleur run inside zone out of a shotgun for the hundredth time on fourth and one. And you go, they know it's coming. Right, exactly. Like the linebackers are yelling out the play that you're going to run.
This happens with O'Connell too. If you asked 31 other medias, hey, should the Vikings fire O'Connell? They'd be like, are you on crack? Oh, he's a really good coach. But we know all of his tendencies, weaknesses, the things he doesn't do well.
And that's what we do is pick every single bit of it apart because we make podcasts every day. But the bigger picture on Matt LaFleur is that you're always winning under Matt LaFleur. And I think, in terms of getting a lot out of the quarterback position, he's done a really, really good job of it. Whether it's Aaron Rodgers, like late Aaron Rodgers, or it's developing Jordan Love, or it's getting Malik Willis going. And I think this year has been a lot of bad luck for them.
Micah Parsons getting injured, half the line getting injured, half the receivers getting injured. I think Bo Melton is going to play every position on the field at some point and probably get injured at each position. I mean, it's been a bizarre season, and I think he's still really good. But the other part is, I think about this a lot. When O'Connell was hired in 2022, there were 10 other coaches hired.
I believe nine are fired right now. Like, it's. The devil, you know, is often a lot better than going out and hiring Chip Kelly or something or Pete Carroll. And so, if you're going to do it, you better be sure that it's going to be a Tony Dungy to John Gruden situation. But I always say, if you're still using a reference from 25 years ago, then it's probably not a great reference, right?
Is there other examples of this where there were really, really good coaches who their team said, all right, we've had enough, and then they took the next step? There's not a ton of that. Max Brosmer versus Clayton Toon, it looks like. It's Brosmer, and I was told I wasn't allowed to speak of this anymore.
Well, I just wanted to remind people that speaking of tune, you can no longer tune into me on the national radio because I was fired. Oh, that's too bad because I was fired. I was laid off. I got this one guy keep grinding me. He's like, You're fired.
I go, I was laid off, you son of a bitch. Oh, you know, I dealt with that too because I always referred to myself as being fired when I can say it. Yeah, yeah, right. And then my wife would be like, You were laid off. And I'm like, It doesn't matter.
Someone called and said, You don't work here anymore. It doesn't matter if I was fired or laid off. I'm not a college coach who we left amicably or whatever. We mutually decided to part ways. It wasn't mutual.
Uh, but uh, yeah, I'd rather talk about your firing all day than Clayton Toon versus Max Bros. But there is a chance McCarthy plays, but I don't think it's going to happen. He's got a fracture in his hand, that doesn't seem promising but I don't know, man. It's going to happen, and the Vikings are probably going to win and go 9-8, and then they will celebrate 9-8. And say, hey, at least we didn't have a losing season.
And I think that there's like some of that's fair. because they were four and eight. And if you get to having a winning season after going four and eight, that means your team didn't collapse. And this is why you keep Kevin O'Connell as your coach, right? Like everybody kept pulling in the same direction, and they, you know.
We were motivated and didn't give up and all those things. I don't know. Like, you see, like the Jets, like, there are teams out there who are just stopped playing like five weeks ago.
So I'll give them Packers fans need to root. For the Packers very hard this weekend because. If they lose and then lose in their playoff game, Then I'm going to be all like, that's five losses in a row, Fire Lee. Oh, okay, yeah. But if they, so if the Packers win, you'll change your tune.
I'll just have to adjust the. The the way I give that take? Oh right, yeah, to to fit your so do you want him fired? Firing is a terrible experience. You want them laid off?
I don't want anything to. Do I want him fired? I w yeah, I do. Mm.
Okay. I do.
Well I don't want to be the person who's like, who are you going to get? Because we do that with. But every year is the same. It's every year is the same. They're not improving.
His halftime, he's always crying about how we don't have it. You're the coach. I don't know, we're getting punched in the mouth that you're the coach, man. And then in his press conferences, he'll like say, oh, we got to do this more, we got to do this more. And then in the future, he's like, who said that?
Yeah. He's like telling himself what he wants to do and then he doesn't do it. Does seem a little contentious this year with LeFleur. The pressure is clearly up, which I think has maybe impacted him. When you don't have certainty for the future, there's no person who wouldn't perform differently.
Like if you were let to know in October that you weren't going to have a job in January, you might do your show differently. But, you know, when it comes to a coach, when they feel like they're coaching for their job, that's where.
So, what I would say about LaFleur: whenever a coach is coaching for a job, I just want him fired. That's right. What I would say is that in New York, they're not making decisions for you. They're. They're trying not to get fired.
If you're dating someone and you're thinking, like, should I break up with them? Break up with them. Like because you're going to spend every day just focusing on whatever, not just being the best version of your relationship. You just need to end it.
So, either decide that LaFleur is your long-term coach and sign him to a five-year extension or fire him. And if you do, there's a lot to work with with that roster that I think it would be the highest sought-after job in the entire NFL. And you can get your pick of the litter of whoever you want. You just better be sure that, and there is no certainty in this, but you better be as close to sure as possible that it's an improvement because. LaFlore has done a lot of winning, and you know, he out-schemed Mike Zimmer a bunch of times, and he's handled Brian Flores a couple of times, and it's just like, I don't know, man, I think he's a.
I think he's a pretty pretty darn good coach, but If you feel like that roster could be better than pretty darn good, then make a change. Matthew Coller, PurpleInsider.com. I enjoyed the conversation. I got to go now and look at the classifieds. Good job.
Well, um I was trying to work in a zip recruiter reference because they make sure that I get paid more than I used to. Go ahead. Good try. Ziprecruiter.com/slash audio, folks. You can try for free over there.
And that's a great place for Bart to try to get a new radio job. Why don't you send me their uh sales contact? Get in on that. You know, I saw some guys at 1 a.m. shoveling snow here the other night.
Have you thought about Like a snow removal company, or I've already told my wife, I said, you know, you work. I'm Maybe retired now. Yeah. Yeah. She is, I mean, she could just hold you up financially.
I'm a stay-at-home dad. Shop at Costco, get things in bulk. We went yesterday. Costco, America's best place to shop. Yeah, where they all look at your receipt as if you were stealing.
There's nine ways I got to verify that to be. I didn't steal a box of sun chips. It does feel like when you go in and they have to look at your card or whatever, there's something unnerving about that every single time. Like they scan now, they don't even they just oh, do they? Oh, they scan now, okay.
Yeah, my wife's got cars walk in, okay. Another job lost the robots. All right, thank you for your time.
Okay. And for stopping into. The Winkler Verse. Pacifico is a Mexican lager brood to be discovered. It's like fresh tracks on a powder day.
like that uncharted trail a stone's throw away. Like the perfect wave on a sunny day. Pacifico, find your own way. 21 Plus Drink Responsibly, imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, Illinois. Sling is the live TV service that puts you in charge.
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You're gonna find somebody. That can do more of a um They can do more of a Packers Vikings week 18 breakdown. We certainly weren't interested. In doing that. Maybe he'll find somebody.
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Gummies, tinctures, and more. We got to keep this stuff legalized here. Stupid farm bill, whatever. I gotta read up more on that. I'm gonna read up into stuff now that I got a little more time.
I had to pay.
Well, I'm supposed to pay. Like two grand 'cause I got a boo-boo on my finger. And they gave me some band-aids, and I came in too late to get it. Stitched. Um So, I need, I'm going to, first of all, I'm not paying that.
And second, I'm going to become an expert on healthcare. You know those memes where it's like, oh, this week I'm an expert in, I'm going to become an expert in. And New Year's resolution, I am going to relearn how to do the piano. I took lessons in sixth grade. I'm getting back.
I am gonna finally learn Spanish. My two New Year's resolutions every year. I never do. The other one is we're going to make sure we can keep doing these THC and CBD products in the state of Wisconsin. With our friends at Happy Place Hem.
Promo code barked 25% off each and every Order. I will leave you with some voicemails that I got. One is from Alex. And it'll be bookended by David. David in Buffalo.
has been a great caller. on the Infinity Sports Network, RIP. But he was a great caller there, and he has been calling the podcast Voicemail Line brought to you by Carl's Place. 402-915-2278 is the voicemail number. 402915.
Bart. David, if you're listening. I might have edited some stuff out. Just 'cause daddy needs to collect his severance. And uh I mean, he's really going for it with some of these.
things he's saying about what happened with the network.
So But I'll get the gist of it, David. I'm enjoying them. Um But at least for a month we should We should not be throwing too many arrows. Uh Yet.
So I'll leave you with that. Again, Packer post-game will be after the main chunk of games. and uh leading into the Rogers. Season finale Thank you all, as always, for being a part of this. We'll leave you with some voicemails, and we'll have another one coming up this week.
Have a happy new year. Might pop on again, maybe after some college. T V D. But other than that, Be well, and here's some voicemails. Bart, what's going on?
This is David from Buffalo. Another big game, and the Bills do not get it done. Josh Allen was not great today. Um to me, the offense they that they had today was mainly off of broken plays or kind of flooky catches, um, not enough attempt for James Cook. And Philly was just more physical today.
Honestly, Bart, our defense kept us in that game today. I just don't trust this team in the playoffs. I've never trusted Sean McDermott. As a big game coach, and with the team going into a new stadium next year across the street, You gotta wonder, if they don't win it all this year, do you bring McDermott back? Do you bring the general manager Brandon Bean back?
Or do you bring these guys back and make some big freaking swing? you know, like go get a Max Crosby or a Miles Garrett. Type player. I mean, to me, I'm just going to say this right now. The Bills are the Westwood One sports network of NFL teams.
And Josh Allen is Jim Rome, except Josh Allen's more talented than Jim Rome. And that's pretty much what they're betting on. And that's all I got for you today, man. Hopefully, Mad Dog has called you and he's got you in that six to eight Eastern lineup. You'd be perfect for that lineup to be like the America's pregame show hosts leading into most the NHL games.
The NBA games. baseball during the season. Hell, you can even do like a golf postgame show like on Thursdays and Fridays, you know, probably better than what we hear on a golf channel these days where they cover about four people. But thanks for the time, buddy. Happy New Year and I'm out.
Hey, Bart, it's Alex, a long time listener. I called your show on the Infinity Sports Network on its last day and I was the one that uh lives in Phoenix and was talking about culvers. Um Just wanted to say, oh, the Packers have looked well, they looked worse last night than they did last Saturday, but um hopefully the Ravens don't get into the playoffs. I think that would be a disservice and um Hope to hear you down the road at some point in the future. The only thing I don't like about the Into the Windler Verse podcast is that I can't listen to it live.
Unfortunately. Debart, what's up? This is David from Buffalo. I had to tune into the first few minutes of the new network. Wow, that was interesting.
I mean, this is basically what it sounds like. You know, Brock Purdy, I don't really trust him to play football. You know, uh, he's kind of overpaid and uh The Bears had some coaching malpractice over the last few years. I thoroughly expect this guy, whoever he is, I think it's some guy that's set in for Rome before. you know, to like start to take he sounds like a guy doing PBA bowling on a Saturday afternoon in the eighties or nineties on ABC sports before uh the wide world of sports comes on.
Pete Weber needs a strike and a and a mark to close out Dell Ballard here. Del Ballard here has got a one he could be averaging a one ninety. And if he has two strikes and a spare in the final frame, he will win the game. I mean, that's literally what it sounds like I'm hearing on this network. if I wanted stats and I wanted stuff, I'll go to a message board.
I mean, at the end of the day, look, I get it. You guys can't compete with CalHurd. You can't compete with ESPN. You can't compete with the big boys, but this is embarrassing. This just shows what a cheap operation you have Uh, Bo Burton, how does he pick that up?
Well, there's no chance he's gonna pick that up. Good night now! You know how everything's a subscription now? Music, movies, even socks. I swear of it.
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Mm.
