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Valid through one seven selection varies by location while supplies last. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome into the Winkler Verse. And welcome to The national perspective. as I am teaming up.
With Carlos Ortiz. Carlos with AK and we dive right into it. Did you prepare a bulletin, Blitz? Guess what they said in Caller Fold for today? You know, it's funny, you mentioned that imaging.
I don't have access to it anymore. I completely forgot to bring my hard drive to the last day of our show. And all that stuff, I hope, is stuck on the computer and not been deleted from the system yet. Weren't you gonna send it to me also? Yes, which is why you don't have it because I don't have it.
I said, hey, can you send it to me during the next break? You said, I'm right on it. Yeah, that was a lie. And then you never... Uh did.
Well, it's good to see you, buddy. How you how you how you been? Uh it's very weird to not Be working every night today's it's finally weird. No, I thought it was weird last week when it was like last Monday. And I'm like, yeah, granted, it's a holiday.
I'm like, I would have been working right now. Like, I did some.
some personal things, some personal activities with the wife at like 9.30 at night last week. And I was just like, I wouldn't have been able to do these personal activities if I had to go to work. In fact, I would have been sitting in traffic at that very moment. I did some social activities last night at 11:30, and I was like, Oh, look at you. But yeah, but it feels weirder and weirder.
I miss the show. I don't miss going to bed at three o'clock in the morning.
So that I can live with. But um Yeah, also, having done my first shift at Westwood One Sports, not having a board in front of me and being able to control the spaceship. is an extremely Like Debilitating, like, thing that I'm doing right now because I'm like, I feel like I'm just stealing money. And I'm happy to take it. But Since I don't have that level of control that I used to have with our show.
I feel so out of touch with everything.
So it's just very strange. Yeah.
Well yeah, Carlos is one of the guys that got a life jacket. For weekends. Thank God you do. Congrats on that. I'm used to being the second option.
And uh Is there anything you're doing Monday through Friday besides this? At the moment, no. Going ahead and updated my LinkedIn page. Got that. Open to work banner.
in a nice bold green. Couple of resumes and nibbles that were sent out there. But like Geno Smith, I wrote them, they haven't wrote me back yet. There's a lot of that. There's some lawsuit right now that apparently a company was.
blocking people that were over 40. From, like, just the AI kicked it out. Like, we don't want these people.
So. I'm gonna try to just apply to a bunch of places just so I can one day. Um If that's true, I'm screwed. Get in that lawsuit. Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, man. I got to get in that class action real quick. If I can make money without working, that would be ideal. Yes. Speaking of that, I want to mention our sponsors.
On the program.
So we've got your happy play, Sam. I'll tell you more about them coming up. We've got the video streaming. to see our lovely faces. Which we never did on the radio, which I'm still, I'm kind of like proud of that now because I can say we were the last true radio show.
Like Cena said, he was the last real champion. But the video on this is brought to you by Dan Shaney Insurance. He is. My insurance agent.
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402-915-BART. Mm-hmm mm-mm. With Graham Bills and Paul Immig, and of the national perspective. With Bart Winkler and Carlos Ortiz.
Now, we're going to talk national things. And all these links are on the YouTube and everything should be there. I think I have to add it, but whatever. You can also go to my website, which I realized why there was no new episode posted since June because the RSS feed changed.
So I got a lot to do. I'm like busier than ever. I got to fold the laundry today. I gotta put the dishes away. I gotta pick up my kid from school.
I don't know how I had a job all these years. Yeah, it's a good thing you don't have employment to tie you down. I know. It's just in the way. I got a basement I need to clean.
It's weird. A job just gets in the way of work. I know. Look at this shit. I got a skeleton next to a Christmas tree.
Oh, you know what? I didn't even hang up my tree. I had to be productive this holiday season. I gotta never left the basement. I gotta get, I gotta get some stuff done.
Um, But we do want to look at things from that national perspective, as we would have done on the show. Two real quick local things. Because that's also something I would do. The Brewers have hired Dan Vogelbach as one of their hitting coaches. Enjoy a lot of walks.
And I don't know anything about this, but I just got this from the Bucs. Milwaukee Bucks announced presidential transition. Peter Fagan concludes transformational 12 season run. Haslam Sports Group's Josh Glessing assumes role. I don't know anything about Josh.
Okay. Yeah.
But I don't like that he's part of Haslam's sports group.
So that's of concern. Speaking of North Shordu, look what Haslam's done with Cleveland, which is a bunch of nothing.
So hopefully, Giannis doesn't get traded tomorrow, and then you guys are just in the purgatory of the 9-10 spot, like the Chicago Bulls, who are probably going to be the biggest sellers in the NBA trade deadline. Oh, speaking of purgatory. Congratulations to Joe Shane, who it looks like is keeping. His job. Carlos, a known Giants fan.
They moved on from Brian Dable. They're keeping Joe Shane. They did not get the number one pick because they had to go win. I saw a stat on that that I believe I even. cut and paste to bring up for you.
No, I knew the stat before you sent it to me.
So I wasn't surprised whatsoever. The exact number, I was just like, okay, that's close because I had five. But if you want to go ahead and pull up the actual tweet, the Giants have basically had eight wins in the last, what, four or five years? In their last 38 games. Four of those eight wins will have been in week 17 or 18, long after they're eliminated from the playoffs.
So them and the Falcons seemingly. Are doing the same, and I know all of those wins by heart. You know, last year you had the uh the game, uh, the victory over the Colts when the Colts needed that game to get into the playoffs. And the Giants could have solidified a top three draft pick in that situation. I think they might have been able to be number two or one.
They went ahead and beat the Colts in a back and forth shootout. Two years ago, in the essentially Jaden Daniels Drake Maybowl against the Commanders, they beat them. To hand those teams their quarterback. And then, of course, this year against the Raiders and the Cowboys. It happens every year.
I'm not surprised that it happened this year. My only solace is that the Giants aren't drafting at seven, they're drafting at five because the Commanders and the Browns inexplicably won their games.
So I'm very happy about the fact that the Giants have at least a top five pick to show for a miserable fucking season.
So it'll be the Uh Raiders. And the Jets. Cardinals, Titans, and Giants. Joe Shane will not only be in charge of your coaching search. Search I've heard it pronounced both ways.
Uh, but he will also only one is correct. He will he will also be um Making that pick. And so what what do you This is okay.
So I'm I'm gonna back up for a second because you Beep. Beep. I don't have drops, so that's the best I could do. Yeah, we'll just Well we'll just do our own drops.
Well, that won't end well. Do you? Um I was talking about the Packers. And they're going to lose this weekend because it's on Saturday night. Against the Bears of all teams, that's awful.
Oh, I know. I don't think that I don't think that People that are in your position as a Giants fan. should be envious. of what the Packers have been up to. No.
Like as a Giants fan. It sucks. You can't find a quarterback. You can't find a coach. You're winning games.
You should be losing. The season's over, and half the league's excited, but you're on for the draft. This is miserable. And the Lions were that exact same fan base for many, many, many. Many years, then they got a little taste of what it's like being a Packer fan: blow an NFC championship game, lose the next year when you're the number one seed.
Missed the playoffs with the winning record. I don't know if the Lions ever come back. Or, you know, next year they'll have a fourth place schedule.
So maybe there's something to it. But the Lions got their taste because they say, oh, I'd rather not suck. I'd rather have at least make the, would you, though? Because there's 13 teams that are going to lose in heartbreaking, ridiculous fashion. And I don't think that that's something that you should be envious of.
No, especially for the fact that you've laid out this case for the last couple of weeks, you know, really the last couple of months that I've been working with you. If There is no expanded wild card format. The Packers missed the playoffs like four years in a row. Like, I would not be in, I would not want to be a Packer fan right now. And this is me being a fan of the Giants, who have habituously been at the bottom of the league to the point that we're the laughing stock.
As the Packers They're good enough to get you fired, except they haven't fired anybody yet. Like Michael Matt LaFleur is still your coach. He should not be your coach. He probably should have moved on two years ago. He coaches scared.
You know the Packers are essentially, in a long story short. They're essentially the Chicago Bears of the NFL, or Chicago Bulls of the NFL. They're going to get into that final play-in game. They might win a game. But they're not going to get into the NSC Championship either.
They're not going to get into the Super Bowl. You're good enough to just because Michael Parsons are Josh Giddy, the big trade?
Well, you know, minus the allegations, at least Parsons doesn't have to beat any of that in Australia. But that's where you are right now. You're the number seven team. You're the number seven team, seven seed every year now. And if it wasn't for the fact that the NFL expanded the playoffs, you wouldn't even be in a dance.
But now you get to go in there, and that's your benchmark, that's your standard, get into the playoffs. And it's almost like the Yankees in baseball. Let's see what happens. It's a crap shoot, but except it's not a crap shoot. You guys really should not be in the postseason.
But you're built that way. That's the expectation. You get in and then you lose. I'm like, okay, what can we do to get us over the hump? Micah Parsons was supposed to be your, you know, get you over the hump.
You're the exact same position you were last year and the year before that.
So I'm not envying the factors. Say it again. He got hurt. Granted, I understand all that, but like. This was supposed to be a different Packers team, and it's not.
It's the same team, just like this was supposed to be a different Giants team, but it's not. The Giants still suck. That's right. They're going to look for a new head coach. I fully expect next year to be the same thing: five, six wins.
That being said, I'd rather be out of it. Knowing that I'm like, okay, give me the false hope of the draft, of the free agency, of coaching searches, and hopefully give it another kick in the can. Because I have seen two Super Bowls. In the last, you know, you know, 15 years or so.
So I have that. Whereas the Packers had the one with Aaron Rodgers, and then a really long time before that, the one with Brett Favre. The Packers have been just. Underachieving for so long that it sucks to make the playoffs every year and just know that you're gonna be out of it. Honey, do not make plans.
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Well, and this is one of the things that I don't think a lot of Packer fans Would agree with me, or this is where I would draw the line. Is I am not the kind of Packer fan. who thinks that they won two Super Bowls in the last thirty years. Because the Packers Are this great organization? I think that if you give any organization, yes, even the really, really bad ones.
If you give them 15 years of Favre and 15 years of Rogers, I think minimum you're coming away with two Super Bowls. I agree. And that's why I say it's an underachievement. Yeah, maybe there's one that doesn't, whatever. But this is like, I think a lot of Packer fans look at it and say, well, no, we won two, but you had Brett Farr for 15 years and Aaron Rodgers for 15 years.
Of course. You're going to win too. Um On that topic, How about that game last night? Aaron Rodgers insane came back multiple times. And I got to be honest with you.
I wasn't just saying it going in. I was rooting for Rogers to win. I'm glad he won. I'm glad he's in the playoffs. Good for Aaron Rodgers.
See, I think when he went to the Jets. I don't know. That sucked. Because that was like what Favre did. And you're bitter, but now you're going to the Steelers.
He didn't go to the Vikings because he wants revenge. He went to the Steelers because he doesn't know what his life's going to be without football. He has fun playing. He wants to keep playing. He still can play.
On occasion, there's some plays where you look at him and you say, You need to retire, or you will die. And there's some plays you look at him and say, is he a top-five quarterback in this league?
So I'm happy the Steelers. Won. I'm happy Rodgers won. That was one of my wrong predictions. Carlos said the Chiefs wouldn't make it.
I said the Lions wouldn't make it. I also said Aaron Rodgers would not make it healthy. By week eight, and the Steelers would fire Mike Tomlin after winning five games.
So I admit my joys and I admit my defeats. And that was a defeat, but I'm glad the Steelers are now taking on the Texans. And I must say this about the Texans. Congratulations to them. But everybody Is saying it's the first time they're not going to be in that early Saturday window, which is true, but you're missing out on the full picture.
Not only is it their first time not being that first Saturday game, this is their first time being in the playoffs, not as the AFC South winner. They have never been a wild card. And they have also never been a one or two seed, so they've never had a buy. They've either won the AFC South as the three or the four, which puts them in that first weekend, which puts them in that first game where they sometimes, I think they're five and eight, four and eight, five and eight, or four and five out of eight, and then they go on the road the next week and then they lose.
So they've never started on the road. They've never been a wildcard team.
So there's a lot more to that stat that I wish people would know. Uh, it's no crime either way, but congrats to them and congrats. to the Steelers, and that will be the game next Monday night. Yeah, and you know what?
Sorry for the Ravens. Your season, I don't want to put it all on the kid who missed the kick, Tyler Loop, there, because he was put in a tough spot considering they had to move on from Justin Tucker in unceremonious fashion. But the Ravens were off all year. And I'm not going to blame it on a missed kick, although he should have made it. It was under 50 yards nowadays, 50 yards, that's a chip shot.
But it sucks if you are a Ravens fan. Because now that Lamar Jackson conversation is going to dominate you, that's the Giannis equivalent in Baltimore now. What do we do with Lamar? Is he going to get traded? Should he demand a trade?
Should we look to move off from him? Does he need to grow up? Does he like it here?
Now, is John Harbaugh? Is he going to be out in Baltimore? Which I kind of hope that he is because now the Giants can either go after him or Kevin Stepansky.
So, selfishly, there's going to be some veteran head coaches out there. Although, can I interest you in Pete Carroll? Not for me. What an incredible game. I love that.
It went back and forth. And to me, as much as people glaze the NFC East and the NFC North in terms of his divisional games, it's always been the ASC North. The AAC North is by far the most. Fun. interesting divisional matchups that we gotten in the last 10 years.
despite record. Despite angles do anything for you? When the bangles are good. The Bengals and Steelers are definitely entertaining. The Bengals and Raiders.
Do you think Burrow? Do you think he farmed? The Browns have beaten some of these teams. That's just the nature of divisional games. Do you think Burrows had a snow game a couple of years ago with Jameis Winston?
That was entertaining as hell. Needing Burrow farved that sack? No, but I definitely think the refs should have fucked should have caught something. It was rough in the past three. Miles Garrett?
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think it was a legit sack either way. It should have been a penalty. No, B B Burrow just lay down. Yeah, and Garrett almost cleaned his clock. It should have been roughing a passer.
The penalty was he was like three seconds off sides. Yeah, no, it 1,000% was mailing in. And the Bengals were like, oh, I didn't know they'd stop the game. Why the fuck do you care? Yeah, why'd you even show up?
Yeah, well, you know, you've got to get that final game check. Uh, I listen to you know, why would anyone show up when they know that their season's over?
Well, because because tickets are $20, and I almost went to that Cowboys Giants game yesterday, too, because it would have been dirty. I was referring to us playing out the string. I mean, yeah, with two months left in our season, I already know you got already got eliminated from the postseason. We really are the Giants. Justin says he had an extra game put on an Asterisk.
I agree with that. Mike Strahan said the same thing. No, guys, I have a stat for you. Ready for another stat? I love stats.
Um snaps required. For each SAC record. Michael Strahan. 567 snaps for 22 and a half sacks. Mm-hmm.
TJ Watt. 616 snaps. Watt, who also had an extra game, but okay, go on. Miles Garrett. For 23 sacks, 437 snaps.
That's pretty impressive, but. Then straightened. Still, he had the he which could mean that Gary had lesser snaps to go across more games. Yeah, but that could also mean well, yeah, 'cause he's not out there on first and second down. Right.
Which I think he's on there to pin his ears back and go after the quarterback. He's Ovechkin, he's really good at one thing. Elvechkin's really good at scoring goals. Miles Garrett is really good at getting sacks. But you're not dropping Miles Garrett back in the middle.
Very good? We're going to lose our jobs and then start talking hockey. Oh, I tried to do a little bit of hockey before with a little bit of the little hockey I don't know. What's a blue line? You you did.
Um Garrett, I think, should be Like the heel of the 2025 season. You know what? He's a nice guy, though. Or at least he tries to portray himself as a nice guy, except pouring himself out in radio. I want a Super Bowl.
I don't care about the Hall of Fame. And then he signs 40 million a year and gets the sack record right away. Come on. He just wanted his money. He's going to, he'll do one more year in Cleveland, then he'll ask for a trade.
Yeah.
Thanks to Jim Cole for reposting the stream. Jimmy No relation to Michael Cole.
So, I'll do the same thing with Carlos when I started the podcast. People were like, Hey, we missed you on Milwaukee Radio. You should start a podcast. And then I did, and then people listened and have stuck with it. And that's why we're here.
People keep saying, Let me know where you and Carlos are at.
So, if we're going to get together and do this, and then people don't end up listening, well, then we're just not going to get together and do this. Yeah, which would which which hurts me more than them. Although this would be the normal time that we'd have our show meeting. Oh, yes. Oh, no, the actual show meeting that we had with our esteemed program director David Mironick, which I missed already.
Even though we hadn't had a show meeting in like three months. But David was a good dude. It was just an excuse to talk to him. And this is just an excuse to BS with you. Mm-hmm.
Oh yeah, is it bad? Oh! Two grand for this. Yikes. You can't even tell anything's wrong.
Well, no, you can still see it's a little, it's puffy. It looks like you slammed your door on it. I did a lot more than that. I cut it open with a jar. I would have taken for two grand, they could take the finger.
I'm like, I don't need it.
Well, I wanted stitches. See? It was coming off. Oh, geez, come on. It was peeling back like an orange.
Ugh, that's so gross. As him again, I'm picking away dead skin from my callus. We are brought to you by Happy Place Hemp. They've got they've got um Cream with the CBD. That I think has helped cure my gout.
I did not put any of the cream on that finger. I did not.
So I don't know what would have. happen. But they've got gummies and tinctures and enjoyed I went I went Seltzer Mania. The other night. I ended up drinking 60 milligrams worth.
Jeez. I had three 20s. Yeah.
Yeah.
I felt good. You should have had a 420s, huh? Uh-huh. I know Wink. The thing I the thing I say is there's two things that I realize that happened to me.
The most is Whenever I drink a lot of these or have a gummy, I'm always like. All right, I'm gonna get up now. And then the next thing I know, it's an hour and a half later before I move. And Some of these commercials, especially the musical ones. The John Travolta one is Santa Claus.
They're thirty second commercials, but they feel like they're two hours. They feel like they're too commercial. It's so. It's so awful. Like, who in marketing thought that that was a good idea?
By the way, just John Travoltz. I immediately, the second you said his name, I immediately thought of that itchy, scratchy episode. Or it's just like, oh, look, the bartender looks like John Travolta. And he goes, Yeah, looks like that's a good one. HappyplaceM.com.
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who are looking for a coach. A lot of coaches are available. Including Jonathan Gannon now. Kevin Stafanski. Raheem Morris.
Um And and uh and Carol. Who we started talking about could be fired. I don't think any of the I would say I don't know. I guess I shouldn't be sur By Morris. I know they played strong coming in.
To the end of the season, but also this is something they do as well where their record's really good. After they're eliminated, Zach Taylor, I think. Being kept in Cincinnati is the right move, still. They had to deal with injuries all year. Yeah, you got to keep them.
Stefansky is weird because that is, I think, what a lot of people say about LaFleur.
Well, if you fire LaFleur, it'll be hired in three seconds, and that's absurd. But Stefanski should be getting a job pretty quickly. It's like a bad thing. Or what? Stefanski is this year's Mike Vrabel.
Stefanski should get a job within two weeks. Do you think he'll go and sit somewhere for a year, or do you think he'll. coach right no i think he's gonna coach right away Uh because um there have already been reports out in this in New York City. There's already been reports that he's at the top of the list for giant candidates. I fully expect Stefanski to get an interview, I would say, by like Thursday or Friday.
I think it's going to happen fast. I'm not saying he's going to be the Giants head coach. He's my preferred candidate as well, but I don't think that he's going to be unemployed for long. Winning two coaches in a year with Cleveland. With the mess that they had at quarterback of playing four guys, hell Kenny Pickett was on this roster coming into the season.
Yeah, I know he went backwards in terms of records. And you're probably not getting more than three years in the NFL head coach, as the NFL head coach, anyway. Like, that's what happened with Gannon in three years, no playoffs. You're gonna get Canned. But Stefanski is a really good coach.
Excellent. offensive brilliant of mine and Jameis Winston is on the roster for the Giants. He's going to go to bat for Stefanski as well. I think it's going to make a lot of sense as long as Jackson Dark kind of signs off on it as well. I think Stefanski to the Giants should be a slam dunk.
Do you think that that makes them competitive then, if that happens? Yes. But are you like Stefanski or Buss now where? You can't go Stefansky rumors and Hire Mike Shula. No, and I don't, I don't want, no disrespect to Mike Shula or Clint Kubiak or Jesse Minter.
I don't, you cannot, if you're keeping Joe Shane because you think he did a good job with this roster and there's a young nucleus to, you know, to build around and Brian Dable was a problem, you can't bring in a first-time head coach. You can't bring in this highly touted coordinator because a lot of times these guys flame out. And I've already seen it with Ben McAdoo and Joe Judge. Joe Judge, who wasn't even a coordinator. He was a special teams guy.
So you got to go with an established head coach because your general manager is essentially a lame duck anyway. His contract hasn't been renewed. This is his last year going into this season.
So if you have any hope of extending Joe Shane, you have to bring in a guy that's done it before.
So I wouldn't necessarily say Stefani or Bus because. If John Harbaugh shakes loose, then that's your other candidate as well. It's got to be a former head coach, someone who's had some modicum of success.
So it's Stefanski, Harbaugh, those types of guys or boss. No coordinators. Don't give me any coordinators. One thing I'll probably keep doing.
Well, maybe today, maybe not by tomorrow. But I do like to think in my head. Like what how would I have laid out the show tonight? If I was to do four hours. from the national perspective And I think I would save Baltimore.
Till hour two. Yeah, we would run Baltimore hard. Um Probably talk about the coaches in hour three. Maybe I'd probably save playoff preview for tomorrow. But one thing that I would really fight against is something I'm sure has been talked about a lot.
And that is the Carolina Panthers hosting a playoff game.
So they are going to be the fifth team. to another stat. The fifth team to have qualified for a playoffs. With a losing record. in the non-strike years And you're looking at division winners that were under 500.
The Seahawks did it at seven and nine. We remember that year with the beastquake. The Panthers did it again in fourteen at seven, eight and one. Washington did it in 2020 at 7-9. Tampa did it recently at 8-9 with Tom.
And then um the Buccaneers here. Have Well, they had the choice or the option of doing it again. It went to the Panthers.
So now the Panthers have done it twice, where they are a team with a losing record. I still Want to see divisions matter. I still but I don't know that like if you're somebody who thinks no, Bart. The team with the better record should host the game. I don't have a better argument for you than division should matter.
I think division should matter. I think if we're going to break it into these four-game pods. Like when the Bears beat the Packers and won the NFC North, I was being a real dick. And I was saying, Oh, congrats, you won the round, Robin. Good for you.
You're better than three other teams. Whippippity bibbity. You know, who cares?
So I can't Then say that and then argue for Carolina. But I do think, like, You play these teams twice. There are divisions. These are historic divisions long enough, even with this new structure, 23 years, you know who's in your division. You know how they play.
You draft people. Like, how many times do teams say Everyone in our division has tall wide receivers. We need a tall corner. Everyone's got great pass rushers. We need a good right tackle.
You will draft based on what's in your division. The divisions should matter. There will people that want to say, okay, fine. When your division you're in. But then you don't get a home game.
So we'll let Carolina in because they won their division, but then they're not going to get a home game. And if you do that, You're one step closer to.
Well, why are they even in to begin with? I'm a big proponent in Don't start taking away things. Because you will give people more incentive to take away more. If you if you let somebody Come into your house. And say, hey, look.
I need look I need your garage Like, let's say the city I live in was like, your garage is not legal. I need it.
Okay, come into my garage. Suddenly they're in my backyard. This is a lot of allegories to imperialism, I was just saying, but I. I don't think you don't let him have an inch. Don't let me walk a mile.
So don't let him do it. Let division winners. And it's happened, what, five times in 15 years? Yeah, it doesn't happen enough to where there needs to be a change. Yeah, and I have no problem with it either because you know what?
If you think the Panthers stink for whatever reason, well, even though their record indicates that they're kind of mid, then it's not going to matter at the end of the day. The 49ers are going to come in here and destroy them, and then they're out of the playoffs. And then you can go ahead and go on with your merry lives. I mean, but. We've had even within those five examples that teams will go far.
The Seahawks, who were seven Wednesday, went to the Super Bowl.
So teams can get in a run. I think divisions are a reward, or rather, hosting a playoff game is a reward for winning your division because everyone's trying to do that. That's your first step to get into the postseason. The wild card is not a goal. The wild card is a safeguard in case you have a baller squad in your division and you're good enough to make the playoffs.
You don't want to get penalized. You know, like it was in baseball where if you don't win the pennant, you don't get in. Like you should have some type of backs, you know, some safeguard to fall back on if you have a crazy team in your division. The Panthers should be able to host a home game because they want a division. They're playing with each other.
Right, you mentioned the four, you know, the 14 pods, but they're also playing the same opponents. They rotate within the same schedule as well.
So everyone's got the, if they're in the NFC South, I think they play the AFC East.
So they all get a crack at the Jets, they all get a crack at the Dolphins, for example.
So it's not like they're all playing different opponents outside of the division as well. Everyone had the same even opportunity or as close to it as possible to get more wins than their counterparts. It just so happens that nobody in the South could get nine wins.
So, the Panthers should not be penalized and go on the road to San Francisco, even though they got a poor record. They won their division. That's how it's structured. I'm with you, I don't want to take it away. Panthers, congratulations, because everyone wrote them off.
I didn't think that they would get into the postseason period. You could have put in five wild cards, and the Panthers probably wouldn't have gotten a record alone.
So they got in for the virtue of the self. If the 49ers are any good as we all think they are, then they should come in and put 14 on the Panthers, no problem. And if the 49ers don't, Oh well, then they're not good enough either, and the Panthers can go on and loose in the next round where the case may be. I think this is perfectly fine the way that it is. We should leave it exactly as is.
Now, this particular Panthers team, to give you one more thrilling fact. Or WTF, if you will. They were outscored by 69 points this year. They lost to the Saints twice. Their last win by more than three points was October.
And their last win by more than seven points was September. Another fun fact for you. The Packers play the Bears. The Bears' last win came against the Packers. Three weeks ago, the Packers' last win came against the Bears.
Five weeks ago.
So we'll get a real nice matchup on Amazon Prime. How excited I am to watch Al Michaels. And Kirk Herb Street. I've never had Kirk Herb Street. Narrate the final stanza of my season.
How many times will we see the dog over, under, on two and a half? Uh I'll say under But two like really fucking long shots. Oh, look, Kurt Herpstreet has a dog with him. Let's go ahead and get a close-up shot. It'll be there for a long time.
I was. you know, keeping things on a national perspective. I was thrilled to um Yes. See that the SEC's been getting their shit rocked. That's pretty much.
Oh, yeah, they're getting destroyed this bullseason.
So the SEC's dog shit. And Nikolai Jokic gets hurt. I would have had a lot of fun with this one. And I still can here. Nikola Jokic gets hurt, and all of a sudden, the 65-game rule for MVP isn't fair.
Now that it's affecting Nikola Jokic, now it's not. Fair. One thing, if I if I try to do anything. with my short two years. Having a national radio show.
It was to just Be a counter voice. I feel like sports takes are an ocean. Of shit just coming at you every day.
Okay, a lot of it's an echo chamber. And I just tried to be one guy to scoop up a cup. And throw it back in the other way. And did it work? Yeah.
Did I make any impact? Absolutely not. But can I say I tried? Sure. I tried well enough.
So I just, I thought those two things, because it does feel to me. I will say this. It does feel like. More people are picking up on some of the bullshit. And I don't just mean in sports, I mean like in life.
I feel like I feel like I'm getting in on the conspiracy theories at the right time. Would you say that people are waking up? I feel like I do.
Now that I'm Foley Podcasting. I need to dive into this more. I need to find where is my grift going to be. And I think I want to focus because I don't want to be like big conspiracy. I don't want to, but I want to focus on something that not a lot of people know a lot about.
And I think is. A pretty like safe one politically. I think there's some shit going on in Antarctica. I don't know if it's time dimensions. Or, you know, a portal, pocket universe.
Yeah, pocket universe, portal.
Something's going on in Antarctica.
Something's going on there, and I'm going to get more into it. Oh, I'm also going to solve the American healthcare system in my free time because I'm mad about my finger costing two grand. I'm going to learn how to play keyboard again. And I'm going to learn Spanish.
So I'm going to do all these things as I sit and start drinking probably instead at 9:30 in the morning. Just make sure you use promo code BART to get 25% off of your order. Yeah, that would be the uh seltzers and the tinctures at Happy Place. Finding ways to be financially savvy is a smart move, and knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want, like that dream home or new ride, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm Personal Price Plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home an auto.
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Okay. From the playoff picture.
My kid, we're 35 minutes in. I got to tell a story about my kid. I'm surprised it took this long. He really wanted to see the playoff bracket. Badly.
He wanted to know what it was going to look like because he loves brackets. Um This the way to school today, he goes. Who did we lose to in the playoffs last year? I go, don't you remember? It was the Eagles.
He goes, oh yeah, and then they beat the Chiefs 40-22. I'm like, how do you remember that? He's like, because I look at that bracket all the time. He does, he'll look at the brackets and go back.
So I said, okay, the playoff bracket is out. You can see a picture. And I gave him my phone at like 8.30 last night before he went to bed. And he was really, really pissed. Because ESPN had not yet had the schedule out.
On the app. He likes the ESPN app. And how the flow is of their things.
So, first thing he got up this morning. And then I was trying to explain to him. I said, okay, Seattle's the one seed. And if the Packers win. They're the lowest seed.
But his head's thinking they're the highest number.
So then I have to handle that. And then I said, but if they don't win, the Bears don't play them, it would be the still lowest. And he's in bed, and he's just like. This is so confusing for me. And it is.
But that irrelevant story about my son aside. Do you have any feelings? On who the bracket sets up. Nice for. Who you like as a a Super Bowl?
Potentially team. You have the Broncos and the Seahawks. Uh with buys. That matters, but Nobody cares about if you're the two or the three or the four or the five or the six. Anymore.
That became apparent yesterday. I think a lot of people are going to be in on bills over Jacksonville. I don't know. I don't know that I would bet on that. I don't, I wouldn't.
And that's in Jacksonville. I mean, I like the Bills. As much as the next guy, and there are no excuses for Josh Allen anymore. But I know Mahomes is gone and Lamar is gone and Burrow. But Trevor Lawrence is peaking at just the right time, and this is the right time to peak when you've had five years for nobody to watch you.
The only game they've really seen you play is when you came back and beat the Chargers. This is Trevor Lawrence's first, like. Real big game. And people are going to tune in and be like, when the fuck did this guy get good? And it's the five years you weren't watching him.
So I'm not ready to take the bills over them. I think the Patriots can clean up the Chargers. Uh I'm gonna take the Steelers. They haven't lost on Monday night football at home in 22 years. This counts for that.
Obviously, I like the Rams. I was liking the Niners, but them going to Philly I don't love. Packers Bears Mm-hmm. I'm just gonna Fucking ever watch that game and go the rest of my life not knowing. It's a toss-up.
That game is the only toss-up on the schedule. I think to answer your earlier question, I think it actually sets up nice for, and I know it's kind of low-hanging fruit based on what they're seated, but I think it sets up nice for Seattle. I think Seattle could have used that buy more than anybody else in the NFC. The Rams can win on the road. The Rams have had recent success.
You know, sure, Stafford could have used a week off to kind of rest that body a little bit, but I'm not worried about the Rams in terms of their getting knocked out in this weekend.
So I think it sets up nice for Seattle. I will say this, though, on the AFC side, there are no locks whatsoever. I'm in a slight agreement with you. I think the Patriots can clean up the Chargers, but I wouldn't be shocked at all. If the Chargers went into New England and beat Drake May and these guys, because sometimes you gotta lose before you gotta learn how to win.
And this is Drake May, like Trevor Lawrence. This is his real first real shot, the real taste in the playoffs.
So it wouldn't be surprising if The Patriots went out there and they lost, I don't know, 17, 14, or anything like that. That being said, There's no excuses for Josh Allen. But this is the worst team that Josh Allen has played since he entered the league. This is the worst iteration of the Bills since they've gotten Josh Allen. I actually like the Jags in this game.
I would take the Jags to win outright. Over Buffalo. I'm not going to do points in the spreads and stuff like that. We weren't good at that when we were doing our six pack of picks anyway. But I like the Jags to win this game because I just don't think the Bills have enough offensive firepower.
Outside of Josh Allen and James Cook, and they don't have any real receivers. Keon Coleman has been a disappointment. And defensively, they've been banged up and they were mid anyway.
So I like Jacksonville, not just because of Trevor Lawrence, but I think their defense is sneaky good. We would be talking about them more if they didn't have the best defense in their division, and that's the Houston Texans. I like the Texans to demolish the Steelers. I don't think that one's going to be close. I can't think against it.
They haven't lost on Monday night at home in 22 years. There's a first time for everything. And now that Houston's out of that early Saturday window. I could see the Steelers losing by 13. I think the Texans defense is going to give Rodgers fits and throw his ass into retirement.
So I'm with you in all the other picks. Because again, again, I wouldn't be surprised if the Chargers win, but I can lean toward the Patriots. There's no way that I'm going to ride with the Steelers or am I going to ride with the Bills. I think it's the Jags and the Texans to go ahead and advance in the AFC side of things. All right, here's some comments from the folks.
First of all, Kevin on Twitter. Says, please tell me this is going to be a weekly at minimum show moving forward. Would love to listen to you guys any way I can. That will be the plan. We're not going to do this every day.
No shot. I still need to look for work. Yeah.
I'm still surprised Carlos is giving me an hour every week. Mm. But thank you. And that's possible because of our friends at Carl's Place. I'll drop the link in the comments.
It will be on the YouTube and it's on my website, but they can get a golf simulator in your home, Pronto. They can do that. Um Or your garage. And it's cold by the way. Or your apartment.
Yeah, i i if if this uh grows to uh bigger than they got what they can do for one week is like an April Fool's gags and put Carls with a K place. They won't be doing that. No, it's the crossover that we all need though. Carlos's place. Carlos's place.
Um What is this one? Excalibur Force make honesty the new norm? I'm an honest guy.
Okay. Stalis Tom says, Bart, the polls will be reversing soon. Where's the poll? Which is a drop that I had. Where's the po I had a guy last night tell me a new theory that But this was Hot Take Jake's theory.
We did a Packer pod, and he had heard now that the reason billionaires are building bunkers. Isn't because of the like the polls or anything to reverse, which would bring some climatic changes. But there's going to be a loss of gravity for seven seconds. Nice. I didn't look more into that one yet.
I'll just hold on to something that's nailed down to the ground. Like that tree's all of a sudden, its roots are not going to come completely. Then, if you go up in the sky for seven seconds, you're coming down. Yeah, but you just make sure you're not You know? Make sure there's something to grab on.
I went for a few walks around New Year's Day and the next day. And it's cold here, but it was fine to walk. I kind of got the feeling like this was what life would be like if Thanos has snapped work. Because it felt like half the people were gone. It was weird.
Yeah, there was no traffic when I've been driving for like the last two weeks. I'm like, oh, this is great. Anthony's was right. Tom also says the pyramids aren't a tomb, but an ancient generator of endless clean energy.
Well, why haven't we tapped into it yet? Because we're not allowed. It's the same reason we're not allowed. I was thinking about this. I went to go buy fruit at the grocery store this morning.
Oh, careful, big fruit's listening. Yeah, and it is expensive. And I think I've brought this up on the show before. If my kid wants a strawberry. Why can't I just go outside and pick the strawberry tree in the courtyard?
Why do we have to pay someone to make our fruit for us? There's all other kind of trees sitting around. There's no peach tree just for the neighborhood. Bullshit. Glad to see Carlos.
That's from Don. Oh, hi Don. I'm glad to see your thumbnail. Kyle says this could be the Jags year. AFC is awful.
Steelers could definitely make a run, too. Texans and Broncos just to get to the AFC championship game. Come on, man. He's not wrong. It's really a toss-up in the AFC, even though the Broncos are your one seed.
And we didn't think the Broncos were going to be this good. I still don't think Bo Nix is all that good, but he's got a solid team. I would just say. Who's more likely to get knocked out first in your one season? It's going to be Denver or Seattle.
I would put my money on Denver getting knocked out as early as next week. Seattle, I think, has a good run in them.
Well, Tom also says Seattle's about to find out about playoff Darnold. Yeah, but Seattle's. See, the thing is, their defense is good enough to survive playoff Darnold. This is another topic I would approach this week. Steal Your Face, 484683.
Bro, I was waiting for this collab on YouTube during Brewers' Cubs.
Well, that's we had jobs then. But we also didn't talk really about that series 'cause we knew it would be bad.
Now, I am talking about this week how that series. has lingering effects on My Packers Bears. Look ahead. 'Cause that series wrecked me. Brewer's Cubs destroyed me as a human being.
You're aware of that. Yeah.
Um And it got to be bigger than it was for me.
So I can't handle rivalries. And it may, you know, even this. I'm saying this on the edge of Packers Bears.
Now that the Bears are good, I magically don't like rivalries.
Okay, Bart, you lose them. Very convenient. But I we won against the Cubs. And I couldn't handle that because if you ask popular opinion who got the upper hand, the Cubs did. Because the Brewers posed with an out flag and never won a game again.
So, yeah, you beat us. But you pose with an out flag and we can use that forever, and you did jack shit afterwards.
So, who really won that round? This is where you get that Thanos meme with Gomorrah. Like, what did it cost? Everything. Everything.
And now I got to go back into that rivalry again? Ugh. Which speaking of which, if I uh find myself into some income this year, I am coming to Milwaukee for a series. Bill likes seeing us back together. Shout out, Bill.
Atlantis was actually in Antarctica before the last pole shift. See, there is an angle with this Antarctica thing.
So who's the next underwater city? Is it Ed Lance Ha? Atlanta. Good one.
Okay. The Balkans can be the Seagulls. Oh my god. Kaka, kaka. Breaking news?
No. Um Because I'm going to be you know, I'm going to be putting out content. But not all of it has to be relegated to sports. I would like to do some conspiracy content. I would like to do some pop culture content.
I would like to talk more about Stranger Things. Did you watch it? I've never seen an episode, and I don't think I'm going to start. The ending was fine. And is that it for Stranger Things?
Are they done done?
Well, it was not fine enough that now there's a conspiracy that. There's actually a secret bonus episode they're going to release. Oh. That's strange. Which which means Fans didn't like the last episode.
Well, they should have done that for Game of Thrones. I'm still waiting for that bonus episode because Game of Thrones fucking sucked that last season.
Well, this is what sucks is. The theories End up being better than the actual show. Yeah.
There was a really good Stranger's Things theory going around that if it ended up being true in the show, it'd be the greatest show of all time.
Now I'm seeing all this shit from Doomsday. Which I fear is going to suck. Oh, we talked about this last year. This Doom, they're just throwing this movie together. The Doom as Robert Downer John, Robert Downer Jr.
as Doom. It's a panic move. They're like, oh shit, we got a fire kang. What the hell are we gonna do? This phase spink.
We need to go ahead and make something that's going to put asses back in the seats. Let's just go ahead and get a Tony Stark variant to be Victor Von Doom. I'm going to watch this three times, though. If they position this as a sequel to Endgame. What are you doing with the last five years of Marvel?
It just doesn't exist. The girl that can go through multiverses isn't even in the fucking movie. No Eternals. No, uh, no big celestial in the sky that came and snatched two of the eternals away. How do you just not have them?
No, no Egyptian gods. You know, there's no mention of moon night whatsoever. That doesn't happen. I'm just hoping for an Echo cameo. Who?
So I worry it sucks. But then I say, at least we won't have Seahulk. That one can go away. I think we will have She-Hulk. Oh, I don't I don't want it.
You have to have everyone from phase four in it, or what was the point? It's so bad. And well they they could just they could just make this a soft reboot. You know this they'll treat it like a two game a two game they'll treat it like a two part like they did with Infinity War and uh Endgame. They'll split it up.
So Doom's Day, Doctor Doom will win. And then Secret Wars is about the creation of Battle World, and now we can get a reset to everything in Marvel. And. Yeah.
Phase four or five never happened. I saw some art that like doom Kicks the shit out of all the Kangs, and I was like, fuck yeah. And then it was like, oh, this is AI fan generated. Like, I don't even know coming into this what's going to be real, what's not. People, I saw a doomsday fake trailer that was like really fucking good.
And I'm supposed to trust the Russo brothers? Yeah, well, AI is also getting scarier and scarier every day.
So, this isn't even real. Carlos and I put in our prompt seven hours ago of what we wanted to say. Mm-hmm. This is all AI. I'm not actually here.
I am a clone. We will do this weekly pending one of us getting back in the full-time workforce. In the meantime, Carlos is on on the weekends on the new Westwood One Sports. Yeah.
Uh that was uh That was an experience. The new hosts that I'm working with, they're not Bart, but they're good dudes. Linnell Willenham, we know, friend of the show. Linnell, we know, friend of show. Yeah.
Josh Graham has called me in the last two weeks. more than my wife has in six years of marriage. Very nice guy. Really like Excited to be doing this. He's a good dude.
But it's so strange. I talked to him more than I had talked to Bart. And then Bart was the person other than my wife I talked to all the time.
So I'm like, this is like. This is like getting a rebound, but the rebound wants to commit. Oh And I still want to like. Tickle your titties once a week.
Well, not mine. I lost 30 pounds.
Well, I gained that. I gained your thirty pounds. That's why I'm in my uh Punisher hoodie. I'm going to going to the gym in a little bit. Grock, is this really Bart and Carlos on screen right now?
It's AI. I got a Carlos that says Grok put Bart in a bikini.
Well, if you wish. Oh, please, no. No, no, no. Keep the shirt on. I do take the shirt off about once a month on the podcast, just for those.
Joining us. Do it with Grants or Danny Perkins or something. We'll come back next week. We'll talk about some of these playoff games. Uh until then, follow Carlos.
Carlos with a K. Anything else you want to promote? Nope, because I'm like you looking for something to do during the week, but I'm happy to do this. I'm not looking. Yeah, I'm retired.
This is my retirement. This is my hobby. You interrupted my gaming session.
So I'm going to play a little Destiny 2. But no, on the weekends, if you miss me that much, I will be on. The Westwood won sports for From one to eight Eastern. Linnell Willingham, Josh Graham, both nice guys. And then I.
for whatever reason. I produce a third show for the first hour, and then Stu Kovacs takes over after me. I don't know why I'm just babysitting that last hour, but I will be there at those times if you want to come in and just talk shop and blow up my Twitter feed. Are you going to talk? Do you talk?
I talk on Bo Shows. Yes. Yes. Lyne and Josh have a. We're still trying to figure out logistically how everything works, but oh, I will say this side note.
I cannot go back to work into a studio. Working in your house is so awesome. No matter what complaints I had about technical difficulties, it could not fail to compare it. I'm like, I'm not wasting my gas for this. I literally did that Josh Graham show completely in my underwear the entire three hours watching the Panthers and Bucks, you know, in the rain.
And I'm like, well, I'm eating cheese balls and in my underwear, and no one can see me. This is great.
Well, if you ever need to book a guest. Oh, if the Packers advance, you're the first guy. You'll make it to the airwaves one way or another. Yeah.
Suits be damned. Carlos, good to see ya. I can't wait for next week, man. And thank you all for stopping into the Winklerverse.
