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Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Good morning, everybody. Welcome into the Winklerverse. We've got a nice little episode for you today.
Peter Bukowski is here from Lockdown Packers. Peter just recently did a video at Lockdown Packers. About how the Packers keeping Matt LaFleur. actually means they're going all in. And for some reason, he was dressed like the rock.
What the hell is this about? First of all, I'm not wearing a turtleneck. Second of all, my chain is much smaller than that. What's it like to wear a chain? I'm not a chain guy.
It must be invigorating as a person. I, you know. Here it is. You pull it out, you look good. I pulled it out.
You look good. A couple years ago, I called it the playoff chain because I most of my life. You still got it on. I didn't even notice. Yeah, most of my life, I've had it.
I haven't worn it for that long, but. I used to, in high school, we had these, like, I went to Market High. And we had these, like you'd go on a retreat and you'd get a cross necklace, and everyone wore them. And so I got used to wearing them and uh Kind of brought them back as an adult to wearing the chain.
So now I'm back. When the Packers made the playoffs in 2023, I forgot during a live stream that I had it out. And so I just improvised and I called it the playoff chain, like a turnover chain, or like you know, you know, in college. Very clever, Peter. And uh I've kind of uh I've kind of stuck with that.
Here, I'm digging around in my box of shit. I found a necklace. Quran. Mm. Come on, Bart.
It's my Saint Gregory necklace, or it might be Saint Christopher. You should probably know. They gave me one to like. Keep it in your car. We'll help you find stuff.
And it's never helped me find shit.
Well, and you literally couldn't find it just now. I mean, I couldn't find it just now. Did I even ever have it? That's the question. I don't mean here's my question for you.
Let's do it. What am I doing wrong? I mean, as it relates to what? I think you're killing the content game.
So why does everyone hate me?
Well, you are mad at Matt LaFleur. It's not just, it seems personal. That's why people are mad at you. What if it is personal?
Well, that's fine, but people don't like that. And so if they like Matt LaFleur, Matt, it's also tribal, Bart. Matt LaFleur, even the Packer fans that don't love Matt LaFleur. He's still the Packers coach. And that means people are going to be tribal about it.
People are going to go, don't talk about my coach that way. Like, you know how people are. And so that's just, that's the, that's the way that it's going to, that's the way that it's going to play sometimes. I get it. And what's funny to me is.
Like, I will criticize a player. in a way that is not personal. And I will be accused of making it personal. And I'm like, look, I don't know Caleb Williams personally. I don't know anything about his personal.
I don't know CJ Stroud. I don't know Quay Walker. I didn't know Kevin King personally. But if you're bad, I'm going to say you're bad. And I respect, we don't agree on the MatlaFleur stuff, but I respect you saying this is what I believe, and I'm not going to back down.
Why would I back down? I'm going to keep harping on this because that's being honest about yourself. That's being true to yourself. And I think that's what we need in the content business here.
Sounds like someone watched my sign-off when I said we need to be genuine. Maybe you didn't, but that was my big thing: you need to be genuine. There's so many people. In this whatever this is. that I don't find are genuine.
I'm genuine.
So I think what is bothering me And trust me. There's a reason, not to, not to like, this is not a personal thing, but there's a reason that Skip Ailis was good in a different paradigm of the media and has been unable to find a niche in the modern media landscape because it is not genuine. It is disingenuous. And the audiences is, they're just too savvy now. They get it.
And you need to have. A voice that seems authentic to you that isn't. Just being performative, like it that stuff doesn't work, people don't want.
Someone cosplaying an NFL analyst. They want someone who, even if you're not like gonna get in the weeds with film, that's okay. Not everyone has to do that, or even waste of time. Even if you're not gonna get into analytics, that's okay. Like, not everyone, that's not for everybody.
But you have to connect with an audience on some sort of visceral level. They either need to love you or hate you or both. And look, I had just as many Bears fans in my post-playoff stream on Lockdown Packers as I had Packers fans. And that to me. They're a different breed.
They like they're a different breed. That's true. When we get tired, I do want to talk about them. Because you're enemy number one to Bears fans. I sure am.
But I feel like I'm enemy number one to Packer fans. And I know, look, I'm not going to sit here and be like, oh, I'm self-important. Every single Packer fan in the world knows that Bart Winkler has a take, that he's anti-LaFleur. I understand that. But I will say, I've been in the take game.
For 15 years. I have never. Ever Faked a take. I've never done it. I just talked this week about how I'm at a little bit of a.
Even worse. like fork in the road. Because I think. This version of the Packers, I don't like them. I don't like them.
You don't like them? I don't like LaFo. Like, you don't like watching them play football, or you'd think that they are an unlikable team? I think right now it's very easy for a Packer fan to hate what the Packers are doing. Why?
Because I don't trust their operation. I think so. The bigger part. The bigger part Is I feel like they're acting like the Brewers. I feel like they're acting like a team that cannot afford one bad season.
I feel like they're acting like a team that when Mark Murphy saw the empty stadium, he had to fire Mike McCarthy that night against the Cardinals. There's a level of apathy the Packers don't want to. Get back to, but I just want to clear up that I, it's all whether you think it's like isn't that every team, Bart doesn't doesn't every team not want apathy in their fan base. No, no team is like we're cool with the fans, right? Right, right.
But the Packers are acting like one, two bad seasons could sink the Brewers for a long time. That's going to happen in Green Bay.
So, my part of that is yeah, but so I think you're making your case for me. in that I don't think they're going to have two bad seasons for the foreseeable future. And I don't think that's right, Pete. I agree with you. And I don't think that's a, I don't think that's bad.
Like, I think the best way to win a Super Bowl is to constantly give yourself chances to win Super Bowls. I don't believe the NFL works like the NBA, where you can tank for three or four seasons, add a couple star players, and all of a sudden you're right back in the mix. You have to, it takes time to build a team, to build a culture, and you also have to get incredibly lucky. And so, the more chances you give yourself, the more bites at the apple that you give yourself, this is true in the draft. This is true in the season.
Like, I'm sure you saw the stat. And I'm sure you have a take for it. But that. Over the last, I think it's 15 years. The Packers are top five in wins, and they're the only team in the top five in regular season wins to not have multiple Super Bowl appearances.
And they don't even have one. That's the problem. I understand that. That is the problem. But I also think that they gave themselves a lot of opportunities.
So I make this comparison all the time: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2000. Have two Super Bowl titles. This is my comparison. Not a single Packer fan in the world would trade places. I would.
Not for the last 15 years. No, not for one extra Super Bowl. You would not take 10 losing seasons or whatever it is where they just sucked or they were seven and nine. To get one extra Super Bowl where they were good for one year, two years, I would not make that trade. I don't think most Packer fans would make that trade.
And what I'm realizing is that. Have you checked faces with Marlins fans since you've been alive? No. Yes, I would. No.
As a Brewer fan? No. No! The apathy, or whatever word you want to use for a bad season. Like, bad seasons are bad.
They're not fun. But this is what I'm saying. Like, you want to deal with multiple or three or four. You want to deal with multiple hundred lost seasons and no attendance at the Marlins versus constantly being a good, even if they're not a great team, a good team. I would much rather have a year where my baseball team won 95 games and just made it, just in heavy scare quotes, makes it to the NLCS.
Than having 10 seasons where you lose 95 to 100 games and every 10 years you make a World Series. Like that seems miserable to me. I the the the the I hate this may be where we differ. Bart. I hate losing more than I like winning.
Me too. I hate losing. Me too. I hate losing. So I'm not going to sit here for a six-win Packer season.
Even if it means in 10 years, I get a Super Bowl championship. That's not worth it to me. I want them to be good every single year. I want to go into every single season and be able to say the Packers can win the Super Bowl. I have been doing this podcast, Lockdown Packers, since 2017, for 10 seasons now.
I have been doing this. Every single year, I have been able to go into the season and say the Packers can reasonably expect to win the Super Bowl. That's it's only really been, well, with the exception of 2023. And it turned out they had a chance to win the Super Bowl that year. What's crazy is we didn't go in thinking they could, and they still gave the 49ers everything they could handle in the playoffs.
I would not trade that thing. And going into every Sunday being like, the Packers can win. Versus Bears fans. Going, here we go again. Even though they convince themselves every offseason they can still win it.
That seems like a miserable existence to me. If you threw one, like, let's say the Bears had beaten the Peyton Manning Colts. And they have the same number of Super Bowls since 2000. There is no way. Any, any, any Packer fan would go, well, that's just as good.
It's the same. No, it's not. Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health. This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 Show on YouTube.
So, having a counselor and working with BetterHelp gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack, but people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box that you're not always sure what's inside.
So, I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit betterhelp. That's betterh.com/slash 89 to get started. This is a classic bit on the show. I'm going to do it with you.
This thing behind me. You know what that is? You can probably guess. There's four, it's four Super Bowls. It says thirteen time Or no, four times they didn't even say the 13 time.
All it says is four-time Super Bowl champs. My uh wife bought that for me. That's nice. You know when she bought it for me? She bought it for me during the 2011 season.
And I told him the Super Bowl tickets behind me. Look at you. I told her, this is a great plaque. I'm not going to use it that much because. They're like 10-0 right now.
They're going to win a Super Bowl again with Rodgers for sure. Obviously, the point I'm making is they haven't even. been back since. But would you trade the Rodgers era for the Eli era in New York? Yes.
But they have two Super Bowls. Yeah, but they stunk for like five of those twelve years. All right.
So, I think that there's some things that we can debate around here. The Buccaneers thing is a great one. I'm glad you made that reference. I've done it in the past. We, you know, I think the bulk of this, what I'm noticing.
Is The standard for you. You the the all-powerful you. But you too, because you just said it. Uh-huh. The standard for you is As long as they had a season that they were Super Bowl contenders, sign me up, rinse, and repeat.
I need a Super Bowl. I think what you're saying, though, is dangerously, and maybe intentionally so. Close to the criticism that the team organizationally is. Satisfied with merely being a Super Bowl contender and Maybe incapable or unwilling to make the decisions necessary to win a Super Bowl. I have always believed that if they were capable of being that precise in the way that they are able to execute a plan, why not just be precise enough to win a Super Bowl?
Like, if you're so good, you can thread that needle between winning 10 and 13 games and not winning a Super Bowl, then why not just win a Super Bowl? Like, if you're so good at so precise at threading that needle. But that point aside, I have come, and this is not going to be spectacular analysis. But I have come to the conclusion. That Luck is so vital.
To winning any title. I agree. I have almost run out of the energy. To do analysis. Like, it is, you have to be so like the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots were the two healthiest teams in the league.
New England played nobody. New England played nobody. Like have the Packers ever had A fluky Super Bowl run like that? No, they've always had to be an opportunity and then they lose to the Giants.
Well, but they didn't, okay, that's true, but that Giants team won the Super Bowl. It turned out that team was really scary. That team was really capable of playing at a high level. But this is, this is your, that's to my point. Is I think we normally go into a season, right?
And we think six, maybe eight teams can win the Super Bowl. I kind of think that's like, I kind of think that that's too few. I think the answer is like, oh, I didn't mean to do that. Yes, you did. I think there are 10 or 15 teams every year that are capable of winning the Super Bowl.
If they get the right breaks and the right health. And we we see it. Like we the the the Nick Foles Eagles They were a good team with Carson Wentz. They're not otherworldly talented. They beat Tom Brady in his prime.
Who had 500 yards passing in the Super Bowl, and they beat that version of Brady and Belichick. That is lucky. That is fluky. And sometimes that's just what happens. Like I use this comparison with Matt LaFleur.
No way. Would I want to trade Matt LaFleur for Nick Siriani? No, absolutely no way. There's no way I would rather have 2017 Doug Peterson than this version of Matt LaFleur. But guess what?
Those guys combine for two Super Bowl titles and three Super Bowl appearances. Does that mean those guys are better coaches? No, it doesn't.
So when I hear the argument like this team is never gonna win with Matt LaFleur, I point to those guys and I go, those guys, Doug Peterson doesn't have a job. And if Nick Siriani, Like Hadn't had Howie Roseman take over the coaching decision making and put together an all-time loaded roster. He would be doing this job with us. Because I don't know what he does. He's the mascot on the Philadelphia Eagles sideline.
He doesn't do it. They don't want him to do it. They're like, dude, stand in the corner and don't touch anything. I've never seen a coach backpack to his title the way that Nick Siriani is being backpacked to a title, but he has a title. That doesn't make him better than Kyle Shanahan.
That doesn't make him better than Matt LaFleur. That doesn't make him better than the last 10 years of John Harbaugh. Come on. All these points are salient and great, Pete. And I will say.
The the luck component is great. I mean, it is, I'm not a fool. I understand that. I hate it. I hate that that's true because it doesn't happen in other sports.
Like the best teams usually won't baseball.
So let me basketball because they have series. One-game playoffs lead to craziness, to flukiness. Let me bring up baseball.
Okay. I think we just need to kiss. Let me bring a baseball because the Brewers are a bit of the Apple team. Yeah. And that strategy has not worked for them.
However. It has worked. for other teams against the Brewers. And if it would have just worked one time. The entire framing of it changes.
So, yeah, if one of these seasons The Packers got a little more luck on their side. You know, mine, I don't have a little more health. Like, would the would we be having a different conversation about the brewers? If Corbin Burns and Brandon Woodruff had just been healthy. Maybe.
I think we, I think we, like, yeah, maybe, right? Like, they certainly have a better chance to win some of those playoff series if those guys are healthy.
So, so luck is a part of it, but what might. If Christian Yelich doesn't throw out his back, Taylor doesn't make the most improbable catch of all time. Um Yeah yeah. The Packers are a B plus A minus student. They are threading that needle, Peter.
They're a smart kid. That does well and takes an amount of pride in being a top student, but they're not gonna be valedictorian because you'd have to study harder. They're not gonna be a C student because, like me, I didn't try that hard in school. But I was an A minus B plus student because I meant just inherently a smart guy.
Okay, the Packers are a good team. They're run well. They're good. They're good. But they've never decided.
Let's study harder. Let's be the A. Let's get a different tutor. Isn't the Micah Parsons trade doing extra credit? Isn't that SAT prep?
Great example. Micah Parsons trade. I mean, you look at an all-in move. Hello, that's a good one. That's a great move.
The Micah Parsons discourse is very weird because I will give you that. A million times out of a million. And then you tell me the Packers, you tell me.
Well, the Packers, you know, Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft got hurt and they were unlucky. And I would say to you. Yes, they were. Yes, they were, but they also had Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft when they lost to the Browns, which I pin all on LaFleur, which they lost to the Panthers, all on LaFleur. And by the by, in that Panthers game, by the by, they had a 21-3 lead without Parsons, without Kraft.
So if I'm somebody that's a Packer fan, How am I supposed to equate what happened? We've seen Matt LaFleur talk. We've seen these stump speeches he can't give to the Wisconsin Badgers. That man can't motivate a team to finish off a 21-3 victory in the playoffs against their rivals. I don't think motivation was the reason Rashid Walker decided he didn't know how to block anybody in the second half.
I don't think motivation. No accountability. I don't, but what does accountability mean? They didn't have anyone else to put in if they were going to bench him. Zach Tom was hurt.
I truly believe if Zach Tom had been healthy or at least healthy enough to play, turns out he had a torn patella. Like, I was like, there's no way he's not going to play. He played with a torn oblique against Miles Garrett. And it turned out he had a partially torn patella, which is about as bad an injury as you can have, a fully torn patella anyway. Like, I think Jordan Morgan would have been the starting left tackle in the playoff game, or at the very least, would have played in the second half.
Like accountability to me is not just about Taking guys out of the game and stuff like that. They blew coverages in the second half. They had punt return issues. Two punt returns led directly to points in the second half. They did not hold Rich Basaccia accountable for that.
And I do blame Matt LaFleur for that. I do blame Matt LaFleur for sitting here now a month after the season ended. And they're looking for a special teams coach after the rest of the league has hired all the good special teams coaches. Like I was reading Bill Huber's reporting on the guys that they were looking to hire. One of the guys they're gonna interview is the guy, I can swear on this show, right?
No fucking chance, Peter.
So they the the The Raiders special teams coach got fired in the middle of the fucking season. And that's the guy that they're going to bring in now.
So, and one of the guys is Kyle Wilber, who was a raider for Rich Pisaccia and a quality control coach for Rich Persachio. You need to be able to swear because your idol, Matt LaFleur, likes to say the word shit. He likes to play a cuss word. Because he can't do it without it.
Well, I also think that football coaches like to swear. That Anthony Campanile dolphins thing went viral because every other word was the F word. Yeah, but there's people that like to swear, and then there's people that swear to look cool. And that's Matt LaFleur, aka Scrappy-Doo. I He's got a little pluck.
He is a little plucky. Lemmy at him. Lemmy Adam. He's not, you know, he's not a tall guy.
So he does have a little bit of that little man in there. Here's the take: if Matt LaFleur looked exactly like Mike McCarthy, he would have been fired. I like our pal Grant's take better that if Mike McCarthy looked or if Matt LaFleur looked like Mike McCarthy, he'd already have a statue in Green Bay. That's who I think the perception. I think the perception of him would be totally different.
I think the fact that he has clean eyebrows and cuts his own hair every day. and looks like he is in a J. Crew catalog. Has not ingratiated himself to the fan base the way that if he looked like. Pete, it has.
No, I think the opposite is true. I think the opposite is true. I think the guy, I think the skull-spitting, deer-hunting, camouflage-wearing Packer fan. Thinks Matt LaFleur is a little bitch. And And you're not even those first three things, and you think that.
So, like, come on. I think he's a little bitch because I am a little bitch a la the take one to no one precedent. This is why I was always mad at Rogers all these years. Because I know what he's doing because he's like me. Yeah, I get it.
And I know what LaFleur is doing because I've been that little sensitive bitch. That needs to swear to make other manly men around him impressed. I'm not just saying this. It's why you swear so much in front of me. I get it.
Yeah, I'm not just saying this because this is what's bothering me. Can we just get to what's bothering me? Sure, please. Can we make people like me? I'm being genuine.
I'm not. I get it's a little annoying, like, oh, Bart, again, I get it, but no one else is doing it.
Well, first of all, I would like to push back on that a little bit because I feel like I'm doing it. But then you're also going so far the other way that it's like. I'm just I'm too likable. Is that what you're saying? No, you can put a little sprinkle Matte LaFleur criticism on your pizza because you're putting it in the I'm going to make a video saying Matt LaFleur being kept as the Packers going all in oven.
Oh, I liked that take. I really did. I liked that one. That was oh man, did I laugh at you? And you, and you got name-checked in not the clip.
You don't think I watched that whole garbage video before I talked to you today? Hey, I don't name check everybody, Grant, or Grant, Bart. Grant was just texting me.
Sorry. Um I don't name check everybody when I talk about their takes because some people I don't want a platform. Like there are people who I think not only should you, you shouldn't say things. And I don't name check me. You did that whole thing out of response to something I said.
Well, yeah, but sometimes I'll respond to like a national media pundit that I just think is. Is gassing up a take, and I don't, I specifically do not use their names. Uh, because I don't want, I don't want to send traffic there. I don't want to, I don't want to promote someone doing something just for clicks. I didn't think you were doing that, which is why I felt comfortable saying your name, and because we're friends.
And if I think you're wrong, I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to tell you to your face. And I think you're wrong about this, and that's okay. I also think. Much like in politics, and you know, that's a different can of worms. I think we are closer aligned on Matt LaFleur than The the takes Bear out.
Like, I don't think Matt LaFleur is above reproach. I don't think there haven't been obvious issues in his coaching. I think, frankly, what you said about. The losses. The Browns game was a lot on Matt LaFleur.
I think I would say mostly on the coaching. I thought that the approach they coached scared in that game. They coached scared in the Eagles game. I was saying that for the first eight weeks, 10 weeks of the season, that they were, they just played so conservative. I think they wanted to play like the Eagles.
I think they wanted to run the ball, be physical. Like, I think he wanted to change the perception of the team that they are soft. And ironically, it turned them into a team that looked even softer because they looked like they weren't being aggressive. And to me, the season changed on Thanksgiving. When he's going forward on fourth down, he's throwing the ball down the field.
Like, that was the aggressive version of this Packers team. That if they play that way against Carolina, they beat them by 10. If they play that way against Cleveland, they beat them by 10. If they play that way against the Eagles, they beat them by 10. And it's just a different thing.
And I'm telling you, Bart, when they're up nine in the second half against Denver. And Jordan Love play action fake. He rears back, and I know he's going to fire a deep ball to Christian Watson. I'm like, they're going to the Super Bowl. In that moment, I was like, this team has figured it out.
They're going to the Super Bowl. And then the whole season changed when Christian Watson. goes to the hospital. Zach Tom goes out. Evan Williams goes out.
And then Xavier McKinney drops an interception that is right in his hands. And two plays later, Micah Parsons stares his ACL. That was the season. I mean, that was the season right there. They were going to have a statement win.
They were going to leave that game on Sunday as the favorites to win the Super Bowl. I promise you. And then that started a five-game losing streak, which was good enough to get our coach an extension.
Well, okay. If they'd have played their starters against Minnesota, they would have won.
So. A lot of this is that extension. If there was another year. If he had another year already and they had this year, all right, one more year, fine. But because of the timing, we had to either extend them or fire them.
And they okay, can I make my case on the all-in point? And I want to hear your direct response to it. Yes, Peter.
So They have a three-year window here. There is no such thing as anything longer than a three-year window anywhere in sports. It just doesn't exist. You have to remake your roster. The one would be the 1960s Celtics, who are the most overrated team of all time.
Well, okay, modern sports with salary caps and those. I just wanted to get a dig in on them for sure. No reason. Sure, great. I love it.
Um, You have three years to win a Super Bowl. Changing midstream. He just had the three years of Rodgers, then he had these three years.
Now we're going to give him another three years. He doesn't deserve this. Granted. They did not win a Super Bowl. Three years in a row, they win 13 games.
They go to the NFC Championship game twice. And Okay. Yeah. Also, that first game that they go to the NFC Championship game, that 49ers team was just way better than that Packers team. Like, it wasn't, it wasn't.
I know the records will say it was close. It wasn't. And we're always running at the buzzsaws, though. Why can't we be the buzzsaw? I agree.
I wrote that at the time. I wrote that at the time. Like, it is, it is. tough to to feel like You should be the buzzsaw. The Packers in 2010, they were the buzzsaw.
And they went into the playoffs and they just beat everybody up. Um They haven't been the buzzsaw in a long time. I thought this year might have been the year, and for two weeks to start the season, they were. They look like the best team in the NFL. For two and a half games in the middle of the year, they also looked that way.
But so my point is. I think Matt LaFleur is an excellent offensive coach. I think his play calling and his play design is elite in the NFL. And I think those guys are extremely valuable to a team. It would have been hard.
Maybe impossible. And if you look at the coaching cycle, there isn't anyone that hired a coach where I went. I would rather have that guy than Matt LaFleur. Not anybody. And so I think that matters.
And so when you're chasing a title right now, you go, okay, this is the best guy for this team that we can get. If you're the Packers. And you say, all right, next year. This is your window.
Next year and the year after, this is your window. And if it doesn't get better, He's going to be out. Like, he's going to be out. He's a 10-plus guy. He got the benefit of the doubt.
Most of the school are season D's. I will come to your side. If the next two seasons play out the way that the 2020 and 2021 seasons go, And the Packers keep Matt LaFlore. How about that? I will come to your side on.
I don't want to. That's fine. I just don't want to spend another two seasons doing that.
Well, but they also could win the Super Bowl this year. Like, you are starting from a place where they are incapable of winning the Super Bowl, and I just don't think that's true. Like, I think it's stupid. They have longer odds to win the Super Bowl next year than the LA Rams. I think that's stupid.
Doesn't mean anything. It's just people trying to get your money.
Well, they can have it. Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health. This is Steve Smith here, former NFL wide receiver and host of the 89 Show on YouTube.
So, having a counselor and working with BetterHelp gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack. But people don't understand when you unpack things, you also open up a box that you're not always sure what's inside.
So, I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit betterhelp. That's betterh.com/slash 89 to get started. One main point to end on.
Okay. One little tiny thing. But let me bring this up, but I was going to ask you if you saw it. As I pull it up here, a reminder. On this Dan Shaney YouTube stream, we're brought to you by Happy Place Hemp, 25% off each and every order.
Promo code Bart. I was going to ask you, just, I didn't know I was going to ask you, but then I see that you're like the first comment on it. It is Patrick Dottery. Daughter. Who is this guy?
Royal Pat? Oh yeah, Pat Doherty. Doherty. The phrase in here, polite football. Oh yeah, that's a good one.
Where the Packers Is that in here? Yeah. Packers did it again. An absurdly efficient offense. A defense that falters at the wrong moments, a playoff season and wretched disappointment.
They're the most middle class of franchises. Although the commanders expect this is your take, Bart. I know that's why I'm bringing it up because someone else said it. By sheer virtue of their quiet dignity, they are never bad. Thanks to their intractable Timidity.
Timidity. They do not ascend. They're playing polite football. And that is my problem. That is my problem.
May LaFleur doesn't run up the score on these teams because he doesn't want to embarrass them. I don't, I don't know. I personally do not think that that part is true. The Packers in 2020 ran up the score on a lot of people. In 2024, they ran up the score on a lot of people.
They ran up the score on the Dolphins. They ran up the score on the 49ers, on the Saints, on the Seahawks. They had six, six of their wins in 2024. were by two scores or more. They blew out those teams.
This is why this is interesting to me because in 2024. Right. Or 2023. They won some big games and they lost some stupid games. And you're just sort of like, okay, young team, they'll figure it out.
2024, they didn't win a big game. Not really. But they did blow teams out. 2025, they won some big games, but they didn't blow anybody out. And you go, oh, they always play down to their competition.
Well, no, they did it in 2024.
Well, in 2024, they wouldn't win big games.
Well, they did in 23 and 25.
So, how do we make sense of all of that? It's not a team incapable of blowing teams out. We've seen them do that. It's not a team incapable of winning big games. We've seen them do that.
What we haven't seen is a season where they can put it all together. And that is, I think. Part of being the youngest team in the league. And this goes back to Ted Thompson because those Aaron Rodgers teams were always the youngest teams in the league, too. And I do think there is something to.
You need to have. veteran players on your team to motherfuck. They're peers in practice. And to bring that edge and that juice every single week. I think there were times the last three years.
But the last two, especially, where the Packers thought the players in particular thought we can just roll the ball out and win. And they didn't show up with the right mindset. Where's that attitude come from? I don't think it's coming from the coach because I think he believes in the process and he believes in executing every play. I think it comes from being the youngest team in the league.
And you have to have some veteran leaders. It's why I think they should go sign Calais Campbell. It's why I think they should sign Demario Davis, even though he's as old as you and I. Because I think that those guys are not going to allow that stuff to happen because they're chasing Super Bowls. They've been in the league.
They know if you don't have the right mindset every week, they've been in the league 15, 16, 20 years in the case of Calius Campbell. They know. That you can't play like that. And they will help ensure that that does not happen. But now these guys are getting older now.
Jordan Love is going to be 30 soon. Josh Jacobs is getting older. Xavier McKinney is getting older. They understand now, I think, you hope. You got to play every game like they did the first two weeks of the season.
Like your life. Fucking depends on it. Michael Parsons plays every rep like his life depends on it, even though he is now generationally wealthy. I don't think this coach is going to provide that. I think players have to be self-motivated.
I think you have to, you have to be, if you're a coach, you can't be. Just like your whole motivation can't come from your coach. I think you have to be self-motivated as a player. And you can't do it for them. You can't do it for you can also be a coach that Yo the whatever System you have doesn't allow players to do that.
You could be that kind of coach. But I don't know what that means. I don't either. I thought it sounded good. It does sound good, but I don't like when people say they want accountability, what does that mean?
You want guys, you want guys? I hate when people say accountability, too. That was a fuck up.
Okay. But what I do think is that Matt LaFleur, I don't know his. His environment is the most conducive. For what you want. I don't know that he can provide that.
They're a B plus student and they need the other kids to call in sick. to be valedictorian. I think I think every I think most teams need that. I think most teams need someone to call on sick, or they need to guess. They need to be going, like, all right, I don't know the answer to this.
Let me just guess C, C, C, C, C. And they need that to be the right answer more often than not. To win a Super Bowl. I think that's just life. Like the Giants needed one of the most improbable, two of the most improbable completions in Super Bowl history to win two titles.
And they got them both. Yeah, well, I think that like Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, and some of these guys are, you know, they're answering their test questions with the knowledge they've learned. Matt's going to ChatGPT. I mean Kyle Shanahan has one fourth quarter comeback in his NFL career. Yeah, I'm also not a Kyle Shanahan guy.
All right, last thing, last thing, real quick. And this is a take that I know people won't. like but I this is how I feel I don't think it's funny if the Bears move to Indiana. I don't want them to. I think that sucks.
I mean, it's sad for the league, but it's also, there's some Schadenfreude there of just like them always being such assholes about the stock sale thing. Yeah. And then because they can't actually do anything about it. That's funny. It would suck for the league.
I really would. And then, but I got some, I got some Bears fans already telling me: well, it's closer than I don't care if it's close, it's across the border. And then people are like, oh, you care about borders now? I'm just talking about football. Build that wall.
All right.
I don't have anything else for you. What else? Good to talk to you, buddy. I love the chain. Thank you.
I love the beard. I'm going to leave it out for the live stream now. I love the content. What do you talk about on your live stream?
Well, we got our Friday news dump. I'm actually going to go live here in the top of the hour, getting questions from our Everyday or Club folks and our live people on comment. It's just a 15, 20-minute show we do on Fridays, a little extra bonus. Content for the for the diehard football sickos.
Well, tell him I said to fuck off. All right.
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