Dan Campbell & Questionable Decisions (Hour 1)

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That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We've got an action packed show for you today. We're rockin' and rollin' all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Got Stuart Kovacs and Carlos Ortiz with me. Ross Tucker's gonna join us at the top of the hour, and then coming up in the third and final hour at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific, will be Mike Golick Sr. Of course, long time talk show host now doing a kickass job with DraftKings. Alrighty, we have our Super Bowl matchup.

It is set. The San Francisco 49ers will be going up against the Kansas City Chiefs. I was in Baltimore yesterday for the AFC Championship game. We'll get to the AFC Championship game second, but let's start first and foremost with the Lions and 49ers. So, I'm watching that first half of the NFC title game in the Chiefs press conference room, and I see the start that the Detroit Lions get out to. And I thought the Lions were alive to win the game heading into the game on Monday.

I didn't think that was the case. But as the week did go on, I started to buy more and more into the Lions, where actually I did take the Lions to lose the game, but I only took them to lose the game by one point. I thought that was going to be a sweated out, down to the wire type of game, but to see how the Lions controlled the game from the start, and not only controlled the game, they were trending into blowing out the San Francisco 49ers.

It was amazing, it was shocking, but it was also really damn cool to see. Now, I'm walking out of the stadium in Baltimore at halftime of the NFC title game, and I call my best friend, and he has family in Detroit, and he says to me, you know it and I know it, this is going to be a game in the second half. And I wholeheartedly agreed with him, and the reason, even though the Lions are up by 17, my wholeheartedly agreed, when you are a fan base like that, where you have been tortured for that many years, and you've been the lovable losers, in order to break through and fight through, you're going to have to get your emotions toyed with like no other. So even if the Lions are going to win that game, which they did, and a big reason why is their head coach and Dan Campbell will get to him in just a second, you knew that they were going to bring you to the brink of disaster, to the brink of chaos after having pretty much what was a perfect first half. You knew that was coming in the second half, and if you were going to win the game, you were going to just squeak by at the end and avoid the disaster and avoid the catastrophic collapse. So I look at the decision making in the second half with Dan Campbell, and let me just say this right out of the gate, Dan Campbell is a great coach. Dan Campbell has done wonders with the Detroit Lions.

It takes a special person and a special attitude to get this team 30 minutes away from punching a ticket to the Super Bowl. With that being said, though, his final 30 minutes of the NFC Championship game were just disgraceful, and they were idiotic. And sometimes in sports, we use the word aggressive to justify stupid decisions.

I don't do that. Like sometimes people go, Oh, this guy was aggressive. Oh, this guy was great.

Oh, this guy was awesome. A lot of times that aggressive word is a decision that can be stupid. And I understand, I'm fully cognizant that a big reason why the Lions got this far was the aggressiveness of Dan Campbell. I was one of the few media members who did not rip Dan Campbell a few weeks ago up against the Dallas Cowboys when he ran the two-point conversion play.

The rest messed it up with the whole reporting ineligible, and they reported the wrong guy reporting eligible, and they reported the wrong guy. And then when they got pushed back to the seven, I didn't kill him for going for it again, and I didn't kill him when Parsons was offsides, and they elected to go for it for the third straight time. I thought in that moment being aggressive was smart. But in the NFC title game, there were two moments that I just thought his decision-making was just pure stupidity.

Now, I'm not going to crush him. When they're up 14, they allowed a field goal to start the second half to get it from 17 down to 14, their lead. And he had an opportunity where it was fourth and two at San Francisco's 28. Yeah, you could say take the field goal, get the lead back up to 17. When you were playing with the 14-point lead there, I'm okay with keeping your foot in the gas and trying to deliver the knockout blow. I'm fine with that decision.

I do not crush Dan Campbell for that decision. But the two decisions that I thought were just flat-out stupid, and don't tell me they were aggressive, they were stupid, was fourth and three after you already choked the lead away. You said goodbye to your 17-point lead. You're now down three, 27 to 24. You got to keep your team in the game there.

You got to find a way to get the ship back to somewhat smooth sailing when it was in the process of capsizing and sinking. You're down three in that spot. There's a little over seven minutes to go.

It's 27 to 24. Even after choking away the lead, you could have tied the game back up. And to not kick that field goal there, I was incredulous. I just could not believe, even with his aggressiveness and the style that Dan Campbell has, that he bypassed the field goal opportunity there. And they ended up having an incomplete pass. We know that the Niners take the ball down the field, and they score a touchdown.

They go up by 10. But the stupidity by Campbell didn't end there. And I know it's a long shot, but you got to coach until the final whistle. You got to coach until you see just zeros on the scoreboard and zeros on the time clock. You know, like, remember the division round when Todd Bowles kept that time out and then the Lions had the whole kneel down? I thought it was stupid after the game when Todd Bowles was just like, Oh, well, we basically knew it was so unlikely that we weren't coming back. Like, you want to give me that bull crap in the regular season?

I'm fine with that. But when your season is literally on the line and you need to survive to advance or you go home and you start your vacations to Cabo or you go to the golf course, you have to do everything in your power. You have to throw the kitchen sink at them until there's no more time left and you are eliminated from the playoffs. So they're moving the ball of the Lions down by 10. And they still have three timeouts. So you get a field goal, you get a touchdown, you make a stop. It's a one score game. You have an opportunity to go tie up the game or like, let's say if you got the touchdown, if you get the field goal, maybe you get the touchdown the next drive and you go for two in the win.

But you got to give your team a chance to stay in the game. And on third and goal, I couldn't believe this. He runs the football with David Montgomery. And then it's one thing if you run the football in that spot.

I disagree with it. Even though you're not that far out from the end zone, I think you got to throw, throw, throw in that spot. And he's trying to catch him off guard and get a touchdown.

And Montgomery's been a touchdown machine all throughout the year. But if you're going to run the football in that spot, you have to have the next play call ready to go. And he didn't and he called the timeout. So if you don't recover the onside kick, the game's over. Because in that stage of the game, there's like a minute left and you only have two timeouts remaining.

And we know how low percentage the onside kick has become. So for him in that moment, in that spot, to have Ben Johnson run the football and then you call a timeout, you wave the white flag right there, even though your intention was to still try to go win the game. So those are the two decisions. And this is not me second guessing. This is not me saying, oh, well, look how it turned out. Every time there is a controversial decision, this is my philosophy. What I thought before the play, I still carried through with that thought, regardless of what transpires.

Because if Campbell gets one of those first downs on fourth down, everyone's praising him. And that's sometimes how it works. You go for it, you get it, you get praise, you go for it, you don't get it.

You're the biggest moron in the world. And just naturally, when I'm going through that in those three crucial decisions that were stupid. And when you're going through them and you're like, hmm, maybe this isn't the right thing. I thought two out of three were stupid. The first one down 14, I mean up 14, I can live with. I'm OK with it.

I get it. It's the second half. You're just trying to get to the finish line. You put another field goal there.

You make it with the same score was before the end of the first half. But I'm OK with it. In that moment, they were lining up up.

It's fourth and two at San Francisco's 28. And I hear them say they're going for it. I was OK with it. I didn't crush it in the moment.

So I'm not going to sit back here and now be a hypocrite and say, oh, you know, I told you so. They shouldn't have gone for it because that wasn't my belief in the moment. But when you're then down three after you blew that lead and it's 27 to 24, I know it's not a lock for your field goal kicker to make that kick. But we're talking about a 47-48 yard field goal. I know you can never trust kickers, but we're talking about a 47-48 yard field goal.

And I know it's easy for me to say this now. And I know that it's not always how the game plays out. But let me just point out the Lions lost the game by three points.

Now, who knows what would happen. But it is easy to say they get that field goal there. Maybe the game ends up going into overtime.

And who knows what would have happened in overtime. And then the one that's not even up for debate, because I think people can debate the aggressiveness of the decision making, going for it, fourth and short and all that. The first one, hey, I'm on the side of I was fine with it.

The second one, I wasn't on the side of it. But no one can justify running the ball on third down and then calling the timeout. And once again, you want to run the ball there on third down, okay. You got to call two plays at once. And you got to get up to the ball and be ready for the next play. Or get your field goal team on the field and kick a field goal.

You cannot burn a timeout there because you had three in your pocket with limited time and you needed all three of those timeouts. So a great season for the Lions. A disastrous end. And Dan Campbell, I'm not going to entertain people today. And I see a minority of people are saying, well, Ben Johnson's a hot commodity. Maybe you just make Ben Johnson the head coach and you get rid of Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell doesn't deserve to lose his job. You know, I know a lot of times in radio, I'm not saying we like to fire coaches, but we basically call for coaches to be fired. There's no way to justify calling for the firing of Dan Campbell after winning a playoff game for the first time for that franchise since 1991. Winning the first division championship for the first time since 1993 and getting to the NFC title game.

So you could separate those two. You could praise Campbell for this season. Acknowledge this season is a success, but it also had a brutal and humiliating ending that could have gone a lot differently if the coaches made better decisions. Here is Dan Campbell, the Lions head coach after the game on his aggressive decisions throughout the ball game, especially in the second half. I just felt really good about us converting and getting our momentum and not letting them play long ball. You know, they were bleeding the clock out.

That's what they do. And I wanted to get the upper hand back, you know, and it's easy hindsight and I get it, you know, I get that. But I don't regret those decisions and that's hard. You know, it's hard because, you know, they didn't we didn't come through. It wasn't able to to work out. But I just I don't I don't and I understand the scrutiny I'll get that's part of the gig, man.

But, you know, we just didn't work out. So it's one thing for him right after the game to say that he doesn't regret it. I wonder when he goes back and he watches the tape and he reviews that game.

If like today or Tuesday or Wednesday, that answer is different because usually in the moment, I don't think coaches regret things when they're that fresh. But when he has time, I do think it's essential for him to realize the fourth and three bare minimum down three. When you're at the 30 yard line after you just picked up seven after St. Brown had that catch. Got to take the field goal there.

You have to. And then also the third and goal at the one. You can't be calling a timeout.

Finally, here is Dan Campbell. He acknowledges that nothing in this league is ever guaranteed. I know how hard it is to get here.

I'm well aware. And it'll be it's going to be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was this year. That's that's the reality. And if we don't have the same hunger and the same work, which is a whole nother thing. Once we get the offseason, then we got no shot of getting back here.

I don't care how much better we get or what we add or what we drive. It's irrelevant. It's going to be tough. And that's the most difficult part. And I'm happy Dan Campbell acknowledged that. There are some times in sports you go on this magical run and then it ends and it doesn't end with the championship and you walk away. Like I said today, the Lions had a successful season and you go, OK, this was a good season. And I've been there as a Mets fan before back in 2015 when the Mets got to the World Series and lost to the Royals. I was like, I didn't think they were going to get there before the start of the season. This was a phenomenal season.

And then I was naive enough to say they'll be back. You don't know if you're going to be back. And that's the conflicting part as a fan where you're annoyed, you're heated because you had a game.

You're up big and you could have won it and you probably should have won it. But then you take a step back and you overlook it the entire season. You go, wow, we had a really special season. But that unknown of not knowing if you'll get back, this could be I hope it's not. But this could have been their best chance to get to a Super Bowl and then win a Super Bowl.

And you never know if you're going to be able to bottle back up that energy and bottle back up that magic and find a way to get back in that moment. And that's what makes the ending for the Lions season just absolutely brutal because you don't know. And that was a game that if I would have told you at halftime you'd be up by 17, you probably would have said, OK, you could start booking your tickets. You could start booking your plane tickets, your hotel reservations for Las Vegas, and you would have thought the Lions would have been going to the Super Bowl. How do you describe Dan Campbell's decision making yesterday?

I just think it's flat out stupid. What say you? 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. We'll take a time out here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Ross Tucker going to join us at the top of the hour. Mike Golick will stop by at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific. But when we come on back, two people for the Ravens that have been awesome and have been elite all throughout the year were nowhere to be found yesterday in Baltimore. We'll talk about those two guys when we return right here off and running on a very busy Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. It's a place where friendships are forged, football is revered, and food is enjoyed.

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AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone AutoZone restrictions apply. Matt in Framingham says, Zach, let's call Dan Campbell's decision making yesterday reckless.

All capital letters. And I do agree with that. I thought it was stupid.

And I thought it was reckless. We'll get to my point on the Ravens in just a bit. But let's open up the phones at eight five five two one two four CBS eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven reacting to what we saw yesterday in the NFC championship game.

With what I thought was very poor decision making two times in the game by Dan Campbell. Here is John in Florida. First up, John, you're on the Zach Gelb show.

Go ahead. How are you? Well, how are you, Zach?

Doing great. You're speaking with you. Yeah, thanks. I really I agree with everything that you're saying. I think Campbell should win the Dan Quinn Award for giving away a playoff game. It's just terrible decision making.

I'm an old school guy. I disagree with you about the first field goal. I would have taken the points. I think a point that hasn't been made is the Niners fans. There was no air in that building. And if you had made if you had made it a three score game, you would have put the Niners in desperation mode.

And I understand how he wants to go for the juggler and all that. But you're not playing the Carolina Panthers. You're playing the Niners. So get your points.

Plus you're on the road. Get your points. And then your point about not taking the field goal.

Who's who's on the side helping this guy make these decisions. You got to kick the field goal and tie the score. It's ridiculous. Great phone call, John. Appreciate the time.

Thanks so much. And that's the thing. I feel like every time I'm watching a game or listening to a game, they go all the analytics suggest to go for it here. Do the analytics ever tell you to punt? Do the analytics ever tell you to kick a field goal?

And I say this all the time. Here's my stance on analytics. I like analytics. I embrace analytics.

I don't live and die, though, by analytics. And what made Dan Campbell such a great coach is, yes, being aggressive, but also trusting his gut. And in this case, if that's what he thought was the best decision for his team, you got to live with it. But watching it and just listening to the game, it just didn't make sense. And this is not me second guessing. This is not me saying, oh, I see the decision and then I react after the play.

I'm giving you just my true thoughts in the moment. That's why I made it a point to emphasize down 14. I'm OK with not taking the field goal there. But I could understand the other side to the argument. I thought it was a difficult decision. But once you blow the lead, once you're down by three and you got a chance to make it back up and tie it and then see how the final 730 goes, it is to me a point that can't be argued why you would go for it there.

And I get it. His decision making was the only reason they lost. They dropped an interception. They dropped what could have been a first down. You know, there were moments in that game where the Lions, they looked like they belong. They looked like they were the better team. They looked like they were going to kick your ass.

But then as the game did go on, it was like they weren't ready for the moment, which makes this so difficult because it was the tale of two halves. The first half was this is the new Detroit Lions. These are the Detroit Lions that are different than your grandfather's. Heck, your father's Lions. But then the second half, it was like, oh, here are the same old Lions. And that's just it's gut wrenching. And I feel so bad for those fans of the Detroit Lions because they're loyal fans. And they've been through it. And I mean, really through it.

And they got teased yesterday. There's no other way about it. Let's go to Patrick in Michigan next up on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Pat, what do you got for me today? Hey Zach, I have no problems with Dan Campbell's decisions. And I think you're being a little harsh on him.

Okay, how so? Because this is the way he has operated all season and in probably 75, 80% of the times it's worked. And it just didn't happen to work this time.

But do you think it was smart in the moment? You know, forget about the down 14. Fourth and three, you blew the lead. You were down by three points now. Try to get me to understand why it was the right decision there to kick the field, to not kick the field goal where you could have tied up the game and go for it when it was a 47-48 yard field goal. Like that's the part I just don't understand.

That's the one that was most egregious to me. Well, how do we know that Michael Badgerley would have made the field goal? We don't. And if he would have missed the field goal, then you have to live with that. That's almost out of his range. Well, if he can't make a 47 or 48 yard field goal, Patrick, then you need a new kicker. And hey, we saw Tyler Bass miss a 44 yard field goal in bad conditions in Buffalo. Missed kicks happen. But I got to give my, if you still ask me, the risk of not getting the first down, down three, or the risk of missing the field goal to tie up the game, I'm taking tying up the game every time.

Because who knows? You may get the first down there. I could play it the other way. And then you get another first down, then you stall and you end up taking a field goal and wasting more time off the clock. I know Badgerley hasn't been great, but 47-48 yards?

I got to trust my kicker to make it and live and die with that decision. Let's go to Jason in Milwaukee next up on CBS Sports Radio. Jason, go ahead. Oh, hi. Yeah, thanks for taking my call.

Appreciate it. I think that Campbell should have took the field goal and went up 17 points. It seemed as if the Lions had full control of this game. I think momentum is very real. I think by going for it there at 4-2 when you had such a good grasp on that game, I think you have to understand what's a risk and reward decision here.

It's very risky because that changes momentum very quickly. You see what happened. One fluke play goes off the Lions' helmet and up in the air.

And Ayuk catches it and all of a sudden it's a completely new ballgame. And also, I love San Francisco and thanks for the phone call, Jason. I love the Niners' broadcasters.

Anytime Ayuk makes a big play, they go, Ayuk, Ayuk, Ayuk is on fire! Oh, it's a tremendous listen when you hear Greg Papa. And I forget who their color analyst is. I think it's Tim Ryan.

But when they're singing that stuff together in unison, it makes for a very fun listen on the radio. Let's go to Dan in Wisconsin next up on CBS Sports Radio. Dan, go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. That game actually was what Campbell has coached all year. That game should have been played in Detroit. He gambled away a couple games like I talked to Packer game. He played stupid calls.

The Dallas game, he very well could have been a one-seed. And it's just like in basketball, you live and die by the streak while you live and die by gambling. And he takes that field goal, goes up 17, you play against the scoreboard. You play against the clock, you're not playing against the 49ers. They score touchdowns, you come back, you get three. You keep putting the pressure on them. That was just a stupid, stupid call. Yeah, I agree, Dan.

And thanks so much. And you're also playing the clock. You're not only playing the 49ers in that situation, you're playing the clock. So you want to increase your chances of outlasting the clock.

And at the end, when it goes to all zeros, that you have more points in them. It's a fair point that you bring up. And I know a previous caller said, hey, this is what he's been doing all year. But when you're doing that in the regular season, I'm not saying you get tight and you fold in the postseason, but you got to know what you're playing for. And you had a chance to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, and I didn't think you made the most intelligent decisions in that game. And it's not right to me to just hear, oh, well, he's been doing it all year, so that's why you should do it in this spot.

But no, you got to know that to get to the promised land, you sometimes have to change your approach and just do what is the smart decision. Let's go to Justin in Ohio next up on CBS Sports Radio. Justin, go ahead.

Good afternoon. Hey, Zach, this is a wonderful show, and I just want to let it be known. Campbell should have took a play out of Belichick's book because he used kickers the whole time they were in the weekly. Military was one of the best kickers that is the reason why Tom Brady and Bill Belichick is the goal to me, honestly. And then on that note, when you're up before halftime and you take the field goal instead of going for the touchdown, like there's a whole touchdown and there's no pressure if you don't make it until after the second quarter. If you go for a touchdown to make it, you really we really wouldn't have this conversation right now. But field goal kicking is really important to win a championship, and he didn't take it seriously.

And that's all I wanted to say. Yeah, Justin, and I'm glad that you brought up the ending of the first half. Notice that the aggressive crowd would have said to go for it there right at the end of the first half to try to get a touchdown. He didn't. He took the field goal. So why would you do that later on in the game?

It's a great point. And since the caller brought up Belichick, when the Patriots were down 28-3 in the Super Bowl, there was a moment where it was 28-9. They get the ball back. They're going on a long drive where they're taking up basically six or five minutes off the clock. It's a 12-play, 72-yard drive. They stalled on a fourth and goal. They took the field goal there.

You know, a lot of times now people would say, up, you're down 28-9. You know, I know you're trying to make it a two-score game there. Just go for it.

Just go for it. You know, get a touchdown. You got to get, you're down too many points. He took a field goal. And a few years before that, there was an AFC Championship game against Denver where they ended up losing by two points. They didn't get the two-point conversion at the end. He went for it earlier in that fourth quarter and set a kick in the field goal. Imagine if he would have kicked the field goal.

It would have been totally different when they were on that final drive. Let's go to Mo in San Diego. Mo, go ahead. You're on the Zach Gelb show. Yeah, you were a lot more gracious to Dan than I was. I was just flipping him. It wasn't two. It was three.

There was a fourth down in the first half that he went for it and he didn't get it. And this is the thing. When you're playing the NFC Championship game, it's time, it's situation, it's score. When you get new information, you make the adjustment based on the scenario. You don't just say this is what we do. You make adjustments.

You're not at the manufacturing facility making widgets. You're dealing with people. You got a younger team. And any time you get to end the scoring position in an NFC Championship game, you take points. Because it continues to add up and you're moving the ball. If you take the field goal the first time, if you take the field goal, Dan, you're up 27 to 7. They kick a field goal, you kick another field goal, you're still up. And now the time has elapsed because it took eight minutes for them to get the ball to score and you to score. Now it's the same score or better and there's less time and the pressure is on San Francisco to catch you. You're up. You're winning. You have the lead. They have to catch you and you're chasing points like you're behind.

I don't get it at all. Yeah, you're 100% correct on the fourth down with the, I'm sorry, with the timeout at the end. Yeah, third and goal, yeah. This is the third and goal.

I mean, he had totally unraveled at that point, but there was so many decisions. You're asking a receiver, a young receiver, to make that catch. You're asking San Francisco to not defend it.

They get a paycheck too. They're really, really good. They're at home and you don't think that they're going to defend you because you think, I mean, I feel good about it.

But you're not dealing with widgets. You have to look at the time, the situation, the score. And when you're winning, every point you score makes it harder and harder for them to catch you. Now they have to play perfect. Now you kick the ball off. They're the reason why they say every possession should end with a kick. When you do a turnover on down, it's called a turnover on down.

That means you gave them the ball back without scoring and you want the defense to go out there and make another stop. So I don't care about, you know, it's what I haven't been there. I'm not a lion's head, but I'm a cowboy.

It has nothing to do with me. I've got no dog in this fight. Yeah, you can't close a big game either. Let's be real.

I'll tell you what though, I bet you McCarthy would have kicked the fifth. You know what I'm saying? Like, when you get in that scenario, all the other things you talk about, you're up. Yeah, you're up.

And you got to protect the lead there, Mo. Thanks for the phone call. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio.

Come on back. I will make that Ravens point on the other side. Two people for the Ravens yesterday.

They've been great all year, and I was really disappointed in them yesterday. We'll continue to take your calls as well. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's toss it to Erika Herskowitz, my radio godmother, standing by with the latest CBS Sports Radio update. Alrighty, it's time to ask the pros. Are you the listener who gets to ask us a question? It's brought to you by our friends at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your question at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag AskThePros. Be listening later in the show when we might answer your question. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I'll continue to hit the phones throughout the show.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's get to the AFC Championship game, though. We've been heavy on the NFC title game. And, you know, being there in Baltimore. Stu, just pop up the camera on the stream if you don't mind, just so people can see us on YouTube.

They're saying that at youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio. But anyway, being at that game, and I've been fortunate enough to be at quite a few AFC Championship games just because of the team that I've rooted for. I didn't think that environment in Baltimore was all that great. I was, I thought it was going to be electric when I was walking through the parking lot. You know, I drove down early in the morning and I probably got there like 1130, 1145 a.m. I was walking through that parking lot.

It was popping in the parking lot. I thought this was going to be a great crowd. And during the game, I know they didn't have much to cheer about. But during the game, even before, the fans just were not great in that game. And I get it, like during the game, there wasn't a lot to be excited about. But before the game, when Mark Andrews is coming back for that injury and they introduce him. Here he is, welcome back. Number 89, Mark Andrews.

Like, was it golf clubs? And then you introduce Lamar Jackson and his first ever AFC title game. I just couldn't believe, and I know the Baltimore fans are better than that.

I just could not believe the lack of buzz before the game. And give credit to Kansas City. And there's a lot we're going to talk about later with Kansas City because their defense was just flat out ridiculous.

And I told you guys back in week three, and I know Spags well, I sent to Texas Steve Spagnuolo. And I said, your defense is damn good. And they're not going to get enough credit throughout the season.

He's like, just where we like it. We're good with not getting the credit, we'll keep on putting in the work. But that defense single-handedly won the Chiefs the AFC championship. And now they're going back to the Super Bowl up against the 49ers. But any time you thought maybe Baltimore was going to get back in the game.

And Kansas City is basically saying Baltimore, we're giving you every chance to give your fans some reason to shout. Whether it was Le'Geria Steve making a great play and Zay Flowers fumbling the football. Or Lamar Jackson throwing into triple or quadruple coverage.

Like you got to just hit the check downs there. But when I walk away from that game, I like to start with the positive. Even though some people don't think I'm a positive person. The positive was the Chiefs defense. But on the other side, Lamar Jackson and Todd Monken, what the heck were you doing? I'm sitting there throughout the game. And I'm looking at what I'm watching right in front of me on the field. And I go, do they know they could run the ball? Do they know they have the number one rushing offense in the league?

It was perplexing to me. And just astonishing that you didn't have design runs for Lamar Jackson. And even if you're telling me, okay, we don't think we could run the ball. There was a few times where they had big pass plays off screen passes.

So why didn't you go back more to that? And I go back to this off season. Remember when Lamar was saying he wanted to throw for 5,000 or 6,000 passing yards, whatever it was?

And we all laughed at that. But that was a message that they were going to throw the ball under Monken. And it is ironic that the last coordinator that they had, Greg Roman, he got fired because they ran the ball too much. So they wanted more of a 2023-2024 offense, whereas more pass heavy. But your quarterback, who has improved as a thrower, and I'm a big Lamar fan.

That's why I'm heated about this yesterday. They went away from his biggest strength in the biggest game of the season. And I know that they were down, but that lead wasn't insurmountable. It was 14-7, right?

Like it was right there. And at most it got to 17-7. So to not have a commitment to the run game, I could crush Monken. And I think people will give Monken a pass because they're going to just go after Lamar. And let me be clear, Lamar was horrible at the game.

Horrible. But the play calling was not smart. But with that being said, I can't give the quarterback a pass.

Because even if you want to say, oh, well Zay Flowers got the ball punched out. You're only then walking away with what, 14 points in the game? Now I know they got a field goal late in the game, whatever. That offense has been dominant all throughout the season. That is an offense up against the Lions, they blew them out. Up against the 49ers, they blew them out.

That's two of the, you know, three of the other teams that were remaining. They've been dominant on offense and defense all throughout the year. And in the biggest game of the season, I hate to say it because I've been defending Lamar for years.

It's not a big enough sample size. You know, I've compared him to Giannis Antetokounmpo when people said he couldn't win a championship. All he does is win MVPs and then Giannis won a championship. I said, why can't Lamar do that?

But to crumble and to fold and have bad body language and not be able to inspire your team. We've seen a lot of great quarterbacks leave comebacks throughout the years in the postseason. I know it's Brady.

I know it's Mahomes, two of the greatest quarterbacks ever. But Lamar, he has been a unanimous MVP and he's about to win his second MVP. And when you look back at his career highlights so far, in less than 10 playoff games, it was what, leading a comeback against Tennessee in Nashville? And then the second half up against the Texans?

That's underwhelming. And fair or not, I think this is the first time it is legitimate to carry on the words and the conversation of, can Lamar win the big game? Can Lamar win a Super Bowl?

I still think Lamar is a top five quarterback in the league. But if there was ever going to be a year where Kansas City was vulnerable, and there was a year for the Bills or the Ravens that take it, especially with Burrow out for the season two, because Burrow's been the only one that could be a kryptonite to Patrick Mahomes, this was the year. And look at the Chiefs.

The Chiefs beat the Bills, and the Chiefs didn't even play their best game. Like if you would have told me yesterday the Chiefs would have only scored 17 points, I would have said, okay, worst case, the Ravens would have won the game 20 to 17. But it is dumbfounding how pretty much the Ravens, for most of that game, the only life they ever had was a touchdown to a pull it in seven to make it 14 to seven.

Like that's the part to me where it just goes, how the heck do you allow that to happen? And I think you can blame two people. The thought process and the poor decision making and the lack of play calling was weird. How they didn't run the ball. And then Lamar, his decision making in the game was no good.

And let me just correct myself. That touchdown they scored, they made that 7-7. It was right when Kansas City, the Ravens went three and out to open up the game, then Kansas City scored, and then you had the big Zay Flowers play to answer back thrown by Lamar. But outside of that touchdown, there was no life. And the game was still there for the taking.

It was still right there. But their offense failed them. Their defense did not play great to start the game. They did shut out Mahomes in the second half. They turned it around after Lamar got strip sacked, fumbled the football, they turned it around. Where he had the turnover on downs and had that fourth down stop. That defense came alive. That defense was there. But the offense wasn't ready to go. And that falls on Lamar, and that also falls on Todd Monken. Both were absolutely horrible throughout the game. Ross Tucker going to join us on the other side, we'll get back to the phones in hour number two.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Ross Tucker talked to Taylor Swift yesterday. We'll find out what their conversation was all about. But you're on a roll. It's toothpaste? That's because the middle is the most important part.