Week 16 Preview (Hour 4)

Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. So my biggest fear is there's going to be snakes in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10-minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from.

A rat climbed into my toilet. And learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. So shoo away the Colts. Forget about Indianapolis. You are now all in on Denver Broncos. Have you thought about maybe hosting a Broncos podcast next year for Odyssey? No, I can't do that to myself.

I can't, you know. So it's still Colts 1, losing pods. It's still Colts 1, though, and then Broncos 2 for you. Colts 1, no one else 2.

Okay, gotcha. Even though you're wearing a Russell Wilson jersey, they got you. Trying to will him to a Super Bowl, sorry.

You predicted him to win the Super Bowl this year, Super Bowl MVP, and then also Nathaniel Hackett to win Coach of the Year. But anyway, all that aside, did you see what the crew, I believe this is the crew at Amazon Prime Video. I guess they got all the talent gifts last night. Did you see what they got, Richard Sherman? No. They got him a doll, and it was a doll of Richard Sherman himself in a Seahawks uniform, right?

You think it's nice? A doll? A doll, like of himself. Okay.

In a Seahawks uniform. And it says, squeeze me. Okay. So he goes to squeeze himself, right? The Richard Sherman doll, and you know what it says? Oh, um, you like, no. What's his thing? Don't try a sorry-ass Y. Richard Weaver on me like Michael Crabtree.

What do you say to Tom Brady, too? You mad, bro? Something like that? Oh, yeah, you mad, bro. No.

It says, Broncos country, let's ride. No. That's good trolling.

No. I respect that troll game because of how much smack Richard Sherman talked, and then when they were playing one of those games on Thursday Night Football, then he tried to get a lovey-dovey with Ross. Remember that before the game, which I thought was so fraudulent by Richard Sherman?

For the crew to give him a Richard Sherman doll, and then it says, squeeze me, and it's Broncos country, let's ride. It's a good job. Very good job. I don't know who does that.

I was going to say, I can't really credit Jeff Bezos, but whoever does that, that's very creative. It's no doubt about it. Anyway, give me my music. Let's give you one thought on the entire slate for week 16. Alrighty, Bills and the Bears.

This game's supposed to be awful weather, Hickey. I want to see, in a game like this, where you know Josh Allen has been such a force for Buffalo running the football, that they could, by design, limit his carries and say to Josh, Josh, we don't really want you running this game. And you hand the ball off a ton to the two backs there in Cook and then in also Devon Motor Singletary.

That's what I want to see. Because, yes, come playoff time, you could do what you've been doing this entire year and just run, run, run, run, run with Josh Allen, because you do whatever it takes come playoff time. But I want to, in the last three weeks of the season, even though they're still competing for the number one overall seed, to still take a little bit off Josh's plate, because we've seen a lot of injuries in this league, and the last thing you would want to see is Josh Allen with the Bills having a legit chance to suddenly get to the Super Bowl and win it, go down with an injury because they're running him too much. On the flip side, I want to see the Bills run defense. Last week, in a game that was supposed to be in their favor weather-wise, they were shredded on the ground by the Dolphins, where he most of it was running, it felt like, you know, seven, eight yards before there's even anyone near him. The average, I think, was like 7.8 yards per carry the Dolphins did last week. So, I know most of the running success for Chicago has been with Justin Fields, but if you're the Bills, you have to shore up your running game, especially on the interior, because if not, again, I think it's one of the issues where if you can't stop the run, you're going to be in big trouble come playoff time. Alright, next up, Saints and the Browns. I want to see where Deshaun Watson is at on the field, because the last three weeks, he's been brutal, and I think they should start handing the ball off even more than the 20-21 times that they did last week. To Nick Chubb, there was a lot of moments where it felt like they were saying, hey, Deshaun, go make the play, go be the star, go be the guy that we're paying you out to be.

I want to see if Deshaun Watson could take that step this week, where the rust is now knocked off after playing three games, and you start to see the Deshaun Watson from two years ago on the field when he led the league in passing. I'm looking at the weather, to be honest here, because outside of that, there's really nothing with this game. I like Olave a lot, but it's right now negative 25 in... It is? Oh, I missed that.

Sorry. There's really no reason for anything Saints-wise. Right now in Cleveland, minus 25. I love a good weather game. It shouldn't snow, but I do love even in the frigid cold, kind of crawling up on the couch in my nice climate-controlled 72-degree living room and watching guys freeze their ass off. So you're just looking at the weather in this game? Yes, and it's going to make me feel better about myself being in a warm place and not being good enough to be a pro athlete. And that's a game that's, what, 10 or 11 degrees, and it will probably feel like negative 8, I would imagine? I don't have a real feel right now, but it says the high is supposed to be 16 tomorrow. With 30-mile-an-hour wins, let's go.

That's a slop fest. The Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans. This team was 7-3 Tennessee. They're now 7-7, Tannehill now out, Malik Willis now in. I don't care if Tannehill's not playing. I know the Texans the last two weeks have given really good efforts against two good football teams in Dallas and then Kansas City.

But that doesn't matter. They're a bad football team. They're going to fire their coach for the second year in a row. Mike Freehable finds a way to win with Les.

I want to see him just find a way once again to win with Les with Malik Willis. I want to see the Texans are, I don't even know what word to use. I can't say good, I can't say legit, but like you mentioned, they were leading until the last minute against Dallas.

They took the Chiefs overtime. They're a bad team though. No they are, but is this little run against Real? Is this a product of two teams overlooking them? Yes. Or are you really now starting to kind of put things together where maybe against a vulnerable team in Tennessee against with Malik Willis who's not been able to throw the ball whatsoever. Can you maybe pick them off?

Okay. Seahawks and Chiefs. Big bounce back moment here for Seattle. Because this team we thought they were going to be a lock to make the playoffs the last two weeks. They lose to Carolina and the 49ers and things have gone south. Really ever since that Arizona game they lost to Tampa, they lost to the Raiders, they beat the Rams with the damn do.

They lost to the Panthers, they lost to the 49ers. If Geno Smith's the guy that you want to go keep for four or five years, get in a high octane offense type of game, go back and forth and see if you could just get the ball last and maybe you win 37-34. I don't think they're going to win, but I'm curious to see how Geno plays this week. I'm curious to see how this Kansas City defense plays. They've not been very good recently, that's kind of the big Achilles heel for Kansas City.

We've always talked about how bad it is, but this year feels kind of even worse than it has been let's say in the last two or three years when we kind of get rounding out into playoff time. It's good offense, right? You just have some very efficient, two big time receivers. Can you play well? Hold Seattle to 10 points, 17 points. Hold them? Kansas City?

Sorry. Yeah, gotcha. Next up, we go to the Vikings and the Giants. The Vikings, the last five or six weeks, they get blown out by the Cowboys 40-3.

Then they just survive against the Patriots and the Jets, two teams trending in the wrong direction. They then were an underdog to Detroit, and Detroit beat some 34-23, even though a lot of people look at the game like, how are the Vikings an underdog? And then they were down 33-0 against the Colts, you may have heard about this one, Hickey. They came back, the largest comeback in NFL history, and they beat the Colts. We have not seen the Vikings play a clean game in a long time. I want to see them dominate from wire to wire up against the Giants, a team that's scrappy, a team that has really started on the defensive side of the ball with Kayvon Thibodeau to have a star merge there.

Offensively, Saquon was running hard last week, Daniel Jones was making plays with not a lot of people to throw to. But the Giants, even though they've been finding a way to win a lot of games this year and probably go to the playoffs, they are not this juggernaut. They're not as good as what their record says they are in terms of the talent on this roster. The Vikings just have a lot more talent. As I said before the Patriots game, as I said before the Jets game, and I said before the Colts game, I want to see if the Vikings could just dominate an inferior team, and they really haven't done that this year with how close these games have been.

Sean Payton said this a few weeks ago, I forget where he said it, but he was talking about how hard it is when you have an emotional comeback to kind of get up and play all the next week. And this is coming after that insane comeback in Buffalo for the Vikings, and then you look at what happened the next week, that was week 10, week 11 you lose 40-3 to the Cowboys. As you know, we saw history last week, this has to be the game of the Giants win. This has to be a game of the Giants win. I just can't see a situation where the Vikings as an emotional are able to kind of come back with the same vengeance, kind of be sharp again after being down 30-0, coming back, winning the game. This sets up well for a Giants win.

Bengals and Patriots. Can I give you the Patriot fan thought on this one? Because I think we're going to get blown out on this game. I want to see the Patriots, the first possession, play action pass and try to throw the ball 30-40 yards down the field.

That's what I want to see. Because I have to go watch screen pass after screen pass after screen pass after screen pass and the training wheels being put on Mac Jones, even though it doesn't have much around him, and this team just fight each and every week. Patricia and Mac Jones, it's one of those games that you just want to turn off.

Now I don't turn off the game, but you're going to want to turn off the game. So please, try to throw the ball down the field early. No Sam Hubbard in this game.

Trey Henderson is going to try to play with a broken wrist. Either way, the Bengals will be banged up on the defensive line going to the playoffs. I want to see how they can kind of perform against an offense line that's been leaky for sure this year. Next up, Lions and Patriots, Panthers. Sorry, the Patriots, you said the offense line's been leaky.

It's been more than leaky. Well, it's Christmas Eve, Eve. Try to be nice here. They've been brutal. It's the holiday season. Okay.

Listen, you know me, I have no problem stomping on the grave, but I'll just be kind. Yeah, in a Broncos jersey. Lions, I don't know you're wearing it.

Lions and Panthers. This feels like it could be a letdown spot for Detroit. They've won six out of their last seven.

Now, everyone's saying, OK, they got back to five hundred. They're making the playoffs. Don't let this be a letdown spot. And I think why I'm going to trust Detroit in this game, even though this has feel of a letdown, is we had Alex Anzalone on last week and a few of their players have also echoed this sentiment. That they've been in playoff mode the last few weeks. So the mentality of, yes, even though there's still two more games after this, they feel as if every game it's win or you go home. And if you lose this game and you could only find a way to win 17 and 18, we don't know if nine and eight is going to get you in.

If you're 10 and seven, you'll get in. So I think the Lions are going to win out. Don't let this be a letdown spot, Detroit. Much than Jared Goff in this one. You're going against a feisty young Carolina Panthers defense.

Solid squad in D. Absolutely. And again, with the Lions having the Rams pick that's in the top five, the quarterbacks are going to be there if you want to. And again, what makes it easier to keep Jared Goff is in a game like this where you said there could be a letdown spot.

Nice to keep the momentum going. If you play as well, easier to keep him. You will agree when we go to Falcons and Ravens. Up until last week, a lot of people looked at Tyler Huntley and thought he was a solid backup in this league. Especially with that Ravens team, right?

In that scenario? Yeah, how he played last year in what, the four or six games that Lamar missed? Yeah, he didn't win a lot of games, but he played really well. Like two two-point conversions were failed at the end or at least one?

Yeah, he was in the game. A lot of close games. Last week, though, was a disaster.

Brutal. He was awful. Now you're going up against a Falcons team that is not good. And they don't really have much on the offensive side of the ball now with Desmond Ritter as their quarterback. I want to see if Tyler Huntley gets some of that magic back this week.

That's my thought on this game. If Desmond Ritter lights up this Ravens defense, or even is competent, there's some big problems. I'm watching the Ravens secondary for sure.

They've been brutal all year. You can't let Desmond Ritter, who threw for like 92 yards last week, actually look comfortable and have some success against you. Next game, commanders and the 49ers.

We are commanders. This game to me, why I think the 49ers are going to win and win big. And I've been loving me some Taylor Ham Heinecke, because he's better than Carson Wentz this season.

And I'm not a fan of Carson Wentz. But Mark Malus has made a great point to me. And he made this point last week going into this Giants game. There's been a lot of 50-50 balls, or a lot of potential turnovers that aren't turnovers. And Taylor Ham Heinecke's been getting the fortuitous bounces.

And that was his biggest key for commanders up against the Giants. We talked about this game last week, was the Giants have to go find a way to get the ball and make some plays. When Heinecke gives them those moments. And they did that last week.

This 49ers defense is a lot better than that Giants defense. I think we're going to see multiple turnovers from Taylor Ham Heinecke. So I want to see if he could be that magical Taylor Ham Heinecke that we've seen. That has made this turnaround where Wentz was 2-4 as a starter.

Now the commanders are 7-6-1. I want to see if Taylor Ham Heinecke could play effective football and efficient football. But also not turn over the rock. If he could put up good stats and not have a few turnovers as well. That's what I want to see. Chase Young making his long anticipated debut. Excited to see how he kind of fits into a strong defensive line.

And again, if the commanders are going to win this game, I think it's going to be up front in the trenches. Especially their O-line and their D-line causing havoc on Brock Purdy. And even though it's been over a year for Chase Young.

You have to have a hand in that in terms of disrupting Brock and getting off his spot. Eagles Cowboys. You know Gardner Minshew is going to be playing to honor his late grade college football coach and Mike Leach.

Who I still can't believe has unfortunately left us when he passed away. I'm looking at this game though. Even though I think the Eagles have a shot. This is just a game where if you're the Cowboys, you can lose it.

In terms of you can walk out of your own house with an L. But the way I look at it going in, you better not lose it. Because all I've been hearing from Cowboys fans when they last played the Eagles. Oh we didn't have our quarterback. We had to play with Cooper Rush. Well now they don't have their quarterback in Jalen Hurts. Because he's out. So after all those weeks of you guys bitching and trying to justify the loss to the Eagles.

Fair or not. You then lose this game. I don't want to hear anything from you Cowboys fans. Just don't lose the game.

That's the thought. This is Dak Prescott's biggest game of his career in the regular season. Because if they lose this game. I think Jerry Jones starts thinking the move has to be made.

Like what else are you going to do if you're Jerry? If Sean Payne doesn't want to come to Dallas. At the quarterback spot? Are you saying the quarterback spot makes a move?

Yes. How would they do that with the contract? You could trade any contract. I'm not going to be worried about the dead cap. But who are you bringing in?

You could move any deal. Now I don't think Dak wins a Super Bowl in this league. But Dak's a good quarterback. I'm not saying he's bad. I'm just saying. If you are Jerry Jones, he's desperate to win a Super Bowl before he passes away.

Before the end. This roster is pretty much set. The two biggest moves you can make is either at head coach or at quarterback. The big move would be getting Sean Payton in there.

If that's not feasible. There's a zero percent chance. And you lose and Dak struggles.

I think that opens the door of thinking maybe we got to upgrade. There's a zero percent chance that Dak is in. Who are you bringing in? Who are you getting that's realistic? Tom Brady's out there. Aaron Rodgers is out there. You take a big swing.

See what happens. You know the dead cap hit for Dak Prescott next year is 89 million. Like if you want to have that conversation in 2024 when it drops down to 39 or 2025 when it drops down to 21.

Or even. Yeah. When it drops down to those two numbers in those two years. Okay. It's 89 million dollars in dead cap next year.

There's no way he isn't on the roster next year. Alright. Win the game.

Play well. Don't put that thought in Jerry's mind. This game has nothing to do with the future of Dak Prescott for next season. Raiders and Steelers. I think this is a winnable game for the Steelers. They're a two point favorite.

I do think the Raiders have the better team though. But for Kenny Pickett. As the Steelers are trying to go on this quest of preventing Mike Tom for having his first under 500 season as a head coach.

I just want to see the continued development of Kenny Pickett in this game. Coming on back from the injury. He's been okay this year.

He didn't have a lot around him. That game against the Colts I thought was good. You're going up against a Raiders team that doesn't have much of a defense. This is a game I think you could go have even though the weather is going to be crappy.

You could go pad the stats a little bit. That's what I could potentially see happening here for Kenny Pickett and the Steelers. This feels like destiny for the Steelers.

Tragic would happen. Real quickly. What do you think the lowest ticket price is for this game? Now the weather is supposed to be horrible. Five dollars. And both these teams stink.

Eight dollars. Now there's a lot of history. And it's going to be an emotional crowd for everyone that goes there with what happened unfortunately with Franco Harris. Immaculate reception 50th anniversary.

They're going to retire his number this week and then unfortunately over the week he did pass away. So that's going to be an emotional crowd. And the real fans are going to be there if you're going to a game in these weather conditions. But I'm still surprised those tickets are as low as eight dollars.

But anyway continue your thoughts. This feels like a game of destiny for the Steelers. It's tragic what happened. The timing is unbelievable. In terms of retiring his jersey, 50th anniversary of the Immaculate reception. This to me feels like a Steelers lock of a win. Packers and Dolphins.

I want to see two outperform Aaron Rodgers. That's a thought. Let's go quickly. Yeah. Nothing else.

Yeah. Broncos and Rams. Go ahead Mr. Broncos fan. Give me your thought on this game. I want to see Russell Wilson can build off of the last game where he had a solid two quarters versus the Chiefs.

Can you pick up where you left off? Buccaneers at Cardinals. This is a game of your Tampa. I know you've been terrible this year.

You're six and eight. No one could have ever envisioned the Buccaneers having eight loss in the regular season with Tom Brady as their starting quarterback. You're going up against Trace McSorley. There is no way you could lose this game.

You just got to find the way to win. This is all about Trace McSorley. No stop it. I don't even want to hear your thoughts.

Let's go. Chargers and Colts. See how bad Nick Foles can look. Full starting for Justin Herbert, who I believe in, and I think the Chargers are going to win this game. Don't play with fire here. Because if you play with fire, your events are going to get burnt. Don't let the Colts have a chance to win this game in the fourth quarter. And you have more talent on this team to probably prevent that from happening. But that line being only four points, a little bit sketchy to me. Thank you helps just CBS Sports Radio Jersey Jerry from Barstool Sports joins us next.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd.

I want to know. Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nicks. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. It was always Zach Gelb and Jersey Jerry, but Zach just didn't know it. Jerry in New Jersey. What part of Jersey are you calling from? I'm from North Jersey.

I'm a blue collar union guy. And now they're friends. I'm the buddies for life, Frank. It was always Jersey Jerry. It was always Zach Gelb. This has never happened before, and I'm man enough to share it.

I don't, I'm man enough. And now it's time to respect their NFL picks. Only on The Zach Gelb Show. That's what I'm talking about. This is The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Time for our weekly conversation with Jersey Jerry from Barstool Sports. First though, you can think of 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. Jersey Jerry, how you been? I'm okay. I'm okay, Zach.

Listen, in advance, I want to say this. If I start to, you know, shiver a little bit, I'm outside in the cold right now working on a fire pit. Just, it's cold right now. Let's just say that.

It is freezing outside. Winner has finally come to the northeast, Jersey Jerry. Yeah, yeah. Something's wrong with this propane thing. I got no clue what's going on. It's just, it's, it's tough out here right now.

I hope we don't have a catastrophe during these picks, so. I don't know. I thought we do last week.

That's what I want to know. Well, I did okay. You not so much. I got another game on you, so I took a six-game lead. I can't win in this league, man.

Well, you know what's crazy? So I watch you each and every week when they put you on Barstool Sports Advisors. And you have a good record on that show. I just think you picked the wrong game. Yeah, like, you picked six or seven games on that show, Jersey Jerry.

Here, you only picked three. You're just picking the wrong games because you got to be winning all those other games. I'll tell you what, I'm going to do something that I don't usually do. Whoever listens to the Zach El show, this is, I'm going to go 3-0 this week.

These are going to be my best bets. Okay, you know what? You want to just go your three picks right out of the gate so we could just get them. Or do you just want to go one for one like we usually do? Let's do it out the gate. I'm going Vikings minus four.

That's my favorite pick of the day. After that, my underdog play is going to be the Seahawks plus ten. And then I'm going to use, listen close, I'm going to use another underdog play. So I'm going 200 dogs this week. Give me the commanders plus six and a half. Okay, how about that? Jersey Jerry right out of the gate just giving us his picks.

He takes the Vikings minus four, Seahawks plus ten, and then the commanders plus six and a half. So then I will quickly give you my picks as well so we don't have you freeze to death because that wouldn't be good. And then get inside you crazy guy and get some warmth, alright?

Like what are you doing outside to begin with? I don't get that. I tell you what, I'm trying to fix this fire pick. Forget the fire pick. You make enough money at Barstool Sports. You have heat in your home.

I see your palatial yet not overly ostentatious estate. Forget the fire pick. It wasn't always the fire pick Jersey Jerry.

You got that right. Alright, I'm picking against my team. My team sucks. I think the Bengals are going to open up a can of whoop ass on the Patriots. Give me the Bengals minus three.

You took the commanders plus six and a half. I actually love the 49ers minus six and a half. I look at that game, I say why the heck are the 49ers a six and a half point favorite even though a really good team. Commanders have been a solid team this year so I think Vegas is begging me to plus the six and a half so I'll go the other way. And then I have to give you an underdog pick.

And you know what? For my underdog pick this week, I think this team is moving in the wrong direction. And they have been for the last few weeks but the other team has been playing great football. Kansas City is a ten point favorite. I think that's too many points so I will agree with you. I will go with the Seahawks plus the ten points. So I go to the Bengals minus three, 49ers minus six and a half, and the Seahawks plus ten. And Jersey Jerry goes to the Vikings minus four, Seahawks plus ten and a half.

And the commanders plus six and a half as well. Happy holidays. You got it. By the way, I hope your son isn't listening. I saw he was having some problems in the bathroom the other day that you were posting on social media. Did Santa get him something nice for Christmas? Yeah, Santa went all out this year. That's good. It was always Santa with Jersey Jerry. That's what they tell me. Did T.J. Watt get you a gift?

I'll tell you what, I don't know. I hope so. He better have. Like a nice autographed jersey. Jerry, thanks for the support. You're the man. Love you. And sign that jersey. That's what T.J. Watt should do.

I would love to see that. Well, anyway, Jersey Jerry, always love the conversations with you throughout the year. Thanks so much. And we will chat with you soon. OK, Zach.

Later, brother. What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd.

I want to know. Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. And add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season two, the Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Last segment of the year on The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio with me hosting in this time slot from 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern. Don't worry, it's starting next year.

We'll still be back in this time slot. But next week, I'll be filling in for Maggie and Perloff, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. A man that filled in for me last night, and he framed this the right way. He's probably my best friend in the industry that I never see.

And I saw him once, but we don't regularly see each other, but we talk a lot. That is Bart Winkler, who's going to be filling in for J.R. Sportbrief coming up at the top of the hour on many of these same CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. That's me being a good company guy. And here he is, Bart Winkler. Bart, how you been? Yeah, radio's funny, Zach, because the people that I end up talking to the most in my life are people I've met once or twice now.

Just like in the business, but they're the people that I confide in and I hear all the secrets from and I give them all my secrets. I mean, I've seen you one time. We had a nice meal, but I've seen you one time.

We did. We went to my favorite restaurant or one of my favorite restaurants in Milwaukee, Fourth Base, which was phenomenal. And then you, my brother in law, for some reason, wanted ice cream and you took us to a very good ice cream spot. So that was a good job. That'd be Leon's on 27th in Milwaukee.

Leon's. Delicious, delicious, delicious, delicious. So pretty much I want to just talk to you and bullcrap for the next 10 minutes as this is my last show of the year before I fill in next week for Maggie and Perloff. Real quickly, Packers. Rogers back next year because I know we're going to get this conversation again. I think he's definitely coming back with the Packers. Yeah, Rogers is coming back.

The issue or the question should be, is Jordan Love coming back? So Rogers, the brilliance with Rogers from his point of view is he saw 15 years ago Brett Favre kind of get shuttled out of Green Bay, right? He saw how that happened and Favre wanted to stay, but was hemming and hawing and couldn't make his decision. Rogers has learned so much from Favre about what to do on the field.

He also learned what to do off the field. And so when it was time to negotiate a new contract, Rogers basically got a lot of the money up front. There's no way, I mean they can trade him, but you're going to have a 40-45 million dollar cap hit. Even if he retires, there's going to be a big cap hit on that and I don't think he's going to retire. So if your team and your fan base is looking to see if the Packers will trade Rogers, he is not going to be the quarterback available. Because he's just going to cost too much money against the Packers' cap. So even if they trade Rogers and keep Love, Rogers is still going to be on the Packers' cap for like twice as much money. Jordan Love, we don't know what he looks like, really. I want to see him play in these games.

We've seen him in a game or two. But if they have a fifth year option decision to make on this guy... Oh, they're going to pick it up. You think so? Yeah, I think they're going to pick it up.

That's 20 million! I know, here's what I've been saying all throughout the week. I think Rogers is back in Green Bay next year. I think he plays next year.

I think Love is still on the roster. And next season is Aaron Rogers' final season with the Green Bay Packers. And then after that, either Rogers will want out or they will just say, Aaron, we're going to trade you. Now Rogers can make that complicated for them by just saying he won't show up for the next team if he doesn't like where he's going. But I think next year is going to be Rogers' final year with the Green Bay Packers. And this is the first time I predicted that Rogers is going to leave because you remember the last two years I've been saying that Rogers is going to stay. Well, I might be the wrong guy to talk to because in the sports fandom... Yeah, I know you can't stand him. Well, in the sports fandom of my life, I've kind of grown tired. As a big Packer fan, I'm tired of all the Rogers peripheral. And if you're going to win a Super Bowl every four years, you can dominate the headlines all you want and fight with reporters all you want. But if you haven't been to a Super Bowl in 12 years, Rogers is like the horror movie villain in my life, in my sports life, that every time I think has been vanquished, he pops back up in the other room. He won't go away. So I think love might be traded.

To pick up a $20 million option on a guy when you really haven't seen him is going to be hard. I don't know what they do, but it's going to be another dramatic offseason after another season where they don't get to a Super Bowl. It's just rinse and repeat, man.

It sucks. You know there's a lot of fans listening on national radio right now that are playing their small violin when you're bitching and complaining about just winning one Super Bowl. Okay, can I make this point?

Thank you for opening this door. Because being a Packer fan in the last 30 years isn't as good as a lot of people think it is. But you had Favre Hall of Fame win a Super Bowl. Rogers Hall of Fame win a Super Bowl. I know that it felt like those guys should have won more than one Super Bowl and it felt like Rogers should have at least got to more than just one Super Bowl. But there are people in Cleveland, in Detroit, in Minnesota that would be so jealous of the position that you're in.

Right, and I can sympathize with that. But then there's the other teams like maybe a Giants fan. They had two. The Saints got one. All these Hall of Fame quarterbacks got one. Brady got six. But okay, the Buccaneers have gotten one in this time frame. Big Ben got one. Russ got one.

So all these guys got their one. But they also were like, teams are cyclical. They're good for a while and they're bad for a while. The Packers have always been good enough to, if they don't win a Super Bowl, they are good enough to go very far and have an all-time horrific loss in the playoffs. So I would almost argue that these last 20 years have been more enjoyable if you're a fan of the Bears, Vikings, or Lions than a Packer fan because you got your Super Bowl. But every year they get to sit back, turn their remote on, and watch the Packers fail in another embarrassing way. It's good to win a Super Bowl, but there's been a lot more bad than good.

I don't think people understand that. Now I will argue with myself, but once you do get into the penthouse and you get into that club of winning a Super Bowl, it makes you even hungrier to get more and more and more. And even though those fans would love to be in that exclusive club and in that exclusive fraternity, it is extremely gut-wrenching. And now I'm pretty much doing what you're doing, which I just chastise you for, is when you don't win those multiple championships and you have the quarterback, it should be able to.

It can be frustrating. I'm not going to disagree on that front, but I just try to feel for the fans that have nothing and have not a Hall of Fame quarterback or don't have a quarterback that's won a Super Bowl. By the way, my poll question tonight. Will the Jaguars and Lions make the playoffs? Both will, both won't. Just the Jaguars will, just the Lions will.

Where are you at on that one, Bart? Jacksonville will. Jacksonville, they're in control of their own destiny.

Everybody there stinks. So Jacksonville will. Detroit I think can. I'm interested to see what happens with the Giants this weekend because they're still in a good position, but they've been trending downwards. The commanders, I think people have bought too much into the Niners too quickly.

I wouldn't be surprised if Washington plucked one off this weekend and stayed in it. I don't know about the Lions yet because I think the teams in front of them are still worthy competitors, but Jacksonville for sure. I'll go Jacksonville. I think that final game of the season is going to determine the division. I'll take Jacksonville over Tennessee just with the way that Tennessee has been trending after 7-3 and now 7-7. In terms of the Lions, I think the Giants will end up getting in because they beat the commanders last week as you know and they had that tie. So they're 8-5-1. I feel because of that tie if they just get one more win, now they play the Vikings but then they play the Colts and then the Eagles final week of the season and the Eagles may be resting everyone. I think with one more win the Giants get in, but I actually think Bart, and this is where that 7 spot comes back to help teams now. Detroit, I don't think they're going to lose the game down the stretch. They play Carolina, the Bears, and then the Packers in the last week of the season. And I would think that Love is going to play that last week of the season, right?

Well it depends. It depends what happens with the Packers and the Dolphins and then it depends what happens because as long as the Packers are mathematically in it, they've got the Vikings then and then Detroit, Rogers is going to play. Would you agree that it's more likely, and I said this earlier in the week, do you think it's more likely that Rogers loses out than wins out these final three games against the Dolphins, the Vikings, and the Lions?

Yes. I don't think that they're in a good spot. One of the things I've realized this year, and we talked about it a little yesterday, is I don't think that Matt Lafleur is that good of a coach. I agree.

I think he's been skirting by. He had three years necessarily to learn on the job while Rogers carried him and now that he has to coach a little bit more, I mean they're making personnel decisions that are terrible. It really bothers me, and I'll talk about this a little tonight, it bothers me when guys know the decision they need to make but for some reason don't make it until it's too late. Last night, Zach Wilson should have been benched at halftime.

Yeah. And Robert Solon knew that, but he put him back out there. Matt Lafleur should have made moves at the kick return spot with coaches. He should have fired the defensive coordinator. He should have fired the special teams coordinator last year in the middle of the season, but they know they should do it. They're going to do it anyway. There was no way Zach Wilson was going to finish that game.

None. And Robert Solon knew that and he was going to do it anyway, but everybody gets so stubborn in the NFL and it drives me insane. So even though I hear what you're saying about benching Aaron Rodgers, is Lafleur at all thinking, and I don't know if Rodgers goes to management or, you know, Gouda Coontz and Murphy and company and says, hey, go fire Matt Lafleur. Do you think that at all is in the back of Lafleur's mind that Rodgers may still have a lot of power in that organization and maybe he tries to get me out of the organization at the end of the year? If he benched him. I can't realistically think that Matt Lafleur thinks Rodgers could get him fired at this point, but Matt Lafleur is coaching as if that is the possibility.

Because he, like I said, he's acquiescing all the time. He calls a play, Rodgers does whatever, you know, he totally will not give us a chance, give the Packer fans a chance to see what Jordan Love looks like when they have that decision to make. It seems like he's there to serve Rodgers and I just wish Matt Lafleur would realize I'm going to, unless something crazy happens, I'm going to outlast you in Green Bay.

This is my team, but yet Aaron Rodgers, because of what he's become over the last 18 years, has just gotten bigger than the organization. It's always a problem when you let somebody do that, especially someone that's so neurotic and weird. By the way, you always have to throw that in, Clay Thompson's best friend Bart Winkler is here with us. That was pretty cool that you got to interview Clay Thompson. Yeah, if everybody wants to take the little gap here between your show and me coming up here, you can go to YouTube and Google Clay Thompson Bart Winkler. He did it for my podcast. I have a podcast every day talking about stuff and I got to talk to Clay Thompson for 10 minutes and he asked me a question. He said, how was it to see the Bucks win in a championship? Did you ever think you'd see that? And I said, I really didn't, Clay.

I really didn't. Meanwhile, this guy wins one every other year, but you know, we get so crazy over one. You know, I have not been invited on the podcast yet, but I guess when you have Clay Thompson as a guest, I take a backseat to Clay Thompson. Yeah, I need Clay and then I'm going to get Kevin Durant soon and then John Moran and then I'll ask you. You got it. All right, Bart. We appreciate it. Enjoy the show coming up tonight. Yeah, thanks, Zach.

There you go. Bart Winkler coming up at the top of the hour. Many of the same CBS Sports Radio affiliate series XM Channel 158 and that Free Odyssey app filling in for JR. And that's the Zach Gelb show in the year of 2022. I'll be on next week.

I'll also be on this weekend for Ion Football, but just in different time slots. So we will chat with you in 2023. Can't thank you guys enough. You guys and girls enough for making us a part of your daily schedule each and every day and welcoming us into your home. Hickey, great job as always. Thank you.

And we will chat with you in this time slot in 2023. Have a great holiday season, everybody. We out.

Bye bye. What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd.

I want to know tales without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. The Listening You Love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. So my biggest fear is there's going to be sneaks in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10 minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from, a rat climbed into my toilet and learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.