00:00Like, we didn't get to this topic this week, but, like, Taylor,
00:02the Lions are going to start to become like the Yankees.
00:05Oh, they're good, and they're fun, but it's all empty calories.
00:09They don't win anything.
00:10And that's where being consistently good without ever being great
00:13ends up being a titanic waste of time.
00:16That's the problem.
00:17Even if this team makes the playoffs, do you have belief they could go on a run?
00:21I don't.
00:22No.
00:23No, absolutely not.
00:23And I'm getting to the point where it's almost where I'm getting close
00:28to where the point where I almost want them to lose, so some change happens.
00:31Right, so Brad Holmes finally gets held accountable
00:33for not buying the right groceries.
00:35Yeah.
00:35You know, like.
00:36I think that'll come for me.
00:38That'll come for me if they lose this weekend.
00:40Then the spite takes over where it's like, you know what?
00:43Your offseason was such a joke.
00:45Good.
00:46Lose a few more days.
00:47The pressure should be on you.
00:49No, you're.
00:50I'm not there yet.
00:51I think the pressure for Holmes comes at the end of the season.
00:54They don't make the playoffs because that's three straight years without a
00:58playoff victory.
00:59Now the tarnish is off.
01:01Okay.
01:02That's fair.
01:03No, Taylor.
01:03Appreciate it, dude.
01:04And look, I don't think you're wrong if you're already very nervous.
01:08But I've kind of stayed the course with it.
01:10Ten wins.
01:11They lose this week, and I'd have to alter it.
01:13I would.
01:14David, what are the texters having to say, buddy?
01:17Miami hope for the Lions defense is I think back to 2006.
01:21End of the regular season, the Indy Colts defense was absolute trash.
01:26Bob Sanders came back from injury and right of the ship to a Super Bowl.
01:29However, I think he shored up the run defense and not anything else.
01:33I don't know if Branch can do that.
01:36Yeah.
01:36Also, it's just the problems seem to be multi-level communication breakdowns
01:44everywhere, and your linebacking core has dodged the main bullet here.
01:49Everyone's focused on the secondary, but it's your linebacker unit that's an
01:52equal problem.
01:55A text here says, honestly, I feel like I know where the Holmes-Campbell
01:59regime is headed, and that's disappointment.
02:02Maybe the best thing is to finish last and clean house.
02:06Oh, okay.
02:06I'm not going.
02:07Wow.
02:08I'm not going there.
02:09It's October 9th.
02:10Come on.
02:11Yeah.
02:12Jeez.
02:12Lions can still win this game, and Shep will then still lose sleep for two weeks.
02:18Not like we aren't giving up 27 points this week.
02:23So he believes they win.
02:24Don't give up 27 points, but he...
02:26Okay.
02:27Someone's asking, answering your question from earlier about is it a must win?
02:31Shea in a truck says, it is a must win for me.
02:34They can't go to the bye week with a losing record.
02:38I tend to agree.
02:39I mean, I just feel like the noise, the dissension, the stress, you're already
02:46seeing cracks in the foundation, just it feels like that's where it would be
02:50headed.
02:51No?
02:52No, that's exactly where it would be headed.
02:54This would be a disaster.
02:57I mean, it would make this Michigan bye week look like it was nothing because
03:03you're talking about not just losing your position on the field as quarterback.
03:08You're talking about people losing their job.
03:10You're talking probably a lot of finger pointing, whether we want to hear it or
03:14not.
03:14Could you imagine what the Dan Campbell morning show interview is going to be
03:18like?
03:19Oh, no.
03:20If they lose, everybody in that building's salty.
03:24Yeah, the Lions are number two in sacks and are the worst pass coverage team I've
03:29ever seen.
03:29This game is an emergency must win or the wheels are going to fall off and it
03:35sheds in water.
03:37No, it's it's it's amazing.
03:38The pressure, the sacks, they just can't cover anybody.
03:42I mean, it's the oldest.
03:44It's the oldest thing in the book, though.
03:45Every piece of the defense has to work together.
03:47It's like basketball.
03:48You can't really have two guys that don't know what the hell they're doing and
03:51three guys that are great defenders.
03:52Everyone's got to kind of play on a string.
03:54If your secondary is not working or if the linebacking corps got people in the
03:58wrong alignments, it's all three levels.
04:01And like, for once, I'm not really complaining about the D line.
04:03The line's fine.
04:05I don't think it's all world.
04:06I don't think they'll finish the season top five in sacks.
04:09The pressure rate is mediocre.
04:12But it's been good enough.
04:14The problem is, who have you played?
04:17See, it's different when you look at your schedule after you've played someone
04:21and you go, all right, what did we face versus doing the stupid childlike
04:26forecasting of easy game, bad team last year, ergo bad team this year.
04:30Look, are the Saints a good football team after a month of the season?
04:34They are not.
04:35And you had to escape.
04:37Are the Jets a good football team?
04:39They are not.
04:40You had to escape.
04:41Now, the Bills are still good in a boat race.
04:44And then you have last week's game against Carolina.
04:47Is anyone ready to call Carolina a really good football team?
04:49I am not.
04:52And they boat raced you.
04:53No, Carolina may win their division, but they're not a good division.
04:56Worst division in football.
04:57Might win it with a losing record, brother.
04:59So that's my point is, you haven't played any of the really good teams.
05:03Not just preseason crap.
05:04We're not doing that.
05:05I'm talking about the football you've actually watched.
05:10Like, it's so different for a Bills.
05:12Like, when you look at the Rams.
05:14The Rams assignment, fly halfway across the world, play the best team in the league.
05:18Then the Rams reward, go to Philly.
05:21Go travel over there.
05:22Go take on Buffalo.
05:24Like, you're playing the heavies.
05:26And then they'll get a little bit of a reprieve.
05:29But, like, this defense and these numbers have been produced.
05:33This is the equivalent of a non-conference schedule in college football.
05:37You know, you're playing South Florida and Toledo and getting lit with 30.
05:42You know your defense is bad.
05:44Yeah, but their reprieve is Arizona.
05:46But then they've got to go to play the Raiders, who now all of a sudden don't look like that
05:50easy auto win for the Rams.
05:52No, and I don't think auto wins exist.
05:54I'm just talking levels of difficulty.
05:56Everything's difficult in the NFL.
05:58And occasionally you're going to find a slump buster.
06:01You drop a bomb on somebody.
06:03But, Rico, you know what I'm saying.
06:06I'm measuring this team against the best teams in the league.
06:09And they simply don't stack up.
06:11That's my problem.
06:12I think you put it best when you start looking at what's on the line.
06:16There's only going to be two spots in this division that you could probably.
06:21And if you're sitting at third, you could do the math.
06:24All right, so let's do this.
06:25Hold on.
06:25I want everybody involved on this, including Smiley.
06:29What is more fixable?
06:33The Lions defense or the Vikings offense?
06:38Who's got a cleaner pathway to becoming mediocre?
06:43The Vikings right now have had the last 32 drives have produced one touchdown.
06:49Kyler Murray's air yards, 4.8.
06:51You may as well play quarterback for Army.
06:54What is more plausible?
06:57A pathway to simply being mediocre.
07:01Vikings offense, Lions defense.
07:03Because that ultimately could dictate who gets in.
07:06I'm going to say the Vikings offense, Mike, because it could be as simple as just swapping the quarterback out.
07:13Maybe it's not Kyler Murray.
07:16You go with the backup.
07:17You see what you have.
07:20The Lions, and because you only have to be decent because the Vikings defense will take care of the rest.
07:27Right.
07:27For the Lions defense, there is no, okay, you swap out your middle line.
07:33No, that doesn't work that way.
07:34Get branch, make trade.
07:36But now you're requiring things that this team normally doesn't do.
07:40Whereas for the Vikings, it could just be as simple as, how about we just go back to the old
07:44quarterback?
07:45Paul, go ahead, buddy.
07:46The Vikings are the easiest fix because they have Justin Jefferson.
07:49If he's healthy, he's playing.
07:51They got Addison.
07:52They got Hawkinson.
07:53They've got a bunch of talent on offense.
07:56For some reason, Kyler Murray's struggling.
07:58He had 13 or 14 targets to Hawkinson against the Dolphins because that's, I guess, the only person he trusted
08:03to throw the ball to.
08:06But he's got to be able to throw the ball down the field more.
08:08Addison needs to get involved.
08:10Some of these guys need to get involved.
08:11They can't just be checkdowns all day.
08:13So maybe Rico's right.
08:14Maybe just go back to Carson Wentz.
08:15So it's Vikings offense for you?
08:17Yes.
08:17David?
08:18I think it's Vikings offense because Kyler Murray dealt with an injury, and I think he's slowly getting himself back,
08:24and they also have a bye week next week.
08:26And I think that would allow them to get that offense right during their bye week.
08:31Yeah, and it's interesting, too.
08:33And we're just talking through it.
08:35When you look at both of those teams, their games this weekend, they're kind of spooky, kind of scary when
08:43you look at the number, right?
08:44So you go, all right, Vikings.
08:46Now, they're playing a Saints team that we think is bad.
08:48Right?
08:48They're laying two and a half on the road.
08:51And that's a team off a loss.
08:53And how about the Bears?
08:54Now, look, the Bears thing is totally different.
08:57Any wins they get without Caleb Williams, I always viewed as gravy.
09:00And I think they've done a pretty nice job.
09:03All right?
09:03The win against the Eagles.
09:04I know the Eagles aren't any great shakes.
09:06And they took care of business against the Jets.
09:08You're dealing with a third-string QB and then a second-string QB.
09:12Now they've got a backup going to Lambeau.
09:15Bears are laying one and a half.
09:16Both those games are very losable for both these teams for different reasons.
09:23So it's something I'm not telling you to scoreboard watch.
09:26I'm just making a point.
09:26If the Bears and Vikings clear these two, there's a very real chance, A, Vikings come out of the bye
09:33week sharper, better.
09:35Bears get what we talked about.
09:37I thought he'd be a top-five QB this year.
09:39Yeah, because Caleb practiced today.
09:41Yes, and he'll be back after this game.
09:43He won't play in this game, but he's questionable for this game.
09:47Yeah, no Monunga, by the way.
09:48Right.
09:49So, look, it's an interesting conversation.
09:51That's all.
09:52All right.
09:52We'll get more to people.
09:53We'll take care of business.
09:54Got the picks coming up as well.
09:5597-1.
