Hour 1: Bears-49ers Reactions, Eagles-Bills Takeaways, Steelers-Browns Breakdown

0:00Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.

0:155 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink. Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work. Meetings, workshops. One more Celsius, no slowing down. Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live. Fit. Go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime.

0:56But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Y 'all ready? This is the Rich Eisen Show. And to play, and the 49ers have won it. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. And it is incomplete, the Eagles win. The Eagles win. On today's show, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner. Complete Week 17 recap. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:39Rich Eisen:Of the Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney +, live on the ESPN app, and live on ESPN Radio. Hello, Sirius XM Channel 80 audience, and everybody listening out there on our podcast platform. We appreciate everybody who takes us in. However, you get your podcast all three hours. Overreaction Monday has already been recorded for your podcast listening or viewing on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash RichEisenShow. Hope everybody had a happy and healthy and safe Christmas holiday. And we're getting ready for the new year, obviously, right around the corner. Week 17 off the charts, off the chain, almost in the books.

2:21Rich Eisen:Rams and Falcons are playing on Monday Night Football to wrap up week number 17 tonight. Kurt Warner. I called the Chargers in Texas with him on Saturday on NFL Network. I hosted NFL Game Day morning with him on Sunday and now he's a guest on the Rich Eisen Show in the middle of this Monday program. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial to have a conversation with us. Good to see you over there. Christopher Brockman, how are you, sir? Hey, Rich, I am excellent. How are you? Yes, you are. Your New England Patriots are winners of the American Football Conference Eastern Division. Congratulations to you.

2:56And all is right with the world.

2:57Rich Eisen:And all the mass holes in concordance together. I'm happy for all of you. Good to see you over there, Mike Del Tufo. How are you? Good morning. How are you doing, Rich? I'm doing well. You don't even know what's going on because let me just explain to people. I'm explaining to people. Let it be proud of this sort of thing. Okay. You got a new toy over there, right? You got a new soundboard. Yeah, we got a new soundboard. So everybody, you're going to hear it might be a little different. It's going to be better, but I just want to, you know, it'll be better. It's fine. We had a crew of six of us elves that came in at Christmas and worked.

3:32I called us the six elves.

3:33Rich Eisen:Well, I'm appreciative of you and all the elves for putting this equipment in while we were on a little bit of a television and radio break. T.J. Jefferson, the candle is not lit. What's going on over there? You need one for the holidays? What is it over there? Oh, there it is. Oh, it's very fast. I couldn't see it. The sticker on the laptop, the candle is lit. Yes, we've got stickers now. Hey, stickers. Who's soundboard and stickers and you? What's up, everybody? What up, baby? Being the number to dial. All right, let's get into this. I feel like I come on the air here every week now in December saying that was the game of the year.

4:09Right? Rams and the Seahawks, that was the game of the year. At that moment, it was. Packers and Bears. Oh, my. Part two. That was the game of the year. Sure you're right.

4:21Rich Eisen:Then, you know, came last night. Off of, by the way, a Bills-Eagles game that we're going to discuss in the middle of this first hour that looked as if it was a pedestrian type of feel to it with a playoff covering on it until the final throws of that game put it into can't miss, this is classic, unbelievable, can't believe what I'm seeing type football. Mother Nature had a little to do with that. That's true. And then comes Sunday night. The 49ers and the Bears. Two teams coming into this campaign, coming into this season, with last place schedules. Because everybody's thinking, okay, last year, you know, Packers made it, Vikings made it, Lions made it.

5:15Rich Eisen:Good luck to Ben Johnson and these Bears to do anything in their first year together with Caleb Williams. And then the 49ers last year, they were particularly troubled as a franchise. And then this 49ers team losing Nick Bosa, a defensive player of the year. Fred Warner, another defensive player of the year type player. they lose George Kittle for four games and then last night. So about a quarter of the season, they lost Brock Purdy for a third of the season. They lost Ricky Pearsall for half the season. Brandon Ayuk is best known this year for speeding past the field of genes and recording it more than what he does with his own speed because of injuries and whatever the hell's going on with this team.

6:15Rich Eisen:Not a single snap from Brandon Ayuk this year. This team, this 49ers team, for a fan base that is out of their skulls in terms of their rabidness, their love of this team, they're waiting for this team to win a Super Bowl championship longer. I'll do this for you, TJ. Thank you. then Cowboys fans have been waiting for their team to get back to the NFC championship game. That's how long it's been for the 49ers to win a Super Bowl. Obviously they've made it back and had Mahomes standing in their way. And last night they had a second coming of Mahomes standing in their way. Even, as you know, Chris Collinsworth could not resist mentioning Patrick Mahomes watching Kayla Williams do what he's doing last night.

7:13Rich Eisen:But guess what the 49ers have? Guess who the 49ers have? They got themselves Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan. Together, one of the best play-calling quarterback-running back combinations in the National Football League, if not the best. I just said those words. Because again, these 49ers doing what they are doing without the players that they have or without the players they haven't had to be on the precipice of not having to pack a bag for the rest of this year until perhaps they take a post-Super Bowl parade vacation with their families. The home of Super Bowl 60 is the home of the 49ers, and who thought coming into this season it would be possible for the Niners to play in that game?

8:15Rich Eisen:Who thought it would be possible in week 17 prior to week one, prior to when the schedule's coming out, that it would be possible for the 49ers to play in this game? Legit possible. You did? You keep pointing yourself over there. Remember I had seven teams? To win the Super Bowl. Yeah, I thought could win. Okay, so you would. I guess that's a figurative speech then. You threw him in there with a bunch of others. What they are doing right now is beyond impressive. And what they did last night. Brock Purdy, his first throw picked off for a touchdown. First time in a couple years since Alex Highsmith picked off Deshaun Watson to start a game.

9:02Rich Eisen:That's been a couple years since they picked six, started a football game. And all the Niners did was just put their foot in the ground and keep scoring and scoring and scoring. And at the end of the day, at the end of the day, a defense that couldn't stop the other team, together with this team, resilient, wins the football game, similar to one, if I have to make a Mahomes reference, to the Jared Goff, Patrick Mahomes, Monday Night Football 54-51 final. This had that feel to it. Whoever gets the ball last is going to win the game. Whoever doesn't score a touchdown is going to lose the game. I mean, the 49ers, talk about resilient.

9:51They actually had a punt for the first time all month last night. That's crazy. Tommy Townsend was running down the field like he was, you know, Rudy on amphetamines. He had a lot of aggression. He was just running down the field like the wind. Can't believe he's actually following up a punt and dapping up his teammates after he actually was allowed a punt. Guys, I'm in the game. Rudy on amphetamines. I did say those words. And Brock Purdy. This is amazing. Just one more time. Just to say what Thomas Morton said, not Thomas. I'm mixing up the people who I called a game watching Punt on Saturday.

10:34Thomas Morstead, pardon me. Thank you for that, Mike Hoskins, getting in my ear. You could play the slow SportsCenter music because I just had that moment of screwing up. Listen, Brock Purdy doing what he's doing now because, again, he missed a third of the season.

10:51Rich Eisen:This is also part and parcel in this day and age where a guy like Mac Jones comes in and performs as well as he has. and everybody's like, well, why aren't we just playing him? Why aren't we just using him as their starting quarterback? Just take a look at what's going on in Green Bay right now. Malik Willis didn't even win the game Saturday night. I know. All right, so that's the way things go in this world. But Purdy's showing off why, yes, he should be the starter in San Francisco, and yes, he's worth what he got paid this offseason. Last night, Brock Purdy became the sixth player in the Super Bowl era with five or more offensive touchdowns in consecutive games.

11:36Rich Eisen:Yeah. Short week, San Francisco on Monday night, week 16. He had five touchdowns. Last guy to do that in back-to-back games, Russell Wilson in 2020. First player in the history of the San Francisco 49ers. Did you hear what I just said? History. Thank you. Of the 49ers. History of the 49ers. Five-time Super Bowl champion. A lot of MVP. Montana. And Young. To name two. Jeff Garcia. 300 or more passing yards, three or more passing touchdowns, and two or more rushing touchdowns in a game. Nobody's ever done it. Oh, you can even throw Kaepernick out there too, sir. He's going to be next. And how about this one?

12:16Rich Eisen:Over the last 40 seasons, there's only one other quarterback with three or more passing touchdowns and two or more rushing touchdowns in a prime time game. And it's somebody you wouldn't equate with Brock Purdy. His name is Michael Vick. Brock Purdy had a Michael Vick game on Sunday night. Kind of did. And this is when Kyle Shanahan, who, as you know, throws around a lot of compliments like manhole covers on time to time, certainly when it comes to quarterbacks, had this to say about Brock Purdy when last night he did what he did against a red-hot quarterback and offense in Chicago's. I thought Brock had a hell of a game again.

13:01Rich Eisen:Brock's been playing his ass off, made some huge plays in this game, kept some drives alive with his legs, made some off schedule plays, and was an assassin out there throughout the whole day. You've seen Brock play some really good games over the years, but have you seen a stretch like this? Is this as good as he's ever been right now? I don't know. I'm not the best historian. I feel like he's had some good stretches, especially going back to 23 and 22. But, I mean, he's playing as good as he gets right now. Well, I'll give you the history, Kyle. Purdy's third straight season now with 20 more passing touchdowns.

13:33Rich Eisen:Only Steve Young has a longer such streak in the history of the San Francisco 49ers. So that's the totality of Purdy's run right now. And I gave you what he just did in terms of back-to-back games. In the short term. And that play he made where he ran around for eight seconds. And it looked like he was going to maybe try to run it in. And he pulled up stakes and threw it to use check. Yep. Was one of those moments where we as a collective nation watching it on NBC. Probably cursed on the couch. Holy S. Especially when you're writing them in the fantasy championship. Okay. Yep. Brock Purdy. And then he does his dance.

14:16Rich Eisen:as well you should, Brock. Hit it. Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a bootleg and just one of those things where the defense sort of did a good job covering it and just tried to make a play, keep the play alive. And then obviously when I cut back in, defenses tend to go into in cuts on scramble. So just trying to keep the play alive and saw juice in the corner. So it was cool that he had his antenna up too right there in that moment. And obviously he scored and you can just try to give the team momentum and celebrate. So it was a cool play. And then it helps to have a Hall of Famer in Christian McCaffrey.

14:51Rich Eisen:I said it weeks ago. I'll say it again. That's a Hall of Fame running back. Okay? Okay. Yeah. I know I sound angry. Okay. Yeah, no one's pushing back. Okay. Well, we did. You did a few weeks ago. 1 ,000%. He had a season-high 140 rushing yards. I think a couple more years. He joins LaDainian Tomlinson as the only players in NFL history to have three seasons with 2 ,000 or more scrimmage yards and 15 or more touchdowns now. Eight player in the history of the NFL to have three seasons with 2 ,000 or more scrimmage yards. The only ones with more are Marshall, Eric Dickerson, and Walter Payton. This guy is unbelievable.

15:31Rich Eisen:When he comes out of the game, you're like, why? And then you see him breathing heavily on the sideline. You're like, oh, that's right. He's had 90 million touches tonight. 400 on the sideline. There was one moment in the game on a Monday nighter against Indianapolis where he comes out of the game inside the five-yard line, and you saw Shanahan sort of shaking his head on the sideline, and I knew exactly what was happening. I said it to Cooper as I'm sitting next to him. I'm like, he can't believe McCaffrey's coming out of the game right now. You know what Shanahan did? He did. Do you know what happened after the timeout?

16:06Rich Eisen:Touchdown, Christian McCaffrey. that's why you have him you trade for somebody like him the Eagles would say Quan Barkley I can't believe the Panthers decided years ago let's just flip him to San Francisco that's for another day this day San Francisco wakes up with a shot at the one seed in a campaign that ends in their own house that's a fact and on top of it what you love to do is stick it to your rivals that win eliminated the Rams from the one seed. The Rams are going to be a wildcard team. How tough of a loss was that in the previous game of the year against Seattle? So San Francisco, despite losing everybody, despite having so much go against them, is a one seed possibility to the point where all they've got to do is win one game at home and they stay at home for the rest of a playoff campaign that ends in their home.

17:09Rich Eisen:Take the luggage and put it in the basement. Holy cow. And it's in the toughest division in the NFL. I just mentioned the Rams are eliminated from the division in the one seed. They're playing for their 12th win tonight. They could be a third-place, 13-win team. That's what the Niners are doing. Can't rave about them enough. Now then, let's talk about the Bears. Let me tell you, Bears fans, I know you're feeling hurt today. Living on the edge of your seat last night. Watching your team come back again. Watching your team come up short by mere feet. just a handful of yards to a team. I just spent the first 10 minutes lauding the first entire, almost the entirety of our first segment, praising the 49ers for doing what they're doing and having a shot at the one seed when nobody expected.

18:21Rich Eisen:And the Bears shot at the one seed is now in peril, out the window without help, and the Bears are going to be the two seed, right? And I know it hurts, but I will just tell you this. You're good. You're more than good. You're in a great spot. coming into this season you're thinking did we get the right coach is he really going to be able to do anything with Caleb is he going to be able to turn him around because I think he might be a bust look what he did last year oh absolutely I know you just gave me this look on my off camera I spoke to some Bears fans were thinking did we get the wrong guy Jaden Daniels just had his unicorn season Caleb was lost looking lost this franchise you learn in the middle of Ben Johnson being hired to the first snap of the season.

19:19Rich Eisen:You hear they were so in disarray that they didn't even tell Caleb how to watch film last year. The front office was letting that go down and the Bears fans were all wondering what the hell is happening around here? Can we actually take the Lions offensive coordinator and wind up better than the Lions? And then when they started 0-2 after having a 50-burger thrown out on them by the Lions, sitting there saying, did we get the wrong guy? is he Fugazi? Did he really have anything to do with that offense in Detroit that just put a 50-burger on us? We just blew it to J.J. McCarthy at home on Monday Night Football?

19:59Rich Eisen:Is the new defensive coordinator worth a damn? I mean, these were questions just two weeks into the season, let alone throughout the offseason. And now we watch them go toe-to-toe with a team that could be the first seed seed in the NFC playoffs, and if not, a clear threat to win the Super Bowl anyway. Toe to toe with them. And in this day and age where it may turn out to be the most important individual on your sideline is the play caller. Obviously, it's a quarterback driven league. You need to have somebody who is the executor, the avatar of the philosophy writ large of the team and the play caller.

20:46But you need to have somebody on the sidelines who can look at Kyle Shannon and say, I'm dialing something up against your defense. I know what you've just done. I know it's 7-7, then it's 14-14, then it's 21-21, then it's 28-28, then it's 35-35. By the way, I'm not exaggerating. No. That's what happened last night. That's what happened. Okay. That you do yours, I'll do mine. You try and stop mine because I'm coming for you after you get yours. The Bears have that. Whoever thought the Bears would have that? Whenever you're talking about a cool quarterback, you're talking about Jim McMahon, right?

21:24Or a cold quarterback, you're talking about Jay Cutler because he's staring at you saying, get the hell out of here. I don't want to talk to you. You got a cool customer. You got Caleb Williams, who in just his first year with Ben Johnson, is one of the best I've seen at throwing off platform, throwing against the grain of his body. Now, he's still missing some wide-open shots. That's going to be fixed. It's only a matter of time. The tools are all there. Until that's out of his game. Only a matter of time. The run game is ingenious and stout. Swifted by young guy Another question that folks had in Chicago Is Paul's the right guy Ryan Paul's the GM You know he's choosing some interesting Why is he trading for Montez Sweat In the middle of a season that's already lost A couple years ago You know Why is he doing that Can he shop for the right groceries Yes yes And yes All of it oh my god and if you could say it's not the future is bright the future could potentially be now you're gonna be the two seed by the way taking on the packers part three holy crap you want to talk about a wild card possibility but again that's for another day and then just this exchange here with the media last night between the coach and the media and the quarterback and the media the same play, the final play, you know, where it was wild.

23:01Rich Eisen:The Bears pulled out of their bag of tricks the same play that the Bills pulled out of their bag of tricks on the fourth down in the final drive of the regulation against the Eagles where it was a quick pass and then a flip to a running back for a first down. They tried that with no timeouts left. Talk about aggressive. Crazy. No timeouts left. They pulled that one out of their bag of tricks. Love it. And it went for a first down, but not for a touchdown. They had to get up and clock it and then call a play. One shot to win it. And it didn't go their way. You could see from jump that it was going to be Caleb having to pull a rabbit out of the hat that whatever they were scheming up wasn't open.

23:51Rich Eisen:And then he wound up hopping it to Luther Burden. What an incredible game in the end zone. Luther, beast of Burden. But listen to the exchange with the head coach, Ben Johnson, afterwards on this play. In the final play, what is kind of supposed to happen if everything works out? Yeah, we didn't quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to. It's on me. I didn't give him the call fast enough. And so he's trying to piecemeal it together. I got to do a better job on that. So he takes the hit. It was me on the play call. Me on the play call. So now the quarterback's going to step to the same podium, but he asked the same question.

24:32Rich Eisen:If it is on Ben Johnson, how is the quarterback going to handle that? I think I have an idea. How is he going to handle that? Hit it. We ended up getting lined up with not much time, and we were slightly lined up wrong, And so I didn't have enough time to be able to fix it, have an emotion and things like that. And so, you know, we just had to try and make something out of nothing in that situation. And then, you know, like I said, we had a shot. You know, with all of that going on, time running down, you know, us missing a line and things like that, we had a shot. And, you know, just got to give my guys a shot in that situation.

25:12I think I haven't obviously gone back and watched yet, but I think I'd end up dirt in the ball. didn't get my legs into it. And, you know, just put the ball in the end zone in that moment. And if it's a pick or incomplete at that point, then, you know, but can't dirt the ball. He takes responsibility.

25:32Rich Eisen:Talking about how we weren't, you know, we were lined up late. Doesn't say the play call came in late. The coach and the quarterback together for this team. they are going to be a problem for a long time, and that long time could start in two weeks. Bears fans, you've got to be ecstatic out of your skulls at what you're seeing. Because I didn't even mention the defense that keeps taking the ball away, too. They could absolutely win the Super Bowl this year. No question about it. A game like that can stick in their crawls and be something as they use as a rallying cry. Period. End of story. What a game on Sunday night.

26:18Two teams that can win the Super Bowl.

26:20Rich Eisen:That would be an incredible NFC Championship game. We'd be talking about that game for years. Oh, my God. A great game, man. The Bears have got a top-notch play caller, a top-notch running game, a top-notch quarterback, some top-notch receivers. They even have Roma Dunze in that game. Oh, right. And Zaccheaus, he was sick. He didn't play. defensively they take it they took a ball away and still couldn't win the game because the Niners are just so on tilt offensively without Kittle holy crap what a game worthy of starting the show of 25 minutes in let's take our first break we'll talk Bills and Eagles still to come also Steelers Ravens oh my god the Steelers couldn't pull it off in Cleveland but hey at least Miles didn't get the sack record against him right it's coming up