Hour 1: Steelers at a Crossroads, Lane Kiffin to LSU Spectacle, Bears NFC 1-Seed Reaction

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0:39Shop top brand appliances now at The Home Depot. Offer valid June 17th to July at the U.S. only C-Store online for details. 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. But 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. Hell, hell, hell, yeah! This is the Rich Eisen Show. My voice is raising an octave, it's so crazy.

1:22Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Talked to God and he told me it's time to take a new step. It's a new chapter. The Rich Eisen Show. Coming up on today's show. College football roundup. Monday night football preview. Plus your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody.

1:48Rich Eisen:Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. On the first day of December 2025, hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We say hello to everybody watching us on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, or potentially listening to us on ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Also listening to us on Sirius XM channel 80. There's also our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash RichEyesandShow, which is the way that I've been communicating with you throughout the Thanksgiving weekend where I'm dropping some videos after some games, except for the one where Ohio State beat my alma mater like a drum.

2:26Rich Eisen:We'll talk about that later on in this three-hour edition of the Rich Eisen Show, and you can call us and we'll have a conversation, because we're guestless like we are on many of these Mondays, because there's so much to talk about. Want to have time to chat with you, 844-204-RICH being the number to dial. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Hey, Rich, I'm excellent. How are you? DJ Mikey D is indeed nice. How are you, Mike Del Tufo? Good to see your smiling face, since you're so happy to be with all of us. And I'll explain what I mean by all of that dripping with sarcasm.

2:56Rich Eisen:Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. How are you, sir? I'm sensational. Yeah, you are, man. Your Dallas Cowboys are one of the best teams in the National Football League, playing like it over the last month, that is for sure. Good to see you. We're on to Detroit. You sure are, and that's the truth. By the way, after tonight's Monday night football game between the New England Patriots trying to become the first in the 11-win column. in the 2025 National Football League season against the Giants, who are starting Jackson Dart once again. After that, the Cowboys visiting the Lions to kick off a dynamite Week 14 NFL schedule.

3:31Rich Eisen:That's the next game after that. So stay tuned for all of this. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial my opinion of the Lane Kiffin decision to leave Ole Miss for LSU. Stay tuned for that. And again, as I mentioned, 844-204-RICH being the number to dial. We start with the game that the entire country or most of them saw on CBS late window before the spectacularly entertaining, out of nowhere, Denver-Washington Sunday night football game, which we'll also discuss over the next three hours that we saw on our friends at ANBC. Let's talk Bills and Steelers. I mean, the Pittsburgh Steelers are at a crossroads right now, just like the Kansas City Chiefs now, having lost the Dallas Cowboys in the middle game of Thanksgiving weekend, sitting at 6-6.

4:26Rich Eisen:Unfortunately, the Chiefs are not in the AFC North, where 6-6 is good enough to have a piece of first place. So we should, once again, as always, I always like to counsel how not everything happens in a week-to-week vacuum in the National Football League. But the way that teams play, you can take a look at how things might play out down the road over the final five games of the NFL campaign. Everybody has five games to go, with the exception of the four teams on a week 14 bye, and that includes the Patriots. but the Steelers at 6-6 right now don't look like they have anything in the tank which is not the way I'm sure Aaron Rodgers thought his season would go in Pittsburgh but right now I think his body is the embodiment of the Steelers to this point and their chances of moving forward.

5:33Rich Eisen:Rodgers emerging from this 26-7 home beatdown at the hands of a Bills team that one week looks great and the next week does not. Kind of like Brett Saberhagen's Cy Young seasons back in the 80s. You know, one week looking great, next week looking not, and they looked like a 26-7 victor on Sunday. rogers with a cast on his left hand and a band-aid across the bridge of his nose looking like he's trying to break into kevin's home for home alone three um and him getting knocked out of the game by joey bosa for a series in a sack force fumble return for a touchdown that completely flipped this game from a tight one score contest into a washout wondering if the Steelers season is anything but that he's the embodiment of it and that's the issue here is what do the Steelers have if not a stout defense that can stop the run and instead they gave up the most runs anybody who's been in that stadium, Hines Field turned into Accrashire, have ever seen an opponent get.

6:59Ever. 249 rush yards. Were most by a road team at Pittsburgh since week two of 1975 when the Bills came in. Whoa. With OJ and everybody else in the old stadium. at the confluence. And right now, there's a confluence of the Steelers, and it does not look like they are ready to even beat a Ravens team that hasn't gotten a touchdown pass from their quarterback in a month. Certainly, when Tony Romo is talking about the Steelers' best offensive weapon being a 310-pound tight end, that's also a problem. So if you can't stop the run, you can't run it and you also aren't threatening down the field and your hall of fame future hall of fame quarterback in his early 40s has a cast on his hand and a band-aid across his nose how are you going to go anywhere from here and rogers was asked about the um the offense not clicking again and the instance being the moment that cbs's cameras caught him being distressed with tight end john who smith one of the acquisitions that the steelers made that was supposed to give another weapon to aaron rogers to be better than six and six entering december he goes one way i mean it's like that painting from goodfellas one receiver goes one way and the quarterback throws the other way and the fans are saying what do you want from me we're booing and Rodgers had this to say about that moment when there's film sessions everybody shows up and when I check to a route you do the right route you know like John and I just were on the same page I checked to his in-breaker, and he ran out-breaker.

9:08You know, John is a true professional, so I'm sure he's sick about that. But, you know, I threw a ball I thought was going to get hit by the wind, and it was four yards over Roman. So that's a throw. I've got to make that throw. But, you know, we have our meetings every week. We have other opportunities outside of the facility. and look forward to seeing all the boys there.

9:36Rich Eisen:So that's, you know, a somewhat cryptic response there where he's calling out Johnnie Smith, but then he doesn't call out Johnnie Smith. And if it's not Johnnie, then who else is it there? And then he raises his hand saying, I'm not perfect either, which does push back on the narrative that he's a selfish guy and throws people under the bus. After throwing someone under the bus. Well, and again, it's... It's always somebody else's fault. Except he did say, I overshot Roman Wilson. If you recall, Roman Wilson, the receiver, was open on the right side, and he airmailed it. And then that's the issue here is if the quarterback and the receivers they do have are not on the same page, and DK Metcalf is on the side of a football milk carton right now, and that isn't working out.

10:24Rich Eisen:And George Pickens, who they sent away because they couldn't countenance whatever he was meaning for the team in the locker room, is now one of the best receivers in the NFL showing how it can be done with him successfully. This is definitely not the way the Steelers thought they'd be entering December. And then, of course, there's that now third rail subject matter about the coach. Fire Tomlin chants all over the place.

10:57Rich Eisen:And Tomlin was asked about that after the game. What goes through your mind when there's a crowd chanting to fire you in your home stadium? Man, I shared their frustration tonight, man. We didn't do enough. That's just the reality of it. That is the reality of it. Rodgers was even asked a question that he knew where the answer would go, or at least where he thought the media was trying to get him. Hit it. Do you see the flatness within the game and in practice? as something that's not being done right from a coaching aspect or preparation aspect that's kind of bringing you guys in the wrong way?

11:40I know what you're trying to ask, and I'm not going to go down that road at all. I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Mike Tomlin. That's why I came here. And players need to take accountability, myself included, and I will, and I will continue to. I've got to play better. but there's 11 stars on offense 11 on defense plus with the personnel groupings that we run and we're gonna have a Monday to Saturday we can be really proud of our best Monday to Saturday and go out and play our best game and take control of the division great answer by the way I have to

12:12Rich Eisen:give it up there problem is is the Wilson that he's got is not named Garrett he's not walking through the door and Devontae Adams is catching touchdown passes for Matthew Stafford we'll talk about the Rams losing in Carolina later on. That's the problem. Who's walking through the door? Honestly, if I told you before the season, Steelers would be 6-6 going into December, and Tony Romo would be talking about their difference maker is Darnell Washington, and they need to work him in more. And the defense would be giving up the most yards a Steelers team has given up to an opponent since Gerald Ford was president.

12:56Rich Eisen:I'm telling you, and I hear from Steelers fans, I hear it, and they have five games to turn it around. That's the problem. Who's going to help turn it around? They do have both games against the Ravens left. If they can steal themselves, pun intended, and win those games and sweep them, they can win the division and go in with some momentum, but then what happens? Chargers come into town. Colts come into town. Texans come into town. can you win that can you go on a run and that's what the Steelers want to see the fans want to see from the Steelers and we're I don't want to care about 500 anymore we want to go into the playoffs we want to win and this doesn't look like a team that can do that right now I'm I gotta shoot you straight up I always do and and if it doesn't happen over the next five weeks I am wondering if everybody goes back to their separate corners and decides that's where we're going to stay in separate corners and that the Steelers and the Tomlin administration are over.

13:58Rich Eisen:And I'm not laying this on the coach because I think the coach is as dynamite as they come. And I'm just wondering if he's sitting around thinking this isn't working anymore for me. And who's going to be the quarterback here moving forward. And I saw what my counterpart across the state in Philadelphia, once upon a time synonymous with that team from Pennsylvania, you what he's done in his 2.0 let me go somewhere else and find me another quarterback in another situation and prove my worth and self and and i don't need to be here anymore either you gotta wonder if that's creeping into his head with a loss like this where they can't stop the run they can't run it they can't throw it their cold-blooded serial killer kicker he doesn't even get a shot to do anything either and nothing's working and that's the way it was been looking on the road like in so-fi against the chargers a couple of sunday nights ago after they beat the colts at home is where they've been supposedly not supposedly you just look at the stats doing better you gotta wonder if this is in fact the end of the road but there's five games left there are some winnable games left the ravens aren't beating the world the problem for them is joe burris back good news for them though is the joe that they took on was flacco unfortunately for them is they split against them so they couldn't even make hay against a bengals team that didn't have burrow and the good news for the steelers is is the the joe they faced that they couldn't beat with flacco the joe that the ravens have to face twice including on thanksgiving night is burrow so they don't have the bengals you know they do have the the the uh browns again you know so that there's that there's some winnable games they can turn it around just doesn't look like they have the uh the arsenal for it as for the bills a they proved what the steelers couldn't do which is win in different ways the steelers are struggling to find the way to win right now consistently the bills are inconsistent where one week josh allen is accounting for six touchdowns and the next week he's being sacked eight times which is how they came into this game against the steelers having lost to the texans after beating the bucks after losing to the dolphins after beating the chiefs who is this team the issue is that but the guy on the screen and the other 53 as rogers is pointing out they got to pull together for the other team that lost though this team can pull it together from their 53 over i mean i thought with both tackles down going into pittsburgh with tj watt and the rest that defensive front, they were going to get overran after being sacked eight times.

17:05Do you know how many times Allen was sacked yesterday? Zero. Do you know how many times James Cook kept running, ripping one off on him, and then Ray Davis, and then Ty Johnson, and then Josh Allen? Let's go get Brandon Cooks and start using him. Let's get Gabe Davis and start using him. I mean, it's unbelievable how they pull it together. The idea in the offseason that they did not want to pay James Cook seems so stupid now. He is only 54 yards behind Jonathan Taylor as the league leader in the NFL. We need to start talking about James Cook on this level. Well, they did pay him at the end of the day.

17:47They did. And thank goodness they did do that. But defensively and one week, Josh Allen will take it all on his shoulders. The next week, James Cook will take it on his shoulders. The next week, another guy on defense can make some plays. Joey Bosa turned the game. Turned the game. So the Bills are doing it in a way that the Steelers could not, and that's why they're an eight-win team, rooting for the Giants tonight to keep this division alive. Next up for them is Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Oh, my God. What a Week 14 game that is for both teams, because, yes, the Bengals are still in it. We'll talk about that.

18:28later on but i i have the bills are now a new shrug emoji team i i don't know man yeah they go home they take care of business against the bengals or maybe they don't that's the next one with a dip and then they show up to new england and if they lose that the division that they've been roosting on for half a decade that's a wrap and then they have two winnable games against cleveland and home for the jets and then one against the philadelphia eagles who are the shrug emoji team right now at 8-4 themselves in the NFC. But they're still in it. Unlike what feels like the Steelers. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial.

19:09Love seeing all the phone lines lit. When we come back, I'm going to start doing something that I stopped doing around 1 o 'clock Eastern time on Saturday. Let's follow college football again. Aww. No, I'll talk about it. I mean, Rich, you know you're my man, right? Oh, I don't like the set. That's like a different version of with all due respect. The great set is something disrespectful. This is a great set up. You know what? I did. I worded it wrong. You said you're my man. So I know that already. You don't have to say that. They were roasting you a little bit yesterday on Game Day morning with the tweets.

19:44You mean over four hours with the tweets? I mean, Mariucci was nonstop. Well, you have that coming to you from him because let's be honest. Oh, I'm sorry. But I took it. It was pretty funny. I'm just saying the tweets, though. You were pretty defensive. Yeah, you were a little. I mean, after a while, though, it's like four straight hours. But I gave it out. I'm fine with it. Okay. I'm fine with it. I just want higher registers, which means I'm not so fine with it. Yeah, I was talking about the tweets. But it's okay. You know. After a while. You know, I'm not on Twitter anymore, so I did not see those.

20:11Well, the ones that popped up on the show. Well, that was at the end of the show. After three hours and 50 minutes of getting it with every barrel. Hour one, I was cool with it. By hour four, I was like, yo, leave my man alone. I like the injury updates where they were all Ohio State players. You know what? I didn't like those. No, I don't like you. All right. No, I'm just kidding. I'll talk all about that later on. You're not his man, Chris. But the Lane Kiffin situation, as we say in the sports world, the situation. Don't mean the Jersey Shore. Coming up.

20:48The Rich Isis Show Podcast.

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23:09back here on the rich eyes and show on our espn radio stream and feed and forget about jake our simulcast on the air espn radio presented by progressive insurance the storyline in college football outside of the games the story that's going on right now with lane kiffin has to start on november 29th not of this weekend not of this calendar year but 2021 it was on november 29th of 2021 that notre dame head coach brian kelly was in the home of a recruit in vancouver washington named tobias merriweather now as the story goes tobias's dad Had told, after Brian Kelly left, that Brian Kelly was in their living room and got a phone call and had to excuse himself for 15 minutes.

24:15Stuck around for another 90 after that with his coaching staff. Helped himself to some more of Tobias' family's burnt ends. That's not good, TJ. Apparently two or three helpings before he hit the road. and once brian kelly hit the road according to tobias this is tobias his dad he began receiving texts from a lot of people saying hey news is popping that brian kelly's leaving notre dame for lsu and according to tobias his dad he texted some of the assistants who had just helped themselves to some burnt ends with the head coach this news and they said we just asked coach kelly and he said it was BS.

24:58Used a different version of that. Well, guess what? Later on that day, it was in fact confirmed. Within less than a day of helping himself to the Merriweather family's burnt ends, he was in a 7 a.m. the next day meeting with Notre Dame players to say in an 11-minute conversation, he was in fact gone to LSU and here's your new head coach Marcus Freeman that was on November 30th 2021 smash cut four years to the day Lane Kiffin is at an FBO in Oxford Mississippi with a man who I think he might need a restraining order from Marty Smith of ESPN telling Marty before he got on the private plane what was going down.

26:00He was, in fact, leaving Oxford, Mississippi after a long drawn-out saga for weeks. And like Brian Kelly before him, leaving a team that has a chance to win a national championship to go to LSU instead, where he thought he had a better chance of getting a national championship, unless it was this year for Lane Kiffin.

26:31And word has it, again, I want to comment on Lane's thought processes or the type of person that he is, because he has every right to take whatever job he wants because contractually he can. The way things are set up in the NCAA, there are buyout clauses and there are insanely rich people across the united states who have the finances to just rip off millions of dollars and hand it to their alma mater or favorite football program and say here use this to buy out the coach you want kiffin has every right to do that opening up the wall that's definitely not velcro mike no and so kiffin has every right to do that

27:25but just like brian kelly before him when kelly left notre dame for lsu they had no idea how the conference championship games were going to play out of that subsequent weekend. Notre Dame had a chance to make the college football playoffs and he left without playing that out. And to Kelly's credit, he said, I'm going to a spot where I think I got a better chance to win. Which, as you know, as a Michigan guy, I had a field day with that saying, basically, Notre Dame's a stepping stone job. You remember, I had a field day with that one. You made meals off of that. Oh, did I ever. And Lane, though, hasn't said that yet i mean he's only been in a boot for less than 24 hours you know instagramming out pictures and stuff like that from his new office but in the same way he had every right to leave old miss had every right to do what it did which is tell him get out now kiffin in his statement leaving he said i wanted to stay i was hoping to complete a historic six season run by leading old miss through the playoffs capitalizing on the team's incredible success and their commitment to finish strong and investing everything into a playoff run with guardrails in place to protect the program in any areas of concern my request to do so is denied by keith carter the athletic director despite the team also asking him to allow me to keep coaching them so they could better maintain their high level of performance unfortunately that means Friday's Egg Bowl was my last game coaching the Rebels and to that I now to that I say cry me a river Susie and I tell our children all the time that their choices and their actions have consequences and Lane Kiffin's actions and consequences of leaving for LSU is you do not get to coach Ole Miss anymore.

29:32And don't give me any other examples. Well, this coach was allowed to stay to finish his time and go to his next job. So Ole Miss is now doing the players a disservice by not allowing Lane to finish. Oh, so Ole Miss should sit here and go, okay, Lane, here's what we're going to do.

29:54Rich Eisen:You just had a great season. You know? You did well here. We did well by you. You did well by us, too. You know, forget about the fact that your name was synonymous and has been turned into a verb of what teams do to coaches if they don't let them fly back with the team anymore. You know, forget about all of that. You did well by us. So here's what we're going to do. You're right. You're best for us to win this championship this year. so you stay around and have unfettered access to our players before a transfer portal window opens up on january 2nd just talk to whoever you want hang out with them and then also show to any other people that might hop in the portal for a school that we compete with who we despise in our same conference show those kids oh look what i'm doing with old miss why wouldn't you come hang with me at lsu when i leave here and what if you get one and done in the playoffs now what oh, see you later, take whoever you want.

31:01Really? Ole Miss should do that? To a guy who's basically saying, I'm out? And then on top of it, if you believe all reports at the same time, while he's seeking guidance on what to do, he's also basically telling the offensive staff, there's a beautiful private jet being sent to us from Baton Rouge. You're either on it or you're not. And at the same time, I'll threaten the school. If you don't let me stay, I'll take the players.

31:34And instead, you know what Ole Miss did? What Notre Dame did. Get out. And as a matter of fact, we're going to turn the program over to a defensive assistant who's never done it before and see how the kids handle that. if you remember marcus freeman walked in they went nuts right and who's going to the college football playoff or deserves to this year again while brian kelly's hiring attorneys at law to try and get his money who's who's on the unemployment line after he flopped at lsu and who's moving on? Why can't Pete Golding be the next Marcus Freeman? See how that works.

32:28I think Ole Miss had every right to do what they did and tell the kids, this is your new coach and all the other offensive assistants and defensive assistants, that's a very nice playing in LSU. How's it been for you here in Oxford?