NFL Week 15: Chiefs' Dynasty Done? Micah Injury Impact, Rivers' Return

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0:31Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. It is another edition of Overreaction Monday. It's time for the Week 15 edition. Rich Eisenlong with Chris Brockman. How are you, sir? What's up, brother? What a weekend. Yeah, thrilled to be back from New York City. Absolutely. After spending almost a full week in the warm embrace of the ESPN studios in lower Manhattan. We're back in Los Angeles. Yeah, only the studios were warm in New York. You know, it's warm in Los Angeles. Not just the weather, but both football teams here, sir. Hey, look at you turn the face. Rams and Chargers. taking care of business. Lots to talk about, so let's hit it.

1:03Rich Eisen:Boom. That was terrible. That was crap. That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction Mondays. Monday. I don't know why I just said boom, but I just, that's the first time I've ever done that. No, it was fantastic. Maybe that was an overreaction. Yeah, Berman-esque. Boom. Boom. Let's go. Hey, very good. Let's go. What do you got over there? Right out of the gate, I gotta start with, man, so many good games. I'm gonna call this the game of the day. We talked about it on Friday as possibly being a Super Bowl 60 preview Denver and Green Bay Sunday was the best game of Bo Nix's career and Broncos AFC championship game I don't think that's an overreaction how does that sound this is what we were waiting to see out of this Denver team a complete four-quarter game they came from behind best game of Bo Nix's career four touchdowns he looked awesome and before the season when Sean Payton was like we have a Super Bowl team I think they finally finally showed it on well Well, to have the Packers come in off of what they did against the Bears and what they did against the Lions on Thanksgiving, to come in to their home stadium and put the four quarters together, as you said, complementary football, which is another way to, it's a football version of pound for pound boxer, where you got to figure out what it is other than the fact is like, you can run it and you can pass it as well.

2:23Rich Eisen:Bo Nix with a four touchdown game. game did you know not to go full did you know on you but where's the music I know Bo Nix um tied a career high with that four touchdown um four passing touchdown game it's his fourth career game with four or more touchdowns so I know we've been waiting to see it but maybe we've been waiting to see it in a situation where the Broncos are expected to take that next step if you think they have that ability and they went ahead and showed it and nicks now has 22 career wins through his first two seasons that is tied with big ben andrew luck and dac prescott for the most um since 1950 and if they went out the rest of the way which is now possible because that christmas game in arrowhead looks a lot more winnable sure does um and there is that chargers game at the end of the game at the end of the season and this big one against jacksonville coming up in week 16 very difficult games i know that so um if they win their home games is what i'm saying i guess now that we're looking at the schedule and that game and arrowhead is now against gardner minshu against the chiefs team that doesn't know what to do in a game that doesn't matter in the regular season when they're playing a game that doesn't matter in the regular season because they're not benching their starters for the playoffs, then Bo Nix would set the record all-time, breaking Russell Wilson's 24, most wins by a player in his first two seasons at quarterback in the National Football League since the middle of last century.

4:03So Bo Nix is ascending and slowly building

4:09Rich Eisen:in a way that this ascension feels a lot more real than perhaps any other second year flash in the pan type situation. And even just earlier in the season, you know, we've been talking about, look, they look like crap for three and a half quarters and then pull it out at the end. Or, you know, they have a weird penalty. I mean, you could make a case. Denver could be undefeated in this game, but I just think he put it all together. Huge game, the home field. It looks like they're going to lock up the one seat if they kind of handle business the rest of the season. And, you know, everyone's saying, you know, Denver didn't win the Super Bowl.

4:42The bandwagon was full.

4:43Rich Eisen:They really showed it. Well, Pat Sertan, with one of the interceptions of the year, that was incredible when he jumped in front of a Jordan Love pass. And the defense then tacked on three more sacks. They needed 15 more sacks in the final three games to break the 84 Bears record of 72 in a season. So they're playing the complimentary football, although they're not running the ball all that well they're 89 rush yards um i guess doesn't matter because would you believe in games that they've ran for fewer than 90 rush yards is the fifth such game they're five and oh in those contests so they're playing terrific football yeah at a time when they knew the patriots had just lost and they also know they have a tie break on the Patriots.

5:35Rich Eisen:So they're close to clinching a one seed if they keep on winning these games. Now, Jacksonville is red hot, and that's going to be a fabulous week 16 contest between the one and three seeds right now. Yeah, we'll talk about them in a minute. But I thought for a second you were saying that this was still a Super Bowl preview and the fact that Micah Parsons is now down for the season. Can you hold that thought? I will put a pin in that for the moment. Ten seconds. Ah, what's next then, Chris? Let's just go to the other half of that game the packers side of it it was actually was i was i thought you had one more thing to add before you where you tossed it but right the packers super bowl chances ended with micah parsons i can't say ended i can't say ended although micah parsons leaves the 2025 playing field and campaign with 83 quarterback pressures according to next gen stats on a heater of all heaters that leads the national football league so removing him and that from the defense will absolutely change the dynamic and revert the packers to the team that we've seen over the last few years coming in and to the playoffs which is a pretty darn good defensive unit but potentially without a unicorn in the middle of that line wherever he wants to play in the middle of that front seven wherever he wants to play.

6:56Rich Eisen:9-4-1 is maybe not going to be good enough to go into the last three weeks to come out with the one seed. Maybe not. With the Rams and the Seahawks playing each other this weekend, barring a tie, or this week on Thursday night to kick off week 16, barring a tie uh in that game somebody's gonna have 12 wins with two to go which means the Packers would need to win out to get to that so the one seed might have just gone out the window for Green Bay but the two seed isn't the two seeds not and if they're the two seed welcoming in somebody like the Rams Seahawks Niners Lions Bears oh my that's the mix of I think teams that would come in as the seven seed in the NFC, which are stout seven seeds, man.

7:57Rich Eisen:NFC is stacked. They are like, you know, when, when the seven seed was invented a few years ago, it was always that team that barely made it. Right. That was running on fumes or had no business being in the playoffs. Otherwise, eight and eight team, something like that. So it's going to be a, it's, it's not going to be an easy road, but I don't think anybody's road in the NFC is going to be easy anyway. I can't sit here and say that their Super Bowl chances ended. You can't say that. I'll call that an overreaction. But the likelihood of it is less, which is why I was sitting here saying I might choose a different combo for Super Bowl 60 than Packers, Broncos.

8:40Rich Eisen:Thought about it even in the middle of that game. Parsons goes down and it changes things. I know I'm contradicting myself here, but I'll just call this an overreaction because I just gave you the scenario under which the Packers, who have the Bears this Saturday, to try and sweep them, which would be a great reinvigoration of a team that had won four in a row prior to this past week's loss. Then they're home for Baltimore, which is entirely winnable, and then against my guy, J.J. McCarthy, who was dealing on Sunday night. He was. He was balling. Never know what that's going to look like. But there are some winnable games the rest of the way, if not all three of them, for a team that is really talented all over the place.

9:21Rich Eisen:That tie is just sticking out like a sore thumb for a team that otherwise, if that was a win, would still have a chance to win the conference. But that tie means they'd have to win out to match the 12 wins of whoever wins between the Rams and Seattle to kick off week 16 with two games to go for both of them. So I'll just call this an overreaction for the moment and say, what a bummer that both Micah and Patrick Mahomes suffered on Sunday. Yeah. We need me right into the, to our next topic. Major bummer in Casey Patrick Mahomes going down, torn ACL. He posted about it. It looks like it's going to be next season before we see him probably middle of next season.

10:07Are you now prepared to say that the chiefs are done? Yeah. You know what? I don't appreciate that snark from you. Okay, great. The next time the Chiefs make the playoffs, Andy Reid will not be the head coach. What an overreaction.

10:20Rich Eisen:What an overreaction. I think we're ready for a complete and total rebuild next year for Kansas City. And then Andy Reid's going to be 70. Well, Kelsey's going to retire now, right? I can't sit here and say that. Chris Jones is up there. I can't sit here and say that. I can't also sit here and say that Mahomes, if he doesn't get surgery, fast and doesn't rehab fast enough. I mean, I know nine months, we've seen a nine, ten month turnaround. Yeah, but we've also seen how players look coming back in that, you know, the nine to ten month period. He might not run around as much or have the escapability, the Mahomes magic.

10:55Rich Eisen:He's not going to be the Chiefs best running back next year, is that what you're saying? Well, that's the one thing the Chiefs need to do, is address that situation. But Andy Reid teams, as you know, never really had that. Brian Westbrook. Well, Brian Westbrook was always the guy coming out of the backfield too. He was a dual threat guy. I understand that. Of the highest order. I understand that. I'm saying Andy Reid is going to be... It would be great to see the Chiefs just bang on you sometimes, man. It would. He's 68 years old, right? That's the oldest coach has ever won the Super Bowl. Bruce Arians was 68.

11:27Say gap year next year, rebuild year, then he's 70. Why is next year a gap year? Because your best player just had a very serious knee injury.

11:36Rich Eisen:I understand what it looks like right now. but I'm not ready to quit the chiefs on next year. That is preposterous. Why is it preposterous? Why is it preposterous? Because why quitting on, why would I quit on the chiefs for next year to help into the locker? Because that's just how it works. What works that way? Just knees and knees bodies. He's down in his thirties. Your, your hall of fame tight end is probably at the end of the line. Your defensive best defensive player is on the wrong side of 30 as well. Yes, they have no roster is aging. There's no doubt. They have no plausible wide receiver one.

12:12Like, the Chiefs are in big trouble. They're an absolute cap hell next year. They're a$40 million plus over the cap. Like, this is going to be a very different looking Kansas City Chiefs team next season.

12:23Rich Eisen:I'll just call this an overreaction and say, Andy Reid is probably not going to go anywhere. Unless there's something larger underneath the surface that's a large ass iceberg, and they're going to want to go into this market right now for a new head coach. And it's not like there's anybody that's, I mean, will somebody grab spags? I know everybody keeps mentioning Matt Nagy as a head coaching candidate. They might get some coaches rated. They didn't get coaches rated after Super Bowl wins in a row. Why would they get their coaching staff rated after a six and whatever or seven whatever season, Chris?

13:04Well, that might feel like it was their personal decision to keep the run going.

13:08Rich Eisen:I just don't know. You may wind up being right, but I'm just going to call this an overreaction for the moment and just say this to you. Just throw it out there. Let me just say this to you. Just in advance of what I'm going to say. Is this recording so we can play this back in like a year and a half? No, if we play it back in a year and a half, I'm going to say this on the flagship show. Great. And I'm not just saving material. So we're doubling down. Well, yeah. you're going to miss the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. Absolutely not. You're 100 % going to miss them. What are we going to miss?

13:41Rich Eisen:The star quality, the ugly football, the on the edge of your seat. Is this the end of the dynasty? Is this the end? Could they pull it out out of nowhere? There's going to be a lot of first-time quarterbacks, second-time quarterbacks doing it that don't have the same pizzazz or jazz as Mahomes and the rest of this Chiefs team. The people wanting them to lose, people wanting them to win. I mean, I know all about what that's like. You can be as, again, New England snarky as you want right now. I'm not being snarky. It's just the real situation. I'm just saying it's basically going to be like when LeBron leaves.

14:25Rich Eisen:You're going to miss him. You're going to miss. There's going to be a void. You're going to be sitting around saying, why am I somewhat empty inside? You're going to miss them. I think there's other reasons why I'm empty inside. You're going to miss them. Most of them were from yesterday. I'm just going to repeat, you're going to miss them. I'm not. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

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15:10Rich Eisen:Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Save money on your next oil change with O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Get a$15 O 'Reilly gift card after rebate when you buy 5 quarts of Mobile One full synthetic motor oil for just$35.95. Stop by your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts. But that's okay. We move on. It wasn't great for my team yesterday. Oh, it was great. And then it wasn't great after you blow a 21-0 lead at home to lock up the division. That's never good. The Patriots are going to be one and done in the playoffs. Wow, you're really putting this up for grabs, huh? I don't love what I saw in the second half, especially.

15:47Really need Milton Williams to come back healthy. You know, Pat's run D has been pretty bad since he's been down. Robert Spillane. Was it a soft benching? He wasn't fast enough in this game. Where is Stefan Diggs? Well, Trayvon can't do it all by himself. It would be nice to have a little help. Trayvon Henderson, obviously a monster, very, very fast, but he can't do that on every play. He can't hit a home run on every play.

16:10Rich Eisen:Let me ask you this question. So that whole win streak, was it really the benefit of a soft schedule? Perhaps, but you can only play who you play. Who have we really beaten from? You can only play who you play, and they did dominate those teams, and they were dominating for a half. You did throw a pretty damn good punch at the Bills. Against Buffalo. Just couldn't finish. We won a close game at their side. They won a close game on our side. And I feel good about finishing up the season. What do you think? You're not going to win the division? You're still up. You're still one up. You're still one up.

16:43I think you kind of need to fall down before you can really get up and rise to the top. And I think maybe that was a good loss. Hold on a second. But I think one and done in the playoffs, that's fair. That's a fair take after watching them on Sunday. Hold on. Hold on.

16:57Rich Eisen:So you're saying, again, are you aware that the Patriots have a better division record against the AFC East than the Bills have? Yeah, I'm aware. So all you've got to do is beat the Dolphins and the Jets. It doesn't matter if you lose to the Ravens because the next tie break after head-to-head in division is division record. You've only lost once there. That's it. so beat the Dolphins and beat the Jets doesn't matter what you do against the Ravens if you suddenly have the Bills having the same record as you you have got a better division record that's the tie break so you could you're still probably going to win this division Chris unless you lose two of the last three I mean you don't have to lose at Baltimore and then against the Dolphins or the Jets the Jets aren't beating anybody right now they just fired their defensive coordinator before we sat down here Tua's got a great track record against the Patriots.

17:55Rich Eisen:You're at the Jets and you're home for Miami. The last one, Tua's got to come in on like 10 degree weather and probably have the U-Haul backed up. Come on, man. They might be fighting for a playoff spot. So you'll be the two seed. You'll be the two seed or the three seed if Jacksonville can leapfrog you or Houston leapfrogs you, which would still have to be significant. One of those two teams coming in New England, they're more skilled offensively. I don't think either one of those teams will be coming into New England. It might be the Chargers. Could be the Bills. I think Chargers is best-case scenario for the Pats, but don't want to see the Bills again in the playoffs.

18:26Don't want to see Houston in that defense and the way C.J. Stroud has been playing.

18:29Rich Eisen:All right, would it make you feel better if I said this is not an overreaction? Now I'm going to try and drill down on your New England psyche. Would it be better for you if I'm like, no? Or I'm like, you know what, you're right. To give an honest answer. You're right, you're finished. What do you think of this take? I think this is an overreaction. I think you've arrived. I'm a little worried. I'm not, and I am going high register, but I think you've arrived. I think you're not one and done in the playoffs. Dude, you just won like 10 in a row. Then you lose a half of football. You needed to finish that.

19:01Rich Eisen:I totally agree. Couldn't do anything. But this kid's unbelievable. And I mean, I think he should definitely start out snapping Ramondre by a nice margin too. Well, it's been a long time since the Patriots had a true home run hitter every time he touches the ball. That's right. And that's what he is. Excuse me. You've got a lot of them from Pop Douglas to that kid Williams. You got some. It's just, you know, the bills are who we sometimes think they are. They got the best player on the planet. They certainly have one. He put on his cape, man, in that second half. Doesn't hurt when you got 17. It's an overreaction.

19:37Chris, don't worry. Okay, great. All right, I feel better. Not really. You know who should feel really good? Jacksonville Duvall. Yes. The Jaguars are the team nobody wants to see. or play come January.

19:50Rich Eisen:How about this? How about the top two in the AFC South are that way right now? How about that? Because that's the first game on Saturday, wildcard weekend division. No, I know we always have our fun with that. No one respects them. Jacksonville. They're balling, man. They are. And they're just, you know, what they're in right now is in the vortex of the who have they really beaten lately situation, which is always so funny. Who have they really beaten? It doesn't matter. In the NFL, the other professionals across from you think you're taking food off their table. That's the way NFL players approach games.

20:30Rich Eisen:The same thing with all these Eagle fans that are pushing back at me for saying, I told you to relax. You're now three games left in the season, and you're one game away, one win, one magic, Your magic number to win your division and host a playoff game, if not maybe wind up the two seed in the NFC playoffs, is one. One. You're going to beat the Washington Commanders once out of two times in the final three weeks. That's it. And you're like, well, and even some people who, you know, know better in the NFL covering the NFL are like, it's the Raiders, Rich. They beat the Raiders. Well, if they hadn't beaten the Raiders, they struggled beating the Raiders, you'd be like, they're still in the crapper.

21:12Rich Eisen:But no, they eviscerate the Raiders. It's like, yeah, but who have they really beaten? Jacksonville has beaten up on people, and they were 19 up on the Texans before they blew that lead. So anybody's like, yeah, but who have they really beaten? They've got Denver this week. Let's see. But they destroyed the Jets. They destroyed the Colts. They basically brought Phillip Rivers out of retirement, right? They took care of business at Tennessee, which is definitely a trap game for anybody in division. They won at Arizona. You know, the Chargers, they destroyed them. Destroyed the Chargers. And the Chargers are a team that is going to end Dallas' season next week because they are tough and they are physical, and they were up at Houston, and they beat Vegas in overtime after a bye week after a London game I called when they couldn't tie their shoes properly.

22:07Rich Eisen:They were shooting themselves in the foot so badly with all of these cell phones and these mistakes. So Liam Cohen, by the way, has also gotten the game out of Trevor Lawrence that everybody saw him doing Clemson and thought, that's why he's a first bout first overall choice without question, bar none. One of the more valuable first overall selected quarterback. No doubt. No doubt. And he's finally getting those games out of Trevor Lawrence. Brian Thomas looked back trivia. The Travis NTN has been unbelievable this year. Jacoby Myers has been huge. And, you know, so ETN is dynamite as well. Yep.

22:43Rich Eisen:So, yeah, I'll say this is a proper reaction, but the same thing is with the Texans too right now. Yeah. So everybody's overlooking and disrespecting two teams in the AFC South if Duval has company for that sort of disrespect. We were talking about the NFC North earlier, and you think you're talking about the Green Bay could be in the right. It's not their division. It's the Bears division. The Bears are going to win the NFC North. I'm going to push back on that and say, yeah, with three to go, they've got the half game lead. I see you. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new.