The NFL Is Becoming the WNBA and Ronnie Lott Saw It Coming | Ep 1245

Jason Whitlock (0:00)

In April of 1986, Ronnie Lott had the tip of his pinky cut off so he could play football. Just think about that. Last weekend, Caleb Williams rode a cart off an NFL field for a mild hamstring pull and made a show of it. That is 40 years. That is the whole story. Ronnie Lott's finger versus Caleb Williams' fingernails. Let me take you back to that game, Ronnie Lott. December 22nd, 1985, San Francisco needed the game to make the playoffs. Dallas did not. The 49ers were nine and six and a loss sent Washington to the playoffs in their place. The Cowboys were 10 and five. They were NFC East champions. Already won the NFC.

Rams already on the playoff schedule. San Francisco trailed at half and still won at 31 to 16

Joe Montana against Gary Hogan Boom. Roger Craig against Tony Dorsett. Starters stayed in because a playoff life is not a load management memo.

On that field, Ronnie Lott tackled Timmy Newsome and crushed the pinky on his left hand. The bone came through the skin. Two surgeries failed to put it back together. The choice the following spring was simple and brutal. Miss Camp and rehab the finger or cut the tip off and line up. Lott chose the knife. He led the league in interceptions that year. A man in 1986 could look at a finger and a season and pick the season.

Caleb Williams does not live in that category. He paints his fingernails. He left the field on a cart like the building was watching Mike Utley. Utley, an offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions a long time ago, he left the field paralyzed. Williams left with a week to week hamstring, the MRI called Mild.

Then the performance and then the defense of the performance. The man who paints his fingernails treated a hamstring like a funeral. A little girl with a boo-boo, she stretched for attention and a kiss on the forehead. The memes called him soft. The writers called the memes cruel.

Dabo Swinney (2:30)

Is that fire? Grab your popcorn.

Jason Whitlock (2:34)

All right. Let's follow the transaction. The product is not toughness. The product is permission to fold, filmed in high definition, then scolded into respect. Same week, different league, same disease. Tuesday night, last night, the Indiana Fever beat the Minnesota Leagues 96-77. Minnesota had the game that could wrap the number one seed on the floor.

Olivia Miles against Caitlin Clark. That was the poster. That was the promise. Miles did not play what they called calf soreness. Clark played, Kelsey Mitchell played, Indiana executed. Minnesota sacked four starters the entire second half. The Lynx surrendered.

Monica McNutt said Minnesota was maybe punting, giving up. Take a listen.

Monica McNutt (3:25)

The Lynx have not helped themselves at all. Just flinging the basketball all over the place. I mean, this is a team you're not accustomed to having turnovers. They've got 10 in this ballgame, and that's 10 points right there into the lead. And so I'm with you, whether it's disoriented or whether it's a bigger picture in terms of an organization that we're accustomed to seeing in the playoffs, maybe punting on this one. I don't know, Dre, because this looks a mess on behalf of the Lynx.

Jason Whitlock (3:46)

So Monica McNutt took heat for saying that. But let's drop the maybe. She was right. You do not sit four starters for a half in a game that still has seeding on the meat, meat on the bone, and call it caution. You call it a punt. You call it quitting. The Lynx chose not to compete.

Competition was on the table. Nah, we're good. They declined.

Golden State lost to Portland later that night, and the seed, the number one seed, fell into Minnesota's lap anyway. They got the number one without earning it in the game built to decide the pitcher. Thursday's Fever-Lynx rematch is now a dud by design. The Lynx have no reason to play a starter. The two-game ending sold as important ends due to load management, and no one wants to compete. Rest the assets, protect the narrative. Let the other team's loss do your winning.

The product is a sport that will not compete when the lights are on and the opponent is worthy. The traffic ran the wrong way. Men's sports were supposed to harden the women's game. Compete, finish, play hurt, hate to lose.

The actual opposite has happened. The NFL is taking on the characteristics of the WNBA. The WNBA is not being remade in the image of the 1985 49ers. No, the 2026 Bears are being remade into the image of that, of a team that sits a star for a sore calf and calls the criticism noise. Women, the feminist movement, they're winning. Not on the floor in the culture that governs the floor. Feminism did not have to out-tackle Ronnie Lott. It had to convince his grandsons that competition is a pathology, and comfort is a moral good. Softness is no longer the insult. Softness is the dress code. A man who performs pain on a cart is defended. A woman who tells the truth about a punt is scolded. Merit is the guest. Narrative is the host.