ESPN’s Marcus Spears on 49ers’ Super Bowl Odds & If Seahawks Have NFL’s Best HC

Marcus Spears showed up in person, got dropped off at the wrong entrance, found the green room snacks, and then spent the next half hour handing out verdicts on half the league.

"By the looks of me, you know, I like to snack," the ESPN analyst told Rich. The drinks were fair game, and so was the mug. "Anything not nailed down."

Spears will be joining the show every Monday ahead of Monday Night Countdown. This first visit set a high bar.

Rich opened with the biggest question available: the best team through two weeks, record optional. Spears did not hesitate. "A healthy San Francisco 49ers."

The game in Australia against the Rams reminded him what this roster looks like when it is whole. "That team fully healthy is a problem now in the NFC, and I think they got a shot to actually go to a Super Bowl if they can keep all their guys." He sees "the stinger" back on defense, with Fred Warner's return making a ton of difference.

Rich pointed to the man running that defense. Raheem Morris is the coordinator now, and "Atlanta may have done them a favor" by cutting him loose. Rich had the number: 20 points allowed through two games, second fewest in the first two games of a season in the Super Bowl era.

Spears loves the offense, too. He compared Kyle Shanahan and Deebo Samuel to Steve Kerr and Draymond Green. "Draymond probably couldn't play that well for anybody else in the league. But with Steve Kerr and that system, he is going to the Hall of Fame." Add Mike Evans in the red area with George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey, and he called it "very hard to stop." The caveat is the one everybody knows, and Rich raised it: the receiver room is already banged up. "They got to stay healthy, though," Spears said.

Seattle is 2-0 with Drew Lock, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is crushing it. Rich said he and Chris had already made JSN's MVP case on their Overreaction Monday podcast, especially if Sam Darnold misses more games.

Spears went bigger. Mike Macdonald is already a Super Bowl champion head coach, "but I think at this moment, we got to start talking about Mike Macdonald as arguably the best coach in ball." He cited what Macdonald did last year and what he did this past week going in with a backup quarterback against an Arizona team fresh off a big Week 1 win. Rich noted the Seahawks held the Cardinals to 151 yards, their fewest in three years.

"That's what they do, man," Spears said. "They get after it up front. The secondary is always tied together." He pointed to how much the Ravens' defense changed after Macdonald left, and to a defender who got a $100 million contract after playing for him. The mentality of a defensive head coach "permeates on both sides of the football," which is why Spears admitted it "a little bit shocked me" that Seattle let Kenneth Walker walk.

"There is going to be a reckoning in the NFC West," he said. San Francisco at Seattle is Week 5, and Rich made sure Spears knows he is due back in the building that week.

Four AFC teams are 2-0: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Las Vegas. Rich asked Spears to put his marker on one. "Cincy," he said. "Defensively, man."

He started with a public apology. He had said this was the worst week to face the Houston defense after what Josh Allen did to it, and it turned out the Texans "played their ass off." The Bengals simply had Ja'Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. Spears credited Dexter Lawrence for "creating everything for everybody else" in the trenches, part of a deliberate effort to fix a defense that could not stop the run or get off the field on third down.

Then there was the catch. Rich called it the clubhouse leader for catch of the year. Spears called it "LSU on LSU crime," with Derek Stingley in coverage. "You cannot play better defense," he said. Chase stumbled, found the ball, and toed it in while hanging out of bounds. "There's a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL that wouldn't throw that over there by Derek Stingley, but Joe Burrow will, 'cause Ja'Marr Chase out there." His description of facing Chase was vivid: "It's like sitting under a water faucet and it ain't start running yet. But when it start running," it gets you.

The team that worries him most after Sunday? "More concerned about the Chargers than anybody." Offensively, "it looks so discombobulated outside of Ladd McConkey," with snap issues on motion and receivers who need to play better.

The defense was worse. Spears saw blown coverages for touchdowns and bad communication. "Kirk Cousins can throw the football. We all know that," he said. The pass rush did its job and the secondary gave up the big plays, and then came a drop that turned into an interception and a late fumble by Omarion Hampton. "Everything that could go bad for the Chargers went bad."

Rich described the turning point as a very Raiders moment that suddenly flipped. Las Vegas came out of a timeout with too many men on the field on the Chargers' fourth and inches, "old school Raiders foot shooting," and then on the next play Nakobe Dean popped the ball loose. Spears gave Las Vegas credit for making plays in a game it usually loses. And the Chargers' schedule does not get easier. After Buffalo, Rich noted, they visit Seattle, host Denver, and visit Kansas City. Somewhere in there Spears asked Rich what "wagon" means. "A large vehicle that is difficult to stop," Rich explained.

Rich played Todd Monken's "Browns are going to Browns" soundbite, and Spears loved it. "That got me fired up." He admitted he had been leery of the hire because of the Browns situation, not because Monken can't coach. The bigger point was about savoring wins. "The margin between 1-15 and 15-1 is not as big as most people think," he said, and he singled out rookies Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion as "really good football players." The flip side landed on Todd Bowles. For a defensive head coach to give up that performance in Tampa, Spears said, "is a tough one for me."

His message to 2-0 Philadelphia was "cautiously optimistic," which Rich noted are not words Eagles fans are thinking. Spears pointed to Jalen Hurts making a game-winning drive in Tennessee and to an offensive line without Landon Dickerson that is not what it was three or four years ago. Still, "I think Philly will be fine. You got to get to the tournament."

On the NFC North, Spears is "so disappointed" Caleb Williams is missing time, because he expected a jump to top-five quarterback status. He still has Chicago as the team with Caleb, but won't sleep on Minnesota's defense. On Detroit, it hurts his heart, since defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard is an LSU guy. The communication has been awful two weeks running. "It looks like that window of excitement is shedding really, really fast."

Of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and 0-2 Houston, the Texans concern him most. "Houston can't run the football." C.J. Stroud has thrown roughly 96 passes in two weeks, and "when you become one-dimensional, it's damn near impossible to win."

Then Rich got to Saturday night: LSU at Ole Miss. Spears watched at home and said he is "actually still okay." His one caveat is that LSU's quarterback has to "play more quarterback than being a scrambler," missing throws because his first instinct is to take off. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, meanwhile, "made throws." Spears is happy with Lane Kiffin because "he's embraced what LSU is," which, in his words, is culture, swagger, and "big brand" excitement. Rich reminded him that Brian Kelly once showed up at a basketball game nearly cooking gumbo at half court. "Me and you like them two kids in school that just sit back talking about people," Spears laughed.

As for Monday night, Spears is excited to see whether the Giants can replicate their win over Dallas, calling Jaxson Dart's simple football "the most impressive thing to me." And for Aaron Donald's return, he has him down for a sack. "It ain't like he forgot how to swim, dude. He's strong as an ox." The bigger effect, he argued, is in the huddle. "It's like, Aaron Donald on our team now. That changes the other 10."