MILWAUKEE — During Wednesday’s episode of ‘Jen, Gabe & Chewy,’ ESPN Milwaukee host & former Packers TE Mark Chmura went viral for his comments suggesting the Green Bay Packers accept a penalty for a late hit on 49ers QB Brock Purdy to set the tone in their upcoming NFC Playoff game.
The clip has more than 6.5 million impressions on Twitter in just a day and a half and has received immense backlash from 49ers fans, Packers fans, media members and former players alike — the most noteworthy being Future Hall of Fame Cornerback Richard Sherman. You can see the clip and Sherman’s response below:
During her regular segment on Wisconsin’s Morning News with Vince Vitrano and Erik Bilstad, ESPN Reporter & ‘Jen, Gabe & Chewy’ co-host Jen Lada provided context to the clip and defended her teammate by encouraging people to listen more closely to what he actually said.
“Tell me where Mark Chmura says to hurt somebody, or to knock somebody out of the game, or to intentionally somebody,” Lada stated. “There are a lot of keyboard warriors out there who are clinging desperately to that falsehood to accentuate their own accounts…”
She used this to launch a broader point about people needing to listen to what an individual says versus what they want to hear. In this instance, headlines are suggesting Chmura said to intentionally injure a 49ers player, which wasn’t the case.
“My eyebrows never raised, because I never heard what people think they heard, which is ‘Hurt a guy, intentionally knock him out of the game, play dirty.’ He just didn’t [say that],” Lada told Vitrano & Bilstad.
Another former Packer and ESPN Milwaukee host, Mark Tauscher joined the program later on, following up on Chmura’s comments. He explained that the 49ers have “bullied” the Packers physically in the Playoffs — a point Chmura shared himself.
“The overarching thing I believe is this game is going to be won or lost, as every football game is, [by] who’s more physical. Who’s going be tougher?” Tauscher said on Wisconsin’s Morning News. “When you feel like you have been bully-balled, you need to stand up and say ‘We’re not taking this. We need to be the aggressor…
“It’s about setting the tone and having the right mindset, and if that’s what Chewy was implying, which is what I believe he was, I don’t have any problem with it.
With this in mind, Tauscher continued that he didn’t hear anything from Chmura implying that he condoned injuring an opposing player on purpose and that it’s not a common mindset for current or former players.
“Obviously, there’s no place for that in the NFL,” Tauscher said of intentionally hurting opposing players.
In Thursday morning’s edition of Jen, Gabe & Chewy, Chmura further clarified his previous comments by reflecting on 90’s football and the mindset of intimidating the opponent. He noted that he could “care less” about what San Francisco fans think of his comments.
He highlighted that the Packers “dominated” the 49ers in the 90’s, just as the Cowboys “dominated” the Packers in that same timeframe. He ultimately explained that the level of intimidation and physicality Green Bay brings to its second-round Playoff matchup is what will determine the game, and why his previous comments.
“The last 10 years or so, the 49ers have been our Dallas Cowboys in the 90’s, and they have to change that narrative, and how you do it is by intimidation,” Chmura said. “This is football, okay? I’m not saying play dirty!”
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