Nick Saban showed petulance this week and indecision during his weekly press conference earlier this week, Paul Finebaum said.

But mostly, the SEC Network analyst the Alabama coach just bullied the local media tasked with covering the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Saban’s unwillingness to share a depth chart with the media has touched a nerve with some, including Tim Brando.

“What I don’t like – and everybody in Alabama gets mad – is the bullying of the media,” Finebaum told Matt Barrie. “Don’t bully people because you can. Saban has made a career of bullying people who are weaker than him. … It’s not a good look.”

Saban, Finebaum said, is just looking to “battle” the media.

“It’s not like he’s dealing with the White House press corps.”

He echoed the same point on Tuesday, too.

“Instead of people saying, ‘I don’t really like that.’ People usually say, ‘Oh, he’s an evil genius. He knows what he’s doing,’” Finebaum told On3′s Andy Staples. “The reporter in me, who has sat in that room like you have many times, that bothers me because, in my estimation, he’s talking down to the media.

“When you’re Nick Saban, you don’t have to bully a bunch of sports writers who are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I remember I was in that room 40 years ago, or a little bit more, covering Bear Bryant. I was scared to death. And one thing about Bryant, he never berated the media. He never talked down to them, and Saban does.”

Finebaum, for one, doesn’t believe a depth chart distracts a team, despite Saban’s explanation.

“Everybody that plays Little League Baseball or Pee-Wee football knows who the starter is and who the backup is. That doesn’t seem mean it’s over.

“There was a disconnect there. I have a lot of friends in Alabama who are puzzled by it. There are those who say he knows what he is doing, but I don’t know how you can support that argument. It shows a degree of indecision.

“We’re talking about Middle Tennessee State. It doesn’t really matter how many quarterbacks you play. It’s all about the next week and Texas. It was still a weird look for Nick Saban.”

Last year, Saban was aggravated last season by a perceived excessive focus on the depth chart.

“This may be the last time you ever get one,” Saban said after his team beat Utah State to open the 2022 season. “My biggest issue on the whole team was the day the depth chart came out. So you may have seen the last one. Y’all may have seen the last one. Because that’s all you worry about.”

Finebaum took notice.

“He showed petulance when he said ‘I told you guys last year this would be the last one.”

Saban explained the decision on Monday, reiterating that he felt the release took focus away from the game and noting that the release of a depth chart could cause players to be discouraged when they saw their spot.

“It creates a lot of distractions on our team,” Saban said. “Creates a lot of guys thinking ‘Well this guy won the job, now I’m not gonna get to play,’ or whatever and quite frankly, we don’t need that.”

Alabama hosts Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, and Saban hasn’t announced a quarterback yet. While the expectation is that more than one will play, what order that comes in remains a mystery.

Tickets to the game are going for as low as $9.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.