Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Are we overreacting to the Vikings' win over the 49ers, short and long term?

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

Matthew Coller and Brian Murphy have an intense conversation about whether the Vikings' win over the 49ers means they are a contender in the NFC now and if they should still be sellers or actually turn the tables and look to buy a pass rusher at the trade deadline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. We are live here on YouTube, Matthew Collar, along with, look who it is! Brian Murph is normally the new Monday Morning Murph, but that would have been senseless because they haven't played against the 49ers yet. So now it's Wednesday evening Murph, less catchy, just as exciting. What's going on Murph? How are you? A very special edition. Very, very special edition. Maybe a moral rendering at the end of this. I'm doing great. It is odd being here in between games a little bit, looking ahead, not as much looking back. But what an interesting bracket of games we have here after what the Vikings obviously doing what they needed to do on Monday, but doing it in pretty solid fashion and revealing fashion in some ways. And, you know, with the way the Packers are kind of backpedaling here, it's it's an ideal time to go to Lambeau and keep that momentum. All right. So I've got three questions that were emailed to me that are pertinent and I want to get to.

But let me throw this out there to start. We'll go with exactly what the headline to the episode says, which is, are we overreacting to the Vikings win over the 49ers? But I want you to answer this through the lens of two different contexts. One being like, do we now think they're suddenly good after they just scored one touchdown on offense against Chicago the week before? And then to the other side, the folks who think that you'll never get another quarterback who isn't named Kirk Cousins ever in the rest of your life. That could be potentially an overreaction as well. Do you think either one of those sides of this coin are overreacting, or do you think that they are suddenly good and that they did just win themselves out of their next quarterback? That was a compound question, I believe is what they call it in the industry.

I do believe it's an overreaction. It's always an overreaction. We overreact to every game, almost every drive in a way. But I think why this one, look, I'm not even buying that they're going to the playoffs. But what I saw the other night with the way they responded, the way they sort of challenged themselves during the week and even said, look, we're taking on the schoolyard bully. He's in our schoolyard. We're going to match them blow by blow. We're going to play them physically. And we're going to beat them at their strengths. And that's exactly what the Vikings did.

So I'm impressed the way they played on both sides of the ball, rising to the occasion. Cousins really with one of his, you know, top games in Minnesota. And Jordan Addison, you know, not just taking the place of Justin Jefferson and maybe just, you know, learning to kind of grow. He sees the moment, and that was kind of good. I mean, he literally sees the moment after having that interception, that reception ripped out of his hands to answer for that the way he did in dramatic fashion. It was good to see him rise to the occasion and make plays when they mattered. It was good to see him rise to the occasion and make plays when they mattered.

It was good to see the offensive line suddenly kind of becoming a formidable force, both in the run and certainly for protecting Cousins, who is really unblemished against a really ferocious 49ers defense. So in that sense, I don't know if it's an overreaction to say they bought themselves some time and bought themselves another opportunity, which is what they did. But they earned it more than buying it. And I do believe it's an overreaction to think that this is the greatest game in the history of quarterbacking by Kirk Cousins. Look, he was accurate, he was aggressive, he was protected, and he was confident. And he

also was not just the best quarterback on the field, but was arguably the best player on the field. So he answered the bell. That's what I'm impressed with. I'm impressed with the fact that this was a season-defining game. This was a death knock. I mean, the 49ers were death knocking the Vikings, and they responded. And they won at home, and they rewarded their faithful.

Normally, I'd be like, well, you know, now, now they got to go into Green Bay and deal with Aaron Rogers, but they don't have to do that anymore. Now they're dealing with Jordan Love, who seems to be spinning his unproductive wheels and the Packers are really banged up on defense. And I just, you know, there's an opportunity there when you look at the schedule for the next seven weeks before they even have to face Detroit, it opens up fairly favorably. So there's an opportunity again there. There's the opportunity. What are the Vikings going to do with it? Because they have so little margin for error. I'm going to be very impressed, very anxious to see how they respond to this new opportunity and the opportunity to bury a division rival at home on their home field. Now what about the other part?

Did they ruin their quarterback future by beating the 49ers? No, because I don't think there's anything guaranteed. We talked about this anyway. Was anybody really going to step up and throw an offer on the table that was so enticing that Kirk Cousins was going to wave his no-trade clause. No. So I wasn't necessarily buying into the hype that he was going to be moved by the deadline. I was buying into the hype that the team may be dismantled in other ways before the deadline. And now you're going to be signaling surrender. And yeah,

there may be a tank effort there. I don't think this team is that bad where they were going to go 4-13. I mean, there's enough talent and enough pride there that if they are going to fall and they are still teetering on the edge of falling, they're going to fall in a more competitive deconstruction as opposed to a competitive rebuild. How about that? Yeah, I like that. Well, I think that what people are following down the line is not just trading Kirk, which, yeah, we discussed would have been really tough and seemed more like a

great television topic for like a four minute segment where I yell at you and you yell at me and someone says they need to trade them. And someone says, no, they don't like, I don't know, but it never seemed realistic with the logistics that would go into that. Plus the no trade clause we've been over it. But if you go farther down that hole, you end up with, they beat San Francisco, Kirk Vember happens, and he beats a bunch of bad defenses. By the way, I looked at all the defenses they're playing in terms of quarterback rating against. There's only one in the next seven weeks over 15th.

They play with some of the worst passing defenses in the league. We know this story. So Kirk plays great against bad passing defenses. They win a bunch of games. He's had stretches in his career, Murph over five, six, seven games that are unbelievable. I mean, like MVP, 120 quarterback rating in 2019, 18 touchdowns, one pick in the middle of that season where he was on fire with Kevin Stefanski. And yet, you know, the end result has always kind of been the same, but if he has that stretch again, they win games, they get into the playoff race. He plays well. Then we talk about them just needing a defensive tackle and then we're, you know, they should

extend it. And I think that's where people are starting to follow it down because if you lose to San Francisco and your playoff odds are down to almost nothing, then even if you win some of those games, you're not looking at making the postseason. You get back to four and four, though, your chances are good, in my opinion, to make the playoffs, especially in a pretty putrid conference. And if they make the playoffs, they win a playoff game in the last moment where he throws a ball to TJ Hawkinson for a touchdown, and history just repeats itself over and over and over until Kirk Cousins retires at age 79. That would be the thing that people are thinking about after that win.

Yeah, and that's fine if you want to say, look, the Cousins experiment has been wrung dry. We know what we're getting. It's baked in. He has these flourishes and these moments where he looks like the guy that's going to take you deep into January and maybe even into a Super Bowl, and then he has moments where it doesn't look like he's played at this level for years. But he's also, what I look at look at you know all of these battle scars

and there have been every time we seem to be ready to write him off he comes up with an excellent performance and really just sort of a pump the brakes on all the cousins speculation performance what I get what you're saying though is that you know we're on a timeline here right the clock is ticking he's 35 he's a lame. If he keeps racking up these numbers and he does say get another playoff win, I mean, he's going to take the Vikings to the cleaners if they're interested in resigning him. And you've tanked your own draft positioning down into the middle of the pack where you're not going to have an opportunity to draft the top level quarterbacks. I get all of that. But I still think, you know, if you're, if you're in a position with this

roster and you're not going to dismantle it in the next two weeks, you got to ride Kirk out. I mean, this is what you're paying him that kind of money to do. And, and as much as we, we would like to say, he's a finished product. We know what we're going to get. He's still also the second best, the most prolific passer in the league as we speak right now in terms of yards. His record doesn't say anything special. We've been talking about one playoff victory in only, what, four or five games, plus his ability to milk, let's say, every point out of lost causes over the course of his career has built up a reputation for you know a lot of noise but i i'm i'm i'm impressed by the way he's he keeps rising to that occasion and as as of right now this is who you've got this is who you're paying you got to write it out you're

gonna have to write it out to the bitter end it's a very weird situation to be in because because they played a phenomenal game and Kirk Cousins was nothing short of fantastic and he has been many times as you mentioned in the playoff game against New Orleans I mean he makes it's not only the throw to win the game it's a throw to Adam Thielen that he drops in the bucket over his shoulder to get them right down to the goal line I mean these are clutch plays in the Super Dome, you know, Monday night football, which by the way, this show has never bought into that discussion about him on Monday night football. I researched it one time and to look at C3 and 10 now. Yeah, but I researched it and he played the same way he always played. It was just,

he was usually playing for the worst team, which maybe says something as well. But if you're playing Aaron Rogers, well, that's, you know playing Aaron Rodgers, well, that's usually what happens. But that's not the point. He has so many times came up with these great games, and nobody thinks that he can't do that. It's not like every week he goes out there and plays like he did against Chicago. It's the whole formula of, like, is this the quarterback is going to be able to take you somewhere,

or do you move on to try to draft another quarterback and if you win nine games and miss the playoffs by a half a game or a tiebreaker and then you draft 20th or whatever you draft on 18th something that's a lot harder to get drake may at number. Not that they were ever going to be as bad as like Arizona or Carolina. Correct. Like that was never going to happen. You know, right. They were never going to have that.

But if they were, they were going to go one in three or oh, and three to start the season one in four to start the season, which they did trade Kirk away, tank the rest of the year, draft that guy. I mean, I just like I have a tank tattoo all over my body. I have so badly over the years wanted this team to go to the bottom draft, the quarterback. And then I sit here and watch two on a great team as a high draft pick burrow goes to the super bowl. Hey, look, the Jaguars look good. Now murph can't imagine why that is could it be trevor lawrence who they pick number one overall right so like this is a direction that

i'm not alone here i think a lot of people have wanted them to find that young quarterback build up the roster have you know even a jalen hurts situation where is he better than kirk like i don't know but his team sure as heck is better than anything the Vikings have put out. And if you end up having Kirk play well enough to where they say, well, we're not going to find anybody better than him with the 18th overall draft pick and extend him, then how is anyone supposed to be convinced that history is going to be any different than it's been? So from that perspective, I don't think it's that much of an overreaction because that win swings your season to now beat a bad Packers

team. And you're looking at that like potential to go to the playoffs. If they had lost, you're talking about three and five after eight games. And it's really difficult to get to the post season from there. So it is a big swing game from that perspective and is not an overreaction. It is probably an overreaction to think every player on the team will have the best game that they've ever had, which happened like against San Francisco. The offensive line, Jordan Addison, Kirk Cousins, like everybody, the defense, Brian Flores. I mean, that doesn't always happen. So I don't think they're suddenly a great team, but I do think that they have suddenly swung themselves very much in the middle

of the playoff race, which they could have been out of had they lost that game. And I think if you're a fan, you want that, don't you? I mean, I think that the practical, analytical, you know, look, the scenario you laid out so, you know, look, the scenario you, you laid out. So, you know, wonderfully and have been for a long time makes all kinds of sense. I just don't know how you package that into a product that you're trying to sell week after week. And I don't know how you execute a subtle dive either.

I mean, you know, there's, are we talking about just, just are we talking about managing games not necessarily to lose but to not win at all or to – like how does that even – what does that look like? What does a semi-tank or a subtle tank look like over the course of 10 to 12 weeks? Because I still don't think – even though if they would have lost to San Francisco, you could have put the stake in them, proverbially. I get that. I still don't think they were going to lose eight out of their next 10. I still don't think they were going to finish the season,

you know, five and 12 or even four and 13. They were going to hammer and tong their way as they always do to six wins, maybe seven wins. So you're not positioning yourself in that upper echelon anyway to get that dream quarterback. So the only way to me is if they would have laid down in Chicago and they were very close to doing that and then San Francisco finished them off. And look, I don't know if before the season we kind of thought maybe the Bears would be more competitive in the division. The Packers were trying to figure themselves out. As good as the Lions have looked, though, they have looked somewhat vulnerable at times when they've lost.

I don't think long term that's going to harm them much. But the fact that the Vikings don't face them until week 16, I mean, they have so much opportunity to stay within striking distance throughout. And if the Lions, who do have a little bit more of a meat grinder schedule, you know, slip a little bit, I mean, those two of those last three games could have more meaning than just the Vikings trying to get into a wildcard spot. The division could still be at stake. Long way to go. Two-game lead at any time in an NFL season is a large lead. But it's there. It's possible. And if I'm a fan, that's what I'm embracing the moment. You're right. A nine-win season and crawling into the playoffs isn't very inspirational.

But, you know, four and 13 just doesn't sound very inspirational considering the journey you'd have to take of indifference to get there now that is true however they lose that game they trade daniel hunter to the jaguars who are they beating the rest of the way how are they pressuring the quarterback i mean they they might be able to pull some wins with the offense but here's the thing about tanking or rebuilding or taking it apart or whatever is there is a huge difference between winning nine games and winning seven games. The team that drafted number one overall last year won seven games and then they traded up and got Bryce Young. Now, I don't know how that's going to work out for them. Their team is terrible and it's going to take a couple of years.

So I'm not making any judgments on Brycece young but they have that opportunity to now build around that quarterback after making that trade up if you win nine games and you're drafting 18th overall it is much harder to trade up than it is if you're drafting 11th overall or ninth overall and that can be the difference with a lot of teams in the middle think about it this way sure capital is capital right yeah right like let's say the arizona cardinals bring back kyler murray and they win like four games so they've got the number three overall pick or the number two overall pick somebody takes caleb williams first probably the bears and then here's arizona but they want to stick with kyler murray so they're going to trade out of that pick. If you're at 18, you ain't getting there.

There's just no way you're trading all the way up to get it with all the teams that need quarterbacks. If you are ninth, you're trading up to get there potentially, or you're in that mix to be able to do that. So they may have just won themselves out of an opportunity to even be within striking distance. If this thing plays out in the upcoming schedule the way that we think it might. And I know you said as fans, this is a season. It's

happening now. Try to make the playoffs. Could be fun. Monday was really fun. We did great numbers on the postgame show. Everybody was really excited. However, go back to when they lost last year against the Giants giants what did i say to you the next day i said murph was it worth it and you went not really right so that's the thing you're saying hey ride the wave like because optics matter optics matter they they they laid down at home and that's what was disappointing against the giants. But the result is the same and it looks like it'll probably be the same this year. They are 18th in points for 20th and points against after seven games. Doesn't really look like a team that's competing for a super bowl,

even though they just played great. But the inconsistency of this team, it'd be really hard pressed to convince me they would go deep in the playoffs this year, unless something went completely crazy. And if they don't see all of a sudden, that has to be the standard now. Like if they win this game in Green Bay and they start getting on a run, we have to switch to no longer is the standard. Hey, have a fun season. Make sure you get a good draft pick or let's see what young players work out. Hopefully they make the playoffs. It goes back to you kept Kirk. You might keep them in the future. Now you have

to go deep into the post season. I just think that the standard we have for them and the bar we set has to change if they're not going to do things that are going to be the rebuild side of this. I agree. And your honor, he has been bludgeoning me with this open and shut case for weeks. I vote to convict. I don't feel good about it, but I totally understand and get what you're saying. I just wouldn't, there's no living in the present in that.

If you're looking at it as a pragmatic move for the franchise, a pragmatic moment for the franchise to shift away from the, if not failed, the unfulfilled Kirk Cousins era. I get all of that. Totally makes sense to me. I just want to know how you're packaging that. I want to know how you're selling that week after. I want to know what Kevin O'Connell says every week at the podium. I want to know what kevin o'connell says every week at the podium i want to hear what quasi has to say during the buy once this is done and he has to justify his uh hey look if he brought him in to be a cold-blooded shark from wall street let him do his cold-blooded thing but he's also got to answer for it too and he's got to answer for it in real time so i'd love to hear what they have to say if that was the uh the plan all along yeah i think people would appreciate it i mean i really

do even if they were four and four everybody would appreciate honesty it never again that's that's a commodity in the nfl no i mean trading denille hunter still if they're four and four and they trade denille hunter there will be some who go huh what why you're four and four you could make the playoffs but if you look at their super Bowl odds based on who they are, how they play, all the metrics and everything else, you would come back to the conclusion that there's no reason to keep a valuable player on your team when you are not a strong enough team to reach the Super Bowl. But then you have practical issues like losing the locker room.

As you mentioned, you're talking about what does Kevin O'Connell tell his team? If you trade away to Neil Hunter in the middle of a playoff race, like this win caused problems, Murph, like I'm not saying that it wasn't great or that they couldn't get hot and win 10 games. I don't know. They could go into the playoffs. If they block like that every week, they could go into the playoffs and be dangerous because you can beat anybody. If you give Kirk all day, we know that, but,

but it causes complications. I should say to where it seemed they were clearly headed. And now it's like, I now I don't know where they're headed. And I don't know if this road ends with Mark Wilf calling Kweisi Adafo-Mensa and saying, you know what, Kirk had another great season. He was top five in passing yards. Extend him for $45 million a year.

And then you talk about messaging. You talk about selling something. If you go out in the first round or don't make the playoffs and then extend him, what is that message? That message is nine and eight is good enough for us. Hey, and I'm fine with that too. I mean, I would love to hear the justification for extending him. I'd love to hear the philosophy of moving on without him

based on what their record is. All of this is intriguing. It's all intriguing, but it all needs to play out over the next 10 weeks as well. And that's what makes it the most intriguing to me is that everything that happens week to week is still going to dictate all of that intrigue. And that's why we tune in. It's not as intriguing as a good pizza though, Murph, wouldn't you agree? Well, Little Caesars would agree. And all of you agree well Little Caesars Little Caesars would agree and all of you should make Little Caesars the official pizza sponsor of the NFL part of your game day order

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Yeah, I spent a lot of time eating $5 Little Caesars pizzas that were basically handed to me because two of my buddies work there. So, yeah, having buddies working in a pizza shop will pay off in a long way. Good times. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about this from a different lens now Let's say that you're the person Who when you hear Rebuild when you hear hey it would Have been better if they lost for their future

And so forth you want to Just rage out you hate That you want your team to win All the time and I think that you know fans Understand timelines better than they ever have Before which is why we have these discussions But there's a lot of people Who a win is a win let's make the playoffs let's be competitive let's beat san francisco in the playoffs out there in santa clara and not san

francisco okay should they add somebody then should they make phone calls for chase young brian burns any of the i mean i don't know jerry judy like could they add another receiver i mean uh you know depending on how long jefferson's supposed to be out could they make phone calls to try to trade for someone is that is that something that entered your mind after they won the other night no it didn't it didn't enter my mind at all and i'm not sure it even will before the trade deadline. I'm not sure I'm going to see as much. And I know what you're going to counter with right away, you know, is I don't see this being a team to invest long term assets for a potential short term run.

And then the counterpoint to that is, of course, well, then what are you doing anyway with this? I mean, what the whole the whole point of this then is you shouldn't be, you should be carving off then. If you're not willing to invest, you should be carving off. I don't know if I buy into that. You know, what are the offers going to be? And I don't, you know, what are we going to learn what the offers are going to be for Daniel Hunter? I mean, that is a calculated decision that Kwesi and the front office are going to have to make. Like, look, you may be gaining some momentum. You may have a tough sell in the locker room if you do carve off Daniil Hunter. But if there's an offer you can't refuse, I mean, you're committing malpractice because your job is not

to look at what's five feet in front of you and two weeks ahead of you in the schedule. I mean, you're building a franchise and you've also been empowered to bring your vision and your ideas and what you think are the decisions that need to be made, maybe that aren't the popular decisions, but that are the crucial decisions. Make that decision, own it, sell it, explain it. May not be great for ticket sales, if you if that's the you know if the Vikings get an offer that can demonstrably make them better not just next year but for a couple more years and also position themselves to have more capital to move around in the offseason

that has to be seriously considered well if there's no chance that they're extending Daniil Hunter, but they're four and four, then what do you do there? I mean, I think that what you do there is you have to just let it be and then take the comp pick like two years from now, and then you'll be like, oh, yeah, we got that comp pick from Daniil Hunter. But after we could have used it to help us trade up to get a quarterback. Whoops. But I mean,

if four and four, you are playing for the playoffs and you cannot tell the locker room, you can't tell Justin Jefferson. You can't tell Jordan Addison, Christian Derrissaw, Brian O'Neill. How about, I mean,

how about Garrett Bradbury who returned in free agency? How about Harrison Smith? This might be his last year. You cannot walk in there and tell Harrison Smith. Hey, and I don't think they would ever trade him. Uh, but okay. Sorry. Well, you know, you had to trade them away too bad. I mean, I think that's, that's an issue that Casey faces because he's going to be the GM at least for a little while, uh, if not a long while. And some of these players are going to be here for a long time. And as it was once said in Superbad, people don't forget. They don't forget stuff like that.

When you just give up on a season for the future and you have players who are in their primes and they're having great years and they want to fight all the way to the end. If you're 4-4, that's going to be a pretty tough case to make if you are three and five and you go down there and you bleep the bed in lambeau field after celebrating this victory against the 49ers well then it's a much harder argument for anybody to make any of those great players like hey you went three and five what was i supposed to do the guy's not going to come back and you got a team offer in a second round pick or something. I mean, I think that this game swings that decision where Kweisi could trade Daniel Hunter at three and five and who can argue against him. But four and four, that's how you drive a wedge in an organization is if the GM wants to trade somebody, but the coach in the locker room doesn't, then I think it becomes a big challenge for them if they are a four and four. It sounds like you're saying Kwesi's put himself in his own handcuffs right now. There's really not much because of the decisions he didn't make prior to this.

Now he's set himself up to make politically toxic decisions that may be the right decision to make. So yeah, I'd be interested to see how he reacts to that. You're right. There's a whole slew of alpha males in that locker room that are going to be in no mood to be mailing it in for the next 10 weeks, especially those north of 30 and those that have put a lot of miles on their bodies. And you mentioned Garrett Bradbury is one of them. That's what I'm saying. I don't know how you sell that. I don't know how you can justify to a fan base and to the people, to Kevin O'Connell and to that locker room, you know, you need to have the, you know, thousand yard stare and vision that I have. Nobody's going to buy that because players are looking at exactly what's in front of them and the opportunities they're creating.

And by the way, that was a hard-earned victory on Monday. As you mentioned, you go down the roster, almost everybody played their best game of the season. And, you know, Cousins, that was a top-ten game in his career, his productivity. Jordan Addison stepping up again in a big moment. So, boy, that's an awfully difficult conversation to have publicly two weeks later that, yeah, well, you know, but for, you know, the first three weeks, we might not be doing this, but we have to look longer term. decisions are fraught with peril. And I I'd love to see how the Vikings kind of spin that in the middle of a season that a lot of people are looking at now as, as kind of at a turning point. Yeah. And that's the way that I would put it. If they win this game, let me, let me give it a shot. Let me try to let me try to argue for making a move to

make them better. Right. So what we saw the other night, number one is they beat one of the best teams, the NFL. So you kind of have to start with that is that their capability at their maximum is that they could beat a great team. That has always been the case, by the way, during the entire Kirk era, they have always had games in every season where they've beaten one of the best teams in the NFL. Always. I mean, they, in 2020, 2020, what am I thinking of? Or even last year, the Buffalo game, where they won that one.

There was one in 2021 where they were coming in as an underdog. Maybe it was Seattle and they beat the breaks off them early in that season before Russell Wilson got hurt. I mean, they've always had. Oh, and the New Orleans playoff game. Nobody thought they were winning that one they completely outplayed them the peak of vikingness under cousins has always been you can beat any team in the league the problem is in the playoffs you have to beat them in succession and you also have to not have meltdowns in games

that you need to make the playoffs like they had in 2020 and 2021. But their peak is great. Their offensive line is now great. Legit great. After that, nobody can argue otherwise. Who'd have thunk that by the way? Well, me a little bit only because of the tackles only because of the tackles. But you know, the interior getting Dalton Reisner, who was just sitting on his couch, is pretty good. And then Garrett Bradbury has played well. But so let's say that you believe with this offense and this offensive line and now Addison emerging as a star in the middle of the season, which he wasn't at the very first part of the season but now after this he's got a couple of great games uh that he's stringing together here if you didn't have to sacrifice a first round pick that you would still be using potentially to take a quarterback and you made a hawkinson like move to trade someone that you were going to extend like brian burns who's a great pass rusher from carolina that could make you better

right away and then potentially better for the future as well then I don't think it's crazy then I think it's actually doable if you're four and four and let's I mean let's say Detroit loses that you throttle down at four and four you're talking about throttling down and shoving more chips into the middle of the table at four and four rather than carving off but i mean the thing is they already did by bringing back hunter and kirk like if they wanted to truly tank they would have not brought back cousins and they would have not brought back daniel hunter they would have traded hunter and camp but instead they said we're going to keep you around and so

at that point you are playing to win to at least some extent, right. And not like tanking or completely tearing it all down. And Oh, by the way, the guy leads the NFL and sacks like no surprise. Right. So I I'm just saying if they get to four and four and you look at the landscape of the NFC and go, it's only really Philadelphia, who's like untouchable. Well, I mean, if you could get somebody that's not going to destroy your future and that you might resign just like TJ Hawkinson I'm I'm not against that and where are you thinking that move needs to be made what's the most critical area with that I would you thinking on offense no pass rusher I think pass rusher is it because you got one guy

who's carrying the entire load and then Brian Flis just keeps mashing the blitz button over and over uh but if you like brian burns is there daniel hunter in carolina he just doesn't have a contract so i mean it probably takes more to get him than a second round pick so there is that element of it that you probably do have to give up more than that but chase young in was, there's other guys in Washington too. Marcus sweat. That is a, is a good play. Wait,

am I thinking the right guy? What is his name? Yeah. Is that it? Like there's, there's a couple of guys who are, I'm thinking of Josh sweat. Who am I thinking of?

Someone helped me in the comments, their pass rusher, but there's a couple of guys in Washington. One of them, Jonathan Allen just had a huge meltdown where he swore a bunch at the media. Like there's dudes, Derek Henry is being brought up. There's dudes, there's people who are out there to be traded for just saying they could be kind of interesting if, Oh, Montez sweat. Yeah. I couldn't remember his first name, Jonathan helping me out there. So, you know, I'm just, all I'm saying is that I would

have been completely against this if they lost to San Francisco, but if you're four and four and you have a chance to get Montez sweat, you might as well act as if you're six and two, you might as well, because you already are in on this season at that point. And you're facing a bunch of teams that aren't any good coming up next. And the key is that you have to be able to believe that he'll be a part of the future, especially with the Hunter situation. Man, you're threading a couple of nifty needles there, you know, for making the case for these bedrock kind of moments or decisions that have to be made that not only affect this season, but certainly next season and beyond next season that are going to affect the early tenure of a rookie GM,

or not a rookie GM, but a second year general manager, affect the fortunes of a second year head coach, potentially blow up the locker room in terms of, you know, loyalty and in terms of, you know, shared sack. I find it fascinating that you've built these two scenarios out and they're very viable. But do you see any I mean, has there ever been a franchise in this position that would be that bold at that moment? I mean, we all think of recent history of the Rams kind of going all in on their Super Bowl and their quarterback swap, which, you know, they got their ring. But, you know, it looks like maybe the Lions may win that one long term. But I'm just curious, like, how do you measure in what context would the Vikings make either one of those decisions?

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so maybe drafting is random. But if you're talking about the ability to get a young pass rusher, just potentially, or someone who could put you over the edge that's a rental that doesn't cost that much, that's a middle-round draft pick that much that's a middle round draft pick and you're looking at the nfc and saying who are we not stronger than who can we not beat then i think there's at least an argument for it i don't like love that and think that's the

greatest idea ever but i also kind of run the simulations in my brain of front office discussions and i could see that on a zoom call you've've got the Wilfs, you got Quasey, you got Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores is in the room, Wes Phillips maybe, you got the whole thing and whatever. And the coaching staff is saying, look, we only lost those couple of first games by one score and we fumbled a bunch of times, which won't happen again. And they're probably right about that. Look how we played against San Francisco.

We beat the heck out of Jordan love. Our schedule is so easy, but we can't do it without like another pass rusher and maybe a running back. Give us permission to go all in and try to win this season. And I think the Wills would be compelled by that potentially, potentially based on what we know about them. Yes, they are.

They are fans first. They would absolutely take that bait. Even if Casey is saying, guys, we were trying to competitive rebuild and we are right. Yeah. Our Superbowl odds are 0.4%. So actually they're 0.6 today,

by the way, per Sumer sports so like that he might be making that case we shouldn't trade for things but the hockinson trade is a really crafty one from last year because they traded for a guy who had a fifth year option so he was coming back for another year anyway so it's like added value to that and then they extend him and lo and behold as we saw against san francisco he is actually good yeah how about that how about that a guy who's always been good who had a rough stretch is actually still good and he paid a heavy toll as well hey for sure yeah he got his ass kicked in that game but still came out with a lot of great

plays just saying i could see that meeting happening and I could see them agreeing, you know what, here's the price tag for this guy. Let's do the same thing we did with Hawkinson. We'll get a future player as well as like a now and a later, which I remember Kwesi saying a now and a later, which is the whole ethos of this entire thing. Isn't it beautiful Murph? It's not really, but i like talking about it

yeah it's all you know it's all spreadsheets i get it and and sort of uh powerpoints and going on faith and and and it's all about winning april uh and winning march uh i i don't find that realm that intriguing what i find intriguing is the cross currents and the conflicting emotions and agendas that are all going to be at play in that room or on that Zoom call when these opportunities arise in the next couple of weeks. understand who, not only who is, who is sort of gravitating toward a shared vision, but also, you know, how those decisions get hashed out in a management structure behind closed doors. I mean, what we know about the Wilfs, as I mentioned, you know, they, they're, they're for the present, you know, they want to be in the locker room handing out game balls. You know, they want to be they want to be they want to embrace the joy and the the overall good vibes of owning a billion dollar sports franchise. Right. That's what they're there for. But they hire people to make longer term decisions. And sometimes those are not popular and they may be open to criticism.

But for I mean, these guys are in commercial and retail real estate as well. I mean, there are big decisions made for big time bucks almost every day in their industry. So I don't you know, I don't see them being sort of, you know, not good stewards of their revenue and also their franchise, but there's that tug and that pull of, but I want to be there on Sunday going in the locker room and watching O'Connell hand out game balls as well after a victory. And I've never been against that. Who wins that power struggle, right?

The Wilfs should win it, but they've also hired somebody who could probably make a compelling case to go against popular opinion. Wait, that's exactly right. And they let Kwesi take down this roster in a lot of ways with a lot of very popular players who they loved and probably wanted to still be here, but they agreed to this. It's just that we always talk about you're either trying to actually win or you're trying to lose and get the high draft picks, and the Vikings are never in that mode. And it's funny when those two things have met each other in a way. At 4-4, they meet each other.

One side can make a very strong argument, hey, we are not an actual Super Bowl contender. Our quarterback is not under contract for the future. We need to make sure that we get that quarterback. And by the way, if you give Quinn Ewers or Shadur Sanders or JJ McCarthy, who apparently will need the sign stolen for him as well but if you give any of those guys if you give them jefferson addison hockinson this offensive line the next quarterback's going to be great too if you give them all of this stuff right so there's that argument but then there's this other so we need to make sure we're drafting high enough to get a quarterback but then the other side of it is look kirkson is last year try to win like if you if you got a chance to try to win, did any of us think – I mean, I thought Brian Flores would be good at his job. I didn't know he'd be this good at his job with this talent.

Transformational, yes. Right. I thought they were going to get steamrolled. How about if he's got Brian Burns or Jonathan Allen or whatever? I mean, it's going to be better. So that's why this is such an interesting discussion, which also, you know what's interesting as well, Murph, PrizePix, which is one of our great sponsors. And let me tell you a little bit about PrizePix, Murph, because I'm guessing that you're not a PrizePix guy, but maybe you will be.

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made easy. It's been intense. It's been intense. Murph, you think they're going to beat the Packers because there's a question. I mean, the Packers look terrible, but so did the bears and so does carolina every week and they barely escaped those games i haven't been totally convinced by this win that it means they're

going to go beat the packers there's like a letdown area that this team loves to live in sometimes after a big win like this. I don't know. You think that you think they will show a resilience on a short week to go beat the Packers? Or is this the classic? Oh, we thought you were good for a second Vikings. And now you're not. Oh, it's it's definitely a classic misguided expectation game. But I'm willing to buy in and not not so much because of how the, I mean, clearly a lot of it is based on how they played Monday night. But it's more based on how badly the Packers are playing right now. I think, I feel like they are a team sort of in search of themselves, their identity. They've clearly pivoted away from Rodgers. They can't really get any rhythm offensively. Again, they've got some serious injuries on defense.

They just have looked, in the games that I've seen and read about, just terribly disjointed. This seems like a transition year. So that's kind of where it's almost like they're meeting them at the right time, two or three weeks ago. I would not want it to be in Lambeau Field. Who knows? Weather-wise, it doesn't look like it's going to be all that bad.

So instead of dealing with the cold and the slop and the snow of January, Lambeau Field. Who knows? Weather-wise, it doesn't look like it's going to be all that bad. So instead of dealing with the cold and the slop and the snow of January, which always seems to be when they end up there, I think they're getting them at really an opportune time. Their confidence is high. There is a letdown factor there as well. I'm just not sure Green Bay is going to be able to rise to the moment. They just haven't impressed too many people. And I feel like this is an opportunity, you know, the Vikings realize they got to reprieve. They better realize that they got to reprieve and that they deserve, they earned a chance at a second look. And now they're getting that second look. The schedule opens up wonderfully for them over the next seven weeks. There's a pathway. And

what are they going to do with that? We've talked about the front office intrigue. How is that team going to respond? How is O'Connell going to have them respond? Again, this is why it's a week-to-week drama, right? You build them up, you tear them down, you assess it, you start over again, and that's where we're at. Every little week is a mini drama.

It's episodic, and that's what makes it so intriguing, and that's why we tune in every week. So I do think they're going to prevail, and I think they're going to go on a decent little run here over the next five or six weeks. But let's see what they do October 31st when the trade deadline comes and goes. There has never been a truer cliche in Viking land than week-to-week league, because after chicago i was getting notes of people saying like shouldn't have we have hired jim harbaugh and i was like no definitely not and then of course this whole controversy with harbaugh comes out which is like his fifth or sixth controversy since they didn't hire him for perfectly right reasons and And then Kevin O'Connell just gets out the puppet strings and

is just pulling every right one against San Francisco. I do think there is something to, when you play a team that physical and you get whooped on, I mean, there there's a play and it's probably not legal, uh, where it's a screen and Cam Akers is running with it. And TJ Hawkins is trying to block. And Nick Bosa attempts to jump over Hawkinson and tackle Akers and just tackles a Hawkinson, which is, again, like probably defensive holding or something. And that's where Hawkinson got hurt. And he was trying to limp off. That's why he went down and, you know, that kind of thing.

But my point is that, you know, Hawkinsinson didn't practice and he was beat up and he's got a wrap on his foot today. And there's probably a lot of guys who, even if they did practice and it was just a walkthrough, they are limping around a little bit after playing a psychotically physical team like San Francisco. And then they have a short week to recover. There's like these little things. Then you have to go on the road and then Lambeau. And then everyone is crushing Jordan love for being terrible. But when a team has a really bad loss, what do they usually do? They usually bounce back when they're not like a horrendous team. So there's all these kind of little things playing into this one where I've seen this movie before and they lose the game. But Aaron Rodgers doesn't play for them.

So I'm not really sure. And I think that Brian Flores is going to entirely scramble Jordan Love's brains. But I have a question to finish up the show on, though, Murph, because you have been wonderful. And I'm very appreciative of having you this evening. A little more energetic, I think, on the stream than like when we wake up at like seven in the morning sometimes and do the podcast. But rank your teams in the NFC North by how you feel about where they're going to be in 2025. So, OK, well, I think the Lions are kind of solidifying themselves as the premier team in the division this season, and they're built for future success. I guess that's a tough question to answer, not knowing what the 2024 draft is going to reveal.

Ideally, you could certainly have a new quarterback here in Minnesota, certainly have a new quarterback in Chicago. Again, the way that is trending. I would say, you know, I give Green Bay and, you know, Jordan Love is certainly getting wounded on his training wheels here. But, you know, that franchise knows how to develop quarterbacks. So I'm willing to play the long game with the Packers and feel like that they're going to bounce back after this season. So I'd say Detroit, Green Bay, and then slash Minnesota, slash Chicago, based on what happens in the 2024 draft. Because, again, you've got these, you know, Goff is clearly not only the senior citizen, but obviously the most accomplished quarterback in the division. Cousins, if he stays, is a year older, but he's still up there and puts the Vikings in the conversation.

But if they're transitioning and love is still ascending and Chicago starts over again, I don't know where you could say any team was. I think there's so much fluctuation in the division right now, and there's really some mediocrity. And other than Detroit right now, and who would have thunk anybody would say this out loud three years ago, it's Detroit and everyone else.

Yeah, you know, that's why the question is, I think, fun to talk about because if we're looking out in the future, I don't believe in anybody having an ability to whisper quarterbacks into existence i think green bay is in the worst position of any of these teams if jordan love is not good which so far looks like he's not or if he's in the middle if he's daniel jones if he's that caliber of bleh like not that good quarterback, then you are in a very bad spot because they have an old roster in some areas, not like their whole team, their whole team is young overall, but like Bakhti, Aaron Jones, some of these guys that they've relied on for a long time are not getting

younger. So what they do at quarterback is very unclear and who their stars in the future are, are very unclear. Chicago, if they draft number one and the guy's as good as you think he's going to be, then they're going to be the best team. Detroit might be a stuck in the middle, but like a good stuck in the middle, depending. I mean, Jared Goff, I have a lot of more belief in Jared Goff than some people do. He's already been in the Superbowl once, so maybe he could do it again. And there are a lot of parts of that roster that are sustainable. If Jared Goff than some people do. He's already been in the Super Bowl once, so maybe he could do it again. And there are a lot of parts of that roster that are sustainable. If Jared Goff doesn't get them anywhere in the playoffs this year, though, you start to go, well, what do we do? Like, are they going to extend Jared Goff and then kind of keep rolling

that out there? And with the Vikings, you could see if they bring back cousins being better, but being like 2019 better where they can win 10 or 11 games and sort of be ish or if you run into the age monster at some point with the guy then you might have a great team but your quarterback falls off but if the vikings were to draft a quarterback and he's a hit by 2025 you are legitimately competing for the super bowl with this roster and i think that's what they can't that's right they can't lose sight of that but even then defensively like binum metellus like they've got you know caleb evans has been pretty good this year like they've got some younger pieces who have played pretty well so i i think that if they play their cards correctly, then it could be them.

But it's also very much kind of up for discussion. They're not holding their hand, though. They're playing their cards. That's the problem, Collar. That's the thing. But if they stick with Cousins, they roll it out for another year, they don't go anywhere after that, then you're stuck in purgatory forever. So are you picking the Vikings to win against the Packers, Murph?

We'll end on that. I am. Not much more than a field goal. I think the spread's about a point anyway. I've seen on either side. But I think it's going to be tight. I would think like a, you know, 24-21 type game. Why would you pick a field goal?

Like going in for the Vikings,ings you mean yeah what do you mean so they do that what do you mean did i say i said they wouldn't buy a field goal didn't i yeah i know i'm saying that there's there's a little field goal history with the vikings i don't know if you heard about it and okay i see what you're i see where you're going there yeah joseph looked a little shaky the other night just kind other night, just to kind of tap the hornet's nest. Don't want to kick it yet, but it's always looming. And it turned out that Brock Purdy had a concussion, and so I'm thinking that those weird interceptions at the end of the game

may have been a little bit – well, I don't want to hear about bad luck for the Vikings anymore because you missed that field goal, which is probably not the best decision. And then the guy throws you the worst interception. I don't know. You got away with one a little bit there to some extent. So anyway, usually it's Monday morning Murph when we post it on the YouTube channel as well. And normally you're writing a column on Monday, but it's up now at purpleinsider.com.

Your column about their statement win. I appreciate everybody who came out this evening to watch live on YouTube, and I really enjoyed this, Murph. This was a fun little change-up from what we usually do, and I had a lot of fun. Well, we got another Monday night game after Thanksgiving with the Bears. Maybe we scramble it up and give them a little bit of a variety, give them a primetime show. You're right.

There did seem to be a little more energy than sometimes on Monday morning. Well, usually I'm gassed by then. All right. Well, all good. So everybody can look forward to, on the YouTube channel and podcast feed, of course, our roundtable, as always.

Mike Renner is going to join the show. So there's a lot going on here. And of course, round table as always mike renner's going to join the show um so there's a lot going on here and of course from lambo we'll be doing the live post game show from lambo field right after the game or an hour or so after the game after we're done in the locker room so stay tuned all right thanks murph thanks everybody we'll catch you next time thanks everyone