Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Author of "Kings of the North" Vikings history book Chad Israelson joins to talk All-Decade teams and strange seasons

Episode Date: October 23, 2021

Matthew Coller gets together with Chad Israelson, a history teacher and Vikings fan who has authored a Vikings history book which looks back at every single season and breaks down some of the moments that stand out most in the franchise's history. He also builds All-Decade teams, which naturally caught Matthew's interest. He discusses why the Vikings have been stuck in the middle for most of their history and some of the most bizarre seasons they've had, including the 1987 strike year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you own a bustling hair salon or a hot new bakery, you need business insurance that can keep up with your evolving needs. With flexible coverage options from TD Insurance, you only pay for what you need. TD. Ready for you. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar and a special guest is joining me today. The author of Kings of the North Photographs and History of the Minnesota Vikings. I have it in my hand and have been poking through this book, which I think would be incredibly enjoyable for any Vikings fan. And I have the author, Chad Israelson, with me here to talk about this.

And I just want to say first, Chad, that my favorite part of this is the all-decade teams, which I want to discuss. You've got every year broken down here. You have all-decade teams. You have vignettes about different moments and different trends and things like kickers. I'm really enjoying the book, man. Start off. Maybe I just kind of tell me about the project a little bit. OK, well, first, thank you very much. I appreciate that and appreciate you having me on. Yeah. You know, it started actually when I really decided to do this was after watching Adrian Peterson break the single game rushing record. And I just thought, wow, that's one of the greatest things I've ever seen as a Vikings fan. And then I just started thinking about, you know, lists of the greatest moments and that kind of stuff.

And then it just started pouring. Now, obviously, that was back in 2007. So it's taken a while to get you know to this finished product but it's been really pretty much my entire lifetime of watching the team and I you know collected Viking report Viking update back in the old print generation you know I was like the highlight of my week was you know the Wednesday I my week was, you know, the Wednesday, I think it was a Wednesday, maybe a Thursday that it came in the mail.

So yeah, it's in one way, I've been working on this thing for like, four, you know, 40 plus years, but it really began in earnest in 2007. I put it aside for a little while, picked it back up, and here it is. So I'm very glad you're enjoying it. So, and during the summertime, I had this series of podcasts where I would have people come on and just give their top five favorite Vikings, but maybe you can tell me, cause what would always come from that is when people first started really watching them, that there was the players and the teams that stuck with them most. So what is your sort of origin story? Like what got you really hooked on football? Yeah, well, so when I was about five, I lived across the street from some older kids. You know, they were, I don't know, 11, 12,

you know, something like that. They were Viking fans. My grandfather was a Vikings fan. And if you look at the cover of the book, it's a game against the Buffalo Bills, 1975. And it was actually the game Fran Tarkin broke the all-time touchdown passing record. And my mom wanted to take me to a Disney movie. It was a Saturday game, as a matter of fact, and I refused to go. I'm watching the Vikings. So, you know, that's the origin. I mean, I just, this influence, and I don't know why my parents are not into sports, but I just grabbed onto this team. I lived in Minnesota, obviously, and people around me were Viking fans. But yeah, I just I became an absolute fanatic at a very young age. So I don't know what purple bug it was that bit me, but it bit me hard.

So, well, I mean, I think that everybody sort of has that. I know it's this way for me. And I think it's sometimes I drive people crazy on the podcast talking about 90s NFL, which will get to your nineties Vikings team. But you know the things that you watch as a kid, this goes for people who love music and everything else that really stick with you and you sort of connect everything that you see back to those things. So I'm sure that it's that way for your early days of watching the Vikings, but I want to start out. I've got a couple of fun topics that I wanted to ask you based on your book. And one of them is I want to ask you which all decade team you think is the

best one between the eighties nineties and two thousands. I think this is a really difficult question. And the 2010s one has a lot of players that, that are recent. I don't know that that team could match up with the other ones um which one do you think has the best case for the all-time team well that's a great question uh you know i never thought of it that way uh so this is what i would say i guess i'd have to eliminate the 2000s first and the reason why is because if you look at just say, yeah, Chris Carter is one of the wide receivers on the 2000 team, but you know, if we're going to be really

technical about it, he only played for 2000, 2001 end of his career. He wasn't the Chris Carter of the nineties, you know? So I don't think offensively it might be able to match up. I know Randy Moss is on it, and obviously he's awfully good. But I also think that the defenses were going to be a little bit better, you know, on the earlier decades, the 80s or 90s. So if it comes right down to it, I would probably have to go with the 90s because you get Dolman, you get John Randall on defense. You know, Warren Moon's the quarterback, no big arguments there. You know, Tommy Kramer, longtime quarterback, but you know, you wouldn't say he was a more talented player than Warren Moon. You get Robert Smith as the running back, you get Carter and

so yeah, I guess if I were forced to go and you kind of are forcing me, so I'm going to take the nineties just, you know, narrowly being out the eights. And, you know, I'm not saying the 2000s are bad by any means, but it might also just show that, you know, the 80s and the 90s are more in my wheelhouse as well. You know, like those are some of those glory years for me too. Well, the 2000s defenses really did not have a lot of teams to write home about. I think that was, I mean, the 09 team was really good on defense, but they were more driven by Brett Favre. The 2000s team would have a case of having the best quarterback in terms of talent, whether you pick Favre or you pick call pepper, but it's, it's so short lived with both of them.

And, but it's that way in the nineties too, where it's, it's short lived with Brad Johnson, who repeatedly got hurt with Warren moon for just a couple of years. And with Randall Cunningham, the thing about the moon years that obviously people who did not grow up with this would not know is they were setting records before Randy Moss even got there with their passing games that Jake Reed and Chris Carter were so dominant with Warren Moon. And yet they couldn't stop anybody. Barry Sanders, entire highlight reel is just the Vikings in Tampa Bay Bucs when they were in central.

And so the quarterback decisions here, it really highlights with your all decades team, just how short-lived so many different quarterbacks were despite the fact that they're routinely really good and we record this as case keenum is playing for the browns by the way that's right yeah i uh you know and i definitely um weighed heavily into body of work you know so randall cunningham you know, so Randall Cunningham, you know, had the one fantastic season, mop up in 97, terrible start in 99, you know, that just wasn't enough. Brett Favre, you know, one great year, one rather disastrous year, just wasn't enough. So yeah, definitely for me, body of work is a big part of what goes into making the team so you know that's why going back to the 60s

Ron Yerry and he didn't make it he only started I think six games in the decade so he's a hall of famer but he wasn't in 1968 and 69 so oh right yeah no and that's it I think that's a good way to break it up the you know there's so many guys with this team. It's just fascinating who have had those short runs like Percy Harvin. Even, you know, I was kind of thinking, OK, is Percy Harvin on this list? But like you said, he doesn't have a whole lot of longevity, not as much as Diggs and Thielen would for the 2010s team. But, you know, that's kind of a Vikings thing is these short bursts. And I wonder as you're putting together the project and you've just seen this, like, what do you think of that in terms of their history?

Because we talk on the show all the time about how they're sort of nine and seven all the time through their history. And then they just have these explosive years and everybody gets behind them and they have all these great memories and everything else and someone writes books about them uh and then it sort of goes back into the those nine and sevens and i and i wonder like as you look at the entire franchise history is there an explanation for that like why why is that that that seems to happen to this team they're never detroit they're never cleveland They're never what Buffalo was, but always sort of, you know, not, not quite getting there.

Yeah. Well, that's funny. Cause just the other day I said to a friend of mine that I work with, who was a lions fan, which, you know, obviously you have sympathy for that fellow. Right. And I said, you know, one of the things is we've never been bad enough to have like the first overall pick, you know, so we keep piecemealing quarterbacks, you know, we don't get that franchise quarterback draft pick, you know, or rarely. So that's part of it. in, you know, not to be a contrarian, but it also is the change in the game, you know, because if we go back to the, our sixties and seventies Vikings, which, you know, I was at the tail end of that, you know, so like the guys that got me into the Vikings are Jim Marshall, McTinglehoff,

you know, so Marshall was there for 19 seasons. Tinglehoff was there from 62 to 78, so that's 17 seasons, you know? So there were a lot of guys that played a long time back then because they couldn't go anywhere else. You know, they didn't have the option to sign, you know? I mean, the Purple People Eaters would never exist now because, you know, it'd be a choice. Are we going to keep Page or are we going to keep Eller, you know?

And back then we could keep them both. So, yeah, you know, there's all kinds of stats. I've seen the one, you know, that maybe hurts the most is the Vikings have the best winning percentage all time for a team that's never won the Super Bowl. You know, like in the Super Bowl era, we have the seventh best winning percentage in the NFL. I mean, like in the Super Bowl era, we have the seventh best winning percentage in the NFL. I mean, we're a really good franchise. And I hope you don't mind if I say we

slip into that. Right. You're good. We started out with how much you love the team. And when you start being a fan, I think you're good. And I've always and I have always been of the belief, by the way, that any fan is allowed to say we. You pay for the tickets. You invest the heart and soul. It's we. Look what happened when they played without fans last year. It was miserable, right?

Right, yep. We is fine. When the other quarterback can't get his signals out at the line of scrimmage because everybody's cheering, we is fine. Sorry to interrupt your point. No, no, no. That's fine. out at the line of scrimmage because everybody's cheering we is fine so i'm sorry all right no no that just drives me crazy when some journalists are like don't say we you don't play for the team uh yeah well i've watched some quarterbacks crumble in front of the fans so i think they're part of it so anyway yeah all right well thank you yeah no no no that's right so um so yeah

you know in more recent times we have had that uh you you know, and it is kind of a blessing and a curse because, you know, you feel like you're just that one player away, you know, from the Super Bowl. I mean, whether it's, okay, look how far we got with Case Keenum. Boy, if we signed a better quarterback, then, you know, we're on easy street. And, of course, by this point, I think every Viking fan knows there is no easy street. But, you know, yeah, it's been the cunning. I mean, Jim McMahon, you know, there was a stopgap if there ever was one. But, you know, man, that playoff game against the Giants, that was one of the most gutsy performances I've ever seen.

I mean, that guy just picking himself up off that frozen turf. So, yeah, you know, I guess part of it is just the new NFL, you know, that you don't have that cohesion that we used to see. But, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head of just saying the Vikings, you know, are like the poster child for this good, but, you know, obviously not, you know, being able to get over the hump. Um, you know, I just, uh, sometimes think about like, you know, that 76 season, the one I really became intense on that that was their last Superbowl. And to think that, you know, I'd be sitting here at 51 and like, I haven't seen them back since.

Right. And Rex Grossman started a Superbowl before the Vikings got back. So I don't, I don't know if anyone would have betted on that. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I love it as part of the identity though and just in terms of it being um an interesting place to exist in the world and i'm sure vikings fans would you know maybe be annoyed at me saying that of like oh yeah you're not fish i don't mean that like i'm watching you be tortured inside of your bubble of watching this team but what i what i mean is that for Vikings fans,

there's always that reason to believe, as you mentioned, like there's always that, oh, we, if we sign this player and if we, you know, as you're going through these seasons where they're good and you know, they're good and you know, they can do it is that you go into those playoff games thinking this might be the chance. I will tell you, I was there in Philadelphia in 2017. And when Case Keenum led a touchdown drive, the first drive of the game, it's like, it's going to happen for these people and it's going to happen. I can't believe this. And then right there and me coming from Buffalo, I should have known better, but right there, you know, there's that moment of you have so much belief it could actually happen and then it's taken away from you so many times when it does happen. I'm sure it will be

more special because of that. But I just I kind of can't get over how many times it's been right at that doorstep. Yeah. Oh, it's it's really amazing. I mean, I kind of have like a misery index that I've worked up a little bit. And I contend that the Vikings are like the most heartbreaking franchise. And here's why. And you're from Buffalo. And yeah, they're in the final four, as is Detroit, just, you know, for their unbelievable inability to do well ever. And then Cleveland, obviously Cleveland, for their heartbreaking losses. And then the fact that, of course, they lost their franchise. Who went on to win two Super Bowls, you know, as the Ravens? But nevertheless, nobody has climbed the hill as far or as often

and had the level of just unbelievable losses that, you know, things that don't happen to anybody else, you know, 12 men in the huddle, a guy who didn't miss a kick all year, misses the one kick he can't miss. You know, you talked about Philadelphia. I mean, yeah, we drive down, we score, we stop them. I mean, that's the other thing. Their first possession stopped them dead. And, yeah, I was starting to think, I think this is it. And, oh, you know, the football gods, I see.

They set it all up so that we are going to win it in Minneapolis. And, okay, it's been worth it and then oh you know the avalanche that took place I mean you know and that's not even counting 41 zero and you know one that really sticks in my craw is the St. or not St. Louis Cardinals but the Arizona Cardinal game uh that regular season game, you know, the Nate pool game. Yeah. Yeah. Nate pool now, which just to be, you know, to point out for a trivia sake happened on the exact anniversary of the Drew Pearson push off in the 75 playoffs.

So well, and even more ironic about that is that nate pool is out of bounds but the rule that year was that you could if you pushed a guy out of bounds they would rule it a catch still and then they did away with that shortly after of course they did just like with the saints uh you know kicking the field goal in overtime and then the nfl saying you know that's not a very good rule we We should probably change that now. Yeah. I mean, there, there are so many of those and I'll give you one more, because I just made a comment about it the other day to Adam Thielen,

Adam Thielen's touchdown catch in Carolina was taken away because they said he was juggling the ball in 2017. If they rule that a touchdown, which it would be now they changed the catch rule after that. They would have gotten home field. And so they would have been playing Philly at us bank stadium and not having to go to Philly, which I think was a big factor in that game. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yeah. We are right. Yeah. That's an excellent point. So yeah, I,

I just got super bowl nine from Netflix in the in the mail the other day uh you know i've never sat down and watched this and i watched some of them but you know there were so many like oh interception you know at the two and oh it's just like you know we might have been able to win that one it was two nothing at halftime really torturing yourself there well let me ask you about i love it let me ask you about some of the more fun moments to write about, because I mentioned this, but you have vignettes throughout, like you have the season recaps and the starters and all that, which is cool to look back at who is playing for those teams.

And just as someone who loves to bring up random players, great for me, but you also have, you know, write-ups on some of the great moments. And I mean, you've got Adrian Peterson. You've got the far throw against San Francisco. Give me a couple of your favorites to write about that you decided to include in the book and kind of the background on how you made that decision. Well, kind of going back to what we talked about earlier in the podcast, you know, the sort of that sweet spot

of your age. And so a couple of the, my favorite ones were the mud bowl against the Rams, because I remember watching that one on TV and just being amazed, you know, like how sloppy the field was. And there's a picture in the book and it, you know, can really attest to that. And then just, you know, doing a little research on the game, of course, off the top of my head, I don't remember the exact number now, but at some point the Vikings ran the ball between like 23 and 28 straight times in that game. So if you can imagine that in the present day NFL. The other one, of course, is the Ahmad Rashad catch at the Met. You know, that one won the division. The next week, the Vikings were going to have to play the Oilers. And that was in the Earl Campbell days.

And it was down in Houston. It was kind of like, wow, don't have much of a chance there. But, you know, that game was just so nuts that uh uh you know down the way we were and to get the ball back with just seconds left the hook and lateral uh sensor to ted brown to set up the you know i mean so there were all these things to set up the hail mary and just the way rashad caught it just casually just flips out the left-hand ball, hip, touchdown. You know, it was anyone that saw it or, you know, just go to YouTube and watch it.

It's out there. Great play. So I loved writing about those two. Absolutely. You know, of course, all of it to me is wonderful. Writing about the defensive players, I've got that little section on talking about the number of just Hall of Fame defensive linemen we have. We could start an entire defensive line of Hall of all time team, um, come d all Hall of Fame offensiv just going back and reall

it's not, it wasn't just team has had a lot of tal I mean, there are some re that have passed through Minnesota. So I guess those would kind of be the highlights. And, you know, every now and then there was just a game where I had forgotten some of the details. The 85 comeback against the Eagles was really wonderful because that game also, it was like one of those Sundays where it just started snowing. We knew it was like, we're having a snow day tomorrow. You know, we're not having school and, you know, the Vikings were down 23-0 in the fourth quarter. They come back, win it just improbably. So, you know,

just reading about those again, it was an absolute blast. Folks, football season is in full swing, but we've got basketball and hockey getting rolling as well and soda stick has got you covered you have to see the moose t-shirt designs for marcus felino you could also get your hands on the very popular dollar bill carril shirts as well on the basketball side the design with three wolves howling at the moon perfect for the spooky fall season and the design with the wolf carved into the state of the Minnesota is just awesome. It's very cool stuff. And hey, for you college football fans,

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on Twitter for our giveaways. Yeah, and I've enjoyed some of the ones that I didn't know a whole lot about. I mean, I've heard of the Mud Bowl and I know the Drew Pearson push off and the Ahmad Rashad catch, but I love that you were able to add more to that for me, because I didn't obviously grow up watching those things. Thank you. It's not the Drew Pearson Hail Mary, by the way, it's the Drew Pearson push off. Yes. Yeah. Push off. Of course. So I'm going to use the right terminology. Exactly. So I was going to ask you, because this is always, I'm always fascinated by people's answers for this.

I would love to know your weirdest Viking season, because I could tell you my first season here covering the team was 2016. And I got here on the same day I moved to Minnesota on the same day Teddy Bridgewater got hurt. And I went into the media room and was introduced to the other reporters. And they said, it's always like this. I was like, really, this is crazy. This is like the starting quarterback goes down with a crazy injury. And they're like, yeah, that's not the first time. And throughout that season the you had the person hang from the top of the stadium. You had Mike Zimmer's eyeball.

You had the plane go off the whatever it was, the tarmac in Green Bay. I'm missing some. Adrian Peterson got hurt that year and announced he was coming back on an XM radio show he owned. I think there was the cornerbacks decided they were going to line up how they wanted to line up in Green Bay. I mean, just every week it was something nuts. And North Turner just up and quit. So this this is just i'm even just scratching the surface there so um i would love to know yours though your weirdest viking season because talk about things that are um you know part of the identity of the vikings right well gosh i mean you yours is very good uh so obviously i'm gonna have to choose a different

one than that um i just you know immediately the first two that come to mind, number one would be 1987. And the reason is, of course, badly to keep the team unity, the Vikings were one of the last teams to go out and get replacement players. So, you know, I mean, they were probably just a little better than you and I, you know, at that point. So, I mean, we got dusted in those three games. And there was only 15 games that season. So, the Vikings finished eight and seven you know but

the real players were eight and four they were a pretty darn good team but then we were playing at home against Washington who of course then would beat us in the NFC championship that game that later that year go on to win the Super Bowl but but lose to them in overtime, just, you know, watching those 80s Vikings, they were, Barrero used to call them the purple chihuahuas or something like that, you know, they just, they always let down in the big games, it seemed like, and, you know, that was one of them, could have sealed the playoff. So then that was a Saturday game. We had to wait. And of all things have to root for the Dallas Cowboys to beat the Cardinals on Sunday. So, you know, there've been like five times in my life that I've ever rooted for the Cowboys, you know, when they played the Packers in the NFC championship games and this one. So, you know,

that was, to me, that was a pretty weird season just also because then we went on this incredible run in the playoffs, you know, beating the 12 and three saints and not just beating, but demolishing them in new Orleans and like, Oh, well, that was pretty great. And then, okay. Going out to San Francisco, no chance there dismantling the 49ers with Joe Montana, you know, 36-24. And then it was kind of like, hey, we're going to the Super Bowl, you know. Of course, I was 17 then and hadn't been, you know,

kneed in the stomach enough times to realize that we weren't. But, you know, and then losing on the you know maybe Darren Nelson drop or you know however you want to call that kind of a drop you know whatever uh you know Daryl Green was a good defensive player too but bottom line is is that you know just how up and down and keep in mind too that was the year the twins won the world series right so then i was kind of like hey you know curse gone uh so you know this is minnesota's year um you know so to me that one always stands out as a weird one 94 was a little bit weird to me too and it might have been in part because I was living in Nebraska at the time. And, you know, I had to go to bars to watch about half the games. But we had just a whole slew of

overtime games that year. And, you know, so that one always, to me, kind of seemed to, you know, kind of like an odd year, but, you know, just in terms of like the stuff you were talking about, you know, the Wizenator year, what was that, 05, I think, if memory serves me correctly. You know, there, yeah, there's always something. And, of course, back in those, that 87 era, that was the, you know, that was the DWI era for the Vikings. I mean, it's like half the team, it seemed like, was getting pulled over. So, yeah, we always had that off-field distraction stuff going. era uh for the vikings and it's like half the team it seemed like was getting pulled over so um yeah we always had that off off field distraction stuff going but yeah i think that that strike in the middle and then that incredible run in the playoffs and 87 is the year to me of

all the times they reached the nfc championship that they had i think the best chance to win the super bowl if they went um because of what washington did to the denver broncos and how you know just how they matched up even with washington like they didn't play well in that game and they were still right there and you just thought well this team is riding a wave and like you said they were actually for the first time a team was better than their record truly right all the time with the vikings but truly they were better than their record that's the one that i think i mean oh nine you know maybe the same thing but in oh nine you're still running into peyton manning in the super right why i

think that might have been different um yeah and i don't think they would have won it in 98 you don't think yeah i mean the defense had so many injuries in that Atlanta game. So, yeah. Yeah. And Denver just demolished a Falcons team that was 14 and two. Right. So, yeah, I don't know if they would have either. But then again, nobody had an answer for Randy Moss that year.

That's right. Right. You never know. You're only two throws away. I wanted to ask you before we wrap up of just what you kind of think of where they're at as a franchise right now. I mean, you know, you've looked at all the history of this entire team and it still feels like we have an uncertain quarterback situation. And wherever you heard that before, great, great receivers, good defensive linemen, a coach who's been here a long time. All these things have happened many times throughout Vikings history. And three and three is the perfect record for us to be talking right around

500. So I guess I wondered about just your sort of feeling about where they are as a franchise right now. Well, first off, I'm always optimistic. You know, I'm always going to look at the bright side of things. And so a couple of things that I would say is number one, yeah, we've got a lot of talent. There is no doubt about that. You know, I also really like the fact that we have a lot of continuity. I think the Wilfs are very wise. You know, they're not knee jerk. And, you know, you look at the teams that are perpetually bad and they are always cycling through coaches. You know, in my life, I am 51 years old. The Pittsburgh Steelers have had three coaches. Yeah. And they're kind of a model for consistency in the NFL.

So I would go that way. You know, if I were looking at, OK, should we go the Jacksonville route or do we go the Pittsburgh route? I think that's a pretty easy choice. And so the Vikings are going more that Pittsburgh route. So, you know, I'm happy with that. And, you know, the one thing I will also say about Zimmer, and I know, you know, there's always people, no matter what, I mean, they're calling for the head coach or the quarterback or whatever, but I have yet to see a Vikings team quit on Zimmer. You know, I mean, last year they didn't quit.

I mean, they were down, they were one in five and they came back and got to 500. And, you know, if it wasn't for just, you know, a rash of injuries, I'm not saying they would have necessarily made the playoffs. But, I mean, they would have been better and they would have been in it all the way down the stretch run, I think. So yeah, I like by and large where the Vikings are. You know, I'm not going to call out like any individual player because, you know, that's not my place. I mean, at some point, you know, the quarterback situation and the size of contract, you know, you just have to be realistic in the modern day NFL. But, you know, you look at a Russell Wilson.

When did he win his Super Bowl rookie contract yet? Well, Patrick Mahomes. I mean, yeah, if you would have told me that the Vikings and the Chiefs were going to have the same record this year after six. Yes, yes. Five and one. Awesome. You know, oh, three and three and three uh but you know you look at

it yeah you pay mahomes all that much money and now look at their defense uh you know look at the offensive line that he played behind in the super bowl so you know you paying a quarterback a ton of money generally doesn't seem like you know the, the best strategy in the NFL. So we are going to have to address that, or we're going to continue what we talked about in the beginning of this sort of, you know, nine, well now nine and eight or 10 and seven or whatever the case may be. But yeah, I mean, I, you know, we have to have a long-term solution there, I think. And of course, you know, looking ahead at the draft, they're talking about next year, not being a very, you know, good quarterback draft, but

Kellen Mond is on the team. So, you know, obviously I think they're looking at him, but you know, I, I, I, I'd like to see him wing it a little bit more, you know, throw the ball around. I mean, I, I, there's definitely success there. You know, if you're relying on running and defense, then our defense is going to have to perform a little bit better, you know, for that combination to work. So yeah, I mean, gosh, Justin Jefferson, wow. You know, that was great watching that last year. Cook, obviously so explosive. So, you know, I wish they had Irv Smith Jr. this year, obviously. And I think, you know, the offensive line, you know, Derrissaw, not that, you know, it was one game, but, you know, it wasn't like a swinging gate at left tackle on Sunday.

So, you know, I'm, I'm very optimistic there. So yeah, my, my arrow was always pointing up on the fight. Well, I think it's hard to, when you've had quarterbacks come in different quarterbacks during the Zimmer era and succeed with these receivers. And now they're building an offensive line. You do feel like either you can get the most out of the quarterback you have, or if you do change quarterbacks, he comes into a great situation.

This isn't the jets. If they do decide to do that in the future, where you've got a franchise right tackle, possibly a franchise left tackle and two great receivers, great running back young tight end, all those things that you could give someone else. And on the point about it, not being a great quarterback draft, they said the same thing for the Burrow Herbert 201,

and two out of those three guys are franchise quarterbacks. So we just don't know in October, I think, how good those guys are going to be. Chad, this book is great. Well, thank you. I think that anybody would like it, Kings of the North. If you're on the younger side and you want to learn the history of the Vikings, it's great. If you're on the older side and you watch it all, it's great to relive some of the great moments. So Kings of the North, where is the best place where people can find it, Chad?

Wherever books are sold. So if you want to go in person, you know, most of the stores are going to have it. Certainly you can order it. Otherwise, anywhere online. But yeah, wherever you like to buy books, you can get it. Once again, that is Kings of the North. And you mentioned the photo on the front. But it is a it is a breathtaking photo of just like, Fran Tarkett's in there, the snow. It's great. So I really enjoyed it. I'm glad that you guys sent it out to me. And I'm glad we could

talk and get to know each other, Chad. Yeah, it's been a blast. Well, thanks a lot for all your time and great work. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much. Yeah. Take care.