Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Brian Murphy is buying the Vikings' clutch wins

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

Matthew Coller and Brian Murphy talk more about whether the Minnesota Vikings are interesting and how they compare to other winning NFC teams. They discuss whether Kevin O'Connell's culture is having an impact on Kirk Cousins in the biggest moments and the areas where they still need to improve to keep this going.  -- For more of Matthew's Vikings coverage, head to purpleinsider.substack.com For bonus discussions, interview clips, and more videos, check out our YouTube channel! Interact with us on Twitter! @Purple_Insider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider presented by Liquid Death. Go to liquiddeath.com slash insider and learn about the Tallboy can, which actually has water. Find out where you can get it near you at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Brian Murphy for some Monday Morning Murph. And I'm going to throw this out to you first, Brian.

On the post-game pod, I made a declaration that the Minnesota Vikings are officially an interesting NFL team. And I saw that our friends at Football Outsiders have the Vikings 57% to win the NFC North, which is now pretty much a two-team race, unless the Detroit Lions completely shock us. But I think that the roar is not being restored. So once again, in classic fashion, a two-team race between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. And I think that this team is pretty darn intriguing to track which direction they will go. Your thoughts? In the history of bold statements, this team is officially intriguing, is not among them. Okay, all right. I'm going to stop you right there. I'm picking up what you're laying down. I need to stop you right there.

Last year, the year before, even 2019, I'm not sure when the last – I think 2018 was the last time they were even interesting. And when you felt like you could just predict everything that was going to happen for a team, then even going through the seasons, even if it was a roller coaster, it wasn't that intriguing. So I think for this, there's like an interesting button that I'm ready to push that I wanted to wait a little bit to see how this played out. Well, as far as I've been here 22 years and there's not been a season where they haven't

been interesting or intriguing. You weren't here for the love boat. You weren't here for 41 Donut. You weren't here for the love boat. You weren't here for 41 Donut. You weren't here for Favre. You've only been, you were subjected to the last few miserable years of the rotting Mike Zimmer era, which kind of, you know, made everybody unhappy. But even last year, you know, it was a mini drama every week, you know, pushing that boulder up that hill. Now they're sitting pretty at four and one. I don't know how they got there. They did. I don't know how they did. The path is wide open for them right now. I mean, we talked about this in the past

about the NFC, but the division in general. I mean, the Packers clearly are shallow themselves. They went overseas and lost to, I guess, a good New York Giants team. I guess. I don't know. They're four and one as well. I thought the Lions would put up a little bit more of a fight. They're whimpering out. Dan Campbell just can't keep dragging his knuckles in his coaching decisions, and he got schooled in Foxborough by the old master. The Bears, we all knew they were going to be awful. For about an hour and a half yesterday, they looked almost like a JV team and yet somehow made things interesting for a quarter and a half stretch there where the Vikings, for some reason, fell into a slumber.

But I will say this. There are plenty of – they are not a flawless team. We know that, Minnesota. And we can pick apart their issues, particularly on defense and how they seem to take a nap on offense every once in a while. But I will say this, they are building up scar tissue and they're winning games. They're coming back in the fourth quarter. They're winning games. They're making key plays. Their key players are making key plays at key moments. I think Harrison Smith, who said it best yesterday, I mean, this isn't his

first rodeo. It's good if you can learn while you're winning, because if you're learning, you know, losses can teach you things, but it also makes for a miserable, miserable experience. He knows how precious wins are in the NFL. He's not going to apologize for being four and one, but he also knows they're a long way from being a forceful 4-1 that other teams are going to be afraid of. But hey, at this point, take the house money and run. I'm going to go back to the interesting thing because I think when you're talking about last year or 2020, the most interesting thing was, is Mike Zimmer going to get fired? Or could Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins just start taking swings at each other at some point? Or, you know, like all those things, all the dramatic things that happen,

like those are interesting from a day to day when you have an off-field stuff and some of it was not interesting but just downright unfortunate in recent years. And the COVID stuff and how they had to adjust to playing with no fans and all that stuff like the NFL is always going to have captivating storylines I mean interesting as an actual contender and that has not happened in some time and when I got here in 2016 the first five weeks they went 5-0 and that was a really fascinating situation because Sam Bradford had just arrived and it was clear that there were offensive line issues,

but the defense was great and it all came apart. And then in 2017, we thought that that same thing might happen after Sam Bradford got hurt. But then Case Keenum starts winning game after game and they're a legitimate contender. And that's what I mean is that since then, 2018, we thought they were going to be, and it didn't really happen. And 2019, they made the playoffs as the number six seed, just an uninspiring season overall, where they beat a lot of bad teams. And this year, the question is, when you eventually

face good teams, or will you continue to beat the bad teams closely, or will you improve, or will you fall back because they have a new coach? I don't know the answer to that yet. And also, with the landscape of the NFC, there's just so many unimpressive teams, Murph. And when you look around, you're like, okay, Dallas is good. And Philly is good. And after that, San Francisco, I think, is good. And you kind of, I don't know. Like, it's a lot up in the air.

And you can start to make an argument for yourself. And I guess that's what I'm talking about. Not necessarily, like, are there storylines? Because there's always storylines. But are you interesting in the context of your conference and actually competing? And I'm not ready to say yes, but I'm certainly not ready to say no. Oh, I think they're definitely a contender. I think they are now at this point at four and one. Their position and the way the schedule breaks out from here on out, they're going to be I think they're going to be pretty defined in November.

And I wrote about this, too, for the column, which was, you know, you got to go to Buffalo and then you got a home game against Dallas and you got Thanksgiving night against new England, which, you know, you can, you can sign off on the Patriots every time you want, but Bill Belichick is going to find a way week to week to outmaster you scheme wise. And probably, I mean, they, they, they shut out the lions, the highest scoring offense in the NFL, and won with a third-string quarterback. Or, I'm sorry, a fourth-round backup quarterback that really hasn't done anything beyond just showing up in the last couple of weeks.

So those are the games that I think if they can weather that in a 1-2, 2-1 stretch, they're set up fine. They're set up fine for at least 10 wins at this point. Again, they haven't had any major injuries. They haven't had any, you know, off field issues to deal with yet. That'll probably come. But I, you know, Miami suddenly a mess on and off the field. I don't even know who they have to quarterback anymore. So this daunting game in the heat next week, which a few weeks ago looked like their first major test um almost looks like a you know a way station to

other big games so i you know washington arizona um help me out with the schedule another uh where are they going to arizona was, and then they have a buy in there. I think they're setting up nice. I just I think to say that, you know, we're still trying to find out about them. Yeah, that's that's that's obvious. There's still a lot of things, especially defense. They're getting older by the minute. They look at it times. They're vulnerable, but they stepped up big. I mean, Harrison Smith made a big pass breakup in the end zone. I mean, Cameron Dantzler had probably the game of his life, and they basically stopped the bleeding soon enough

and made things interesting against a Bears team that always comes in here and does some weird things anyway. So they got three divisional wins. Granted, they're all at home, but 3-0 in the division, some weird things anyway. So they got three divisional wins. Granted, they're all at home, but 3-0 in the division, 4-1 record. I mean, it might as well be 7-1 in some ways. So they are in really, really, really good shape. So, yeah, I'm declaring them a contender, no doubt. I've been more optimistic about this team in the last five,

six weeks than I probably have in five years. Besides the breath of fresh air, the way they're winning games, the way they're not melting down, the way certain players are stepping up at certain times, and the way it seems like, you know, Kevin O'Connell and Kirk Cousins have an understanding and seem to be feeding off of each other. It's the best case scenario right now for the fans.

Yeah, I think that there's a lot of things to kind of look at with, like, will they be a legitimate contender in the long run? Because you mentioned that all the division games have been at home. I think that's an important factor. Because even though now we really can't take Detroit that seriously, they lost to Detroit last year. And they were very close to losing to Detroit already this year. At Chicago is a house of horrors for them, and you can't say, oh, you just blow out

Chicago because you didn't blow out Chicago at home, and Green Bay might be for the division at Lambeau in January. So that's three tough games that they're facing. At least I'm going to continue to look at at Chicago always as a tough game on the schedule just because it's at Chicago and so many weird things have happened there. And the way that they've won is a topic of discussion, I think, all the time when it comes to these close games. Because in one light, you could look at it and say the way that they've come together at some of the biggest moments, the way that Kirk Cousins has led game winning drives, that they've sort of snapped out of it, which is really what happened to the offense yesterday. They kind of snapped out of it and then converted a bunch of third downs.

But third downs can be random from week to week. And so they were better in the red zone and they were great on third downs. But it took being amazing in those really key areas to even beat Chicago by seven points. And then with New Orleans, I think New Orleans is a talented team, but we were talking about them being super beat up last week, and you barely hold them off. And Detroit obviously is a 1-14. That win looks a little different now in the light of day.

And these are all kind of a fourth down and one start or stop a double doink of a final drive and a dude who doesn't know how to go out of bounds. Like, right. I mean, are these things, things you can do every week? Like probably not for an entire season. Is Kirk Cousins going to lead 11 game winning drives this year probably not because I think the record is eight so I you know I do think that like we have to talk about which direction these things are going to go like is there evidence that they can get better in certain areas or put the gas pedal down and just crush a team when they're winning or should we be looking at and say well you can roll your eyes at Arizona you can roll your eyes at Arizona. You can roll your eyes at Washington, but what's different between them and the Bears?

Like those teams are, you know, Arizona's probably a little better than the Bears. Washington's probably on par and you're, and you're going to play close games every week, even against these mediocre teams. Sometimes the other team's going to get a fourth down stop, or you're going to fumble or whatever and some of this stuff it does kind of swing back and forth throughout a season rather than saying like oh well they're just clutch because they believe in each other more like well maybe I mean could be but I tend to think that it's just kind of gone their way which like you said you don't have to apologize for and there's a lot of things that's good about your team that we can highlight. But asking that question, like, can you really rely on that? Or do you have to

figure out ways to pull away from these bad teams, which is what I tend to think. Yeah, I think that's what's disturbing is, you know, really, you know, championship teams, dominant teams, excellent teams, playoff teams, veteran teams, when they have an inferior opponent on the ropes, especially at home, I mean, they put them down. They walk the wounded horse behind the barn and put it down very quietly. That's not what happened yesterday. Because, I mean, that 21-3 lead felt like 41-0. I mean, it was – the Bears were an embarrassment, really, up until – and I don't want to – we've been praising the special teams and Ryan Wright for so long

that that tragedy of a 15-yard punt, when you couple that with the acrobatic catch by Darnell Mooney that you may not see the rest of the season, a one-handed grab like that. Those two things literally were the shock that brought the Bears back to life. They got their touchdown before the half. Joseph misses his, and suddenly it's like, wow, 21-10. How is this even feasible that they're within two scores? They come out, and they obviously found life. So again, these are NFL teams. They are not going to roll over and

die. If any team was going to, it would have been yesterday's version of the Bears. So I think everybody kind of snapped their heads around and went, wow, how is this even a game again? And then suddenly it's 22-21. You were in the building. I would love to know what the vibe was in there because it went from a party that started way early in the day as it usually does. And then, of course, they show the Green Bay demise in London on the Jumbotron a half hour before kickoff. I mean, I'm sure it was Mardi Gras in there, you know, up for the first 25 minutes of that game until it wasn't. And then, you know, I always like to say sphincters tightening. I could feel it through the TV screen and on Twitter.

There was a girding for the worst. But then they came up with a really great methodical, this is how you put the hammer down on a team drive. 80 yards, 17 plays, running the ball, bleeding clock, converting, what is it? Five third downs on that final drive. And you got Kirk Cousins, not exactly nimble or an Adonis, pushing his way into the end zone for the go-ahead score, they've stepped up when they had to. So, you know, as much as they should have blown this game out 45-10,

a 29-22 win with clutch plays on offense and Dantzler's play at the end, there's a lot to build on there. So, again, take the money and run. It's going to come in handy later when the games in November get more difficult, the weather turns nastier, the injuries pile up, everybody's banged up and tired. This is going to pay off down the road. At least it should good teams make it pay off down the road. Folks, maybe you've noticed people in your office with what looks like an open tall boy at their desk in the morning at work.

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front of my friends who know i'm not a drinker just to see their reactions so go get liquid death at your local target whole foods market or hy-v or find a liquid death retailer near you with their store locator tool at liquiddeath.com slash insider that's liquiddeath.com slash insider with this team they've just had a tendency to keep bad teams in it in recent years and that's where there are some elements of this that are just not that different. And it really comes down to the personnel of it. Like the defense still has flaws that it's had for years, even with some different people. And with Kirk Cousins, he's just never been that guy who steamrolls a team and runs away from them.

And there were a few drives in there where it felt like, well, who cares that they punted the ball away or whatever, right? Like they're up by so much, but those are the drives where you say it's over. Go home, Chicago, like warm up your jet. You can leave at halftime. And the vibe in the building was interesting. I think the Bears were playing so bad that the crowd wasn't even really trying to distract Justin Fields at times. They were just like, eh, like almost like they felt bad for him. Like, okay, we'll quiet down and let it go. And then as they got some momentum in that game, you ended up having Bears fans cheering defense, defense when they were out there on the final drive, because there are a lot of Bear fans in the area who make the trip up. So they had gained sort of the confidence as their team was coming back. And I look at, so just as we speak, Matt Rule got fired. Least surprising

thing ever in Carolina. A guy who was in over his head from day one with Carolina. Anyway, but yesterday is a good example. San Francisco, who I believe, look at their roster top to bottom, their defense, their weapons, their offensive line when Trent Williams eventually comes back. They are a monster of a roster, and they just said to Carolina, oh, this is your coach gets fired game. Bye. And just ran by them. And this kind of reminds me of 2020 when they played a Texans team the Vikings did.

The Texans were like way down. And the whole game, the Vikings outplayed them. And there was no question who the better team was. And yet at the end, they're throwing into the end zone for a chance to tie the game. And it's like, how does this happen all the time that you just cannot really put somebody away? It's sort of been a staple of who they've been. And if that doesn't change,

then there's going to be a game or two or three where we go, you guys played with fire for so long that eventually you were going to get burned unless, and this is where the big unless is, they start finding ways to get other people to football than Justin Jefferson because a wide receiver who catches 12 passes in a game for 100 and whatever yards, I mean, that's a dominant performance. But you sort of saw that this is how it always goes.

Like there will be a drive or two drives where a guy picks up a bunch of catches it's not like if he catches 12 he catches three each quarter for an equal amount of yards and it seems so much that the offense is just Justin Jefferson and then a running game yesterday but overall just Justin Jefferson that like if that's how it's going to be, you're going to have major inconsistencies through the season. To me, that's the one space where you can actually point to and go, you know where they could really be better?

Is there other human beings running out there with jerseys that aren't Justin Jefferson? Yeah, and the counterpoint to that, though, is why aren't you getting Justin Jefferson the ball? Well, if you're getting the ball and the Bears played, you know, basically in the suburbs to defend him. I mean, they left him open for most of the first quarter, if not the second quarter. I haven't read any of the Chicago coverage on that philosophy, but it seemed like and I don't know which was it football outsiders or pro football folk. I don't know who came out with the cousins never threw a pass into what is defined as a tight window,

which you can explain to me as well. Is that one yard around – a defender within a yard radius or something? So he essentially played pitch and catch to start the game when he went 17 for 17 to set a team record. And he threw awful behind – that interception was ugly, and it spoon-fed momentum. Yeah, there are – I would be more concerned if they're struggling to get the ball to Jefferson than involving others,

because I think those other players can be complementary and will fit in it when they need to. Cook, you know, they got him the ball when they needed to and kind of piggybacked off the running game a little bit. And I like how they used him in that fourth quarter drive as well to kind of chew off some clock. You're right. They're still fine in their way. There doesn't seem to be a really smooth game plan. It always seems like they start strong. They've scored on their opening drive three out of four games, I believe, or three of four of their victories, I believe.

They've had game-opening touchdown drives. Very curious, too, we can get into this, what you thought about O'Connell actually taking the ball, winning the opening kickoff, which goes against all of the conventional wisdom these days, and they ended up going down there and sticking seven on Chicago right away. Yeah, there are holes here. There are holes on offense. There are holes on defense.

There are holes within, you know, at Donatel. I kind of wonder, you know, how long is he going to be able to just kind of throw a blanket over teams as opposed to attacking them? Is that being driven by what these guys are adjusting to his new scheme? Is it age? Is it teams finding soft spots? Because there are soft spots. I think you wrote about this pretty good, too.

You know, the defense is probably going to dictate where this team goes more than the offense because we know what the offense is pretty capable of doing. We know what the defense has been capable of doing, and it wasn't great, and they haven't really made a ton of changes. So I don't know how they're going to hold up in November and December as they get more banged up. It would help if the Vikings offense could put an opponent down and put them away like Chicago.

Would have, could have, should have. Everybody's going to nitpick, but I just – they feel – 4-1 feels problematic, but it also just feels like this is the perfect time and the perfect season maybe to learn as you're going, to kind of gain experience, pick up victories along the way. And, again, these are key victories because, again, 3-0 in the division. They got, you know, they're going to end up going on the road to finish it off. But that is a major tiebreaker down the road, too.

So if they end up tied with Green Bay, that's going to be important to have. I just feel like they're stockpiling confidence and momentum that kind of piggybacks off the fresh air. All the fresh air and new approach stories that went from January through training camp with the new regime and the new coach weren't really tested by moments on the field. They have been tested by moments on the field. The Vikings have had a lot of good breaks. They've created some of their own. They've made some self-inflicted mistakes, but they've rallied at the right times. They've said the right things. And they've also

performed under pressure when they needed to. And I think that's been pretty impressive. So I feel like the great thing about this is the expectations were so uncertain that it's not like, well, of course they should be four and one. They're that good. Or I can't believe they're four and one. They were that awful. I don't think anybody had that going into the season. So I think we're going to learn just week by week. And that kind of makes things, as you mentioned, intriguing because there's nothing baked in as far as expectations. And I don't think anybody would be terribly shocked if they ended up 6-11. I mean, it could happen. I don't think it will, but there's no guarantees with the momentum that

they built up with a 4-1 record, but I think they got to feel pretty good because they found creative ways to win as opposed to finding awful ways to lose. Yeah, and it's like two different conversations of the results so far where there's no question. I mean, they've made big plays at big times and gotten remarkable drives at the end of games from their quarterback, you know, and the running game played into it yesterday as well. But like you said, a drive that bled most of the clock out to take the lead and then converting the two-point conversion made it so the bears would only be able to tie the game

and so forth like those are all great plays uh cam cameron dantzler just coming up with another big play and you know dantzler is a good example of where where i'm always hesitant is should i tie in the stuff about o''Connell's different atmosphere with what we just saw happen or not because I always tend to think it's kind of like the players make the plays and you know that's it right like I don't know if I ever really believed that Zimmer made his team so upset that they couldn't perform because he won a lot of football games. I think he actually has almost the same winning percentage for his career that Bill Parcells. They're like, well, if he made everybody uncomfortable,

they sure won a lot while he was there for somebody who did that. But I do look at, you know, individual players and Cousins is one of them and Cam Dantzler is one of them where you wonder if showing a little belief in the guy was what was necessary for that situation. You know, Cousins is a good example. And it's not like Cousins, by the way, it's not like Cousins never had game winning drives. The one thing I never really understood was the like Cousins can't lead game winning drives or can't win at nighttime or something. Like, no, I don't think those are actually the thing. Cause he led the league in 2017 and game winning drives.

It's not like he can't have the ball last and make throws and score. It was always about, can he do the thing for a whole season consistently? Like his, his ups and downs. And yesterday was one rollercoaster of Kirk cousins, this unbelievable first half performance, second half, they can't move the ball at all. But I do think that the results so far, there's no evidence to the contrary that Kevin O'Connell's culture is helping them,

is the way that I wrote it in my article and the way that I like to say it. Because I'm not guaranteeing that past results predict future results here with these first couple of games, but with someone like Dantzler, he said yesterday after the game that the coaching staff came to him and they said, look, you're our starting corner. You're our guy. Let's, you know, let's go do this. I don't think that was Mike Zimmer's attitude toward Dantzler. I also think that Ed Donatel has been frustrated at times with him with certain techniques and things like that. It's what everybody kind of says about him is that some of the technical

stuff just isn't where it needs to be, but showing belief and critiquing a player versus hammering their face in every time they make a mistake are two different approaches that may pay dividends. And you talk about like the margins of the NFL are very, very close to where you win and lose. If there's only a couple of players who are very important, who now are feeling more empowered, and really specifically the quarterback, I could buy into that.

I could buy into a handful of players that were really beat down and made mistakes because of it who now feel totally refreshed but I also am not ready to say that a quarterback who so far has an 86 quarterback rating to start the season is is like a different version of himself or anything but I I'm willing to go that far with it to say that that connection has been and should continue to pay dividends at certain times between O'Connell and his players. Yes, the relationship between Kevin O'Connell and Kirk Cousins is going to be the most dominant to watch. But as you mentioned, if all these other players who felt marginalized or undervalued, nevermind just the verbal criticism and the arguments that it's

2022 and not 1982 anymore. But if you don't feel like you have an investment in the product, if you don't feel like you're valued in the workplace, and I'm just speaking as we all are, we're all employees. We're not all as fortunate to be a self-employed millionaire like you are, and an author, and a a website manager and a beat writer and a multi-million and multi multimedia star mobile is fine you just say just cogs in the wheel you know so i think like if you feel like whatever you're contributing is is valued you're gonna step up you're gonna care more you going to react better. It doesn't necessarily translate into performance on the field, but what it does do is it eliminates the motivation factor for,

you know, trying to inspire guys to rise above and meet their potential. And, you know, you can tear down people to build them up. It may work once it may work with certain particular people. It may not work with others, but if it's, that's your only tool in the toolbox is to bludgeon people with their mistakes as opposed to, and I mean, again, we, again, we Zimmer's been put up as the convenient boogeyman because he hasn't said a word since he's been fired, and he's kind of the – he's out of sight, out of mind, so everybody can look at that and see that.

It's not him anymore. We feel so much better about ourselves here. But it does – you know, it does bear – everybody – the Vikings thought that they were going to kind of get, you know, I don't know, maybe beat up a little bit the way they played in London in their first practice back. And they didn't have that, right? Was I reading this week that they had a pretty light week as far as preparations? You know, maybe a year ago they would have been ready for a two-hour padded beatdown on that Wednesday coming back from London despite winning the way they did.

So, yeah, maybe there's a mental break in that. But I don't feel like this team is, you know, they're not going to smile all the way to victory. I said it before and I'll say it again. Something's going to happen off the field. Something's going to happen during the bye week. Something's going to happen with an injury. Somebody's going to say or do something controversial. How is O'Connell going to manage that brush fire? The only brush

fires he's had to manage are one dominant loss in Philadelphia. Otherwise, he's had a pretty smooth sail here. So I want to see when the roof starts caving in a little bit, both during a game and off the field. I want to see how he's going to react to that because that is what defines successful coaches through the course of an up-and-down season, but also through their careers. How do they manage adversity? And the Vikings so far, they've had pockets of adversity during games,

but have overcome them pretty well. So is that all endemic on the feel-good attitude in the building? Maybe some of it, but they haven't been challenged that harshly yet. We're waiting for it. It's coming. Well, and there is a time in the schedule that you mentioned that will kind of test where they stand. I don't think anyone expects them to go to Buffalo and win,

but how do you play against that team? Because bad teams that have gone into Buffalo this year have gotten run out of the building. And I can think of a certain wide receiver who's going to be a little motivated in that game. And they're, and they're much better. They're a much better team.

That, that team is the best in the NFL. They were the Vegas favorites from day one and they're acting like it and that's what they did yesterday is what you expect against the reeling bad team is they got ahead early and then they threw like a 98 yard touchdown and then they threw like an 80 yard touchdown like just just like forget you Steelers we're gonna run away from you that's what you wanted to see yesterday from the Vikings. But to your point, I think that there's a lot of things that I look at Kevin O'Connell so far,

and I think I'm very impressed by. One was the opening script for yesterday. It was like, you know what? This stuff about putting Cousins back in the shotgun and having him do a bunch of different reads and this and that and everything else and option routes and so forth. Now we're not going to do that. We're going to come out. We're going to run Gary Kubiak's opening script. You know why? Because it works. It works for this gentleman. That's why. Because there's a long history of Kirk Cousins lining up under center with that fullback behind him, running a bootleg and throw into an open receiver running a crossing route. He's just good at it. And it fits for him and it fits for their talent because in the previous years, they had good offenses. They were just like one or two things away, maybe some senseless runs away or

just little tweaks and changes. They were not a bad offense. He was not a bad quarterback over the last few years. And it's almost like over the first couple of weeks that he had the humility to say, I need to go back to some of that stuff because that's what's in Kirk's past. They weren't doing a lot of that in training camp. So that's kind of on the fly that they've made that change, but it's really worked for them. And I think that almost every snap, maybe one or two weren't, almost every snap was under center on that first drive.

And it's like, yep, that's Kirk. The guy's been playing under center since he was a little kid because he's kind of a quarterback from a different era, but Kevin O'Connell's adjusting. I like that maybe even more than I like the rah-rah, whatever else. I think the juxtaposition with Matt Rule getting fired kind of solidifies how I feel about coaches, right? Like Matt Rule came in and was like, oh, I know everything,

and it's my system and everything else, and fires the offensive coordinator when his system isn't working and all this stuff. Just this kind of pompous guy who didn't know what he was doing and didn't treat players the right way and so forth. And O'Connell, being a former NFL player and an NFL assistant coach, I think has come in and really done this thing with a thought of what works for the players best. And you used a great example. The health

thing is huge. They don't have injuries. Their rookies have gotten banged up on special teams and that's it. They don't have injuries. And part of that is like, yeah, a light week. NFL players are fine with that. They spend 365 working on this. They are ready to play almost whenever. These guys could probably play like a couple of weeks into training camp. They're just ready for this if they're not adjusting to a new system. And I think that O'Connell knows that, like having just been a former player himself, like the team's probably over practice and they get players hurt in practice and that's not necessary. So I've been very impressed with a lot of things that he's done so far. Now here's

the question that I need to pose though. So at four and one, I think that there is an argument to start shifting the goalposts around for this team, because at the beginning of the season, you're probably saying saying can you get to the playoffs because that's you know not where you've been in quite a while are you ready to shift beyond that for this team other than just hey go make the playoffs and then we'll see what happens because that's been the mentality of the past few years they've come a little short of that um is it set the bar even higher now when you've seen it, or is that still the bar? I think it's setting it a little bit higher,

and not so much even because they're 4-1 and the way they've gotten to 4-1. I think, as we've mentioned in the last couple of weeks, it's the way the conference is stacking up. It's the way the division is stacking up. If Green Bay had won yesterday in New Orleans, I, you know, you, I would be like, yeah, they're going to, it's going to be a neck, neck and neck knife fight. I feel like Green Bay is vulnerable this season. And Rogers, I think feels that just, you can tell by his demeanor and his body language and his post-game remarks and, you know, they're teetering over there. So, and, and the Vikings already have a win, a game in hand on them, you know? So that's what, you know, I had said before the season nine wins, you pressed me last week. I went to 9.5.

I could say 10 wins now, but I think 10 or 11, even if they win the division, 10 wins, I think puts them in a good position because as you mentioned you know where philadelphia is the the standard bear dallas is the standard bear i'm not buying in on the new york giants yet i mean we'll see where they end up that's a tough division so i don't know how how new york and philadelphia they're playing next week and then they're gonna they're gonna wrestle themselves the rest of the season the giants might be in the mix but other other than these, you mentioned the 49ers. I don't know. Nobody else seems very intimidating out there.

So why not the Vikings? Why not this season? Why not – you know, there's a clear path to the playoffs. What can they do there? Matchups, opponents, health, confidence level. They're building the right amount of victories style. The way they're winning, the number of victories they have, the circumstances in which they've found themselves and rallied, these are all good things. I mean, the double doink, if they get to the playoffs by

one game, everybody can say, well, you know, they were, you know, a millimeter away. Fine. But they also put themselves in positions to not fall apart. I'm not saying they would have under Mike Zimmer yesterday, but I'm not thinking that that would have ended well yesterday under the previous regime. So I'm willing to say that they are a – they're certainly a playoff favorite. They're the NFCoff favorite they're the nfc north favorite right now but i want to see how i want to see how philly and dallas comport themselves i want to see

how dac prescott comes back and and what what he does down in dallas how smooth that transition to getting him back will be um you know let's uh i i'm convinced that when thanksgiving night is finally over and the Patriots get on their charter plane out of Minneapolis, I think we're going to know exactly who the Vikings are. That's another six weeks away. So I think that's going to, November will determine who they are. It's going to be Buffalo on the road, Dallas at home, New England at home, and you're going to know exactly who the Minnesota Vikings are. So if they can keep stockpiling wins along the way, and they're there to be plucked right now. I mean, Miami's a shell of itself.

It's probably going to be hotter than blazes down there next Sunday, but they've got that. A very bad Cardinals team coming in here. They go to Washington. Doesn't seem very formidable. So they could keep pocketing more victories and prepare themselves for the rigors of November. And I think we're going to know a lot in about six weeks on this club. All right, let's finish on this, Murph.

There's seven teams, if I'm eyeballing this correctly, who are either 4-1, 5-0, or 3-2 in the NFC, the early contenders. Let's go through them, and you just tell me, are the Vikings better or worse than these teams? All right. I don't think Philly is a hard discussion, but Philly. Philly's better, and they got the credible victory to – they got the receipts to show.

Dallas. Is Dallas better than the Vikings? Yes, because they have Dallas better than the Vikings? Yes, because they have been better for the last couple of years, and they're winning with a backup quarterback. And they have Lawrence Taylor on their football team. My gosh, Micah Parsons is an unbelievable player. There's so many great players in the NFL.

You just don't expect someone to come in and be like way better than everyone else but that's him he's the aaron donald the defensive end uh new york giants no i i don't i watched the last half of that game yesterday morning and you know daniel jones becoming kurt schilling with the bloody wrist and you know saquon barkley coming out, coming back from the dead. They're an interesting story. They're in New York, so that's going to be fun. But I, boy, they seem like a fraud to me. The Vikings will play them.

We'll see what happens in four and one. I'm sure people in New York are probably looking at the Vikings at four and one saying they're a fraud, but I'm going to say right now, the Vikings are better than the Giants. I think that's fair. I really do like their defense, though. I thought they played great yesterday defensively. San Francisco.

49ers are better. Better in coaching, great defense. You know, even Garoppolo seems like he's motivated. So, yeah, the 49ers have had the Vikings numbers the last couple years too. So, yeah. And one of their losses was just the dumbest. Like the – In the mud at Soldier Field.

With Trey Lance, who didn't know what he was doing in that game. The Packers. Vikings better than the Packers. Yeah. Their victory in week one says that. And their 4-1 mark over Green Bay's three-in-two mark says that. So I'm pretty comfortable saying that. The only evidence to the contrary was that one throw that Rodgers made

on the run yesterday, and you were like, oh, my gracious. The moon ball? The one that he threw, I think it was to Lazard, and it was like through everyone, this rocket. He's still the most talented player in the division. No doubt. I don't know on that, because Green Bay with Rodgers has had

rocky times before, and we've said all these things, and then they just come out of it. I don't know. There's no way to say right now the Vikings aren't better, because they've beaten them head-to-head and have a better record. It's just where he's, you know. And they've got to go to Lambeau in January again,

and that's where the reckoning always happens. So the weather factor, the Lambeau factor, that's where they could get their sweet revenge. Be up by two games in the division by that one. That's what I would say. Rest your starters at Lambeau would be a fine week. Tampa Bay is the only other team 3-2, 4-1, or 5-0 in the NFC. I haven't liked what I've seen from my limited viewing of them. And that, oh, by the way,

that roughing the passer call, I think may go down as among the worst in the history of the National Football League for anybody who hasn't seen it. I guess Tom Brady is forever bubble-wrapped by the NFL. Much like you mentioned Rodgers, I mean, Brady's the X Factor. There are times where you think he'd rather just go home tomorrow and end it all, and then there are times where you're like, yeah, I think he's going to grind through and he's going to be there at the end. I'll call that a draw. And if anything, I'll give a little bit of a nod to Tampa just because of the Brady factor. They're not going to face each other head-to-head, so it might be a playoff matchup, but I'd say the Bucs are better.

I would go Bucs as well because they have, even though they got shredded by Patrick Mahomes, of which many people do, they're still one of the top defenses in the league, despite that bad game, which tells you how good they've been in the other games. Their defense is pretty phenomenal, and Brady will likely get better as he goes along. But right in the mix, right in the mix. And that's what I mean by interesting. In the mix, talking about are they as good as the other contenders? We have not been there in a long time. So Murph, great stuff. Your column is up at purpleinsider.com. So make sure you check that out and we will carry on this conversation after

the Vikings go to Miami. So good stuff, man. All right, man. We'll talk soon.