Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Brian Murphy talks about the meaning of the Vikings win over Seahawks

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

Matthew Coller and Brian Murphy discuss the Vikings improving to 13-2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and it is time for Monday Morning Murph with Brian Murphy to react to the 13-2 Minnesota Vikings who are two wins away from taking the entire national football conference. What do you think Murph? How you feel? I would feel pretty darn good.

If I'm in that locker room, I'd feel pretty darn good. If I'm in this fan base, the days of, you know, looking through fan fingers for the worst to happen are over. Look, the worst could still happen.

We know that in January, but this team has earned the worst to happen are over. Look, the worst could still happen. We know that in January. But this team has earned the right, earned the right, and I mean earned the right to position itself to be the number one seed. As you mentioned, they're not going to be easy, two more wins. But 15 wins, it's only happened one time in this franchise's storied history of always being there. And it would forever link them with the 1998 team. And of course, no one wants to know.

Nobody wants the same ending for the 2024 Vikings that they do the 98 team. But there's something really brewing here. There's something intangible. I'm a little bit more at a distance. I'm not in the locker room all the time like you are. But from everything I read and everything I hear, this is as much of a 53-man roster plus anybody else that needs to step up at any given time that is totally bought in and is really playing for themselves

and playing for something larger than themselves. And that doesn't come around that often. I mean, even in some of these seasons we've touched upon, 2017, 2009, 2000, there was always a fatal flaw waiting to come through. There was always maybe some questions about, you know, unbalanced teams. Unbalanced, you know, it's either dominated by the offense or dominated by the defense. And, you know, you had to wonder, you know, was Brad Childress going to coach somebody to the Super Bowl? Denny Green couldn't seem to do it. You know, Zimmer could coach defense, but didn't really

get the whole notion of being the alpha male of the entire organization. And he never looked like he was having an ounce of fun even when he was winning. KOC and this roster and this organization right now, I don't know if the vibes have ever been any better. And that doesn't mean they're going to run the table here the next two weeks. And it doesn't mean guaranteed success in January. But I think they're positioned for more success than certainly the 25 years I've been in this market. It's a great point about how it has taken an entire 53 and then some. And it's one of my favorite parts of covering a winning team is to go through and try to identify all the people that weren't necessarily the big star and the contributions

that they had throughout a big win. And you can look at that, whether it's Trent Shurfield punt gunning, or it's Ryan Wright with a big punt at the end of the game, Will Reichert coming through with a couple of huge kicks that are big difference makers in that game. And Parker Aromo holding the fort in between. Absolutely. And Jake McQuaid, who comes in as the long snapper, if they win, he gets a ring. And it would be much deserved because you're trying to replace a kicker

and a long snapper in the middle of the season. And those guys held it down for a little while till Andrew DiPaolo and Will Reichard could come back. Theo Jackson is another one of those lore type of guys. When you have a season like this, everyone will remember the Theo Jackson pick at the end of the game where Theo Jackson had this incredible training camp where he's making plays left and right. But the whole season, the safety group just stays healthy and they play every play.

So Theo Jackson's not out there. And then he gets out there and makes the game winning interception. We also saw some big plays from somebody like Levi Drake Rodriguez gets in the game there late and they're rotating in Bobby McCain started the game for Harrison Smith because he played more of that type of role. And it seemed like they thought Harrison might play. So they didn't really prepare anybody else. And they needed a guy who was enough of a veteran to show up and do that. And then it also turns out, I wrote about this weeks and weeks ago, but Kevin O'Connell brought it up again,

that Bobby McCain has been like his eyes and ears on the defense when he's dialing up concepts and asking Bobby McCain, this veteran player, to give him feedback. Every single person feels like they're contributing to get these 13 wins. And when someone goes down, suddenly Josh Metellus has had back-to-back phenomenal weeks replacing Ivan Pace Jr. Or Fabian Moreau came in and played a couple good weeks when Stephon Gilmore was out. It's just one of those years where everybody is contributing and making a difference

in these wins. And it all does dial back to the coach. I saw JJ McCarthy tweeting about Kevin O'Connell as coach of the year, but it's really hard. It's an impossible task in the NFL to just coach a team, to keep them together throughout an entire season, much less have that be a main part of the value of the team is how much they've come together around the head coach. And don't forget the acquisition of Cam Robinson when Christian Derusaw goes down. Oh, by the way, they're 8-0 without Christian Derusaw. I mean, that's your Pro Bowl left tackle. I mean, so everything that they've done, every maneuver they've made, every body they've brought in at various times has panned out and made plays at particularly key moments. And you're right, it does contribute to this, everybody has skin in the game.

You know, I may not be padding my stats. I'm not sure where I'm going to be in three months. I don't know where this is heading, but I'm glad I'm here and I'm glad I'm contributing and I feel in something grander than they are. And that's a tribute to the roster that the front office has assembled, the coaching job that KOC and his staff have done. But really, it starts within the players themselves. I mean, it's the total buy-in. And when you have sort of a renegade like Sam Darnold is appearing to be, for him to be able to win over that locker room, not so much what he's done in September, October, November, December, of course that matters. But anytime you read about, you know, what did you see in Darnold and how do you explain this resurrection to a man, his teammates will go back to OTAs. They'll go back to March when he came in.

They'll go back to, you know, there's been a lot of chatter about the team building exercises throughout the off season. Every team, every company, every organization does those kinds of things. And sometimes they're just checking a box and sometimes they really matter and they resonate. And it seems like the barbecue cook-off that Johnny Munt won with his ribeye, that's always a touchstone for guys to say, you know, this didn't just begin with the thrashing of the Giants in New York in early September. This really began nine months ago, this journey. So it's really been interesting to see and fun to see.

And I really thought if they beat Seattle in Seattle, they're going to run the table. And I don't have any reason to disagree with that now. And also I thought it was really fascinating to watch from the couch as you're toggling back and forth between games. I was actually watching Washington and Jaden Daniels march down the field to snuff the Eagles, which was more compelling at that very moment than Sam Darnold's game opening drive for a touchdown in Seattle, which was no less important to the overall picture. But I was so compelled to watch the possibility that the Eagles would

stumble and that the sea would part wide open right now for the Vikings. And it would have been very convenient for them to lose gallantly in a tough environment in Seattle and still not lose ground to Philadelphia, but to seize the moment. I don't think they knew on, you know, unless they were scoreboard watching, they probably found out eventually that Philadelphia had lost that opportunity to seize that moment and move ahead of Philadelphia. Now it is you in Detroit neck and neck. And oh, by the way, but before you can even get to that epic showdown in week 18,

you may have even more compelling matchup coming into town with your arch rivals who always seem to be in town around Christmas or New Year's. So you know U.S. Bank Stadium is going to be in flames basically on Sunday, whether it's late Sunday afternoon yet, if they flex that. There's no reason this team can't finish 15-2 and secure that number one seat. No reason. The only reason would be they're defeated by better teams, but they have positioned themselves, I think, to walk away with this.

And I wouldn't have thought that a couple of weeks ago, even when they were hard charging. It just seemed like 15 wins, the Lions, the North, and the NFC seemed to be too elusive. But now, not anymore. So they have flexed it, by the way. It is officially 3 o'clock. 325. Yep. 325. Yep. 325. So that is the big game. Tom Brady is coming to town to call the game, which you can have different opinions on his broadcasting skill. But when Tom Brady shows up to call your game, it is a big freaking deal. to Green Bay and ask a simple question. What did that win mean for you? Because I think we can go through previous wins and look at the win against Arizona. What did it mean? Well, it meant that Sam Darnold could bring them back in a game.

And what did it mean to beat Kirk Cousins? To me, that was the game where everybody in Viking land said, okay, something's happening here. And the 52 yard touchdown. And it's just different this year when they beat the Atlanta Falcons, because that's a game that they would have lost so many times along the way. And that's where I felt like this fervor start to begin. Chicago didn't mean a whole heck of a lot other than that. You just didn't fall on your face in an emotional time with the Randy Moss and everything else that was going on and all the discussion about Darnold so what's the takeaway

big picture there for you from Seattle that the moment is never too big for this team it's been building all season but again there's been skepticism there's been nitpicking there's been nitpicking. There's been, yeah, but for this, what about that, dot, dot, dot. You know, they lost their two games in a span of four days. They've been playing since early September. They've essentially been playing winning football and talking about playing winning football for three full months, if you want to look at it that way. And they've never allowed themselves to get carried away by our expectations or shifting expectations or demands, or maybe just not being able to rise to the occasion. You mentioned Darnold. I think, you know, coming back from the, we're going to be talking about that Jacksonville game for a long time because

it really was the nadir of, boy, maybe Darnold isn't the savior we thought he was because it wasn't so much how ugly the interceptions looked from a physical standpoint, but the decision-making was really suspect. And all he's really done since then, I think, is thrown 15 touchdown passes with one interception, and that one interception essentially doubling as a punt on, I think it was third and long or fourth down, deep in territory. It didn't feel like an interception. It felt like pinning your opponent deep.

That's what he's done since then, and you mentioned the Arizona game. That's where the defense handed him the ball and said, go win it in the last few minutes. Well, he's done that several times since. And he did it yesterday in the harshest conditions possible. Loud, obnoxious stadium, wet, rainy field. Geno Smith had just led Seattle down the field with an impressive drive in and of itself to finally give Seattle a lead. But I never really felt like the game was over. I never felt like the Vikings were in danger of losing. I was all feeling pretty confident that Sam Darnold could lead a game-winning drive,

and all it took was four plays. They finally caught a face mask penalty, so no more whining about the missed call in LA. They got it yesterday. And the play that he makes from, you know, I think it was Seattle's 39, 40 yard line to drop back, feel the pressure, step out of the pressure, improvise the route, improvise with Justin Jefferson in tandem, like they both kind of went off script and made it happen. And to put that ball in a tight window over two defenders to the best receiver in the league who found separation as only the best receiver in the league who found separation as only the best receiver in the league best receivers do and walk in for the winning touchdown 30 seconds after your opponent almost dagger almost daggered you that to me was you know

darn old rising to the occasion but also the vikings not being overwhelmed by the moment which is why I feel like they're in a great position to take care of business at home and find out what the Lions are capable of doing after traveling to San Francisco and having a long week or short week to come back with that banged up roster. I just feel like everything is aligned for the Vikings right now. And they, they recognize that and they haven't been overwhelmed by it. And I think that's, that's something to feel very, very optimistic about. That is a reminder that the Vikings will play the next two opponents with a little bit of

favorable scheduling, Monday night football for Green Bay. And then you mentioned the travel for Detroit, but the fact that the Vikings had a lot of excuses in this game for why they would lose it to Seattle and none of those ended up coming to fruition. The weather was miserable and I spent the whole game with wet shoes because of my walk in through the Seattle rains, got, got every bit of the Seattle rain jokes. So make sure Seattle people come to Minnesota in December so they can freeze. Like I got wet, but it's wet out there. It's nasty out there. The fans, there were a lot of Vikings fans, but the fans who were there for Seattle seemed to take it personally. What happened the week before? And they were as loud as it gets in the NFL. And the players were talking about it after the game with the Vikings. Like this was a very difficult environment to play in.

And they were coming off of Monday night football and they were missing one of the greatest safeties to ever step on a football field in Harrison Smith and someone who is so responsible for all the things that go on there. They're missing their emerging young defensive tackle, Jalen Redman. They're missing their star linebacker or emerging star linebacker, Ivan Pace Jr. These are very key pieces. And to have Theo Jackson step up, to have the Bobby McCain, the Josh Metellus filling in at linebacker, those guys making plays, everybody contributing. Andrew Van Ginkle having this massive game

with a couple of sacks and seven pressures on Gino Smith in that game. It really took everybody to be able to win. And that's one of those where if you lost that game, I think we would have come out of it and gone, well, okay, you're a five seed. And that was a tough environment with a desperate team and we get it and it doesn't really change a ton every reason to lose it they find a way to win it because of their resilience and every time there's been an obstacle in front of them they have found a way to get over it and i thought that was one of the most difficult obstacles considering where you had to fly to different time zone different situation weather, weather, everything else.

It was kind of all there. And to be able to get down and then overcome that, I mean, I think that that was the win of the season because of that. I don't think that's hyperbolic to say that other than going to Green Bay where we really knew that something was real with this team. Oh, no question it's the win of the season. And you mentioned the adversity and the resilience. I mean, drill even deeper into that on that final touchdown drive. I mean, the headset goes out. You know, Kevin O'Connell is unable to communicate with Sam Darnold in those frenzied moments in it.

You know, Darnold checks into a play that he ends up running for eight or nine yards, and he also runs to the left sideline, which I don't know. I was trying to read the comments if he meant to go to the sideline just so that he could have that conversation with O'Connell. I mean, you want to talk about thinking 16 steps ahead to actually get the right play called in and to have to deal with that at that very moment with that crowd roaring. Yeah, I mean, there just doesn't seem to be a lot that'll cold cock these guys. And, you know, it also bodes well, too, because if they do end up,

say, going to Philadelphia, which is a really nasty environment to play, and you could have some nasty weather there as well. Detroit, you're not going to have weather issues, but it's still a tough environment to play. I mean, if you look at their past road games here, just off the top of my head, you go Chicago, Tennessee, Jacksonville. You know, they played Green Bay back in September, but it doesn't seem like they've had some really, you know, tough environments to go into. So Seattle, to come out with that type of win leading into the playoffs, when it's still possible, you may have to play one, two or three road games just to get to the Superbowl. Not a bad time to have a bad weather game and a tough environment to pull something out in. There's

another takeaway for me from the game. And then I want to get to what green bay means from a bigger picture uh justin jefferson picking that time to have his best game and i know if he could throw himself the ball he would do it every time but that moment that day where they weren't running the ball well addison got involved early but then was kind of taken out at times in the game. Hockinson had a couple of plays where maybe you expect him to catch the football, or maybe the throw is just not quite there. Maybe 25% type of catches that he doesn't bring in. And it's not like anybody else is really stepping up on the offensive side. You know, acres wasn't in the game much. Jones is kind of hacking away at the defense, but not really getting a big push.

It's not one of those Josh Oliver games or Johnny Munt where they show up with some random big play. The whole offense was basically Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson go win this football game. And they said, okay, we're the two best players on the field today. And we're going to go win this game together. No one can stop our guy, Justin Jefferson, the best receiver in the world. So we're going to continue to go back to him over and over again.

And that relationship took another step in my mind. You know, that defenses every week are going to try to take him out. And there's some weeks where you go, thanks, like against Chicago, where Addison and Hawkinson go crazy. But when they needed it the most, they were there on multiple levels. I mean, he's got 10 catches in the game. There's five, six of them that are very significant plays in the red zone, in the end zone, first downs, on the move, scrambling.

There's another one where Darnold's on the move and has to lead Jefferson across the field, and it's a brilliant throw, not even the one that he threw for a touchdown. That relationship taking another step forward seems like it could really matter as we go down the stretch and into the playoffs. Well, and it should be known, again, we talked about it.

I mean, both of them had the wherewithal on that game-winning touchdown play to do what they needed to do to make that possible. And that's Darnold recognizing where Jefferson is in his route, where the coverage is, to be able to step up, avoid that pressure, keep his eyes downfield, deliver a ball to a tight window, a tight window that Jefferson created by having the wherewithal to know where that route was ending, where that coverage was. And, you know, he's kind of got the freedom, you know, to kind of create that space, just a small patch of green grass or green turf. And if you can deliver a pro football elite quarterback type throw anywhere in the vicinity of Greengrass and Justin Jefferson, it's going to happen. And we've known that over the years and you're right to have that kind of a performance when the stakes are highest and the weather's the worst.

It's really been fun to watch them kind of, you know, both of them have kind of, Darnold had the fast start and Jefferson was a part of that, but we all know how just Jefferson kind of faded away a bit from the game plan because of what defenses were doing. And maybe Darnold and Jefferson didn't have as much of a rapport as they do now to kind of, you know, improvise and find a comfort level for themselves to find opportunities to make big plays in big moments that might be off script. Now that we're deep into the season, they have that. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Darnold's been playing his best football

while Jefferson's had his best stretch of the season. And that, of course, all ties back to probably the end of that Jacksonville game and going into Tennessee. Jefferson kind of got going again. Not much of a presence in Chicago, but again, that was an Addison-Hawkinson game. But from that point on, Justin Jefferson has been putting up numbers and making plays that we always knew that he could. And Darnold is elevating his game to match that. And, boy, if you've got a tandem as good as Darnold and Jefferson are playing going into the postseason, there's no shortage of confidence in the game planning and there's no shortage of confidence in that offense that those two guys

are going to connect when need be. And that's a great advantage to have because you still have all these other weapons underneath and off to the side that, you know, Jordan, Jordan Addison can come up with 150 yard game too, if you need them, maybe with Jefferson in tandem or in spite of Jefferson, but you know that they have opportunities to move the ball on the ground and in the air, whether or not Justin Jefferson is a key player, but even if he, player. But even if he's getting three catches for 52 yards, my guess is 40 of those yards are going to be in the fourth quarter,

and he's going to make a key first down conversion or even have a touchdown catch if he doesn't have the production because that's where he shows up, and that's what elite players do. They show up when needed. Or he's going to get 50 yards of uh pass interference or whatever which uh they were really letting him play yesterday so he didn't get that but oftentimes he does uh let's talk about the upcoming contest between the vikings and the green bay packers and uh what it means in the big picture. For me, this is why we all do this.

This is why they play. This is why you go into coaching. If you're Kevin O'Connell, this is why you go into football reporting or football podcasting or football, whatever is because we get to talk about games like this. This is one of those, put it on the marquee. Roger Goodell may show up or something. I mean, this is one of those special moments that we have a lot of Vikings, Tennessees throughout the year. And we get through those games and talk about them and takeaways and everything else. But this is what you're always working toward. And this is why

the NFL put these games at the end of the season, by the way, in the division. So you can have these types of moments between the Vikings and the Packers. There's a part of me that gets so amped up for football games like this that we also have to remember if they don't win, it's not like they don't have 13 wins. Right. And I'm sure Vikings fans will be very rational about that. If they don't win, then you're still in the playoffs. You're still going to be favored in the first round. You're still going to have as good a chance as anybody, but I think I can rationally tell everybody that and know that there is no world where people rationally react to this football

game. This is the one that dictates how people remember the 2024 season. Is that, is that too much? No. And that's been the case for decades. Clearly, you know, border rivals. I mean, we've got so many residents, I mean, you know, anybody living here knows, you know, you're only 20 minutes from the, uh, the Wisconsin border. So, I mean, you know, you're only 20 minutes from the Wisconsin border. So, I mean, you know, these are the kinds of games that divide households, even in September. And the fact that you get them twice a year and they've been in the same division for 60 plus years, there's been waves of dominance. Obviously, the Vikings in the 70s and most of the 80s held the upper hand before Brett Favre came in and it's kind of evened out over the last 15 or 20 years, but there's always a Vikings-Packers game where something meaningful

happens, something memorable happens. It's usually at this time of year around the holidays, so people are already, you know, checked out of work and checked out of real life anyway, so there are probably 14 eggnogs in by the time the balls kicked off. I think they played New Year's Eve last year, right? So this is obviously a perfect timing for this kind of matchup. But what I find intriguing about it is that these aren't the same Packers from September 28th or whenever the Vikings saw them. And if we remember that, I mean, the Vikings were rolling early in the season.

I think this was the fourth game. And they really dominated the Packers and Jordan Love going through the first half until Jordan Love woke up and almost led the Packers to an epic comeback victory. And you got to remember, too, this was only a few weeks after Love had hurt his knee in the season opener. So Love is playing at the top of his game and is really peaking right now as an elite quarterback. Matt LaFleur, arguably one of the greatest coaching minds we have going right now. The matchup between him and KLC, which could be years in the making here in this division. The cauldron of chaos that's going to be U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, and the stakes for both teams. I mean, you know, Green Bay has an outside shot, I think, still at the division,

but it's more about them, I think, you know, stealing their moment and stealing the Vikings' thunder and positioning themselves to take all the momentum that they can into the postseason because I think they finish up with the Bears so that game's not going to mean anything this is their season the Vikings still are going to have to deal with Detroit and one of the whatever the ramifications are for that week 18 road game but there's a lot at stake for the Packers as well and I think you know maybe in that locker room they're probably thinking you know we're a bit of the afterthoughts I mean everybody's

talking about how elite the NFC North has been this season, which it has, but it's always been Detroit and the Vikings. And oh, by the way, Green Bay, but Green Bay's play the last couple of months has really brought them into the full two. And it's 1A, 1B, and 2, is what I would say as opposed to 1, 2, and 3 in that division. And I think, I think the Packers being as young as they are, maybe don't know what they don't know yet and makes them awfully dangerous coming in here. And I think that's what makes makes it intriguing is that it's it's beyond just the matchups of, you know, Love and Darnold and LeFleur and KLC and the old division rival and the fans.

I feel like this isn't a moment for Green Bay to seize their opportunity to say, hey, we belong in the conversation among the lead teams too. And you can say, I give them credit for close wins when they outplayed the other team. So this year, there's only been one game where I said, I kind of got away with that one. That was Arizona, where Arizona for a lot of that game played better. Kyler Murray threw you an interception.

You had to get a fourth down conversion. Some stuff had to happen there for the Vikings to win that game. The rest of these close wins, they've outplayed their opponents. However, nobody is on the level of Green Bay since they played the Detroit Lions. That's just a fact. The Green Bay Packers are – And that was two months ago.

Yeah, right. And that's the point is that this is such a show-me game, and it's an opponent that is – I would put them in the top three or four in the NFL for just how they've played over the last month plus. And they went out to Seattle and I know Gino Smith got hurt. So that changes the dynamic, but they were kicking the crap out of Seattle before that even happened. And he went down and then they just took care of business. Green Bay has been playing really, really well. They played a close game themselves

with the Detroit lions and Detroit barely escaped in that one. But again, toe to toe with the best team. So if you are just looking at how strong is everybody in the NFC, you might rank them very equally between Philadelphia, Detroit, Minnesota, and green Bay. I would include them in that conversation because they went through a lot early in the year and it finally clicked together with Jordan Love. He's not going to be banged up this time, assuming that doesn't happen on Monday Night Football, but he's going to be a healthy Jordan Love who has built more chemistry with his coach and with his wide receivers and has proven that he is worthy of being a franchise quarterback in Green Bay in year two. And I think even overcoming adversity

has made him even more impressive to me. So here you go. And the Vikings got so far up and Jordan love almost brought them back with his arm talent and his ability, knowing how strong the opponent is raises the stakes on this one. It would already be a big deal, but I think it also dictates how strong you think the Vikings are. It just, if you tried to put it into numbers, if we were saying, what do we think their chances are to end up in the NFC championship? If they lose to green Bay, you might go, I don't know, maybe like one in five. If they beat green Bay, you'd go, I don't know, 50%.

Right. I think it really changed, just changes. And again, that's rationally unfair, but it also is how it's going to feel because we know how strong that team is. Yeah, and I think, you know, I was kind of lamenting the schedule makers. You know, we were talking last week

about how quirky their schedule's been because they had the three straight road games against the inferior opponents. Then they get three home games and then two out of their last three, you know, the last three games, you know, we were talking last week on the schedule comparison, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota, and Philadelphia,

what their remaining schedule was. The Vikings by far had the toughest schedule. But I would say they have the advantage in one thing. They got this game at home. I think it would be much more difficult to go into Lambeau Field on a bitterly cold night and deal with the ascending Packers there. I don't like the idea of having to go to Ford Field with potentially everything on the line. But if I had the choice to play the Lions on the road or the Packers on the road,

I'd probably take the Lions right now, at least just because of the Lambeau element. And I just feel like this is an opportunity for all of what this season has meant for the Vikings and their fans for it to really culminate. I mean, it's possible this will be the last home game of the season. I mean, the way they're trending, you know, they could seize, you know, they're either going to get all the home games in the playoffs or maybe none. So this could be it. And I just feel like the holiday season, the stakes, the rivalry, the bad feelings, the competitive nature of everybody with this game, it really benefits the Vikings to have. If you're going to have two nasty home games out of three,

or nasty road games out of three to end your season, Seattle and Detroit, I think it really bodes well to get Green Bay at home this particular week. So I'm anxious to see what kind of, what kind of an atmosphere, and we know what kind of an atmosphere it can be and what we think it's going to be, but how much of a factor that's going to have on both clubs. Because, you know, the last thing I remember was Sam Darnold at home against, you know, Atlanta waving that towel. That was sort of when the town kind of came together behind Darnold. I think this could be where the team really, you know,

the town really plants a big kiss on the Vikings on the 29th because that may send them off to their hard journey for the rest of the way, or it may just be a prelude to what's coming back to us bank stadium. All right. Final thoughts from you just on the NFC race in general. So Michael Penix gets his first win and the Atlanta offense won a preseason game. I mean, I don't know what the giants don't care clearly, but panics looked good. And now they're leading the NFC South. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped the ball literally against the Dallas Cowboys when they had a chance to potentially go win that game and stay a game ahead of the Falcons. So if the Vikings do not win against Green Bay, and I'd have to check all my permutations,

it appears that if they don't win against Green Bay, then they can't overtake Detroit because of the record of being an AFC opponent that Detroit lost to and an NFC, two NFC opponents, the Vikings lost to. So if they have the same records, Detroit gets the tiebreaker, wins the division. And that would mean the Vikings going on the road, as you mentioned, and playing either Atlanta with a brand new rookie quarterback who they almost may have drafted if JJ McCarthy was taken earlier. And you also have Tampa Bay still in the mix showing some of their flaws the last couple of weeks.

There's a lot going on here, Murph. Yeah, and if you're asking which one I would rather go up against on the road, I mean, I'd probably pick Atlanta just because Pennix is so unknown, and I would like to see Flores dumping the house on a rookie quarterback in a playoff game. And also, Baker Mayfield is a bit of a wild card with a big arm who's kind of resurrected his career. And, oh, by the way, it seems like eons ago,

but he came into U.S. Bank Stadium in week one last year and really put a weapon on Flores and the Vikings as well. So just there I would lean toward maybe a favorable matchup in Atlanta, which doesn't seem like an awful place to play. I mean, it'll be amped up for a playoff game, but a rookie quarterback as well. But that also makes him a wild card, and you just have no idea what you're going to get. And, you know, sort of an unbridled colt. And you just don't know how dangerous that can be, because he's probably in a position where he doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.

So it really does. And I wouldn't want anything, I tell you what, I wouldn't want anything to do with the LA Rams right now, either. The way they're coming together and having Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay, you know, in tandem, that would be a difficult matchup too. So it, I mean, running the table for obvious reasons gives the Vikings the best, sets them up for the best chances of success. But I think it also lets some of these other opponents, you know, cancel each other out before they even have to worry about it. So yeah, there's so much at stake, so much at stake in

these last couple of weeks. And it's just been a fun ride. I mean, you know, I've been doing this with you for four years and we've had some moments. I mean, we had the quarterback carnival last year that was entertaining. We had 2022 that was just sort of glorious until it wasn't. And even the demise of the Zimmer era was, you know, it was kind of like, you know, covering something after a bomb went off. But it still felt like, you know, there was a purpose there. There was interest and intrigue and the stakes for the future of the franchise were always hanging in the balance. Right now, they are in such uncharted territory, I think, both where their roster is, where their emotions are, where their potential is,

and just the notion that Sam Darnold can just come in and be a savior and be gone, how intriguing that is for him and the rest of the league. I mean, the Darnold narrative is dominating national coverage right now because people just don't know what to make of it. What are they going to do? What are they going to do? What are they going to do? That's all fine and good, but, man, to put this season together,

where this team was in the offseason, deciding whether or not to bring Cousins back, deciding who they were going to draft, deciding how they were going to bridge this franchise into the arms of J.J. McCarthy, all of that was kind of left by the wayside because of what this team has done on the field and the way they've come together as a team has been really enjoyable uh to watch and how they've galvanized under by the way their 38 year old head coach i mean kevin o'connell could be here for another decade if if he keeps this up and uh they may be building a statue of him one day so i just it's just been fun to watch the last couple of years, how unpredictable and how thoroughly entertaining unscripted professional sports can be in the NFL. Man, they've got the best tonic out there. I think it's great for the national media to have their debate shows with the Sam Darnold topic. I'm done with that for now, unless there's a meaningless game week 18, and we're just sort of kicking things around waiting for the playoffs, then I guess it would make sense to have that

discussion, but you're in a serious playoff Superbowl contention race here. And what they miss in those conversations is, well, a lot of details of how the salary cap works for one, but what they often miss in those conversations is Sam Darnold, the person and how he's led this team and how he is brought this group together around him with his performance. And as much as leadership is part of what you say, I think with Sam Darnold, that's what you do the way that he's come through in those moments,

the way he took a professional approach from day one, there was no competition to him between him and McCarthy and sniping or anything else like that. I remember who was it? Maybe Joe Flacco had said something like, it's not my job to train this other quarterback. We draft. There was never any of that attitude from Sam Darnold. He has shown up and done his job and set the example for the entire team because you're only as good as the way your quarterback carries himself in the NFL. And man, it's been impressive for Sam Darnold. So I'm out on that conversation for now. Everything that's going to happen is too important.

But I want to say one more thing for Let's Go on this Monday morning Murph is you and I had a conversation after the Vikings were eliminated in 2022. And I remember it was probably my first question to you. I said, Murph, was it worth it? Was 2022 worth it? And you, ha, yeah. And then you said, no, it wasn't.

And this right now, 13 wins wins already it was worth it like already we've reached the point where it's worth it in a season where they overachieved double literally double what they were supposed to have 6.5 yep was what vegas had him at we were out there in august laughing about it yep exactly literally double we've learned so much about how Kevin O'Connell can coach and how Kweisi Adafo-Mensa, Brian Flores, and O'Connell can work together and the staff and the contracts and all those things to build a roster. And Flores finding guys like, well, Theo Jackson was, I think, under Donatello, but they've kept him around and they've developed him

and that sort of stuff, or Jalen Redmond or whoever else, Ivan Pace, these key players that they've developed. We've just seen so much here about the coaching staff, the organization, O'Connell, what they could do with the quarterback position. We have learned so much that points this franchise in a long-term successful direction that after yesterday, I left Lumen field saying, I mean, this season is already worth it. It's already proven so much about where they're going.

And then now another chance to take a big step with the Packers. Well, I think the reason I, a couple of years ago, kind of frowned on that whole 22 experience was because of how poorly they performed and show, and really didn't show up against Daniel Jones and the New York Giants for a home playoff game. I think that's what I think really soured me a bit on that whole glorious experience. I don't think a post-season loss is going to torpedo this season, but I do feel like I think the Vikings owe it to themselves and they certainly owe it to the fan base to check off a win at least one time in January. And, you know, so much of what is made of legacies and memories are really playoff performances anyway. So, you know, we'll look back on this

season as all these great individual achievements or moments and Sam Darnold and this and that. But if it really goes flat again in the postseason, I think that's going to really, I mean, the long-term trajectory of the franchise is fine. But I think most, I would assume most people tune in to see what happens in January, not what happens in March. So I feel like this is,

you know, they really do need to get at least a playoff win to just kind of exercise the demons from the 2022 lay down against the Giants, but also really make it all worthwhile. You know, if they're going to win 14 or 15 games, you better win at least one in January, if not two. Good point. Good point. I was looking at it bigger picture because 2022, they had done all that stuff to keep all the veteran players and then lost the playoffs. So it wasn't worth it. So from the bigger picture, we've learned a lot. But to your point, if you've come this far and you only get so many shots, as Dan Campbell

said last year, you only get so many hacks at it in a lifetime of four 13, 14, 15 win season is it's a big swing and you got to hit it. So Brian Murphy will be continuing to hit it each Monday morning together, Monday morning Murph. So I appreciate so much your time and look forward to next week, breaking down Vikings Packers in the game of the year at U.S. Bank Stadium. So thank you so much.

And we'll see you then, Murph. All right. Merry Christmas, all.