Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Can the Vikings still catch the Eagles? Is Aaron Rodgers done in Green Bay?

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Matthew Coller and Jonathan Harrison talk about a crazy day in the NFL, capped off by Aaron Rodgers getting hurt in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Is there any chance the Vikings could still catch the Eagles for the No. 1 seed? Will Rodgers retire at the end of this year? Should the Packers just play Jordan Love the rest of the way? Also, did the Vikings finally catch a bad break with Mike White starting? And hey Jim Harbaugh just beat Ohio State. Remember when he was almost the Vikings coach? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar along with Jonathan Harrison here in a purple insider after dark of sorts as the Green Bay Packers-Philadelphia Eagles game just came to an end. And what a day it was for me to just sit around and watch football all day, which is why I'd like to thank the National Football League for putting the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving because this was great. I mean, what a day it was. There have been times before where I have bemoaned getting a Sunday,

whether the Vikings have a bye week or a Thursday, and then the schedule is bad and the games are bad. That was not the case today. All sorts of wacky, crazy action today. But Jonathan Harrison with me here for a sort of episode of Hot Routes, which by the way, we do a Hot Routes podcast covering the rest of the league. It's spelled with a Z. So make sure you go find that. We do that every week. It's usually up by Wednesday. But Jonathan, I've written down five questions reacting to today's games. But with, of course, a Vikings spin to all of them. And I

think the right place to start is with what we just saw on Sunday Night Football. But I'm going to give a little dealer's choice here, Jonathan. Would you rather talk about the Eagles angle of this or the Packers angle of this? I think because Vikings fans were weirdly cheering for the Packers to win this to draw closer to the Eagles. I think we should start surprisingly with the Eagles because that's the main competition for the Vikings the rest of the season. Because at this point, it seems like the NFC North is all but locked up. I mean, you'd have to historically collapse and have the Lions go on a tear, which is not going to happen, as I think everybody's kind of willing to say at this point. So basically, you're just challenging the Eagles for first place in the NFC. So I think we should start there.

Well, the Lions could go on a tear, but they would lose every game on a field goal that they gave to the other team. So they kind of have been going on a tear, except for that, that they gave that game away against Buffalo. But yes, the Eagles now, according to the TV, have a 70% chance of taking that number one seed. And the interesting thing is the graphic that NBC showed at the end of the game showed the huge gap and how important that game was that I think it was less than 50% if the Eagles lost the game to Green Bay. And the Vikings have a schedule that is certainly favorable for them to compete with the Eagles

the rest of the way. I mean, you look at the New York Jets, their upcoming opponent, I think will be pretty tough and we'll get to Mike White. We will definitely talk about that. But you also have a fading Giants team not in this order Indianapolis Detroit not a whole lot of impressive clubs and then you might be facing in fact I'm thinking you will be Jordan Love at the end of the season and possibly Trevor Simeon as well so they might not even see in Chicago and Green Bay the starting quarterbacks there so the Vikings have a really good chance

as they have hexed every quarterback on their upcoming schedule. I mean, can you believe it? Like two more with Justin Fields and then Aaron Rodgers tonight. And we'll talk about whether, boy, if that's the last time you ever see Aaron Rodgers in a Green Bay uniform. I can't believe that it will be, but imagine that though. But starting with Philadelphia though, this was a huge win for them. They played about as well as you can play on the offensive side, ran for over 300 yards, completely steamrolled and destroyed the Green Bay Packers. And now I have a very good chance to roll the rest of the way. And I looked at their schedule as well. It is not very scary

for the Eagles. That doesn't mean that the Vikings are out of competing for that number one spot, but Philadelphia, I think proved again today that, yeah, they're not perfect, perfect, but they certainly are the cream of the crop in the NFC. And if the Vikings are going to get to the Super Bowl, as we can already start lining up these playoff matchups, which again, we'll get to in a little bit. That road is very likely to go back through Philadelphia. And somebody pointed this out the other day, the irony of the fact that they could end up facing like Seattle, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, which are the teams that they faced in the playoffs over the years of the Mike Zimmer era, that you could teams that they faced in the playoffs over the years of the Mike

Zimmer era that you could face all of them in the playoffs for this year. But Philadelphia, I think, has shown over the weeks that, yeah, they've had a couple of blips along the way. They lost the one game and then where they fumbled like every time and they weren't perfect tonight against Green Bay. Their defense got lit up at times, even by Jordan Love at the end, where he looked like he had some good success against them. But they just showed, again, with a lot on the line, that they are the cream of the crop of the NFC. And I think that tonight's game made it very difficult

for the Vikings to chase them down. I think the Vikings really have to be almost perfect the rest of the way. Not that they have to win every single game, but if they go four and two even, I'm not sure that that gets that done because Philadelphia, it's just their year. I mean, that, that team from top to bottom is a house. And then they add Indomitian Sue, they add Linval Joseph. So now they are tricky to track down, but I did wonder about the psyche of a lot of Vikings fans sitting at home having to say, come on, Aaron Rodgers. That must have been very uncomfortable

for a lot of people. I think there was a meme on the Viking subreddit where it was the top image was Kevin O'Connell going, and it was cheering for the Packers. But then there was the bottom image of Kevin O'Connell going, yes. And it was cheering against the Philadelphia Eagles. I think that's the way Vikings fans kind of, you know, pretzel or twisted their mind to think about this game is that they weren't cheering for the Packers. They were cheering against the Eagles. So yeah, I think, I think you're a little bit more lenient on the Eagles schedule than I think I am for certain. You got the Titans coming up. They're 7-4.

Yes, they lost today, but they were last season's number one AFC team going into the playoffs. So that's still a tough team there. Mike Vrabel's not going to let that team quit on the season. They've got the Giants twice, who we saw they gave the Cowboys some competition this last weekend or on Thanksgiving. Uh, they've got the giants twice who we saw gave, we gave, they gave the Cowboys some competition this last weekend or on Thanksgiving. And then they've still got to go to, or they still got to go to the Cowboys.

So that's another, that's a very tough game for them. They've got some NFC East competition coming up that I think could trip them up a little bit because we all know that those teams won't take it easy on each other. No team really will, but especially in the NFC East with how much is on the line with, I think, all teams in the NFC East in the playoffs right now, if the playoffs were to start today. So I think the Eagles have a little bit trickier of a schedule than the Vikings do. Yes, the Vikings do have the Jets and the Giants.

But beyond that, it's the Lions. It's the Packers who might be without Aaron Rodgers. It's the Bears who might be without Justin Fields. They've got three easy games where the, and the, and you got the Colts coming up as well, who are, well, they're led by Jeff Saturday. So we, I don't think we need to go much further than that. And they, yeah, they just don't look like a Colts team that's going to compete for the rest of the season. So I think the Vikings, there is a chance they could kind of close the gap with Philadelphia, but overpassing them, that might be the trickier thing.

You'd have to have the Eagles lose at least twice, and the Vikings win out for the rest of the season. I just don't see that happening. So I think they'll close the gap, but because of that loss in the second week of the season, that's really going to come back to haunt the Vikings come playoff time, I think. Yeah, I probably wasn't giving a lot of credit to the Giants, but they might split. I mean, those divisional games, you never really know. But the Vikings could also like the Detroit game.

We write down is an easy game for the Vikings, but they lost their last year when Detroit had zero wins. Yeah. So and Detroit is in every game and they were almost, you know, right there with the Vikings before. So maybe that one won't be a super, super easy game to go to Detroit. No question the Vikings have it easier.

I guess with the way that the Giants have been playing recently, they really proved to be a paper tiger. And with the Eagles going all into Chase winning the entire conference, I feel like they should win both of those. But, you know, divisional games can be a little bit tighter than you would expect for a normal week to week game. So that's a fair enough point. The Tennessee game, you're right, will not be easy.

That one is going to be a slugfest. The total rushing yards might be above 500 in that game if it plays out the way Mike Vrabel probably wants it to. But you bring up the key point here that with a win tonight and with a win head to head against the Vikings, you're really running out of time to get a full game ahead of them. So you're already one game back of them in the standings. But then that really means you're two games back of them. So over six games, you have to make up two. That means they would have to probably lose three because I feel like the Vikings will hit another stumbling block somewhere. I don't know which game it's going to

be. Could be against the jets. If Mike white continues to play like Joe Montana, I don't know that he will, but it's possible. I guess, if Mac Jones could go for 382 against the Vikings. But Philadelphia and Dallas and San Francisco, these teams are kind of separating themselves along with the Vikings. It's kind of a four and three type of situation where you have four teams that look like they really have a shot at it and three other teams that are beating each other with pool toys for those last couple of spots. And then there tampa bay i mean what was it there was a few years ago

a seven and nine team i think it was washington with taylor heineke ended up in the playoffs and it happened once before with maybe the rams that win it at seven and nine or seattle seattle yeah they hosted the game on lynch yeah when Marshawn Lynch had that incredible run they were seven and nine um I mean Tampa Bay might lose 10 and win the division it's it is that bad in the NFC South so that's kind of a weird situation but you can really see with San Francisco's win today with Philadelphia winning again um the way Dallas has been playing there's a lot of momentum for these kind of big four in the NFC and Philadelphia is at the top of that list. But I do think it will be hard

for the Vikings to overcome it unless they just sweep the rest of the way. Otherwise, Philadelphia probably wins a lot of those games. Now, from the Green Bay Packers perspective, we did see Jordan Love tonight, and I think we have to open the door. I don't think this is going to happen, but we have to open the door to the possibility that Aaron Rodgers doesn't play again. For the Green Bay Packers, I mean, maybe they could trade him to somebody next year if they wanted to, but his contract is also really messy for that team. Does that look like a man who wants to play more football because he has looked totally miserable all year. And then with the rib injury tonight, their record, they are completely out of it. When you're behind Detroit, you're completely out of it. That's always a sure sign.

How, I don't know, like, how do we even contextualize like what has happened to the Green Bay Packers three years in a row of 13 and three and just a complete and utter disaster collapse this year. I mean, I guess I, I look at their future and if Jordan love isn't great, which again, he looked pretty good tonight, but I mean, I don't know if we can make a judgment off of that. He did look comfortable playing football. So maybe he's good. I don't know. None of us know because he's barely ever played, but I mean, this team is going to be in for it. You know, when, uh, when you're talking about the salary cap that they had to do a lot of things with their salary cap. And I guess that's my next hot routes question for you,

Jonathan is just what is the green Bay Packers future look like? Do you think Aaron Rodgers comes back for another year and tries to run it back and says, hey, we just needed another receiver or something, or we weren't that far away or whatever, or does he hang it up? Do they turn it over to Jordan Love? Do they have to overturn a lot of this roster? I guess I think that the Green Bay Packers future for the first time in 30 years feels up in the air. Yeah, it really does. And that's going to be a weird situation for a lot of Packers fans to handle and like deal with. But the rest of the NFC North is just waiting for this moment as they have been for the past 30 years. I think for the Packers, I don't see Aaron Rodgers coming back. I mean, he's been on the edge for what the last couple of years of wanting out and saying that he wants out in

Green Bay. And he's always come back at the last second and, and pulled it together and pulled two MVP seasons out of the hat the past two seasons. But for Sam, I think seeing Devante Adams go and seeing how they didn't really fill that gap, fill that void in the wide receiver hole. And they're just like, ah, try this, this rookie wide receiver. Who's definitely going to need some work because he's coming from division one, double a football. And I just don't see him wanting to stick around in the final years of his career at a situation that just doesn't look that great. I mean, you're seeing it this year. They're what, four and eight now after the loss tonight, I think. And you look at their cap space going over to going over to over the cap.com.

Their cap space next year starts off at 4.3 million. That's all they have available. And that's without moving Aaron Rogers, obviously. So it's going to be tight over the next couple of years. I don't know because I haven't really looked too deeply into it. The contracts they can move on from and that they will move on from. But some of those guys that they've relied on for so long are old. They're aging.

Bakhtiari's been a mess of injuries the past couple years. They're going to need to redo that offensive line. Welcome to that world, Green Bay, that Minnesota's been living in for the past dozen years. So I think it's going to be a mess for green Bay. It all depends on how good of a coach Matt LaFleur actually is. Cause he's gotten by the past three seasons on Aaron Rogers, having a revitalization to his career late in the late in late in his career. So I want to see how well Matt LaFleur handles that. And I guess if Aaron Rogers is done for this season and they go on,

they go with Jordan love, it'd be a great time to see if he can handle that pressure of being the Green Bay Packers quarterback over the next couple of weeks with essentially Green Bay out of it already. Why wouldn't you just switch to Jordan Love now and see what you got there and see if Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love can work as a tandem for multiple games instead of just the one game Jordan Love took over for last season. Yeah, it's going to be an awkward position if Rodgers is out for a few weeks, but then is healthy enough to come back, but they're way out of it. But it also might be his final game.

So you really have to play him, even though you would much rather play Jordan Love and treat them like preseason games, essentially, and go forward from there. From a Vikings perspective, I mean, there is probably a dozen times where Vikings fans have declared the Packers quarterback tyranny to be a success.

And like, oh, finally, Brett Favre is going to retire. Oh, no, he's not retiring, right? Like that happened a couple of times, probably like three seasons in a row where they thought he was going to retire with the Packers. And then finally he goes to the Jets and they think, yes, no more of you ruling over us with your evil quarterbacks. And then, you know, naturally Aaron Rodgers shows up. And well, of course, you know, the Brett Favre season. But other than that, it's just been Aaron Rodgers and NFC North dominance for essentially 30, 30 years with

only a few bad seasons for the Packers mixed in there. And now it's very uncertain. I mean, even if Jordan Love is a good quarterback, the odds, and again, I know who I'm telling here. I'm telling Vikings fans who have been through this, but look at the Colts though. I mean, right? Like the Colts went from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck and probably thought that they would just have

great quarterback play for the rest of their existence. And then all of a sudden they found themselves with washed up Phillip Rivers, who actually was pretty good for them, but Jacoby Bursette. And then now onto Matt Ryan. Life isn't always as easy after you lose your superstar quarterback who

plays for this long for you. And I think it's a very realistic scenario that Rogers will just say, I've had enough. My body is beat up and I've whatever else. And he'll probably bring up cancel culture or something. And then go on to be maybe like a health and body and soul YouTuber or something, maybe live in a tree. I don't know, like whatever he's doing. It's, it's hard to see it being as, as an NFL quarterback. I haven't like other than Tom Brady, but at least Brady's getting divorced. So there was a reason he looked so miserable with Rogers. The guy just looked like he wanted to be absolutely anywhere except for playing in the NFL. And he's still at his moments this year, but here's the other part too.

It's not just the receivers. It's not just that he's been unhappy. It's also, he's not as good. I mean, even from last year, I mean, we all saw it when poor Sean Mannion had to play the Packers at Lambeau field. Part of that game getting crushed was not having Kirk Cousins, but the throws that Aaron Rodgers made, I mean, what? Like in that game, and I was there at Lambeau and just like, are you kidding me? Back shoulders all over the place, great throws. He's been super inaccurate this year at times, very timid to throw it down the field at times, and just not the throw it down the field at times and just not the same version of himself. And I know he's got a thumb injury, but man, those injuries have piled

up over the years. I just don't think that he's the same as, you know, like he has been in the past, which is natural for somebody as old and who apparently in the off season loves to do even worse things to their body in Aaron Rodgers so I think it's a I don't want to say for sure because if I say that and then it doesn't come to fruition and he wins the Super Bowl next year people will be mad at me but I just can't see a scenario where Aaron Rodgers says oh yeah yeah, this is good. Everything is fixed. I'll come back. Like he's had legitimate disdain for his organization for years. Um, so I mean, I suppose that they could trade him to another place where he takes one more swing and tries to act like Brady, but it feels more likely that he's going to just call it quits and walk away. I mean, maybe he can't do that because of the way that it ended and so forth.

And, you know, he is set to get paid a lot for next year, but that if he says he's coming back, the Packers have to look at him like, are you sure? Yeah. Is there any way we can talk you out of it? I mean, what an odd thing to say about Aaron Rodgers at this point but he was he's just not been a good quarterback for them this year and it's hard to see somebody going from where he is now like when we talked about back in like 2018 oh Rodgers is washed he wasn't that old now he's that old and I don't know it tonight it feels like this could be the end if this rib injury is super, who knows if it is or not. He was questionable to come back, so maybe it's not that serious. But it could be the last time that we see him as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

And that certainly feels very strange to say, and I'm sure is why I'm hearing fireworks off in the distance from Vikings fans. Looking at the over the cap numbers on Aaron Rodgers contract, it's not an easy contract for the Packers to get out of. So they have to be secretly hoping that he just calls it quits because even if they trade him, it's still a $98 million dead cap hit for them over the next couple of years. That's an egregious number that they are not going to just say, all right, see ya. Let's just move on and go to the Jordan Love era. They are not going to just say, all right, see ya, let's just move on and go to the Jordan Love era. They're not going to choose that option. So if Aaron Rodgers chooses to come back, they have no other choice because the way that contract is structured over the next

couple of years. And yes, he's set to get paid $31 million over the next season. So yeah, he's not going to walk away from that easily as the great one over on the YouTube chat says. He's not walking away from that kind of money. So Green Bay just has to hope he does hope that uh all these experimental things that he's doing in the offseason enlightens him to a path to choose uh that way instead of going back to the nfl for one more season folks maybe you've been a little confused when you're in the water section of the grocery store and you see what looks like tall boy beer cans well that is water and it's called liquid death which coincidentally is not only not deadly but also delicious and comes in mountain spring style or sparkling in three different flavors

why is water called liquid death well because it will brutally murder your thirst first, and because they are infinitely recyclable tall boy cans, which are helping to bring death to plastic bottles. Also, Liquid Death donates 10% of their profits from each can sold to help kill plastic pollution. Liquid Death sent me a few cases, and I have to say that I have some family members who were over and they looked at me funny, knowing that I'm not a drinker. So I had to explain, no, it's water and it's helping the environment. You see, bottled water is coming almost always in plastic bottles, which is not great for the environment because most plastic still ends up in a landfill. Aluminum is recyclable and actually profitable for recycling facilities. So yeah, when you drink Liquid Death, you might have some people thinking that you're pounding a tall boy at your desk at 9 a.m., but you're really enjoying how cold it comes

out of the fridge. And as a big soda drinker, I can tell you that I've enjoyed the sparkling lime flavor in particular. So go get Liquid Death at wherever you do your grocery shopping, 7-Eleven, Hy-Vee, wherever it might be, or check out where you can find it at their store locator tool at liquiddeath.com slash insider. That is liquiddeath.com slash insider. Right. Yeah. I think that the way they're set up too, like you mentioned with the salary cap, just in general, how much can they really improve their team? And they also, the Packers also

have to be looking around and being like, oh, maybe Roger's greatness covered up some of the goofy stuff that we did over the years. That's finally hitting them in the mouth. I mean, not providing him with other receivers other than guys that they just drafted this year. Like, but you know, drafting Jordan love even looks like a huge, huge error unless he becomes their quarterback next year. It becomes very good. Then it doesn't. But aside from that, I mean, you picked a guy that sat on the bench for his whole rookie contract. The best part of drafting a rookie quarterback, unless they become Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or Justin Herbert or Tua now is basically that you can build around their rookie contract I mean the the other team

Philadelphia look at the roster it's a house they were able to go out and get AJ Brown they could just sign anybody they want they still had enough cap space to bring in two additional defensive linemen in the middle of the season and all that stuff connects back to Jalen Hurts being pretty cheap also pretty good from what I watched uh tonight and this season but those when those two things align if the guy is good like two is proving to be or like Hurts is proving to be if the guy can play and he's cheap I mean the surplus value of that is just absurd, but the Packers won't even get that. And actually I was just thinking about how, like if Jordan love came in and this is like way too far down the road, but why not? This just happened. If Jordan love came

in and played unbelievably good the rest of the season, right? Like when is his contract up? He was drafted in what? 2020. They have to decide on the fifth year option this off season. That right. That's what I thought. So they have to decide. Cause I was thinking it was the same draft class as Jefferson because Aaron Rogers wanted Jefferson. So they have to decide on that. And he, and if he played great, he'd be like, uh, contract extension, I'm your future quarterback, right? Or what? You just have to play it out and potentially just let him go after drafting him and having him sit on the bench. So that would look like a total disaster, particularly considering what the Green Bay Packers were

looking at in that draft class with wide receivers that they decided to pass on. And hey, A.J. Dillon is a beast, but what good does that really do you? Right. You know, so I think that they, they mishandled things and are finally starting to pay for it. I do think that Lafleur knows what he's doing as a coach, but there's only so much you can do when Rogers is your entire franchise.

He's your coach. He's your GM. He's your owner. He's just everything. Right. And then, you know, now I guess Lafleur will have a chance to really coach if Rodgers is indeed done. And it will be interesting to watch from afar.

Not that I'm going to pay attention to too many Packers games. Those things are getting flexed, folks. I don't know how many are on national TV, but please let this be the last one for yeah for the packers being on national tv uh all right i have uh more questions here for hot i just i just looked it up quick uh they've got one more game on national television and it's against the rams oh yeah that one's getting flexed no they don't not for long the poor the poor rams running out of USFL quarterback. Oh, goodness. Tough gig.

Okay, so let's switch gears to Mike White's season. Now, there will be some content regarding Mike White. We're going to get the insight from Jets people and so forth later in the week on the podcast. And if you're watching the live stream, do the podcast every day. So go check out that wherever you get your podcasts but mike white put up an unbelievable game by expected points added it was one of the best games of any quarterback all season mike white uh first of all i read something that sauce gardner said that really made me laugh where he was like yeah it was actually nice to chill on the sidelines sometimes.

Oh, wow. They really didn't like Zach Wilson. And I heard, cause I never get to watch these pregame shows, but I heard Rex Ryan say today on the pregame show that they didn't even name him a captain at BYU. I was not aware of that.

That was, that's crazy. And we can see why, because not only does he not take responsibility but he might chase his friend's wife or mom's right it was mom's friend or something yeah that's friend's mom I think yeah maybe not the best guy I don't know but Mike White uh what a what a game for him so did the Vikings finally catch a bad break with Zach Wilson saying, no, I wasn't responsible for the loss against the New England Patriots,

or no, I didn't let down the defense. Is it a bad break that now Mike White is starting instead of Zach Wilson? I don't think it's a bad break that they have to face them because, again, he was playing the bears defense and you can push back on some of these numbers. Cause you're, you know, more about the numbers than I do, but these are just some of the numbers from the bears defense that I pulled from pro football reference and PFF while researching this question, the bears defense ninth in yards against ninth lowest fourth lowest in points

against 32nd graded overall defense by PFF, 31st rush defense by PFF, 32nd pass rush by PFF. You get the point. They're a really bad defense this season. They haven't done a whole lot to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, 23rd in pressure percentage this season. That's not a defense that was going to give Mike White a whole lot of trouble. So I'm a little hesitant to say it's Mike White's season. I mean, he still did throw five interceptions or eight interceptions and five touchdown passes in four games last season. So let's calm down, I think, a little bit on the Mike White hype

because he's facing a Bears defense that is just atrociously bad this season, one of the worst, if not the worst, in the entire league. And it was a Bears offense that wasn't going to put a whole lot of pressure on the Jets defense because the Jets defense is also really good, but also they were playing with a backup quarterback, the Bears offense was. So I don't want to dive down and say that Mike White's here to stay and he's going to be the quarterback of the future for the Jets

and the Vikings got to watch out. But again, it is a backup quarterback going against the Vikings and they've seen plenty of those this season. I think I'm going to stand firm on the it's not a bad break just yet, but not having to face Zach Wilson is kind of a bad thing because he wasn't doing well. You can see the team really, as you just pointed out with the Sauce Gardner quote, did not like him.

I can't see him sticking around this offseason considering they didn't even dress him today, Gardner quote, did not like him. I can't see him sticking around this off season considering they didn't even dress him today. It looked like from what I saw. So that's a, that's a quarterback that went from starting to not even dressed on the sideline. And yeah, that's a guy that's not going to be there for very much longer after this season. Once that season's once the season's done in New York, he's gone. I think that they did catch a bad break here with Mike White playing instead of Zach Wilson.

And your point is valid about the Bears defense. It's bad. There's not a lot of talent there. And I think that actually Matt Eberflus has done, or as I've called him on the show, Erberfer has done. I think he's actually done a good job considering how bad their talent is. And then Eddie Jackson got hurt. I saw today, like, it's not a good situation for their roster.

That is what happens when you trade away everyone. Roquan Smith, Quinn, like they got rid of everybody. Khalil Mack at the beginning of the season. So there's not a whole lot there. And it did not look like Mike White faced any pressure at all, which the Vikings can provide. And if they get Delvin Tomlinson back, they actually can do a pretty well there with some interior pressure.

That's been missing these last couple of weeks. However, Jonathan, the Vikings are 31st in yards allowed, and they just gave up 382 yards to Mac Jones who who had come in, I think, like 34th in quarterback rating for the season. There's only 32 teams. That's how bad Mac.

They let a Matt Patricia offense run up and down the field against them. Again, now health could matter here because it was Duke Shelley and they hit a couple of shots on Duke Shelley. It was James Lynch and Jonathan Bullard, as opposed to Delvin Tomlinson. They've got this little buy here, mini buy that they can get people healthy and, uh, you know, start to maybe get a Caleb Evans back. Um, I'm not sure on Kim Dantzler's status at the moment, but Tomlinson seems like almost the foregone conclusion because he was questionable last week. And then he gets all this time and I'm working on an article about him. So that means he really has to come back

or I'm going to be a hot little potato. But that's the worst thing is when you're working on an article on somebody and then they get hurt. I am the victim here. But anyway, that's a different scenario to have Zedaria Smith be able to rest his knee, which seems to be a problem the last couple of weeks. Hunter, Delvin Tomlinson, like that's different than facing what Chicago has. I agree. But also the thing about the Jets is they have playmakers. They have receivers.

The Vikings have been roasted by receivers left and right every week almost. Even the bad receivers from the Patriots were beating them. And when they face someone like Stefan Diggs or Tyree kill, those guys had huge games. Garrett Wilson is doing that for the New York jets. They have a good offensive line. They have a running game that even though I've never heard of their running back before, he had a pretty good game today. So I think that somebody who can just operate the offense and even get the ball to wide open receivers might give the Vikings enough trouble because their defense is phenomenal. That's the thing about the jets is like, how many

points will they need to score? I know what the Vikings just did to new England. I think the jets are actually more talented on defense than new England is. And they get interior pressure with their front four. Like, I think this is actually a tough matchup. And here's the other thing too, that just in the same way, the Vikings are motivated to make sure Kevin O'Connell works out as their head coach, because that's the bet they made, right? Like when they went to ownership and and said we need this guy and not the last guy well they're very motivated to make that work and they have i think the same thing exists for mike white i think everybody on that team was like we're good get him out of here and we'll win and they came out today like they wanted to really prove something so i think that it may be not the toughest matchup on

the entire schedule for the Vikings, but I think if I'm ranking them, like it might be closer to on par with something like Buffalo. I think that was a tough one, a really tough one. Buffalo was kind of banged up. It might be actually closer to that. Dallas and Philadelphia is still the best on their schedule, but maybe harder than what they saw with New England last week. Yeah, I think that I think the chemistry point that you bring up and kind of just the overall atmosphere within the locker room is a huge point. And one I would definitely agree with that, as we're seeing with the Vikings this season, it's it's the change in atmosphere around the team, the chemistry in the locker room has definitely changed and they all seem to be kind of pushing in one direction, the Vikings do, because of the change in leadership at the head coaching position. And if that's the same kind of effect that Mike White brings, even if he is a bottom

tier quarterback, but he's just a little bit better and a little bit more likable than Zach Wilson ever will be, then I think that can be a huge thing for the Jets. And you saw it today against a really bad Bears defense. They were firing on all cylinders, three touchdowns for him, which is incredible for a guy who had five last year and four games played. See, I think that's definitely a big point for the Jets. And I think I would agree with you there that that part of it is probably why it's a big loss for the Vikings that they're not playing Zach Wilson.

But I also agree with you that that is probably their toughest game on the schedule left. You want to say the Giants could give them some challenges, just like the Giants gave the Cowboys challenges on Thanksgiving. But I don't think anybody left on the schedule is going to give the Vikings as much trouble as the New York Jets will coming up next Sunday because that defense is so incredibly good. Sauce Gardner against Justin Jefferson. I cannot wait to watch that one all afternoon.

That's going to be a really fun matchup to watch, especially coming up this Sunday. Folks, if you're looking for a way to celebrate Minnesota's insane football season, go to sodastick.com. See all the different designs from Kirko chains to the gritty to everything Skull related. So to stick S O T a S T I C K.com. And use the code purple insider for 15% off your purchase.

Flex. It's a prime time. I don't think we can do that now. That's too late now. I think don't you have to be like two weeks out. I've never researched the flexing rules, but now I guess we do need to have that conversation with Vikings games going I think don't you have to be like two weeks out. I've never researched the flexing rules, but, uh, now I guess we do need to have that conversation with Vikings games going down the stretch because

they'll be relevant. Um, so here's another Mike white question. Who is your favorite generically named quarterback? Because there is no more generic name in this world than Mike white. I bet if you went to the yellow pages, if that's a thing that still exists, you would find a hundred Mike Whites in Minneapolis, much less the rest of the world. Who's your favorite generically named quarterback? So I went to the hall of fame and just looked up quarterbacks that have been in there that have gotten into hall of fame. And Steve Young was the first one to pop up. That's a very generic name. I'm going to go with that one. Steve Young, the first one to pop up. That's a very generic name.

I'm going to go with that one. Steve Young, just the lefty, as I said last week on Hot Routes, I love lefty quarterbacks because you don't see a whole lot of them. Give me the lefty quarterback, especially one who can run and especially one who took over for a legend in Joe Montana and handled it perfectly well there. The other couple guys that I found on the list, Jim Kelly, very generic name there is Brady, a generic name. I think it is. I mean, there was a seventies TV

show about a family called the Brady's Tom Brady's very generic. And then Aaron Rogers as well are the four that I could think of off the top of my head. Well, I yeah, I mean, I definitely had Brady as the most generic also Matt Ryan. Yes. I mean, there's probably a lot of Matthew Ryan's Matt Ryan. How about Kurt Warner? Like that's nothing special about that unless you're that Kurt Warner. Um, other than that though, like there are a lot of guys that have, I mean, I guess Russell

Wilson is pretty, pretty generic. Once we know them, they don't seem that way, but yeah, you know, they actually are. But like, as far as coolest names, even Dan Marino, there are lots of people who are named Marino. But like, is Fran Tarkenton not the most unique name and one of the coolest names of all time? That's not generic. I just think as far as uniqueness goes, Francis Tarkenton being one of the great quarterbacks of all time. That's not generic. I just think as far as uniqueness goes, Francis Tarkenton being one of the great quarterbacks of all time. Is there a more Vikings name or sounding name for

a quarterback than Fran Tarkenton? That just sounds like someone who would be a Viking coming over on a rating chip. The chat nominating Doug Williams. Definitely, definitely. That is as generic as it gets. As far as like good quarterback names, I'm just going through the all-time touchdown leaders. Dan Fouts. Dan Fouts is a great name. How about Boomer Esiason? There's another one.

Boomer, a quarterback named Boomer. Which takes on a whole new meaning now, I guess. I mean, Ken Anderson, Phil Sims, these are all very generic names. So I guess if, I guess if your name is Todd Johnson and you're a little kid trying to throw the ball in the backyard, you can't be counted out, Todd. You can make it. Mike White made it. You can make it. What about Carson Palmer? That's a pretty generic name. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And also like the, are there many, like some of these names make it what about carson palmer that's a pretty generic name yeah yeah definitely definitely and

also like the are there many like some of these names that's funny about them is how they like may have been popular at one time but then like aren't anymore like are parents naming their kids carson right now like probably not but no one's naming their kid otto but otto graham when he was playing was probably a more generic name than you would think now. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Now it's like a really cool old timey name, but at the time there was probably like a thousand Otto Graham's they're like, uh, you know, Oh, you're that Otto Graham. Like, no, no. It's like Michael Jordan. There was that commercial where it was like, Michael Jordan's coming to my house. And it was just like the pizza guy. Uh, Daniel Jones is another good nomination for that for most generic name but Mike White is certainly

hard to beat um let's see next question for you Jonathan if the playoffs started today the Vikings would face a team that they barely beat in the commanders of course that was on the road the Giants and Seahawks are still in the mix. We can sort of include Atlanta and Detroit because you never know what's going to happen. San Francisco is still in the conversation, but probably looks like they're not going to be. I want you to give me the best and worst first round matchups for the Minnesota Vikings.

I think the worst, and it's the easiest one to come up with, the worst is the 49ers because of how that defense plays and how the Vikings would most likely, that offensive line would just crumble under the pressure that the 49ers bring play in and play out. You saw how they just obliterated the Saints today. That defense is incredible. That team is firing on all cylinders at this point in the season. That is a team that I do not want to face if I'm the Vikings going into the offseason. The best matchups for me, and it's weird to say when talking about the playoffs, into the offseason. The best matchups for me, and it's weird to say when talking about the playoffs, but the Lions, if they somehow sneak in, that's one.

And if they keep going on the run that they are on right now, they could find a way in. The Lions, the Commanders, I'll take them because the Vikings have already played them. Yes, they squeaked out the win. They had to come back. But I mean, if that ref didn't take out Cam Bynum at the beginning of the second half, that's an interception. out Cam Bynum at the beginning of the second half, that's an interception. And how much does that change the course of that second half going forward? So I'll take the Commanders. I'll take the Falcons after that, though, because I think the Commanders will be a little

bit more of a competition. But I'm still a little bit nervous about the Falcons. But then the Seahawks kind of come in last in this group that I've come up with. Because the Seahawks, they seem to be kind of dwindling at this point. Uh, I don't know how, how much, uh, is left in the tank for the Gino Smith love on this, on this show. But I think that the Seahawks seem to have gotten off to a good start, but then it's kind of fallen off the cliff over the past couple of weeks. It's probably a lot of Eugene Smith's out there, right? Is his name Eugene or is it just actually Gino? But either way, probably a lot of those.

Yeah, I think that Seattle's the hardest one to decide because I, I'm not sure how strong they are. And I think that against the, the Vikings, their defense would give up a ton of yards to Justin Jefferson. And clearly they can't stop the run. And if the Vikings can run the football, so like, is Seattle a harder matchup than Washington? Because Washington's D line is so good. I mean, think about this Washington leading the Vikings in the fourth quarter and then beats Philadelphia. And the thing about Taylor Heineke is yes, he threw that horrendous interception that opened the door for the Vikings, but also

he seems to be increasing in confidence and comfort with that team. And if they keep rolling, and I don't think they're a great team at all, but I would be a little concerned just about the matchup. They have a really good wide receiver or two-ish, one-ish, but the Vikings have struggled against top receivers. They did well against McLaurin that day, but Heineke is more comfortable. The big thing is Jonathan Allen though. I mean, him and Deron Payne and Montez Sweat, those guys are scary. I mean, that's how they lost to dallas like dallas held them to three points and if that happens against washington they'll probably score more than three points against the defense that just got crushed by mac jones so i you know i think that if the vikings

are going to go deep they have to be able to go sort of fire for fire with somebody right like go go up against go up against the geno sm. Who's playing great and has great wide receivers. And even today, like Gino played well, it was just that their defense let, um, Jacobs run all over them, but, uh, that's okay though. I think, I think the Vikings can beat a team that's offensive minded because Gino might throw you the ball once, get a turnover, something like that, that kind of happened with the Raiders today. So you get a turnover or something, you make a big stop or two. Gino's not Patrick Mahomes when you're talking about leading game, winning drives and stuff. I think the Vikings could beat a team like that. Where I'd be worried is the interior of the offensive line or somebody gets hurt on the O-line or something. I mean, even like Garrett Bradbury's

played okay. Imagine if he wasn't in there, like, and it was Austin Schlottman or something. I mean, right. So I think that that is probably a scarier matchup than Seattle, as weird as that is to say, although Seattle's been a darling and they're a half game behind Washington. The Giants are also a hard one because the Giants offensive line is beat up right now. They run the ball well, and teams that run the ball well, I think are worrisome for the Vikings. You saw what Dallas was able to do. They haven't faced a lot of teams that run, and when they do, they have success. And again, you almost can't look at any opposing quarterback and be like, oh, well, they'll take care of that guy.

Not after the Mac Jones game. You really can't say that unless they're 100% healthy. But I think the Giants are an okay matchup for the Vikings overall. They still have a pretty good defensive line. They still play pretty good defense, but I think that that's not a very scary team that will continue to fade. You're 100% right to say San Francisco. I actually would be, this might sound weird, a little nervous if I'm the Vikings about Detroit. Because if Detroit gets in, think of how well they have to play the rest of the way.

Yeah. So they would come in in a place where they're not intimidated and they've played a bunch of times. Jared Goff took them down to the final second in both games here as a member of Detroit. Jared Goff took them down to the final second in both games here as a member of Detroit. And so they're not intimidated. Now, Dan Campbell will probably throw the game away somehow, but that would mean that they get a lot of momentum going.

I think the most ideal matchup is probably the Falcons. They just don't scare me at all. I don't see how they get in. They don't scare me at all. They're not a team that has a great defense. They don't have a great quarterback. Cordero Patterson would return two kicks for touchdown for sure. But aside from that, so a lot of very interesting, I think whatever game it is though, it's just got great potential to be a really intriguing matchup with whoever they end up facing.

And also how about, look at us, Jonathan, talking about playoff matchups in November. Look at that. Before this year, Purple Insider didn't even cover a game where the team was over 500. How things have changed in just one year. By the way, the way the Falcons get in is by the Buccaneers just continuing to blow games and give them away.

And the Falcons just sneak in by factor of winning their division somehow over a 10 loss Buccaneers team. And if the NFL has a 10, a double-digit loss team in the playoffs, they really need to figure out how to not have that happen. I'm going to ask you a question, though. I'm going to take this from Craig in chat. He says he'd rather face the Eagles

than the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game. I don't know about that one, but I want your thoughts on it. I think I get where you're coming from because the defense of Dallas is so legit. There's nobody who can argue that. I think they have a better defense than Philadelphia. We saw it tonight. Philadelphia has some weaknesses on defense. There's a reason they had to go out and get two washed up defensive linemen come in halfway through the season. Now, if they get Jordan Davis back and he's healthy,

then maybe they're a little bit more dangerous. But I don't think, well, you know, I mean, Darius Slade did a great job against Justin Jefferson. So there is some, you know, both teams held the Vikings under 10 points. So, yeah, I mean, I guess you do have to be concerned about both. I don't know. I think both are really hard matchups for the Vikings. Where here's the

difference though. And maybe a good point is potentially if you might face the Cowboys at us bank stadium versus facing the Eagles in Philly. So if that turned out to be the case, then yeah, right. You'd rather, no, wait, no, I guess that's the opposite. Then you would rather face Dallas at home. Although they just whooped you at home. I don't think either one, I don't yeah right you'd rather no wait no i guess that's the opposite then you would rather face dallas at home although they just whooped you at home i don't think either one i don't think you can make a case for either one i really don't i i think that both teams what you're hoping is that somebody surprises them like think about the break that los angeles caught last year the los angeles rams were set to go to green bay at Lambeau and play Aaron Rogers.

I mean, that would not have been good for the way they want to play with downfield passing routes and all that stuff. And instead they got to play at home against the San Francisco 49ers, a team that they know extremely well. So sometimes in the playoffs, it's not just about how well you play and if you get hot, but it's all about who you play and when you play them,

that might make a difference. I do think, I think very, very slightly, Philadelphia is a better matchup from the Vikings perspective than Dallas, but I only think slightly. I think that both teams cause a lot of the same problems. All right, last question for you here, Jonathan. Appreciate everybody who's checked in

and watched our stream here. And again, if you're new to the show, we do the podcast every day. And also people who listen to the podcast every day. After games now, we are streaming our live reactions. And so far, it's been amazing the amount of people who have come in and watched after games. So feel free to do that. The last question I have is TJ on Twitter

sent me a fans only question, but it's a good one. I thought I'd bring it up here is Jim Harbaugh just beat Ohio state and we'll have another shot at winning the NCAA championship, whatever they call it. It'll always be that to me. How many wins do you think Jim Harbaugh would have as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings had he taken the job? Oh, this is a really good question. It's hard to figure out how, because a lot of this season feels like it's been based off of just the chemistry and atmosphere and everything about that locker room and the collaboration that Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Dapomensa have fostered within that locker room and that leadership core. Does that same collaboration exist if Jim Harbaugh is the head coach?

Because I remember you talked about it quite a bit on the podcast when there was all the conversation about whether Jim Harbaugh would be the head coach. And there was a lot of Jim Harbaugh would come in here and he would own this place. Like he did in, in San Francisco, like he's done in Michigan because that's what you do as a head coach in college football is you own the place. Does, does Jim Harbaugh allow the collaboration and the leadership group and leadership council that's kind of helped gel this team that was basically the

same team as last season, uh, essentially with just a couple added pieces here and there. Does he allow that kind of thing to foster and happen within this Vikings locker room? And I don't think he would because he is the guy, as we mentioned, that kind of runs the place. It's his way or the highway, it feels like. And I don't know that if he comes in and he brings kind of that same attitude that saw Mike Zimmer leave and saw the saw the leadership in Minnesota want him out

and want just a different feel I don't know that they're as as strong of a core of a group as we we've seen this season so I don't know that they're nine and two but I also don't know that they're a losing team because Jim Harbaugh is seems to be a really really great head coach and he's gotten Michigan going finally he got San Francisco going with Colin Kaepernick as his quarterback and I think especially with the way the rest of the NFL is broken down with the Packers absolutely collapsing in the NFC North I still think they're leading the division but I don't think they're nine and two. I think they're probably in the six, seven, maybe yeah. Six, seven win range at this point in the season. I have no idea how to answer the question. I just thought it was a good question. I think you tried really hard there though. Uh, because there is a point to be made that, you know,

Jim Harbaugh probably knows more about being an NFL head coach than Kevin O'Connell. And I think Kevin O'Connell along the way has really impressed me with the way that he's seemed open to learning and adjusting and adapting. And the new England game is his crowning achievement so far of coming off a game where they were trying to do a lot of deep developing routes and took a lot of sacks. And then they flipped the switch and ran a ton of play action and short passes and had success with it. So I think that O'Connell has checked a lot of boxes. He does not come across as being like an arrogant head coach who won't listen to his players. I mean, he's exactly the opposite. He's just like Harbaugh, a former quarterback who seems to understand what players are looking for. So, I mean, I don't know because Harbaugh's record is pretty darn good as a head coach and he's been to the Superbowl before. So do I want to say for sure that he'd be worse than Kevin O'Connell? Like,

I don't know. And what he's done in Michigan, I think is proof that was kind of a mediocre program before he returned. And now that's what two years in a row in a national championship contention. Clearly he knows how to coach football. I think he's erratic, maybe a little crazy, but there's no doubt that he knows what he's doing. So I think that they would still be a really good team at this point. I like you don't know that they would have the record that they have right now. I don't know if they'd be nine and two, but looking at their schedule, I mean, maybe, maybe the other side of the coin is they would have competed better against the Dallas Cowboys. I don't know. I can't really say for sure. But I think that they made a hundred percent the right choice in Kevin O'Connell over Jim Harbaugh

and that Jim Harbaugh is kind of perfect for college at this point. Like those programs, they love a Matt rule. They love a guy who's going to tower over an entire program. Whereas in the NFL, I think what these players were looking for is exactly what O'Connell has brought them. Like you guys own the team as much as I do as the head coach. And that attitude has just resonated with so many guys. I don't know if Harbaugh would have brought that same attitude to this team, even if he was a little better at scheming or game planning or adjusting or play calling or those things that I think Kevin O'Connell can improve on. But the difference is when you bring in Harbaugh, you give your whole franchise

to Harbaugh as opposed to O'Connell, where you're kind of giving your whole franchise to the players who make it. So I think that they made the right choice in Kevin O'Connell, but I can't say for sure that Jim Harbaugh wouldn't have won. I mean, I, I, the, the way that things have gone, I don't know, like a lot, I don't know if a lot of coaches would have won or not. Like they've had a great, a great favorable schedule. They've had a lot of things go their way. But I also want to give O'Connell a lot of credit for the way that he's brought everybody together. So I just thought that was an interesting question to bring up for a hot route. So again, if you're watching the live stream, thank you so much for checking in with us here, 1130 at night. And a lot of you are watching, which is awesome and speaks to how much you people love football. So appreciate that. And if you're listening on the podcast feed again, we do this usually after

games, but tonight was kind of a different situation with the Vikings having played on Thursday, but usually it's about an hour after games. Cause I go down to the locker room. So that's when you want to check in on the purple insider YouTube feed and see us do that. And if these continue to do well, then maybe I can stream some fans only podcasts and things that I do. And not only fans for you new people, fans only. It means only your questions. We got to clear that up for what kind of feed this is.

So anyway, well, thank you for your time, Jonathan. It was a fun day of football. Lots to come down the stretch for the Minnesota Vikings. We will cover it all. And thank you all again for watching. Talk to y'all later.