Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Dalvin Cook is out with COVID and the ghosts of Vikings past, future and present

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic get together to react to the news that Dalvin Cook will be out with COVID this week. Will Cook's absence push the Vikings to be more aggressive in the passing game rather than drifting back into old running habits like they did against Chicago? Plus why the Rams on paper are not a good matchup for the Vikings but there are some factors that open the door for the Vikings to win the game. And then they are visited by the ghost of Vikings past, present and future as they look at the playoff races and what happens if the Vikings miss the postseason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

along with paul hodowanek who is pinch hitting for sam ekstrom today and paul i don't think we should waste any time i think we need to get right into the delvin cook news that he is going to miss this weekend's game with a positive covid test and here's the question because i threw this out here in tweet form and some people strongly agreed. And some people said like, what are you talking about? Are you the craziest person in the world? What I said was without Delvin cook in the lineup against the Los Angeles Rams, I'm not

saying that he doesn't matter because he can create explosive plays, but with Alexander Madison and Kenny Wong Wu as good as he he looked last week I think if you're losing somebody who is an important starter to a COVID test Delvin Cook is the guy that on this roster you can replace the easiest and I wouldn't change my mind of what I thought of any game because Delvin Cook has been out because he's been out of quite a few games over the last few years. And yet they have found ways to still create offense when he's not in. Yeah, I, in general, I agree with you. I mean, there's no denying his talent. He's obviously the most talented running back that the Vikings have. I don't think that is what we're saying.

And we're saying, you know, it's not going to have that much of an effect. Obviously Dalvin is talented. And like we saw in that Steelers game, especially in the first half when he has the burst, when he is kind of 100% and rolling, it is a very, very, very dangerous offense with Dalvin Cook in it. But let's put that to the side. I mean, there's a reason you invest. You draft Alexander Madison.

You keep him on the roster. You get him touches. It's because he can perform. He can play. Maybe it's not exactly the a hundred percent of Dalvin cook, but he's a serviceable running back. I know you've been banging the drum for Kanae Wong to get more touches. This would, this would seem like an opportunity for him to do that. And against the Rams, you're thinking they're going to put up points. I'm not sure who's stopping Cooper cup. I'm sure

we might address that at some point, but they're going to have to put up points. I'm not sure who's stopping Cooper Cup. I'm sure we might address that at some point, but they're going to have to put up points and that means they're probably going to have to throw the ball. And so, yes, it's important to have Dalvin Cook on your team and it is awesome when he's there. But the Vikings have seen this play out with them for this season, last season, every year. They miss a few games with Dalvin Cook. This is not Kirk Cousins going out of the lineup for the first time since he's been in a Vikings uniform. This isn't even Adam Thielen going out because we saw what that did to their offense last week. This is certainly not Justin Jefferson going out. So yes, of the people that would be going out for some type of thing like this, I think Dalvin Cook isn't the

worst of those options. And and again you'd obviously love to have him uh but they should be able to cobble 80 percent of his normal production at least with the guys that they they currently have on the roster and I think if you saw the couple of carries that Kenny Wong Wu had last week and it's not that all of the time he's going to run for a 19 yard carry but he has so much quickness and burst and is also kind of big and is shifty and has that matrixy thing where he can see tacklers coming. And he just has a very unique talent and for him to finally be ready to be out there a little bit more often. I mean, the timing comes where it's not the worst thing in the world. And then with Madison, you know, he averages 4.3 yards per carry for his career. Dalvin Cook is

more like 4.6, 4.7. I mean, of course, Dalvin has that capability to break off big plays, but we've also seen Madison be a threat out of the backfield in the passing game. He was that in, I think it was the Seattle game or the Cleveland game, one of the ones where he had to kind of carry the load there. And I think there's another part of this too that goes beyond just, hey, who's more talented? Because there's not a debate about who's more talented. At any given time, it could be a 70-yard touchdown from Delvin Cook. And I don't think Madison's had a run over 30 yards in his career.

He's a ground-and-pound, Leroy Horde type of guy for the old school fans. But there's another part of it, too, that when the Vikings cannot rely on Delvin Cook, when the answer to everything for Mike Zimmer cannot be, we need to run more. Then I think there's a psychological effect that sort of pushes them to throw more often. And that's good for them. Even if Cousins has not played particularly well the last few weeks, it's good that they take more of an approach that, hey, Cousins, Jefferson, if Thielen's back, KJ Osborne, Tyler Conkle,

you guys are going to have to drive the bus on this offense. And that means fewer runs in situations where you shouldn't be running. Like there were times against Chicago where it was first down run, second down run. And then here's Kirk trying to throw out of third and seven to get a first down. And they went five for 17 on third downs against Chicago in part, because those are situations where you can play an umbrella defense. But if you are starting out with the pass and you're getting first downs that way, then it forces the other team to kind of back off.

And that's where I think Madison has had good games before is when Cousins plays well. And I remember the Seattle game from 2020 where Cousins was playing well and he was moving the ball through the air. And it seemed like Seattle in the second half kind of had to back off because of how well they were passing. And here's Alexander Madison breaking off big chunks of yardage.

And the other thing is, too, that I think 90% of running success, and this probably doesn't apply to whoever the best running back in the league is, like Kamara or Jonathan Taylor, right? But even then, it kind of does. It really is offensive line and how the offensive line goes is how you go. I don't think everyone would do as well as Jonathan Taylor with the Indianapolis offensive line. That's played out.

Other running backs haven't, but 90% of it is. So if this offensive line can handle Aaron Donald to at least some extent, if they can run block like they did against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I just don't see this as one of those crushing losses. Oh no, you don't have him. You're just going to lose automatically. Yeah. And I think this dates back. I remember one of the first hot routes that we did shameless plug to hot routes over on YouTube, but we talked about that was right when Derek Henry went out and we talked about the Titans shifting their offense. Could they shift, would this force them to be a more pass happy team, which we've seen is just the more efficient option and it hasn't worked for them. But Derrick Henry is such a unique player in the impact that he has on that particular offense.

Dalvin Cook has a big, big impact on the Vikings offense. He doesn't have that much of an impact on the offense that Derrick Henry has on the Titans offense. And I think in a similar vein, we were pushing, okay, maybe this will push them to rely more on the passing game. I think that is going to be similar for the Vikings and it should be. I mean, I think that's just the better, the better play for them and the better chance that they have to win against the Rams. Yeah.

Another part of it too, is that the Rams already have a great run defense. They are only averaging 3.9 yards and attempt allowed. They have Aaron Donald, who is the best defensive line player in the entire NFL. And it was going to be tough to begin with. And what is so often happened to this offense this year is when the other team has dominant defensive linemen. It's not just affecting Kirk cousins in the passing game. It's really affected them in the run game too, of run plays being blown up. I also think that the second down in 10 runs that they have fallen in love with in recent years, if you get a zero yard run to start with Alexander Madison, you're probably not going right back to that because you're thinking, oh, you know, he's more of a three, four yard type of guy.

So we really should throw, throw the ball here. And that's a better play is to throw the ball in that situation. So it's not that running is ineffective. I know that there are always arguments about running the football. Like, of course you want to run the football really well. And you look at the first half of that Pittsburgh game. If you can have big giant holes and break off explosive runs, then by all means do that before anything else. But most of the time, the more efficient play is to have the ball in the hands of your quarterback. And so it's again, not better that Delvin Cook is out.

It's just that some of these things kind of even out a little bit. And I think that we've seen that when Cook has been out. The only time where I felt like it was really ineffective is when he tried to play injured and on a pitch count or something like that. But that's obviously not the case here. He's got COVID and he's going to be out. Now, if he can test negative, I believe this is the case that he will be able to come back for the Packers game, that it'll be the 10 days and he'll be able to come back. But this also shows the difference. And this, this is something that we have assumed based on him going by the protocols that he's unvaccinated. So that's kind of the way I want to phrase it, because we're never a hundred percent sure, unless a guy were to come out and yell it to us,

but based on the way that he's acted with the protocols and by this, that would mean that he's unvaccinated. And again, sort of goes back to the concerns that Mike Zimmer had from the very beginning of the year, that the team had too many of these players, that it would be a problem. And we've seen Delvin Cook mistime. We have seen, I'm sorry, Delvin Tomlinson mistime,

Harrison Smith, and now Delvin Cook. And it's like seen, I'm sorry, Dalvin Tomlinson missed time, Harrison Smith, and now Dalvin Cook. And it's like Mike Zimmer's worst fears have played out. But there is something else to talk about here, Paul, which is that Kirk Cousins showed up on an injury report. Truly stunning. The first time since 2013, and he showed up with a rib injury. And this did make me think that some of the throws against Chicago, all of the sudden made a little more sense if he was dealing throughout that game with a rib injury. And the most puzzling thing from the Chicago tape, when I looked back was actually the first play of the game, they run a bootleg play action and Justin Jefferson breaks wide open the, just the way the play is designed. And this is where it's like the offensive coordinator is always bad, right?

But, you know, sometimes they're not. And sometimes the players have to execute. And Cousins decided to pull the ball down and run and took a really bad hit. I don't know if that's where he got hurt, but that was probably the hardest hit that I've ever seen him take. He's so good at avoiding those. And so now he potentially has to go into this game limited in some way of what he can do. And I think that as we were searching

for answers about why cousins had been less accurate and less sharp with some of his throws, I think we may have gotten the answer here. Yeah, I think, I think so, but this is not the game that you want to go into with some injured ribs. Aaron Donald is not going to take it easy on Kirk Cousins because his ribs hurt a little bit. So this is, I mean, especially with Cookout now, you don't have that safety blanket. If Kirk Cousins is less than 100%, I mean, this game was also already going to be really, really close. And if Kirk is hurt in any capacity and who know, I think we assume Thielen might be coming back. Uh, so that would be a, a positive for the

offense. But if then Kirk is hurt, that really, really diminishes them against a Rams defense that has a lot of, lots of star power, a lot of opportunity to just wreck a game. And so if Kirk Cousins is hurt, I mean, if he couldn't take advantage of second string, third string bear secondary, uh, it's, it's not going to go well against the Rams, but yes, I think it can be a point that we look to, to try to explain that bears game because you talked about it. I mean, Kirk has not been good. I mean, the last month, uh, uh, our plus of play. And I think, but it hasn't been that bad. It hasn't been Chicago Monday night bad 12 for 24 for 87 yards bad. That is really, really bad. That is like what you're expecting Garrett Gilbert and Nick Mullins to put out for their teams. That is not what you're expecting

Kirk Cousins, your 30 million, $40 million quarterback to put out. So yeah, I think it's safe to assume that that had to have some impact because whether you're a kirk cousins believer or hater he is pretty consistent in the stat lines he's going to put up if it's going to be a good game it's going to look a certain way if it's going to be a bad game it's going to look a certain way but that was different on monday night and you can chalk some of it up to ah soldier field it's just it's wacky whenever they go there which is true but i think that does explain it a little bit, but it is not, not a good sign if that's going to continue to ail him going into the next two weeks and especially on Sunday. Right. That makes sense that it would be more than just the version of bad Kirk, which generally we do see, you know, him check down

and things like that and miss opportunities. But we rarely see him be inaccurate with a low completion percentage, low quarterback rating. Usually even when he's off, we'll look at the box score at the end of the game and say, well, he had like a 97 quarterback rating and completed a lot of passes. It was just that he was throwing short all the time because he was uncomfortable or he took too many sacks or strip sacks. But instead in that game, he just did not seem to have the sharp passing ability that he usually does. So let's, let's just go through this in a very game previewy kind of way. Paul, I want to talk about how these two teams match up because I think on paper, this should be a huge advantage for the Los Angeles Rams in a lot of areas.

And there's something that stuck out to me as I was writing a column about the Rams all in nature and how around Matt Stafford, who I consider to be a similar quarterback to Kirk Cousins, not in exactly their playing style, but as in like how good they are and what your chances to go to the Super Bowl are if you have them. And something that I noticed was that the Los Angeles Rams are number one in PFF pass blocking grade. Number one. They're also a team that had Robert Woods, Cooper Cup. Those are guys that, you know, one, they signed the other, that they made a great draft pick, but they also go out and get Odell Beckham, which is risky. And I think at the time, even I went like, I don't know, is this like a really good idea to

get Odell Beckham, but he's starting to fit in there. And when it's a winning team, you could see him very much fitting into a winning team. They trade for Vaughn Miller that I don't know how much that affects Matt Stafford, but it really made me think about how the Vikings, when they went all in with finger quotes on Kirk Cousins in 2018, had Tom Compton playing left guard against Aaron Donald in 2018 and got absolutely demolished as one might expect. And yet here is the Rams going all in on a quarterback and it has had its ups and downs. They're the fifth seed right now. So I think they would have expected better than that when they signed him and when they did all the all in stuff. But they built the offensive line that the Vikings dream of building, and they have put

together the weapons, not just one, not just two, but three, four guys to be able to target for their quarterback. And all of a sudden Matthew Stafford, despite having the same PFF grade as he's had every year since 2016, somewhere between 77 and 82 every year. So same PFF grade, he's been the same Matt Stafford. He has more wins because the setup is better. And I guess that's what I'm thinking about going into this game because the Vikings have been able to pressure other quarterbacks. They have not been able to cover anyone.

And you have a team that can protect Matt Stafford and you have wide receivers that get open. This one is the toughest matchup they've faced since Green Bay. And I think if you're ranking all offenses that they face this year, I mean, it's top top two. I mean, this is actually harder than Green Bay. I mean, Green Bay has really one wide receiver that they have to year. I mean, it's top, top two. I mean, this is actually harder than Green Bay. I mean, Green Bay has really one wide receiver that they have to throw to all the time. And Aaron Jones was out that game. This is going to be, I think for the defense, the toughest matchup of the entire year. Yeah. It was funny kind of going through taking a look at some of the PFF stuff, some of the football outsider stuff ahead of this game. I went to the lineup

function on pff.com and it's funny to just look across the Rams offensive line because it's Whitworth. He's the sixth best graded tackle. Then the other side you have Havenstein. He's the 16th best tackle inside their centers. Number six, right guards, 20th left guards, 38th. That's their worst grading offensive lineman 38th out of 80 or something. So well above or right around average to slightly above average is their weakest link on the offensive line. And so, yeah, it's going to

be tough. I mean, Cooper Cup is right now on pace to potentially break Calvin Johnson's single season wide receiving yards record. And I mean, the Vikings secondary is not well-eclipped to stop that. I don't think even going down the line, you didn't even mention Van Jefferson, another high draft pick that they invest in the wide receiving core. So at any point, they are stacked with wide receivers, but they just continue to add, continue to add. Tyler Higbee's a good option from the tight end spot. So this is, I mean, it's kind of the same thing we were saying

coming into the year. It's a dream situation for Stafford to go into between coming from the Lions and then going into the Rams. I mean, it's exactly what you would want. It's exactly what you'd hope for when you have a Kirk Cousins type quarterback in terms of the team you're putting around him. So it's going to be really, really exciting. I want to know from you, just like in terms of people who could wreck the game uh cooper cup aaron donald

they have one on both sides who do you think is going to be more detrimental to the vikings has the possibility to just blow this game up because they both could do it simultaneously it could be one or the other and if one of them does it it's probably enough to put the vikings away folks it's that time again where you're doing your online shopping for the holidays. And look, if you want free shipping, I can help you out with that. For all of your Minnesota sports-inspired goods, use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER when you go to SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. You can get their North State beanie, their Adam Thielen autographed shirts, Marcus Foligno fan club design for all of you hockey fans out there. And the one I always mention because it's the best one, the Randy Moss disgusting act.

You can put that on a hoodie, shirt or almost anything else. And plus anything you want with skull on it, SodaStick has it. Again, that's S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K dot com. Perfect for gifts. And you can get that shipping free by using the code purple insider yeah so this is the issue that the vikings are facing when we talk about how these two teams match up is that uh mason cole who struggled a ton anyway was not practicing again today as we were out there. And then, you know, otherwise you're talking about only Udo or even Dakota Dozier. And if it's Dakota Dozier, I mean,

that's going to be really bad. Um, but only Udo might physically have the ability to battle against Aaron Donald better, but not the technical ability. I mean, he is one of the quickest, but also most technical and strongest players in the entire NFL. And we're talking about Ole Udo who leads the entire league in penalties. I mean, that is just five different holding calls waiting to happen if Ole Udo has to start. But if Mason Cole starts, he's just going to get overpowered by Aaron Donald. Anyway, there is no matchup. There's no double teaming either because when you consider that Garrett Bradbury

is the guy that was trying to double team along with Mason Cole the other night against Chicago how effective was that not so much so I look at it as much more as being on the Aaron Donald side because if the Vikings are going to win this game Kirk Cousins has to be great the The offense has to be great. They have to put up 30 points. There is no world in my mind where Mike Zimmer's defense comes into town against Los Angeles and just stops them entirely. Now, I'm sure that Zimmer knows some things about Stafford and what types of coverages can throw him off a little, what types of blitzes. This is a guy who got sacked 10 times in a single game against the vikings once and so he has weaknesses and this is why i'm always amazed when people will

say you know stafford is underappreciated like whoa underappreciated i think he's always talked about as a great quarterback with little recognition of the weaknesses that he actually has so i guess the concept of uh under, overrated is in the eye of the beholder a little bit, but it's, I still just have a really tough time seeing the corners that the Vikings have being able to slow down this passing game, especially when yes, the pass rush has been good lately, but think about who it's been good against Ben Roethlisberger, who cannot move the Pittsburgh offensive line was horrendous. They couldn't even snap the ball correctly, the Pittsburgh offensive line. And then Justin Fields,

who was the most sacked quarterback in the league in terms of the sack percentage. And so he created a ton of his own pressure, ran right into a bunch of sacks. You are not seeing these things from Stafford. So I think that, yeah, Okay. So Cooper cup might be able to make some plays and he's going to put up some points. That's okay. If you can match them, can you match them? I don't think so with Aaron Donald. And so I, I, this is one of the games that I'm not really waffling on as far as who to pick. There have been many games this year where I have waffled who to pick. This is one where you go Rams, go Rams based on the matchups. And yet there's always this thing in the back of my mind, Paul, that against the here is that Matt Stafford turns the ball over. And that's something that's just who can predict it. How do you know when that's ever going to

happen? But things have to really go their way in order to beat the Los Angeles Rams, I think. Yeah. And I mean, if you are making the case for the Vikings, it was doing some digging on Stafford and just what he has done against each individual team and kind of how the Vikings stack up with him. Because I think Vikings fans can look at him and say, yeah, Stafford, he's all right. It seems like, but he never seems to do great against Dutch, which is true of the four division opponents. His statistics is statistically much worse against the Vikings than he has against any of the other division teams of really, I think there were only three teams below him in terms of yards per game and completion percentage and all the basic statistics. And those were teams he's played like three or four times and maybe just had bad games.

So it has been continued and sustained bad play from Stafford against the Vikings. And I, I mean, he's definitely gone up against much, much stingier Vikings defenses than the one he's going to go up against, but it's always for the most part, been coached by the same guy in Mike Zimmer. And so if this is going to be a win, this is going to have to be as Zimmer is dialing some things up. He's confusing them on third downs. He's doing things to force Stafford to turn the ball over because that feels like where the Vikings can take advantage. They didn't really take advantage of those turnovers against Chicago. And that would have to be something that they need to do against the Rams if they're going to win because Stafford shown he will throw you the ball. And if they can do it

once or twice in the first quarter and kind of rattle him, push them back and kind of put them in a spot where they really, really have to throw, uh, that's, that's going to be important. And if you're hoping, if you hoping, if there's one coach that you're feeling like could draw that up to stop Stafford, history would tell you it's going to be Mike Zimmer. Yeah. And there's also the McVay part of this where in a lot of different seasons, it has been a trend that McVay's offenses come out and they just blow the doors off people. And then all of a sudden, halfway through the year, adjustments are made and he doesn't make the counterpunch adjustment.

And you end up with much more unimpressive play from his offenses. Even I think against Seattle, it's not like, and Seattle's defense is just horrendous. It's not like you came out of that game saying, whoa, man man there is no stopping the Los Angeles Rams juggernaut and yet the overall number though in terms of passing expected points added the Rams have the number one passing offense in the NFL and I've found that stat the passing EPA to really correlate with who ends up going deep in the playoffs who ends up going to the Super Bowl every year since Peyton Manning's final year when they won the Super Bowl. Every year after that, it's been a top five EPA passing team that ends up in the Super Bowl on both sides, NFC and AFC. Well, that doesn't give you a ton of confidence if you're the Vikings then playing this game. And there's another way to look at it too. It's an environment where

Stafford has been here before and he's won here before, 2016, 2017. He's found ways to win against the Vikings, and this time, he doesn't have Matt Patricia as his coach. He has instead one of the best coaches in the NFL. So I think the matchup, although between Zimmer and McVay, has kind of gone back and forth where Zimmer got him the first time in 2017. McVay got Zimmer in 2018. The talent discrepancy offense versus defense with the Rams is probably the most it's ever been when Matt Stafford has quarterbacked a game against the Vikings. And then you add in the

fact that the scheme has been largely on the whole, one of the most successful in the NFL. It's just, it's a hard one. It's a hard one for me to see. And I guess, you know, I was going to ask you this question though, because I was thinking about Stafford and the situation that he's taken over and the versus Kirk when he got here in 2018 and cousins is not a victim here because he had digs and he had dealing. So he had guys to throw to had a running game when he arrived in 2018. But I wonder if you had switched coaches and you had in 2018, instead of a defensive coach, you had Sean McVay and you had that coach influencing how the roster was built in 2018, coming off the 2017 season. If it would have been different or how much different it would have been,

if an offensive coach would have said, instead how much different it would have been if an offensive coach would have said, instead of signing Sheldon Richardson in 2018, we demand that there's a better left guard than Tom Compton, spend our final dollars on that, or let other players go in free agency in 2019, like Anthony Barr to bring in stout offensive linemen in front of Kirk Cousins. And that's, I think that if we do end up getting to the end of the Kirk Cousins era, if they lose against the Rams, they lose against the Packers and they miss the playoffs, that will always be the lingering question is what if somebody who was calling the shots had done what the Rams did, which was everything

under the sun to support this quarterback that they traded so much for, or in the Vikings case that they signed for so much money. Yeah. And I mean, even if Kirk had like a consistent offensive coordinator for several of those years, I mean, yes, he had two Kubiaks, he had Stefanski, like they are similar in what they run, but we've seen differences in each coordinator and how they like to run things from how often they're going to run screens to if they're going to go more of a deep attacking style or a short kind of intermediate style like it has varied and so yeah Kirk hasn't had one some continuity to work with that other successful quarterbacks often have and he doesn't have the offensive minded head coach either that's kind of shepherding the team setting the tone setting the tone with the general manager and who they're going to acquire and things like that.

So no, he hasn't had that. And I think this isn't to, um, you know, talk bad about Mike Zimmer necessarily, but since 2018, I mean, the defense hasn't been good. And so that's where you point to Mike Zimmer and say, that's, that's kind of your unit. And you can argue if he's gotten the players to do much better than what he's had, maybe that's a separate discussion, but the defensive play has not been solid. So if you're asking me, if you bring in an offensive minded head coach, it's like how much worse could the defense have gotten? It was ranking in the bottom 10, bottom five sometimes. So maybe that goes down to one of the worst, but I am guessing if you're putting a Sean McVay type in your offense is going up and so it's hard for me to say over the last three years how it's

played out looking back now with everything that we know that they wouldn't have had a little bit more productive seasons just because the defensive head coach and Mike Zimmer sounds great but it sounds great if the defense is going to play well in it and they haven't and so yeah I'd be hard pressed to believe that an offensive coach wouldn't have at least squeaked a little bit more out of that offense. And in turn probably led to a few more wins. Yeah. And really just demanded that Laquan Treadwell was not the number three wide

receiver out of camp. I mean, just like, or. He's putting up numbers in Jacksonville. I don't know what you want me to say. Good for him. I mean, a lot of busts, first round busts just disappear out of the league. They sort of take their paychecks and go home. That has not been Laquan Treadwell's case. But, you know, Treadwell's coming out of that camp as the number three. And then they bring in Aldrick Robinson and he's just kind of a guy.

And they they did that dance forever. And the same thing with the guard situation is here we are talking about Aaron Donald and saying, oh, do you have any confidence in Ole Udo or Mason Cole playing injured or Dakota Dozier who just got activated? And Oh, Wyatt Davis, I guess we'll never play. Um, yeah, I, I believe them about Wyatt Davis, but it's just like, did you think a third round draft pick was going to be your solution? And why was there never a backup for that? I just can't imagine if an offensive head coach was there that they would have said, oh yeah, that's fine. I mean, even if you look at the Titans, you brought them up earlier.

I mean, they got Julio Jones. I mean, that was their answer to try and support Ryan Tannehill. Even though they did not have a good defense last year, they still went all in to get Julio Jones. And I think that their receivers being out has been more of an issue than their running game because they've had some good running games. But, you know, we've seen even with the Vikings that when receivers are out, it gets pretty tough. So you I've got something else I want to talk about for the final 10 minutes or so here, but you are picking the Rams for this one. And but tell me, do you think it's close? Do you think it's a blowout? Like, how do you think this goes? I mean, I think you'd want to say that it's, it's more of a 10 point

victory. That's kind of where I'm leaning something in that range, uh, where either the Vikings come back to make it lit, come back to make it kind of look close late or they blow it towards the end. Um, but I'm going to say it's decided between one score, because why not? They've done it literally every game, pretty much. So we've seen they will play down, they will play up to an opponent. And I think if Cook's out, Thielen's back in, they are forced at that point to throw the ball a little bit more. I see the Rams maybe winning by seven or eight, because Sean McVay also has not been one of those coaches who is going to go for it on fourth down, who is going to do the two-point conversions when he's supposed to.

He is innovative in his play calling, but not in terms of his game management. And I could see that coming to play if they're punting when they shouldn't be. I think the Vikings have a chance to stay in this one. Combined with Zimmer having success against Stafford, I can't go so far as to pick them to win the game, but I think we've seen this year that the Vikings are probably going to be within a score at some point. And so that's what I'm going to say. I don't think it ends up being double digits. I think even though both teams didn't plan Sunday, obviously Vikings on Monday, Rams on Tuesday, that's just one less day. The Rams have to get ready to get healthy, to lick their wounds from that game. Uh, you know, a divisional game, a tough game.

And so I think, I think it'll be close, but in the end, the talent wins over the game records in Aaron Donald Cooper cup. I see them, uh, just getting the best of the Vikings, but yeah, I don't, I don't forecast a blowout, at least at this point. Folks, have you ever thought about taking a bike to work, but figure it's too far or that the hills are too steep? Or heck, who wants to show up to work covered in sweat? Well, that's why you need to check out the electric cruiser bike from my friends at Boogie Bikes. The Boogie Bike gives you all the experience of saving gas,

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risk within the first 15 days. You can try a Boogie Bike and Boogie Bikes have an industry-leading five-year warranty as well. Again, go to boogiebikes.com. Check them out today. Yeah, I think this is much more, and I've mentioned before that I've just been bad at picking games this year. So, you know, I don't know, whatever I say might not turn out. I nailed that bears one though. Nailed it.

Knew they'd win against the bears. Yeah. But usually I wouldn't, usually I wouldn't pick the Vikings and soldier fields. I got very bold there to pick the Vikings against Chicago. But when it comes to this one, I don't think either offense is playing its best football in recent weeks, but I do think the Rams defense is playing its best football of the entire season. And that says to me something like 24, 17, 21, 17 final drive for cousins, that kind of thing. I don't

think that this team plays where they play any type of blowout type of football, right? Like where they take a lot of risks and it's high variance and anything like that. Like this is why they play these close games. It's not just this weird thing that happened this year. This is how they play, which means that at times you keep the other team from scoring as well, even if you're not a great defense. And the pressure part of it, like they've been able to find a lot of ways with different rushes. Michael Pierce being back has been a big thing for them. They found ways to get Sheldon Richardson after the passer at defensive end, which I think is a pretty big surprise that that's been able

to happen. I mean, this is a guy who plays defensive tackle and he's been a decent defensive end. So they're not as bad as they could have been along the defensive line post Hunter and Everson Griffin. But I still have a very tough time seeing them slow down these wide receivers. I just think even Chicago's receivers were open and Justin Fields missed them a lot of times the other night. So here's what I want to talk about in our last 10 minutes or so is every year I have, whether it was doing the show on the radio or on the podcast here, done the Ghost of

Vikings past, Ghost of Vikings present, and Ghost of Vikings future. So the Ghost of Christmas past Vikings, right? So people who've listened for a long time will know the reference. So let me start with the Ghosts of Vikings Past. Let me tell you a little story, Paul. Okay, I'm ready. 2016, the Vikings had a huge game at US Bank Stadium, and it was against the Indianapolis Colts.

Andrew Luck and the Colts were coming in, and you're talking about a really good quarterback, but it wasn't a great team. And the Vikings had been just battling for playoff position after they had started 5-0. They had a cold streak. They were fighting tooth and nail and all they needed to do was beat the Indianapolis Colts and they would have a chance to get in. And we went into the game thinking, all right, well, you know, the Colts have a great quarterback, but you should be able to win this game. Adrian Peterson came back from his meniscus tear and they gave him the ball. The first two plays, they went nowhere. And just from the very start of the game, it felt like it was over. Chad Greenway was still on the team. They started throwing kind of in his direction because I think

somebody was out or they were trying to scheme to get Greenway on the on the team. They started throwing kind of in his direction because I think somebody was out or they were trying to scheme to get Greenway on the field so they could throw with multiple tight ends. Anthony Harris was in the game. I think that Harrison Smith was out and they end up missing the playoffs. So then we go two years later, 2018, and they have a must-win game at home

against the Chicago Bears in 2018 2018 and you all know what happened the offensive line was dominated kirk cousins and adam thielen are throwing down on the sideline fighting each other over which way to run a route and we go forward two years later the ghost of two years later and we have the the Vikings going down to New Orleans with their last chance. All right, Christmas Day. Time to fight for that playoff spot because there's a remaining shot that you could get in. And they gave up 52 points and lost the game. And it feels like history is just not on their side with these couple of games against the Los Angeles Rams and the Green

Bay Packers. Your thoughts from the ghost of Vikings past. I mean, it is interesting to see how often history seems to repeat itself with this Vikings team, especially the last few years, or even dating back. I think one of Sam's game stories, one of these crazy games was like, they were in the exact same spot. I think maybe the Steel games was like they were in the exact same spot. I think maybe the Steelers game there in the exact same spot right before Denny Green was fired or something like that. Something what something weird. And it just seems to happen with this team. And so, yeah, I can see that happening again. If they lose this game, they have to win out. And then it even gets a little dicey at that point and so I definitely think if midway

through the second quarter Aaron Donald has like three sacks or something Kirk's grimacing with his ribs and everyone's just like oh man I'm gonna turn this off and spend some time with family I think that is something that could happen I think I I truly. If that is the way this is trending, which it really could be. And I think it would be the final time that this iteration of this team experiences something like this. While it happened last year, while it's happened the last couple years, there was always a reason for hope, more optimism, and more length on that that leash and it doesn't seem like that is here this year that if this happens again if they go out get just smashed by the rams that won't i mean it doesn't bode well then for their next week against the packers and it would seem like

this is the last time we watch a team at at least probably head coached by Mike Zimmer, who knows, but if Kirk Cousins is a quarterback for another one of these in a year or two, but at least one of the cogs, the main cogs of this Vikings franchise is going to change if they get their doors blown off. If history repeats itself, if the ghost of Christmas past comes and becomes their present state, then yeah, it feels like this would have some finality to it. Yeah. And it's really, in a way, the Zimmer era been defined by losing the biggest games that they need to win because you think they're only a couple of those end of season games away from

making the playoffs pretty much every year. And yet so many times we have built these games up and walked into that stadium thinking, all right, if they win this one, then we're booking our tickets to whatever city because that's who they're going to play in the playoffs. And then we walk out of there going, I can't believe that they just gave that away or that happened again.

And even the Minneapolis Miracle, they're up 17-0 in the second half and they blow the lead and it requires a miracle at the end, literally, to get that win. And then they go to Philadelphia and no show that there have been a lot of these games that you could circle if you look at the entire era and say, if only that one, this one, this one, that they've shown up.

And this has also been a staple of Cousins in his career, even going back to Washington, where he needed to win a final game against the new york giants to get into playoffs 2016 and didn't come through they ended him in 2018 didn't come through uh last year had the ball in his hands against chicago with a chance to go down the field couldn't come through and it's not again it's always not his all until entirely his fault that never is uh but these two together like that's if they have it happen again here especially with other things happening in the playoff race like ian book having to start a game and the just the seas parting for them to make the playoffs then i think that we will look at it and say gosh that

is such a big part of this era now for the ghost of vikings present uh, I have the playoff machine. So here's what I want you to do. And then this will determine the ghost of Vikings future. So I'm going to give you the games that matter to the Vikings. And you tell me who you think wins. We'll do this rapid fire run through them. And then we'll decide who makes the playoffs based on the ESPN playoff machine. So Vikings, Rams, you're picking the rams yes um saints and dolphins i'll go dolphins okay uh we have the uh let's see arizona okay sorry i'm going through this quickly

philadelphia and the new york giants philadelphia okay i think that's all the games that affect of like oh washington and dallas uh dallas okay i think that's all the games that affect the race for week 16 all right week 17 we have the minnesota vikings at green bay packers i want it to make this interesting but but I'm going to say loss. That feels like another loss. Okay. We have the Saints at Panthers. Saints.

Or actually, it's home to the Saints. And Washington plays Philadelphia. Philadelphia. All right. And now to Week 18, Vikings and Bears. Vikings. All right. We got Philadelphia is at home against the Cowboys.

Cowboys. And we have Washington at the New York giants. Washington. All right. And let's see where the saints, did they play that day? Where's your little saints logo? Okay.

Yeah. They play at Atlanta. Saints at Atlanta. Saints. All right, so in that case, the Vikings would miss the playoffs, and your playoffs would be the Packers with the one seed. Philadelphia makes the seven seed. They play Dallas in the first round, and then San Francisco, L.A., and Arizona and Tampa Bay. So let's fast forward to the ghost of Vikings future.

If that is the case, if they lose these next two games, Philadelphia beats them out. Philadelphia team that was not supposed to even win this year, by the way. Picked by some to be like the worst team in the league, which now stacking up against the Lions and the Jags and the texans feels impossible to do yes if anyone didn't pick the texans the worst team in the league i don't know what you were smoking but anyway um so what what do you think that the ghost of vikings future would be showing you in this scenario if that were to happen and plays out that Philly makes the playoffs over the Vikings? I think the coach is gone. I think even if they make the playoffs,

that's a possibility. But I think if they lose these next two games, the most pivotal games of their season by far, that just continues. They are not coming up in big games. This is not working. We missed the playoffs again for another year. That feels like Zimmer's gone. It's just so hard to predict with cousins because it's just so much based on what other teams are hoping for, what other teams look like. But from a bare minimum, Zimmer's gone. I don't know if Spielman and him are a package deal. I'll say for the exercise, Spielman's gone. They're cleaning house. They're keeping Cousins until the new people come in, and then those guys are deciding Kirk Cousins' fate. So in the ghost of Christmas future, there's a lot of uneasiness in the locker room, as I'm sure no one quite knows what team they're going to be on, if they're going to come to the defensive side of the ball and some big big questions are being asked about Kirk Cousins about Adam Thielen uh who is staying who is going is it becoming a rebuild is it um going to be moving forward with a playoff team because as much as

we've balked of whether they should be going for it or whether they should be rebuilding they've shown um that they are they have been going for it. In this Kirk Cousins era, the team has clearly known that they are going for it with just the approach of Mike Zimmer, the approach of Spielman. Now that gets a little cloudy. And the future, what does the next one to two years look like, gets confusing, and especially what do the next four or five years look like

becomes even murkier if that is what happens. The way I look at it is if they miss the playoffs, that means they will have wasted Justin Jefferson's first two seasons. And you have five years. You get that fifth year option to be a legitimate Superbowl contender. You have a window or that man will leave. I mean, there's always franchise tag.

You can make it very difficult in the NFL to do that, but there's ways out. As we found out from Stefan Diggs. That is very important for the trajectory of this team. I think if they miss the playoffs, that we are talking about wholesale changes, and there will be suitors for Kirk Cousins that the next regime, I think, would make that move to trade him away and draft a quarterback this year.

Now, it may be in consideration that there's not a standout obvious quarterback, although I just would like to take you back to the Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson draft, where I recall draft analysts saying, oh, this just isn't a good quarterback draft. And there were two pro bowlers, and if Watson hadn't had the off-field stuff, we're talking about hall of fame level quarterbacks in that draft. So nobody ever knows nothing when it comes to that, but teams always think they do. So I don't know what happens with cousins. It's possible the next regime would

say, oh, I can win with them because other people have thought that in the past. But I don't think that they would ignore the fact that they would need a future quarterback that could be cheaper and everything else. So the future becomes very, very murky in this case. But I don't think you're talking about the same coach. And I don't think you're talking about Rick Spielman calling the shots. He may still be around. But the idea that Jeremy Fowler floated of bumping him up to president of football operations,

bringing in a new decision maker. I think that that would make sense if they wanted to do that. So yeah, I think that big changes come after that. And if I had to put my money down, I think they would trade cousins in the same way that Detroit did with Matt Stafford to tie it all together to a Sunday's game. So Paul Hodawanek on our YouTube page at purple insider, you you do the Hot Routes show, which is awesome. And people should go check that out. You are also the pinch hitter for Sam Ekstrom anytime anything happens with him. If he gets sick during a game, which happened to him once this year or today where he's not available to do this. So great job. Really appreciate it. Merry Christmas to you and your family. And if you're listening to this on, on Christmas or you're traveling to see family or whatever,

just wish you a very safe, happy and healthy and enjoyable Christmas. So thanks to everybody for watching. Thanks to of course, bring me the news. Now, by the way, you can read a lot more of our content at bring me the news from purple

insider. So our written work that we go out to TCO performance center, cover the games live. So check us out there at bring me the news from purple insider so our written work that we go out to tco performance center cover the games live um so check us out there at bring me the news website for our bikings coverage and we will see you next week happy holidays everyone