Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Did the Vikings need more style points in 3-game win streak?

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

The Vikings have finished up their three-game stretch against AFC South lightweights with a combined score differential of +23, against teams with a combined record of 9-23. Matthew Coller is joined by Brian Murphy to discuss whether the three-game winning streak was all that convincing and what it says about the Vikings going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and it is time once again for Monday Morning Murph. And it feels like we're a little bit on repeat, Murph. The last three weeks, it's, hey, they won. A lot of people played well. They dominated the football, got way more first downs than the other team. And the scoreboard was not as sexy as people wanted it to be the defense was mostly great a few miscues really frustrated all

of us and here we are looking at exactly where the Vikings hoped to be after these AFC South games eight and two and they are set to face now a bumbling Chicago team. Hey, look, Kirk Cousins team is six and five with a negative point differential. That sounds familiar. They're going to face them in December. I don't know, Murph. I have a tough time thinking this is a bad thing that they just beat the Titans by 10 points and moved on. Yeah, I'm kind of over it. The style points at this point, I'm kind of over it, the style points at this point. I'm kind of over the fact that they may be playing down to some opponents. I'm not even sure they're necessarily playing down.

I think they're playing to their ability and to their level, which is game managing on offense, dominating on defense, coming up big in the fourth quarter on defense especially. There's plenty to nitpick. There has been since week one, but they're 8-2. They're 8-2, and they're distinguishing themselves. There's really no identity crisis with this team. I look at Green Bay as sort of their peer and their chief competition in the division

because clearly the Lions are on another planet right now. But, you know, the Packers are 6-4 and maybe even more flawed than the Vikings appear. And I feel like anybody grasping for, you know, I think fans see, you know, Detroit, you know, ragdolling Jacksonville 52-6. And everybody's like, well, why can't that be us? Well, you're not the Lions. And you should be fine with that because nobody's the Lions right now. In fact, not even the Chiefs are competing with the Lions right now. And the Lions are clearly the best team in the NFL.

And they may end up finishing 16-1. And you have to just be content with that because what the Vikings are doing is putting together and really kind of fine-tuning a recipe for success. Sam Darnold had three pretty bad games in his previous starts. He was outplayed by Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff in the Vikings' only two losses. I thought it was a pretty good bounce-back performance from him. I mean, your one nailer routine catch in the end zone from this really being a 30-13 win. And, you know, he may have gotten charged with the initial series fumble, which was really more Aaron Jones muffing the pitch, I think, than anything else.

And if we've learned anything about Darnold over these 10 weeks is that he's resilient as hell. If there's a mistake, if there's a hard turn in momentum, if a sharp turn in momentum, if there's maybe some doubt creeping in about his decision-making, he always seems to come back and make the throws, the tough throws that need to be made to sustain drives and keep the offense going and make sure that, you know, one, two, even three bad mistakes don't become five

that end up torpedoing a game. So I don't know. I think this is a really tough, hard-to-play-against defense that knows how to make plays and knows how to make big plays at the end. We can drill into this a little bit further, but one stat that I really love about this team is that they're 12 fourth-quarter takeaways. I mean, that's how you win games because you can wipe away all the other things that they should have done right or maybe screwed up on in three and a half quarters. But in the last seven or eight minutes,

when your defense is on the field, you're expecting them to make big third down stops, get that big third down sack or fourth down stop, or again, the big takeaway takeaway the big interception the scoop and score the strip sack this team is notorious for putting teams down just when they think there might be some life so all in all it's it's these aren't Picassos but you know the NFL is not an artistic league and anybody you know nitpicking and wondering why why the Vikings can't be better should really look at how they really were expected to be so much worse. The Packers, by the way, seven and three, almost six and four after yesterday, but I had them pegged at six and four.

I'm probably going to start getting very sarcastic about games around the league where I'm like, I don't know if it counts, guys. I guess it doesn't count. They didn't win the right way. They didn't win by enough, so it doesn't count. I understand when the Vikings blew out the Texans and then were up, what was it, 21 on Green Bay very quickly. I totally get why at that point people start expecting their team to just run away

from everybody, destroy everybody. This is going to be this untouchable Vikings team that's like the 1998 Vikings. But the reality is 1998 is just not happening in the NFL very often. I guess you're right in Detroit. And maybe that's, what's shaping people's views on this is Detroit is so good that you're saying, well, how are we going to beat them? But if there's only one team in your whole conference that you're saying

that about, it's a pretty hard argument for me. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean,

Detroit is better than the Vikings when they played head to head, they crushed the Vikings by two points. I mean, look, they're better. They're better by the Vikings. When they played head-to-head, they crushed the Vikings by two points. I mean, look, they're better. They're better by the metrics. They're better than everybody by the metrics. They're the best team in the league right now. But these last three games, my theory on this for why people have not enjoyed them, I mean, number one is just that, yeah, all of them have been ugly.

Like, none of them have been 42- Like none of them have been 42 to 10, just throwing a party by the end, you know, makes your day. All of them have had you at some point clinching your fists with anger about like, oh, they come out of the half and they go three and out or at the end of the first half, not finishing the drive with a touchdown. And so you're up 16 to three when, you know,

you could have been up 20 to three when, you know, you could have been up 20 to three and you know, you're just letting team, these bad teams kind of stick around. There has not been as much joy in watching them. There hasn't been as huge touchdowns and 400 yard passing performances and things like that. So I get it. I get the difference between early in the season when they blew out the Texans and what's happening now. I also just think that it's the nature of the beast in the NFL that as the season goes along, it gets harder. You go on the road. It's a grind. This team had to go to London and then they've been on the road and they've only played a couple of home games all year long. They had to play the Thursday night against the Rams. And it just

doesn't surprise me that by the dog days of the season, it's not looking the way that you want it to look in terms of the style points. But I did think as far as projecting forward off of these three games, they are running efficiently on offense, meaning holding onto the ball, completing passes, moving the football, gaining first downs. And Sam Darnold yesterday bouncing back from the three interception game without a turnover. I'm going to say without a turnover. I don't count that fumble either. But I thought was really big, really big for Sam Darnold and his confidence going into a important stretch here because everybody was railing on him after the Jaguars game and everybody's down on him after that game. And even his teammates are kind of looking around being like, we really crushed the Jaguars, but this guy threw all these interceptions in the red zone.

And so to regain the confidence and be the offense yesterday when they couldn't really run the football, I think bodes well for the future. Well, if you want style points, watch the defense. I mean, I enjoy watching the Vikings play defense when it's third and long. When it's, when it's a quarterback that you know is looking over his shoulder at any given moment for what may or may not even come. You've got a really unique kind of band of veterans and playmakers, and they seem to communicate well.

They kind of feed off of each other. They're obviously an embodiment of Brian Flores' scheme. And I think what we're watching too, and we have been for the last couple of years, is really just a head coach in making. I mean, it is, Flores is really sprinkling his resume with gold dust. He is really doing what, I feel like he's almost, you know, he's dominating the conversation. The defense is dominating the conversation, and that's what makes it easy to look over on the other side of the ball. In 2024, where it's become a video game type league

where you're expecting 350 yards plus, three to four touchdown passes from your quarterback. Huge, huge chunk dynamic plays. but they have plenty of them, and they're making big plays. They're moving the ball and picking up first downs when need be. I've been really impressed, and this isn't sexy either, Sam Darnold's ability to avoid pressure. I mean, I don't think anybody ever talked before the season or had any inclination that Sam Darnold was going to be nimble out of the pocket. If anything, he was going to be, and he still occasionally will run into a sack,

but on more occasion than not lately, he's been finding ways to get out of trouble, not force a pass, create opportunities for his receivers downfield to get open, and if not, he's able to pull it down and pick up first downs or pick up yardage to make, you know, third, you know, second and 12, more of a third and three. And these things add up. So yeah, they're not stylish. They're not huge. They're not sexy. But I feel like this is a really well-balanced team that is, I think we've been saying from almost week one, that will really go as far as its defense takes it. And you can argue that the two best quarterbacks they face in Stafford and Goff in those two losses against the Lions and the Rams, out-foxed, out-chest matched Flores

and Esquim, and there's some validity to that. And that'll have to be on display again in January if they're facing a better opponent in the playoffs. But you can't underestimate how together this unit is, how clutch this unit is, and how they seem to rise to the occasion when they have to. And I just feel like that's going to pay off down the road. And they, you know, if they get a rematch against the Lions, if they end up facing Philadelphia in the playoffs, those are gonna be huge challenges on the road. I don't feel as skittish about those as they continue to stack up credibility and stack up wins. I don't feel as skittish about those matchups as I might have maybe in week three, week four, even though that they were dispensing Houston by 20 points

and made it look a lot easier. I think this team is more mature and a little more battle-hardened. And, you know, they're positioned to at least, if not make hay, they're positioned to be a tough out in the postseason. Yeah, and I think that when we look at how these last three games have gone and they've won with defense more than it's been the offense, and then the defense gives up a 98-yard touchdown. If they don't do that, then we're talking about another

just complete blasting of a bad opponent. Since that has been against Joe Flacco and against Mac Jones and against Will Levis. There just isn't a lot of hype to these games. And that, and that maybe is the difference between, you know, people going and putting, you know, here we come Superbowl and, you know, bumper stickers on their cars versus the way that a lot of people are currently feeling about this team is, well, look who they played. And the last time they've had a game that had hype and that was

exciting and got you really jacked up for it was Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams, where they had a chance to jump right back on board and they just didn't do it and uh the rams are a good team as we've seen they're right in the thick of their race and when they have puka nakua and cooper cup they're really really good but that was the last opportunity it's been a very long time since vikings fans had a game that you could get excited for every game these last three weeks that they've gone into, the vibe is much more, you better not blow this. And then as they flirt with blowing it each week, it's, did you really flirt with blowing it? So I get it.

But to make the point about the defense, there still feels like there's cracks in the secondary. And there was yesterday at times where will levis did have open receivers and he did at when he could be comfortable in the pocket at all find some of those receivers down the field so as we do kind of pry this thing apart can we take anything from the last three weeks and try to apply it to how the Vikings will play against the better offensive teams as a defense when the opposing quarterbacks were this ragtag sad group of three I mean geez even if they played Anthony Richardson that game might have been a lot different and good for him by the the way, for bouncing back yesterday and beating the Jets.

You know, I still think he's a good quarterback. But anyway, the point is you drew Joe Flacco, who couldn't throw the ball anymore, move or do anything. And so I think I understand why you look at those games and you go, man, what am I supposed to make of this? Yeah, and I just I just feel like there's an apologist sense out there that the Vikings just need to be grateful for where they're at and, and shouldn't really get too full of themselves. I don't get the impression that they are. If anything,

the quotes I read out of the locker room yesterday was a circumspect and, and sort of measured as, as they come. I think the Vikings realize who they are. I think they, they recognize themselves as a team that's going to have to really grind out wins. It's not about even, you know, earning the respect anymore. I think they're really settling into themselves as they may just be disruptors

at this point. And that's fine. I don't think you really have to, I don't know if they're, you know, the hand-wringing for Darnold I think was legitimate, but I don't think the hand-wringing over the validity of this team just feels like a lot of wasted energy because at the end of the day, they're going to finish with the record that they finished with, which looks like 12 wins at minimum. And then they're going to have to obviously tackle demons in the playoffs that are going to be much more formidable than anything they faced in the last several weeks. But I don't know what else the Vikings are supposed to do.

I mean, you can't apologize for facing the AFC South in this down cycle season. The schedule has been somewhat challenging for them because, as you mentioned, I mean, they had to go to London once again. They had to play, they had to go to the West Coast after a really tough home loss against Detroit and go face LA. Three straight row games is a rarity in the NFL, but after they go to Chicago, they've also got three straight home games. And talk about a defense that really thrives in the chaos of U.S. Bank Stadium. This is a unit that can continue, I think, to gain confidence and shape itself as really the driving force of this club during that three-game home stretch where they're also going to be welcoming back Kirk Cousins, which, you know, as an aside, that

doesn't look like a matchup that will be as compelling as it will be emotional, maybe. But I just don't get the sort of apologies sense that the Vikings are, you know, they haven't quite earned what they've got. I think they have because I think they've come, you know, they started over with a reclamation project at quarterback who was in the MVP conversation after five weeks. He isn't anymore, but he doesn't need to be. And I think, you know, a defense that really did show cracks, and you're right, there are still some cracks in the secondary, but a defense that was overwhelmed, overworked, and mismatched toward the end of last season that fell apart at the end because a quarterback carousel just couldn't sustain drives and do anything, produce consistently enough to keep the defense off the field. I think this defense is positioned to be fresh at the end because the offense is doing enough.

And it's doing enough with a quarterback that feels even more comfortable in his own skin today because he has gone through a rough patch and some doubts about maybe his ability, maybe not within himself. But if anything, he's probably proven to himself and his teammates that if he's going to bottom out for a week or two, it's not going to be the end of Sam Darnold. If anything, it's allowed him to emerge a little bit more battle scarred, a little bit more, refined and a little bit more. He's still not afraid to put that ball in tight windows, and that's a good thing.

He still has his confidence. I still feel like there's going to be ways to free Justin Jefferson. We talked about Jordan Addison being kind of a forgotten man for a long time. He has reemerged and gotten himself involved. The running game, it doesn't look like Aaron Jones is 100%, and that may be something that lingers. I think they need a little bit more balance on that end to maybe control the clock more and free things up in the passing game. But I'm really bullish on this team,

not necessarily what they're going to do in January, but in terms of a work product and what they've been able to put forward this season, you got to feel pretty good as a, as a fan and an observer that not only do they have eight wins, but they're in a position because of their schedule and their home schedule, they put the hardest tests behind them and they've got momentum and confidence and that can carry a long way. Yeah, I think what I'm trying to do with this team is keep the view a little more broad than getting into this like Titans, Jaguars last two weeks tunnel of this is the only thing I see of

this team because I got notes yesterday. Well, you know, the Texans win was a long time ago and that's true, but it also was something your team did and counts. It's not like that disappeared and you don't have that or that doesn't exist. When they look at the final stats of a baseball player, they don't go, well, you know, he only hit his home runs in May, so it doesn't count. Like, no, it does. It's just that what have we seen lately is a team that can't run away from some of the worst teams in the league, which I think is lacking in entertainment and excitement value. But if we are going to ask some questions about this team,

as far as how good they can be, I do have to wonder about that one part of it, which is the opportunity. So they did destroy the Texans. But other than that, every game that they've been up by quite a bit, up by two scores, the other team makes it interesting or the Vikings make it interesting for them. And yesterday it was the Vikings make it interesting for them.

They drop a touchdown where it should be 30 to 13. They give up a 98 yard touchdown. They have to have a flag, take out a touchdown for the Titans, which would have made that game very close if they had been able to get that touchdown rather than kicking a field goal. And that was only because their dude lined up in the wrong spot where, I mean, if you're on their side, you've got to go, man, we just earned that touchdown without anything else.

The flag is because the guy can't line up on the line of scrimmage. But if you're the Vikings, that play is something something you got to look back at what the heck happened there. And there have been some big plays over the last few weeks at times against this defense. So I guess I wonder how much you're factoring what you've seen recently versus the bigger picture, because the bigger picture is that they have the same point differential,

five points different from the Philadelphia Eagles and and have twice the point differential of the Green Bay Packers and if we use the DVOA the yardage statistics they're a top five team in the entire league but a lot of that happened a few weeks ago back at home, not on the road against the Titans and the Jaguars. Right. So if they are regressing to a particular mean, it's like if they're doing that against inferior opponents, you wonder what this is going to look like in January when they're probably going to be facing the Detroits and the Philadelphias. Yes, I agree.

I think they have clearly overachieved, as their record indicates. But I don't feel like it was, even the last two seasons, where they didn't. You throw out last season because you lose your starting quarterback seven weeks in, and it was a fire drill to the end and then two seasons ago you had a you know historic things happening happening that just that will not happen again that that led you to so many one score victories and a point differential that was I don't even were they in the negative when it ended it seemed it felt like it you know so that you almost felt like they were more fraudulent as a 13-win team in 2022 than they do as an eight-win team now, because I feel like this is,

they're not relying on one particular person, one particular avenue for victory. They are leaning hard on their defense, but it's been complimentary. I think when the defense has faltered, the offense has found a way to sustain a drive or get the ball in the end zone when they particularly need it during a game. And then, of course, we know how the defense has been able to, if not bail out, at least find ways to keep the offense relevant and keep the game within reach. So it's not a, it's not a team where you say you unleash Jefferson and they're going to put up 35 points. If you, if Darnold can hang onto the ball, he's going to throw for 350 and three or four scores, it's not necessarily that, that easy for them. I think it's more, you're right. They've had some breaks because of what other, the poor play of other teams.

They got some officiating breaks yesterday, but I just feel like this is a team that's kind of defining its, its, its own destiny. And that is what makes it interesting for me. I don't think they're, I don't think they're, they're not overconfident. Again, I'm relying on what I read out of the locker room yesterday. They seem to feel like this, they're not even being defensive about their position. They're just saying, this is the reality of today's NFL. I mean, you may have one or two teams that are in a different stratosphere and you've got a or two teams that are in a different stratosphere, and you've got a handful of teams at the bottom that are just perpetually rebuilding and can't get out of their own way. And there's 20 teams in the middle, and they're all fighting for the

same small pieces of real estate and respect. I think the Vikings are at the top of that heap. I think if you're looking at it like kind of rings, they are just on that second rung, but they're positioned well. And I just don't feel like they're in a position where they have to apologize for much, if anything. And what I've also, and we didn't even discuss this too, you know, we mentioned how Tennessee really got, you know, you could say screwed. It was a tight game, and the Vikings benefited some flags. But a few weeks ago, we were talking about how undisciplined the Vikings were and what was O'Connell really going to do to kind of clean up these pre-snap penalties and self-inflicted wounds that really seemed to be hampering them. Those have kind of quietly gone by the wayside.

I mean, they had a really – I think they only had one penalty yesterday at all. It feels like they're a team that, you team that when they find holes in their game, they find a way to plug them. They find the personnel to do it. They're kind of relying on each other to pull equal weight. Again, they're not winning 52-6, but that's kind of a fantasy world. Those teams, those games don't exist unless you're the Lions or you're the 98 Vikings or you're the 84 49ers.

These are games that the Vikings have to hammer and claw to get through. I just feel like they're entertaining to watch because they seem to be growing right before our eyes. And big picture-wise, I mean, they've got the pieces in place to be a little bit sustainable beyond 2024. And, you know, if Darnold's in the conversation in the offseason, even just to stick around, I think that that makes the season a success no matter how many wins they have or how far they go in January.

The fact that, you know, you're actually considering whether to bring Sam Darnold back as opposed to you figured he was just going to be spackled for six months. Right. The, uh, the fact that the needle hasn't moved in three weeks is probably, it's just boredom setting in with this team. They lose to the Rams. People are very frustrated by that loss. You lose Derrissaw and then you have no real opportunity for a very long time to get a great win. It's just, oh, okay. Well, they beat these teams and I'll be honest, if they had beat them 47 to 10, I still think we'd be having some of the same conversation as well. It doesn't matter because it's those three teams that aren't all that good. And even going to Chicago,

while they did put on a pretty close game against the green Bay Packers, they're a wreck. Their coach has no idea what he's doing. They're firing their offensive coordinator, et cetera, et cetera. And even beating them on the road is not going to come along with a lot of fanfare.

It's the next game is probably Atlanta where people are going to get hyped for it. And then the next game that truly matters for the evaluation of this team is the Packers. And then we'll see about the Lions. The Lions may be so far ahead that they're not playing for anything. And the Vikings may be locked into their position and not be playing for anything either at that point. So we'll have to see. Before we wrap up though, I did want to point out the quietest, unbelievable storyline

from yesterday and from the NFL. Justin Jefferson has the most receiving yards ever through five years by the ninth, I'm sorry, the 10th game of the season. By ever through five years by the ninth. I'm sorry, the 10th game of the season, by the 10th game of the season. And we'll run away with this. And the list is like Torrey Holt, Moss, Rice, the greatest of all time. They mentioned it once on the broadcast. I've seen it nowhere else.

It's not on TV. I haven't seen a lot of writers. Nobody flew in from anywhere to sit down with Jefferson to talk about his astonishing record. I mean, you got a thought like Justin Jefferson, what, I mean, what is there left to say? Are we just bored with how great he is and uncontroversial? I think the latter part, uncontroversial, has a big factor in this. You never hear him pining away for the ball. You don't see him slamming his helmet on a bench. You don't hear the cryptic comments. I mean, even Jordan Addison has kind of whined more than Justin Jefferson has, and he should be the

ultimate diva. You're right. I mean, it's almost an underappreciated feat that he's accomplished. He hasn't had that, you know, magical connection with a Mahomes or, you know, a Montana to Rice or, you know, Kurt Warner to Torrey Holt. You know, he's kind of had to cycle through cousins and his various forms of production or lack of production or penchant for checking it down. Now you have Sam Darnold kind of working his way into the mix. Every defense out there is scheming everything to stop Justin Jefferson any given Sunday. So he's had magical moments kind of mixed in with somewhat average production. But when you add it all up, it's not average at all. And what's been amazing is I think the quality of play and desire and drive

and really to let his production and what happens on the field speak for him has probably not drawn the attention that some of these other wide receivers, even currently in the game, will get because the Vikings aren't always a marquee franchise to cover. They're not always on primetime games. They're not the Dallas Cowboys. They don't have an owner hyping him at any given second. So I think, I don't want to say he's underappreciated. He may be underappreciated if this continues on, but I look for Jefferson to make a beautiful catch every day. And I know he's going to be a factor. And I know there's going to be a moment in every game where you're like,

that's why he's the best receiver in the NFL. It might be more subtle, but you're always going to recognize Justin Jefferson's the best wide receiver in this league because of what you just saw. When he has to answer questions for only catching whatever, I mean, last week it was four for 50 or something like that, which is a fine day for a wide receiver, but then he's got to give a full breakdown of what happened.

It really tells you how good he is. It's Larry Fitzgerald-like, I think, where it's just not controversial and it doesn't get the attention that it ever deserves. But you mentioned it. He has not had the all-time great quarterbacks and still put that record up with all-time great Hall of Fame quarterbacks throwing to a lot of those other wide receivers, except for a Randy Moss. So that deserves more appreciation than it's going to get this week,

because there are other teams around the league that are on fire that people are going to be talking about and not your team. It's not the worst place to be my friends, Brian Murphy, every Monday morning, as always read his column over purple insider.com and a Murph. We will talk to you again next week. Thanks, man. Sounds good. All right. I got another, uh, the wife is gone this evening. So maybe half an hour to

chat about whatever you guys want to talk about. So questions, comments, thoughts. You heard Manny and I talk there for the last hour or so about how we feel about this team. We made fun of stuff. We picked the schedule, all those things. Now, what is on your mind? Vikings beat the Titans. They're eight and two. A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks.

I kind of go back to the way I've been thinking about it is right after they lost to the Rams. And I did something like people were very upset naturally. And I did something like a two and a half hour live stream, just answering questions and talking. And what I kept coming back to is these, these three games. And I remember what I said was, if they go three and O in these three games, then they're back on track and they've moved on from that and they could still have a great season. And it's a bump in the road, which happens to a lot of teams. The 49ers lost three in a row last year. The Rams lost three in a row when they won the Superbowl in 2021. So yeah, like it could still get back on track as long as they win the

three games at the AFC South. And here we are, they have won the three games against the AFC South and then they have the bears coming up, which I do not take lightly as a matchup. I think Iberflues has been tough for Kevin O'Connell in the past and is not going to make it easy on Sam Darnold. They have been really good against the run historically against the Vikings. So not taking this one lightly, but that's what they needed to do. And so that's how that's how I feel about the team is as long as they do what they need to do, then I'm not going to severely alter my overall take on this team almost no matter what, unless it does look completely ridiculous. And it didn't.

It only looks completely ridiculous in one of the games against the Jaguars. So that's that's my overall feeling. But feel free to share yours and any other in the weeds questions, comments. I was out there for KOC today, had a chance to ask him about Brian O'Neill, which has been and there's just not always the usage of that that there should be sometimes when people are talking about who's having these great seasons and brian o'neill is not getting the attention still he deserves from anybody maybe it's because he's a right tackle maybe he needs a podcast or something i don't know but trying to bring a little of that attention to them. So Daniel, sorry, I clicked the wrong one. Daniel says, guard talk. Of course, we've got to have guard talk on the show.

Do we move on from Ingram? Thoughts on Reisner starting last game? So Reisner's numbers were never going to come out good in this game. Jeffrey Simmons is everything you think he is. What a freaking monster. He destroyed them. Of course he did. So did Dexter Lawrence.

These guys, there's no one who can handle them. That's why they get paid so much money. That's why the Titans wouldn't trade them to the Vikings for the first round pick because they are freaks and they can't be stopped. That's why Chris Jones helps the Chiefs win the Super Bowl all the time and gets all the money. They can't be stopped. That's why this guy is always like hey could you draft a defensive tackle who can rush the passer because if you get one they are freaks uh so he was a freak he had an

eight simmons an 88 grade seven pressures like he did the thing but as far as riser goes he graded okay it was a 55 pass blocking grade which against that guy is fine and means you can still continue to operate as an offense and that's what he allowed them to do if Ingram is in there and plays the way that he did against the Giants for example the offense is getting blown up by that because that guy's in the backfield all day long. Ingram himself in week one against Lawrence gave up six pressures and graded a nine and that they just couldn't let that happen again. O'Connell was basically saying, look, I know this is really tough on Dalton. He hasn't played all year. He's coming off an injury. He's probably not in the best

football shape for a game because he hasn't played in one, but bleep it. I can't have that happen. I can't have Darnold getting hit instantly and Reisner will fight. That's the thing. He can anchor a little bit, but he'll also fight. So what you don't see is anyone just destroy Reisner immediately. He may get pushed back. But in that case, what you saw in several plays was Darnold can see that or feel that and escape. When you allow a pressure instantly, the quarterback has no option. They just get killed. And that happens so often with Ingram.

And I know that people are going to focus on the run blocking for Reisner, and it was not good. Of course, it wasn't good. It's never going to be good. It's just he's not Steve Hutchinson that they're bringing in here. We're looking for small improvements, not somebody that's going to be a complete game changer like Randall McDaniel or something. But when Ingram ranks like 48th out of 60, when it comes to run blocking, like the big mistakes happen in run blocking with him too. So even if he is more physical and even if he can move bodies and have pancakes sometimes,

he still just makes big mistakes. And there weren't egregious errors for Dalton Reisner. As far as moving on from Ingram, yeah, just put him in the 2022 bucket. Yeah, I mean, you give somebody that many starts to progress. We talk about it all the time.

The reason I tell you guys that three years for offensive linemen Yeah. I mean, you give somebody that many starts to progress. We talk about all the time. The reason I tell you guys that three years for offensive lineman is really how we know is because that's what the NFL thinks too. They know that these guys need progress. They know that it takes a long time to develop, but year three, if you've seen that much out of a guy, then you, you have an answer about whether he can handle the details or not. He's probably just a backup. I think there will be someone else who tries to start him and ends up with the same results.

That would be my guess. Real quick, keep asking questions. This show has sponsors, which is really cool. And one of them is U.S. Cellular. Gifting is hard, guys, but you can give the gift of connection from us cellular this holiday season. If you're not sure what that means, here's a more specific hint. You can choose four free phones and get four lines for $90 a month with us

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So back when Paul Hodowanek, this is for OGs of the show. When Paul Hodowanek was the intern for the show and he now works for PGATour.com. He's doing great. Lives in Florida, plays golf all the time. Now he's better than me at golf because of it. But one of his first projects as the intern was to investigate whether the Soldier Field curse was real. So I had him go back and look through

and use the betting lines to see, was it really that bad? Were there really that many upsets where the Bears beat the Vikings when they shouldn't have? And the answer was absolutely yes. It was a hundred percent. Yes. It was a stunning number of games where somehow the Bears were able to beat the Vikings, no matter how big of an underdog they were. The Chad Hutchinson one goes down in history. I think it was one in six or one in five Jay Cutler Bears in 2016 that set off a whole domino effect of Zimmer's eye popping out,

Norv Turner leaving. Everything happened after that Bears game. So I've kind of seen it all when it comes to that. 2018 was where we got the sense that you know this kirk team 2018 i don't think they're gonna make it uh when they totally melted on national tv against the 2018 chicago bears there's a lot of things that have happened there not good how about uh stefan dicks the truth to all rumors game where they fall apart against chase Daniel. He beats them in Chicago, maybe throws for like a hundred yards and came off the bench for Mitch Trubisky and beats the Vikings.

But since then that I don't know that they've lost one. Have they, have they lost one in Chicago since that 2019 meltdown? I think Kirk kind of turned it around where 2020, they gave up that kick return to Cordero Patterson, but still won the game. I'm thinking 2021, Justin Fields was really bad and DJ Wanham got a bunch of sacks. 2022, I am struggling to remember what happened in 2022. Was that at the end of the season when they played Tim Boyle? And then last year, they won that game last year. Now, I'm a little bit blanking on what happened last year at Soldier Field. But they won, right?

So I don't know. Maybe there isn't a curse there anymore. But you're right. It's not an easy place to play. And it has gone through my mind about Sam Darnold in the weather. Is there something about, well, he was, but he was good with the Jets in December when he played for them. Maybe there's no weather there.

I don't know. I think with, oh, was it Bajent? Was Bajent last year? Bajent was last year. Now I'm remembering Justin Fields gets hurt. Daniil Hunter, I think dragged him out of bounds. Tyson Bajent comes in, has a chance to win the game, throws a pick. Yes, Byron Murphy down the sideline.

That's what happened. So they haven't lost there in quite some time. But maybe weather could be a factor. I really think that Ibra Floos just understands how to stop the run against KOC. And that KOC won't stick with the run kind of like that Monday night game where they picked off Dobbs a bunch of times he's just had a good sense for O'Connell's offense and has been able to beat it if there's anything Ibra Floos does well it's it's that this won't be easy this won't be a steamroll this will be a tough battle because

it is Soldier Field and it is a coach who's done a good job with his defense against this offense. Ty says, my thought for the fan base is to quit worrying about Darnold, except that what he is and just hope KOC can milk a miracle year out of him. They're already kind of there at this point. The thing about calling it a miracle year is that Darnold's just too talented for that. That was the debate with Case Keenum was, oh, well, this is just nonsense. This is just a pop-up year. This is so goofy. Like it's never going to happen ever again with Case Keenum. And that was right. He went to Denver. He went to

Washington. Other teams tried it. It just didn't work. They had the number one defense. They had a great collection of receivers. The line was good that work. They had the number one defense. They had a great collection of receivers. The line was good that year. The play caller was on point. It just worked out. It was a magical year, small sample size. Like when you call somebody up from the minors and the guy hits 300 for a month, I'll, I'll give you a throwback on that, uh, that, that will impress twins fans. Tommy Watkins did that once upon a time. He now, I think, works for the team. Got called up for the minors, hit 300 or something in the final month.

But that wasn't a guy, and I'm sure he would even tell you, that was going to have a long career in Major League Baseball. Just wasn't at the talent level. That's not Darnold. Darnold is of the talent level. It's not a miracle when he makes that throw to Jalen Aylor that he drops. It's not a miracle when he scrambles out of the pocket and makes a great throw on the run or scrambles for a first down. This guy's an incredible athlete. This is someone with kind of an arm of gold and mobility and playmaking and all those things.

It really is. Can you keep the horse blinders on with him and have him understand that he doesn't have to do the whole thing? I thought that at times in the last few games before this, that he got a little bit into, I need to do everything. And O'Connell tried to bring him back to, Hey,

when it's not there, run for a first down, throw the ball away. Just don't make that big mistake. And he was so much better at doing it. Uh, truly says moving forward with the offense, does Darnold just take QB sneak on third and fourth and one. Ooh, yeah. I mean, it's, it's a brutal situation when they get to third or fourth and one. Even at the goal line, they lucked out on that call. But maybe that's what they're going to have to do. Yeah, and Wes says, why not? It's the Eagles' best play.

It is an unstoppable play across the league. I did an article about this a while ago. It was in 2018. I did an article about it because I asked Bill Belichick about it, and I asked Belichick the key to the QB sneak. And he just said, execution. I was like, that's awesome. Bill Belichick just said the word execution to me.

But the QB sneak works. You have a big athlete, a quarterback. You do have to worry a little bit about injury when it comes to that. Although Jalen Hurts has survived it for this whole time it doesn't they don't have a running back i don't know maybe cam acres is this guy maybe you put in everybody condensed and you get oliver in there and you get ham in there and you just hand it off to acres and try to smash through but they just don't seem to have a great package of plays for that situation or great answers. And you have to respect them just saying, whatever, let's just

QB sneak it every time because that's the best way it was. I think third and a long one, or maybe third and even two, and he jumped forward for the first down. Uh, but it's been a repeated issue for them trying to figure out those short and goal line situations. And it really is that the interior of the line just doesn't get great push, but Brandel's a huge dude. You would think that they'd be able to do it behind Brandel. Mike says, is there a sweet spot for drafting an interior defensive tackle are the best always identified in the first round? They are. Yeah. Almost always first, second round, almost every single one of the highest paid defensive tackles is first or second round. So if you're ever going to get one, that's where you got to get it. But what they've done this year is they have used an old bill Belichick strategy way back in the day when Belichick was with, I want to say Cleveland,

I think. And they went and got might've been Ted Washington. You guys remember him just this mammoth house of a human being and it costs them very little. And he just stuffed the middle, just used his big old body. And they would do it with Alan Branch, with Danny Shelton. Vince Wilfork was a way above average player for the early Super Bowl teams for them, but still same concept. Not as expensive as an edge rusher. They've done that this year with Harrison Phillips, Jonathan Bullard, and Jerry Tillery, and even Jalen Redman has been pretty good for them. They just stuff the middle and let the linebackers cook. That's a really good strategy. If you're not going to have the first round defensive tackle,

it's been very effective. They are one of the best teams, the NFL rushing defense, if not the best team. And they have forced people like Will Levis into third and longs all the time. They couldn't run at all. The last three weeks, they have entirely shut down these run games. And a lot of it has to do with, they just picked guys for the interior that are strong and they take up blockers and they can move bodies. I wrote an article about this, where I talked with Harrison Phillips for 10 minutes about it, about how it's hard to even grade from a PFF perspective because they're often being used as blocker movers. So it's, I'm going to take this guard and I'm going to move him so Blake Cashman can hit the gap. So Ivan Pace can hit the gap. And if you watch close, you'll see this. They've done a good job of it. It's it's not jeffrey simmons it's not dexter lawrence

it's kind of the next best way to do it and it is an old patriots thing for sure uh alex says what was it like watching from the house it has been a while since uh other than london i did watch london from the house i didn't go to london this year uh and it's not it's i kind of i try to schedule it out each year. So I'm picking the road games that are going to be the most worth it to be there. Silly me pick Jacksonville. Cause I thought they were going to be good. Whoops. Uh, maybe that really wasn't worth it for the football that I saw. It was a fun trip, but it wasn't worth it. As far as a yesterday though, I could understand a little bit more the frustration I see on social media about some of the broadcasting because Adam Archuleta could not Archuleta go when it came to any of the calls by the referees.

He seemed to hate every single call by the refs. And I was thinking that if it was Tom Brady in the booth, that he would have been kicked off the ownership because, you know, he's not supposed to criticize the referees or whatever. Just, it was so much obsession on that. They get names wrong sometimes, which my wife is a play-by-play broadcaster, and I know that's unacceptable in that world, but it seems to happen a lot in those NFL games. Like, is the prep good here? Because the Vikings have a pretty big amount of PR people that you could ask on any pronunciation and stuff like that I thought that there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of insight but one thing that happens to me when I am watching on TV versus being there

is I feel like I'm watching it through a keyhole that the angle of the TV broadcast just doesn't show what's happening downfield. And it messes with me because when I watch a play, when the quarterback drops back and I'm in the press box, I look downfield. A lot of times you can only look one place or the other. You have to look at the quarterback or you have to look downfield. So I look downfield, which is why I remember so vividly when Case Keenum dropped back in the Minneapolis Miracle, I looked downfield and my brain went, wait, where is everyone? As he's throwing the ball and Marcus Williams is running at Stefan Diggs, I expected that there was going to be a ton of guys forming an umbrella and they weren't. And I was like, wait, what?

And then you guys know what happened next. But when I can't look at the coverage and the receivers running their routes, I just want to pull my hair out sometimes because I can't tell what's happening. And so now I really have to go back and watch the film closely because it's so much harder to get a sense for things. You can't see what's going on on the sideline, the overall vibe of, I've always said that I need to be there to see a quarterback to know if he's any good or not. And that's been a really good way to do it

is the quarterback's comfort in the pocket and his body language and all those things that you can see at the stadium that are just harder to see. I don't love it, but there's also business decisions to be made. A few more sponsors. Hey, Diet Dr. Pepper, feel free to jump in. We're a few more sponsors away from traveling to every road game. So maybe next year. Mike says, seems like as of now, our biggest needs are

corners, guards, center, interior, D-line. Look, the look the offseason stuff i know that everybody wants to talk about it 24 7 but we'll just leave that for for later i mean i think what you want to talk about is how to work around what they have right now rather than what they're going to do in the offseason we're going to have so much time the offseason goes on for so long you just don't get very many eight and two seasons. Yeah, they need stuff. Every team's going to need stuff. We'll talk about that, but how they're going to deal with the fact that Aaron Jones is banged up and that they can't really block running wise. And Josh Oliver now is banged up with an ankle sprain. It's a little bit dicey with this run game.

This is where Kevin O'Connell is going to be tested because in 2022 down the stretch, Delvin cook got banged up. Wasn't the same guy and they couldn't run the football that well. I think the last hundred yard game for Delvin was against Buffalo in the middle of the season. They can't let the history repeat itself there. They need to find ways to run the ball or screens or whatever it might be to answer this question because they have a couple of linemen that are not that effective at run blocking. And you can't just stop doing it, which is sort of what they did in 2022.

They just stopped doing it. With Kirk, you could stop doing it. I don't think you want to stop doing it with Sam is sort of what they did in 2022. They just stopped doing it with Kirk. You could stop doing it. I don't think you want to stop doing it with Sam Darnold. Do you give Aaron Jones a week off? Well, it's hard to do because it's against the Chicago bears. If you were going to do it, it probably should have been this week. And now in hindsight, it seems like it really should have been this week that you just sit them for the week and survive Tennessee and then go to Chicago with him feeling a little healthier because he had to come out of the game against Tennessee and is still banged up. You have to have the best possible

version of Aaron Jones and the running game that you could get. Even if it's a grinded out running game, what they did in Jacksonville was fine. Aaron Jones got five yards to carry. They didn't get explosives, but oh, well, and here's what I want to see. And maybe Kevin O'Connell's head might blow up from suggesting this, but I think Ty Chandler's got to get in that backfield. Even if you bring him in for a couple of toss plays, he's the only one who's got the speed. He's got the quickness. He's also pretty fresh. I know that they've lost their trust in Chandler, but he can run and he might be able to break a big player to cam acres. I respect the hell out, but it does seem like acres will end up with two and a half yards of carry after every game. And you go, I thought he played better than

that. And he just doesn't break bigger runs too often. he's he's been fine but he doesn't have the explosiveness of ty chandler that might be the answer is they have to do that uh the sin family says is darnold starting quarterback material. And please don't talk about him being in a good scheme. I mean, he's eight and two with a hundred quarterback rating and the 12th best PFF quarterback in the league. I don't know. Like what,

what more would he have to show you to, to tell you he's a starting quarterback certainly is one of the discussions that I don't enjoy at all is, well, this guy's got that. So that's the only reason he's good. What do you want him to apologize? I mean, yes, the reason Sam Darnold is playing well is because of the coaching, the receivers,

the blocking's been good enough this year, especially the tackle position. Robinson's done a good job since coming in. The circumstances make a difference for everybody. But when Nick Mullins is in there, you're not winning games. When Josh Dobbs was in there for an extended period of time, you're not winning games. And Sam Darnold is playing at a much higher level than that, even if he's going to hit some bumps in the road. Of course, yeah. I mean, Sam Darnold is very clearly a starting NFL quarterback, but there's also a good amount of quarterbacks in the league that if you give them the worst circumstance, they're not

going to make it better. If you put Darnold in Kansas City probably right now, I don't think it would be going very well. Whereas with Mahomes, they lose one game by a couple points to Buffalo. And if you put Mahomes in Carolina with Matt Rule, or you put Josh Allen in Carolina with Matt Rule a couple of years ago, those teams are in the playoffs because those are different. Those are freak aliens, completely other level. But even with Jared Goff and all of you know how much I respect Jared Goff or Brock Purdy this year, who's been good, but has not been as good as he was last year. It's always going to be somewhat dictated by what you have

around you. And that's the case with Darnold. But if you set up the scheme well enough, if you set up the receivers well enough, then you can win a lot of games with them. And that's exactly what they're doing. And if the Vikings were in the AFC, then I would be saying, it would be different for me. I would be saying, I don't know. I don't know how they're going to beat these guys. I don't know how they're going to be Allen or Mahomes if they were in the AFC and should they reach the Superbowl, we'll deal with that problem when we get there. But if they were in the AFC, I would be, I would even be looking at someone like Herbert going, whoa, man, that chargers team's pretty tough. That's going to be difficult for them. In fact,

maybe the chargers are kind of like that where yeah, Herbert's good, but is he going to beat the other guys? I don't know. Maybe not, but they're not in the AFC. They're in a conference where Jalen hurts is good, but flawed and is probably the same way where if Jalen Hurts is playing for Kansas city right now, they have five wins instead of nine, or if he's playing for Buffalo, they have five wins instead of nine. That's just kind of his talent. He's good. He's really good. And I don't criticize him for it. He's good, but a lot of quarterbacks will be pushed one way or another. It's just that Darnold was so inexperienced coming to the league. I just don't think he ever had a good foundation of teaching, of learning, and of weapons that

could, that he could rely on to be open. And now he does. And so of course, yeah, he's a starting quarterback, but you can't give him dog crap around him like they had before uh preston says with aaron jones looking less than 100 why did koc run him on the final play of the game he got mauled on that play second time that's happened this year i agree i don't know i don't know some of those things well it's not always koc uh sometimes when it comes to substitutions, usually it's the running backs coach. Everyone has their jobs on game day and the running backs coach job is to handle the rotations for the running backs and the receivers coach is handling the receivers.

So who's in the game is often dictated by a plan before the game and the assistant coach tries to stick to that plan. And then if the head coach wants to specifically make a change, then he's going to tell them, okay, here's what we got to do. But that's, he might say, Hey, don't play Aaron Jones here. Maybe he should have, but usually it's the assistant coach who's making that choice. I agree though. Good, good call. That's, that's not, there was no reason for him to be in the game at the end like that. Uh, truly says, uh, who on the Vikings current roster could be Taysom Hill. Uh, Justin Jefferson could, I guess if you needed him to, he could play any position on the field. They don't really have a guy. Maybe Ty Chandler could

do a lot of different things, but it takes a more of a mental load. And if he can't handle running back, that's hard. Uh, I don't, I don't know. I there's nobody that I can think of that can do all that stuff. Uh, you know what, you know, who could be Taysom Hill in another world is Harrison Smith. Harrison Smith could play. I don't know if he could throw the ball. I think he probably can't cause he's a great golfer. And that's like a hand-eye coordination thing. Harrison Smith maybe would be the guy who could have played running back receiver tight end and blocked people blocked punts and then played defense too if they asked him to maybe he should have started doing that uh at the beginning of his career uh james says uh they've had a lot of leads late in games this year but feel like

they've struggled to get jefferson the ball went up in the fourth quarter when there's a chance to put these games away. Just in general, putting games away has been a struggle. And it was a struggle at times in 2022 as well, where they would be up on Miami or something and not be able to just put the dagger in or Arizona. They let back in the game in 2022 or Chicago. They let back in the game. It has had some of that same feel of letting these bad teams just hang around. And yeah, there is likely a tie in there to Jefferson. It does seem that early in games, they're getting the ball to him. And maybe that wanes as the game goes on.

The always the thing with Jefferson to me is how can we possibly complain about the ball going to jefferson he's got the most yards for five years of anyone ever but there's a little bit of where is the easy button to get him the football where is i don't want him running jet sweeps because that he could get hurt doing that but where is the kind of little bubble or the quick kind of thing where you have them go in motion or something, just a speed out, which remember Kirk was good at throwing those little speed outs to Jefferson. It doesn't always have to be down the field. And I would like to see them at some point, get into a little bit of a mindset of get the Jefferson the ball quickly. It may be the case that he is so covered up by two dudes that that's hard to do.

He also is not the best slant route runner ever. If he's being pressed off the line of scrimmage doing a slant, that might be part of it as well. But I'm with you that you'd like to see more of a consistent beating drum of jefferson as opposed to whoa he had three big plays and then wasn't there for a quarter that may also just be the nature of how it goes they start to cover him and then you go to somebody else but i agree with you in general maybe you could get him some more easy button plays and close out some teams a little easier.

David says, enjoyed being at the game. That's nice. I do believe this is more of the version of Darnold that we will see. I would rather have that than bleep it version of Eddie Kirk varieties. Yeah, I mean, with Darnold for yesterday, why I thought it was so big is because that was the opportunity for his confidence to fall apart. If it was going

to happen, that was the moment for him to get down on himself and start hearing what everybody was saying in 2024. There's no way to avoid it. He knows what everybody was saying after last week. This is the same old Darnold and he didn't, he got it up and he played a great game and again if you if you have the coach's tape and you feel like watching it go back and look at some of the plays look at the PFF grade listen to what Kevin O'Connell said this was a much better game that Darnold played than it looked like on TV and even I came away I think yesterday I said B plus I'd go A now for sure after watching it back, especially knowing that one of the throws could have been a touchdown to Addison,

but he got cramps in the middle of the play. But the scrambles, the playmaking out of the pocket, and some of the best plays, he took a sack when it was smart to take a sack and not try to take a risk. And then he threw it out of bounds a couple times when he should do that. He found guys that kept his eyes up, didn't seem to get distracted by the rush in his face. He had a great game. He just really needed that,

and that gives you more confidence going down the stretch that, yeah, he's going to have another bad game, but he can always come back the next week and be better, and he did it against Detroit after the bad game against the Jets, and he came back and played well enough to win he misses two throws in the game and they lose because detroit's a monster but he played well enough to win that game too uh david adds that koc's version of version for him or maybe he meant vision for him is starting to take shape and this vikings team

is much more complete than 2022 yeah it's really not comparable to 2022 because the defense was so pathetic in 2022. And that's why some of the stats don't look the same is when you're playing ahead, you just play different. And each one of these games, well, the Jaguars game, you know, whatever. But like the Indianapolis game, they're playing from ahead. This game, they're playing from ahead. You see it in basketball all the time a team gets a 20 point lead and then the

other team cuts it to to four at some point and then you run away it's it's just how sports work for some reason that hockey is a big one for this the two goal lead all of you know that saying you just play a little bit different with a lead, but they have a defense that is not perfect, but really, really good. And that is totally different from 2022 where Mike White could beat you on a given week and almost did in 2022. Anyone could have a good week against the Vikings. That's completely changed. Now, when you play a Will Levis who did well, I thought Will Levis had a good week against the Vikings. That's completely changed. Now, when you play a Will Levis who did well, I thought Will Levis had a good day and showed some guts there. But still, I mean, you play a Will Levis,

you go, well, they're not gonna score. And they kind of did. Mike says, Sam's not a running quarterback, but definitely has escapability. Would you define his escapability the same as mobility? If not, which do you prefer? two or three all else equal there's kind of what what you're getting at would be there's a mobility to me is running like actual impact running josh yesterday. What a play, what a play that he ran for a touchdown.

That would be mobility to me. The, the, the Michael Vick, the Randall Cunningham. These are the most mobile quarterbacks. Escapability falls under the same category to me as playmaking ability, which is the play breaks down and you can still have a successful play happen.

Even if what you were looking for, isn't there. And with cousins for a long time, that was the biggest frustration that I had was he just couldn't make a play. And what we've seen from Sam Darnold is he can make a play. He can make a play and he has done. And you know, he's made some mistakes, no question about it, but he can make a play and he has done. And you know, he's made some mistakes, no question about it, but he can make a play. And that is fun to watch. And it also has a ton of value when he, when he scrambles around,

sometimes you're like, don't run into somebody. But when he made that one play where he kind of escaped sideways and then bought himself time and found a receiver, maybe it was Jefferson and they end up with a first down. You go, that's not there if he's not a playmaker. So he's a playmaker, not a runner, not a mobile. He's going to get 50, 60 yards in a game. You're not going to see that much from him, but I think a playmaker, that's why he was

drafted so high. It's pure arm talent and it's playmaking at USC. He was a great playmaker and sometimes you have to say hey hey stop trying to be so much of a playmaker that you're making mistakes and that is the difficult thing to dance for for him uh must insert I not try to say it I probably have screwed this up before and I apologize to you. Maybe you could tell me how to pronounce it. Uh, I have a bad feeling about the Packers game. Vikings always tend to lay an egg in the, in those late in the season. Sometimes. Yeah. Uh, 2021, they won a big one against the Packers late in the season. If you remember that one, I think Kirk

hit feeling by the sideline. They went down and won a crazy back and forth game in that one. So it doesn't always happen, but it has happened recently. 2022, Rodgers faking out somebody at the goal line going into the end zone. Was it Asamoah was playing at that time? Somebody could have been. 2022 that he faked out, went into the end zone. It's just, yeah, there's a lot of those in Packers and Vikings history. And last year, Jordan Love,

they tried to start Jaron Hall and what a mistake that was. And Jordan Love rips them apart. That is one that has had, it's back and forth over the years with them and the Packers. When they had Rodgers, you could kind of count on it.

But there's been the 2012, the Christian Ponder, that one, they were able to win 2015. They went to Green Bay and won late in the season. It goes back and forth through the years. 2017, I know it wasn't Rogers, but they went to Green Bay and it was zero degrees and they found a way to win and the long snapper got hurt. Yeah, it's a mixed bag there, but I understand what you're saying is that's a game right there. Vikings Packers at the end of the season, right after Christmas, it's going to be the bright lights. It's going to be everybody paying attention to that game. Could be for a spot in the playoffs. Do you get the five seed? Do you get the six seed?

What you're going to be there? And it will determine how people feel about the team and feel about the season. It really will. If this goes the way we kind of think, which is, hey, they're going to win some, they're going to lose some against these good teams. Like you're going to win or lose against Arizona. They're a good team. Atlanta, Seattle, like those, you're not going to beat all these teams because they have good quarterbacks and they have good teams.

But that game might really be for something in the standings and if you lose that game everyone's going to go into the playoffs going okay well it's another one of those years where they're just kind of good enough but not that great uh but if they win that game it's uh kevin garnett anything is possible uh adds that uh chandler's done his penalty pretty much confirmed that well yeah that penalty really close confirmed that. Well, yeah, that penalty, uh, really close on that one.

There was like a toe out of bounds when he hit him, but Chandler had a great kick return in that game. I, his playmaking ability with the football in his hands, his speed, his quickness, get him to the edge. He,

I think he needs to be in the game a little bit more because acres doesn't have that type of burst. Uh, is CJ ham healthy right now? I don't know. I would assume he is. He has not been on the injury report at all, but with CJ ham, they, they've know how to use CJ ham as a pass protector. Kevin O'Connell has never really understood how to use CJ ham as a run blocker and just get a dude behind cj ham going downhill and try to get a first down it's just never been a thing since he's been here and he carved out this pass protection role for cj because they like him so much but they just kevin stefanski understood this really well in 2019 how to use a fullback in that outside zone system it's not what

they run it's never really worked for them uh kmac it's looking like two double digit win seasons out of three competitive rebuild years all that and they have first round quarterback already in house pretty damn good outcome for this regime and think about it this way too the losses early last year were kind of fumble driven in a weird way. And they had won against San Francisco and they won against green Bay. If Kirk doesn't tear the Achilles, they make the playoffs. Uh, they might have Bo Nix as their quarterback right now, if that had happened, or they would have had to trade all the draft capital to get McCarthy, but they were in line. And even when they were playing with Dobbs, I was talking about this with somebody I know just tonight about

coaching in the NFL. It's like, man, if you get a good one, you it's, it's worth its weight in gold. There's just so few of them. There's so few good coaches who can prove it over multiple seasons. There's maybe 10 in the league and everybody else just shuffles and and guesses and there's so few organizations that have enough stability this is why the wilfs like make sure you're ponying up and staying on this direction because there's so much incompetence and so many egos and so many organizations that just fall apart and have no idea what they're doing. And they almost went three for three and competitive rebuild. And they come out of this free agency with all these players. I mean, it is a, a tough, tough league to succeed in.

And you end up with this team eight and two, uh, they were what Eight and two at this time in 2022, they finished with 13 wins that year. And then last year, I'm thinking maybe 10, they would have gotten to had Kirk Cousins stayed healthy and they lost. Think of the games they lost, even with Dobbs and Mullins as their starting quarterbacks, they lose a ridiculous tush push game to Cincinnati. They lose Justin Fields suddenly learns how to lead a game winning drive. They lose the Russell Wilson jump ball to the end zone. It was a lot of those one score luck from 2022 swinging back the other way. But those are the games they lost with backup quarterbacks. They just they haven't had too many times where they weren't even in games

except for that green bay game where they got blown out and then the dallas one where they got blown out after the buffalo game marcus says was it the texans game with no addison 18 goes down no hawkinson and darnold led a touchdown drive down the field uh When was Jefferson, was he banged up for a play in that game? Was that the throw to Naylor? That was San Francisco that was the throw to Jayla Naylor that I think you're talking about.

The Texans game, they just kind of blew them out, right? But the 49ers made it close, and that was the one where he hit Naylor who just needs a catch or two to get going he might be a guy that is it needs to be in a little bit more of a rhythm it's hard to keep everybody into a rhythm though it's just hard uh let's see let me answer another question or two and then I gotta go finish my article for today let me see here yeah a lot of you on the

same page with chandler look they lost confidence in him and that's a tough thing to regain but a pitch just a pitch toss him the ball maybe he'll catch it unlike against the jets which is really where i think they lost confidence in him. Trent says, I was at the Tennessee game. Wow, shocked by how many Vikings fans were there. Wanted to see a home game this year and glad I could. It's remarkable. Part of it is that the flights,

they've created a lot of flights to these places that are very easy and travel. It's not as hard as it used to be. Everybody's got apps and stuff where you can just load this up real quick. You don't have to go through travel agency or call a hotel or anything. You just go, hey, let's go to Tennessee,

boop, boop, and then you're there. So that's part of it. And the secondary market's another part of it. It's so easy to get tickets. And there's also Vikings fans everywhere. It's really though, I don't see it around the league at the level of this. Maybe Pittsburgh, Dallas possibly.

There's a lot of San Francisco fans, but for sure the Vikings have one of the best traveling fan bases that there is. David, has there been an announcement on the cards? Vikings flex two weeks from now. I haven't heard anything yet. We'll see. There is a really, has there been an announcement on the cards? Vikings flex two weeks from now. I haven't heard anything yet. We'll see. There is a really, if I'm correct, there's a really terrible game that night that they do need to change. Done with Naylor. Can't catch for his life. He dropped the

ball. I mean, he can catch. He's got what? Four touchdowns or something this year. He can. He just dropped that one. They need him. They need a third wide receiver option. They need him to be a deep option. He had trust from Darnold at the beginning of the year. He just dropped that one. It happens.

But I think it's harder on him when he is not getting the football a little more consistently like the other guys. Anyway, well, really fun, really fun chat tonight, as always. Let me get Rob's question here. Rob, I'm enjoying the fact that this is KOC's best coaching job so far when you factor the adversity of the offseason and preseason while resurrecting Sam Darnold. Yeah, you go back to that. Kyrie Jackson, we all remember that day and how Kevin O'Connell handled that I think that that was really important for the team as well for the way that he handled that entire thing he went to his funeral he missed training camp that day for that and handled it with a lot of compassion on rookie there's a rookie day day or rookie game where they have all the rookies' families in,

stuff like that, and they brought in Kyrie Jackson's family this year. Aaron Jones told us that. I mean, that's an amazing gesture from this team. There's just a lot of thoughtfulness from Kevin O'Connell that matters in a lot of different places. And it's not resurrecting Sam Darnold. It's making him, he was resurrecting. Sounds like he brought him back from something. He just, uh, he was, he, he wasn't even a starting quarterback. He was a backup last year. And what you've really seen is again, with the communication with O'Connell. And I think part of it is there's so much value in just not in taking one mindset and staying there and being consistent because O'Connell's mindset has been, I'm going to back guys. I'm going to believe in them.

And how about last night? Hopefully some of you saw this. The kicker for the Bengals missed a field goal. And on the sideline, they showed him talking to the special teams coach and the special teams coach was just cussing him out and just shook his head and threw his hands up. And I, and I said to my wife, we were watching the game together and I said, they wouldn't do that. The Vikings wouldn't do that to a kicker. Not this. Well, there's a previous coach who would, they wouldn't do that to the kicker. And I said, watch him miss the next one. And he did.

And they lost the game. And when O'Connell has set a certain tone for this team, where he's just going to have guys backs and that's it, that when you have veteran players, even a veteran quarterback, that Sam Darnold comes off a bad game. And instead, what did the guy from Tennessee say about, uh, about Levis a few weeks ago? Like, how does a grownup make that play or something? And there was that clip of him saying, what the bleep are you doing? It was like right up in his face. And, uh, how do you recover from that? If you're Brian Callahan coaching a young

quarterback, when the whole world just saw you scream in the guy's face, what the bleep are you doing? And even if you're thinking that, even if you're feeling that, and you saw some frustration on O'Connell's face with something that there was a play call and you saw, this was really interesting. Cause this is me watching the broadcast. I'm usually not. Darnold started to kind of walk away. Cause he could tell O'Connell was irritated. He said, Hey, come here. And then they talked it over and then he went back in and it was fine. And there's the fact that he has said, look, even if I sound stupid, sometimes this is how I'm going to approach

this. I'm always going to tell after Jacksonville, how important was it after Jacksonville? And, and some of you, I know probably grew up in a different era of football where you would have said bleep that quarterback for throwing three picks. But what did O'Connell say in the locker room? He said he pointed a football at Darnold. He said, we're going to need you, and we know you're going to bounce back, and we're going to be good. Sometimes it looks silly. He showed a lot of belief in Nick Mullins.

He showed a lot of belief in Josh Dobbs, and sometimes it doesn't work out. But that mindset has set him apart from a lot of coaches that are just crazy people and angry people. And Josh McDaniels just abusing Jimmy Garoppolo out there or whatever. It just, it's, I think that that's what has set him apart is the whole tone of the organization is set toward. We're going to, we're going to roll with these players. We're going to buy into them. And I also think it was probably important too. And I know that some, I got some notes today. Oh, Hey, how's your boy rise there? Huh? Guess he's not Steve Hutchinson. Yeah, I know. Thank you. But to also say to balance this, Hey, I believe in you with,

if you don't do your job, we're going to make a change. And he did do that with Dalton riser. I don't know if he does that a couple of years ago. In fact, I know he doesn't because Ingram was playing the worst football that I've seen at the right guard position in 2022. And they didn't make a change there. Um, and that's, we're seeing some progression. I'm not sure that Kevin O'Connell changes a lot about the offense. Even last year with the way that he has with Darnold and made these adjustments from week to week when things haven't gone well. So we're seeing some progress there as well. It's just of all the coaches they could have hired that year, they were the ones that lucked into.

And remember once upon a time when people were concerned that he was the last one hired. So I don't know. You never know. You hire somebody, you think this guy seems good, seems like a great idea. And you just got to get lucky. And it feels like they have. And it has been his best coaching job. No question.

Teddy says, how do you stay so even when it comes to delivering non-biased content? Well, I've been doing it for a long time and I've covered a lot of teams. Every year is a new team. I've covered many coaches because before I got here, I started out covering the American Hockey League. And so I covered a couple of different coaches there. I covered maybe four seasons there.

And I covered the NHL in Buffalo and did Buffalo Bills pre and post game show and that's how i got the job in minnesota with 1500 espn and i i came here and have no allegiance to the team or anything like that i went to journalism school also which believe it or not has some value uh they really kind of hammer home the importance of letting the facts guide you and not emotions guide you. Even though I will rant to you guys and try to be entertaining to you guys and sometimes go off, it's always going off the facts that I know. And there were times last year where I was ranting about not adjusting the offense or mistakes for in-game stuff. And

there have been times where I have ranted this year about not running the ball enough or whatever else. Uh, but if for me, I feel like with this job that I kind of play ref like fact referee, uh, and maybe better than NFL refs are able to do it. So people bring their thoughts, their questions, their ideas, and I'm the arbiter of that. So I try to decide, all right, is that a rational take? Does it make sense to be angry at the eight and two Vikings? The answer, I can't find the facts. Like I'm Maury Povich. Like, no, the, yeah, yeah is that who's the guy with the

is it your baby or whatever maybe i'm not quite that maybe i'm the like um what's the show where is this survey says like i'm that guy like survey says no it's not okay to be angry at an eight and two football team something like that you know i don't know's, that's how I see it. I try to, I put all of my time into this job, all of it. So I hope to have the most information. So if you ask me about what I think that I try to give you the information in a fun and entertaining way, that's, that's what I like to do. Uh, so that's, that's how I do it. I let the facts guide me always and forever. That's why I wrote a book on football analytics revolution and have always done it that way. It's worked out pretty well. Uh, David says, Sam Darnold looked so solid yesterday. That is what Sam Darnold was supposed to be when he was drafted. He's still learning how to be a pro. Yeah. I mean, it's clear that he didn't learn that early on from the,

from the coaching that he got. Randy says, I tune in for the elusive rant. I hope you caught it earlier, Randy, but maybe let, let Randy know when that was. Was that like at around the one hour

mark though there was a rant there was a rant it was pretty good uh betwixt how is this koc's best coaching job when you have flores coaching a top five defense 2022 was way more impressive given the talent i don't agree no i i don't uh the guy who hired Brian Flores is Kevin O'Connell. So that's that's one thing. But no, I I mean, I for one, he took over a quarterback who has been in the league grades, all those things in his career before. And he didn't even play as well statistically as he had previously before that. And KOC didn't fire Ed Donatell, which was a huge blunder. He had every opportunity to do so, especially the game they lost against Detroit. He needed to make that change. And I'm sure regretted it later when they lost in the playoffs. Um, so I, I mean, I, I don't, we don't know how the season's going to play out, but I, they also just got lucky in a lot of those games. Uh, and we tried to, um, we tried to kind of justify it by like, Oh, he likes the players more. And that's why they're

winning the one score games, but a double doink field goal misses and stuff like that. The guy for Miami fumbles late in the game. So they don't come back. Your mayor, Smith, Marseille fumbles. There was a lot of luck involved in that season this year. They're outscoring their opponents by 75 points. It's felt much more like that. Another part of it is that, you know, if this is Dan Campbell, we're giving him credit for the whole coaching staff, but because it's a KOC, it's all while Flores runs the defense. And that's very true, but that doesn't mean O'Connell has nothing to do with it. The head coach is the guy who gets credit for all of it. In my opinion, hiring Flores

was his call. But this year taking a quarterback just on its face, taking a quarterback who had been beaten down into the ground by the NFL and had talent and finding a way to put him in the right position to succeed, even if we get frustrated at times by different play calls or whatever. That just alone is a great coaching job. Aaron is here and Aaron, I'm glad you showed up because I wanted to apologize to you yesterday. You threw in a super chat. I didn't see it because the chat froze when Dane froze yesterday. And I can't remember what your question was. I think it was about the run defense, but I just, I felt bad about that.

I saw it later when I looked back at the video, I was like, oh, I wonder why the chat froze and Aaron threw in a super chat. So I appreciate you. Anybody welcome to do it? Certainly no obligation. You guys know that I answer all sorts of questions regardless of whether you super chat or not. And I really appreciate yours.

Be twixt. You're always throwing a couple of bucks in the tip jar for me, even if sometimes we disagree, but I do appreciate that. So thanks Aaron for doing that. a couple of bucks in the tip jar for me, even if sometimes we disagree, but I do appreciate that. So thanks, Aaron, for doing that. And if you want to throw your question from yesterday in,

while I'm at the end of the show here, feel free to do it. I'll see it this time. Brett says, is there a way that the Vikings would have to play the Packers and the Lions in the playoffs? I don't think so, but it the playoffs? I don't think so. But no, I don't think so. Because if the Vikings finish with the five or the six,

they're playing division winners. I think you're always playing division winners. Let me try to get this straight. If they were to finish fifth, they're playing the Falcons, which would get, yeah, I think you're always playing division winners. I don't think that these two teams could play each other in the first round. Now, the second round, I'm not sure how that would reshuffle, but I think you just play,

would they play the lions or is it the team that has the seven seed? If they were to know that wouldn't make any sense. It would be the lowest seed to play the lions i don't know i'm gonna have to look into this could they possibly play the packers in the playoffs is a good question but the lions yes they most certainly could play the lions so anyway well um really really really good discussion tonight and i i felt like over these last two the post game and then tonight there's been more rationality here than there was after the jaguars game and i understand why that is because darnold

threw the picks and that looked really bad and having him bounce back and that's why i wrote after the game yesterday it really superseded everything from yesterday is the fact that darnold is not suddenly going into the tank, but there's still a long way to go here for the rest of the season. And that was the main point Manny and I were making is, but there's a, there's a lot of juice in this four home games at us bank stadium, the rest of the way, that should be very exciting. So it's starting with this week against the bears.

So anyway, Randy, if you play your intro song live on guitar, I know I've been promising at some point that I will bring the guitar, see the guitar. And the whole setup is all the way upstairs and I am downstairs. So I, I, at some point I'd have to bring the amp and the guitars and stuff down and

try to figure out how to mic it up to make it work. But you know, someday, someday we'll make it work and I'll, I'll shred it up on the live stream and show you guys what I'm made of. But anyway, thanks again for a great chat tonight, guys. Really appreciate it. And we'll talk to everybody. So tomorrow is going to be, Oh,

they would have to get to the championship game to play the Packers. Okay. That makes sense. But Tuesday morning left guard will be on tomorrow evening premiering then. And Wednesday night, another fan chat. Make sure you're there Thursday night, Manny post game from Chicago, from somewhere worse situation in the league, worse situation in the league to do a post game podcast. So it might be from a hotel after the game. Uh, my hotel is close. We'll see. We'll figure it out, but it'll be from a hotel after the game my hotel is close we'll see we'll figure it out but it'll be a fun week robert mays courtney cronin big guests trying to get carmen vitality from fox sports as well so we'll see a lot going on the show so make sure you stay tuned see you guys

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