Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Fun with Lions-Vikings -- who to get excited about and the Lions' bad QB history

Episode Date: January 1, 2021

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill take on some fun questions regarding this week's Lions-Vikings game, including which Lions quarterback you'd pick to lead a game-winning drive that wasn't Matthew Stafford, how many young Vikings players can you actually get excited about, which teams are as bad as the Lions in other pro sports and how the Vikings would have finished this year if Denny Green was coaching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Check out the description box to find out more. That's bwhustle.com slash join. Welcome to a hopefully very fun episode of Purple Insider as we approach week 17, the game you can't live without watching. And so because there's no real breakdown of this game to be had or that would be necessary in any way, shape, or form, instead, I have designed a Hot Routes dedicated to Vikings and Detroit Lions. And to help me out with this, my friend Manny Hill. What is up, Manny?

Collar, always a pleasure to be on with you. It's been a long time since we've done Hot Routes. I think it was before the season started. I know, it has been a long time. The voice of Hot Routes, no less. Trust me, there is plenty of time this offseason to return to regular Hot Routes. Well, I'm glad to be on with you again, and I always love doing hot routes. It's one of my favorite things to do ever.

So, yeah, I'm with it. Let's do it. All right, let's get into it. I'm going to play your big voice production, your excellent work, and then we will get into it. There's news in the NFL today, then we will get into it. The Frozen Tundras. Let's be a cold-weather team. Neck rolls. How I like to pull, yo! And grass-dame jerseys. The good old-fashioned guts was probably the biggest difference in the game. All right, I am ready for this.

Hot route number one, Manning Hill. I want you to tell me who is going to be the Detroit Lions head coach next year. I know it's not going to be Daryl Bevel that's for sure so who is the coach going to be and I want one answer that is a serious answer and then I want one answer of who would be the funniest or most bizarre or weird or lion's-y for them to hire so I tried to give it a lot of thought, but the hard part about figuring out like who the actual guy is going to be is they don't have a GM yet. And it's really going to it's going to depend on who that guy is and who that who he wants. But I'll just I figured I'll just throw something at the wall, a realistic answer at the wall and just say Eric Bien-Ami.

It makes sense. He was in Kansas City. He's been in Kansas city for a long time. I know there's some questions about, you know, what happened with, you know, in Colorado is often, you know, he was a coordinator in Colorado and the offenses weren't very good, but I think you, you sit in a room with Andy Reed for a few years and you get to work with the best, the best player in the game for a couple of years. And you went to super bowl. I think that can really help. And,

and I think Eric is well-liked around the league, and I think he's going to get a shot. Yeah, I think that he's a guy that has paid his dues for sure. And the fact that at times Andy Reid in 2019 gave his play calling over to Eric Biennemi, I think it's more than just a guy who's standing next to the guy who's watching the guy at quarterback do things that are unreal. I mean, it is one of the most creative offenses in the NFL. Now, Eric Biennemi, I know the other thing is, too, that he's had some issues in his background,

even going back to when he was in college, that may have brought up some hesitation for hiring him. But the fact that he's worked with Kansas City for this long should kind of move us all past those issues, and he should be at the very top of the list. I think for my serious answer, I would also bring up Buffalo's Brian Dable, who is their offensive coordinator. It's Brian, right? I think it's Brian, yep. Yeah, okay.

So, I mean, look at their offense. It's, I mean, throw it to Diggs every time. Of course, you and I are not shocked that that worked but at the same time I mean you've taken a quarterback who was completing less than 60% of his passes who was really struggling in his first couple of years and designed an offense to throw and throw and throw and throw and get guys open scheme guys open get yards after catch he's just done an incredible job with that Buffalo offense with a quarterback who I don't believe is Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes and yet

in a lot of ways they're putting up numbers that are in that ballpark I don't know a whole lot about him as a leader or anything like that he does not have previous head coaching experience but if you're looking for somebody if they're going to stick with Matt Stafford, which I assume they will, if you're looking for somebody who's going to get back to those Jim Caldwell offenses that were really good at times, I think that that's what you want to do. The problem is they're probably going to lose Marvin Jones. I don't know about Kenny Galladay. I mean, they've got a lot of work to do.

And I think if they're looking to get the most out of the last couple of years of Matt Stafford, that's the type of guy you want to make your phone call to. Yeah, I agree. And really, the question is going to be with Matthew Stafford, too, right? Like, what is his future going to be there? You know, where is he at as far as, you know know does he want to continue to be with this organization or does he want to move on into a situation where he might have a chance to win because he has not had very many chances to win in Detroit and uh you know and I think some of that falls on him

certainly but um yeah I mean it's it's going to be interesting it's going to have to be a guy I think it's going to have to be an offensive guy though I think at some point because that what they've done with Matt Patricia the last couple of years is just I mean it was just a train wreck and a disaster and Arthur Smith from Tennessee the offensive coordinator running the very similar type of system they're going to have DeAndre Swift in the future Adrian Peterson's clearly going to be a huge part of them next year. I'm just kidding. I think. I think. But if they want to do a run first and then play action deep shot type of offense that's worked for Tennessee,

I mean, I don't even know if that's ever really been tried with Matt Stafford. It's always here. You carry the entire offense all the time. He's never really had that. So I wonder how that might fit if they decided to go in that direction. I will give you my funny answer. funny answer was steve belichick i went with steve that's who they were they're like man you know we just uh we just got to keep with that patriot way patricia was the wrong guy but like the patriots that's who we have to hire people from we're gonna go with steve

belichick yeah see i had i had two I had sort of a hilarious and ironic answer. I had two of them. One of them sort of going down those similar lines with the Patriots was Josh McDaniels. How ironic would that be? Oh, well, we just fired the former defensive coordinator of the Patriots, so let's bring in the offensive coordinator. The other guy I was thinking, too, that just cracked me up was, and he popped up the other day as far as names that were going to be

possibly discussed is P.J. Fleck. Oh, yeah, P.J. Fleck. He'll motivate him. He'll get them rolling the boat, man. He will be the opposite of Patricia, who sounds like he just treated everyone terribly all the time. So, sure, P.J. Fleck, get him going. The other one I thought of that I chuckled at was Bobby Ross.

Like, Bobby Ross was born in 1936, but the last time they were good, it was Bobby Ross and Wayne Fonce. And I don't know if Wayne Fonce is still around. I don't think he is. Is he? I think he's still around. Is he? Is he?

Yeah. I think he's got to be like, I think he's like 80 now. I was a little worried, so I didn't say that at first. Yeah. Okay, he is. He's close to 80. Co-coaches then. Bobby Ross and Wayne Fonce.

Last time those teams were decent is when those guys were the coaches. Bring them back. Yeah, why not? That would be kind of a classic Lions-y, hilarious thing to do. Next question I have for you. I want you to put Justinin jefferson aside here and give me two vikings players that are either finishing up their first or second year who you are interested in going forward in their progress i don't mean for week 17 last year i made the

mistake i will admit it of going back and watching the week 17 tape and being like, hey, you know, this one guy who was a later round draft pick played pretty good in that game. Oh, yeah, Chicago didn't care at all, and neither will Detroit. So I'm not going to do it. I'm not doing it again. I'll watch the tape back, but I'm not going to say, oh, yeah, look at this guy. I'm not doing it.

So tell me, though, if you can find several other players who are younger in their first or second year that you are interested in going forward that are not named justin jefferson uh cameron dansler is one um because i i like he he sort of fits the the typical mike zimmer mold for corners right he's he's tall he's tall, he's got long arms, he's athletic, you know, he's, he's very raw obviously, but I think he showed some signs during the middle of the season that he could potentially be a good player. So I'll be curious to see how his development sort of continues going into, going into next season.

Ezra Cleveland is another one because I'm really curious to know how they're going to you know what they're going to do with him so to speak I mean he's been playing guard hasn't really gone all that well but uh I feel like he's more better suited to be tackle and I'll be curious to see if the Vikings um if they decide to move on from Riley Reif which I think they're probably going to do after this season, and then move Brian O'Neill over to left tackle, put Ezra Cleveland at right tackle and see where that goes. And then, I mean, God help us, find two guards.

Find guys to play guard for you. Please, for the love of God, do that. Yeah, I know. It's like when we're recording this on New Year's Eve, So, you know, when the ball drops and everyone says, you know, make a wish for 2021. I think 80% of Vikings fans are making a wish for a guard. Like, please get us a left guard so we never have to talk about this again. You know, the thing that I wanted to sort of accomplish with this exercise is just how few of these players there are. And when you go through the roster, yes, you can mention Jeff Gladney.

Got a stat for you on Jeff Gladney. It's not a good stat. Jeff Gladney this year, aloud, throws into his coverage a 126.5 quarterback rating, seventh worst in the NFL, which is not, you know, like it's not a stat that always from year to year is sustainable. But if we're going to say, oh, well, Gladney really showed he could play this year, not convinced. I am not convinced. I'm not on that train yet.

What was Dantzler's? Dantzler's was much better. Let me check that. I figured it was. I'll get back to you in a second on that. It was much better. The only problem I have with Dantzler, and it's not like a personal problem, it's a concern, I would say, is that he's just been hurt three times. And that's problematic.

He allowed a 94 rating into his coverage, so he was much better. But three times injured and his listed weight is all of 185. That is a concern. He's got to eat a steak in the office. Right, right. is a concern. I mean, he's got to eat a steak in the office. Right. The thing that, so when I used to do a baseball play by play for the minor leagues, and you know, sometimes I would say something like that to a scout and they would say, yeah, but he doesn't really have the frame. Like, where's it going to go? And that's my question with Dantzler. It's like, where is this extra 15 to 20 pounds going to land on that body?

Because it's such a slender frame it's not like oh he's just sort of young it's he doesn't really have like the you know he's got the length and he's wiry he doesn't really have like oh he could put on that those pounds and it'll work out fine sort of like Garrett Bradbury where he's not going to get taller he's not going to get longer I mean he could get a little f fatter, but I don't want him looking like Brett Jones either. So I think that actually Garrett Bradbury makes my list, and I will tell you why. Because I kind of made it first or second year players on purpose to include Garrett Bradbury. Because he has had such an abomination of left guard and right guard through his first two seasons and it hasn't gone

well but he did play better this year than he did last year and I think with centers it takes a couple of years if they can find people in this cold dark world who can play guard and not get run over every third down and seven then I think that we'll see Garrett Bradbury be less of an issue when it comes to pass protection. But every team is just attacking the middle every time on third down. I think that's played into why his PFF grades aren't as good and so forth. And he does, he's never going to be big. It's always going to be a problem, but give the man a little help. And I'm interested to see if he can take a step forward. But outside of that, Manny, you've got to stretch.

I mean, you've got to be talking about DJ Wanham, who had three sacks this year. I mean, I can't get on a hype train for a guy who has three sacks in his first year and really didn't pressure much. How about Yannick Ngakwe still leading the team in sacks, even though he's been gone for 10 weeks see this this is why we're friends manny it's been brought up on the show it has been mentioned oh my gosh i don't even know who to reach for with this list that's the problem is they sometimes like you know i love to get into the the nooks and crannies of the roster and be like hey you know well maybe this guy but uh i don't have a whole

lot for you when it comes to this maybe josh metellus i don't know what's been going on in practice if he's ready to take over for anthony harris i haven't seen any signs of that they signed george iloka earlier this year remember that i mean so yeah yeah i haven't seen him i haven't not seen him no this is the second time he's been signed to that where he gets picked up by his former defensive coordinator and doesn't play right yeah yeah he got in and then got hurt and that was it um all right next question for you manny the lions have not won their division since 1993 the nfl has changed their division since, and they still haven't won it.

You'd think that at some point, just like someone would get a broken finger or something, and I don't know, somehow they would win it, but they haven't. I want you to give me comparable franchises in all of pro sports that are similar in how incompetent they are compared to the Detroit Lions? Well, first off, I remember the Lions had a shot to win the NFC North in 2014, if you remember, in week 17 against the Packers. And then Indomitian Sioux decided to stomp on Aaron Rodgers' calf, which, you know, whatever. And then he got suspended and then the suspension was lifted and he got to

play in the playoff game in Dallas the next week. But anyway, so, I mean, you know this, you know me too well. The first team that came to my mind. I did this for you. I did this for you so you could tell. The first team that came to my mind is a local tie and it's my minnesota timberwolves it has been i mean 30 years of just absolute ineptitude save for a nice eight-year stretch with kevin garnett very similar to what the lions had with barry sanders where it was one great player made the

playoffs a couple of times, made one run to a conference championship series or game. But outside of that, it was mostly ineptitude. The Timberwolves were an easy answer to add to this list. The other team I thought about was the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sort of the same thing in baseball where, you know, they won the World Series, I think it was in 79, and they were pretty good when they had Barry Bonds in the early 90s, Jim Leland. But ever since then, they've just been awful. And say for a couple of nice years with Andrew McCutcheon, the Pirates have been just at the bottom of the of their division every single year. And they can't seem to get out of the cellar. And then for the hockey equivalent, I thought about the Arizona Coyotes.

They're just bad. They're just bad. They've got financial issues. They've got a new arena that nobody ever goes to because it's way out in the middle of nowhere. And, yeah, and they're just not very good. They haven't really been very good really since they moved. They were the original Winnipeg Jets.

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Soda Stick, original Minnesota sports inspired goods. Code PURPLEINS Insider for free shipping. I will go with a great selection there with the Arizona Coyotes. I will go with the Colorado Rockies, who back in 2008 made a trip to the World Series and just got swept aside really quickly. Congratulations on the nice year, but that was it. And that was 12 years ago and that's the only highlight of their franchise is that one i mean that's that's wolves like it's

you went to one time and that's the only highlight of your entire franchise outside of people like you and me enjoying larry walker hitting dingers in the ridiculous stadium that they play in. But aside from that, it is astonishing the lack of success that has been had by the Colorado Rockies. And it's almost like the AFC East a little bit with how San Francisco and the Dodgers usually succeed, where it's like the Patriots versus Bills and Dolphins. The thing is, too, that with the Lions, since the Bills are decent and the Cleveland Browns are decent this year, I mean, they are really out on an island. It was like, oh, the Rust Belt teams, it's only Pittsburgh who's any good, but not now. I don't know.

Tell me if you think that Jacksonville deserves to be in the conversation. I mean, they were super fun and great with Mark Brunel and Jimmy Smith and Kena McArdle, all those guys. But since then, I mean, you've got the Byron Leftwich and David Garrard era where they had a couple of okay teams, and then you have a trip to the AFC Championship where they blew a lead. But aside from that, it is not a great franchise history for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Not quite as pathetic as Detroit, but it's close. Yeah, it's kind of a shame because you look at the great teams that they had under Tom Coughlin, when they had Mark Brunel and Jimmy Smith and those guys. You know, they were always like one game short. They got to the AFC Championship game a couple of times, and they just couldn't get over the hump that year in 99 where they went 14-2, and both of their losses were to the Titans, and then they lost to the Titans in the AFC Championship game.

So, yeah, and really ever since then, it just really hasn't been good. I mean, and even now, even you go back to their, their run a couple of years ago with, with Doug Marone. I mean, you just look at how Doug Marone completely kicked that game away and did a complete disservice to that roster. And that defense was so good. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's just, it's, it's really a shame. And, and, you know, they're the only team in the NFL right now that still gets discussions now about whether or not they're going to move. I mean, we saw the Raiders and the Rams move in the last couple of years and the Chargers moved.

But they're kind of that team that you feel like that conversation is always going to come up year after year after year. I will also go with a former hometown team of mine, the Buffalo Sabres, who have not made the playoffs, I believe, since 2007 in hockey, where if you keep the arena cold, they let you in the playoffs, and yet they have not made it. And they have one of the best players in the National Hockey League, Jack Eichel, and still can't make it. And he's turned into a veteran player on a second contract by now, and still they can't make it.

That is extremely, extremely Lions-y. Manny, this speaks very much to your love of Vikings history, especially coaching history. I want you to give me this year's Vikings record. Let's say they went through all the same things, players who were out, injuries that they had, COVID, empty stadiums, except for give me what their records would have been if it wasn't Mike Zimmer, but instead Les Steckle, Jerry Burns, Denny Green, Mike Tice, and Brad Childress. Tell me how they do under the different Minnesota Vikings coaches.

Les Steckle, this was easy for me, 4-12. I was going to say worse. I was going to say it would have been the best thing to happen to the Vikings because they'd be drafting Trevor Lawrence. The only thing that kept me from going all the way down to like 1-15 is because I do think that this offense with cousins and with these receivers and with Dalvin cook is, is too talented to go for anybody, even the worst coach in the NFL to go two and 14 or one at 15,

there's just too much talent. But less tackle was just such a disaster. It was going to be bad. I needed to include him. Burnsy, I think Burnsy would have found his way to like eight and eight, probably. I think the problem is just this. You're going to notice this when I list off the rest of them, too, is that the problem here is just, I think, just the lack of,

whether it's injuries or, you know, sitting out for COVID, just the lack of real talent, I think, on this defense this year has just really hurt this team. So it's going to be really hard for anybody to overcome, even with all the talent on offense. So I think Bernsie would have been 8-8. I think Denny would have had the most success. Agreed. And probably, and by most success, I think we're talking about nine and seven, probably just because, you know, and we saw this sort of in the last few years under Danny green,

where the offense was really good and they just couldn't stop a nosebleed on defense. Ticey, I think Ticey would have been seven and nine. The one, I will say this about Ticey, I think Ticey would have been seven and nine. I will say this about Ticey. For all of the criticisms that he got as a head coach, and they were deserved. A lot of them were deserved. You could never take this away from Mike Tice. The Vikings always had a good offensive line under Mike Tice. And even going back to before that under Denny Green,

there was about a decade and a half stretch between Denny Green and Mike Tice where the Vikings offensive line was among the best in the NFL year in and year out. Even when they couldn't stop anybody on defense, they always protected their quarterbacks and they always had strong running games because of it. So I think that would have propelled the Vikings up a little bit. Chili, I think with just all the turmoil, I don't think Brad Childress would have been able to handle it and keep the team together.

So I sort of put Chili at 6-10. I just don't think he would have been able to keep this whole thing together with all of the chaos, the bad play on defense, guys sitting out, guys getting injured. I just don't think Chili would have been able to handle it. 2020 has already reshaped how we work and it's almost over. Businesses across the globe are challenged to be the most efficient, which means every hire is critical. Indeed is here to help. Indeed is the number one job site in the world with more total visits than any other job site according to Comscore. Indeed helps you find quality candidates quickly so you can focus on hiring the person you need to keep

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and football is heading into the playoffs. You might not be at the game this year, but you can still be in on the action at BetOnline. BetOnline is going the extra mile to make sure you can get in on every possible chance to win this season. From game spreads and totals to team, player, and coaching props, BetOnline gives you more options to wager than anywhere else. You can get in on their season opening bonuses today and start off wagering on wins, divisions, championships, and futures all day, every day.

Head to BetOnline today and take advantage of all the great sign-up bonuses. Don't forget to use the promo code BlueWire at BetOnline.ag. That's BlueWire, all one word, BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. I think this was a lot like a 97 Vikings season for Denny Green. Like their defense was pretty terrible. They were 29th in yards allowed in 1997, and they were not an elite offense. I mean, that's Brad Johnson is the quarterback. Randall Cunningham starts in the playoffs, and you do not have Randy Moss there yet.

So you've only got, you know, the two great receivers and Jake Reed and Chris Carter, just like, you know, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen this year. And you have a limited quarterback in Brad Johnson. He was good. And he won a lot of games. I have a lot of respect for Brad Johnson,

of course, but I'm not, you know, an elite quarterback by any means, but I feel like what Denny would have done with this team is he would have just opened it up and started throwing the ball all the time. I don't think that his answer would have been run Delvin more so we won't turn it over. I think it would have been, all right, let's see how fast the car can go because we're going to give up a ton of points on the other side. And the fact that in the first half of the games, the Vikings were just very, very committed to not scoring a lot of points early in games.

It seemed with just a lot of runs and, you know, they had some good opening drives, but after that, it was a lot of three and outs, a lot of punts, a lot of third down sacks. And I feel like Kirk cousins might've gone Jamis Winston and led the league

in interceptions, but he would have thrown for 5,000 yards and everyone would have been like, all right, okay. And you know, at least it was fun. This is one of the issues is that it wasn't that fun this year to watch them rank 27th in pass attempts and just, you know, kind of run themselves or run other teams into the game. Put it that way. Like other teams got to stay in the game.

I feel like Denny would have just said, let's go. Everybody else, I think you get pretty much the same result. I think Denny does a little better. Yeah, and I think if Denny wasn't going to hand the ball off to Dalvin Cook 25 times, he was going to find a way to get the ball in Dalvin Cook's hands. Yeah. Which means, psst, throw in the ball. I know, I know.

Throw in the ball a little bit more. It is truly amazing how many rants I've had on the show and that you haven't listened to that you also have because we're just connected that way. Just like we grew up watching Roger Craig catch out of the backfield and we want throw it to LaDainian Tomlinson. You've got him right there. Come on.

Anyway, here's the last question for you in Hot Routes. Let's say that the Detroit Lions are down 24-20 in a must-win game. This is Imagination Land, of course. I mean, this is Twilight Zone stuff. They're in a must-win game. And all of a sudden, you can go back in time and grab any Lions quarterback to try and win you that game that is not matt stafford and you can put him in down by four with a game-winning drive which lions quarterback out of the last 30 years are you dropping in to win you that football game this was probably the hardest hot routes question i've ever gotten from you um But I did have an answer. I went back in the last 30 years of Lions quarterbacks.

As one does on New Year's Eve. And my God. So I settled in on Charlie Batch. I know. I thought about Scott Mitchell, So I settled in on Charlie Batch. I know. I thought about Scott Mitchell, but Scott Mitchell was just terrible. He was terrible. Except for that one year. You know, he had the one year where he threw like 30 touchdowns or whatever.

But outside of that, I mean, I guess the only other one I was kind of thinking about was Eric Kramer. Yes, Eric Kramer. I think they got to the NFC Championship game in 91 with Eric Kramer, if I'm not mistaken. I might be too young to remember that. But I settled in on Charlie Batch just because, you know, Charlie Batch wasn't great, obviously, but he wasn't really like the worst either.

And if you're looking for someone other than Matthew Stafford, that gives you the best chance. I settled in on Charlie Batch. I went with Eric Kramer because this is a funny stat about Eric Kramer as a Detroit Lion. He only won 10 games in the regular season as a Detroit Lion and had six game-winning drives. This is why I decided on this question so I could give you that statistic. And I knew you would come up with Eric Kramer. He is a very, like, forgettable quarterback in, you know, the realm of all quarterbacks. But I love him anyway. And they used to, with the Lions, they'd, like, play Andre Ware, and then he'd be horrible,

and they'd bench him, and they'd play Eric Kramer, and then he'd kind of be good and then be horrible, and they'd bench him. And then Rodney Peet would come out, and they would bench him and go back to the beginning so you know what what the uh Dolphins did with Tua in benching him and putting in Ryan Fitzpatrick's like that is a throwback they used to do that all the time hey oh the starting quarterback's not doing too good whatever their top quarterbacks of the last 30 years non-Stafford in just yards thrown for Scott Mitchell is number one and number two is Joey Harrington I mean what in the world so this is the thing the Vikings have been blessed with bad luck playing with Favre and Rodgers but it has been evened out by the other

quarterbacks in Chicago and Detroit for sure. And Stafford is just, you know, he's okay. He's all right. He's like a stronger-armed Kirk Cousins who gets sacked even more. Like, he's okay. But he's not – you're not terrified of him. Let me get one take from you before we wrap up here, man. This has been very fun, and I hope people enjoy it as somewhat of a preview to the game.

It's just making fun of the lions quarterbacks. Give me your top three things. And I didn't write this on hot routes. This is off the, off the dome as they used to say, give me your top three things that you want to see the Minnesota Vikings do this off season. Number one. Well, I think, you know what my number one really is but that's it's not

gonna happen i mean look you can say it it's okay to say it i i okay well yeah i'll just say it number one i i am i am just ready to move on from kurt cousins i really am and and honestly i'll be honest too i'm kind of at the point now where i think i'm ready to move on from Kirk Cousins. I really am. And, and honestly, I'll be honest too. I'm kind of at the point now where I think I'm ready to move on from Mike Zimmer too. But I don't, the problem is I don't think either one of those things are going to happen this off season. So it's just sort of hard to, you know, hard to even think about it. But I will say one thing I would like to see them do is I want to see Brian O'Neill play

left tackle if you're not gonna if you're not gonna draft a guy if you're not gonna go sign one in free agency which would probably be hard you know considering their cap situation then I think you got to take your best guy and you got to put him over on the left side I think they've been kind of grooming him to do this anyway and then you know like i said earlier you maybe you move ezra cleveland over there to the right tackle spot and then you got to find some guards i mean you just have to just find some guys that are at at least mediocre and serviceable and are not going to get you know destroyed by by DeForest Buckner like Drew Samir was in week two. That was so sad.

That was really sad. We can't have stuff like that happening anymore. So, yeah, and then I think just get healthy. I mean, get guys back and healthy. You know, Daniil Hunter, is he going to be healthy coming back next year after the next surgery? You know, getting Pierce back I think will help in stopping the run next year because the run defense has been awful this year.

And just continue to develop these young corners because if they don't, if Cameron Dantzler and Gladney and those guys don't get better, they're in trouble, man. It's really not going to matter what happens with Daniil Hunter and Kendrickson, you know, getting Anthony Barr back, all that stuff's going to be nice. But if those corners don't develop and get better, they're still not going to be able to stop anybody. To your first point on the coach and quarterback,

I think the best way I would describe the overall feeling, the general consensus on those two is that Vikings fans are tired they're just sort of like yeah okay you know another year that is not really going to turn out how you wanted it to the highs have been kind of high I mean it you know one year and the lows have been a little low but not the worst thing of all time it It's just like that being in the middle. I mean, you know, people do this for entertainment value. And when it's a 7-9 season, yeah, there were some close games, but you don't really feel gripped by a season with that.

And I think that a lot of people are ready for just something different that isn't going to lock you into a 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 type of thing that might be a shot at being better. And, you know, I think Kansas City fans would say, take the shot because sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. And I don't think Jordan Love's going to work out, but sometimes it does. So, you know, anyway, that's the way I would describe it. So, you know, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to do every show about how they should get rid of Kirk Cousins or Mike Zimmer, but I definitely get that feeling from the comments on the website, what people say on Twitter, what the guests on the show are saying is like, you kind of know what you got there, and it's pretty hard to push that

lever past as far as it will go, which kind of feels like what they did in, even in 2019 with Kirk Cousins, like they kind of got the best year out of Kirk. And then can you push that farther? I'm not sure you can. Yeah. And with Mike Zimmer, I think, you know, this is year seven. And, you know, he's lasted a lot longer than a lot of other coaches in the NFL have lasted. And he got to an NFC championship game. He's made the playoffs three times.

But you just kind of feel like that was probably the best that it was going to be and it's probably not going to be much better than what it is right now I mean if it's going to be better it's going to be nine and seven and maybe making it to the playoffs and what is that if you're doing that every year what is that really getting you if you're not going to go on a deep run what is the point right right yeah and i think that's how people feel and i i always include this though it's the vikings and you never know what's next so just like hold on to your butts all the time well manny uh get vaccinated when you can so we can have a link season you and i can go to links games again and yes absolutely it has been a very long time since we've been able to hang out in person.

I'd like to do that again. Yeah, I agree. Let's hope for better in 2021. You have yourself a happy new year, and we will be doing this again sooner, I promise, with some more Hot Routes. Thanks, man. Always a pleasure, my friend. Let's do it again soon.