Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is there a path to the Vikings beating the 49ers?

Episode Date: October 21, 2023

Matthew Coller talks with SI.com's Will Ragatz and the Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer discuss whether there's a path to victory on Monday night against the 49ers and the potential impact of the 49ers' injuries. Plus they discuss where the running game has gone and if there's something Kevin O'Connell should be changing on offense. 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 another Raggetts Roundtable. We have Will Raggetts from Sports Illustrated and Andrew Kramer from the Star Tribune. And Will, feeling great about this game, seems like it should be easy win. Oh wait, no, that was last week is how we did the round table and it wasn't an easy win how do you want to talk about this one where would you like to begin in our hardcore round table breakdown of vikings and 49ers i i mean you just look at this 49ers team and you look at the stats and you look at the depth chart and you look at like the pff grades and this is just

a juggernaut of a team like it's it's kind of hard to overstate how good they are on both sides of the ball so i guess what we can try to do here is break down what would have to happen for the vikings to possibly win this game i think like there's something about this vikings team they haven't lost the game by more than seven points yet that makes you feel like maybe they'll just be in this game due to sheer vibes and Viking-ness. I don't know what the actual football path to that is. I think maybe we could get into the one weakness that I could find is like the interior offensive line or the O-line other than Trent Williams. The 49ers have some injury issues that are currently kind of up in the air as we're recording this.

But, man, offensively, defensively, passing passing right like every level this is a really good team so the Vikings are going to have to play that complete four-quarter both all three phase game that Kevin O'Connell always says they're looking for if they're going to even have a chance in this one yeah I think the Niners are missing more blue chip players at practice this week than most teams have when you talk about McCaffrey Williams uh who else is injured for them Samuel Samuel Dre Greenlaw um just yeah exactly go down the list so many guys that will be uh atop of the scouting chart for most of these teams and the Niners I think the path is gonna have to start with the Niners missing those guys on Monday night San Francisco kind of deciding hey Hey, you know what,

maybe we're not going to need you guys this week. Maybe we can take it easy on a two and four team. And maybe the Vikings can catch them by surprise a little bit. I think it has to start there. It's funny because the Vikings are perpetually not injured very often and sort of maximize what they've got there by not ever really being that hurt. And the 49ers are perpetually always hurt. And you're saying, well, if only they could get healthy, then they could be a real juggernaut. As you mentioned on paper, this is a bloodbath though. I mean, they are second in the league in basically everything.

It's like Miami on the offensive side. Brock Purdy has been brilliant. Christian McCaffrey leads the NFL in rushing yards. He's second in rushing touchdowns. Brandon Ayuk is averaging 18 yards per catch. And it is going to be a harder road for them if those players are injured. But I also think that there's a belief, and this does not count when you're playing Cleveland, the best defense in the league, but there's a belief thatanahan is so good at dialing up offensive scheme and play

calling and everything else and that purdy understands it so well that no matter what the defense does or even who some of the playmakers are there's still a really good opportunity for them to overcome that and have a good offensive day even with i mean we've seen running backs with jeff wilson had a good day once against the Vikings. And I see Raheem Mostert has had it again, but he started in San Francisco as just a speed guy who would get the ball and then make something happen. McCaffrey is a different level than their backups, but it's not like, you know, anybody can do it with them. You know, it's not like McCaffrey is the only one in the world who can run and that's what makes it challenging. So yes, the path starts with the injuries, but I think the path starts with,

can anybody get open for the Minnesota Vikings? Last week, they, the bears put a lot of attention on Jordan Addison. And then it was like, no answer. It was high difficulty catches for KJ Osborne and TJ Hawkinson that once again, they could not make. And those were the best plays that they had. And aside from that, there wasn't anything easy and it's only getting harder against San Francisco. Yeah. If the Vikings had Justin Jefferson in this game, that would be the number one kind of point we're making of when you have the best receiver in football, you give yourself a chance. They don't have him. So they have to find a way to get around that. And I mean, I think people maybe people maybe point to oh the 49ers are beatable they just lost to the Browns like you make a good point that Browns defense is by far the best events in the league through

six weeks you look at DVOA EPA per play all that they have been unbelievable so the Vikings don't have that level of defense at all as hard as Brian Flores has tried by blitzing 60-70% of the time like this this 49ers team and it's not necessarily an interesting thing to just go on and on about how good they are but they're second in all these offensive things to Miami but their defense is top five too this defense is unbelievable at all three levels you look at the guys they have up front Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Javon Kinlaw, all these different guys. And then the second level, Fred Warner is like maybe the best linebacker in football. And even the secondary, which is arguably the weakest link, has Talano Ufunga, Tashaun Gibson at safety. Like they've been playing really well.

So put it all together and they're number one in overall DVOA, the Super Bowl favorites, according to Vegas. Like the Vikings are going to have to play really well. I agree with your point. Something about Christian McCaffrey. It's interesting. There's an MVP kind of conversation with him and he's a really, really good player. But if he doesn't play this week and it's Elijah Mitchell or Jordan Mason, whoever I running back, like, did the Vikings feel that much better? I don't think they do because the Shanahan offense and the offensive line and all the things that they can do with kind of whoever is in there. So it is a huge test for the Vikings. And I don't really even know how they're going to

put together a plan to do this, but you got to try. Yeah, I could absolutely see Jordan Mason running for 100 yards and two touchdowns against this Vikings defense when you got to pay attention to all the window dressing, the motions, even if Debo is out, it's still Kittle. It's still Iuke. It's still a lot it's still Ayuk it's still a lot of weapons there and it's going to set up for all these other guys no matter who they are RB3 on the depth chart to go out and produce and this 49ers offense as we talk about is such a well-oiled machine Purdy is slightly less effective against the blitz and we know Brian Flores is going to blitz his way through not having Marcus Davenport out there because we saw it against Justin Herbert when they didn't have Davenport,

certainly earlier in the season. So I think the only way to do it is just try to make these game changing plays, get make Purdy, try to force a bad decision on Purdy, try to force a strip sack, these takeaways, these turnovers, they're going to have to win on that margin again, because they're not good enough to beat teams just straight up. I know that this is a little off the subject, but when I look at San Francisco's roster and the fully healthy version, I think this is it. This is what you should be striving for. As you competitively rebuild, look at them, look at the number of, like you said, superstar level players that they have, they can miss three of them and still have as many as the Minnesota Vikings on the whole roster.

And just know that if you want to compete for Superbowl's year in and year out, as they have since really 2019, this is what your roster and your roster building has to look like. Because when we go through the Vikings and we talk about, well, look, they don't have Davenport. The next answer is screwed. Like that's just not the case with the San Francisco 49ers. Their backups are good. They just went like Randy Gregory.

I don't know. Was he good? All right, let's pick him up. And then he gets a sack last week. Like, okay, that's a guy who's murdered the Vikings in the past the past they just go i mean they go out and get a huge defensive tackle because they didn't get any pressure from the from the defensive tackle position also helps to pay nothing for your quarterback position everyone i want to point that out but it's like yes the vikings could win a game the ball is funny bouncing we've heard all

about that this year and they could cause a turnover. Somebody could fumble, you could get a pick, but when you're talking about, these are the only ways to beat a team who's this much more talented. It's just a reminder that saying, Oh, we fumbled a few times, but we're actually a great football team is pretty thin. When you actually look at a Superbowl contender. I think the biggest Testament of what the 49ers have built and what they currently are is that a couple of years ago, they traded up and they drafted a quarterback, number three overall, and it did not work out in the slightest. And they just plugged in a guy who last year they took with the literal last pick in the draft. And he's like, well, he just lost his first game as a

starter against the Browns, I think after winning 14 or 15 or whatever it was. So that tells you a lot about the way they built their roster. I think the coaching staff part is a really sustainable thing when you have a play caller like Kyle Shanahan. And that's what the Vikings hope that Kevin O'Connell can be for them. You lose D'Amico Ryans, who was a great defensive coordinator, but that unit has still continued to produce at a really high level. To me, the most fascinating part of this is the battle between Kyle Shanahan and Brian Flores and just the schematic kind of chess game that will be happening, a chess match, I should it's been Justin Herbert or Patrick Mahomes. And this 49ers offense, they get the ball out quick. They do a lot of motion and different things to kind of get the ball into the hands of their playmakers. But if you're Flores, I think you still have to come with a lot of pressure

because you're not going to be able to just sit back and defend this team. And I think they will. I think the Browns, for how great they are, you guys laid it out. I mean, it's topped the league in all the stats, right? And they've got the great players, but they were able to generate some free runners on Brock Purdy in that game. And to the point where Kyle Shanahan asked after the game about the struggle and the loss saying that our play designs didn't have, uh, give Brock the answers that we needed. So, I mean, they were already talking about how Jim Schwartz kind of got him last week. So it'd be interesting if Brian Flores is able to get one by him and maybe in a critical moment to try to change the tenor of this game, at least maybe early on in a quarter, like the first quarter where this team has not produced

much at all in games. Is this the worst time to face the 49ers aside from the injuries? They got to be mad as hell, right? Not only that, but they just saw a very aggressive defensive coordinator and whatever answers were not there. You can bet that they spent not only just the week, but an extra day to prepare, which giving Kyle Shanahan an extra day. Not great to prepare for everything that Brian Flores might throw at them. And Flores has been it's hard for me to say what is a creative blitz? What's not a creative blitz, but there are a lot of them. There's a lot of different looks. There's a lot of different fronts. There's a lot of different, where is Josh Metellus on this play? Where's Harrison Smith on this play? Where is even Cam Bynum has been up in the box way more often per game than he was

last year. And if you're going to try to do something to mess with them, it starts there with the pre-snap. And can you force Brock Purdy to have to think at all? Because where he's really good, it seems to me is reading all the information and then deliver on the football. And it doesn't have to even be perfect. It's just, if he has the right answer pre-snap or post-snap, then he's got it. But when they did mess with him a little bit, there were some answers there and his completion percentage when blitz drops by like 15%. And that might be the only way to do it. Assuming that Kyle Shanahan just doesn't have all the answers. And here's where I think it's really key.

The 49ers always run the ball successfully. This Vikings team has been the most up and down against the run. I can ever remember. It's like one week. We think they're the worst team ever against the run the next week. They're like, Oh wait, wait, are that what, huh? They just completely shut down the run. In my mind, it starts there. McCaffrey or not. I just don't think they're, I actually don't think the Vikings are a good run defense team. I think they're bad. And I think they've been lucky to face the Bucs, the Chargers, some bad rushing offenses. And last week, catch the Bears without Cleo Herbert. Yeah, I mean, if your floor is you have to just lean into what you've had success with so far,

which is blitzing and doing it creatively and simulating pressures in certain times and using these fire zones and all of these different things and kind of the versatile personnel that the Vikings tried to give him this offseason that they've built going back a few years where it's Josh Metellus and you're using all these different safeties. It's a bummer that the Vikings don't have Marcus Davenport this week. I think that's legitimately a really impactful loss for, I mean, for every game, but for this game specifically, when you look at the 49ers offensive line outside of Trent Williams, you probably can't name a lot of them unless you're a 49ers fan. It's like Jake Brendel and Aaron Banks. I don't, I don't even remember all of them. And one of Aaron Banks is one of their guards. He's, he's questionable this week as well. So that would be a place where Marcus Davenport could give you some matchups

where you line him up over a guard or over a center. And I think the Vikings can do that with Daniel Hunter as well. But then you're asking a lot of DJ Wanham and Pat Jones. And those guys have had success when they've been like the third or fourth guy and they've been put in some advantageous spots. And when you're asking them to just go one on one, especially if if it's Trent Williams, that's not going to go very well for the Vikings so it's it's you have to lean into the versatility and I agree with your point try to make Brock Purdy think a little bit because if he's just handing it off and getting the ball out on screens and

slants and all these things of 49ers can just march down the field and then if they break one tackle it's a 60-yard play yeah Matt Brian Flores has been nice and talking about all the plays that DJ Wanham and Patrick Jones have almost made i think his phrase was making a play without making a play with some of these guys but they're just not making that many plays yeah i'd rather just see them make the place like i mean i when you're it's always interesting to listen to coaches try to compliment people that they know they have no other chance i remember mike zimmer saying that chris jones remember chris jones the corner yeah that that he was like a pleasant surprise and then that they know they have no other chance. I remember Mike Zimmer saying that Chris Jones, remember Chris Jones, the corner that,

that he was like a pleasant surprise. And then the next week he failed to tackle Tony Pollard and he ran for a 50 yard touchdown. I was like, well, you know, Zimmer tried to give a compliment. Sometimes you just got to do what you can.

This is a blatant, massive weakness with the fact that Davenport goes out. I mean, there, the, the difference between him, I think when he's healthy, he is a top 30 player in the league at that position. And DJ Wanham and Patrick

Jones are in the bottom 5%. And like, as in just the guy could be playing in the XFL next year, like that level of player, that's a huge, huge drop off from a star level talent that Davenport is to all the way to replacement level. And what is your answer as a defensive coordinator? I think the answer is put five at the line of scrimmage, create this umbrella that they've been doing with this way off coverage and hope to tackle and hope that those passes go seven to 10 yards and that they

don't beat you on any deep shots where I thought it was an interesting way of going about it against Chicago is Flores was like, no, we'll see if you can make the deep shots and fields didn't see them or whatever. Brock Purdy is talked about as just this game manager, but his deep passing has been really, really good. And this is where with Brandon, I, you, you might see them trying to figure out some play action stuff to get these blitzes off you know getting pressure and looking for those deep shots and we're gonna see maybe do these corners are they really playing decently or is it just that he's

been trying to protect them as much as possible i don't know if this is legal but the vikings got to give dj wanham like a navy visor so it looks like every team he's playing is the bears because that's the only team that he ever has success against for some reason but uh one interesting thing to me is last week this is like really into the weeds looking at snap counts iven pace jr didn't play very much and brian osmar played a little more but they were doing a lot of stuff where it was jordan hicks was the only off-ball linebacker. And they're using dime packages and six defensive backs.

And they're using heavier stuff against the run with a bunch of defensive tackles in there. I think to me, this has to kind of be an Ivan Pace Jr. game where he's still young, he's still learning. But what you've seen from him, I look at that Eagles game and some of the other games early in the season with his sideline to sideline ability his ability to to go downhill as a blitzer kind of frees up some different things for Jordan Hicks for other players Josh Metellus like I think they got to get him back more involved in this game and you just against his 49ers offense you have to like hope you get a tip pass or something or they catch a short pass and somebody peanut punches a ball out and you get a fumble like I don't know how they're gonna stop this 49ers team from kind of sustaining drives just with how good they are, how good Kyle Shanahan is,

how many different weapons they have. You have to make a play, get a bounce, something. If there's a ball floating in the air for a Caleb Evans or Cam Bynum, they have to pick it off if the Vikings are going to have any chance. Folks, if you know me, then you understand how much I love going to sporting events. When I go to another city, what's the first thing I look for? Who else is playing when I'm going there to cover a game? And I'll tell you what I'm using now these days to buy those tickets is game time. Buying tickets to your favorite events should not be stressful and game time is a fast

and easy way to buy tickets for all sports, music, comedy, and theater near you. They have killer deals on last minute tickets and their best price guarantee so you can stop stressing over tickets and start getting excited for the fun that you're going to have. They have flash deals, last minute tickets, and it's easy to find and buy tickets for every kind of event in your area. You get images of seats, lowest price guarantee, event cancellation protection, and so forth with GameTime. It is the place to be for last minute ticket deals and the fastest growing ticketing app in the country for a reason snag tickets without stress with game time download the game time app create an account use the code insider for 20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem the code

insider for 20 off download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Yeah, I love a good peanut punch. Um, I do think that they're going to need to figure this out, um, in terms of getting pressure and stopping this really physical front for the Niners that even though the offensive linemen aren't great, they still bring Kyle use check George Kittle. They bring other guys into the mix. Their wide receivers get involved in the run game that really move bodies. And I don't think they can afford to do what Flores seems to want to do against mobile quarterbacks or really athletic ones in fields and hurts, which is kind of play lighter, do like the 4DN package and put fewer linebackers, maybe more Metellus in the mix. And Metellus seemed to play almost all linebacker at times in Chicago

to replace some of the pace and awesome loss snaps that they were getting. This is a game where I imagine you're going to see more linebackers, more actual inside linebackers like pace, because they got to handle what they're going to throw at them with the heavier personnel the Niners like to do, the run gap scheme, power scheme stuff that they do in the run game to really move bodies, because I don't have a ton of faith in the Bullards, Phillips of the world, Lowry's to do a whole lot without some heavier personnel behind them.

If there's one thing with this game, I mean, Shanahan's going to have a lot of answers, as he always does. But if you're Brian Flores and the Vikings, you've been practicing at least against a similar offense like Kevin O'Connell and the Sean McVay stuff and the Kyle Shanahan offenses. They come from kind of the same tree. And there's going to be, I mean, national tight end days on Sunday. There's going to be a lot of TJ Hawkinson and George Kittle and some two tight end stuff from both teams. We're going to see some fullbacks from both teams.

Vikings haven't been using CJM that much, but the 49ers will use Kyle Juszczyk a lot. And that's really a weapon for them with what he's able to bring as a blocker. So you've at least been practicing against not the same offense, but a similar offense in terms of what they're going to bring with a lot of the personnel groupings. That's an interesting subject because something that I've thought of is do they really have an identity as an offense the way that San Francisco does? When you play against San Francisco, you know exactly what you're getting. You don't know how you're getting it,

but you know exactly what you're getting with O'Connell. What I see is a lot of route combinations and setups with receivers that are very clever, that are, you know, different splits where you have one guy going in one guy going out and then breaking different ways. And the defender's heads kind of spinning a little bit like, wait, was that your guy? Was that my guy? There was a play against Kansas city where Addison ended up wide open and you could see on tape, the defenders looking at each other, like that was your guy. That was my guy. He knows how to mess with those a lot, but route combinations that are cool is not being a great

offensive mind. And I think that O'Connell knows how to draw a passing game to set up his top receivers. Is that a complete offense that's paired with the run? Well, we got to pair our pass with the run. I haven't seen that. I haven't seen that in two years. I see that like crazy with Kyle Shanahan, like psychotically good at pairing the run with the pass. This is like, okay, pass, pass, pass, and may, okay. Run out of obligation. Someone gets in the head, says, can you please run? Okay. I will run one time, three yards pass. And that's where I don't know if you can find that this week but if you don't have that against this 49ers defense where where can you really go by just hoping and praying that your route combinations get kj osborne open enough to make plays and look at how a guy like mike

mcdaniel has quickly instituted that in miami where it's not just it's the first year of the marvel with the passing game but the second year the running game is one of the best in the league and it's it's because of the personnel they bring in but it's also because of the scheme and how they can blend it all together and it's been two years in minnesota we have yet to see that in terms of the run game really be a true compliment yeah i agree i think you have to be i don't know if disappointed is the right word but maybe when the vikings hired kevin o'connell you were hoping at this point midway through year two it would look a little bit more like what Kyle Shanahan has done and what Mike McDaniel has quickly been able to do and I think they're still learning and they're still kind of trying to figure out what works best with this team I don't know if like

there's an issue with Alex Madison or Cam Akers or kind of the running backs but that's never really been an issue for any of these coaches who's playing running back you can generally scheme these things and block them so that anybody can average four or five yards per carry and the Vikings haven't been able to do that and it's weird because you look at the like pff run blocking grades and all the Vikings offensive linemen are theoretically really good at run blocking and they have Josh Oliver who's maybe the best run blocking tight end in football and it just still hasn't really been there which I don't know like do you think that the Vikingsikings do you think it's a madison thing at all or is it just is it a coaching thing because i'm i'm curious if we see more cam acres he had

two touches last week for 15 yards and that was it and alex madison had like 25 combined targets and touches really inefficient he had two more drops I think he leads the league in drops it just hasn't I don't think I'm not advocating for cam makers kind of taking over as the the workhorse or anything like that but it seems to me like I thought this was going to be more of a 60 40 split and we really haven't seen that especially last week well I'll give a Kirk Cousins press conference answer and say it's a combination of things it's a combination of things never any one thing that causes your offense to not be able to run at all. Uh, for me, when I watch it, I don't see too many confused defenses when they run. And when Kevin Stefanski was the office of coordinator, we knew they were going to run outside zone. And yet you would still see teams, you know,

plowing one way, and then there's a cutback and there's a big lane and there's big gaps. And then I don't know how that's created, but when I watched that run game, I see defenses just like out of their gaps being confused. Then on play actions, they're like running completely one way and go, Oh no, the quarterback still has the ball. I don't see that either from opposing linebackers when they run play action that they're not fooled thinking, oh, it's going to be a run. They're not afraid of it. And there isn't a ton of cleverness to it.

But also in Miami, they got dudes who run four threes and you have dudes who run four threes, but you don't play them. One of them is Ty Chandler. Then when he gets the ball, he scoots. And with Cam with cam acres he scoots as well can i wong was back can i wong was back they don't like him either what what what i mean he can scoot too is it it can't be that complicated because it doesn't look that complicated i don't quite understand the dedication and why cam acres wouldn't be getting the ball more often yeah when i watched back that um the game in chicago i see some of the same stuff where it's like it's ezra cleveland not playing well where jack sandborn a linebacker for the bears looks like an all pro

against this offense because he's able to beat cleveland to a spot where you've got a slow guard and you've got a slow running back getting tackled and a run up the middle that frankly went for, I think, six to eight yards and it could have gone for 20 had Madison had more of a clear running lane or ran a 4-3. So the speed from the back doesn't, you know, if you don't have that, it's not going to help them when you have guards who are so inconsistent, probably maddingly inconsistent for this coaching staff, that it's going to take a foot injury for Ezra Cleveland for them probably to conveniently switch these guys out get a full game of Dalton Reisner and they're on Monday night and I do find it interesting how complimentary these coaches these coaches were

of Reisner after 10 snaps they really talked about him in the run game and how the effort and all that and he did look different from Cleveland and and I think Ed Ingram brings a certain size and power that none of the other interior guys have, and it looks a little more effortless for him. Cleveland has not been that try-hard guard that you need him to be in that spot. And it's been 45 straight starts for him. Probably the last bunch have been a little bit undeserving because of how poorly he's played at times. And I think that contributes to the run game stuff. I think it contributes to why this offense has been so inconsistent because you don't have a running back.

Who's making up for those mistakes up front, making their blockers look right. And maybe cam makers should be that guy. If, if he's not practicing well, whatever it is, you need to get over that and try to give him some touches and do something a little different on offense,

as opposed to trying the same stuff over and over. Yeah. I don't know if it's's knowledge of the playbook thing, but he's been here for a month at this point. And as a running back, you wouldn't think it would be all that complicated. I know there's a lot that goes into it or if it's pass protection or whatever. But to me, it feels like a no-brainer to at least mix in acres like 30%, 35% of the time, if not more.

I mean, that's almost what it was the first two weeks. So it was really confusing to see it be 45 snaps for Madison and only nine snaps for Akers in Chicago. I agree. Like, to hear them talk about Dalton Reisner all week has been kind of funny because it's like you could have played him three weeks ago, and they didn't. And I know Ezra Cleveland's had a fine season in some regards by some metrics. But I think if Reisner comes in and plays well and kind of even just does what he did for those 10 snaps in Chicago,

I don't necessarily see Ezra Cleveland getting that job back with him set to hit free agency after this season. So I would use Akers more because it just it shows up on tape where there's opportunities, where Derrissaw makes an incredible block and gets out in space and knocks the linebacker over or he reaches the end. There's a spot there to get a big play, and Madison just doesn't seem to have that burst to do it. I mean, I think he's fine. I get what they're going for with the tough between the tackles, physical running, falling forward,

but you would love to have that big play threat that San Francisco has, that Miami has, that a lot of these teams have in the running game. And Alex Madison, he doesn't seem to ever get 20, 30 yards on a run. I don't think it's happened much in his career dating back to his rookie season. And forget speed on 50-yard runs. They need speed to the line of scrimmage because that hole is going to be open for such a short amount of time in this offense. The run game has always seemed a little daylight dollar short where each run you go, oh, well, that was Madison running into the butt of his guard. Or, oh, that was Cleveland not holding his block just enough.

And the PFF stuff is very fascinating to me, having studied it pretty closely, because the tackles are so wildly excellent that it brings up the grade for everything. It doesn't mean that you are the Dallas Cowboys of 1993, but you have tackles that could have played for the Dallas Cowboys of 1993. And Bradbury has been very good since he's come back as well. What we see is one rep, uh, Ed Ingram plows somebody and creates this huge gap. And then the next one, he just looks like he isn't really trying that hard or has his hat placement in the wrong spot. And Ezra Cleveland, it's almost like the guy was always a tackle and never a guard. There's no violence in this guy's game. And so he can have a rep where he's not losing, but he's not winning either. So PFF is going to score that as

an even rep, like, well, you know, it didn't win. He didn't lose, but you need to win. And then a great running back makes that right. If you look at the numbers on, you know, plays that aren't blocked that well running backs, they have numbers on that for like which running backs thrive. It's usually like the Jonathan Taylor's usually the best guys Madison will not make you right when you're wrong Delvin Cook would in his prime but Madison won't and then it comes down to you just sort of have this I guess we run situation and the other part of it too I saw you talking to Jalen Naylor today Andrew a new haircut for him I noticed yeah so he's a new man coming back is he the only guy with speed i mean addison you know okay fine osborne's not fast they need speed and they don't really have it not like san

francisco has speed everywhere yeah addison ran a 4-4 at the combine through a back strain lower back strain that was the injury this spring that kept him out but he doesn't have nailers faster than that yeah and and it's not the four three speed the dolphins are putting out there from any number of guys so the vikings do not have the fastest team in football or the fastest offense in football and so you do wonder how are they going to get some of these other guys involved if that's what they think they need or is it just going to come down to t.j hawkinson catching passes it's tough because without jefferson like t.j hawkinson and k KJ Osborne are going to be probably your two highest

volume guys. And you can try to get a lot of stuff to Addison, but he's usually going to play on the outside and he's going to be running kind of deeper routes. And, and there were some opportunities there. There was one that would have gone for like 35 yards that he just couldn't quite haul in while laying out,

but it's a lot of Hawkinson and Osborne. And those guys just, they do a lot of things well from a blocking standpoint and from just playing football. They're good players, but they're not elite separators. And that's a thing that I think this Vikings offense is really lacking without Justin Jefferson. And then this season specifically, those two guys have struggled to catch the football. And there's been these tough situations, especially with Hawkinson, where it's individually,

they're all kind of difficult catches. They're not easy. But when you don't make any of them and you're one of the highest paid tight ends in football, it just, you're not really helping out the offense in the way that you need to. And that can set some of these drives back. Folks, if you've been listening to the show,

then you know how much fun we have been having with prize picks this year. Just go to prizepicks.com slash purple. Use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. And let me tell you how it works. If you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet, or you haven't tried it yet. simple there are yardage totals on prize picks you either pick more or less and boom you are playing so last week i'm gonna be honest with you i had a very tough week i went kirk cousins more than 250 yards justin fields more than 196 and jordan addison more than 54 and i went 0 for. This is by far my worst week. So this week, I have to bounce back.

Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much. It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn $10 into $250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money, but normally I do much better than this. So that is prizepix.com slash purple, just more or less on yardage totals. And you are in prizepix.com slash purple, the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. Folks, there is no busier time for me than

the fall. And that means I'm always running out the door and grabbing fast food on the way to cover football. Well, Factor is helping me stop doing that. Factor has convenient meals for my jam-packed days. They are America's number one ready-to-eat meal kit, and they can help you feel up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with chef-prepared, dietician-approved, ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. You'll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. Adjust your stride this autumn without missing a step. You could choose from 35 weekly flavor-packed, fresh, never-frozen meals that promote a healthy lifestyle and meet your meal preferences already in just two minutes. Relish all the best of autumn with fall flavors.

They're limited-time-only, hearty, comforting meals featuring seasonal veggies like cranberry pecan chicken and apple dijon pork chops again ready in just two minutes they'll satisfy your fall cravings during the busy season without any hassle try their dietician approved calorie smart meals around or less than 550 calories per serving or protein plus meals with 30 grams of protein or more per serving. Head to factor meals.com slash purple 50 and use the code purple 50 to get 50% off. That is code purple 50 at factor meals.com slash purple 50 to get 50% off. Where do you fellas think Kirk cousins is mentally going into this game it's been a discussion a

little bit with us in the media room of some different stats one of them showing that when he's pressured he's the fastest in the league to get rid of the football which sounds like it's great but that also means you're never hanging in or making plays outside of after pressure comes as in josh allen or mahomes would hold on to it much longer because they avoid the pressure last year kirk cousins took a ton of hits you also add that hey now since we asked him he knows about trade rumors he had no idea before now he just found out so that's them. Uh, but that sounded sarcastic. What? Uh, but it has come, it has come to my mind throughout this season, even though his numbers are good and he's been

very accurate with the football. And I think that some of his throws have been spectacular this year that there's not a comfort that maybe there was last year when they were winning some games. And I wonder how this all factors in. And then somebody had to do it. Somebody asked about playing on Monday night football, I think without even thinking about the whole thing. And they went like, oh, isn't it fun to play on Monday night football? And it's just like, yes, it's fun to play on Monday night football,

especially against the 49ers and Nick Bosa. It's great. Everything's always gone fine on Monday Night Football. No one's ever brought it up. Thank you. But what do we think is happening with him? Go ahead, Will. I think, well, first of all, if I was him,

I would be kind of terrified right now when you look at just the 49ers defense and all the pieces they have up front. I think back to the 2019 divisional round and how the Vikings were just completely dominated in the trenches in that game against the 49ers. I think they have a better chance now. I think the offensive line is better than it was at that point, but it's still not something that gives you a ton of confidence.

Even if the PFF grades say the Vikings offensive line has been great and the tackles for sure have been great. I still would be nervous if I was Kirk cousins with the talent that's on the other side of the ball. And then it's just kind of ironic, the convergence of all the storylines. It's Monday night football. It's Kirk Cousins' contract is up after this year. It's, oh, by the way, the coach on the other sideline is Kyle Shanahan, who I saw this week said he moved on. He once thought about wanting to coach kirk cousins san francisco and then they got jimmy and he's he's he moved on but i wonder if kirk cousins sits back and

wonders what if man brock purdy's got a nice little life over there with all these weapons and this defense and hey that i wonder if that could be me but he's stuck here on a two and four vikings team without his best receiver i was gonna say talk about a convergence of storylines what if i told you brock purdy somehow gets hurt in this game, the Niners still win and it's in the Niners also need a quarterback and the Vikings are two and what five is Kirk just fly back to Santa Clara with them. A new Jersey swap, like a team swap. But do you think,

do you think that there's something there or is this just just a little sign of aging, or is there nothing there? I mean, it's disturbing to score 19 points against the Bears and have one of the touchdowns be on a return for a fumble by the defense. I honestly think this is Kirk. I really don't see much difference. I think there might be a difference in maybe the micro decisions of him getting the ball out quicker, whether it's the pain of the injuries he's recently felt or the accumulation thereof, or the fact that this is a contract year.

And that could be affecting that business decision that might be coming more quickly this year. But we've also seen a very Jekyll and Hyde Kirk throughout his career. We've seen those moments in Chicago, even when it wasn't always a key mix in a great defense. We've seen moments where he's been affected in games and all of a sudden, I think we're overlooking, or maybe not talking enough somehow about the absence of Justin Jefferson. And that being the first game that both he and Kevin O'Connell looked kind of lost at times without him and where a guy in Jefferson had produced so much on first and second down that they, they couldn't, they couldn't buy a yard on first and second down in that game they were constantly at third and ten or longer

they were constantly having to deal behind the sticks and i think they just didn't they didn't have the quick out the quick answer and and when kirk wants to get rid of the ball so quickly that's going to be his guy and now that guy was gone and and i think this week might look better in terms of having more of a confidence in what they want to do without Justin. But it's going to be harder considering the personnel. And when we list the guys that are injured for the Niners, the guys we're not listing are Eric Armstead. We're not listing Javon Hargrave. We're not listing Nick Bosa.

Those guys are healthy. And those guys are really, really good. It's good at least that you got the first game with Jefferson out of the way. And it's not this one. So maybe they'll have some more answers after looking at the film but also the Bears defense is not the 49ers defense so I just think they've been putting a lot on Kirk Cousins played specifically last week without Jefferson and a lot of that comes back to O'Connell like there's just been times where it seems like you know he's under. And where is that hot answer?

Where is that quick outlet that he's able to get to? Like there's plays on third down where it's like I look at all the routes and they're 15, 20 yards downfield. And that's just kind of odd to me. It's like you need to give him an underneath option. And there were also times where the reverse was true, where he was maybe checking down a lot. And maybe there wasn't anything open downfield because Osborne and Hawkinson weren't separating. And Addison, for as good as I think he is and as good as I think he can be,

there are still times where he can get taken out of a play because he's 175 pounds. So there's some times where he had to check it down. But, I mean, it was just the offensive performance last week, specifically in the second half when I think they had one first down, does not give you very much confidence that they can go against the best team in the league on Monday I think they had one first down does not give you very much confidence that they can go against the best team in the league on Monday night and win this game.

I would love to know how many football games Kirk Cousins has ever played in his career without Deshaun Jackson, Stefan Diggs, or Justin Jefferson. The answer has to be very few. I mean, he had that Josh Doxon season and it was the worst year of his career. It was a bad team. It was a bad situation. Still very few football games. I don't believe he's ever played a Vikings game without either Thielen digs or Jefferson. He is until last week. He is until last week. He has always had at least one elite receiver. And when you look at the production of his top notch receivers, it's always through the roof. They're always talked about as the best receivers. They're always the most efficient or the most targeted or fantasy

people love it. He's often leaned on his number one guys. And when that does not, he doesn't really truly have one. And it's a lot to ask of Jordan Addison at this point in his career. And he may never become that. That's where where what are your answers and look Kevin O'Connell sat up in that office all offseason thinking of ways to get Justin Jefferson open not ways to get you know Alexander Madison open on a screen that he may catch or may not I mean but right I think it's all designed for Jefferson to be running down the field and that makes a hell of a lot of sense but when he's not there then what is the counterpart yeah well they admitted that too it's like their their whole offense has been designed around the way that jefferson dictates these coverages and i think kirk cousin deserves some credit for

his ability to always get the ball to those jefferson and dealin and digs type players but he also definitely benefits from their presence yeah what was interesting to me is looking up their numbers their offense on third down in terms of their passing offense and jefferson is just a bit player uh they actually have four different players with at least 12 targets on third down and they're all 12 to 16 targets it's all obviously osborne addison hawkinson and jefferson and those guys all collectively have helped them piece together a pretty decent third down offense before last week um and it's set up off of playing off of the attention jefferson gets they're so used to on third down. We know this guy is going to get cloud coverage. He's going to get a bracket,

a double, whatever. He is going to get that and we can leverage it with somebody else. And all of a sudden when that was gone, the Bears were paying some attention to Jordan Addison, but it was nowhere near what you would do with Justin Jefferson. You just don't have to double anybody in this offense right now without him. And that is going to put even more pressure on Kirk. And I think that's a good point that when we're talking about Kirk here, this is maybe the worst rushing offense he's had since Dave Filippo. So that was an awful year for him in terms of getting hit, in terms of the production, in terms of being efficient. So I think when we're looking now at kind of a similar situation where it might be a better offensive passing game mine and Kevin O'Connell, but it's a lot on an even older Kirk

Cousins. Another storyline here for Kirk Cousins. This is kind of a last stand for him. When you look at the schedule, it's a while before you face great teams. Again, we could see them doing the thing they often do getting on a little bit of a run and getting back to 500 or something. If you don't win this game, that's still a very difficult road to travel. If you do win this game, the season is back on in a lot of ways, and there is an opportunity there to get into the playoffs. And this is the one that everyone always says Kirk never wins because spoiler alert, they usually have it. The Monday night game where you're playing the other elite

team and everyone's saying the other team is the Superbowl contender, not the Vikings, the 49ers are the reason you're on Monday night football, not the Vikings. And they usually lose that game. And the explanation for his Monday night record is as simple as that. It's not that he plays different. It's that the other team is usually a Superbowl contender and you're playing, you know, when he's in Washington, you're playing green Bay or something. And that's been the case here. If the, if he wins, there's something to be said for like, Kirk's got a chance here to go on one of those classic Kirk six weeks runs and get this team back. And I don't want to say change the narrative because there's way too big of a sample size to change the narrative.

But I just mean to really show something when everyone's talking about how it's kind of over for you to just dig in and win a game that you're not supposed to would be something. You mean Kirk Tober could start Monday night? Yes. Is there even a comparable win in the Kirk Cousins era to what it would be if they won this game? Because I think about big beating the Saints on the road in the playoffs. That 2019 Saints offense. Yes, that is a good one. I think I'm thinking like regular season, highly billed primetime game against a great team. And it's like they played the Seahawks, I think, in a Monday night game in 2019 or 18, I think 18. And they lost that game.

2019, it was late in the year against the Packers with kind of the division hopes still on the line. They lost that game. I'm sure there's some other ones, but it seems like when they come into these big primetime games against these great teams, they really struggle to get over the hump. And a lot of that has been losing in the trenches on both sides of the ball but a lot of it has been just cousins kind of struggles to get you over the hump in those games so if they are able to do it here and they have to find a way to run the ball a little bit they have to you know find a way to get some guys open downfield i think it's going to have to involve jordan addison a lot more than it did last week i have to make some plays on defense i don't really know exactly what the path is but if they do win this game then you're talking It's going to have to involve Jordan Addison a lot more than it did last week. They have to make some plays on defense.

I don't really know exactly what the path is, but if they do win this game, then you're talking about, okay, they're three and four going to play a Green Bay team that hasn't looked great. Then the schedule is really it's like the NFC South teams and the Raiders and the Broncos, and you could go on a little bit of a run and get back into it. So even if they don't win this game, which I don't think anybody expects expects them to you could still sort of make that case but this would be something if they can pull it off so since we all agree they're not going to win right that's not even a discussion

we have to have i think we just spent a lot of time talking about why that probably won't happen yeah the goal was to create a path where they win and we went like no i can't do that we tried good no i don't think so maybe kirk just has to be a hero that's what we landed on um if you could trade the vikings history for any other history of any other team it's san francisco right like if if someone said you get to trade your history for their history everything they've done for everything you've done san francisco has the best history in football, right? Sure. I would also pick like 10 or 15 other teams. Maybe I didn't mean to be mean about it. I just mean like there's,

well, maybe five to 10, not 15 is harsh. I yeah. Five to 10. Sure. Yeah. I think San Francisco has the best history in all of football. I mean, Pittsburgh's got a case, but the F they're always competitive. They've won super bowls. They're always innovative. They're ahead of the game. They have great offenses, great. They're always innovative. They're ahead of the game. They have great offenses, great defenses, great receivers. The New England run, it was pretty good with Brady. But you take the whole history, and New England was a laughingstock for a long time.

I think a lot of their fans would say, well, if they're of a certain age, like, you know, these years were worth it for the Brady era. Yeah, there's a few, but you're right. San Francisco's got, I mean, Bill Walsh is the guy, right? I mean, that's when you hear about Kweise Adolfo Mensah coming from over there and you hear about anybody who's worked in that organization and coaching trees.

I mean, that was the original one, right? Should we really briefly talk about Daniel Hunter? Because if they, there was a report today that like they're not actively looking to trade him but if you lose this game and then you lose the Packers game what what are you doing if you hold on to Daniel Hunter right I've also been trying to sort of bite the tongue about reports about what they're going to do because they just haven't been accurate I know your take on this they're not actively shopping him today. I know.

After a 46-4 loss. That's so meaningless. They are. It really is meaningless because things can change. And it all, I think, depends on what happens these next two games and what the offer would be. I mean, if some team offers you a first-round pick, see it, Daniil. That's just roster building and looking at the future.

If they're not getting the right price, then maybe you just keep him because he's the only competent edge rusher you have without mark stab for it was like the report last sunday that kirk is not going to wave his no trade clause barring a change barring unforeseen circumstances brock purdy getting hurt meaning barring the team he'd want to go to opening up yeah exactly so i with hunter you know you got to be open to it the front office quacey what we know about him and how they operate is that they're going to pursue every possible avenue and at least turn over the rock and see what's there. Whether or not they view it valuable is up for discussion and debate. But I think with Hunter, that's got to be the piece tied for the NFL lead in sacks is really playing out of his mind right now and playing like he's

truly healthy. When you talk to him, he says that. He said to my colleague at the Strib, Mark Craig, that I feel like I'm back in control of my body. And that quote says a lot about what he'd been through the last few years. And you're seeing it now. The problem is he's 29, right? Or going to be 29. He turns 29 at the end of this month, right before the trade deadline.

And so that's the problem is you're not going to get even the Khalil Mack package, probably, that the Bears got. Or the Bradley Chubb deal. Oh, definitely not that. That's a first-round pick. But I think Mack got a two and something else and a six. You're not even probably going to get that because that's a former defensive player of the year, I think. So I think with Hunter, he doesn't have that pedigree.

You've got to fight the age factor. You've got to fight the injury history. It's going to be tough, I think, to pry him out of here, especially because the history of negotiations. It's going to take a team that says, you know what? I feel confident that not only are we getting him for a rental this year, I can lock him up because I know I can get him under contract, where Minnesota has tried with two different front offices

and failed to do that. Yeah. I think last thing, unless you had anything on Hunter, is do we think the Vikings do their thing and score a late touchdown to lose by seven? Or is this going to be the first iteration of what we saw a few times last year where they just get absolutely pantsed?

Yeah, I would always bet on a close loss. I mean, no matter what, just always and forever. If I'm picking a score i'd probably go something like 24 13 okay i just am having trouble seeing them score they have to show me without just a jefferson that they could score because they didn't last week and for the entire time jefferson's been here it's just been his offense and then when you look at the rest of it you go man and that's the and if that's going to be the case you won't beat the 49ers no you won't i do think some weird stuff's going to happen

there's going to be a ball that might bounce the vikings way this time to make it more interesting than it should be okay but i just don't foresee this this path we keep trying to you know construct in our minds it's a it's a you know roadrunner thing where we're going to run into a wall i i think i i want to know who's playing for the 49ers because I think it doesn't really make a difference in how I would predict the winner if Christian McCaffrey, Debo Samuel, Trent Williams don't play. But if those three guys specifically maybe throw Dre Greenlaw in there, if they don't play, I'd have a lot more faith in the Vikings keeping it close because those are really,

really important players to what the 49ers do, I think if they do play, it would not shock me if we see some sort of wheels fall off 38 to 10 type of loss. And I've been given a Brian Flores, a lot of credit. And so I'm gonna stick with that and think that he can hold them from completely just, I think he's done a great job. Yeah. I think he's done a very, very good job. It's been a huge difference maker with clearly less talent than they had last year. So we shall see. Maybe we'll all be wrong and we'll be talking about a brand new season and brandishing Super Bowl rings after this game against San Francisco. So Monday night, Kirk, we will just never do.

No, we will do this again next week as we are previewing a Green Bay football game. And maybe we'll be talking about getting back to 500 or maybe we'll be talking about who they're trading again. So we'll find out then. We'll see you guys later.