Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mike Zimmer refused to get Justin Jefferson his record in meaningless game vs Bears

Episode Date: January 9, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic talk about the atmosphere surrounding the Vikings' Week 18 win over the Chicago Bears. Paul watched the game from the stands to get his sense of how fans were feeling and whether they wanted to see a win from the Vikings. Justin Jefferson was denied a chance to break a Randy Moss record, leaving Mike Zimmer to give one more miserable send off quote about how he doesn't care about records. And the reasons why Week 18 should be a weight off Vikings fans' shoulders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to the 2021 season can no longer hurt you anymore podcast as we reflect on having watched the Vikings play a football game against the Chicago Bears at US Bank Stadium that definitely happened Matthew Collar here along with Paul Hodowanek Sam Ekstrom is out today and Paul you were in the stands I was in the press box and so I decided to write my piece reacting to the game, not about each detail of the game or what it meant or anything like that, because it all means nothing, but really just sort of observing and looking around at what everything looked like.

The sea of purple seats that I've never seen before outside of 2020, when there were no fans, the way that fans did not react at all when Andy Dalton walked onto the field to start the offense for the Bears you know you and I could have been having a conversation across the room it was so quiet I've never seen anything like that with a with an entire building full and yet the opposing team's offense is on the field that everyone's like okay I guess we'll see what happens here um tell me about before we get into the Justin Jefferson non-record and some of Anthony Barr's comments post-game which he was very reflective and made it pretty clear that he's not going to

return and of course the inevitability it seems of Mike Zimmer's situation tell me what it was like for you in the stands you made the decision along with your family to go and attend this game. So I thought this is perfect. We could talk about what your feeling was being there and getting that sense for how people were here, but yet not really engaged because they all sort of knew the deal. Oh yeah, for sure. I was all the way up in section 302, way up high. We got some discounted tickets. I think it was like teacher appreciation day or something like that. So got some discounted tickets. And let me tell you, section 302 is right up with a bunch of the Bears fans in one of

the corners. And my gosh, is that just a melting pot of NFL mediocrity that we were up there. It was fire Nagy chance, fire Zimmer chance, like booing from both offenses, getting booed by their respective fans. Just, just amazing. I mean, the con there's a conversation behind me, like, Oh, if the Vikings win this game is Zimmer safe. Like that's where I was at. That's that was the, that was the group that I was with and we were having a great time up there, but yeah, there, there was no juice. I remember being on my phone at one point, just looking through Twitter, seeing something about Joe judge running a QB sneak on third and nine and hadn't looked up to see that the bears had attempted a field goal. And I would have thought that maybe there'd be some,

you know, some chance trying to get him to maybe, you know, fluster him, but there was nothing. There was silence the whole time I looked up and said, we're out of a timeout they kicked a field goal already that was basically the vibe all game long uh the the most excited that vikings fans got at least in the first half was when the packers score would flash up on the screen and they got to be happy because the packers without aaron ro were losing to the Lions. The Packers that had clinched a bye were losing to the Lions in a meaningless game. And that was giving Vikings fans at the game the most joy. So that's the, that's where I was at. It was, it was an experience. It was, I had fun, but not because of necessarily the play on the field. That's for sure.

Yeah. I wrote that, you know, Sage Rosenfels was at the game. He was texting me, he brought his daughter and I'm sure that if people got, like you said, discounted tickets and you brought your kids and your kids are like, I don't know, they're not as cynical as you yet. So they probably really enjoyed it. I mean, Justin Jefferson had an incredible touchdown catch. Imagine just throwing the ball up to Justin Jefferson, who would have ever thunk that that would be a thing that would work um but you know so that he had that play they had the Patrick Peterson pick six that was exciting KJ Osborne's touchdown where Jefferson was left wide open and couldn't get the record that was a really good play and I don't necessarily blame Kirk Cousins

for that if the play takes you that way and a guy's open, he's going to throw it to that guy and not go, oh yeah, the record or whatever during the play as somebody's chasing you down. But what a classic day in so many ways. One, the Packers living rent-free inside of the Vikings and Bears fans head. They at one point showed a woman who was wearing a Rogers jersey and it was the loudest the stadium got where they're like boo no screw you Rogers and it's like of course of course you're worried about the Packers score even though they're not even playing a game that matters because it's the only thing you've got left to hang on to at the moment is that the pack you know anything that bad happens to the Packers that's going to be what is exciting to Vikings fans and Bears fans at this point, who are just the Spider-Man meme of all Spider-Man memes. They're both firing their

coach. They both had mediocre quarterbacks who couldn't get anything really going on offense. One of them, of course, was less mediocre than the other and got hot once the other team started to fall apart or didn't care or whatever it was. And for the second straight year, I'd have to check for last year, but I think it's the second straight year that the Vikings played a meaningless game in which Cousins had a quarterback rating over 140. So that's always great to put up on the old stat sheet there. I mean, I wrote in my recap, like, if you wonder why Cousins is a 500 quarterback but has all these great stats, maybe just check out today.

I mean, they're down 14 points, but the bears are horrible. So they came back and somehow you look up and it's like at 114 and then it's 130. And then it's like, well, what game have I been watching?

But that's why if you get down 14 to a good team, you'll usually lose. If you get down 14 to a bad team and then start throwing it all over the yard, you maybe can win. And that's sort of been the definition of what this team has been with Kirk Cousins at quarterback. The first half of the game is just miserable, and they're being booed off the field.

I think the first boos came at 9.08 in the second quarter because there was just a complete no-show early on in the game on offense. And then finally it gets together because again, like the bears are just, they're not good. Like this is not the Akeem Hicks and Khalil Mack, like those guys that aren't even playing in this game. So, you know, it was sort of classic from that fashion and then classic with the Justin Jefferson situation. They have a third and 15. Justin Jefferson is all of 17 yards away from breaking the record. And they hand off on a delay handoff to Ken A. Wong. I mean, either Clint Kubiak was being really funny as like, oh, Zimmer, you wanted runs.

Here's a hilarious run. Or Mike Zimmer said, no, we're running the ball here because we've got to run the clock out and not give the record to Justin Jefferson. And then, look, there have been so many times with Mike Zimmer throughout his era where he's in a position where you could defend him in some way or another, but then he makes it impossible. Like, why is Mike Zimmer not going to be the coach the next time we do a podcast?

Because of what he said about Justin Jefferson. He could have easily said, you know what guys, I really wanted him to get the record, but I also didn't want to disrespect the other team. Like they're in our division and you know, I respect coach Nagy and I didn't want to be like heaving it downfield at the end of the game when we should just be in victory formation. So that's a hard thing. And maybe, you know,

I have to coach in the league still maybe and everything like you. He could have sold me on that, that it's just not something that would go over very well. Now, personally, I think who cares? They're in your division. They're your division rival. Get the kid the record. Let's go. But OK.

All right, fine. The crowd is yelling for them to throw the ball to Jefferson. But on the third and 15, the game is not over. It's not even close to over. That is a point where, and even the play before that, where they handed off and just lost yardage to Alexander Madison. Those are two plays where they could have easily tried to get Justin Jefferson the record. And then Zimmer comes out and says, I don't care about records.

I care about wins. Oh, you mean you played all your starters today because you care about your win loss record. Oh, okay. Okay. I get you. I get you. It was almost like he did it out of spite for Justin Jefferson. For what reason? Justin Jefferson has been the only reason this team is worth watching for two straight seasons without him. They've got what three wins each year. And instead he's just just given everything he hasn't been a diva he's gotten better and better he's taken on all the load of the offense basically because they couldn't run this year and just dominated the entire season and you can't even huck a throw his way on third and 15 you have to give a delay handoff i mean what in what world does that make

sense the the ironic thing about that is that if you're racing for the playoffs, that place still doesn't make sense in, in no situation in the year 2021, does it make sense to not throw to Justin Jefferson on third and 15? And it makes even less sense when there is nothing on the line. And just as an aside, before I get your reaction to the whole fiasco, just classic at the end of the first half, again, nothing on the line. Kirk Cousins throws the ball out of bounds to preserve the quarterback rating or whatever else.

It's like there are reasons, folks. There are reasons. The statistics do not tell the entire story all the time. There are reasons. There's nothing on the line, and you're down two touchdowns and you're heaving the ball out of bounds to make sure that you don't make a mistake. Well, okay.

Or then what? Like then what would happen? You'd miss the playoffs for the second straight year? I don't know. So anyway, that's a side rant. But the way that Zimmer handled it then, just being completely unprofessional in his answer and disrespectful to Justin Jefferson.

And then of course, Kirk cousins comes out and said, Oh yeah, man, I wanted to get him the record. And then you're like, do you have the ball? Like,

could you, could you change the play? Who's what are they going to do to you? Kirk third and 15. Clint Kubiak says, run the draw. Oh, sorry.

Headset went out, bro. We're throwing Jefferson. Let's go. Oh, sorry, headset went out, bro. We're throwing Jefferson. Let's go. Oh, that's what a quarterback with some moxie or some leadership factor or whatever would do. And then what are you going to do to him? You're fired tomorrow, probably.

So like, oh, no, Kirk, you're benched for Sean Mannion? There's nothing you can do. But instead, no, no, no. Instead, it's lots of words. It's lots of lip service. It's, well, yeah, I was aware of that record all week long, Kirk says. And I wanted to get it to a man just really killed me inside. Like, okay, then why don't you just throw them the football? Do you know the plays it's week 18. Can you go in the huddle and be like, guys, they sent in a draw, but that's stupid. And so now let's throw it to Jefferson.

Let's get this record guys. And you know what, if he throws a pick and he gets yelled at on the sideline, who cares? But all of it is just so perfectly aligned with why none of it works. Right. And, uh, so that, that was kind of, I know I've been ranting, but that's, that was my feeling of like, ah, yes, you won this game, but look at all of it. That's why. Yes. Leave it to the Vikings to create a controversy in a meaningless week 18 game. Just textbook. It didn't have to mean much. You could have played the backups. It would have been not controversial, but you're going to play the starters.

So then it becomes a controversy. Oh, we just need to get Jefferson 17 more yards, but we're not going to. Because now I get to get asked about it later and then get to give a, just a snide answer to the, to the media afterwards. I mean, it caused the stadium to boo them at the, they kneeled down to end the game. They win by two scores and they boo them. I, I, people around me were booing because they wanted to see him get the record. Like the last minute when they got the ball back, the entire stadium knew they had flashed on the screen so many times.

They, they knew what Jefferson needed. You saw him go out there. The fans get excited because they see them go out there and you see them not line up in the victory formation and you go, Oh sweet. Okay. They're going to do this. No, they're not going to do it. Why? Cause why would they do it? But you know what, Matthew, they, they got the win. They put up a strong effort. This team is full of fighters as fighters in this team. They didn't give up. And you know what momentum, momentum going into next year, you, you just can't quantify how much a win just can put in like goods, lift the spirits heading into this off season I bet the

guys are going to work super super hard knowing that they just won this game they won it by two scores you're putting a chip on Justin Jefferson's shoulder now he has to go back and get it again like just just so much momentum motivation heading into next year I mean this is exactly what you want Kirk gets to come back after his week off, just face so much adversity. Now he gets to come back, play well. What else could you have wanted from this game? Just fantastic. I just can't imagine what it's going to feel like in July

knowing you finished this season with a win and you went out strong. It's got to feel great. You know what? They played for each other. If you did that and it wasn't on this show, someone would be like, you interned with Matt, right? This is, this is a proud, this is a proud moment, right? That sarcastic rant is very, I am very proud of you, Paul. That is, um, you can see the growth and we're all about growth. But your point though, think about this. So last year they have the same thing happen against Detroit. They all say all the

same things. Oh man, that locker room feels really good today. And I don't doubt that it does. Look, our, our, our rec league basketball team played a meaningless game outside of the playoffs and we tried to win. I'm not saying anyone should ever try not to win if they're out there playing. But look, you would have rather just watch Kellen Mond play today. I think I'm sure, you know, there were probably some fans again that came and wanted to see Kirk Cousins play well that maybe think that, you know, he's been victimized here over the last couple of years and they like him and root for him and that's fine you got what you paid for in the building but aside from the people who are in the building and maybe enjoyed watching what they saw out there the more pragmatic thing would have been to play mond see what you have as a backup quarterback potentially for next year because

if he comes out and he looks competent there just aren't that many people who do in the NFL look competent at the quarterback position and if he doesn't then you know okay well you got to address that backup quarterback situation for next year instead we still don't know he wasn't even active just one more wave the middle finger at everybody Mike and then you know Zimmer at postgame wouldn't answer any big picture questions about, you know, his tenure or anything else. And he says, well, we'll talk about that another time, which would be when exactly, um, you mean to, you know, NFL network when they go visit the ranch this summer, I guess we'll all look for that, but you know, I'd be very surprised. I'm, I shouldn't count it out entirely. When I covered Chan Gailey in a Buffalo, he did a,

I just got fired press conference. Um, Chan Gailey was far, he did a I Just Got Fired press conference. Chan Gailey was far less petty and had a much better relationship with the media than Zimmer does. So I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't count it out just yet. Maybe we'll be talking about that tomorrow that he's done a I've Been Fired press conference. But I would guess it's probably just a press release comes out. Mike Zimmer says thanks for the memories and all that. That's my guess.

But to put that aside, they hurt their draft status today the memories and all that. That's my guess. Um, but you know, to put that aside, they hurt their draft status today. I mean, that's just reality. Like I know that there are people who listen and say, look, I never want my team to lose, but by playing Kirk cousins by Kirk cousins playing well in the second half of the game and throwing some touchdowns to a mere Smith Marset, which we'll talk about, uh, you hurt your draft status and they did it last year and they ended up drafting in the middle of the first round versus they would have been on the fringe of the top 10. I forget exactly what it was, but it's going to be the same thing this year where you're going to drop back into the middle of the first round, which is the hardest

place to be. And then rather than being on the fringe of trading up for a quarterback, if that's what you want, or being able to drop back and get, look at the Philadelphia Eagles, they dropped back and they traded with Miami and they got a ton. And now they have a bunch of picks and it's just like, this is the way you do it. I think that the Eagles have three first round picks next year. This is the way you do it. If you want to build, especially if you're going to have an expensive quarterback, but if you want to build your franchise, usually drafting players high is the way to do it. And I'll probably bring up this stat a bunch of times that I heard last year about like

the higher you draft, this is obvious the higher you draft. But if you can draft even in the top five, you have double the odds of drafting a hall of famer from even drafting like six to 10, the higher you go, the better you have a chance for a star. And you, by winning this football game hurt the chances, not only that, but also irritated the heck out of Justin Jefferson. In the process, you're one player that really matters for the future and so you know it was an entertaining game there was a lot of wild stuff and you kind of assume that when people are making business decisions you're going to have some big plays and some weird bounces and stuff and i had that they got a ton of sacks so that number is gonna go up and they'll look like they

had a great pass rush this year even though if if you watch the games, I'm sure that nobody thought that, that they had a great pass rush. But the numbers will look decent on that. Anthony Barr was another one that was interesting, Paul, because after the game, Anthony Barr basically acknowledged everything that's ever been said about Anthony Barr, whether it's good or bad, like his coaches talking about how he's a leader and he has great intangibles and all those things. And also the people who tweet him that he's injured too often or that he doesn't have enough production or that his PFF grades aren't good enough or whatever else. But he made it very clear that he's not going to be back as expected. And I just thought it was a part of me that just thought it's unfortunate that sometimes that

players have social media and end up getting all of this. Like it's all fair criticism to say, he didn't make enough plays over his time here that his contract was not a good one. All that stuff's fair, but also I think, you know, just as having covered him for a long time,

one of the most intelligent players I've covered the guy who, if you watch him before every play, lines up everybody where they're supposed to be and has fought through a lot to even play this year where he pretty much could have shut it down at one point and then came back and played and had some bumps along the way and everything else. And not only that, but the Ed Block Courage Award winner, the Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, like a guy that means a lot to your organization

that unfortunately said he felt underappreciated because of those criticisms. And I don't know what to do with that. Like, I'm not, we can't stop saying what the truth is about players like that, but in a way it's like, oh, I kind of wish that you that you you know didn't have to carry that around with you i don't know maybe just empathetic to what people get in their mentions all the time for anthony bar so he goes out on this odd note of the team wasn't very good the last couple of years and people thought he was overpaid and hurt too much and didn't have enough production which is coincidental because he had big production the last couple of too much and didn't have enough production, which is coincidental because he had big production the last couple of weeks and it didn't matter. So, you know, I don't know.

It's like an, it's like an odd play. It's always been an interesting player from, for me to discuss because I think that there is more to a linebacker than just what the grades or the production says. But I also think it's some of those criticisms are fair considering the contract. And then he didn't sign himself to that contract. That was a bad contract given out by this team. One of many, which sort of gets to the next discussion about Rick Spielman, but just, just your, your thoughts on what Anthony Barr said. Yeah. And he got two sacks today and it felt after one of them he was almost on the field a little

longer than normal and he had six seven or eight guys kind of come up and give him a tap on the head and like kind of congratulate him and you know admittedly I'm not watching every time bar gets a sack or any guy gets a sack and how many people come congratulate him but he lingered a little bit and it and he got a big nice ovation obviously for the sack and it would have been nice at some point where you could kind of honor him for what he was able to do for this team because he's been a stalwart for this for the organization obviously with his contract situation like it's you can't really do that at this point with the formality of it like it's not it hasn't happened yet like he still could be back so but it was nice to get him kind of to have him get those two sacks and kind of

have his moment in the spotlight, at least to get cheers. But yeah, I think we've talked about it on this show and it's, it's one of those, one of those things I stats tell us so much and they help us so much in the game, but if it's the only thing you look at it can, some guys can go underappreciated in certain situations. And I think Anthony Barr is probably one of those guys for the Vikings. He's, I mean, he's been the leader for the team. He just seems to do, if we take Zimmer at his word for the last several, several seasons,

he's always only got good things to say about Barr and the impact that he has on the game beyond the stats. And that's not even touching all the stuff he does off the field. So it is unfortunate that it gets to him and he starts to feel underappreciated. And I would guess, because even my Twitter timeline this morning was Zimmer nostalgia for whatever reason. It was a weird spot to be.

Everyone was, you know, it's been a great eight years. I think the same will happen over the next few months with Anthony Barr. I think once it gets removed a little bit and fans learn the formality of him being gone, I think he will hopefully see tons of outpouring of support. Cause that's probably, that's what he deserves at this point. But yeah, I mean his tenure didn't, the end of his tenure didn't go how you would have planned, but it is, as you mentioned in your article earlier,

pretty apropos that he is going to go out with Zimmer and he was his first draft pick with Zimmer. Truly kind of the end of an era for both those guys. Yeah. With Anthony Barr, I guess yesterday after I wrote that article, I got a text from somebody with the team that said, thank you for writing this because it's how a lot of people think. And what I wrote was that we have all this information at our fingertips and we use it, you and I, to get to the bottom of the truth. And so again, you're not apologizing for what the PFF grades say. They are what they are. That's just the facts. But at the same time, there is more to it. And I think that, you know, it is tough. Like you said, you can't put up on the video board. Thank you, Anthony. Hint, hint, your contract is up. I mean, it's just, I don't think you can necessarily do that. Like Greg Coleman. Greg Coleman got a huge send off today in the stadium where he was honored two or three times. Like that's what you'd want for someone like bar, but it just, you just can't have it happen.

Right. That was nice. But I also, I understand the, the cynical nature. And I was going to say that about Mike Zimmer and how I saw that too, of a lot of people saying, you know,

it was a great era, great run because Jay Glazer is reporting that it's over. And I don't know, man. I mean, I guess, I guess you could just call, you can maybe call me being too cynical about this, but if half of the time that you're here is pretty good and I'm not

willing to say, great, you did not reach a Superbowl. There was one season where you were a legitimate Superbowl contender. The other one you lose in the wild card round. I know it was on a field goal, but you just are going to have a tough time convincing me that losing in the wild card round in general is a huge success. And you're kind of around 500. I mean, a lot of bad things happen for sure. He had to revamp the entire organization that was down and we'll talk about all this later. But I just was surprised a little by some of the like, Oh, you know, I'm going to miss him and all these things when it's been four years of bad. It's not just like, Oh man, things went off the rails this year. You hate to see it. Like, remember when, um,

Jack Del Rio was in Oakland and they went 12 and four. And then the next year, I think they went six and 10 and they just fired him, which happens all the time. I mean, this is opportunity after opportunity, after opportunity to turn the thing around. And I think the people who will think a lot of Zimmer is the earlier years of the great defenses and stuff. Yeah, I get it. I get it because the organization was in just a bad spot when he took over but these last four years have been pure chaos for the most part pure mediocrity and i think what happened today at the end of the game as people booed and then walked out is a weight comes off your shoulders basically of now we know like we don't have you might have to do this again next year where it's a meaningless game

but at least there will be players that are worth watching for the future as opposed to, Oh, Smith, Marset finally got a shot and that's the only guy that you can really cling onto. And the other thing too, is, you know, when the receiver, your star player, 22 year old handles himself so much better than the head coach of the team in his public face. I mean, it's like, well, now this weight

comes off your shoulders and you feel like you've got something to work with going forward in this great player who in the minutes after he gets screwed out of this record is saying, I can't wait to get better this off season. I think he means it. I mean, sometimes I know how, like we talk about Jefferson, he's just flawless. And that's not exactly true. But there are very few players at another position other than quarterback who can be the guy who drives your success as a franchise. And Jefferson is one of them. And the way he handled himself today I thought was very impressive. So as you walk out of the stadium, it's like, okay, well, that's over.

Now it's time for the next chapter of everyone's life. And you have to think about, and we will, the last four years as just a slog, just miserable for the most part, where it was different offensive coordinators and press conferences about excuses why they didn't get here or or there moves from management that were a total mess and, and, and bizarre at times, you know, certain trades and things like that. I was thinking about that at the end of just how much Vikings fans have gone through with this team over the last four years. And that's why I'm surprised that there were so many people getting weepy about Zimmer

because it's not his, all his fault, just like it's not all cousins fault, or it's not all Spielman's fault, but it just, it just has like a feeling of, you just didn't get where you were supposed to go. It wasn't, it wasn't bad breaks. It was a total system failure letdown. And for Zimmer to not even sort of acknowledge that in what it could very well be his last press conference, I thought was pretty weak too. Like I'm not even going to acknowledge the massive disappointment that this has been to fans over the last few years. And, you know, he'll reflect only on the close games they lost. Again, we got that thing of, well, you know,

we lost against Dallasallas on a last throw to cooper rush i'll keep doing this um so yeah i don't know i mean it's interesting that you mentioned that because i i feel like that some people on twitter that i saw too but i think the overall feeling was people could not wait for this thing to be over and now we start something very new paul yeah and i think like you can it, it doesn't have to be black and white with this conversation. Like you can both acknowledge the fact that Zimmer, when he got here, he elevated it to a sense of stability that it had struggled to have in the years prior, in the few years prior.

Like you can acknowledge that and say, that was a good job elevating from then. But you also can acknowledge the massive, like massive, massive disappointments that have come in the time since then. Like it's, it's okay to say, you know, Zimmer for eight years, most coaches don't last eight years, stabilize the franchise from where it was before, got them into the playoffs. And then also say, it was a big disappointment. It doesn't have to be, he was great. They're making a mistake, or he was always always bad he wasn't always bad and he definitely wasn't always good and so yeah he he he helped them get from a bad spot and now he kind of put him slightly back into it and that's just kind of where we're at at this point and it's it's i it was it was weird that how sappy it was and i think part of it is

just you know and it's anyone loses their job in this league. You always have to be like, well, you know, he's a great guy. Like the, remember the good times, but I, it was a little weird and yeah, I don't know. It, it's going to be different without him for sure. But I, I don't, I don't think it has to be this black and white thing. Like I think you have to acknowledge both, both parts of it. And over the last few years, just did not do a whole lot to endear himself the way that he did the first couple of years, um, you know, overcoming the eye thing and trying

to drive to Jacksonville. And, and we'll do all, you know, I've got a list of different Zimmer stories I want to talk about, uh, including just my own covering him and how much I learned from him. And, um, you know, some of the things that we would have back and forth that don't end up on Twitter or anything else like that, uh, that I enjoyed. So I plan on discussing that, but I mean, we have to look at it from a black and white type of thing that, you know, to end it by saying, I don't care if Justin Jefferson gets this record because I care about me and my win loss record more, it's just like the perfect way to sort of summarize how he became more and more like defensive and sort of,

you know, frustrated in these press conferences and would just sort of shoot out whatever came into his head. And like these things don't go, don't go very well with seven and nine or seven, eight, eight, nine.

You know, they, maybe they're cute when they're 13 and three, like, Oh, that's Zimmer trash in case Keenum again. Ha ha. But like not as touching when it's eight, nine, when it's a, when it's a huge disappointment for the season. So yeah, I think that that becomes harder to defend. And there's a part of me that says, all right, first question to a new head coach. All right.

Scenario, new head coach. Let's say your superstar receiver needs 16 yards to tie a record 17 to beat it. It's third down and 15. What do you do? Go. If the answer is I hand off to Kenny Wong, a rookie who, whatever, man, I mean, like he's exciting and I'm interested in his future, but like, what, why is he getting the football at this point when Justin Jefferson is out there doing what he's

done? If the coach says, Oh no, I'd be a, that's a, that's a time you hand off. Okay. Next guy, let's get the next interview. You can give that question to the Wilfs. You can give that to the Wilfs. They should, that should be part of the criteria for their hiring. Yeah. Right. Just ask him this question. I mean, in that scenario, you can just, there's nothing on the line, man. You can go for it on fourth down to try and get him that ball. And you know what? The bears will get over it. I mean, my gosh, if even if it was about some sort of disrespect, huh? It's the bears. Do they deserve respect? They're about to fire their coach. So what do I care? And I'm sorry that everything circles back to this Jefferson record thing, but it's like, it's just so perfect. It's so perfectly why this didn't work in part.

The other part is, Hey, did you see the offensive line in the first half? A key makes isn't even here and they're still sacking your quarterback and strip sacking him and all that. And that's, you know, its own set of issues. But I did want to mention that Amir Smith, Marset clearly has some problems with the details from what we've heard from Mike Zimmer, what we saw in training camp. And the details

are hard. You can ask Laquan Treadwell how hard they are. Running routes to the right distance, understanding defenses, all this stuff matters. Now, does it matter too much to Mike Zimmer? You might have to ask Cordero Patterson. I don't know, but the receivers, you know, coming out after the game saying just a Jefferson saying like, Oh, we've known that Smith Marsec could make some plays down the field. And you're like, so does that mean that maybe you're saying they should have played a little more? Where have I heard this one before an exciting playmaker who they just wouldn't play because he couldn't get certain details, right? Maybe you can find a way to get him the ball. It's like, you know, okay. So Thielen gets hurt and you have, um, you know, who else got hurt? Oh, Irv Smith got hurt. All right. That's fine. But when you

have players with the playmaking ability of Kenny Wong Wu and apparently Amir Smith-Marset and you didn't use them, it's like, again, new coach. How will you use players that are super fast and very good at like catching or running or stuff that matters? Even if they're not perfect, how will you use them? Because Smith-Marset, Kirk Cousins said it again, another little knife to the back, little jab from Cousins. He said, well, you know, even going back little jab from cousins he said well you know even going back to otas we saw that smith marsec could make plays downfield it's just like finger pointing from day one all the way till the very last day of course you guys would but i think that when you talk about this is where i keep coming back to about revamping the franchise i don't

want to call it a rebuild because they have these players who can make plays and are good on offense, two tackles, at least one superstar receiver, probably another pro bowl receiver, and then emerging receivers. And then a tight end coming back, presumably a running back who is one of the best in the league. I mean, you're just not that far away from being able to put someone else in the quarterback position and have them take off. Now I'm not declaring Amir Smith-Marset in this meaningless game to be the next great deep threat in the NFL, but just sort of telling that two people came out and said, oh yeah, we know.

Yeah, we know. We saw him. And what i know that is um i know that is code for we should have played him more and that's what it felt like and again just apropos like here we are again talking about a playmaker and smith marset has that thing where the ball is in the air and he finds it and he catches it well this is what we've seen before with some of their receivers who have emerged as late rounders so i mean, that becomes all of a sudden this game puts him on the map to be intriguing for next year. But I think when you pull out of the, like the broader view and look and say, okay, as you make these changes, you have to find someone who just understands how to get the

most out of all of this. And then you also probably have to understand that Kirk Cousins is not the only quarterback on earth who could throw to these people, that there's probably other quarterbacks who cost less or have mobility or other skillsets or leadership or whatever it is that can take you in other places. So I think it was just sort of another little drop in the bucket of, Oh, look,

there's another guy who can make plays that you guys barely used. Yeah, and I think it's important to note, I mean, we've seen this type of last week performance from guys before, and sometimes it means something. Other times, you know, Alexander Hollins, other cases, it means nothing with the wide receivers or any position. So this game does not mean smith marset is a shoe in like we don't have to they don't have to sign another wide receiver thielen leaves because now they have osborne and marset like that is not what this day proves but it probably proves he could have run a few more routes before week 18 it means maybe you two three times a game you at least put him in there

and give him a chance to make a catch. Same thing with Kenny Wong Wu that we have talked about earlier in this year. Maybe it just means, you know, running the ball for him a few times, not third and 15 when Justin Jefferson is almost near a record. Maybe don't do it then, but find some times to get involved and do different things. So I think that is important, but I, we definitely need to just say, it's not like we're not saying Smith's Marseille is some amazing wide receiver. Who's who's just been sitting there. He's, he's this, you know, golden ticket that's just been sitting on the bench and they've refused to

play him. That's, it's not necessarily the case, but yeah, it, it was fitting that he came out and played really really well and then those comments come out after uh the game and we will see if those prove to just be you know one game where he got open a couple times against a bad bear secondary or if this is something that catapults him to at least some sort of relevance for this team right and they should not look at this whoever the uh if there is a new decision maker is should not look at this and say oh well all set there he had a great week 18 because they've done stuff like that before it was like oh arm on watch

should be fine or only udo should be fine and well i think watts had an okay season but uh udo most certainly did not and him holding when they got into the red zone it's like one more just one more for the road man like one more horrible hold it was he dragged him to the ground it's just remarkable i mean that's what you get when you put a guy in over his head but the fact that he didn't stop doing that all the way to the end of the season was like i think you got yourself the next rashad hill but probably not much more than that. So we'll go over in the coming weeks, all the things that we learned in the future. And we should within probably, I don't know, 14 hours of me publishing this, have an answer on whether Mike Zimmer is going to be let go as the head coach and what's going to happen to general manager. And so we'll be there,

of course, for all of that. So Paul, I appreciate you reporting live from the stands. Thanks for doing. Thanks for doing this. People had something come up, couldn't make it today. So I appreciate you stepping in. And just I would like to say that it has been a tough it has been a very tough ride. And I've probably ended several podcasts this way but i have so much appreciation for the people who want to continue to listen and carry on with us here because i think there's a lot of fan bases who

would check out and really like there were there were open purple seats today but there were probably more than i would have expected i would have expected like right i would have expected i mean sorry i spent i spent an hour and 15 minutes post game stuck in a parking ramp so i i was seeing it i i while you got there two hours before i got there an hour before and traffic was wall to wall so they were out there um was it less than previous games yeah but man they were cheering anytime they got a first down even down 14-0 punting three or four straight three and outs to start the game 30 seconds left they're on their feet chanting the the fight song when they kick a field goal so they very much the

people that were there showed up and my hour sitting in a parking ramp um to get back here to do this podcast would prove that there are at least enough of enough of them that are still, still enthralled with everything that's going on. Well, that sounds miserable. And I'm sorry that that happened to you. Um, cause I, yeah, I had no problem at all. I went right in and parked. So I guess just getting here a little earlier. Uh, but anyway, the, the point just being that I have a great appreciation and respect for how engaged Vikings fans are with the product and how much they care about every single detail, which we cover in depth. way back when you were an intern, Paul, that it's just been kind of a lot of the same stuff of like, what if Kirk's different? What should Zimmer do?

What should Spielman trade for? And it's been so unfulfilling for fans these last two years that finally, as this season comes to an end, there is a sense of being able to go upward from here, even if there is another average season, but just having a path, having the potential to find a path that could go in the right direction for me is very exciting to not be talking about sort of the same things of, well, they got an offensive coordinator. He's also named Kubiak. I don't know what to tell you how it's going to be different. You know, like maybe, I mean, that's, that's been a, that's been a real challenge.

So I appreciate everyone coming along for the ride and it's only going to get more interesting as we go along. So thanks again for your help, Paul. And thank you all for listening to the purple insider podcast, all of these weeks as I ranted and raved after all these games. So thanks everybody. And by the next time you hear me, we may be talking candidates. We'll see you then.