Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Picking every game on the Vikings schedule

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

The schedule is out and Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom literally go through every single game. Cory Hepola of WCCO Radio joins for a bit to give his takeaways from the 2021 slate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello and welcome everyone into the Minnesota Vikings 2021 Schedule Release Show. I am Matthew Collar. He is Sam Ekstrom. We are from Purple Insider. We are taking over the streams here on Twitter and Facebook for WCCO Radio. We are expected to be joined at some point by WCCO Radio's Corey Heppelaw, and we are going to go through this entire Minnesota Vikings schedule over the next hour for you here on WCCO's stream. So first, Sam, how excited are you, man?

We have a schedule. The next step here as we go toward the 2021 season. Yeah, it's great. It's kind of hard to contextualize all the matchups, even though we know them, like when the previous season gets done. We've been sitting on this for the last four months, but it's kind of hard to think it through in terms of win and loss. It's good to see when you're playing teams. Are you going to face a young quarterback early or late? When do you have the tough stretch? When do you have the favorable stretch? All of that now is clear. We can break it all down. I'm sure nobody looked at any spoilers on Twitter. They're getting this for the first time. So I think we should just read it off in full and then we can react to it. What do you think?

So I think that's a great idea. Why don't we just go, I'll go through the whole thing and then we'll go back to the beginning and we'll talk about game by game, the biggest storylines, and then we'll go through there. But want to let everybody know where they can find the rest of our work. Sam and I do a podcast.

Wherever you get your podcasts, just type in Purple Insider and our written work, including a game-by-game breakdown that you can see right now at purpleinsider.substack.com. So go check that out. Become a subscriber with Purple Insider. We would love to have you. So I'm going to read how about i read through the first half you read through the second half here sam and then we can go back to the top so week one the vikings open up at the cincinnati bangles a game sort of reminds

me of a few years ago when they opened at tennessee where you go oh okay well that's not that exciting of a first game but they will go to Cincinnati. Then Arizona. So two straight games on the road to open the season. They come home and play Seattle. Yes, that's right. Seattle will actually play in Minnesota for the first time since the game. You probably don't want to talk about it in 2015, right? They stay home in week four to play against the Cleveland Browns.

And then another home game against the Detroit Lions in week five. Then they travel to Carolina in week six. Week seven is the bye. Week eight is the Dallas Cowboys. And that will be on Sunday night football at U.S. Bank Stadium. So that's an exciting one to look at. And I will hand it over to you for the second half. Okay, the second half starts tough.

Four out of five on the road, different coasts, beginning with the Baltimore Ravens in week nine. Vikings will face Lamar Jackson for the first time. That's going to be a fun one. That's one to circle, I think, in terms of the watchability rankings. People abroad will be tuning into that game, Vikings and Ravensvens then week 10 the chargers uh vikings actually facing the chargers for the second time in three years then they come home big one against the packers first of two against green bay they get them at u.s bank stadium um i believe that is a sunday night game as well caller uh which one he's talking about

the green bay one sund Sunday night Green Bay. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yep. San Francisco then. On the road, out west, they'll take on maybe the Trey Lance-led, maybe the Jimmy Garoppolo-led 49ers in Week 12. Then it's Detroit, Week 13 on the road. They have owned Detroit at Ford Field of late.

Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 14 at home. Is this the swan song for Big Ben? Week 14 against Pittsburgh. Then this is the pivotal stretch, the final quarter of the season. Bears on the road. Haven't played them yet. They do in week 15, the first of two. Then it's the Rams at home with Matthew Stafford coming back to House of Horrors for him, U.S. Bank Stadium. Green Bay on the road week 17. We don't know who their quarterback's going to be. There's so much up in the air about these Green Bay games. But week 17 at Green Bay.

And remember, folks, it's a 17-game season. We have a week 18 for the first time ever. The Vikings will conclude against the Bears at home, reminiscent of 2018 when it was win and in and they lost. Could come down to that once again this year. So that's your schedule, a week seven bye. And Collar, I'm already struck kind of by a second straight year with three straight home games for a stretch. That's a rarity to have, let alone two times in two years. That's kind of where my eye goes the first time I look at the schedule written out.

So let's talk about broad takeaways first, and then we'll go back to the top. We'll go game by game. We'll give our picks and our thoughts on the biggest storylines. But broad takeaway for me is clearly the NFL thinks that the Minnesota Vikings are going to be pretty interesting this year. There is a lot of national television that they're going to have, starting with that week eight game against the Dallas Cowboys. But also they'll have two division games that are on national TV.

They will mention they will go against the aforementioned Ben Roethlisberger on national TV on a Thursday night game as well. So there's going to be a lot of those. And also there's a lot of callbacks here, like Monday night against Chicago. What could go wrong, like in 2016, right? So there's a lot of these games that are going to be on the national stage which i think suggests that uh the nfl believes that the vikings are going to be a good team this year i think we can kind of take it like that because last year remember there were very few national

tv games that the vikings were on and it felt like okay the v are expected to take a step back and now they're back in the spotlight in a very very fascinating year for Kirk Cousins with the Vikings drafting Kellen Mond for Mike Zimmer for Rick Spielman with the pressure on those guys so that becomes very very interesting that it is going to be a major part of the national discussion and I think that that matters a lot those national TV games for how much you get talked about on ESPN and Fox Sports and all those things. And it only ramps up the pressure of your season. So that's kind of my initial big takeaway. Yeah, I think this schedule shapes up to define Kirk Cousins' tenure in Minnesota, because I think there are four or five games, second half of the year that will

decide his future because as we all know he's got the gigantic gigantic cap number next year Vikings have to make a decision soon what they want to do with with him beyond 2022 I look at week 15 at Chicago it's going to be cold and windy and Cousins has routinely struggled in Chicago even last year when they won that wasn't like a phenomenal Cousins has routinely struggled in Chicago. Even last year when they won, that wasn't like a phenomenal Cousins game. It was a pretty good performance against a bad quarterback and they snuck away with a win. But at Green Bay, that game is in January. Lambeau in January. That's going to be tough. Obviously, Week 18 against the Bears, that harkens back to 2018. Rams game in week 16, like all four of

those last four games could be massive, and that doesn't include primetime Cowboys at Baltimore, at San Francisco against the Steelers. There are some big-time opponents in primetime spots. Seeding might be on the line. Playoff positioning might be on the line. So, Kirk Cousins is going to go through the pressure cooker in November and December. And we're going to learn a lot, I think, about his future. And the first half of the season will set them up, I think, to be right in the thick of the playoff race when they get to the harder part of the schedule. So let's go right through it week by week.

The Cincinnati Bengals at Cincinnati. As I alluded to, it's not the most exciting matchup for week one, but I guess I would say this. Last year was the most exciting matchup for week one against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium, and that didn't exactly play out, but it is interesting here, or maybe unfortunate for Vikings fans, or maybe it will play in their favor with COVID protocols and so forth, that they don't get a home game for a couple of weeks here. And they start with an opponent that I think everyone will look at and say,

you should win this game. Even if Cincinnati is going to be a better team with Joe Burrow, his health is unclear at this moment. That team is, I think, ascending because they've drafted a young quarterback. But it's also the Cincinnati Bengals. You feel like they still are going to be a third or fourth place team in their division, and this is one that they should start off with a win, and for this one, I picked a win. Yeah, this is when you want to face Cincinnati because, number one, we're not sure if Joe Burrow plays. He said that he intends to play week one, but we're still four months away from this,

and he's still going through his rehab. So even if he plays, I think it's going to be tough for him to be fully confident on that knee. He's not going to have a ton of time to gel with his new wide receiver, Jamar Chase. They're breaking in a new left tackle. What's his name? Riley Reif. That'll be interesting.

I do like, you know, that receiving core with Chase and Tee Higgins from last year, but there's not a ton that, you know, enthralls me about that offense or that defense for that matter. I think the Vikings are a better team. I think Burrow is still, you know, young and fairly unproven. I like him. Like, he was pretty good at taking care of the ball last year. He had the third lowest interception rate just behind Rodgers and Mahomes. That's good company to be in, but he also fumbled a lot and took a lot of sacks. This would be a good game to sort of break in this new look defensive line and try to get some pressure on a young quarterback. Yeah, the only part that would make me a little nervous if I was a Vikings fan is just when it is.

It's week one, and we see a lot of crazy results in week one, especially Cincinnati gets to stay home. Mike Zimmer will be returning to a place where he had a lot of success and earned this job, so that will be a big storyline going into it. It's just sometimes you get those odd results and strange games in week one. That would be the only concern. But I think this is one where you circle it and you say that's a W. That's one that every fan will write in as a win.

And the next one, though, I think that there's more debate about. Week two against the Arizona Cardinals. I am not yet ready to believe that the Arizona Cardinals are a great team. I think what we saw from Cliff Kingsbury last year was a pretty unimpressive offense. For someone who was touted as this air raid guru, last year they were 19th in expected points added through the air, and Kyler Murray didn't take that huge next step. The interesting part of their offense, though, Sam,

is that they like to throw deep a lot, and they succeed throwing deep, but they almost don't succeed throwing anywhere else. So the Vikings will have kind of a new-look secondary here with Patrick Peterson and Mackenzie Alexander returning. So it'll be tested right away, but I think that the Vikings should beat the Arizona Cardinals and go 2-0 with two road games to start the season. It's entirely possible. And you mentioned the revenge angle there.

Patrick Peterson facing his former team very early in the season. And, you know, the Cardinals had that remarkable walk-off win last year with the Hail Mary to DeAndre Hopkins. But they didn't really have an inspirational follow-up to that. They were in playoff contention at that point, and then they kind of fell off the face of the earth in December. Kyler Murray wasn't very good, and it didn't seem like their passing game was gelling very well, even with some pretty nice pieces there. They've taken a lot of receivers high. They obviously

had Larry Fitzgerald there kind of as the anchor of that receiving core for a long time. But things didn't really click. And I think this is the year where Kyler Murray has to take that next step. And like you said, I'm a little torn because this is a team that beat Seattle at home last year. So they are good enough. I think it's a tougher place to play. Vikings fans might travel really well to Arizona. That's kind of one of those snowbird locations.

Could be a fun atmosphere if they have a full crowd. But like you said, there's a great chance for the Vikings to kind of get ahead of the game here and work above.500 in the first half of the season. And they've got to take advantage of fringe games like this, where they might have a quarterback advantage. They might have a coaching advantage they might have a coaching advantage at least on the defensive side of the ball um and hey jj watt in arizona as well that'll be another fun player to watch and if wyatt davis is starting at guard and christian derisaw starting on the outside they are going to face some pretty darn good players right away in week two against

the arizona cardinals uh also wanted to say it's unfortunate for some Vikings fans who may have wanted to travel that this one didn't end up in November. So, you know, they'll leave a nice Minnesota fall, I guess, to play some golf in Arizona if they're going to go to that one. Are you picking that as a win or loss? I have the Vikings starting out 2-0 on the road. I gave it a loss. I don't have an awesome feeling about the Vikings sneaking away 2-0, even though I think they're probably the better team in both.

Funky things can happen to this team, especially on the road. So I'm going to hedge and say they go 1-1 through the first two. And even historically, Mike Zimmer's defenses have not been quite the same on the road. I know that that's true for a lot of defenses, but I remember looking into this about last year with fanless games, the difference between home and road. And it was pretty stark that the defense was much more fallible, even when it was at its absolute best on the road. So that will give Kyler Murray an opportunity. And I don't know how far into year two we're going to decide.

Is Kyler Murray kind of the real deal or is he going to be more of an average quarterback who was picked number one overall like he was last year so on to week three I have the Vikings 2-0 you have them one and one they play home against the Seattle Seahawks as I alluded to this is unusual because they have gone their last three years out to Seattle and it's been a nightmare each time. John DeFilippo, the offensive coordinator, got fired after the 2018 game. In 2019, the Vikings had the ball in their hands with a chance to drive and go win the game.

That did not happen. And then last year, Russell Wilson leads a brilliant game-winning drive against the Vikings. But interestingly enough, in these last three games that Seattle has won, Wilson has not played that great against the Vikings defense, and now he comes to U.S. Bank Stadium. By week three, we might have a full U.S. Bank Stadium for the first time since the end of the 2019 season.

This will be a very interesting matchup to see how Seattle plays against a team they're very familiar with over the last few years and a coach, two coaches that are very familiar with each other, only in a different setting that Seattle has actually never seen. Yeah, that's a great point. Maybe in the preseason at one point, but certainly not in the regular season. You know, Russell Wilson obviously had some of the headlines this offseason as a disgruntled quarterback, and a lot of that got overshadowed by a bigger quarterback that's disgruntled than Aaron Rodgers

and has kind of stolen a lot of the attention there. And it looks like Russell Wilson is going to work things out with Seattle, stick around and continue to be their quarterback. And early in the season, we'll see how Seattle starts. If somehow they go 0-2 coming into US Bank Stadium, that could be a pretty pressure-packed game for them and the direction they're going. But the Vikings have never beaten Russell Wilson, ever. I believe he entered the league in 2012. They are 0-4. I'm not sure if it's 0-6, 0-7, but they've never done it.

So they'll have to get the monkey off their back here if they want to win this game. I have them losing it. I just think that Russell Wilson, as well as the Vikings, have played against him relative to his usual performance. He still finds a way. He always finds a way. And that's a quarterback in the fourth quarter that you want to have in your back pocket. You expect him to go win the game. Whereas with Kirk Cousins, winning the game is sort of the

exception to the rule. You expect something different with the Vikings quarterback. So I'll take Seattle. You know, the Vikings are still going to be working in some new players. They're going to be working in a couple new offensive linemen potentially. And I think a good team like Seattle that's a little more seasoned wins that football game. Also a statistic that I ran across is that Russell Wilson is one of the best road quarterbacks in the entire NFL. If you take all the team quarterback ratings, they're number two Seattle as a team in quarterback rating on the road.

So he may not be as impacted as, I guess, as you would think as someone who benefits so much from century link field that he seems to take that act on the road. And I also have this as a loss for the Vikings. I have them now going to two and one as you have them going to one and two just because of Wilson, really,

I don't think Seattle is a stronger team, but I think this is truly one of the elite quarterbacks in the league where they can have a disappointing season last year and still be 12-4, and where he could have a bad game against the Vikings and still find a way to win. That's a quarterback that I'm not going to bet against. So, the Vikings at home, week four against the Cleveland Browns. Kevin Stefanski, revenge game. This one is too obvious for the storylines, but I do think, Sam, it is really interesting for a guy who knows Mike Zimmer's defense very, very well. The faces might be different, and you know that Mike Zimmer is going to throw in some different wrinkles.

So is Kevin Stefanski to his offensive philosophy, but these are two coaches who are around each other a ton over the past decade or in the Mike Zimmer era. And Stefanski comes in with a rising Cleveland Browns team. Yeah, I mean, there's certainly a mountain of resume that Mike Zimmer has as a defensive coach. And Kevin Stefanski got to observe that sort of up close. There's not as much information about Stefanski as a play caller. So I think it's advantage Stefanski here with what he knows about Mike Zimmer coming in. The question is, is that

was it a little bit of rookie luck as a head coach for Kevin Stefanski or is this sustainable? You know, did he really build something that can last in a city where they've had no long-term football success in decades? Last year was a lot of fun to watch. Like there was certainly something about that team that was special. And I think you're at your peak as like, in terms of enjoyment, when it's unexpected success. Nobody really expected that from Cleveland and they did it. And they were kind of running on adrenaline and fumes. The test is when you have to back it up, when there's actual expectations behind it. So I kind of am thinking a down year for Cleveland. That's just my gut. I don't know if I'm 100% bought in

on Baker yet. I do like a lot of the pieces on that team. Kind of all the high draft picks over the last few years are finally paying off. But I the Vikings win this game they're going to be in my opinion one and two needing a victory I'm going to take Minnesota to win and even up the record well we're going to land in the same spot after four games both two and two but in a different order I have the Vikings losing this game because I am buying Cleveland for this year. I think that what we've seen from them, very much like we saw at the early stages of the Mike Zimmer era, is an ascending team. Only, of course, their franchise quarterback has not suffered a terrible knee injury or anything. And with Baker Mayfield, I think some of his statistics are thrown off a bit by a few bad

weather games, but he had the highest quarterback rating last year that any Cleveland Browns starter has ever had since they returned. And I know that's a low bar to clear, but Baker Mayfield, especially in the playoffs against Pittsburgh on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs on the road, I thought he showed that he can be a franchise quarterback and they have a stacked roster. They have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL they're getting some weapons back they have a tremendous running game and they have a defense that they have gone a long way toward improving in this offseason they signed John Johnson away from the Los Angeles Rams gave him a big contract and so they've made some serious moves here to improve not to mention today beyond Clowney has been brought into that team as well that was their Achilles heel last year that made them more of an average team than a great team, and I think that they're improving that. I think they're a better team than the Vikings,

and it feels weird to say that I think Cleveland is one of the Super Bowl contenders in the AFC, but I do. I know that it sounds strange, but I do. So now we bounce to week five. From a Super Bowl contender to a number one draft pick in 2022 contender, the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium. Watch your kneecaps. Dan Campbell's team is going to be biting them. This one, to me, Sam, I think the Vikings just continue their dominance over the Detroit Lions. My only hesitation on that, and there is very little hesitation in thinking that the Vikings

continue their dominance, and I'll pick them again for the road game as well. My only hesitation is just that clearly Detroit could not stand Matt Patricia, and clearly he was a bad head coach. So if Dan Campbell is even okay at being a head coach in the NFL and Aaron Glenn, their defensive coordinator, is even okay at coverage and pressures and such, Detroit, even though their roster is worse, might play harder against the Minnesota Vikings than they did with Matt Patricia. I will still absolutely pick a win here, but I think these games will bring a little bit of intrigue. And remember, the last time Jared Goff played the Vikings, he put up 465 yards and five touchdowns, I'm just saying. I think his receiving core was just a little better in Los Angeles. Detroit just gutted their receivers this past offseason. I think they lost Tate, Jones, Amendola, and

replaced it with not much. So I don't know who's going to catch the ball on offense other than TJ Hawkinson. This is not a strong weapons team. They do have like a growing offensive line, which is a good foundation to have. Taylor Decker got extended. Frank Ragnow got extended. And they drafted Panay Sewell. So they might actually protect Jared Goff. And they need to because the Lions have not protected their quarterbacks well. The Vikings have just demolished Matthew Stafford time and time again. They did take a pretty big swing, though, with Dan Campbell. This is not exactly an established head coach. This is a former tight end coach, you know, someone who might be a little over his head right away. And this is fairly early in the season. Detroit doesn't have a lot of talent. I think Minnesota

wins the game. And Jared Goff, I think we're realizing the 2018 season he had with the Rams, where you mentioned he threw for those 400 yards. That might have been the exception and not the rule for Jared Goff, who has come back to earth the past couple of years. Yeah, I think we're going to see if Jared Goff can continue to find ways to win. He still won games with the Rams and made them respectable, even though his supporting cast fell off. And maybe the NFL figured out some Sean McVay things. But I don't think that his supporting cast with the receivers and receiving

options is good enough to be as dangerous as some of the best Matt Stafford games. So we've got right now, both at three and two for the Vikings. Then they go on the road to face the Carolina Panthers. And I found it very interesting that Teddy Bridgewater had some comments about the coaching staff in Carolina. And if anyone is in a position to make these comments, it's a guy who played for Mike Zimmer and Sean Payton. And he basically said that the Carolina Panthers coaching staff was amateurish last year. And I've had that same observation. I think we both did in the game with the Vikings

and Panthers, the way that they handled things down the stretch. And Teddy Bridgewater didn't hold back when he got an opportunity to throw a couple of bombs their way, as now he is the quarterback in Denver. I think they're still going to be terrible. I think their trade for Sam Darnold was senseless, and their coach has no idea what he's doing. So I am going to say the Vikings go to Carolina and get an easy win against the Panthers.

Yeah, that new car smell of Matt Rule and Joe Brady didn't last very long, did it? You know, it's risky when you pull those big-name college coaches to the NFL. It's just a different operation. And the Bridgewater criticism from a very tight-lipped quarterback normally, a very polite quarterback, that means something. And the specific way that he sort of criticized Joe Brady's coaching style or practice plan was incredible to me. And it's not surprising that the Panthers lost seven consecutive one possession games between week 15 or week five and week 15 to just tank their season. So for Carolina, they need all of those defensive players they drafted two years ago or two drafts

ago to sort of come into their own because they drafted seven out of seven defense in 2020. It stands to reason a lot of those guys weren't able to contribute or contribute at a high level last year. They need them to this year. Like they had that defensive tackle first round pick from Auburn, Derek Brown. He's going to need to play a lot better. They drafted a new defensive back, J.C. Horn, with the eighth pick, I believe, in this year's draft. So the defense has to get it together to give Sam Darnold a lot of support. Christian McCaffrey might have 3,000 all-purpose yards this year because I don't know who else is going to get the job done.

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Golf at 494 in Valley Creek in Woodbury, just a short drive from anywhere in the Twin Cities Metro, and at birdiegolf.com, or you can call 651-998-2200 today. I'll see you there. Yeah, I think that they have some decent things to work with on offense, but Sam Darnold has been the most excused first-round bust I think I've ever seen.

People have acted like his games just didn't matter because his coach was Adam Gase. And even when Ryan Tannehill's coach was Adam Gase, he got them to the playoffs and he had some good games and some good stretches, but we really haven't seen that from Sam Darnold. So I am not at all believing that he's going to take them anywhere. So going into the bye, that puts us both at four and three, correct? Four and two. Four and two. Week seven bye. Oh, yeah, four and two going into the bye.

So let's hit pause on our picks right now to bring in from WCCO Radio, Corey Heppela wearing his skull hat. What is up from, hey, it's Corey Heppela. What is up? Hey, Corey Heppela. Hey, Corey. Hey, Sam. Hey, Matthew.ew look at that a little soda stick i use the purple insider code nice nice everyone can do that they go to sodastick.com that's our sponsor um yeah well i looked at the schedule

a couple things stand out to me real quick um three uh four 330 games is atrocious um that is the second worst time um after thursday night which shouldn't even be allowed um but 330 on a sunday is just brutal um and i never used to feel this way but then as becoming an adult and having kids now it's like god dang it now i'm starting the week and I've got to try to balance this, get them bathed and get them down while I'm trying to keep the game on. And then all of a sudden my night and then prep and all that, 3.30 is brutal. And to have four of them, I'm not a fan, man.

Just get me nude on Sunday all day. Okay. All right. I can empathize with the kids right now. Tell us how you really feel about those games uh now well take me through Corey your favorites though your favorite matchups here the ones that you immediately saw and said okay well this is this is going to be Corey Heppler show goes all in previewing this game the Lions I love those Lions games. I would love 17 of them.

Those are the ones that I'm really excited about. No, what I always do, though, I look at two things in the schedule every single time. I look at, OK, when are the Vikings on the road in cold weather? And that's the first thing I always look. OK, when are they at Chicago? When are they at Green Bay? This year, of course, they're both in December and in January, both at Chicago, at Green Bay. I just always feel like that's just a tough environment. And then I guess you could say they have three winter road games because they're at San Francisco, and we all know San Francisco's pretty cold, too. And that's at the end of November. So I always look at that, first of all. I mean, the schedule on paper, at this point in time, it always looks hard, doesn't it?

I mean, it just kind of does. It just always looks hard, I think. And then once you kind of see how things go through training camp and then how things go through the preseason and who gets injured, who doesn't, then things kind of take form. But I always look at it, and I'm kind of like, at this point in time, I don't know, nine and eight, ten and seven. But then I always look too, the like Monday night games and the Sunday night games because then I look, all right,

I'm going to be up late, I'm going to be tired, and since it's prime time, I'm probably going to be pissed the next morning. So do I need to take that day off or not knowing that I'm going to be angry? So I always kind of look at those couple of things. Corey, what opposing player are you most excited to watch against the Vikings? And remove yourself as a Vikings fan, just as like a football fan, what player do you want to see take on the Vikes? Is it Lamar Jackson?

Is it Joe Burrow? Like who on the schedule kind of pops out to you? Jared Goff. Really looking forward to Jared Goff. Twice a year. You're crushing the Lions, man. Yeah, I hope to God we don't lose to the Lions. But, no, I, you know, what's interesting, I always love to see, you know,

rookies play, really. I think at this point, Justin Herbert, like is he for real or not? I think that's one that jumps out to me. That was the 17th game that was added. So going to take on the Chargers now with Justin Herbert, like, is he for real or not? I think that's one that jumps out to me. That was the 17th game that was added. So going to take on the Chargers now with Justin Herbert. Those are some of the things that I kind of look for. I really am interested, actually, just to see what happens here with this Green Bay quarterback situation. If they are starting to Blake Bortles or something, I'm going to be really excited for those games.

Look, I mean, as a Vikings fan who thinks everything's going to go wrong all the time, I really just like the easy wins, to be honest. I don't like good games. Like, you know, like the Seahawks being at home this year, I think that's great. Like, I'm excited about that because I'm tired of going to Seattle. But, yeah, at this point, I mean, it's really hard to tell, right? I think if the Vikings – I actually like what the Vikings have done this offseason if they add maybe a couple more pieces.

If they can add, like, maybe a starting defensive end and they can start, you know, maybe get that wide receiver three that you guys talk about a lot, then I'm going to feel really good, actually, about this offseason and through the draft. And I guess we'll see what happens through the minicamps and training camp, and hopefully everyone stays healthy. Well, don't say that as if you are not team wide receiver three as well, because I know that you are.

So now this is – we're about to get into the second half of the schedule for our picks and things like that, and this is where it gets hard because both Green Bay games are in the second half of the schedule, and that really is going to shape what happens with Rodgers, And this is where it gets hard because both Green Bay games are in the second half of the schedule. And that really is going to shape what happens with Rodgers, how we pick those games, how we feel about those games. I am sitting here right now, Corey, thinking about those games as if Aaron Rodgers will be there, even though I think he won't. Like, I would bet that he won't. But as we pick them, we have to assume that he is until he's actually gone, and then Vikings fans can truly believe it. Well, I know, and what's interesting is the Vegas odds, right,

still have Green Bay as the favorite, although I don't know that you could pick one organization over Green Bay at this point, if that makes sense. Like the field, I think, maybe have a strong, like together. Like if it was like taking Tiger Woods or the field, you know what I mean? And I think at this point, Green Bay is still the favorite over all the other teams. I just, here's how I look at it.

How do you go back? Like, how do you go back? This isn't a like Daniil Hunter where you're like, oh, he's kind of upset or whatever, and well, you know what, we'll just renegotiate, come somewhere in the middle, compromise, and he'll be happier and he can play defensive end. This is your Hall of Fame quarterback who has burnt the bridge that leads to Green Bay that has said, ah, you know what, I'm not going to go back unless the general manager is fired. I don't know how you then sign a contract and say, no, everything's good.

I just don't see it. I don't know how that's possible. Well, we'll really get to see the Rodgers effect because this is a similar roster to the team that went 13-3 two years in a row. And if we don't see Rodgers, if we see a full year of Jordan Love, we'll kind of see apples to apples what a different quarterback looks like on that team. And the Packers have routinely been bad when Aaron Rodgers is not their starting quarterback. I think in the two years where he's missed extended time, there's something like 5-10-1 in like 16 games. They're not good. They've struggled when he gets hurt. And it doesn't seem like they were prepared for this at all from a quarterback standpoint. So

this is easily the number one storyline, I think, of the next three months in the NFL. The Hall of Fame quarterbacks that Green Bay has trotted out there in the last 30 years have masked so many problems, so many problems. Like we all talk about this Green Bay franchise, oh, it's a model franchise. Not really. I mean, you know, they've, you know, to a point, like, gotten lucky.

They've done smart things, right? You found Brett Favre. But even if you, like, do all the right things, even if you pick number one overall every single year, you're not going to get, like, the two of the seven best quarterbacks of all time back to back. Like, it's just not possible. It's a statistical anomaly. And so to say, like, oh, they've done all these things right, no,

they've really done some really good things in getting Hall of Fame quarterback play. They've also gotten lucky, and it's masked a ton of other things. And I think Green Bay fans, and I have a couple of really, really good friends who are Packer fans, but I think it's going to come down to a dose of reality once it's over, that it's really hard. What you have done to sustain that really for 30 years, and Sam, I mean,

Favre didn't miss a game, and Rodgers has missed, what, 15 or whatever in all these years? Like, that's incredible. And to have that level of play, it's just really masked all these problems. So, honestly, I'm here for it. I can't wait. I cannot wait for that dose of reality, and I'm just praying that – I'm here for it. I can't wait. I cannot wait for that dose of reality. And I'm just praying that I'm praying every day. I'm literally just refreshing, like, please, please this time be the like trade and not just a trade, but like the trade that sends Aaron Rodgers there.

And then you don't really get anything in return. Like that would be great. Yeah, that would be great for the Vikings if they traded Rodgers and got nothing in return. So before we let you go, Corey, you said 9-8, you said 10-7. Is that what you're going with? Have you gone through and put the little W's and the L's next to every game yet? Or how are you feeling about this when you see it officially on paper? I haven't gone through it all. I just kind of looked it over and looked at, like, all right, do they have – so they got three games at home in a row, and then they're on the road. And so I really haven't gone through it all. I just kind of looked it over and looked at, like, all right, do they have – so they got three games at home in a row, and then they're on the road.

And so I really haven't gone through it. I just think – and I look at the Vikings roster, and as we sit right now, I look at this team as, like, okay, if Aaron Rodgers is out of the division, all of a sudden I think that you are – you're a favorite for the NFC North and could be a favorite in the NFC. I'm not saying like the favorite, but one of. Like if you're a projected division winner, all of a sudden you're on that level, right? And I think the NFC West can beat each other up.

I think even the NFC East will be a little bit better. But, you know, in the NFC South, I don't know that it's going to be that much better. I mean, Tampa Bay, sure, they return everybody, but they're also a year older. We've seen it's hard to repeat. Atlanta may have gotten a little bit better. New Orleans probably isn't better. Carolina probably isn't better. So all of a sudden, you're kind of looking like, who's left? And really, again, if the Vikings add a couple more pieces here, you're kind of looking around going, well, maybe it is us and I think that's where they're at I don't know that they've been like ultimately really really smart and done

everything right but I think they do a lot of things right and I think they're kind of in that 9-10 win position that could be bolstered by some of the other teams kind of weakening and all of a sudden you're like well maybe we're 12 win team no this is a good point about the NFC and how so many franchises are in flux because of the quarterback situations, and that does open the door for the Vikings. Hey, it's Corey Heppola on with us. Really appreciate you jumping in, man, and wearing the soda stick hat, our sponsor. Really appreciate that as well. So it's an exciting day.

We won't have another day like this with this much sort of like Vikings energy, really, until we get the training camp going yeah no doubt and I do want to say um condolences to Jerry Burns and his family um you know I I'm being a Vikings fan all my life I'm almost 40 but I don't really have much memories of Bud Grant um my first Vikings memories are really Jerry Burns and those Vikings teams. So rest in peace, Jerry Burns, who gave us the greatest press conference of all time and just told it like it was. So I just – blessings to him and his family and the Vikings family too. Yeah, a genius and a legend for sure.

Thanks for coming on, Corey. Really appreciate it, man. You guys do tremendous work. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Corey. Yeah, I mean, a couple of Titans today, you know, passing away, Jerry Burns, Jim Klobuchar. We lost Sid, you know, in October, like a lot, a lot of, I guess, patriarchs of the Vikings and the coverage of the Vikings lost in the past year or so. So yeah, condolences to all of them,

for sure. I don't know how to transition out of that into week eight. So let me just say that we've picked the almost the first half here. I have the Vikings at four and two. You have the Vikings at four and two as well. Going into the bye, they would feel pretty darn good about themselves if that were the case. Coming out on a Sunday night football game, which I feel like is a nice advantage here for the Vikings, come out of a bye, play Sunday night football against the Dallas Cowboys. And the last time they had Sunday night football against the Dallas Cowboys, they won, and it was used as proof that Kirk Cousins could win the big game on Sunday night football.

Will that happen again, Sam? This one at U.S. Bank Stadium, though. Yeah, the Cowboys are interesting. You know, they've got so much talent and they routinely have underachieved since that rookie year with Prescott where they went 13-3. They've only got one season where they won 10 games. Otherwise, they've been pretty disappointing. You know, Ezekiel Elliott doesn't instill a lot of fear in me anymore.

He's averaging like 4.3 yards per carry the last two seasons combined. I think he was 4.0 last year. The receiving core is good. I mean, that's clearly their strength with Cooper, with Lamb. Lamb is an awesome, awesome player. And I think he kind of fell off because he had to catch passes from, you know, Andy Dalton and the smorgasbord that Dallas sent out last year. But I think he's going to be really special. And to have Prescott back from that terrible injury, signing the extension, it's great to have him back. I think the league is better for it. But there's pressure. There's pressure on Dallas. And I don't know what to think about the Cowboys. They obviously have drafted some defensive players that are going to be impactful. Trevon Diggs last year, Micah Parsons this year. They're trying to bolster that

defense. I think Minnesota wins. I think Minnesota kind of hits their stride mid-season. They'll have a really rested team. They'll have a good game plan in this primetime game. U.S. Bank Stadium will be rocking the first primetime game, you know, post-pandemic. That could be a ton of fun. I'm already really excited to be covering that. The energy for that one will be as high as maybe any game we've seen there outside of the Minneapolis Miracle game.

I mean, I'm kind of thinking about it as the game that opened the entire stadium in 2016, sort of the buildup to that. Having fans back in the stadium, presumably, for a game of that magnitude will be really exciting to cover. I'm going to go with a loss here. I think this is very much a coin flip type of game because U.S. Bank Stadium does even things out. However, I think that Dak Prescott in that offense and the adjustments that Dallas is going to be able to make with their defense from last year to this year, that Dallas will beat them and that Dallas will be a really good team this year. They do play a weak division, which will help them, but I think offense is going to continue to drive the league and they should

have one of the better offenses in the entire NFL. I even thought what they got out of Andy Dalton was pretty impressive last year, including a win at US Bank Stadium. So you have them five and two with a great start through seven games. I have them at a more muted four and three as they go to Baltimore to face the Ravens. And now this is interesting, Sam, because they have never faced Lamar Jackson. They've never faced anyone like Lamar Jackson. I mean, this is a division where they've been going up against Matt Stafford, mildly mobile, Aaron Rodgers, mildly mobile, Jay Cutler, and Mitch Trubisky, who is probably maybe the best running quarterback in the division in many years. And then, you know, even the other NFC teams, Cam Newton is not even close when they last faced Cam Newton to what Lamar Jackson is as far as this prolific, unstoppable type of rushing force.

And this is the Rashad Bateman revenge game for the Vikings choosing to draft an offensive lineman. I think Baltimore on the road is a very, very tough game. And I do not have the Vikings winning this one. Yeah, I'll go with Baltimore. I mean, Baltimore is just a loaded roster. In addition to having a good quarterback, I think they've got one of the best coaches in the league. They've got a great home field advantage.

They're a good team. I think they win. I think Mike Zimmer will have a decision to make. Do you let Lamar Jackson get his yards and try to defend deep? Because Lamar Jackson does have a nice deep ball and some really speedy weapons on that team. Or do you try to shut down the run game with Jackson and sort of make him throw? I could see Mike Zimmer saying, hey, we're going to stop the run. That's what we're about. We're going to stop the run, you know, making Anthony Barr sort of the personal spy on Lamar Jackson and like sending him to the quarterback no matter

what, like in all those RPOs. So I'm going with Baltimore. I think it's going to, you know, it's going to be a tough test for anyone to go in there and win. I don't think Minnesota gets that win, no. This one for me might be as much about Lamar Jackson as it is Baltimore usually having a really good defense. They're somewhere often between good and great defensively. And Kirk Cousins, this offense against good defenses, historically since he's been a Viking, has not performed exceptionally well.

So I have them dropping to four and four. You have them at five and three going into week 10. The 17th game, sort of, the added game to the schedule at the Los Angeles Chargers. I cannot wait to be at this one and see that new stadium in Los Angeles, see it packed. I don't think we're going to get a very similar vibe, Sam, from last time I covered a game in Los Angeles at a soccer stadium that was full of purple.

I think this one, because of Justin Herbert, is going to have a lot of energy and a lot of buzz in Los Angeles about this. But I also think Chargers are Chargers, and they've got some flaws to that team. I'm not sure they're quite there yet to be a great contender. I'm going to pick the Vikings to go to 5-4 and beat the Los Angeles Chargers on the road. Have we ever had a rookie of the year quarterback get his coach fired? It's an odd situation because typically year two coach QB combination, that's kind of an Ascension year,

but they're restarting now with a new coach. And frankly, the Chargers were three and nine last year. Like let's not overlook that they were three and nine. They were out of contention when December started, they did win the last four, which I think is why Justin Herbert won rookie of the year and not Justin Jefferson,

because they ended up posting the same record and quarterback just usually gets more credit. But I'm not 100% sold on the Chargers being good. It kind of reminds me of Atlanta the past five years a little bit, where the defense on paper always looked really, really good, but they never really put it together. Guys got hurt, and the Chargers have been snakebit for sure with injury. They've also been incredibly unlucky late in games. They invent ways to lose.

Maybe that's coaching. Maybe that's karma. I don't know. But, yeah, I think it'll be a little less of a disadvantage, you know, where the soccer stadium, they were literally playing against a road crowd. It probably won't be the case, you know, christening kind of this new stadium with fans for the first time. That'll be good for them. But I think the Vikings can go in and win. I also have this as a win in part because I don't know which direction to go on, Justin Herbert, but I do think sophomore slumps can be real.

We saw Baker Mayfield with no pressure whatsoever come in with Cleveland and show something in his first year and then take a step back his second year as the league started to figure out what he does well, what he doesn't do well. And I think you'll see a little bit of that with the Chargers. I also think that they have a secondary that is just not impressive. And against Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen with an unimpressive secondary, Joey Bosa would have to take over this game in order for the Chargers to win, I think. All right, now here's one that's hard to talk about. Number 11, week 11, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. The Packers coming to Minnesota.

Who's the quarterback, Sam? Who is the quarterback in Week 11? I think we have to pick this game as if it's Rodgers, but I also just feel like it won't be Rodgers. Is it going to be Jordan Love? Is it going to be somebody else? I don't know. So this one was a really tough one to pick.

We had to do it, pick the whole schedule, but this one was hard. Yeah. On the website, I picked it as if it was love. You didn't tell me this criteria, but I'll talk about it as if it's Rodgers. I think they can still beat a Rodgers led Packers team at home. I'm going to say the same thing that I said last year. I don't think the Packers can go 13-3 again. I think they are double due for regression because what they did is incredible. To repeat a 13-3 season and seemingly get better actually last year, I thought that was really impressive. Vikings did hand them one of those three losses though. You know, we're going to know a lot more information week 11, too, and this is where it gets tough to pick because you just don't know, you know, who's going to be hurt at this point, what the records are.

Like is Green Bay fledgling? Are they leading the division? What's at stake here? Don't know. You know, I've got the Vikings at this point, I think at 6-2. I'm not 100% what the record is at this point. 6-3, I think you have them at, right? Okay, yeah, 6-3. You're right. They lost to Baltimore. So this means a lot to the Vikings. And, you know, the wacky week one game last year where the Packers kind of cleaned their clock,

that was weird with all the rookies playing. I think the Vikings typically perform pretty well at home in this building against Rodgers. They'll have the noise to throw him off his cadence a little bit. I think Minnesota can win. What I went with here is a split was the safest way for me to pick it because even if Jordan Love is the quarterback, it's still going to be harder later in the season to go to Lambeau. So I just picked the home team winning for these, whether it's Rodgers or not. They have beaten Rodgers plenty of times in the past. Sometimes that's down here. Sometimes that's down there. And it's hard to pick. But usually sweeping another good team in the division, even if it is Jordan Love, is not all that easy. Unless Jordan Love or whoever is the quarterback plays to a Brett Hundley 2017 level

then I would pick the Vikings for both games so I picked the Vikings to win this one to go to six and four and you have them at seven and three at this point in the season through week 11 so let's go on to week 12 at San Francisco now the big question here is it going to be Trey Lance? Is he going to be under center? Is it going to be Jimmy Garoppolo? But I'll tell you, I wouldn't have changed my pick either way if you told me which team was or which quarterback was going to lead this San Francisco team, because I think Kyle Shanahan is a great mind. And if Trey Lance is in, that means he's ready. I think San Francisco has a really stocked roster that was a respectable football team last year, even though they had to play most of the season with Nick Mullins.

So I am going with a loss here. I think it's also really tough to go out to San Francisco as the year goes on. So I'm going to say an L for the Vikings to go to 6-5 at this point in the season. It's a loss for me as well. And here's what I wrote about this point in the season. It's a loss for me as well. And here's what I wrote about this game on the website. I don't think Trey Lance will take over for Jimmy Garoppolo's poor play. I think he would take over for injury because Jimmy Garoppolo has a winning track record. He just gets hurt a lot. He missed a bunch of time last year, but his last healthy season, he reached

the Super Bowl. Now, was he perfect? No. Is he flawed? Yes. But I think he'll get a pretty long ramp here if he stays healthy because San Francisco is a dark horse in my mind. These are all of the significant players that missed a lot of time last year. Garoppolo, 10 games. Mostert, 8 games. Tevin Coleman, 8 games. Debo Samuel, 9 games. George Kittle, 8. Quan Alexander, 11. Richard Sherman, 11. Nick Bosa, 14. And that's an abridged list. I mean, there were more. San Francisco missed over 300 total games due to injury last year, by far the most in the league. I think with better injury luck, they can contend in that NFC West. And I think if they're contending, I think Jimmy Garoppolo continues to be their quarterback

because we've both talked about this. We suspect that Trey Lance is going to need a little bit of time coming from NVSU. They're not going to throw him in right away. So as long as Jimmy Garoppolo stays healthy, I think this is a Jimmy Garoppolo game. And I think the Vikings will be contending against a very tough defense. And I think San Francisco wins. And we've been out there. We've seen Mike Zimmer versus Kyle Shanahan in Santa Clara near San Francisco, but not exactly San Francisco. And I think what we saw was the impact of their defensive line, which remains good if they are healthy, which they weren't last year.

But even then, maybe losing Robert Sala will impact them to some extent. I look at San Francisco as one of the Super Bowl contenders, even with their odd situation with the quarterback. If Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy, I think they're one of the best teams in the NFC. So I also went with the loss to make them 6-5. Detroit Lions on the road. Is there much more to say about this one? I feel like we could just go right by it.

I have it as a win. I assume you have it as a win. I do. The Vikings and Kirk Cousins have owned Detroit in that building. And by week 13, there may not be a lot for Detroit to be excited about. I mean, they could easily be 3-8 going into this game. So I'm going to go W for Minnesota. Trying not to lose track of my own record.

I have them at seven and five and you have them at eight and four. Right. Very good. Okay. Yep. So now it's going to be Pittsburgh on Thursday night football. So this is why it's a great break to play Detroit before this, because it's not that tough of an opponent,

even though it's on the road they will get to play the Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Thursday night football so Pittsburgh has to travel to Minnesota in order to play this game and I also think and I know that you might disagree with me here on this pick but I think Pittsburgh could be bad I think the the end of their season last year was a real struggle. They did not get better. They actually got worse. Their offensive line is bad.

They drafted a running back. I'm not really sure they know what they're doing to get themselves back on track. And Ben Roethlisberger cannot carry this Pittsburgh team anymore. So I have the Vikings winning this football game. See, I got weird vibes about the Thursday night thing, and I've got them down for a loss, and I think this is going to be a wacky game. It is sort of the classic clinging to continuity, even though you shouldn't. Like, this is an organization that has had the same head coach for 15 years, the same quarterback for more than 15 years, you know, that's very cohesive with the ownership, the coach and the QB. They don't change things

much in Pittsburgh. And amazingly, since Roethlisberger debuted, he's never had a sub 500 season. So it's weird to think about Pittsburgh being bad, especially when they started 11-0. But, you know, a lot of smart people wrote, even at that time, that the Steelers were kind of a paper tiger. Like the analytics weren't kind, and then it all came to roost. They ended the regular season 1-4. They got knocked out by the Browns in the first round with an embarrassing first-half performance.

And all that said, I still am going to go with Pittsburgh to win just because they do have really good receivers. Deontay Johnson, Chase Claypool, Juju Smith-Schuster. I like that group. And I think if Roethlisberger is playing, there's at least a chance that he's good on that particular day. Thursday nights are a coin flip. I am going to go with Pittsburgh to win.

Because I just want to know how much longer their defense holds up as being good because last year their defense really up as being good because last year their defense really carried them they did not have a great offense overall despite throwing the ball tons they couldn't run it at all this year they should be better at running it but they've also seen the rest of the roster deteriorate it is you're right about that that it is an interesting matchup on Thursday night football because to some extent you throw out a lot of who's better and how they match up and everything else because Thursday night football, because to some extent you throw out a lot of who's better and how they match up and everything else, because Thursday night football is just weird when neither team really has a great opportunity to prepare. On to week 15 at Chicago, our records have merged both

at eight and five going to Chicago. So the first time they see Chicago is in week 15 and it's at Soldier Field. And I will tell you this, Sam, no matter how many wins in a row they get at Soldier Field, I'll probably always pick them to lose at Soldier Field because I was there for that 2016 game where Jordan Howard ran for 70 yards on the first or second play of the game and they upset the Vikings who were 5-0 or 5-1 at that point in 2016 and were looking like a Super Bowl contender. And we've also seen Chase Daniel beat the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. We've seen the Vikings disappoint on national TV. And so I think that I just can't make myself do it. At this point,

though, this is kind of a bad break for the Vikings because Justin Fields will have been playing presumably for the season so it's not like you get this a very green surprised Justin Fields at what NFL football is like you get Justin Fields after weeks and weeks and weeks of preparation to be ready for this one so I am picking Chicago at Soldier Field for the Vikings to fall to 8-6. I align with you, and it's kind of a vote against cold-weather cousins, too, because he's not historically been good in cold and or rain and or wind, and I think Chicago presents some pretty tough obstacles in that sense. Justin Fields, like you said, could have a lot of games under his belt. This could be a big moment for him. If Green Bay ends up being bad, sans Aaron Rodgers, and Detroit is bad,

then it could be Minnesota and Chicago battling for this division. There's probably going to be a lot on the line here. I still don't think Chicago's offense is really equipped to make life easy on Justin Fields, but I think there's enough on their defense to continue to stymie the Vikings, who have not had a lot of success in that building. Last year, they did move the ball a little bit, and they won in spite of two turnovers, and that was huge. That was a turning point in last year's season at the time, and maybe gave Kirk Cousins a little more confidence, but there are too many ghosts in that building. I think you wrote there

like five and 15 over the last 20. I'm going to go with Chicago. Hey everyone, I want to tell you about our friends at Scout Logistics, and I really do mean it when I say friends. They are fans of Purple Insider over at Scout Logistics, and since they reached out wanting to support this show, I want to tell you about what they do. Scout Logistics is just-in-time transportation for full tractor-trailer loads, and if you're wondering what that means exactly, well, if you own or work for a company that needs shipping solutions, they are the preferred carrier of Fortune 500 companies across North America, and we have quite a few of those in Minnesota, right? They can ship perishable, non-perishable, FTL or LTL, and they have on-time delivery rate of over 99%. So if you're like them and you enjoy the show and connect with them directly to find out how Scout Logistics can minimize risk and overperform and go the extra mile for your company.

All right, on to home against the Los Angeles Rams. I will tell you the truth, Sam. I'm just not buying the LA Rams. We've seen Matt Stafford far too many times get sacked all over the place. I don't like the Rams offensive line very much. So even if the Vikings don't have this incredible pass rush like they once did, I think Stafford is a guy who really hangs onto the ball for far too long, takes a lot of sacks and gets hurt a lot. I think that the Rams will be the league's

biggest disappointment this year from offseason hype to what they ultimately produce. I think they've got 2018 Vikings written all over them, and in this game, I have a win for the Vikings to go to 9-6. We're agreeing a little too much here, Collar. I've got it as a win also, and maybe I influenced you a little bit with what I wrote on the website this week about how the Rams lost a lot of depth pieces in the offseason in an effort to retain like their most important defensive pieces. And they restructured a bunch of contracts and they're in trouble down the road, like 2022, 23, they're in a financial pickle. But this year they tried to shuffle the deck at quarterback and try to bring in someone who could work the ball down the field more. They signed Deshaun Jackson in the offseason.

That was basically their only meaningful acquisition. They lost a bunch of other people. They drafted Tutu Atwell in the second round. He's a gadget player. He's a burner. They're going to try to be super, super fast at wide receiver. Obviously, Robert Woods, Cooper Cup, they're going to be spreading it out four wide. It's going to be Kansas City Chiefs, and they're going to want Matthew Stafford to let it loose like he couldn't in Detroit. But yeah, I'm with you. I don't know if they made great roster decisions around Stafford, except for kind of bolstering the receiving core. I don't know if they made great roster decisions around Stafford, except for kind of bolstering the receiving core. I don't know if there's a lot of other strengths on that team.

There's some very high-end individual talents, Donald, Ramsey, Cooper Cup, Robert Woods. I don't know if Andrew Whitworth, I forgot about him too, but I don't know if they're deep enough. So I think Minnesota wins that game. It's at home as well, and they've owned Matthew Stafford over the years, and I think they continue to do so. Sort of reminds me of the logic with Sam Darnold where the Rams are basically saying

all of the failures of Matt Stafford are in the Detroit Lions' fault, and I just don't believe that. I mean, he's had some good offensive minds pulling the strings. He's had some good weapons. He's had some good offensive lines, and yet he has just never been able to win, and you can't assume that their defense will be as dominant as it was last year because they lost pieces and they lost their defensive coordinator, so I'm just not buying the Los Angeles Rams.

So that's a win on to week 17 for the Green Bay Packers on the road, Sunday night football game here. I just decided before I picked the games, I was going to split. So I gave the Packers a win here against the Vikings for the Vikings to drop to nine and seven at this point. But I can certainly be talked out of it if it's, you know, Blake Bortles starting as the quarterback. I mean, this is, these are the hardest games to pick. But I think even regardless of who's playing quarterback, it's always sort of the safe pick to say, you're probably going to split against your division teams. They know you the best. Matt LaFleur knows Mike Zimmer. Mike Zimmer

knows Matt LaFleur. And it's not like if someone else is starting a quarterback, it's not like they have this terrible team that Aaron Rodgers was the only reason that they were succeeding. They have a good offensive setup. They have a great running game. They have an elite wide receiver who, I'm sorry, no one on the Vikings has stopped or will be stopping Devontae Adams anytime soon. So I go with the split and I'll take the loss here for the Vikings. Yeah, and that's a smart play. I again was thinking if Jordan Love is playing in this game, the Vikings will win. That's what I put on paper. But I think if it's Rodgers, I think they lose. I don't know if Jordan Love is going to be able to play well in a January

game at Lambeau. And I have my doubts about Kirk Cousins as well, but I would still go with the veteran in that case and give it to Minnesota. And again, if the Packers are struggling without Aaron Rodgers, they might not be in contention in this game, which gives Minnesota much more incentive. And as we've seen in the NFL, teams that care on a cold night probably or typically are going to win against a team that is like ready to go on a vacation to the Bahamas and that could be the case in this game if Green Bay is out of it we don't know and it's hard to speculate but I think I don't think you're stupid to give Green Bay the win there just because of the ambiguous circumstances, the division games.

It's a crapshoot, man, at this point. I also went with a split for the Week 17 game with Chicago. They lose at Chicago and win at home, presumably with some playoff implications, which has not exactly played out well at U.S. Bank Stadium for the Vikings. The reason I'm going to do that is I think U.S. Bank Stadium for the Vikings. The reason I'm going to do that is I think U.S. Bank Stadium for a rookie quarterback will be very, very tough. And even if Justin Fields is having a great rookie season, even if he's just like Justin Herbert was last year, that one is difficult.

And I think the Vikings are able to turn up the dial. And this is me saying, yes, everyone who says, what's your problem with Kirk Cousins? Or you question kirk cousins well so does his team but anyway uh when you get to that big game i i think that this one he's going to come away with when he has not in games against the bears with those playoffs on the line so i am bucking history a little bit here by picking the Vikings and a big, let's just even say it, a big performance for Cousins to maybe get himself another extension. We'll see.

Well, that was my question. I was going to tee you up with that because I have them winning as well. So your final record is 10-7. Mine is 11-6. Boy, that math feels weird. I don't know how to add to 17, I feel like. It's super weird to have that many games anyway. So if that is the season, if it's like 10, 11 wins, and at least in my scenario, I have him

beating Bears week 18, Packers week 17, Rams week 16, and like wins the final three games and then tosses in a couple wins, you know, earlier in the year, like maybe Green Bay and Dallas. What does that mean for Cousins' future if it goes as we think it'll go? I think that I have no idea. And that's why we're going to have to watch this. I really don't. I really don't. I think it will be ultimately determined in the playoffs is my answer.

Because if they go one and done and they'll say, hey, man, it's just like 2019. You had a good season. You got a playoff win, or you went one and done. And, okay, that's fine, but our goals were to go farther. And now we have a great setup for a rookie quarterback or for a second-year Kellen Mond. I think that that's kind of how they would view that. If they go deep in the playoffs, if they make the NFC championship game,

that is probably the bar to change how they feel about Kirk Cousins. We are talking about a guy who's in his 30s. This isn't someone that the book is not written on with Cousins. So let me ask you one question before we wrap up. It's been really fun. I'm glad everybody could join us. And by the way, we're going to have a Friday roundtable on the Purple Insider podcast, breaking down the schedule more, sort of our favorite games, pivot points of the season. So make sure wherever you get your

podcast, go download Purple Insider podcast and read our analysis at purpleinsider.substack.com. So here's my question. How could it be a special season? How could it be a season where we see Kirk Cousins get benched and they play Kellen Mond? Like, what at the opponents. I think you've got two, you're going to be favored in at least four and maybe five of those games. I think if you go five and one, you set yourself up for it. You need to survive the road stretch where you have Ravens, Chargers, 49ers, Lions, with the Packers sandwiched in between. You need to go three and two in that stretch and probably beat the Cowboys. Like I think if you enter the final four games of the year with, and again, the 17 games making me crazy. If you enter that stretch at nine and four, then I think you're in position to win 12, maybe even 13 games, and that puts you in top seed contention. Now, remember, you only get the bye if you get the top seed. I don't know if I'm ready to declare

the Vikings a top seed contender. That's obviously what you want. That makes your path to the Super Bowl so much easier, but there's going to be another team, I think, that rises above. Kirk Cousins has not proven in his career, which is getting to be a pretty lengthy career. As you mentioned, the book is being written, and it's a pretty long book, that he's going to have a tough stretch. And I can see that stretch right now. And this is where the flop comes in. If he's unable to you know beat a team they should beat in the first two weeks like if they if they lose a clunker to the Bengals start on one or if it's the Cardinals one of the two I think that could get them started on a bad path and then just losing all the big games like against potential playoff teams Cowboys Ravens I mean, that stretch right in the middle of the season, weeks 9 through 13, that could go very, very badly for the Vikings. And then, obviously,

if it's already going badly, and you have all the tough games late on the road at Chicago, on the road at Green Bay, it could spiral. It could spiral terribly. So I think they have to be in contention, you know, going into those final four weeks. Otherwise, it could get bad, and we might even see Kellen Mond in that Week 18 game. Well, I was thinking along the same line, so I'll answer disaster first, and then I'll give special season. Disaster is if you start off 0-2. You have the potential then to go 0-3 to start the year, maybe even 0-4. And I feel like if they go 0-2 to start the season, the belief in Kirk Cousins, it's just so fragile. And I think we saw that last year where it's not that he played badly against teams like Tennessee or

Seattle. He played well. But when it came down to some big situations, they didn't trust him or he didn't come through on final drives and things like that. And they found themselves and then there was, there were turnover issues and they found themselves one in five. And then, you know, the second half of the season, they win some games. There was a little bit of excitement, a little bit of playoff talk, but I think you saw just how much those first couple of games can determine a season. And even in a 17 game season with this one it doesn't get easier this schedule only gets harder and harder and harder as you go along and if you start out in any type of hole it's going to be hard to dig yourself out of but

especially because of the fact that they drafted another quarterback, and already there's a lot of attention on them. So if they go 0-2, then there's going to be a ton of attention on, this is the team that drafted someone else, now they're 0-2, now they're facing Seattle, and then this can snowball on itself. That's if it goes poorly. And then, you know, who knows if we see Kellen Mond or something. But how it can go well is you look at these three NFC North teams and what happened in 2017. The Detroit Lions fell apart. Green Bay's quarterback got hurt.

Chicago was just awful and they were able to beat them. And that just, the seas parted in the NFC North for the Vikings to just walk right through it and win every game against the NFC North that season. There is the potential this year for that to happen, for them to win every game against the NFC North if the Green Bay Packers are not playing Aaron Rodgers. And if Jordan Love is bad or whoever else is the quarterback of that team is not playing well, they have the potential to cruise to a 6-0 NFC North record. And that right there sets you up for a very reasonable possibility to win the games you're supposed to win early, like those first two games against Cincinnati and Arizona. And then even if you're just good

through the rest of the games, but you've got eight wins out of the first two weeks in the NFC North, you are in position to have a pretty special season. So I think that both of these things are very possible, don't you? I mean, I think having a really good season is more probable than having a really bad season. But at the same time, this is what is going to make 2021 so interesting, Sam. And we're going to see how Kirk Cousins responds to having to look over his shoulder for the first time. Never been in this position.

He was the guy who RG3 was looking over his shoulder in Washington. And the Vikings have never threatened Cousins here in Minnesota. You know, he's had very unthreatening backups, Trevor Simeon, Sean Mannion. There's never been any situation like this. So either it lights a fire or he caves under the pressure and the scrutiny because there's going to be plenty of it. In the NFL, if you lose two consecutive games, it's a crisis. And Kirk Cousins is going to take his fair share of blame, I'm sure, if that's the case. The Vikings have set him up with a much better defense this year,

I think, and I won't say a much better offense because they did very little to help him there. They did add some rookie linemen, but if it's the same offense as last year and the defense is better, that is a team that should win 10 or more games and should be in the playoffs. Sam, this was incredibly fun, and I'm glad we could do it. I'm glad everybody could come by and watch. Go to purpleinsider.com. Wherever you get your podcasts, just type in Purple Insider to listen to more conversations just like this.

We were trying to figure out on the podcast the other day who the 2022 NFC North quarterbacks will be. So I don't know if that's a good tease or not, but I really appreciate it. This was a lot of fun. And especially after coming off of our draft coverage here with CCO, really, really, really appreciate WCCO Radio and Corey Heppola for stopping by. And I don't know when we'll do it again. It might not be until Friday Purples during the season,

but we'll see you again here on the CCO social media channels. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Thanks.