Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Reacting to the Rams Super Bowl win and more reports that the Vikings want to keep Kirk Cousins

Episode Date: February 14, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic analyze the Los Angeles Rams' win in the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals. What does it say about how the two teams were built and which moments defined the game? Plus there are more reports that the Vikings want to keep Kirk Cousins but it doesn't entirely add up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Save 15% at SodaStick.com by using the promo code PURPLEINSIDER at checkout. That's S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com for your Minnesota sports-inspired hats, hoodies, shirts. Use the promo code PURPLEINSIDER at SodaStick.com. Hello, welcome to the post-Super Bowl episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar along with Paul Hodowanek. And this will be the last Sunday evening where we break down NFL football game action for a very long time, Paul. And I want to start off the show by saying the Los Angeles Rams did it. They did it. How about that? Even to the very last quarter, to the last moments of the game, there was a chance that it wouldn't all work for the Rams,

that it all wouldn't come together, that the needle would not be threaded, that they tried by going all in and trading away all their draft picks and all those things. It was this close again, as it was every week over the last three weeks and the Rams come out on top with a brilliant drive by matt stafford an overall tremendous performance by him but especially on the final drive the back

shoulder throw to cooper cup and the rams overcoming some very bad play calling by sean mcveigh to run repeatedly on second down i thought clint kubiak may have been hired or mike zimmer may have been calling the plays at one point uh the way that the Rams were running and running and running and getting almost nothing. And yet they found a way to overcome it. And specifically their defensive line, creating pressure on Joe Burrow and Joe Burrow, the most sacked quarterback in the league. Eventually that caught up to him in the second half of that game. And still, Paul, if Tyler Boyd pulls the ball in on third down and long and crosses that first down line, I have to think the Cincinnati Bengals win the Super Bowl. That's how close this was.

And I just thought that it was appropriate for the way that the playoffs were, that all the playoff games felt like anybody can win any one of these games. And what it came down to was who drives with 13 seconds remaining in a game or what call happens or what drop or what bounce or what, what, what turnover or missed field goal or any of these things that was the playoffs. And it was one of the most compelling playoffs start to finish. And I thought the perfect ending with a really, really entertaining Super Bowl.

Paul, your thoughts? Yeah, I think what the national media, what everyone was talking about coming into this game, the Rams defensive line versus the Bengals offensive line, it mattered as much as everyone talked about it. I got sick of hearing about it. But oh boy did it matter. Burrow got sacked. Either tied for most or the most in any Super Bowl ever. Just based off this season.

The Bengals finished with a 14% pass block win rate. Which worst of any team in any game this season. I think the next worst was about 20%. So they were horrendous. You saw in the first half burrow was getting out faster than he had ever gotten it out all all year long so clearly they had a game plan for it and it was working to an extent but once they got down or when they were in kind of a negative game script situation and they had to drop back the rams just ate their

lunch and it happened on the final play. The biggest play Aaron Donald comes in and makes the game clinching play right there. And so the biggest takeaway is the Rams defense was as good as it could be. I mean, they get the, the one long touchdown on them happened because of an offensive pass interference call like that, you know, those go either way, but that probably should have been been called so they could have even been better than what they showed so for me it was just a dominant dominant performance by the Rams defense and a Rams defense that really really bailed out McVay because they were way way too happy and way too content with running the ball and it was hurting them, hurting them badly.

And even at the end, if the Bengals don't just run on third and one with 48 seconds left and two timeouts, this game could have gone a lot, a lot differently, but it was kind of both teams at times struggling with that conservative play calling. And it, it really looked like it should have bit the Rams in the butt here, but their defense kept them in it and kept them in it until that final play and then made the play that clinched them the Super Bowl. So this, for me, was much, much more about what the Rams defense did than anything else. I think that there was a lot of questions to be asked about both coaches throughout this game. And, of course, with all of the universe watching one football game, we're all going to go why did they do this why did they do that and I think that the reason Sean McVay went to running so often and it was late in the game

they had 29 yards on 18 carries like this is not working for you and it's had not worked at any point but I think after Odell Beckham got hurt all of a sudden McVay got a little bit shy about airing it out, and Stafford had the interception with the throw that was low, which maybe Odell Beckham goes down and grabs it with one hand. But instead, the drop-off from Cooper Cup to their next best receiver was so significant, they're also missing their tight end, and their number two tight end was hurt as well. So it was Cooper Cup and a bunch of Xfl players or usfl is coming back like that's what that's what he had out there but the offensive line of the rams showed a little

failability in this game too where cincinnati got after stafford they banged him up at one point and i think that that's kind of what mcveigh was looking at is well you know let's try to run the ball here get in some advantageous situations and then throw to Cooper cup. But he kept going back to it over and over and over again, as opposed to trying to find some other ways to get people the ball. He goes with the pass from the wide receiver to the quarterback, which look, I, you know, I think that a wide receiver pass can work, but it doesn't work too often when you throw it to the quarterback, unless you're doing a Philly special at the goal line. Even if Matt Stafford catches that ball, he was going to get clobbered. And I'm not even sure they get the first down. Like what was the

thought process here? The Patriots did that in the super bowl and Tom Brady dropped the ball. It's just like you're throwing to your quarterback. That's one of the biggest moments that reminded me of when the saints dialed up a wide receiver pass in a huge moment in the Minneapolis miracle game. You guys have may have overthought this a little. Now I know Joe Mixon also threw a touchdown pass, but at the goal line, it's a little different. You try some trickeration, but it felt to me like there was some overthinking

there by McVay. And in the second half, the ironic thing about this is that Zach Taylor did not run enough, I thought. Their offensive line was getting beat up over and over, and Burrow was not getting much of a chance to throw the ball. They're playing from ahead. Can you get them rushing upfield a bit and bust off some runs to the outside, bust off a big screen play. That didn't happen. They kept going straight drop back, straight drop back, and the Rams kept getting after them. And then at the biggest moment, third down and one, where you want Joe Burrow making your plays.

And even before that second and one, they take a deep shot, which I was really surprised by. There's so much time in this game. You're maybe 15 yards away from Evan McPherson's distance to kick. And he goes with a deep shot down the sideline. Why? Wasting a play there. And then the handoff up the middle into the teeth of a defensive line that was geared up for it. And then on fourth down, obviously Aaron Donald just roasts his man. And I will say too about the Bengals, because yes, when you get in a game like this, if your offensive line gets beat, we've seen this year after year in the playoffs that it's hard to win no matter what

playoff round it is, but especially in the Superbowl, because they're so jacked up. And if they have Aaron Donald and Vaughn Miller and Leonard Floyd, the same way that Tampa Bay beat Patrick Mahomes last year, that that can happen. But also, I mean, there's got to be an answer for that. And the Bengals had some people hurt. I mean, that's another thing, too, where I saw people saying, well, you've got to this is why you've got to build the offensive line. Well, of course you do. I mean, they signed Riley Reif in the offseason, and then he was injured after being healthy for most of his career, and they're playing two backups. And a lot factor was basically just Aaron Donald was better than the Cincinnati Bengals offensive line. And when it comes down to having to come up with some big plays, Cincinnati just wasn't able to put the game away. And a dude dropped a ball on third and long

that could have ended the game more or less. And there's still like five, six minutes left. But if he gets that first down, then at very least, you're talking about a field goal. You're talking about then, you know, the Rams having to go tie the game. Like it's a very different shape there of the game than it is if he drops that ball and you have to give it back. And there's lots of time, but Matt Stafford, one thing that no one has ever said in critiquing Matt Stafford is that he's not clutch. I mean, he's a guy that had eight game winning drives at one season. He has always done that. He's done that to the Vikings a number of times where he's got the ball at the end of the game and he does something miraculous. His arm strength really showed through on a couple of those throws on the final drive and it worked out and the Rams end up

winning the Superbowl. I mean, you know, it's one of those games, Paul, I think that you want from a Super Bowl where there's so much to talk about and so much to take away from it. I think that's what you're always looking for is we're there to the very last second, and there's a lot to think about as you go into the offseason. Yeah, and one thing I was just thinking about,

especially with Kevin O'Connell coming in as the head coach for the Vikings, is, I mean, we think of Sean McVay as this really, really good coach. And even these offensive innovating head coaches can have these moments of complete where you're just downright confused at what they're doing. And Sean McVay has had a few of them this season, but in general, he is usually nails in terms of play calling, maybe game management, not great, but in terms of play calling, not very good. But I mean,

when you go down the lineup here, you're, you're looking at cam acres, 13 attempts, 21 yards. It's 1.6 yards per carry. Daryl Henderson, four attempts, seven yards, 1.8 yards carry. Even Sonny Michelle got two carries for two yards. And according to next gen stats, they had a 0% success rate on runs. None of the runs that they ran were successful. And so I get it that, yeah, Odell gets hurt, and you don't really know where you're going.

You're throwing it to Skwarnik. I don't even know how to say his last name, but he's not played well the last couple weeks. But at the end, then they just started throwing it to Cooper Kopp, and it's like the Vikings. It's not that hard to throw it to your best number one wide receiver, and he ends up the NFL MVP. And I think they could have made this game maybe a little less like in the balance if

they had just committed to throwing over and over and over again to Cooper Cup. Just keep doing it because it continued to work. I mean, he had 10 targets, which is a pretty good amount. When you factor in Odell out and that they were losing for a lot of the game, that probably should be more. So in general, just for me watching it, it was like, and a good reminder for Vikings fans with a coaching coach that's coming from this coaching staff, even the top coaches are going to have these confusing moments in the biggest games. And sometimes it could be turtling. It could not be. But it for a long while there, it looked like we were going to come on this on this podcast and kind of rip into McVay for a second Super Bowl in which he seemed to completely overthink it and kind of seemed to blow it in aspects.

So I thought that was a really, really interesting storyline and one that won't get brought up as much because they won the game, but was still very, very much a factor. Yeah, we'll get into the Vikings element of all this in just a minute. I want to focus on the game first. And of course, more reports about the Kirk Cousins situation that we need to discuss as well. But, you know, Kevin O'Connell, whatever run plays were called in the Super Bowl, leave that part of the playbook in Los Angeles when you get on the plane to come to Minnesota. I would expect this week we're getting an introduction and we'll see, you know, they'll sign a contract with Kevin O'Connell. I don't think there's any chance McVay just retires and Kevin O'Connell takes the Rams job, but I guess that was sort of floating around

in the air. And if that happens, yes, yes, yes. I mean, Vikings fans will find a way to be anxious on a Superbowl Sunday where nothing is going on just about their team. And the world kind of handed it to him with Cousins reports and then the reports about McVay. And I mean, that would be quite the turn. That would be like Belichick not going to the Jets or Josh McDaniels spurning the Indianapolis Colts. We'll see, I guess. I would not be surprised though, if Stafford retired, I would have Aaron Donald did. There was, you know, talk about that before the game. And Donald didn't say when he was asked at the end of the game that he wasn't retiring. He was asked after he, after he won and the streamers are coming down confetti,

are you going to retire? And he's like, well, I'm going to enjoy this right now. So at least that that was out there that he may end up retiring what a wild thing that would be for stafford i wouldn't blame him if stafford said i have put my body through hell for this long i went there and now i'm going to call it a day especially after tom brady came back for one more year had a great year but didn't get it again. And think about what you put yourself through now with 17 games and there's only one number one seed. So you have to go all the way through this playoff run. Stafford would have a complete career. And I think for him, I mean, the conversation throughout his entire career is how much did the Lions affect Matthew Stafford? And I think the answer varies throughout his career that recently,

probably a lot. Matt Patricia was your coach. There was no question that he was, to me, before Urban Meyer showed up, the worst coach in the National Football League. So he really ruined a couple of years of Stafford's career. Jim Caldwell's seasons, there were a couple of shots where they had and they had made the playoffs and didn't get it done or fell apart at the end of a season and didn't get it done and he lands on this all-star team and and finally does get it done and I think what that sort of tells you is that for someone like Stafford who's a really good quarterback for a long time but not ever considered to be in the breeze Rogers, you know, Peyton Manning type of Tom Brady air, which I don't think he belongs in

is that you usually get one shot. If you're that type of quarterback, like think about Jay Cutler, Jay Cutler was sort of this guy with the big arm, lots of talent ups and downs in his career. And he had one shot and he got hurt in the game and they lost the NFC championship game and it didn't happen for him. And a lot of quarterbacks are like that. So in a lot of ways, I mean, I think that you can both acknowledge that Detroit played a role in it, but it wasn't the entire role.

And also say that Stafford on multiple occasions throughout the playoffs, nearly threw his team's chances away, including in this Super Bowl, that the Bengals got three points off of two interceptions. I mean, one of them, Stafford, it's not that bad to throw one, heave one in the end zone and get an interception. It could have been like a momentum play, if you believe in that. But they didn't take advantage there. It's an extra possession that they didn't do anything with.

And then he throws an interception off the guy's hand that was a low throw and maybe wasn't that horrendous, but it's not a good receiver. And they get three points out of it. They go four and a fourth down, they get a conversion, and then immediately sort of squander that away. And I think it was this Superbowl was as much of, and even the Superbowl run of Stafford showing his excellence of which he was fantastic on that final drive. And also

that it always takes good bounces. It always takes good breaks. It takes the 49ers do dropping the ball. It takes the 49ers not going forward on fourth and two. It takes, you know, the Bengals only coming up with a field goal there because if they get a touchdown, we're talking about a very different situation throughout the second half of this game where the Bengals are running more. They're trying to run the clock more. And I think if this Super Bowl for the Bengals, they've got to go back home thinking, we were right there. Score a touchdown off that pick. Catch the ball on third down. Like, there's just so many opportunities that were there for them that didn't come through.

Yeah. I mean, if you're going to add to the list, a couple penalties late in that drive that the refs swallowed their whistle for most of the game. And then a couple of whistles that were a little questionable. One on that, was it fourth down or third down? I think that that holding, defensive holding call that got him a new set of downs. And to me, the biggest like Stafford moment, like Stafford's going to Stafford, like that was, it was first and goal. And he just airmailed Van Jefferson.

That to me was the biggest like, oh God, is he going to do this right now? Because neither of the picks seemed that bad to me the first one almost like an arm punt for you're throwing it super far down there i like you taking the chance and if it ends in that with a bangles touchback it ends in a touchback like i don't hate that one and then the second one yeah it's a little low it bounces off the fingertips of a guy who potentially could have caught it maybe maybe not maybe not. So obviously you don't like either of those. And Stafford probably could have been a little bit more concise or precise with those. But the biggest one was that first and goal that he absolutely airmailed.

But yeah, to win any championship, you need some breaks. And they got some with the refs, with the third down play call by the bangles uh by a few other things um but in general i think stafford neither won them really or lost them this game um at least to me uh i mean obviously they didn't lose so he didn't lose in the game um and he played pretty well uh but he didn't blow him out of the water and i think one of my other big takeaways is just the way this rams team was constructed and i like seeing different philosophies come out and end up working out uh so you have the build through the the draft draft your rookie quarterback uh go through that on um on his rookie contract like the Chiefs did with Mahomes,

like the Bills have been doing with Allen. And you've seen that work. Last year's Bucs, I'm not necessarily sure that's a repeatable model, bringing in, in free agency, the best quarterback of all time. So this was just really fun because every year there's probably five teams that their window opens for that year. And a lot of times it closes for all of them after this year and the rams of any team that you thought their window was open this was their year and so to see them capitalize on it and for it to kind of all a confluence of everything come together and for them to get a win i think is super cool because it's just a different way of constructing a roster yes they drafted super well. And that's probably something

people don't give them enough credit for, but they also went out and got Odell. They went out and got Von Miller. They went out and got Eric Weddle. They went out and got Matt Stafford. They did all those things. So it was really, really cool to see. And yeah, Stafford's a Super Bowl quarterback, which I don't know if I ever really expected to say. And he did enough in this game. He wasn't amazing, but he did enough. Hey, he wasn't amazing but he didn't know hey everybody i've been making my meals from hello fresh and i have to tell you i cannot make enough of these things and if i can make them literally anyone can with hello fresh you get farm fresh pre-portioned ingredients seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep skip the trips to the grocery store

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this right in front of me, but he was one of the least pressured quarterbacks throughout the playoffs, which, you know, it's not that Detroit never had good offensive lines, but Stafford got sacked 10 times in a single game once while playing against the Vikings. And I think that if there's one thing that Sean McVay did a really good job of it was working around that issue that Stafford would try to do too much sometimes and he would take the bad sack and there were even times in the middle of the season including against the Vikings where he would have those meltdown type of decisions or he would try to do too much when he was under pressure and would throw an interception and he did not do that in this game that the times he

was under pressure, he didn't make mistakes and he wasn't under pressure that much. Like the Bengals did a great job of stopping the run with their defensive line, but it wasn't like they were getting to Stafford every time he dropped back in the same way that the Rams were. And I think, you know, this is, if you want to apply it to the Vikings, then you can start here, that it was one of the failings of the previous regime to not put attention to some of these key positions on the offensive line because you see the impact of a quarterback when he has a clean pocket in the NFL. saw in key situations Stafford being able to drop back go through his reads and Chris Collinsworth was pointing out through the game that he usually throws it the opposite direction of where he's looking I mean that also could just be going through reads or maybe he's trying to look off a safety but having time to be able to do that is such a key factor and that's part of like the Rams building their team where they deserve a lot of credit is offensive and defensive line.

And Jalen Ramsey didn't have a great game, not his fault that he got face mass to the ground though. I will say that like, Oh, he got roasted. Yes, but he got face mass to the crowd and that should have never counted for sure. And I was,

I was ready to be upset about that. Like I was ready if the Bengals won to be like, Oh man, they kind of won on a really egregious offensive pass interference. But, you know, I think that when you look all over the field, the Rams have it good everywhere, but specifically investing in the offensive line to build really good unit there. And on the defensive line saying one more is good. Like let's get one more pass rusher and add Vaughn Miller to this thing. And Vaughn Miller didn't like dominate this game or anything, but they repeatedly were

able to create pressure on Joe Burrow. And I think that that's when the Vikings look at what they have now and compare it. Well, what do we have as a roster? What do they have as a roster? The offensive and defensive line are just massive discrepancies in comparison to what the team that won the Super Bowl was. And I think that same thing went for last year as well. If you were looking at Tampa Bay saying the defensive line of Tampa Bay was phenomenal,

the offensive line of Tampa Bay was phenomenal, and they were able to do it. That doesn't mean you build those units and then you just win the Super Bowl, but it would certainly have helped over the last few years to not be putting tom compton at left guard when he had never started before putting ole udo at right guard when he never started before like these things um if you're looking at what super bowl teams have done to be able to apply and there's some things that are luck or some things that maybe can't be repeated like oh you just pick up odellell Beckham in the middle of your season. Like normally that's not something that can be repeated,

but building an offensive line is something that absolutely could. So if you want to start sort of applying this forward to the Vikings, but if you want to have, we can do that in a sec. If you want to have sort of final thoughts on the Rams first. Why? I think what I, I think my Ramsams i'm content with my rams point but i think it for the bangles just a little bit of um picking what they did apart um just a little bit talking about them um i think it just proves if anyone was thinking that this was representative that

you don't need a just a solid average line, this game shows you it because they were able to scheme, the Bengals were able to scheme a lot of things in that first half to make their offensive line seem passable. And it did for large stretches of that first half. I don't think people were really keying in on the fact that they were losing most of their battles. But then when it comes down to it when you can't you know when you're not in positive game situations when you're not able to just get the ball out

really really quickly when the rams start to counter that and see that and take that away and force joe burrow to take more five step seven step drops like it really really hurt them they suddenly you look up and he's got the Rams have seven sacks it like it I didn't expect it I looked I looked at the stats I go wait what they have that many sacks I get kind of slowly crept up on you but it mattered and it mattered on that last play so they did a lot of cool things with their team building in the way that they acquired Jamar Chase with the chemistry that he had with Joe Burrow and you saw how important that was around just an already solid unit of receivers with T Higgins and Tyler Boyd and you saw them build that defense up through free agency which I think was a really really masterfully done

job by that front office and by that coaching staff on the defensive side to get that group like that easily could have been something we were talking about this game if they won was that defense forcing two turnovers uh stopping the run when the Rams were consistent and wanted to keep doing it like that unit played really really well when it but when it came down to it is they just couldn't survive with that offensive line so again this is a little bit applying it to the Vikings but if we're kind of you know looking at at the Bengals and what went wrong, that's got to be their biggest thing heading into the offseason. And, you know, I see Joe Burrow on the sideline and you want to say, God, he's going to be in a few more and this is going to be super cool to see. But you just don't know that. Like the like if I were to take a bet is if he's ever going to win a Super Bowl at this point, like I would probably say no.

Just all the teams that are there. It's just so, so hard to make it this far and to get it as close as they did. And they were oh so close, but they might not make it back here with how like crazy the AFC was. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the Bengals before we moved on to the Vikings because they deserve, you know, a little bit about the bangles before we moved on to the vikings because they they deserve you know a little bit yeah no and they deserve credit for using the quarterback rookie contract to build up their defense and their defense overall played really well um i mean one drive that they needed to stop and they couldn't make the stop and stafford made a couple of really good plays also the refs ate the whistles the whole game and decided they were going to call a couple of penalties that were clear penalties. And I had no problem with the way the game was reffed overall.

But they decided right at the end that those plays were going to matter. If they didn't, then, I mean, maybe we're talking about something totally different. The Bengals ranked 25th in pass blocking this year by PFF. The Vikings were, hold on, let me pull it up. I think it's 20 27th so that that kind of tells you that they had a vikings-esque offensive line when it came to pass blocking and joe burrow was consistently asked to overcome that i do think he will continue to get better as a quarterback and they will invest heavily in the offensive line and they have a great chance to return at some point but like you said i mean

what are your actual chances because you have other teams that are rebuilding and drafting quarterbacks and doing the same thing you have certain uh other teams that are already uh set to win buffalo kansas city will be back i am already picking the los angeles chargers to make next year's super bowl because of how much cap how much cap space they have to work around a great quarterback in Justin Herbert. So, I mean, it is going to be extremely stiff competition. I also had questions about the Bengals just in terms of their offense in the second half and the lack of adjustment, lack of just finding ways to get jamar chase the football they didn't use a whole lot of motion they didn't use a lot of play action like these are things that generally can kind of help you there and zach taylor comes from kevin or not kevin o'connell i'm sorry sean mcveigh similarly to kevin o'connell yep but was

not using under center was not using bootlegs was not like he doesn't do a lot of the things that McVay has had success with. And I guess I just wonder why that was the case, why there weren't a few more play actions, a few more things that help you when it comes to dealing with the pressure. Just numbers on that. Yeah. Yeah, numbers on that. The Rams, 19% of plays were play action.

Bengals, only 5%. So just even compared to what the Rams did and his coaching, where he comes from the coaching tree, he was four times less. So very much evident today. And really, no screens at all. I mean, maybe they threw one or two screens the entire game, but knowing that it was going to be difficult for Jamar chase to get open putting him in motion running screens i mean cooper cup on the play that he got uh interfered with they put him in motion so then it gave matt stafford a good read

on on what the defense was he comes over the middle he gets lined up with a linebacker which that guy has no choice but to just grab him around the waist to stop him from running away. But that little detail right there, we just didn't see a lot of that from Zach Taylor and, you know, differences in the game are so tiny. I wanted to say for the Rams, there's just so many players on their team. And this even includes Sean McVay, who has been aside from some timeout usage early in the playoffs and aside from running the ball a little too much in this game, but, I mean, those are minor quibbles with how great of a coach Sean McVay is. He connects with his players brilliantly.

He is a scheme genius. I mean, he's just proven all of the things correct that were said about him when he was given the job at such a young age. It was like, oh, the wunderkind and all those things. But he is, I mean, he has been the real deal. And if he decides to walk away, like John Madden did at a young age or John Gruden, there have been others, Dick Vermeule. It wasn't at a young age, but he walked away and didn't come back for what, like 20 years. I mean, I would get it. I would get it for him to say, look, I proved that I'm the best of the best. And now I'm going to go spend time with my family. But he is deserving of a Super Bowl

ring from taking that team from Jeff Fisher, just mediocrity to the next level. And as we transition to talk about the Vikings here, I mean, that's what they're hoping for is to go from somebody who is kind of old school and just stuck in the middle to taking the franchise to the next level. And then, you know, Aaron Donald is the greatest player of a generation, not a quarterback. He is the Lawrence Taylor of the 2010s or whatever. Of the last 25 years of football, he's the best defensive player deserving of a Super Bowl there. And, you know, I mean, Vaughn Miller gets one. Odell Beckham gets one after being so heavily criticized for so long. And then, you know,

he gets there. And even though he got hurt, gets a ring. Jalen Ramsey forced his way out of Jacksonville because they were a bleep show. He gets his ring. So there's a lot of really- Andrew Whitworth gets one. Right. And man, if you haven't seen Andrew Whitworth's speech at the Walter Payton Man of the Year ceremony, I mean, absolutely watch it. Most speeches are pretty generic and, you know, whatever. This was tremendous. So if you haven't watched it, go find it. It is phenomenal. Andrew Whitworth, I mean, that's a 40 year old guy who was a huge part of revamping that franchise. Robert Woods is a great player, too. He was hurt, but he gets a

Super Bowl ring for his contribution. So a lot of really cool stories with the Rams. And that's kind of why everybody does this at the end of the day. So let's apply it all to the Vikings. I think if we're applying it to the Vikings, I look at the Rams roster and the Rams coaching, and I would say there is a lot to do here. There is a long way to go. There are many things that need to be much better if you want to have a season like that and a playoffs like that. And so it's not even necessarily about the Kirk decision so much as this is an elite defensive line, an elite shutdown corner with a very good

secondary unit. They are incredibly well coached on both sides of the ball, but especially Sean McVay on offense. They have an elite offensive line. They had playmakers that got them depth where everybody had to get hurt to this point. I mean, it says to me that this roster to get to that level just has so much to do with it. Yeah, and I think it starts where you mentioned earlier in the trenches with the offensive line and the defensive line. And that is a lot of times what new general managers, new head coaches try to do first. If you look back at draft trends, a lot of times it's drafting in the trenches. It's drafting those kind of foundational building block pieces that give you, that fortify that, you know, the middle of the field. And so the Vikings sure could

use some interior offensive linemen. They could sure use some more playmakers on the defensive line too, especially if they trade Daniil Hunter. So that's where it begins for them. And it's really about, I mean, it's acquiring talent there, but it's acquiring talent everywhere. And it's not being satisfied if you feel like you have a strong unit. So I think you feel good about where the wide receivers are at. Don't get complacent with it just because you feel good. The Rams had Robert Woods and Cooper Cupp just because you feel good the rams had

robert woods and cooper cup like you'd feel good about that with tyler higby like van jefferson emerging like you feel good then they spend a draft pick on tutu atwell that doesn't really come to fruition but they did it and then they go out and get odell like you can't be content with where you're good and you have to aggressively attack the areas that you're not. And it sounds like a big thing. Like it sounds like a lot to ask, but that's because of where the state of the roster is. It is a lot to ask in a year or two years with where this team is at, but that's what the general manager and head coach have been tasked with. And you have a lot of individual pieces that can help be a part of that. But you just clearly don't have the depth that the Rams do.

Depth meaning guys that don't even play that are on the bench. But depth also means just like your 9th, 10th, and 11th best starter. Like it can just be depth along the talent of your starters. Like you go across the Vikings lineup at any time on the field, there's one or two guys that would never see the field for a team like the Rams. So it's just, it's a lot to ask, but it's building that depth and that's got to start immediately. Folks, support for Purple Insider is brought to you by Manscaped. They are the best in men's below the waist grooming. Manscaped offers

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and even into 2018, I felt like that was a huge factor. I'm not saying Tom Johnson was completely responsible for this, but they had players like that. Sheree Floyd in 2015, Tom Johnson emerges. Linval Joseph was actually really good at creating interior pressure and push. That is something that they don't have at all. And if they're switching to a 3-4, and I'm using my finger quotes

because there's no such thing anymore. In fact, if you want to see how it is used, watch what the Rams did where they have the two outside linebackers. There's usually one regular linebacker, maybe two linebackers in there. And then sometimes a linebacker drops out from the outside, but they can move Aaron Donald over the tackle. They can move him over the guards. They could put him over the tackle. They can move them over the guards. They could put them over the center and rush him from everywhere. Not that anybody has an Aaron Donald, but the Vikings don't have anything that's even within the universe of Aaron Donald. Sheldon Richardson

would have been the closest thing. And he was not the same player this last year that he was when he was here in 2018. Finding someone to create interior pressure is a huge deal for this team and i think that aaron donald's entire tenure for the rams where they have had good defenses they were number one in the league last year i don't think that's a coincidence that they have the most dominant interior player and i've always thought that interior pressure is just there's no moving around it. There's no stepping up in the pocket away from it. It is just right there in your face. And we've seen from Kirk cousins, how difficult that is. Joe Burrow has escapability, but was not able to

escape in this game because so much of the pressure was coming right up the middle. That's something that they severely have to address. And even if Jalen Ramsey got beat on a single play, and then there was one other one where he was too aggressive and missed the tackle. Jalen Ramsey is a great player. And in this game, in the second half, there weren't a whole lot of opportunities for Cincinnati to throw against Jalen Ramsey. That's another huge need for the Vikings is a shutdown corner. Somebody who they can trust in their biggest spots. A lot of the teams have them and really a complete secondary, but especially that guy, because the league is just filled with these elite wide receivers. And when they had Xavier Rhodes, that was a major factor. I think those,

all those things are a big deal when we're talking about separating the team that won the Super Bowl from the Minnesota Vikings. Now, on the matter of Kirk Cousins, there was another report, this from Tom Pelissero, that the Vikings want to stick with Kirk Cousins. And I would just say this, and give me your opinion, Paul. The last time the Vikings signed Kirk Cousins to an extension, they said nothing. I mean, nothing like Courtney Cronin. I did a podcast right before it, of course,

in like typical jinx fashion, right before that, maybe a week before where we talked about how this could play out through the whole summer, how Kirk doesn't have to sign necessarily. There was no buzz. There were no insiders. There was no Rappaport, La Confora, Pellicero, Fowler, anybody saying a thing about

what the Vikings would do, because that is the fashion that they have operated with from the very top with the Wilfs in terms of leaking stuff out. Think about the reports that have come out this year from insiders, Jim Harbaugh, nope. President of football operations, Rick Spielman, nope. Does Shea Townsend as the defensive backs coach? Nope, that's not happening either. And Mike Pettin as the defensive coordinator, that's also not happening. Like there have been a lot of things that they just have not been dialed in on. And so I guess I would say that the reason the Vikings would want it out there that they love Kirk and want to keep him is to set up plausible deniability, which is when they go to the negotiating table, they could come away if he doesn't want to sign whatever they want him to sign and say, well, look, we love them.

Look at all those reports from before we loved Kirk cousins, but you know what? He wouldn't sign the contract that we wanted to offer him. And you hate to see it. We just had to trade him. The lions did the same thing with Matthew Stafford. I looked this up, Brad Holmes,

their GM said, I had all the intention in the world of keeping Matt Stafford, but he wanted to be traded. Darn had to do it. That team was going to tank from day one. So I think that I, you know, I got a lot of messages from people. Are they really going to do this or whatever? I would say, just take a deep breath and we're going to have to just see how this plays out because I don't think that the connected people have been very accurate. And I also think that there is a lot of reason to say you like her cousins and want to stay with him. There is no reason to say, no, no, no, we're done.

And also just to add one more thing, Paul, the Indianapolis Colts look like they're finished with Carson Wentz. So now you've got Tampa Bay, you've got Indianapolis Colts look like they're finished with Carson Wentz. So now you've got Tampa Bay. You've got Indianapolis. These are win-now teams. You've got Pittsburgh. You've got New Orleans. All these teams are going to be quarterback-less,

and there's going to be musical chairs, and someone's getting left without a chair. And if they come to the Vikings with a first-round pick, how would you say no, considering all the things we just talked about to get from point A to having a Rams level roster. So there's my rant on it, Paul. Yeah, I take it very similar to you. Every time you see those pieces of information, you have to ask who wants that to be out there. And the Vikings, there is no reason the Vikings would want it out there that

they want to get rid of Kirk Cousins. It kills all their leverage. If a deal doesn't happen, because sometimes you can't agree on value and something doesn't happen, then Kirk comes back and the entire world knows that you didn't want it back. That is not a situation that you want. There's no reason before the head coach's first introductory press conference for there to be a clear distinction of where the Vikings are going to go. So I would expect Kevin O'Connell gets introduced. I expect on Kirk Cousins, he has some sort of answer expressing a little bit of confidence in Kirk Cousins. And I mean, maybe there's a chance that he says well we're looking at every evaluating every spot on the roster I'm sure that could happen but I think it's also likely or more likely that he says

you know I like Kirk I've worked with him I feel familiar with him like we can build around Kirk and then you know we'll we'll see in two weeks like actions speak louder than words in these scenarios so would I be surprised if Kirk's on the roster come training camp? No, but I don't think these reports necessarily have swung me in any direction towards he's staying or he's going. Like this is how these things work, and they would lose all their leverage if they came out and said something to the effect of, we want Kirk Cousins off this team.

That's just not how smart, savvy football teams operate. So if you're panicking because you want Kirk gone, hold your brakes. If you feel like if you're a Kirk guy and you feel like these reports have just solidified that he's here. I also hit the brakes on that, too. I don't think any decision can be made at this point. That's what I'm saying is when it comes to all this, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what they're thinking or what they're debating in the front office.

I do think that when you make the phone calls that you say, hey, do you guys see what Matt Stafford just did? That could be you, right? I mean, I think it actually helps their case if they want to trade them away because I just don't see a path. And if I did, um, I would tell you, but I, I really don't, uh, the path of the Vikings becoming a roster like the Rams. So you, one of the things, when you start to go through their cap with a fine tooth comb, I was talking with Brad Spielberger earlier this week, the guy from PFF who breaks down their cap.

And some of these contracts that Rick Spielman signed are killing them with the cap. Sheldon Richardson has a void year and a dead cap. That hurts. Anthony Barr's dead cap, I think is like $10 million because they added the void years. So when anyone tells you that the cap is a myth, it most certainly is not because the bill comes due eventually. So when you moved all that money to win now last year, which was just absolutely egregious by Rick Spielman and the front office, you end up with having to clean up that mess as Kweisi Adafo Mensah. And that's why there's so much over the cap right now.

And there's so much work to be done. That makes it a situation where you can't build a roster as strong as some of those teams that we just talked about trading cousins to potentially where you would try to make that case. But I do think in every one of those conversations you're saying you know stafford didn't win a whole lot of playoff games himself and he he got on a great team just like the one you have bruce arians or just like the one that you have dennis allen who is now the coach of the saints and i think we're actually tell me if you agree,

approaching where Kyler Murray suddenly becomes interesting to discuss. I have never really wanted to go down the Deshaun Watson road of talking about Deshaun Watson and the Vikings until there's some reason that I have to step into that sort of snake pit that is the Deshaun Watson conversation. But Chris Mortensen coming out with the report that Kyler Murray is this, that, and the other thing, which is just, you know, I don't know, seems like a negotiating tactic by the Cardinals and not a good one. If things are bad in Arizona with Kyler Murray, I mean, no one's talking me

out of that idea because Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson would be a phenomenal combination. The options are just so many with Cousins and with the way to rebuild this team that it feels like how would you know right now? That's the one thing I keep coming back to with these reports. How would you know right now that when you don't know what phone calls the Vikings are going to get, you don't know what offers they are going to give Kirk Cousins. You don't know anything because the Superbowl hasn't even happened yet. Like these teams have not started their off season process. We have not gone to the combine where everybody talks.

How would you be so confident that that's the direction that they're going to go? And that's why you start to question who wants this being said. And that's where I think we have to do our read between the lines. I don't think Kevin O'Connell has been grinding Malik Willis tape. I don't think he has any, I doubt he has much of an opinion on any of these quarterback prospects. So right now maybe his quarterback is Kirk Cousins because he doesn't really know the other options. He's been calling design and run plays and trick plays for the Rams for the

Superbowl. Like until he gets in this job and is doing it day in day out. And he's working with Casey and you see exactly the quarterbacks that are on the market, exactly the free agent bridge quarterbacks you could have. All of these things are unknown. Who's out there? Is Derek Carr available? Is Aaron Rodgers going anywhere?

Is Russell Wilson going anywhere? What is happening? No one knows. And so for any definitive answer, for any conclusion answer to, for any conclusion to be drawn at this point, I, I think is wrong and very well could be in two months, very well. Kirk cousins could be on this team and you could have a contract extension or he's playing into his final year of his deal,

but none of that is known at this point. All right. Here's how I want to wrap it up. I want you to give me one thing that you loved about this season, the 2021 season that you'll never forget and that you thought was great. And one thing aside from the Kirk decision that you are most interested in, because obviously the Kirk decision is going to dominate our conversation. But one thing aside from that, that you are most interested in. I think I'll look back on at least this Viking season is like the game that they are, the season they couldn't ever play a game that didn't come down to like the

final play. Just the, like not having any idea about what's going to happen at any point during these Vikings game. Crazy highs, crazy lows, I think will be what I remember this team for. And just like, frankly, the end of the really really good young quarterbacks in Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow and even Kyler Murray on an MVP track for the first 10 weeks of the season or so I think that's going to be my biggest takeaway and then I think the thing that you

have to look forward to it and it's not a Kirk thing is just what direction Kesi and O'Connell take this team. For the past four years, you know, you've pretty much known what the Vikings are going to do. They're going to make win now decisions because they're going to try to maximize a window that they thought was open and it didn't work. And the last 15 minutes of our conversation has basically been, we don't know what's going to happen. And I think that's the most fun aspect is we go into every day and nothing could surprise us with this team and what happens and that has not been the case uh just i mean just from like the super bowl party i was at like the 15 people

that were there like there was so much like excitement about what the vikings could be and whether that is with kirk or not there were plenty of discussions about that but it's just there's so much that could possibly happen so I think that has to be what you're what you're looking forward to and one of the highest draft picks that they've that they've had in a while so even a better chance to get a really blue chip talent I think is really exciting if uh the NFL films was making those old videos that they used to the season recaps. I don't know if they still do them,

but they used to show them on TV, like ESPN classic and things like that. It was just these old recaps. You can find them on YouTube. They're great. Like the old big voice guy, it would be the Vikings are a team in transition as Kevin O'Connell takes over as the new head coach you know that kind of thing and

just to address the second part first it's not knowing what's going to happen and not having it being predictable because last year i was a little surprised that they got a second nose tackle but i even predicted it on a previous episode. Like I think that they might, because they gave up six rushing touchdowns in a game, just react to that and try to sign a fat guy. Oh, look, they're not really addressing the line except for a mid round draft pick. It just,

it became so predictable that even unpredictable games were predictable in a lot of ways. The roster building was predictable. The draft was predictable. And now you get something that we just are constantly learning about. And that is the most interesting part. And also who's staying and who's going. Like who have they assessed that's worth it?

Who's not worth it? How will they approach free agency? The draft, quarterback element of the draft. Even if they keep cousins, the quarterback element of the draft is still really significant because if he doesn't have a contract extension by the end of April, when they draft, then quarterback becomes at the very top of the list because you're talking about a lame duck quarterback. And maybe it's even a Sam Bradford situation where they take that all the way into the summer and still end up trading him or keeping him.

I mean, it's hard to say. So that's still going to be there. And that's I'm looking forward to that. As far as this season, I mean, for the Vikings specifically, it was this slow, draining death of a group of people who had been running this team for a long time. And that's kind of how I'll remember it is the inevitability of once they went to, was it Owen three, it felt like, well, teams don't really bounce back from this. And we were getting hashtag fire Zimmer by week three or four. I mean, things like that, where it's sort of like everybody knew the whole time. And even if that felt like, oh, this game didn't go their way or that game didn't go their way,

we were this close or that close. It still had that feel from the entire season. I think the biggest takeaway is like the old guard of quarterbacks is over. The new group of quarterbacks is here in the AFC. And now what happens in the NFC? Does Trey Lance emerge? Does Justin Fields emerge? Are there draft picks this year that people take and suddenly become good? And we're talking about them next year. The NFC has a lot of work to do to catch up in the quarterback race, but that's going to be really fun for years. And this was the year that it sort of shot to the forefront of the conversation that a new wave is here. And I'll kind of remember it for that. And, hey, I mean, the year that the Rams pulled it off by doing something that so many teams have tried so many years before,

saying we're going to build on last year's team and go all in and trade all of our draft picks. Usually it blows up. It didn't for them. And I wonder how the league will respond because everybody tends to look at Super Bowl teams and say, we want to be like them. We want to do the same thing. So are people trading first round picks around? I don't know. So there's a lot to discuss going forward. So Paul, this playoffs has been really fun with you to get together after all of these games, but we are going to continue to do this. We're going to have shows still coming out on Monday.

We're going to do hot routes. We'll have some fun discussions, a lot of off season stuff. And look, I mean, Carson Wentz was traded on February 18th last year. So Twitter's up everybody. When's your jury duty? When do we schedule a pencil in the trade?

That's tomorrow. Oh, all right. Get ready. If you're listening to this now there might already be a kirk deal out there who knows yeah i didn't even realize that i think that's tomorrow you got to get your sleep in oh gosh uh well let's let's hope that uh i can get myself out of that quickly yes we'll see uh but at least we know a trade won't be happening tomorrow because kevin o'connell will be partying. So thank you for all of your hard work,

Paul. And we will talk again next week. Thanks, Matt.