Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - REACTION: Packers COLLAPSE vs. Bears

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Matthew Coller breaks down the Packers falling apart versus the Chicago Bears to lose in the Wild Card game. Plus the Rams advance setting up a possible Seattle-LA rematch. Is Matt LaFleur going to be fired? Is Caleb Williams going to be a problem for the next decade. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fanduil Matthew Collar here, and I had to fire up the live machine following the collapse of the Green Bay Packers. They go from up 21 to 3 to losing to the Chicago Bears in the wild card round of the playoffs. And which side of this should we start on? the side of the Packers falling apart or the side of the Chicago Bears showing exactly what they have in Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. We can begin with the Packers falling apart in this game. So they get up 21 to 3 and Caleb Williams is struggling. His accuracy is off. Ben Johnson is clearly tweaking out a little bit going for fourth downs that even I don't think on Matt and I would quite go for early in the game. and you could see they were kind of panicking.

This is Caleb Williams first playoff game. It's Ben Johnson's first as a head coach. And it just felt like, okay, well, the team that's been here before, the head coach that's been here before, the quarterback that's won a playoff game before, they all are so much more calm in this environment and ready to go. But the second half of this game is exactly why the Green Bay Packers may fire Matt LaFloor. And whenever I've had to be,

Packers guests on, they always kind of talk the same way about LaFleur. Like, yeah, he's a pretty good coach and he's gotten a lot out of his quarterbacks. But man, when push comes to shove and some of these playoff games, this guy just comes apart. And that is exactly what happened in the second half of this game. They're throwing a pass to an offensive lineman, which I know didn't really hurt them that much, but still bizarre stuff. They're having their starting running back, return kicks. They could not run the football. They couldn't get their short passing game going. And at the end of the game, when they had a chance to take a six point lead, although it would have been better to score a touchdown, they moved down the field into field goal position. They run for

no yards, the same inside zone handoff that Matt LaFleur does every single time. And then they throw a couple incomplete passes stopping the clock on themselves. They have, I think it was a delay a game, a that moves them back to a third and 15 incomplete pass. They only use a minute off the clock giving the Chicago Bears all day to get the ball back, run the football when they wanted to, and then they dial up some sort of little hitch and go. And Caleb Williams throws the game winning touchdown. The Green Bay Packers just falling apart in so many ways. They could not get anything going offensively, really until the last couple of drives of the

game and then miss an extra point, which proved to be huge for them. They missed the field goal at the end, which may or may not have mattered because, you know, the Chicago Bears went and scored a touchdown, but it might have mattered for them getting the ball back and having a chance to win the game on a field goal. So special teams all over the place today playing a huge role in both of these phenomenal, phenomenal football games to sit on the couch and watch all day long. but the Packers, once again, in a playoff game, their special teams cost them.

I mean, this goes back many years, right, to the onside kick that they couldn't get against Seattle and the blocked punt against the San Francisco 49ers, LaFleur only getting to nine wins. And then having this type of epic collapse, this could have all sorts of ramifications. Because I think going into this, it was pretty clear, especially when they were up 21 to 6, like, okay, well, obviously,

you want to stick with Matt LaFleur. It's been a tough year. They've had a lot of injuries, et cetera, et cetera. But this could change everything. And this always reminds me of how we think we know what's happened in the NFL and then the playoffs change how we feel about just about everything. And it has to change the way the Green Bay Packers view Matt LaFleur. it's really hard now for them to give him some sort of huge contract extension when not only do you lose this game,

but you come apart like they did and on his side of the football. If they came out in the third quarter, I believe they got the ball back to start the half. If they came out in the third quarter and just had one scoring drive, that would pretty much have put away the Chicago Bears. It would have put them too far away. to come back in a short amount of time. And yet the Packers gave them chance after chance after chance. So this could have ramifications.

Also, you saw this is a coach who's really relied on the run game and not so much leaned on his quarterback since Aaron Rogers left. And Jordan Love is a very efficient quarterback overall. But you don't see the Packers that often when they're succeeding. Just put it all on his shoulders. hey man, you're the entire offense, get going, like run that whole thing, just spread it all over the place. That's usually not the way Matt LaFleur wants to play. And when they were forced to be in that position in the second half of the game where they needed their quarterback to close it out,

Love did have some good drives in there, but was not able to do it. And I think that says a lot about Jordan Love, but it also says a lot about Matt LaFleur and his offense and also the weapons. Matthew Golden gets a touchdown late in the game and made a couple of catches that were really good late in the game. At the same time, he hasn't been an impact player all year long. And then when they needed it most, Jaden Reed drops a pass where he's wide open over the middle of the field. So of course, not all Jordan Love's fault. They dropped two passes on that final drive. And here we are again talking about the Green Bay Packers and their lack of wide receiver,

ones or even wide receiver twos. It feels like they have a bunch of role players out there and that's about it. Didn't look that way in the first half of this game, but certainly they got more and more exposed that felt like as the game went along.

So they come apart. But on the other side, Caleb Williams, I mean, can the Minnesota Vikings petition to leave the NFC North after watching that from Caleb Williams all season long? And, And here's, I'm going to say where I was massively wrong a couple times on the Chicago Bears,

massively wrong in that they can't keep getting away with it. They did keep getting away with it. Falling behind in games, mediocre defense, and Caleb Williams just plays hero at the end of the game. And Ben Johnson's clutch play calling, just incredible at the end of the game, to come back and beat the Packers. And the other part that I would like to say, sorry Chicago Bears. I had this one wrong, was all the way back on draft night when they drafted Colston Loveland. I said, and I thought, another tight end, you already have a tight end, you need defensive help.

What are you doing? Colston Loveland might be one of the five to seven best tight ends in the NFL. This group of weapons, Roma Dunzee makes a big catch down the stretch. DJ Moore was great in this game. And Luther Burden is their most recent draft pick. their offensive line held up in this game. They didn't run the ball very effectively early on and Caleb struggled. But at the end, they got enough plays.

But really what this all comes down to is Caleb Williams being an absolute freak. And when you draft number one overall and when you tank, I know they made the trade with the Panthers to get Caleb Williams technically, but they tanked and they tore it all apart. And they were the laughing stock of the national. Football League while this is why. And throughout this time, I questioned Caleb Williams as well. At the beginning of the season, when they lose to the Minnesota Vikings in week one, I thought this Bears team isn't going anywhere.

Caleb Williams isn't changing. Ben Johnson can't get him to be different. They're not going to be able to build around this guy. And they're going to just have to ride this out and see if it goes anywhere. And once again, every doubt about the Chicago Bears was blown. up here today and really throughout the season as Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson formed their bond. And you see, when they hired Ben Johnson, you knew there was a chance that he was going to turn out to be one of the best offensive minds, one of the best play callers. And voila, here it is.

It's arrived. Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are here. And they're not likely going anywhere. and there's a couple of throws in this game that are the difference. And when people have made about J.J. McCarthy comparisons to Josh Allen, if you're making that comparison, it's probably this guy. If you're talking about someone who's on the track to be like that, who's not the most accurate. And he wasn't today. And he made some mistakes today.

It threw an interception down by the goal line, had some throws that just went to absolutely nobody. but it's the special all-time great plays, a fourth down late in the game, where he rolls to his left. And I said to myself, it's over. Like as soon as he's getting pressure, the ball goes in the air,

like, ah, it's over, game over, Packers win. Oh, no, he found his guy by the sideline being chased at 110 miles an hour. And he kind of like jumps up in the air and turns his body and clicks his heels and flicks that ball 30 yards down the side. field 20 yards down the field, whatever it was for a completion. The special stuff that Caleb Williams is able to do has put this Bears team now ahead of

where they probably even thought they were going to be this year. Like looking at the roster, I think they would have thought they should compete for a playoff spot. But pulling off a 18-point comeback victory against the Green Bay Packers with the snow flurries coming down where Caleb Williams drops a touchdown at the end of the game, a game winning drive, another game winning drive for Caleb Williams where eventually you start to see a pattern. And I know Kirk did it the one year. There's other quarterbacks who've done it.

But this is sort of a combination of things that Josh Allen can do. Kyler Murray can do with his legs and Matthew Stafford can do with his arm. It is the worst case scenario for the Minnesota Vikings that Caleb Williams is playing like this. So I'm sure that Vikings fans are celebrating the Packers losing because that's your biggest rival. And that's, you know, great for the border battle for you to see the Green Bay Packers lose. But I think as long, if they retain LaFleur, they are destined for the middle. But they're probably destined for the middle almost no matter who they hide. because I'll go back to friend of mine,

Drew McGarry was on the show before the season started. And he made a joke about Jordan Love. He said that Jordan Love is socially acceptable Kirk Cousins. And, you know, we all kind of laugh at that. I'm like, I don't know, he's got a bigger arm and so forth. But you kind of see it when you look at the price tag and the quarterback, who is very, very good and had a good game overall, but just wasn't enough. And now how do the Packers work their way out of the?

this with one of the most expensive quarterbacks in the league, one of the most expensive pass rushers in the league who's coming off in ACL. I'm sure he'll be okay. But, you know, we also thought that about Christian Derisaw. You never really know. So they now have two of the most expensive players in the NFL. How do they build around this? Who's going to be their next coach if they decide to move on from Lafleur? I mean, the power of the NFC North this year has now shifted and now belongs to the Chicago Bears because not only do they have a quarterback who is capable of pulling off

some of the plays that Caleb Williams made using his mobility, as playmaking, but also had open wide receivers at the biggest moment. It's a clutch touchdown, but the guy's wide open. And who is that? That's Ben Johnson. The combination of those two guys

has now made this team very scary. They have the offensive line is under-consum, contract long term. The weapons, they've drafted a bunch of receivers and tight ends. I mean, if they get a scary running back, imagine how good that running game is going to be because D'Andre Swift is just sort of okay. The Chicago Bears are now the team of the future, probably in the entire NFC, with the way that Caleb Williams has played.

And you can say, oh, you can't annoy him after winning one playoff game. But this whole season, it's been brewing and brewing with this guy. and he's made one play after the next, even if it wasn't. And this is the thing I also have to say that I am most impressed with Caleb Williams and most wrong about Caleb Williams is this. Last year, when things went bad for Caleb Williams, he would melt like a lot of the time, a very high percentage of the time, including what we saw against the Minnesota Vikings.

He would melt down. And this year, it has been a different human being who has taken full commitment. of this offense, of this franchise, and the connection with him and Ben Johnson just seems like it is Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes. And no, I'm not saying he's Patrick Mahomes yet, but there's a lot there. There is a lot there. And I think what this does, one of the first comments that I saw from you guys was this puts even more pressure on the Minnesota Vikings and their situation at quarterback. You know that the Detroit Lions are set at quarterback. and they're going to do everything they can to rebuild their pass rushing

and to rebuild their offensive line. And the Packers, I think, are pretty stuck with where they're at. And they have to hope that they're just healthier next year or that a new coach can take them somewhere. But they seem kind of stuck in midland. And here's the Vikings because everybody now is chasing the Chicago Bears. Even if they lose 35 to nothing in the next round, everyone is now chasing the Chicago Bears.

how are you going to get there? How much better would J.J. McCarthy have to be is really the question. How much better would J.J. McCarthy have to be in order for the Minnesota Vikings to get there where the Chicago Bears are headed with Caleb Williams. Because historically, when you find this caliber of quarterback play, as the Chicago Bears have, somebody who can have a tough game to start, and I thought there was some, bad play calls by Ben Johnson. He pulled kind of a Kevin O'Connell where they had fourth and one at the goal line,

and they decided to run a pass when they had been running the ball just fine, and the Packers defense was totally worn out. So some bad play calls. There's some bad throws by Caleb where receivers are open and he misses them. But he has taken such a jump this year, and he's gotten so much experience this year, that he can go into the offseason whenever that begins and take a, another step forward and their roster is not done being built. They have the rookie quarterback contract advantage that everybody dreams about.

And what it really goes back to is when Quasi Adafel Menta and Ryan Poles were hired, there were two different approaches. And one of those approaches was to tank, take it all apart, get a ton of draft capital, and then build it all the way back up. And the other team decided to go competitive rebuild. and the competitive rebuild looked last year like it worked pretty well. And if you look at the rest of the roster, it looks pretty good. But you drafted the fifth quarterback and not the first.

And now with Caleb Williams with the playoff win, Drake Mays in the playoffs, Jaden Daniels went to the NFC championship last year. And here's Bo Nix also sitting at home watching tomorrow waiting on their opponent as a conference winner. it's really only the Vikings and the Falcons looking around going, okay, we got to catch up in this race for the quarterback position. But how can the Vikings keep pace with this Bears team? And I'm not saying that this year's Bears team is really truly ready to win the Super Bowl. I still don't think that they are.

But they're going to have another opportunity at Soldier Field to play whoever they're going to get to play. And yikes, right? This is the worst nightmare of the Vikings is not that the Packers win a playoff game. Okay, fine. They would have gone to Seattle and probably gotten crushed. The worst nightmare for the 2025 season for the Minnesota Vikings is that you find out almost nothing about J.J. McCarthy or he's bad. And Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson really click and he's awesome.

And I'm sorry, folks, the facts are the facts. He's awesome. He's not perfect. he's awesome. And this was an incredible comeback performance by Caleb Williams today. There is, there is no other way that you can put it. And that means what? How do you compete with this? If they lose Brian Flores, how do you compete with this? Because Flores had his moments against Caleb Williams, but mostly held him down in the two games, although, you know, he's, he's going to continue to grow into next year and go on that upward trajectory. And this.

This is why he was the number one pick despite some red flags and despite the issues last year. This is why Ben Johnson took that job. And now the Chicago Bears are going to have their chance. I mean, what a crazy, crazy day that could have trickle down implications. And really, I mean, branding McManus's field goal, like think about how close we are to still sitting here watching overtime in this game. And instead, McManus misses a very, manageable field goal crazy, crazy, crazy how this one came apart for the Green Bay Packers. And now when you look back, I mean, you are talking about a really, really long time since

the Green Bay Packers have been to the Super Bowl. And what is their outlook for the future to get back when the team of the future just beat them the Chicago Bears? And I think that the lions are stronger. and if the Vikings, whatever, get whatever kind of quarterback play can be still a very good team. But this makes you feel back in the purgatory land, doesn't it? Doesn't that feel that way as of right now? Because the jump for J.J. McCarthy would have to be gargantuan.

And you could say, well, Caleb Williams made that jump. But Caleb Williams played the whole season last year and then made a coaching change to clearly one of the best play callers and offensive minds in the NFL. They also revamped their offensive line. They also have complete weapons, whereas the Vikings have questions for their weapons. Addison had a down year. What are they going to do at running back? Naylor is probably going to leave.

Where is T.J. Hawkinson going. It feels like sliding down the slippery mountain when you watch the Chicago Bears play this game today and get a win over the Green Bay Packers. So I want to get you guys reaction. I want to talk about the other game as well, but I can't talk enough about this game here tonight. And if you had told me at the end of the first half that this was going to be the result, I probably would have not been that surprised to tell you the truth.

Because the Packers under the floor have repeatedly done this, it seems like playing with the lead, a lot of the same criticisms that we've had for Kevin O'Connell. So if you want to reach and make a real connection to the Vikings, after watching LaFleur play this game out and get the big lead and let it slip through his fingers, I mean, do you have that feeling a little bit of, yeah, a lot of those decisions kind of looked like things that the Minnesota Vikings have done, even right down to some of the special team's mistakes, although I think they're, you know, kicking would have kept them in that game. They would have had a better chance to win because Will Reichert, all pro, by the way,

is the best kicker in the entire NFL. It is mind-blowing how special teams has cost the Packers, but that's also what happens when you're giving up a 21 to 3 lead. And I think I was the most shocked by the fact that LaFleur could not get some of the easy stuff going, that he's been really. good at in the past, but it seemed like forgot about in this game. They in late in the game, get a screen pass to Matthew Golden, who is electric and takes it into the end zone.

And you go, where exactly was that for most of the game? And they try to run, but their run game was just completely shot after last year they were one of the better run games in the league with Josh Jacobs. That is completely disappeared. I don't know. I mean, I think offensive line and the end. injuries played a role there. But there's a lack of creativity that once again kind of brings you back to the Vikings

where when they lined up in the shotgun and they were in the red zone and love had just hit a couple of huge passes. I think every one of us, every person, the stadium was yelling out inside zone. Remember earlier this year when was it in the Bears games against somebody? Maybe the Denver. I think it was Denver where the opposing team just was calling out every time they ran up the middle. so everybody knows at this point and they were able to stop that run on first down and then all

a sudden it's an incomplete pass so you don't keep the clock running that's where you need an easy button pass to get the clock going and it doesn't happen and they throw an incomplete pass and then even even on third and 15 so if we want to get into game theory and how Matt LaFleur really botched this if even when you get into third and 15 the most important thing So you're up by three late in the game. You don't really want to go up by six. It doesn't really do anything. Like they miss the field goal, which hurts them because if Chicago scored,

they would have been able to come back and kick a field goal, right? That's why it does hurt them. But oftentimes you don't want to go up by six because the other team can go down, score a touchdown, and they will often play aggressively, right? And they'll play for a touchdown when, usually when it's a three-point game, they might check up and kick a field goal. So what you're looking for there from LaFleur is to get like eight yards and then go for it on fourth down. That's what you'd like to do there in terms of how you should really, really truly manage that situation.

Instead, they throw an incomplete pass. You have to throw a completion. You have to get the clock running. And instead they gave Caleb Williams all the time that he needed. So the ways in which they let that slip out of their hands, they might be looking, I mean, if you're John Harbaugh and you're hearing from the Titans and you're hearing from the Giants, you may have just said, you know what, put my phone on hold and only accept calls from Wisconsin in the coming days.

So there's equal blame and credit to go after a loss like this for the Packers and a win like this for the Chicago Bears. I also just an overall observation for the first two games of the playoffs, which I want to talk about the Panthers and the Rams and kind of what Vikings fans are saying after the Panthers game, which I think is a little faulty. But I do want to point out that the fourth down aggressiveness that you're seeing is what you're going to continue to see. Teams that are down in a game are going to go for it on fourth down. And Ben Johnson missed a couple and they still found a way to win the game,

which is what Madden players have forever known, what the Philadelphia Eagles figured out in 2017. Even if you miss them, oftentimes it's not as punitive as you think. So they miss one early in the game. They still get other chances to come back. They convert some huge fourth downs and they end up finding a way to win. And the same happened in Carolina where fourth downs are now determining a lot of these playoff games. And so a real quick note on that one, which is, you know, it does have an impact, though, because

the crazy thing is if you're Sam Darnold in Seattle, you're going, oh, no, what? Because you wanted to play Green Bay. Donald and Seattle must have been sitting there going, come on, Green Bay. We'd much rather face a seven seed coming off a road win at home than face what now is very possible to face off with the Los Angeles Rams. It could go the other way. If San Francisco wins, then Seattle will host San Francisco. They would host the lowest possible seed.

But if San Francisco loses to Philly and the Rams have already won, the Rams are going to play Seattle, which could be another absolute classic. So I did want to talk about that. But Bryce Young played a great game today. and I saw a lot of, hey, Bryce Young could get better. J.J. McCarthy could. And here would be my advice. As you watch the playoffs, you don't have to make everything about J.J. McCarthy

Because everything doesn't correlate to J.J. McCarthy. Bryce Young is still not really proven to be a great quarterback. He was really good today. Their coverage struggled and he made some good plays and gave them a chance to win. but Bryce Young won the Heisman by throwing 47 touchdowns as a junior. I think it was as a junior, right, or sophomore, either sophomore or junior. And it was the number one overall pick over C.J. Stroud. It's a little bit different when his team tanked draft number one was a complete laughing stock

for about a year and a half until they finally got some decent coaching and finally got some decent players around him like Tetero and McMillan. There's really no correlation to J.J. McCart. and Bryce Young. It's just very different. Two entirely different circumstances. I think Bryce Young would have gotten here quicker had he not had the worst team in the league by a mile.

And he's also played way more football. If you're on the track of McCarthy taking steps like Bryce Young, well, that means next year would be his last year, which wasn't that great. Folks, as you know, Purple Insider is always growing and changing and I'm looking to take steps forward in 2026, just like your business. Now, I'm lucky to have a great crew, but as a business owner, I am well aware of the challenges of trying to find quality people to add to the roster. So if you're hiring for your company in 2026, let me give you a little advice.

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for details restrictions and important safety information. I'm sorry if I disconnected there for a second. Was really disappointing the way that Dennis Allen managed their defense. And I saw Anthony Barr, you know, kind of going after Dennis Allen a couple of times there and talking about, you know, some of the coverages that he had and some of the soft coverages that he had in that game. So the bears are going to add significant amounts of talent to their team next year. and the Vikings have to think long and hard about whether they can truly compete with the Chicago Bears with this level of quarterback play. And if they lose Brian Flores, it's hard to figure out exactly how that's going to happen. Let me give you guys a Fandul question of the day here.

There are three games tomorrow should be an incredible day of National Football League football. The Bills and Jaguars on Fandul, the Jags are now favored. This line is flipped. they are now favored by one and a half points. The Eagles are one and a half are five and a half point favorites over the 49ers. And the Texans are three point favorites over the Steelers. Which one of these games is going to look like what we saw today? So that's the fan dual question of the day.

Which game tomorrow is going to look like what we saw today? Let me get some of your reaction. You guys have been lighten up the comments here. let me scroll back up and just get what you had to say here. And I've been working on, as you could see, working on some new things in the studio, including getting your comments on the screen here. So Derek says Colston Loveland is going to be a problem. Son of Beavers, are we doing a mock draft tonight?

J.G, the Packers are so young, they'll be fine if they could stay healthy. I don't know. You know, I've heard that, J.G, over and over and over again that, well, they're so young, they're so young, they're so young. And I'm not saying that it's wrong, like factually, but where is the talent? Like Lucas Van Ness had his moments tonight, has not been a great player. Rishon Gary has regressed pretty significantly. I mean, some of those receivers are okay.

You know, Matthew Golden showed some flashes. Jane and Reed has showed some flashes. Christian Watson. And they will get back Tucker Kraft, which is a big deal for them. but when you say they're going to be okay. But they still are going to struggle to work around those enormous contracts. And okay is the seven seed time and time again, which is exactly where the Packers were going into this game. That's why you're playing at Soldier Field and not at Lambe Field.

Stephen KOC, zero playoff wins in four seasons. Ben Johnson, at least one playoff win. It's time to move on from KOC. while they're not going to move on from KOC, but I will say that your point, Stephen, is valid and noticed that Ben Johnson has been there for one playoff game now and one year. And already the future of that franchise looks extremely bright and the connection. Now, think about this too. I was thinking about this today as I was watching this game, the connection between K. William's and Ben Johnson.

Has it ever looked like that to you with J.J. McCarthy and Kevin O'Connell because I'm going to say that it may have a little bit in the 2024 training camp and maybe in the preseason game in 2024 and maybe in the first week of the season when he had the comeback win. And then since then, not really. And Ben Johnson gave some very, very hard love to J.J. McCart, or to Caleb. Williams in that training camp and really taught him how to play quarterback. And the coaching there has showed up time and time and time again at the biggest moments.

That connection of KOC's QB school and the quarterback whisper, we just didn't see it. We just did not see it this year with the Vikings and J.J. McCarthy. We did not see a similar connection to that. Let's see. Ironic was rooting for the bears. I wanted Green Bay gone. Well, yeah, I mean, for sure. Yeah.

Like, I mean, if you're, if you're, if you're, the Viking side, of course, that's, that's what you're doing. You're not, you're not rooting. I mean, as much as Vikings fans don't like the Bears, I don't think it's even close. I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong there, but I don't think it's even close. T.J. 3 miss kicks cost the Packers seven points. Love and the offense did not lose the game. I don't disagree with that. I mean, Jordan Love played really, really well to get them up 21 to 3. And he made some key throws to get them back ahead, late in the game. There was so much stagnation in between that, though, and they drop passes.

You're right. And they missed field goals. And they had other debauchery on special teams and play calling and so forth. No, I don't think that it's Jordan Love's fault. It's really a bigger picture thing with Jordan Love, which is, is he really good enough to get you there? Like, he's a good quarterback. To me, he falls under that same category.

as a Justin Herber, where if his franchise is not great and there are problems that you've got a good chance to come up short. And, you know, I put Sam Darnold in this same sort of category. I think that there's probably, you know, Dak Prescott, probably 10 quarterbacks, maybe seven, that fall in the same category as Jordan Love, where he's very, very good and he can't catch the ball for Jaden Reed at the end. That's a really good throw that he just has bounce off of his fingertips. but is he good enough to be paid what he's being paid and build a franchise that is going to compete with the Chicago Bears? I think that's really the question.

Vikings fans Anonymous, how much better would love look with an actual wide receiver one? Oh, I mean, I think he would be better. I definitely think he would be better. And that's what Matthew Golden was supposed to be. But whenever you're, and we know this, whenever you're drafting that first round pick, to try to save whatever unit that you have.

Okay, kid, your first round draft pick, who wasn't that great in college, but ran really freaking fast. So go in there and be a star for us, and it didn't happen. Now, today he played well. Matthew Golden had a few big plays today. So again, not really necessarily his fault,

but you make a valid point. I mean, he doesn't have the difference is when the Rams are in those key spots, they went to Nekua time and time again. what a game by Puka Nakua. And that's the difference is having that guy. So maybe you're right that Jordan Love would be elevated by having one of the better receivers in the NFL.

And he certainly doesn't have that. But where do you get it? I mean, they're going to have to keep drafting wide receivers. It feels like they have defensive needs, especially in the secondary. They're in a tough spot. Star Wars thinks the 49ers are beating the Eagles. I could see that. I could see that.

Todd says golden looked like a future star receiver. He looked good today, no doubt about it. One of his plays was kind of a screen, but you saw the explosiveness. I mean, they are going to need a massive jump from him, though. It's not going to be a small jump. It's got to be a huge jump. Reconnected, John Harbaugh will be the next coach in Green Bay. I could definitely see this.

How about the fraudulent one and done bears eat blank collar? Okay, that's fair. Yeah, look, that's fair enough because I don't know, I don't know if I did I say fraudulent, but I probably said that the bears were getting away with it time and time again in 2022 Vikings like fashion. And that is an absolute fact when you look at their season that they get the number two seed with all sorts of last second wins, including the crazy one against the Packers earlier this year.

I mean, they had to beat the Raiders on a blocked field goal earlier this season. I think it was fair to look at that team, even at halftime and go, all right, well, you know, they certainly took huge steps forward, but are they really, are they really a number two seed type of strength that we think of? I mean, that was really the question. I think I did pick the Packers to win the game, which looked pretty good until the last drive by the Chicago Bears. Hey, look, when you have that caliber of talent, when you have a guy who has darn near Michael Vicks legs and has a rocket arm that can make special throws and special throws off balance, scrambling around, running left and right, I mean, that that makes it more sustainable.

Caleb says Drake May is better than Caleb Williams. Glad they took Caleb and not May. I don't think you should be glad at either one of those. how comes. I don't think you should be glad that they have Caleb Williams, not after what you saw here today. And really throughout this entire season, because now isn't a major part of the argument when it comes to JJ McCarthy how young he is? Oh, sorry, I clicked on PFF, my bed. Isn't that a major argument? Well, how old is Caleb Williams? And he's the one that's really taken a huge step and could still go to another level. I mean, that has to be very disturbing to you.

I mean, if you want to cope like that, I think that's all right. Drake May had a great year, had a better overall season than Caleb Williams. But at this moment, that feels like Viking fan coping more than anything. J.G says John Harbaugh and Green Bay is nightmare fuel. Yeah. I mean, I could see that for sure that John Harbaugh knowing how to cope. Although, you know, the playoffs with Lamar Jackson, and have not been great for him,

but he did coach a team with a big armed and kind of limited quarterback once upon a time and Joe Flacco to a Super Bowl has been a while since that happened. Let's see, Nano Joe says the Vikings do not have a quarterback. I mean, look, the facts are the facts. When you look at the other quarterbacks who have performed like J.J. McCarthy, the step that needs to get made is in. enormous. And then tonight, it was almost like someone took a giant floodlight and walked it up to the Vikings quarterback situation and just put that floodlight right in front of it and said, here it is. It is out there in the open that the Chicago Bears are set at quarterback and they have a guy who's on the rise and they have a cap situation that's not bad and they can spend a lot of money. and your cap situation as, let's see, is that Arcadon 89 points out that, you know, they can fix a lot of that cap situation.

But if you're a player around the league, where are you going? Who are you signing with? Chicago, right? All of a sudden, this is how quick it changes, right? This is, this is tanking. This is how quick it can change, right? is you go from, I would never sign there, their culture's bad, they're a laughing stock to all of the sudden,

now you are a team that people are going to want to go to, and the Vikings go from the Premier team to all of a sudden, we don't know what they have a quarterback, and they don't have the money that they had last year to spend. They'll get back under the cap, but how much can they really spend in free agency? It's probably not that much. And it does feel like Nano Joe,

the Vikings just don't have, quarterback really at all when you have so much uncertainty again how many passes has cala williams now thrown as an NFL player in his second year versus j j mccarthy and think about it still until i don't know more than halfway through the season we're still asking what is kela williams people still halfway through this season asking what is bow nicks and these guys have thrown way more passes what you talk about bryce young the guy's been starting for three years and just today it feels like you figured out, oh, well, you know, Bryce Young's got the talent, right?

I mean, my goodness, how long is it going to take for J.J. McCarthy to be at this level where you feel like he can play with these other guys that have been developing now for years? Bernie said, haven't you heard where we're getting Joe Burrow? You're going to need them if you're going to compete with these teams for sure. Drew says Packers, three points against the Vikings cost them tonight. What do you mean by that? Let's see. Bill said MC loves to poke at the Packers for all sorts of underhanded comments all year long, now saying he's impressed.

Well, look, Bill, first of all, I am not a soothsayer. I'm not a fortune teller. I didn't know that they were going to come back from down 21 to 3. All I knew about the Chicago Bears was that they required a lot of really, good things to happen for them at the end of games in order to get to this point. So, you know, underhanded comments, it was more of like, I'm just, I'm not believing that they're a Super Bowl contender. And I would still be a little hard pressed to say so after tonight.

But was I impressed tonight by the way that Caleb Williams got down in this game and just never, ever gave up? And look, did you see that for him last year? This is the thing, my friend. stuff changes in the National Football League and so do opinions. It's a wonderful thing. It's why we can do a podcast every day because something new happens every day. And today, the something new is, holy cow,

the Packers just blew an unbelievable game to Caleb Williams, who deserves all the credit for the way that he never gave up in this game, tweaked an ankle, kept fighting. I mean, wow. Derek says not anointing the Bears after watching the game. so I'm not anointing them as Super Bowl champions. I think that's different. What I'm saying is, if you watch this game,

there's no way you can tell me, oh, you know, the Vikings will still be better than the Bears next year. They're still on a better rebuild track after both teams hired new in 2022 new GMs. No way. You can't tell me that. That's just, nope. The Chicago Bears are now probably a top five team

that you would put your chips into the middle of the table on over the next couple of years. With the way that Caleb has played, his raw talent, the possibility of him taking a step forward, you'd put it on the Patriots as well. Any of these teams that have young rising star quarterbacks after this, after getting a playoff win, man, I mean, think about this. Caleb Williams now tied Kirk Cousins in Vikings history for playoff wins. It's crazy to think about.

Kirk Cousins was here for six years, won one playoff game. Caleb Williams has it in the second year of his career. So yeah, anointing them. No, I'm not anointing them as them being the Super Bowl champs. They're not. They're going to have to,

you know, still prove it down the stretch here. They're going to get another home playoff game, though. JP, the Packers only lost because they had to play their backup, Jordan Love. Ha, ha, yeah, okay, that's funny. Side was a great game.

Packers really melted down. Their kicker messed up. Yeah. No, I mean, it was a meltdown for sure. Let's see. The Packers, David says the Packers were our biggest rival. I mean, that's, that is absolutely fair. That is absolutely fair that, you know, now if you're lucky,

you get to be Chicago's rival going forward. It's, there's just not a great way. There's just not a great way to look at. So, it's good to see. I didn't know that you guys were such a Bears backers or maybe you just sit and hope and dream that that old purple insider will be wrong about something and then can't wait to show up in the comment section. But I welcome it. I welcome it. I didn't think that Colston Loveland was a good draft pick.

I did like the Luther Burton pick. I liked Ben Johnson as a hire for them. And I needed to see it before believing it when we're talking about the, you know, Chicago Bears in general about Caleb Williams. he got sacked like 68 times or something last year. I mean, of course, there should have been very reasonable questions about whether he could take the next step forward. And looking at his demeanor last year, I mean, did you watch his demeanor against the Vikings at the end of the year last year and think that's my guy? No, I didn't either. But, you know, even through the middle of the season, he was completing less than 60% of his passes.

Halfway through this game, he's completing 48% of his passes. but this stuff at the end of games is going to, I think, translate a little bit better into earlier in games for him, but he shows all the talent that everybody said he had. That was why he was the top draft pick. Jared says that's what's scary about the bears. They're barely scratching the surface of their full potential. Let's see.

Afraidos says the Eagles better beat the 49ers and bears. Well, I mean, the Eagles are pretty flawed. I think that they will beat the 49ers, but we'll get maybe some 49ers fans, if I'm wrong, popping in tomorrow when we do the show reacting to what has happened. I guess we'll see. Let's see. JG, competitive rebuild might have worked if they kept Darnold.

Yeah, I mean, that's true because if you franchised Darnold, then you're in the playoffs. And if you got back into the playoffs and he played the same as he did last year, then you are assigning him to an extent. and trading J.J. McCarthy. And man, let's see, KFT. I mean, look, man, if you're going to call it whining about McCarthy, you might as well just log off for the rest of the off season. The facts are the facts about J.J. McCarthy. I cannot fix them. I can't change them. The numbers are the numbers. The performances are the performances. I can't do anything about that. I'm very sorry. But I have to

live in reality. You can live in a fantasy land if you like where he had a magical, wonderful season. And they won four championships, but that didn't happen. It was some of the worst quarterback play in the league. And now the jump last year, the jump for Caleb Williams from last year to this year is a pretty decent size jump. But he also threw what, 20 touchdowns, five picks, like did a lot of good things last year amidst struggling with the worst coach and a bad offense and just a terrible environment and then takes the next step forward.

Oh, well, Scott says, what a lot? the Packers fire floor is. I can't see that happening, but, oh, man, you want to talk about, you want to talk about chaos. Now, that is some, that is some chaos. Woo, that is some chaos. But think about, like, Caleb Williams has taken a really big jump this year. But he was still really good in spurts last year, even as they were struggling. Whereas with J.J. McCarthy, the only games you're holding your hat on are against the

worst defenses in the NFL at the end of the season, and then he couldn't finish the year. So I don't know what else I'm supposed to tell you. This Caleb Williams jump was always reasonable. We set it all off season. You want to do the Tolgisot thing. That's great. But I did say if it clicks with Ben Johnson, you're in trouble and you're in trouble. Mr. Juwan says, this is a massive overreaction to Williams.

We've seen inconsistency. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, for sure. he has been inconsistent with his accuracy this year. He was inconsistent with his accuracy in this game. But when you're looking for the guy who takes the Josh Allen type of jump from struggling with the accuracy to being an elite quarterback, it's Caleb Williams is the guy that you would look at because he's got the coach now.

He's got the weapons around him. And you can say all you want. it's an overreaction. That guy did about 10 things in this game that made your eyes pop out of your head. Just special, special stuff that he did today in this game. That's that is just, that's just a reality. Let's see. Yes, yes, sir.

Now you guys, I put them on the screen now so you can read them. So when I can't pronounce them, at least you can see it. I'll just call you, yes, sir. Says Minnesota will have to watch Darnold win at all. you know, I am now less sure of that. Like if they, when they were, when the Packers were ahead, I was sitting here thinking, what, who is, who is Seattle going to have to play? Because if they were going to play the Packers, I think that would have been an easy win for Seattle.

They're much better than the Packers. And then where does it take them after that? Like, do they get to face the 49ers or somebody? Even the Eagles are not as good as the, the Seahawks that the Eagles are kind of like the Seahawks, but a worse version and they would have to travel all the way out west. But now the one team that has the capability and should have beat Seattle the last time is the Los Angeles Rams who are now most likely. Now, if San Francisco wins, then they're going to play against San Francisco. And that could be, I think it may be an easier matchup since they just bludgeon them the last time they faced them.

It's very, very interesting stuff. Caleb says negative regression will come to Chicago. So that's the thing is it's true that normally I would look at this situation and say that regression is on the way. The problem with that is that they did the rookie quarterback contract thing. So even if their luck at the end of games does have a real possibility of regressing, they can spend a around Caleb Williams still. And how much are they going to put into that defense? I don't know, 100 million bucks into that defense this off season.

You can guarantee it. They're going to load up on their defensive side to be a better team for next year. Loveland can get better. Burden can get better. They can get a better running back. This is what a team looks like on the rise. Usually you're right that a team if they have to win a lot of games at the end falls off, but not if they get a lot better.

I would be very, very concerned if I'm the Vikings. And I'd be thinking about, can you really get that jump out of McCarthy? Because it can't be a small one. It can't be incremental if you're going to compete with Chicago and Detroit. And I think Green Bay is probably still going to be okay. But if they change coaches, then maybe a little better. Derek says Harbaugh has the exact same issues with game management. That's, yeah, that's true.

No, that, that is true. That over the years, it feels like Harbaugh has kind of, slipped a little bit. He was going for fourth downs all the time for a while there. And then it kind of waned a little bit with his game management. But still, I mean, I think that they have now kind of gone stale in Green Bay, seven seed every year, just kind of okay. And then this happening. I mean, this, this is a fireable offense for Lefleur to blow this game.

And yes, it was the special teams. and yes, you know, kickers and everything else, but I don't know, man. It feels like this is the one when he was already teetering in a nine-win season doesn't really get you there. And at times they looked like one of the best teams in the NFL. At times they were anointed, hey, this team's the Super Bowl favorite. But at the end of the day, it's the same result and the same disappointment. And I know you can't really use heartbreak for a team like the Packers that has championship, but they they've had how many heartbreaking playoff wins, just under Lafleur.

KFT says, I think Clint Kubiak is one of the better candidates. Could be, we'll see. Yeah, I mean, I think that he's done a great job this year with that offense. Steven says, yeah, it's one win, but that's one playoff win and one season for Ben Johnson. KOC has nothing. Where are we going? Well, that really depends on the quarterback position. But are they even going to have the best roster in the NFC North next year?

I think they have a good roster, but are they going to have a really, really good roster next year? I mean, it kind of depends. Let's see. Are you talking about last year? Let's see. J.G says Caleb Williams is more accurate when he's falling down than avoiding a sack than a clean pocket. It makes no sense. Today he made some incredible throws while he was scrambling away.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. but still, I think that he's improved a lot with that. He misses some easy throws that are right there, but I think he's improved a ton. The biggest area is the sacks, not taking the sacks. That is just enormous for Caleb Williams. E7, when did this become Navy insider? They can't keep getting away with this.

Let's see, MC and I will keep saying until the confetti's raining down. So I don't think that I don't think, oh, that's funny, David. Mike McCarthy is available for the Packers. I don't think they're winning the Super Bowl. I do not think that they're going to win the Super Bowl. But I do think that what you saw here is the start of something for the Bears, not the end of something, not a just a lucky sort of, oh, well, hey, it worked out for this one season, but then the next year you're going to fall off.

I don't think that that's going to be the case. Let's see. Bryce Young played better than Caleb Williams. Yeah, I mean, I guess so. Yeah, he did. Bryce had a good game. Bryce played really well. That's, he definitely did.

And Bryce, when his team actually leans into him are, they're good. Their offense is good when they actually really like lean into Bryce Young and throw the ball. Carolina had a good offense this year. I think they tried to run way too much. on early downs and kind of protect themselves from him where they saw today that maybe next year they're going to be a little more aggressive. Carolina deserves credit. They battled hard against the team that is really, really good. And that D-line is phenomenal. But we did see today,

if you want to just talk a little bit about that, we did see today some cracks in the armor for the Rams. The Rams secondary is very suspect. And I don't think that they're quite as dominant as they were on the D-line. Like they are really good, but it didn't feel like they just took over the game, which happened last year, obviously against the Vikings and even against the Eagles in that game that they lost.

Jack says one good year for the Bears and their fans are yapping. Well, I promise you, since I've dedicated this entire thing to covering the Minnesota Vikings, that I don't fall into the fan category. But I will say that it's not just, one good year, this is a trajectory that we've seen many times.

Once the quarterback gets to a certain point, you know, it kind of reminds me of maybe Jalen Hertz. If it's not like Josh Allen, it's like Jalen Hertz, where even though the quarterback is flawed, that he played well enough in the postseason to get them to the Super Bowl with some luck that first time and they lost. And then they just continue to build around him. That's what they can do tonight. Not tonight. I read the word tonight. That's what they can do after. tonight is they can build on what they have here. Their defense is not good.

Chicago's. They've got a couple of decent players. They can't rush the passer really at all when they rush four. And that's what we'll ultimately get them is that they can't get after the passer. So they will probably lose in the playoffs. So this isn't anointing them Super Bowl champions tonight as a as in, yeah, this year they're going to win it because of Caleb Williams. It's more that they can build around this into.

the future and Caleb is now their franchise quarterback. David says what I saw for tonight, pretty depressing from a Viking perspective. It has to be Kyler Murray. Well, that's the thing, right? Like, Kyler Murray or whatever other starting quarterback would give you a chance to compete with teams like Detroit, where you know they're going all in for next year and Chicago, where again, you know they're going in next year. And if Green Bay changes coaches, maybe they've got a chance to be.

be a little bit better. It is the toughest division in the sport, and it will continue to be the toughest division in the sport. Nano Joe was rooting for the Packers tonight. Let's see. Caleb says, let's see if Chicago can do it year after year, first place schedule next year. Loveland was a good pick. Wide receivers are unimpressive to me.

But the real point is that when you look at quarterbacks in history, that are like Caleb Williams, that have that caliber of talent and who get to this point this quickly, it usually means pretty good things. It usually means pretty good things. Mr. Mayor likes the comments on the screen. Good, good, good. Yeah, this is, it took me a while to figure it out.

Like, I mentioned the other day on the show that once the season ends, I can fiddle. Like, you can see the new setup here a little bit. I can fiddle. During this season, it was just about, like, getting the show on the, on the air. J.G, the Bears still left too much time for Green Bay to score. Yeah, they did.

Yep, they did. And I thought the same thing. I thought Green Bay is going to go do this, but the dropped pass from Jane and Reed, and that's why it's not really loves fault. I mean, he put the ball right on Jane Reed. He just didn't catch it. Skoll City Blues.

So the Bears go out and get the best play caller in the league, and when the Vikings are going to let the best defensive coordinator walk, I would fire KOC and KAM and make B-Flow the coach. Yeah, I mean, sort of be careful what you wish for a little bit there. You have to consider head coaching is not the same as just being a coordinator. It is quite a bit different. And the last time Flores was a coach, they did win a lot of games, but there was also, you know, problems there.

So, I mean, there's a risk in doing that. I personally think Flores has grown quite a bit. know you can win 13, 14 games when things go right with Kevin O'Connell. So I can't get to that point. But your point about letting the best defensive coordinator walk, it depends on what happens next. I mean, if he goes for a head coaching job, that happens no matter what, right?

That's how Ben Johnson got here. But it does have an impact. Actually, you know, there's the connection. It has an impact when you have somebody that's that good of a coordinator who has that connection for. a really long time with their players, and then you have to make a switch. It's not always easy.

Detroit tried to do it and was not able to do it. Let me get you guys a quick ad read here. The show does have some sponsors, and then we'll get back to your questions. Love, love the energy in the chat, despite it not feeling like a great day for the Minnesota Vikings, but got to remind you about our friends at Zipra, As you know, Purple Insider is always growing and lucky to have a great crew.

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Again, that is ZipRecruiter.com slash audio, the smartest way to hire. All right. Let's get back to your questions. I love this too, by the way, Mr. Mayor. I like this too because then I'm not clicking back and forth all the time. I could just sit here and read them. Let's see.

OBI something. The gap between Williams to McCarthy is wild. Caleb has gotten better and looks like a top 10 draft pick. watching his game made me realize that nine is not it. Well, for me, it's not that nine can't be it. It's that the jump in one year. If you're thinking about this as next year, can J.J. McCarthy be a really good quarterback. I think he can.

We've seen all of the talent. We've seen arm strength. We've seen mobility. We've seen athleticism. We've seen his enthusiasm for the game, which sometimes goes a little too far. but you'd rather have more than not enough, as we saw from Josh Rosen, who did not have enough. But when we think about how much football,

Caleb Williams needed to play to get to this point, it's a lot, it's a lot of ball, it's a lot of throws, it's a lot of dropbacks, it's a lot of practices. And McCarthy has missed those. He's missed throws, not like missed them as overthrow, but like not getting to do them, not getting five weeks with an ankle injury, not getting all of last year. He is still, when you think about it, when did Caleb Williams or Bo Nix,

when did they throw their 250th pass? Was it the third month they were in the NFL, the second month they were in the NFL? And here's J.J. McCarthy, who still hasn't done that yet. That's crazy. Purple Hayes, Micah's contract is another factor. Like even, you think about it this way. It's not even that nuts to talk about J.J. McCarthy as in could sit next year and still come back and be your quarterback the next year. Sit and develop.

It's not even crazy considering how little football he's actually gotten to play. If you're in a desperate spot, need a one year starter and then develop him behind the scenes, which is where he should have been all of this year. KFT says, I don't even understand how Carolina was winning games. their offense is not very good, actually bad, though today they were okay. You're right. Their offense was like 20th in the league. And they kind of weren't winning games.

I mean, they don't have a good offense or defense. Bryce just played really well today. They fumbled a punt. They decided to get not aggressive. They also had to kind of injure Matthew Stafford and his hand got hurt there when I think he got, I think he had his hand on DJ Wanham, former Minnesota Viking. Stephen, Fanduil question of the day,

I think the Bill's Jaguars game will be good and close that might mirror today. That's my favorite game of the day by far is that Bill's Jags game. Can't wait for that one. We are only 12 hours away from it, folks. Maybe I should do the, you know,

you guys are pretty spunky. Maybe I should do the show at midnight all the time. It's probably just because this game was awesome. TB, T-bone, something, T-bone? As I recall, We were one bad play away from sweeping the bears with McCarthy at the helm and not even playing to his full potential, not scared of the bears at all. See, T-bone, you're not really looking at the big picture there. Well, you are correct.

They also had Brian Flores. We'll see if they have him again. Yeah, they were a bad kick return. Caleb also got the ball, would have had the ball at the 35 with 30 seconds left, which judging by this year may have still won that game anyway. people act like it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to stop him. I don't know that that is 100% true. And you're right, it was week one, but Caleb also had the ball. They could say the same thing.

They could say we were one stop away or one drive away from beating the Vikings and winning even another game. So you could do that all day long. But really, the bigger picture is this. It's not about what happened week one. It's about what's going to happen next year. and the year after that, where they have this very young ascending super talent who is becoming more and more lockstep with his head coach and more locked in as the franchise quarterback

there and more confident and can develop his throwing. He could develop those easy throws that he's missing. But what you can't develop is what he's established this year as the guy in Chicago for a very long time and they've got money to spend. The Vikings took advantage of their rookie contract spending over the last two years with the Grenard and the Van Ginkle and so forth. And then the following year with your Javon Hargrave and your Jonathan Allen and Aaron Jones, Byron Murphy and all that.

The Vikings spent those dollars already. The Bears have only done some of that. Dahlman, a couple of, I mean, they overspent on Grady Jarrett, but there's more to be done there with their. salary cap situation. And also, here's the reality. You know, I don't enjoy talking about it, but they've drafted. They have drafted. Darnel Wright is great. And Colston Loveland, that's where I'm saying. I was completely wrong about Colson Loveland because my thought was, can he really be that big of a difference maker? And the answer is yes. I thought the answer would be no,

because a lot of, a lot of tight ends are 10 and a half yards per catch. They're dink and dunk guys. They, they're not different. In fact, I think it was nine out of the top 10 in receptions or maybe targets. Might have been receptions. Nine out of the top 10 didn't make the playoffs for tight ends. Like there's a lot of numbers there that would say, hey, it's great to have Brock Bowers,

but does he really move the needle the way that a great wide receiver does? And the answer's probably no. but Loveland as a secondary type of option to DJ more in their receivers, his athleticism, his hands, his trust, it's been a great draft pick for them. R. Gonzalez, the Vikings should have done a whole rebuild, not a competitive rebuild. Yeah, I think, well, there's two things that they, two reasons they couldn't. number one was the ownership of this team. It's the hardest thing for me to criticize is that they always want to win. Like what a weird thing to say every year your owners want to win.

How dare they? At the same time, that desire to always be in the mix has gotten them to this point. And I think that if it goes sideways and they're not winning in the playoffs next year, it may finally sort of hit them like a ton of bricks of you have. have to, you have to go to the bottom sometimes. You have to get these top draft pick guys sometimes. And you have to clear out. And then look, they did a good job of it from the other roster perspective overall.

If you're going to push your chips into the middle of the table for a two-year window and you look around at the talent on this team, they've done a really good job of it top to bottom. And if J.J. McCarthy had been the 15th best quarterback in the league this year, we'd be talking about I wouldn't be sitting here. I'd be at a playoff game today if he had been the fit. So I think their overall plan was not terrible considering the constraints, but one of the things that they may regret is that they went so all in on McCarthy and him working out in this rookie window that they maybe didn't even think of the fact that it might not work or that he might not be ready.

and also things have happened that you can't control. You can't control him tearing his knee in the first preseason game that he plays. You can't control him hurting his ankle. You can't control him not being, I think, mentally as ready as they thought. Todd says after Williams first year, I thought he was a bust. I was wrong, hopefully wrong about McCarthy too. And that's a little bit of the difference there, Todd, as well, is that, you know, the environment changed completely on Williams.

and he got so much experience for last year. Would, would Caleb Williams be here right now if he threw 200 passes last year? I'm not sure that he would. That's the challenge that they're really facing is that they have to get him experience still. And I don't know how you do that. Like go to the offseason and get a better quarterback coach. I mean, that's, that's not an answer. Stephen says, isn't our culture a major influence that will,

lure free agents to Minnesota. It is, and the building is, but let's also consider that they won 14 games and had a lot of money. And now they did not win 14 games. And now they don't have a lot of money. So, yeah, free agents will come here. And it's important. And the culture is, you know, big and everything else.

But not as big as money and not as big as big as, uh, a team that has a chance to win. I mean, that's, that's always going to be a factor for sure. KFT, the Vikings will have to restructure three of the four highest paid players. Yeah, they will,

like, they're going to get to the cap. I mean, they're going to, they're going to get underneath the cap, but they can't go out and do a redux of what they did last year, and they can't compete with Chicago for free agents now.

Karpupe says, give me a percentage, what's more likely, the Bears are a dynasty, or Matt LaFleur played himself out of a job. it's probably the second one because dynasty is just hard to do in the NFL today. Dynasty is really, really hard to do. You saw even with Kansas City, like they had so many years and then they fell off.

And, you know, I think very, very much higher percentage chance. I wouldn't quite go as high as Richard who's going 98 to 2. But I would go 70% Lafleur playing himself or coaching himself out of a job. And maybe only 30% Dinus. Let's see. Why wasn't Quasi fired? Well, we haven't gotten to Monday yet, so we'll see. But I think the answer is that when you look at the overall health of the franchise and the rest of the roster, that it's pretty easy to say that they got a lot of things right.

And the one thing they needed to get right went wrong, which look, does get people fired. So if they did it, well, you know, that is how it goes. right? If you miss on the biggest thing, which is the quarterback, people do get fired for that. Mike McDaniel getting fired in Miami is kind of wild to me, but couldn't get the most out of the quarterback and off you go. So it does happen. But I think that when you look at the overall plan and the roster and the building to this point, did you, do you think you had enough this year if you had the 12th best quarterback in the league to be a serious? serious contender. To me, the answer is yes. They were top five defensively in both yards per

drive and points per drive. And you can say, well, that's Flores. Well, go back to 2023 when they didn't have as much talent. And they were not anywhere near that. They were still better, but they weren't near that. And they've built up that defense with a lot of spending, but also some good moves as well. And they've gone according to the plan. When the offensive line was healthy, It was good, right? They needed a guy to play better. They needed somewhat at the quarterback position to play a lot better. Jim, the book on the shelf.

Yes, I did write it over this shoulder. Actually, I can't see part of my name there. Let me see. Let me slide a little bit. There, there you can see my name now. Yep. Football is a numbers game, my friend. Check it out if you have a chance.

That is what it's called. It is about where PFF came from, what they do for NFL teams. I spent a year and a half reporting on that. So check it out. It's not just like praising them either. It's like the whole backstory. It's pretty wild. Let's see.

Richard says top five. How awesome did the commanders look? Yeah, no, you're right about that, that the commanders, but Jaden Daniels got hurt. And they also did a pretty bad job. Laramie Tunsel was. a good move, but their coaching staff and their defense, they had like the worst defense in the entire league. I think they were, were they 31st and the Cowboys were 32nd and past defense.

They did not do a great job with the money that they had. So, yes, the Bears can't just, you know, spend badly or not do enough to fix things that are problematic and still get there. Oh, that, that is, that's an absolute fact. but Washington, yes, you make the point there that they had an older roster than the Bears. The Bears have been doing this for a while. They've been tanking for a while. It's not just like they started yesterday.

Wu Kong says Packers got rid of a record kicker and Malik Willis will probably leave too. Get ready to be last for a while with love. So with, yeah, Malik is an interesting story. Malik is definitely an interesting story. Jack, the Bears draft better than the Vikings. You know where I'm headed, Jack. Hold on. Let me go check.

Let's go check draft history and see about the Chicago Bears and the number of picks. Because it's always about the number of picks for me. Let's take a look. Actually, I could share this with you guys. I think I can share this. Now, it's not going to look good. Let's see. How many top 100 picks did they have?

That's always my question. All right. Since 2022, they had three of them in 2022. One, two, three, four of them in 2020. So we're up to seven. Three more is 10. 11, 12, 13, 14.

So the Chicago Bears have had 14th, top 100 picks in the last three years. You know how many the Vikings? have had eight they've had eight i mean that's almost it's close to that's one away or two away from double that's a lot more if you if you have those picks right and that's not to mention all the other picks that they've had if we added up uh how many picks they've actually had it's i mean 11 10 they only had five that one year and then eight it's it's it's more and they're higher because they tanked that's what happened

if you build that way, then you can win that way. If you don't build that way, then you won't. Let's see. Sean Green Bay, for how long has had the most stability in the NFC North. Now we're seeing a team that had two all-star quarterbacks now just have a good quarterback. They may slip a notch. Yeah, that's right. And they'll be more vulnerable to a down year, like a real legitimate down year.

Captain, how can you think a guy like Caleb with a bad attitude and terrible? rookie could turn it around, yet JJ can't. Well, Captain, Caleb Williams is one of the best prospects of the last decade, if not the best. Him and Trevor Lawrence. So that's one reason is you have to look at the amount of talent, just the raw amount of talent. No one was picking J.J. McCarthy number one, number two, or number three. And here's how I know, because the teams drafted one, two, and three and did not take him. In fact, a bunch of other teams, including Atlanta, who I know, they're bad and the Giants and they're bad.

I get it, but other teams also passed on him. So there's information right there about why you would think Caleb Williams has a better chance. I also don't think J.J. McCarthy has a bad attitude. I think Caleb most certainly did last year and got with the right coach. I don't think it's bad attitude. I think that it hasn't played a lot of football and doesn't really fully understand what it requires, which was Caleb's problem last year. But the issue with why he can't turn around

is because Caleb last year played a ton of football. Let me go check. Let's go see how many passes Caleb Williams through last year. It'll take me a second. I got to log back in to my PFF thing here. Let's find out. 2024. How many attempts did Caleb Williams have?

562. I can't see it there. You'll have to believe me. 562. He threw, that's last year. So last year, he got to 562. And this year, he got to 568. So that is now, that's close to 1,200 passes. That is close to a thousand more than J.J. McCarthy.

I don't think that he, that McCarthy is incapable of turning it around. I've said that a million times. I think he is capable of turning it around. But when you're saying like, what's the different? A thousand passes. A thousand passes difference. And he threw way more in college too. Experience.

If you can't get out there and you can't have experience, then you're not going to get that much better. Let's see. Let's see. The DJCI says Packers are in cap hell next year. I haven't looked at their salary cap situation. if it's cap hell or not, but they do struggle to get free agents. I mean, they are kind of locked in with love and Micah Parsons.

It's not going to be that easy. Caleb says the Bears cap isn't that great either, but they're in a spot where they can do anything and everything they want to fit whoever they want into this window for them because it's, that's what it's going to be the Super Bowl window. Caleb, the most impressive things about the Bears, their offensive line turnaround. Yes, because Ben Johnson got the,

there with a clear direction. Clearly what he wanted to do was to build off the run and he was able to do that. And their offensive line is now really, really good. Two all pro off. Oh, yeah, you're talking about the lions. Yeah, the lions, they're going to rebuild their offensive line. But that was the main reason. And losing Ben Johnson. Like, that was the reason. So, I mean, we've seen, this is not a new thing for Ben Johnson. We've seen Ben Johnson turn it very quickly in Detroit. and now very quickly in Chicago. I mean, this is captain. You're just seeing the,

really the very small picture by saying, you almost swept Chicago. Congrats on almost beating Chicago the second time. But a special teams play. Well, I mean, congrats. Like put that up in the rafters. Put it up in the rafters. Almost beat Chicago.

This is not, I'm not talking about the way. And JJ McCarthy played horrendously that day. And if they had had better play, that's great. But the defense is now a year older. So it's, it's, it's a year older now on defense for the Vikings. And it's, if they don't keep Brian Flores, it's different. Greg says, Vikings are eyeing Kyler Murray or Mack Jones, probably.

They, uh, Wu Kong, they need to get Malik from the Packers. If they want to give them the QB one spot. Yep. If they want to give them the QB one spot, which I, I mean, after watching this, would you be against it? but then the crazy thing about Malik Willis is that he threw under 100 passes for Green Bay, and we've decided that he's good already. And I think he looked great, but still, that would be a huge risk in itself. And Stephen says Murray and Mack Jones aren't getting you to be a contender, but who is?

Who is? Aren't those guys the best chance at it at least? Ames Bryce. I'm a Packers fan. Matt deserves to be fired, but there's no better option. I mean, yes, Stefansky, McDaniel, Harbaugh, like there's guys out there that will give you a shot at least. Ron says Zulgad is right.

The Vikings must get younger this offseason. Well, they're going to have a bigger draft, that's for sure. And they have gotten younger in the way that Dallas Turner and Donovan Jackson performed this year. I think that was good for them. But they're not suddenly going to change who they are, right? They're definitely not going to change who they are. who they are. I mean, I know that you, you guys are going to be anti-Kailer Murray if they do it,

but doesn't he give them a better chance? Doesn't he give them a, look at the way he's played. I think it gives him a better chance. Yeah, that's funny. Quasi should utilize ZipRecruiter. That's funny. That's funny, Todd. He would give them a better chance to compete than J.J. did this year. That's for sure. William says I was hoping Caleb would turn back into a pumpkin. Now I need to accept the fact that we'll be battling Detroit and Green Bay for last place in the NFC for years. Things do change quickly, but they are in the best spot by far after this. Mark, is there any self-awareness on the part of the Wills that their approach to building the franchise and never being willing to tank leads to three playoff victories in 20 years? It is,

it is tough, Mark, because when I looked at this before the season or before the playoffs, and I don't know where it stands now, but they were, they were and may still be 20th or 21st in playoff wins since they took over. And a lot of it just stems back to not being able to lock in the quarterback. But oftentimes you have to draft the quarterback pretty darn high. They drafted the quarterback high and it hasn't worked out. It still could, but will it work out quickly enough? That's the hard part.

that I have a tough time seeing. And Stephen says, I think the not willing to tank is fear of losing fans due to star players like Jefferson leaving. Well, it really would have just been 2022. And look, they might have won the division. And I guess the Packers would have won that division that in 2022. It was a bad, it was a bad division that year. So they would have had to have been really bad. But when Kirk tears his Achilles and they don't trade away Danielle Hunter, it's things like that that it just feels like they're never.

thinking long term. It feels like they're always just thinking about the next year. And when they moved on for players into 2023, I thought, oh, they've figured it out. But then they got one sniff of beating the Packers and we're like, no, we're a playoff team with Josh Dobbs. And that's just kind of how it felt. Scamping around, I'd be entertained watching Kyler Murray. Yeah, I think so.

There's at least an upside that you could potentially compete with Kyler Murray. go look at his last year and tell me that that season on the Vikings this year wouldn't have been good enough. You can't. It would have been. I'm not saying he's going to win the Super Bowl, but it certainly makes you more competitive than whatever you were doing this year. Stephen the commander's clean house of their assistant coaches. After a disappointing season, Minnesota is running it back. What's the definition of insanity? Well, it's not over yet for that, but we are, I guess, getting close to enough days away from what's happened to,

to wonder about if there's any changes on the coaching staff or the front office. Certainly wondering, but, you know, you're right, though, running it back, running it back. Yeah, I don't know. Like they did run the ball better this year. Not a twerk. Caleb was, Caleb Williams was taken with the Carolina pick, but they tanked for several years to set that up.

They tanked, they came in, they got rid of Khalil Mack, they got rid of everybody. They completely tore it all the way down. McCarthy, Greg McCarthy has started 10 games in two years and only finished eight. Yeah. Todd says something stinks in Green Bay. 21 to 3 at the half. It did nothing in the third quarter until Lefleur talked to love and all of a sudden touchdown.

Someone is betting on the points, right? Okay, maybe not that. I kind of liked where you were going until that part of it because my thought was love was saying we need to be more aggressive or something. Need to get something going. Go to bed. it's literally after midnight. What, go to bed, man. I got 12 hours before Bill's Jags.

We could talk. We could talk. I mean, look, when there's this many of you who are watching, I'm having a good time. I'm feeling really good also about the setup now with the comments on the screen. I feel great about that. So you guys have me pumped talking about this, but I will call it a night pretty soon. Hour and a half is probably good. Hawk, I says, so what happens if when Kyler craps the bed,

which way are you going to swore? then. Yeah, well, so this is, this is why, this is kind of why I like Kyler as an idea, because if it does implode, then you're making big changes and going to the bottom and actually drafting another quarterback, right? Is that what happens? Isn't that, if you draft, if you get Mac Jones and you win eight games or nine games again, what does that really get you? Kyler is at least the outcome that gets you 12 or 4. And I kind of like that idea. Greg says,

Purdy was drafted last. Oh, I haven't heard. You know, look at everybody else, though. Look at everybody else in the playoffs. Let's do our research. Let's take a look. Who else in the playoffs? Who else do we got?

The Rams, while they traded for their quarterback, but they had to trade their number one quarterback. So that's weird. The Patriots drafted their guy. Seattle did not. The bills drafted theirs. The Jaguars drafted theirs. Chicago.

These are first in the first round. San Francisco didn't. Houston did. Denver did. Steelers didn't. Packers did. Eagles second round. Close enough.

Chargers. Most, wouldn't you say that most of the teams that are in the playoffs drafted their quarterback pretty high? Most of them did? Or even the guy. was. If you go by PFF grade, Justin Fields gets you a better chance to win than J.J. McCarthy. I mean, it was like, look, it wasn't that, wasn't that different of a performance. Justin Fields, when he played with a good team, had more wins than losses. I'm not saying he's good. He's terrible.

But when you look at the numbers, when you look at how they compare, I mentioned this yesterday, that I sorted all of the quarterbacks of the last 15 years by, that were not, you know, top five picks that there were first and second round picks but we're not in the top five and most of the names don't come out all that promising i mean ryan tan hill's kind of the best there e j manual's the most similar the next most similar is a guy that we try not to talk about on the show christian ponder uh gregg says something is dysfunctional when you spend 350 million last off season the result is no playoffs but isn't that the thing is what was dysfunctional is the quarterback.

I think most of the other parts function. I mean, PFF had the Vikings as a top 15 offensive line. It's not great, but it's not terrible considering their injuries. Their wide receivers didn't catch the football. They usually do. Their defense played well. Guitar person, KOC is terrible offensive coordinator. Yes or no?

No, I don't think so. Terrible? No, I don't think terrible. Is he perfect? No, although you saw Ben Johnson do some crazy stuff today. And they won, but he didn't. did some crazy stuff. Is he terrible? No, I would absolutely not call KOC terrible. They were a top 10 offense just last year. So no, I would not say that. Would I say that KOC and

everybody else way overestimated what their offense could do for a young quarterback? Yes, I would. Captain says, I bet JJ has a bigger turnaround than you're expecting. He's going to have some NFL games under his belt. It's going to be healthy in the offseason. Look, I think that that's possible that he could take the next step. But when I lay it out for you, for, like, think about how much of a jump Caleb Williams had to take to get here, that he threw way more than double the passes of McCarthy. That just shows you where, how far behind he is on the timeline. Harbour says Kyler does not seem like the type KOC would want height, play style and prep standpoint. You're probably right.

And you might be right that it could be Kirk Cousins. You might be right about that. but the one thing is about Kyler is when he had a true number one wide receiver, not Marvin Harrison who's never shown to be that, but a true number one receiver, DeAndre Hopkins threw to him a lot and had some success and won some games. And he actually threw a lot more passes than you would have thought on time last year, just by the numbers. Still, doesn't make him a wonderful option.

it doesn't make him like hey if they get kailer murray they're just going to win a super ball it doesn't okay well you guys are right it is uh it is getting a little late and uh i got i mean i got to get ready for more football tomorrow what a day of football and you know we're going to do this again tomorrow this was super fun and i'm glad that you guys uh jumped in on this uh who wins the college football playoff i'm going to go indiana i think they're the strongest team and their quarterback is going to go number one to it team that tanked. We'll see if they suddenly get some coaching candidates after Fernando Mendoza, who I saw a good comp for him. People have been calling him Kirk cousins. He's like

three inches taller than Kirk. And I think he throws the ball a lot harder than Kirk did in college at least. Sam Bradford. I like that comp. Sam Bradford. I'll go Indiana, national champions. But this was a great time. And I'm glad that we could have this reaction, overreaction, breakdown, what it means for the Vikings and all that stuff. Really good discussion with you guys tonight. So Manny Hill has promised to jump in tomorrow night because I'm going to be hosting on WCCO on Monday. So I'm not sure if the live show is going to happen.

But this one tomorrow night, be a lot of fun. So Manny's going to jump in tomorrow. Thanks, everybody, for stopping in and joining. And we'll see what the heck happens tomorrow in the National Football League. I got a lot of FOMO. I got a lot of, you know, wish I was covered a playoff game today. unfortunately, you know, not there because the team that I cover is not there, but maybe somewhere in the near future. So thanks everybody again for watching slash listening and answer that

fan duel question of the day if you haven't yet, but maybe by the time you watch this, those games will be over. So anyway, take care, everybody. Football.