Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - REPORT: Cowboys want Flores. Do the Vikings want Malik Willis?

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts to Sunday's Week 17 action as well as the report that the Cowboys are interested in Vikings DC Brian Flores. 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 Fandul, Matthew Collar here with you, and just got done watching the 49ers and Chicago Bears. 42.38, holy moly, there was some good football over the weekend. I hope you all got a chance to watch it and have it stress-free since the Vikings had already played and won this week. and a lot of compelling drama across the NFL, which we'll get into in just a couple of minutes. But I want to start out with an update from pro football talk on the Brian Flores situation. So Brian Flores is not under contract for next year, according to the Star Tribune. So he is a free agent.

Now, there is momentum gaining about the possibility of Flores getting head coaching opportunities. He has had interviews since leaving the Miami Dolphins, but has not clearly gotten a chance to return to the head coaching ranks. And after the game against the Detroit Lions, there were a lot of his former players and a lot of media members talking about, hey, shouldn't Brian Flores get consideration for head coaching jobs? But if that does not happen, then Brian Flores could have his pick of where he wants to go, including staying in Minnesota, to be the defensive coordinator. And on Saturday, PFT reported that the Vikings and Flores are, quote, working on a new contract. But on Sunday, an update from PFT.

Allow me to read. Quote, the increasing chatter in league circles is that the cowboys will be firmly in play for Flores. The Vikings were told, we are told, are keenly aware of. of that possibility. So here is the question. Why would Brian Flores consider the Dallas Cowboys? Well, you know, money is one of them. But think about his situation in Minnesota.

He has autonomy over the defense and he has players that he has built this roster in his vision, right? The players that he's brought in through free agency, some draft picks or undrafted free agents, some veterans, some guys who have been learning in this system for several years and are just starting to get opportunities like Jay Ward or Theo Jackson. He has players that are stars, Jonathan Granard, Andrew Van Ginkle, a potential rising quality player or more in Dallas Turner after another very good game against the Detroit Lions. He's got a lot of players who are under contract and coming back. We don't know Harrison Smith's situation, but if you go through the entire defense,

there's only a couple spots that are in question at all. So Flores could return to a situation that he knows super well, that the players know him super well, and I think we can all say for sure that it works here with these guys and this coach, right? Going somewhere else, it's not entirely a sure thing that it's going to work the same way, that there would be a total rebuild of a Dallas Cowboys defense.

but that might be enticing to Brian Flores. He came here in 2003 and took over a team that had a good offense and a defense that was absolutely miserable. And then over a couple of years, put the pieces together to reach the point we have now with the Vikings and an elite defense. This, if you went elsewhere, would be an opportunity to do the same. And there's a couple other things that would also potentially, be interesting to Brian Flores.

Number one is money always is interesting to all of us, is it not? And whatever the offer might be, the Dallas Cowboys, they have the money. And they have the owner who always tends to do things a little bit over the top, a little bit bigger. I mean, this is a guy who once called Adrian Peterson and said, hey, if you ever want to become a Dallas Cowboy, which of course is, you know, tampering. but whatever, and, uh, but that happened, right. Jerry is always looking for the big splash to get people talking about Jerry Jones.

Also, Jerry has to be aware that their offense was really excellent this year. And if they had even had an average defense in an unimpressive division, the Dallas Cowboys might be in the playoffs right now. So he has to be desperately looking to prove that Jerry can still get it done. for the Cowboys because he took a lot of criticism this year, especially since they traded Micah Parsons. So they are in a rebuild mode on defense. And what bigger splash could you make than going out and getting a top five,

if not the best defensive coordinator in the entire NFL? And I think those pockets are probably deep enough to go all the way to the center of the earth if Jerry really wants to do it. So that's number one. Number two is when you think about the opportunity that the Dallas Cowboys provide, so let's just say that Flores doesn't have head coaching opportunities, not because of what he's done as a coach, but because of the lawsuit, et cetera, if that's what's causing him to not get any head coaching opportunities, what would be the thing that he could do to really push down the gas pedal and force the NFL to get. give him more chances, right? How much attention is Flores getting right now? A little when it's an island game and his defense plays that well.

Former players, media members, they talked about Brian Flores for a day and then a bunch of stuff happened and it went right off the front page, right? And they're going to have a meaningless week 18 game and people are not going to be talking about Brian Flores. Well, if he went to the Dallas Cowboys and I'm not trying to talk him into it, just why would they be interested in is this possible if he went to the dallas cowboys you are on the front page of every major media outlet every day all the time off season regular season every single week is leading with the dallas cowboys whenever the espns and the fox sports is can do so right

the size of their market the size of their fan base it is on national tv all the time whether they're good or bad. It is a debate topic all the time, whether they're good or bad. And if Brian Flores was the hero in Dallas who went to the Cowboys, fix their defense as he did immediately in 2023 here, and then in the big picture, completely rebuilt this from terrible in 2022 to elite the last two years. If he did the same thing there, then I mean, he would be talked about nonstop. The discussions over. his lawsuit, the discussions over him not being hired as a head coach would be ongoing all the time, not an occasional mention when the Vikings get on national TV and his defense performs

that well. So if that is still his goal and he cannot accomplish it now, that would put him in the driver's seat to force the NFL. Hey, ESPN's going to be talking about the B-Flow defense time and time and time again. And some owner is either going to break rank or or the league is going to be forced to get something done with this lawsuit, right, and not continue to drag their feet as they have for so long. So when we think about the money opportunity, the, I mean, really, I mean, just the publicity opportunity to show your defense on that sort of stage. And then there is another potential factor here, which is the offense.

Dak Prescott is a very, very good quarterback. Now, you might say, hey, he's kind of like a Kirk type of thing. Right, you know, maybe that's true. I think he's a little bit slightly better than Kirk in his prime, but it's, you know, kind of close. But with the offense they had this year with Dak Prescott, if you had a top defense, even top 15, that team is competing for a playoff spot. And what it may come down to, if you're on the defensive side this year and you're looking at the Vikings future quarterback, and you're looking at the NFC North after watching Caleb Williams play, on Sunday night football, you may be thinking, you know what, I might rather have an offense that's going to give me a little help.

Because when he arrived in Minnesota, they had Kirk and then they had Sam Darnold and they had good offenses that could help out his defense. And I think we've really seen this year just how much a poor offense impacts the defense. They've scratched and clawed and helped this team get to eight wins. But imagine if they even had the 15th best offense that they would have a lot. more sacks. They'd have a lot more turnovers. We've seen that when they've gotten to play from ahead that they could take the ball

away and sack the opposing quarterback. Dak Prescott presents a baseline of offensive performance that you know when Dak's been good. He's had 12 win seasons if they've had good defenses to go along with it. And the potential for the national

stage, a playoff team, a good quarterback, I mean playoff team potential, right? If you fix the defense. All of those things could interest Brian Flores. So that's the explanation for why. Now, if you're a Vikings fan, and I saw Anthony Barr was tweeting about this as well, you're saying, please do not, please do not go to the Dallas Cowboys.

What it may come down to is a couple of things. How important is it to Brian Flores that this is his? I was looking this up today, and this has been an oversight on. my part. I'm going to admit that that Isaiah Rogers is PFF's 12th best cornerback this year. That was a Brian Flores brainchild, right? He had a couple of rough games. Philadelphia was a tough one. But overall, I mean, that's some of the best cornerback play that the Vikings have had in a while. Very, very solid from Isaiah Rogers. That's his guy. They re-signed Byron Murphy Jr., Andrew Van Ginkle, one of his favorite people ever, is coming back. Dallas Turner, the guy he drafted and who's taken so

many arrows over the last two years as 40 quarterback pressures now and is becoming a dude right and so he's seeing how about a jalen redmond who they find and develop and turns into this level of player do you want to walk away from something that you've put together so nicely right now when you get to keep a lot of it uh the also the community Minnesota has really embrace Brian Flores, and I think that that matters to him and his family, I'm sure. I don't know if it is the life of a coach to be bouncing around. I don't know if that would sway him one way or the other. Maybe there's a situation where Dallas could offer some sort of title, some assistant

coach type of thing, assistant head coach. I'm not sure if the Vikings would have that ability to do something like that as well, or if they want to. maybe it's easier done with Brian Schottenheimer than Kevin O'Connell. I don't know. There's a lot of factors of this that none of us really know what Brian Flores is thinking. And we will talk to him this week. But usually in the past, he's kind of said, yep, you know, I'm still interested

of being a head coach. And that's all he has really wanted to say. So we shall see going forward. But Dallas, to me, aside from teams looking for head coaches, is the biggest threat to the Vikings concerning Brian. Flores. 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

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How about Malik Willis? So just last week, I was starting to get some emails about Malik Willis. Like, hey, should he be included in this conversation for next year? Like, hey, what about Malik Willis as a guy for the Vikings to sign who could maybe compete with J.J. McCarthy? And my thought was like, oh, you know, I don't know about like a fit, like how well he's going to fit with the KOC offense. Is he too much of a one speed thrower still? That was kind of his reputation. they put in a lot of stuff that's like RPO's and they use his mobility.

I don't know if O'Connell really loves that stuff or is as comfortable with it as, you know, having a pocket quarterback. But then Malik Willis against the Baltimore Ravens has a phenomenal game. Plays like a QB1 to the point where I'm seeing Packers people saying, should we trade Jordan Love? Which, of course, you know, that wouldn't make any sense. at all. But, uh, Malik, well, you know, I guess with the expense, if you really thought that Malik Willis could perform the same and you could pay him half. So I shouldn't say it wouldn't make any

sense at all. But it would be pretty darn surprising for as well as Jordan Love has played this year. If they just said, nope, see you, Jordan Love. We're sticking with Malik Willis. Now, I don't think so. However, Malik Willis very likely just played himself into a fairly significant contract and out of the possibility of being a Minnesota Viking. And if you're thinking, hey, man, what are you talking about? It's one game against Baltimore. Well, his overall numbers are good. And when you look around the league, how many teams are desperate for a quarterback?

How many? I mean, you could come up with, is it at least eight, nine, ten? Truly desperate. You're probably looking at five or six. Last year, the truly desperate for a quarterback New York Jets gave a two-year $40 million contract to Justin Fields, 20 mil per year for Justin Fields, who had already busted out of Chicago, benched by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and still got that much money from the New York Jets. Competition will drive this type of thing. The Steelers, we don't know their situation, the Cardinals, the Jets. there are a number of teams that are just lost in the woods. The Miami Dolphins, what are they going to do?

Is it Quinn Ewers who played pretty good on Sunday? I mean, there are a lot of teams that should be intrigued by the idea of bringing in Malik Willis. And if he has his pick of the litter, he's not going to pick a team that drafted their quarterback 10th overall for the same reason that Daniel Jones did not sign as the Minnesota Vikings backup. Malik Willis will likely have a chance to go in. in as a team's QB1.

And the cool thing about this is that it's a little bit of a throwback. Like, we don't see this happen that often. It used to happen a lot. In fact, with Packers' quarterbacks like Mark Brunel or Matt Hasselbeck, where a guy would develop for a few years and then, you know, move on and become a starter for another team. Well, this looks like what's going to happen with Malik Willis. And I don't think the Vikings can get into that conversation with, you know,

Malik. Speaking of him, he was injured in the game, Malik Willis, and played through a shoulder injury and somehow threw the heck out of the ball in that game. And because the Green Bay Packers lost, now the Vikings game against the Packers has no playoff implications. And I have to say, you know, you guys know, I don't root for things, you know, and that sort of stuff. It gets talked about sometimes on the show. Do journalists root for stuff? What I do root for is fun, entertainment, intrigue, storylines. And I got to tell you, all of those went circling down the drain when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Baltimore Ravens and locked themselves into the number seven seed. Now the Vikings will play Clayton Tune more likely than not and no other

starters if they have them. The Packers are already so banged up. And whether it's J.J. McCarthy or not at quarterback, it is not a game that we can really use to make any judgments about anybody, because you're talking about playing the opposing team's backups. This is a preseason game now at US Bank Stadium. And maybe you can get tickets for a reasonable price if you haven't been before. And that might be a positive for some fans who don't get to go all the time and want to go see the Vikings, but that's all the positives I can come up with for this. If they had meaning to this game for the Packers,

then it would be an opportunity for the Vikings to play. Spoiler, knock them out of their chance to win, you know, the division, right? And because Chicago lost to San Francisco, that would have been on the table. Instead, it's not. And it will be a glorified preseason game, which then leads us into if J.J. McCarthy plays in this game, then what is it?

What are we supposed to do with it? Right? we see all around the league these meaningless contests where I mean look at the new york jets that didn't even show up at all and drake may had an unbelievable game but what does that mean so we see that all the time in the NFL teams that have given up teams that have tanked and what i would like to see more than anything is the vikings play their future players if they're going to treat it like a preseason game so should you uh you don't want anybody going into the offseason with injuries. You don't want some of your key players. Maybe you play them the first half,

the first quarter, whatever it is. But I'd like to see the Ty Felton's, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Dwight McLaughern, Todd, did I say Ty Felton? There's not that many young play. Zay Scott, the backup tight ends, Ben Sims. Let's just see anybody who is under the age of 26 play for the Minnesota Vikings. And not too much. I mean, of course, course Harrison Smith's going to play the whole game, but maybe try to get him that last interception, but not, not too much of, you know, guys that are really super important to you, because if you suffer an injury in the last game of the season and that person gets set back into the off season, it could be a problem. But if J.J. McCarthy does play, we'll do our best

to break it down. What does it look like? Does he end on a positive note? I guess that's the only thing you're looking at. But if there's no pressure, you can run the ball against them because it's all their backups and guys are wide open okay i mean justin jefferson has to get to a thousand yards then take him out of the game other than that uh the wind out of the sales uh that was one where it was like oh man stop derrick henry just once easier said than done um i'd let i mean there's a few backup offensive linemen i'd like to see you know treat treat it like a true evaluation game for some guys to get action who have not gotten a lot so far this year. Let me run through some other thoughts from week 17.

So something that we've been talking about going back and forth. And I wondered aloud the other day to myself, was I, was I wrong about Rogers? Because if you go back and the internet's forever and look at what I was saying in March or February about Aaron Rodgers, or April, however long that went on about the Vikings bringing in Aaron Rogers is my thought was, no, absolutely not, no way. I mean, they eventually agreed and didn't decide to do it, but I was strongly against it in part because he had not played well, really well, since 2021, and then there's the distraction element and everything else.

Now, I think it's a fact that the Vikings would be a playoff team with Aaron Rogers. If you look at the way he's played this year for Pittsburgh, it's good enough to have them one win away from the playoffs. I think the Vikings have a better defense than Pittsburgh. He could have guided them through a couple of the tough times. You get one or two more wins and, hey, you're there, right? Like the Packers have nine and a half wins. Well, you know, get one or two more, right? Or one more and then play this game for the play.

With Aaron Rogers, I think we can all agree, this team would be in the playoffs. But the way that Rogers played against the Cleveland Browns, and I saw a lot of criticism for their game plan, but this was, it was a very poor performance by the quarterback. That's why I could not get on board with Rogers, because I think we all would have agreed that he could get them to the playoffs. is, is that a real chance at winning a Super Bowl what we're seeing in Pittsburgh right now? Is that a team that you really think can go into the playoffs and run through the postseason? I mean, crazier things have happened, but I think every team is hoping that they line up to play against the Steelers.

And they might still miss the playoffs. If they lose to the Baltimore Ravens next week, again, very possible the way Derek Henry is playing. Maybe Lamar comes back. they could lose to the Ravens and miss the postseason all together and completely collapse in part because they've just had uneven play at the quarterback position. And well, again, I think they would be in the playoffs with Rogers. The ceiling was so limited with him. It's two different discussions with him and Sam Darnold, who will get to.

That's two different discussions. Rogers, to me, would have solidified them, the Vikings just being kind of a mid-team. not gotten J.J. McCarthy on the field and you would have just had a season. To me, that's not what you're aiming for. So after seeing him today, I thought, well, maybe, maybe I would stick with my original take that it was not a good idea to get Aaron Rogers. Bears 49ers, here's what I would like to say about Bears 49ers. Minnesota Vikings, as you go into this offseason, I want you to remember Bears 49ers.

I want you to think about it, and I want you to mull it over what it means, what it says. The Chicago Bears do not have a good enough defense to win the Super Bowl. I don't believe that they'll have a chance to win it. They've gotten away with a lot of stuff at the end of games. I'm not saying their team is completely lucky. They've also beaten some good teams this year. But the point being that, you know, Chicago as a complete team is not there yet. But the way Caleb Williams played in that game gave them a chance to win a game where their defense allowed 42 points.

And he is maybe a drop or two away or one more little ounce of energy on the throw away at the goal line from winning a game where his defense gave up 42 points. This is a gentleman that you will have to play next year and beyond. How big of a jump can J.J. McCarthy take in an offseason? Can he take a big enough jump to play that game to give you a chance to win that game? That is something that they have to consider with a lot of pressure on next year. And 9 and 8 does not remove that pressure for me. Winning all the meaningless games against the bad teams at the end of the year. And hey, Detroit, you can't say they're a great team.

They're going to be sitting home. In fact, they could finish fourth. in the division so yeah i mean you get a week one win versus a very new ben jonson offense in which you're down a bunch of points and then the rest of your wins dallas washington the giants alliance team that's obviously very flawed these are these are your victories are you going to get to a place next year with your quarterback that you can play this game. That's something they have to ask themselves. I don't know the answer to that. I don't know what they have seen behind the scenes, although we put a lot of weight in that last year. And

that may have been a mistake because they thought J.J. McCarthy was ready to go. And it's clear that he was not. But the point is, I don't know which way they're going to go at the quarterback position this offseason. I don't know if they're going to take big swings. I don't know if they're going to bring in someone that shocks us, or if Carson Wentz is going to be the backup quarterback, I truly do not know where they stand on that. But I just want them to think about it. Just think about Bears 49ers, playoff stuff on the line, 42.38. Can you play in that game? Because look, I know you have a better defense and you say, oh, we would never. Yeah, but sometimes, I mean, against the Chargers, you know, you got a bunch of players hurt and you can't hang.

there were other times this year against the Ravens couldn't hang can do you think that McCarthy could take a big enough step to play in that game next year and win that game against Caleb Williams like Brock Purdy did Brock Purdy who you know I don't know it always drove me crazy when people suggested Brock wasn't a really good quarterback after he took a team to the Super Bowl like okay well should we all be so blessed to have the biggest criticism be hey, you took your team to the Super Bowl because the rest of your team was good. I always thought it was kind of ridiculous. But Purdy has become a great quarterback.

Can you get to that point with J.J. McCarthy? And if not, then can you get someone who can get you closer to that? And, you know, going back to 2022, two teams took very different routes. The Chicago Bears tanked. The Vikings did not. The Vikings had a couple of division. well, one division title and then another year where they won 14 games, it didn't get a division title.

So two great seasons, and they didn't win the playoffs. And you do think about what Dan Campbell said about the Lions also with the Vikings. Did you, with the 14 wins or with the 13 wins, did you miss your shot? Because now the Packers are going to be strong. Mike is coming back. You know, they're going to be good. They'll probably win the seventh seed next year. The Lions are not going anywhere.

going to be competitive, if not better, maybe a little bit of a splash of cold water for them. And the Chicago Bears, look at the line that they've built, look at the coach that they have, they could pour a lot of money still into that defense. And Caleb Williams took huge steps forward and is hard to stop in crunch time and can only get better. You talk about someone who's on a Josh Allen track, it's probably Caleb Williams, who in year three could take another step forward. That should be very scary to the Minnesota Vikings. Can you, can you get that step out of J.J. McCarthy to go toe to toe with that guy and teams like that and games like that? San Francisco, Shanahan. If not, then what's your answer?

I also want to include in this the Tank Bowl, which I was the only one keeping an eye on, because, as you guys know, I have a fascination with tanking. You know, why? Because it works a lot. In fact, the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots could speak to that as well as the Houston Texans, a couple of teams that tanked recently and rebuilt successfully. So the Raiders and the Giants, two will be gone franchises going up against each other. The Giants win the game.

And I saw a report that they'll have, they needed the momentum of the win. Oh, that's fantastic. Congratulations to them on the momentum where you're changing coaches and half of your roster, and I'm sure it'll just magically carry over. But anyway, the Raiders won the Tank Bowl by losing. And that makes me wonder about the status of Gino Smith going forward. Now, PSA, you're going to hate every single idea that I ever bring up for the Vikings at quarterback. We know this.

But Gino Smith has to be somebody. in consideration, because you could bring him in as a backup slash competition. And if he doesn't win the job, you could probably trade him to somebody else. I mean, they traded Sam Howell for a fifth round draft pick. Of course you could trade Gino Smith to a team with a quarterback injury. So that would be one reason to do it. The other reason is last year, he was a 10-win quarterback. And you have a guy with a huge arm that played in the worst possible circumstances.

I think we know this about Gino Smith. like Sam Darnold, if you give them the worst circumstances in the league, they're not going to make you a 12-win team. But if you give them a good team, they can win with them. So Gino Smith is on my radar as a potential option for the Vikings, because if the Raiders solidify the number one pick, then that would mean more likely than not, Fernando Mendoza would be their selection as finally maybe getting real

about where they are as a franchise. something to keep an eye on again you don't have to tell me every time i hate that idea he stinks etc etc i know it's not ideal it's also the most vikings thing ever that he would come here and reach the nfc championship i'm just saying but what you're looking for for another quarterback is to thread the needle of being able to actually win should he win a camp competition because if you bring back Carson Wentz, he went two and three, like that's who he is. That's a fine backup quarterback, but that's not real competition. That's like another Sam Howl, like a slightly better Sam Howl, if even that.

That's not real competition. I think you need someone who is pushing him to where if you can't reach this bar, if you can't get to this high, then you are not the quarterback. And it reminds me a little bit of Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. And that was year three of Anthony Richardson. And Daniel Jones beats him out. And had he stayed healthy, they're probably, I mean, it's a really good division. But they might be in the playoffs.

So I think that's what the Vikings are looking for, a guy who could win games and start, but does not set the bar so high. Like if you get Joe Burrow or if you got Kyler Murray, Kyler's the starter. If you get Kyler Murray, he's the starter. You're not starting McCarthy. If you get Gino off of this kind of year, it's a competition. And if McCarthy loses it, you know everything you need to know about J.J. McCarthy. So I like the idea for that reason.

I know all of you will not like it, but you'll probably not like any idea. So except for Joe Burrow. Just have to have that said each it every time. Okay, let's get a couple of fan questions before we call it a wrap. Oh, I wanted to say also, as the league moves away from, oh, there's two more things. As the league moves away from outdoor stadiums, I kind of understood today. I'm the most anti-dome person, unless it's Minnesota, where it's legitimately dangerous to not have a dome. But, you know, having grown up at Buffalo, they're doing the thing on ESPN countdown with Chris Berman and Kelly and Tasker is so great.

You know, the snow and the fans and everything. and I know they're not building an actual dome, but Kansas City is going to do it and just, you know, come on. But that Bill's Eagles game, it did make a case. No completions for Jalen Hertz. Josh Allen had trouble throwing the ball. They miss on the two-point conversion at the end. All right, fair enough.

Maybe you don't, all teams don't want to play in freezing rain. Wanted to mention a couple of quick notes about Sam Darnold, because as I said, the conversation is very different. between Sam Darnold and Aaron Rogers. So Aaron Rogers, I think, would have had them stuck in Midland, and I'd rather just find out about J.J. McCarthy. Sam Darnold, a couple little factoids for you here, as quarterbacked the highest scoring Seahawks team in their franchise's history,

and also became the one, two, three, four, fifth quarterback to have back-to-back 13-win seasons, and the other four are Brady, Manning, Fav, and Rogers. So just thought that I would throw those out there. It amazes me how when the Vikings do something wrong, it doesn't just kind of go bad. It goes volcanically bad. It explodes in ways that we never could have predicted. And before the season, I predicted the Seahawks would go nine and eight

and that Darnel would throw for 400 or 4,500 yards, and I thought they'd be a fun team. 13 wins. I know he didn't play that great against the Panthers. They have a great complete team. They sure do. So do the Vikings, by the way. If you're saying, oh, well, hey, he's just a product of the Seahawks.

Well, that Seahawks defense looks a lot like the Vikings defense. So anyway, again, you know, that's one that I think is a different discussion when you can get to 13 wins because the way I always set the bar is, and I know don't leave the comment, it's not worth typing, moving your fingers to say, let me know when he wins the Super Bowl.

Here's always been the way that I've evaluated this. And I gave Kirk his flowers for this when they won 13. That a couple years ago, I went through the standards to reach the Super Bowl. Like what you needed to do in the regular season to be considered a real potential Super Bowl champion. You needed to outscore your opponents by at least 100 points, was usually about the bar.

Now, this year it might be different because there's been so much parity. There is outliers to this, but that was about average. If you didn't outscore your opponents by 100 points, there was lower chances for you to win the Super Bowl. If you didn't win at least 11 games, there were lower chances. And if you did not rank in the top 10 offensively, again. Well, you have Sam Darnold in back-to-back seasons checking all those boxes that the Vikings for many years have not checked. They have not been a top offense.

They, I mean, even last year they were a top 10 offense and they had 14 wins and they outscored their opponents by 100. So they gave themselves a chance going into the playoffs. Then you need stuff to go right. Not like, hey, another team wins 15 and you have to go to Arizona to play your playoff game. You need a good matchup, you need injury luck, whatever, right? Everyone knows that. The Super Bowl's hard to win, and a lot of stuff can happen. Somebody gets home field advantage, et cetera.

The Eagles got there in 2022 because Brock Purdy tore his arm, right? Things happen. But at least my thing is, if you have reached those bars, then it's a success. And the Vikings, obviously, not being in the playoffs, not a success. but Sam Darnold doing it again. That's what you were aiming for is a guy who year after year would give you a shot at that. And he's now done that in the NFL and put his name up there with some really great quarterbacks. You could say, yeah, they got a good team, but so do the Vikings.

Yeah, they got a good coach. Well, yeah, that's especially on defense this year. So anyway, congratulations to Sam Darnold there. And I'll be interested. The Seattle Seahawks have a heck of a team. I don't know about that offensive line, though, of the Seahawks. Even against the unimpressive Carolina pass rush, there were too many times where there was quick pressure or he wasn't trusting the offensive line.

I think you can really see that. So that will be quite interesting. Fan dual question of the day for you guys to answer in the comments, please, if you can. Next week, the Vikings are five and a half point favorites over the Green Bay Packers at home. Does it matter to you if they win this game? And if it does, tell me why. Because, you know, I don't think there's too much draft status or, well, the schedule thing, I guess, could still play out.

But does it matter to you that the Vikings win this game? Let me get to a couple of fan questions and we will call it a wrap. Let's go with, so Mark wrote and asked, should the Vikings start Brett Rippin to get just a Jefferson 1,000 yards? It couldn't be worse, could it? Well, if J.J. McCarthy can play, then J.J. McCarthy should play. My thing about McCarthy playing is, let's just all make sure that we are properly framing what's happened here at the end of the season with J.J. McCarthy. Worst defenses in the league and a preseason game at the end of the year.

So if it's, it's hard, because it is a football team, right? And it's guys who are playing in the league. but when it's a preseason game, you just have to keep it in context. It's not that it doesn't count or that it didn't happen, but I'm just saying we don't know yet for sure about McCarthy's status, so we'll have to see on that. If he cannot play, then John Wolford or Brett Rippin should start, yes. And you can bring in Max Rosemar later if you want him to just get more reps

because, you know, he just could maybe use that. He looked okay against the Giants because they're horrendous. But doesn't that tell you everything, right? about how much the quality of defense matters. So maybe it would be good for Brett or for Max Brosmer to play under circumstances that are more like the preseason. But you need that thousand yards. It's really important.

It's important to him. It should be important to the entire franchise. So I agree with you. I don't think it's a crazy idea. Rippin is not a good quarterback, clearly. But he has at least won a couple games in the NFL before. So, you know, I guess, I mean, Wolford is. all the options are bad somebody needs to go in and throw in the ball get him to 53 yards

uh stephen says matt the defense is resurgence during the second half of the season because of the new or was it because of the new starters and they finally caught on or excuse me was the defense's resurgence during the second half of the season because the new starters finally caught on or was it because they were healthy for the first time got it a little bit of A and a little bit of B, but I think it's more B. I think it's more health than it is the starters catching on or the new starters catching on. Because when you're without, like, who won the game for them last week? Well, I would start with number 22, Harrison Smith.

Well, he was out for a huge portion of the season. Well, okay, how about Andrew Van Ginkle also out? How about Blake Cashman, 17 tackles? These guys weren't playing. and you're trying to fill those spots with, you know, Ivan Pace, who has been just completely washed out of the roster and barely gets on the field. Now, he's a special teamer. And Eric Wilson in this role has become a star for them, but not in the cashman role.

He was fine, but he wasn't this where he's like a hybrid outside linebacker. So I think it is getting them much more healthy with those three key players. and then, well, where they've really done well is getting Redmond on the field with Alan and Hargrave. The three of them and sometimes even four defensive tackles, that has been a really, really good and advantageous situation because Alan and Hargrave get one-on-one matchups. And when those guys could get one-on-one matchups, they can win them. And we've seen that a lot from Allen and Hargrave in the second half of the season. But when they're getting double-teamed and the other teams running a lot, they're getting pushed back. They are not 325-pound nose tackles.

So I think those two things are part of it, but I would definitely go with the health more than anything else. Dermoman says, who is your Super Bowl winner? I think it will be the Seahawks. How Vikings would that be? That's what I mean about the volcanic nature of their mess-ups. It can never just be, you know, a kicker misses sometime in a playoff game. It's got to be like the worst possible time.

Who do I think? Well, let's take a look at the, the Fanduil updated Super Bowl odds. The Los Angeles Rams are plus 490, are the favorites. The Seattle Seahawks are plus 600, Philadelphia plus 850, Denver now up to plus 900, San Fran plus 950 and New England, and Buffalo both are plus 1,000. I made the prediction earlier this year. Now, keep in mind, I have never gotten a Super Bowl prediction correct.

I do it's I don't know it's it's hard to get one right since I've been doing the show maybe could I have predicted Brady way back maybe I put maybe I predicted Brady to win one I don't know anyway I don't recall since this show has been around ever picking one correctly but Los Angeles and Buffalo just makes too much sense to me and I know the bills had a tough go at it today and they've got some flaws and anytime you have to rely as much as they do on receivers that you never heard of or, you know, guys that are washed up. That's tough. But they are an incredible running team and they got the best quarterback. And even if they've got flaws in other places, he's going to put

him there. And with Pat Mahomes out, he's the guy. And if Lamar, if Lamar is out and we know Lamar has not been playing the same this year, like he is far and away the best quarterback going into the playoffs. I think there are stronger teams. I honestly think Jacksonville is a stronger team. Houston's probably a stronger team. The Denver Broncos are stronger, but the quarterback position still a number one in this world. So I'm going to go with Josh Allen and the likely MVP runner up, I guess. I still think Stafford is deserving. Maybe if he has a big Monday night showing against Atlanta that Stafford can still win MVP, but deserving one way or the other. I'm going to go with the two quarterbacks that I think are the best in the world right now,

Stafford and Josh Allen in the Super Bowl. We'll see. We'll see how it plays out. I mean, this is as wide open as I can ever remember the NFL. Maybe that's said a lot, but I mean, this is super wide open when we're looking at all the teams that you could make a pretty good case for. All right. Well, it will be an interesting week this week. We'll find out about J.J. McCarthy status.

We'll hear from Brian Flores. and we will lead up to Vikings Packers and NFL. You either hit a home run or you totally strike out with putting these big division games in week 18. And this is a big old strikeout. That's unfortunate. But we'll find a lot of interesting stuff to talk about. And we'll start to shift our focus to the future as we've been doing in little spurts, but got some thoughts and some ideas to really start getting into it.

So I haven't done a mock at a while. They've been winning. I think we need to bring a mock. all right thanks everybody for watching slash listening and we'll see you later football