Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Sam Darnold's knee is OK and we pick the rest of the Vikings schedule

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill talk about how fans are feeling about the team being 3-0, Manny picks the schedule and gets a little nuts and we finally talk about the Darnold-McCarthy dynamic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. Great to be with you on this evening. And guess what everybody, the Minnesota Vikings are 3-0. So in the quest for the perfect stream, please let me know how everything is looking, how everything is sounding, because I've been working through trying to get the best possible look we can and make it some more efforts. And you know what I have done in my effort is be able to get the live chat on screen. So look at this, everybody. There you go.

Got those comments back on the screen. We figured that out. So that means ask a lot of questions. We'll have some fun here for about the next half hour. And then Manny Hill will come on. Of course, you can continue to chat with us. Oh, there was no, the audio wasn't playing for the music. Okay, well, we'll work on that.

We will work our way through that. But at least you saw the intro nonetheless in the countdown. And good to hear that it's sounding nice and clear. We got the microphone set up back. I know that I got to make sure I'm not blocking the Vikings logo there behind me. So now we're, uh, now we're good to go. So, okay. Well, if the music didn't come through, that's not the worst thing to ever happen, but we'll

work on that. I think I know the solution to that. Um, but as long as you can hear me, see me, it sounds good. It sounds crisp. Manny will be in here. And you know what we're going to do very soon is Manny is going to pick the rest of the Vikings schedule. And if you thought that he was pumped for last week when the Vikings won and went to

2-0 and Manny picked 11-6, I cannot imagine what Manny is going to go for this week, but you know what? It becomes less and less ridiculous to pick this team to be very good as we go forward now, because they are sitting at three and oh, and I mentioned it yesterday, but I'll keep saying it that if this team goes 500 the rest of the way, then they are going to be a 10-7 team, which usually is good enough to get into the playoffs and could be good enough to compete with the division because these teams are going to beat up on each other throughout the next several months of our lives. So there's two things to really talk about today.

And number one, I want to know how you're feeling. I want to know your feelings. We share here on the show pretty regularly. How are you feeling with 3-0? Are you sitting here thinking there's something evil around the corner as there so often is in Vikings history? Are you thinking championship, baby? Are you thinking that you are cautiously optimistic about the team

or maybe cautiously pessimistic, like I'm going to need to see a heck of a lot more. So jump in the comments. Let me know what you think. I am very interested about your viewpoint on this because I'm trying to formulate my own viewpoint on this. What I've mostly been going with, it has been, hey, let's just kind of see what happens because I don't really know what to expect from here when something like this, when a team comes out of nowhere-ish, I mean, not nowhere necessarily if you were paying really close attention

to this team throughout training camp and everything else, but nowhere in the way that we didn't expect them to be 3-0. There's only a handful of teams in the entire NFL who are 3-0. So, of course, if you had said, oh, yeah, guaranteed 3-0, all right, well, then you would have been put. Show me the betting receipt then of you betting for them being 3-0 because I don't even think the biggest Vikings honk would have said 3-0.

Probably 2-1 would have been the best case scenario in this situation and they are better than that uh at this spot um so are you feeling like they are going to be one of those teams in vikings history that surprises us but becomes an unbelievably memorable season is this a hot stretch and when we have examples of this all through Vikings history, you can reach back into history and find every single one of these scenarios that have happened. You can find 1998 where they were a complete shock to be 15 and one, or you can have 2016 where they went five and oh, and then they ended up falling off in the second half of the season, finishing three and eight the rest of the way, had a bunch of pretty tough losses and close losses, and they end up missing

the playoffs. Injuries got them big time that year. And so it just sort of underscores how long the season is that both of those things are still very much on the table. Is it a 2016? Is it a 2017 for the younger viewer who maybe saw the Minneapolis miracle and the way that season played out? But in 2017, we really didn't think that they were going to be any good until maybe like Thanksgiving when they beat the Detroit

Lions on Thanksgiving in 2017. That's when we started to really talk about them. And I also think there was a win in there against the Los Angeles Rams. That was really impressive in the 2017 season. That was the prove it. Okay. They had beaten some teams, but go prove it. And then they went to Atlanta and shut down Matt Ryan and won that game as

well. Okay. This team could go deep in the playoffs, the way that they were playing against some good quarterbacks or good offenses when they faced them. But we've gotten those tests so much earlier now with the first couple weeks of the season and two of the better quarterbacks

and the better offenses in the NFL. And I don't think that there is any downplaying how good the 49ers and Texans are. They may not be quite as good as last year for the 49ers as you saw them blow that game against the Los Angeles Rams, but that doesn't change my opinion on how good of a win that was and how talented and deep San Francisco really is. Their backup running back is tremendous, and they had their tight end. They had their wide receiver where they did not have those things yesterday with Debo Samuel and George

Kittle. And then when you talk about the Houston Texans, those wide receivers are incredible. Nico Collins had something like 250 yards already coming into the game and then was completely shut down. They kept Stefan Diggs in front of them. Tank Dell did absolutely nothing. And some of it was self-inflicted by the Houston Texans, but I refuse to believe that it was just all self-inflicted because the Vikings have done plenty of inflicting. And I think that that's when I look through the roster and I look through how they've won these games and I don't see luck elements. I don't see, okay see okay well they're three and oh but they played nobody they're three and oh but they got lucky they're three okay so you what's let's talk about what could keep going and what could not keep going they're not going to get five sacks

a game if you got five sacks a game that would be like having Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White on your team. That's about how you would end up or John Randall and Everson Griffin in his prime or something like that. They have a very good defense, but I don't know that they have Bruce Smith and Reggie White on the same defense. So five sacks a game is maybe a little much that will come down at some point. But would you be surprised if they leave the NFL in sacks with the way that they play? I would not. So I think the pressure on opposing quarterbacks is going to continue. I think the confusion with the defense is going to continue

and it can be much more shape-shifting than last year because they have the personnel to do it, where you could say that opponents figured them out at the end of last year because they have the personnel to do it, where you could say that opponents figured them out at the end of last year. Was it really figuring them out or was it the fact that they lost players that were starters and they had nobody else to come in for them? They have to stay relatively healthy. They need Stephon Gilmore, absolutely need Stephon Gilmore. They need Shaq Griffin to stay healthy. They need Byron Murphy to stay healthy and all the safeties. You can have Theo Jackson come in for a couple of weeks, I'm sure, but they need that group to stay healthy. It was impressive that they were able to replace Ivan Pace Jr. with Kamu Grugier-Hill, who's a veteran. They could replace some people

on the D-line. They could replace Dallas Turner, but not really the secondary. Those are the guys that they need a big time to stay healthy. So being that it's a long season, that is really important. Still, I don't see a major regression point when you've already played great quarterbacks and great offensive minds in Kyle Shanahan and in Bobby Slowik who have had so much success. It's not like it gets harder than that. It may be on the same level, but it doesn't get harder. They will have more road games. They do have a game in London, but they get the bye week after that. They have not played any division games yet.

So we can't really judge them on the division games. And then the other side of the ball, what it really comes down to is Sam Darnold. And I expect some regression for Sam Darnold because he's not going to finish the season with 117 quarterback rating. And let's see, he's got eight touchdowns through three weeks. Somebody do the math. But is that like a 40 touchdown season for Sam Darnold? I'm not sure it's going to be quite on that level, but at the same time, as we talk about Darnold and potential regression, they will face some nasty defenses. The Jets are a very good defense. I would say the Packers are much, much improved on defense though. They haven't really been tested the last couple of weeks. And then, you know, when it goes to, you know, the, after the break, you're, you're talking about Detroit and Los Angeles. These are not easy teams for a quarterback to go up against with Aiden Hutchinson on

that Detroit team. They're playing much better defense than they did last season so far. So there's going to be a lot of tests going forward for Sam Darnold, but the convincing point to me about him continuing to do this, other than his confidence, other than just working with Kevin O'Connell and what that looks like is really the fact that TJ Hawkinson and Jordan Addison will come back. And you've already proven that Jalen Naylor can do this. You've already proven that Aaron Jones is a major impact player out of the backfield. That is so impressive

yesterday with his receiving out of the backfield outside of when he's setting an illegal pick, which probably was an illegal pick that he negated a touchdown for. But that element, the screens have been working, the running game has been working, and the left guard has been working. The right guard, once again, the left guard has been working the right guard. Once again, not so much yesterday, but four out of five of the offense has been coming in pretty well so far. And that is something that I just can't see getting much worse outside of injury. The only, that's really the only thing. And we just never know when that's going to happen. That could really take them down. And on the injury front, Sam Darnold

has a bruised knee that the team announced to us today and does not have anything that has happened to other quarterbacks knees recently does not have a meniscus or anything else, but just a bruise in his knee. So he is going to be available. It doesn't sound like he's going to miss any real practice reps this week. We'll see on the practice report come Wednesday, but it appears that Sam Darnold is 100% to go to Lambeau and play there as the Vikings quarterback. The fact that he came back in the game, he was looking as spry as he was still after bruising his knee,

and then he comes back the next day and there's no real problems. That was enormous, obviously for them, because if you do lose Darnold, then you're talking about going to Nick Mullins to try to save your season. But the fact that he is healthy means that whatever celebrating you were doing after three and O, and then you heard the words MRI or letters MRI, you probably got pretty nervous because after JJ McCarthy played so well and then had an MRI, it did not turn out to be too good, but Sam Darnold goes in there. And it, you know, is an interesting comment today from Bill Belichick on the Pat McAfee show. Uh, Belichick said that the people he had talked to around the league, and I imagine he's rather connected,

had told him that they liked Sam Darnold. And I had heard this as well from people that had worked with Darnold in previous teams, that they did like the way that Sam Darnold carried himself as a quarterback. And they really did look at the circumstances that he had been under and said, this is the reason why this guy has struggled so much, not necessarily him as a quarterback. And we're seeing him now when he has all the things that he can work with. And I think he's been more accurate than he's ever been though, before certainly more confident and the receivers catch everything. Now that Naylor is, has been as good as he is. There are schemed receivers open the play

action game worked out very good yesterday, the running game and which one of these things is going to fall off the map. It would only be if Sam Darnold, if I thought he was playing totally reckless and getting away with it, that was the discussion from 2017, because I was thinking to myself the other day about 2017 and how we spent so much of that season. And you know, you've had to have been following the show all the way back to my AM radio days to know this, but we spent so much of the show debating whether case Keenum could actually be good for an entire season and whether case Keenum could be the quarterback onto the future. And there was this real distraction dynamic to it with Teddy coming back.

And we're not knowing what Sam Bradford is going on. There isn't any of that. And there really isn't any question about the man's talent with Sam Darnold. And I don't feel like he's played crazy reckless and gotten away with it. He's certainly had his moments that backward pass that Brandon Powell picked up and saved his bacon was pretty good. And there's a couple of passes that are into tight traffic, but I don't know what game doesn't have those from even good quarterbacks. If he continues to protect the football the way that he has, this isn't going anywhere. The only question is that at some point, does that regress just the way he's playing and protecting the

football but now the sample size has grown all the way back to 2022 of sam darnold not playing like a psycho with the ball and it's been a while since he was that crazy turnover worthy play guy that existed in 2021 and before that with the new y Jets. Is this a different Sam Darnold? It looks like it. It really looks like it. And we can get fooled in all sports. All sports work this way. The Jeremy Lynn sanity, you know, the hot baseball hitter comes in, hits a bunch of home runs, but that's not who they really are. But when somebody has this level of raw talent, it's so much easier to buy into the idea that it can continue. So let me scroll back up to the top and start reading through your

comments and thoughts on this. I just want to know your emotional state at the moment with the Vikings at three and L a record that I don't think anybody really expected. So digit says, uh, my expectations of all of assessing what needs this team have exposed throughout the games that they played so far. Yeah. I mean, what has really, what has stood out as far as things that could get them is I think what you're getting at, what could get them. And the two things that come to mind to me are Kenny Clark could get them and has before and very likely will again and Garrett Bradbury I'm absolutely certain that he is dealing with a knee injury because there have been several times that he has grabbed at his knee

during games and it looks like he's struggled to get up a couple of times with the knee him going up against Kenny Clark at Ingram, they got smashed in the middle in this last game. And that's where you do get your interceptions on the hand going forward. Somebody hits it, pops up in the air. That's where you get the quarterback getting hit hard, the constant distraction, not being able to step up in the pocket. Nick Mullins and I had a conversation about interior pressure. Maybe last

year I wrote a story about it. And he just said that as a quarterback, you really can't stand interior pressure because that's where you're moving up into. And when you have bodies in your face all the time there, like that's where your vision is. That's where you're all your hitches and your step-ups are. And it is very uncomfortable for a quarterback against green Bay. It's going to be uncomfortable and going forward, there's lots of teams that can create that pressure. So that's part of it. And that could cause turnovers. Uh, and then on the defensive side, it's really, can you keep covering because they, one thing that they have to their advantage and the defense earned it but they have played with a lead a lot which is a lot easier for a defense how are they going to cover when

they are playing a close game when they're playing against a team that does have their number that day and they do have to get a key stop over and over again as opposed to well we got up because of a turnover and a couple of really good plays by the Texans were negated by penalties because Sean Hockley was in his freaking bag yesterday. But I mean, aside from that, aside from that coverage concern, I mean, that's pretty much all I could say about the defense, but they're being helped out so much by the amount of pressure that's being created up front. There will be games where they don't just eliminate the other team entirely. Even the greatest defenses ever have had games where they struggle. That's actually

where I want to see them. Can they still find a way to make enough plays even if the other team does have their number? So they haven't had that test yet, even though they've played good teams. JP says the Green Bay game will be tough. Willis is playing well and Matt LaFleur calling some awesome plays. Also Kenny Clark facing his son, Garrett Bradbury, right? That's going to be a big issue. Never goes unnoticed. There's also a chance of love playing. That is a dynamic to this game that adds a layer of intrigue for sure is I guarantee you the Packers are not naming their starting quarterback this week. They will not tell you who has been practicing, how many reps, but the fact that

Jordan Love was close last week does make you think that he could be pretty close to returning as a starter and then they could go back to playing their normal offense as opposed to the air force offense, which has been really effective for them the last couple of weeks. But I don't know if it would be, uh, if they're going up against Matt LaFleur, who is so familiar with the Vikings and familiar with what Brian Flores brings to the table and just how they play. So, you know, I think the division adds a different element than San Francisco or especially Houston that has no familiarity at all coming in here. Daniel says, can we talk about the ranking second and fewest points allowed? It is something.

And I've said this before on the show, and I like saying it, is when a defense is good, it's so much fun. It is so much fun to watch because the players get into it. They celebrate every big sack and every play, and you feel like the other team is suffocating. And when the other team is just falling apart out there and jumping offside and they're not getting their motions correct and the quarterback looks shook. I mean, there is, it's not just me. It's everyone who enjoys football, loves watching that feeling of the other team drowning out there against the defense.

Unless of course it's your own team's offense. Then of course you're not enjoying it. But if you're the Texas fans watching that, you had to be shocked and miserable, but that's what this defense is doing. And it's really entertaining when a defense plays this well. And I don't think that there's anything fluky about it because every one of the players who is doing it has all done it before. I mean, when we talk about Jonathan Grenard, going back to last year, I had this stat today from PFF that he ended last season after week six of last season with the Texans. There were only three games where he didn't have at least four pressures. This is what he does.

And ESPN has a win rate stat where he was the sixth best in the entire league. Every stat points to this is who Jonathan Grenard is. The reason that Van Ginkle is here is because he did the same thing with the Miami defense that ranked so high when he was playing for Brian Flores there. Stephon Gilmore won the defensive MVP and was good for Dallas last year. These are not things that are really surprising from these particular players. Maybe the only surprise is Patrick Jones has been quite good. Jihad Ward's been a solid role player.

I'm not stunned by that because he had been around. Kamu Grugier-Hill making the impact plays that he did may have been a little bit of a surprise, but he's been around as well. So every one of these guys, you could draw back into their histories as opposed to, oh, hey, they're getting, if it was Dallas Turner with five sacks in a game or something, you might go, well, we'll see if he can keep that going. But Dallas Turner doesn't even have to be a major impact player on this team for them to succeed defensively. And when you could draft the guy in the first round and

not even ask him to be everything for your defense and have a game where he doesn't play. And yet you perform that well, that just shows how good and how deep you really are. So I don't see a weak point that is so weak where I'm saying, well, eventually once that gets exposed, it's over, but maybe, maybe it'll show itself with injuries or something like that as we go along. But that's why this start makes me think that it can continue to succeed as we go forward. Mike says, I'm ready to get hurt again, but the direction of this team is on. I have hoped that we'll one day see them in a Super Bowl. And you can't really start going there yet, of course, and saying those words Super Bowl.

The only thing I would say, though, to that end is they have shown this group, this coaching staff, this general manager, they have shown a capability to build a team that is complete and very, very good in a short amount of time, which is a lot of competence for a front office and a lot of good decisions had to be made for the front office. And if they go to JJ McCarthy, they will still have the cap space advantage. I'm not going to go there yet on the Sam Darnold long-term quarterback because we're just not there yet. We're not to that point yet where we're talking about this team having some really difficult decision to make. If we get 10 weeks into the season and Darnold is an MVP, then we're going to have to have that

conversation of what do they do with JJ McCarthy sitting behind him. But when the team has been really well coached, maybe the most well-coached team in the NFL, aside from what, Pittsburgh being 3-0 is very impressive. Green Bay winning the last couple of games is really impressive with their backup quarterback who just got to their team. But a top five, top three coaching job in the entire NFL so far by Kevin O'Connell,

a top three defense by Brian Flores, and the roster construction giving everything that they need at almost every position across the board. If you can do this within a couple of years from arriving here to a pretty messy situation, then I'm kind of believing that you can do it long-term that's why i'm more or less buying into this team being good in the in the long term and we're going to find out just how much my good friend manny hill is also buying in to the minnesota vikings start to the season mr hill how are you this evening i'm quite good i you know it's i'm kind of making fun of myself right now because i forgot that there were two monday night games tonight so i'm like i've got my you know computer on right

now and i'm trying to like find a way to get both both games on the screen at the same time so i can watch both uh but now you're really asking to melt the internet uh man you've had such a good track record this year last year your head froze all the time with your internet internet uh man you've had such a good track record this year last year your head froze all the time with your internet but this year you've done so well if you start streaming this and two games at the same time it will absolutely be a problem uh so we've been i've been asking uh our listeners and i figured out how to get comments on the screen again so i'm very happy about that i I've been asking the listeners how they feel, what their emotions are. And I don't want to mess around with you too long.

I want to get you picking this schedule almost immediately. So I hope you're prepared for that, but give, give me your feelings. Give me your thoughts and feelings. Three and O, are you ready to be heard again? Am I ready to be heard again am i ready to be heard again um no not really because i i still i mean even though i'm really excited about the start i i still don't think that this is a team that's gonna like go to the super bowl or anything like that so i'm just kind of as we've kind of talked about these first couple of weeks i'm just kind of in in the living in the moment with this team right now and just kind of enjoying what i'm seeing each game with each week and not really thinking so much and of course i'm being a little bit of a hypocrite because we're going to

pick the schedule at some point here tonight but um i'm not you know so much looking ahead of to like you know what are they going to do against the New York jets in a couple of weeks? I'm just thinking about, okay, the three and oh, they're in first place. They're going to play the Packers this week. What's what's, what is this going to look like? You know, is Jordan love going to actually come back and play? It sounds like maybe he will.

That's going to be a really intriguing and interesting matchup. So I'm just kind of living in the moment with this team and enjoying the ride right now. I actually like that a lot. I like the living in the moment season. I've been going with, let's just see what happens season, but living in the moment season sounds pretty good to me as a tagline. Let's not screw around. I want to get right to you picking the schedule because I got several tweets after they won on Sunday of people saying, oh, I can't wait to see how many wins, man. He gives them this week. So I like this as an every single week bit. And you were a little skeptical. I did pick the Vikings and you picked the Texans and it was a total blowout. So your accuracy is not perfect so far. In fact, I think you're one in two so far of your attempts to pick the

schedule maybe like everybody else who did it so let's get right into it september 29th i will travel to lambeau field and how about this crazy factoid here stefan gilmore has never played at lambeau before you believe that his whole career he's never played there yeah i mean i guess it kind of makes sense because he was in the afc for a long time with 35 yeah yeah i mean but he was in buffalo and new england for a long time um and you know he spent a year in india well did the because he spent a year with the colts and the panthers and the panthers yeah and the the vikings played the colts the year he was with the colts that was the 33 nothing comeback game um i think must have been panthers at colts that year or something but anyway i just thought yeah we

don't have to get too caught up in this i just thought it was an interesting factoid from the locker room today that he said he's looking forward to his first time. So, win or loss at Lambeau Field, Mr. Hill? I'm going to call it a loss. All right, good night, man. And now everybody in the comments section is just going to, you know, they're going to rip me to shreds now. It was great to have you on again.

I'm not paying for this appearance. Okay, 3-1. I don't think that this team is going to do letdown games, but they could do ran into a really good team on the road games. These last two, you have to keep in mind these last two have been at home. And CJ Stroud had never played in that building before. So, okay, 3-1. The Jets in London, before. So, okay. Three and one, the jets in London,

eight 30 start times, uh, are the Vikings going to take on different accents to their play in, uh, England? I know the jets have won a couple of games in a row now. Um, after losing, after looking terrible in week one against San Francisco. Um, but I'm to call this a win for the Vikings because I'm still not like, I'm still not really sure how good the Jets actually are. You know, they beat a bad New England team this past Thursday and they beat up on a bad Tennessee team the week before. So I'm not really sure that the Jets are really that serious of a team so far. So I'll call that a win for the Vikings. Okay. Four and one at the bye, just like everybody had it. And isn't that amazing, though? You only need to win one of the next two.

I love that math, just how that ends up playing out when you get to 3-0. Because if you win one of the next two, you're 4-1 going to the bye. They come out of the bye at U.S. Bank Stadium and play Mr. Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. I will call that a loss. Okay, so two division losses for this team. Just call them a fraud, Manny. All right, 4-2 heading out to L.A. Thursday night. I will be there.

I haven't booked my travel yet, but I'm planning on it. 4-2 on Thursday night football. A couple of weeks ago, I was a little skeptical about this game um but based on what I've seen and I know the Rams just beat you know the Niners yesterday uh but the Niners are really beat up right now as we've seen they got a lot of guys that are banged up um I'm gonna call that a win okay against the Rams five and two I could see that Indianapolis and uh Anthony Richardson really truly has not learned yet how to throw a football so far.

It will take time. He has very few starts in the NFL, but it has not been a great start for him. This is a tough one to see the Vikings losing. Brian Flores against Anthony Richardson, but don't let that shade your opinion. So you've got them at five and two. Yeah, I got this as a win too. Anthony Richardson, just really inaccurate throws right now and just kind of some bad decisions that we're seeing. And I think that Brian Flores will eat that for lunch.

And so I'll call that a win. All right. To six and two to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Everybody listens to the show knows I'm planning a golf trip for this one. Paul Hodwanik is down there now, former intern of Purple Insider, working for PGATour.com. And I'm bringing the sticks

and we're going to make a weekend out of it, which will be great for me, but will it be great for the Vikings? It's crazy. You know, the Rams game is going to feel like maybe a bit of a home game because Vikings fans kind of travel pretty good out there, and the Rams don't really have a home fan base, it doesn't seem like.

It's kind of the same thing with the Jaguars, too. And I just don't think Jacksonville's very good. There's talent there. Trevor Lawrence is talented, obviously, but I'm not sure that Doug Peterson has a real sense of what's going on down there um they just don't seem to be very good so i'll call that a win for the vikings too okay so are we to seven and two at the moment and i had to call you a hater on the two losses uh tennessee tennessee and will levis who uh i everybody heard going into the draft that year that they did not

like Will Levis and they had a chance to draft him and they said no thank you and I think we are seeing exactly why because the decision making of Will Levis is the same as it was in college which is bad um road game in Nashville this could be the letdown game if you're picking a random letdown game, but they're playing the Titans November 17th. That's what did you say? Is it eight and two? They would be seven and two after the Jaguars. Okay, seven and two.

Maybe I already put this down as a win, but what do you think? Yeah, I mean, we might as well just say eight and two because that'll be a win. Yeah, if Will Levis is still starting by then, I don't even know who their backup is in the scenario that maybe Levis gets benched. But he's just two bad interceptions again this week, and he's just not good, man.

So I'll call that a win. The backup quarterback is Malik Willis. No, they gave away Malik Willis, uh, surprisingly to the Packers and help them win eight and two headed to soldier field, which has not been the same level of house of horrors recently. I will say Caleb Williams looked a lot better. Yes. Not great. And still had a couple turnovers, but a lot better in his most recent game. I imagine by this point he will have developed to some extent, but do you think the Vikings can go to nine and two, man? I think this is where we might see a stumble,

not because I think that the Bears are like going to be great, because right now it doesn't look like they're going to be all that good. But I do think, to your point about Caleb Williams, I do think he'll be playing much better by then. And this is, Soldier Field is just always kind of a crazy place to play for the Vikings, even in games where they win.

So I'll put this down as a loss. Okay, nine and three, and you've given them all division losses. That's not good. Yeah, they're all four in the division at this point. That's crazy. Not great. Is that three or is that four? That's three, right?

Or is it four yeah i thought your losses were green bay detroit and chicago is there any other way okay so nine and three all right so now they're playing arizona at home december 1st i will call that a win okay now to 10 and 3 facing off with michael pennix on december 8 or Kirk Cousins possibly who can't QB sneak. Now we know that Kirk Cousins cannot QB sneak just real quick. And I don't want to take too many off ramps here on this subject, but if your quarterback can't QB sneak at the end of a game, that's not great for you. And the other night was the Kirkius Kirk game that has not great for you and the other night was the kirkiest kirk game that has ever kirked it just it stayed close the whole time they had chances to win but they didn't get there

and they had a bad call that their fans were blaming and saying the game was rigged and it just it was like super drama at the end classic classic kirk game so 10 and 3 uh with uh maybe the revenge game of all revenge games for this season and a funny thing last night too is the chiefs didn't even play well no that's what's really even funnier about that um yeah i i just i don't know what to think about atlanta i just can't figure them out it they just look like a nine and eight or eight or nine team right now which is kind of part of the course with kirk cousins yeah um so i will i will call that a win at home i got them at 11 and was that about 11 and three yeah 11 and three this is why everyone wanted you to pick this schedule

this will this will change i imagine at some point uh seattle though heck of a team out there in seattle that they will travel to at 11 we got one more we got one more with chicago oh chicago i'm sorry i looked past that yeah home in chicago um i'll call that a win okay so they're 12 and 3 and this is one of the great seasons in vikings history to this point going to seattle sorry i jumped the gun because i'm so interested in seattle mom i think i think we got them at 11 and 3 okay yeah 11 11 and 3 yeah yeah how hard is it for us to have written this down instead of trying to keep track of it amidst other conversations i was 11 and 3 going to seattle i was told there would be no math um

uh that i will put that down as a loss seattle looks i think seattle looks pretty good right really good yeah yeah they look really good. That's a tough place to play. Yeah, I'll put that down as a loss. All right. Versus Green Bay, December 29th, as they are 11-4, playing at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 20th. I will put that down as a win.

Okay. They are 12-4 going to Detroit. I imagine this has to be for the division. Yeah. okay they are 12 and 4 going to detroit i imagine this has to be for the division yeah and you know in previous in previous times when i've picked out the schedule i've kind of assumed that the vikings would win this game because the lions might be resting starters because they would have had the division locked up already um but if you're telling me that this is actually going to be for the division this might actually be a game that's really tight and competitive. And I'm going to put this down as a Detroit Lions victory. Okay.

12 and five season for the Minnesota Vikings this year. And somehow you don't sound like a crazy person because of what we've seen over these three games. And it had to be to get you to that point. It had to be a very convincing win over the Houston Texans and my goodness it absolutely was that so let's get to let's get to our comments here with Manny we got a lot of conversation here in the chat which is awesome great to see a huge crowd here tonight everybody wanted to show up to see how crazy Manny would go with the schedule I don't think you went completely nuts,

but the fact that I'm saying 12 and five, you don't sound completely nuts really says something about the way they've played these first three weeks. Chris says, haven't been this excited for the team since 2017. And Clifford says, this is a better team than 2017. I'm not ready for that level of heat, Manny. I'm just not there yet. That was the best defense in the National Football League in 2017. Run, pass, and point. Yeah, it was not even really like a conversation at that point. It was just, I mean, you could just watch and see how good that defense was and this defense is really really good i'm i'm about ready to call this like one of the top five defenses in the nfl the way they've played these first three weeks um but i don't i don't think they're as good as 17 17 is like

i would encourage fans to go back and just if you find just youtube highlights from that season and just watch that defense the way they, the way they they rushed the passer. I mean, there was really not a weakness at all on that defense at all. So, yeah, that's close, but I don't quite think that they're 2017. And even though I think Sam Darnold is a better quarterback than Case Keenum, that's not a hot take. Case Keenum for one season, his results, he played like a top 10 quarterback. They had a top 10 passing game. The running game can probably be a little bit better this year, but there's two players that would make me say they're not there yet for 2017. Linval Joseph and Xavier Rhodes.

The defensive tackles have been good. I mean, best possible scenario this year, not Linval 17 and Xavier Rhodes. I really like what Stefan Gilmore has done. Xavier Rhodes that year, Island, Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, like a bunch of different wide receivers, Mike Evans, and shut them down throughout that season. Not quite what they're doing now. They're not really doing the Island thing, even if Gilmore is doing some traveling, what they're doing now. They're not really doing the island thing, even if Gilmore is doing some traveling, but they're going to have to prove that they can slow top receivers over and over again, the way they did that year. I don't think it's crazy far off though, because of how violent they are and how they pressure the quarterback

and the defensive coordinator is an absolute mastermind. So I, I think that they will be a top five defense now. Um, but I don't know about number one and run pass end points that might be hard to achieve. Uh, is the faithful says this is making me nervous because this team's success doesn't feel fluky. And that's my thing, Manny. I feel like I've gone over it repeatedly in my brain and on this show and been like, wait, where where's the where's the regression point where's the well you know this is going to happen it really is just if it's darn old or not yeah i mean it all really depends on him because it seems like this defense

is going to be this good you know provided everybody can kind of stay provided they can stay as healthy as possible. It doesn't really feel like what this defense is doing is fluky. I think it just comes down to can Sam Darnold maintain this level of play? It doesn't mean, as we saw yesterday, it doesn't mean

he has to throw for 300 yards. It just means he has to make good decisions, run the offense execute make a play once in a while when it's needed um and just not turn the ball over not you know throw the ball to the other team if he can do that then yeah i mean this this thing can this train can keep going the way it's going but it's just going to depend on like what he's able to do um to kind of maintain some consistency. Daniel says it's easier because of who we beat.

And that I completely agree with. If they had gone 3-0 against mediocre teams, then I would say, okay, let's really see them prove it to us. Great start, but go ahead and play somebody good, right? We went through that in 2019 where they had beaten a lot of teams, but every time they went up against the contender, it seemed like they fell short with this team. They've already gone up against two contenders and beaten both of them. Topaz says in denial, but trending up, there has to be some cognitive dissonance with everyone

watching this because this is just not what was really expected. And everybody that I talked to, whether it's fans or just other people in the media or whatever. Okay. What are you picking their record as? What are you picking the record at? And it was mostly nine and eight, 10 and seven,

eight, nine, somewhere in that range. Not, no one was saying that there was even the possibility of 12, which is still very, very far off. And you're a crazy person for picking it that way.

But even to have that be discussed of this team being one of the better teams in the NFL, that was not on anybody's radar. So I imagine that some folks are holding on to a little bit of, this can't be real, right? This can't be this good. But I guessings history is always that uh overreaction bot says comfortable wins are so novel that is i was thinking about

that manny when was the last time in a vikings win that i was just kind of looking at the crowd looking outside thinking about what i was going to write at the end of a game, as opposed to a mad scramble to write an instant reaction because the game had ended in some crazy way. What a weird feeling yesterday to just be going, oh, yeah, this one's kind of over and it's sort of been over. I'm trying to go back maybe 2019 during that Kirk Tober stretch where they like four games in a row because they had the bad loss in Chicago where everybody was just everybody was pissed off. You know, Diggs went AWOL and everything. And then they had those four straight wins.

It was against pretty, pretty low level competition. It was like the Giants and the Lions were bad back then. But that was the last time where they like won comfortably over somebody that i can think of it really was uh it was the even the week one was the biggest victory they had had since the chargers game late in 2019 that was a season of blowouts they faced like david blau or something when they played the lions and i remember showing up to the stadium that day, feeling like,

Oh, why am I even here? This is one I could have stayed home for because this team is going to bash David Blau's brains in. And then they did. There might be some feelings of that later in this season of the, well, okay,

this team's playing a backup quarterback. This one's over onto the next one. And again, that has not been the feeling. And that's really a testament. You know, we make it about Kirk and he does play that way throughout his career, but it's also really about the defense that the defense since 2019 could not close the team out. They just didn't have the talent. And we saw it from floors last year. They did it a few times against bad teams,

but not against good teams and with mike zimmer's defenses 2020 and 2021 just and of course donatelle the donatelle disaster you you could never walk away i remember our friend judd in the game against the the colts yeah he walks away from that one they come back but that they would do that too though they didn't even have blowouts in the other way very often because they would always come back. So that might not be the same way with this team. Clifford says, very deserved 3-0. I'm thinking at least playoffs, if not a deep run in the playoffs.

That's where I can't quite get there yet because there's so many more tests to pass before we can start trying to figure out what kind of playoff team that they might be. We can't even really start talking about the playoffs until halfway through the season and where they sit. Daniel says, still want a road win against a legit playoff contender after week six. Check that box and the sky is the limit. Well, if you're talking about after week six, they don't, I mean, that's the Seattle game and Detroit late in the season. There's not that many tests against really good teams in the whole second half of the

season outside of the division. They play their division games. But when you're talking about the South, all the South teams are bad. I thought all the South teams might actually be good. They might be the South teams again. All bad. Yeah. I mean, when I first picked the schedule a couple of weeks ago

and had them at like a 9-8, 10-7 kind of mark, this was with the thought that, okay, they're probably going to lose to San Francisco. They're probably going to lose to Houston and be 1-2 out of the first three games. I mean, we were thinking like if they can get to the first seven games at like three and four, we're still kind of having a really interesting conversation. We're still having interesting conversations about this team. But you win those two games against the Niners and Texans. Now it's like you're three and oh, and now you're looking at the second half of the schedule and you're like, this is if they if they put themselves in really good position before the buy and come out of the buy, you know, you got a tough test with Detroit at home, though. But then it's like L.A. OK, the Rams don't really know how good they are.

They look, you know, really bad against Arizona. And, you know, they found a way to beat San Francisco yesterday. And then Indianapolis, who I thought would be better than what they've shown so far, they don't look very good. Jacksonville, I thought would be good. They don't look very good right now. I'm not surprised to see Tennessee be bad, but you never know with a team like that.

So this is looking like if everybody can stay healthy this is going to be a really fun team to watch and it's going to be really interesting that we're going to have games in like week 15 week 16 week 17 that are going to be really really really interesting i think at some point there's going to be a loss that they have that we didn't see coming and how they respond to that will be a great test for Darnold because Darnold in the past, and a lot of this is driven by who's around him. And that's been talked about just a little bit, but he also would get into ruts like with the other teams that he played for where it wasn't just one week.

It was a multiple week. He's down and he's playing bad for three weeks in a row and can't really pull himself out of it. Well, he hasn't played bad for any weeks in a row. And the infrastructure is really great. You can't deny that when you just throw the ball up toward Justin Jefferson, he's going to catch it 98% of the time, unless it was yesterday where he was trying to catch it with a jammed thumb and he just kind of, I can't catch

it, but I don't know why he was in the game at that point anyway, but still the fact that they're getting stronger on offense with the supporting cast, we see TJ Hawkinson walking around. He looks like he's going to be ready to go pretty quickly here and seems like he's chomping at the bit and also was really walking tall in the locker room today after, you know, Iowa over Minnesota. So he had some things to say about that as well, but he's going to be coming back. Addison, I think is going to come back this week, at least the way that Kevin O'Connell made it sound like today, which was not really the headline because Sam Darnall had an MRI. And when that happens, everybody watch out. We got an MRI here, but he did mention that Addison is in a good

place. So we could start to see that ramp up. Now Naylor is wide receiver three, but more confident wide receiver three because he believes he can do it. So this team does feel like it's going to get stronger around Sam Darnall to maybe prevent something like that big dip like they have been known to take in the past. And so is he. Nick says, I'm believing this team is legit. I'm hoping we have a huge problem answering. Keep Sam or hope JJ next offseason. We can't keep both. Yeah, I just I just don't know what to do with that problem yet, Manny. Because once I start rolling down all the scenarios, I almost can't keep both. Yeah, I just don't know what to do with that problem yet, Manny, because once I start rolling down all the scenarios, I almost can't stop myself.

I can't stop myself from, oh, well, if he does this, but if he has this many touchdowns and they get that many wins, but what if they win in the play? But what if they don't win? And then I just want to go, hey, 3-0, 3-0. Let's not do this yet with the Sam Darnold problem, but it's a good point that if they play really, really well, we are going to be having that discussion. And if we are, then we know it

was a really great season for this team. And I also just want to point out too, or let me ask you this, Manny, what week do we get to say to those people who maybe ranked Sam Darnold as the 30th best quarterback going into the league? How do you feel today? Who, if you, if you ranked Jacoby Brissett ahead of Sam Darnold, like you good, uh, did you, I've always had this, this rage against the quarterback rating rankings, because my issue is that they never factor the team around the quarterback. They just go with the recent performance. And if they like the guy in the draft and that's all that ever seems to be considered. And I wrote an article about this couple of years ago about Jalen hurts. He was being ranked the 20th best quarterback in the

league. And my point was, they're not going to have the 20th best offense in the league. And my point was, they're not going to have the 20th best offense in the league. They've got all these weapons and stuff. And with Darnold, I thought how in the world could you put Deshaun Watson and Jacoby Brissett ahead of Sam Darnold when he's got all these things at his disposal and, uh, and here we are. So I don't, I don't three wins is still not the point where you start dunking on those people, but some of the dialogue around Sam Darnold was basically you'd present all this evidence and you've got the board with all the pictures and it's tied together with yarn. You're like, see,

I think you could maybe do it. And then some people would just go, he sucks, bro. Stop. And I just thought that was really unfair throughout the off season. And now here we are at three. No.

So I don't know. I think after week seven, after the lions, after the lions come, come here to us bank stadium, depending on how that goes and depending on like what the Vikings record is at that point. I think that is like,

if they're, cause that would be what? Six games at that point. Right out of the buy. like, if they're, because that would be, what, six games at that point? Right out of the bye? Yeah. If the Vikings are 4-2 or 5-1 and Darnold is really playing well, and, like, let's say they beat Detroit. Let's say they're 5-1 after the Lions game and they just beat the Lions.

I mean, at that point, I am dunking on people. I am dunking on people i am dunking on people because at some point you're gonna have to just like see enough and and have enough of an understanding like okay yeah this is this guy we know how talented he is he's on a team that has really good infrastructure a really good you know offensive mind as a head coach a head coach who's really who's i think shown that he's really good at like getting a lot of players and building confidence and and you know for guys that for guys like sam donald especially who've gone through a lot and been around a lot of bad coaching and a lot of bad situations dealing with the new york media

going you know getting ou outset out of there and going to Carolina and having to deal with Matt rule, you know, and, and if Kevin O'Connell can kind of continue this sort of uplifting and, and, um, uh, I don't know what the other word is I'm looking for, but, you know, just that continued building of confidence at some point, you just got to give the, you got to give the guys flowers, you know? Well, yeah. And I think that that was such a big part of the environment conversation. And so I did want to talk to you about this with the national media's attention. Now on the Minnesota Vikings, I saw no less than about 10, all 22 breakdowns of Sam Darnold of Brian Flores, his defense at three and all, they have all the sudden gone, Oh, Oh, the Vikings.

Oh, they're a team. And so much through the off season. And I don't blame these people. They have to try to track 32 teams. It's very difficult, but I thought that the dialogue was just kind of lazy about this team. Like, ah, you know, they'll probably finish last. Caleb Williams is more exciting than them.

And when JJ McCarthy went down, it was like, oh, well, their season's kind of over because McCarthy went down. And he said, wait, he wasn't even going to play at first. And so much of the focus was on, well, they've got a rookie quarterback. It's going to be Sam Darnold. And it's sort of dismissive of,

and this is, there's so many people talking football that I'm not directing this at anyone in particular, but it just felt like the whole team because Sam Darnold was their quarterback, even in the betting markets was just totally dismissed. And after walking out of training camp, I didn't feel like that was really fair. So now the attention is on them. I don't think this team will have a ton of problems dealing with that because of the number of veterans, but I am interested in Sam Darnold and how he navigates this now because he just went from the, no one is talking about the Vikings or Darnold. I mean, good luck. If you're a national reporter, writing a story about him getting a click until week one.

And then now you are kind of the darling of the NFL as everyone talks about how good you have been. And this team dealing with that expectation, I think is something to keep track of as we go forward. It is. And I think another thing to kind of keep track of, if this defense continues to play the way it has, which I think both you and I think that they will,

now how much more attention starts to get paid to like Brian Flores and the job that he's doing with this defense? Because the national media, the only time they were talking about Brian Flores in the last month or so was when the Tua stuff came out. They were completely kind of ignoring about, you know, all the moves that the Vikings made in the off season to bring in Andrew Van Ginkle, to bring in Jonathan Grenard, you know, to, to, you know,

bring in, you know, Blake Cashman. And so, so many of these other guys, and they're not really noticing that it's not just Sam Darnold sort of possibly, you know, revitalizing his career. It's also this defense and the way they have shut down, you know, Brock Purdy and CJ Stroud now in consecutive weeks. Like, at what point does that start to be, you know, noticed by the national media? It's like, OK, well, this defense is playing really well. So Sam Darnold doesn't have to throw

for 400 yards for this team to win. And that can take a lot of pressure off of him. I think it's going to be really fascinating to kind of find out like when not just Sam Darnold, but like the entire team and the way they're winning this games, when winning these games starts to get a lot of the attention. Yeah. I think that now is the time that we're starting to see that. And everyone is starting to take notice of it, which last year there was a little bit of it when they were winning with Josh Dobbs. And then some people said, Oh, Brian Flores is doing a good job with that defense. But now when you beat teams like this, then it's like prolific in the way that they've played over the last two weeks,

which is getting attention. And I, I thought that you were going to go in the direction of, well, now is he going to get a head coaching job, but that's also too far down the road for me. I still don't think so. Brian Murphy said this morning that he does think so. Maybe I think it's a Steve Spagnuolo situation where he's just going to be a great defensive coordinator for this team for a long time, which speaks to the future of where this franchise can go and be a contender for years to come. It feels too early to say things like that, but yet not so much as we've seen two years of Flores developing and building this defense kind of in his vision.

And that's been impressive as well. But another good point though, is as everyone starts to pay attention, that means everyone tries to solve the problem of Brian Flores' defense to try to figure out how to deal with all the Vikings checks and changes at the line of scrimmage. And the answer might be more up-tempo

or more no huddle or something. This cat and mouse game plays out over 17 weeks and this is why like cliff kingsbury in his past had the first few weeks of the season he was great and then everyone figured out what he was doing and then it wasn't great anymore and that whole storyline following it uh will be interesting as well but yeah, I, I think that this team was just so shoved off in a corner that now it's going to be a different dynamic the whole rest of the season as the expectations have been set at three and oh, so are you the surprise team that last year finished toward the bottom of your conference standings? That's oh, wow. We never saw it coming. Or are you the team that started

out three and oh, and then disappointed everybody after that? Because that is a motif that we have seen before in Vikings history. Edwin said, of course there is concern, but the way the Vikings are playing, I feel really good about them. My confidence comes from how physically, they are physically beating teams.

That is the most fun part, Manny, is just how physical this team is. It is the most physical defense they've had since 2017. And it's put together with, I think, just a bunch of crazy dudes who really love football, but are legitimately psychotic about it. I mean, Harrison Smith is nuts. The way that he goes flying into people. Stephon Gilmore has been more physical than I expected him to be. I mean, I knew that he was that way his entire career, but you're like,

okay, he kind of showed up late in camp and he's just flying in and hitting people. It is how much part of it has in terms of you being crazy high on this team now at 12 and five with your pick, how much of it is just simply how fun it's been and that's the evaluation i'm trying to make here because when people say that i'm like yeah man they have been physical as heck is is it that we're being objective and saying well this is how many games they should win this is where they really are or is it just wow it has been such an entertaining couple of games of them just whipping people's tails that maybe were were too high is that is that possible or

do you think not it it kind of reminds me and and i'm not you know when i first say this you know the the viewers and listeners are going to think well man you think about how that season finished up not saying it's going to happen that this season is going to finish that way, but I do remember going back to 2016 and the way they started out 5-0. It was to a point where I was actually really, like, enjoying watching the defense because they were just beating everybody up and they were physical and they were causing turnovers and they were sacking the quarterback and where it was just like fun watching you know where it was like the offense had to punt it's like oh okay that's fine

i get to watch the defense again you know what i mean and it's kind of like i'm getting those same type of vibe now we know how 2016 finished up it finished I get to watch the defense again. You know what I mean? And it's kind of like I'm getting those same type of vibes. Now, we know how 2016 finished up. It finished up terribly, and even the defense kind of late in the season really kind of melted down in some spots. But I just think those are the same kind of vibes I get, though, that 5-0 start in 2016. It's the same kind of thing where it's like, okay, the Vikings just had to punt,

but that's okay. I get to watch like Andrew Van Ginkle again, like maybe make something really happen. That's, that's where the excitement comes for me. Like, cause I, I just, I really like what I'm seeing from that unit. And I don't think that it's going to, you know, provide everybody stays healthy.

I don't think that's going to slow down. I think that's going to stay the way it is really for the entire season. I think it's a good comparison. And what I like about Vikings fans, by the way, is that as we go back through these seasons and mention random specific games, they all know exactly what we're talking about. Like, I don't have to explain when Odell Beckham got completely shut out by Xavier Rhodes and how much fun that was in 2016, because, well, I mean, I'm sure very young people watching the show might be like, I'm going to have to look that well up on pro football reference, but everybody else like, oh yeah, I remember that game.

Odell Beckham going nuts. I think he may have gotten flagged for trying to attack Xavier Rhodes in that game. He was so frustrated. We're seeing the same frustration and the look. I remember the look on Roger's face when he threw that pick to Trey Wayans at the end of the week, two game and 16 was just like, man,

like, what is this defense? And that, that feeling does something. There is something as all everyone who loves football that pings inside of us. That's like, yes,

I like that. And I like that a lot there because this is a, it's a brilliant tactical game, but at the end of the day, it's football. And I like that a lot there because this is a, it's a brilliant tactical game, but at the end of the day, it's football and it is, it is the physical, you want to dominate the other team. That's why I love running the ball so much. And what Aaron Jones did at the end of that game, you were like, yes, this is it. Just run, run over this team and put them in their coffin. Thank you. And then they did it. Uh, we haven't seen too much of that. There, there has been a true lack of physical dominance from the Minnesota Vikings because

they had Delvin cook running over people in 2020, but the defense was soft 2021. Delvin's not the same. The offensive lines have been soft or, or struggled for, for years. And there's still some weaknesses, but they're having a left tackle that can shut out the best rushers in the world. You're like, okay, well, that's that, that there is a very serious point about that in terms of people buying into the team, that it is the sheer physical dominance of these games that has made you think that this can keep going. Uh, let's see. Scotty says, uh, if, uh, this team continues on this trajectory who are they trading for at the deadline to make that extra push my brain is also not gone there yet um good

thing they signed dalton risner by the way because that may need to be a thing after another miserable day from the right guard i don't know that they have enough draft capital to trade for people but it would really depend on injuries i i don't like another defensive tackle like i actually don't know on this team manny who they would have to trade for because it it is a complete team at this moment yeah the only thing i can think of is like you know knock on wood if something happens to like stefan gilmore or something like if he you know pulls a hamstring or something or not obviously not wishing for that to happen and and you know but then like maybe you'd make a trade for like a corner or something but you know i to your point though

like they got what well they got three draft picks next year yeah it's not great i mean there's a second and like a fifth or something they got compensatory they'll get compensatory but sure it's not much and you can't trade those right now uh yeah it really depends on what it looks like then there will be players who get injured let's say you have a receiver get injured you might look for that or a running back or something but i i don't know if there's a necessarily need for that as they're going to get more healthy as the season goes along. But that's all I could really think of a corner potentially. But even then they, like if a Caleb Evans is your corner coming off the bench, you're not in terrible shape. Jake says, what does Sam Darnold have to accomplish this year

for you all to want him back over McCarthy next year or longer. And this is the question that people, there's, there's certain types of, of, of brain chemistry when it comes to football. I, this is, this is front office brain guy, which I, which we love. This is not a criticism. There's like week to week league guy who wants to know the X's and O's and how every like how they're going to solve their weaknesses. And then there's front office brain guy. Who's always thinking about 2025 and I am both, but have not flipped on front office guy brain yet for the season. I kind of clicked that off. Once we get to signing Stefan Gilmore was like, okay, they've done their last move. Click that off onto X's and O guy. Let's talk about matchups. The answer is the answer is pretty obvious though. Isn't it with this

particular framing of the question, what does he have to accomplish? It has to be amazing. It can't just be okay. It can't just be Jeff George was like seven and three and won a first round playoff game. It would have to be absolutely spectacular. So far it has been this three game sample has to go through the whole rest of the season to the point where they feel like we can win the Super Bowl in 2025 with Sam Darnold returning, and we have to do it. That's the only answer to the question, I think. For me, it would have to, I mean, to me,

Sam Darnold would have to win the super bowl mvp it's that high for you i don't i don't know if it's that high well the reason why i say that though is because we have seen teams in you know not exact scenarios like this but we have seen teams go to the super bowl win the super bowl and move on from the quarterback that they won the super bowl with i mean we saw yeah trent dilfer we saw uh nick foals when the super bowl mvp with the philadelphia eagles and the eagles came back with carson wins as a starter the next year you know what I mean so it it's it just it's gonna have to depend on like now we've seen Kurt Warner become a starting quarterback due to you know due

to an injury to the guy in front of him and have a storybook season where you know he wins the Super Bowl and he came back the next year as a starter for the rants but like kurt warner was like the mvp of the league and threw for 400 yards in the super bowl you know what i mean so like that at that point it was like all right yeah we're kurt warner's gonna be the guy going forward i that to me because because you especially you you invested a first round pick in in J.J. McCarthy, to me the plan still has to be J.J. McCarthy going forward into 2025. Now, again, if Sam Darnold throws 40 touchdowns this year

and he's in the MVP conversation and then the Vikings go to the Super Bowl and win it and he's the Super Bowl MVP, then it's like, all right, yeah, let's bring this guy back and figure out the McCarthy thing after that. But I just think the plan is JJ McCarthy in 2025. And right now, I think that's what it should be. Your bar there is probably too high. I think it's definitely too high to ask him him to be the super bowl mvp or

you're not coming back you picked them to be 12 and 5 i think if they go 12 and 5 that is a really tough spot to be with this decision because that will have meant he played in a borderline mvp fashion and when you think about there have been other teams okay how about this the san francisco 49ers how crazy is this the 49ers called tom brady and said would you consider playing for us for a year and this was a real report and went to brock purdy and said would you mind just like hanging out for a year behind tom brady and then you're the starter but if we could get brady then like we got to do it right and brock purdy told kyle shanahan oh yeah absolutely if you could bring in the goat then i'll wait a year

and take over after that of course the goat decided not to play they went to the super bowl there have been plenty of instances where the best laid plans just don't end up working out and you draft brock purdy when you already hadrey Lance, but you can't stick with Trey Lance once Brock Purdy takes you to the Superbowl. And is that good? There is a bar for this. If Sam Darnold continues to play this well, and he's just throwing it left and right to Justin Jefferson, and he's adjusting with the offense and how defenses are adjusting to him and they are winning and winning and winning. I find that very difficult to move on. The problem is that you have made some moves already that are expensive into the future, like Justin Jefferson, Christian Derrissaw, Jonathan Grenard,

TJ Hawkinson. So if you're going to sign Sam Darnold to another year, well, you're going to have to push every salary cap button for the next year or two years and you're also going to have to figure out a way to sign darnold to a contract that will keep his cap hit low while also rewarding him on the same level as other quarterbacks who have been great baker mayfield made like 40 million dollars what you could do though is do that for a year or do that for two years. You could franchise tag them and push everybody out. But that becomes difficult to do. The other thing is that you have to believe in what you've built for infrastructure. The one trouble is though,

and I'm still waiting for Justin Jefferson after Kirk left to demand a trade. When does that happen? Does that happen soon? Because I thought people told me that that was going to happen, that Jefferson wouldn't sign a contract or play with anybody else or couldn't succeed. Well, he's a diva. You know that, right? Oh yeah. He's a total diva because that's what all these wide receivers are, you know? Yes. If you see a receiver, just call him a diva, no matter what the facts are. But well, now maybe if the viking malik neighbors is really good maybe if they had traded him for malik neighbors but that was never going to happen either the point that i wanted to make though with darnold is that the team is going to if he goes

12 and 5 believe in him to the point where they will really want him to continue to be their quarterback because a completely unproven quarterback going into 2025 is not going to necessarily be as accepted as someone who has just won 12 games and is just taking you deep into the playoffs you're going to be saying bring him back do the same thing over again and add a couple of pieces and forget the salary cap we'll use all the wolf's money that we have they did create a kirk bubble for two years when kirk signed where they still were able to keep the same team together and even added someone like sheldon richardson in 2018 it does feel in that way so this is where it gets really tricky manny and this is why i've not wanted to go down this road because it's so complicated, but where it gets really tricky

is that Kirk Cousins was Kirk Cousins and he was only ever going to be Kirk Cousins. They got the best version of the guy in Minnesota credit to him. Honestly, he played better here than Washington played his tail off, gave his heart to the team. We've always given him credit for all of that, but there was no next level to him. And we acted sometimes like, well, maybe there is, and KOC leaned into him and he was a little better. There is a different level with this guy because of the pure talent. We are not talking about a ceiling necessarily when the guy can throw a 50 yard pass in the air with his eyes closed on cruise control. I mean, the throws that he's made, the pocket mobility, the touch that the first touch,

I know what you were saying. You didn't have to text me, Manny. I just know when he scrambled for that touchdown, exactly what you were thinking. You were thinking, haven't seen that type of scramble from the pocket and uh playmaking right that's where it it diverges from the never pay a quarterback that you know that sort of thing is that this talent is an elite pure talent of sam darnold do you think it will depend on okay let's let's say they go 12 and 5 make the playoffs and let's say they win a playoff game get to the divisional round would it then depend on like what he looks like in that division right like even if they lose might that kind of play into the decision to bring him back is just how he looks in you know when playoff time actually comes that That sounds like the NFL's reactionary, Manny.

I would never see that happening. I'm here. Okay, I have to end this discussion or it just won't ever end. We'll never get back to the comments. The answer is I have no idea. I have no idea what you do at that point. If Darnold goes 12 and five

and they play badly on offense and he throws four interceptions in the first round playoff game, but he's 12 and five and he's got 35 touchdowns, 12 picks. He's had this unbelievable year. What do you do after that? I don't know. The last impression is always the most powerful. That's how Mike Zimmer kept his job after beating the new Orleans saints. Uh, let's see. Danieliel says i hope we can keep it going hard to enjoy even the good times as a vikings fan always feel like doom is lurking around the corner uh daniel is so many people manny i have not i will say though i don't know about you i have not felt that from the fan base so far this year have you not really it seems like everybody's just really

pumped and excited about what they've seen so far because i don't think anybody was expecting it and i think everybody's just really pleasantly surprised right now i do kind of get the sense that everybody is or at least most people i don't want to speak for everybody but most people are kind of in that just living in the moment and enjoying what we've seen so far and obviously you hope that it continues but let's just again what you've said let's just let this play out let's just see what happens right now it looks great let's just see what happens if they lose to the packers lose to the jets and lose to the Jets and lose to Detroit out of the bye now they're three and three and it's like oh okay yeah they're probably like

an eight nine nine and eighteen at best when it when you know that it's going in a good direction in the bigger picture it feels different than when you're saying if they don't win this year we're screwed because that was the feeling in 2019 for sure that entire season was pull if they don't win this year, we're screwed. Because that was the feeling in 2019 for sure. That entire season was, boy, if they don't win, people are getting fired. The Kirk thing is a disaster. I remember being in the press box in San Francisco on the phone with Judd Zolgad. He was doing the podcast. I was reporting for 1500 ESPN and Judd was saying to me, do you think this is kind of the last dance for this team? And I said that like this, this whole team is coming apart this off season and there's

nothing left here. That's not the feeling right now. There isn't the same desperation of, well, look, if they don't win this year, it's never, ever going to happen. And that kind of thing that really changes the dynamic of how people feel about it. There's always going to be Vikings fans because Gary Anderson missed one and because Blair Walsh missed one and the injuries and everything else who assume that the worst thing is going to happen. And so far, if you've been that guy, you've been right over and over and over again.

So I don't ever blame anyone for feeling that way. I just think that the vibe is different because of where the franchise stands as this is, this is a, this is a window that's opening, not a window that's about to close unless you jump through it. Uh, I shot you 99 says credit to the Packers who are well coach, but the, are they really as good as the stats say with the level of competition they've faced? Well, the fact the fact manning that they've done it with a backup quarterback i'm gonna say of course not if it was jordan love i'd be going all right well you know they'd be two easy teams but they smashed two teams with a backup quarterback i do think that the packers are very impressive yes i think that matt lafleur is one of the best coaches in the National Football League.

And Vikings fans are not going to like hearing anybody say anything good about the Green Bay Packers. I understand that. But this guy, Matt LaFleur, is a hell of a coach, man. And to take Malik Willis, who we have not seen play good as a professional at all like bad we've seen very very bad from Malik Willis certainly during his time with the Tennessee Titans so nobody was expecting them I mean if the thought was like Jordan Love's going to be out for like six to eight weeks or whatever it's like oh the Packers are probably going to go like one and six during that stretch you know what i mean um but what what we've seen i don't care how bad the competition is to take that quarterback and to find a way to win win with your defense making

some plays and doing enough on offense um and they've got you know the packers those receivers in green bay they're young but those guys are pretty good too. They're pretty talented too. And LeFleur's a really good coach. So I'm not terribly surprised by this, and I think that they should be taken very seriously for Sunday's game. The way I look at it is you have two of the best young coaches in the NFL going at it, and LeFleur's track record is deeper than Kevin O'Connell's so far. He's been to the playoffs. They've blown it in the playoffs,

but so did the Vikings. His ability to adjust to this offense is astounding. Their ability to run the football as successfully as they have over the years is really scary for any defense that you're going to face because no one has had an opportunity to effectively control the game with the run against the Vikings. That's where they haven't been very good at stopping it, but it hasn't mattered because they've gotten turnovers. They've played from ahead, but I mean,

Jordan Mason ran for a hundred yards on them. Acres had some good runs. They just had to stop running by the second quarter because they were down two scores. If green Bay gets ahead in the game and the script of how things plays out in the game really matters to this, but their line can run block clearly their coach can dial it up clearly. And if love is playing and that means he's close enough to a hundred percent, I still think that Jordan loves one of the better

quarterbacks in the NFL, especially in a league where there's just not that many this year. So I would, I would be concerned about them with the way that they've played so far, which makes this game more awesome. By the way, if you, if you say, oh, the Packers are frauds, who cares? Well, that's not as that's the, that's not the juice that we're looking for here. I wish we could go back and have Michaels Deardorff and Frank Gifford do the previews to every game for the Vikings and talk about it. It was my favorite part, Monday night football, that five minute segment where Michaels would set it up and they would talk about the storylines of the game. It'd be Deardorff saying this green Bay Packers team has found a way to win. It was just great drama. Anyway, uh, Bron fricking solo says,

uh, prediction, Darnold balls out. Vikings trade McCarthy to the chargers, uh, for some high picks or Bosa. The chargers trade Herbert to Pittsburgh. This is a front office brain person,

uh, who is looking forward to next year's off season trades. You know, the Vikings did check in on Herbert though, like just in case he's gonna trade herbert and draft mccarthy um i yeah i don't know i don't know how that's gonna play out they love mccarthy by the way this is what makes this so difficult it could be that's why i think it could be a franchise tag and tell mccarthy one more year we're gonna go for it with darnold if that

happens that's what i think the most likely scenario might be. I can't get as far as three team trades just yet. Uh, Danny says all in on this season solely for Darnold's redemption. I want to see him, uh, reignite his career and be respected. You know, Manny, if this season goes the way that you just predicted 12 and five, which I still skeptical on whether to go that way. But if that happens, my favorite moment of it might be when he came back in the game and everybody went crazy because every, every, everybody knows what happened with the jets. Everybody knows what happened with the Panthers. Everybody knows how talented this guy is. And I think what everybody has also realized is how professional this guy is.

And when Belichick said it today, he said, everybody that I know was rooting for this guy and everybody I know liked this guy. I mean, Belichick has no reason to say that if it's not true. And I've heard the same thing about past places he was at. And he goes to San Francisco and he's willing to be the backup for Purdy. Purdy gets hurt in a game or didn't play well. He comes in, he plays well. They start him in a garbage time game. He plays really well. And then he comes here and they put him in a situation where everybody wants to talk about

McCarthy. Everybody wants to see McCarthy. Did you hear a single word negative about McCarthy? No. Instead it was love working with him. We're going on golf trips together they worked great together behind the scenes Darnold's given him advice Darnold told him hey man here's a really good way to learn the playbook and showed him how like the I think it was the recording the plays into your phone app so you could play them through your car and listen to you back so you can memorize them and to do like mental reps in your apartment. He handled this in such an unbelievably professional way for someone that could have an attitude and an ego and cynicism toward his previous places. And none of that has been there. And I think the whole fan base senses that and wants to get behind this story really badly.

And everybody else in the locker room seems to feel the same way it's just very very cool it's just really really cool to see a guy that gets drafted high he gets drafted into a situation that is just an absolute dumpster fire with a head coach that didn't have a clue in the biggest market in the league you know the, the New York, the New York media, that's a tough market to deal with. Even when you're good and you're performing and you're meeting expectations, that's a tough like media, you know, entity to, to combat with. Um, and to, to get sort of kicked out of there because you're, you're just being a, you you know you're labeled as a bust um you know there's coaching changes and and all of that stuff um and then to go to carolina and you're dealing with you know uh an arrogant head coach who was really good in college but thought that everything

that he did at baylor and temple was going to carry over into the NFL and it just didn't. And that was a disaster. And to kind of just have everybody basically just writing you off. And then you go to San Francisco, you get into that environment. You're a part of a team that goes all the way to the Super Bowl that was in just a couple of plays of winning the Super bowl that stuff can be like life-changing for guys and it really just seems like he has really seized this opportunity now and he's gonna do whatever he can to make the best of it and that's that's just it i think it speaks to the kind of character that he has and the interactions that you were just talking about with J.J. McCarthy as well. That shows a guy that's just a very high character, really good guy, a great teammate. And those type of guys are easy to root for, and I think it makes a lot of sense.

So when we saw what happened yesterday where he gets hurt, comes out for a play play then he comes back into the game and the crowd's going crazy and cheering his name and everything that's that's just cool stuff man and that's that's why like again like why i was still even though mccarthy went down with the injury i was still like really excited to see how this played out because i thought you know this has a chance to be pretty good when you factor in all of the weapons and the infrastructure that this team has. We know this guy is really skilled. This has a chance to work. And if it does really, really cool, it's going to be really, really fun to watch. So I, I think the whole thing is awesome. And I just, I, the fan in me just hopes it really continues. question for you manny this has been really fun man this really has um how many teams would you give higher odds because jeffrey points out that

colin cowherd apparently has the vikings going to the super bowl already hey why not there are no consequences to that uh i hey i picked the vikings last week because there's no consequences to a pick and i thought yeah maybe and uh it worked out so maybe it will for colin coward but how many teams would you put right now higher super bowl odds or better super bowl odds than the Minnesota Vikings. Okay, let's see if we can count them off. Kansas City, certainly. Got to be Buffalo too. Josh Allen. Yeah, Buffalo.

I mean, Buffalo looks really good right now. I thought they were going to take a step back, and they look really good right now, and they've been kicking the crap out of Jacksonville tonight. So, yeah, Buffalo looks great. Yeah, now it gets interesting i think dallas i don't like philly i do not like what i don't like really i don't like dallas i don't like what i'm seeing from the cowboys defense right now i mean my super bowl pick for dallas looks horrible which is not a surprise everyone because i get that wrong every year so that's

like a joke uh but that's a bad pick yeah i mean i still i still think san francisco you know even though the vikings beat them uh they're just really banged up right now i think they can get healthy again um i think last year they went to the super bowl green bay green bay has to have better odds than them right now because jordan loves just has a bigger sample of great play than darnold yeah yeah probably seattle and then and now the carolinas detroit oh obviously yeah detroit yeah detroit sorry i was too busy making an andy dalton crack but uh i just wanted to say that to the people who didn't who thought oh it's all the panthers for bryce young you didn't watch

you didn't watch the game the receiver's open he just didn't throw it to them uh anyway but no caroline is not going ahead of them so what do we got like seven there yeah okay seven it that's what a time to be alive, Manny. That's exciting, man. All right. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to keep answering questions because I've gotten so insanely far behind in the chat, but I will speed run questions.

I will see you in person on Wednesday night because I'm going to do a little bit earlier of a chat Wednesday night so I can go to the Lynx game with Manny. They are in the playoffs playoffs and that's awesome. So I will see you in person then. And everyone else will see you on Thursday night, unless we live stream us watching the links game from the arena, but I don't, we already have enough audio troubles anyway. So great to,

great to have you on. It's a really fun conversation, Manny and Thursday night. We will preview Vikings and Packers. And I don't know who your five favorite Packers are of all time, but we're going to find out when we get there. So thanks for your time as always. And we'll see you then, man. Sounds good. Football. All right. I don't know how to take Manny out of the window. So you have to do it yourself, Manny. I'm sorry. I don't know how to do this. I'll just click the leave button. Okay. There

you go. Yeah. We're still working through some things.