Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings lose to the Lions and now have a big opportunity

Episode Date: January 7, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani from the Pioneer Press dive into the Vikings' loss to the Lions and how it sets them up for the future and what it means for Justin Jefferson and the Vikings upcoming draft and quarterback situation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another Minnesota Vikings postgame show here on Purple Insider. Matthew Collar in the Purple Insider studios because with a 3% chance of the Vikings making the playoffs, I elected not to spend the Purple Insider budget to travel to Detroit, but since Dane Mizutani lives on the Pioneer Press's budget, you are in Detroit, Dane. Great to see you, buddy. And I'm just going to start out this way. That was pretty fun. Yep. Everything that they needed to get accomplished got accomplished. Justin Jefferson, a thousand yards draft status as high as it could possibly be. And I didn't feel like I wasted three hours of my life watching a lot of pretty fun plays. Nick Mullins said, you know what? This could be

the last game I play in the NFL. So let's go, let's air it out, let it loose. And you know what? If I'm another team watching and my backup is incompetent, I might be like, well, you know, actually this Nick Mullins guy could kind of chuck it down the field a little bit. So it's very possible that he might've saved just even his chances of continuing his career in the NFL. And those are pretty much all the takeaways that I had. Dane, we got what we expected from the defense. We kind of got what we expected from the Lions defense. They threw to an offensive lineman, which I also figured that they would do.

And they did absolutely nothing to hurt themselves for where they stand in the draft which as we are recording this right now is in 10th place which i'm gonna say this dane as much as we ranted last week and went off about how they should have tanked which was all true um competitive rebuild season finishing with seven wins a 10 draft pick, maybe if that's where they officially finish it off. And a lot of players developed over the years. Not a terrible outcome. So what's your feeling on today's ballgame? My feeling at the beginning of the game was, holy crap, these guys have laid down.

They're going to lose by 50. So I think the fact that this game ends 30 to 20 Lions, and to your point, Justin Jefferson goes nuts, goes over a thousand. The offense shows some punch. Jordan Addison scores his 10th touchdown of the season. Ty Chandler ran the ball well. Things to build on on that side of the ball. Defensively, frankly, at this point, I don't care. Last month has been atrocious, but this game in particular felt a little bit like an uphill battle. A lot of it like an uphill battle. They were playing with, I think, Caleb Evans got benched again. Joanne Williams out there.

Jalen Williams out there. Jalen Williams out there. Andrew Booth Jr. So, like, the fact that the defense gave up 30 points again, I don't necessarily think that that's a reason to feel any certain way about Brian Flores moving forward. I think what this defense has kind of done is just what we thought it was going to do at the beginning of the year, which is be deficient of talent and because of that struggle against the good teams so when you look at this week as a whole and just kind of what this final game was what it could have been and what it ended up being if you're a Vikings fan I think this went about as good as you could have hoped for

because I don't think that there were any Vikings fans in my mentions that were cheering for a win today. I think everyone wanted draft positioning over vibes. And they got draft positioning and vibes kind of to a degree as well. So I think if they lose by 50, then everything is on fire in the locker room. The sky is falling. They put up a good fight. They lost to a better team. And they did not hurt their draft positioning. So all in all good Sunday.

Now we get to go to the exciting part, which is just a monumental off season for this team, for this franchise, maybe the biggest off season we've seen in, I don't know, a decade, maybe more. There's no question.

I mean, really, I would say since they had to make the quarterback decision from 2017 to 2018 and we knew in that moment that what they did would shape their future and there's a few things that i want to sort of take stock of i mean one though if we're taking away from this game in particular how do you not watch this and go i think other people could throw the ball to justin jefferson uh justin jefferson let's just run down the amazing things he did he caught a ball in traffic while doing like a matrix thing and a guy went flying by him as he somehow snatched

it like stopped and on a dime uh he had a chris carter sideline toe tap catch that the announcers were like oh that's too bad that's not about wait a minute uh i rarely i'm rarely home to watch the game and so i was like oh i i'll have it with announcers we'll see what they say about the vikings uh kind of a funny experience but that definitely looked like it was no chance to make the catch and of course course, Jefferson caught it. Then he roasts a dude off the line of scrimmage. Great play call by Kevin O'Connell, fourth and one. Who cares?

Let's take a shot and a good throw downfield by Nick Mullins. And then there's another one toward the end of the game before the interception that put it on ice, where the throw is clearly back behind him. And he just reaches back and snatches that. Like, it is no problem whatsoever i mean jefferson's sending a message that whatever whatever the check read before now the number is higher for justin jefferson who goes over a thousand despite missing seven games this year but an absurd performance with a quarterback who is less than subpar i mean this

is a barely in the league quarterback who just went for almost 400 yards. And then he, by the way, Jordan Addison that, Oh yeah, I guess he's a decent draft pick roasts another dude. It goes for a 40 yard touchdown. And if you're not sitting there thinking, why can't another quarterback do this is Nick. Oh, now resign Nick Mullins. He's the only one who could do this. And haven't we seen this Kirk game against the lions before? Let's see last year. We just saw this where they got down in the game. He threw it to Jefferson a million times. They almost came back, but the defense wasn't quite enough. I don't know how anyone could not be thinking that with two

games that Mullins plays. I mean, three with Jefferson against Cincinnati and Detroit and the dude outside of bad interceptions throws for a million yards because Justin Jefferson is unstoppable. Why can't someone else do this? Someone else definitely can do this. And that catch you were talking about that you referenced at the end of the game, where it was a horrible throw, like across the middle on like a little in bending route and he just made it look like a routine pitch and catch because of how good he is that's when i tweeted i promise it'll work with a rookie quarterback it just will like there's no chance that you can watch what has transpired over the last three weeks since justin jefferson's been back at like really full strength pretty much I mean he had 84

yards against the Bengals but I mean that would be a great game for anybody that just felt like he was kind of getting his legs under him and then these last three games he's just been out of his mind like I don't know how you can watch that and not think okay like maybe if we get a rookie quarterback and a bridge guy because we're worried about the rookie quarterback, if he's going to be ready or not, that the offense won't still be able to function because I'll tell you what, like they didn't win a game down the stretch. They went,

they lost four in a row after putting up three against the Raiders, but the offense moved the ball. It's not like the offense was just like invisible and like stunk. Like when Kirk went down, it's not like the offense was just like invisible and like stunk like when Kirk went down it's not like the offense was putting up five points a game like they were still battling each week in and week out and like a lot of that is hinged on when you have the best receiver in football your offense is just inherently going to be good so I understand you know this like fallacy that people have created in their brain kirk going down equals

losses because that's how it's kind of transpired outside of two crazy josh dobbs games in a game where the raiders forgot how to play football i get why that's why that's where people's brain has gone well if kirk's not you know if kirk's here we're better so kirk's not here the only option is kirk but it's not like we can we if Kirk's here, we're better. So if Kirk's not here, the only option is Kirk. But it's not. We can take a step back and separate the two things and realize there are pieces in place for a lot of quarterbacks to succeed here. In fact, if Nick Mullins throws one less interception a game over the last month, they might win three of them.

So it's not like there's no possible scenario where the offense can be good without Kirk Cousins it can be and I think each week that we've seen over the last month is more and more proof of that now it'll be interesting to see what happens because I do think Kirk the presence of him or like the aura of Kirk Cousins in some people's mind, and perhaps even in the front office and on the coaching staff equals just like at least some sort of level headed playing field. And, you know, with the highs and lows of this year, if that's what you're hoping for, then maybe Kirk Cousins is back. But when you just look at the offense and the way it functions, I really think there are a lot of players who can do it. And this is a very talented rookie quarterback class. It doesn't happen very often.

It's not like next year is guaranteed to be a great rookie quarterback class. The past two years is a good example of that, minus CJ Strout. So strike while the iron's hot, go get your rookie quarterback, sign a bridge guy use the 30 something 40 something million dollars that you would have to pay kirk spread it out across the roster and move forward with the best damn receiver in football we have really reached a now or never type of point because everything is aligned for them to do this multiple quarterbacks to be available 10th or i guess possibly ninth overall pick but let's just say 10th to say 10th 10th overall pick within shouting

distance of maybe trading up or even just sitting there and taking your quarterback you if you're bringing back kirk you're probably not going to draft 10th again you're only really drafting 10th because kirk cousins got hurt otherwise you'd probably be in the first round of the playoffs traveling to wherever and waiting to get your teeth kicked in by whatever real contender there exists out there to beat you. But if that, so that's not going to happen again, if you bring him back and the draft class, as you mentioned last year, there were three guys and they were all too high up in the draft for the Vikings to be able to trade up and et cetera, et cetera. All the other reasons that you don't do this, not only that, but in the past, it was bring back Kirk because we have a win now roster with a bunch of veterans. You do not have a win now roster with a bunch of veterans.

The roster is extremely in transition and it started to become more and more clear as we went along just how much in transition it is they do not have a solid secondary we don't know if jordan hicks is coming back we don't know if daniel hunter is coming back he added on one more sack just to up that price ever so slightly more uh 16 and a half sacks gets you a lot of interest in the national football league and free agency so are they going to be able to bring him back? That's very hard to say. And now you're looking at revamping an entire defensive line, still adding to a secondary, adding to the linebacker core. I mean, there's so much to be done here.

It all lines up and it aligns with what they set out to do from the beginning, which was to competitive themselves in the first year and then rebuild after that. And it's like, here you are. If you're not doing it now, then I guess Kirk cousins is the quarterback until 2040. Like what, what I really, I've gotten to the point where I just see absolutely no reason whatsoever, no argument whatsoever. And today's defensive performance, which now marks three straight where they just got destroyed on defense by the Bengals, by the pack. Oh, actually four straight, the Bengals in the fourth quarter. And then, so these last four

games showed all the weaknesses that they have on the defensive side. Whenever they played another team that was remotely good on offense, they crushed them. And when they played a team is really good on offense, the lions, they really crushed them as they did today, throwing 70 yard passes to Amin Ross, St. Brown. You're not close as a defense to being competitive. So if you thought you were because Brian Flores squeezed out some good performances out of not a lot of talent. I mean, I just don't know what to tell you. If you think that you have that, that you can rely on the defensive coordinator to just save your ass by having a bad defense. And another thing I want to throw at you, Dane, a stat. So Jared Goff is just finished up his fourth time with a top five offense in his career.

The Minnesota Vikings have not had a top five offense since Brett freaking far. So if you want to win, look over there, that's the type of offense that you're going to have to have in order to do it. And I still don't believe the lions can win because of how bad their defense is. So, uh, you can react to that and we can talk about some other things throughout the game. Yeah, no. And like you mentioned, they're not close as a wholly constructed roster. And I mean, let's just keep piling on. Cause why not? Like the reason they're not close, the reason that you lack depth,

the reason that you lack impact players on the defensive side of the ball outside of Daniel Hunter and Josh Metellus sometimes now is because you're paying the quarterback so much money. It's because that man is taking up so much of the salary cap and you just can't have both. Like that's why a lot of these teams that ascend, ascend with a rookie quarterback where they can build the roster. And then when they have to pay the quarterback, they have to make sacrifices elsewhere on the roster. And the hope at that point is that that quarterback that you've hitched your wagon to and paid a bunch has ascended to a level where they can take you over the top or they can make up for deficiencies elsewhere. That is not what we have to make up this idea that this was going to be a top five offense because as much as I feel like he's won over the collective fan base and won over

just changing his overall the way he's perceived nationally and league wide. Since he came here, the only thing we have to show for it, if you're a Vikings fan, or if you're the Vikings is one playoff win. So it would be much different if we were talking about a guy who's taken the Vikings to back-to-back NFC championship games in the past and had a couple of down years and got hurt and now he's ready to go again there's just no proof that that is ever going to happen it hasn't happened and he's getting older I also think that we are just inventing a reality that we just say everyone comes back from an Achilles injury and they're fine now because Aaron Rodgers has talked a lot about it. There's no guarantee that he's going to be the same football player. We can't just say Kirk this year is going to be Kirk next year.

He just suffered what before two seasons ago was a death sentence for athletes with the way Achilles injuries were treated back then. So when you look at the whole roster now, and to your point about competitive rebuild, if you're going to coin this term that a lot of people have weaponized against Kweisi, then do it. Like competitively rebuild. And this is a chance to do the latter part, to rebuild, while also remaining competitive.

It's not like if the Vikings decide to move on from Kirk Cousins and draft a rookie quarterback, they're going to just be the worst team in the league. They're not tanking and being, you know, full rebuild build mode. You can still remain competitive in that point because of everything we've talked about, the pieces in place on offense, the money you'd be able to then spend on the defensive side of the ball and just kind of ushering a new era that I feel like is definitely needed. How much longer do we want to go make the playoffs, miss the playoffs, make the playoffs, miss the playoffs? I think it's been a decade since they've made the playoffs

in back-to-back years. It's just because there's nothing sustainable about the way that they constructively build their roster. It's always been how can we kick the can down the road and be competitive next year. This is a chance to build something that can last. And I think moving forward, that starts and stops with drafting a quarterback in April and moving on from Kirk.

Well, and this was such an important last couple of games for their future to draft where they're drafting because I sat there watching the Houston Texans and what C. what CJ Stroud did for them, the next great NFL quarterback, CJ Stroud. And I thought about where people projected the Texans to be at the beginning of the year because they were starting a rookie and they were like, oh, well, you know, if they win four or five games, it'll be good for them and so forth. And then players emerged. The rookie quarterback stepped in quickly, even though it's a big jump. And I totally agree. It is. Quarterbacks have never been more ready to play in the NFL than they are now because they have so many more tools at their disposal than they've had before. receivers, which CJ Stroud suddenly has tanked L before he got hurt. But Nico Collins has emerged as a legitimate star, which is a little chicken and egg there from CJ Stroud being great. But the

point just being that there's this idea, this concept that if you draft a quarterback, you're going to be bad for like five years or something. And that is just not how the NFL is now. Josh Allen had 10 wins in his second season. Patrick Mahomes took his team to the AFC championship in his second season. CJ Stroud is going to the playoffs in his first season. We are seeing this often as long as the guy is not terrible. And even if the guy is terrible, you draft another guy because you're going to draft at the top. And guess what? That's better than that's better than six years in one playoff win. The accumulation of Kirk Cousins time in Minnesota is an abject failure, an astonishing failure considering where the bar

was set. And we should never forget that when he signed the bar was set at reach the NFC championship, or this did not work. Not only did you not reach the NFC championship, you came nowhere damn close. And this year they were four and four. And I agree, Kirk played two good games. They were not the best two games of his career. We saw him do that about 50 times during his time here because he's a very good quarterback. But the thing is that we don't cover the Kirk Cousins.

We cover the Minnesota Vikings. So if we're talking about them as a franchise since Kirk got here, it hasn't come close to a success, not even in the ballpark of a success. This team has two playoff wins since Favre left, which ranks 22nd in the NFL. And we're talking about bringing back a guy who came nowhere freaking close. Are you serious? This shouldn't even be a discussion. And especially after watching this game and watching them get their asses kicked by the Detroit Lions, who tanked, by the way.

Nice to see a Lions at the top of the division. How many years later? 14 years later? Oh, no. It was two years ago. They went to the bottom and came back up. So, yeah, I watched today's game thinking this is the best thing that could have happened to them.

It's actually the best thing that happened to them since the Minneapolis miracle. That's what I would say that it is because they went to San Francisco even after that New Orleans win as a six seed with not much chance to win against the 49ers. So I would even argue that they were never close. They're close today. Today they're close. Finally, we've waited for this forever don't screw it up yeah and they're close because of something that was unforeseen right like there is a world in which the Vikings play out this season Kirk Cousins does not get hurt they make the playoffs and then they lose in the first round and then you're drafting 18 20 and you can't move up they tried to move up last year and they couldn't because they were too far away.

Now, because of something that was very unfortunate, you have a chance to kind of move forward in a way that wouldn't have existed before because you're constantly stuck in this loop of wanting to squeak into the playoffs if you can and see what happens. But seeing what happens, it's not hockey. It's not just random. Generally speaking, the best quarterbacks win in the playoff time

or the best constructed roster top to bottom with great quarterback play wins. The Vikings have neither. Heading into this season fully healthy, they had neither. They had a quarterback who was very good and a roster that had many holes. Now that quarterback goes down, you lose a handful of games. You probably could have lost two more if not for Josh Dobbs' mania, and then you'd be really talking about maybe a top five pick. But we've already went over.

They did not decide to tank when they should have. Now either they're going to have to pay Daniil Hunter a lot of money coming up here or watch him walk away for nothing and then have DeVoy to complete star on defense. But the net positive or the net result of this year is that you got to the next level of team building in a way that now you have draft capital that you did not previously have at any point in the Kirk Cousins era. You are now in nearing the top 10. We'll see how the last two games play out with the Chicago Bears and the Las Vegas Raiders. But if you can draft a quarterback in the top 10,

you just have a better chance of that guy hitting, and you need to just move on and move forward from what you said has been, by and large, a failure when you come off of case keenum sign kirk cousins expect to go move forward and go to the super bowl you haven't come close and you're not any closer if you bring back kirk cousins next year and look you know here's my thing too um it's not of course like it's not kirk cousins fault he got hurt this year, but they were never a Super Bowl contender to begin with.

And we saw why toward the end of the season that the defense was not going to hold up, especially if they had a couple of injuries. Plus, that game that Nick Mullins had, I've seen Kirk Cousins have it before. I mean, where they put up a bunch of yards and they're losing and they don't have a strong enough team to play with somebody who's actually good. And that's where you're trying to go. And I guess I would say throughout this season, what we ended up with and what I'll remember it for, and I'm trying to like compile snark for later is that Kweisi Adafo-Mensah put a team on the field that was not going to be good enough to win the Super Bowl and more or less acknowledge that in July when we had a lot of conversations with him about where they stood

as a franchise. He laid out a clear plan to succeed from the old players to the new players, which they are in the process of doing this year. Now it hasn't all gone right along the way. Although I would say that Jordan Addison pick is pretty freaking valuable toward the future. So that was a good one. But if they can get from point a to point B, start with a 13 win season and finish this year, by the time we reach the draft and walk a quarterback up to that stage,

it will be a massive success to that point. That doesn't mean it is a success because that will be determined in the future, but it will mean that the plan that they laid out when they hired them to be different from Rick Spielman, to be different from Mike Zimmer will have absolutely come to fruition. And I did want to circle back on this point after today's game, because keep in mind, the Lions were not screwing around. They were trying to win this game so much that they got two of their key players hurt. I would not have necessarily been in that camp of playing all the starters if I was

Dan Campbell. But that's that's Dan Campbell. He's going to bite kneecaps and play his starters and so forth and be intense the way that he is. But the point is, they put up the type of yards through the air against the team that was really trying to win this football game. And they did it a couple weeks ago, putting up all the yardage. And they did it against Cincinnati, moving the football consistently.

And really only Green Bay, when they started a guy who was weighing over his head, did they not move the football. And there is a reason why Kevin O'Connell believes in himself so much because he designed this offense for awesome wide receivers. And when they're healthy, it's awesome. And that, that is what it is. And to me, that should give you all the confidence in the world to go out and get somebody else. But I just wanted to make that point that by expected points added through the pass, there is only one team that is 16th or higher that lost its quarterback this year, and it's the Vikings.

And then today, they just added to that by a ton by putting up all these yards. So they very well may finish in the top 15 of passing expected points added while playing four different quarterbacks throughout this year. And as Justin Jefferson's running wide open, as Jordan Addison's running wide open for touchdowns,

I mean, this is why the man believes in himself. Should he have adjusted his offense at times? Probably. Could they get a screen off? Can we just take every trick play, put it in a rocket ship and shoot it directly at the sun? Absolutely. But all those critiques,

then you watch this game and you go, you know what? Those receivers are pretty open, actually. So I think I think we get it like because this is what he's been under fire the most through this year. But how do you not watch this game and go that? That's why the man thinks his offense works is because he can get these receivers open even for Nick Mullins. Yeah, it does work. And it showed up many times, but today is a good example. Like late in the game or right when halftime turns and I think Montgomery scored a touchdown and it was a two-touchdown game at that point,

you're thinking it's over. And the reason the Vikings were able to mount this comeback today was because, I I mean Nick Mullins didn't really even have to make a read it was like oh there's a guy open downfield I should just throw it um he did it on a long completion to Jefferson before the 38 yard touchdown and then he obviously did it to Jefferson on the touchdown itself and then on the next possession found Jordan Addison for a 42 yard touchdown so those those things, it's not like Nick Mullins is making these insane reads and buying time in the pocket. He's really getting to his back foot

on a five or a seven step drop and he's letting it rip. And if you have a quarterback who's willing to do that, this offense is going to work. And I think Kevin O'Connell to some degree deserves criticism this year because of the way he was unable to adapt to certain quarterbacks. I mean, he had four of them. We have to give him the benefit of the doubt in that sense as well. But if you want to get critical, there were ways that he probably could have maximized each guy's strengths. But at the end of the day, when we look back on this season as a whole, like the offense itself is not broken. The quarterback play in the offense that he wants to run

was not optimal for the offense that he wants to run. And I think when we bring it back to like draft a rookie quarterback and sign a bridge guy it does not mean that this is going to be life like it's not going to be like the last three months of the year when since Kirk went down that the offense is just going to be so chaotic up and down like if you were taking a quarterback you're assuming that they will assimilate to the offense that Kirk or that Kevin O'Connell wants to run an offense that we're seeing week in week out can work in in certain scenarios with the right person running the show so Nick Mullins

threw for 396 yards today I mean he threw for 411 two weeks ago against the Detroit Lions and there's a chance Nick Mullins is not on an NFL roster next year. If that doesn't say everything that needs to be said about this offense and where it could go, I don't know. I don't know what else proof we need. I get it. People have been frustrated with certain play calls in certain moments. I hate running a reverse to Justin Jefferson where it looked like he was going to throw the ball on the goal line after he had just dusted a guy in space. I hate that. I agree. I get these, on a micro level, he deserves criticism for his play calling. But on a macro level, the play calling works. Like there are people open. I mean, you even go back and watch the

game last week. And this is no disrespect to Jaron Hall. I don't think he should have been put in that position. First play of the game, Justin Jefferson's running wide open over the middle against nobody. And Jaron Hall decides to tuck it and run. The offense is there. Kevin O'Connell is not a bad play caller like everyone wants to say he is. There are moments where he calls bad plays, for sure. There are moments where he calls bad plays, for sure. There are moments when he gets too cute, for sure.

But the structure is in place for this offense to ascend moving forward. There are weapons. There is a scheme that does work. They just need the right guy under center or in the shotgun. And that right guy does not have to be a guy who's going to be 36 coming off an Achilles who has only won one playoff game since you signed him to an unprecedented, fully guaranteed contract. gun and that right guy does not have to be a guy who's going to be 36 coming off an Achilles who has only won one playoff game since you signed him to an unprecedented fully guaranteed contract it can be a young guy that helps you move towards the future and kind of move past what we now can

agree your words abject failure do you think that if I wore a shirt that said no trick plays to every press conference that it would like subliminally be like, I don't know what I mean. I don't know what you mean. And then he goes to his place and he's like, no trick play. That was it.

Matt was right. No trick plays. You don't need trick plays. When you have Justin Jefferson, they tried that BS with having him run slash throw the ball against Cincinnati in the red zone too. They tried to have it. Delvin cook for the ball. Why do you want other players throw the ball? Cincinnati in the red zone too. They tried to have it. Delvin cook for the ball.

Why do you want other players throw the ball when you have Justin Jefferson throw him the ball every damn time? I don't get that's throw Kirk cousins, the ball, the playoffs. What are we doing? It's the, they are the single worst trick plays that I've ever seen a team come up with ever. But I guess as a coach,

you always have to prove that you're super clever. I wish he would just take those all and eliminate them. But yeah, on the big picture, though, we know that it works. You just need the right person to have it work. And I did have a thought today. They had a three and out where they ran and they threw a short pass and then it was an incompletion. And I thought, was that what you wanted?

I mean, was that like you could play that way if you wanted to. So you have two choices when your quarterback is bad, which would be to try to play as conservative as possible, punt and play defense, which they would not be able to do. Or you can just try to have the guy air it all out and deal with the fact that he's going to take four sacks and throw two interceptions because that's life. It's like the reason why nobody could win with Jameis Winston is the same exact thing with Nick Mullins. He just throws it harder. But it was the same problem where it was launch it down the field, launch it down the field. Because if you try to play check down football with Jameis Winston, you're just going to fail because he can't do it anyway. So I understood.

I think that there's a difference between critiques and suggestions and then saying this guy can't call plays because it's clear they've had a lot more success with probably one of the 10 worst backups in the league. Maybe that's being generous. If you're talking about the number two quarterbacks, I guarantee when, when people get to July and they rank the backups, I'm sure you could go back and look, Nick Mullins is not in the top half of the league for backup quarterbacks. And I would agree with that. And yet they were still able to get an explosive passing game going. There was something else I wanted to talk about today where the broadcast, see, this is where

you do get a little bit of broadcast stuff that maybe you can't see always from the press box. And so early in the game, Justin Jefferson, very unhappy fellow, pretty teed. He was talking back and forth with the Lions. And then, you know, Johnny month, the great Johnny month story of the last couple of weeks, he needs to block Aiden Hutchinson on that play. That's a pitch to Jefferson because he almost got Jefferson murdered. And then by the end of the game, we see a fist bump between Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson. I don't know if you guys where your TV location was.

You could see the fist bump between those two. And I thought, number one, I saw a few people oh jefferson's pissed being a diva on the sideline or something like don't start that crap because this man went into this game with a three percent chance to make the playoffs and is playing with the fire of a playoff game and is and is and is out there for blood i this dude wants a thousand yards he wants to win he wants to to compete in this game and give them every chance to win. And at the end, when he's done this and they've got a chance still in the game, he's like, let's go get the ball to me.

And I thought that he was fist bumping because they were taking him out of the game, which probably would have been okay and smart to do. And instead he was fist bumping because it was like, Hey, let's go get us back in this football game. I just, I cannot say enough about Justin Jefferson as a person in the way that he's handled all this stuff, because a guy with no contract extension should not have played today with a three percent chance to make the playoffs. He should have been like, no way I am illness. Or what was Jimmy Butler? General soreness is what I have. So I'm not going to play. And yet he went out there and demolished the Detroit lions and sent a message

to anybody who wondered who the greatest wide receiver in the league still is. And I feel like we just, when it comes to great players, we just sort of like, Oh, he's great onto the next thing. And this is really sort of to kind of frustrate me. It's like when, you know, the comment section says Kweisi can't draft and just forget about the star wide receiver that they took with their first round pick. Like, ah, that, that matters. That's a big deal. Um, I don't know what exactly it's going to cost Dane, but I think just the Jefferson made it clear. It's going to cost a lot, but I just, I don't think we can totally forget about this performance of his

and even the way that he competed throughout this game i thought there were other players who at times were like you want to be here but not him and that was very impressive to me yeah i'm glad he brought that up because that's something koc talked about after the game too and he specifically referenced what you said and like he didn't have to Justin didn't have to play today and if he did want to play today because he wanted to eclipse a thousand yards he did that with that 38 yard touchdown reception at the end of the third quarter he could have come out of the game after that he came he stayed in the game it wasn't just about these individual stats I think it really goes back to and it's such a cliche so it's hard to believe sometimes the kid just really

loves football he tells us that all the time I just love being out there I love playing football and when you see him go out today and post 12 catches for 192 and a touchdown and clear a thousand yards which he made very clear was a goal and then not take his helmet off sit on the bench and say i'm done um but go back in and put his body on the line and make these contested catches over the middle and put himself honestly at risk to get after if i got hit as hard as just Jefferson did against the Las Vegas Raiders, I would never think about putting my body at risk again. It doesn't even cross his mind.

And the fact that he was able to accomplish his individual goal, which he's always made clear, like the individual goals are very, very secondary to the team goals, but he did want to reach a thousand. The fact that he was able to go back on the field or willing to go back on the field after that does speak to his competitiveness and his drive and just the type of person he is. up a thousand yards in 10 games all the while battling through the longest absence he's had since high school when he said he broke his elbow when he was a jv player it's actually hard to

imagine justin ever being a jv at anything but the fact that he was able to take all of these things and never really make a fuss the only thing that you saw was frustration that the team wasn't having success i also like want or i'm glad you brought up the exchange early in the game when he's taking his helmet off and Twitter's blowing up like, oh my God, is JJ going to leave? Like, no, that's the competitiveness in him. That's the thing that allows him to get 12 catches for 192 in a game that by and large really was meaningless

because the Vikings needed to hit some insane 14 parlay to even make the playoffs. The reason he's able to do these things is because of the fire you saw in that clip that someone put together of him ripping his helmet off after, I think, I think it was very much a direct result of him taking that reverse that didn't work. I think he was probably frustrated that they didn't throw him the ball there. And I get it. I would be frustrated too, if I was the best player in the

world and winning all the time. But I think there also is a rush to say like, anytime there's turmoil because the contracting is not done, that he's going to leave. He's going to leave. Everyone's worried. I don't think that's what that was at all today, talking to him afterwards. You know, he kept his cards close to the vest. He didn't say, I want to be a Viking forever because that would be bad negotiating. But he said in so many words, as long as I'm here, the Vikings are going to have a chance to win the Super Bowl. And when you watch him play, when you see that competitiveness sometimes manifests itself in frustration, sometimes manifests itself in just being the best damn player on the field um it's pretty clear yeah um no matter what the vikings

decide to do they have one of the best players in football on their roster build around him make sure he's in a place where where he gets paid this offseason he's happy and he likes the guy who's under center moving forward but frankly even if. And he likes the guy who's under center moving forward. But frankly, even if he didn't like the guy who was under center moving forward, he would just go out and continue to play football because that's what he does. Folks, if you've been listening to the show, then you know how much fun we have been having with prize picks this year. Just go to prizepicks.com slash purple, use the code purple for a first deposit match up to 100 and let me tell you how it works if you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet or you haven't tried it yet

very simple there are yardage totals on prize picks you either pick more or less and boom you are playing so last week i'm gonna be honest with. I had a very tough week. I went Kirk Cousins more than 250 yards, Justin Fields more than 196, and Jordan Addison more than 54. And I went 0 for 3. This is by far my worst week. So this week, I have to bounce back. Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much. It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn $10 into $250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money. But normally, I do much better than this. So that is prizepix.com slash purple. Just more or less on yardage totals and you

are in prizepicks.com slash purple the code purple for a first deposit match up to 100 dollars from a contract perspective it is a massive overreaction to see someone upset on the sideline over a play and be like oh he, he's not staying because the CBA exists. And guess who the CBA favors wildly? That would be the Minnesota Vikings and not just the Jefferson when it comes to negotiations. So they should be able to get into a similar spot at some point in the offseason. And when the ownership says we're involved, we're making this happen last summer. I mean, I, I have never doubted that they're going to extend him. And I think that that does happen. It'll probably take a lot of work though, just like it did for Nick Bosa and the San Francisco 49ers. So you're going to have to be patient. Even negotiating before the

final year of the career was kind of unprecedented for a position player or it doesn't happen very often only quarterbacks it usually happens with uh so the fact that that even happened um says how important i think it is to the vikings to get him signed so yes i did get emails and tweets the jefferson's mad he's gonna leave and that you know i don't think so but he does walk off a fairly happy man with over a thousand yards, getting to the goal that he wanted. Also getting open and having an offense that is going to be a hundred percent centered around him. And we have heard numerous times about his relationship with Kevin O'Connell.

All of that matters for getting this done. Now I want to talk about just a couple other things that kind of stuck out to me throughout this game. Number one, what is the running theory on what happened to a Caleb Evans this year? Because I believe he got benched again and that's maybe three straight games where they've given him a chance and he has either gotten stiff armed into oblivion or just had someone completely run past him or been in the wrong spot.

He was on a pretty good path throughout the middle of the year. But I guess I just think, Dane, one of the themes of this year was that players who were given more opportunity than their talent probably justifies. Alexander Madison, K.J. Osborne, Caleb Evans, throughout the season had their moments, but always in the larger sample it kind of got revealed is is that what you think or is there something else with caleb evans

i think his drastic fall off has coincided with byron murphy jr being out of the lineup and i don't think that's a coincidence he's now being asked to be the number one corner and he's not a number one corner and that's okay. Like, I think he was growing and thriving in a role as a number two, probably better suited as a guy who can just kind of rotate in and cover, you know, certain occasions throughout a game. I think it's important to remember that like, this was not a guy that we really even thought was going to contribute. And last year he had a really good rookie season and he was building towards something in his sophomore season i i think what we've seen over the last three weeks though is just like someone getting the yips and we see it across different sports chuck knoblock forgot how to

throw to first base people forget how to putt it just it just sometimes it just goes it's a confidence thing it's questioning everything you're doing on the field as it's happening in real time and then going to the sideline and thinking about all those mistakes and then going back on the field and having it all happen again because you're thinking about the mistake you made the previous time that you were on the field. I think that's why he's gotten benched. I mean, his play obviously has merited a benching. It's been a disaster on the field, and I think he'd be the first to admit that. But I think when you talk to Brian Flores and you talk to Durante Jones,

like they have a pretty good pulse on these guys. And I think if they believed that Caleb Evans was just going to use that time, he got beat as fuel for his fire and go out and be better because of it. They would have left him in the game, regardless of how bad he was playing. I think they know this kid gets down on himself. He let loses his confidence and we can't play with him right now. I don't think it's all loss for Caleb Evans.

I think that we can kind of look at this three game. It's really been the last three games where he's just been really, really bad. We can look at this three game sample size and say, all right, if he can improve next season, or if he can go into next season feeling better about himself more confident there's a chance like guys get the yips and they never get it back there's a chance this could be it for him um and that's very much a reality but i think that's a bit of an overreaction on a three

game small pretty small sample size um with the guy who's clearly just battling confidence issues i don't think it's lost for him but i think this season ending is such a good thing for him because I don't think he really should go out and play more football. I think if they were going to the playoffs next week, it would just be another case of a Caleb Evans getting torched on the outside. It was the 70 yard touchdown to Amon R. St.

Brown. After Jefferson calls in that 38-yard touchdown you think are the Vikings going to make this a game and then two plays later the Lions score a 70-yard touchdown the game's pretty much over but Caleb Evans got beat on that route and then kind of just gave up on the play and then just got trucked into the end zone I think that's just a confidence thing I think at that point you're just thinking like I screwed up again I I'm the worst and I think that's just a confidence thing. I think at that point, you're just thinking like, I screwed up again. I'm the worst. And I think we've seen that.

I understand being a fan is being passionate and hating anyone who makes a mistake. But I mean, I guarantee you that kid hates his mistake more than you hate that he made it, Vikings Twitter. So I don't think it's all lost for him, but it has been a significant decline. And really for someone who was building towards something pretty good, I think this year. So, yeah, it's pretty jarring to see. That is, I think that corners go through stuff like this a lot where, you know, depends on matchups, depends on quarterbacks. And that's where the story of the defense lies to me is every time they played a good quarterback they lost and had a bad game and every time they played a bad

quarterback they did fine and and actually weirdly both applied to jordan love uh but you know with the caleb evans they were they were playing some pretty good receivers over over these last few weeks that it was a problem but also this is sort of the point that always draws back to the same thing you have a bunch of guys who probably can play in the league but you don't have difference makers on defense and where are you going to find them so you could spend the 10th overall draft pick on an edge rusher and extend your expensive quarterback and still need game, you know, game changing linebacker game, changing safety to replace Harrison Smith, game changing cornerback to shut down top players, game changing defensive tackle.

And that's only if you hit on that guy. One of the weirdest things is that we act like quarterback is the only thing you don't hit on. It's Like, wait, what if you don't hit on the defensive lineman that you draft? It's not safer. It's not safer. It just feels worse if you miss on the quarterback, but it's not a safer pick to take anybody else. But there that's the, he always draws back to can a Caleb Evans play in the NFL? Yes, he can.

Can you rely on a Caleb Evans to play against Amin Ross St. Brown? Absolutely not over 50, 60 snaps. No, you can't because he's just not good enough that. And then, and then that's okay because you know, you need depth, but also depth is kind of the point too, about this defense. It's not just game changers for the starters. That would be fine if everybody stayed healthy all the time,

but that's not ever what happens. A Caleb Evans should be a guy that when the other guy gets hurt, you could bring in and you'd be like, you know what? You feel pretty good about him. I'll give you an example. The 2017 defensive line, Everson Griffin got hurt for one game and Brian Robison came in. Like, okay, there's a really good player that is replacing

your excellent and great player. So it's not just the starting lineup. It's the whole thing that needs to be under construction. The offensive line is going to need some work at the left guard position. We saw how the backups look there today. I wouldn't say it was a great performance. I also wanted to talk to you though about Ty Chandler and whether we think that Ty Chandler has made a case to start next season as RB1 because well you pointed out that they ran three times in a row they did not do that again after running three times in a row 12 runs a very nice round 69 yards today 5.8 yards

per carry and also out of the backfield had a couple of catches as well i thought it was a really great game for ty chandler and if we go back through it didn't play well against the lions didn't have any opportunity against the packers but had the first lions game but had several games where he was a breakout player he ran around people he ran past people he ran around people. He ran past people. He ran through people. I don't know if it's quite enough to put the RB1 tag, but like sort of quietly, Ty Chandler had another really good game today that makes you think, okay, this guy can really play

and can be a part of your future. Yeah, and I think he should be RB1 next year. I don't know if he is the prototypical RB1 in the sense of like a game changer at that position. But I think when you look at the way the roster is built and the way the money is going to have to be dispersed, you can't spend money, dollars or draft capital on a running back next year. You have too many holes elsewhere and you have a guy who can do it pretty well in Ty Chandler. Now, maybe if he starts next year as RB1, which I think he absolutely should, I don't think we need to do the Alexander Madison experiment anymore. And I think it's good that the

Vikings have really started to just transition forward with Ty Chandler as the guy. At points, I was hesitant and wondered if they were going to do that at all because they seemed so loyal to Alexander Madison. But it seems to be pretty clear now that they understand one guy is much better than the other with the ball in his hands. Is he going to be someone who makes you right when you're wrong consistently? Like, I don't know. Right now, I see Ty Chandler as a running back who, if it's there, he's going to hit the hole with ferocity, and he's going to get a ton of yards or as many yards as he can, and he's not going to be slow about anything he does on the football field. And that, I think, is an important quality to have in a running back.

And I think just judging on what we've seen him do with the more opportunities he's gotten, he definitely deserves the opportunity to build on that moving forward and i think if you make him your running back one next year and bring in another guy or draft another guy late in the draft not early we cannot spend high draft capital on a running back ever really like not just not just this year like i think using any of the first three round picks on a running back, unless they're an absolute game changer, is always going to be a mistake. But if you don't feel good about

Alexander Madison moving forward and you want to bring someone in who you think can help Ty Chandler next year, Ty Chandler should still be the guy. And if next year it's kind of stagnated and you've seen your ceiling with Ty Chandler, then hopefully by then you're in a position where you can maybe spend some money on the open market for a running back or maybe draft one with a little bit higher of draft capital. Though again, I would caution against doing that. There are tons of running backs that just pop who are fit six round picks.

Isaiah Pacheco is a seventh round pick. So yeah, in long windedly, yes, Ty Chandler should get a chance to be RB one next year. I don't know if he's going to be someone who ascends to being one of the better running backs in the league, but frankly,

at that position now at this day and age, it doesn't matter if he can give you three solid years and then you just move on before you have to pay him. That's fine too. And I think he's earned that right. He is by far the best option they have in the backfield currently. And I think he will be next year as well. I think he did a really good job of leaving a lasting impression in this game,

running kind of with his hair on fire today. But just, I mean, everything looks fast with him and also looks strong with him. And that to me, that combination is going to get you pretty far. And then there's obviously some details that still need to be worked out. But you know what? Alexander Madison completely missed the block today. And we just assume, because he's a veteran, because everybody likes him, that he's got the blocking all figured out.

There's like three or four game changing pass blocking running backs in the league everybody else struggles with it that's just reality i think that it was more based on perception than it was reality with him being like the guy who gets it all and everything else i'm not saying chandler didn't get stuff wrong that sometimes actually was quite funny to watch back on tape but the actual impact of that versus being the solid guy uh i think was less than what the coaching staff believed and we should have seen more ty chandler and i'm perfectly fine with him going uh as the rb1 into next year with obviously another addition but a really good way to end the season for him speaking of ending the season

our last reaction after a game of this year, and it won't be until the preseason next year in August, when you and I get together following a game. So your final thoughts on the 2023 season, as it comes to a close Dane Mizutani. I think Justin Jefferson described it best last week when he called it a roller coaster because it really was and the fact that it was such a roller coaster but it never really left the field if you know what I mean like the roller coaster of this season

was very much confined to the football field which is good thing. We've seen seasons in the past where guys are getting arrested. The home stadium is literally collapsing beneath it. This was one of those seasons. I think we said we classified it as that a couple of months ago when I said it feels like one of those seasons. It definitely was one of those seasons, but not to the same degree. So I think when we look back on this season as a whole, we'll remember it as the weird one where everyone got hurt and Josh Dobbs was amazing for two games. And hopefully we also remember it for the year that allowed them to move forward and draft a quarterback of the future that I hope we're talking about five,

10 years from now as the guy that is leading the Vikings forward. If that's what this season, the ups, the downs, the constant who's going to be the quarterback, if that's what all this was for, I think it was good. If what all of it was for was walking it back with Kirk Cousins, then I really think it was a lost year. I respect also that you have fought through whatever closet you're in and the noises that have been around you through this postgame press conference.

But luckily, I guarantee it's much louder where you are than what we hear. So I just wanted to say that you've been battling through that and great job doing so. Well, I would I would say this. It was a extremely challenging year to talk about because you could always see the light at the end of the tunnel, which was a top 10 draft pick. And depending on how today's results go, I think it could go up to nine, right? Or maybe not eight, but probably nine. Anyway, so it was really hard to talk about because from the very beginning, from the 0-3 start, we had a sense this team's just not good enough to really compete and that a competitive rebuild season is harder than you think. It's easy to say. And when we get to the end, we're like, oh, okay, draft. Here we go. This is exciting. But along the way, there's a lot of frustrating moments. And it's always funny to look back and think if this happened or that happened, if they didn't fumble, if this guy didn't get hurt,

it is one of the seasons that in a bubble has a ton of what ifs, but not a whole lot of what ifs in the big picture to me, because I think i already knew what the answer was going to be so we battled with how do we how do we critique this how do we analyze this how do who do we criticize and when who do we praise do we start talking about dobbs is the future bridge quarterback are we getting too ahead of ourselves is should they start jaron hall it was the hardest to pin down because we had gotten so good at analyzing every single thing that kirk cousins did in the context of this team that it was a different territory and it was of slog for fans is the way that i'll think of it is it was a real grind but one thing i want to say is they got to the point they needed to get to.

And also, Kevin O'Connell led this team through all of the things that they went through this year on the field, injuries, fumbles, everything else, without going crazy. And that is a big bonus because we have seen coaches in the past. Mike Zimmer in 2021 absolutely lost his mind at the end, and he was ready to throw any person under the bus who came near him. And that ultimately, along with strife with the general manager, was the reason that he lost his job. I don't even think it was because of the eight and nine season. It was more of just that the situation was so toxic. You couldn't go forward with it. I don't feel this is a toxic situation or this is a team that has no leadership and they played today. Like they really wanted to win, but just didn't

have the horses. I thought that that said a lot about where they stood. Cause you're right early in the game. I'm thinking 50, I'm thinking Dan Campbell just keeps laying it on them. Like the Atlanta Falcons with a bad coach where they fell apart and got destroyed. So I think that there are things you could take out of this. There are lessons Kevin O'Connell can learn. There is a situation that is a perfect storm to take your franchise to a different place. And ultimately, if I offered all Vikings fans, hey, at the end of the season, don't watch a thing. It's like if you went to sleep on the NFL, if you travel to a place with no internet and then came back and missed the season, you say,

so what happened? I'd be like, Oh, let's not talk about it. But you have a top 10 pick and this, this, this, and this Jordan Addison's great. And your coach survived and everything else. I think you'd be like, okay, well, all right. Well, that sounds okay. It was not okay along the way. There was butt, you know, sneaks that didn't work. And there was injuries and all sorts of crazy stuff that happened. But it's all to me, whether this is a success is what happens next. Because this season, if you don't make the most of what this season has given you by losing what the NFL rules give you by losing, then, then you failed. But if you make the most of it, then you've succeeded.

And so that's usually we can decide by today, whether it was a success or a failure, we cannot, it's going to be probably April where we'll know how that turned out. So Dane, I can't thank you enough. You have been a unbelievable addition to this post game. It's been super fun every week, breaking down the game with you. All the people who tune in and watch every week cannot thank you enough.

Your comment section gets a little wild sometimes, but we love you. And everybody who's tuned in has made this worth the time, worth all the discussions that we've had. We've ranted. We've had some crazy talks after wild winds and everything else. We've gone on the journey together. And it means a lot to me that all of you people who show up for these post games want to watch each week. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And now the fun begins because this show is not going anywhere. It's we're going to be talking like crazy about the Vikings offseason. And you started the show, Dane, by saying, like, this is the one that has the opportunity to take this franchise in a place where it hasn't been. So we will find out what happens. Thank you so much, Dane. Get back to work in Detroit on your postgame articles, breaking this thing down. And we will talk to y'all later. Thanks a lot, Dane. Say thanks, Dane. You can say thank you to the people. You want to thank them?

Thank you to everyone who's followed along sincerely. I mean, it really has been a good year. We've battled at times, but I think we all got to the end of it and we got to the place we wanted to be. And it's been awesome to be kind of on along for this ride with collar. I think we've, I've tried to rein him in at times. I've tried to let him go at times. It's impossible to rein him in. So I think it's been a good, good match. I think we, we, we kind of play off of each other well and yeah, let's do it again next year.

And if you miss the rant early in the show, go back and find it. So, all right. Thanks everybody. Appreciate y'all.