Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings pull off the biggest comeback in NFL history

Episode Date: December 18, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic react to the Vikings coming back from down 33 points to beat the Indianapolis Colts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to the postgame show of the greatest comeback in NFL history. Matthew Collar inside US Bank Stadium with Paul Hodowanek here as well. And I have to say, Paul, I have never been so confused at where I would start a postgame reaction. Usually I give a big opening statement, what it all means, what it all says about the Vikings and a small little recap of what we saw. So I think I'll just go all 170 plays one by one is how we'll do this postgame podcast. I mean, I look forward to talking at the 37th minute. I'll be waiting. I mean, this game, this season, we thought that we would never see anything like the Buffalo game ever again, right?

We thought that's the craziest game I've ever seen in my life. It topped the Minneapolis Miracle for insanity. And then here today, a 33-point comeback. And some of the interesting things that just came from the locker room, Patrick Peterson told the offense, we're going to get stopped. So you guys have to score five touchdowns. And they weren't sure if he was being sarcastic and he was being dead serious. And then they went and did it. The Indianapolis Colts jumping out to a 33 point lead and all the things that went into that. It was like every bit of good bounce that they had had all season long

all came crashing down at once and then went the other direction, but they still had to overcome some things, mainly referees in this game. But I thought the refs did try to even it out with a handful of calls on the Indianapolis Colts, but no doubt that the Vikings probably returned two fumbles for touchdown that got taken off the board. So of course that would have made it a different game, but so many things happened in this game. A screen pass worked. KJ Osborne went absolutely nuts. Kirk Cousins ends with 460 yards. They went a coin toss that helps them

ultimately in some ways get the win. Ryan Wright had an unbelievable punt that pinned the Indianapolis Colts back. The defense, weirdly, only allowed one offensive touchdown. Like, what? No, but that actually is true because they threw a pick six. They had a punt block that went for touchdown, and then the Vikings did everything to come back in that game. I think that what we know is that the Minnesota Vikings 2022 are never out of any game.

They are never dead. You should never freak out online in the first half. Wait till the game is completely over if they've lost to make all of your declarations. We can say with absolute certainty that they didn't resolve all issues with this team, but also with absolute certainty that anything can happen. And I think it's always been a bit of a credo for the Vikings since Kirk Cousins has been here is get into the playoffs and anything can happen. And there have been times throughout my time covering the team here and Cousins where I've sort of rolled my eyes at that. Like, oh, come on. I mean, you really need X, Y, and Z. You need to rank here in offense, although that's going to be helped today in a lot of ways. You need to rank there in defense. You need to have this game, that anything can happen to this team in the playoffs. And more importantly, the headline is they've won the North and they're still in a position to fight for that number two seed

or stay ahead of the San Francisco 49ers in the two seed, even though I don't think it's of utmost importance, but it could matter when it comes to the second round of the playoffs should they get there. So this win does play a big difference there. And also if they had just melted down, if they had no showed in the second half of this game, I think we would have spent an entire week just saying, yeah,

this team wasn't for real. And they had the classic Viking Kirk cousins era meltdown, and this is who they really are. And you know, that maybe they'll not even win the North. Maybe the lions will somehow catch them or something. Like, it's amazing if you go back and look at halftime, how everybody was feeling and how different that is now. So, again, it's the greatest comeback in history,

an unbelievable game on so many levels in the second half from Kirk Cousins, from K.J. Osborne, Delvin Cook's 64-yard touchdown in which he grinded his way all the way into the end zone. Justin Jefferson was being hit and hit and hit. And if you say receivers aren't tough these days because the rules help them, I present you with Justin Jefferson. You had offensive linemen cramping up at the end of game, defensive players cramping up, having to eke out every bit that was left in their soul to win this all-time classic, which NFL Network will be playing for many, many, many years to come.

So I guess in a way, Paul, I'm honored to have witnessed history here. I'm still trying to process all the things that happened to get them to this point and just sort of looking around and saying, I cannot believe this season. I just simply cannot believe this season. If you had one of these games, two of these games happened in one year, one Washington game where you're down 10 and you you're talking about it for years, probably the same way we talked about them coming back from down 20 against Denver a couple of years ago. And when it got to 23, it's like, okay, well now it's sort of surpassed that Denver game when it got to 30. All right. Well now there's no chance, but yet it really felt like in the second half after they scored, I think the second touchdown and maybe it

was 33 to 14. It's like, okay, well, Indianapolis still has the worst quarterback in the NFL this year and the war and they have an amateur coach. And boy, did it show. Boy, did it show on so many different levels for Jeff Saturday. Saturday was not to be Saturday's day. But at the same time, I mean, Kirk Cousins, down in any game, any time, can find dudes. And his one play at a time mentality truly never seems shaken no matter what the

situation is has played so big for them in so many games this year that it's all come together and i mean this is one where remember where you were remember who you were talking to and and i have to say major credit to minnesota v Vikings fans. People did not leave this game. They did not leave this game. And they booed in the first half and they should have. And Kevin O'Connell said they should have the way that they played. But as soon as they scored the touchdown with KJ Osborne,

this place started to ignite. And there was a skull chant, I think at like 33 or 36, 21, where it was like playoff atmosphere level skull chant. People were feeling it. Like you could sense in the building that something was happening. Nobody left. By the end of this thing, the place was Minneapolis Miracle level loud

because people knew that they were seeing history. So credit to Vikings fans for not calling this one a day and just walking out at halftime and saying forget this team and then being the people that left at halftime. So I don't know, Paul, what an unbelievable day. Maybe you could start off by just the things that are going to stick out in your mind from this one forever. Yeah, I mean, this is the greatest comeback in NFL regular season history, maybe.

The one in the Super Bowl with Matt Ryan, coincidentally, probably tops that just for significance. But in terms of regular seasons, you're down 33 to zero. You look lifeless. The defense doesn't look like it's improved at all. Kirk Cousins is just pressure is raining down on him. Jalen Rager stops two routes that end up in picks. You get the pick six.

You get the punt that's blocked and is returned for a fumble or for a touchdown. The Dalvin cook fumble, like literally nothing is going your way and somehow you flip it just on a dime. And I don't have like, I I'm sure we'll get to kind of what led them there and probably provide some skepticism on this team moving forward just based on that first half. But I think my just overall like thought as I was kind of watching this comeback happen

is we talk so much about what's it going to look like in the playoffs? Can it get them to a Super Bowl? When you have these types of games and these types of seasons where these games just seem to keep stacking, man, you just got to enjoy it, right? Like if you're a fan,

you just have to enjoy the fact that you just watched that happen, that it slowly crept back, that you went from hating this team mf-ing this team probably maybe going out and shoveling going for a run i don't know what vikings fans did i'm sure many of them abandoned this game and to come back and watch that so i think my overwhelming thing is i'm never gonna forget watching this game and kind of my emotions going through this game and you can say that about at least that buffalo game like you have multiple of these games happening within a year like that does not happen to most any team. And so it can get very easy. I get caught up in it all the time.

Well, what does it mean for the playoffs? What does it mean for the Super Bowl? Like, I'm sure we'll get into those discussions. But my first and just kind of overall takeaway is, man, if you're a fan of this team, if you just enjoy football, like you have to be enjoying this season for what it's giving you, the improbability of so many things that continue to happen, kind of the highs and lows that this team provides. Like this is why people watch sports and this is why people love sports and football. And so I think my overwhelming sense is just, we watched a hell of a game. I'm not sure what it means for the Vikings next couple of weeks and what it means for their season overall. But man, I know that was an enjoyable experience that so many fans are never going to

forget. I'm never going to forget watching it. And it was just a remarkable, remarkable game. Yeah. I think that my big picture takeaway here, and I understand that it's the Indianapolis Colts and they're not a good football team and they should never have fallen down by 33 points to a team of this caliber with that quarterback and the number of, as you mentioned, I mean, even with, you know, Jalen Rager stopping on a couple of routes, like kind of showing why KJ Osborne was going to stay as wide receiver three and Osborne. I mean, Kirk Cousins has talked over and over and over again about his respect for KJ Osborne. And this was the breakout game that everybody was waiting for. But I think, I mean, there's certainly a cynical way to view some of this, and maybe in part just to say that's not a good team. It never should have happened in the first place and yada, yada.

To have the greatest NFL comeback, you first need to go down 33 points. So there's plenty of room to be cynical. Right, right, exactly. And, you know, we sort of used that against them in the Denver comeback because Denver wasn't a very good team at that time either. And even the game against Washington with the late comeback, it was like, wow, you needed a Taylor Heineke interception and maybe you should have lost that game. And we kind of went through that over and over and over again. But I guess what I would say is

when you look at, you know, all those, those things that they've done, the accumulation of them and the players that they have. And I don't think it's fluky that it's hard to hold this team down and hard to finish this team off. I mean, even against Detroit, if they stop the offensive tackle from catching the ball, is there any doubt that they're going down and scoring a touchdown against Detroit and getting the two point conversion and making a play there? Like we just can't doubt anything this team can do when it comes to being down in a game or a tough situation and finding a way to come back, which makes me think like, well, I don't want to declare because of their point differential or whatever else that they can't do these things in the playoffs. I didn't change my

mind about where they sit among NFC teams. I mean, I think there's clearly three other teams that would not have let this happen. Although Philly played a close game with indy but not like this not where they gave up 33 points but still i mean they gave it up now we talk about random stuff all the time they kind of gave up the lead on a bunch of random stuff on a weird interception on a punt block where the guy catches it like things that don't really happen that often and overall the defense actually did play a lot better in this game. Maybe it's easier to play when the other team has Matt Ryan or when the other team is trying to drag the clock, but then did some really insane stuff. I mean, being at the two yard line and throwing a bomb with Matt Ryan down the sideline and you're not throwing it, you know,

to Marvin Harrison, you're throwing it to Michael Pittman. So there were definitely some things, Zach Moss, not running out of bounds, where as if he, if he stays, or I'm sorry, he did run out of bounds. If he stays in bounds, drags the clock. Like there were so many times where if Indianapolis just played normally in the second half and just kind of hand it off or through some quick screens that maybe they drag it out, but I can't help, but walk away and say, look at the human beings in this locker room. Look at the players like Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, TJ Hawkinson was brought in. He ends up with the huge two point conversion, a couple of big catches. Like I don't, I don't think there's anything we should ever doubt in terms of what this team is capable of. And I also think that you have to

kind of just put aside a lot of the discussions about what's going to happen because we just have no idea. I mean, this, this team has been so much the ride the wave team really from day one, where, I mean, we get questions all the time about what's the future going to be like. And I saw some of this today in the first half oh we're frauds it's time to rebuild and everything else and even at halftime I said to another reporter I'm not writing at halftime because you just don't know with this team even though it would have to be one of the biggest comebacks if not the biggest comeback of all time we knew that but it just like it always exists there when they scored even the first touchdown

to KJ Osborne. I was like, I don't know, man. Like they scored that pretty fast. And then they scored another one. There's a lot of time left to go. And Indianapolis is not moving the ball really at all. And they're not getting first downs and they're not dragging clocks. So this thing became more and more and more realistic. And what will always keep the Vikings in games, no matter what, is their ability to score fast on a big play. It has been the boom or bustiest boom or bust offense I've ever seen in my life. But when they boom, they score a 64-yard touchdown in an eye blink

or they work down the field super quickly and can strike at almost any time and you know the way that Kirk Cousins just seems to be able to take advantage when the other team is trying to play everybody back which by the way we criticize the Vikings for not blitzing enough the Colts didn't pressure him at all in the second half and we know this about Kirk Cousins that if if you don't pressure him, he can pick you apart. And he seems most comfortable now at this point in his career in these games where he's down and you need him at the biggest moment to come through. It's almost like every single time you believe he's going to, which is quite a switch from his first impressions here in Minnesota, where it felt like every time they needed a big drive, he wasn't there to get it.

So even his maturation in those situations has been really something to see. So I walk away kind of saying that the first half had many more random events and the second half showed the character of the team, the types of players that they have on this team. I mean, they are just on defense also another big stop or five in this game that if they don't have, Indianapolis would have been able to run out the clock. So the defense had to come through as well on many different occasions in the second half to make this happen. So it's hard to take this and transfer it onto some bigger point because it's so crazy. And so such a one time ever event.

But I think if you are trying to make a bigger point, it isn't, Oh, well, you know, they had to come back against the Colts. So they're definitely still frauds. I think if you're hanging onto that take, like you are really gripping hard. They're 11 and three. I mean, you don't just randomly get to 11 and three. I think that there has been concerning signs along the way. Those didn't completely disappear, but this is the KG season.

This is the anything is possible season. And that's what I'm going to continue to believe until it's over. Yeah. And I think like, I think Kevin O'Connell said it in the post game. Like if we didn't have the Buffalo game, the Detroit game,

like, I don't know if we would have done this. Like we talked about that in those games, like does that help them when they get down or when they're in close games? And I think certainly when you're down 33 to zero and you have something to look back on and say, Hey man, like we've come back from deficits. And obviously none this big, but like, we know how to do this. Like we're confident that we can do this. Like that does speak to something. And I think it will speak to them going forward where like their will is not

going to be crushed at this point at any sort of loss and I don't know if you necessarily say that about teams of the past of this Vikings team they kind of would lay over and kind of if they were things weren't going well like they weren't the ones that were just gonna constantly keep fighting and bring one of these things back so I think you have to say something about that. And I'm obviously the one that loves to look at all the analytics and analytically kind of look at this game. But at some point, you just have to say, this team has more belief. This team has more resolve than I'd expect, than most teams I've seen have. These things don't happen by accident.

And it's remarkable that it continues to happen like one time two times maybe even a third time like it's a fluke but they continue to do this over and over again and so again i don't know if that means they're gonna do it another time but i just say it's damn impressive that they've been able to pull this out as many times as they have despite what i think kevin Kevin O'Connell called one of the worst halves of football that he's ever seen played. So if you're able to turn that around, like I was in my head thinking,

like, can they just string together a couple drives to kind of feel all right about this game and to like not feel completely dejected? And they obviously did way, way more than that. I'm not a complaint about the refs guy, but there were several refereeing incidents that now there were calls that went both ways but i think undoubtedly the the vikings got the the bad end of the the stick on several of those kind of fumble chan and sullivan runbacks that

may not and should not have been called so they overcame a lot of adversity in this game some of it self-inflicted and some of it not to to do. And so at some point you just tip your cap and you say like something, something about this team allows them to continue to believe. And it's nice when you have Justin Jefferson, that sure helps. But man, they've, it's, it's really remarkable that they can continue to do these things. And I've kind of gone past the like, well, when is it going to stop? And I just kind of gone past the like well when is it going to stop and I just kind of marvel in the fact that it continues to happen uh and this was obviously the greatest uh kind of example of that that we think we've got so far this season so let's go back to the first half and I know that's not what anyone really wants to talk about but we'll get to the rest of it and kind of how it played out but is there anything that you look at from that first half

that you would say like this is what they still need to be worried about because i think there are a couple things one is the part of the playbook that has the fullback taking and i know this feels like since there's so many plays it feels like a million years ago that this happened. But the fullback taking a jet sweep, please toss that out. I think that what Kevin O'Connell has to realize is that trick plays are fun, and they certainly make you look good when they work. And a couple of them have worked throughout the season. Early in the year, they had a throw from Ryan Wright. That was probably a bad choice. Again, if you're going to go for it I'm fine with that I don't mind that at all I didn't mind

any of the fourth down decisions to go for it I thought yeah it's time to be aggressive once the win probability goes above 90 for the other team you might as well just go for it every time who cares uh but I mean if you're trying to throw passes with your punter and you're trying to run jet sweeps with your phone or with your fullback. And, you know, I like fullbacks more than anything, but it's just not a really effective type of play. So I thought early in the game there was some maybe panic from Kevin O'Connell or just some things that were kind of unnecessary that they did there and that helped get them behind. So it was some random things. The Delvin Cook fumble and then not recovering it, that's random.

Channon Sullivan and having that not be ruled a fumble when it clearly was, but forward progress, if it gets called, there's nothing you can do about it. I don't think his forward progress was stopped, but if they blow the whistle, there's nothing you can do. But they got screwed on that for sure. It was an obvious fumble. Pick it up, go for a touchdown. So I think we can separate some of the stuff that was random

and then some of the stuff where it was like they were getting pressure on Kirk Cousins early. And it seemed like Indy was being very aggressive with their defense and they were getting some pressures up the middle on Cousins early in the game. And eventually, I think Indianapolis was just on the field for so many plays with their defense that they wore out and they were missing two cornerbacks today, which probably really hurt them as far as even rotating players in for some of those big plays. But early in the game to not be able to get going on offense, to give up a long drive on

defense and then a touchdown drive on defense. It felt like one of the most disappointing starts that they've had because at least when it was the Dallas Cowboys, you could say it's the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, look, here's Micah Parsons just ripping your face off or here's Tony Pollard and Dak Prescott and C.D. Lamb. These are great players. It was not the Indianapolis Colts.

So I guess I'd like your thoughts, Paul, on the first half, because I thought some of it was just completely bad breaks that they haven't gotten all year. And maybe they got them all out of their system. You know, the other team gets a 49-yard punt return and the fumble and things like that. But I also think that not getting off to a quick start, not seeming like they were dialed in right away in a game where all week we

talked about how they really needed to just blast the heck out of the Indianapolis Colts from day one. I would say that that it's going to be long forgotten for sure, but it's going to linger a little bit with me that they weren't ready to play in a game where we kind of criticize them all week long going into this yeah i would agree that some of it was fluky i think we've seen now i think last week like khalif raymond had like a 40 yard punt return that he took back obviously the opening kickoff gets taken back like there were several big returns on special teams so i think while the kind of the punt getting blocked is slightly fluky, like we've seen some kind of cracks, uh, emerge from this special teams unit just here and there.

So I think, I mean, some of that just comes down to execution. Like you got to block the guys like, yeah, it's, it's tough that it bounced right into the arms of a guy and that it results in a touchdown. But you know, like some, some of these things are just about poor execution. And so I think there were kind of a couple of warts that I think we saw on the special teams unit that they'll need to get ironed out. So some of that is fluke, but I think a lot of that is execution. I think, yeah, the Dalvin fumbles kind of fluky. And I think what we learned about both cousins,

his picks is try to keep Jalen Rager from running a lot of routes. Potentially is your way to avoid that. So those were some bad luck, but the second pick just looked like he didn't, he stopped on the plate and looked like he was supposed to know to keep going like that comes down to coaching and him not being ready in those moments so some of that's fluky some of that isn't but yeah I would say regardless when they just kind of keep stacking on top of each other just that that feels fluky like these just continue to happen all at once and so I think there's

certainly um it didn't feel like just this atrocious half of football that like they were getting played off the field like some of it just happened in those kind of weird calls that really really costed them Dalvin obviously runs 40 yards and that was going to set up a really nice spot on the field and then he fumbles it like that's that's fluky and that really hurts you so I think I think it's a little bit of a give and take but I would agree that overall kind of some some flukiness in that first half but there was also um like a lot of in the first half I didn't it didn't look like the defense had improved much at all like there were wide open guys in the middle of the field soft zone like everything we

kind of had questioned and worried about from that Lions game and would they get it fixed? Like it wasn't fixed in the first half. And I'll need to go back kind of in the second half and see how much it felt like the Colts were turtling and how much was the defense just really ramping it up. I'm sure it was a little bit of both. So I think you need to go against a better offense than the Colts for me to believe your full defensive woes are solved. I think the Colts have been averaging the second fewest points in the NFL. They'd only been averaging six points in the first half of games. They scored 33 today.

So like you're going to need to do it against a team that isn't a dreadful team that loses Jonathan Taylor on the first series of the game, which was, I think not talked about enough because he goes out, but then they just go on a 33 to zero, you know, run. And so you're not really thinking about Jonathan Taylor,

but they sure could have used him potentially in some of those drives late in the game when they're trying to salt the clock and get really get rid of it. Like you, I would have liked Jonathan Taylor on those plays too. So I think the defense showed improvement, obviously in that second half and just kind of the stinginess to have to get those stops over and over again and do it without turnovers and getting kind of gypped on a couple of them. Um, But I still want to see more that defense in the first half left me with enough question marks to need to see it kind of these next couple of weeks to see which of these teams, the first half or second half defense is really kind of the real team we're

going to see moving forward. Folks. My wife had a great idea this week in the holiday spirit. We went and got some cases of liquid death and donated them to a local food pantry. Though, I have to say, we did get some strange looks because it's called liquid death, and it looks like we were bringing in a bunch of tall boy beer cans. But liquid death water is about helping the world be a better place, specifically the environment. By ending plastic bottles, they

donate 10% of their profits from delicious mountain water to end plastic use. And we've become big fans in the household of it as well. So if you want to get some water in a tall boy can, because it just tastes better. Or if you want to give back to others, go get yourself some liquid death water, go to Hy-Vee, Whole Foods, Target, or liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquid death.com slash insider to find out more. And it's truly remarkable that the Colts did not finish this game out. I mean, because they get that first down run where you sort of said like, Oh man, like the Vikings defense finally ran out of gas and they gave up that run. And then, I mean, this was one of the

worst referee games that I have seen. And really like, I know the Vikings got screwed on multiple occasions on those fumbles where it should have been picked up. It should have been run for touchdown at the same time. That fourth down quarterback sneak is a first down. I don't know how it's not. And yet they ruled that it wasn't. And these refs, and I think this, the Vikings ran into this last week in Detroit. These refs will not change a ruling when it comes to the spot of the ball. They won't. I mean, they have to be off by 10 yards if they're going to change. I think in my entire existence, watching football, I maybe have seen one or two where they actually changed the spot of the ball. So that went in the Vikings favor.

Just so many things had to come together. You're going to need like a flow chart of things that came together that, okay, this had to happen to cause this and this coaching decision and this play and everything else. I mean, if they don't score right away on that 64-yard touchdown by Delvin Cook and if they had to work their way slowly down the field, maybe they just run out of time. And that goes for a lot of the scores that they had that just went pretty

quickly. I mean, even think about this after they score, they still have to get the two point conversion and yet, you know, Kirk cousins throws just this laser beam right into TJ Hawkinson into a tight window there. And, and just like first half, second half cousins being completely two different human beings in the first half, he kind of floated some balls out there. He didn't look very comfortable at all. It kind of sort of hearkened back to the jets game. And then in the second half, it was very much like the version that we saw last week against the Detroit lions. And if that isn't the kirkiest

thing that you've ever seen, but I mean, with, with opponents, it's remarkable how many times, like they just go into this mode of like, well, this is kind of how we're taught. We got to play back, play the prevent defense. And this team is just built to destroy that. And if we're taking things away from the second half of the game, aside from just the fact that this is a charm season and that anything is possible and whatever else, it is that they got the screen game going and they got K.J. Osborne going. And for this entire year, it's been where is K.J. Osborne? Is he going to arrive at some point soon after such a good season last year. And remember, he had such a good camp. We were talking about that all the time. Even Adam Thielen in the locker room after the game said he had a really good training camp and we thought that he would be a bigger part of this. And Cousins said that he's wanted him to be a bigger part of this. And finally today that breaks

through. And so you look at the offense coming out of this game where you have, I mean, all sorts of, you know, different players making plays for them. It wasn't just Justin Jefferson coming through in the biggest moments. You also have Christian Derisaw back, and I know he cramped up a couple of times. He's been out a few weeks, but what a huge performance by the offensive line only Garrett Bradbury was banged up in this game Austin Schlottman had to play the the center position but if they are getting Delvin Cook more involved in the passing game totally non-existent all season long KJ Osborne involved in the passing game more totally non-existent all season long and I don't

want to guarantee that those things are going to happen just because it happened in the second half against the Colts, but that needs to happen. If they're going to be a team that is dangerous in the playoffs, those two guys being a big part of the passing game could make them that. I mean, I think that if you're the other teams that might be matching up with the Vikings, it's the last thing you wanted to see was that team feeling confident about getting Osborne and Delvin Cook more involved to be weapons for Kirk Cousins and it not just being a Justin Jefferson offense. Yeah. And I wrote this last week just about kind of the floundering run game. And part of that was on Delvin. He wasn't getting as much out of the runs. And while this game

wasn't kind of a game breaker in terms of how much they ran the ball i think just the fact that dalvin cook still has like that explosive player two in him to run that screen they ran a screen mat and it worked that that was maybe one of the more impressive things they finally ran a screen and it worked for this team um but that dalvin kind of still has those game-breaking plays. Obviously, we saw it in the Bills game, and then we see it here. Like, just for him to still kind of have that oomph for him to do that, like, I think that's something we've questioned on a consistent basis from him. Can he do that?

And I think the running game, by and large, just from kind of seeing it in moments, looked a little bit more explosive, and things were opened up. And I think part of that is you get Christian Derusaw back, and that certainly helps. And I think just the fact that he, in these big moments against the Bills and now against the Colts, can kind of pull one of these plays out and really, really like change the tune of the game

and really kind of flip a lot of the momentum and where you're thinking this could go. Like I give Dalvin so much credit for being able to do that and kind of coming up in those big moments when they needed him. And then yeah, KJ Osborne, I said during the game, jokingly, like I think Osborne could be the wide receiver too on this team right now.

He certainly was today in the way he played. But just to have that option for them, if he can continue to do that, I'm skeptical. I want to see it for more than one game. You know, it can't just be, you know, like Amir Smith-Marset like last year when he's breaking out and then who knows what happens. But obviously I think KJ Osborne has a little bit more staying power than that. And I think can replicate more than, you know, what he has so far this season. So if they can find that, those are just two massive, massive

deals because Justin Jefferson cooked Stephon Gilmore a couple of times. And Stefan Gilmore is a good cornerback by and large and did some good stuff on Jefferson at, uh, on certain times in this night. So for them to have someone that can reliably not only kind of get open, but Osborne was creating stuff after the catch as well. Like that is just sore, sorely needed and they didn't even really need TJ Hackinson in this game, which is a nice luxury when you're big tight end, you just traded a second round pick for it. Doesn't even have to be TJ Hawkinson in this game, which is a nice luxury when you're big tight end, you just traded a second round pick for it.

Doesn't even have to be much of a factor in this game. Like they can get Osborne there and the rest of the group can stay healthy. Like that is finally some more kind of diverse options that this Vikings offense has. And obviously they needed it today. And that is one of the things where if you're looking forward and saying, what's a positive we can take into the playoffs or something, it's that and we'll see if it can sustain the rest of the month and into the

playoffs but it's a good first sign that you at least want to get and out there on tape that teams now have to respect Osborne a little bit more than maybe they had yeah and I don't want to overstate and say that Kirk Cousins playing the way he has the last couple of weeks will carry over to the playoffs because I don't know if that's a real thing or not how you finish the regular season if it's predictive I guess we'd have to study that but the fact that he has seemed and I know the first half was ugly but in the second half and then the entire game in Detroit that he has seemed the most comfortable he's looked with this offense and with the playmakers that he has for the entire season, it certainly can't be a bad thing, right? And the most confident that he's been as the leader of this team and somebody that Patrick Peterson wants to go up and say, hey, just score five

touchdowns as if that's possible. And it turned out that it was possible. And that belief in Cousins, I don't know if that's ever really wavered throughout the season. I mean, I think that when you lose 40-3 to the Dallas Cowboys and the offensive line just gets blown up, Derrissaw gets hurt again, you certainly wonder, is that going to be the thing that undoes them, is the offensive line? And it could have been in the first half of this game, for sure. I think that was one of the reasons they didn't move the ball particularly well. But also, when you get a blocked punt, a fumble,umble and so forth it's not like there's a lot of opportunities but they still had some three and outs and they're still one of the most three and out a team in the entire NFL they even had some against Detroit that ended up proving costly and allowed them to get down in that game

so that has to change at some point but if we're talking about the confidence of the quarterback the belief he came out after the game in a suit that was just a big giant bike bunch of Vikings logos and it was it was as cheesy as it gets but you know at the same time it's like Kirk Cousins all year long has been embraced by this team in ways that he never has before embraced by his coach in ways that he never has before empowered by his coach in ways that he never has before empowered by his coach in ways that he has not as a Minnesota Viking. And I think that it's showing up in some of these situations where he can just go and be himself and go one play after the next. And the amazing thing about the second half and the comeback is that they failed a couple of times is that they, they got a fourth and 15 and he tried to run as if

he was gonna like Lamar Jackson that day like there were there were moments in the second half where it could have just been over and yet he always came through and made a play and that is just something that has been definitive of his season I also wanted to talk about, by the way, that I was in 1993, January 8th or something like that. I would have been about seven years old, I believe, when the Buffalo Bills had a 32 point comeback. Frank Reich, ironically, the guy who was fired by the Indianapolis Colts, was the quarterback for the Bills against the Houston Oilers. And this comeback by one point tops that one as the biggest in history. I was struggling at the end of the game to do the math, like, wait, how much was Buffalo's? But the interesting thing about that, not only was it a playoff game, by the way,

but it was also blacked out on local television because old man Matt here is going to tell you that they used to black out games when they didn't sell out the stadium, which, again, they didn't sell out a playoff game. It was horrible weather. The backup quarterback was starting. No one believed in him. So my dad and I, in our living room, listened to the game and the all-time great play-by-play voice of Van Miller calling that one.

And I remember shutting off the radio when the bills were down, whatever it was, I think 35 to three. And then there was maybe an interception or something to start the second half. And then we saw on the ticker, as we were watching other games, like,

Oh, they scored, let's turn it back on. Let's just see. And then one score after the next, it's one of the greatest games ever played always will be. And Kirk cousins talked about, and this is where you kind of have these shared football-y experiences

that makes this game so great. He talked about having seen that game and watched it on NFL Network because he's always watching NFL Network. And so he understood as he was coming off the field, wow. Like think about the magnitude of that game. Think about how many things that had to happen in that game. Frank Reich throwing a touchdown to Andre Reed late in the game, the field goal at the end by and the Jefferson catch, and then now had a comeback that tops Buffalo's all-time comeback. I mean, there's just, I don't know, like, how do I even explain that I was in the city that had that at that time, and then here I am in the stadium for that? I don't know.

Like, just taking a minute to kind of marvel at how absolutely wild that that is. And the fact that, I mean, we just saw so much history. Like we had to stop from breaking down the offense for a second to just circle back and say, I can't really believe what I just saw. I mean, midway through the game, I was writing a little bit about just, you know, like what are we going to say about this one? Like, this one's a hard one to justify. It's not like the Dallas game where you could say, well, you know, Dallas is a great team and it just wasn't your day.

And instead, I never had to write that story because of this team showing resilience. Unlike any team, I think even, you know, you can make 2017 comparisons in the way that the team is pulled together, but I don't even know if there was a resilience like this. Like, they didn't have to come back a lot. I mean, mostly, you know, aside from the Minneapolis Miracle, they were winning that game the entire time. They were just a great team with a number one defense, and when they got ahead, they just won.

But this team is just flawed enough to get behind in games and just magical enough to always come back in them. So, I mean, just, I don't know. What else can I say, Paul? And like in the Bills game, you needed just a ridiculous, never happened before Justin Jefferson, like one-handed catch to stay in that game.

You needed the like fumble, Josh Allen fumble at the end zone recovered by our kendrick like you needed these crazy like almost fluky type plays like obviously this is improbable and unforgettable but as you're watching it all of it like made sense with this team like they're just they just played good offense coming in. It wasn't some mass mastery catch by Justin Jefferson that kept them in this game. It wasn't like they had a crazy interception on Matt Ryan or some fumble. It was just, we're going to get the ball and then we're going to go score. And then the defense is going to get the ball and we're going to stop you. And then we're going to get the ball back and we're going to score like the drives. Nothing about them was like, man, like maybe that probably

shouldn't have gone the Vikings way. Like it was just good football from them. And so when you add it up, it's an improbable 33 point comeback. But what I think when you look at each of those drives, like in how they went, the Vikings were the better team on offense defense. And they, they didn't get like flukes to get them there. Like it was just solid, really tough play that got them back in those games. And so I think that's an encouraging point about this too. It wasn't like just this extra worldly out of this world, like plays that needed to happen for them. It was just good, solid football that they strung together, which I think makes it even more impressive that they didn't need some kind of fluke to get back in it they sure needed jeff saturday to turtle a little bit that helped them they they sure uh needed the team to just kind of run it

with deon jackson or whatever and expect it was going to go the same as jonathan taylor like i'm sure if i was listening to the colts podcast right now the colts equivalent to this like they are ripping into that coaching staff and we haven't talked about that at all like for every one of these comebacks you need a dumb coaching staff on the other side even when matt ryan was involved in the 28 to 3 there was all the stuff about the coaching about how they got back in that the patriots got back in this game like there's going to be similar questions and statements made about the colts so they certainly had a role to play in this from we're going to kick field goals in the first half when we're up by a ton and we're just going to kind of turtle in the second half.

Like they're certainly not without blame in this thing either. Folks, you have just days left before Christmas. So make sure you're going to sodastick.com to get all of your Minnesota sports inspired goods. That's hats, t-shirts, hoodies, sodastick.com, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Use the promo code purpleinsider there for your last minute holiday shopping. No, I don't think that Jeff Saturday should be coming back as the head coach based on this. And I don't remember exactly when it was that I tweeted, I think the Colts are going to blow this, but it might've been like 36, 21,

because they were doing so little on offense and they were being so they were lacking aggressiveness, except for at the absolute dumbest time possible. When they got the ball at the two yard line after the interception, like that was the worst time to be aggressive because if you go back and look, it's about seven and a half minutes left in the game at that point. If they run three times and they just take two minutes off of the clock there, including the punt, you're probably talking about five minutes. It's going to be really hard at that point for the Vikings to drive the length of the field. I mean, even they end up getting a big play there. But I mean, even if you just wind out the clock, at some point the Vikings will need a drive

and that will take some time. And yet they didn't wind any time. I think it was only 45 seconds. So there was some amazing decisions that you just couldn't believe. And there is a fumble. And that was one of the craziest moments of the game. We talk about just, you know, all the things that you'll remember throughout this game is they clearly fumbled and Sullivan picks it up and runs it for a touchdown, but

initially they ruled it to not even be a fumble. So then they go back and change that to be a fumble because it was very obvious that it was. So even though the Vikings were on the wrong side of that call, because they would have picked it up and taken it for a touchdown anyway, it still ends up being a turnover for them and getting the ball back and ending up taking advantage of that. So there were a lot of things that the Colts had to do to leave the door open, including just not being able to punch in touchdowns. And we just saw like why they're one of the worst teams in the entire NFL in the second half, because they could not complete passes. And when they threw passes, they just didn't seem very confident in them at all. Even though the Vikings weren't pressuring

Matt Ryan. I think when we look at those pressure numbers, you know, halfway through Sunday morning or whatever, when they come out for PFF, we're going to go like, yeah, that's about how it looked. They may have pressured him like eight times during the entire game. And yet they just couldn't even pass like short, quick throws to get going in the second half and just left everything open for the Vikings. And then like you mentioned, their running game, they got a little creative at the beginning of the game with their runs. They were running to the edges a bit and they used an end around to the wide receiver to get a big play. They completely got away from that and just kind of ran up the middle over and over again. And I think that that conservative play definitely cost them. Now, I mean, I would say that I don't think any of us would have expected

this type of comeback, but they certainly got an assist. And like you mentioned, you can never have a great comeback without some assist from the other team blowing it. And the games where the Vikings have let other teams come back this year, they've always been responsible and we've talked about it in the post game. So it always has to be those things. But I think the most impressive part of it is that they just didn't let the Colts get away with almost any of them. And then, you know, of course they, they get the ball back. And I want to talk about this before we wrapped up too. They get the ball back in overtime. And Kevin O'Connell said that he considered just running three times, running the clock out, taking the tie and winning the division, which I don't think would have been a great idea. I mean, first considering how worn down the Colts defense was, they had nothing left. Any completions that you make are probably going to, you know,

get first downs and things like that. You saw KJ Osborne got a short completion. They couldn't tackle them. Like they were just totally worn down. But it's, it's interesting that they decided like, no, we want to win this game to win the division. We don't want to just take the tie. And I mean, you're fighting for the two seed. It will be a decision they have to make possibly by week 18 of whether they're going to play starters or not. I think on based on how many plays and how stressful the season has been, they probably won't. And they need to win the first round before they could get to the second round.

But at the same time, like, you know, that decision, I think, is one of those that buys you even more credit in the locker room for Kevin O'Connell as the head coach of this team because his whole thing from really day one has been, I believe in the players. I believe they're the ones who operate this team. They're the ones that drive this bus, And I'm going to let them do that. And there is not one player out of 53 or whatever number are active that would not have said, hey, let's go win this game.

Like not let's play for a tie. Let's be afraid and so forth. I think you play for a tie. Everyone's happy. They're putting on their shirts and hats, which they did. I think that they would also kind of look at and be like we went out a little bit there like what we we had a chance at history and we wimped out and instead they decide to go do that but again man the colts delay of game penalty it would have been a hard field goal and then all of a sudden it becomes an easy field goal because they commit just a silly penalty at the end. So bad teams remain bad for a reason. But I thought that that decision, Paul, I loved it a lot. I was like, like, come on, man. I mean, you're already playing with house money here. Go try to win this game.

And as this team sort of further buys in to what their head coach is selling that, that I don't know, like, I don't know't know if it's a huge deal, but I think it's something. I think it's certainly something. Yeah, and I think a tie really doesn't do much in terms of the two seed necessarily, because I think the 49ers have one more loss than you, but I think the way I've looked at it,

they have most tiebreakers over you if you end up with the same record. So you're really just worried about that loss column. So a tie is is kind of in, in that respect, kind of as good as a win in terms of playoff seating, but to say you have this biggest comeback to kind of have this jolt of, if that,

I mean, we'll see if this kind of provides them any kind of like jump for the rest of the season, because they lose this game with that lion's game. If their defense looks bad, like they're not in a great spot mentally at that point with how things have gone. So I think for them to go and do that uh you know again kind of shows that belief in that team and and probably

and could pay dividends for them down the line um we had a question i think in the comments about kevin o'connell punting on in in overtime and whether that was a smart move whether they should have kicked the field goal or gone for it i think at that point it was like a 56 yarder um and obviously Greg Joseph makes the kick later but based on what he's been doing especially from uh plus 50 yards like I don't really um fault him for not going for that knowing that a Colts touchdown still wins the game regardless and if you miss it they end up right there and that's kind of the same issue with the fourth down conversion because I think it wasn't a short fourth down conversion I think it was like fourth and nine, fourth and 10, something like that. So I think with how much the Colts are struggling to move the ball, like that's

one of the times when I I'll defend one of those because they like just going through there, I have this pulled up going through in the second half, just the Colts, they go four plays, 14 yards punt. Then they go six plays, 26 yards, field goal. Then three plays punt, four plays, 14 yards punt. Then they go six plays, 26 yards field goal. Then three plays punt, four plays punt, three plays punt, four plays fumble, five plays turnover on downs, three plays punt, and then eight plays in that overtime drive and a punt. So I think that was probably the right decision and it netted out for them. And I think Kevin O'Connell, despite kind of the, some of the weird play calling things, maybe in the first half, coached a really good game down the stretch there to put them in a spot to win the game at the end. Yeah, I agree with you.

In real time, I thought the punt made sense. It actually is funny because it was very similar to what Detroit should have done. When they played the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium earlier this year, they probably, instead of kicking a super long field goal, should have just punted and made the Vikings go the length of the field on a day that they weren't playing very well on offense. With the way Matt Ryan looks in his present state, I mean, it was shocking to even see him work the ball down the field

maybe once or twice because there's so little left. Even when he's throwing screen passes, the ball is traveling so slowly through the air that if you're looking at the way your defense is played in the second half of the game, how conservative Indianapolis has been, Matt Ryan and just what he's like as a quarterback, I would factor all those things in to say if you miss the field goal, which maybe is like a 50-50 and considering Greg Joseph's recent history, it might be less than that. It's a great idea to punt. I think it's a great idea to punt there that, you know, people will say, oh, analytics always hate punting. Like that's not actually true. A lot of times

it'll be like a 50-50 and you'll say, well, oh, well, you know, it said go for it by 2% or something like that. But the fact that Greg Joseph has struggled in this field and actually going in that direction, kicking long field goals, I think almost every one of his 50 plus has been in the same direction he would have had to kick it, which, you know, might've made them nervous anyway. So, you know, the, the punt was a great idea, put, put it in the hands of your defense and then try to help them get a stop, which they ultimately did. So everything had to go their way in the second half. And it did.

And the Minnesota Vikings made history again here at U.S. Bank Stadium. And think about this, Paul, that just a couple of years ago, they had a play that will go down in history forever in the Minneapolis miracle. One of the most unlikely, and there was factoids about this. I didn't memorize them, but like one of the most unlikely plays, like the first time ever a team has scored from 60 yards out with 10 seconds to go, whatever it was, but something that everyone will remember forever and made Stefan Diggs a national superstar. And then only a couple of years later, we're sitting here for the greatest comeback in the history of the NFL, the same franchise, the same place. I mean, I just don't believe it. I just don't believe like all

the, all the things that we know about the NFL that we know about NFL teams and that we would say about every other NFL team, if we were looking at them from the outside, are just defied by the Minnesota Vikings. And that's not just 2022. I mean, it even goes back to Case Keenum. And this is why there is some synergy between those two seasons is because I just remember thinking every week Case Keenum is going to melt. It's going to be over the miracle ride from Case Keenum is going to melt. It's going to be over the, the miracle, you know, ride from case Keenum is going to fade at some point. And I thought in the second half of the new Orleans game, there it is. And today tell me you didn't have the feeling in the first half. There it is like, there's the game. There's the one where we all go, oh man, this team, they're just, they're just not good

enough, or they just have too many weaknesses and all the luck just ran out. Everybody was thinking that in the first half, our friend, Jeremiah Searles texted me and said, I'm not watching the second half. Of course he was, and then came back and said, you know, whoops. But I mean, it's just with this franchise, whether it's on the good side or the bad side, and they had the miracle at the Met and they had some other 30 point comeback or something like that in the eighties. I think it was 1985.

Maybe they had another comeback that was similar to this, like this franchise always for some freaking reason ends up connected to the most improbable, unlikely whack a doodle. Totally. You can never possibly ever look away from this team. And today just is another chapter in that entire thing. So what a day, Paul. What a day.

Yeah, I mean, and when you think about it, that was the last time they won the division. Like when you think about the whole Kirk Cousins experiment, I think if you would have said five years they hadn't won the division, I think they obviously made that move thinking there was going to be much more than division titles uh in their future so for them i think just if we're pulling it out big picture like to win the division like this this could already be considered like the most successful season that the vikings have had with car cousins and we haven't reached the playoffs yet uh because they've won the division and you can talk about the division not mattering because you want to win the super bowl but that's obviously kind of one of the first goals that teams set out with every year is they

want to win their division and certainly the rest of the division made it easy for the vikings to kind of walk to this but they sure as hell earned it they're 11 and 3 uh they're playing you know they they obviously are having these massive comebacks these remarkable comebacks and obviously this one clinches it um but yeah it's it it gives you similar vibes to that team where you just question like is this just kind of like their year to do a run it might not it might end in like it did in 2017 in an nfc championship game or something like that but like the improbability with which that season came together with case keenum playing as well as he'd ever played with the defense that was just standing on its head week after week after week after week and then you get the Minneapolis

Miracle on top of it um like even before the Miracle that was a quite a stunning season and so then you add that on and this season was stunning and now we're adding uh the greatest or the biggest comeback ever into history so it's it's remarkable because those years feel similar in just kind of the vibe you feel around the team just the you never can count them out and the just like awe that you have because neither this year or that year you were expecting what is ultimately happening so it's just what happens now for this for this team does it end like that team did can they go further i don know, but you and everyone

enjoyed that 2017 team throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. And this team sure should be enjoyed as they continue to do these remarkable things we can week out. Well, I can't wait to go review this one. Uh, and the film review is going to have a lot to pick from because there's a million plays in this game. And I can't believe how many games have gone, like four hours. But that's Minnesota Vikings 2022 football for you. If you're watching the stream for the first time, by the way, we do the Purple Insider podcast every single day. So make sure you go download that wherever you get your podcasts and or subscribe to us here on YouTube. We also do another one called Hot R hot routes that breaks down the whole league,

though. I think we may dedicate a lot to the Vikings in that episode for this week. So appreciate everybody watching again. You saw history today and hopefully you didn't turn off the TV at half. And I just, I can't say enough like the fans in the stadium that stayed, that, that went nuts in the second half,

even when there was a very little chance, they deserve so much credit for that because I thought it was a factor. I thought that clearly Indianapolis, they could feel it as it went on in the second half. And so all the things that were the forces that caused the Vikings to get to this place, the fans should not be forgotten in this too. So this is a day that you get to remember forever. And now we have the challenge of kind of figuring out what we even want to make of the final games as they just work their way into the playoffs here, because this one I think proves that we can never say, no matter what happens the next few weeks, we can never say,

hey, the Vikings won't this, that, or the other thing, because this year, again, is the anything is possible year. So thank you for your time, Paul. Thank you so much to everybody who watched. And by the way, the microphone people in the comments have questions about the microphone. It's called the snowball and it's very durable. That's why I use it because I can bring it on the road and everything else. And it's got a pretty solid sound, but it does look like the mini death star or something. I agree. Somebody said it looked like I was talking into R2-D2's head. Like, yeah, yeah. I mean, it does kind of look like that, but it's also very effective. So

appreciate everybody watching. Thanks so much for your time, Paul. And we'll do it again next week. And who knows what will happen then. Bye, everybody.