Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - TMLG: Is the Vikings' model sustainable against the Chicago Bears?

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

Matthew Coller and former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Sirles get together to talk about what the tape showed us about the Vikings' win over the Detroit Lions and what they can take forward with them. Can the O-line continue to play well? Can they continue to give Kirk Cousins easy throws to open receivers? How about the defensive line and secondary bending rather than breaking? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Matthew Collar here as always, along with former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Searles, who now has upgraded his microphone game. What is up, Jeremiah? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I'm just, I got done, got to go hunt a little bit this morning. The trash weather outside made for good hunts this morning, so I knocked down some ducks and then got rained and everything I own soaking wet. So, solid morning.

Including your soda stick hat, by the way. Including the soda stick hat, man. The soda stick hat did well. It kept the rain out of my face as much as it could for a main downpour, but it did the job. There you go. Well, we were both going through the tape just before this, and I just want you to confirm, and then we'll talk all Vikings, okay? I promise. I just want you to confirm that my over-the-top rant after the game

about how poorly the Lions are coached as a team, that I was not being overly hyperbolic or a crazy person when going off about my amazement at the Lions' poor coaching. No, you're spot on. And I think they're in a race for who can be the worst coach between the Lions and the New York Jets because it's going to be a photo finish come week 17. But it's going to be one of them. It's going to be one of them right now, and it's definitely a toss-up

between which two are. So we should just talk a little bit about, because there's lots to get to here in improvements and whether they can actually get back in the race now. Last week we were both on sort of the, I don't think it's going to happen, but now it feels a little different in the light of day after they've actually gotten the win. But the drive that stood out to me so much when it came to the Lions coaching, but also some of the things that the Vikings are doing well was the final drive before the half. And they run it first, which was a little puzzling,

but I think that they wanted to figure out, okay, if we get eight or 10 yards on a run, then we're going to go for it. If we get stuffed in the backfield, then we're not going to really be aggressive. But just a tremendous job of the vikings getting delvin cook in space lined up against lions linebackers where there was no shot whatsoever and they were able to create big plays and then um on the touchdown to amir abdullah clearing out

a lot of space um yeah and good for amirir Abdullah, right? A Nebraska corn husker. But also, you've got to have respect for any guy who finds his way as a running back to stay around in the league and have a job like he has. So good for him to get a touchdown. But just well-designed plays by Gary Kubiak, great execution by the Vikings, and very poor coaching by the Lions. And I think it tells you that when you talk about, hey, fire this coach, fire that coach, this coach doesn't know what he's doing, look over there.

Look over at the Lions. Like, hey, it could be a lot worse. So tell me what you saw on that drive. The big thing I saw on that drive is they – so first of all, they put Everson Griffin over Dakota Dozier, and I'm sure we'll get into more Everson talk, Mr. Great, Good, whatever. I love Everson. Great guy.

One of a great teammate, but that was a tad ridiculous last week. But anyway, so they put him over Dakota Dozier, which you pretty much expected, right? Like he did make a name for himself when Jared Allen was here and when Brian Robinson were the DNs and he would come in and rush a three technique and he did some really good things. That's kind of how he got his career jump started. Dakota Dozier handled Everson Griffin in that two-minute drive, first of all. I mean, punched him in the face. They tried to go.

And then the other thing I saw is you saw as they were passing it that they were lining up in the double three techniques, and they were running stunts in games. And so after, I think, one of the long runs by Dalvin or a long pass, and he gets out of bounds, they went to the sideline, and I think they said, hey, they're running these stunts, and they're going ETs, which means that N comes first and the tackle loops around. Let's run an outside zone and catch the edge,

and that's exactly what happened. You see the defensive end go to run inside, and Riley just scoops him up, doesn't move him at all, just literally scoops him up and walls him, and Dalvin gets the edge. So that was some really good coaching there by Kubiak. I think that was some really good, probably from upstairs, whoever has the microphone upstairs, saying, like, hey, this is what they're doing, like, make sure we attack that.

But overall, just good execution. You didn't see them shoot themselves in the foot, which is, I mean, two minutes really, like, okay, when's the hold or the sack coming? It's really what you're usually waiting for, like, when's the hold, when's the sack, and they didn't shoot themselves. So that was the best two-minute drive I've seen by the Vikings probably in two years there have been many times and we've sort of debated like who is this on is it on the quarterback is it on the play caller is it on the design where you are left vastly

disappointed after a two-minute drive and you're right about this one being extremely well executed but also if you're the Lions and you're going to play man coverage a lot in that situation I don't really quite understand having man coverage between a linebacker and Delvin Cook I don't really understand down near the goal line having man coverage on Justin Jefferson and just clearing out an entire side of the field if he runs a crosser, which, by the way, the Vikings run endless crossers all game long. And you saw this, too. There were so many times where it was just like almost too easy. Oh, they're going to be running man coverage, so let's just run these crossers over the middle.

They'll kind of do the pick thing. Somebody will be wide open. Here's 30 yards for Kirk Cousins. So I thought that throughout the entire first half, the play actions were really well designed. Receivers were running wide open and it was sort of a product of, hey Lions, did you game plan against the Vikings? Because they do this nonstop. And what you're seeing, I think, is the gap between teams that are coached really well and coached really poorly is pretty significant because they did the same thing to Houston with the deep crossers, and they would send two guys out and have Max protect, and someone ends up wide open. It's like all you guys who came from Belichick trying to play the man coverage all the time because you think you're Belichick, it just doesn't work anymore.

And the Vikings are the beneficiaries and you have to give them credit for taking advantage of it. Absolutely. I mean, it's also the Dalvin Cook factor, right? I mean, you've got a guy who's almost leading the league, if not leading the league in rushing, he's missed two games. I mean, that if you're, I mean, one thing that I saw that, again, I haven't studied a ton of Detroit Lions tape this year, but one thing that they did is they played five down against us a lot. And I think that was a try and just say, you know what, we're going to line up one-on-one versus your offensive linemen and bet that one of us is going to win. Because if you've looked at the past games, that's happened, right?

You've had a guy that's had a chink in the armor in that front five the whole year, but everyone stepped up to the plate. I mean, yeah, there was a guy that got beat here or there, but Dalvin Cook is good enough to make one guy miss in the hole. And then when you're playing that single high, like you said, if you sell out to stop the run by adding another defensive lineman or putting your two outside linebackers on the line of scrimmage, you're trying to say we're getting negative plays

because when he does break through, there's no one left. And we talked about this, what they used to do with Adrian Peterson back in the day, too, where it was like, everyone in the box. And then it's like, well, he's one cut away from going 60 or if you have 10 guys but I think the big thing too is the fact that they tried to sell out and mean Bradbury whipped that nose up and down the field in the run game and if you can control the nose in a big front like that where you've got a zero nose and you can reach him and you can get him running that's really big and then the other thing i saw more counters and more pulls by this offense than i've seen all year and that's another way to cut the defense in half when you have all the guys in

the box like that you're trying to just cut guys right get one guy out of his gap and i saw a lot of pulls and guys getting on the edge and i thought was really beneficial and another nice wrinkle to the zone and the outside zone that kiak's ran since the dark ages, like those pin pulls are super, super helpful. So Rick Denison is their run game coordinator and he's also the offensive line coach. And I just think he's had a really big impact on them over the last couple of years, 2018, they had a very simplistic run game.

It looked actually just like Chicago's how they hand off out of the shotgun and then the running back just gets tackled. And if he doesn't break three tackles, then you're not getting anything. I don't know. Actually, John DeFilippo is there in Chicago still, but they clearly don't know what they're doing with run game. But I noticed the same thing, that this has become a very diverse run game, and it is not just a wide zone over and

over and over again and with Delvin Cook I just feel like not only ability wise but also knowledge wise he seems to really understand what where he's supposed to go what he's supposed to be doing how all of these things work in comparison to what the defense is doing so it's beyond just hey he runs really fast and just gets out and escapes like on Madden when I hold the X button down. But I think being able to be this diverse in the run game has played a huge role in him taking his game from very, very good to unbelievably good. I think another piece we need to talk about is that CJ Hamm. I mean, he is he I think Dalvin Cook really enjoys running behind him.

And another thing it does is it makes the defense match our personnel. So many times defenses want to play in sub-packages to get their faster linebackers on the field or to get only two linebackers instead of three. But when you put C.J. Hamm in the game, if you're going to keep a nickel corner or a nickel safety in there, C.J. Hamm's going to attack him. They're going to see that, and they're going to send him right at that guy. I mean, and CJ is a bulldozer. I mean, and so I think Dalvin's really learning to trust him and to trust his blocks.

Like I think sometimes earlier in the year, Dalvin was getting a little bit more out in front of his blocks, not letting him set up as much, but you're seeing the patience. And another piece of the, instead of going wide zone, if you just send him straight downhill, he's at full speed in two steps. Versus if you're trying to send him on a wide zone and kind of get him on a path outside, it takes him two, three, five steps, really, to kind of get going to see the reads.

But Dalvin's at his best at full speed because of his ability to make those jump cuts. I mean, he can make it going 100 miles an hour. So I think that's another piece of the diverse, like you said, making sure you're getting him downhill quicker so that he can get past the line of scrimmage before he has to make his first cut. Yeah, C.J. Hamm deserves a neck roll for the last couple of games.

He has done a tremendous job. I once tried to convince C.J. to wear a neck roll, and he declined. He's a running back at heart. He's a running back at heart. If he was a true fullback, he'd put a neck roll and no wrist tape, no gloves. One of those backboard things, the neck boards that comes up. Yeah, you need one of those. He's playing like it recently.

So now here's the big question that comes from all of this, because if you look at the last two games, Delvin Cook is on a pace over the last two games for 3,000 yards in a season, which, hey, again, on Madden, I could definitely accomplish. On rookie mode, maybe. Yeah, if you turn up the difficulty, that would be even tough on Madden, but I'm also good at it. So anyway, they can't rely on that.

They can't rely on getting 180 yards a game and five touchdowns or six touchdowns in a couple of weeks. So how much of this is sustainable to be able to have Cook dominate and have people running wide open on these play actions? This is their philosophy, but we've also seen if Cook gets slowed down, especially against Chicago, it's problematic. So what comes after this when you've had great games and, you know, inside the room, you're looking at what everybody did well, and you're patting each other on the back, but how do you say, all right, we realize we're not going to be able to do this week after week where he just runs for 70 yard touchdowns. That's going to be tough because you're going to go to the well till it's dry, right? I mean, you're, you're going to,

and then you're going to have to try and fix it. And it's going to take tough because you're going to go to the well until it's dry. I mean, you're going to, and then you're going to have to try and fix it, and it's going to take a team like Chicago's defense to say, okay, no more. No, no, no, no more. We're not letting you do this to us. And then it's going to say, okay, I think Kirk's only thrown the ball, what, 40 times in the last two games? I mean, that's a winning recipe. You're not, excuse me, Cousins.

I mean, that's a winning recipe if you have Cousins still on the ball list. I think that if you want to continue to open it up, you're going to have to get the short passing game going. Slants, hooks, I mean, little things that are three-step from underneath center. And I know everyone's like, because Bradbury gets pushed back and the guards are struggling. But with the emergence of Ezra Cleveland playing much better, I think you have a stout enough front that you can do three-step drops now out of, again, those packages with C.J. Hamm.

What makes him so special, he can be a fullback in the flat because he does have the running backs to it, right? And you're seeing what Dalvin can do against linebackers. So if you want to play man coverage against our base personnel offense, then you're going to have this short passing game because Jefferson and Thielen. And I'll tell you this, Irv Smith, man, that guy has grown on me. He has grown on me a lot,

and not just because of his pass-catching ability. Him in the run game is something that is becoming fun to watch. He had some unbelievable blocks that helped spring Dalvin. He had some really good cutoff blocks, some really good double-team blocks. He is an emerging star at tight end in this league, and he's a huge reason why they're having this success too.

So keeping him involved in that intermediate passing game, I think is something that you continue to grow that. If they take away the run game, go to that intermediate passing game and get that going and then go back to the run game. I think the big things don't abandon the run game if it's not going like 500 yards a game, right? 100 yards a game is still good 120 yards a game is still okay like that's that's okay i think sometimes everyone's like okay this

is the standard now like the standards we got to get 250 to 400 yards rushing every single game like okay let's no so i think the big thing is like just stay with it understand that there's going to be bumps and bruises but the intermediate passing game because i'm not sold on our deep drop seven step throw it all over the field. I don't think that's what we need to do to win, but the intermediate game can definitely be something that helps us out. Well, and Cousins talked about a few weeks ago, getting more singles and not always going for home runs. It was just that the Lions said, are you sure? Here's a pitch right down the middle. If you would like a home run, you can hit it. uh Kirk said okay that's fine but I don't think that the Chicago Bears are going to do the same thing I

I when it comes to their running game and where it plays a big role in my mind is uh a if the opponent sees that you only pass 46 percent of the time on first down they really have to respect it when you go back and stick your arm out with the football like you're going to hand it off to run those play actions. The other part is Kirk Cousins is just a guy that has to play ahead of the sticks. I mean, he has to be on first and ten. He has to be on second and short. And it's really a consistency that you're looking for with a running game. As great as the 70-yard runs are, those are what vary from year to year, from week to week. And I was looking at Delvin Cook's distribution of games, and it's every bit as likely that he'll average seven yards per carry in a game than he will three.

So, you know, you have to find, if you're not hitting on those big home runs, at least ways to push forward to get you to second and five. So even if you have an incompletion on a play action on second down, it's a third and manageable. I think that that's really important for them in the way that Cousins has to play. Yeah. And I think efficiency is the word I want to look at, like efficiency in the run game. Like I think again, like you said, the home runs are sweet. The home runs are great, but those come from being efficient four plus yardage runs. That was Tony Sperano's big thing. Coach Sperano was just, he had an efficiency chart when we came up in on Mondays. He'd say, okay, we were

70% efficient in the run game. We were 10% or 50% efficient in the pass game, whatever for the O-line play. And so I think if you can stay in that 60 to 70% efficiency rate of four plus yards per carry, then that's when you can really open up the big runs. And so I think that's what you're going to start seeing is there is this huge growth curve, right, huge at the top. It's going to level out and get back down to four or five yards a carry. And when you can hit that consistently, that's, again, ahead of the sticks. I just don't think this offense, Kirk Cousins, whoever it might be, can play behind the sticks.

They remind me a lot of Nebraska's offense right now. When they're in a rhythm and when they're rolling, they're fine. But the second they step on their own toes, it's game over. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. For all of you hunters out there, Soda Stick has some very cool hunting gear available that you need to check out, including their Mick Golden Light Hunting Club hats that our pal Jeremiah Searles has been wearing lately on his excursions.

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Shut up. And you got what you deserved. No, I'm just kidding. I'll fight you. So let's talk about how the defense played in this game because, you know, there are a few things that are going for them. And number one is I think Shamar Stephan is playing very well. But also other dudes are starting to sort of step up and emerge.

Armond Watts over the last two weeks has played really well. This is the Armond Watts that we expected to show up at some point and start making a difference. And Jeff Gladney bounced back really well. I think that this is a big difference maker for them because Jeff Gladney got absolutely embarrassed by Devontae Adams. It happens. It's the NFL.

These guys are great at football. And to come back and make key stops, tackles right on the first drive he reads the play pretty quickly comes off his man and makes the tackle on Danny Amendola and right off the bat it's Zimmer's dream get a three and out right away start playing that field position give your offense a great starting spot and they go down and score a touchdown and that begins with Gladney so to see him bounce back from a bad game to a good game, I thought was a really good sign for them. I agree, and I think his tackling in the run game specifically

is something that was really good. I think everyone, again, we've talked about this on the show before, the impact that Trey Waynes had as an edge tackler, I think was very much taken for granted. He was a phenomenal, not just a good, a phenomenal tackler. And you would never look at it by guessing by looking at him, right? He's a string bean. But he was very good. And so Gladney taking those and putting a force, turning everything back inside, not letting them get the edge was huge. I mean, how many times have we seen Adrian Peterson and Purple take it to the edge,

make the corner miss, and go the distance? And that just wasn't the case today. And another guy, I mean, Eric Wilson is playing really good football right now too. He is emerging. He is talking about a guy that had big shoes to fill. You're feeling Anthony Barr, all pro, all world times type guy, and he is stepping up to the plate. Big interceptions. He's making a lot of tackles.

He's copying Eric Kendrick's game, which is a good thing. It almost sometimes you have to double take like, okay, if it wasn't for the hair, like which linebacker am I watching? Because they're getting off blocks. They're identifying things super quickly. He still at times overruns things a little bit and gives up the cutback against just judging off of how I'm watching with which gap he has. But I'd rather see an overaggressive linebacker shooting his gun

than a guy that's back on his heels getting blocked at three, four yards. Kendrick's interception also, by the way, was phenomenal. Phenomenal. That was huge after the block. They almost blocked the first one. They lined up in that weird formation where they had five guys over on the left side, and they almost got that one. I was like, oh, man, they might block this next one.

And then sure enough, I think it was Mike Boone who missed the cut. Yeah. Yeah, that's a bad feeling. That's like giving up a sack when you cut a guy and you turn around and you see him crush the quarterback. I'm sure that's about what he was feeling there. Sometimes on this show we have talked about the 2017 blocked punt in which the replacement long snapper may have had a miscue in that particular game, if you recall. I do recall. I do recall.

Yeah. I remember Mike Prefer saying, I've never seen anyone get that wrong. It's like we say left or right, I think. It's like red is right and left is, I don't know, loo or landscape or something. Yeah, it's just like just that was bad. It shouldn't be that big of a problem. And the funniest part about that as a total aside is the New Orleans saints on their website in the days after that,

um, desperately looking for content, did a film breakdown and, and blame the wrong guy, their film breakdown blamed Emmanuel Lemur. And they were like, Oh, he didn't make the block.

And it's like, no, no, the center or the, uh, snapper with the wrong way anyway it's just it's a I've obsessed over it because it's just so funny that the Minneapolis miracle is caused by a replacement long snapper 100 and Prefer was not a guy you wanted to get on his bad side he was terrifying like not just scary terrifying if you got like if something bad happened on special teams everyone would like go to pre-framed like try and like hold him back from just

ripping someone's face off he was that kind of scary yeah he's a he was an intense guy so um anyway let's following ahead let's talk about sustainable things that's what i want okay because again there's a there's a lot to look at in this lions game and be like this was good good, this was good, this was good, this was good, across the board. There's very few things other than the blocked punt to really criticize. I mean, when the head coach comes in after the game and says, well, I wish we were a little better on special teams, that's his only negative. You've probably done a pretty good job that day. So the running game, we agree, you're not going to average nine yards a carry. But the offensive line and the way that Ezra Cleveland is playing, there seems to be a trickle left effect where Garrett Bradbury looks better,

Dakota Dozier looks better, and the tackles are playing, I mean, top half of the league football, if not a lot better than that, with O'Neal and the way Riley Reif has been playing as well. How sustainable is this very strong offensive line play from the last two weeks? I think it's very, because I don't think they've hit their full stride yet. I think the confidence level for this group is rising every single week. Now, they're going to have plenty of tests coming up. I mean, it's not like they have any slappies coming up here in front of them,

but that's how you play offensive line is with confidence. And you are already beat if you walk out on the field going i don't know if i can block this guy which has happened to me before i mean there's times you walk out and you're like oh that's that's von miller this could be tough but i mean these guys look like hey we're gonna run the football and a confident guy a confident group running the football is the biggest thing because this offensive line is not built to throw the football 40 times. And I think a lot of that has to do with just not falling behind. And so a sustainable thing for me, I think, is the fact of sticking with the run game so that you can stay ahead of the chains and ahead of the score.

Because, again, this defense isn't the defense of 2017. It's not the defense of 2016. We're not going to win ball games 10 to 17 anymore. And so staying with a score and ball control is the biggest sustainable. And then the other piece, too, is just sustaining growth on the defensive line. Seeing guys like Hercules get in there and get a sack. Seeing guys like Afadi playing better. Holmes playing better.

Like, guys playing better is a huge piece. And it sucks that it took eight weeks to really get us there because we might have done too little too late, even at the halfway point. I mean, who knows? Anything can happen. But it's good to see these marked improvements. And, again, I think that goes back to Mike Zimmer being a great coach. So I think the coaching and the coaching staff is the thing that's sustainable and going to push us through to the end of the season.

Who knows where we may end up. But the growth factor is sustainable for sure because we're nowhere near where we could be. Is that a good coach or is that a great coach? That's a great coach. Great coach. Great coach. Fact.

There are many inside the locker room Everson Griffin stories, but one of him, you know, B-Rob used to do his 96 questions or whatever, which was sometimes problematic for reporters because players would run out of the locker room not wanting to be a part of it. But he asked players to do an impression of someone, and Everson doing an impression of another reporter was kind of an all-timer. And I'm sure you can guess the reporter that he was doing an impression of. So anyway, he's a character, and I thought that the whole thing was kind of fun and funny. But I agree with you that Mike Zimmer is showing you the coaching chops here. And he said something the other day that was interesting, where he said, we're giving up 400 yards a game, and we are coaching as hard as we have ever coached and I thought there were a few instances that just

really showed it there was a pressure where they send three guys from one side and the Lions are kind of confused and then Stafford makes a great throw to get a completion but when you see Stafford looking around looking around there's nowhere to throw and're, they're giving a lot of help to the cornerbacks now with two deep safeties a lot and just showing, I think, like you said, improvement, that's where you point to it and go, I understand some of the criticisms about Mike Zimmer, but I also think this was an expected result from what he's proved that this team would get better and they would find ways to win like

this yeah i mean you knew he wasn't he's not the kind of guy that's going to roll over and die and i think he's also one of those guys that for a long time he said this is my defense this is how we run it and this is how it works and i think this year especially he's adapting to his players saying okay my defensive scheme is very good when I have all of my pieces put together, but I don't have all my pieces, right? I can't be playing chess with checker pieces. And I think he kind of realized that,

and so you're starting to see him do things that he doesn't normally do as much. He's never run this many line games before. I've never seen a Mike Zimmer defense run line games on first and second down. Now, third down, yeah, they used to put that NASCAR package in there with Daniil and Everson and Tom Johnson and twist all over the place. But in the run game on first and second down, you're seeing a lot more slants.

You're seeing guys moving. You're seeing guys get put in good positions. Like, one thing I love is when they run their sub runs at times, they put the four down front and they go into 11 personnel, and they bump the backside weak side defensive end down and cover up the tackle so that the guard doesn't or the tackle doesn't have a free run to the linebacker and then Kendrick's just ever so slightly just steps outside there and they just gap exchange and then Kendrick's able to come around and make the tackle if they

hand it off for one or two yards and that's just good coaching that's understanding like hey my guys up front are getting double teamed and pushed into the linebackers let's just exchange gaps let's just cut these guys off and so that was something i thought was a good wrinkle that they threw in this week that they struggled with and i mean kendrick had another hundred tackles against yeah i mean that's really good to see and then again you've got two safeties back there that are really you're just cleanup guys like make them right right we just call make them right guys like if something's wrong hey you just make them right and they seem to be not letting stuff over their head which is really good to see is i think that that's something that if you're a defensive guy like zimmer like okay

we're going to be a bend but don't break defense this year instead of a sellout for negative plays we're going to say okay you might get one two three four first downs and but you're going to kick a field goal you're not going to score a touchdown on a 20-yard, 40-yard bomb, which I think, again, is an adjustment for Mike Zimmer. So his coaching has been unbelievable. It's not surprising, but it's just little subtleties that I've seen in his defensive schemes that have changed just over the last three weeks as to why I think there's more success on the defensive side of the football. That's a great observation and the reason you're on the show for something like that.

Yeah, football. But let me add to that with the bend, don't break, and sort of how he's using the safeties. There's one particular play where the Lions are running a go route down the sideline and the Vikings play like a cover two, and it's a zone. So Gladney is supposed to kind of let him go and pass him off and then play the underneath routes and this is a throw that Matt Stafford can absolutely make the honey hole throw

or whatever there's a bunch of different names for it but he sees Harrison Smith he's like no nope I'm not doing that and it just when you have Harrison playing over the top of people you eliminate that half of the field you eliminate any deep balls going his way because quarterbacks know. I remember kind of when I first moved here looking at the tape and saying, like, it's amazing how terrified quarterbacks are of where Harrison Smith is. So he ends up checking it down to Adrian, and they get like three yards or something, as opposed to against anybody else they make that throw. So Zimmer knowing how to use his chess pieces, the ones that are chess pieces chess pieces has been very impressive so here's what I want you to do because the obvious

question now that we've talked about this because I think that the defensive improvement is also sustainable that they're getting better and especially they're going to play a horrible offense in Chicago which they'll continue I think to bend, don't break, and try to force these underneath things. So I want you to pick the rest of the schedule. Oh, boy. Yeah. Oh, boy. The pressure is going to be on here.

This is something that I usually have ESPN's Courtney Cronin do, but I think this is time for you to jump in the waters here and pick the rest of the schedule. Even though sports took a break, your business didn't. You have to keep moving, and that means hiring is more important than ever. Indeed is here to help. Indeed.com is the number one job site in the world because Indeed gets you the best people fast. Unlike other sites, Indeed gets you full control and payment flexibility over your hiring. You only pay for what you need.

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A few. One or two issues. Is there anything you can explain about that? Like, you have been there. Is it the size of the locker room? It's the smallest locker room in history. It's super small. The field is usually super crappy.

Like, it's usually, like, ankle-high grass. And I don't know. It's just a tough place to play. Now, without any fans in it this year, meh. Might just be another 100-yard field with crappy turf. But it's still at the same time. It's just Vikings had notoriously. I mean, I can remember we shouldn't have won at least two of the games I was there. I mean, we ended up did win. But, I mean, one of them, oh, what was his name?

He was long Hail Mary throw at the end of the game. He had blonde Mohawk. He caught like two balls all year, but that was one of them. He got a game ball for it. But like, that's one that bailed us out. And then we kicked a field goal at the end in 2017 to win it. But yeah, it's just a tough place to play. So I cannot give any insight to why. It's just hard.

I mean, you go there in 2016. It's cool. It's a cool place to play. And someone literally loses an eyeball. Yeah. I mean, yikes. Yeah, that was bad. That was a bad one.

That was bad. That was a bad day. Okay, so are they going to win this game at Soldier Field? Yes. Okay. I think the word of the day for the chicago bears is anemic when you describe their offense it's just you they can't even they can't do anything i mean it's it's horrible i wouldn't be is is what's his name hurt because nick foals big

nick nick is not looking ideal for them right now uh traviski is hurt and uh yeah nick foals is now two and four as their starter so um but you know i mean traviski has beaten the vikings before but i don't think that's an improvement even if he's in there uh they did sign kyle sloder so congratulations slaughterhouse yeah there you go that guy so uh anyway so therefore so that makes the vikings four and five they play the the cowboys let's assume that andy Dalton has returned for this one. That is November 22nd. Is that a win or a loss? That's still a win. I think they can beat them too. So they're five and five. Five and five. Teddy returns with the scrappy Panthers,

the very scrappy Panthers, who came within two points and a 67-yard field goal that had the distance of beating the Kansas City Chiefs. How does that one work out? Depends if Christian McCaffrey plays or not. I mean, I think that was a huge reason why the Panthers were so good this week is because C-Mac was back, right? One of the best, if not the best, running back in the NFL. So I say no. I say the Panthers beat the Vikings.

Teddy comes back with a vengeance, not for any more reason than not. He's not mad at the Vikings. He's just going to want to have a good game. I think Panthers beat the Vikings. I think he was a little mad. He was a little upset. I remember that tolling of a contract being somewhat of a problem there. So that makes them 5-6.

Jaguars come to town. Jaguars come to town. Jaguars? Jaguars? I mean, Gardner Minshew. I think they can beat the Jaguars. He should be back. I think they can beat the Jaguars. I think so, too.

I think they can beat the Jaguars. So they go to, at that point, 6-6, going down the final stretch of the season. That's pretty good, considering you were 1-5. Absolutely. But now you've got to go to Tampa Bay. Now, I realize that Tom Brady just had things pretty tough, but at Tampa Bay. Lost. I think Tom Brady's about to just unleash TB12 on all these people down there

and just go full Hammers mode and just start winning games like crazy. Spray people with TB12 water or whatever. Yep, just TB12 juice. Vikings at home against the Bears. Do they sweep the Bears? They should sweep the Bears. They should sweep. Unless somehow they find some magic fairy dust that opens their offense up,

it doesn't matter how good that defense is. Seven and seven to play the Saints in New Orleans, the scene of the crime of last year's playoff win. Big L. Yeah, I think so too. That's a good team. Saints are scary good. Sanders and Thomas being in, that's United. I mean, Sanders, Thomas, and Kamara, I mean, San Sanders, Thomas and Camara.

I mean, that three headed monster is pretty scary. So you're seven and eight going to Detroit. I'm going to add the stipulation that Matt Patricia has been fired. Oh, you think he's gone by then? Yes. That is my stipulation here that Matt Patricia has been fired. They have an interim coach. Does that change how you think about it?

You know, I think it's terrible, and people are probably going to get super pissed off at me for saying this. I think the Lions beat the Vikings at the last game of the year just because that's what the Lions do at Ford Field. They always find a way. Somehow it was always Jones Jr. He would always just run up and down the field on us there for whatever reason.

So I think, again, someone's going to have a crazy game. That's going to be like a swift 200-yard rushing game or something crazy. But I think the Lions beat the Vikings at the end of the year. A 7-9 season is how you have it playing out. I do. 7-9. I do not disagree.

And the way that I've looked at it is I don't know when the bad loss is, but there's going to be one. One of these games, Dallas, Jacksonville, or Detroit, where we've all just said Ws, one of them is a loss because that's football. I mean, Dallas almost beat Pittsburgh. The Jets almost beat the Patriots last night. Should have. Should have beat them.

Should have. Well, 12 people on a field goal blocks is the most unexcusable thing of all time uh all right before we wrap up let's do it love to see it and to see it um i'm just going to give you mine real quick love to see it is actually from last night's game love to see cam newton look good i like cam newton a lot i know you played with him you like him a lot. And I think it's a little unfair to put their struggles on Cam Newton and say, oh, well, he couldn't get the Patriots. I think for the most part this year, he's played really hard. And him just like shredding tackles and making throws, game-winning throw at the end.

Good for you, Cam Newton. And the Bears still wrong for not getting Cam Newton. Their team is way better than the Patriots. He's thrown to guys I've never heard of before. So love to see it, Cam Newton. What do you got for love to see it? Love to see it. We're going to go into the college world for love to see it.

Love to see it. Love to see Clemson get beat. Now, hate to see it by Notre Dame. But you love to see a number one team get beat, shake things up a little bit. Again, it sucks Trevor Lawrence wasn't there, but a phenomenal game. Love to see some shakeup at the top. I hope we get to see a rematch between those two teams with a healthy Trevor Lawrence, but you'll love to see a great college football game on Saturday night

because we haven't had one yet this year. Yeah, that was, aside from all the reviews that made it a nine-hour contest, that was what we hoped for with college football. And hate to see it. I'm just going to go with the Chargers. My gosh, finish a game, Chargers. You hate to see it. They just can never finish a game.

Justin Herbert looks really fun, and you want their fan base to be excited, whatever fans are left. Hate to see it. Hate to see an exciting quarterback getting screwed by his team. For me me it's you hate to see Christian McCaffrey get hurt again yeah um it was so cool to see him back out there what the energy he brought back to his team I mean again they took down the reigning world champs down to the wire and a lot of that was because of him and you saw him wincing there at the end so I hope his shoulder's not super messed up. I hope he doesn't have to miss a ton of time.

But I hate to see, again, our superstars out of this league, especially Christian, a guy I know personally. His brother plays here at Nebraska, and just hate to see him go down again. Jeremiah, this was great, as always. And the silky smooth tones of the new microphone, much appreciated. Yeah, the audio quality is fantastic. You can thank the Husker Sports Network for that one. Yeah, yeah, that's great.

So I guess congratulations on that, having better audio now. I don't know. I don't know where I was going with that. But we will do it again. You know what? It's fun to break down a game and not have to talk about, like, why did they trade this guy? Yes.

Fun. It was positive. This was our first really positive show. How about that? Good things, rocking and rolling. Let's keep this being sustainable. How about that? Really depends on what they do in Chicago.

So we will talk to you next Tuesday on Tuesday Morning Left Guard, man. Thanks for your time. Absolutely. See you guys next week.