Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings beat Packers behind brilliant Sam Darnold performance

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press react to the Vikings beating the Green Bay Packers at US Bank Stadium Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome inside US Bank Stadium. Matthew Collar here. A little bit behind usual schedule because right behind me there was a concert going on, I guess, to celebrate the Vikings win over the Green Bay Packers. But here we are. Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press will join momentarily. So I could start my opening statement and then uh after 10 minutes of talking he'll finally get here but uh this is a as memorable of a victory for the minnesota vikings as they have had since when forever all time i mean this one right here was the game that all season long we talked about as the prove it game, the one that would define how you remember this season, how we think of Sam Darnold as the Minnesota Vikings quarterback. And not only did Darnold show up, but he outperformed

Jordan Love by 50 miles in this game. And Love was able to come back late in the game. We'll talk about that. And the defense's inability to get off the field, Kevin O'Connell's aggressive approach, of which he made no apologies for after the game. And it both giveth and taketh away at the end of this game when the Vikings were able to close it out by passing, but also got themselves into the situation by passing. But we have to just begin with Sam Darnold. An incredible, incredible performance from Sam Darnold. Over 300 yards. Once again, over 100 quarterback rating. And the most important part was for me about Darnold that this game was really on his shoulders. And it was against a great team with a great defense that had some

of the same numbers as the Minnesota Vikings this year. They had sacks, they had turnovers, they had great stats, they have great players. They have a coach that they've been talking about as their defensive coordinator all year long and how great Jeff Halfley is at his job and how much he has changed the culture of the Green Bay Packers defense. And they came in and Sam Darnold took them apart with a lot of help from great receivers, Justin Jefferson, another big game after starting off a little bit on the slow side. But Darnold did not seem bothered by that as he worked the ball to lots of different places, including a huge touchdown to Jalen Naylor that seemed to get Darnold locked into the zone right after he threw that touchdown to Jalen Naylor to begin the

game. As we welcome in Dame Mizutani, who was just getting done playing bass for this concert down here. Yeah, it was quite the show behind us. Sorry, you guys missed it. I think streaming it live would have been illegal for me, but I was just saying, Dane, that the performance from Sam Darnold, the fact that this game was really on his shoulders, he had to outscore the Packers. You knew they were going to make a comeback, and they made one heck of a comeback. He had to throw 43 passes.

He had to come through in the clutch numerous times, and he did make a mistake, and he threw an interception, and then what did he do? He came right back, and he did make a mistake and he threw an interception. And then what did he do? He came right back and he led a touchdown drive. He had to overcome missed field goals. He had to overcome a penalty that took away one of the best catches I've ever seen in my life by Justin Jefferson. It should be illegal for the NFL to take away a penalty or to play like that after Jefferson makes the catch. But the way that Darnold handled himself in terms of his poise, the moment, the pressure, everything that's on his shoulders here,

and also knowing he can say all he wants, that it's 1-0 each week and they have really truly adopted that mantra. They can say that all they want. But he knows what's on the line in this game. He also understands what people will say if he doesn't perform in this moment, if he has turnovers or if he melted down or he came up short, it'd be the same old Sam that it seems some people have been waiting for week after week after week and has never shown up.

This was as impressive of a performance by a quarterback against the green Bay Packers as this franchise has ever seen any quarterback, any time ever. I mean, you have to put this up there with Randall Cunningham, 1998 thrown to Randy Moss and blowing out the Packers on Monday night football back in 1998. It was that good. It started out right from the beginning where he was on point and he comes through at the end, just barely by the fingertips of cam acres. But Kevin O'Connell put the game in Sam Darnold's hands. He didn't run three times and try to punt the ball away. And the Vikings come away at 14 and two. I've done it the last couple of weeks. I got to do it again. 14 and two, 14 and two,

14 and two. And I'll also say, now, do you believe now? Do you believe the Minnesota Vikings are good? We've been doing post games all season long and coming in here. And in the comments, you talk,

Hey, OC can't call plays. God trade away. Darn old 14 and2, my friends. And off we go to Detroit. Dane, your opening thoughts. You touched on it at the end of there. Like, it's just what I will walk away from this game thinking is

when the Vikings had to have it, they just put it in Sam Darnold's hands. And, like, obviously throughout the game, they put it in Sam Darnold's hands. He threw the ball 43 times. He threw for 377 yards. He threw three touchdowns. He responded from that interception, like you said. But when they had to have it, when they needed a drive, if the Green Bay Packers get the ball back there, I think they win.

The defense was hemorrhaging yards. They were tired. They played man all game, switched his own, got gashed. I mean, they tried to blitz their way through. It didn't work. I think if the Vikings give the Packers the ball back, they lose the game. So when the Vikings come out right off the bat, they don't run just straight up to the left or straight up the middle or straight to the right. They'd give a little play action pass and ends up being Sam Darnold throwing to CJ Hamm. That's putting the game in Sam Darnold's hands right there. And then they try to run the ball again. Can't makers loses three yards. What do they do? A lot of teams in the NFL

would have just run the ball again. It's really important. We get the other team to use all their timeouts. Uh, the clock means more than yards, not Kevin O'Connell. Not because he has a guy like Sam Darnold, who he has the utmost trust in. They roll right. He throws a ridiculous pass across his body, but like a very, like, within the scheme pass. It wasn't a crazy pass to Justin Jefferson for a nine-yard gain. And then third and two, what do they do? They keep it in his hands again. And it's a pass to Cam Akers to put the game on ice.

So that's where I will always kind of go to thinking about this game. Like, yes, he threw the ball 43 times. Yes, he had a couple amazing throws. It seems like every single week we could talk about, well, what about this throw or that throw? But what's going to stick with me is in the biggest moment of their season, needing to win this game to make next week mean anything. They didn't just go run, run, run. Let's try and get the other team to use their timeouts. They gave the keys to the car to Sam Darnold and he came through. He came through like he has time and time again this season. He's a franchise quarterback, guys. I don't know what

else to say. When the game was on the line, Sam Darnold completed two passes, allowed him to take three kneel downs, and the Vikings walked away with the win. So just an incredible performance all around, but that last drive is really going to stick with me. And this was also a night where if you want to say U.S. Bank Stadium has the best crowds and the best atmosphere, no one here is going to argue with you because the energy in this building was absolutely through the roof from the very beginning. And I never felt like Sam Darnold had any nerves in this game.

And I think that that increased Kevin O'Connell's confidence in him, the wide receivers confidence in him. And to me, this was everything coming together that they had been working on all season long that we had seen at times. But this was the most complete performance by Sam Darnold and by this offense, where it was maybe a half that would get them to a win over Tennessee, a half that would get them to a win over Indianapolis. And we would kind of look at it and go, Hey, that was a really good game by Sam Darnold, but that first half you didn't score or you didn't score enough, or there were too many three and outs or there were sacks. And on this night, there was only one sack and a tremendous performance by the Minnesota Vikings offensive line. They still are not going to be a team that grounded pounds the heck out of you.

But as far as giving the quarterback time to throw, Sam Darnold had time to throw and he navigated the pocket really well. But this was one where they didn't come out looking slow or nervous or have to get into the rhythm of that kind of offense. It was really from the get-go where Kevin O'Connell and the scheme that he has and the receivers that he has. And now Jalen Naylor rises to the challenge. It has been weeks since we have seen anything out of Jalen Naylor. And all of a sudden in the biggest moment, wide receiver three is on the scene as the Green Bay Packers, all eyes on Justin Jefferson Naylor runs right by them. But you know, Darnold makes a subtle, amazing play there because he looked like he was going to throw it to Jefferson and he pulls back and then he pulled the ball down.

And this is what it's like, I guess, in the NFL to have gigantic hands and a really, really strong arm that you can actually stop as you're about to throw the football, because then he realizes that Naylor's going, pulls it down, fires it up to Naylor for a touchdown plays like that. He executed all night long. And then the Jordan Addison touchdown is brilliant all around. I mean, and this is how you end up with an elite offense where Sam Darnold navigates a blitz, moves out of the way, buys himself a little time. Addison runs a route, clearly a KOC design where he runs a hitch, literally comes to

a complete stop and then flips around and goes to the end zone. Darnold puts it dead on the money for him to score a touchdown. This is elite arm talent, elite play designing and elite wide receivers and an elite football team that can be driven by its passing game. And you can't say enough that when we talk about who is a Superbowl contender, what makes you a real Superbowl team? The number one thing always in forever tied into, are you a legit Superbowl contender is how you can pass the football when you most need to. And the Vikings only averaged 2.7 yards to carry tonight. It was a rough night trying to run the

ball. So they needed Sam Darnold to make all those plays. They needed their play caller to be on point with those designs. And we'll talk about the aggressiveness of O'Connell, but with the play designs to get receivers open and then the receivers making plays. And eventually once they realized, oh, we can't just put all the attention on Jefferson, then Jefferson shreds apart the Green Bay Packers to get this game to the point where the Vikings are up 17 and then they allow Green Bay to come back in the game. So I want you to talk more about Darnold, but then we're going to get to the point where they're able to come back and make this more nerve wracking than it needed to be. Yeah. Like with Darnold,

like I feel like each week we've come in here and kind of almost shaking the computer and shaking the camera and said like, guys, you got to realize what he's doing here. Um, and I don't, I think it's become pretty undeniable. I think the entire conversation has shifted pretty much across, you know, the board where people are really starting to consider this guy, a franchise quarterback. Um, and I don't want to get into his journey and and what like who cares where he's been but another moment that stuck with me today from not just the game like all the throws you're talking about everything that he can do on the field that shows he's he's a dude in this offense

we'll give you a peek behind the curtain after the game. The Vikings tweeted this out. As he's coming into the locker room, Sam Darnold, what happens when you're playing an America's Game of the Week and you play as well as you did, you have to do a bunch of different post-game media before you can even go hang out with your teammates. So I think they've been waiting 10, 15, 20 minutes. He comes into the locker room, and if you're watching go go on twitter and go to the vikings page they tweeted this out he walks into the locker room they have water bottles it was like a college team where they just start spraying him with water bottles they literally pick him up and lift him off the ground that's another moment that shows like this is a franchise quarterback because yes he can do all the things on the field that a franchise quarterback can do.

You mentioned the throw to nailer, the patience, the ability to, to wait, to, to see all the open routes, but no, I'm taking, I'm going for the kill shot over the top. The, you know, the ability to navigate the pocket on the Addison touchdown. He can do all of these things on the field, but off the field, he has the entire locker room behind him. There is no bones about it. Like they ride for this dude. And you, you can see that in these little snapshot moments, you can see it in the, in the postgame speeches that Kevin O'Connell delivers when they give him a game ball and everyone freaks out. But this was another culmination moment for me where

he walks in and is just mobbed by his teammates because I think everyone really understands what's happening right now. Sometimes I still can't believe what's actually happening because they're 14-2, but this is a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and there's no doubt about that because, like you said, when you need to be able to push the ball downfield in the playoffs, the team that rises to the playoffs, like the teams, the cream that rises to the top are the legit offenses that can make you pay in when they, when they have to. And the Vikings have that right now. They have that because of their quarterback.

I just can't imagine spending this moment trying to debate the salary cap for next year. I just, I can't, I know that I'm seeing a lot of that. I'm getting texts from my friends about what are they going to do with Darnold? He's so good. And I'm like, look, they are one game away from winning the entire NFC and going 15 and two. Maybe we'll just address that after the season. I don't know. But for me, when somebody plays like this at this level with these players around them, I would like that person to keep playing quarterback for this team. And I think when you see the way this just works to your point, that the team is galvanized around Sam Darnold, I think they really appreciate what he's been through in the NFL. And it's not unprecedented. There have been other quarterbacks who have gone on a journey as Kevin O'Connell likes to say, and they have arrived at

a point like this where you get almost a pivot point in their career of this is your best shot that you're going to have with these receivers. And then you either make or break at that point. And Sam Darnold has made in so many ways this season. And every single time there was an opportunity for him to go sideways, if he was going to be some other player that played in the NFL four years ago for another franchise that was really bad and was nothing like this. Well, that was going to happen earlier in this season. This is who Sam Darnold is. And as you're going into the playoffs here, as you're going into week 18 with a chance to go

to Detroit and win. And as you go into the playoffs, no matter how it turns out and who they're playing, you have to look around the NFC and go, who's better than Sam Darnold? Who is better than Sam Darnold in the NFC? Jared Goff has been to a Superbowl and he deserves a ton of credit. Jared Goff's kind of got the same thing, a chip on his shoulder of what everyone said about him when he left the Rams. So he's a great quarterback. And then you look around, you got Jalen Hurts is very, very good in Philadelphia. Matthew Stafford. There's other quarterbacks who are here in the NFC playoffs that are very good. Baker Mayfield's had a great season, but who is decidedly better than the quarterback the Minnesota Vikings are bringing to the table in the playoffs? I don't think you could say anyone is playing better football this season than Sam Darnold in the NFC. There's a couple AFC quarterbacks that maybe you can make your case for. Josh Allen lit it up again today. Lamar Jackson is just going full legend on the entire world. And I don't think Darnold's quite been at that level, but he's also not far away. If we talk about the best seasons ever by a Minnesota Vikings quarterback, Cunningham,

maybe Favre, but at this point, I'm not even fully sure that you could say Favre 09 is way better than what Sam Darnold has done this year. So you can have those conversations if you want to. But to me, that just takes away from the 2024 Minnesota Vikings that for the first time since 2017 are going to enter the playoffs road or home with a very legitimate chance to compete for a Super Bowl. And their quarterback has played like a Super Bowl caliber quarterback this season. I don't think that any of that is hyperbolic or over the top. I think that is just the fact of the matter after tonight. And it's fair if you wanted to wait until tonight to say

that if you wanted to wait until, Hey, let's see him play a really good team. Let's see, go through those numbers. Look how close the Vikings and Packers were, but out here until the very end of the game, when it was mostly out of hand for green Bay, it wasn't that close. Darnold was the much better quarterback at one point. It was 300 and something to 59 in yardage between Darnold and Jordan love. That's how much he outplayed another team that is also going into the playoffs, making an argument that they could potentially compete for a Super Bowl. You just cannot overstate how impressive this was. Yeah. And I think the hard thing for people to get to is that,

yes, he is playing like an elite quarterback because I think his past has just scarred people to the degree where they thought this was impossible. They thought this could not happen. They thought this could not sustain. And honestly, I understood that for a while. I did like early in the season thinking, wow, this is pretty good. Like, can he keep this up? Then he keeps it up. And then he has the Jacksonville game and you're saying, you know, maybe this is it. Maybe that was it. They still put up like 400 yards of offense in that game. Nevermind. He threw the, turned the ball over three times, but he responded to that. And then for the past two months, he's literally just played like a top five quarterback. And I think

because of his past, the New York jets, the Carolina Panthers coupled with that watershed, or I guess the opposite of whatever a good thing is like that moment in Jacksonville where people pointed to and said, there it's turning around. He's turned into a pumpkin. I think people held onto that one for a little too long. I think people held onto Jacksonville and they held onto New York and they held onto Carolina and they didn't see what was right in front of their face, which was a quarterback who was playing the position as well as anyone in the league. So now he keeps doing it, and he keeps doing it,

and he keeps doing it, and he does it against Kirk Cousins. And he has that throw where he evades pressure in his face and he wings it downfield 52 yards, a throw that maybe three other guys in the NFL can make. And then he does it against Seattle, where he steps up into the pocket and he wins the game for the Vikings with an incredible pass to Justin Jefferson. And then he does it against the Packers, the biggest rival

at home, all the chips on the table. I understand why people had a hard time getting there. But if you have not gotten there at this point, what's the point of playing the games? The guy is just balling out week in, week out. We're past that stop sign of saying this is not sustainable. It is. They're 14-2. They could be 15-2 next week and win the whole freaking NFC. Make sure everything in the road to the Super Bowl turned back into a pumpkin. He's a good quarterback who had a bad game at that point. He is a good quarterback, an elite quarterback, I would say. And I think if you haven't got there yet, I don't really know what else to say. I just wonder about all the people who've spent this entire time talking about how they can't wait to get rid of Sam Darnold. So I guess you got maybe two weeks left. We'll see if there's more than that or if they have a first round by to, I guess, shake that off because it has felt like a lot of people have spent this entire time almost rooting for the wheels to come off so they can move on to the offseason. And Sam Darnold,

just week after week, has come back. And this type of consistency, even from an elite quarterback is usually not something that you see. I mean, even the Lamar Jackson had that bad game against Pittsburgh. Josh Allen had a bad game against Houston. Like it happens, but normally to have nine in a row where you're playing at this. I guess it's eight because the Jacksonville game was tough, but to play at this type of level, week in and week out, and then all the yeah, buts disappear after this one. Well, yeah, but he hasn't done it against this type of defense or in this type of environment or in this type of situation. Well, I guess the only thing that people would want to see is if you took Jefferson Addison, Hawkinson and O'Neill off the team and KOC off the team. And then it might look different,

but until then they have all those people and they don't have to apologize for them. I remember saying this at the beginning of the year, you want to be the team that everybody is debating. Is this really for real? Cause his weapons are that good. And his coaching is that good. You know what that means? It means you got a great football team which the Vikings do so let's get into the complete performance here because through three quarters on the defensive side it was as impressive of a defensive performance as we've seen this year as well so it was the culmination of everything great Great quarterback play, great defense. And as soon as the interception happened, I think we knew, all right, Green Bay is just not going to disappear because we already saw this at Lambeau field. I did feel like I had gone back in time or something where the game had

warped through a black hole to here from there because it looked exactly the same at Lambeau earlier this year. There was a fumble that Darnold had that kind of opened the door for green Bay to come back this time. It was the interception and they're able to come back in the game. And there were times where I felt like Kevin O'Connell did need to throttle it down and you get to the end of the game. They score. It's a nine point game. And he loves to talk about how aggressive he loves to be. And I appreciate that. And it's very hard to criticize when it's 14 and two, but they threw a couple of times, a couple of incompletions, stop the clock for green Bay, doing them a a favor and then ultimately have to hold on in a very, very tense moment. And if Cam Akers doesn't squeeze that football as hard as he possibly

could pass the first down line, like you said, maybe we're talking about the potential for the Vikings to lose this football game. So how did you process what they did defensively? Because this was so much the tale of three quarters of a game where they were totally dominant and Jordan Love could not do anything. He's running around. They fumble the ball. Josh Jacobs was not dominating by any means. And then as soon as the Vikings were up 17, they miss a field goal. And then it's like all hell breaks loose and they're able to move the ball in big chunks down the field. So how do you come away with thinking about what the defense did here today?

I can see why people would be concerned like after another fourth quarter that mirrored the fourth quarter. Was that back in September? I think that was September. Wow, time flies when you're having fun. I can see why people would be concerned with that because it did seem like there was almost like a mentality shift at that point. We're up by 17. They played a lot of man today.

I don't know. I don't have the exact numbers, and I don't. I need to go back and look at the tape before I can definitively say there was a hard, aggressive shift. But it did feel late in the game that when you play all that man and you're on the field a lot, you're going to be tired and you're up by 17. And so it felt they shifted back into more of a zone. And that's when Jordan Love kind of started to pick them apart.

And then once the ball kind of starts to get rolling here, I think you saw what the Packers are capable of. It's very similar to back in September when once they got rolling, it was hard to keep them off the tracks. But as much as people are going to want to point to those final two drives and how Green Bay just moved the ball with ease right down the field, and I felt it too. If they get the ball back, I think they win the game. I don't want to overlook what they did for three quarters, because I think what they did for three quarters. And you mentioned at one point, Jordan love had 50 yards passing. I think it was in the fourth quarter, maybe late in the third. They can do that against teams too. This was an offense that was rolling as well as anybody in the league

running the ball with ease jordan love throw sitting back in the pocket and finding his playmakers downfield this was a team last week that people were talking about oh man look how they just beat up the saints and like look what they're doing to the bad teams they're just they're running away this offense is built to win in the playoffs and for three quarters they were rendered non-existent so i don't want to overlook though that dominant stretch just because like yes the game got way closer than you would want it to in the end but if you're looking at like the big picture here i think there is a lot to take away from this defense they stopped the run they continue to stop the run at a miraculous, remarkable rate.

One of the best teams in the NFL to do it. It's not something I thought they would be able to hang their hat on coming into this season. But I thought today, like, once Josh Jacobs got rolling, they were going to have trouble. He finishes with, like, 67 yards rushing. They kept Jordan Love off balance for most of the game. So when it starts to go into a tailspin at the end,

it's really hard to kind of take that and not just look at it and say, this is an issue. It's going to be an issue next week. It's going to be an issue in the playoffs. But I do think they deserve credit for what they did over three quarters, because to me, that is also pretty sustainable. The performance up until the fourth quarter was the best football we've seen from this Vikings defense since I want to say maybe the first half of against the Jets. And then the Jets kind of came back in that game. And since then, it has been wobbly at times. They were good against the Jaguars and the Titans, but we always grade that on a curve. So when you talk about good quarterbacks, you could even go back to the last Packers game. It reminded me a lot of the Texans

game where the opposing quarterback just looked like he was seeing ghosts. How about that? The other quarterbacks seeing ghosts in a big game on national TV with Tom freaking Brady in the building. And it's the other team who is seeing ghosts through the first, I mean, really three quarters of the game. And I did wonder to myself, like, what's different? What has changed? Why was Gino Smith able to navigate this? Why were some other quarterbacks, even Kirk cousins for a lot of that Atlanta game, able to stay on the field. And I think part of it is that Jordan Love always needs to be hitting deep shots in order to succeed. And this might actually be the difference between Love and someone like Sam Darnold, which Sam Darnold has been able to be

patient and let those come to him, where it felt like Jordan Love was trying to force the deep shots, maybe as you said, because he was seeing man coverage. And also it could be too, that Brian Flores decided in this must have type of game, we're going to change up our coverage. We're going to do something that we haven't really done all year in a very Bella checky and type of way. The more that I watch Brian Flores, the more I think no kidding. This guy came from Bill Belichick with the unique game plans each week, different players stepping up each week, different player usage, and then even different coverages. And it seemed to really catch love by surprise. And he tried to just, Hey, I'm just going to throw it up to somebody and hope. And those didn't land. Now, if those

do land and there's a couple where the receiver is open and it's just off the tips of fingertips, but since it doesn't get completed, we never really remember how close it might've been to a deep shot. So I think the fact that none of those landed played a really big role and probably they didn't land because they were creating pressure. And if this was a battle of two really good teams at creating pressure, which it was two of the top sack teams in the league, one team was way better at dealing with it than the other team. The Packers really struggled with all the different people coming from different places. And the answer for love didn't seem to be like Jared Goff. I'm going to hang in and pick them

apart. It really was. I'm going to start scrambling. I'm going to start moving. I'm going to start throwing the ball up in the air. And that's really what Brian Flores was looking for in this game. Get him scrambling around. Don't let him throw on time. Don't let them take advantage of short passes and screens and keep them behind the sticks and stopping the run. Sometimes there are fundamental truths and facts to football. If you completely take the run away from a running team, remember Delvin, what would happen to the Vikings when teams would take Delvin cook away? They would just fall apart. And the Packers are kind of the same way because so much is built around one guy. And we cannot give enough credit to Jonathan Bullard, Jerry

Tillery, Harrison Phillips, Blake Cashman, and a massive return for Ivan Pace Jr. Whose only mistake tonight was trying to do a celebration dance after a fumble was caused because he didn't know the dance. And so he just danced off to the side as Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus and those guys were doing their organized dance, but he was huge. And when this team has both of their linebackers, they are very, very hard to stop. And where I think it switches is that you go into score effects mode. And we saw the Vikings lose a lot of games like this during the last six years. They're down three scores. They're racking up yards. They're getting explosive plays. And those yards are pretty empty. And then you lose in the end by one score and you go, ah,

unlucky one score game. Well, that's not really what happened here tonight. One team completely outplayed the other. And I don't want to dismiss it because it's happened too many times though. And this is where I do wonder about Brian Flores' strategy when they are up by this much. Good problems to have that the darn DC can't figure out what to do when they're up 17. But I just, you don't want to say, Hey buddy, blitz more, be more aggressive because that can give up big plays. But it really seems like they drop into these super deep zones and the middle of the field. We even saw Justin Fields here last year, come back against them. And as we go into the most important game of the year games of the year into the playoffs, you do have that come to mind. I mean, even last week against Seattle, they were able to take the lead late in that game

that there have been times where they have not been able to just completely end another team's night when they're up by quite a bit. Yeah. And again, we'll talk to Brian Flores on probably Tuesday. I don't know if it's weird because of New Year's Eve. We'll let you know. But we'll talk to him on Tuesday. And I think what he'll probably say is at that point here,

I'm looking at the stats right now. They got the ball back after Will Reichert's missed field goal, the Packers take over with nine minutes and 18 seconds left in the game. The Packers at that point are down 17 points. So when you look at just like amount of plays left in the game and you're Brian Flores and you've been playing a lot of man coverage. It does fundamentally kind of make sense to shift to a zone. Let's make sure we don't get beat over the top. Let's make sure we keep things in front of us. If they want to die death by a thousand cuts, we'll let them.

The issue with that is they were given up 15 yards at a time. And at one point on that drive after a sack by Blake Cashman, it was third and 10. And if they get that stop there, the game is over. It's a blowout. We're talking about, holy crap,

how good is this team? Instead of like, here are a couple of things they need to get better at. But that was a perfect example of that. They sat back in their zone. So not to get beat over the top. Jordan Love just put a dot onto Bo Melton for, I think it was like 13 yards.

And then away they go. So yeah, I think there's probably something to the strategy of it. When you're up, there is probably like a thought in your head of like, there's not enough time for them to come back. So we'll let them take these chunks over the middle. But you see that late in games. It's like the classic cliche, like, why are they playing prevent defense here? Why are they changing up something that's worked all game? The other side of that coin is if they're playing press coverage and they blitz and they get burned over the top, we're saying, like, what are they doing? Like, they're, you know, they're up by 17. So I get it.

But it is a little bit of a concern because, like you said, it's been a recurring issue at times. It wasn't just back in September when Jordan Love got hot coming off his knee injury. We've seen it in different games. We saw it even last week in the rain in Seattle where they just kind of hang around and then the defense kind of shifts back and then all of a sudden a close game turns into one that you could potentially lose. So right now though, I don't want to harp too much on those final two drives because I think it really does a disservice to what you said, like an incredible defensive performance across the board, sans two drives late in the game. I would be curious how Packers fans feel about this game because if we remember the Kirk years where they do that backdoor cover

they cover the spread because they they put up a bunch of meaningless yards and I get it like the Vikings only won by two but like Packers fans can't be that excited about that game like oh you put up some big yards down the stretch when you were already down 17 because you couldn't do anything on offense that's what I'm gonna take away from this game on defense but yes room to improve and and you got to be firing on all cylinders in the playoffs if you have a stretch of play like the vikings did late where they allow two touchdowns in the span of no time at all if you do that in the playoffs you might lose the game so things to improve upon good problem to have though each week i feel like we're coming in here saying like yeah they haven't played their best game yet. They've gotten pretty close.

No point this year did I think like that's the best game they could play. There's always been little rooms for improvement. And I think that's a good place to be when you're sitting 14 and two and potentially fighting for home field advantage next week. I do think that they have to look into why it is that teams have had success in doing this, in coming back and making it close, specifically the Packers, who it's not impossible that they could play again in the playoffs. I don't have the bracket and all the permutations memorized, but you do have a very high likelihood of facing quarterbacks that will not give up and that are going to keep fighting the way that love did. And if you play someone like the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs or the Tampa

Bay Bucks, they all have quarterbacks who can come back if you give them time and space. And I do wonder, is it the defense getting worn down by the end of a game? And I didn't think that Green Bay was on the field very much through this game. That's what makes me think that it's a little bit more on the strategy side and teams prepare and have somewhat of an answer for when the Vikings are up on them and when they're going to be playing these deep zone prevent type of things for how to get guys open. And they've seen it before when other teams do it and they know peer passing situations. if they're not blitzing we can find spots or maybe it is a bit of a personnel thing that they rely so much on jonathan grenard to get those late game sacks and things like that but at the same time yeah i come

out of this game looking if you were looking at the win probability chart just for example this is a great way to figure out was my one score game, really a one score game. Was it really random or was it a backdoor one score game? I would guess that the Vikings midway through the fourth quarter probably had a 99.8% chance to win this game. And that tells you about, Oh, you've got it right there. And there you go. Maybe you could show the camera, like what that win probability chart looks like because, uh, it's very aggressive to the Vikings. Yes. It is no point did Vegas really think they were going to lose or did the analytics think they were going to lose? Exactly. So they were always ahead. There was never enough time and it would have been an

all time meltdown for them to fall in that game, which makes me want to say this was much more of a completely dominant performance where they made it close at the end by score effects rather than, oh, they've got some sort of problem here. But we do have to discuss though, the play calling of Kevin O'Connell and he's done this many times. Now we've got a whole season worth of doing this where you're up in the game. And if you run the ball three times, you wear out too much clock. I want to say you've got the play by play there. I want to say that they got it with around six minutes left and had a chance to take it down to three minutes or something like that. And instead it was more like four and a half. And that opened the door for a realistic potential comeback for

the Packers. O'Connell keeps coming back to, Hey, I'm going to be aggressive. I'm going to be aggressive. And I think what I've felt all year is I agree with that overall. We're all Madden players. We've all studied the numbers. We all know going for it, being aggressive, throwing the ball, trying to put teams away. All these things are proven strategies that are better than playing it safe, punting away, giving the other team chances, just running three times and punting. They're all better. But just like anything, even the best things like diet, Dr. Pepper, you can't drink that. And only that all the time, right? You can't only ever be aggressive because then you get in a situation where you do have a couple of incompletions and you do stop the clock on yourself. And that's one of those

things that I would like, especially if they get a week off, they're going to look at everything. They're going to do a huge self scout. I'd like O'Connell who's done a great job of looking himself in the mirror this year on some stuff. They did have a delay a game today, but things like that, those pre-snap penalties have gone away for the most part to just take a look at some of those situations. How do I close out a game with the play calling? Because I think on the drive where they really needed it, safe passes were a really great play for them. The rollouts, the check to CJ Ham, a hero of this game, CJ Ham with that huge first down. I'd like to see a little more of that and less of five guys going out, a bunch of route combinations, looking down the field. How about swinging it out to

Jordan Addison for five, flipping it to Aaron Jones or Cam Akers for six and things like that, as opposed to, Hey, we're going to put the dagger in him with a deep shot or a 20 yard throw down the field. But this is kind of nitpicking away from an unbelievable game that KOC called play calling wise receivers are open all day. He took full advantage of the fact that they were paying attention to Jefferson so much stuck with the run enough to make it a problem for them. It's just that one detail that, as you said, now we're at the level where we got to talk about that detail because they're going to go play Detroit with a chance to win the NFC. And if you do it

against Detroit, they might make you pay. And if you you do it against Detroit, they might make you pay. And if you do it in the playoffs, they might make you pay. Yeah. Anybody who has watched you follow you knows you love aggression. So you would never suggest to not be aggressive, but there is a way to continue to be aggressive without taking risks that you don't need to take. A perfect example is the last drive of the game.

So the last drive of the game, they start off with a run action that is a play action fake with CJ Hamm diving out into the flat. It's an easy throw for Sam Darnold. It's essentially an extension of the run game there juxtapose that with the second to last drive of the game where on the first drive Sam Darnold or first play of that drive Sam Darnold drops back to pass maybe fumbles they they go back and replay assist shows it was an incomplete pass but he had he was standing in the pocket because they wanted to push that ball downfield. So there's a way to continue to be aggressive without trying to hit another 25-yard dagger.

Because once they threw that incompletion that was almost a fumble and turns into an incompletion, on the very next play, Cam Akers ran for five yards. So if you do that on first down, hindsight is hindsight is 2020, but not everything has to be those 25 yard daggers downfield. If we could go back and watch the film on ourselves, I've probably said that 50 times this year. Um, and sometimes it can be in it in some, and often it should be, but when you're protecting a lead and when you just saw your defense get gassed all the way down the field and how it's an eight point game or a nine point game all of a sudden it's okay to start that that drive off with just a run and and see what happens and look for as long as he's the head coach he's going to want to push the ball downfield so

that makes sense but there there's the devil is in the details here and there's just certain things that i think he's probably he's as self-reflective as anyone so he probably thinks this before we even talk about it um but there's a way to be aggressive without just pushing the ball downfield consistently and i think he's slowly figuring that out i also think that i like i don't think i know that I like from the very beginning, he has said and stuck with it. I believe in Sam Darnold. And it's one thing to say that, and I'm sure you run into this with people in your life where you say that you want to hang out with them, but you actually never come and hang out. Not talking about Chad Graff, who never comes back and hangs

out with either of us. Now these cover in the Patriots or anything, but I'm just saying that happens, right? It's really that you have to show it, right? You can't just say, I believe in Sam Darnold guys, and then hand off three times all season long, whenever you've got the lead. And there were spots throughout this season, a 97 yard touchdown. You don't get that unless you throw from your own three yard line. And I thought that that set the tone for really the season, the different times where O'Connell could have easily said that we're going to play safe. and try to run the ball and punt it away or something like that. But instead he has leaned into Darnold in those moments. And I remember asking him that, I don't know, it was weak. Oh, I remember that maybe it was the jets game where the, instead of throttling it back, he threw interception. And this was another example of, okay, maybe it's a little much Kevin,

but it also was one of those. Okay. He threw a pick, but I trusted him. And third and long, I'm going to trust him to go get it, which in this night should have run the ball on third and long and let the clock go down. Not the point, though. I would much rather lean toward he believes in his quarterback,

and that has set the tone for the entire organization. It set the tone for all the players. That reaction from the players, they feed off of their leader and Kevin O'Connell from the giants game. Guess who he gave a game ball to after the giants game, Sam Darnold. And he talked so much about Darnold. I believe in you. You're our guy. You're going to take us places and everything else. Everybody sees that inside that locker room. And then they see him doing it. So I think that we've gone past that just as a position that O'Connell needs to prove to everyone that he believes in him. We don't need that anymore. Now you can just play it safe when

it's time to play it safe, which would have been in that one spot where he needed to run the football a couple of times. But it's funny because he runs the ball a couple of times against Seattle at the end of the half, they punt away Seattle scores last week. And then everyone's saying, why didn't he pass? And then now it's the always in forever KOC play caller conundrum. Uh, if it works, then it's great. And if it doesn't, we question it. But 14 and two, he's got a lot of more plays and designs and calls that have worked. This is only a nitpick because this situation will arise again. You don't go all the way to the Super Bowl without having a situation where you need to finish off a game by running, by short passing, by killing the clock. And they will need

to do that at some point. We've reached the part of the program where we have to discuss a very uncomfortable subject. And I think you know what this is. I have no idea how to predict what a kicker is going to do. Not now, not yesterday, not ever. None of us do. The coaches don't.

Special teams coach doesn't. His friends don't. His holder doesn't. Special teams coach doesn't. His friends don't. His holder doesn't. His snappers don't. No one will ever know what goes on in the squirrelly crazed minds of National Football League kickers. But here's what I know. When Will Reichard was healthy, I've never seen someone kick a football better ever in training camp and in the season. And since he's come back, it's been a little shaky and he missed a couple of times today. He's missed the last couple of weeks. It's just not quite the same.

It's not terrible. I mean, he misses from 57. Like, what are you going to do? But then he missed again. You go, okay. Hitting the post again. Is there an issue here? Is there a concern here for Will Reichard after missing a couple of kicks here tonight? Cause it's really three and one of them got negated and then he came back and made it. But three actual missed kicks is a little scary for a team that has relied very much on their kicker being great.

Yeah, it's hard not to have at least a little bit of concern because he set such a high standard for himself right off the bat. And when you set that high standard for yourself, you get held to that standard. So for all we knew until he suffered the quad injury, he couldn't miss a kick. And naturally, obviously, he was going to miss a kick at some point, but the consistency with which he struck every single ball, you could almost get up and go to the bathroom for a 50-yard kick because you knew, like, this guy's nails, it's going to go in. Now I think you're just tense at all times when he's kicking kicking the ball and whether that's fair to him or not that's just

the fact of the matter and if I'm feeling that I got to imagine there's a couple people that are also feeling that within the team itself now Kevin O'Connell said all the right things post game he said I know the next kick is going to be the best one and there might be something to that this kid has been kicking since he was like born. He's a kicking prodigy. He's literally made this his life's work. And I think he probably could tell you X, Y, Z, what went wrong on the 57 yarder that came up short.

I didn't know he could leave a kick short. So it was weird to me when it hit the crossbar. I think he could tell you why that 55 yarder that got, he pushed wide right before the Packers bailed them out. And then he nails two 50 yarders after that, right before halftime one canceled out by a timeout. I think he could tell you why the 55 yarder was, was off. I think he could tell you why the 43 yarder that hit the left upright was off. But even if he can explain all those things, what went wrong?

The fact is he missed three kicks today. And I think heading into the playoffs, we know how important kickers are. And maybe this is not fair to Will Reichert either, but we know how fragile kickers are and we know how quickly it can turn. And Justin Tucker was the best kicker in the league. And now he can't make a 50 yard field goal. Like it happens quick. And when it does, the pressure cooker just gets immense. So he probably has enough within him, all of his preparation. He kicked at Alabama. He's kicked

big kicks his entire life. He probably has enough in him to not feel those nerves to the same degree that we're just kind of impressing on him right now. But when you mystery kicks, like there is concern. Um, but he is someone I think has proven at least throughout the duration of his career when he's been healthy, um, that he's going to be okay. Is he healthy? I don't know. We'll ask, but that's a question I have now. Is he, is he fully healthy? Is he still dealing with that quad? Is he overcompensating? Like all of these questions are on the table because the guy who felt like we, he couldn't miss a kick has missed a few now. Um, and if he misses a few in the playoffs, uh, then we got ourselves a real problem. And there's no way on Roger Goodell's

green turf to ever figure out if that's going to happen or not, but I guess it wouldn't be a Viking season without us going into the playoffs, wondering if the kicker's okay. There's one small concern that I have about Will Reichardt, because when we talk about these misses, two of them have hit the post. I mean, it doesn't seem like that's a big miss for Reichardt. Although when we saw him kick most of the year, it was right down the middle so many times. now just something a tad off here's my one concern that matt daniels was not told the first time that he was hurt will reichard was hurt he didn't tell him and he went through practice and he kicked in a game and he missed two of them and then we went

what's going on it turned out he was injured and trying to play through it and then he's out for weeks with this injury and then parker omo comes in, kicks his ass off. And then all of a sudden, Reichard's back as soon as he could get off of IR and not kicking as well. Is he going to actually tell people if he's 100%? And Daniel's even said that Reichard was angry that he was missing these games. It was really upset. And so again, you go back to, is he forcing himself

back a little bit early? Because this is just not the kicker that he has been since what? I mean, his early days in Alabama, he has been one of the most nails kickers. This will be under, I think that the top five worries of Vikings fans as we go into the next game and going into the playoffs. And I'm going to throw it out there. This may seem bold or maybe crazy, but if he struggles after this next game, you could go get them off the Patriots practice squad if you want to. And if there's two, three more missed kicks against Detroit, it costs them against Detroit. I think you'd want a different kicker coming in here because they're so fickle.

And that's just kind of how it goes. And just to clarify, he missed technically missed two kicks, but he missed another one that was negated, which has to be thrown into the analysis that he missed another one. So we'll see when it comes to Will Reichard. Maybe he just has to get back into the swing of things, if you will. So let us close out this evening here. A very memorable one. One I think about all the time when I cover a game, I think, would I go back 10 years from now and watch this on YouTube? Because that's a thing I do all the time. Uh, yeah, yes, I would. And the reason i would do it is to watch the moment that sam darnold said here i am everybody i i am a super bowl caliber quarterback and this was the game from i don't know how long when they were five and oh i think i probably said that the game on december 29th

2024 against the green bay packers inside u.s bank stadium would be the game on December 29th, 2024 against the green Bay Packers inside us bank stadium would be the game. I probably said this 20 times would be the game that would make all the difference for how you felt about the season, how we assess was this season a success. I wouldn't have known that they were going to win 14, but nonetheless, like did it, were they legit?

Were they for real? If you are a real legitimate Superbowl contender, then you beat the green Bay Packers in your house with a chance to go win the NFC. And they did it and they did it in mostly incredibly impression, impressive fashion. And they did it mostly, if not completely on the back of a quarterback who is playing as well as anybody in the league going into the playoffs. And when you have those things, a defense that can fluster a good quarterback like Jordan love and stop a run game like this, a quarterback who could throw 43 times and throw you to victory. My friends, you're a legitimate Superbowl contender. That's where

you're at going into this last week. And if they beat the Detroit Lions, and this is just crazy that the NFL does it this way. The difference between this next game is so unfair of first. I mean, it is Ricky Bobby. That was a Sam Darnold reference, Ricky Bobby after the game. This is, if you're not first, you're almost last. If you're not at the number one seed, you're at the five, but those are the rules. So they got to go to Detroit. They got to win. And then that advantage of a week off and home field. And what we saw from Flores is defense in this place is absolutely freaking insane and massive. They got to go do it. They're in this spot. It's been an unbelievable season for the Vikings. It's one of the most likable teams you will ever see in the history

of the NFL, but there's work still to be done. My friend, this was a huge stepping stone for the Minnesota Vikings and this season being truly special. They got one more to go. One and oh, hey, they got to go one and oh this week. How about that? I was going to plug you just then. You just wrote a very good article about how that one and oh mentality has kind of manifested itself within the team to the point that everyone says it and it doesn't feel

like a cliche anymore we hate cliches it's literally the bane of our existence most of the time but the way that they talk about this one and oh cliche is and sam donald said it today he said it's not just a way of thinking it's a lifestyle it is they they they're going to go back after this game and they're going to prepare for the detroit lions the way they have prepared for the green Bay Packers this week, the same way they prepared for the Seattle Seahawks last week, the same way they prepared for the New York giants in week one. And I guess I'll wrap with that. Like that's why this one and all mentality, I think could actually make a difference this week because yes, at their core, they're human beings. They're not robots they

understand the magnitude of this game ahead how could you not you're right you win the game you're the one seed you get to play here in front of all your fans you get a week's rest when not to mention just a week advancing on without having to play a game like the advantage is huge if you lose you're the five you have to go on the road every step of the way into the playoffs, unless some crazy upset happens. All of that is definitely weighing on these dudes minds, whether they say it or not. But I think in these moments, like when you can just, when you're back with the guys at TCO performance center on Wednesday, and you're working on third downs, or you're working on what to do in this situation or that situation. Like it's not going to feel that much different because it's almost a reality that they have invented this year within their four walls,

wherever they are. We might've laughed at them for that at times, but I think this could make a difference in a week like this, which means so much. Um, when they, when the game starts on Sunday, Sunday night, it's going to be a primetime game. Like when that game starts, like the pressure is going to be ramped up. It's going to be enormous. They're going to feel it. The adrenaline is going to be coursing through their veins, but I don't think this week they're going to handle it that much differently. Um, and I think that's going to be something that can benefit them, but man, it is so fitting that a 14 and two season, the most memorable season to me since 09, and this might be better than 09. I was like 15 years old when 09 in 2009, 17 actually, but it doesn't matter.

Like this season is so memorable. And the fact that it will come down to a do or die, it means everything game against the team in the Detroit lions that everyone pegged as the Superbowl contender, the Super Bowl favorite. You have a team who everyone thought was going to be there and a team who thought nobody thought was going to be there. And we get to see them go head to head with so much on the line. Man, it's awesome. I wish we could. I generally don't like to fast forward through life and be like, oh, we should just like, let's skip ahead because like life's cool. I wish I would, I would push the fast forward button so fast if I could be on a flight to

Detroit and, and being watching this game, I can't wait for that game. It's going to be awesome. I don't think I've ever seen a team that likes each other so much that is so selfless, truly not, oh yeah, we're selfless until we aren't, but truly selfless. And that is so good at remaining focused. Sam Darnold at any point could have lost focus thinking about what's ahead for him. And he's never done it. And we didn't see any better evidence of that than tonight of staying focused on going 1-0 this week. He came out extremely prepared, ready for the green bay packers

and the way the team galvanizes around him is something truly special that is hard to find you look around the league there's a lot of mid teams there's a lot of bad teams that just want to have it over with and this team has not only done it but they've done it in a fashion that can really be embraced i think by the fan base and say, I mean, even my wife will say, man, I really love this team. I love watching this team. And I could see why it would be that way because of the way that they act toward each other, the way they act around their coach and so forth. So it is special. It is unique. It is something to kind of soak in throughout this week, the position that they have put themselves in. And just a real quick, two things

real quick, uh, with Aaron Jones, it sounded like he just got hit in the leg and that's why, uh, cam acres was playing more than him, but it did not sound like it was something that was going to keep him out, uh, but maybe limited him for this game, but that'll be something to watch going forward. Pat Jones does sound like he may miss a couple of weeks here, of which Dallas Turner, who had a big sack again tonight, will have to step up in his place. And Dallas Turner, we're going on now five, six weeks where Dallas Turner has stepped up at least once

during a game that's been really noticeable. And that is a huge gain for this defense that is now getting healthier and getting better for the most part as the season goes along. So they will need every player in Detroit next week. So thank you all so much. Oh, real quick. And you mentioned my article, purpleinsider.football. Go over there, purpleinsider.football. Check out the newsletter. I also wrote a story about straight cash homie, 20 years since straight cash homie how did it happen well i talked

to the reporter who asked him the question it's a really fun story so go check that out purple insider.football if you want to support the show sign up for the newsletter there really appreciate all of you who do that and a couple super chats tonight thank you so much for those as well and guess what we'll be in detroit we'll be in one of these here, press boxes. Hopefully our internet's good and no one's smashing stuff behind us like what's happened last week. And we'll have a lot of fun with you. Then it's going to be a great week of discussion leading up to this game. So thank you so much for all of you being patient. We waited till the end of the concert. It's a good show, but, uh, all of you being patient and jumping in. Thank you so much, and we will catch you all very, very soon.

14-2. Football. Football.