Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings beat the Bears and will face the New York Giants in the playoffs

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic try to have some takeaways from the Vikings' win over the tanking Chicago Bears and then react to the 49ers beating the Cardinals to wrap up the No. 2 seed and pit the Vikings against the Giants in the first round of the playoffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to the post-game Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears definitely played a football of happened. It got a little weird, but nothing's significant. And now it's over. Thank goodness. So we could talk about the playoffs and not any injuries that were accrued in this game, by the way. Matthew Collar, Paul Hodowanek here, Purple Insider, as always.

And I am inside the Drake Hotel in Chicago. I had enough time to Uber back from the stadium to my hotel as we waited for the San Francisco 49ers to do the thing that we thought the San Francisco 49ers were going to do, which is to kick the tar out of the Arizona Cardinals so we could all move forward with our lives and the Vikings can play the Giants just like we thought they were going to play the Giants all along. Although a little dicey there early on as David Blau had his moment in the sun, but that didn't last very long. San Francisco is a beast and they are taking care of business. So now here we are to talk a

little bit about what we saw today. I do have some actual takeaways and some big picture stuff and a playoff preview. And then we are recording this before the Seattle game is over, but we could know in a few minutes what's going to happen there, as well as whether it will matter for the Detroit Lions and then the Green Bay Packers control their own fate this evening. So let me just start, Paul, by saying that, well, I am very sarcastic about this football game, and I think the Bears did a tremendous job, a much better job than the Houston Texans of getting it done. Once Tim Boyle came in the game, I was like, I see you, Bears. I see what you're doing here, and I respect it. They are going to have the number one overall draft pick because the Texans went for two and one final middle finger from Lovey

Smith to the Houston Texans organization before they fire him. Uh, but I'm going to start here that no one got hurt. That's important. Delvin cook and Shannon Sullivan, not serious. Uh, Harrison Smith and Zedaria Smith who both missed the game, they are expected to be fine for next week. Unclear still about Garrett Bradbury, but I mean, that's really the biggest thing. They played the starters for a half. They scored some points. It wasn't really all that inspiring, but everyone's going to go home without feeling worse health-wise as they start the playoffs. I think that's by far the most important, especially since I noticed that Joey Bosa and Mike Williams got hurt with the Chargers playing their starters.

It could have been you. In fact, that's kind of AFC Vikings. It could have been you. It was a little risky, but they got away with no real issues. Yeah, I mean, that really is all you can glean from this game. I think we want to be able to say, man, they really put that Packers loss behind them, but the Vikings played a wholly unserious football team today, football game today. It might've been when they brought in Tim Boyle. It might've been in the Bears second drive when they just punted from

like the 30 yard line. Like they didn't want to kick a field goal. They didn't want to try to go for it there. Wow. We'll just punt it. And I think they gained like 20 yards of field position. I think that was when I said, all right, let's hit the Madden SIM SIM to end of game and let's just get out of here.

And I think that's kind of what the Vikings wanted to do in terms of not getting guys injured and just moving on. They had their massive injury with Brian O'Neill last week. They said, we cannot have that. They probably could have pulled starters even before they did, but I'm sure going into the game, playing them a half was kind of what they were planning to do and they

stuck to it. So yeah, you'd want to say, man, you know, the rushing like attack looked much better against the bears or man, like I'm, I really feel confident in Chris Reed playing center.

Now, if he has to play center or only Udo and the whole right side, but I don't think any of those assumptions can be made. They're going to play the giants in the past who have a really good defensive line and have some other issues that the Vikings can manage. And they played a really close game with them last week. And that's probably what we're going to get because this team is just kind of what this team was.

So this, this was indeed a football game that was played, but it was played against the team that has the number one pick in the NFL draft without their starting quarterback. So I don't think there's anything really like massive. You can say, man, they really improved upon that from their shellacking against the Packers. And this is why they're going to be better in the playoffs. Like, I think this is the team that lost last week, entering pretty much the exact way that they were ending that Packers game. That's how they look going into this game. I don't think we can take much from this game and say that is applicable moving forward. Yeah, I would say almost nothing, but I'm going to try anyway for one small take for what they can carry over. And that's that they actually were able to get the offensive line to play a couple of football plays together, football snaps against, again, a team

that their leading pass rusher has 28 quarterback pressures. That is 50 fewer than Zedaria Smith, who didn't play today. I mean, that's, yeah, they have no one that can rush the passer. And that was very clear from the start that Kirk cousins has never had a safer pocket in his life. I've seen him pressured and hit more in preseason games. And I'm not kidding. Like literally in preseason games in his career, he has taken more pressure and has taken more hits, but you know, that's good though. Like it's good. Sort of like walk before you run as an offensive line, because when we asked O'Connell for the health update after the game, he was like, this guy's playing.

This guy's fine. There's no big deal. What about Bradbury? Well, we're not really sure about Garrett Bradbury. And I think that, you know, after last week, the fact that he didn't even practice on a limited basis, that's a pretty bad sign for Bradbury because even if he hadn't played in this game, but if he had practiced on a limited basis,

that would have mean at least he could get out there and do something and was making progress. So that update does not give me a whole lot of confidence he'll play, which means it actually was important for Kirk Cousins to take some snaps with Chris Reed because last week against the Packers, they couldn't even properly snap the ball with Chris Reed,

who's now playing his second game ever at center. So I think that's really helpful for him. Ole Udo's played in multiple different positions before. I wasn't too concerned about that. But even at the same time, you are talking about a New York Giants team that blitzes a lot, stunts a lot, does a lot of different things that really need the right tackle and the guard to be on the same page.

And you have a rookie right guard still who's had a very tough season. So I think that there was some value in getting those guys out there playing with the starting quarterback. The rushing attack wasn't all that impressive. I mean, they ended up with over 100 yards overall. Alexander Madison had a couple of good runs, ended up getting some touchdowns when Delvin Cook got hurt, apparently got stepped on. So it wasn't like, oh, his meniscus is barely hanging off. Why don't you run back out there? It was just a painful injury, but not something that's going to stick with him. So when they put him back in the game, I still thought it was pretty unnecessary,

but it wasn't like, oh, he's risking further injury. It was just something that really hurt him in the moment and he's going to be totally fine. But if there's anything to come away with, it's that KJ Osborne has kind of done this from time to time where he just has one of those really good games and shows up. I don't know if a good game here means anything toward the future. I think Alexander Hollins from Once Upon a Time would probably argue that a final week of the season game against the Bears doesn't really mean a whole lot toward what's going to happen in the future. And that's what makes this game hard to talk about

as far as breaking down anything beyond that. Because, you know, they can feel good that they won, but everybody knows the deal i mean they saw what chicago was doing over there from the outset it was kind of offensive like you said when they punted from the 34 is like oh my gosh like anybody who put on their little bear suit and showed up here for this game i feel bad for you and throughout the game there was a lot of sad moments for the bears i I mean, there was the, the noise meter. Now this is going to blow your mind. This is one of my biggest takeaways from the game. So, you know how they have those like fan noise meter, and then it

always is going crazy. Right. Yep. There's wasn't going crazy today. I think it's an actual measurement of the sound. I never would have guessed that. I just assume they always said like, Oh, you're being crazy loud because like, they've really got a noise. Ometer or something there. Apparently they did. Cause this one didn't move. It just stay. It didn't go to the red. It didn't peak. There was nobody here again, though, that gave them a chance with no real noise to have the offensive line, get the cadences, get the communication. And if there's anything that you will convince me matters, I'm going to say it's that. Yeah, I think certainly that in just a week of practice where Chris Reed is like

understanding the snap counts and knows when to snap the ball. We saw numerous times in the game last week when he had to come in, like everyone else starts moving and he still got the ball, which means it's a him issue in terms of when he's supposed to snap that ball i think that happened two or three times uh last week so those are things that are gonna get cleaned up with a little bit of practice time so i think that goes a long way but yes getting live reps is is gonna help um but it's not like they looked they looked fine in those reps but you saw arman watts kind of go right around him at one point and just really get to kirk in the first half there so like you still saw at points you're like okay we still do have chris reed at center and that's going to be important

when they play the giants because that's right in the area of dexter lawrence who is the second leading defensive tackle in terms of pressures behind only Chris Jones. He's a game wrecker. He's playing insanely, insanely well for a Giants defensive front that pressures teams at the third highest rate, only below the Eagles and the Cowboys. So two other teams the Vikings could hope to see in the playoffs. They hope they have the challenge of playing them at some point. So it is a very tough test that they're going to go against. And today didn't inspire me to think that they're going to go against. And today didn't

like inspire me to think that they are going to be better in those scenarios than I thought they would be coming out of the Packers game. I think a lot of their improvement was just kind of logistically. That was what was going to happen when you get Chris Reed, just time to understand the offense and figure out what's happening. I don't still feel much more confident in that group than I did a week ago. I mean, I guess it's nice that Chris Reed didn't have a bunch of false starts, but I think that was just kind of to be expected if you give him just a week to kind of figure things out. Right. Is he going to be able to pass block against some of the best defensive tackles in the league when they're sending pressure from lots of different places?

That's a lot different than this. I just think that the reps were a good idea probably. And, you know, again, Kirk Cousins wasn't pressured a whole lot. I don't remember seeing him on the ground maybe at all for the entire game. So the one thing that concerned you going in, though, was like if he hits a finger on somebody's helmet, like this thing is so fragile. Look how many backup quarterbacks were playing. but they got out of that without any concerns.

They'll go in almost a hundred percent healthy just without Brian O'Neill, but everybody else is going to be ready to go. And of course, if we're going to squeeze one other takeaway, Duke Shelley getting his revenge was hilarious, but also Duke Shelley's become a player for them. I mean, he makes plays on the football and some people are just naturally good at that. Like, I mean, I remember Trey Waynes being the exact opposite where he was unbelievably gifted physically, but just did not know how to make a play on the ball where Duke Shelly is not unbelievable in terms of his physical gifts.

He's not very tall. he weighs under 200 pounds but he just when that ball is coming his way knows how to make a play on it and if I mean you could take that away that his interception was impressive he had a pbu in this game where it seems like he's constantly doing that and they're going into the playoffs I think with the best possible version that they can with Duke Shelley in there playing confidently. That's not saying much because even Nathan Peterman throughout this game and Tim Boyle like had some moments against this defense when the starting offense starting offense was in. Oh, I also heard one of the saddest things. I don't want to get too far because we know who they're playing now.

So like, we're going to get to that. I promise. I'm just not going to talk about this anymore, but just in terms of funny moments, there were a lot of them, the 12 men on the field and the field goal, like the noise meter. One of the other ones was as we were getting in the elevator to go downstairs to the locker room, the postgame show was, you know, playing over the speaker in the elevator. And they were talking about how Velas Jones, like, oh man, he really had his breakout today and really showed something for the future. It was like, wait, when when the Vikings just refused to tackle him because it was the Pro Bowl, like in terms of effort. I mean, because the Vikings were just they had more tackles today where the guy didn't hit the ground and they just blew the whistle. Then a Pro Bowl. It was unreal how little physicality was involved in this football game.

Like, oh, yeah, I guess you should be very thrilled. I mean, if you're them, I guess they're trying to come up with anything from today. You got to give them something at some point. I was not convinced that Vilas Jones is taking this team to the next level after today. Sorry, Mr. Jones, but that's not how it is. Anyway, we know the Vikings opponent for the playoffs. That's very exciting. They are now going against the same team we thought they'd be going against.

But the New York Giants, a rematch of a couple of weeks ago. What is your first sort of feeling about that? I mean, it's not quite official as we speak at this moment, but the 49ers are just about to close out Arizona and it will be officially official very soon. So when that matchup comes out, when you see the two helmets matched up against each other, what is your feeling, Paul? Yeah, the 49ers, at least from what I can see, they're up 25 in the fourth quarter. So you'd hope they can hold on to that. Yeah. I think I kind of wrote about this earlier this week for the website. Um, just kind of where,

especially the Vikings flaws match up against their potential playoff opponents. And the Giants, out of all the teams they could potentially play, are up there in terms of who you would want to go against for them. I think if they had gotten that two seed and played the Packers, I think you have a lot of bad memories about just this last week and what they did to you. But I think in terms of the Giants are going to let like they don't they're banged up on cornerback. So you think, OK, Justin Jefferson is going to be able to do what he does.

Normally, that was Hawkinson's breakout game a couple of weeks ago. They've been one of the worst teams statistically the Giants have against defending tight ends. So you just look from an offensive side, your best to skill position players should be set up in a really, really good spot to play. Well, it really just comes down to the unit we're talking about, which is that offensive line. Because as we mentioned,

the giants have a game wrecking kind of crew. They're led by Dexter Lawrence and came on. Thibodeau has been playing really, really well. So it's, can you give Kirk enough time? And it shouldn't, he shouldn't need that much time to find Jefferson and Hawkinson.

And Osborne's continuing to play well after a couple solid weeks. They should be, in terms of skill guys matched up against the Giants, in a pretty good spot. And so if I'm looking at who they could have played out of any of the teams coming out of this week, the Giants are kind of that number one team. It's another first-year head coach going to the playoffs. It's Daniel Jones playing in a playoff game on the road with just a raucous like U.S. Bank Stadium. I think the first home game they've had since the Minneapolis Miracle in a playoff game. So you're expecting that's going to be an advantage for them. So I think that's kind of the best case scenario now projecting two weeks down the line if they do win. Maybe it's in a less advantageous

spot than if they had gotten the two seed but in terms of a first round matchup I think the Giants might be the best one that the Vikings could have hoped for at this point and again compared to the other teams kind of the least threatening offense although they have been doing some good things the Giants have offensively but not crazy weapons that you feel like you really really need to worry about I mean, they played well against you the, a couple of weeks ago,

but there are no game breakers on that side of the ball. So I think all in all about the best matchup they could have gotten based on the teams we know of now, obviously we don't know who's going to be that seven seed, but a solid, a solid outcome for them. I think in the first round folks, if your new year's resolution was to treat yourself a little bit better,

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and find out where you can get Liquid Death today. Yeah, no game breakers aside from Saquon Barkley, who I would not count out, considering how he played against them last time and then how Aaron Jones played against them. But I also think they have a somewhat flawed offensive line considering how he played against them last time and then how Aaron Jones played against them. But I also think they have a somewhat flawed offensive line that Daniil Hunter has a really good matchup. And of course, we'll get into all this stuff throughout the week, but just instant reactions to this. I completely agree with you that if you

were ranking the teams, I would have probably had Seattle as the team. And I know that wasn't a very high chance, but if Seattle, if Seattle was in, I'd rather face them because I just don't think that Gino Smith is really the guy that we saw earlier this year. I think their defense is pretty horrendous. That Detroit and Green Bay were the more scary teams, not only because of, I mean, Detroit's offense, which is phenomenal and has been really good all year long. And then the way that Green Bay just played against you, their familiarity with you, but also like the way that they've recently played against them. Neither game was really all that close.

And that's even with the Vikings offense playing well in Detroit, but it still was not that close of a game. And it was a two score game in the end. And then the way the Green Bay played against them. Coaching experience, I think also is a big deal when you get to the playoffs, I guess we'll find out if that's true or not. Um, there have been some new or new ish coaches that have gone deep in the playoffs, but if it's, we're talking about Matt floor specifically, like that's a guy who has a lot of experience coaching and in the playoffs and with playoff disappointment as well. Um, but Kevin O'Connell doing this for the first time against another first time head coach is sort of

blind leading the blind a little bit here as they go up against each other. So it isn't like you have a disadvantage there. It's not like they have a legendary quarterback or even a quarterback who has operated his offense at a super high level. I mean, the Giants have been a mediocre offense and a team that they just lit up was Indianapolis. You're not that impressed by that. I think it is concerning what they did last time to the Vikings, but also they get another look and another game plan against Daniel Jones. He also had to make some great throws and great runs in that game to even get the Giants close. So there's another way you could look at it.

Like, even though they played about their best game offensively that they're capable of playing, they still did not win against the Vikings. Justin Jefferson's going to have probably a Dory Jackson back, which was a big deal for him to be missing, and a game against Green Bay that everybody got to see how they game planned. So they will be tested. I think more,

I think it really comes down to the offensive line and that's where the giants, you could convince me were the toughest matchup because the Vikings offensive line has to go up against, I mean, really three, four stars on this team, on the defensive line of the giants where the Packers have some good

players there. And Detroit definitely does not have a scary defensive line outside of Aiden Hutchinson. Seattle's just like they would have. I think they really would have run away from Seattle, even though they don't like to run away from anybody. So, I mean, I think the Giants, what I like about them as a matchup is that they're not so good where you're like, oh man, they got screwed, but they're also not so bad that if you win, you can be like, oh, well, you know, whatever easy first round matchup.

Like if they win, they're going to have to earn that win. It's a really good matchup for them overall. And yes, the Vikings did finish a 13 win season somehow with a negative point differential. And as they never do that first or first, yeah, it's insane. It doesn't make any sense. And I was there for all of it. But, you know, I think that when you go into a matchup like this against a team that you know is good and well-coached and motivated and has a lot of talent on it and could definitely beat you, it's possible. It's kind of a prove it game in a lot of

ways, because as they go into this, that stat about the point differential is going to be brought up. The fact that their defense is even after today, one of the worst in the league, they may have moved up a spot or two. I don't know, but at the very bottom of the league overall in total defense, their offense has had its moments where it's been really excellent. It's had its moments where you don't know where it disappeared to. So who are you as a team? I think you get to find out against someone like the New York Giants. So for me, it's not just ease of opponent, but it's also what does it say about you if you win or don't win? And I do think this, and I know all the seasons come down to one game and randomness and all that stuff that we talk about all the time. But if you can't beat them, then

you were never really for real. I think that's fair to say that if you can't beat them, then you probably were what people said you were throughout the season, which was a pretty darn good team that had a lot of things go their way at the end of these games and needed a lot of crazy comebacks to even get to the point where you are, which is a three seed. So they get to kind of show the world that there's more than to this team than just a lot of things that sort of bounce their way. Yeah. And like, let's, let's make note, like the Vikings needed a, what was it? A 61 yarder to beat the giants last time they played. And now cru let's, let's make note, like the Vikings needed a, what was it? A 61 yarder to beat the giants last time they played. And now crucially, they won't have Brian O'Neill, which is kind of the one big, like, if we're looking at both teams and saying,

how do they, how have they changed since then the Vikings lost maybe their best offensive tackle and the giants, like you said, maybe gaining a Dory Jackson back. I haven't been too locked into all their injuries. So maybe they have lost someone else or brought in someone back. But I think largely that team is the same team that they're the Vikings saw. The Vikings, however, are out without Brian O'Neill, who was the only starting offensive lineman that didn't allow a sack to the Giants. He's the only one there.

He allowed one pressure. And then if you go down the list, that was Austin Schlottman still playing. He had six pressures. He allowed Evan Ingram allowed three as we're Cleveland allowed four. So your interior got eaten up by them. Uh, Christian Darasaw had a good game on the other side. He allowed one pressure, which happened to be a sack. Uh, O'Neill also allowed one pressure, but that was on cave on Thibodeau.

Who's come on of late. He's the giant second,ants second pressure getter right behind Dexter Lawrence he lined up against Brian O'Neill all game and Brian O'Neill to his credit locked him down now that's Ole Udo I don't think you have the same confidence in that group so I I think for sure like if anything the Vikings are a little bit worse than they were when they played and the Giants might be just a smidge better than that at that point but the Vikings will be at home again the massive crowd that they're going to have, I would assume, will help them. But yeah, I think this is kind of that line where if they win, you can say, all right, this team, they beat a solid playoff-worthy caliber team in the Giants.

And then you move on to the next week and you really get that next test. And if they win that one, then you say, okay, this season, they were what maybe a lot of people didn't think they were throughout the season. They kind of defied some of the odds or what people thought and the point differential, like that's what happens. But if they lose this game, then it goes the complete opposite way. And you say, yeah, everything, all the worries we had, all the talks in the early season, when they're playing backup quarterbacks left, right, and center, and they're just kind of getting these breaks here and there, and we're doing the how do they get away with this meme after every single win,

that suddenly comes back to you. And I think even crucially without that is the Bears just locked up the first overall pick in this draft. The Lions seem like they're going to continue to be getting better. The Packers are on this late run, and they've had their wide receivers come up and play a lot better. They're young guys. You think maybe they can continue to improve.

Like this is their best window that they have right now. This Vikings team and they have a beatable team in the first round. Like this is when they have to go and get it. And beating the giants is kind of that, obviously the first step, but kind of shows you and proves to you that, Hey, all right,

this was, this season was a success. Now, can we build on it? And can we take advantage of an opportunity still in a pretty wide open NFC to see what we can do? I guess we'll find out how wide open we feel like it is after the first round of the playoffs, because the path is pretty much laid out now. I mean, it's the one that everybody was a little afraid of and why that Packers game mattered so much, which was we kind of saw it after that.

It's going to be the Giants and then it's possibly going to be San Francisco in San Francisco. Now, that's not a guarantee. There is no guarantee at all. I mean, especially if the Packers win and it ends up being Green Bay, San Francisco. I mean, it's not even a guarantee if it ends up being either of the other teams. Maybe you can peek at the Seattle game, see where they're at at the moment for me. But you know, if it is, then like, that's the ultimate, like go show you're for real type of opponent. Because I think that with this Giants game where everybody stands on it is you can win this game. You should win this game. Now, you know, your percentage of

confidence may vary depending on the day or whatever, or the day's injury report or whatever. At very worst in my mind, it's a coin flip with the Giants, but realistically, they're probably a stronger team, especially because they have Justin Jefferson and the New York Giants do not have Justin Jefferson. So you should win that game. Like, you know, I think somewhere between 60, 40,

50, 50, like somewhere in there that you should be on the right side of things. They will be favored in this game. I almost guarantee that, that there'll be at least a three point favorite playing against the giants. So,

okay, go, go win that one. But when they go to San Francisco, they will not be favored. And this year, when they weren't favored outside of in Buffalo, it did not go very well for them. And I think that's the team where we've been talking about,

okay, can you play with the big boys? Because when you look at the point differentials for three other teams in the NFC, it looks like you're the one who stands out as not deserving to be mentioned with those three other teams, with Dallas, with San Francisco, and with Philadelphia, who is going to have the one seed. Jalen Hurts is going to be back for them. They also got a cornerback back.

They got Robert Quinn back. So they're getting a little bit healthier here. And I think they're going to have Lane Johnson back, who's been banged up for them. He's going to play through injury in the playoffs. So these teams are going to be at a high level of strength. They've been playing mostly really well in the second half of the season. That's going to be the – there probably won't be, now that the path is laid out, unless San Francisco is shocked in San Francisco in the first round,

which totally could happen. We have seen much crazier things happen. But if it doesn't, then it's really there for you. And in my mind, like there's no, after you win in that first round, there's no easy matchups after that. Even if green Bay does win, then you're facing a green Bay team, even at home, that is supremely confident or the same thing with Detroit, two teams that have been two of the best in the NFL in the second half. No matter how this plays out, the road will not be easy and they will a hundred percent have to prove that they deserve to be considered a Superbowl contender. And I mean, I think that what that comes along

with is being for real. And so we can talk about the point differential thing all we want to, but the Vikings are not going into this playoff. Like, Hey, you know, you get a win. That would be fun. That would be exciting. Like remember when Cleveland pulled off the win against Pittsburgh and then they were close to beating Kansas city and Chad Henney found a way against them. I remember, I mean, Cleveland fans, even though, you know, very disappointed at the result there, Hey, we got a playoff win with our new young quarterback. And this is so exciting and all this sort of stuff. To me, there's not moral victories here.

When you win 13 games with a 34 year old quarterback, the best wide receiver in the universe who cleared 1800 yards today, a highly paid running back, a highly paid veteran defense, a head coach who was brought here to get you to this level. And he did, and he deserves the credit for that. So now the way that we look at this is not like, Hey, good for you. You got to the playoffs. You kind of shook off those last two years. It's like, no, we can only hold them to the standard of being able to go to San Francisco and prove that it's different from a year like 2019. And from my perspective, it just becomes very interesting, right? Like everything is interesting now, how they match up against the Giants. I mean, the matchups in San Francisco and how closely we'll be watching them.

We don't know when they're going to play yet. The NFL hasn't announced that as we talk right now, when the games are going to happen. So we'll get into that and everything else, what kind of thing they draw. But I mean, this should be exciting for Vikings fans to have these discussions of, can you really play, you know,

can you really blast the Giants when you should? Like a regular season game, okay, week to week or whatever. but this is like all laser beams set on the New York giants. Every hour of every day is about beating them and game planning against them. So can you really do it? And the same thing with, if you beat the giants, then going out and playing San Francisco. So it's a great place for them to be. And it also this path to the superl to them, I don't think that it's going to be sort of laid out like a red carpet for them to stroll deep into the playoffs. I think it's going to take them playing truly great football to get there. I agree. And I think it's kind of why I mentioned kind of, this is their window only because like the teams in their division probably

should get better around them the the Vikings on the defensive side of the ball are about as young as they're going to be the their bit like all their contributors are older they're just going to continue to get older and you can run back that unit again but this is pretty much your entire defense at this point is healthy I know we can talk about issues along the offensive side of the ball but the defense and what you thought it was going to come look like coming into the season, it is largely the same defense you're entering the playoffs with. So that's, you've got that there. You're healthy there. You're all things considered. You have your number one quarterback, wide receiver, running back, tight end, two,

number three, wide receivers. All those guys are healthy. So you're about as healthy as you're going to be. And you're going to enter a court or you're going to enter the playoffs with the two seats ahead of you being one quarterbacked by a seventh round pick and one by a Philadelphia team who is a juggernaut but you're just going to play one of those when you come into the playoffs so in terms of how the slate looks for you this is about as advantageous as it looks for any team like you could be entering the AFC and that's going to be a bloodbath with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence. And if Lamar comes back, like that is a murderer's row.

So it's not to say the Vikings won't have to prove themselves or it's not going to be a difficult, like worthwhile test for them. Like if they make it through this far, it is undoubtedly that they proved they were one of these really good teams and they have backed it up. And Kirk has probably gone against a lot of like the doubts and kind of all the classic Kirk narrative like if they get far all those things are going to have to be expelled it's just like if we're going to compare it to other runs this is when you would make it and this team in the iteration of its team and kind of where

it is both structurally with contracts and ages and everything like this is their opportunity and then you look at their division and all the all the other teams still seem like they could be improving for next year this just feels like okay the doors are open for you this is what you wanted you got into the playoffs where at least one game is going to be a home game for you in the playoffs now it's time to pick it up and go do it all that momentum all that kind of moxie and talk about we're 11-0 in one score games, we know how to win these games. It's now time to figure out how to do that

and to make that not just talk and to make the 11-0 one score record just kind of a fun thing we get to chat about and say, well, they lost in the playoffs, but remember how good they were. No, let's turn that into, man, they really could figure out how to do something in those final moments. And that regular season really did teach them something and kind of they figured out how to do something in those final moments and that

regular season really did teach them something and kind of they figured out how to do it this is now when you put all that work to the test and i think why it's kind of really interesting is it's there for them to do and it's a possibility for them to do and i think in 2019 and in some of the other previous years they made the playoffs or were close, that wasn't as necessarily what you could say. And I think there's certainly doubts about this team, headlined by its poorest defense and kind of the Brian O'Neill injury. But I think all things considered, this is about as good of an opportunity as they've had since 2017 probably to do something like this.

So now what can they do with their opportunity? And I agree. I mean, when you look at the other playoff quarterbacks, if Aaron Rodgers is involved, this changes it only a little because I still think San Francisco is a better team than Green Bay regardless. I mean, you're talking about the best quarterback being Jalen Hurts this year. And then after that, it's probably Dak Prescott. And then after that, it's probably Kirk Cousins. Maybe there's a debate between those two who kind of have some, some similar things about them with big stats and they haven't exactly done it in the playoffs. And now Cousins has his 13 win season to kind of that, you know, Dak had at one point. And of course he's having a pretty

good season still, not in the game that's on right next to me, but I don't think that one matters at all to Dallas. But you know, the point being that like, if those, like if you're going into the playoffs with a guy who is arguably one of the better quarterbacks, the entire conference, you are right to say that it would not be the case in the AFC, but you don't have to play in the AFC until, you know, the Superbowl. And if you get there, then it was all a hundred percent worth it.

But going into the playoffs, I think that they deserve to have confidence that they can go up against these teams. But they're going to go in with questions about them that have been earned over this entire season. That of course, like this week against Chicago did not change anything about, you know, any questions that were involved. But Kirk Cousins sure put up some numbers today, though. I mean, I was like, oh, man, this guy is going to do everything he can to get his quarterback rating up before the end of the season. He never.

And I don't mean this is a jab. It's just that when he plays somebody bad, he generally just destroys them. And that's exactly what he did today against the Chicago Bears. So at least he's got that, you know, he talked today about feeling like he had even turned a corner late in the season, as far as his confidence in the offense and his understanding of the offense. So they are going in at full strength. I mean, you're missing a right tackle and that is a big deal and you might be missing your center, and that is a big deal as well. But everything else, I mean, they've been able to play together,

him and Justin Jefferson, the whole season at full strength all the way through. I mean, there really aren't any excuses for why they can't go deep in the playoffs based on their record, based on the talent they have. It's just can you show up for three straight games to get to the Superbowl without having one of those green Bay games or Philly games or Dallas games? And I think that's what is going to keep Vikings fans up at night. But I wanted to say too, before we kind of reflect on this regular season,

because again, I've got nothing else to say other than, Hey, those checkdowns to CJ night as a ham were pretty nice, right? Like use the fullback other than that. And hey, Irv Smith got back on the field. I don't know if that's going to be really a factor, but at least he was out there. Maybe he's a more like threatening receiving option than Johnny Munt.

So I mean, that can be a marginal upgrade for you, I guess. Right. So I think that that's helpful. I don't know how much he's going to give. He didn't look all that explosive today. I mean, he's been out for a really long time. So that's going to be tough for him to make a huge impact. But where I was going to go is just to say that these opportunities,

they don't come along very often for a lot of teams, most teams. You know, I saw this quote from Joe Burrow today where he said, someone asked about the Super Bowl window. And he said, you got me, your Super Bowl windows open all the time. And Joseph Burrow is right. But that's not the case for the Minnesota Vikings. And it's not the case for almost every franchise. It is in Buffalo and it is in Cincinnati and Kansas City.

And every other team is pretty much fluctuating up and down that does not have these generational freak show quarterbacks. And so when you look at the Vikings history, you find that they had, I mean, really like think about this in 1999, they returned to the playoffs after being there in 1998, every other time that they won 12 or 13 games, the whole rest of the way since then, they missed the playoffs the next year. I mean, it's just, it's not a guarantee for me that they'll miss the playoffs next year, but you probably won't find a year ever in your life like this one. I mean, to have Jefferson have, again, one of the greatest seasons that has ever happened for a wide receiver. I mean, that's just hard to repeat year in and year out.

And to have health like this, which has been 95% of the time, extremely favorable for the Vikings. And to have eight comebacks. I mean, remember, Matthew Stafford had eight comebacks in a season. I think the next year he got like two or three. I mean, that's just how rare everything is that's happened this year.

So as you go into this, you kind of have to appreciate the rarity of it. But also you kind of, if you're Vikings fans, you're very terrified by that as well, because you know you just don't get these shots all the time. And this is kind of it's like, if you were talking about this in like, um, like movie style, this is like when I don't understand a superhero movies, but like Thor is facing the big boss or something like that's what it is. Like, there's no, there's nothing after this in a lot of ways. I mean, there's a lot of work to the offseason we'll talk about that in the offseason but like this is a rare one this is a unique season so you're facing kind of the final bosses here that you've gotten to after this crazy

journey to reach here and it might not be something that you could just run back and do again or you know draft this guy or that guy and ever have it happen again. So I think that there's gotta be a feeling for them. And a lot of these players like Patrick Peterson's at areas, Smith, these guys who have been through it, Kirk cousins. I mean, for Justin Jefferson, he'll have more seasons like this in his career, more likely than not. But for these older guys, this, this might be their best chance they'll have to reach the Super Bowl that they're ever going to have in their entire career. And so there's a lot of pressure on this team. And I don't know if there's another point to be made about that.

I don't know. This team is kind of built for that pressure, but I don't want to guarantee they'll be fine under it because they were under pressure in Green Bay and were not fine underneath that pressure. So we don't really know. I think it's just to say the drama of this thing is, I don't think I'm overplaying it. Like I think it's very intense as they go into the post season. Yeah. And I think kind of the last point you were going to make was just like this

season and reflecting on it as a whole. And I think just generally like where this team was a year ago at this date, when Zimmer is taking photos on the field because he's about to be fired and everyone's because he gave Jefferson at the record and this team is really uh at that point a stale franchise that you don't quite know the next steps of where they're going to go and they had massive question marks and they still have big question marks they're still you still have to wonder about where, what they'll do with Cousins because the contract they gave him necessitates that question. And there's obviously a lot of old guys on the

defense, how many of them bring back. So there's obviously questions that we'll get into when the time comes, but just holistically from where the franchise was from just seeming to be in kind of a bad and just stale and kind of rundown spot with where they were a year ago now they're 13 and 4 they're making the playoffs they have a home playoff game that they're favored to win and you had just a miraculous season with the biggest comeback in NFL history and that Bills win and all the craziness that ensued to get there. And like just so many like insane. And I'm sure for the people in that locker room, cool. And like memories and things they're never going to forget. And like, it does really feel like this team has bonded to a level that

I don't remember seeing previous iterations of this team. So like as a fan and maybe as for guys in that locker room, like this was a really, really incredible season from where they were last year. And just kind of maybe the, I don't know, it had gotten old where they had been and always kind of fluctuating in that mediocre zone. And so they now have a chance these next few games

to say that they were more than that and that maybe they underachieved in those years and that they can kind of prove it at this point. But just from looking at the season holistically like it is a pretty good 180 from where they were last year because it felt like they were trending downward and this year they've completely gone against that and really had a really really nice season hiring a new coach hiring a new general manager like this is about as well as you forecast those types of moves going. Yeah, that's a good point.

And I think that even though, you know, we're talking about like how the roster is going to have to be rebuilt, what they found this year, I'm not entirely sure as far as a front office, but I am sure about a coach and no, he's not been perfect. And even the end of the first half today, and there have been these throughout the season where you're like, Hey Kev, a clock's running out. But also Kirk cousins throwing it in bounds at that point was sort of a

throwback a little bit to some things that he's done in the past, but that whole end of the half, 12 men end up out there. That's a drill that they do from training camp, like running the kicking team on at the end and they just completely botched it. So yeah, there's been times throughout the season. I think that Kevin O'Connell does not really have a great feel for the running game and where it fits into an offense. So there's things that he has to grow from here. But as far as establishing what you are as a franchise underneath your front door, which is your head coach. I mean, I think you look at somebody like Pittsburgh and the leadership from

Mike Tomlin and they went over 500 again today. Unreal. I there's some people I follow from Pittsburgh who criticized Mike Tomlin. I just can't believe it. Like every year you're guaranteed to be over 500, even if it's Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett, that's insane, but that's what everybody's chasing. Everyone's chasing a team that will play for Mike Tomlin all the way to the end. Everyone's chasing that. And I think what the Vikings found, I'm not saying that Kevin O'Connell will have Mike Tomlin's career, but I think what they found this year is a coach who can lead an organization. And if you want to know how hard that is, look at Jacksonville and Urban

Meyer and how much it turned around under Doug Peterson, because there's just not a lot of guys who can do it. And maybe that's a good comp. Maybe Doug Peterson and Kevin O'Connell have a lot in common as former backup quarterbacks, but you've found your coach. I mean, that is such a big deal for the future. So even though I think that there's a lot of challenges on the way, that is an important thing that they were able to come away with from this year is that you don't have to fire another coach right away, or that even if there is some times where they do have to take a step back to rebuild some parts of this roster that you're not talking about while, you know, this coach is incompetent, like a Joe judge, heck they're playing the giants,

a team that also got another coach that was able to turn them around from where they are. So that is a huge takeaway from this season. So I don't want to make it sound like your lives are coming to an end after this year. It's just that I don't think that things ever will go this way again. And I just want to say that throughout the year when they would have those nutty things happen and we would say, look, it's not sustainable. These are not things you could do week in and week out. Like that is true for 9,999 teams out of 1000, but not for this one. I mean, for this one, they kept finding new ways over and over to reinvent madness in the NFL, whether it was crazy endings, a career long field goals,

records setting, whatever largest comebacks, endings that were lucky endings that were not luck and that were entirely them, you know, pulling together at the hugest moments and things like that. And for us, I mean, even if we were critical of elements of those games and did not believe it to be sustainable, and I guess we'll see if it sustains through the playoffs. I think they have to be better than they were for the regular season as a team than they were in the playoffs to get deep. But for us, it was the highest level of entertainment that we have ever had on this show. It's not even remotely close. And it's been super fun to come on here every week. And I think

sometimes like people mistake that being passionate and sometimes critical of elements of their game, which is deserved again, like we could go through all the shortcomings they've had or the things that have broken their way. But don't mistake that with how fun this entire season has been to talk about. And I think that this is sort of a take a moment to just like look back for a second and think about the sheer madness that had to come together for this team to be a 13 win team. And once you've reached that threshold, I said at the beginning of the season, I will stay with it. Always. If you win 12 games or more, you are a

Superbowl contender. And that is what I believe about this team. They are going into the playoffs as a Superbowl contender. Now go make it happen. Basically is the challenge to this team to prove that, that that's really the case. But as far as how much fun we had logging on here after every single one of these games and just losing our minds, I, you know what? It was really crazy today. This has to be like for somebody who I'm trying to not to make like an inappropriate type of reference here,

but like let's say you're used to driving 80 miles an hour on the highway and then you move to minnesota and for some reason everyone does the speed limit and you're going 58 and you're like this feels weird that was today like like normally throughout the season you're driving 95 and you're weaving between traffic and you're doing gone in 60 seconds stuff you're you're doing like the speed with Keanu Reeves, where you jump a hole. These are old movies, Paul, where you jump a bus over like a, whatever, whatever it was that they jumped over a hole in the road or something. That's what the season has been. And then today was like a Hallmark movie. And I was like,

what is going on here? I'm so bored. Um, so that's what this season has been like for us. It has been blockbuster film after blockbuster film so we have enjoyed it and I can't say how much I appreciate all the people who listen to these who watch us on YouTube and who have sent fans only questions and all these things I feel like in a lot of ways that we've done it we've done it together we've gone on this journey together this isn't just me and you post game Paul This is everybody who has followed the insanity of the 2022 Vikings. So as you prepare for this week, and I'm sure Vikings fans are incredibly nervous, as they are about the preseason and everything, like every game, every quarter,

they're very anxious about what can happen. Take a second. Just take a second to think about how fun this season has been for you, because there's been a lot of years that we're not. And we just went through a couple of them. Yeah. Like being a fan, like half of it is like with your buddies or your family three years down the line, like thinking about these games and reminiscing about them.

And you have that in the Colts game and you have that about the bills game. And for better or worse, you're going to have that about what the playoffs look like going forward. They're going to make some massive impression, whether that's good or bad. And it's going to be one as a fan that you're going to talk about forever. Just like, as we talk about that, we constantly reference that San Francisco game from two years,

from a couple of years ago and where they stacked up. And we, of course, you wrote a whole book on the premise around that Minneapolis miracle and that entire season. Like that's the type of season that the Vikings are in the middle of. And so far, almost all the memories have been good and we'll see if they continue, but just the fact that you've had this season of just high after high after high, and you've had some lows,

you've had the Cowboys game and you've had this this Packers game most recently but man it's like if you go through the 20 or the 31 other teams like they didn't have seasons like this pretty much every one of them didn't have seasons like this and so you just have to say like one of the biggest gripes we had coming into the season is like man the Vikings they're just they're the same old Vikings every year they're the same team like they feel like they go on the same script. And that was not the case this year. So at least you didn't know what to expect weekend and week out, which we didn't, which was something we kind of felt like we knew the last couple of years, this year, you had no idea where it was going and I don't know where it's going in the playoffs.

And that's half the fun of it at this point. That's right. We have really no idea, but we'll do our best to preview every element of Vikings and giants. We'll get their perspective. We'll get Jeremiah's girls on how they're going to make up for the offensive line. We will have, as always, we'll rag it's previewing it.

And then after that game, we will do this again. And I'm just, you know, you just, this is what's great about sports, Paul, because seven days from now, I'm going to be standing inside US Bank Stadium on a thing just like this, talking to you.

And I have no idea what we'll be saying. I really don't. I really don't. It's exciting. I mean, the last, the last time it was like this, I mean, I think when they went out to San Francisco in 2019, that we felt like they could beat them. Um, they just didn't and got smashed, but like, we didn't think it was impossible. I thought it was a great matchup and they just didn't show up. Um, but, uh, you know, I, I have that similar kind of feeling where, you know, the weaknesses, you know, the strengths

it's, do you make it happen or not? And they could make it happen all the way through a playoff run. I watched Nick Foles throw for like 400 yards against the Vikings in Philadelphia to beat them. So I, I am very much going to stick with what I said after one of these games, that it was the Kevin Garnett, anything is possible season. So I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, discount any possible outcome for next week and anything that I could be saying seven days from now. I guess we'll find out and hopefully all of you will be there with us when we do. So if you're listening on the podcast feed, thanks so much for all of you who joined that. If you're watching us on YouTube and you don't listen to the podcast, make sure you go over to wherever, get your pods and check out the show because it's going to be a very exciting week for us.

So thank you, Paul, for. Always being here through the regular season, every single game, you're ready to go postgame. And I excuse me, I've done this from like, I don't know, like 43 different locations inside the press box, US Bank Stadium. The lights went out on me once. You know, I've done it from now the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago, Philadelphia. Whatever. Lots of different. A hotel while my bathroom was being redone. So we always find a way to talk about this team. And I'm glad to have everybody along for the journey as well.

So thank you, Paul. Thank you all for watching slash listening. And we will see you in playoff week.