Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings blast the Texans in prove-it game

Episode Date: September 22, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press break down the Vikings' whipping of the Texans at US Bank Stadium Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome in to US Bank Stadium, Matthew Collar along with Dane Mizutani here to recap and break down the most impressive Minnesota Vikings victory since. Dane, we may have to answer that question to start the show. I mean, of course you could say since last week, duh. But I think that this one was even more impressive as the Vikings just blew out the Houston Texans. And going into this season, Dane, I was saying that the Houston Texans should be considered a Super Bowl contender through the first couple of weeks. They looked exactly like that. Nico Collins was dominating.

Stephon Diggs was adding to their team. Also, not to mention that their defense was shredding opposing offensive lines. And today, the Vikings made this team look very pedestrian. They made C.J. Stroud look like a backup level quarterback, like a guy who has barely been in the league, not the guy who came in and played at a level that rookies have very rarely ever played before in their careers. I mean, it's, is it unbelievable? No, but it was absolutely incredible from top to bottom four touchdowns from Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, blasting through the line to finish this thing off the, the best top to bottom win in a very, very long time for the Vikings over the Houston texts. Yeah. I honestly can't even put my finger on the last time I remember such a dominant win. I mean, we talked to Justin Jefferson after the game. He said kind

of the same thing. He said, this is kind of nice to not have to stress about a game down the stretch and get kind of taken out of the game almost because we're winning by so much. But I think it's been a really long time since we've seen a level of domination like we saw today. In everything that the Vikings did, offense, defense, special teams, they just really took it to the Texans in every facet of the game. The scene that stands out to me from this entire game, and there's a million highlights that we can talk about and we will talk about, but the Texans, C.J. Stroud on his last drive,

last possession in the game, he turns the ball over on downs, slumps his head, puts his hands on his hips, takes his helmet off on the sideline. You just watch every movement of that guy as he kind of slowly ambled off the field. It looked like a guy who was rattled in a way that I don't

think we've seen him rattled really at any point in his career. And that's just a testament to the domination that kind of took place on both sides of the ball and in special teams. Yes, the defense frustrated C.J. Stroud, but it's also a heck of a lot more frustrating when the offense for the Vikings is also dominating your defense and you can't kind of stay out of your own way. 34-7, just a dominant win all around. You know, we usually don't go in order of how it happened because we usually start with the biggest storylines and then kind of go from there. But I kind of want to go through the order of how this happened. Right from the very beginning of the game, I think that there was a

lot of juice in the building because of what happened last week. So all the people who came out to see their favorite squad last week, they got very much rewarded by a Vikings win over the 49ers. And then this entire week, you saw the national media start to talk about, hey, the Minnesota Vikings, hey, Sam Darnold, what is Kevin O'Connell doing up there? Ooh, Brian Flores. And you started to see the ESPNs and the NFL networks of the world pay attention when you get to 2-0. And I think that that brought a little more energy. And plus, there's a freshness to the team that we've talked about, a newness to it. And when you see them play as well last week on defense, there is something about defense that the crowd really loves to get behind. Maybe it's

because that's when they are allowed to cheer the most, but from the minute they stepped out onto the field, the energy in the building, and the players talked about this after the game, that they could really feel it, even if it makes their life harder sometimes, but because they can't hear their own checks and changes, but you could see CJ Stroud right from the beginning, kind of being like, okay, what's going on? And he completes a pass, but then there's a holding and it takes that back. And then there's a little bit of rattledness right from there. Then the tip ball, the interception Vikings ball touchdown. And I don't want to say at that moment, I was sure they were going to win. I was like 80% sure they were going to win right there because there's just so much trust in this defense at this point that if they can play from ahead and Aaron Jones, the way he could run the ball as well, which maybe KOC should have stuck to a little

bit more toward the end of the game and not gotten his quarterback banged up. But the trust in the defense is so high for what they can do. My thought was when they scored that touchdown on a tremendous play by Sam Darnold rolling out and finding Justin Jefferson was, are the Texans going to be able to recover from this? Because when this defense sinks its teeth into you, you can't come back in games. And I think that we now have to look at this as the complete identity of who the Minnesota Vikings are. Yeah. And I think like to your point, when you start that fast and you get the crowd roaring like that, like it makes the game harder right from the jump. But then they continue to apply that pressure. And then I think sinking their teeth into it is a good way to phrase it because it wasn't what we've seen in the past sometimes with Vikings teams

where they jump out to a lead and then all of a sudden it's close. This defense for 60 minutes, or I guess CJ Stroud didn't play the whole game, but continued to apply that pressure. So yes, it starts with the Kamu Grigier-Hill interception on a tipped ball, and that's a really hard play to overcome if you're the Texans. But then it's Jonathan Grenard just running over a tight end, Cade Stover. I don't know why you try to block Jonathan Grenard with a tight end, but the Texans tried. And Jonathan Grenard basically turned him into dust. But I think when you, all of a sudden, and then Jonathan Grenard's getting a sack and then the defense is looking so multiple and it looks like this before the snap. And then it's actually something else after the snap.

And you could see like in real time, like CJ Stroud thinking in the game. And if you're thinking that much before the snap and you're thinking that much when the ball is in play, usually not a good recipe for success as a quarterback. But yeah, I think from the opening play of the game, I guess the first play was a holding. But even then, it was a holding because of pressure applied within the trenches. And it was just a full confirmation of, I think, everything we've seen so far with this defense. But week one, it was, oh, how good are they? That was the New York Giants, who looked pretty good today, by the way. And then week two, it was like, yeah, okay, that was a really impressive win.

Can they keep this going? Like, I don't know if I'm ready to say, like, all in, but I think it's pretty clear this defense is really, really good. Maybe one of the best in the league. And I just don't see a way or, like, a place where they're going to regress. Will there be regression to the mean? Probably at some point. They're not going to hold teams to seven points every game.

But I think we can fully say now, like with full confidence, this is a good defense. And it might be a really, really good team as well. So they get up seven to nothing and then immediately get right back to work. And I'm sort of keeping a running tab of things that happen like this. There is a fumble that turns out not to be a fumble. Now, I don't want to waste too much time ranting about what a football move is. Did he bring it in? In my estimation, the man receives the football, brings it into his receiving pocket running area and then drops it that is a fumble but not according to the very

very active sean hockley who uh had a lot to say on the mic there were multiple times they had to kick the ball off there were illegal motions and illegal formations out the wazoo today those flags were flipped up in the air and tossed on the ground many times which is just what everybody was looking for, by the way. So I didn't understand exactly why that wasn't a fumble, but you know what the part about it was? They didn't melt after that. I mean, and I know that this group now we can start to talk about having enough trust in them not to fall apart when things like that happen. But in years past, and I think through the first half of the season, we'll still be comparing this to what we've seen recently.

In years past, it felt so much like if they got a bad break that the other team was going to score a touchdown. I think that the human beings that they have, the experience that they have on the field, these guys just don't do that. In years past, they were playing a lot of young players or backup caliber players, and you were hoping that the Patrick Petersons and the Harrison Smiths would sort of drag those guys to being good enough. But in this case, they don't get rattled by something like that.

They just seemingly went right back to work. And then at one point, so the Vikings then get up 14 to nothing, which again, I felt like might as well be three, four, five touchdowns considering how good the defense was playing. But I think a signature moment in U.S. Bank Stadium history happening today, and all the guys were talking about this after the game in the locker room, three false start penalties in a row. Now, one of them might have been a little suspect of whether it was actually a Texans player, but still, and then another penalty after that four pre-snap penalties in a row caused by the U S bank stadium crowd. And this is something that we've gone back and forth a little bit on Dane about the crowd,

the energy, the buy-in to the team, the excitement. And when something like that happens, there's a little bit of a feeling for me. That's like, I thought so. I thought you guys were back here at U.S. Bank Stadium. But that was, in all honesty, a signature moment for this defense and for the belief in the 2024 Vikings. I agree. And it was like kind of the manifestation of all of it kind of coming together at one time where you could feel it building throughout training camp with this team's belief in themselves. Maybe not external belief, but internally, they believe they could be a good football team. And you could feel it building within the fan base over the last two weeks. But then in that moment, and I think it was the second quarter, when the Texans are in field goal range, and they are

driving, maybe even going to score a touchdown, and then back-to-back-to-back ball starts, knocks you out of field goal range. You end up having to punt. It was deafening in here. Like, yeah, I think it was a signature moment, not just for the stadium, but for this version of the Vikings. And you talked about how players were talking about this after the game. Every single player you asked basically said, yeah, that's as loud as I've heard it in a really, really long time. Harrison Smith talked about how it's so loud that it makes it even hard for the defense to communicate sometimes, which he then responded immediately with, we'll take it. We'll live with that. Cam Bynum said it's loudest he's ever heard it in here. Kevin O'Connell couldn't have heaped

more praise on the fan base. And I think sometimes home field advantage across sports can be overstated, can be like a buzzword kind of thing. Well, they're going to win because they have the home field advantage. You felt it today. And it wasn't a narrative. It wasn't something that existed in the abstract. The home field advantage at US Bank Stadium had a direct impact on how the football game played out with those back-to-back-to-back ball starts and then all the kind of juice in the building after that.

So it was a really cool environment. And I think it is like a point where if the Vikings can keep this thing rolling, we'll look back to that moment in week three and say like that might have been the moment where i think everyone really really started to believe there's something as far as buying into this team in terms of how good they really are how really good they can be that really impressed me today is that we forgot ivan pace was out and now i kind of want to see more camo gruge hill in the game i'm okay with that if he wants to come in and play with that much energy, if they're going to rotate them maybe a little bit, I'm good with that. Not that I have any issue with how Ivan Pace has played, but everyone can just stay fresher and stay more healthy. So they're without Ivan Pace, who's been a huge player for them. They're without Dallas Turner, who was playing about 20 to 25 snaps per game and providing some pressure. And it did not matter when, again, when is the last

time that we've seen a defense that lost a player to last year, they lost DJ Wanham. You would have thought they lost Lawrence Taylor the way that they fell off after that they lost a Byron Murphy jr. You would have thought that they had lost Darrell Revis with the way that they fell off after that. And I still think that it would be a concern if they lost anyone from the cornerback position, which once again, what a job by the corners with Nico Collins just essentially being taken out of this game. Stefan Diggs caught a bunch of underneath stuff. I'm not sure if Tank Dell actually played in this football game because we very rarely saw him. And there's an interlockedness between the pass rush and the coverage and the scheme and all those things.

But the corners got to do their job. And all that stuff worked at times last year, but the corners didn't really do their job. And we saw what happened when they were playing against good quarterbacks. Good quarterbacks last year had no trouble against this defense. Good quarterbacks. Two of them have now come in here. Two of them have left looking in here. Two of them have left looking around going, what the heck just happened to me against the Minnesota Vikings?

You're right about Stroud. I've never seen him look that frustrated. And we praise the heck out of Stroud going into this game because we know how good he is. And yet that felt 2017-ish where you could talk about a really good quarterback that doesn't look like they know what they're doing when they come into us bank stadium i think matthew stafford was that way a couple times here when the vikings defense was at its best and you knew how good stafford was but he would look flustered and get sacked and couldn't find places to go with the ball and that's what happens and you mentioned that grenard sack where he's on the tight end that's what happens when they're not able to set their protections correctly or when you're overloading on one side and you get a mismatch because you're showing some sort of blitz and they have to talent to do it. And we are now looking at a defense that has depth that can run out a Jerry

Tillery and get an effective performance from him. He had a tip. How about Harrison Phillips who is playing with his hair on fire through these first couple of games, but it's, it's sort of the same story for like eight different guys, which is if you're asked to do everything, you're probably not going to be that great.

But if you're asked to just do your job, you probably will be that's Harrison Phillips. That's Jerry Tillery, who in Los Angeles was probably asked to be a superstar, but now he's here just doing his job. Grugier Hill today. And it's all coming together. And there's something to it, Dane. There's something to it when you can feel when a defense is coming together and today we really felt that yeah and i think the pieces all coming together probably is best exemplified in that depth that you talked about in this fact that they can lose ivan pace jr who is a really big part of this defense and not feel it and and they can lose dallas turner who is a first round pick for a reason and has

looked really good through his first two games, and not feel it. And I think your point about last year is a good one. It felt like the defense was always one thing away from falling apart. It was a house of cards that we did see crumble in the final month. And this year, I think you're talking about it coming together. We can see that they're going to be able to be dominant when they're fully healthy. They're going to be able to have people step up when they're a little dinged up. And it does seem like it doesn't always have to be the same people. Today, it was Jonathan Grenard. He got three

sacks. He was on fire. Jonathan Grenard entering this game did not have a sack. I know he led the team in pressures, but I think the point is that it doesn't always just have to be, well, in the past, it was, well, if Daniil Hunter is going to have to wreck the game plan for opposing offenses, or it's going to be a tough day for the Vikings. Now it can be Jonathan Grenard one week, and then it can be Andrew Van Ginkle the next week. And I'm sure Stephon Gilmore is going to have a signature moment at some point here in the near future. Cam Bynum making a diving interception today. Kamu Grugier-Hill, shout out Hawaii. He didn't even play. He was a special teams guy. He comes in, picks off the first play of the game, and he's running in coverage, 25, 30 yards downfield upfield up the seam yes everything is coming together for

this defense and i think that that's why there is a lot of excitement about this team right now this was always going to be with kevin o'connell you look at it it's like the offense is going to be good or like that's kind of what since he got to minnesota has defined these teams the offense is still looking like it's going to be good, but now that they have a dominant defense to pair with it, I kind of think the sky's the limit for this team. And even though it's only been three weeks, how much more do we have to see?

They're dominating a team in the Houston Texans who, I think, frankly, could have been a contender in the AFC, probably still can be. And they made them look pretty average today. So it's just very impressive by the defense all around. Well, we'll talk about it at the end, but Lambeau, Green Bay, let's go. You and I will both be there from the press box in Lambeau doing this a week from now, and that is going to be very exciting. They also crushed the Titans today. That's a very good Green Bay team. So that's probably as much juice as that game is going to have for a long time.

If you are just joining the live stream, welcome, everybody. Appreciate a lot of you being here at the moment. I'm assuming everything is looking good, sounding good, using a little bit of a new system here in the U.S. Bank Stadium press box. So let me know. But I haven't seen any comments. So I think we're rolling along here. And the vibes are extremely good in the chat at the moment at 3-0 for this Minnesota Vikings team.

The last time they were 3-0. My first year covering the team, 2016. And I actually remember a similar feeling after they beat the packers here in the opening game of u.s bank stadium in terms of the energy and it's been that way a few times throughout the years but this was a return of something that hasn't truly been there in a long time and it's not just of course that sounds a little bit directed at kurt cousins it's not it's really directed at the entire franchise that could not seem to ever get over the hump, couldn't build that defense that would make opposing teams concerned to come

in here. It was not that long ago in our lives that Mike White was dominating the Minnesota Vikings and nearly beating them on this very field, or Daniel Jones was earning himself the contract of a lifetime. And then you come back just not that long later. And it's a testament to the coaching staff and front office working together to rebuild this defense. And of course the cap space that they had to do it to get to the point where you are now talking about one of the best defenses in the entire NFL, but we have not talked that it's, it was so good that we had to spend 20 minutes on the defense. We have not talked about Sam Darnold who now at three and O is the best story in the entire national football league.

Somebody who was essentially left for dead. And we talked a lot about, you know, those Vegas over unders of six wins, those predictions of putting the Vikings last. I don't think either one of us agreed with it. And we kept going back to like, are we crazy or do we just have more access to the team? Because we got to watch camp and we saw how good a lot of this was working, including the Darnold to Jefferson connection. But today it was a little more sketch at times. And I just implore Kevin O'Connell to use Aaron Jones for what he was made for. You went to the free agent market and you bought his services to run the football when you're up enough points to close out the game. Do not open the door. Do not open the door to a Darnold injury or an interception or anything going wrong as it nearly did. So there were more scares today and close calls with Sam Darnold.

And yet at the end of the day, he walks out of here, maybe a little gimpy from getting hit by Daniil Hunter. And that was quite a scare, even for JJ McCarthy, who tweeted something like thoughts and prayers to Sam Darnold. JJ, leave the overreactions to us, pal. But the fact that he comes out of here with a game that I thought maybe was not his best of the three, with four touchdowns, zero interceptions, some spectacular pocket movement. I thought his first touchdown was really nice, dancing around, finding Jefferson. But the one that he threw to Naylor in the back of the end zone was just one of those arm talent throws that each one of these weeks

we've seen comfort we've seen skill we've seen a leadership of an offense and this to me looks like over the first three games of the season tremendous quarterback play this is not just well you know darnold kind of you know screwed around and got to three-0. This is exceptional quarterback play from Sam Darnold. And to have a game where he did get beat up a little bit and still come out of it with a blowout victory, incredibly impressive from Darnold. We can go in depth about his touchdowns in a second. But I think if we want to talk about moments, the moment of the back-to-back to back ball starts and how that was a signature moment of US Bank Stadium, signature moment of

this season. Another moment existed when Sam Darnold went down and he tried to walk it off and you could hear an audible gasp in the stadium when he went down and stayed down because I think everyone said, oh, crap. Is he hurt? Then he walks off the field. Nick Mullins walks onto the field, and you see Darnold going to the medical tent, reemerge from the medical tent, start doing fake drop backs on the sideline, puts his helmet back in, misses one play, goes back onto the field, and the place went nuts. That was a moment for me. I think Sam Darnold has this fan base eating out of the palm of his hands, as they should right now, because it has been tremendous

quarterback play. But I really try and think about what was going through his head in that moment, because this is a guy who's been tossed away, thrown in the trash by pretty much everyone across the NFL. Um, and, and to have a fan base really kind of wrap their arms around you like they did in that moment, it wasn't out of sympathy. It wasn't out of pity. It's because they, they truly believe that this could be the guy. Um, I thought that was really cool. But that moment only happens if he is playing quarterback at the level of play like you're talking about. You mentioned the throw to Naylor in the end zone. Kevin O'Connell talked about that one after the game where he said that's just, it's the last progression. So he goes through his whole

progression and he notices Naylor cutting on the backside. And then you have to have arm talent to be able to throw that backside route. And you go back and watch the play. He zips it in there to Naylor, Naylor good catch. But that doesn't happen unless you have tremendous arm talent, which he does. But I thought it was interesting to hear Kevin O'Connell talk about that touchdown throw, and then kind of compare it to Sam Darnold's fourth touchdown throw, where the Naylor one, it was him going through his whole progression, finding Naylor on the back end as kind of a last resort, and then having the arm count to do it and fit it in there. With Munt, that's the first read, and I'm going to rifle it in there. And he

did. He saw it open open and he made that throw, which he makes it look so easy that we don't really realize how tough of a play that is. But those two plays and those two touchdown passes and the fact that Kevin O'Connell highlighted them postgame, I think are kind of a microcosm of how he's playing the position right now. Extremely confident.

He knows where to go with the football. There's going to be some hairy moments, I think, no matter what with Sam Darnold. But I credit even there was a couple times today where I think the Sam Darnold of the past might have tried to throw the ball up in the air if he was under duress. I think of that play early in the first half where he's near the end zone, kind of shadow of your own goalpost, third and 19 or something. And he throws it away so fast that they throw a flag because they think it's intentional grounding. And it turns out it wasn't. It was just Sam Darnold being smart with the football. You've seen growth from him in that standpoint too. So it's all just kind of come together in a way that we will see now how

sustainable it is. But through three weeks, I don't see really how this is going to kind of just go completely sideways. He's not doing this by accident. He's showcasing his arm talent and kind of a full understanding of everything he's being told to do. And he's playing really, really well right now. Yeah, I think that any of the issues would probably just be nitpicky. I mean, there's a potential throw to justin jefferson where he decides to throw a go route to josh oliver which would have been amazing if he was open but he really wasn't and uh jefferson was more open underneath kind of just

misread that a little bit i think or maybe yeah i don't know if he got fooled by a defender or something i'll have to go back and look at it but But you went, I don't know about that. That might be a little bit too soon. But everything connecting together also with Kevin O'Connell. And I think about the touchdown. We're talking about all these touchdowns that he threw, but the one where they line up Jefferson in the backfield. And I think we're all thinking, all right, what's going to happen here? Like, what is Kevin O'Connell got from the bag? And Jefferson goes on a little wheel route and everyone is going that way. Everyone is looking at Justin Jefferson. And here comes Aaron Jones from the other side underneath. And I initially in my brain credited and maybe on Twitter, I credited Sam Darnold for being patient and getting what I thought was to

the next read because I was figuring what must be Jefferson first and then over to Jones on the backside. The play may have just been for Jones anyway, that it may have been to draw everybody away for Jefferson. I'd be curious about that. And to bring Jones in over the middle and hit him right in stride touchdown. Also welcome Aaron Jones to US Bank Stadium. Last week was a little bit wonky for him. He got banged up a little bit, but the end zone at least for Aaron Jones and the way that he played today was everything that they went out and got. And I just think about how these signings have all turned out to be everything they could have dreamed of.

Cashman is great. What a day for Jonathan Grenard against his former team, three sacks. And then you talk about Gilmore and how he's changed the whole dynamic of the secondary. And here's Aaron Jones. You need to put the game away. Thank you, sir. 35-yard carry to the end zone. You need a running back who can get screen success which is something

we hadn't seen in two years you need a running back who runs it underneath route catches in stride plows into the end zone this guy is one heck of a player we we didn't have to be sold i mean we saw him throttle the vikings uh game after game after game but as we talk about them being complete as a team a Aaron Jones stepping up, Jefferson dropping a ball at the end was like, oh, really? You're human? But Jefferson had another very good game. We'll see about his hand. They kept showing on the broadcast something with his hand. He's a little banged up there. He was still out there at the end of the game, though, so I assume it's not something serious. once again on the offensive side without key

players and they're still able to put on this type of performance against the defense that its reputation was excellent coming in that they were afraid of this defense coming in so now i don't know of any other way to interpret this dane than that this team has a top-notch offense and defense. And the only question that we're going to come back to is, will it keep happening? And somebody in the comments said, and it's gone by me now, so I'm sorry that you won't get proper credit for this, but said, I'm ready to get hurt again. And I think that's just so perfectly summarized. Dane, are you ready for these folks to be hurt again? I think you only feel that hurt if you've really started to believe. So I don't think that the other shoe is going to drop. But I think if you are kind of fearful, like, oh, no, here we go.

Could this be? That's good because that means that you care. And that means that you believe in this team. and that means that you believe in this team. And I think you should believe in this team. They've literally given you no reason not to. In fact, all they've done is week after week after week now prove it. It was, are they good enough? Was, was, was that win over the giants, just the giants being bad? Actually, no, because they, then they go out and beat the 49ers pretty convincingly. Well, are they going to be able to handle success in a way that there's no hangover

and they come back against a really good Houston team? Are they going to be able to keep pushing it forward? Yes. In fact, they dominated them. So yeah, if you're ready to be hurt again, I get it because that's Minnesota sports. And it always feels like the other shoe is going to drop. But in a vacuum, if here, how about we phrase it like this? If we were aliens and we didn't, we came in from outer space and we knew nothing about the history of Minnesota sports. And we just got to watch three games. And in this weird scenario, we also know about football. We understand what's good. We wouldn't care.

We wouldn't be thinking about like, oh, what about in 2017 when it all came crumbling down? What about in 98 when Gary Anderson missed the field goal? What about the Blair? Like, we wouldn't be thinking about all that. We would just be thinking about, wow, for three weeks, this team has looked like one of the best in football. Like, I'm okay to just live in that reality for a little bit. I get it. It's Minnesota sports. You're going to always feel like something else is coming around the corner. But all they've done so far is prove it week after week after week.

And I think that's worth kind of leaning into. So you're saying aliens know ball. Yeah. That's what you're saying. Okay. If aliens knew ball, they would really respect this team. But to your point, i think i'm going to keep going back to where we started with the attitude toward this team which was let's just see what happens and i remember saying that over and over again because it was a lot of for bad and will you will we trade uh you know this guy or that guy at the deadline let's just see what happens because somebody tried you know called this kind of a mulligan year, I didn't really like that because the real consequences to wins and losses,

no matter who you are and no matter how much the future is something we're talking about. But I think at this moment, you can take any discussions about the future and just slide them farther into the future and just slide them farther into the future because even if the Vikings were to be a 500 team the rest of the way at this point that would put you at 10 and 7 to even be a dead average team and have some things work and some things not and the schedule now does not have the Texans and 49ers on it, obviously, because they beat them.

But that is such a big deal. That's two of the hardest teams, two of the best quarterbacks, two of the best offenses. The whole talk of the town is how the Shanahans and the Slowiks are still able to have these great offenses while a lot of the league's struggling. And they just made those two teams struggle. I guess Mel Kuyper is going to go on TV and ask for Brian Flores to be banned after this. He wants offense back. He wants C.J. Stroud back.

But Flores just made him look ridiculous. And I don't know for sure exactly where this is going to go because we never really do. And quarterback health is a huge deal. Certainly when Sam Darnold got up and then went back down, I went, Oh, because we know it's Nick Mullins is your backup quarterback and you're not going to win a whole heck of a lot of games with Nick Mullins getting a chance to start. So there's always the injury thing. Darnold has been banged up at times in his past, but put that aside and go, where is the weakness of this team? i think we know it at least the interior guard who somehow gave up a quarterback pressure on a run play at the end of the game

that experiment can end after week four but aside from that everything else it's hard to go through and find a strength and you know who notices is the guys in the locker room because they can't stop talking about it we got this guy we. We got this guy. We got everybody contributing. The fact that Jalen Naylor, you can't be said enough how he has stepped in for Jordan Addison and played like a star wide receiver. The fact that last week it's Ty Chandler, but this week it's Aaron Jones. It doesn't have to be Jefferson, Jefferson, Jefferson, every single game. And with Darnold, you can say, oh yeah, back in 2021, he won three games in a row. Let's go compare that team to this team. It is nothing like this. They had kind of an amateur hour offensive coordinator. They didn't

have great receivers and it was a bit of a random start to the season. It was not Kevin O'Connell, Jefferson, and a chance to get even better with TJ Hawkinson and Jordan Addison. So I'm going to stick with that. Let's just see what happens. But if I had to guess right now, I don't see areas where it's been lucky. When you beat a good team 34 to seven, that was final score. I usually have not been able to twiddle my thumbs through the fourth quarter and look around the stadium and see what fans are doing because it's been one score games over and over. But the last three weeks, you don't. We talked about this with the point differential thing in 2022.

You just good teams blow people out. And that's exactly what they've done through the first three weeks. So until that changes, I don't see why we shouldn't already start talking about this team as a legitimate NFC contender. And let me just make this one other point and we'll go through the positions and we'll talk about next week. I'm looking at the Cowboys on my screen right now. The Cowboys are getting beaten by the Ravens. The Lions are still a good team and they're ahead on Arizona. LA is down. They're going to play L.A. in a couple of weeks here. Is there someone else in the NFC who you're going, oh, man, well, you think you're good?

Philly barely got by New Orleans. And, hey, the Clint Kubiak thing, great week last week, not so great today against the Philadelphia Eagles. Is there another team right now better than the Minnesota Vikings through three weeks? I say no in the entire NFC. No. And no, the answer is no. And we could do mental gymnastics to find a team. Well, like if we project them out down the road, like, no, if we're just talking about what we've seen so far, no, there's not been any team in the NFC that has been more impressive than what, who the Vikings, you know, what they've done through three weeks. The only team that you would even argue they just beat last week, because like, I think the class of the NFC is the 49ers. Well, the Vikings beat them last week, and it probably should have been even more of a convincing win than it was. A couple turnovers that we obviously have already discussed and unpacked um no it this team has been extremely impressive and if you want to lean in and say like i think

they could be a contender in the conference like i think so too because all they've done is show it so far and i agree let's see what happens but like we're also allowed to kind of look at what's going on in present moment and and kind of project out from there and and right now all the vikings have shown um is that they're one of the best teams in the nfl and the uh the panthers hey sometimes it is the quarterback sometimes it is sometimes guys are open and you need to throw it to them the panthers are winning at the moment uh but i think that's the right approach for right now it's basically until proven otherwise and hey seattle's up but the miami doesn't have their quarterback seattle's good though i i think that they're a good team as well but when you go through there's a lot of flaws in these teams i I don't buy into Philadelphia's coach. Certainly wondering what's going on with the Dallas Cowboys

after their blowout win in week one. San Francisco now has every good player injured, and that's going to matter if those guys continue to get beat up with McCaffrey and Kittle and Samuel, who have played so many football games that it might just collapse at some point. And with Detroit, they are still the cream of the crop as well. They have a loss on their resume, so you have to put the Vikings ahead of them. But they're still excellent. They're beating Arizona right now. And Green Bay. Green Bay deserves very much respect for winning with

Malik Willis these last couple of weeks. But the Vikings sitting at 3-0 deserve to be talked about as the best team in the NFC through a tiny portion of the season with a lot longer to go, which we will spend all week talking about leading up to Vikings and Packers. But let's get into, we've gone through every position the last couple of weeks, given our grade, kind of quick recap of what happened with each position. Last week, forgot to do coaching, which we need to also throw coaching in there. I was reminded of that by a listener. So let's just begin with you and the quarterback position. How would you like to grade Sam Darnold's day?

I feel like I was kind of a tough grader on Sam Darnold last week. So maybe this is me over-correcting this week. Look, I know it wasn't the most impressive, eye-popping stats day for Sam Darnold, but I'm going to give him an A because in moments that you needed Sam Darnold to execute effectively, he did that. There is a man that used to play quarterback here that would have got the ball after Kamu Grugier-Hill intercepts it on the first play of the game. And you probably just settle for a field goal, especially if you look back at that play where the pocket is collapsing around Sam Darnold and he reverse pivots out and he buys time. I think the man

who used to play quarterback here probably just crumbles into the ground there, eats the sack, kicks a field goal. I'm giving Sam Darnold an A because in the moments you have to have it, you got touchdowns. You have to have a touchdown there on the first drive of the game. And he got you one. He got you one. He rolled out and he made that play happen. When you have to have a touchdown coming out of the halftime, where it's 14-0, you're feeling good about yourself, but man, you'd be feeling a lot better if you could go up 21-0. Sam Darnold methodically marches the Vikings down the field and finishes it with a touchdown there.

And then he puts the game away with the touchdown pass to Johnny Month as well. Four touchdown passes ties the career high for him. It's an A for Sam Darnold. He was very, very good today. Not eye-popping stats wise, but everything you want in a quarterback. Well, I think that anytime Sam Darnold walks out of a game with zero turnovers, that deserves to get him at least, you know how like with the SAT, if you write your name, then you get like 10 points or something. Well, on this, he deserves to be at least you know how like with the sat if you write your name then you get like 10 points or something well on this he deserves to be at least at a b but here's what i wanted to say about sam darnold this off season we talked about so much with him well he just has to play point

guard actually they talked about that with him and it was him it was o'connell and it was almost like o'connell saying don't you get crazy? Because once you get crazy and once you try to put it all on your back, you're going to do something terrible and it's going to ruin everything. And that has actually been the case for Sam Darnold in the past. Sam Darnold has never played from ahead. Sam Darnold has never played with this defense. Sam Darnold has never played with Justin Jefferson before. And I have not seen a point guard. I've seen a star and now it's three weeks in. And that doesn't mean that he's going to be a star for the every single game for the rest of

the season. There will be one where we go, well, that wasn't his day because he threw three picks or something, but for him to not be turning the ball over and him to make star caliber plays, well, that's where you get star quarterbacks who don't turn the ball over but yet make high-level plays. And when you're scrambling out and you're throwing the ball or you're rifling it into a tight window for a touchdown or you're sticking with your read and going one, two, three, four and throwing, that's high-level stuff. That's not just, hey, play point guard. When I think play point guard, I think check down, don't get sacked, hand off, play conservative. And I wanted Kevin O'Connell to play safer toward the end of the game. But in a way, once again, he saw an opportunity to trust his quarterback and he did.

So I think that you're great. The only thing I might say is maybe a minus just because of the sacks. I mean, it's not great to take sacks there and there was opportunities to put a dagger in the texans earlier than they did and they weren't able to do it i might go a minus but he's immediately getting a high grade to me as long as he doesn't turn it over i will give you the running backs i mean i don't know how to not give it an a because aaron jones just put a knife in that game. I mean, it was over, but then it was really over and he caught the ball. He passed protected. He ran hard and effectively enough to make them worry about it. Every time that Sam Darnold dropped back,

they built stuff off of play action. He caught a touchdown. Ty Chandler came in, had a few decent runs. It was not mind blowing, but this is the run game. Now again, three weeks in a row, the run game is effective. It is scary for opponents. And I guess I'll just go with an A here because your running back goes over a hundred yards at a blowout win. I have no further critiques of Mr. Aaron Jones. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I think we're going to give a lot of A's, A minuses, because when you destroy a team 34 to 7 that is supposed to

contend in the AFC, you deserve a lot of A's. It's really just a way to talk about every position, how they play. I don't know if you picked up on that. I know. I know. But I mean, we're going to keep moving forward, and I think it's going to be A for this, A for that. And the whole game was in A. So I'm good with Aaron Jones getting an A.

Maybe an A-plus if he stretches that ball and doesn't get caught from behind, gets a touchdown. Kind of felt bad for him because he deserved the touchdown there. They tried to, at the end, give it to him. Then he gets stuffed for a loss, and then Sam Darnold throws his fourth touchdown of the day. But Aaron Jones has been everything you wanted him to be. And then some.

Fantasy owners had to be infuriated with that. Receivers. Receivers. See, I have to go. Maybe I'll go A- because Justin Jefferson had a couple of drops that were uncharacteristic. And he said, I'm going to bes machine jugs machine so much this week because of that um and you laugh but then it also might be true like justin is very very very competitive and i think those drops will bother him um but he had his way with the with the the

defense early on um and i think i'm gonna to go a minus just because like the continued emergence of Jalen Naylor cannot be overstated already without TJ Hawkinson heading into this season. When Jordan Addison goes down in week one, I'm thinking like teams are going to triple team, Justin Jefferson, and the Vikings offense is going to cease to exist at times. And it hasn't actually, there was a time where was a time right after halftime where Justin Jefferson wasn't even the focal point of the offense. Jalen Naylor was. Two catches on one drive, and then he finishes it with a touchdown.

He also was the jet sweep guy on an important fourth down conversion. He's not just a fast guy that they want to get the ball. He's a featured part fast guy that they want to get the ball. He's a featured part of this offense now. And this offense now is going to get back to Ornadoson at some point. It's going to get back TJ Hawkinson at some point. But the receivers right now, the game they played today, I think it's worthy of an A. I have no disagreement with that. I mean, sometimes when a player has a great training camp you get to the season and you go okay i just spent all summer telling all these fans that this guy was great in camp let's see how

it actually goes when we get to the real games and jaylen nailer was the ultimate let's see how it goes guy especially when he had the ankle tweak going into new york and i think everybody had the same thought maybe even him like oh man again with an injury for Jalen Naylor, but he has played like a true wide receiver too through these games. He's caught touchdowns. He ran the ball, which shows a lot of trust in him and his quickness last week with the clutch catch that was behind him this week, the kind of semi contested catch in the end zone. He's played so well. And I also think Brandon Powell does little things. Brandon Powell kind of reaching out

for a grab there. Also, Brandon Powell, and this is why you might have to give Sam Darnold an A minus. I'm not sure what happened on that fumble. If his arm got hit, maybe people at home saw it better than we did if his arm got hit. But the backwards f fumble pass that can easily turn into an eight to ten yard loss and brandon powell just has great ball skills and he's just like oh dude i'm just gonna feel this like a little short stop and then run for eight yards positive which was probably about 20 yards uh to get because it was so far behind the line of scrimmage he weaved his way through almost like a punt return and it's a small play but the small plays add up another great brandon powell play they were about to grab the ball as it was coming down on a punt and he drilled the guy which i didn't even know you could really

do but apparently he can uh the only negative probably is uh the touchdown that was pulled back but that was actually aaron jones i think. But the pick play, maybe we should have given him a demerit for that. But at that point, it didn't really matter. Now on the offensive line side, yeah, I have to plug in the laptop because I forgot to do that. So I want you to talk about the offensive line side and how you would grade them because I just have to walk over there, so I'll hear you, but I'm interested in what you thought of the offensive line play today. See, the offensive line is hard for me to always grade in real time because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt at times to go back and watch the film. Whose fault was it really?

Some of the sacks, I think, were maybe on Sam Darnold, not getting the ball out quicker. You mentioned Ed Ingram at right guard. That's always going to feel like an issue, I think. But I find it hard to give them anything lower than a B, B+, because I think throughout the game, they still were at times imposing their will on the Texans so it's hard for me to give an A for this group because there were times I think that they could have put the game away but like I like I said it's really kind of hard for me to to grade offensive line when like we like that's that's one where I feel like you have to go back and watch, but it did feel like in moments of this game, they were taking it to the Texans.

They were physical with that play style that Kevin O'Connell talks about. So like, to me, they're sitting at a B. I only dropped them down from an A because there were sack problems and there were at times where it felt like, but then I guess part of that is on the Houston Texans too and that's a really talented defense with a pass rush but yeah I'll say B just because there were hairy moments there it wasn't just a total butt kicking in the trenches like I said part of that is because the Texans are talented but we got to be fair with our grades

here so I'll go B yeah I would also say probably in that B, maybe I would have said C plus because it did feel like, I mean, when you give up four sacks and they weren't really imposing their will in the run game until later in the game where Aaron Jones took over and got a lot of his yards, but it wasn't like they could just keep running and running and running and the texans were getting blasted they do have a really good defensive line but they hit sam darnold he had to leave the game at one point i can't give huge awesome grades the other thing too that would be a bit of a concern is that o'neill was down at one point and then derisaw was out of the game at one point and well they have david questenberry and i think he's a very good veteran tackle the vikings cheat code to this entire thing is those tackles because this could

be ugly on a week-to-week basis for who they've played so far and my gosh let's think about who they've played so far they've had to face brian burns nick bosa and then today daniel hunter and his pal will anderson who might be a top 10 player himself or even better than that. So the way that they've held up, and we do have to grade on a curve of how good the other team is. The other team is extremely good, but the right guard is still a problem. Garrett Bradbury's a little banged up and you go, oh gosh, they got to go to Lambeau, then to London before they could get to the bye week. And guys are playing through some things on the offensive line. So that is something to keep an

eye on, but good enough, good, good enough for today against a really, really good team. Defensive line. Hey, I have nothing else to say. It's as obvious as it gets a plus. Actually, I didn't know if we were doing pluses, really, but A plus plus for the defensive line. Could not have been better. I mean, Harrison Phillips is making plays. Van Ginkle just threw a tight end at one point. Grenard has three sacks. Everybody's contributing to this defensive line. This is the best group that we've seen in a very, very long time from this team. I don't think there's any debate there. They were the heroes of this game overall because Houston could not do anything with all the pressure

that they were able to create. And I'll include the linebackers in that. Grugier-Hill stepping in for pace. A-plus. Everybody played great, I thought, on the defensive line. And if they hadn't, it'd be a very different game. But we give a lot of the credit deserved to Brian Flores for flustering C.J. Stroud. But if the guys don't get there, it doesn't matter.

And we saw that last year from someone like Goff or Herber. The guys didn't get there and the blitzes didn't matter. They made the blitzes matter from that entire front seven. So secondary thoughts. I'll give them an A minus, I guess. No, I'll give them an A too. This defense made life hell for CJ Stroud throughout the game. And while a lot of that was pressure based up front, pre-snap, post-snap looks and how they can differ, I think the secondary deserves part of that credit too. Because when you have a guy like josh

metellus who plays safety but can sometimes check into being the nose tackle like yeah like he's technically a part of the secondary but he's also part of the the front at times like they're just so interchangeable um and i think that is another like the scheme is going to get a lot of credit as it should um but you have to like you said about the players matter, like you have to have smart players to be able to run this scheme. And two of the smartest players, three of the smartest players, maybe four of the smartest players on the defense exist in that secondary with Josh Metellus, Harrison Smith, obviously, Cam Bynum, extremely high football IQ. And then Stephon Gilmore, he's been doing this forever. Stephon Gilmore followed Nico Collins for a lot of the game, pretty much took him away. Nico Collins is a guy I think was on his way and probably still is on his way. This Texans team is

going to do a lot of good to a lot of teams moving forward. Nico Collins is probably going to be in the conversation of top 10, top five receiver, I think, by the end of the year with the tools he has taken away because of Stephon Gilmore. The secondary gets an A, too, because they were just – I mean, it's all part of a bigger function on defense. Like we led off the show with, they had C.J. Stroud pouting and hanging in his head in a way I've never seen C.J. Stroud do it. I think Harrison Smith probably put it best after the game.

He said, C.J.'s a really good player and he's going to be just fine. We were happy to get one today. They got one today because they were dominant across the board. But secondary, hats off. Very, very good day for them. I mean, Brian Flores, as far as coaching goes, obviously A+. Oh my gosh. I just got a notification that skylar thompson got her

for miami like do they even have anybody left tim boyle is now their quarterback sorry that was uh they're in tough but uh kevin o'connell i mean b plus the the only critique i'm just going to keep going back to this there's a little meme with a guy in the stands for the Indianapolis Colts that just says, run the damn ball. And there's a couple of times where coaches have been so clearly saying, run the ball, like angrily, that I have adopted this as well. When you are up by three touchdowns, do not pass the football. Not with this defense, not really with any defense.

No offense in the NFL is just going to over the final quarter of the game, March the entire length of the field against this defense in this house and score three touchdowns, kill the clock, run it out. Don't throw and don't do trick plays, which they tried another one today. And it resulted in a Johnny Munt pass interference, but it was kind of close of Justin Jefferson pitching the ball. I don't know if we're ever going to podcast him out of wanting to do trick plays. If he was going to throw the ball with Ty Chandler last week in a big situation, run the ball, just run the ball. The game plan is phenomenal. People are open. But there were

also times, Dane, where he took sacks where I went, who was the underneath option? No one. So I cannot give it an A when I thought that probably three of the sacks were just on not having an underneath option. And there were some get cute type of things and not just running the clock down and trusting your defense. And then, you know, Darnold throws an incompletion, stops the clock three and out. The defense has to run right back out there. Come on, man. Like help them out. Help them help you and believe that you can lean on your running backs who can get first downs. They get three chances at it. I mean, three chances for

Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler to get a first down. I like your odds late in the game. That's my only critique. It's about the most negative thing I've said all year because of the way that they've played in the first three games. But I'd like to see them just, yeah, I mean, I agree with Ben in the comments saying that it just too cute is a definition sometimes with o'connell and if that's the biggest critique that we've got in three phenomenal wins then he is in the coach of the year conversation right away that's my only reason that i wouldn't give that an a and uh if you disagree with either one of those uh then we talk about it but special teams great day for special teams will re day for special teams.

Will Reichert, everybody, we told you he can kick the bleep out of the ball, and he did. He did. 58-yard kick today. I was waiting for the moment where we would get to see Will Reichert actually be tested. Because his last week, it was a couple of 20-yard field goals. I think there was one in the 30-yard range. Today, he made a 35-yarder to kind of help end the game. It was already over, but that one effectively put the game away,

made it a three score game. But then we got late in the game, him getting to trot on the field, try from 58, kissed it in off the upright. Beautiful. No, I got no,

no, no, no remarks, but good for, for Will Reichardt. I think when you make a 58-yard field goal, the special teams unit could just probably get an A automatically. I thought Ryan Wright punted the ball pretty well today.

There was a couple of times, I think, throughout the preseason where you were like, are they going to have to make a change? He's pretty much stepped up to the plate. I know he had a shank. I think it was in week one. But overall, pretty consistent punting the ball. And I thought kick coverage was pretty good today. Nothing glaring.

Nothing really stood out on special teams, which is probably a good thing more often than not. We tend to look at special teams and obviously there's the splash plays. But then we look at sometimes and say, oh, that was a pivotal moment in the game. I can't think of any from this game. The only moment I think of is Will Riker paying at home a 58-yard field goal. So, A for me there, too. Just to Sean about the three scores in the fourth quarter, when you have the running backs that they have and the run offensive line that they've put together, you're still going to get first downs by running the ball. That's my point is that you don't have to press when you have these running backs. end where it goes back to Delvin Cook at his best. If that team was up with Delvin Cook at his best game over because he was going to be able to churn forward and get first downs. Now you have two guys

who can do it. So that's, that's kind of my, my main point is not just kneel down, but you have players that you should trust out of your backfield that can succeed. Uh, the 54 yard punt by Ryan Wright was quietly great for them because they were backed up, and he deserves credit for that because everyone deserves credit in a win like this. Mike Zimmer is also getting walloped again today. And I don't know. We're going to have a conversation probably at some point during the week about whether Zimmer might be washed because his defenses have been so bad the last two weeks. Put that aside. Lambeau, Vikings, Packers, two of the best teams in the entire NFL, two of the best coach teams in the NFL, two of the most talented. Jordan Love is going to come back, which means that this is one hell of a test. Great hype. I just booked my hotel

today down there for Lambeau Field, and it's a little bit more expensive than it would be if the Vikings weren't 3-0, I think. But truly, one of the most exciting games to build up to that we have had a long time and i thought the same thing for this week but now it ramps up even more because the vikings are going to be in the center of the national conversation from being three and l green bay of course belongs there too surviving playing with malik willis over the more than surviving actually winning really effectively over the last couple of weeks. I mean, this is as good as it gets. You could not have thought up any scenario, I don't think. I don't think there's a single person who said, oh yeah, they'll just be 3-0 and go into Lambeau

with a chance to go 4-0 and put themselves in the driver's seat for not only the division, but the entire NFC. I think that would have been, I would have said, okay, all right, let's not go crazy. Go crazy. I think, I mean, this is like, get on the hype train here for this football game because this is as good as it gets. Yeah. Normally I like to like enjoy every day and like take the most out of each day. But if I could just sim to next Sunday, like skip all you know the next six days i would because i'm really really excited for that game and i think it's going to be like like every week

has been a test for this vikings team like can you do it again can you do it again can you do it again this will be a special type of test because i i think green bay like very very good team already in a vacuum been even more impressed with what they've been able to do over the last two weeks with Malik Willis. Matt LaFleur, incredible coach, but so is Kevin O'Connor. So is Brian Flores. And the matchup just, it's not often in this rivalry that two teams are playing at this high of a level going into the rivalry. I feel like sometimes it's the Packers are down or the Vikings are down. Like right now, I think they're both playing, assuming Jordan

loves back. And I think he's going to be as good as they possibly could be playing. And I can't wait to see it. A lot of implications, obviously coming out of that game. But when we just get to lock in next Sunday at Lambeau Field and watch, I think we're going to learn a lot about both teams. And I cannot wait to just experience it, see it. Every week seems to take on a greater tenor, and rightfully so with what this team's doing. Well, I've spent a lot of time in this here box here, which is actually one of the coaches' boxes. It's away from the press box. So we're not just screaming while other people are doing their work. And I just, for whatever reason, popped into my head the time they lost the Cooper rush. And I just thought about how far away we are from that now, how far separated, how much longer it feels this way, because I've covered seasons where it's felt this way the whole time, where every week we're coming in and going, oh, my gosh, this guy played well, that guy played well. And then other times where it felt like they couldn't get out of their own way.

And we will see where it goes. But I'm leaning heavily toward this is going to be a lot more in this press box of talking about great games that they have this season and competitive games down the stretch. And I don't think it's random. I don't think it's been bizarre. It's actually been the most normal football games. I think the Vikings have played in a really long time and it's been straight up outplaying your opponents. And that's what gives me more confidence in this team than any probably since 2019, where they were blowing out a lot of teams but they didn't show up for some of the bigger games and these are big games that they have more than shown up and in fact destroyed their opponents here in this building but they'll have to do it on the road

for next week let me finish with a um a question that you might not love to answer what do you think their final record's going to be? Why not? Why would we not ask that? Comment section. Final record for the Vikings. I've already seen 17-0, and Marcus says Manny's going to pick them for 14-3.

Manny jumped after one week up to 11-6, and you know what? He's not crazy. Or after two weeks, after last week, 11-6. Now Manny doesn't look crazy at all. I thought, okay, Manny, why don't you just take a deep breath? No, no, no. But what do you think? 11-6 was my gut when you said, what do you think the record's going to be?

I had him at 9-8 heading into this season when we did the very scientific pick the schedule on your porch 11 and 6 is kind of where i'm at but i'm almost wanting to go to 12 and 5 because i think that these wins early can't be overstated like you beat the 49ers you beat the houston texans you don't have to give those wins back like you're 3 and 0 right now and like i i just think each time you can not to win like i get it like if they were to go 12 and 5 they would need to go nine you know they'd need to win nine games the rest of the way that's how math works but like i i want to go i won't go to 12 and 5 yet until next week that's cheating but if they win next week i'll i'll be at 12 and 5 but i i think there's going to be some

hard times still there's gonna be some adversity that hits i'm curious to see how they respond to it i do think that the way they've kind of come out and just kind of like they're definitely taking like an us against the world mentality kevin o'connell loves to talk about how nobody really believed in us and and i think that's probably a good reality to live in. Create whatever you need to give your team that edge. I remember Tom Brady used to do this. They were a dynastic football team with the Patriots, and he would be talking about how they're the underdogs.

You have to invent reality sometimes. And this was a team a lot of people didn't believe in. But I think right now people are starting to. I'll go 11 and 6, but with the caveat of I will be jumping to 12 and 5 if they beat the Packers next week. Okay. 11 seems reasonable because I think we had them at 9 and 8, but probably losing two of the first three games. I think I had them split. I thought, well, two games at US Bank Stadium, they can get one of those. One of the quarterbacks won't play well. And actually,

it turned out that both of the quarterbacks did not play well uh we're getting a little bit of 17 and 0 and a little bit of pump the brakes so i guess you guys are on both sides of this uh as far as pump the brakes go i don't think you can overstate how impressive these wins are and as you try to project forward if they had been three pointpoint victories, we would be going, all right, well, next week they won't recover a fumble and this won't happen. But when you win in this sort of fashion, I think we can up the bar. But I don't think we're quite upping it to 1998 Vikings just yet. We're going to have to see what happens at Lambeau Field. But this will be a really fun week on the show, on the channel.

Thank you, everybody. Huge crowd here. Really appreciate everybody watching. But Carmen Vitale from Fox Sports is going to come on the show, on the channel. Thank you, everybody. Huge crowd here. Really appreciate everybody watching. But Carmen Vitale from Fox Sports is going to come on the show. We'll have the usual run of guests, Monday morning Murph. Jeremiah Searles, though, out for this one.

He is on a hunting trip, so he gets to miss out on talking about this game. But we'll have a Searles replacement. And lots of guests, lots of fun. Live show on Wednesday night. I'm going to do the live show then go to the links playoff game right after so that'll be a great day for me lots coming hey look if you're saying pump the brakes i totally get you but also at the same time this this doesn't

come along every year where you have a team that just surprises you as much as this does and comes together as a group and has the chemistry that they do and is well coached as they are and has a guy playing a quarterback as good as sam darnold so as always let's just see what happens but if you're going to work saying hey pump the brakes after this game i don't know man i think this is one to be pretty excited about. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. And we will catch you all next time. What a fun time doing football. When you say Daniel, I say football foot.