Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings blew chances against the Rams and Justin Jefferson shows frustration

Episode Date: December 27, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom break down the Minnesota Vikings' 30-23 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. After the game, Justin Jefferson was unhappy. Are they turning him into one of the many Minnesota athletes who has been talented but not surrounded with enough to get over the hump? What's behind another December of struggles for Kirk Cousins and how much should we be putting on coaches? Sean Mannion tests positive for COVID, leaving us to wonder if the same fate awaits Cousins before a key game in Green Bay. Plus Matthew Stafford tried to gift the Vikings the game but they didn't seem to want it. And what do we make of a completely quiet US Bank Stadium? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the I can't believe Matt Stafford threw three interceptions and the Minnesota Vikings still found a way to lose Purple Insider Podcast. Or wait, maybe I should believe that because that's been this season. It really was the season in a nutshell here at U.S. Bank Stadium. Matthew Collar, Sam Ekstrom, as always, for our post-game podcast. And it was all the opportunity in the world to just open up the door, walk through, and keep your playoff chances alive, and the Vikings refused to open up that door. And it's always something different, Sam. And I think that that is what really defines this season,

is the same thing happens in different ways. Today, it's a punt return for touchdown, the league's second one all year long. But of course, it happens here in a key spot where the Vikings would have had a chance maybe to get a stop and then I think take a lead at the time if they had gotten another stop. But instead, the second punt return of the entire season happens here against the Vikings. Usually, they've been really good in the red zone. All of a sudden today, they're not good in the red zone. And then after the game, Justin Jefferson says, essentially paraphrasing, maybe we shouldn't hand off to Alexander Madison two times in a row to start a red zone possession when you have, oh, I don't know me. Uh, he didn't say that exactly,

but he said, we need to be a little more aggressive once we get down there, which I think we all know what he meant. But I think what this really tells us, Sam, is that even when another team does everything it can to let the Vikings stay around in this playoff race, whether it's Dak Prescott going out or whatever number of things that have happened throughout this year, the Lions existing, that they just are not getting there. And I don't know what's going to happen next week,

but their playoff odds as we record this are 10%. That feels about right. It feels like this team is not destined or deserving to be in the playoffs. And the only way they could get there would to be to have a bunch of crazy stuff happen from here on out. And it doesn't seem all that likely that it's going to happen so i guess that's where i walk away from this is like yeah you definitely should win any game in 2021 where the opposing quarterback throws three picks but this team doesn't they don't win the games they're supposed to win they don't win the games where the other team gives them lots of opportunity. Even going back to Cleveland, this kind of felt like the Cleveland game where the coaching wasn't very good from the Rams, all sorts of chances, and yet they don't get there. The sign of mediocrity, I think. Wouldn't you say, Sam? Yeah, I think what's disappointing is that several times this season, you have shut down in

many ways an opposing offense, and you have been beaten by an opposing defense. And what is allegedly the strength of this team, its offense, has gone into its shell too many times. And games where, you know, statistically, like you go plus two in the take-give, I think they're two and four in those games. You're doing things that would ordinarily lead to wins based on what you're doing defensively, but the other teams are out-defensing you and just neutralizing your best weapons.

Cleveland game you mentioned. The first and second Lions games, in large part your offense was shut down. The Cowboys game, your offense was taken away. And in this game, too, you know, the final numbers are going to look good. This was a very stereotypical Kirk Cousins game where over 100 yards of production on those final two drives down by double digits. The Vikings end up losing by seven, but it didn't seem that close at the end.

They didn't even have a chance to tie it at the end. The onside kick was not recovered. Missed opportunities right and left. And it personified the season, I think. Unable to get over 500. How many times have we seen that, caller? I've got the number for you. The last six times this team has had the chance to go over 500,

that includes being zero and zero, they fail the chance to go over 500. That includes being zero and zero. They fail. They cannot get over 500. They run into another team that has a good front seven, a good defensive line, and Kirk Cousins looks a little skittish. He looks indecisive. He's inaccurate. He's opting to take short scrambles on rollouts where he should be you know attempting shot plays he's inaccurate on third down he takes a sack in the red zone people were getting on me for for criticizing Kirk and and maybe relative to Stafford okay Kirk was the better quarterback on the day big whoop but this is a game where you needed more uh from your quarterback and the bar was not that difficult to clear today um and the vikings still couldn't get it done crazy things happen punt return um and you lose by seven against a team that that probably had no business winning

by seven and even though the vikings defense caused interceptions mean, one of them is Stafford just throwing it right into the hands of Anthony Barr. The other one is a tipped ball. The other one is a bomb. So those aren't things that your defense did spectacularly. Like those are gifts from Stafford claws. Like that's what you got right there. And the rest of the defense was not good though. There were receivers open. They got trucked in the running game by Sony. Michelle plays for the Rams, apparently. Like, you know, this is a guy that they traded for midseason because they had no running game. And he's out there looking like Terrell Davis against the Vikings.

And that's been the story. Like everything that happened here has happened repeatedly with this team including opposing teams whenever they need a big drive they're able to get it and whenever they want to run the football they can in fact i've wondered if opposing teams this year played against the vikings like that one new england game where it was in the wind and the in the snow where they just ran it 45 times if the vikings would have no wins because they cannot stop when other teams run the ball and so often like today we will see them just abandon the run and throw

three straight times and and have their quarterback not play well and I didn't see anything that the Vikings were doing they weren't really pressuring Stafford or it didn't even seem like he was confused it seemed like he's just inaccurate there were guys wide open that he missed he made terrible decisions fade passes into the goal line they rolled out everything they possibly could for the Vikings and said hey just here it is here are the keys to making the playoffs open the door walk on through and you can get there and they said nope and they dropped the keys in the snow but that is who they have been and also that's who this quarterback has been at some point you have to say look how many decembers has it been since you get down the stretch and you just need to beat whatever team it is and then you're in

the playoffs and this quarterback does not show up and does not get it done. And when Adam Thielen went out, especially, it seemed like things changed with Kirk Cousins. The skittishness was absolutely there. The accuracy wasn't really there. The timing wasn't really there for Kirk Cousins today. And the offense is really the only thing you can blame. I mean, when your defense causes three turnovers like that, you can't look anywhere else other than to say your offense didn't get it done. And the thing that it just starts to grate on you after a while. And I don't even disagree with it is when people are like, ah, coaching it's, it's gotta be the coaching. And you know, I don't disagree. I watch though every football game that is on the television that I am physically capable of watching.

Every single NFL game. This is like everything I do. My personality is person who sits and watches football. And I see bad play calls. I see bad field goal decisions. I see all sorts of things from almost every team in the league that are just like this. And some teams still win. For God's sake, some teams still find a way from a bad play

call to win a freaking game that they need to win when the other team doesn't play well enough and year after year after year this quarterback does not win you those games point blank end of story how many years in this guy's career has he come up short to not get his team in the playoffs whether it was Washington or here I mean what more do you need at this point it's either something with him which is the streakiness and we've seen that it's something with his teams they're talking about lack of energy well where does that come back to leadership quarterback look everything is the damn quarterback in the NFL and if you think this is working I don't know what to tell you Eric Eager tweeted out that they have once again now gone under preseason

expectations for Vegas again like how many times do you need to go under from what you were supposed to achieve to say this thing does not work and you might still somehow by the act of God make the playoffs. But at this point, it looks very, very unlikely. And I don't know how anyone at this point could want to carry on. And that actually leads into my next point, Sam, which is this building as we sit here right now, hours after the game, not that much different in sound than it was all day. You and I have covered many football games next to each other. Quiet you've ever been in an nfl stadium where we're actually allowed to you know like uh somewhere behind glass like in green bay but where you actually have access to the stadium there have been times that we've covered games in this building where you and i are right next

to each other cannot hear what the other person is saying. Today, we could have had a coffee and read a book and played a nice game of chess and had a quiet conversation on every third down. This fan base knows everybody's got it. All right. They showed up today. They were here. There were human beings, but they know exactly how much this team has disappointed them and you could just feel it and even mike zimmer anthony bar justin jefferson they all alluded to it no energy in the building for a game with the playoffs on the line i think everybody has just gotten to this place where they're exhausted of this and then guess what they saw the most recent vikings game ever right in front of them.

So, I mean, there's even if you feel like even if there's playoffs on the line against Chicago, like are people really going to be here and be riled up for that? Or is it going to be like today where I have definitely heard louder Starbucks is. Yeah. I think I was interested to hear that after the game people noted that because I'm I'm of the opinion that noise is just a recency bias thing like you you always think that like the loudest noise you've ever heard is the one you just heard um and I didn't really know how to judge that pre-game it did seem quiet throughout the first quarter second quarter but I thought well you know maybe maybe slow starts, it's always like this. But then to hear Mike Zimmer, I don't know if Zimmer mentioned it,

Anthony Barr certainly mentioned it. He said the crowd had a Christmas hangover, and Justin Jefferson talked about the team not having energy. I thought that was noteworthy because by the metric tickets sold, it was a sellout, 66,000 people here. But look at what this team does to suck any potential energy out of the game. Three and out, first drive. Dropped interception, second drive, followed by getting carved apart. Interception in the red zone, next drive. You don't score until late in the second quarter, at which point you settle for a short field goal following a bar interception. Everything that could have given them energy, they failed to

capitalize on that opportunity. This was a game of missed opportunities. It's been a season of missed opportunities. This was a pretty accurate microcosm, I think. And the back of the napkin math on the playoff odds, you got to win the next two. The Green Bay game shapes up to be terribly difficult. It reminds me of 2016, Collar, when the defensive backs went rogue, when they had to go play at Lambeau with an infinitesimal chance of the playoffs, and they got blown out of the building. They need to win the next two. I think they need Washington, New Orleans, and Philly each to lose one. So it's not impossible if you beat Green Bay, but again, this team proves once again how unlikely a playoff run would be and how unlikely it is that you're going to be carried to a meaningful championship or even a playoff run with this operation. I just I can't get behind any of the Kirk apologists today.

There may be there are some days where where they could say, oh, I told you so. Not today. Today's the wrong day to make that argument because it's such a house of cards with him that it all collapses for one half and then, oh, the final stat line is good. He led them to a couple scoring drives late. I'm not buying it. Let's think about even the recent bunch of games here down the stretch when they've had chances to make the playoffs and just win a game they're supposed to win or that they need to win i put this under a game they're supposed to win because the other quarterback threw three picks like that's a game you're supposed to win um the packers won this game yesterday and that's always how it's been

right like yes they were gifted stuff but they yes, they were gifted stuff, but they won. Like, you were gifted stuff, and the team did not come through. But let's think about this recent stretch. So you go out to San Francisco after the big back-to-back wins where the season is saved, and it's a no-show from Cousins. He's kind of all over the place. He throws an interception in the red zone, misses on a couple of key throws that would have changed that game, and they lose.

And then you've got Detroit, where for the first half, they score six points against the world's worst football team, although they've overtaken for maybe the second worst football team or third since then. But, okay, so you get a loss there. And then it's Pittsburgh, where they find a way to win but there's a couple of interceptions and it's a 50 completion percentage and then it's chicago where he throws for 87 yards and yeah they come out with a win because the bears failed time and

time again in the red zone but you go what exactly is is here? And this is the streakiness that makes it impossible. And guess what? That right there from Stafford is the streakiness that makes it impossible for him too. It's the same guy. It's the Spider-Man meme. Two quarterbacks pointing at each other being like, is this why you can't win? Is this why you can't win? And both of them have disappointed their franchises.

Look, Jared Goff for the los angeles rams a couple years ago was 13 and 3 and went to the super bowl and they blamed it on him and look he's not that good but how is this better if you're the rams they've done the same thing how is it better they've gone from oh we were in the super bowl and everything is great and we're incredible to oh it's jared goff's fault to this guy is the answer to all of our problems and then here he is throwing three picks in a key game and they're what going to be a five seed or something like it's just not that great and the vikings have dealt with the same thing where yeah the defense can't get run over and yeah they can't

give up the touchdown to beckham and they needed to be better in the clutch all year long but ultimately when it came to the biggest part of the season again you got no shows and it kind of reminds me of last year with the game against Chicago where they almost came from behind Trubisky threw a pick that helped them out and gave them like another shot but they couldn't come through. And then, like you said, they went to new Orleans with their hopes still alive and then just got steamrolled and look, I mean, they can beat the Packers. They've done it before. They could do it again.

Cousins could avoid the COVID list, which is another discussion we need to have and move forward. But it's really hard to see a game or a team that's played about five straight bad games, just magically like turning it on to beat the Packers in their house in January and a Packers team that's going for the one seed. It matters to them. That's really hard to see. But even if they do, I don't know, do you sort of just shrug your shoulders? Like, I guess we're doing that thing again. And then they'll come here and what? Lose to Nick Foles?

Is that how this thing goes? Is that how the exact right script goes? And I guess that was tying it back in. That's the issue with the fans and the crowd today. I know what it feels like when the place is juiced up. And I know what it feels like when it's dead. And this was more than dead. Like if they're playing the lions or something, you kind of get a dead feel, but there was just nothing here. And I think that there's just an exhaustion of going through this

over and over again. And then we play this game. Well, it's Kirk's fault or well, no, it's Clint Kubiak's fault. No, it's actually Zimmer's fault. No, it's the defense. No, it's whatever. Like, it's everything. It's everything. We could put percentages on that. We could do a pie chart, but it's really everything. And I think what everybody in this place realized is, though they had tickets to the game and probably brought family members,

your dad came to the game. Like, they all knew the deal. Like, they know where this train is going. They're here to watch a football game. Cause it's a thing to do, but it wasn't to scream their faces off for a team that they love. And you can tell me this. I think this is the most disliked team that I have ever covered in my sports career. Just by the fans, like good point, right? I mean, it's not just Twitter. This shows to me, it's not just Twitter being nuts. No, that's, that's a good point. Right? I mean, it's not just Twitter. This shows to me it's not just Twitter being nuts.

No, that's a good point. And, you know, Twitter is the echo chamber that we all exist in. And I think, you know, you certainly, you've got a pretty big following on Twitter, Matthew. You get a large, like, cross-section of the fan base in those, you know, what, 30,000 people that follow and mention and argue with you and tell you that, you know, you're a homer or you're not a homer i got that today from somebody anyway um who's a homer oh they they accused beat writers of not being homerish enough not no not enough yeah we weren't we weren't homers well i you know hey vegas under over or uh under the over under again but so i don't know tell you so but you. But judging on the Twitter cross-section, when I see people reacting to Justin Jefferson calling out the play calling, they love it.

They absolutely love it. They think it's the best thing ever because they don't want it anymore. And you see the apathy, I think, in this crowd early on when it's like, okay, here's another three and out to start the game. Here's another early deficit. Here's another defensive line that's going to blow us up. And you know what? A lot of them watch the game on Monday too. I saw it on Monday. I listened to some of the call-ins on radio the next day. People were not happy with that win at all. They understood what a win of that ilk sort of means on the whole.

If you can't dominate an awful team, how are you going to look against a good team? And today, the Vikings weren't physical enough, dominated in the trenches. They gave up big third downs late in the game. And it was pretty easy to anticipate, right? Like when you see them not take advantage of multiple Stafford mistakes to remain behind as they were, you knew that was going to turn. Stafford was going to make some throws and he did. And you weren't able to recover. But I think that this NFL season is also sort of typified by teams hanging on for dear life and hanging on a little too long to the status quo. We saw Pittsburgh in here a couple weeks ago.

That kind of felt the same way. Seattle is making this crazy attempt to go 9-8 with Russell Wilson and snag that seven like I mean that doesn't their approach doesn't make any sense um a lot of teams are sort of on the last vestiges of their of their regimes hanging on to old glory and the Vikings are are losing their grasp right now they've got like they're the person falling off the cliff they've got like one one hand hanging on and uh each like the fingers are dropping one at a time and now they're just hanging on by a pinky finger and it could all come crashing down at lambo and and they can still talk about playoff chances this week and bringing

energy and staying positive but i mean you you watch when the i think i checked the forecast it's like a nine degree low when the wind chill hits and you're down 13 to three, it's going to be a lot harder to bring that energy knowing that you have a 15% chance of the playoffs. So think about it through this lens and this context. The Atlanta Falcons are like an atrocity, right? You look at the Falcons, that team is so bad. What a joke.

They have the same record as the Vikings. Same record. When you look at the Browns, oh my gosh, Baker, what a disaster. Stefanski's magic is gone, which I don't think is true. I think his quarterback has played bad. But oh my gosh, they're making all the wrong decisions. And what a mess of a season. And everything has gone wrong.

Same record as the Vikings. These are your comparable teams, the Falcons and the Browns. You aren't within the shouting distance of the good teams in the NFL in the grand picture of things, and it seems like how do you get any closer? From these next couple of weeks, I mean, maybe you can get some wins and maybe you can get really lucky and get in. The odds are against it, but maybe that can happen.

I don't see them winning in Green Bay after this either, but maybe, maybe. I'm never going to turn that possibility off until it is completely dead, that they have zero chance at making the playoffs. Then we can never really say it. But if these are the comparable teams to who you are, then you don't get to run with a team like the Rams who played their worst football and beat you.

You don't get to run with a team like the Packers that has one of the great quarterbacks ever playing at an MVP level. I mean, you know, Arizona is playing poorly right now. Dallas has not played their best, but even San Francisco not playing their best. But do you even put the Vikings in the category with them? They lost to San Francisco. They lost to Arizona. So it's like, what are we supposed to say about this team? Other than the whole is if there's not a seven seed in the NFL these days, and if the NFC isn't

a complete mess, I mean, we are already doing skull searching and looking at quarterbacks and getting draft experts on every show, right that's that that's where we would be and who can be happy with that like who in the fan base can look at this and say oh yeah this is working out just fine and by the way you bring up the jefferson thing now i i don't know that the reason they failed today in the red zone was that they ran madison twice i mean if they execute the runs maybe it's a good play. I don't know. Running on second down and nine or whatever it was

is not a great idea. Normally they've been good in the red zone. I think what it says more than anything is that Jefferson is all of you. He is watching a lot of this with the same lens. Like this is a dude that won a national championship in college and came to a bad football team over the last two years

and has done nothing but been one of the great receivers in history through two years, including breaking a record today. How would you look at this? LeBron actual James is tweeting about this player and his team cannot win football games. Like how, how would you look at it? If you were Jefferson, his statistics are unbelievable. And in a way, it's hard to look at them and go, they don't throw him the ball enough. But it's not even really about throwing him the ball enough. It's just about their offense succeeding consistently, throwing the ball, not running Madison all the time, being aggressive, just being better when they need to be in the biggest moments, which has been very spotty, if not, you know,

poor in the second half of the season, especially. I mean, that's what he's really talking about. If they win the game today and they're good and they ran twice and didn't succeed on one trip to the red zone, Justin Jefferson isn't frustrated. He wants to play on a winning football team. And so I guess the question is, this is your one player who you know is a megastar going forward.

What can you do? Because it feels a little Carl Anthony Towns-ish. Like, sorry, I'm sure there's some nuance here that I'm missing. But like Towns is one of the good players in the NBA. Beloved by the fan base. Everyone knows that if they put good players around Carl Anthony Towns, they'll win a lot of basketball games. Is this debated? Not really, right?

It's the same thing. But for years it's, can they figure this out? How to put these good players around them, the right coach, whatever else. And they fiddled around with straight for Jimmy, then we'll trade away Jimmy, and then we'll tank. And then we'll have Saunders who's his buddy, but then that's not going to work and it has that same kind of feel how can you not waste in minnesota another elite player because two years in two of the great seasons ever by a player his age have been essentially flushed if you don't make the playoffs here and that's a really disturbing thought honestly if you're a Vikings fan like Andy's upset and you've gotten that far through two years okay so it's I know it's an easy comparison call it low-hanging fruit if you want but I do need to draw a couple digs comparisons here so digs comes in and number

one he has success right away like as a team right? They make the playoffs his rookie year. They make the playoffs, go to the NFC Championship game his third year. So there's not a ton of reason for Diggs to be upset. But he didn't really start flexing his star muscles until 2018, post-Miracle. It took him four years to sort of realize his power, realize his talent. I think today we saw the first real flex from Justin Jefferson in year two. And I never thought that he was going to be like immune to this. Like he's just going to be a good soldier for all time. Don't say immune. He's, I won't even extend that joke. We do have covid things to talk about we do we do um

justin jefferson today and you know hey i'm all for for cool fashion man so don't get me wrong but like he shows up he's got the puffy coat he's got the grills and he calls out the offensive coordinator and he passed he set the record the nfl record for most yards in two seasons. He exceeded last year's record-breaking yardage total. Amazing. An amazing first two seasons with meat left on the bone. He passed Odell Beckham Jr., like his idol. So he's got to be feeling pretty good about Justin Jefferson, not feeling too good about the Minnesota Vikings. And I felt like today was the first time where he really identified how powerful his voice can be. And once you sort of break that dam, I think it becomes probably a little easier to do it again, right? You start speaking up, you realize that you have this voice. So I think that you do need, and hey, I don't know how the Wilfs or where they

celebrated Christmas, if they celebrate Christmas. I don't know how the Wilfs or where they celebrated Christmas, if they celebrate Christmas. I don't know where they are, if they were here today, but hearing that, hearing the lack of energy in the crowd, that all has to play a role in what they are thinking heading into these final two games. And maybe you talked about this on a podcast late in the week caller but um do you think mike zimmer knows he's on the hot seat um based on his response to being asked didn't really discuss that just thought it was kind of weird um but coaches are always buried in their caves and i never believe a player when they say they didn't hear something because they're all on twitter and everything else oh uh someone said whatever about me like ah come on man a million people tweeted it to you the

second it happened but when it comes to mike zimmer like i remember asking him one time what music he listened to and he couldn't name like three people i mean so like he truly does bury himself in the football season uh but yeah vegas has thought he is on the hot seat from day one. He was one of the highest odds to be the first coach fired. And that has remained up there pretty much the entire season that he's been up on the top of that list. So to me, that's the way I determine hot seat is like, do the people who gamble on who's getting fired first think you're getting fired first?

Like the wisdom of crowd kind of thing can tell us a lot about what the outside world thinks as opposed to our perception. That's why I talk about, you know, the over under and things like this, like the outside world thought you were going to be better like every year than you have been, um, and zero division titles. Now, I mean, in four years, it's like they, the outside people thought based on what you have, that you should have been right there and you have not been. And the same thing goes for Zimmer. Um, it's very clear and has been very clear for a long time since 2019 that he's on the hot seat. Otherwise you get a longer contract extension than three years. That's just the facts

of the NFL. Now, I mean, Matt rule has way more wiggle room and that guy is a complete fool. I mean, he has, he doesn't even belong in the same stadium as Mike Zimmer, as far as coaching. And yet he's got more security because he signed a seven-year deal and here's Zimmer with a three-year deal. So if they were giving out those contracts that were longer at that time, uh, and, remember that extension went all the way to the last minute, I'm guessing because he wanted a five year or longer extension. I know that I would if I was in his position. So he knows.

But I think what he was maybe surprised by was like, wait, so did someone say I am or was there an article or something like that? Is that what you're asking me about? And he sort of interrupted the question. So maybe there wasn't an understanding there. But I think what this Jefferson thing does is if it didn't already make it clear that they've been who they are this year, this should have wiped away any remaining fog to you can't keep coaching this way. You can't keep quarterbacking this way, probably. And the idea that any other coach is going to suddenly magically snap fingers

and Kirk Cousins is different, I highly question that. It's been a lot of coaches who have tried it, and Mike Zimmer got the best season of Case Keenum's career, got the best season of Sam Bradford's career. Teddy Bridgewater, I know this was pre-injuryury but looked a heck of a lot better than Teddy Bridgewater since people have started him after that I mean I I don't think that it is a circumstance issue with cousins I think it's a price tag and it's a fluctuating always constantly fluctuating performance issue and you look at the way that Jefferson sometimes

like snaps his head at cousins and you can sort of see it right. Like, remember when he said that Joe Burrow had more swagger and we all went like, Oh, that is quite a comment to make about your quarterback. Well, today there was a throw that was just in the wrong spot for Jefferson. He could have maybe caught if his back shoulder and he was just like immediately come on like throw it to this other place there was a rollout against Chicago where Jefferson is breaking open Cousins doesn't throw it Jefferson just sort of throws his arms up like dude are you gonna do this or what I mean do you see that from Tyreek Hill with Mahomes do you see it for the worst one too was the the throw to sorry to interrupt you the Madison throw in the flat when I don't recall there being

intense pressure on the play. No, there wasn't. And Jefferson, like, I mean, first of all, it's third and goal. You're throwing short of the end zone, horrible percentage throw, and you're not going to look and give Jefferson every chance to make that catch in the back of the end zone? Are you kidding me? Right.

Like, it's just that sort of, and someone tweeted this, and I think it was true. Jefferson didn't get a red zone target. Is that accurate to your memory? I don't think he got any. Yeah, that could be correct. And I'll give Matt Stafford this. Those fades are terrible plays.

They're a failure waiting to happen. But at least he did it. At least he heaved it up to Beckham double cover. If you're going to be doing a stupid thing you might as well do it to the best receiver out there uh and yeah triple covered right and that was really bad and almost intercepted but this is exactly it it's like cousins not trusting jefferson to make special plays and and really only started throwing to him the Rams backed off. Like they, they had Ramsey and this goes under the,

we could, I'm sure the Rams podcast, whatever our version of us is, is spending the whole time being like, ah, McVay too much eggnog yesterday. Like I had ice cream and a cookie at lunch and really felt pretty like lethargic after that.

Maybe McVay did too, because the decisions were just baffling today by the Rams um but that's you know neither here nor there uh it just with Jefferson and Cousins there are so many times that there are it seems opportunities to take a shot and to take a risk and it's not happening and then Jefferson shows exactly how he feels about the situation. And we know how we were just talking about how these guys know everything. You don't think that Jefferson knows what happened with Diggs here before. You don't think he heard about that last year,

heard about the comparisons and now sort of sees the same thing, the same reasons why Diggs wanted to play somewhere else. I mean, Jefferson can't demand a trade. So if anyone thinks that's happening, he can't, it's just, there's nothing you can do. You're on your rookie contract, but can, is that what you want though? Like, can he have power in the organization having done what he's done? Yes. And I think if we were to ask him candidly at this moment, do you want everything changed? How does he say no? Uh, yeah, no, you're right. I think he probably recognizes too that he is on, and he had a quote after the game where I, I couldn't, I couldn't quite discern what he was trying to get at,

but it sounded like he was saying like, like, we've got a good offense, we've got a good group, and we had one minute, a one-minute three-and-out drive coming out of the gate with no energy. And I think he sees that, okay, we've got Thielen, we've got Cook, we've got pieces. I mean, the best I can say is we've got pieces on the offensive line. Our tight end is productive. Why aren't we better? I'm doing, I'm setting records here. Why aren't we better? And I can see where that would absolutely be frustrating. So let me pose this to you. So next year, do you think this team would be better off with a new coach, same quarterback, same weapons, or the reverse? Same, what did I just say?

New coach, same quarterback, or different quarterback, same weapons? Okay, so I do think. And the new quarterback is a crapshoot. You don't know what you're going to get. So you're saying different coach kirk stays or or different coach kirk goes is those are those basically the options okay i got a little confused i got confused too yeah well i think that what the new quarterback does for you is it brings an energy and excitement to the potential that you just

don't get with the same quarterback who has come short year after year after year. And especially when you need them the most, like a day like today. And I understand Aaron Donald was ripping people's heads off and rolling them down the field. Like I get that that was happening, but other people have beaten the Rams. All right? Like, they're not that great at defense. They're like 11th or something. They're just like an okay defense. They weren't really covering everyone outside of Jalen Ramsey. They made one nice play in the end zone by Darius Williams.

I think it was a nice play where he tipped the ball up. Maybe KJ Osborne didn't catch it. But you know who I was thinking about today? The guy who is ranked number one by PFF, who is on our TV as we are sitting here recording, that is Joe Burrow and how Joe Burrow has completely transformed the Cincinnati Bengals franchise and how Justin Herbert has completely transformed the Los Angeles Chargers franchise. And I know that there are, and we're going to have this conversation a million times about, oh, well, you know, you might draft Christian Ponder.

Here's the deal. This right here, what we just saw, was a Christian Ponder season. This right here. I know it's not over, but what it's been, it's a Christian Ponder season. If Christian Ponder is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings this year with the weapons he has, the offensive system he has, you're probably seven and eight. Like, it's just

not better and i know i know the statistics and everything else will show up and look better as you know another hundred yards tacked on down by a couple scores but what would you be if it wasn't six and eight would it be six and nine five and eleven five and ten who cares what's the difference like you're telling me that's different, but it's not different. And so I look at it as you have to make that change because you have to have money to rebuild a defense. You have to get a freaking guard at some point so we don't play this game forever and my head explodes.

Because at some point, if there's another tackle move to guard who has no chance against a good player, I don't know what I'm going to do. But I just can't talk about it anymore. Jeremiah Searles is going to wreck everything in his home if he has to watch the tape of Ole Udo against Aaron Donald. So anyway. You know, I mean, you've worked with a couple ex-Vikings guards.

Do they have any interest coming back next year? Searles and Boone? Searles and Boone 2022. I believe they both lost a bunch of weight, so I'm going to say no. I guess the point that I'm making is I know this is like a post-game show, so usually we focus more on the game. But in the bigger picture, I mean, what you've seen here is another December disappearance.

It happened in 2018. It happened in 2019. Usually we kind of look at the big record and go like, oh, well, they were 10 and six that year. They were nine and three at one point that season and finished 10 and six because of a December disappearance last year. They're in the seventh seed on the, in the hunt graphic with Steve Karnacki on Sunday night football. They missed the playoffs because it just wasn't good enough. And so I don't know, like, I don't know how you go to Jefferson and say, now, look, we're going to change one guy, but like the rest, they'll be fine. I don't know. But him, like you said, him showing that sign of frustration as he emerges

out of, I'm just a young guy into, no, I'm a legit megastar in pro sports, I think that you have to now take all considerations going forward of what he wants for you to succeed because you need him to be here for 10 years, and games like this just can't keep happening. So you want to talk about COVID? Yeah. That's not good.

Sean Manning on the kovid list i think we all had the same thought at once and i think kirk also is having the same thought after talking to him post game yeah um manning on the kovid list we asked kirk what it means um asterisk on the conversation kirk is unvaccinated um and it was almost like he was laying the groundwork like well throw my hands up it's it's gonna be hard he said it's going to be hard to avoid i think is i mean i'm not taking that out of context right no that's basically what he said he said those words in our building he said it is what it is it's going around it It's going to be hard. And we've almost checked now every COVID box of the most, like on the bingo card of players who are vulnerable to this.

You've now checked the Harrison Smith box, the Dalvin Tomlinson box, the Dalvin Cook box. Adam Thielen is, I guess, the other glaring one. Um, but Kirk Cousins is now like one step away. And if Mannion has come down with it and Mike Zimmer confirmed that he's sick, it's not a close contact thing. Then, you know, we could be holding our breath the next 48 hours because who knows if Kirk has it now, right? Like that's just the way this whole thing works. So, um, that would sort of be the icing on this cake, right? If that were the final, like nail in the coffin for this team. Um, because it, it, Kirk is kind of right. It's not really, it hasn't gone anywhere

since like November 4th when Bradbury got it. And that kind of set off this chain that has really not let up in almost two months now. It's really like great authors are able to, in the opening, set the stage for something that ties into the end. And that's exactly what this would be. If we started off training camp with Cousins having a close contact mike zimmer ripping him to shreds and then their playoff hopes are on life support and he can't go to green bay and poor kellen mond has to start against the packers when when look i mean if you can't beat sean manion throughout an entire season of practicing then you're just not really ready to play quarterback in the nfl uh that would be like the perfect bow.

The big giant, like in those commercials with the cars, the big giant bow that they walk out and is on the car would be on Kirk's head if this happens and he tests positive. And I hope he doesn't. Of course we hope he doesn't. You don't want anybody to get sick. It's a nasty thing. It can affect people long-term.

A lot of people that even i know who have long-term issues relating to covet and so uh rooting strongly against this to happen to him but you make your own luck a little bit when you choose not to be vaccinated when the team has done everything else to ask you to do it to give you as much information they bring in experts. All of almost all of your teammates are 95% of the league is. And you've said, no, I'm dying on this Hill. And well, you might have to go down to green Bay without it.

But I think that if there's any decision left that hasn't been made, I mean, maybe today could have pushed them one way or the other, but if he goes on the COVID list and he misses the final two games, which is possible, it could be one, it could be two, but if he misses the final two games, this is the last impression. And then him not doing that,

a thing that would have made him more available, potentially that's your final impression of cousins. And I don't know any way to overcome that. Like, and next COVID next year too might still be a thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, at least the way it looks now, I sure as hell hope not because this is miserable. We're going to Zoom calls again this week.

It's just it has not been fun for anybody. And it's been a terrible thing for our universe. But it doesn't feel like it's disappearing. And I was thinking about that today that as he was talking if all of a sudden several days from now he pops with a positive test which by the way being unvaccinated you have to do every day if you are vaccinated you only test when you're symptomatic now with the nfl there's a big difference there's a big old difference and so if he tests positive say thursday or friday he won't be able to play in either game so very possible with his backup quarterback going on the covet list that we're talking about

the last time we saw kirk cousins as we go into the off season was in this no-show performance where they needed him the most and i think that if there's people who are saying, which way do we want to go? The only people who really matter, the Wilfs, uh, that might be a tipping point for making a decision. And so that's how we walk out of this game. Um, it went from, if you win this one, you're a coin flip to make the playoffs. And it would be pretty exciting to beat a good team here and outplay them and everything else to, wow wow not only did you lose you gave it away 50 ways sideways and your offense didn't show up when you needed the most comma the story of the vikings 2018 to 2021 like here we're almost at the point where we could say

here's the gravestone of a team that consistently was let down every time they had a chance to be something that's yeah i mean that's that's tough that's not a it's not the place we expected them to be when they signed cousins four years later was talking like this one one playoff appearance out of four tertiary storyline does dalvin cook's presence presence change this outcome in your mind at all? Yeah. Pretty lackluster rushing attack. You probably would prefer to have Madison in the goal line situations instead of Wong Wu as your second back. But it felt to me like the Donald penetration was going to stop whoever was back there. There might've been one or two plays where I thought, oh, maybe Delvin breaks that or something,

but no, I don't think so. I mean, they ran poorly against Chicago when they were dominated as an offensive line. I mean that the only way anyone could ever even try to convince you at this point that something will be different in the future is if they said i have secret cap space that will give you three new offensive linemen because now you know look ezra cleveland hasn't changed their outcome moving guys around hasn't changed it garrett bradbury's on his last year playing for this team so you're gonna have positions at least two spots that you have to change in the offseason and we're kind of doing that thing that we always do again um so well i i'm trying to hold off the offseason talk but it's creeping in more after today and so we will probably uh end up skull searching at some point if what philly wins another game or the vikings

lose in green bay but we're gonna go we're to be down there in Green Bay and you just never know with this team. But after today, I think we're kind of much, much closer to not being able to say you never know anymore. So what a day, what a day it was here again, Sam. So the Vikings lose and we'll have Monday morning Murph, Jeremiah Searles, Courtney Cronin, all of your faves, and maybe a Vikings or a Packers perspective if you can handle it. I would bring on Aaron Nagler, but I don't think people could deal with it in the current situation. The Cheesehead TV, Aaron Nagler, you know.

Yeah. Anyway. That'd be juicy. So that's it. Take care, everyone. I hope you had a very nice holiday aside from what happened today.