Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What do we think Vikings ownership thought watching Sunday's loss

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

Matthew Coller is joined by Brian Murphy to talk about the Vikings' loss to the Los Angeles Rams and some very layered comments by Justin Jefferson. What do we think the Vikings' owners thought watching the game and listening to Jefferson's frustration after the game? Should they have already made the decision to make changes at coach, quarterback and general manager? Is there reason to be excited about what Vikings fans have seen from young players or does this situation feel like it needs a serious overhaul? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Brian Murphy for another Monday Morning Murph. And I've got a question right off the bat, Brian. Just right off the beginning. Here's the question. What do you think Stefan Diggs was thinking when he sat down to watch SportsCenter after his victory. And so he's sipping on a little Diet Dr. Pepper, sitting around the Christmas tree as you are as we record this, thinking about his own highlight of catching a touchdown and then saying shut the bleep up to the Patriots fans.

And he rests into his favorite easy chair, and there his predecessor, Justin Jefferson, is on the TV. And, oh, what's he saying? Oh, he's saying that wait the play calling is a problem the team's energy and attitude is a problem in a key game with the playoffs on the line you think he just picks up his diet dr pepper takes a little sip and says i remember those days i mean what do you think i right, Stephon Diggs has to be aware of what happened yesterday with Justin Jefferson and his former team, right? Like, I just would love to be sitting next to him

and say, what do you think of that, old friend? Yeah, if there's any Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross fans out there, he just sits there, takes a sip, puts it down, goes, yeah, I used to be a receiver in Minnesota. It's a tough racket. Yeah, I think it sounded pretty familiar. Quite surprised. Maybe I'm not surprised. I think it was overdue that somebody was going to have to say something definitive on the rudderlessness of this offense.

That it was the superstar wide receiver who feels suddenly empowered and is deservedly annoyed. And it was interesting. He didn't rant. He didn't rave. He didn't pound the podium. It was very subtle. But the missiles were clearly shot right over the bow of first Clint.

Well, he put the kick me sign on Clint Kubiak and then sent the message, I think, directly to the quarterback and, well, ostensibly the front office and everybody above that I'm likely going to be here a lot longer than you guys. I think I can feel that in my bones right now, that when all this blows up in a couple weeks, which it seems destined that it will, I'm going to be standing around looking at the rubble,

and I'm going to be just fine. So when are we going to get this figured out? Hey, you want to make a Glenn Ross mention? Without profanity, which is hard. It is hard. But how about Spielman just likes talking to free agents? How about that? I mean, yeah, yesterday it was reminiscent to me and Sam brought this up on the post game of when they completely no-showed against the Indianapolis Colts. And that was worse than this

in terms of an overall showing, but it was the same sort of thing is hey there's this big game you could stay in the playoffs but everyone is kind of bailed on this team anyway like no one really believes in this team the fans show up but they aren't like super juiced up um which is you know another conversation that we started to have last night but you know the fans are like okay i guess we're here i guess there's a playoff on the line but this this isn't super exciting. And then it just goes completely sideways. And yesterday, the score was just not similar to what you were watching. Like the Rams could have been up 21-0 in an eye blink if their quarterback hadn't been a complete mess. And they really should have been. Like the Vikings were playing yesterday like they should have been blown out. And then after the game, when you have Justin Jefferson make the comments that he did,

I mean, you can't walk away saying anything is okay here. Oh, we're still in the playoff race. Look at this percentage and playoff machine and whatever else to get in. Not when that happens. Now, if this team was really what it was purported to be a team of fighters that never gave up all the way to the end, then the star player is not coming out after the game and saying, guys, why did we no show? Why do we have no energy? Why do we have no leadership on this team and uh when you're looking at now almost the totality of the season and and the number of failures that went into this how could anyone walk up to justin jefferson and be like oh dude it's good yeah this is fine you're in a good spot or if he picks up the phone and calls stefan diggs says hey digsy what do i do or he talks to odell beckham after the game what

do i do i'm the best player on the field and I'm putting up all these numbers and we still can't win. I mean, how would you tell him? Oh man, it's cool. Just, just wait it out. You know, be, be, be cool. Be chill. Don't demand changes or anything. I mean, right. Like how I mean, Justin Jefferson has the same feeling, I think, as the fan base where he knows his excellence. And I think that it's like yesterday was his, I'm going to demand more of this team now. So everyone should sort of get used to that. And I think it was really helpful because it sort of pulls back the curtain and says,

yeah, the best player, the guy who matters the most to your franchise going forward, has had enough of this too. Yeah, and I think it's kind of indicative of where we're at in maybe 2021, or certainly with the NFL in the way it's covered, in the way that players and coaches and executives interact publicly, that when you hear a kernel of truth and honesty and, you know, unsanitized post-game comments, they just sound so unfamiliar. I mean, any one of these guys, certainly, you know, Harrison Smith, Kirk Cousins,

Michael Pierce, Patrick Peterson, even Zimmer, you know, has really sanded. I think Zimmer, you know, you just, you look at his face, either on the broadcast, on the sideline, or just at the postgame podium, I mean, he's resigned. Not he's resigning. He has resigned, I think, to the fact that he has beaten everything out of this horse that he can, both literally and figuratively. But the fact that you actually hear somebody express what we've all been saying for weeks now, and it doesn't behoove a star player or quarterback to come out in week seven and say, yeah, we're, we suck. We're in over our heads. I don't think this is going to work out because obviously that's like throwing a live

grenade out in the street. But the fact that here we are 15 games in and, and Justin Jefferson very casually expresses his disappointment, A, in his team's energy level, B, in its execution, C, in its red zone play calling. Everybody's like, wow, look at that. I mean, is that really true? What is he saying? He's just saying what everybody knows. And the fact that it comes across as a revelation is, again, I think indicative of what we're used to hearing, you know, the spoon-fed cliches and the sanitized expressions of hope, and they're still in it, and they're fighting. But like you

said, at this point, you know, I think I mentioned this before. I mean, they're just guys in the desert trying to sell you a bucket of sand. It just is not playing anymore, and we've got two weeks to go. I mean, I buried them. I gave them, you know, I said, I'm done. They're frauds after the Lions loss. I said, they're going to lurch here for the next four weeks. And that's, that's what we're, that's what they're doing. They're keeping you engaged because there's a possibility. They're close. They're this, they're that, they're a player two away, you know, the usual delights. But really, this team, you know, it exposed itself losing to Detroit. And it also, I don't know where the

offense vanished somewhere in the third quarter against Pittsburgh. And it has not been found. And it may be gone forever. I don't know what happened, how it happened, but this team has not been the same. They seem to have found a magic bullet for a two and a half game span, three game span. And now I, you know, something happened in the second half Thursday night, December 9th against Pittsburgh. And that offense and that philosophy has been lost. See, I think that it actually might have been before that, that they were coming off of the game against Green Bay where the offense was really cooking.

And then they lost to Detroit, right? And then they lost to San Francisco. Oh, right. My timeline is messed up. Yeah, and that's where it seemed to disappear. Now, against Pittsburgh, right, they dominated in the first half, but it was pretty much just Delvin Cook running over people. Yeah. And that is not something that's going to happen on a daily basis where

weekly basis where somebody runs for like 200 yards in the first half or or whatever it was for delvin cook but the passing game has just not really been the same um so they go to san francisco cousin seems off then the first half of Detroit, they put up six points. And after that, even against Pittsburgh, he has a tough game. They find a way to hang on to that one and win, but there's a couple of interceptions in the second half. And it seemed like, where did it go? Which has really been the story of the season is where did the offense go? For long periods of time, it just seems to disappear. But the San Francisco loss and the Rams loss,

I think exposed that you really can't play with the big boys, the team that you have, even when they don't play well. San Francisco did not play particularly well in that game. They missed some opportunities. San Francisco's not a great team, but you still were not as good as them. You got beaten. Yes, the final score was a one score difference, but not all of those are the same as we saw

yesterday. Oh, you only lost 23 to 30, right? But you're down two scores in the second half. They're outplaying you pretty much in every area, except for when their quarterback throws it to the other team. That's what it looked like. That game could have easily been 30 to 14 or 30 to 10 or something the way that the Vikings play. They literally got a touchdown when Stafford threw them the ball and then they ran two yards into

the end zone. Like if, if everything else, um, was three points combined for the other two interceptions, right. If everything else had sort of been equal uh and take those things out of it then you're talking about um in terms of how the two teams played a much different story so anyway uh where did it go is always the question though right and that's what i was thinking about in terms of okay what is digs thinking watching this but what is the wilfs thinking are what are the wilfs thinking are what are the wilfs thinking watching this and i think that's everyone's question and and i wish that we had an answer i remember one time in 2016 you tried to get ziggy as he walked through the locker room to

come over and provide a comment for us but i mean if you're i don't know if they were in the booth yesterday uh or in their suite or if they were at home in New York watching or what the deal was with them yesterday. People were asking me, are they there? Like, I don't know. What do you want me to sneak past their security and look in the suite to find out? I don't know. I didn't see them. It would not have been the day to try to play games of security with Stan Kroenke in the house, too.

Yes. Yes. I hope people remember your incident with the restroom and Stan Kroenke in the house too. Yes. Yes. I hope people remember your incidents with the restroom and Stan Kroenke. But the point is just that wherever they were watching, I think it would have had more impact if they were there to see how quiet the building was, but they have to be watching the post-game press conferences. They have to be watching how this game is playing out. They have to be looking at this playoff race and how easy everything has been made for them to make the playoffs. And yet, if you lose to Green Bay, you are, for all me in the minds of other people. I'd be curious, too.

I've been watching all the broadcasts. They are rarely shown in their suite. So I don't know if that is a request on their part, because Bob Kraft and Jerry Jones and a lot of these other guys, they love to, you know, yeah, put us in there. Show us drinking our expensive scotch and hugging our trophy wives and looking all rich and happy because our team is doing well. I don't see that often with the Wills. So I don't know if that's on purpose or if they avoid the cameras strategically. Yeah, as you said, they used to come out of the locker room, usually after the post-game talks, and you might try to bark a question at them or you know just shake hands and whatnot but it does sound like maybe they are retrenching a bit and uh i would you know look they they're

if they're not paying attention to what's being said post game or through either through the week or reading the headlines or at least being attuned to that, then they're not being progressive owners. I don't expect that to be the case. If at the very least, they may not be reading everything and seeing everything, but they're probably being told in summary what's being, they know exactly what Justin Jefferson said yesterday. And look, we know the media, you know, and I'm a part timer in this too. I mean, we're kind of like pigs and slop a little bit. Like I said before, it's like, wow, this is great. Like, ah, this is something new. Let's stir it up a little bit. I mean, you know, it is what it is.

It's a kernel of truth in 15 weeks of BS. So you're going to focus in on that a little bit hyper a bit. So it would be easy for, I hope he doesn't do this, but it would be easy for Justin Jefferson this week to say, Hey man, y'all making a big deal about this. I was just, you know, saying a few things, but I, you know, I love my team. We're still doing, somebody's going to talk to him and say, Hey, you might want to sand this down on Wednesday when you talk again, let's hope he doesn't. But, you know, I'm pretty sure the

Wills have at least, if not their finger on the pulse. Somebody in their orbit has it on it for them. And they're taking all of this in. And I, again, I give them credit. They haven't been knee-jerk. It would have been easy to maybe listen to the, you know, the pitchfork bears and say, let's fire Zimmer after this Detroit loss. It's very possible if he'd have blown that game against Pittsburgh, it might have happened that Friday as well. But they have let this process play out, and I think that's probably the way it should have been.

And they're going to have – I mean, they're taking all this in. They're going to be able to make a very, hopefully, deliberate decision on January 10th. And I don't know if they're still looking to see, learn more. I mean, you know, yesterday's performance informed them. If they get smoked on the frozen tundra on Sunday night on national TV, that could inform them some more. But I think overall, the body of work of Rick Spielman, Mike Zimmer, and Kirk Cousins is pretty complete. I think you could make that decision in your mind today. And maybe you've got a few things that happen over the next couple of weeks that fortify your position and your opinion and your assessment.

But I think that assessment has probably been made. I think so too, especially since you and I were playing with the 538 playoff prediction machine thing before we recorded to kind of see what happens if this, this, and this. And even winning the next two games still only gives them about a 60% chance, which, you know, I mean, that means a lot of things have to fall into place for them to make it, even if they win both games.

And that's the point where you're saying, you know, this is, this is probably over. And if they go to green Bay and they don't win, it's 2%. So that means it's essentially you're and they don't win, it's 2%. So that means essentially you're going into the final week and it's just the season is over. And at that point, they, I think, would have to start interviewing other people because after this week is finished, NFL teams can start interviewing other coaching camp. Right. That's the new wrinkle. Yeah. Which is quite a little twist now

i i got a few questions of like would they fire him now uh no because you can win both and still have a 60 chance to get in and you can't fire your coach when you're still in the playoff race like what difference does it make uh but i do think that if there's uh you know maybe some secret zoom calls with byron leftwich or other candidates, Kellen Moore after last night with the Dallas Cowboys completely blowing out Washington, then you've got to do those things. You have to put in those requests. And they will inevitably leak because that happens. And I guess I would say, who cares?

I mean, they might not want it to leak that they're interviewing other candidates, but why should they care at this point? Hey, if you didn't want other candidates to be interviewed, then you should have won a bunch of the games. It should be seven and eight going into week 16. Right, exactly. I think that the way you laid it out is the way that they are, which is we are going to be patient. We're going to let this play out all the way to the end, And then we're going to look at the totality of the thing. And then we're going to decide that there have been a bunch of different places along the way this season where you could have seen, okay,

if they lose one more, if they lose the game to Detroit at home, if they lose the game where they blow a 29 point lead, if they, and they always seem to find a way to kind of keep this thing going and so it would be classic vikings fashion to beat the packers and then lose to chicago and then that's the way that you you know whimper out of this season it's just been so frustrating for fans uh i i think that that that is their approach in general is to be very patient to not be knee jerk but if there was any any game where you could say all right we've been patient enough i don't even care what happens after this it would be yesterday's game because of justin jefferson's comments and also anthony bars too which i didn't really

mention post game like any snarky comment about the fans is a bad idea and anthony barr i don't know if he was trying to joke with us about fans having a christmas holiday hangover or something um sometimes when you're in those rooms for those press conferences you forget that like the whole world is watching these and and they're recorded and then you walk out and see it on sports center you're like oh yeah they knew about that um but uh you know i think he was just trying to make a joke to us, but it didn't come across well to a lot of fans. We're like, dude, the reason why we weren't loud is because this team is a disappointment, man.

Come on. Yeah, don't blame the paying customers for your lack of energy. That's not a good look. Right, right. Yeah, if you go to a restaurant and the food isn't good, you can't, you know, you can't blame the people who ate it. So anyway, but I think that when those things are combined with what we saw yesterday,

a meek performance, kind of a no show for the most part. And then the linebacker is saying there was no energy in the building. The receiver is saying our quarterback didn't bring any energy, which he said our offense but where does that all start and then he wasn't talking about ole udo that's for sure and uh you know then our play calling isn't good enough it's like there there are so many things now that feel like they have to be fixed or changed after watching that game uh that i don't know how the Wilfs could sit back and say, like, okay, let's run this back again, give the keys to the same people, quarterback, general manager, head coach, and this will be fine. I don't know how you could watch those postgame. You didn't even have to see the game. I don't even know how you could watch the postgame and think

that. Well, I also think now the burden of proof, you know, for law and order fans out there like us has shifted now from Jack McCoy to the defense. It's almost like the case has been made for a house cleaning, you know, from top, you know, Spielman, Zimmer, and even Cousins. The case has been made that they're guilty of underachievement. So now the burden shifts to maybe over the last two weeks somehow, and I don't see this, but somehow a surprise piece of evidence, a surprise witness comes out of nowhere and they can shift the jury's mind at this point. The jury being Ziggy and Mark Wolf at all. Maybe they're waiting for that. Maybe they're hoping for that because these are loyal guys. I mean, let's be honest. They are not meddling. They don't like

to talk publicly. They've been very supportive of Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer for the last eight years and Spielman even longer. They don't want there to be a bloodletting here. I know that. I'm pretty, having talked to them in the past, and what I know about them is, you know, reading up on them, is this is not a, you know, Jerry Jones, I think, revels in these kinds of moments. I don't think the Wills do. So they may be looking for, or, you know, it may be, you know, Cousin Zimmer Spielman, you know, show us something here that you didn't quit.

You know, you've been saying that and it has mostly been true. But yesterday felt like, you know, the team was collectively laying down. So what are you going to do at Lambeau Field when it's five degrees and you're on national television and Rodgers is slinging the ball all over the place? Are you going to show up? Because it would be very convenient to not show up. I don't think anybody would be shocked if Green Bay won 38 to 10 on Sunday night. What kind of fight do you have? And if you somehow rally and do win, which would be very Vikings-esque, and then you have another week of, see, nobody believed in us, and we have our fate somewhat in our hands again, what are you going to do at home against, you know, a lame duck coach and Matt Nagy and the Chicago Bears? And even then, you're still going to need help. And where was that urgency five weeks ago?

Where was that urgency in October? But I just feel like, you know, they're going to gather as much as they can, and public opinion does matter, but I think optics, as I've been saying for a long time, certainly matter. The Jefferson optics are not good, and there may be more of that in the next couple weeks if more players feel a little bit empowered to speak out and everybody kind of reads, okay, I see where this is headed and what's my status and what's

my standing and what do I want to do with the rest of my finite career? I think they're going to take all of that into account. So, you know, if anything, you know, it may not even be what the playoff, the stakes right now for the next two weeks are certainly in Green Bay. It may not be how this affects the Vikings' playoff fate, but how their performance, their reaction to the performance, their dealing with adversity against an elite opponent who happens to be your arch-border rival in Lambeau Field, how are you going to perform overall in that is going to dictate beyond just the big three we've been talking about, but are we going to really tear this thing down? And I guess what I would say is, and they don't ask me and I don't think they listen to the show, but what I would say is if you are getting to the point where

a number of different times you're asking yourself, should we fire him if this happens, or should we let him go if that happens, then I think that that really tells you all that you need to know is if you're having that discussion all the time or having that thought all the time, then you just have to do that. It's kind of like with somebody that you're dating. If you're constantly thinking, should I break up with them? If you're watching other people at the mall and saying, I'd like to ask him or her out instead. That's them watching football each week, right? I'd like to ask out Kellen Moore.

I'd like to ask out Byron Leftwich or whatever other coaching candidate. I mean, that probably tells you everything that you need to know. And I mean, I don't think that at this point you even really need to know how it goes for the next couple of weeks. We've kind of gone past go in my mind of if you're still trying to ride that train of well if we win in green bay then we won't make big changes or if they get to the playoffs and face whoever then we won't make this like being the sixth seed in 2019 being the seventh seed like these things aren't that good like look at the other teams who are fighting for this. A San Francisco team that's been a reflection of the Vikings, just sort of up and down, disappointing losses.

Quarterback who lets them down a lot of times. You know, you have Philadelphia that's playing a young quarterback and was supposed to be a bad team and honestly doesn't have a great roster that's fighting for that playoff spot. And then you have New Orleans who's on their fourth quarterback and they were rolling, but then lost five in a row after James Winston went down. And these are the teams that you're fighting with Atlanta, not a good Atlanta team at all. I mean, if he goes, if that's the company you're in at this point in the game, after this

long, then I don't think that you should ride whatever wave happens over the last few games. Not that I think that they're going to beat Green Bay. I think this decision will be made for them. It's just that if that's to the point that they've gotten to where they're resting it on one or two games, I guess I could understand why they did that in 2019. I could not understand if they did that again. If the Vikings found a way to somehow everything parted, the seas parted, and they walked into the playoffs at 9-8, it's just really hard for me to say, oh, this is much different. Like, oh, look at them.

Look at how much they fought. Look how they came together. Like, we wrote the narrative after Cousins led the game-winning drive in new orleans see he can win in the playoffs like well i don't know man tj yates won one playoff game you know there we've seen all sorts of quarterbacks win on wild card weekend marcus mariotta won a playoff game uh but going any farther than that, he wasn't going to be different, and he hasn't been different. And so I guess I look at it as don't let anything that happens these last couple of games change you from what the overall results are

for four years. I don't think they will. I think they just may add some things on the scale. This will fortify our decision in a lot of ways. You're right. I don't believe a 9-8 finish limping into the playoffs should earn anybody a new contract or at least more faith. Because we were talking in July and August about, well, what does that look like? A first-round playoff berth, a nine.

You know, you kept throwing out the numbers. You know, well, what does 10-7 mean? What does 9-8 mean? You know, what does 8-9 mean? You know, what do those numbers mean? They don't mean much in terms of progress. And the best they're going to do is 9-8. And the best they're going to do is a road trip somewhere brutal,

likely back to Green Bay, down to Tampa, out to L.A., down to Dallas. Do you see any success at all there? No. So, again, you're delaying the inevitable. So, no, I don't believe that, you know, you're not making progress. You know, you're not making progress. You know, you're regressing. You go from a sixth seed and a playoff victory in 2019 to getting smoked in the divisional round, missing the playoffs entirely,

maybe a limp in at the expansion seventh seed, and then what? You know, there's no case to be made. And I think everybody knows that. And that's, I think, what I think has prompted Justin Jefferson to speak out. And you may feel a little bit more of that in the next week to 10 days. was watching the end of the game and they're just sort of struggling to kick a field goal and they make i mean they make a kind of a cockamamie decision to pull up and kick the field goal to make it seven so they could do the onside kick and you see teams do that on a weekly basis i don't think it makes any difference in terms of your win percentage whether you kick the field goal there or throw to the end zone it doesn't matter um and from a game management standpoint once again it wasn't very good there were opportunities to go for it rather than kicking

field goals they didn't do that but we kind of go over that over and over and over again with this uh coach but you know what i was thinking about the most is when you're looking at a team from the outside and you're saying hey that, that team might be something next year. That team might be something in a couple of years. One of the things you're usually looking for is kind of up and coming players. And you say, oh, look at this guy. You know, he's kind of on his way to becoming a very solid starter or he could be a good player.

And when you look at this roster, I think that one of the toughest things for fans when they're looking at this team. And if, if you're analyzing it as from the ownership perspective and you're saying, what do we have here? What we have here is some good players who are very expensive and then whatever's left. I don't know because there there's just not a

whole lot to write home about when it comes to anybody else that isn't named Justin Jefferson. I think that was, is part of why his comments are important is because he's saying like, come on guys, we've got to be able to figure this out and we've got to have the energy. We've got to get going. Uh, so this guy wants to win and he wants to win right away but when you look at the defense and how it has to be sort of torn down and built back up again and when you look at the offensive line and if you were wondering yes the pff grades were in the 30s yesterday for all three interior offensive linemen not anyone could even remotely slow down Aaron Donald and the rest of the defensive line. Once again, like for a year, a million in a row, they are not able to slow down

a good defensive lineman. So there's a lot still, there's a lot to be done here in order for you to talk about this team as a legitimate contender. And yet there aren't young players that you're looking at it going, Hey, this Wyatt Davis has had a great year. No, the guy can't even get on the field when people are injured or look at this young defensive end that they put out there. No, Patrick Jones was out on the field yesterday and made zero impact. I think that that has to be a part of the formula is that the players who have failed them have been veteran players that they tried to patchwork this thing together with. And there isn't even a lot of young talent for people to grip onto and say, hey, at least we got this guy, this guy, this guy and this guy going forward. We've really got something here.

Well, you know, I'll throw out some optimism, just a small bit. I mean, I think KG Osborne has been a find. Would you agree with that? I mean, at least emerging as a reliable third option behind Adam Thielen. I mean, did you think that they would have a reliable third option behind Jefferson and Thielen? Okay, that's not a lot i agree um i think the biggest indictment for me is the secondary and this has got rick's beelman's fingerprints all over it i mean you draft jeff gladney who turns out to be pretty much a miscreant and he's gone uh you bring in brashad breeland turns out to be a cancer and literally gets into a fight that you have to break up on the sideline, Mr. GM, and shove him out of town. Cameron Dantzler, I don't know if he's allergic to the football.

I don't understand why you can't, you know, I don't understand the Vikings defensive back's inability to catch the football. There was a moment early in that game that what would have been probably a fourth Stafford interception would have prevented their first touchdown drive. I, you know, optimism. I mean, if you're looking for players to build around, I mean, I don't know. Does Ty Conklin count as some what of it? No, because he's a plotting tight end. I'm glad you're shaking your head because I wasn't sure where I was going to go with that point. And he, you know, Irv Smith is going to

get healthy at some point too. So, you know, maybe he can push Irv a little bit, but you know, top down it's, as you mentioned, it's very top heavy with a few good players that are being paid a ton of money and nobody's emerged, you know. Nobody's stepped up and really like, okay, Daniil Hunter's out. As you said, can we get somebody to become a playmaker and maybe we've got something there? Because that whole next man up argument really means not just plugging a hole, but taking advantage of your opportunities and emerging and separating yourself from the hundreds of other guys that are going to be lining up to take these jobs next off season. So, and coming out in the draft, I don't know. I don't feel,

I don't feel like you can attach any really optimism until you know what the top is going to be, which is who's going to be controlling the roster, who's going to be coaching it, and who's going to be under center next year. I don't even know if, you know, obviously you can spitball free agents all you want. You know, if I'm a pending free agent, I'm not looking at Minnesota necessarily as a destination until I know what the regime is and who's a quarterback. At this point, I, you know, if I'm Justin Jefferson or I'm looking at Justin Jefferson, yes, he's a,

he's a great receiver and a great talent. But if I'm a, if I'm a cornerback or if I'm a defensive lineman, am I going to be like, well, I'm going to Minnesota because of Justin Jefferson? Not yet. I want to see who's controlling the purse strings. I want to see who's controlling the play calls. And I want to see who's leading the locker room.

And right now, I don't know who that's going to be. If it's status quo, I'm definitely not coming. If it's something new and exciting, I might put him in the mix. Yeah. And something that I've been trying to do here is just scroll through and look at a bunch of different teams and see if there's sort of an example for this of a team that had a quarterback who could only get you so far and a coach that could only get you so far and then moved on, drafted, rebuilt the thing. And I keep coming back to Buffalo. I use this example maybe like a few months ago when they had, well, Cincinnati kind of had to go full tank. And I don't think the Vikings can go full tank because of the amount of talent they have. Like when you have Justin Jefferson, you can't say let's have a three-year plan. You just, you just can't, you can say you

have a two-year plan though, with Justin Jefferson, because he's on his rookie deal. And what Buffalo did was they gave their fans an exciting young quarterback that even when he was have a two-year plan though with just the jefferson because he's on his rookie deal and what buffalo did was they gave their fans an exciting young quarterback that even when he was struggling he still showed all the signs of somebody who could be a you know a quarterback that takes you deep into the playoffs yeah we even saw that when the bills played the vikings at the beginning of that 2018 season where the athleticism the the arm strength, you saw it, and then eventually it came to fruition. It was surprising that it did considering Allen's inaccuracy, but they got a new coach, they got a new quarterback,

and they were a competitive team before that and moved on and turned out to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender here for a couple of years. Tennessee is another one. When they got Ron Tannehill and Mark Vrabel, Mike Vrabel, and they moved away from Malarkey and they moved away from Marcus Mariota. So it can happen that you are a team and stuck in the middle and you decide, hey, this isn't good enough. And then by another year or two, you're back looking like a team on the rise or a legitimate competitive team.

It's just that when the bones of it are so brittle and when, like you said, you're no longer a place that people want to come, your cap situation is very bad at the moment. They are $10 million over the cap to start if Cousins makes $45 million. If you open that up, it's still not a lot of cash that you have to work with and it just feels like it's going to be a very difficult situation to turn around in a snap and I mean I'd love to know what their plan is because I don't see any other plan than what Buffalo did when they blew out Rex Ryan they said you know for a year we've got to take a step back and then they were in the playoffs two years later.

It might be. And here's the other thing about that is that I know when you say take a step back, people get like, oh no, like we're not, you know, what if we're not that good? And it's a really tough year. But I think these years have been tougher than those are. Like if those years you are finding out who's who and how this thing is going to work, that's more exciting I think it's way better to be in that situation and lose two more games in a year than it is to be in this situation and say, well, if they lose the next game, they have a 2% chance to make the playoffs. I mean, that is, that has just been dreadful for these fans.

I don't think that the last four years have been fun. I think it's, it would be much more fun to have Kenny Pickett or Sam Howell and Byron Leftwich as your coach. And maybe if you have the 10th best offense in the league, it's exciting. Even if your defense filled with young players, isn't quite good enough. I think that's a better position to be in. Well, I think it's because the fan base has been sold a false bill of goods the last three years, you know, and when you look at, you know, the Zimmer regime, of course, peaked with the Minneapolis miracle and went out to Philadelphia and face planted with Case Keenum. And the decision was made. We need a franchise quarterback.

And you brought in a franchise quarterback, paid him like a franchise quarterback, empowered him like a franchise quarterback. And you've got one playoff win. And it looks like that's going to be the only one for Kirk Cousins and purple. Uh, and it's been a slow, steady down slope since then, but everybody keeps saying, it's not that bad. We're a lot better than we look. Uh, but for this, but for that, here's a, here's a piece. This should get us over the top. This keeps us elite. It hasn't been that, and I think you're right. That's what's been frustrating.

I mean, this season in particular, and I wasn't as engaged last year or 2019 because I wasn't covering the team anymore, and even now I had watched every minute of every game and read all the coverage throughout the season. I'm exhausted, and I don't have an emotional or personal stake in this. And I can't imagine a lifelong or season ticket holder who is really trying to, to, to, to buy into the messaging and, and stay strong and stay loyal. You know, they've been treated pretty poorly just because of the expectations and because of the denial, the deep denial, I think, that's there.

And, you know, every game has been an emotionally wrought experience. And from an entertainment value, yeah, it's been pretty fun to watch. But if you're a true diehard fan, it's disappointing because in so many ways, it shouldn't have to be that hard. But at the end of the day, when you're mediocre, it is that hard. And here we are, December 27th, still trying to psychoanalyze a team that was probably obvious on August 1st. I mean, other than that, though, Merry trying to psychoanalyze a team that was probably obvious on August 1st. I mean, other than that, though, Merry Christmas to everybody. I mean, just happy new year.

Happy New Year. It's been fine. Well, Murph, it has been really fun throughout this year to ride the wave with you because I feel like it is one of your great strengths to psychoanalyze a team and contextualize everything that's happening. It just felt like in a lot of ways that road came to its end yesterday of, oh, maybe they'll do it and maybe things will be different and maybe everything else leaving that door open. But, you know, I guess there's always Green Bay. So, well, if you're going to have an Irish wake, you might as well do it in Green Bay, because where else would you rather be when it's four below? I mean, you're going, right? So it should be quite the scene there of

the Cheeseheads stomping on the Vikings grave next week. Yeah, I mean, that's what should happen, but also Baker Mayfield threw three picks throughout their game and the Packers couldn't put them away until the very fourth interception

on the final drive so the Packers do have some weaknesses and I guess we'll see what happens but it's always it's been fun and the next time we talk it'll be in the new year so I'm very thankful for all of our time together doing this Murph and we'll see if we only have two weeks left or, or one week after next week, or if we have more to talk about with, with a playoff race, but it's feeling less and less like that's the case. So thank you for your time as always. All right.

Happy new year, everyone.