#533: Minnesota Vikings THROTTLE 'da Bears' despite hiccups

Minnesota Tim reviews the Minnesota Vikings' recent victory over the Chicago Bears, highlighting key performances, particularly from quarterback Sam Darnold and the Vikings' defense. He discusses the offensive struggles despite scoring 30 points, the importance of Darnold's health, and the challenges faced by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. The conversation concludes with a look ahead at the Vikings' potential for the rest of the season.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Minnesota Vikings still controlled their own destiny after throttling
the Chicago Bears thirty to twelve on Monday Night football.
The Vikings record is now twelve and two, which is
tied with the Detroit Lions. And it's all good things
because in a game where the Minnesota Vikings didn't play

(00:31):
their best ball, this is my takeaway number one. The
Vikings did not play their best ball, and they did
not look as sharp as they had in recent weeks.
Sam Darnold was not clicking on all cylinders. He was
missing throws in the first and second half that he
typically makes. The interception doesn't bother me. I saw someone

(00:54):
put out that there was a bad interception. In my mind,
I'm like, how is that a bad interception? It was
fourth and three. You'd rather have him throw it up
for a prayer then take a sack. So the interception
didn't bother me at all. It was just a part
of the play. It's a broken play. Had to get
rid of the ball to give his team a chance

(01:15):
at a first down on a fourth and three. But
you could see that the offense just wasn't quite clicking
like it had been. Donald just wasn't quite as accurate
as he's had been. But at the end of the day,
the Vikings still won thirty to twelve. So it's easy
to sit up here and be critical of just a

(01:37):
few mistakes the Minnesota Vikings made offensively, justin Jefferson drop
the execution on fourth and three, Sam Donald missing a
couple of throws, the false starts on Cam Robbinson. You
can go down the list. There was a lot of
poor execution offensively in this football game. But at the

(01:59):
end of the day, the Minnesota Vikings still put up
thirty points in the Chicago Bears. So I've also got
to be hesitant with my slight criticism because if you
put up thirty points against anybody in the NFL, that
certainly should be enough points to win any football game,

(02:20):
and especially with the way the Vikings defense has played
this year, that's certainly gonna be enough to beat almost anybody.
So the fact that they still put up thirty points
in a struggling effort is amazing to me. Because Jefferson
dropped it, Donald wasn't as accurate, the running game actually

(02:42):
picked up quite a bit, which was exciting. The Aaron
Jones ran in for a touchdown, cam Akers ran in
for a touchdown. Aaron Jones eighteen carries on ninety six yards,
cam Akers ten carries on twenty four yards, and it
seemed like in the first half, I think there is
a tweet out there that said Donald threw the ball
twenty four times, So in the second half he only

(03:05):
threw it sixteen times, and the Minnesota Vikings relied heavily
on their rushing attack, which was nice. It was nice
to be able to have that in the arsenal because
we haven't necessarily seen an elite rushing attack this season.
Aaron Jones has had games where he's shown flashes of
being able to carry the offensive load, but this game

(03:27):
he really did, and he had for eighty six yards.
You know, it's not all that flashy, but it was
important because it allowed the Minnesota Vikings offense to have
multiple areas of explosiveness, and especially in a game where
Sam Donald and Justin Jefferson were not clicking on all cylinders,

(03:51):
it was nice to go into the back pocket and
rely on the running game for a stretch. So that
was nice, you know. Kevin Seaffrett eve Ben tweeted, this
might be Sam Donald's least accurate passing game of the season,
a lot of balls flying past wide receivers. He's an
insider on ESPN for the Minnesota Vikings, so it's one

(04:12):
of those things where he just wasn't quite as sharp
as he typically was in this football game. So that's
takeaway number one, number two, Sam Donald, I think this
morning we should be very fortunate, as Minnesota Vikings fans
that he did not break a finger in his throwing hand.

(04:34):
It just happened to Jalen Hurnts recently. It happens to
players all the time. How many times did you see
Sam Donald make a throw? And this isn't anyone's fault,
but it's just a fortunate break for the Minnesota Vikings.
How many times did you see Sam Darnald throw the
ball and on instant replay it showed his finger colliding

(04:58):
with either a defensive player's hand trying to bat the
ball down or an offensive lineman's helmet, because it happened
several times in that football game. And someone tweeted, I
don't know who, it was, probably Kevin Seaffert, but someone
mentioned that the trainer was following Sam Darnold to the

(05:21):
locker room at halftime, and whether that be coincidence or
whether that just be happenstance, it was something that happened
and it was something that an insider noticed on the
Minnesota Vikings. So the fact that that happened might have
been a sign that, you know what, his finger was
bothering him, and when you put together the details of

(05:45):
this game and he realized why or how Sam Donald
was so inaccurate throughout this game. Maybe it was because
his finger was bothering him. But if he didn't break
his finger, and it appears that he didn't because he
played the entire game and he didn't come out. Even
when the Vikings were up by a zillion, he still

(06:06):
stayed in the game. So that's a good sign. But
we are very fortunate this morning that Sam Donald, the
quarterback that has led the Minnesota Vikings to a twelve
and two record, does not have a long term sustained
injury to one of his throwing fingers, because not like

(06:28):
his offhand, where it's like, okay, you know it's his
off hand. You can do a little something like that
with like Jalen Hearns, you break one of your fingers
on his throwing hand and there's no way you can play,
there's no way you can hold on to the football.
So Sam Donald's health is paramount right now, and the
fact that he did not get injured despite the positions
that his hand was in is a very fortunate break

(06:51):
for the Minnesota Vikings organization and Minnesota Vikings fans in general.
Sam Donald made some comments after the football game. He said,
felt like we didn't play exactly like we wanted to
an offense tonight, but we got the job done exactly
exactly what I was seeing Jefferson drop a few darnold

(07:14):
in completions that he typically makes and just wasn't quite
as sharp as they typically are, and they still put
up thirty. So the fact that they could have put
up fifty maybe forty on a Chicago Bears team, that's
basically given it to you. You know, coming into this game,

(07:34):
I had no doubt that the Vikings would blow out
the Bears. I said it yesterday on the podcast because
the Bears are playing for nothing. They just got eliminated
for the playoffs. Their interim head coach Thomas Something has
no idea what he's doing, and he could see it
throughout the football game. He has no idea what he's doing.
He's in over his Skees, He's in over his head.

(07:55):
And you know what, Bears got eliminated. Vikings are still
playing for a division title. And the number one see
the ingredients are there for an absolute blowout and it's
exactly what happened. Vikings blow out the Bears by eighteen points,
one thirty to twelve. So that's takeaway number two. Take

(08:25):
Away number three. How can you not focus on just
how good the Minnesota Vikings defense was and just look
at statistically and either think about big plays in that game.
They were awesome from beginning to end. You take a

(08:45):
look at this stat here, and this stat really shows
a lot about the Minnesota Vikings defense. At the end
of the first half, I'm looking for it here, the
Minnesota Vikings defense did not give up a third down conversion.
This was posted by Vikings Communications on acts and it says,

(09:10):
for the first time since Week fifteen of the twenty
seventeen season versus Cincinnati, the Vikings held their opponents scoreless
and without a third down conversion in the first half
of the game minimum of five attempts. So the fact
that the Minnesota Vikings defense shut out the Bears in
the first half. They locked them down on two short

(09:31):
fourth down conversions would set up the Minnesota Vikings offense nicely.
Was huge and it really gave the Minnesota Vikings offense
a little cushion in a game where they weren't playing
to their standards of play. So it was cool to
see the Minnesota Vikings step up again and completely dominate.
Caleb Williams stripsacked by Jonathan Greener and who had some

(09:55):
hilarious comments following this football game. Jonathan Reener tonight in
the Minnesota Vikings locker room, take a look at this quote.
I'm gonna share the screen with you and I'll read
it to the podcast listeners. I tell everybody that strip
sack is the best feeling in the world. Sorry to
my wife, by the way. And the follow up question,

(10:17):
do you really mean that? And then Grenard says one
hundred percent she knows he might have been sleeping on
the couch that night. Well, I guess he said that
she knows, But do you really admit that publicly? That's
a that's a tough situation to admit to your wife. Anyways,

(10:40):
hilarious comment, spectacular play from Grenard, and the Minnesota Vikings
office completely flummoxed Caleb Williams. Caleb Williams eighteen for thirty one,
one hundred and ninety one yards and just was not
playing well at one touchdown, zero picks by But you know,

(11:00):
the Minnesota Vikings won thirty to twelve, and it didn't
even seem that close. It just felt like an absolute
beat down from beginning to end. And the Minnesota Vikings
are twelve and two. All right, that was on second here.

(11:23):
My last takeaway from the Minnesota Vikings victory over the
Chicago Bears is that Caleb Williams right now has a
lot to improve upon. Now. His situation isn't great in
terms of who's calling his plays and the head coach
and just the dysfunction within the organization. But at the
same time, he's got Keenan Allen, he's got Romeo Dunza,

(11:46):
he's got command out there. Those are solid offensive weapons
if you're a rookie quarterback in the NFL. And that's
why so many people had the Bears as an underdog,
surprising team that would potentially win the NSC North or
make a wild card team. And this is my fourth

(12:10):
takeaway because I want the first three to be about
the Minnesota Vikings, but you can't help but think about
just how bad Caleb Williams was in that game, missing
wide receivers left and right. And here's the problem with
Caleb Williams this game, for the most part, he was
making the right reads and looking at the wide receiver

(12:35):
that was open. He was just missing him with accuracy.
And as I was thinking about this, personally, I would
rather have a quarterback be a super accurate quarterback and
just make the wrong read because you can adjust those things,
and you can look at the tape and talk to

(12:56):
your coaches and figure out where the right throw should go,
versus make the right read and make poor passes towards
that wide receiver. We saw so many times Caleb Williams
overthrow Keenanen, Keenan Allen here, not accurate throw to Keenan
Allen there. He was not good in this football game.

(13:19):
And the statistics, you know, it wasn't great. Its eighteen
for thirty one ninety one yards, one touchdown, zero picks.
It does not demonstrate just how poorly he played in
this football game. Because sure, the Minnesota Vikings defense does
this to everybody, and you know, they really, you know,

(13:40):
play well basically against every opponent this year. There's only
two games the Rams and the Lions this year where
they weren't spectacular, but other than that, they've been dominant
almost every single game. But he was not good and
when he had time, he is overthrowing, underthrowing, side throwing.
He has got a long way to go for the

(14:02):
Chicago Bears to be an elite team. And you look
at other quarterbacks in the league that are in a
similar state as him Bo Nicks. They're going to be
a playoff team. Jaden Daniels looks like they're going to
be a playoff team. So you think about two other
rookie quarterbacks that are playing right now that have their

(14:22):
team in the playoff hunting, are most likely going to
make the playoffs. And here's Kayleb Williams missing wide receivers
left and right. It's not looking good and he has
got a lot to learn. And of course, I'm sure
the Chicago Bears are gonna look at bringing in an
offensive minded head coach, or maybe they won't if they're

(14:42):
really that stupid. But the Chicago Bears and Kaylan Williams
have a lot to figure out here, and I talked
a little bit about their interim head coach being over
his head, and he is. You think about the play
where you know, I made the comment about this game

(15:03):
felt like it was fifty to zero, but at the
same time, it really should have been closer than what
it was because the Chicago Bears just gifted away four
easy points. The offensive line men doesn't check in and
tell the official that he's an eligible wider, eligible player

(15:24):
that can catch the ball. Fullback comes in, goes into
the huddle, touchdown, Bears, Oh, no penalty, next play holding
field goal. So you know, as good as the Minnesota
Vikings were defensively, some of the credit goes to the
Chicago Bears for their terrible execution offensively. And it was
just the Chicago Bears are bad and they better hope

(15:50):
that it changes quickly because Caleb Williams wasn't looking good.
Their execution was terrible, and you know they're supposed to
be relying on this defense. Well, if your offense isn't
putting up many points, it's hard for the dvs to
be motivated to stop you. So the Chicago Bears are
really just not very good. And you know what, the

(16:11):
Minnesota Vikings escape without injury. For the most part, Brian
O'Neil came back into the football game, which was huge,
And that was one of my takeaways before the game started.
I was afraid that the Minnesota Vikings would have something
disastrous happened, like an injury to a key player. Almost
happen to Sam Donald, almost happened to Brian O'Neill, But

(16:33):
he came back to play. And now the Minnesota Vikings
are twelve and two and head to Seattle potentially without
Geno Smith, who sustained an injury against the Green Bay Packers,
and they have a chance to advance of thirteen and two.
And just say that, Just say that to yourself, thirteen
and two with Sam Donald, When you say that out

(16:55):
loud and you think about it, you meditate on it.
All you can do is give appreciation to what Kevin
O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings organization have done this year,
whether that's bringing in free agency guys or execution or
play con whatever the case may be. And of course

(17:16):
there's luck with injury and everything like that, but it
was it's been a season that's unforgettable. Best start since
nineteen ninety eight. It's incredible. Twelve and two, good chance
to enter thirteen and two territory next week, and you

(17:36):
control your own destiny when there's another team leading the
division that's also twelve and two, and the Packers were
right ten and four. So the Minnesota Vikings and their
season has been absolutely incredible. All right, everyone, thank you

(17:57):
for watching, thank you for listening, Thanks for going on
this journey with me, and if that, subscribe wherever you're
listening to podcasts,