December 13, 2024 • 22 mins
Welcome to Skol Stories presented by 3M - The official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, Mark Rosen and Pete Bercich reconnect with former Vikings head coach Mike Tice. Mike was in town for his charity event and gave us a few minutes to talk about why the Twin Cities are still important to him, the budding media career for his son Nate Tice, the importance of being a student of the game, the art of developing offensive line talent, and the hard truths of being an NFL coach. Plus, Pete and Mark look back at the week 14 victory over Atlanta and look ahead to the Bears matchup on Monday Night Football. All of this and more is in this edition of Skol Stories presented by 3M The official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Vikings fans, Ben Lever here, I'm so excited to
(00:02):
be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.
They love the tennis, the pickaball, the basketball, and of
course the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot
life to find a club nearest you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to School Stories, presented by three M, the official
science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we're joined by
former Vikings head coach Mike Tye.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Thanks again for tuning into another episode of School Stories.
Tonight's guest was a key Viking both on the field
and in the locker room. As a larger than much
larger than life, trust me personality and clutch performer, he
was a Viking through and through. Please enjoy tonight's conversation
with former Vikings tight end and head coach Mike Tye.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, Mike, welcome to the show. It's great to hear
from you. It was great to literally bump into you
at the US Bank Stadium in the course of the
Vikings win over Atlanta last Sunday. Give the fans a
chance to catch up with what you're up to these days,
and where you're living and how you're occupying your life.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Well, I'll tell you Mark, it's good to hear your voice.
And it was great to see you and Pete yesterday or
this week of the game. And I retired from coaching
after the seventeenth season. I was with the Raiders and
moved up to our home in Seattle that we've had
for almost thirty years. And then Mama decided the kids
got pregnant, and Mama decided we're going to go move
to where the kids are. So we sold our house
(01:29):
and we moved to Saint Louis and we moved to
Las Vegas, if you can believe that, and not a
real good spot if you're a pony player to beous. Yeah,
And we run a foundation. Diane and I and our
family run a foundation. We have no paid employees. We
give out the last two years over one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars to charities in five states. And in fact,
(01:51):
I'm in Minneapolis right now at the new Horizon Academy
down on North penn and we're going to give out
a hundred Winter Coach in a couple of minutes here,
and we're pretty excited about it.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, not giving out many of those out in Vegas
are you.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No, No, you need sunscreen.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
We get out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
He's speaking, you know, speaking of speaking of the kids,
and I wanted to talk to you about this quickly.
Was I got a chance to see Nate at training
camp this year. Uh, he's still involved, and I think
he's involved in a great way on the media side.
But he does a lot of great stuff on the
internet with watching film and I think he just talks
about the game in a different way. And you have
to be very proud of him and kind of just
(02:31):
let the fans know where they can find him.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah, Nate's do a great job. We're really excited, Diane
and I are excited that he got out of coaching
and started this media career. He works for Yahoo Sports now.
He worked a couple of years and did a podcast
for The Athletic, which of course is owned by the
New York Times. Now and last year he actually hired
Nate Barrelson's agent, and he got out of that contract
and he moved over to the Yahoo Sports. He also
(02:55):
signed a deal. He's been on the NFL network in
the morning Good Morning Football a couple of times, and
I'm really excited. I'm excited for him because he got
out of coaching. But he's worn all the hats, you know,
he's been a scout, he's been a great assistant, he's
been a quarterback coach for the Raiders, and then he
went and opened up a state farm agency and I
just was dian. I were praying he didn't get into coaching.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Again, because you know, all that moving you do, and.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
It's hard to make a great life. I was just
blessed to be in Minnesota for thirteen years. You know,
not a lot of people can say that. So yeah,
so yeah, we're proud of them, and we're proud of
my daughter. And I have two grandkids now I have
another one on the way. Man.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, Mike, I, first of all, number one, I appreciate
you letting me use your parking space at Bunnies all
these time other time, because it's really been a pleasure
to be there. But you know, all kidding aside, you
talk about all the stops you've made as a coach,
what is it about the Twin City area, Minneapolis, what
you're doing today that kind of keeps you drawn back
to this the Twin City area as a coach of
a player and everything else that you've done well.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
It's just like you know, being able to tease Pete
in the booth yesterday and see you.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
It's the people of people.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
It's the people at Minneapolis, and you know they don't
say Minnesota nice for no reason. There's a reason behind it.
Because the people in this community is the reason why, Diane,
I have so many friends here, so many deer friends here,
and it makes you keep coming back. I wish, you know,
we probably should come back more. But it's been a
couple of years of transition after retiring, and I think
(04:23):
we've carved our niche now, so we've kind of got
to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I think, hey, Mike, talk about the talk about the
game today, and I've thought about you. I don't know
how many just over the last couple of years, with
mainly with offensive line, because I think I still believe
you're one of, not the best offensive line coaches I've
ever been around. And thank you for all those long
staff meetings where I learned just a ton about football.
(04:46):
And Mike made this a point where yeah, you made
us you made the offense it through the defense and
vice versa. But you were absolutely correct when you said
this is you know, This is how you learn the game.
This is uh, you know, learning what the offense is
looking at and went the defenses and and I wouldn't
be able to do what I do now if it
wasn't for coaching, and definitely for being with you in
the in what you demanded out of all of us,
(05:08):
and that's to know everything, right is to learn as
much as you can. And I'm just saying thank you,
and I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Well, you know, Pete, You know, Pete, I loved having
you around and it was it was really a pleasure
for me to be able to develop some young former
players into great coaches and uh and you you know
you could have had a career in coaching them. Thankful
that you didn't, because you don't want to keep moving.
You don't want to keep you don't want to keep moving,
believe me. And so you know, I just I've always
(05:36):
learned you need to be a student of the game.
And no matter what you do, no matter what you're
gonna you want to do with your life, you've got
to be a student game. You got to learn as
much about what your job is as you can. And
and that's why I was probably a little more demanding
than than other coaches. We we we did meet a lot.
Oh yeah, we had all good coaches and a lot
(05:56):
of our coaches could wear multiple hats, which was nice.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I remember Ron Rivera talking to him after the last
game of the year in two thousand and five and
him telling telling me before the game that we've we
did more with less than anybody in the league, and
we have a winning record. Uh to finish the season
with them with a winning record, and but still the
ability to be with guys like Greg Beekert and and
(06:20):
some of those other some of the other uh, you
know linebackers that we bet Chris Claiborne, and yeah, I
mean we we had We had a lot of fun though,
didn't we.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It was my god, yeah, yeah, so you know it
was it was just a let's laud ourselves a little
bit here. We went into Green Bay and won a
playoff game in Green Bay. I don't think any other
head coach.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Mike, talking about offensive line play in the league, what
do you think the status is of offensive line play?
I mean, and you mentioned something and you were talking
about your brother John, who you know. I hope he's
doing well too. But John always had guys that played
really well, but none of them were high draft picks.
You know, I'm looking back at our offensive line, like
Chris Lewinsky, Mike Rosenthal, Corey Withrow. I mean, you turned
(07:10):
a lot of late round draft picks into very very
good starters. Can you mold these guys like this anymore?
Do you have enough time? Is there not enough practice
with pads anymore? I mean, what do you think of
all this?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
And I think that's a great question, Pete. I think
that tribute to that for the ability to develop these
young players was because of Denny Green. Because Denny Green
always told me we're not going to give you the
high pick, because you know, we had a couple of
high picks before I got there, Corey Stringer gotta bless him,
and Todd Stucey, and of course Randall was a teammates
(07:43):
with Randall, But because we had other voids defensively and
at other positions, we never drafted a high offensive lineman.
So what he said, I'm going to give you a
seven of un pick. I'll give you any round pick.
I'll give you a sixth round pick. And then he
sent me on the road. And go try to find
what chuck, here's another chuck nuts to go find a ruby,
(08:04):
you know, dust it off, polish it up, and turned
that little piece of stone into a ruby. And so
we because of Danny Green allowed me the time to develop,
and he would give me three years on a guy,
and so if the guy wasn't starting in three years,
he had run him out the door. And so we
didn't run a lot of guys out the door. We
developed guys and we were able to play back. I
(08:27):
think one of my greatest coaching jobs was Matt Burke.
You know, the guy we drafted from Harvard in the
sixth round, left tackle at Harvard, and Frankie Gilliam pointed
him out. God bless Frankie. Two is He pointed him
out to me on film and he said, listen, this
kid played in the East West shrink game. You should go.
You should go work this kid out. But he's not
(08:49):
a left tackle. And we brought him in and he
was so smart. He swung at a lot of positions.
And then his third year, Denny said, let's let's get
rid of this center and let's move Matt to center.
And we're over scrimmage and remember we used to scrimmage
over the Chiefs over and Wisconsin, and and Denny turned
(09:11):
to me and said, let's do it right now and
one on ones. And so we did it one on ones.
He locked down every single guy he blocked, and we
looked at each other and kind of smiled Denny and
I and it's like, Okay, there's our new future center.
Of course, Matt Burke made a couple of Pro Bowls
and had a great career.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
One other, I guess you want to Yeah, absolutely. Brian
McKinney was on our school Stories and he talked very
highly of the work that you did with him, and
what your recollections of working with Brian McKinney all those years.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Well, he was the highest pick we drafted an Olne.
When I was the head coach, there was a lot
of conversation about him. I always took advice from Scott
Studwell in the draft room because Scott, you know, had
a great feel for talent. So what what we were
torn between a couple of players in that draft, We've
got We got McKinney, and about a really good relationship
(10:03):
with his mom. So at any time that he would
annoy me, I told him. I was calling his mom
and he shaped up, so asked him about that next
thing the best.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, we saw that with Aaron Jones and his mom.
His mom basically told him how they should have taken
you out of the game for fumbling last week.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Yeah, and what happened this week didn't fumble? How about that?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Well? I heard I saw an interview with Lama Jacks's mother,
Yell and from not running the ball to them.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Watching watching Kevin O'Connell right now, what he's doing with
this team and his relationship with his players at his
young age. What are your thoughts about koc and developing
a team that was only supposed to win six games
this year?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
I love him. I'm a big fan. I text him
every week good luck and congratulations and a lot of
congratulations of you know, the last six weeks. And he's
doing a great job. He's doing a tremendous job. He's
put together an excellent staff. These kids believe in his message,
and they're playing hard for him, and they're playing smart
for him, and uh, you know, he's a fabulous job.
(11:07):
I'm a big fan.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And and how about Brian Flores? Do you know anything
about him? It's I think he's doing a great job.
A couple of years ago, I thought he should have
been up for a head job. He got ahead job,
it didn't work out, and I think his turn is
going to come. So they're telling me to wrap up
over here, and they give out some coats. Sure, yeah,
I'm sorry boy, that's all right.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
We can do this. The kids come first. I love
you guys, but the kids come fast. We can do this,
we can. We can do this again though. If you
want to.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Sometime, absolutely well, well we'll make sure that West he's
all over you. Yeah, your your guide, your your Yeah,
your your game day guide.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Absolutely well, listen, listen. I we appreciate the time you
had for us today. It's great to catch up.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Ye storry to cut your short, but I got kids
waiting on these coats.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Thank you for sharing your school stories. Stick around right
here on school stories presented by three M from the
field to the roof and everywhere in between. Three Official,
It's partner of the Minnesota Vikings is here. Visit Vikings
dot com slash school Science to learn more.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings Dropped. Head
to U n r L dot com for more details.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, thanks again to Mike Tys for joining the show today.
We always loved catching up with the very colorful Mike Tyson.
I do have that spot at Bunnies, all said all
the time I come on beat me.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Well, here's the thing is, I played with Mike too.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I know you did, right. They brought him back. I
mean when I was while I was playing and Denny
would do that. Denny would always want to bring back
a familiar face and stay of somebody that the locker
room didn't know. So I got to play with Chris Dolman,
Mike Tice, Steve Jordan, right, I mean there were some
there's some guys whose flags are hanging up and that
(12:51):
I had the chance to play with for a short time.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So yeah, that's one of my favorite stories. When I
was on IR, Denny brought me up and said, you
bring it bringing Chris Dolman back.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I need your number home. I'm like, are you asking me?
You're telling me? He's like, I'm telling you, all right,
Coach sale Well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Recapping last week, as we know, the Vikings extended the
winning streak to six forty two to twenty one thumping
of the Atlanta Falcons. After Atlanta took the opening kickoff,
went right down the field, made it look really easy.
They're thinking, this is going to be another nail bier.
We're so used to it, and the Vikings have been
really good at it, winning those close games in the
fourth quarter. But for once they did not have to
(13:27):
sweat it out as the game went on late in
the fourth quarter. Pete, Now, huh, Yeah, that was refreshing.
And obviously a lot of it had to do with
the sling and Sammy Darnold with those five touchdown passes.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It did, and I think another part of that whole
another part of the game is we were plus three
and didn't turn the ball over one time, right, so
we had you know, the first interception by Mattellis. I
don't think we netted any points out of that, but
at the time, it was very heavily time of possession.
Everything was very heavily favored with Atlanta. I thought Cousins
(13:59):
did a very good job of knowing where to go
with the football and just making good decisions. I think
the interception to Mattelis is just he and the receiver
not being on the same page he expected. I think
Mattellis that was an unbelievable play, but he expected the
receiver to break in instead of go out on the
seven and so miscommunication. They weren't horrible interceptions, right, It
(14:23):
wasn't as if he was booting out and there was
a guy stayed in a flat that he never saw.
So defensively, when you face a veteran quarterback, and it
seems like the more he watched this defense, the veterans
that know what to do with the ball are a
tougher challenge for us, more so than an even athletic quarterback.
But yeah, Donald looked fantastic, and it's just us not
(14:44):
turning the football over and being smart with.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
It is the big help.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
That's why we were able to, you know, put up
forty two and make that game, you know, that much
of a lead at the end.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
To dissect Donald a little bit more. Where do you
think he is appreciably made the biggest to impact and
the biggest improvement since the beginning of the year of
avoiding the rush, those sideline passes that he throws with
great touch. I mean, there's a lot of things that
we're watching that Sam Darnald, I don't think people realize
his evasiveness.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You don't have to be Patrick Mahomes to avoid a rush.
But Sam Darnald has done a marvelous job of keeping
his eyes downfield and doing the things that the great
quarterbacks do.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
He's a great athlete, which is why he was chosen
third overall. Right, he's a big guy. He's not a scrambling,
let's say, quarterback, but he's a very good athlete, more
like Herbert right, you know, just being able to keep
plays alive. I think him protecting the football when he
is scrambling. It's kind of like there are certain times
when you get to know one to hold him and
(15:43):
no one to fold the meaning sometimes you're going to
get sacked and there's nothing you can do. Protect the
football on your way down and then live to play,
you know, not bail out and roll out and try
to make something out of nothing, but choose your spots
when you're going to use your legs. And when he
did and was able to extend plays, it's like you
got to You have to be able to feel the
rush and know where it's coming from.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
You can't stare at it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You can't look at it because once you start looking
at it you lose track of what's happening down the field.
So there's no way he can He's not looking at
the rush, he's just feeling it and he just instinctively
knows where to avoid it in the meantime, protecting the
football and then as he comes out of it, keeping
his eyes down the field. And I think that's something
that both he and the receivers have done a better
job of. And I've seen Justin do it and over
(16:28):
the last couple of weeks. Is when you have a
clock in your head, right you as a receiver, this
is the offenses are about timing. It's a seven step drop.
I've got this. I'm gonna make my break. I'm gonna
look and if the ball's not on its way, I'm
not just gonna quit my route because Donald's doing his
thing so that I'm just gonna bend it and go
vertically or I'm gonna do, you know, do something different.
And then we've we've made some plays that way, like
(16:49):
our off schedule plays. Is how is how the coaches
talk about it. I think his ability to get to
that point has improved quite a bit. Uh And we
saw we saw him make a couple off schedule play
because I mean, let's face it, between Addison and Hockinson
and JJ, these three guys can get themselves open and
if if you have a quarterback that can extend to play,
(17:09):
I mean, you know, these three guys are going to
make things happen. But it's just getting everybody on the
on the same page. And it's such a subtle, little difference,
but it's huge. We have you know, we haven't seen
Darnold just take a sack and fumble and you know
what I mean, all those things he's managing better.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
It's really really difficult to excel at every level of
the game. And right now the Vikings have shown some
weakness in terms of defending the run. You know, maybe
the missing Ivan paced, maybe it's a scheme, whatever it
might be. It's a copycat league. You know that as
we get into the throes of the rest of the
schedule of the month of December, of the opponents that
are that are coming up, they're all going to try
to be doing the same thing. But are you noticing
(17:46):
some things as a former linebacker yourself, that the Vikings
need to improve on or is it just hey, listen,
this is the way it is the ninety eight team
as great as it was. Yeah, it didn't have the
best defense in the world.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
They didn't have to. No, we did not.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And that's uh if we actually talked that during the game,
when when the backups got in there and I was
I was talking with Paul and I'm like, yeah, I'm
this is big for me because this is when I
played right, when the when the when, This is when, when,
as foage Fasio called us, the unteachables could get out
there and play a little bit. Yeah, the run game,
is it a concern? Yeah, you want to get better.
(18:19):
I think it's it's the problem in the NFL. Sometimes
it's not one thing. If it was just a guy
that was a problem, you can get rid of the
problem right and fix it. It's the defensive tackles giving
up a little bit too much. It's the outside linebacker
playing a little bit too wide and then combo that
with the inside linebacker maybe not reading it perfectly or
not being physical enough at the point of attack.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
So, yeah, you miss Ivan Pace, you miss a guy
like that, you know, you go into the game with
I think Harrison Phillips was questionable, so you know he's
nicked up. We don't have a lot of depth at
the interior defensive lineman because they're those guys are Bullard
and artillery. Those guys are not on the field on
third down, right, So you're you're putting in your jahad
Wards and some of those other smaller guys gass rushing
guys on the field and third down. So I think
(19:03):
it's a combo platter, you know, of all that, don't
John Robinson's a good running back. Damn This offensive line
is very good.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
What they remind me of is the is the Denver
Broncos back probably twenty years ago, and they just ran
that zone play right and they would hold the living
hell out of back when you could dive on the
back of guy's legs and they would hurt. That offense
is reminiscent of that. I think they got. What's unfortunate
for them is they get the They got a crew
referee crew that called more holding penalties than anybody in
(19:32):
the league, and they they kind of, you know, they
got them. So penalties killed them.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
So looking ahead, we know that the Vikings played the
Bears was a few weeks ago. They had a disastrous
game Sunday in San Francisco. I mean they went, they
went eighteen steps backwards. So Monday night football, you know,
you know the Caleb Williams is kind of shaking his head.
They changed their head coaches. How do you make sure
that you don't let down in this game? I guess
you just look at the standings and realize they got
(19:58):
to stay close to Detroit.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You got to let them, you know, as quickly as possible.
Tonight's not your night. Tonight's not the night you guys
are going to rebound. Tonight's not to night that you're
going to go home on that plane and feel good.
Maybe next week, but not this week. So starting fast,
I think is huge against the team like the Bears.
They know us, we know them, so it's gonna be
a little bit more difficult. These divisional games always are
in that respect. But you can't go ahead and make
(20:22):
mistakes and let them think or feel that they are
in this game. If you hit them in the mouth
right away and get them to just say, Okay, this
is not the week, right. It's that mentality because what
are they playing for? And usually what's so weird about
this is usually when a head coach gets fired, you
get a bump that next week, Right, everybody, everybody's sitting
up in their seats a little bit straighter, and you know,
(20:45):
you're worried about to because they because the players know, okay,
they're going to fire the coach first and then we're next,
so that's always in the back of their mind. But
to put up and I'm very interested to watch the
film and get more road on what happened. But the
first half of that forty nine ers game. Something's missing there,
and hopefully they won't find it. But it's National TV,
right who wants to look bad at National TV on
(21:07):
Monday night football, So they're going to be prepared. Don't
expect the Bears team that shows up Monday to be
the one that showed up the first half of the
forty nine Ers game.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
They're going to be much better.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Well, keep in mind too, that the Vikings have the
benefit of playing Monday night and the Lions are hosting
the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. So I mean, we'll
know where we sit right now with an opportunity potentially
moving to a time for first place because we know
what's the rest of the schedule hold. So it's a
lot of fun to kind of just dissect that. Look
at all the playoff possibilities. Who imagine that we would
(21:38):
be in this situation.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I think we're I think everybody. I think we kind
of know who the players are going to be, right
at least in the NFC side going into the playoffs.
It's just who's going to go where. It's unbelievable, but
that's what the NFL wants. That's why they schedule heavy division.
You know, schedule your division heavy. At the end of
the season.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, NFC North continues to dominate, no questions. I mentioned
We're coming back to the US Bank Stadium for the
Winter White Out game in primetime Monday Night football against
I always want to do the Howard Cole Seale voice
against the Chicago Bears. The TV coverage will be over
on ESPN and ABC at seven o'clock Central here in
the Twin Cities, so be sure to check your local
listings for more details. Of course, you can also catch
(22:17):
Paul Allen, Ben Leeber and the one and Milli Pete
Versuch with the call right here all across the Vikings
Radio network. The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at
five PM on KFN, so be sure to tune in
with host Mike Mussman and the rest of the crew
leading up to kickoff on Monday night. Thanks again to
Mike Tice for joining the show, and thank you fans
for tuning into another edition of Skulls Stories presented by
(22:39):
three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings.
For Pete Versus, I'm Mark Rosen. We'll see you again
all next week.
Hey, Vikings fans, Ben Lever here, I'm so excited to
(00:02):
be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.
They love the tennis, the pickaball, the basketball, and of
course the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot
life to find a club nearest you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to School Stories, presented by three M, the official
science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we're joined by
former Vikings head coach Mike Tye.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Thanks again for tuning into another episode of School Stories.
Tonight's guest was a key Viking both on the field
and in the locker room. As a larger than much
larger than life, trust me personality and clutch performer, he
was a Viking through and through. Please enjoy tonight's conversation
with former Vikings tight end and head coach Mike Tye.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, Mike, welcome to the show. It's great to hear
from you. It was great to literally bump into you
at the US Bank Stadium in the course of the
Vikings win over Atlanta last Sunday. Give the fans a
chance to catch up with what you're up to these days,
and where you're living and how you're occupying your life.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Well, I'll tell you Mark, it's good to hear your voice.
And it was great to see you and Pete yesterday or
this week of the game. And I retired from coaching
after the seventeenth season. I was with the Raiders and
moved up to our home in Seattle that we've had
for almost thirty years. And then Mama decided the kids
got pregnant, and Mama decided we're going to go move
to where the kids are. So we sold our house
(01:29):
and we moved to Saint Louis and we moved to
Las Vegas, if you can believe that, and not a
real good spot if you're a pony player to beous. Yeah,
And we run a foundation. Diane and I and our
family run a foundation. We have no paid employees. We
give out the last two years over one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars to charities in five states. And in fact,
(01:51):
I'm in Minneapolis right now at the new Horizon Academy
down on North penn and we're going to give out
a hundred Winter Coach in a couple of minutes here,
and we're pretty excited about it.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, not giving out many of those out in Vegas
are you.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
No, No, you need sunscreen.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
We get out.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
He's speaking, you know, speaking of speaking of the kids,
and I wanted to talk to you about this quickly.
Was I got a chance to see Nate at training
camp this year. Uh, he's still involved, and I think
he's involved in a great way on the media side.
But he does a lot of great stuff on the
internet with watching film and I think he just talks
about the game in a different way. And you have
to be very proud of him and kind of just
(02:31):
let the fans know where they can find him.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah, Nate's do a great job. We're really excited, Diane
and I are excited that he got out of coaching
and started this media career. He works for Yahoo Sports now.
He worked a couple of years and did a podcast
for The Athletic, which of course is owned by the
New York Times. Now and last year he actually hired
Nate Barrelson's agent, and he got out of that contract
and he moved over to the Yahoo Sports. He also
(02:55):
signed a deal. He's been on the NFL network in
the morning Good Morning Football a couple of times, and
I'm really excited. I'm excited for him because he got
out of coaching. But he's worn all the hats, you know,
he's been a scout, he's been a great assistant, he's
been a quarterback coach for the Raiders, and then he
went and opened up a state farm agency and I
just was dian. I were praying he didn't get into coaching.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Again, because you know, all that moving you do, and.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
It's hard to make a great life. I was just
blessed to be in Minnesota for thirteen years. You know,
not a lot of people can say that. So yeah,
so yeah, we're proud of them, and we're proud of
my daughter. And I have two grandkids now I have
another one on the way. Man.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, Mike, I, first of all, number one, I appreciate
you letting me use your parking space at Bunnies all
these time other time, because it's really been a pleasure
to be there. But you know, all kidding aside, you
talk about all the stops you've made as a coach,
what is it about the Twin City area, Minneapolis, what
you're doing today that kind of keeps you drawn back
to this the Twin City area as a coach of
a player and everything else that you've done well.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
It's just like you know, being able to tease Pete
in the booth yesterday and see you.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
It's the people of people.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
It's the people at Minneapolis, and you know they don't
say Minnesota nice for no reason. There's a reason behind it.
Because the people in this community is the reason why, Diane,
I have so many friends here, so many deer friends here,
and it makes you keep coming back. I wish, you know,
we probably should come back more. But it's been a
couple of years of transition after retiring, and I think
(04:23):
we've carved our niche now, so we've kind of got
to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I think, hey, Mike, talk about the talk about the
game today, and I've thought about you. I don't know
how many just over the last couple of years, with
mainly with offensive line, because I think I still believe
you're one of, not the best offensive line coaches I've
ever been around. And thank you for all those long
staff meetings where I learned just a ton about football.
(04:46):
And Mike made this a point where yeah, you made
us you made the offense it through the defense and
vice versa. But you were absolutely correct when you said
this is you know, This is how you learn the game.
This is uh, you know, learning what the offense is
looking at and went the defenses and and I wouldn't
be able to do what I do now if it
wasn't for coaching, and definitely for being with you in
the in what you demanded out of all of us,
(05:08):
and that's to know everything, right is to learn as
much as you can. And I'm just saying thank you,
and I appreciate that very much.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Well, you know, Pete, You know, Pete, I loved having
you around and it was it was really a pleasure
for me to be able to develop some young former
players into great coaches and uh and you you know
you could have had a career in coaching them. Thankful
that you didn't, because you don't want to keep moving.
You don't want to keep you don't want to keep moving,
believe me. And so you know, I just I've always
(05:36):
learned you need to be a student of the game.
And no matter what you do, no matter what you're
gonna you want to do with your life, you've got
to be a student game. You got to learn as
much about what your job is as you can. And
and that's why I was probably a little more demanding
than than other coaches. We we we did meet a lot.
Oh yeah, we had all good coaches and a lot
(05:56):
of our coaches could wear multiple hats, which was nice.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I remember Ron Rivera talking to him after the last
game of the year in two thousand and five and
him telling telling me before the game that we've we
did more with less than anybody in the league, and
we have a winning record. Uh to finish the season
with them with a winning record, and but still the
ability to be with guys like Greg Beekert and and
(06:20):
some of those other some of the other uh, you
know linebackers that we bet Chris Claiborne, and yeah, I
mean we we had We had a lot of fun though,
didn't we.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It was my god, yeah, yeah, so you know it
was it was just a let's laud ourselves a little
bit here. We went into Green Bay and won a
playoff game in Green Bay. I don't think any other
head coach.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Mike, talking about offensive line play in the league, what
do you think the status is of offensive line play?
I mean, and you mentioned something and you were talking
about your brother John, who you know. I hope he's
doing well too. But John always had guys that played
really well, but none of them were high draft picks.
You know, I'm looking back at our offensive line, like
Chris Lewinsky, Mike Rosenthal, Corey Withrow. I mean, you turned
(07:10):
a lot of late round draft picks into very very
good starters. Can you mold these guys like this anymore?
Do you have enough time? Is there not enough practice
with pads anymore? I mean, what do you think of
all this?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
And I think that's a great question, Pete. I think
that tribute to that for the ability to develop these
young players was because of Denny Green. Because Denny Green
always told me we're not going to give you the
high pick, because you know, we had a couple of
high picks before I got there, Corey Stringer gotta bless him,
and Todd Stucey, and of course Randall was a teammates
(07:43):
with Randall, But because we had other voids defensively and
at other positions, we never drafted a high offensive lineman.
So what he said, I'm going to give you a
seven of un pick. I'll give you any round pick.
I'll give you a sixth round pick. And then he
sent me on the road. And go try to find
what chuck, here's another chuck nuts to go find a ruby,
(08:04):
you know, dust it off, polish it up, and turned
that little piece of stone into a ruby. And so
we because of Danny Green allowed me the time to develop,
and he would give me three years on a guy,
and so if the guy wasn't starting in three years,
he had run him out the door. And so we
didn't run a lot of guys out the door. We
developed guys and we were able to play back. I
(08:27):
think one of my greatest coaching jobs was Matt Burke.
You know, the guy we drafted from Harvard in the
sixth round, left tackle at Harvard, and Frankie Gilliam pointed
him out. God bless Frankie. Two is He pointed him
out to me on film and he said, listen, this
kid played in the East West shrink game. You should go.
You should go work this kid out. But he's not
(08:49):
a left tackle. And we brought him in and he
was so smart. He swung at a lot of positions.
And then his third year, Denny said, let's let's get
rid of this center and let's move Matt to center.
And we're over scrimmage and remember we used to scrimmage
over the Chiefs over and Wisconsin, and and Denny turned
(09:11):
to me and said, let's do it right now and
one on ones. And so we did it one on ones.
He locked down every single guy he blocked, and we
looked at each other and kind of smiled Denny and
I and it's like, Okay, there's our new future center.
Of course, Matt Burke made a couple of Pro Bowls
and had a great career.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
One other, I guess you want to Yeah, absolutely. Brian
McKinney was on our school Stories and he talked very
highly of the work that you did with him, and
what your recollections of working with Brian McKinney all those years.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Well, he was the highest pick we drafted an Olne.
When I was the head coach, there was a lot
of conversation about him. I always took advice from Scott
Studwell in the draft room because Scott, you know, had
a great feel for talent. So what what we were
torn between a couple of players in that draft, We've
got We got McKinney, and about a really good relationship
(10:03):
with his mom. So at any time that he would
annoy me, I told him. I was calling his mom
and he shaped up, so asked him about that next
thing the best.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, we saw that with Aaron Jones and his mom.
His mom basically told him how they should have taken
you out of the game for fumbling last week.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Yeah, and what happened this week didn't fumble? How about that?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Well? I heard I saw an interview with Lama Jacks's mother,
Yell and from not running the ball to them.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Watching watching Kevin O'Connell right now, what he's doing with
this team and his relationship with his players at his
young age. What are your thoughts about koc and developing
a team that was only supposed to win six games
this year?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
I love him. I'm a big fan. I text him
every week good luck and congratulations and a lot of
congratulations of you know, the last six weeks. And he's
doing a great job. He's doing a tremendous job. He's
put together an excellent staff. These kids believe in his message,
and they're playing hard for him, and they're playing smart
for him, and uh, you know, he's a fabulous job.
(11:07):
I'm a big fan.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And and how about Brian Flores? Do you know anything
about him? It's I think he's doing a great job.
A couple of years ago, I thought he should have
been up for a head job. He got ahead job,
it didn't work out, and I think his turn is
going to come. So they're telling me to wrap up
over here, and they give out some coats. Sure, yeah,
I'm sorry boy, that's all right.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
We can do this. The kids come first. I love
you guys, but the kids come fast. We can do this,
we can. We can do this again though. If you
want to.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Sometime, absolutely well, well we'll make sure that West he's
all over you. Yeah, your your guide, your your Yeah,
your your game day guide.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Absolutely well, listen, listen. I we appreciate the time you
had for us today. It's great to catch up.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Ye storry to cut your short, but I got kids
waiting on these coats.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Thank you for sharing your school stories. Stick around right
here on school stories presented by three M from the
field to the roof and everywhere in between. Three Official,
It's partner of the Minnesota Vikings is here. Visit Vikings
dot com slash school Science to learn more.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings Dropped. Head
to U n r L dot com for more details.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Well, thanks again to Mike Tys for joining the show today.
We always loved catching up with the very colorful Mike Tyson.
I do have that spot at Bunnies, all said all
the time I come on beat me.
Speaker 5 (12:25):
Well, here's the thing is, I played with Mike too.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I know you did, right. They brought him back. I
mean when I was while I was playing and Denny
would do that. Denny would always want to bring back
a familiar face and stay of somebody that the locker
room didn't know. So I got to play with Chris Dolman,
Mike Tice, Steve Jordan, right, I mean there were some
there's some guys whose flags are hanging up and that
(12:51):
I had the chance to play with for a short time.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So yeah, that's one of my favorite stories. When I
was on IR, Denny brought me up and said, you
bring it bringing Chris Dolman back.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
I need your number home. I'm like, are you asking me?
You're telling me? He's like, I'm telling you, all right,
Coach sale Well.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Recapping last week, as we know, the Vikings extended the
winning streak to six forty two to twenty one thumping
of the Atlanta Falcons. After Atlanta took the opening kickoff,
went right down the field, made it look really easy.
They're thinking, this is going to be another nail bier.
We're so used to it, and the Vikings have been
really good at it, winning those close games in the
fourth quarter. But for once they did not have to
(13:27):
sweat it out as the game went on late in
the fourth quarter. Pete, Now, huh, Yeah, that was refreshing.
And obviously a lot of it had to do with
the sling and Sammy Darnold with those five touchdown passes.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It did, and I think another part of that whole
another part of the game is we were plus three
and didn't turn the ball over one time, right, so
we had you know, the first interception by Mattellis. I
don't think we netted any points out of that, but
at the time, it was very heavily time of possession.
Everything was very heavily favored with Atlanta. I thought Cousins
(13:59):
did a very good job of knowing where to go
with the football and just making good decisions. I think
the interception to Mattelis is just he and the receiver
not being on the same page he expected. I think
Mattellis that was an unbelievable play, but he expected the
receiver to break in instead of go out on the
seven and so miscommunication. They weren't horrible interceptions, right, It
(14:23):
wasn't as if he was booting out and there was
a guy stayed in a flat that he never saw.
So defensively, when you face a veteran quarterback, and it
seems like the more he watched this defense, the veterans
that know what to do with the ball are a
tougher challenge for us, more so than an even athletic quarterback.
But yeah, Donald looked fantastic, and it's just us not
(14:44):
turning the football over and being smart with.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
It is the big help.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
That's why we were able to, you know, put up
forty two and make that game, you know, that much
of a lead at the end.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
To dissect Donald a little bit more. Where do you
think he is appreciably made the biggest to impact and
the biggest improvement since the beginning of the year of
avoiding the rush, those sideline passes that he throws with
great touch. I mean, there's a lot of things that
we're watching that Sam Darnald, I don't think people realize
his evasiveness.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
You don't have to be Patrick Mahomes to avoid a rush.
But Sam Darnald has done a marvelous job of keeping
his eyes downfield and doing the things that the great
quarterbacks do.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
He's a great athlete, which is why he was chosen
third overall. Right, he's a big guy. He's not a scrambling,
let's say, quarterback, but he's a very good athlete, more
like Herbert right, you know, just being able to keep
plays alive. I think him protecting the football when he
is scrambling. It's kind of like there are certain times
when you get to know one to hold him and
(15:43):
no one to fold the meaning sometimes you're going to
get sacked and there's nothing you can do. Protect the
football on your way down and then live to play,
you know, not bail out and roll out and try
to make something out of nothing, but choose your spots
when you're going to use your legs. And when he
did and was able to extend plays, it's like you
got to You have to be able to feel the
rush and know where it's coming from.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
You can't stare at it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
You can't look at it because once you start looking
at it you lose track of what's happening down the field.
So there's no way he can He's not looking at
the rush, he's just feeling it and he just instinctively
knows where to avoid it in the meantime, protecting the
football and then as he comes out of it, keeping
his eyes down the field. And I think that's something
that both he and the receivers have done a better
job of. And I've seen Justin do it and over
(16:28):
the last couple of weeks. Is when you have a
clock in your head, right you as a receiver, this
is the offenses are about timing. It's a seven step drop.
I've got this. I'm gonna make my break. I'm gonna
look and if the ball's not on its way, I'm
not just gonna quit my route because Donald's doing his
thing so that I'm just gonna bend it and go
vertically or I'm gonna do, you know, do something different.
And then we've we've made some plays that way, like
(16:49):
our off schedule plays. Is how is how the coaches
talk about it. I think his ability to get to
that point has improved quite a bit. Uh And we
saw we saw him make a couple off schedule play
because I mean, let's face it, between Addison and Hockinson
and JJ, these three guys can get themselves open and
if if you have a quarterback that can extend to play,
(17:09):
I mean, you know, these three guys are going to
make things happen. But it's just getting everybody on the
on the same page. And it's such a subtle, little difference,
but it's huge. We have you know, we haven't seen
Darnold just take a sack and fumble and you know
what I mean, all those things he's managing better.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
It's really really difficult to excel at every level of
the game. And right now the Vikings have shown some
weakness in terms of defending the run. You know, maybe
the missing Ivan paced, maybe it's a scheme, whatever it
might be. It's a copycat league. You know that as
we get into the throes of the rest of the
schedule of the month of December, of the opponents that
are that are coming up, they're all going to try
to be doing the same thing. But are you noticing
(17:46):
some things as a former linebacker yourself, that the Vikings
need to improve on or is it just hey, listen,
this is the way it is the ninety eight team
as great as it was. Yeah, it didn't have the
best defense in the world.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
They didn't have to. No, we did not.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And that's uh if we actually talked that during the game,
when when the backups got in there and I was
I was talking with Paul and I'm like, yeah, I'm
this is big for me because this is when I
played right, when the when the when, This is when, when,
as foage Fasio called us, the unteachables could get out
there and play a little bit. Yeah, the run game,
is it a concern? Yeah, you want to get better.
(18:19):
I think it's it's the problem in the NFL. Sometimes
it's not one thing. If it was just a guy
that was a problem, you can get rid of the
problem right and fix it. It's the defensive tackles giving
up a little bit too much. It's the outside linebacker
playing a little bit too wide and then combo that
with the inside linebacker maybe not reading it perfectly or
not being physical enough at the point of attack.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
So, yeah, you miss Ivan Pace, you miss a guy
like that, you know, you go into the game with
I think Harrison Phillips was questionable, so you know he's
nicked up. We don't have a lot of depth at
the interior defensive lineman because they're those guys are Bullard
and artillery. Those guys are not on the field on
third down, right, So you're you're putting in your jahad
Wards and some of those other smaller guys gass rushing
guys on the field and third down. So I think
(19:03):
it's a combo platter, you know, of all that, don't
John Robinson's a good running back. Damn This offensive line
is very good.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
What they remind me of is the is the Denver
Broncos back probably twenty years ago, and they just ran
that zone play right and they would hold the living
hell out of back when you could dive on the
back of guy's legs and they would hurt. That offense
is reminiscent of that. I think they got. What's unfortunate
for them is they get the They got a crew
referee crew that called more holding penalties than anybody in
(19:32):
the league, and they they kind of, you know, they
got them. So penalties killed them.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
So looking ahead, we know that the Vikings played the
Bears was a few weeks ago. They had a disastrous
game Sunday in San Francisco. I mean they went, they
went eighteen steps backwards. So Monday night football, you know,
you know the Caleb Williams is kind of shaking his head.
They changed their head coaches. How do you make sure
that you don't let down in this game? I guess
you just look at the standings and realize they got
(19:58):
to stay close to Detroit.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You got to let them, you know, as quickly as possible.
Tonight's not your night. Tonight's not the night you guys
are going to rebound. Tonight's not to night that you're
going to go home on that plane and feel good.
Maybe next week, but not this week. So starting fast,
I think is huge against the team like the Bears.
They know us, we know them, so it's gonna be
a little bit more difficult. These divisional games always are
in that respect. But you can't go ahead and make
(20:22):
mistakes and let them think or feel that they are
in this game. If you hit them in the mouth
right away and get them to just say, Okay, this
is not the week, right. It's that mentality because what
are they playing for? And usually what's so weird about
this is usually when a head coach gets fired, you
get a bump that next week, Right, everybody, everybody's sitting
up in their seats a little bit straighter, and you know,
(20:45):
you're worried about to because they because the players know, okay,
they're going to fire the coach first and then we're next,
so that's always in the back of their mind. But
to put up and I'm very interested to watch the
film and get more road on what happened. But the
first half of that forty nine ers game. Something's missing there,
and hopefully they won't find it. But it's National TV,
right who wants to look bad at National TV on
(21:07):
Monday night football, So they're going to be prepared. Don't
expect the Bears team that shows up Monday to be
the one that showed up the first half of the
forty nine Ers game.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
They're going to be much better.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Well, keep in mind too, that the Vikings have the
benefit of playing Monday night and the Lions are hosting
the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. So I mean, we'll
know where we sit right now with an opportunity potentially
moving to a time for first place because we know
what's the rest of the schedule hold. So it's a
lot of fun to kind of just dissect that. Look
at all the playoff possibilities. Who imagine that we would
(21:38):
be in this situation.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I think we're I think everybody. I think we kind
of know who the players are going to be, right
at least in the NFC side going into the playoffs.
It's just who's going to go where. It's unbelievable, but
that's what the NFL wants. That's why they schedule heavy division.
You know, schedule your division heavy. At the end of
the season.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, NFC North continues to dominate, no questions. I mentioned
We're coming back to the US Bank Stadium for the
Winter White Out game in primetime Monday Night football against
I always want to do the Howard Cole Seale voice
against the Chicago Bears. The TV coverage will be over
on ESPN and ABC at seven o'clock Central here in
the Twin Cities, so be sure to check your local
listings for more details. Of course, you can also catch
(22:17):
Paul Allen, Ben Leeber and the one and Milli Pete
Versuch with the call right here all across the Vikings
Radio network. The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at
five PM on KFN, so be sure to tune in
with host Mike Mussman and the rest of the crew
leading up to kickoff on Monday night. Thanks again to
Mike Tice for joining the show, and thank you fans
for tuning into another edition of Skulls Stories presented by
(22:39):
three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings.
For Pete Versus, I'm Mark Rosen. We'll see you again
all next week.
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