Welcome to the Vikings Postgame Report. The Minnesota Vikings took care of business on Monday night in their Winter Whiteout game with a 30-12 victory over the Chicago Bears. The Vikings running game proved to be the spark the Vikings offense needed, finished with 114 yards on the ground and 2 touchdowns. Aaron Jones led the way with 86 yards and a 1-yard plunge, while Cam Akers provided another 24 yards and a 1-yard score. Jones touchdown was his 50th of his career. Sam Darnold had a solid night finishing 24-of-40 for 231 yards through the air and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson in the 1st quarter. Jefferson led all Vikings receivers with 7 receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, the Vikings had yet another takeaway as Blake Cashman scooped up a sack fumble of Caleb Williams caused by Jonathan Greenard in the first quarter. Dallas Turner also notched the Vikings other sack midway through the 4th quarter. Will Reichard finished the day perfect with 3 field goals and 3 extra points in the game. Paul Allen and Pete Bercich breakdown win number 12 on the season, including: another win against a divisional opponent, the need to tighten up mistakes when facing Seattle next week, the evolution of the game plan during the contest, Aaron Jones good night, and the upcoming challenge of playing at Lumen Field. Plus, Kevin O'Connell and Sam Darnold spoke in the postgame press conferences about the victory. All of this and more is in tonight's edition of the Vikings Postgame Report.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey, your Minnesota Vikings have won seven consecutive games. They
beat the Chicago Bears thirty to twelve at US Bank
Stadium on Monday Night Football with Pete Bursuch on Paul Allen.
Fun game to call because the Vikings won. But nevertheless,
what do you think heading into the Seattle game.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, it's a good win against the division opponent, and
the only thing that I don't like is is you
kind of you left a little bit of meat on
the bone with the mistakes that you made, and you
ended up with ten penalties. I think Cam Robinson ended
up having four. Yeah, you get a punt blocked, you know.
So those are some things that they're really going to
want to tighten up because those are the things that
(00:51):
you're not going to be able to do in a
playoff situation and have success. So that being said, it
was still good enough to win multiple scores, which is
very impressive against any division opponent. But at same time,
not it's just not as tight as you would like
to see this team be. They're gonna need to be in,
you know, very very tight. I mean against Seattle. It's
(01:13):
a tough place to play. I don't care who's playing quarterback.
I don't care who you know who's playing center. I
know it's the Seahawks have some injuries, but they're gonna
be fired up. Playing in front of a home crowd.
It's gonna be a tough environment. So you know, get
your head screwed on, right and it's a short week,
but yeah, to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Sam Darnold threw his first interception since the Jacksonville Jaguars game,
all the way back to the first half. He had
gone one fifty two consecutive before he was intercepted by
Tyreek Stevenson. Sam finishes twenty four or forty for two
hundred and thirty one yards and also a touchdown to
Justin Jefferson. What just from afar? Have you not watched
(01:50):
back the tape or anything? What do you think Chicago
did dislow Sam a little bit? It's not like he
had a bad game, but I mean, he's all five touchdowns,
all right.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think Jalen Johnson did a good job. And don't
forget now that Justin Jefferson had a touchdown pass that
he should normally would would catch. The interception doesn't concern
me because I really do think he just kind of
threw up a fifty to fifty ball on that scenario.
That's what I'd love to hear him say in his
postgame press conference is I knew the situation, you know,
I made the decision to throw it up at fifty,
(02:20):
you know, and if they intercept it, it's just like,
you know, I'll punt, so to speak, or you know,
back them up even further. So the only thing that
was different a couple of the out routes that he's
normally so good at throwing, and he threw some at
the end of the game. He missed a few of
those along the way, So just just again a little
bit off. And you know, I think when we run
the football, that does so much to stabilize everything else
(02:43):
around it. So having that running game, having time to run,
having the two score lead to be able to run
the ball helped out quite a bit. But not the
best of Sam Darnold, but still some Again, this goes
back to kind of the feeling you get walking out saying, yeah,
we're not quite firing on all cylinders. Some you know,
self inflict penalties, some things you left on the table,
but you still have three more games to play, and
(03:04):
you're gonna have to get a lot better if you
want to beat Seattle, and especially if you want to
beat Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Let's hear from Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell after
the Vikings A qualified for the playoffs Sunday night, when
Green Bay beats Seattle. Have won seven consecutive to improve
to twelve and two, and that record is tied with
Detroit and Philadelphia for the best in the NFC. Here's
koc thought tonight was an awesome, awesome environment. Credit to
(03:29):
our folks who you know, handle game operations here.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Loved the everything about the white out, and.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I thought our fans responded once again with another phenomenal effort.
It's why it means so much to me to win
at home, divisional divisional win in December.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Far from perfect, but I thought our.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Defense was phenomenal really in those weighty downs especially, I
think they were two of fifteen on the third down,
fourth down stat guys making some plays, play style, showing
up and really overcoming some tough circumstances.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And and uh and ultimately.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Giving us some short fields early and then we were
able to put together to you know, two longer drives
in the second half to kind of put the game away.
But tough football team, I can tell. Uh, those guys
are competing. Thomas is doing a great job getting that,
getting those guys to fight and and want to compliment
him and and how he brought his team to to
compete here, and and just happy with where we're at
(04:26):
twelve wins. You know, at this point in the season,
we need it to keep pace with where we want
to be.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
It's going to be incredibly competitive.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Down the stretch here, and uh, we're gonna have to
play well and and continue to improve, chasing our best football.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Kevin, why do you why do you think that the
pass rush had so much success today against Kleb.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I just think that we were really disciplined, but it
just felt felt explosive. Guys flying off the edges, and
it's great being back at home and the crowd noise
that you know, them being on the silent count allows
our guys to to get off on the rock and
when that thing's moving, it just felt like it was relentless.
I thought the flow did a really nice job changing
(05:06):
up some of the rush patterns and sending some different
guys and you know, just changing changing things up and
allowing our guys to what I thought was a pretty
sticky kind of night on some of those weighty downs
and coverage to make him hold it and move off
the spot. So compliments to Flow with staff, and I
love the way our guys.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Were flying around out there. Kevin. How big was it for.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
Aaron to reel off and cover those runs.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
In the second half.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah, I just you know, though, it was one of
those things coming in the game, we knew that with
the way they defended us, there was some movement. They
were gonna have some plays in the run game, maybe
for some less than ideal kind of second and third downs,
but we wanted to kind of sustain it and allow
our guys to continue to kind of adjust to what
we're seeing in the game. You know, got a lot
(05:52):
of five dB groupings to the twelve personnel grouping. So
became that kind of night where we were going to
be able to get some runs off and credit them.
They're physical, it's a good defense. A lot of talented
players over there made enough plays in the past game
and uh, you know, unfortunately I didn't like the penalties.
There's a lot of penalties, and it just seemed like
we were, uh, you know, able to overcome it with
(06:13):
some third down execution to move the chains and but
just across the board just kind of clean up some things,
and we're gonna have to do it on a short
week before we hit out to Seattle, Kevin Randy was saying.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
He was pretty moved by in the pre game, which
is me. Justin was saying he was pretty moved in
the pre game. I seen Chris Carter and j P
and Randy Moss jersey. I'm just wondering what you thought
of that, and you know, just kind of the effect
it clearly has on Justin.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, I think it was. It was important, you know,
we we wanted to. We talked internally this week about,
you know, what we could do to show our support,
our love for Randy. Everybody knows former teammate of mine,
but most importantly, you know, you can feel the love
for him in this building tonight. It was great to
have c c and Jay Reid here to you know,
(06:59):
carry his jersey out. There was a heck of a
moment and I know Justin had you know, when he
scored his touchdown. Don't know exactly what he said, but
I know it. You know it was showing his love
for Randy. He means the world is this organization. His
name's up on you know, up in the rafters in
the Ring of Honor and and Hall of Famer. He's
meant so much to the NFL, and I know, you
(07:20):
know the Twin Cities and what he was able to
do here. We're behind him every step of the way.
We care about him, we love him, and we just
wanted to do whatever we could with the platform of
Monday Night football to make sure hopefully he was watching
and if it gave him any joy at all, it
was well worth it, because that's how we feel about him.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Having to get a couple of those drives on the
one yard runs where you're able to line up heavy
personnel and just finish the drive with a short run,
And what does that do for this offense being able
to just.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, we got to be able to run the ball.
Ben in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
We had a nice, nice touchdown kind of off of
a hard play action early. But then as you get
down in there where we're kind of going as a team,
we want to be able to run the football in
It will only set up all the things we want
to do. I thought there was some real physicality. I
loved Camps finished on the last one, and I loved Aaron,
you know, really getting behind a pretty well schemed up
(08:11):
play by the guys to just kind of get the
momentum and finish forward into the end zone, which you know,
I thought, we're great examples of red zone running. You know,
red zone running when it's not going to be perfect.
There's a lot of bodies in a short area and
you got to, you know, you got to have a
great examples of play style, straight and finish to put
the ball in the end zone, not only out of
(08:31):
your back, but your O line, your tight end, receivers blocking,
so that that's huge for us. You know, everybody knows
we can throw the football in the end zone with
the best of them, but to be able to do
that as well and finish drives like that, I think
it's important for us moving forward for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Twelve of them twos.
Speaker 8 (08:47):
How much do you talk to the guys about what's
out in front of them in the next three days.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, I think that's what's been so special about this
team this year is is you know, what I want
them to focus on is recovering after this game and
getting rid to go on a short week to go
play a really good team in a really tough home
environment in Seattle. They whatever's right in front of us
is what we're attacking. I think that's how you get
to this point in the season. You win different ways.
(09:13):
They're not always pretty to look up and win this
football game thirty to twelve with, you know, it kind
of felt grimy at times tonight, just with their ability to,
you know, make some plays defensively, and then with our
penalties and things like that. So there's a lot to
clean up, which as a coach that's of a twelve
and two football team, you love that because there's a
(09:33):
lot of things to.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Go back to work on.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
There's a lot of things I can improve on, and
we're going to continue to just try to get better.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
The whole mantra.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Of getting better, getting better as a consistent, everyday thing
that you can never ever rest in this league because
everybody's improving, and the great teams in this league are
going to play their best football towards the end of
this month and on into the next and we want
to be one of those teams. But we know we're
gonna have to go earn every single thing. We got
(10:01):
a heck of a finishing stretch here with these three games,
and love that we've won twelve out of our fourteen ops,
but we want to be able to finish and it's
going to be a grind because these are really good
football teams we're gonna play whether it's two on the
road or hosting Green Bay here, so a.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Lot out in front of us. But we got to
go back to work.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That's that's what this is all about, and continuing to
chase improvement.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Fourth down stops in the first half.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, your thoughts on guys like Tillery, the guys were
holding their gaps. Yeah, yeah, I thought I gave Tillery
a game ball just because I you know, it's never
perfect for me watching it from the sideline, but I
just felt him, you know, the penetration and getting in
the backfield, making the back stop his feet and to
get you know, to get stops in those situations. Those
are essentially turnovers in a lot of ways, especially when
(10:47):
they're backed up in their own end zone. Being aggressive,
trying to win the football game and getting short fields
off of that is critical. Doesn't show up as a
turnover in the statue.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
But you know, I certainly look at it like that
thought that.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Was, you know, great example of of what our defense
has been all season long, which is incredibly resilient, and
they rise up in those moments, those weighty moments, whether
it's rushing the passer, coverage on the back end, or
a short yardage situation like that, just critical for us
to win the game the way we did tonight, you know,
really on the backs of our defense playing great at home.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Bryan was kind of yeah, how did he finish out?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, he was able to come back, you know, got
his knee evaluated there and ended up getting taped up
and came back in the game. You know, we felt
it a little bit, you know, we're already down one
tackle and uh to to you know, have bo go
in and get evaluated. We wanted to make sure he
was okay to return, which he was. But you know,
as always you come out of a game like this,
(11:46):
We'll see how he does and turns over during the week.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I'll keep you guys posted.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
But Brian O'Neill once again just showing you know what
he's all about, you know, going back in there and
and playing really good football.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Kevin would you want.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
What went into the decision to go for that fourth time?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
What would you see on that lift the one we
went for.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Uh yeah, I just you know, I though a lot
of that is just what I was seeing from the
other side of the ball defensively, you know where they were.
Those guys were flying around and they felt like, no
matter what, even if we didn't get it, which you know,
probably could have called a better play there, you know,
ended up, you know, turning the rock over, which you
(12:24):
know Sam know is on fourth down, he's got to
put it, put it in play somewhere. Hate that it
ended up in an interception there. But defense did get
a stop. They did get a stop, just like you
know I said on the headset, I'm gonna go for
it because of my faith and in those guys where
we were field position wise, just wanted to give our
guys a chance to to see if we can finish
that thing off with a touchdown. They got the stop
(12:47):
they needed. We just ended up. I think that was
the roughing call they gave him the first down. So
that's where all three phases picking each other up. If
we're gonna go after it, that's great. Love the execution
and the aggressiveness. But we we you know, we can't
have a penalty in that situation to give him a
new set of downs.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Kevin.
Speaker 9 (13:05):
Randy's been retired for twelve years, he hasn't played here
in almost fifteen. But in your time here, have you've
been able to pick up just what he means to
Vikings fans and just like how popular and he remains here?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, I can tell you this much.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You know, what he was able to do here during
his time was incredibly impactful on the Twin Cities and
Vikings fans. And we we have a lot of former
Vikings coming by, you know, weekly. It seems like we
love having you know, our Vikings, you know, legacy players
that have played in this organization, blood, sweat and tears
(13:38):
for this organization.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And every single time those guys.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Come back, you know, no matter who it is, if
they were a teammate of Randy, I'm always asking just
because he was a former teammate of mine. And there's
you know, nothing but love and admiration from his teammates
because he was a great teammate. Our fan base watched
him compete like crazy and have a ton of success here.
And he's been phenomenal in his second career too, So
(14:03):
I think Randy Moss is one of those folks that
you better hold them in high regard because that's the
type of player in person that he is. And I
just got the chance to be fortunate enough to have
a locker right next to him in my short.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Time in New England and he had a huge impact
on me.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Can you mentioned them playing five dbs to have your
personnel and how good do you think it is for
you guys as a staff to kind of have to
go through some of these games, these different opponent's strategies
and adapt like you guys get to do every week.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, it's I mean, you go in with a plan,
you practice, you know, based upon what you think you're
gonna get. But this time of year is all about
being able to make adjustments, and tonight it was about
making some adjustments, making sure we were identified right in
the run game, getting hats.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
On hats, getting downhill, handling the movement.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
And I thought our guys did a nice job of
that as the game went on, and piecing together some
drives where you know, it didn't feel like the explosive
kind of night on the football and they that was
you know, due to kind of their game plan a
little bit, but we made enough plays, we converted enough
third downs, ate up some clock, and we're able to
get a couple of touchdown drives there in the second half.
(15:11):
That really allowed our defense to kind of keep their
momentum going, and it was awesome to see some of
the young guys get in there. DT played great all night,
but then you know, to get get that sack there.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Got a bunch of guys.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
In the game kind of in the end, and every
snap we can save with where we hope to go
as a team and get experience for some guys is
only going to be you know, bigger as we as
we go down the stretch here.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Kevin, did you have a sense for maybe why some
of the balls were coming out high on Sam kind
of early in the game there.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Ye, yeah, we'll take a look at it. There was
there was a couple there that you know, just kind
of noticed. He's been It's he's set an incredibly high
standard for himself. So I think everybody, me included, sometimes
when when either somebody's open or you know, he's able
to stride into one and doesn't you know, throw an
absolute str like it's a pretty good standard to set
(16:02):
for yourself when we're all kind of wondering what happened
at that point. But thought he battled, thought he showed
his athleticism again. There were some big time ops. I
love the op that he took to, you know, on
the keeper to get that last penalty with Jordan kind
of getting behind the defender there on the on the keeper,
you know, and then just some of those kind of
dirty completions on some third downs right at the sticks
(16:24):
Trent late TJ had had one.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
TJ drew foul on another.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
So continues to excut at a high level, will continue
to improve.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
But Sam's doing a great job.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Excellent what he said about Aaron Jones. Eighteen runs eighty
six yards. He also had a touchdown, ran for a
touchdown against the Bears. He either he's right around two
hundred rushing yards and his two against the Bears. O'Connell
improves to five and one lifetime against the Chicago Bears,
and the Vikings have swept the Chicago Bears three of
(16:54):
the last four years. Aaron Jones very important. Cam Akers
Ken run twenty four yards. He also had a touchdown,
but they threw to Aaron too a couple of catches
for twenty yards.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, and I think that was It's kind of how
you saw this game plan evolved for the Vikings, for sure,
is that we tried to get down the field and
once things settled down a little bit, you saw a
lot more go the way of TJ Hockinson, right, and
you know, there's a couple couple of spots where you're like, yeah,
we need I'd love to see us throw hot there
instead of trying to block everything up. But the short
(17:27):
passing game with TJ Hockinson, his ability to run after
the catch has been impressive all year continues to be impressive.
His ability to get that extra yard or two and
move the chains and defense is like, yeah, we'll let
you catch it, but it's gonna be short of the
line of the game. We just have to make the tackle.
And Hockinson's been able to extend those plays. So you know,
maybe making the adjustment to go to TJ a little
(17:48):
bit more often earlier would have been something. But again, again, Paul,
it's like that, it's just everything. It's just a little
bit off, right. We made those adjustments. We beat another
NFL football team. Emit's in the division. The Bears so
very good in the red zone, top ten scoring team,
we still are able to put up them with thirty
points against them, so a lot I think that they
(18:09):
wish they had back, but nonetheless still good enough to win.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Caleb Williams has gone two hundred and eighty six consecutive
passes without an interception. And you know, when we were
chatting before the game on Vikings Football Sunday on k Van,
I'm like, let me get this straight. The Bears are
plus ten and the take give and they got a
quarterback who's thrown two fifty five consecutive without a pick,
and they're they're four and nine and on a seven
(18:34):
game losing streak. We saw some things that led to that,
but not necessarily with Williams because he that you know
that to eighty and change consecutive without an interception. He
takes chances, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Right, and he's in a situation where he's four and ten.
He had ten losses I think his entire college career,
so he's faced that in one season. He's very very
good in between the hash marks, getting better on some
of the outside throws. He had a couple of drops today,
which I think has been kind of a been showing
up for the Bears the last couple of weeks, but
so very difficult to bring down. I mean San Francisco
(19:10):
sacked them seven times. Yeah, you know, and I think
you just have to tweak your pass rush against the
Caleb Williams. You got to maintain a pocket and not
let him escape because when he does, he's such a
dynamic athlete in some of those throws that he's made
down the field. So Caleb Williams is only going to
get better. I think all the Bears fans have to
be very excited with him and how he's played. But yeah,
(19:33):
he's been. It's amazing as a rookie. You only throw
five interceptions.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
The rookies counterpart, Sam Darnold twenty four of forty two
thirty one, a touchdown to Jefferson and an interception. Here's
what he had to say after the viking seventh consecutive win.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Hey, yeah, I felt like, first and foremost, I felt
like our defense played unbelievable tonight. You know, great all
round team win, but the way our defense was able
to get some huge stops, turn the ball over on downs,
get a you know, a turnover, put us in really
good field position to be able to score score points.
You know, felt like we didn't play exactly the way
(20:11):
that we wanted to on offense tonight. Can be a
lot better in a lot of ways, but we got
the job done and that's all that matters.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Deep past to Addison, were you looking for passing your
friends there and if you see him very much?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
No, I saw he had a step on him. I
just tried to get it out there as much as
I could. Knew he was one on one, you know,
and just try to give him a shot.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
What has Jordan done well the last four games or so?
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Jordan Addison? Yeah, I think you know, Jordan first and foremost,
he's putting in a ton of work, you know, on
the field and off the field during the week to
be able to put himself in good positions, you know,
on Sunday, Monday, whatever day we play. So I feel like,
you know, just the way that he's been coming into
work has been you know, he's he's just been a pro.
(21:01):
You know, this whole entire year, he's been a pro.
But you know, to see it come into fruition and
and see him you know, get you know, just do well.
It's really fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Sam, whether it's.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Just in dropping the pass or you know, maybe things
that didn't go your way. He was talking locker room
about just how short of a memory you have to have,
and you do that very very well. How what is
the key to that for you? You know when you're pressing,
because then you found him right there on the goal
line and set up the touchdown there.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Yeah, I think you know this, This game happens fast,
and you know, every play is its own, and you
know you're always going to have opportunities to to make
big plays, especially with the offense that we have, the
players that we have. You just got to play every
play as its own, and especially first and second down
if it's not there, you know, get the ballto my hands,
to my checkdowns. And but understanding, if if you know
(21:57):
those guys are one on one in the situation to
be able to go make play, I'm gonna get them
the rock and they know that too, So it's, uh,
you know, it's fun playing with those guys. But yeah,
I think for me, the biggest thing is just continuing
to play one play at a time, not just for me,
but our entire offense.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What did you think of Aaron's effort on the third
and seventeen and.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Tj Is on the third and fifteen. Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
You know, those guys to be able to be in
the spots that they were in and just be a
you know, be a really good presence on a checkdown,
to be able to go and get that first down
the way that they did on those two plays was
very crucial in the game.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
You have to just be able to finish two drives
there with one yard runs. How much does that just
change things on a night where you're maybe not hitting
everything offensively that you want, but you're able to finish
with seven and not three.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Again, that's that's the NFL. You know, some nights you
know aren't gonna go necessarily the way that you want.
But I think for us to continue to stay composed,
stay resilient like we always talk about, and just continue
to take it one drive at a time, one play
at a time, and I feel like we did that
on those two drives and and to be able to
finish in the end zone is always huge for a
(23:06):
football team in.
Speaker 8 (23:08):
Order to handle success well, like you guys have. How
important then is the veteran presence, you know, like, let's
not look to the number one seed, let's just do
where we are, where you are. But that's that starts.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
With the vats, right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
You know, I think just to be able to you know,
come in, it starts with you know, Ko obviously as
well being able to send that message to us. And
we've talked about it all the time. We talked about it,
you know ever since. Really, OTAs, I feel like our
guys have been doing such a good job of just
attacking what's in front of us, and we're just going
to continue to do that.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Last night, you guys actually clinched playoffs last night after
the the Sunday night game.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Do you take a second to absorb that at all
before getting back to getting ready for this one?
Speaker 5 (23:48):
You know, I think for us it's it truly is
you know, it's great first and foremost to be able
to you know, recognize it, you know, during the night,
and to be able to be with some of my
teammates when that happened. You know, that's special in that moment.
But to be able to wake up today and know
that we have a job to do. You know, that's
(24:10):
the best part about our team is we can we
can enjoy moments like that and be mature enough to
be able to come come into work today and get
the job done.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
The celebration, like if there was one last night, there wasn't.
There was. I mean we just you know, talked.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
About it for literally like I think five minutes. I
think that was. That was about the celebration that we
had last night.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So Sam, what do you think of just the atmosphere
tonight with the white out and your towels and all
that stuff.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, I mean I say it every single week. Our
fans are the best best in the world to be
able to come out in all white the way that
they did, and and how loud they were on some
of those third downs. For the defense, I know, we're crucial,
you know, creating a couple of false starts for their offense.
So it's always great to be able to, you know,
play in front of our fans. Do you feel like
(24:57):
the Bears were defending you guys friendly at all than
the three weeks ago or I thought they showed a
couple of different looks. But again, we got to go
back and watch the tape. You know, I'll probably I'll
probably wait to answer that one if you want to
ask it again. On Wednesday, you know, with the gutsy performance.
Speaker 8 (25:18):
He said, you felt like they put like eight pounds
of tape on his knee out there, tap back out.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That was awesome for you.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Yeah, no, it was unbelievable that, you know what a
gutsy performance like you said by by Bo to be
able to you know, I'm sure he was in a
lot of pain to be able to go out there
and finish and and uh, you know, just be the
leader that he is, you know, be super tough and
be that guy. And uh, it was great to have
him out there at the end.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
At Seattle. Next week, they got killed by Green Bay
on Sunday night. Football is still tough place to play.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Right, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It's one of It's probably the toughest environment in the
league to play, especially this late in the season. Now,
how motivated their fan base will be, I mean, it
is the twelfth man, that whole thing. So I'm sure
there's still gonna be loud. You're gonna to get it,
you know, come out of the gates, Firre and that game.
I'll let the crowd get in it. But Gino Smith's
a little nicked up. We'll see how what his progress is.
I know they're on their backup center, so they have
some injury issues that they're dealing with. But you know
(26:12):
that's their problem, not ours. And you gotta do what
you gotta do to win on the road in Seattle
in a short week. This is a big task. So
I don't care if you win this game against Seattle
by one or by twenty. That's a big deal to
be able to go on the road this time of
year and do something like that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Great job, Pete versus journalists for the Vikings Radio network.
He took part in calling a thirty to twelve victory
for your Minnesota Vikings. They've won seven in a row
and improved to twelve and two. That's the Vikings post
game report, and I'm Paul Allen. Thank you for listening.
Hey, your Minnesota Vikings have won seven consecutive games. They
beat the Chicago Bears thirty to twelve at US Bank
Stadium on Monday Night Football with Pete Bursuch on Paul Allen.
Fun game to call because the Vikings won. But nevertheless,
what do you think heading into the Seattle game.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, it's a good win against the division opponent, and
the only thing that I don't like is is you
kind of you left a little bit of meat on
the bone with the mistakes that you made, and you
ended up with ten penalties. I think Cam Robinson ended
up having four. Yeah, you get a punt blocked, you know.
So those are some things that they're really going to
want to tighten up because those are the things that
(00:51):
you're not going to be able to do in a
playoff situation and have success. So that being said, it
was still good enough to win multiple scores, which is
very impressive against any division opponent. But at same time,
not it's just not as tight as you would like
to see this team be. They're gonna need to be in,
you know, very very tight. I mean against Seattle. It's
(01:13):
a tough place to play. I don't care who's playing quarterback.
I don't care who you know who's playing center. I
know it's the Seahawks have some injuries, but they're gonna
be fired up. Playing in front of a home crowd.
It's gonna be a tough environment. So you know, get
your head screwed on, right and it's a short week,
but yeah, to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Sam Darnold threw his first interception since the Jacksonville Jaguars game,
all the way back to the first half. He had
gone one fifty two consecutive before he was intercepted by
Tyreek Stevenson. Sam finishes twenty four or forty for two
hundred and thirty one yards and also a touchdown to
Justin Jefferson. What just from afar? Have you not watched
(01:50):
back the tape or anything? What do you think Chicago
did dislow Sam a little bit? It's not like he
had a bad game, but I mean, he's all five touchdowns,
all right.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think Jalen Johnson did a good job. And don't
forget now that Justin Jefferson had a touchdown pass that
he should normally would would catch. The interception doesn't concern
me because I really do think he just kind of
threw up a fifty to fifty ball on that scenario.
That's what I'd love to hear him say in his
postgame press conference is I knew the situation, you know,
I made the decision to throw it up at fifty,
(02:20):
you know, and if they intercept it, it's just like,
you know, I'll punt, so to speak, or you know,
back them up even further. So the only thing that
was different a couple of the out routes that he's
normally so good at throwing, and he threw some at
the end of the game. He missed a few of
those along the way, So just just again a little
bit off. And you know, I think when we run
the football, that does so much to stabilize everything else
(02:43):
around it. So having that running game, having time to run,
having the two score lead to be able to run
the ball helped out quite a bit. But not the
best of Sam Darnold, but still some Again, this goes
back to kind of the feeling you get walking out saying, yeah,
we're not quite firing on all cylinders. Some you know,
self inflict penalties, some things you left on the table,
but you still have three more games to play, and
(03:04):
you're gonna have to get a lot better if you
want to beat Seattle, and especially if you want to
beat Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Let's hear from Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell after
the Vikings A qualified for the playoffs Sunday night, when
Green Bay beats Seattle. Have won seven consecutive to improve
to twelve and two, and that record is tied with
Detroit and Philadelphia for the best in the NFC. Here's
koc thought tonight was an awesome, awesome environment. Credit to
(03:29):
our folks who you know, handle game operations here.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Loved the everything about the white out, and.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I thought our fans responded once again with another phenomenal effort.
It's why it means so much to me to win
at home, divisional divisional win in December.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Far from perfect, but I thought our.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Defense was phenomenal really in those weighty downs especially, I
think they were two of fifteen on the third down,
fourth down stat guys making some plays, play style, showing
up and really overcoming some tough circumstances.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
And and uh and ultimately.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Giving us some short fields early and then we were
able to put together to you know, two longer drives
in the second half to kind of put the game away.
But tough football team, I can tell. Uh, those guys
are competing. Thomas is doing a great job getting that,
getting those guys to fight and and want to compliment
him and and how he brought his team to to
compete here, and and just happy with where we're at
(04:26):
twelve wins. You know, at this point in the season,
we need it to keep pace with where we want
to be.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
It's going to be incredibly competitive.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Down the stretch here, and uh, we're gonna have to
play well and and continue to improve, chasing our best football.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Kevin, why do you why do you think that the
pass rush had so much success today against Kleb.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
I just think that we were really disciplined, but it
just felt felt explosive. Guys flying off the edges, and
it's great being back at home and the crowd noise
that you know, them being on the silent count allows
our guys to to get off on the rock and
when that thing's moving, it just felt like it was relentless.
I thought the flow did a really nice job changing
(05:06):
up some of the rush patterns and sending some different
guys and you know, just changing changing things up and
allowing our guys to what I thought was a pretty
sticky kind of night on some of those weighty downs
and coverage to make him hold it and move off
the spot. So compliments to Flow with staff, and I
love the way our guys.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Were flying around out there. Kevin. How big was it for.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
Aaron to reel off and cover those runs.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
In the second half.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah, I just you know, though, it was one of
those things coming in the game, we knew that with
the way they defended us, there was some movement. They
were gonna have some plays in the run game, maybe
for some less than ideal kind of second and third downs,
but we wanted to kind of sustain it and allow
our guys to continue to kind of adjust to what
we're seeing in the game. You know, got a lot
(05:52):
of five dB groupings to the twelve personnel grouping. So
became that kind of night where we were going to
be able to get some runs off and credit them.
They're physical, it's a good defense. A lot of talented
players over there made enough plays in the past game
and uh, you know, unfortunately I didn't like the penalties.
There's a lot of penalties, and it just seemed like
we were, uh, you know, able to overcome it with
(06:13):
some third down execution to move the chains and but
just across the board just kind of clean up some things,
and we're gonna have to do it on a short
week before we hit out to Seattle, Kevin Randy was saying.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
He was pretty moved by in the pre game, which
is me. Justin was saying he was pretty moved in
the pre game. I seen Chris Carter and j P
and Randy Moss jersey. I'm just wondering what you thought
of that, and you know, just kind of the effect
it clearly has on Justin.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, I think it was. It was important, you know,
we we wanted to. We talked internally this week about,
you know, what we could do to show our support,
our love for Randy. Everybody knows former teammate of mine,
but most importantly, you know, you can feel the love
for him in this building tonight. It was great to
have c c and Jay Reid here to you know,
(06:59):
carry his jersey out. There was a heck of a
moment and I know Justin had you know, when he
scored his touchdown. Don't know exactly what he said, but
I know it. You know it was showing his love
for Randy. He means the world is this organization. His
name's up on you know, up in the rafters in
the Ring of Honor and and Hall of Famer. He's
meant so much to the NFL, and I know, you
(07:20):
know the Twin Cities and what he was able to
do here. We're behind him every step of the way.
We care about him, we love him, and we just
wanted to do whatever we could with the platform of
Monday Night football to make sure hopefully he was watching
and if it gave him any joy at all, it
was well worth it, because that's how we feel about him.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Having to get a couple of those drives on the
one yard runs where you're able to line up heavy
personnel and just finish the drive with a short run,
And what does that do for this offense being able
to just.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, we got to be able to run the ball.
Ben in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
We had a nice, nice touchdown kind of off of
a hard play action early. But then as you get
down in there where we're kind of going as a team,
we want to be able to run the football in
It will only set up all the things we want
to do. I thought there was some real physicality. I
loved Camps finished on the last one, and I loved Aaron,
you know, really getting behind a pretty well schemed up
(08:11):
play by the guys to just kind of get the
momentum and finish forward into the end zone, which you know,
I thought, we're great examples of red zone running. You know,
red zone running when it's not going to be perfect.
There's a lot of bodies in a short area and
you got to, you know, you got to have a
great examples of play style, straight and finish to put
the ball in the end zone, not only out of
(08:31):
your back, but your O line, your tight end, receivers blocking,
so that that's huge for us. You know, everybody knows
we can throw the football in the end zone with
the best of them, but to be able to do
that as well and finish drives like that, I think
it's important for us moving forward for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Twelve of them twos.
Speaker 8 (08:47):
How much do you talk to the guys about what's
out in front of them in the next three days.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, I think that's what's been so special about this
team this year is is you know, what I want
them to focus on is recovering after this game and
getting rid to go on a short week to go
play a really good team in a really tough home
environment in Seattle. They whatever's right in front of us
is what we're attacking. I think that's how you get
to this point in the season. You win different ways.
(09:13):
They're not always pretty to look up and win this
football game thirty to twelve with, you know, it kind
of felt grimy at times tonight, just with their ability to,
you know, make some plays defensively, and then with our
penalties and things like that. So there's a lot to
clean up, which as a coach that's of a twelve
and two football team, you love that because there's a
(09:33):
lot of things to.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Go back to work on.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
There's a lot of things I can improve on, and
we're going to continue to just try to get better.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
The whole mantra.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Of getting better, getting better as a consistent, everyday thing
that you can never ever rest in this league because
everybody's improving, and the great teams in this league are
going to play their best football towards the end of
this month and on into the next and we want
to be one of those teams. But we know we're
gonna have to go earn every single thing. We got
(10:01):
a heck of a finishing stretch here with these three games,
and love that we've won twelve out of our fourteen ops,
but we want to be able to finish and it's
going to be a grind because these are really good
football teams we're gonna play whether it's two on the
road or hosting Green Bay here, so a.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Lot out in front of us. But we got to
go back to work.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That's that's what this is all about, and continuing to
chase improvement.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Fourth down stops in the first half.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, your thoughts on guys like Tillery, the guys were
holding their gaps. Yeah, yeah, I thought I gave Tillery
a game ball just because I you know, it's never
perfect for me watching it from the sideline, but I
just felt him, you know, the penetration and getting in
the backfield, making the back stop his feet and to
get you know, to get stops in those situations. Those
are essentially turnovers in a lot of ways, especially when
(10:47):
they're backed up in their own end zone. Being aggressive,
trying to win the football game and getting short fields
off of that is critical. Doesn't show up as a
turnover in the statue.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
But you know, I certainly look at it like that
thought that.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Was, you know, great example of of what our defense
has been all season long, which is incredibly resilient, and
they rise up in those moments, those weighty moments, whether
it's rushing the passer, coverage on the back end, or
a short yardage situation like that, just critical for us
to win the game the way we did tonight, you know,
really on the backs of our defense playing great at home.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Bryan was kind of yeah, how did he finish out?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, he was able to come back, you know, got
his knee evaluated there and ended up getting taped up
and came back in the game. You know, we felt
it a little bit, you know, we're already down one
tackle and uh to to you know, have bo go
in and get evaluated. We wanted to make sure he
was okay to return, which he was. But you know,
as always you come out of a game like this,
(11:46):
We'll see how he does and turns over during the week.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
I'll keep you guys posted.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
But Brian O'Neill once again just showing you know what
he's all about, you know, going back in there and
and playing really good football.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Kevin would you want.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
What went into the decision to go for that fourth time?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
What would you see on that lift the one we
went for.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Uh yeah, I just you know, I though a lot
of that is just what I was seeing from the
other side of the ball defensively, you know where they were.
Those guys were flying around and they felt like, no
matter what, even if we didn't get it, which you know,
probably could have called a better play there, you know,
ended up, you know, turning the rock over, which you
(12:24):
know Sam know is on fourth down, he's got to
put it, put it in play somewhere. Hate that it
ended up in an interception there. But defense did get
a stop. They did get a stop, just like you
know I said on the headset, I'm gonna go for
it because of my faith and in those guys where
we were field position wise, just wanted to give our
guys a chance to to see if we can finish
that thing off with a touchdown. They got the stop
(12:47):
they needed. We just ended up. I think that was
the roughing call they gave him the first down. So
that's where all three phases picking each other up. If
we're gonna go after it, that's great. Love the execution
and the aggressiveness. But we we you know, we can't
have a penalty in that situation to give him a
new set of downs.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Kevin.
Speaker 9 (13:05):
Randy's been retired for twelve years, he hasn't played here
in almost fifteen. But in your time here, have you've
been able to pick up just what he means to
Vikings fans and just like how popular and he remains here?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, I can tell you this much.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You know, what he was able to do here during
his time was incredibly impactful on the Twin Cities and
Vikings fans. And we we have a lot of former
Vikings coming by, you know, weekly. It seems like we
love having you know, our Vikings, you know, legacy players
that have played in this organization, blood, sweat and tears
(13:38):
for this organization.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
And every single time those guys.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Come back, you know, no matter who it is, if
they were a teammate of Randy, I'm always asking just
because he was a former teammate of mine. And there's
you know, nothing but love and admiration from his teammates
because he was a great teammate. Our fan base watched
him compete like crazy and have a ton of success here.
And he's been phenomenal in his second career too, So
(14:03):
I think Randy Moss is one of those folks that
you better hold them in high regard because that's the
type of player in person that he is. And I
just got the chance to be fortunate enough to have
a locker right next to him in my short.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Time in New England and he had a huge impact
on me.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Can you mentioned them playing five dbs to have your
personnel and how good do you think it is for
you guys as a staff to kind of have to
go through some of these games, these different opponent's strategies
and adapt like you guys get to do every week.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, it's I mean, you go in with a plan,
you practice, you know, based upon what you think you're
gonna get. But this time of year is all about
being able to make adjustments, and tonight it was about
making some adjustments, making sure we were identified right in
the run game, getting hats.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
On hats, getting downhill, handling the movement.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
And I thought our guys did a nice job of
that as the game went on, and piecing together some
drives where you know, it didn't feel like the explosive
kind of night on the football and they that was
you know, due to kind of their game plan a
little bit, but we made enough plays, we converted enough
third downs, ate up some clock, and we're able to
get a couple of touchdown drives there in the second half.
(15:11):
That really allowed our defense to kind of keep their
momentum going, and it was awesome to see some of
the young guys get in there. DT played great all night,
but then you know, to get get that sack there.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Got a bunch of guys.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
In the game kind of in the end, and every
snap we can save with where we hope to go
as a team and get experience for some guys is
only going to be you know, bigger as we as
we go down the stretch here.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Kevin, did you have a sense for maybe why some
of the balls were coming out high on Sam kind
of early in the game there.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Ye, yeah, we'll take a look at it. There was
there was a couple there that you know, just kind
of noticed. He's been It's he's set an incredibly high
standard for himself. So I think everybody, me included, sometimes
when when either somebody's open or you know, he's able
to stride into one and doesn't you know, throw an
absolute str like it's a pretty good standard to set
(16:02):
for yourself when we're all kind of wondering what happened
at that point. But thought he battled, thought he showed
his athleticism again. There were some big time ops. I
love the op that he took to, you know, on
the keeper to get that last penalty with Jordan kind
of getting behind the defender there on the on the keeper,
you know, and then just some of those kind of
dirty completions on some third downs right at the sticks
(16:24):
Trent late TJ had had one.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
TJ drew foul on another.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
So continues to excut at a high level, will continue
to improve.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
But Sam's doing a great job.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Excellent what he said about Aaron Jones. Eighteen runs eighty
six yards. He also had a touchdown, ran for a
touchdown against the Bears. He either he's right around two
hundred rushing yards and his two against the Bears. O'Connell
improves to five and one lifetime against the Chicago Bears,
and the Vikings have swept the Chicago Bears three of
(16:54):
the last four years. Aaron Jones very important. Cam Akers
Ken run twenty four yards. He also had a touchdown,
but they threw to Aaron too a couple of catches
for twenty yards.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, and I think that was It's kind of how
you saw this game plan evolved for the Vikings, for sure,
is that we tried to get down the field and
once things settled down a little bit, you saw a
lot more go the way of TJ Hockinson, right, and
you know, there's a couple couple of spots where you're like, yeah,
we need I'd love to see us throw hot there
instead of trying to block everything up. But the short
(17:27):
passing game with TJ Hockinson, his ability to run after
the catch has been impressive all year continues to be impressive.
His ability to get that extra yard or two and
move the chains and defense is like, yeah, we'll let
you catch it, but it's gonna be short of the
line of the game. We just have to make the tackle.
And Hockinson's been able to extend those plays. So you know,
maybe making the adjustment to go to TJ a little
(17:48):
bit more often earlier would have been something. But again, again, Paul,
it's like that, it's just everything. It's just a little
bit off, right. We made those adjustments. We beat another
NFL football team. Emit's in the division. The Bears so
very good in the red zone, top ten scoring team,
we still are able to put up them with thirty
points against them, so a lot I think that they
(18:09):
wish they had back, but nonetheless still good enough to win.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Caleb Williams has gone two hundred and eighty six consecutive
passes without an interception. And you know, when we were
chatting before the game on Vikings Football Sunday on k Van,
I'm like, let me get this straight. The Bears are
plus ten and the take give and they got a
quarterback who's thrown two fifty five consecutive without a pick,
and they're they're four and nine and on a seven
(18:34):
game losing streak. We saw some things that led to that,
but not necessarily with Williams because he that you know
that to eighty and change consecutive without an interception. He
takes chances, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Right, and he's in a situation where he's four and ten.
He had ten losses I think his entire college career,
so he's faced that in one season. He's very very
good in between the hash marks, getting better on some
of the outside throws. He had a couple of drops today,
which I think has been kind of a been showing
up for the Bears the last couple of weeks, but
so very difficult to bring down. I mean San Francisco
(19:10):
sacked them seven times. Yeah, you know, and I think
you just have to tweak your pass rush against the
Caleb Williams. You got to maintain a pocket and not
let him escape because when he does, he's such a
dynamic athlete in some of those throws that he's made
down the field. So Caleb Williams is only going to
get better. I think all the Bears fans have to
be very excited with him and how he's played. But yeah,
(19:33):
he's been. It's amazing as a rookie. You only throw
five interceptions.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
The rookies counterpart, Sam Darnold twenty four of forty two
thirty one, a touchdown to Jefferson and an interception. Here's
what he had to say after the viking seventh consecutive win.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Hey, yeah, I felt like, first and foremost, I felt
like our defense played unbelievable tonight. You know, great all
round team win, but the way our defense was able
to get some huge stops, turn the ball over on downs,
get a you know, a turnover, put us in really
good field position to be able to score score points.
You know, felt like we didn't play exactly the way
(20:11):
that we wanted to on offense tonight. Can be a
lot better in a lot of ways, but we got
the job done and that's all that matters.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Deep past to Addison, were you looking for passing your
friends there and if you see him very much?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
No, I saw he had a step on him. I
just tried to get it out there as much as
I could. Knew he was one on one, you know,
and just try to give him a shot.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
What has Jordan done well the last four games or so?
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Jordan Addison? Yeah, I think you know, Jordan first and foremost,
he's putting in a ton of work, you know, on
the field and off the field during the week to
be able to put himself in good positions, you know,
on Sunday, Monday, whatever day we play. So I feel like,
you know, just the way that he's been coming into
work has been you know, he's he's just been a pro.
(21:01):
You know, this whole entire year, he's been a pro.
But you know, to see it come into fruition and
and see him you know, get you know, just do well.
It's really fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Sam, whether it's.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
Just in dropping the pass or you know, maybe things
that didn't go your way. He was talking locker room
about just how short of a memory you have to have,
and you do that very very well. How what is
the key to that for you? You know when you're pressing,
because then you found him right there on the goal
line and set up the touchdown there.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
Yeah, I think you know this, This game happens fast,
and you know, every play is its own, and you
know you're always going to have opportunities to to make
big plays, especially with the offense that we have, the
players that we have. You just got to play every
play as its own, and especially first and second down
if it's not there, you know, get the ballto my hands,
to my checkdowns. And but understanding, if if you know
(21:57):
those guys are one on one in the situation to
be able to go make play, I'm gonna get them
the rock and they know that too, So it's, uh,
you know, it's fun playing with those guys. But yeah,
I think for me, the biggest thing is just continuing
to play one play at a time, not just for me,
but our entire offense.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
What did you think of Aaron's effort on the third
and seventeen and.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Tj Is on the third and fifteen. Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
You know, those guys to be able to be in
the spots that they were in and just be a
you know, be a really good presence on a checkdown,
to be able to go and get that first down
the way that they did on those two plays was
very crucial in the game.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
You have to just be able to finish two drives
there with one yard runs. How much does that just
change things on a night where you're maybe not hitting
everything offensively that you want, but you're able to finish
with seven and not three.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Again, that's that's the NFL. You know, some nights you
know aren't gonna go necessarily the way that you want.
But I think for us to continue to stay composed,
stay resilient like we always talk about, and just continue
to take it one drive at a time, one play
at a time, and I feel like we did that
on those two drives and and to be able to
finish in the end zone is always huge for a
(23:06):
football team in.
Speaker 8 (23:08):
Order to handle success well, like you guys have. How
important then is the veteran presence, you know, like, let's
not look to the number one seed, let's just do
where we are, where you are. But that's that starts.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
With the vats, right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
You know, I think just to be able to you know,
come in, it starts with you know, Ko obviously as
well being able to send that message to us. And
we've talked about it all the time. We talked about it,
you know ever since. Really, OTAs, I feel like our
guys have been doing such a good job of just
attacking what's in front of us, and we're just going
to continue to do that.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Last night, you guys actually clinched playoffs last night after
the the Sunday night game.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Do you take a second to absorb that at all
before getting back to getting ready for this one?
Speaker 5 (23:48):
You know, I think for us it's it truly is
you know, it's great first and foremost to be able
to you know, recognize it, you know, during the night,
and to be able to be with some of my
teammates when that happened. You know, that's special in that moment.
But to be able to wake up today and know
that we have a job to do. You know, that's
(24:10):
the best part about our team is we can we
can enjoy moments like that and be mature enough to
be able to come come into work today and get
the job done.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
The celebration, like if there was one last night, there wasn't.
There was. I mean we just you know, talked.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
About it for literally like I think five minutes. I
think that was. That was about the celebration that we
had last night.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So Sam, what do you think of just the atmosphere
tonight with the white out and your towels and all
that stuff.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Yeah, I mean I say it every single week. Our
fans are the best best in the world to be
able to come out in all white the way that
they did, and and how loud they were on some
of those third downs. For the defense, I know, we're crucial,
you know, creating a couple of false starts for their offense.
So it's always great to be able to, you know,
play in front of our fans. Do you feel like
(24:57):
the Bears were defending you guys friendly at all than
the three weeks ago or I thought they showed a
couple of different looks. But again, we got to go
back and watch the tape. You know, I'll probably I'll
probably wait to answer that one if you want to
ask it again. On Wednesday, you know, with the gutsy performance.
Speaker 8 (25:18):
He said, you felt like they put like eight pounds
of tape on his knee out there, tap back out.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That was awesome for you.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Yeah, no, it was unbelievable that, you know what a
gutsy performance like you said by by Bo to be
able to you know, I'm sure he was in a
lot of pain to be able to go out there
and finish and and uh, you know, just be the
leader that he is, you know, be super tough and
be that guy. And uh, it was great to have
him out there at the end.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
At Seattle. Next week, they got killed by Green Bay
on Sunday night. Football is still tough place to play.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Right, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
It's one of It's probably the toughest environment in the
league to play, especially this late in the season. Now,
how motivated their fan base will be, I mean, it
is the twelfth man, that whole thing. So I'm sure
there's still gonna be loud. You're gonna to get it,
you know, come out of the gates, Firre and that game.
I'll let the crowd get in it. But Gino Smith's
a little nicked up. We'll see how what his progress is.
I know they're on their backup center, so they have
some injury issues that they're dealing with. But you know
(26:12):
that's their problem, not ours. And you gotta do what
you gotta do to win on the road in Seattle
in a short week. This is a big task. So
I don't care if you win this game against Seattle
by one or by twenty. That's a big deal to
be able to go on the road this time of
year and do something like that.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Great job, Pete versus journalists for the Vikings Radio network.
He took part in calling a thirty to twelve victory
for your Minnesota Vikings. They've won seven in a row
and improved to twelve and two. That's the Vikings post
game report, and I'm Paul Allen. Thank you for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!