December 12, 2024 • 39 mins
Welcome back to the Vikings Tailgate presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings. The 'Monsters of the Midway' are heading to U.S. Bank Stadium for a Winter Whiteout game and Minnesota comedian Bryan Miller is all about it. Bryan and Cy Amundson break down why this season has both of them feeling uncomfortably optimistic, why the Bears seem to be emotionally spent at this point, state the case for Kwesi and Kevin O'Connell to be contenders for NFL awards, and look ahead at the prospect of week 18 being for all the marbles. All of this and more is on episode 49 of The Vikings Tailgate presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings. Also, be sure to check out Bryan Miller this weekend Dec. 12th - 14th at Acme Comedy Company here in Minneapolis. Grab your tickets now: https://mnvkn.gs/4gAIUUd
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 (00:00):
As the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings and
the NFL. Ticketmaster is the safest and most convenient marketplace
to score fully verified Vikings tickets. So get those touchdown
celebrations ready and score your tickets today at ticketmaster dot com.
Slash Vikings Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings drop.
(00:20):
Head over to nurl dot com for more details. Hey guys,
it's I and it is Bears week. Here on the tailgate,
we have another fun show for you, comedian Brian Miller.
He is from He is a Minneapolis comedian, but I
wanted to have him on because I wanted to talk
Vikings big win last week against the Falcons. I wanted
(00:41):
to enjoy the Viking miss instead of talking to the
other fan base this week. Also, hey, he is at
ACME this week, the best comedy club in America Thursday, Friday,
Saturday two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. Ticketlink will be
in the bio here. You'll love him. He's been on
The Late Late Show with Craig Fergus and he's fantastic
tours all over the country. Check out him. Also, if
(01:04):
you're listening on our podcast feed while you're here, make
sure you give us a five star review. It really
helps us out rating and review. Thank you guys so much,
and in joy the show. The Rocket Rocket t here. Hey, everybody,
(01:30):
welcome back to the tailgate.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is Bears week.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Normally we have an entertainer who is a fan of
the other team, but this week we're doubling down on
the home team, ladies and gentlemen, because at ACME this week,
well it's Brian Miller, fantastic comedian, Viking fan. I'm at
the point where this is one of those weeks, Brian,
where I didn't want to be troubled with the attitude
(01:56):
and the trappings of another fan base. Sure, because of
what happened on Sunday, I just want to exist in
this moment with other Viking fans.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And also this is nice.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So people, there's a lot of people know you as
a fantastic comedian. You're also a fantastic fiction writer. Sure,
but you are also a talented sports editor and occasional
sports writer for a local entity called Zone Coverage.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
And I used to live in Chicago and you used.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
To live in Chicago, which, well, let's not do it.
Let's not let me dive into my opinions about the
people of Chicago. Let's stick with how I'm feeling right now. Sure,
there's this thing that happened on Sunday. So I was
listening to Dan Barrero and Ben Lieber was on, and
they played back the audio of a moment in Sunday's game.
(02:49):
They started showing the Daily Leaders, the Sunday Leaders for statistics,
and they showed Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson were one
to two in the whole league. Crowd goes, not Jefferson's
up on the up on the bench right, and then
they put Donald up there, and the crowd goes ballistic,
and Donald, who is really even has a moment of
(03:12):
emotion like a break and really has has a piece
of it. And I watched it on the TV broadcast,
but in listening to it back when Barrero played the audio,
it just hit different. It was this energy in the building.
And our producer Jay, who's here today, he was in there,
and I've talked to other people who are in the building.
It was this thing that for me, as a Vikings fan,
(03:35):
it felt so distant from the energy that has been
around this fan base for so long. You know, it
was in this moment where our old quarterback was in
our building, where the defense throttled him and our new
quarterback had the performance of his life, and specifically one
where these two great receipts, Like it just felt like
(03:57):
this confident noise slowly on this podcast, Brian and I
understand I'm giving a Ted talk to start the show.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
This is like I was gonna.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Say, IM gonna pop out for a coffee, but I'll
be back.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, how's the tailgate going?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
You know, he had Jeff Foxworthy on last weekend, then
this week turned into some weird like crowd noise manifesto
that nobody really enjoyed. I think my point is anyone
who's been listening to this show has heard me. I
started the season. I'm not putting much on it. I
just want to see some guys get better because all
the cap space, like have the team and the roster
(04:30):
go the right direction and we could be walking into
something really cool next year. Then they take off and
they start doing what I go, Okay, this is kind
of gravy. This is fun where like there's a little
bit of house money here. Enjoy this, and then the
expectations come around, like, well maybe we need to take
advantage of it. Now, this thing that has been happening
since the Tennessee game, I just am believing more and more,
(04:54):
and in a way that is different in the way
I've believed in some teams in the past, you know,
And I've heard other vikings say that. I just I
don't know how to describe it or explain it. And
it feels different than the belief in the FARV team.
It feels different than the belief in ninety eight or
the Keenom team that noise just like that noise just coalesced.
(05:14):
This feeling I've had into like a more central ball
in my gut where I went. I think this team
believes in themselves in a confident way that is giving everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I don't know, it's just different.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I don't know where it's going to end, but right
now I have some weird different energy about what I
think this team is.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, you know, when Atlanta took that early lead, you know,
I think early in the season, or sometimes in my
pessimistic fandom might have been.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like here we go, here we go.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I was like, no, I was confident even when they
looked really tough right right at the start. It was
probably the worst stretch of the game for the Vikings really,
and I was like, no, they're fun. They got this,
and I just thought they would. And they they're playing
like a really confident team. When you watch them, they
just look credible. Like it wasn't just that the score
reflect how much they won, and it wasn't like, oh man,
(06:03):
they keep dropping those samsartal interceptions. He got lucky on
four or five. He looked great, and everybody looked great.
There is a unit.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They're coalesced there as a team, and yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Funny you say that that you didn't, And I because
I felt the exact same thing. I'm literally I was
watching on my phone because I'm like half cleaning the
kitchen and doing some stuff, and I normally watch it downstairs,
but so it's kind of the in between moments when
I'm upstairs, so I've got the phone sitting here, and
then the phone's there and I'm watching and you hear
something happen. I had the exact same thing. I was like,
why am I not worried about this? By the way,
(06:33):
a game that historically for the Vikings, your old quarterback
comes back to your building in a year where you're
ten and you're like, oh, this is where it gets
ruined for us. So I'm glad you felt that, because
I it was almost an unrecognizable emotion for me during
that game.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, we've often talked about how Packers fans like the
Packers team plane could crash into the side of a
mountain into a fireball and all the green people in
green bagel. Well, we got a fresh start next. I
think we got a real good chance at a division title.
Like nothing bad that can happen. In the back, they're
always just like, oh, will be great, We'll be great.
And as Vikings fans, I think we've been maybe and
maybe we've conditioned ourselves because you look back and it's
(07:12):
like you look at the Bears, for instance, and you go, no,
that's a troubled fan base that sucks to root for
that team.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
But I certainly am a bit of a pest.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But they got a Super Bowl. I think it's Yeah,
I talk about it all the time on this show.
I think you know a personality around it's it's this
is people are gonna puke in their mouth when I
use this term, but uh, it's you know, they the
term generational trauma. Sure, I do think it's I do
think it's generational sports trauma. I think you grow up
around a dad who you're eleven years old, and your
(07:42):
dad goes.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
We're gonna blow it. Yeah, this isn't gonna end.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you're like, it just instills it in you, you know,
and I think you have. It's kind of like if
you grew up with a like an an alcoholic parent,
you either Generally, people who grew up with like massive dysfunction,
they don't kind of just all out. They either follow
the dysfunction or they rebel against it really hard. So
I think if you're a Vike, that's why there's not
(08:07):
a lot of middle ground and Viking fans. They're either
the people are like, yeah, we're gonna We're gonna it's
gonna be the worst ending ever, and then you have
people on the other side who are like, how dare
you question the guy who made the mistake?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
It's like whenever I see an instagram of someone who
made a really elaborate gingerbread house, I'm like, how much
did your dad yell at you back?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And the day you know you have to go the
other way, It's like I'm gonna be the most wholesome.
But that's what this Vikings game was like.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Was like seeing your angry dad laugh in a movie
and you're like, dad never laughs, he smiling.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What this feeling like? I think everything's gonna be okay,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And I don't know how to project it forward. That's
the problem. That's and I don't want to know how
to project it for it. I want to be very clear,
I'm still existing in this moment. I that feeling I
had that doesn't necessarily make me think they're going to
go on a deep playoff run. Sure, so you got
a Bears team this week that is they look exhausted. Yeah,
(09:02):
they like internally exhausted. Where I don't think people I
think in sports we don't often think about it as
a workplace as much as we should. Where you think like, oh,
the new coach, you get the bump and they do it.
It's like, man, they fired their old coordinator, bumped their
passing game coordinator up to their O coordinator, then they
(09:23):
fired their head coach. The passing game coordinator, who is
the O coordinator for three weeks is now the head coach.
The decordinator is calling plays for the first time in
his entire like eba flus was the play card, and
then you walk into Kyle Shanahan's building and Jay sent
me a screenshot of the first half statistics during the game.
Three hundred and nineteen yards for the Niners, four total
(09:46):
yards on seventeen plays for the Bears. And so that's
a team to me that seems in that moment exhausted. Now,
I don't know what we're gonna get from them this week,
but projecting it forward, I don't. I think you just
go take care of business. I don't know what you
can take out of the Chicago game. If you go
in there and you throttle them. You should throttle an
(10:06):
exhausted team. If it gets close, who knows, maybe their
back tock begins to like, I'm not going to look
too hard into this one. Well, obviously caring about this
game on sure, very interested in Seattle, But can we
see a continuation or a progression of the sort of
execution we saw on Sunday? And if they do that,
then I start going I really start to cement into
(10:28):
this mindset of I think they can beat anybody on
any given week, And then the question for me becomes
can you do it four times against good teams potentially
in other buildings, But I don't know. I'm in a
weird place of confidence that I'm not quite ready to
project forward with yet.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Sure I can see that. And then with the Bears,
you're talking about them being exhausted. I heard this incredible
stat on the way over here. This is unbelievable. So
seven teams are eliminated from playoff contention in the whole
NFL NFL six of them are from the AFC, because
of course the NFC is insane. Right now, if you
take those six, those six bad teams, Okay, in the AFC,
they have a combined record of I believe it is
(11:09):
one in twenty five against the NFC. The only team
in the NFC that has lost to one of those teams,
the Patriots beat the Bears.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The Bears are the only one to give it up.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
So like they're they're really in a tough spot because
I mean, the NFC north unbelievable, unbelievable, and the NFC
is so much better.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
So we're in the best division because.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The NFC is so much better. But when you get
to it's weird.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
It's like you have a seesaw right, and on one
side you have twenty five kids and on the other
side you have three kids, and.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You're like, why is it balancing?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Well, it's because the Chiefs and the Bills and the
Ravens are very fat. You know, switch out the Ravens
and the Steelers. Like sure, That's the interesting thing of
like the NFC seems like from a parody standpoint and
from a highlight like way, the percentage of teams that
are good and competitive versus the FC. But when you
get to the top, it's really really difficult.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
I think Detroit, Vikings and Eagles, though yeah, I have
a lot of losses between those three teams.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Here's what I will like, and I'm not trying to
I'm not trying to push off because Detroit is incredible. Yeah,
the Bills obviously lost in a tough game against the Rams.
If Patrick Mahomes didn't exist, Josh Allen, I truly think
we'd be sitting around having the is this the greatest quarterback? Like?
Is he on track to be the greatest NFL quarterback
(12:35):
of all time? He's bigger than a linebacker. He's three
rushing touchdowns and three so like, I don't know, there's
just a level of play on that side, and it's
the quarterbacks, right, Yes, like the Lions and the Eagles,
I'm very concerned about absolutely, but I just feel different
about having to face Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. That
(12:56):
just feels, in a one game scenario, like a different
challenge than facing Jared Goff, even though ultimately the Lions
might be the toughest out in the entire NFL.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Absolutely, but the NFC is man, They're stout, and I
just it's so funny that everything everything. The Bears also
make a perfect contrast for the Vikings because if you
remember after the preseason, it was like they finally got
their quarterback, They've got all these draft capital, Like we
were both supposed to be kind of quote unquote rebuilding teams,
but the Bears were really supposed to be on the
sweet side of the rebuild. This was supposed to be
(13:30):
the like, well, they'll probably go to the playoffs, but
like probably not make a deep run. And then the Vikings,
I mean, we were like, man, it'd be nice to
win six and a half, you know, the six games,
seven games the Vegas was projecting didn't feel didn't feel
disrespectful at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
But what I would say, what was interesting, you could
just tell from a vibe of the team. You could
just feel it pretty early on. Because I've said this
a bunch, I think teams know who they are, Like
when guys when when rookie quarterbacks walk in a building,
it doesn't take like the players a few months ago.
This guy has it or this guy doesn't have it.
It's not like you know, in comedy, some comics are
(14:06):
terrible for eight years and then at year eleven you're like,
how are you the best comic in America?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah, people do take that weird jump subtimes. That seems
it's like you, why did you try that for all
those years before?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
It doesn't seem like that happens in the NFL. We're like,
this guy was like, I don't know, the sixty eighth
best linebacker in the league, and all of a sudden
he's a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I just he figured it out in year nine, grew
three inches.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Very strange at age twenty eight, but here we have it.
He's now a massive man.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's the other thing that's super odd about the Bears season,
and you talk to any Bears fan. We had Daniel
Vankirk on the show. You know, I think they were not.
I think they all wanted to change at coach before
this season. So there's probably a lot to unpack there.
But if you just think about the trajectory of the season,
right that hail Mary the jade and Daniels hail Mary,
(14:55):
and which leads into the blocked field goal?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Right yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
If that, I mean, those are two so astronomically massively
unlikely results in those plays, an end of game, game
winning hail Mary and the important block I'm talking about
that sent the Bears the wrong way. It was against
the Green Bay Packers. It was forty six yards, which
is even worse. By the way, this is your division
(15:20):
number one rival.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
With a famously bad special teams unit for the last
many years too. I mean, getting beat by the Packers
on special teams is like a special insult.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, so just think of that. Think of that.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
You know that veer off right where you go the
Jaden Daniels hail Mary goes off this direction. Then a
couple weeks later you get a field goal blocked against
the Packers. You win those two games, you're at the
forefront of playoff conversations. Then you have the comeback against Minnesota,
which falls apart, then you have the thing against the Lions.
(15:51):
That's why they're just such an interesting team. I don't
know that everybody in the preseason was wrong about the Bears.
I just think it hasn't come together. And that's why
whenever I see Vikings celebrating the Bears misery or celebrate like,
oh Caleb, you know he, I don't think you're shut
your mouth like what you all your energy should be
(16:11):
put into hoping that Ben Johnson doesn't take that job.
All the pieces are there. I it has been ugly
as of late, but I think this thing could have
veered a different direction and they very much could be
right now an eight and five football team.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I mean, Kayleb Williams made a couple of throws against
the Vikings that were just out of this world, that
were Josh Allen like to your point of him being
maybe the best, and so yeah, as a Vikings fan,
I'm not I'm definitely not gonna talk too much smack
about Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Assuming it might have been easy.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I still I still take him number one, and it's
not even close. I know everybody loves Jayden. He's younger,
he's got all some of the things he does. I
still he's still the guy. I take number one. And
now that we now that we've talked our way all
the way through Chicago, I think I'm going back to
what going back to earlier and I was saying, you know,
you got to take care of business with Chicago, and
(17:02):
let's see if what happened against the Falcons can progress
a continue or progress against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I want to add to that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I do think what the number one thing for me
this week, and in addition, get a win however you
need it, because that's where in the game of wins
and losses, especially desperately begging for an opportunity for that
last Lions game to mean something.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Absolutely, let's put this on it. I want this.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You know, if you're a fan, I think I want
this game to look the way it should given what
you saw. I get like, I don't want to see
something weird. I don't want all of a sudden be like, ah,
we gave up two flea flickers and we're.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Down eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Like I don't teams have been running the ball a bit.
I don't want them to come in and Caleb and
the running backs and you do a couple you know,
jet sweeps, and all of a sudden you're like, what's
happening here? Make it look the way it should. I
do think that's also a version of a progression of
what we saw against.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
The felasure out of Curre essay. Because we've talked a
lot about Kirk over the years.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Don't do it. Don't do it to me?
Speaker 4 (18:04):
No, did you did you feel like that Falcons game?
Because I feel like for a lot of people it
like gave them a sense of closure, like a positive closure.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Did you feel that closure?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Here's the thing I think Kirk has. You know, if
you having been a part of the organization for longer
than they should have let me at this point, you
get a different energy, a different vibe, a different access
to the way these buildings and teams and organizations work.
And it's a stark reminder that like just Kirk was
(18:42):
such a good human being, yeah, and such a good
thrower of the football, right, And I think I think
he's so interesting in that I don't know where else
in NFL history you find a certainly a quarterback who,
(19:03):
amongst fan bases has been so heavily debated everywhere he's
gone and start Like often when guys are debated, they
either silenced the debate, Like at one point Drew Brees
was debated, Sure, right, yeah, and then pretty soon we
all shut up and Drew Brees was no longer debated.
And the opposite is app Sometimes guys are debated and
(19:23):
then all of a sudden they ain't playing anymore RG three,
you know, and it just stops being a debate.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Kirk is.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So it's so rare that you see a guy play
for as many years and travel to three Because, by
the way, I have friends in Atlanta, and prior to
this week, prior to the four interception performance, people were
having the exact same divide in their fan base as
we were having here. They have the Penix thing on
top of it. So I don't much traffic in the
(19:54):
you know where some fans are running with like looking
at Sunday as like a demise of a guy and
a validation of a take. But I have always Jay
has heard me talk about this forever. I think the
NFL is a math equation and it can be built
a bunch of different ways, right, Like if you want,
(20:15):
if you want a quarterback with a lot of money,
a couple of things are gonna have to happen. You're
gonna have to spread it out the exact right, And I,
Lord knows, I shouldn't comment on how to build a
football team, but I understand mathematics, right, If you're gonna
pay a quarterback a bunch of money, you have to
spread it out in the right way, and couple it
(20:37):
with hitting on draft picks. I just I think that's
pretty basic knowledge, right. And conversely, which is why you
see all these guys. So many of these guys win
super Bowls on Russell Wilson on rookie deal, Aaron Rodgers
on rookie deal, Roethlisberger one on a rookie deal and
then another one on a reduced deal. You know, when
Peyton Manning goes to Denver, he's not on a high
(20:57):
level like That's why you see a lot of these
non Brady guys, and it's why it's kind of frustrating
that when we talk about Brady, we don't discuss that
he made the decision to take low salary cap hits
for nearly the entirety of his career and he had
more top There's a stat out there he had more
Top ten defenses than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and like
(21:21):
two or three other Hall of famers in the entirety
of their career. He had more by himself. And that's
not a criticism or I'm just saying that is what happened.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Smart is what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So to spin all the way out and come all
the way back, like to me, what Sunday was was
you know, I thought when they moved on from Kirk,
it's I think this organization has such a high reputation
with players. We're seeing that with why Daniel Jones, like
the way Lewis Riddick and all these other analysts who
were former players. When Daniel Jones signed here, you saw
(21:55):
the way they talked about the grades that we get,
like this is a place people will want to be.
And so I think the mutual parting of Kirk going
this feels best for me, the Viking's going this feels
best for you. At the same time, I do think
seeing a talented guy come in on a one year
deal and having our coach be who we thought he
(22:17):
was and having that work that like that was the
noise when you're feeling confident, like that's this thing, like, oh,
this is just different. This is a math equation that
works for this version of this team, and I revel
in that.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
That's That's what I meant.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I don't, Yeah, I don't take it as a stick
in it to Kirk, But to me, it felt like
a validation of.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Quasi's overall approach.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I felt like, this is, you know, you can see
the other path we could have taken, and Atlanta is
kind of showing us the other path with the penix thing.
We would have had the same thing potentially with JJ
and Kirk and what do you do? But yeah, to me,
it was just like they're on the right path. They're
doing they're doing the right things in general.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And I would I'll be curious.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
You know, everybody talks about Coach of the Year, which
O'Connell is near the top of it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I'll be curious, And I don't. I don't read a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I just I'm the sort of guy who just winds
up in comment threads throwing an MF or at somebody
whose like user name is like.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Packers star four four five.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I don't know if this buzz is happening, and I
think it's really hard because Howie Roseman is just all
world continuously, I meane, between the Saquon and the.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Cooper Cooper to Gen Cooper to John situation. But I wonder,
I wonder if.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
The case is building for you know, GM of the Year,
if Quazy is going to get some rightful do in
that conversation, because I think the thing I heard him talk.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
In the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I think he appeared on maybe it was Barrero, he
appeared on something on KF and and he talked about
this the collaborative approach. And I think if you've ever
been any part of corporate America, you've heard some of
these buzzwords, but just the way he does it and
the way he did it in that moment, like it
was a genuine like I remember hearing it and I
called Ben Lieber and I was like, I just like,
(24:13):
I'm so bought in on this, Like maybe I'm drinking
the kool aid, but I am so bought in on it.
And then I think what you're seeing in the season
is an actual reflection of that thing that everybody when
it first started happening, when they hired these guys and oh,
you're going to be collaborative. I think you're seeing it
because you trust your coach too. Instead of signing Kirk Cousins,
who has this reputation, you trust your coach to have
(24:35):
a journeyman that no one, no one thought would do
anything close to what he's doing and a rookie. So
that is you are collaborating with your coach.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
You're believing him.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Lord knows they are collaborating with Brian Flores and what
he wants. I mean, that's it's public record with some
of the things that have been said. He loved Van Ginkel.
He talked to the Eden Prairie coach about Cashman. So
I just think how well all these new pieces Aaron Jones,
how well they're all playing, and how it all builds
(25:04):
into this version of the way this team is built
and the way they're succeeding in the moment and the
way they did on Sunday. Like Sunday is one of
those things like if he winds up in that conversation
at the end that game where they go forty two,
you know whatever, it was over the Falcons against their
old quarterback in a bizarro world version of them, like
it mattered I think that's kind of like this tipping
(25:27):
point moment where if you weren't on board with Quacy,
you know, what are you doing? It's an eleven and
two football team with like not a lot of pieces
from this year that are missing, and and and like
like again, I'm very ted talking to people are used
to me being worried. Brian, I'm jacked and credit go, Like,
(25:49):
I don't want to give credit to someone and not
let anybody else have it. So let's kind of move
away from the quaisy thing. But like, dude, the undrafted
free agent thing. Jalen Redmond, Jalen Redman's exactly, And after
having the ivan pacing, like, what are we talking about?
That's to have two guys on your squad when Pace
comes back. If this Redmond trajectory continues to have two
(26:10):
undrafted free agents that can perform at high levels, that
is bananas.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
That is something I've always been jealous about Green Bay about,
was it right? They're always really good at finding those
an undrafted guys are those really late round guys, but
they've never been great with free agent signings.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And Graycy's doing them both. Yeah, whoa you put those together?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And I think that people who had an issue with
the early drafts. You know, I think the draft is
such a crapshoot, and so I think, to me, when
you're looking at like how good of a drafter are you?
I think it's tricky because there's this whole business, like
this media business built around the draft where it's an
event and all the like who should you draft? And
(26:48):
then like we all know the comical nature of giving
draft grades on the night of the draft.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
It's so funny. It is so funny.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It'd be like you have yourself and at the hospital
they walk up to you your first kid and they're
like a plus parenting for the next eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Like it's it's bizarre.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
It's funny.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Actually, it reminds me. I was at Thanksgiving. There's a new baby.
I have a new nephew, and everyone's looking at the baby.
He's like six weeks old, you know, and they're going,
I'll look at those look at those long arms. He's
gonna be a starting pitcher, you know. Look at those
long fingers. He's gonna be a piano player, you know.
And I'm like, we're doing his athletic measurables at six
weeks old. They can't even tell if a guy is
gonna translate from college to the pros, you know. And
also it's always so positive. No one's ever like a
(27:30):
look at those long arms, He's going to reach the
top shelf at the Amazon warehouse, you know, like everyone's
always projecting with like, look at their positive.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Look at that lengthy Torso they're definitely gonna ask him
why he doesn't play basketball when he's nineteen exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, it's like the projecting it that soon is like, everyone,
take a breath, let's see what happens, Like, give him
a minute.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And so I mean, but I you know, a couple
of that first draft, you got guys who are drafted.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
In the first second round who aren't on the team anymore.
Absolutely that's case.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But I think you have to, like, as a drafter,
I think you take a larger sample because how hit
and missed the draft is. You know, if JJ and
Dallas Turner turn out, you basically have to take a
three to four year run, yes, and then you wait
five years and then you stack that up against all
the other three to four runs in that time and
the five years after that and so I'm not here
(28:20):
to pump up or debate draft prowess, but I yeah,
I just I'm riding high on that performance. Obviously I'm
over here, like but I think it's it could be
a tipping point in the season. It could be a
tipping point and a bunch of narratives and I don't know.
I think it's really the former Viking fan in me
that for some reason doesn't exist as heavy right now
(28:43):
would be just sitting here going and then we play
the Bears that we're supposed to beat on Monday night,
and this will happen. But I just and that might happen,
but I'm just not feeling that. So everybody, everybody's gonna
think that, like I got must have got a psychiatrist.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
In the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Even if they drop one in the next two weeks,
I'm not gonna feel doom and gloom, dooming and gloomy,
Oh for sure not.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I mean no, I think I think it's how you lose.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah. Absolutely, It is interesting.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Both Chicago and Atlanta, we're in this period where we
kind of saw two different paths in each other team.
Each team was kind of a bizarre version of us
in a different way, and so I think that's what's
making the last game so satisfying in this upcoming match
so intriguing.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
What I am very interested in is I would like
us to win the next two games, and I would
like the Packers to lose on Sunday to Seattle. I
don't want to go into the last week of the
season against the Lions having to win to keep Green
Bay at Bay.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
That is exactly I wrote an article about that exact
same phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think it's either I want to be playing for
the one seed or I want to be able to
take it easy and press. Because Zach Martinez on the
show and he warned us about this. He goes, teams
who played the Detroit Lions often have a tough time
the following week. Yes, very it's such a physic football team.
And we lost the Lions and then short week Thursday.
So here's the thing, like, Hey, we don't know what's
(30:07):
gonna happen with that game. It might end up like
if it's for the money, right, but I don't like
it might be flexed out. You never know, You never
know what happens. But I don't want to play on
Saturday and have to really fight hard to stay in
the five seed.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, and then have to.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Turn it against a very physical football team and then
have to and they here's the thing about Dan Campbell.
I think you go, if, well, if they have the
one seed locked up, are they gonna just I don't
think so.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I don't think that's how Dan.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I think if Dan Campbell knows he has a bye week,
I think Dan Campbell goes, let's run it out there
and let's play real football and then we'll take our
bye week.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
He's like, not only are we not resting our starters,
Jared Golf's gonna be on roller skates the whole time.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yes. So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I mean I think for this fan base, for this organization,
and honestly for Sam Darnold, I can't imagine anything better
than that Lions game being for the money.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I mean that, like, and that's that's the other reason
you can tell I feel differently about this team. Is
with right to change my mind over the next two weeks,
uh is.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I I want that challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I think, like I think back to the two thousand,
the Minnesota Miracle year. That year we always felt like
we got away with it every game. Yes, I remember
the defense was so good. You're like, god, I just
thank god they dropped that interception. We always felt like
we got away with it. And so in the playoffs,
I remember thinking, like I just want I want the
Falcons to win over the Eagles because I want it
(31:32):
nar but like, I just want. I mean, don't get
me wrong, if we have to win a super Bowl
by other teams making mistakes, sign.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Daddy up, bring on a mistake train. Yeah, I will
throw the I will throw a parade.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I'll tattoo mistake onto my my chest like I would
just just horns coming out of each ends of the word.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But I want the challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I don't want the And that's a rare position for
my mindset for this team to be in.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Yeah, and what a great way to end the season
two that would be you know, it's on a high
point going against Campbell like that.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, it'd be great.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's high risk, high reward. Yeah, because you win it.
I mean you're gonna you're gonna pull out all the
stops in that game. You win it, you get the
bye week, you get home field throughout, you lose it,
you just gave everything you had, and you have to
turn around and go play.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I was talking.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
People are not worried about Tampa Bay at all. I'm
just here to tell you. I know their defense isn't
very good. I know everybody's hurt. I don't know, man,
I've watched a lot of Tampa Bay. I don't love
the idea of playing Tampa Bay. And I don't like
playing a guy like Baker Mayfield who has that weird
like what they say, you know, that weird chip motivation.
(32:41):
And Liam Cohen's a good offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It's high risk, high reward, but I would just I
would just I would like some clarity going into the
last week.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
How selfish is that I'm over here.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I would just like my eleven to two football team
to know their fate.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Could we just know our fate?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Would that?
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Could you do that for me? Please?
Speaker 4 (33:00):
That I agree with you on Baker though, And I've
always been a Baker fan, and I like that. I
like that he's basically can you know this big crotch
grab move that got him so you know in college
everyone wasn't mad about I like that he's just been
like basically doing the crotch grab for seventeen games every year.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
I just think he's a he's a treat and I
would much rather not face him.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, it's funny how just you know the NFL, so
you work for a sports website, right, you know it's
funny how the machine, how important narratives are to the machine, right,
and and then how those narra's the machine is so
big that those narratives overtake the part of the league
(33:40):
that isn't the machine. Right, So like Baker's this guy,
like both Baker and Darnold, you know, ousted out of situations,
both wind up in Carolina disaster, both of them. And
like I would say before Baker went to Los Angeles,
outside of the guy who replaced him, I don't know
that you find much of a lower approval rating, sure
(34:02):
for a starting quarterback in the NFL from a do
you like this guy?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Not?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Is he good?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Do you you go to other fan bases who on
his team? He goes, do you like this guy? And
now I think you go, I think he has a
It's like he rebuilt the football economy. He's got a
skyrocket at approval rating. Same thing with Donald I think
you know, when Donald's sitting in San Francisco, if you
take a fan poll of approval rating and he comes here,
(34:27):
I just think that's so interesting that I don't know
that Baker is much different of a guy, and I
always worry about his ability to be like I'm just gonna.
I mean, they did in the playoffs last year. They
just they have the ability to do it.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
He went from being Johnny and karate Kid to Johnny
and coolbri Kai. Johnny's still the same, but the show's
different around him, and all of a sudden he's the
hero instead of the villain.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
I love him for that.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I said at the beginning of the season, let's close
on this, Well, no, because if we close on me
talking about the progression of players that I like, this
will be two hours more of a podcast and everybody back.
I don't know if I can sign up for size
narrative novel every week. What do you think, like if
I'm I've puked for this whole show where I'm at
(35:15):
mentally and you've sat side saddle right honestly in this
moment as we sit here normally, I asked the opposing guest,
what's gonna happen this weekend. What's your score prediction I
want from you because I'm not gonna do it. What
is your real at this moment, with the information we
have before we see these crucial next four games, where
(35:36):
do you think this season is truly going.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
I think they're gonna drop at least one more, maybe
two considering you know, maybe maybe it's just one more.
But I just I think you gotta purely enjoy the season.
I think this is one of the most enjoyable football
seasons in Minnesota in a long time, and it's one
of the most enjoyable football seasons for any team in
a long time when you consider expectation versus reality. I mean,
(36:00):
it's not quite greatest show on turf level, but certainly
it was you know from the these guys are gonna
be very good to these guys are super Bowl contenders.
I think this the sky actually is the limit for once.
Even it doesn't mean you're gonna get there, but it's not.
We're not just hoping for like a whole team to
get COVID all at once and maybe give us a chance,
you know which, there was a time where I was
(36:21):
like COVID could be the way, you know. So, I
think it's just really important to enjoy this season because
it's it's just pure enjoyment. We are playing with house
money to such an insane degree. But I also don't
think it's just like freakish either. So I I mean,
I think that I think they'll beat the Bears by
at least ten this week. I think I think they
(36:42):
beat the Bears pretty soundly because like I said, I
think the Bears are exhausted. I think then that the
Seahawks and the Packers games are gonna be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I wonder if those will be games that tell the tale.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
I think so more because I think you the Lions
that's gonna be tough, and that game who knows who
starters are playing, that that game's two up in the air.
I think the Bears game, I do think it's going
to be I feel good about that. If the Seahawks
and the Packers back to back, those are two interesting
teams that they could beat, should probably beat, but are tough,
and that are also defining their own paths in the
(37:13):
close of the season too. So you've got a lot
of those narratives of teams on the rise, like all
clashing right at the end.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, and that's what they say, last four games this season, right.
It used to be December. Now the league is pushed
back a week, so it's December January ish.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's I think it's fun.
I think I will lean into this more and more
because you know, you've got three or four division games
down the stretch, which is a wild pace, and you
see that around the league a lot.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
They almost overdo it, I think to a slight degree
where they like they try to cluster all the divisional matchups,
like right at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It feels more than I mean, I have no proof
or evidence of this, but it feels heavier. The Steelers
played all of their division games in the last like
nine weeks of the season.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Yeah, Caago, Chicago, Green Bay, and Minnesota are just back
and forth.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
It's all division games in the North.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
So I I think I'm I'm with you on the
house money, but I'm teetering, like I said, in between
that and a new set of expectations, which I think
are fair, and I'm just trying to see where I land. Confidence.
I really want what I felt after Atlanta. I want
that to be what I feel going into Detroit. That's
what I want. That That is selfishly again, Look, I
(38:28):
just want to feel like we're one of the best teams.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
But yeah, I want to That's that is my.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
If I feel like that after Seattle and green Bay,
regardless of how those games, because by the way, you
can play a hell of a football game against a
Seattle or a green Bay team and not have it
go your way. Sure, So I want to see how
I feel after those games, and then I'm going to
reset how I how devastated I will be if and
when this falls apart, even though I'm trying to tell
(38:57):
people I won't be devastated that it's all house money.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Sure, I don't think you'll be devastated.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Well you don't.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
That feels like you For somebody who's known me as
long as you have. That doesn't seem like you know.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Me at all.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna do it for us here
on the tailgate.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Go see Brian this week. ACME Comedy Company.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday to Friday to Saturday.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Go check him out.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
They'll be absolutely fantastic, best club, best comic and thank
you so much. To Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of
the Minnesota Vikings. Hey, and thank you for listening on
our podcast app. Why don't you head over to the
place where you give reviews and ratings, where you have
the stars or whatever's on your weird podcast app leave us.
(39:42):
Leave us a positive review and a rating. We would
greatly appreciate it. Make sure you're subscribed if you're not,
We'll see you guys all again next week.
As the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings and
the NFL. Ticketmaster is the safest and most convenient marketplace
to score fully verified Vikings tickets. So get those touchdown
celebrations ready and score your tickets today at ticketmaster dot com.
Slash Vikings Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings drop.
(00:20):
Head over to nurl dot com for more details. Hey guys,
it's I and it is Bears week. Here on the tailgate,
we have another fun show for you, comedian Brian Miller.
He is from He is a Minneapolis comedian, but I
wanted to have him on because I wanted to talk
Vikings big win last week against the Falcons. I wanted
(00:41):
to enjoy the Viking miss instead of talking to the
other fan base this week. Also, hey, he is at
ACME this week, the best comedy club in America Thursday, Friday,
Saturday two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. Ticketlink will be
in the bio here. You'll love him. He's been on
The Late Late Show with Craig Fergus and he's fantastic
tours all over the country. Check out him. Also, if
(01:04):
you're listening on our podcast feed while you're here, make
sure you give us a five star review. It really
helps us out rating and review. Thank you guys so much,
and in joy the show. The Rocket Rocket t here. Hey, everybody,
(01:30):
welcome back to the tailgate.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is Bears week.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Normally we have an entertainer who is a fan of
the other team, but this week we're doubling down on
the home team, ladies and gentlemen, because at ACME this week,
well it's Brian Miller, fantastic comedian, Viking fan. I'm at
the point where this is one of those weeks, Brian,
where I didn't want to be troubled with the attitude
(01:56):
and the trappings of another fan base. Sure, because of
what happened on Sunday, I just want to exist in
this moment with other Viking fans.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
And also this is nice.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So people, there's a lot of people know you as
a fantastic comedian. You're also a fantastic fiction writer. Sure,
but you are also a talented sports editor and occasional
sports writer for a local entity called Zone Coverage.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
And I used to live in Chicago and you used.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
To live in Chicago, which, well, let's not do it.
Let's not let me dive into my opinions about the
people of Chicago. Let's stick with how I'm feeling right now. Sure,
there's this thing that happened on Sunday. So I was
listening to Dan Barrero and Ben Lieber was on, and
they played back the audio of a moment in Sunday's game.
(02:49):
They started showing the Daily Leaders, the Sunday Leaders for statistics,
and they showed Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson were one
to two in the whole league. Crowd goes, not Jefferson's
up on the up on the bench right, and then
they put Donald up there, and the crowd goes ballistic,
and Donald, who is really even has a moment of
(03:12):
emotion like a break and really has has a piece
of it. And I watched it on the TV broadcast,
but in listening to it back when Barrero played the audio,
it just hit different. It was this energy in the building.
And our producer Jay, who's here today, he was in there,
and I've talked to other people who are in the building.
It was this thing that for me, as a Vikings fan,
(03:35):
it felt so distant from the energy that has been
around this fan base for so long. You know, it
was in this moment where our old quarterback was in
our building, where the defense throttled him and our new
quarterback had the performance of his life, and specifically one
where these two great receipts, Like it just felt like
(03:57):
this confident noise slowly on this podcast, Brian and I
understand I'm giving a Ted talk to start the show.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
This is like I was gonna.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Say, IM gonna pop out for a coffee, but I'll
be back.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, how's the tailgate going?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
You know, he had Jeff Foxworthy on last weekend, then
this week turned into some weird like crowd noise manifesto
that nobody really enjoyed. I think my point is anyone
who's been listening to this show has heard me. I
started the season. I'm not putting much on it. I
just want to see some guys get better because all
the cap space, like have the team and the roster
(04:30):
go the right direction and we could be walking into
something really cool next year. Then they take off and
they start doing what I go, Okay, this is kind
of gravy. This is fun where like there's a little
bit of house money here. Enjoy this, and then the
expectations come around, like, well maybe we need to take
advantage of it. Now, this thing that has been happening
since the Tennessee game, I just am believing more and more,
(04:54):
and in a way that is different in the way
I've believed in some teams in the past, you know,
And I've heard other vikings say that. I just I
don't know how to describe it or explain it. And
it feels different than the belief in the FARV team.
It feels different than the belief in ninety eight or
the Keenom team that noise just like that noise just coalesced.
(05:14):
This feeling I've had into like a more central ball
in my gut where I went. I think this team
believes in themselves in a confident way that is giving everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I don't know, it's just different.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I don't know where it's going to end, but right
now I have some weird different energy about what I
think this team is.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, you know, when Atlanta took that early lead, you know,
I think early in the season, or sometimes in my
pessimistic fandom might have been.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like here we go, here we go.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
I was like, no, I was confident even when they
looked really tough right right at the start. It was
probably the worst stretch of the game for the Vikings really,
and I was like, no, they're fun. They got this,
and I just thought they would. And they they're playing
like a really confident team. When you watch them, they
just look credible. Like it wasn't just that the score
reflect how much they won, and it wasn't like, oh man,
(06:03):
they keep dropping those samsartal interceptions. He got lucky on
four or five. He looked great, and everybody looked great.
There is a unit.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
They're coalesced there as a team, and yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Funny you say that that you didn't, And I because
I felt the exact same thing. I'm literally I was
watching on my phone because I'm like half cleaning the
kitchen and doing some stuff, and I normally watch it downstairs,
but so it's kind of the in between moments when
I'm upstairs, so I've got the phone sitting here, and
then the phone's there and I'm watching and you hear
something happen. I had the exact same thing. I was like,
why am I not worried about this? By the way,
(06:33):
a game that historically for the Vikings, your old quarterback
comes back to your building in a year where you're
ten and you're like, oh, this is where it gets
ruined for us. So I'm glad you felt that, because
I it was almost an unrecognizable emotion for me during
that game.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, we've often talked about how Packers fans like the
Packers team plane could crash into the side of a
mountain into a fireball and all the green people in
green bagel. Well, we got a fresh start next. I
think we got a real good chance at a division title.
Like nothing bad that can happen. In the back, they're
always just like, oh, will be great, We'll be great.
And as Vikings fans, I think we've been maybe and
maybe we've conditioned ourselves because you look back and it's
(07:12):
like you look at the Bears, for instance, and you go, no,
that's a troubled fan base that sucks to root for
that team.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
But I certainly am a bit of a pest.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But they got a Super Bowl. I think it's Yeah,
I talk about it all the time on this show.
I think you know a personality around it's it's this
is people are gonna puke in their mouth when I
use this term, but uh, it's you know, they the
term generational trauma. Sure, I do think it's I do
think it's generational sports trauma. I think you grow up
around a dad who you're eleven years old, and your
(07:42):
dad goes.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
We're gonna blow it. Yeah, this isn't gonna end.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you're like, it just instills it in you, you know,
and I think you have. It's kind of like if
you grew up with a like an an alcoholic parent,
you either Generally, people who grew up with like massive dysfunction,
they don't kind of just all out. They either follow
the dysfunction or they rebel against it really hard. So
I think if you're a Vike, that's why there's not
(08:07):
a lot of middle ground and Viking fans. They're either
the people are like, yeah, we're gonna We're gonna it's
gonna be the worst ending ever, and then you have
people on the other side who are like, how dare
you question the guy who made the mistake?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
It's like whenever I see an instagram of someone who
made a really elaborate gingerbread house, I'm like, how much
did your dad yell at you back?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And the day you know you have to go the
other way, It's like I'm gonna be the most wholesome.
But that's what this Vikings game was like.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Was like seeing your angry dad laugh in a movie
and you're like, dad never laughs, he smiling.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What this feeling like? I think everything's gonna be okay,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And I don't know how to project it forward. That's
the problem. That's and I don't want to know how
to project it for it. I want to be very clear,
I'm still existing in this moment. I that feeling I
had that doesn't necessarily make me think they're going to
go on a deep playoff run. Sure, so you got
a Bears team this week that is they look exhausted. Yeah,
(09:02):
they like internally exhausted. Where I don't think people I
think in sports we don't often think about it as
a workplace as much as we should. Where you think like, oh,
the new coach, you get the bump and they do it.
It's like, man, they fired their old coordinator, bumped their
passing game coordinator up to their O coordinator, then they
(09:23):
fired their head coach. The passing game coordinator, who is
the O coordinator for three weeks is now the head coach.
The decordinator is calling plays for the first time in
his entire like eba flus was the play card, and
then you walk into Kyle Shanahan's building and Jay sent
me a screenshot of the first half statistics during the game.
Three hundred and nineteen yards for the Niners, four total
(09:46):
yards on seventeen plays for the Bears. And so that's
a team to me that seems in that moment exhausted. Now,
I don't know what we're gonna get from them this week,
but projecting it forward, I don't. I think you just
go take care of business. I don't know what you
can take out of the Chicago game. If you go
in there and you throttle them. You should throttle an
(10:06):
exhausted team. If it gets close, who knows, maybe their
back tock begins to like, I'm not going to look
too hard into this one. Well, obviously caring about this
game on sure, very interested in Seattle, But can we
see a continuation or a progression of the sort of
execution we saw on Sunday? And if they do that,
then I start going I really start to cement into
(10:28):
this mindset of I think they can beat anybody on
any given week, And then the question for me becomes
can you do it four times against good teams potentially
in other buildings, But I don't know. I'm in a
weird place of confidence that I'm not quite ready to
project forward with yet.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Sure I can see that. And then with the Bears,
you're talking about them being exhausted. I heard this incredible
stat on the way over here. This is unbelievable. So
seven teams are eliminated from playoff contention in the whole
NFL NFL six of them are from the AFC, because
of course the NFC is insane. Right now, if you
take those six, those six bad teams, Okay, in the AFC,
they have a combined record of I believe it is
(11:09):
one in twenty five against the NFC. The only team
in the NFC that has lost to one of those teams,
the Patriots beat the Bears.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The Bears are the only one to give it up.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
So like they're they're really in a tough spot because
I mean, the NFC north unbelievable, unbelievable, and the NFC
is so much better.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
So we're in the best division because.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The NFC is so much better. But when you get
to it's weird.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
It's like you have a seesaw right, and on one
side you have twenty five kids and on the other
side you have three kids, and.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
You're like, why is it balancing?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Well, it's because the Chiefs and the Bills and the
Ravens are very fat. You know, switch out the Ravens
and the Steelers. Like sure, That's the interesting thing of
like the NFC seems like from a parody standpoint and
from a highlight like way, the percentage of teams that
are good and competitive versus the FC. But when you
get to the top, it's really really difficult.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
I think Detroit, Vikings and Eagles, though yeah, I have
a lot of losses between those three teams.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Here's what I will like, and I'm not trying to
I'm not trying to push off because Detroit is incredible. Yeah,
the Bills obviously lost in a tough game against the Rams.
If Patrick Mahomes didn't exist, Josh Allen, I truly think
we'd be sitting around having the is this the greatest quarterback? Like?
Is he on track to be the greatest NFL quarterback
(12:35):
of all time? He's bigger than a linebacker. He's three
rushing touchdowns and three so like, I don't know, there's
just a level of play on that side, and it's
the quarterbacks, right, Yes, like the Lions and the Eagles,
I'm very concerned about absolutely, but I just feel different
about having to face Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. That
(12:56):
just feels, in a one game scenario, like a different
challenge than facing Jared Goff, even though ultimately the Lions
might be the toughest out in the entire NFL.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Absolutely, but the NFC is man, They're stout, and I
just it's so funny that everything everything. The Bears also
make a perfect contrast for the Vikings because if you
remember after the preseason, it was like they finally got
their quarterback, They've got all these draft capital, Like we
were both supposed to be kind of quote unquote rebuilding teams,
but the Bears were really supposed to be on the
sweet side of the rebuild. This was supposed to be
(13:30):
the like, well, they'll probably go to the playoffs, but
like probably not make a deep run. And then the Vikings,
I mean, we were like, man, it'd be nice to
win six and a half, you know, the six games,
seven games the Vegas was projecting didn't feel didn't feel
disrespectful at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
But what I would say, what was interesting, you could
just tell from a vibe of the team. You could
just feel it pretty early on. Because I've said this
a bunch, I think teams know who they are, Like
when guys when when rookie quarterbacks walk in a building,
it doesn't take like the players a few months ago.
This guy has it or this guy doesn't have it.
It's not like you know, in comedy, some comics are
(14:06):
terrible for eight years and then at year eleven you're like,
how are you the best comic in America?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Yeah, people do take that weird jump subtimes. That seems
it's like you, why did you try that for all
those years before?
Speaker 1 (14:16):
It doesn't seem like that happens in the NFL. We're like,
this guy was like, I don't know, the sixty eighth
best linebacker in the league, and all of a sudden
he's a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
I just he figured it out in year nine, grew
three inches.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Very strange at age twenty eight, but here we have it.
He's now a massive man.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's the other thing that's super odd about the Bears season,
and you talk to any Bears fan. We had Daniel
Vankirk on the show. You know, I think they were not.
I think they all wanted to change at coach before
this season. So there's probably a lot to unpack there.
But if you just think about the trajectory of the season,
right that hail Mary the jade and Daniels hail Mary,
(14:55):
and which leads into the blocked field goal?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Right yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
If that, I mean, those are two so astronomically massively
unlikely results in those plays, an end of game, game
winning hail Mary and the important block I'm talking about
that sent the Bears the wrong way. It was against
the Green Bay Packers. It was forty six yards, which
is even worse. By the way, this is your division
(15:20):
number one rival.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
With a famously bad special teams unit for the last
many years too. I mean, getting beat by the Packers
on special teams is like a special insult.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Well, so just think of that. Think of that.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
You know that veer off right where you go the
Jaden Daniels hail Mary goes off this direction. Then a
couple weeks later you get a field goal blocked against
the Packers. You win those two games, you're at the
forefront of playoff conversations. Then you have the comeback against Minnesota,
which falls apart, then you have the thing against the Lions.
(15:51):
That's why they're just such an interesting team. I don't
know that everybody in the preseason was wrong about the Bears.
I just think it hasn't come together. And that's why
whenever I see Vikings celebrating the Bears misery or celebrate like,
oh Caleb, you know he, I don't think you're shut
your mouth like what you all your energy should be
(16:11):
put into hoping that Ben Johnson doesn't take that job.
All the pieces are there. I it has been ugly
as of late, but I think this thing could have
veered a different direction and they very much could be
right now an eight and five football team.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
I mean, Kayleb Williams made a couple of throws against
the Vikings that were just out of this world, that
were Josh Allen like to your point of him being
maybe the best, and so yeah, as a Vikings fan,
I'm not I'm definitely not gonna talk too much smack
about Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Assuming it might have been easy.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I still I still take him number one, and it's
not even close. I know everybody loves Jayden. He's younger,
he's got all some of the things he does. I
still he's still the guy. I take number one. And
now that we now that we've talked our way all
the way through Chicago, I think I'm going back to
what going back to earlier and I was saying, you know,
you got to take care of business with Chicago, and
(17:02):
let's see if what happened against the Falcons can progress
a continue or progress against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I want to add to that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I do think what the number one thing for me
this week, and in addition, get a win however you
need it, because that's where in the game of wins
and losses, especially desperately begging for an opportunity for that
last Lions game to mean something.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Absolutely, let's put this on it. I want this.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
You know, if you're a fan, I think I want
this game to look the way it should given what
you saw. I get like, I don't want to see
something weird. I don't want all of a sudden be like, ah,
we gave up two flea flickers and we're.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Down eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Like I don't teams have been running the ball a bit.
I don't want them to come in and Caleb and
the running backs and you do a couple you know,
jet sweeps, and all of a sudden you're like, what's
happening here? Make it look the way it should. I
do think that's also a version of a progression of
what we saw against.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
The felasure out of Curre essay. Because we've talked a
lot about Kirk over the years.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Don't do it. Don't do it to me?
Speaker 4 (18:04):
No, did you did you feel like that Falcons game?
Because I feel like for a lot of people it
like gave them a sense of closure, like a positive closure.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Did you feel that closure?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Here's the thing I think Kirk has. You know, if
you having been a part of the organization for longer
than they should have let me at this point, you
get a different energy, a different vibe, a different access
to the way these buildings and teams and organizations work.
And it's a stark reminder that like just Kirk was
(18:42):
such a good human being, yeah, and such a good
thrower of the football, right, And I think I think
he's so interesting in that I don't know where else
in NFL history you find a certainly a quarterback who,
(19:03):
amongst fan bases has been so heavily debated everywhere he's
gone and start Like often when guys are debated, they
either silenced the debate, Like at one point Drew Brees
was debated, Sure, right, yeah, and then pretty soon we
all shut up and Drew Brees was no longer debated.
And the opposite is app Sometimes guys are debated and
(19:23):
then all of a sudden they ain't playing anymore RG three,
you know, and it just stops being a debate.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Kirk is.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
So it's so rare that you see a guy play
for as many years and travel to three Because, by
the way, I have friends in Atlanta, and prior to
this week, prior to the four interception performance, people were
having the exact same divide in their fan base as
we were having here. They have the Penix thing on
top of it. So I don't much traffic in the
(19:54):
you know where some fans are running with like looking
at Sunday as like a demise of a guy and
a validation of a take. But I have always Jay
has heard me talk about this forever. I think the
NFL is a math equation and it can be built
a bunch of different ways, right, Like if you want,
(20:15):
if you want a quarterback with a lot of money,
a couple of things are gonna have to happen. You're
gonna have to spread it out the exact right, And I,
Lord knows, I shouldn't comment on how to build a
football team, but I understand mathematics, right, If you're gonna
pay a quarterback a bunch of money, you have to
spread it out in the right way, and couple it
(20:37):
with hitting on draft picks. I just I think that's
pretty basic knowledge, right. And conversely, which is why you
see all these guys. So many of these guys win
super Bowls on Russell Wilson on rookie deal, Aaron Rodgers
on rookie deal, Roethlisberger one on a rookie deal and
then another one on a reduced deal. You know, when
Peyton Manning goes to Denver, he's not on a high
(20:57):
level like That's why you see a lot of these
non Brady guys, and it's why it's kind of frustrating
that when we talk about Brady, we don't discuss that
he made the decision to take low salary cap hits
for nearly the entirety of his career and he had
more top There's a stat out there he had more
Top ten defenses than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and like
(21:21):
two or three other Hall of famers in the entirety
of their career. He had more by himself. And that's
not a criticism or I'm just saying that is what happened.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Smart is what it is.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So to spin all the way out and come all
the way back, like to me, what Sunday was was
you know, I thought when they moved on from Kirk,
it's I think this organization has such a high reputation
with players. We're seeing that with why Daniel Jones, like
the way Lewis Riddick and all these other analysts who
were former players. When Daniel Jones signed here, you saw
(21:55):
the way they talked about the grades that we get,
like this is a place people will want to be.
And so I think the mutual parting of Kirk going
this feels best for me, the Viking's going this feels
best for you. At the same time, I do think
seeing a talented guy come in on a one year
deal and having our coach be who we thought he
(22:17):
was and having that work that like that was the
noise when you're feeling confident, like that's this thing, like, oh,
this is just different. This is a math equation that
works for this version of this team, and I revel
in that.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
That's That's what I meant.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
I don't, Yeah, I don't take it as a stick
in it to Kirk, But to me, it felt like
a validation of.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Quasi's overall approach.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
I felt like, this is, you know, you can see
the other path we could have taken, and Atlanta is
kind of showing us the other path with the penix thing.
We would have had the same thing potentially with JJ
and Kirk and what do you do? But yeah, to me,
it was just like they're on the right path. They're
doing they're doing the right things in general.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And I would I'll be curious.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
You know, everybody talks about Coach of the Year, which
O'Connell is near the top of it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I'll be curious, And I don't. I don't read a lot.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
I just I'm the sort of guy who just winds
up in comment threads throwing an MF or at somebody
whose like user name is like.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Packers star four four five.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I don't know if this buzz is happening, and I
think it's really hard because Howie Roseman is just all
world continuously, I meane, between the Saquon and the.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Cooper Cooper to Gen Cooper to John situation. But I wonder,
I wonder if.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
The case is building for you know, GM of the Year,
if Quazy is going to get some rightful do in
that conversation, because I think the thing I heard him talk.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
In the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I think he appeared on maybe it was Barrero, he
appeared on something on KF and and he talked about
this the collaborative approach. And I think if you've ever
been any part of corporate America, you've heard some of
these buzzwords, but just the way he does it and
the way he did it in that moment, like it
was a genuine like I remember hearing it and I
called Ben Lieber and I was like, I just like,
(24:13):
I'm so bought in on this, Like maybe I'm drinking
the kool aid, but I am so bought in on it.
And then I think what you're seeing in the season
is an actual reflection of that thing that everybody when
it first started happening, when they hired these guys and oh,
you're going to be collaborative. I think you're seeing it
because you trust your coach too. Instead of signing Kirk Cousins,
who has this reputation, you trust your coach to have
(24:35):
a journeyman that no one, no one thought would do
anything close to what he's doing and a rookie. So
that is you are collaborating with your coach.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
You're believing him.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Lord knows they are collaborating with Brian Flores and what
he wants. I mean, that's it's public record with some
of the things that have been said. He loved Van Ginkel.
He talked to the Eden Prairie coach about Cashman. So
I just think how well all these new pieces Aaron Jones,
how well they're all playing, and how it all builds
(25:04):
into this version of the way this team is built
and the way they're succeeding in the moment and the
way they did on Sunday. Like Sunday is one of
those things like if he winds up in that conversation
at the end that game where they go forty two,
you know whatever, it was over the Falcons against their
old quarterback in a bizarro world version of them, like
it mattered I think that's kind of like this tipping
(25:27):
point moment where if you weren't on board with Quacy,
you know, what are you doing? It's an eleven and
two football team with like not a lot of pieces
from this year that are missing, and and and like
like again, I'm very ted talking to people are used
to me being worried. Brian, I'm jacked and credit go, Like,
(25:49):
I don't want to give credit to someone and not
let anybody else have it. So let's kind of move
away from the quaisy thing. But like, dude, the undrafted
free agent thing. Jalen Redmond, Jalen Redman's exactly, And after
having the ivan pacing, like, what are we talking about?
That's to have two guys on your squad when Pace
comes back. If this Redmond trajectory continues to have two
(26:10):
undrafted free agents that can perform at high levels, that
is bananas.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
That is something I've always been jealous about Green Bay about,
was it right? They're always really good at finding those
an undrafted guys are those really late round guys, but
they've never been great with free agent signings.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And Graycy's doing them both. Yeah, whoa you put those together?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And I think that people who had an issue with
the early drafts. You know, I think the draft is
such a crapshoot, and so I think, to me, when
you're looking at like how good of a drafter are you?
I think it's tricky because there's this whole business, like
this media business built around the draft where it's an
event and all the like who should you draft? And
(26:48):
then like we all know the comical nature of giving
draft grades on the night of the draft.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
It's so funny. It is so funny.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
It'd be like you have yourself and at the hospital
they walk up to you your first kid and they're
like a plus parenting for the next eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Like it's it's bizarre.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
It's funny.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Actually, it reminds me. I was at Thanksgiving. There's a new baby.
I have a new nephew, and everyone's looking at the baby.
He's like six weeks old, you know, and they're going,
I'll look at those look at those long arms. He's
gonna be a starting pitcher, you know. Look at those
long fingers. He's gonna be a piano player, you know.
And I'm like, we're doing his athletic measurables at six
weeks old. They can't even tell if a guy is
gonna translate from college to the pros, you know. And
also it's always so positive. No one's ever like a
(27:30):
look at those long arms, He's going to reach the
top shelf at the Amazon warehouse, you know, like everyone's
always projecting with like, look at their positive.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Look at that lengthy Torso they're definitely gonna ask him
why he doesn't play basketball when he's nineteen exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, it's like the projecting it that soon is like, everyone,
take a breath, let's see what happens, Like, give him
a minute.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
And so I mean, but I you know, a couple
of that first draft, you got guys who are drafted.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
In the first second round who aren't on the team anymore.
Absolutely that's case.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
But I think you have to, like, as a drafter,
I think you take a larger sample because how hit
and missed the draft is. You know, if JJ and
Dallas Turner turn out, you basically have to take a
three to four year run, yes, and then you wait
five years and then you stack that up against all
the other three to four runs in that time and
the five years after that and so I'm not here
(28:20):
to pump up or debate draft prowess, but I yeah,
I just I'm riding high on that performance. Obviously I'm
over here, like but I think it's it could be
a tipping point in the season. It could be a
tipping point and a bunch of narratives and I don't know.
I think it's really the former Viking fan in me
that for some reason doesn't exist as heavy right now
(28:43):
would be just sitting here going and then we play
the Bears that we're supposed to beat on Monday night,
and this will happen. But I just and that might happen,
but I'm just not feeling that. So everybody, everybody's gonna
think that, like I got must have got a psychiatrist.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
In the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Even if they drop one in the next two weeks,
I'm not gonna feel doom and gloom, dooming and gloomy,
Oh for sure not.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I mean no, I think I think it's how you lose.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah. Absolutely, It is interesting.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Both Chicago and Atlanta, we're in this period where we
kind of saw two different paths in each other team.
Each team was kind of a bizarre version of us
in a different way, and so I think that's what's
making the last game so satisfying in this upcoming match
so intriguing.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
What I am very interested in is I would like
us to win the next two games, and I would
like the Packers to lose on Sunday to Seattle. I
don't want to go into the last week of the
season against the Lions having to win to keep Green
Bay at Bay.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
That is exactly I wrote an article about that exact
same phenomenon.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I think it's either I want to be playing for
the one seed or I want to be able to
take it easy and press. Because Zach Martinez on the
show and he warned us about this. He goes, teams
who played the Detroit Lions often have a tough time
the following week. Yes, very it's such a physic football team.
And we lost the Lions and then short week Thursday.
So here's the thing, like, Hey, we don't know what's
(30:07):
gonna happen with that game. It might end up like
if it's for the money, right, but I don't like
it might be flexed out. You never know, You never
know what happens. But I don't want to play on
Saturday and have to really fight hard to stay in
the five seed.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, and then have to.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Turn it against a very physical football team and then
have to and they here's the thing about Dan Campbell.
I think you go, if, well, if they have the
one seed locked up, are they gonna just I don't
think so.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I don't think that's how Dan.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
I think if Dan Campbell knows he has a bye week,
I think Dan Campbell goes, let's run it out there
and let's play real football and then we'll take our
bye week.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
He's like, not only are we not resting our starters,
Jared Golf's gonna be on roller skates the whole time.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yes. So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I mean I think for this fan base, for this organization,
and honestly for Sam Darnold, I can't imagine anything better
than that Lions game being for the money.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I mean that, like, and that's that's the other reason
you can tell I feel differently about this team. Is
with right to change my mind over the next two weeks,
uh is.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I I want that challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
I think, like I think back to the two thousand,
the Minnesota Miracle year. That year we always felt like
we got away with it every game. Yes, I remember
the defense was so good. You're like, god, I just
thank god they dropped that interception. We always felt like
we got away with it. And so in the playoffs,
I remember thinking, like I just want I want the
Falcons to win over the Eagles because I want it
(31:32):
nar but like, I just want. I mean, don't get
me wrong, if we have to win a super Bowl
by other teams making mistakes, sign.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Daddy up, bring on a mistake train. Yeah, I will
throw the I will throw a parade.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
I'll tattoo mistake onto my my chest like I would
just just horns coming out of each ends of the word.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But I want the challenge.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I don't want the And that's a rare position for
my mindset for this team to be in.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Yeah, and what a great way to end the season
two that would be you know, it's on a high
point going against Campbell like that.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Yeah, it'd be great.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
It's high risk, high reward. Yeah, because you win it.
I mean you're gonna you're gonna pull out all the
stops in that game. You win it, you get the
bye week, you get home field throughout, you lose it,
you just gave everything you had, and you have to
turn around and go play.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I was talking.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
People are not worried about Tampa Bay at all. I'm
just here to tell you. I know their defense isn't
very good. I know everybody's hurt. I don't know, man,
I've watched a lot of Tampa Bay. I don't love
the idea of playing Tampa Bay. And I don't like
playing a guy like Baker Mayfield who has that weird
like what they say, you know, that weird chip motivation.
(32:41):
And Liam Cohen's a good offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It's high risk, high reward, but I would just I
would just I would like some clarity going into the
last week.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
How selfish is that I'm over here.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
I would just like my eleven to two football team
to know their fate.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Could we just know our fate?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Would that?
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Could you do that for me? Please?
Speaker 4 (33:00):
That I agree with you on Baker though, And I've
always been a Baker fan, and I like that. I
like that he's basically can you know this big crotch
grab move that got him so you know in college
everyone wasn't mad about I like that he's just been
like basically doing the crotch grab for seventeen games every year.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
I just think he's a he's a treat and I
would much rather not face him.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, it's funny how just you know the NFL, so
you work for a sports website, right, you know it's
funny how the machine, how important narratives are to the machine, right,
and and then how those narra's the machine is so
big that those narratives overtake the part of the league
(33:40):
that isn't the machine. Right, So like Baker's this guy,
like both Baker and Darnold, you know, ousted out of situations,
both wind up in Carolina disaster, both of them. And
like I would say before Baker went to Los Angeles,
outside of the guy who replaced him, I don't know
that you find much of a lower approval rating, sure
(34:02):
for a starting quarterback in the NFL from a do
you like this guy?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Not?
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Is he good?
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Do you you go to other fan bases who on
his team? He goes, do you like this guy? And
now I think you go, I think he has a
It's like he rebuilt the football economy. He's got a
skyrocket at approval rating. Same thing with Donald I think
you know, when Donald's sitting in San Francisco, if you
take a fan poll of approval rating and he comes here,
(34:27):
I just think that's so interesting that I don't know
that Baker is much different of a guy, and I
always worry about his ability to be like I'm just gonna.
I mean, they did in the playoffs last year. They
just they have the ability to do it.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
He went from being Johnny and karate Kid to Johnny
and coolbri Kai. Johnny's still the same, but the show's
different around him, and all of a sudden he's the
hero instead of the villain.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
I love him for that.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I said at the beginning of the season, let's close
on this, Well, no, because if we close on me
talking about the progression of players that I like, this
will be two hours more of a podcast and everybody back.
I don't know if I can sign up for size
narrative novel every week. What do you think, like if
I'm I've puked for this whole show where I'm at
(35:15):
mentally and you've sat side saddle right honestly in this
moment as we sit here normally, I asked the opposing guest,
what's gonna happen this weekend. What's your score prediction I
want from you because I'm not gonna do it. What
is your real at this moment, with the information we
have before we see these crucial next four games, where
(35:36):
do you think this season is truly going.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
I think they're gonna drop at least one more, maybe
two considering you know, maybe maybe it's just one more.
But I just I think you gotta purely enjoy the season.
I think this is one of the most enjoyable football
seasons in Minnesota in a long time, and it's one
of the most enjoyable football seasons for any team in
a long time when you consider expectation versus reality. I mean,
(36:00):
it's not quite greatest show on turf level, but certainly
it was you know from the these guys are gonna
be very good to these guys are super Bowl contenders.
I think this the sky actually is the limit for once.
Even it doesn't mean you're gonna get there, but it's not.
We're not just hoping for like a whole team to
get COVID all at once and maybe give us a chance,
you know which, there was a time where I was
(36:21):
like COVID could be the way, you know. So, I
think it's just really important to enjoy this season because
it's it's just pure enjoyment. We are playing with house
money to such an insane degree. But I also don't
think it's just like freakish either. So I I mean,
I think that I think they'll beat the Bears by
at least ten this week. I think I think they
(36:42):
beat the Bears pretty soundly because like I said, I
think the Bears are exhausted. I think then that the
Seahawks and the Packers games are gonna be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I wonder if those will be games that tell the tale.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
I think so more because I think you the Lions
that's gonna be tough, and that game who knows who
starters are playing, that that game's two up in the air.
I think the Bears game, I do think it's going
to be I feel good about that. If the Seahawks
and the Packers back to back, those are two interesting
teams that they could beat, should probably beat, but are tough,
and that are also defining their own paths in the
(37:13):
close of the season too. So you've got a lot
of those narratives of teams on the rise, like all
clashing right at the end.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, and that's what they say, last four games this season, right.
It used to be December. Now the league is pushed
back a week, so it's December January ish.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's I think it's fun.
I think I will lean into this more and more
because you know, you've got three or four division games
down the stretch, which is a wild pace, and you
see that around the league a lot.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
They almost overdo it, I think to a slight degree
where they like they try to cluster all the divisional matchups,
like right at the beginning.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
It feels more than I mean, I have no proof
or evidence of this, but it feels heavier. The Steelers
played all of their division games in the last like
nine weeks of the season.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Yeah, Caago, Chicago, Green Bay, and Minnesota are just back
and forth.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
It's all division games in the North.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
So I I think I'm I'm with you on the
house money, but I'm teetering, like I said, in between
that and a new set of expectations, which I think
are fair, and I'm just trying to see where I land. Confidence.
I really want what I felt after Atlanta. I want
that to be what I feel going into Detroit. That's
what I want. That That is selfishly again, Look, I
(38:28):
just want to feel like we're one of the best teams.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
But yeah, I want to That's that is my.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
If I feel like that after Seattle and green Bay,
regardless of how those games, because by the way, you
can play a hell of a football game against a
Seattle or a green Bay team and not have it
go your way. Sure, So I want to see how
I feel after those games, and then I'm going to
reset how I how devastated I will be if and
when this falls apart, even though I'm trying to tell
(38:57):
people I won't be devastated that it's all house money.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Sure, I don't think you'll be devastated.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Well you don't.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
That feels like you For somebody who's known me as
long as you have. That doesn't seem like you know.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Me at all.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna do it for us here
on the tailgate.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Go see Brian this week. ACME Comedy Company.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday to Friday to Saturday.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Go check him out.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
They'll be absolutely fantastic, best club, best comic and thank
you so much. To Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of
the Minnesota Vikings. Hey, and thank you for listening on
our podcast app. Why don't you head over to the
place where you give reviews and ratings, where you have
the stars or whatever's on your weird podcast app leave us.
(39:42):
Leave us a positive review and a rating. We would
greatly appreciate it. Make sure you're subscribed if you're not,
We'll see you guys all again next week.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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