September 9, 2025 • 30 mins
Welcome back to the Vikings Postgame Report presented by Lumen - The trusted network of A.I. The Minnesota Vikings erased a 17-6 deficit and scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to take a 10-point lead with 2 minutes to go. Chicago punched in a touchdown with 2:02 remaining but couldn’t muster another score before the clock ran out. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy kicked it in during the 4th quarter, capping off the Vikings scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run to go up 9 and Kicker Will Reichard added the PAT. McCarthy finished the game going 13-of-20 for 143 yards passing, 2 touchdowns in the air, 25-yards rushing, and a rushing TD. RB Jordan Mason led the team on the ground with 15 carries for 68 yards. RB Aaron Jones Sr. and WR Justin Jefferson tied for the receiving lead on the team with 44 yards in the air and a touchdown each. Defensively, Safety Jay Ward recovered a fumble, DT Javon Hargrave recorded 2 sacks, Safety Josh Metellus led the team with 6 tackles, and LB Eric Wilson blocked a punt. Kicker Will Reichard finished with a perfect game, kicking a successful PAT and 2 field goals, including a 59-yard boot right before the end of the first half. Paul Allen and Pete Bercich recap the game, including: J.J. McCarthy’s play in the 4th Quarter, Myles Price huge night in the return game, the tenacity of the Vikings Defense, and the importance of the run game all night long. Plus, Head Coach Kevin O’Connell and Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s postgame press conferences are all right here in the Week 1 edition of the Vikings Postgame Report - Presented by Lumen - The trusted network of A.I.
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 (00:18):
Hey, Welcome to the Vikings postgame podcast with Pete Versuch
on Paul Allen. This is courtesy of Lumen and the
Minnesota Vikings went to grinding for a season opening victory.
They beat the Bears twenty seven to twenty four. JJ
McCarthy Minnesota Vikings quarterback making his regular season debut. As
I said at the end of the broadcast on Kfan,
(00:40):
when it comes to metaphorical moguls of experience, I mean
he ran a touchdown in by himself, he threw two.
He threw a pick six to Nashwan Wright. I mean
from an experience standpoint, he saw so much he did.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And an interesting point Paul is he is only this
second Vikings quarterback to throw for two touchdowns on his debut.
The other quarterback that did it was Fran Tarkington in
nineteen sixty one against these exact same Chicago Bears. So
what a stat by JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
By the way, once again, this podcast is provided by Lumen,
and thank you for your sponsorship.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The Lohman, the.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Trusted network of Ai, Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. And
the way they ran the ball, what'd you think?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I thought they were very effective, right, and not a
lot in the way of lost yardage plays. You had
one hundred and twenty yards rushing total, an average of
four point six yards per rush, which is probably higher
than a right about or maybe a little bit higher
than what we've seen out of the running backs, Paul.
But overall, they I think they really when we needed them,
(01:52):
they were there. They helped. I think Steady McCarthy a
little bit. It opened up the play action and some
of the playfakes. But you know, to see Aaron Jones
get in there late in the game and he's still fresh,
I think that's going to bode well for this running
game throughout the entire season.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Now, when people say football is a game of inches, okay,
to many, it's a cliche, but it's a cliche because
it stands the test of time. And here's what I mean.
The kicking. Kicking is part of the game of inches,
all right. Cairo Santos Bears kicker misses a fifty yard
field goal in the second half, Will Reiker Vikings kicker
(02:28):
hit a career long fifty nine. Well, the game was
separated by three at the end, so I mean this
was a weekend where kickers were missing huge kicks all Sunday.
Not our guy, the Alabama kid came through.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
He did. And you know, the kicking game outside of
the of the one penalty that we had the kicking
game overall, I think Jay Ward that had the one penalty.
Outside of that, the special team's made a difference. And
how about Miles Price and the yardage that he was
able to get the first half of this football game?
Starting field position was was bad. It was inside the
(03:03):
thirty in this day and age in the NFL, that's
not very good. But Miles Price was able to turn
that around a little bit. A couple of good kick returns,
a couple of good punt returns. So I think Miles
Miles Price made quite a big impact for his for
his Viking debut.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, and at one point, Miles Price had sixty eight
punt return yards. That was the most sense wide receiver.
Troy Walters, who wow, Yeah, you coach when he played
on the team. Yes, and his father, Trent, wasn't he
a coach.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
On the team too, Yes, yes, father Trent.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And that's that's back in two thousand, So that's yeah,
Miles Price, the undrafted Hoosier who knew Kevin O'Connell is
undefeated at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. He's four
and oh six and one lifetime against the Bears. Let's
hear from the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's a lot of t unpack after that one. But
I'm so proud of our team. I'm proud of I
think days like this kind of a a lot of
the things that you know, we really feel are important
with our organization from a standpoint of when things aren't
going well, things aren't going your way. You know. I
(04:12):
thought the defense, you know, battled and kept us in
the football game. Special teams made some huge plays, uh,
you know, obviously Miles Price was some big returns will
record with you know, the field goal to give us
a little bit of life there at the end of
the first half. I was just so proud of jj
uh and in our offensive group. There was a lot
of There's a thousand things that we all can clean up.
(04:35):
There's a thousand things that myself and and our staff
we'll get cleaned up. We can all be better. But
to come to this place a ton of energy in
the building and find a way to just keep playing,
just keep trying to find a way and our guys.
You know, there's been some games here over these last
(04:58):
few years where you know, we've demonstrated that, but tonight
I felt like there was something new quarterback on the road.
You know, some new players throughout our team. I'm really
trying to figure it out together and uh, the way
that we were able to do that, very very proud
(05:19):
of our team. There's obviously some guys with some notable
performances and then I'll hit you guys on some injuries.
But JJ McCarthy, you know, clearly just to you know,
I felt you know, the thing is, I felt poised
from the very beginning. I didn't necessarily think our entire
group with some of the things that transpired where we
were really close on some things that could have changed
(05:41):
the game a little bit, a lot of yardage that
we got via some penalties there, but you know, just
didn't do a good enough job sustaining uh. You know,
obviously converting third downs early on was an issue to
be able to get drives going. But JJ McCarthy, for
him to make some of the plays he did, I
told him at halftime, you are going to bring us
back to win this game and the look in his
(06:03):
eye was fantastic, And the best thing is just the
belief I felt from the team, the unit, and ultimately
that doesn't get done without him. In the second half,
two passing touchdowns and then the critical rushing touchdown you
know at the end, Will Reicherd, like I said, that
field goal was huge, you know, the fifty nine yarder.
Miles Price already talked about that from a standpoint of
(06:27):
being a rookie out there changing field position, giving us
a chance all night long. You know, you look at
Eric Wilson stepping in for cash and then obviously blocking
a punt. Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, you know, it
was kind of a tough night there and having Jordan
to be a little bit, you know, be that physical presence,
and then you see Aaron's ability to change the game
on one play with the touchdown, and then you know
(06:52):
Javon Hargrave Grave was you know, you just felt him
all night long. And Caleb is really a tough guy
to bring down. Clearly, his athleticism is real. We talked
about it all week and you got to give those
guys a lot of credit for playing the good football
that they did, and it was a flat out battle,
you know, to It's not always going to be pretty
when you're trying to bring along a young quarterback. You
(07:14):
just got to keep playing and you got to allow
you know, him to grow. There was a lot of
just things we can improve on, and we will. It'd
be great to be home for a couple of weeks,
but but all in all, I'm very proud of our team,
very proud of our staff, and just that figured out
in us and find a way is something that will
be a redeeming quality as we continue to press onward.
(07:35):
Just to give you guys an update on a couple
of injuries here. You know Cashman Uh, you know, did
get a hamstring. He'll have an MRI and then a
coupa there on the last play. Everything's you know, checked out.
We wanted to be smart with that, but he'll be
evaluated for a concussion. He will travel home with us
as well. And then Ryan Kelly and ty Chandler both
(07:57):
uh went into the Blue ten and both returned. So
with that, I'll open it up to you guys, what
about JJ made you believe that he's Yeah, I just
you know, I just felt, you know it was a
very unique game from a standpoint of Uh, you know,
obviously you have to just put blinders on and just
(08:19):
keep playing. Every rep for him is unbelievable experience. It's
experienced for me, you know, with him, it's experienced for
our offense. You know, obviously justin school stepped in and
and you know, did a great job battle battling all night.
But you know, there were times where JJ had to
overcome some things you know, around him, and he just
(08:40):
kept playing. Didn't necessarily alter the way he was playing.
You know, there'd be a play out there and they
tipped the ball or it was just every you know,
for a while there just felt like everything that could
go wrong kind of did and many many times, you know,
teams will wilt in those circumstances, and ours did not.
And it's a credit to our players, credit to what
(09:00):
they have built in that locker room. And uh, we're
want to know, you know, with a thousand things to
clean up across the board, Uh, the defense knows they're gonna,
you know, they're gonna have to battle all year long
after that. You know, following the opening drive touchdown, I
think you know, next nine drives, they only gave up
a field goal. So I'm just you know, proud of
(09:22):
the group, but JJ especially Uh, a heck of a
growth moment for him, and one that I had total
belief in him that we were going to figure it
out together. The touchdown, What made you decide to go
to that in that moment in that third and one? Yeah,
you know, they they made some adjustments, you know, kind
of some unscouted looks in the in the first half
across the board. I thought they did a great job, uh,
(09:43):
you know, keeping us off balance with some looks that
you know, maybe you're you're you're working off of a
tendency from you know, a previous team that you played against,
the coordinator from and and I don't know whether it
was you know, maybe a couple of their guys being out,
but they were they were doing some things differently than
maybe what was on on the sheet. And with a
young quarterback and you're trying to work through what that
looks like, you've you've got to work through it together.
(10:07):
And you know, we had some miscommunication. Obviously, it got
very loud at times, the negatives, you know, up against
the play clock a little bit. But I thought as
the game went on. You could kind of feel JJ
pushing that group to get out of the huddle a
little quicker, get to the line of scrimmage, get a line.
We're trying to help him out as much as we can,
especially in a game where there could be some looks
that you're trying to work through that maybe weren't jumping
(10:29):
out at you on tape. So we're trying to you know,
you know, make it as user friendly as we can,
but sometimes that takes some time. So we've got to
find a way, you know, find that middle ground, continue
to push the urgency in the execution. But once again,
that play call in particular was really just a matter
of I you know, JJ is a very very good athlete,
and you know, the look presented itself where you know,
(10:52):
we felt pretty good about TJ being able to kind
of lead him in from there. If you know, the
it was a poll type. Reed was reading the play
and he made a you know, great play. Both of
his you know, touchdown passes were critical, huge plays as well,
and a great execution by him. Pick six.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
What did you notice from JJ on the sideline.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
That letting huge? They feel okay, yeah, you know, it
was all out zero pressure. You know, he he got
to his protection the right. I mean, that was a
veteran quarterback play. It just you know, happened that you know,
the cornerback, the corner knows that it's an all out zero.
He learned how to play pretty good vision zero coverage
here and credit Shawney. I mean, uh for making that play.
(11:35):
What to create a huge play And when you have
a pick six the way the first half went normally,
that's enough for a lot of teams to go ahead
and pack their stuff up and head home. There wasn't
one moment. I just I just told him, I said,
you did everything right. They made a play. Uh, you know,
you protected yourself enough to maybe you know, there was
a there was another potential you know, eligible on the
(11:57):
play that might have had an opportunity to score. Honestly
if and what you know, what kind of play would
that have been? But great learning out you know vision zero,
he's he's looking at you the whole way of field
outcut to Justin Jefferson and he and he made a
play on it. So I just told him, just like
the whole day, one more, you know, just worry, but
let's just keep playing the next snap together, and I
(12:18):
promise you will find a way. That's what I told him.
And he's got an unbelievable look in his eye on
game day and he just kept you know, his belief
and his trust in himself. And you know the phrase
that I like to use. You guys have heard it
many times, being at your best when your best is required.
There's no other time than that than to you know,
(12:39):
have two touchdowns and two passing touchdowns and a rushing
touchdown twenty one points in the really darn near close
to just the fourth quarter alone, So really big time
moment to build off of.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
How were those fourth early fourth quarter runs for Jordan
Mason kind of set up other things like the play action?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, I think you know, it was one of those
things where because of the crowd noise and you're trying
to avoid third down, third and lungs as much as possible,
probably should have, you know, ran the football more and
in the first half, and that's where I got to
grow and get better as well. You know, this is
a total look inward to how we improve and it
starts with me. But I thought we you know, that growth.
(13:20):
I'm a big fan of, you know, not having that
figured out, and this on Tuesday morning, you know, normally
i'd like to say Monday morning. But as a staff
and as a collective group, we really honed in on
some things that we wanted to get done, and that
efficiency set up a lot of things and and you know,
allowed us to make some plays in the past game.
But having Jordan's physicality with air and you know, keeping
(13:42):
air and as fresh as we could, and then being
able to use him as a weapon in the past
game as well kind of came together in a way
when we need it the most. What do you think
of the teammates reaction to that? Yeah, I think, you know,
it was just momentum was kind of just the way
the defense answers playing, and I just kept telling flow,
(14:02):
you know, you know, just give us, just keep giving
us an op. You guys are doing everything in your
power to just keep giving us an op. And then
the special teams kicked in and made some plays, you know,
with the returns and the block punt, and then you know,
just it was kind of like a you know, this
team's got a lot of confidence in itself, and there
were moments where maybe that confidence was being tested, but
(14:24):
absolutely not broken. So that was kind of an eruption.
A little bit of our sideline and kind of what
was keeping it together kind of let out in that moment.
And it was a It was a big time. It
was a big time to see the team and they
voted him a captain. They clearly see something in him.
We do as well. This is one game he did
an unbelievable job leading his team back to win. It
(14:46):
was a total team effort. But we will use this
as a major, major growth moment. And we got a
short week and gotta get ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I Chandler's return at the end there do you go
into that saying if it's returnable.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Return, got to return it, try to get under the
two minute. Yeah, and and we you know, I know
for a fact that Matt Daniels was in the huddle
telling those guys that, but he ties really the off returner.
You know, with the type of night that that the
Miles Price had, you know, they're trying to kick it
away from him, and I'm sure they're trying to get
that thing to the chalk to make sure we can't
do that. And I don't even know how deep it was.
(15:21):
I didn't care, but yeah, I think he did. You know,
you never want your players looking over at me during
the play. But it was get out and secure the
secure the football for sure, and that allowed us to
take it all the way down there, you know, and
there was I think there was you know, half the
stadium was at the line of scrimmage during that four
minute drive and rightly so they were just trying to
(15:43):
get it back and and yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Blake had been tough, but.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, that's why we went and got him. I mean,
he will has been such a critical addition that Quasi
and his guys went out and got him. You're you're
you're always looking for that veteran presence, and you know
he is. You know, he is a player that we
I don't know if we win the football game unless
you have Eric Wilson to kind of not only I
(16:10):
mean the block punt, but but just the way he
goes in and he's green dotting and calling it. And
that's really you know, you want to see a prototype
of a veteran, a guy that helps your football team
win by any means necessary. It's Eric Wilson so fired
up that we have him fired up that we were
able to bring him back here, and he's already clearly
had a monumental impact, whether.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
The block punt or word record in the kick or
mouths pricing insurance.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
How much did your special teams kind of contribute to
be able.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
To come back here? Yeah? I mean, shoot, we only
had you know, what was it, forty nine plays offense.
We just we just didn't have enough time on the field.
We didn't have enough to really do our part for
the better part of two and a half quarters. So
you need your defense to be you know what they
are and what they were for us tonight. You need
your your special teams to make a play here and there,
(16:59):
steal that steal that hitting yardage wherever he can, and
and uh, those guys did. Those guys did a great job.
Just we talk about a lot. What are you going
to do in your one play phase, uh to maybe
go change the game and and uh, those guys affected
the game in a really positive way. You know, credit
to those guys. Hat dGH. You don't win a game
like this unless it's a true three all three phase. Uh,
(17:21):
finding a way. This is just one game. But the
fact that j J nows to do this, Yeah, go back, and.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
How important that for development guys going forward.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yeah, you know, part of this thing with a young
quarterback is you know, you know everybody's gonna be waiting
to you know, you know, the aha moment of like,
look what happened and and for him to like that.
That can weigh on a player, but not him. I mean,
he prepared the right way and you know, just you know,
(17:56):
you talk about meeting the moment regardless of circumstances, regardless
of what the outcome may have ended up in it
being u there is a big picture plan that you know,
you hope to you know, not have this chapter be
the first chapter of needing to bring your team back
so significantly after a really tough start. But yeah, this
(18:16):
is I mean, there's no look, there's no way to
to deny we don't win this game unless JJ plays
the way he did in the second half and most
importantly kept the belief of his football team behind him.
And and now we know it's possible. So you know,
he hope to not be in these circumstances very often.
But you know, this team's made of the right stuff.
(18:39):
Players have built something special within that locker room and
on that sideline, and and I'm just very very proud
of them, and you have to be so proud of JJ,
you know, leading leading the group back.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Kevin, what did you think of just the defensive line vitation,
a lot of players stepping.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Up the making places. Yeah, we want to keep those
guys fresh. I thought, uh, I felt all those guys active,
you know, the activity of being able to kind of
stunt the run enough to put them in long yardage
situations and get off the field and keep giving us
those opportunities as an offense. But yeah, I've been telling
you guys for the better part of since, you know,
(19:15):
late July, like, we feel great about the depth of
that group, seeing those guys play and rotate and try
to keep those guys fresh when they're on the field
a lot more than we're on the field as an offense.
You got to try to do that so when the
momentum does swing, you know we can we can try
to hold that lead and get a really tough, hard
fought win on the road in the NFC North. I mean,
this is what this division is going to be. Obviously,
(19:38):
we want to play a better version, we want to
be a better version of ourselves as a team for
four quarters, but We're gonna have to lean on different
phases of our team at different times. And that's just
the NFL. That the life you live in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Well, until the Bears got that touchdown really late on
by Roma Dunsa uncovered back of the end zone where
they at a two score lead, Caleb Williams and the
Bears offense march down the field ten plays and Caleb
Brannon from nine on the first possession of the season.
I mean, they look really sharp, but that was it
for their offense from a touchdown scoring standpoint, you know,
(20:15):
pretty much almost for the rest of the game. So
what did the Vikings defense do to Titan.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I think what they did is they played good, solid
run defense, and that you know Ben Johnson, he'll run
the football as much as you let him, as long
as it's efficient, and they really ended up taking them
out of that. And then you put Caleb Williams in
a position where he has to throw the football downfield.
He was ten of his first ten, but I don't
think any one of those throws is further than three
or four yards down the field.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Pump.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
And when they went forward on that fourth down play,
which is another field goal attempt that they didn't get
to take. You know, he badly overthrew DJ Moore.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
The defense did an excellent job. They made the Bears
try to earn it and that was good enough for
a lot of these drives tonight.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
What a wonderful moment it is for JJ McCarthy. Yeah,
he threw a seventy four yard pick six, so that's
going to eat at him. But he got the money,
or as the kids would say, he got the dub.
They leave Chicago with a want to oh record. And
here's what JJ had to say after the game.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Obviously, it's huge to come out of one of these
games with a win. You know, divisional opponent, a very
tough opponent. You know, I thought they did a tremendous
job and played very hard and played well. Got to
give a lot of credit to the defense. You know,
they bailed us out in that first half. You know,
they were throwing a lot of things at us defensively,
and defense stuck in there, and especially on the special
team side too. You know that field goal unit, that
(21:39):
pumper turn unit, jug you know, I think it was
one hundred and nineteen all purpose yards and you know
that's just tremendous from a young guy like that to
step up.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
But there's a lot of things we got to clean up.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
You know, it got to be better on third down
and h you know we're on the Atlanta No jijd.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
What was kind of your reaction when you got to
play call those gonna be hurried out?
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I was absolutely fired up. It was like the perfect
time to call it. Coach McCown actually brought it up
in his little pregame speech at the hotel and he
was talking about how he was running Wanda Bayer that's
what we call it in twenty thirteen, and I was
probably running in seventh grade somewhere, but I was actually
ten at the time, so it was pretty close on
that one.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But uh yeah, it was just perfect play call.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
You know, the offensive line did a great job TJ
with that block on Jakwan and just you know finishing
the job. That was you know, one of the one
of my favorites for sure.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
A turn of lead up just about what you wanted
to say at the moment of how well.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Admit what that just you know, I felt like I
did a really good job with that, and you know,
just feeding off the energy of my teammates and my coaches,
you know, helped me out tremendously. But you know, at
the end of the day, you know, we're so blessed
to be able to play this game. So every snap
we get is a complete blessing. And you know, that's
something that I was mentioning to the guys in the
(23:00):
huddle when we were down, like where else would you
rather be? So I feel like, you know, we did
a great job, and this team showed a lot of
poise and responded very well.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
After the pick six. After the pick six, like, what's
your mindset at that point? And it's certainly a momentum
sway there in a lot of ways, what's your mindset?
And how do you move past that?
Speaker 6 (23:20):
You know, you never want to earn wisdom that way,
but it just brought me straight back to TCU when
I had that first one early on in the game
and then the second one later and you know, at
the end of the day, Yeah, it sucks. It's one
of the worst things you could do as a quarterback,
but can't do anything about it.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You got to focus on the next play.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
You know, defense kept us in it the whole time,
so it was just on our shoulders to go out
there and execute and you know, play as one and
you know, move on from that.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
You know, that's one of those things I don't really
hang on.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
And I was, you know, really grateful the way coach
mccownt and coach O'Connell handled it. And it was everyone
on the same page, all right. That happened next play
when it came to.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Just as you guys started to come back. Was there
a throw of viewers where you felt like you were
starting to get into a proof late in the game.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
I want to say the one before half to Speedy
that really got me into a groove.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And it was, you know, as it turns.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Out, one of the biggest plays of the game because
Will striping it from fifty nine. You know, we walk
out of here probably a little bit later then we
do it tonight right now. But you know, I feel
like just how it expressed itself, how the ball came
off my hand there, I felt like it was one
of those throws that really gave me that, you know,
we could really do this.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
He said.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
The comment in the huddle where would you rather be?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Aaron mentioned the same thing. Have you always had that
mentality in the Huddler.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Is that something that just came over you tonight.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I've never actually said that before, but I feel like
it was at the perfect time. You know, guys were
kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit,
and I feel like if you could.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Ah, smile goes a long way.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
So there was a lot of smiles after I said that,
and just a little bit of a perspective shift. Yeah,
things weren't going our way, but we're here doing this
together and see the boys they responded perfectly.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Remember when exactly that was.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
I know we were around the twenty minus twenty or
minus twenty five in the end zone with the jumbo
tron and.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I think it was third quarter something like that. Okay,
did you looked like late after one of the touchdowns,
Kevin came over kind of like patted you over the
head and you, guys, what was your favorite moment work
with me to night? My favorite moment working with Ko
was probably just the whole game, like how he managed it.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
You know, they showed a lot of things that we
didn't expect and you know, the calm, cool, collective nature
that he had, you know, just gave me so much
confidence to you know, try to filter that into my
teammates as much as possible. But uh, you know, after that,
you know, running touchdown and seeing how fired up he was,
that was really special.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
I think part did you maybe after the game taking
the larger picture of how long it took you to
get to this play.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'll feel that on the plane ride home.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
But yeah, it's just it's been a long journey, and
you know, six hundred and nine days. I think I
saw it was my last you know, competitive football game,
which was the National Championship. So it's been a while
of you know, just being in the training room, watching
a lot of film, learning the playbook and trying to
master that. But at the end of the day, you know,
it's such a blessing to be an NFL football player
(26:30):
and you know, play in this league, and you know,
I'm grateful that we get to go out there next
week and play the Falcons on Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
He told you at halftime you are really back in
this game. What does that mean you to hear that
and everything?
Speaker 6 (26:42):
That guy is, you know, one of the best, if
not the best head coach in my opinion, in the
National Football League. So any kind of compliment or belief
like that.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
It means the world.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
And you know that just gave me all the confidence
to go out there and just execute the ball plays
and uh, you know, have fast arm and make quick
decisive decisions and you know it worked out.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Point behind some of those Jordan Mason runs and the sec.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
It's just so fun when you watch a guy run
and you're like, oh, that's not a tackle before it happens,
and uh, you know, credit to the online You know
they really strained, you know, the entire night and you know,
just being able to be in game one, you really
don't know how the team's conditioned and you know how
they're going to strain when it comes to the fourth quarter.
And they did that and you know JP obviously showed that,
(27:32):
Aaron showed that, and yeah, it was really cool to see.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
As far as the connecting thereon for the touchdown and
you guys did that a bunch of times during training camp.
How how was that experience through camp that helped you
when it came to that moment?
Speaker 6 (27:45):
Extremely big. You know, I still wish I would have
give him a pretty ball where he had it in
stride and you know, ran through the end zone with it.
But at the end of the day, it's a touchdown.
And you know, he's such a special player. But I
can't speak highly enough about who he is as a person.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
You know, he's one of.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
The pillar guys of our team, pillar personalities, and he's really,
you know, a special guy and I'm so grateful to
play with him. I didn't ask, but my dad said
like two hundred to two hundred and fifty, and you know,
I'll have to see that.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I don't think that's very true.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Yeah, it's probably you know, extended you know, family, friends
and all that. But there's a lot of people sporting
and I just thank them so much because, you know,
Chicago Land Area Lagrange Park and made me who I am.
And you know, I appreciate being able to be out
there and have the opportunity to play in front of
those great human beings.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And you know, it was great. But the time of
the next one, though, you sneak a look in that
section of seeing before the game.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
Actually, I saw my dad's roommate from college, uncle Adam,
and you know, it was when we were down, and
he kind of wasn't instill in that confidence, and to me,
you know, I was like, you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Gonna say something after that after we come back and win.
So yeah, but it's just like, you know, just acting
like I'm not looking at him and all that. So yeah,
it's all good. I love you, Adam.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
One of McCarthy's touchdowns went to the other JJ Justin Jefferson,
who by the way, had four receptions in the game,
which moved him into fourth all time for Minnesota Vikings receptions,
passing Steve Jordan. Just what a strange game this was.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It was, you know what I mean, When was the
last time we had a running back and a wide
receiver tied for most yardage in a game?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Because Aaron Jones had three receptions for forty four yards,
JJ had four for forty four. Justin Jefferson had four
for forty four yards. Both of them had a touchdown reception.
I mean, it's it's not your normal game plan, and
you know, the opportunities were there with the way the
defenses that the Bears are throwing at us, it would
(29:55):
have been a fifty fifty pass attempt type game if
we had we had a more experienced quarterback at the helm,
But we don't. We're developing. We're developing a kid. We're
trying to get him to that level, and they just
decided that they had. That's probably the most impressive part
about the running game, he had asked me earlier, is
that the Bears were stacking the box. We didn't throw
(30:18):
our way out of those looks. We just continued to
run the football effectively. So the offensive line did a
great job. I know justin School struggled early. I think
he got better as the game went on, but man,
you got to credit that offensive line too.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Vikings beat the Bears twenty seven to twenty four. They
come home let to play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday
night football home opener as a one to zero team
for Pete bursu j. I'm Paul Allen. That's the Vikings
postgame report. Hopefully you enjoyed the game. We know we did.
Hey, Welcome to the Vikings postgame podcast with Pete Versuch
on Paul Allen. This is courtesy of Lumen and the
Minnesota Vikings went to grinding for a season opening victory.
They beat the Bears twenty seven to twenty four. JJ
McCarthy Minnesota Vikings quarterback making his regular season debut. As
I said at the end of the broadcast on Kfan,
(00:40):
when it comes to metaphorical moguls of experience, I mean
he ran a touchdown in by himself, he threw two.
He threw a pick six to Nashwan Wright. I mean
from an experience standpoint, he saw so much he did.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And an interesting point Paul is he is only this
second Vikings quarterback to throw for two touchdowns on his debut.
The other quarterback that did it was Fran Tarkington in
nineteen sixty one against these exact same Chicago Bears. So
what a stat by JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
By the way, once again, this podcast is provided by Lumen,
and thank you for your sponsorship.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The Lohman, the.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Trusted network of Ai, Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. And
the way they ran the ball, what'd you think?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I thought they were very effective, right, and not a
lot in the way of lost yardage plays. You had
one hundred and twenty yards rushing total, an average of
four point six yards per rush, which is probably higher
than a right about or maybe a little bit higher
than what we've seen out of the running backs, Paul.
But overall, they I think they really when we needed them,
(01:52):
they were there. They helped. I think Steady McCarthy a
little bit. It opened up the play action and some
of the playfakes. But you know, to see Aaron Jones
get in there late in the game and he's still fresh,
I think that's going to bode well for this running
game throughout the entire season.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Now, when people say football is a game of inches, okay,
to many, it's a cliche, but it's a cliche because
it stands the test of time. And here's what I mean.
The kicking. Kicking is part of the game of inches,
all right. Cairo Santos Bears kicker misses a fifty yard
field goal in the second half, Will Reiker Vikings kicker
(02:28):
hit a career long fifty nine. Well, the game was
separated by three at the end, so I mean this
was a weekend where kickers were missing huge kicks all Sunday.
Not our guy, the Alabama kid came through.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
He did. And you know, the kicking game outside of
the of the one penalty that we had the kicking
game overall, I think Jay Ward that had the one penalty.
Outside of that, the special team's made a difference. And
how about Miles Price and the yardage that he was
able to get the first half of this football game?
Starting field position was was bad. It was inside the
(03:03):
thirty in this day and age in the NFL, that's
not very good. But Miles Price was able to turn
that around a little bit. A couple of good kick returns,
a couple of good punt returns. So I think Miles
Miles Price made quite a big impact for his for
his Viking debut.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, and at one point, Miles Price had sixty eight
punt return yards. That was the most sense wide receiver.
Troy Walters, who wow, Yeah, you coach when he played
on the team. Yes, and his father, Trent, wasn't he
a coach.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
On the team too, Yes, yes, father Trent.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And that's that's back in two thousand, So that's yeah,
Miles Price, the undrafted Hoosier who knew Kevin O'Connell is
undefeated at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. He's four
and oh six and one lifetime against the Bears. Let's
hear from the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's a lot of t unpack after that one. But
I'm so proud of our team. I'm proud of I
think days like this kind of a a lot of
the things that you know, we really feel are important
with our organization from a standpoint of when things aren't
going well, things aren't going your way. You know. I
(04:12):
thought the defense, you know, battled and kept us in
the football game. Special teams made some huge plays, uh,
you know, obviously Miles Price was some big returns will
record with you know, the field goal to give us
a little bit of life there at the end of
the first half. I was just so proud of jj
uh and in our offensive group. There was a lot
of There's a thousand things that we all can clean up.
(04:35):
There's a thousand things that myself and and our staff
we'll get cleaned up. We can all be better. But
to come to this place a ton of energy in
the building and find a way to just keep playing,
just keep trying to find a way and our guys.
You know, there's been some games here over these last
(04:58):
few years where you know, we've demonstrated that, but tonight
I felt like there was something new quarterback on the road.
You know, some new players throughout our team. I'm really
trying to figure it out together and uh, the way
that we were able to do that, very very proud
(05:19):
of our team. There's obviously some guys with some notable
performances and then I'll hit you guys on some injuries.
But JJ McCarthy, you know, clearly just to you know,
I felt you know, the thing is, I felt poised
from the very beginning. I didn't necessarily think our entire
group with some of the things that transpired where we
were really close on some things that could have changed
(05:41):
the game a little bit, a lot of yardage that
we got via some penalties there, but you know, just
didn't do a good enough job sustaining uh. You know,
obviously converting third downs early on was an issue to
be able to get drives going. But JJ McCarthy, for
him to make some of the plays he did, I
told him at halftime, you are going to bring us
back to win this game and the look in his
(06:03):
eye was fantastic, And the best thing is just the
belief I felt from the team, the unit, and ultimately
that doesn't get done without him. In the second half,
two passing touchdowns and then the critical rushing touchdown you
know at the end, Will Reicherd, like I said, that
field goal was huge, you know, the fifty nine yarder.
Miles Price already talked about that from a standpoint of
(06:27):
being a rookie out there changing field position, giving us
a chance all night long. You know, you look at
Eric Wilson stepping in for cash and then obviously blocking
a punt. Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, you know, it
was kind of a tough night there and having Jordan
to be a little bit, you know, be that physical presence,
and then you see Aaron's ability to change the game
on one play with the touchdown, and then you know
(06:52):
Javon Hargrave Grave was you know, you just felt him
all night long. And Caleb is really a tough guy
to bring down. Clearly, his athleticism is real. We talked
about it all week and you got to give those
guys a lot of credit for playing the good football
that they did, and it was a flat out battle,
you know, to It's not always going to be pretty
when you're trying to bring along a young quarterback. You
(07:14):
just got to keep playing and you got to allow
you know, him to grow. There was a lot of
just things we can improve on, and we will. It'd
be great to be home for a couple of weeks,
but but all in all, I'm very proud of our team,
very proud of our staff, and just that figured out
in us and find a way is something that will
be a redeeming quality as we continue to press onward.
(07:35):
Just to give you guys an update on a couple
of injuries here. You know Cashman Uh, you know, did
get a hamstring. He'll have an MRI and then a
coupa there on the last play. Everything's you know, checked out.
We wanted to be smart with that, but he'll be
evaluated for a concussion. He will travel home with us
as well. And then Ryan Kelly and ty Chandler both
(07:57):
uh went into the Blue ten and both returned. So
with that, I'll open it up to you guys, what
about JJ made you believe that he's Yeah, I just
you know, I just felt, you know it was a
very unique game from a standpoint of Uh, you know,
obviously you have to just put blinders on and just
(08:19):
keep playing. Every rep for him is unbelievable experience. It's
experienced for me, you know, with him, it's experienced for
our offense. You know, obviously justin school stepped in and
and you know, did a great job battle battling all night.
But you know, there were times where JJ had to
overcome some things you know, around him, and he just
(08:40):
kept playing. Didn't necessarily alter the way he was playing.
You know, there'd be a play out there and they
tipped the ball or it was just every you know,
for a while there just felt like everything that could
go wrong kind of did and many many times, you know,
teams will wilt in those circumstances, and ours did not.
And it's a credit to our players, credit to what
(09:00):
they have built in that locker room. And uh, we're
want to know, you know, with a thousand things to
clean up across the board, Uh, the defense knows they're gonna,
you know, they're gonna have to battle all year long
after that. You know, following the opening drive touchdown, I
think you know, next nine drives, they only gave up
a field goal. So I'm just you know, proud of
(09:22):
the group, but JJ especially Uh, a heck of a
growth moment for him, and one that I had total
belief in him that we were going to figure it
out together. The touchdown, What made you decide to go
to that in that moment in that third and one? Yeah,
you know, they they made some adjustments, you know, kind
of some unscouted looks in the in the first half
across the board. I thought they did a great job, uh,
(09:43):
you know, keeping us off balance with some looks that
you know, maybe you're you're you're working off of a
tendency from you know, a previous team that you played against,
the coordinator from and and I don't know whether it
was you know, maybe a couple of their guys being out,
but they were they were doing some things differently than
maybe what was on on the sheet. And with a
young quarterback and you're trying to work through what that
looks like, you've you've got to work through it together.
(10:07):
And you know, we had some miscommunication. Obviously, it got
very loud at times, the negatives, you know, up against
the play clock a little bit. But I thought as
the game went on. You could kind of feel JJ
pushing that group to get out of the huddle a
little quicker, get to the line of scrimmage, get a line.
We're trying to help him out as much as we can,
especially in a game where there could be some looks
that you're trying to work through that maybe weren't jumping
(10:29):
out at you on tape. So we're trying to you know,
you know, make it as user friendly as we can,
but sometimes that takes some time. So we've got to
find a way, you know, find that middle ground, continue
to push the urgency in the execution. But once again,
that play call in particular was really just a matter
of I you know, JJ is a very very good athlete,
and you know, the look presented itself where you know,
(10:52):
we felt pretty good about TJ being able to kind
of lead him in from there. If you know, the
it was a poll type. Reed was reading the play
and he made a you know, great play. Both of
his you know, touchdown passes were critical, huge plays as well,
and a great execution by him. Pick six.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
What did you notice from JJ on the sideline.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
That letting huge? They feel okay, yeah, you know, it
was all out zero pressure. You know, he he got
to his protection the right. I mean, that was a
veteran quarterback play. It just you know, happened that you know,
the cornerback, the corner knows that it's an all out zero.
He learned how to play pretty good vision zero coverage
here and credit Shawney. I mean, uh for making that play.
(11:35):
What to create a huge play And when you have
a pick six the way the first half went normally,
that's enough for a lot of teams to go ahead
and pack their stuff up and head home. There wasn't
one moment. I just I just told him, I said,
you did everything right. They made a play. Uh, you know,
you protected yourself enough to maybe you know, there was
a there was another potential you know, eligible on the
(11:57):
play that might have had an opportunity to score. Honestly
if and what you know, what kind of play would
that have been? But great learning out you know vision zero,
he's he's looking at you the whole way of field
outcut to Justin Jefferson and he and he made a
play on it. So I just told him, just like
the whole day, one more, you know, just worry, but
let's just keep playing the next snap together, and I
(12:18):
promise you will find a way. That's what I told him.
And he's got an unbelievable look in his eye on
game day and he just kept you know, his belief
and his trust in himself. And you know the phrase
that I like to use. You guys have heard it
many times, being at your best when your best is required.
There's no other time than that than to you know,
(12:39):
have two touchdowns and two passing touchdowns and a rushing
touchdown twenty one points in the really darn near close
to just the fourth quarter alone, So really big time
moment to build off of.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
How were those fourth early fourth quarter runs for Jordan
Mason kind of set up other things like the play action?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, I think you know, it was one of those
things where because of the crowd noise and you're trying
to avoid third down, third and lungs as much as possible,
probably should have, you know, ran the football more and
in the first half, and that's where I got to
grow and get better as well. You know, this is
a total look inward to how we improve and it
starts with me. But I thought we you know, that growth.
(13:20):
I'm a big fan of, you know, not having that
figured out, and this on Tuesday morning, you know, normally
i'd like to say Monday morning. But as a staff
and as a collective group, we really honed in on
some things that we wanted to get done, and that
efficiency set up a lot of things and and you know,
allowed us to make some plays in the past game.
But having Jordan's physicality with air and you know, keeping
(13:42):
air and as fresh as we could, and then being
able to use him as a weapon in the past
game as well kind of came together in a way
when we need it the most. What do you think
of the teammates reaction to that? Yeah, I think, you know,
it was just momentum was kind of just the way
the defense answers playing, and I just kept telling flow,
(14:02):
you know, you know, just give us, just keep giving
us an op. You guys are doing everything in your
power to just keep giving us an op. And then
the special teams kicked in and made some plays, you know,
with the returns and the block punt, and then you know,
just it was kind of like a you know, this
team's got a lot of confidence in itself, and there
were moments where maybe that confidence was being tested, but
(14:24):
absolutely not broken. So that was kind of an eruption.
A little bit of our sideline and kind of what
was keeping it together kind of let out in that moment.
And it was a It was a big time. It
was a big time to see the team and they
voted him a captain. They clearly see something in him.
We do as well. This is one game he did
an unbelievable job leading his team back to win. It
(14:46):
was a total team effort. But we will use this
as a major, major growth moment. And we got a
short week and gotta get ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:54):
I Chandler's return at the end there do you go
into that saying if it's returnable.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Return, got to return it, try to get under the
two minute. Yeah, and and we you know, I know
for a fact that Matt Daniels was in the huddle
telling those guys that, but he ties really the off returner.
You know, with the type of night that that the
Miles Price had, you know, they're trying to kick it
away from him, and I'm sure they're trying to get
that thing to the chalk to make sure we can't
do that. And I don't even know how deep it was.
(15:21):
I didn't care, but yeah, I think he did. You know,
you never want your players looking over at me during
the play. But it was get out and secure the
secure the football for sure, and that allowed us to
take it all the way down there, you know, and
there was I think there was you know, half the
stadium was at the line of scrimmage during that four
minute drive and rightly so they were just trying to
(15:43):
get it back and and yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Blake had been tough, but.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, that's why we went and got him. I mean,
he will has been such a critical addition that Quasi
and his guys went out and got him. You're you're
you're always looking for that veteran presence, and you know
he is. You know, he is a player that we
I don't know if we win the football game unless
you have Eric Wilson to kind of not only I
(16:10):
mean the block punt, but but just the way he
goes in and he's green dotting and calling it. And
that's really you know, you want to see a prototype
of a veteran, a guy that helps your football team
win by any means necessary. It's Eric Wilson so fired
up that we have him fired up that we were
able to bring him back here, and he's already clearly
had a monumental impact, whether.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
The block punt or word record in the kick or
mouths pricing insurance.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
How much did your special teams kind of contribute to
be able.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
To come back here? Yeah? I mean, shoot, we only
had you know, what was it, forty nine plays offense.
We just we just didn't have enough time on the field.
We didn't have enough to really do our part for
the better part of two and a half quarters. So
you need your defense to be you know what they
are and what they were for us tonight. You need
your your special teams to make a play here and there,
(16:59):
steal that steal that hitting yardage wherever he can, and
and uh, those guys did. Those guys did a great job.
Just we talk about a lot. What are you going
to do in your one play phase, uh to maybe
go change the game and and uh, those guys affected
the game in a really positive way. You know, credit
to those guys. Hat dGH. You don't win a game
like this unless it's a true three all three phase. Uh,
(17:21):
finding a way. This is just one game. But the
fact that j J nows to do this, Yeah, go back, and.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
How important that for development guys going forward.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yeah, you know, part of this thing with a young
quarterback is you know, you know everybody's gonna be waiting
to you know, you know, the aha moment of like,
look what happened and and for him to like that.
That can weigh on a player, but not him. I mean,
he prepared the right way and you know, just you know,
(17:56):
you talk about meeting the moment regardless of circumstances, regardless
of what the outcome may have ended up in it
being u there is a big picture plan that you know,
you hope to you know, not have this chapter be
the first chapter of needing to bring your team back
so significantly after a really tough start. But yeah, this
(18:16):
is I mean, there's no look, there's no way to
to deny we don't win this game unless JJ plays
the way he did in the second half and most
importantly kept the belief of his football team behind him.
And and now we know it's possible. So you know,
he hope to not be in these circumstances very often.
But you know, this team's made of the right stuff.
(18:39):
Players have built something special within that locker room and
on that sideline, and and I'm just very very proud
of them, and you have to be so proud of JJ,
you know, leading leading the group back.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Kevin, what did you think of just the defensive line vitation,
a lot of players stepping.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Up the making places. Yeah, we want to keep those
guys fresh. I thought, uh, I felt all those guys active,
you know, the activity of being able to kind of
stunt the run enough to put them in long yardage
situations and get off the field and keep giving us
those opportunities as an offense. But yeah, I've been telling
you guys for the better part of since, you know,
(19:15):
late July, like, we feel great about the depth of
that group, seeing those guys play and rotate and try
to keep those guys fresh when they're on the field
a lot more than we're on the field as an offense.
You got to try to do that so when the
momentum does swing, you know we can we can try
to hold that lead and get a really tough, hard
fought win on the road in the NFC North. I mean,
this is what this division is going to be. Obviously,
(19:38):
we want to play a better version, we want to
be a better version of ourselves as a team for
four quarters, but We're gonna have to lean on different
phases of our team at different times. And that's just
the NFL. That the life you live in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Well, until the Bears got that touchdown really late on
by Roma Dunsa uncovered back of the end zone where
they at a two score lead, Caleb Williams and the
Bears offense march down the field ten plays and Caleb
Brannon from nine on the first possession of the season.
I mean, they look really sharp, but that was it
for their offense from a touchdown scoring standpoint, you know,
(20:15):
pretty much almost for the rest of the game. So
what did the Vikings defense do to Titan.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I think what they did is they played good, solid
run defense, and that you know Ben Johnson, he'll run
the football as much as you let him, as long
as it's efficient, and they really ended up taking them
out of that. And then you put Caleb Williams in
a position where he has to throw the football downfield.
He was ten of his first ten, but I don't
think any one of those throws is further than three
or four yards down the field.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Pump.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
And when they went forward on that fourth down play,
which is another field goal attempt that they didn't get
to take. You know, he badly overthrew DJ Moore.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
The defense did an excellent job. They made the Bears
try to earn it and that was good enough for
a lot of these drives tonight.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
What a wonderful moment it is for JJ McCarthy. Yeah,
he threw a seventy four yard pick six, so that's
going to eat at him. But he got the money,
or as the kids would say, he got the dub.
They leave Chicago with a want to oh record. And
here's what JJ had to say after the game.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Obviously, it's huge to come out of one of these
games with a win. You know, divisional opponent, a very
tough opponent. You know, I thought they did a tremendous
job and played very hard and played well. Got to
give a lot of credit to the defense. You know,
they bailed us out in that first half. You know,
they were throwing a lot of things at us defensively,
and defense stuck in there, and especially on the special
team side too. You know that field goal unit, that
(21:39):
pumper turn unit, jug you know, I think it was
one hundred and nineteen all purpose yards and you know
that's just tremendous from a young guy like that to
step up.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
But there's a lot of things we got to clean up.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
You know, it got to be better on third down
and h you know we're on the Atlanta No jijd.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
What was kind of your reaction when you got to
play call those gonna be hurried out?
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I was absolutely fired up. It was like the perfect
time to call it. Coach McCown actually brought it up
in his little pregame speech at the hotel and he
was talking about how he was running Wanda Bayer that's
what we call it in twenty thirteen, and I was
probably running in seventh grade somewhere, but I was actually
ten at the time, so it was pretty close on
that one.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But uh yeah, it was just perfect play call.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
You know, the offensive line did a great job TJ
with that block on Jakwan and just you know finishing
the job. That was you know, one of the one
of my favorites for sure.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
A turn of lead up just about what you wanted
to say at the moment of how well.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Admit what that just you know, I felt like I
did a really good job with that, and you know,
just feeding off the energy of my teammates and my coaches,
you know, helped me out tremendously. But you know, at
the end of the day, you know, we're so blessed
to be able to play this game. So every snap
we get is a complete blessing. And you know, that's
something that I was mentioning to the guys in the
(23:00):
huddle when we were down, like where else would you
rather be? So I feel like, you know, we did
a great job, and this team showed a lot of
poise and responded very well.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
After the pick six. After the pick six, like, what's
your mindset at that point? And it's certainly a momentum
sway there in a lot of ways, what's your mindset?
And how do you move past that?
Speaker 6 (23:20):
You know, you never want to earn wisdom that way,
but it just brought me straight back to TCU when
I had that first one early on in the game
and then the second one later and you know, at
the end of the day, Yeah, it sucks. It's one
of the worst things you could do as a quarterback,
but can't do anything about it.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You got to focus on the next play.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
You know, defense kept us in it the whole time,
so it was just on our shoulders to go out
there and execute and you know, play as one and
you know, move on from that.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
You know, that's one of those things I don't really
hang on.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
And I was, you know, really grateful the way coach
mccownt and coach O'Connell handled it. And it was everyone
on the same page, all right. That happened next play
when it came to.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Just as you guys started to come back. Was there
a throw of viewers where you felt like you were
starting to get into a proof late in the game.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
I want to say the one before half to Speedy
that really got me into a groove.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And it was, you know, as it turns.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Out, one of the biggest plays of the game because
Will striping it from fifty nine. You know, we walk
out of here probably a little bit later then we
do it tonight right now. But you know, I feel
like just how it expressed itself, how the ball came
off my hand there, I felt like it was one
of those throws that really gave me that, you know,
we could really do this.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
He said.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
The comment in the huddle where would you rather be?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Aaron mentioned the same thing. Have you always had that
mentality in the Huddler.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Is that something that just came over you tonight.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I've never actually said that before, but I feel like
it was at the perfect time. You know, guys were
kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit,
and I feel like if you could.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Ah, smile goes a long way.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
So there was a lot of smiles after I said that,
and just a little bit of a perspective shift. Yeah,
things weren't going our way, but we're here doing this
together and see the boys they responded perfectly.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Remember when exactly that was.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
I know we were around the twenty minus twenty or
minus twenty five in the end zone with the jumbo
tron and.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I think it was third quarter something like that. Okay,
did you looked like late after one of the touchdowns,
Kevin came over kind of like patted you over the
head and you, guys, what was your favorite moment work
with me to night? My favorite moment working with Ko
was probably just the whole game, like how he managed it.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
You know, they showed a lot of things that we
didn't expect and you know, the calm, cool, collective nature
that he had, you know, just gave me so much
confidence to you know, try to filter that into my
teammates as much as possible. But uh, you know, after that,
you know, running touchdown and seeing how fired up he was,
that was really special.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
I think part did you maybe after the game taking
the larger picture of how long it took you to
get to this play.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'll feel that on the plane ride home.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
But yeah, it's just it's been a long journey, and
you know, six hundred and nine days. I think I
saw it was my last you know, competitive football game,
which was the National Championship. So it's been a while
of you know, just being in the training room, watching
a lot of film, learning the playbook and trying to
master that. But at the end of the day, you know,
it's such a blessing to be an NFL football player
(26:30):
and you know, play in this league, and you know,
I'm grateful that we get to go out there next
week and play the Falcons on Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
He told you at halftime you are really back in
this game. What does that mean you to hear that
and everything?
Speaker 6 (26:42):
That guy is, you know, one of the best, if
not the best head coach in my opinion, in the
National Football League. So any kind of compliment or belief
like that.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
It means the world.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
And you know that just gave me all the confidence
to go out there and just execute the ball plays
and uh, you know, have fast arm and make quick
decisive decisions and you know it worked out.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Point behind some of those Jordan Mason runs and the sec.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
It's just so fun when you watch a guy run
and you're like, oh, that's not a tackle before it happens,
and uh, you know, credit to the online You know
they really strained, you know, the entire night and you know,
just being able to be in game one, you really
don't know how the team's conditioned and you know how
they're going to strain when it comes to the fourth quarter.
And they did that and you know JP obviously showed that,
(27:32):
Aaron showed that, and yeah, it was really cool to see.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
As far as the connecting thereon for the touchdown and
you guys did that a bunch of times during training camp.
How how was that experience through camp that helped you
when it came to that moment?
Speaker 6 (27:45):
Extremely big. You know, I still wish I would have
give him a pretty ball where he had it in
stride and you know, ran through the end zone with it.
But at the end of the day, it's a touchdown.
And you know, he's such a special player. But I
can't speak highly enough about who he is as a person.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
You know, he's one of.
Speaker 6 (28:00):
The pillar guys of our team, pillar personalities, and he's really,
you know, a special guy and I'm so grateful to
play with him. I didn't ask, but my dad said
like two hundred to two hundred and fifty, and you know,
I'll have to see that.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I don't think that's very true.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Yeah, it's probably you know, extended you know, family, friends
and all that. But there's a lot of people sporting
and I just thank them so much because, you know,
Chicago Land Area Lagrange Park and made me who I am.
And you know, I appreciate being able to be out
there and have the opportunity to play in front of
those great human beings.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And you know, it was great. But the time of
the next one, though, you sneak a look in that
section of seeing before the game.
Speaker 6 (28:48):
Actually, I saw my dad's roommate from college, uncle Adam,
and you know, it was when we were down, and
he kind of wasn't instill in that confidence, and to me,
you know, I was like, you know, I'm.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Gonna say something after that after we come back and win.
So yeah, but it's just like, you know, just acting
like I'm not looking at him and all that. So yeah,
it's all good. I love you, Adam.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
One of McCarthy's touchdowns went to the other JJ Justin Jefferson,
who by the way, had four receptions in the game,
which moved him into fourth all time for Minnesota Vikings receptions,
passing Steve Jordan. Just what a strange game this was.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It was, you know what I mean, When was the
last time we had a running back and a wide
receiver tied for most yardage in a game?
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Because Aaron Jones had three receptions for forty four yards,
JJ had four for forty four. Justin Jefferson had four
for forty four yards. Both of them had a touchdown reception.
I mean, it's it's not your normal game plan, and
you know, the opportunities were there with the way the
defenses that the Bears are throwing at us, it would
(29:55):
have been a fifty fifty pass attempt type game if
we had we had a more experienced quarterback at the helm,
But we don't. We're developing. We're developing a kid. We're
trying to get him to that level, and they just
decided that they had. That's probably the most impressive part
about the running game, he had asked me earlier, is
that the Bears were stacking the box. We didn't throw
(30:18):
our way out of those looks. We just continued to
run the football effectively. So the offensive line did a
great job. I know justin School struggled early. I think
he got better as the game went on, but man,
you got to credit that offensive line too.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Vikings beat the Bears twenty seven to twenty four. They
come home let to play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday
night football home opener as a one to zero team
for Pete bursu j. I'm Paul Allen. That's the Vikings
postgame report. Hopefully you enjoyed the game. We know we did.
Popular Podcasts
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
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.