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92Noon! Bears - VB - NFCN

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Man, why don't you give me half the money you
were gonna bend? But we'll go out, Ben, I'll kick
you the nuts and we'll call it a day. Can
you repeat the part of this stuff where you said
all about things?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
This show is naughty and might make you a potty mouse.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Jer cash doesn't give you a superior to tear down
people's dreams.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Oh oh, that pisses me off. That pisses me right off.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
Well you have a gambling problem.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
Hey, Happy Tuesday morning to you, and welcome to the
nine to noon radio show from the vast and ever
expanding and plush TCO Radio Studio as part of the
second to none Vikings Entertainment Network at Twin Cities Orthopedics
Performance Center. It's a Tco Tuesday for nine to noon,
and I'm Paul Allen Nordo produces Brett Blake Moore Guide's

(01:23):
The Great Ship Love Covenant from FM one hundred point
three KFAM And we begin with a question, how are
the Chicago Bears plus fourteen and the take give the
turnover differential? Well that's number one in the NFL, so
you know each week. Each game can can be defined

(01:44):
as snowflakes, where they're all the same but they're different,
and you start to learn about the adversary early in
the week and you come across some things initially where
you're like whoa, hey, whoa, and this one just just
old me over. Yesterday after nine to noon chatting with
Nordo in the side studio about the TCO Tuesday and

(02:07):
Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, joining at
eleven am today, and he hits me with the Bears
have twenty takeaways. I'm like, what the Bears have twenty
takes which would include thirteen interceptions? All right, well, they
probably have given it away a lot, right, Well, no,
that's not the case either. Well what's their take give

(02:28):
It's plus fourteen. It's tops in the NFL. So then
you push five more keys and you're like, all right,
they're leading sack guy Montes sweat as five and a
half sacks. They got this Jervon Dexter senior, good player,
was better at Florida, but he's doing quite well in
the NFL. He has four sacks. Those are their top
two sackers. Kind of sounds like the Minnesota Vikings, you know,

(02:50):
with guys with four four and a f sacks stuff
like that, So they're not sacking the quarterback in voluminous nature,
which means that you think rush to cover, rush and cover.
Holy cow, look at all the picks the Vikings had
last year to match all of the sacks they had. Well,
that's not the case either with the Chicago Bears. How

(03:13):
in the heck are they number one in the NFL
and turnover differential and good morning, good.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Morning, it's insane.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
And you mentioned the sacks and Gervon Dexter Senior and
Montes Sweat.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
How about CJ.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Gardner Johnson being on the team for like two games,
he has three sacks. So just kind of just how
things have gone for this team and when they are
doing it. So, for instance, in their three losses, the Bears,
shocking to some and head scratching to most, are six
and three. In their three losses, they have one takeaway

(03:45):
on defense. Oh wow, in their six victories, nineteen freaking takeaways.
They're averaging more than three for their defense every single
time they go out to win. How they're doing it
with the injured second and derry their front as you
were talking about with those sac numbers, it's a lot
of meat and potatoes, and this is a team statistically

(04:07):
we can get more into where we can have our
day around the gym with heavy yardage against the Bears defense.
But right now, not historic, but certainly the most opportunistic
team combined with such a more disciplined offense starting with
the passer in Caleb Williams. So the plus fourteen jumps

(04:29):
off the freaking page, maybe above all other statistics as
we look at Sunday's game, and I don't have the
Bear schedule in front of me, but I got it
if you want it. Since the buye, since the off week,
Chicago is four and one, and there's been that there
has been an offensive common thread that has transpired against

(04:50):
mostly substandard teams. But nevertheless, I think that plays into
the turnover differential two off the way Nordo just laid
it out. They're four and one since the bye week.
Their only loss was to Baltimore and they lost by
two touchdowns, not to Lamar Jackson but to Tyler Huntley.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
It was the final game before Lamar returned. But during
that time, as we unfurl a sneak peak at next
week a sneak peek at the fresh meat, because it's
time to move on from us certain facets of that
Baltimore debacle. Over the weekend, the Chicago Bears over the
last five games are averaging one hundred and eighty five

(05:30):
rushing yards per game, one eighty five per game. Now
beloved bjay their coach Ben Johnson.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Let's think.

Speaker 5 (05:38):
Let's think of where he previously executed his toil. It
was as offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. What do
they like to do to set up the play action?
Run Jamiir Gibbs run, David Montgomery run, Jamison Williams and
things like that, Okay, DeAndre Swift, Kyle Mnungui and Roshawn Johnson,

(06:00):
DJ Moore. They It's taken a while for Ben to
get where he wants to get with this phase of
the offense. It's we're gonna run first. We're gonna make
them respect it. And as we continue to raise this
quarterback who never ran play action, being under center, taking

(06:20):
the steps, taking the handoff, turning the back to the defense,
getting safeties and the linebackers to think about it a
little bit. He never did that in college, and he
didn't do it basically his entire rookie year. So that's
still a work in progress with their quarterback Caleb Williams.
But a major step has been taken by the Chicago Bears,
and that's establishing the ability to run for nearly two.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Hundred yards a game.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Now, it took him two months to art to generate
one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
Right well, and and and the one to eighty five
a game.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
I mean, it's it's a big number.

Speaker 5 (06:57):
So but the question would be when it comes to
one of the best statistically, like when coaches or players
say stats are for losers, I don't necessarily agree with
all of that because their yards per attempt, turnover differential things,
there are things that matter greatly to the outcomes of games.
But it also the context of the one eighty five.

(07:19):
It needs to be part of the conversation against whom
are they getting that one eighty five? What's the score
of the game? Are they leading and trying to kill
the clock? The bottom line is they're getting it done.
So I don't care if it's against the zero or
one win New Orleans Saints at that time, if it's
against Geno Smith winning a one point game against a
really bad Raiders team. They're getting that facet of this

(07:41):
new coach's philosophy done now. The second point that the
hump that they've gotten over is whether it's against Cincinnati,
a downtrodden bunch, or the Giants without your guys scataboo,
and I mean the Giants were so squared away they
lost a game and fired their coach. So that's their
most recent win. But A they won, and B they've

(08:04):
shown each other and their coaching staff and subsequently their
fan base that they can win dramatic, close games. That's
a galvanizing factor they didn't have early in the season.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
They're gaining it now.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
The trust and ability in each other to recognize, if
we follow what the plan is here, even though it's
loud and it's hot, and mistakes have been made and
maybe there shouldn't be eighty some odd combined points scored
in this game. Nothing we can do about that. Now,
all we can do is win it, and they're winning them.
So there are two steps that have been taken with

(08:39):
the Chicago Bears that I'm just I'm very impressed with
at this stage of the season. Compared to the team
we saw week number one where the Vikings ran more
running plays than passing plays, but they only ran like
forty seven forty nine plays during the game. It was
a strange game. It was a bastard game, but the
outcome went the right way. But the the attention to

(09:01):
detail with the running game for the Bears and the
fact that somehow they're taking it in non obvious situations
the football and learning how to win these hotly contested,
tight games that matters. That's not lost on nine to noon.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
No, no, it's not.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
And the biggest part that has been built is the belief,
as you've been talking about here, because I think in
some ways, I mean think about the quality of the schedule,
and me is a rube, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna
come in here and I'm just gonna you know. Okay,
So the teams they've beat their six victories, Bengals, Raiders, Cowboy, Saints, Giants, Commanders,

(09:41):
those teams are a combined fifteen forty one to one. Okay, Well,
Caleb Williams isn't looking at that, you know what I mean?
Where there's an element of this where yes, they have played,
they've played downtrodden, you know, competition. In fact, by the way,
just going back to this Giants Victory Jackson dark goes
out injured. Russ Wilson is a complete l The punter

(10:03):
has like a twenty yard punt, sets them up at
midfield to get ultimately.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
What was that go ahead score?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Otherwise the Bears probably aren't in that one without a
couple of circumstances. However, the circumstances count and you had
to close on it, and the Bears have been closing
on it, so that the belief angle of this whether
we can sit here, I mean, and it's a loser's lament,
right like we're four and five. We're freaking fourth in
the North right now, we know in the division, but

(10:30):
four and five and we're staring up at the freaking
Bears right now. The fact of the matter is, regardless
of how awful the competition, I think the eight topic
you hit on is the new coach not only through
success with the run game, like Ben Johnson can sit
in the meeting room and go see see.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
What I've been telling you in practice.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
Now the players believe the respect has been built, the
foundation has been built, and it's turning over into clutch
moments where they're not fumbling the ball away. I think
I think it was an awful interception by Caleb Williams
at Baltimore their last loss. But other than that, they're
four and one and Caleb is showing up for the
most part in the right spots on the back of

(11:12):
just an insane running attack. Right now, the belief is
kind of propelling them forward, which regardless of schedule, regardless
of roster, here's our guys, here's there, guys, who's better?
The belief makes them dangerous.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
Marathoning out of the gate Courtesy of Steve's Appliances and
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and there's money to be saved by mentioning nine to noon.
When you're looking for appliances from Steve's Appliances and Steve's
Appliances dot Com, go now place hyperbolic or hyper accurate. Well,

(11:48):
let me set it up like this. Somebody asked me
this morning what I expect from the Vikings in their
next game against the Chicago Bears, and until proven otherwise,
off the pass performance, says we've seen this season and
yesterday Nora Do and I on the metaphorical therapeutic Davenport
of love. You know, we teased and we cracked wise

(12:10):
and we opened to veins, and we talked about a
lot of things yesterday, but part of.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
It was win.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
Lost win lost, win, lost, win lost, good bad good
bad good bad good bad to Finding traction with consistency
has been an a topic for the Minnesota Vikings this
year in that it's been non existent. So off what
we have seen, what should the expectation be Sunday? If
only for yours truly? All right, let's go back to

(12:40):
the Falcons game. The kid quarterback steals the show on
the fourth quarter at Soldier Field and wins the game
in his home state sky You mom, here we go
home opener. You don't score a touchdown and you'll lose
to the Atlanta Falcons. Not a great team. Okay, what's
the response? You kill Cincinnati and you take the fight

(13:03):
to the next team. Now we go to that La
Chargers game. Well, that was a debacle, unto its own right,
one of the worst performances for the Minnesota Vikings, if
not the worst overall performance we've seen since Kevin O'Connell
took over in twenty twenty two. Okay, that happened. What's
the response. You beat the Detroit Lions at Ford Field

(13:27):
as nine point underdogs. Wonderful, physical, professional, squared away efficient response.
The Baltimore game was winnable, you got the eight fall starts,
and you have some things that weren't preferred at key
moments of the game. What's the response. You beat the
Chicago Bears. So I'm not convinced the Vikings are going

(13:49):
to win this weekend, but that's how the past performances
have gone this year. Why would they change into this
game when I know the Bears aren't better than the Lions,
and the Lions proved that earlier in the season when
they scored fifty two on Dennis Allen's defense, and you

(14:10):
got that and in the Cincinnati game, And if you
want to play this game, which I don't, the Vikings
killed the Bengals and the Bears went down to the
wire with them. But nevertheless, two different scenarios. Whatever, the
response this weekend should be that of ferocity, should be
that of professionalism, and should be something that leads the
vikings to a victory.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, I agree, and if for anything else, And still
I was going to bring it up during Vike spites
and just hearing the coach yesterday talking about cadence and
the false starts he does what a lot of coaches do.
He put it on himself, I need to coach better.
I think he's almost a direct quote. And then you
heard the quarterback after the game. I'm responsible for everything
that happens on the field, appreciate all that still.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Leaves me wondering, however, how it all happened?

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Me too, And I just when you talk about a
professional effort, I think there's enough, there's enough professional pride
in this building, in this group where it's like, yeah,
that was actually embarrassing. Yeah, that was actually a fairly
unprecedented thing anytime we're on the wrong side of the
last time this happened was sixteen years ago. I think,

(15:15):
just from a professional pride standpoint, regardless of the fact
that I still don't understand how the hell it happened,
I think that those types of things are better. But
over the course of this season, now with a nine
game sample size, there have been various elements of a
lack of discipline popping up in various games. So I

(15:35):
don't think that this team's going to go out on
Sunday and it's just going to be perfect.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
I don't believe that for a second.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
I think we are going to have moments in a
division collision where it's like, are you serious with this one?
How did this happen? We saw this three weeks ago.
This is such a simple bit. We're going to have
a weird special teams penalty. There's just going to be
some annoying bits that go as part of that. But
I think the kid into his fifth start the professional
pride of this group that it is the response. Now,

(16:05):
how long throughout a season, pa, can you continue to
go good times, bad times, good times, bad times, good times,
bad times before you start looking at the standings and
you start looking at your playoff percentage and you start
kind of peeking into maybe we don't have it, Like
how does our favorite team keep their belief? I do
believe that they will this weekend, and I feel like

(16:26):
the Vikings are in a fantastic spot to be five
and five By the time I hit fan line with
Ron Johnson. I'm just the combination of professional pride. I
do wonder how much belief the kid QB certainly wants
to be better than he was a week ago. I
think the highlight wide receiver is going to get his
twelve targets again, and I think he's going to get
more than four receptions this time around. I believe in

(16:47):
all of those things as a response. But man, the
good times, bad times, and the roller coaster of this season,
the way that it plays on us, I imagine that
it plays on those guys in that locker room as well.

Speaker 5 (16:57):
I'm sadly I can't I mean, I can't answer that
because we've seen now more than half the season. So
when they hit halftime of the Ravens game, that was
the midway point of the season. We're in the second
half of the season and it's four and five. Like
I said yesterday, into the season. Without going through everything
I went through yesterday, I'll just lay it out like this,

(17:19):
to who much is given, much is expected, and the
money that was spent on free agency the years for
JJ McCarthy, Dallas Turner, people who are a year more experienced,
the expectation is they will improve. So my mantra into
the year was, unless you experience debilitating, awful, season long

(17:43):
injuries that legitimately most, if not everybody can look at
and say, well, I'll just just think the Lions last year. Okay,
the Lions won the division and they lost three quarters
of their defense for three quarters of the year, and
we're talking Aiden Hutchinson and Alien McNeil were talking some
of their best players. Well, they scratched and clawed and survived.

(18:05):
Then the Vikings beat themselves Week eighteen as much as
the Lions beat them. But that was it for the
Motor City kiddies. The proverbial elasticity of what they were
holding on to snapped and it broke and there was
carnage and Jaden Daniels came in and rolled them because
it had just been too much for too long. The

(18:26):
Vikings with those seventeen offensive line combinations and key defensive
players and Aaron Jones missing five games, I mean Addison
didn't play for three those all of those, well they're
all done. And you've had your preferred players back now
for two games, and you won the first game and
you beat one of the best teams in the NFL.

(18:47):
Then you lost the next one against a team that
can go to the Super Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens with
what they've done to their defense the last month, MVP
guy at quarterback, and the way they're executing things. Yes,
they are merging despite being a four and five team
as what I think will be one of the better
teams in the NFL in January.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
They should be favored to win the North for sure.

Speaker 5 (19:09):
Tough beat, They're a tough beat. They're a tricky beat.
They're a tough beat. When they got all their dogs,
and they had all their dogs, but so did we
and we didn't win the game. So now you move
forward to the next one. And my expectation, as I
said yesterday, is if you keep if you keep the
likes of darisov Van Ginkel Grenard, it sounds like he'll

(19:29):
be okay for this weekend at least off the press
conference yesterday, or should be close to okay then Jefferson,
just all the right players. You keep all those guys
together for the final run of the season late November, December,
early January. Yes, I expect the Vikings to make the playoffs,
and if they don't make the playoffs, it'll be a
buzzkill because to whom much is given much is expected,

(19:51):
and that includes working through problems like the Lions did
last year, and finding a way to have your full
tilt talent on display weekly with what you have and
moving forward. That's absolutely the expectation from yours, truly, whether
it's been good times, bad times, win, loss, LWLWLW.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
That has to stop.

Speaker 5 (20:14):
I don't know how it stops, because we're not compensated
to figure out how it stops. We're doing radio shows
just chatting about what are realistic expectations in two seasons
and during seasons, which leads us to hyperbolic or hyper accurate.
Minnesota will make the playoffs and win a game.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Why you got to hit me with that so early?
Ko is going to be in here in ninety minutes.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
That's hyperbolic, although the childlike Reuben the absolutely is rooting
for that. You know. The one thing that kind of
popped in my head the way that.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
Like God, that one fast, didn't you.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
It's well, it's I mean to say at this stage
that they will make the playoffs and win a game.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I mean, yeah, that was an easy one right there.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
One thing I'm thinking about the way that I or
the fan base, or the way that we want to
see incremental growth of the quarterback over the course of
this season. And you know, it is about having the
right guys on the field. And for now we have
the right guys on the field, which is sweet. Let's
go beat the Bears. I think we will. How much
do you think if I'm Jonathan Grenard, if I'm Javon Hargrave,

(21:23):
if I'm Jonathan Allen, how much do they need to
see incremental because part of this good times, bad times again,
the way that the Chicago Bears are dangerous via belief
and measurable success good times, bad times, ups and downs
of this Viking season. I'm just curious, you know, in
terms of that elasticity hanging tight and taut and then

(21:44):
eventually busting if it does, how much some of these
guys in the locker room, even if they love JJ,
everyone's saying the right thing. I don't think this is
a fractured locker room. I think this is a mentally
strong group and that is led by a coach who
I believe helps keep a lot of that together. But
I'm just curious how much they need to see incremental
growth from the QB on a weekly basis.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
And it's not.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
You know, there's so much going on in a game
that if I'm on defense, I gotta be I'm trying
to focus on how to stop King Henry. I can't
be even maybe watching the field. I got my Microsoft
surface in front of me. But in the same sense,
it's like, ooh, the eight fall starts, ooh, man that pick.
I know Jefferson fell down, but ooh if you throw
that outside on the first one, then Malachi Starks is

(22:29):
really never in the equation Ooh, Jefferson was wide open
and it was ten feet over his head. I just
wonder over the course of a long season how much
other people on the team internally, whether they get loud
about it or not. Most of them probably won't say
anything other than the right thing, But it's like, how
much do they need to see incremental growth from JJ
to keep this thing together, to get this team to

(22:49):
the player.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
There are six words that you've heard me say a lot,
and it's pertinent here human nature gets to win two.
So how do you play off that within the confines
of Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. At least to my

(23:10):
experience three and a half years working pretty closely with
the squad. One of the things that leads me, leads
me to share, Like I enjoy calling Minnesota Vikings games
on the radio now more than I ever have in
my life. All Right, So why is that? Well, that's
because what Nordo just said, no longer audibly, vociferously and

(23:35):
loudly happens where it's I know you've got a radio show.
But how in the f am I supposed to win
when I got this guy here? How in the f
is this supposed to happen when this draft happened here? Well,
that just never happens. It may happen behind the scenes,
but I'm not privy to it, and I'm here a lot,
So I really like that. It plays into an enjoyment

(23:57):
to be here and to do the job. There's not
a lot of backtime talking. There's not a lot of backstabbing.

Speaker 3 (24:02):
Now.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
When I say, human nature gets to win too. If
you keep losing games and your topsy turvy, and there
are situations that that are not conducive to positive consistency
and winning a lot of games. The human nature gets
to win too is when they leave what they say
to their family members, their friends, teammates outside of here. Yeah, A,

(24:22):
I don't care, but B it's yeah. I mean when
people talk about things, things like that probably are going
to come up. If I happen to be the proverbial
fly on the wall outside of the facility hearing that,
my first response would be look in the mirror, man,
I mean, before you start pointing fingers at those with
the eight fall starts, how about the fact that this

(24:44):
hasn't happened with you in a month and a half
and you were paid this to do this, and now
we ain't getting this. Oh yeah, So it's divisive. It
generally leaks in to the worst covenants in the NFL.
That's not the case here. They when they preach culture
in this building, and I've said this before, that's such
an overused trite term in sports and in life. Quite honestly,

(25:08):
it's not here because I've I've seen them work through
problems behind the scenes. I've seen them handle prosperity without
being arrogant. That's established culture. So what Nordo just said
is a very very fair assessment. But as it goes
in this building, it's been a complete non player, at

(25:29):
least in my experience, for three and a half years
with these guys, that's a good thing. And you know,
like like take for instance, Philadelphia and Green Bay last night.
All right, green Bay loses to Philadelphia, Elton Jenkins hurt
his ankle, didn't return to the game. Very physical game. Now, Now,
when it comes to culture and when it comes to
how to handle things that there's there's a writer named

(25:51):
Matt Schneidman who covers the Packers for The Athletic and
he posted after the game. Matt Lafleur, head coach of
the asked Matt Lafleur if he thinks he's coaching for
his job now? Really really difficult question to hear after
an emotional loss. But whatever, I mean, people can ask
whatever they want, Matt said, quote. I'll leave that for

(26:14):
everybody else to decide. I'll just focus on the day
to day and try to do I feel like you're
always coaching for everything in this league. You know, that's
my mindset. It's always been that way. You can't ever exhale.
You got to always be pushing. That's just my mindset,
and that will be my mindset till they tell me
not to coach anymore.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
End quote.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
That's a stark culture related difference from the individual a
week and change ago who addressed a question from a
member of the media by saying, I don't I don't
give a ass about Halloween.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
I'm trying to win a football game. So he was
very tense there.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
He went at a member of the media for asking
a silly question about Halloween costumes. So now we fast
forward to last night. There's contrition, there's vault, rebility, it's up,
it's down, it's it's it's culture related, and and things
will reveal themselves and open up as we move forward.

(27:13):
If they continue to go good time, bad time, awful, great, Hey.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Eh, you know what I mean. I do know what
you mean.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
So from from a Kevin O'Connell standpoint, we'll get to hear,
you know, more on this from him himself during the
eleven am hour. But I just think about, as we
were talking about the bears, the belief they have is
what makes them dangerous. The adversity that the Kevin O'Connell
world is going through right now is raising the kid
qb A and maintaining belief within that building, which through

(27:43):
his tenure here he's been very successful at.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
Yeah, that's from an overarching standpoint, those if I were
to shape what I believe is the reality here, that
would be one in June. The a topic would be
improving JJ McCarthy, the second year quarterback, and making sure
things stay cohesive and tightly knit during the moderate chop.

(28:07):
This is not severe chop. This is moderate chop. There
are winnable games on the horizon. I can't remember the
last time Green Bay beat Minnesota. I love how the
Vikings match up against the Packers until proven otherwise. It
takes Jordan Love two and a half hours to figure
out what Brian Flores is doing. So until that changes,
then I feel good about that game. Yeah, I feel
good about the response coming up this weekend. And those

(28:29):
are division games. Those matter, so they matter. They all matter.
But these matter more than the run of the mill
game simply because of NFC placing and divisional rankings and
stuff like that at the end of the equation. So,
for instance, the Bears, well they're winless in the division,
so they're six and three. We're going for one to

(28:51):
eighty five on the ground a game. If I'm one
of their fans, I'm like, cool, that's great. Ben's doing
a great job, Caleb's handling the play action decently. How
about we wanted to vision game. How about we beat Detroit,
Green Bay or Minnesota, because we've lost to two of them.
We've given up seventy nine points to the Vikings and
the Lions. Then we did that to start the season,

(29:13):
by the way, fifty two against the Lions. Then we
beat Dallas by seventeen Okay, cool, that counts. Then we
beat Vegas by a point, then we beat New Orleans.
They beat Vegas, New Orleans, Sincy and the Giants, all
non playoff teams by a combined twenty two points. So
this still is a work in progress. But they just
won two right at the wire and in two different

(29:37):
ways that I believe is galvanizing. This team should be
a hum dinger This Sunday at noon on KFAM courtesy
of timber Tech and timber tech dot Com. What's on
Deck nine to noon includes Ben Gesling of the Star Tribune.
At ten o'clock, he covers the Vikings assumably for profit
for the Star Tribune a Star Tribune dot com that'll
take place at ten. Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the

(29:58):
Minnesota Vikings. This here ninety minutes from now in order
to producers, and I'm Paul Allen. Here is double B
with the cash thing and good morning.

Speaker 6 (30:06):
And good morning to fan and two minute a Junkschuck
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, weekdays nine to noon.
Right around this time, we offer up a little ditty
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Beef, Travis Jones, Clearwater, Minnesota's finest Thousand Hills nutrient dense beef,
egg regenerative agriculture. That's the the a topic for them,
any vitamin cooe, burns and co ops in Kolowski's locations.
They're proud sponsors of Gophers Athletics. So I was listening
to Kevin O'Connell's press conference yesterday, and maybe you don't

(31:08):
have to.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Share the entire toll.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Soy, maybe this is part of the conversation later this
morning as well is he was asked a question I
think it was kind of framed up, is like what
happened to the easy Ones coach in particular to get
TJ Hawkinson involved? And even Kevin O'Connell says, hey, I
got we got.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
To get TJ involved more?

Speaker 2 (31:27):
And so just how easy is it to say that
versus actually executing on it, because I was looking at
some numbers yesterday. Now, JJ McCarthy good times, bad times
is a story in itself with the young QB he has.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Among all qbs.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Forget about Anthony Richardson or Josh Dobbs or Joe Milton,
forget them. The reason I say that JJ McCarthy the
highest average depth of target in the NFL, well that
means that he's trying to make deeper, deeper connections than
every other quarterback in the NFL. Second, by the way,

(32:06):
in this scenario again, forget about the Milton's, Dobbs, Richardson's
oh my gotcha second in the NFL is actually Sam Darnold,
but JJ kind of getting it back to So the idea,
if there is some validity to it, would be, you know,
if we shorten things up bo Nicks, for instance, two
yards shorter average depth of target. Now, if you look
at how Sean Payton has deployed bo nix, a lot

(32:29):
of short stuff, a lot of the easiest possible completions.
Let's get athletes in space and let them run around
a little bit. How easy is it to say I
need to get TJ more involved versus actually executing it
on the field because you feel like number eight seven
should be a factor, whether it's in the red zone. Again,
the easy ones quote unquote, very very quiet season for

(32:52):
mister Hawkinson, who I thought would be pretty good buddies
with JJ McCarthy by this stage of the season.

Speaker 5 (32:58):
In Wlkinson's last twenty one regular season games, he has
two touchdowns. Okay, So whose fault is it Sam Darnold's,
JJ McCarthy's, or Carson Wentz's or Kevin O'Connell's.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Or or is it the tight ends? I don't know.

Speaker 5 (33:17):
When I'm watching these things back, you know, and generally
on Tuesday mornings, I'll come in and I'll show you something,
or I'll say to you, Hey, do you like Addison
on this play?

Speaker 3 (33:27):
Hey, what happened here? You know? And we'll see and
again this is with all due respect.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
And then the Tom Brady, fran Tarkenton, and Joe Montana
missed the receivers every single game. Every single game they played,
there were guys running open for good things, and they
probably missed them. That's the nature of the real lifetime
of the most difficult job in all of pro sports,
playing quarterback in the National Football League.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
So when I.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
Watch these things back, I just, you know, maybe I
need to look more closely, But I don't look at
like a post stroke streaking down the field, center of
the field. Somebody's wide open. Somebody just fails to look
at him. Like last night with the replays, you know
that they were showing on Monday Night football, Well there
were no fewer than three or four times love for

(34:19):
whatever the reason, seemed to be looking right at a
wide open Romeo Dobbs. I mean, Dobbs's route running has
gotten so good. He had one that's a touchdown if
he hits him. Yeah, the one to the right, yes, yeah,
by the sideline right. But he didn't. He either didn't
get it there after looking or just didn't see it.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, he went off him real quick.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
Whatever whatever happened, it happened. So like with Hockinson, I
just maybe there's a lot of that there. I just
don't see a lot of it. To your point, when
the coach is like, yes, we need to activate this, right,
I mean it's it's worth three weeks removed from x's
and o's with Kevin O'Connell, where I'm like, you know,
let's just say for circumstances out of his control. I

(35:04):
think Jalen Naylor is having an unbelievably good season, and
he agreed and pointed out some things well without implicating,
you know, exact situations for time purposes. I think Naylor
has been missed on at least four touchdowns this year.
I know Jefferson's been missed on some very very that
they all get missed everywhere. But Hawkinson, if he's part

(35:26):
of that bit, he's compensated to be a field stretching
tight end, to move the chains and to score touchdowns,
and none of that is really happening. So the question
would be why, I can't exactly answer it.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Mike's Mike's part of that presser yesterday, some positive news.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
PA.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
So first and foremost, when when he hit the turf,
Jonathan Grenard writhing in pain at US Bank Stadium on Sunday,
I mean, I'm thinking, are we looking at you know,
what was it AC joint terrorism?

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Are we looking at clavicle? What are we looking at
with Jade? Well?

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yesterday the head coach really started off his press conference
early talking about he thinks we escaped serious injury with
Jonathan Grenard and we want to see if he can
get on the field and how much practice work that
he could be to potentially even be available this weekend.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
But maybe worst case scenario.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Maybe just has to chill a week and we'll have
him back at Lambeau.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
But from him, I don't really want that. No, we
don't want that.

Speaker 5 (36:25):
But I mean, according to everybody, the head coach is
a barbarian for the way he treated Carson Wentz. So
just be a barbarian and cut off the shoulder.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yeah, just tell him to play. Yeah, just tell him
to play. Drag him, drag.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Him onto the field against his will like you did
with Carson Wentz.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
Yeah, for sure, that's what barbarians do so drag him
on the field, don't care about his countenance, which is
that of pain. If he dies, he dies, and force
him to do something he doesn't want to do.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Ryan Kelly, Ryan Kelly doing a little more work this
week as well.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
It sounds with Grenard.

Speaker 5 (36:56):
Yes, when it happened in front of the Baltimore bench
when and I have my binoculars on him. So I'm
not going to pretend to be like a fake doctor
David whatever and be like I can analyze it from
a mile away. What I can analyze is eight and
a half to nine out of ten times when players
go down and you see them banging on the turf,

(37:19):
it's bad. Okay, they know this ain't this is bad.
And Grenard did that, I'm like, damn man, so it
you know, he obviously thought it was worse than it
was when he got to the Blue ten. Jonathan Grenard
is one of the tougher players that I've no matter
the circumstances of who's in and who's out, how much

(37:41):
pain he's in, how much attention he's getting, because he
gets a lot, he never complains about it, never ever ever.
He's a stalwart. He's Salt of the Earth. He's one
of the toughest players I've seen here in a long time.
So for him to leave a game that was some
significant pain. If if he, if the medical staff and

(38:02):
he can feel without you know, making it worse, can
play through it, then he'll play this weekend.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
How do you think we've gotten by without Josh Oliver
and what do you think Mike's bike style. The prospect
of him returning this weekend may improve things because we
saw even you know in the Kiddies game in particular,
you saw the backups, the EUROSSEC types. I think we
saw some Nick Vignette sightings at times. Getting getting cj

(38:29):
hamback healthy, by the way, that kind of helps stem
the tide on some bits as well. But in particular
surviving without the physicality of a Josh Oliver. He's going
to be doing more work and ramping up, and I
think the way Ko put it is kind of looking
forward to seeing him or having him for some snaps
this weekend.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
I think we might get Oliver back.

Speaker 5 (38:48):
I like that, but see that just plays into what why,
for whatever the reason, I decided to write this Sunday night,
and I'm not I'm not laying off of it into
the season. If you got your dogs, okay, to who
much is given, much is expected, find ways to win games,
find ways to find positive consistency because this is a

(39:08):
roster full of illuminaries, and that includes the quarterback who's
only played four games experience required, but with where you
drafted him, there are facets of JJ McCarthy's game that
you know you can win with right now.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
And that's fact.

Speaker 5 (39:27):
Why is it the reality because we've seen it twice
and we've seen how it's happened, so we know it's there.
Oliver's part of that. Josh Oliver is part of that
from a physicality standpoint, a pass rushing protection standpoint, like Oliver,
say it plays this weekend, keep him right in that
game at lambeau Field with Rashan Gary and Michael Parsons

(39:50):
and Edger and Cooper. I think you're going to need
Oliver more that game. Then you're going to need him
against Montes Sweat and some of these sure that the
Bears have and you're at home. So I hope Oliver
plays because it just takes what you thought and felt
would be good to very good and amplifies it with

(40:11):
having all your guys, and I think it will help them.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
It'll help them find a way to win Vikes bites.
Thank you thousand Hills. How much?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
And maybe maybe this was somewhat answered when we started
talking about this run game of the Bears.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
How much can you really take from week one?

Speaker 2 (40:27):
It Soldier Field, This is a Vikings team with the
good times bad times, finally seeing most of the right
names on the field. Meanwhile, I feel like the evolution
of the Bears has taken a course in which the
team we see Sunday may be very much unlike what
we saw opening night, creating some unknowns and maybe some

(40:48):
unscouted looks into Sunday's game and what they're able to
do on the ground. Is there a lot you can
take from week one within the frame of a singular season,
given how much things change.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
That's a wonderful question.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Caleb the quarterback has to be better than he was
week one, and he wasn't bad week one, but I'm
excited with the rest of the week developing to get
into what is better with him in unison with his
coach right the running piece at won eighty five per
the last five, there's definitely something to that. I don't

(41:21):
exactly know what it is, but there's something to that,
and that was not the case when they played the
Vikings week number one.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
See this is where it gets annoying though, whether it's
you mentioned the teams that they played the fifteen forty
one and one record that the teams they've beaten this
year have so they beat bad teams. On paper, it
appears Caleb was sacked sixty eight times last year. Only
sixty eight Yeah, only fourteen times in twenty twenty five.
So then but then you play the game, Yeah, is

(41:49):
it because you're playing the complete ls of the NFC
and teams like the Bengals who saved for Trey Hendrickson aren't.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Giving you a lot of push. I don't think that's it.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Is that part of the growth in concert with the
run games, so the play action and maybe the kid
has a right to get better.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
YEA, like a lot of this stuff.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
You can throw these stats out there and try to
deep dive, but there can be you can kind of
just just like a lot of data, most data, you
can make it say whatever you want without necessarily knowing
accuracy along the way. I don't know how to look
at Caleb right now is completion percentage has gone down
a tick, but.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Over a yard more per attempt.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
He's more efficient, and in the end, he is on
track to exceed four thousand yards this season.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
He may even throw a few more picks than he
did a year ago.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
But it's kind he's kind of getting down the field
a little bit better than he did.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
His rookie season.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
So how putting all of that together, I'm just I'm
kind of confused by all of it.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
Courtney Cronan, the Great Courtney Cronan, who covers the team
for ESPNESPN dot com. She'll be on nine to noon
tomorrow or Thursday. Wonderful question for her because she would
know more about it than me. My assumption or ascertation
from the outside would be thinking about what I saw
with their quarterback, Caleb Williams up to week one, during

(43:07):
week one and right after week one and then hitting
nine to noon with Nordo and saying, this battle between
what Ben wants and Caleb Williams will this is going
to be fascinating because Caleb wants to do it a
certain way and Ben, he legitimately can be like, Okay,
well your way sucks. Your way got you sack sixty

(43:31):
eight times. Your way didn't pull people out of problems.
Here's what's proven. Whether you have Jamiir, David Laporta, williams
Amen Ross Saint Brown golf or not, this is tried
and true. It's abundantly apparent to me the unison and

(43:51):
cohesion between the quarterback and the head coach is taking place.
And I'm going to respectfully roll the dice that it
was will William's will to do it his way that
had to be broken. So I just think that that
Caleb has submitted to what is best for the team

(44:12):
and not best for him necessarily on paper, right, But
it's tried and true and proven, and now we've won
six and only lost three. So I just think I
think Ben has gotten through to that quarterback who is gifted.
And that's probably one of the if not the most
different things from week number one.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Those are Vike spots provided.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
By thousand Eels Lifetime grazed, grass fed beef.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
Grass fed.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
Jervon Dexter Junior nine to noon continues from Twin Cities
Orthopedics Performance Center with Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the
Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
An hour and ten minutes from now tole.

Speaker 6 (44:49):
Those fans, it's a Severerwolves sofkback Tuesday, and we've got
your shot at tickets to this Saturdays Prince inspired City
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of rules, kf an dot com keyword contests.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
What's going on over there? We got about four minutes.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Well, we were just talking about not just the Bears
and what are the warts that they have. Well, they
might be putting a little makeup on some of those
warts with that schedule, and just kind of how things
are laying out, but you know, feeling having all the
right names and the kid QB raising them on the
fly and having the right answers and not having a

(45:43):
false starts, et cetera. The idea that this team is
still very much a team that can find their way
into the playoffs. Now it's an eight game sprint, right,
Let's win divisional games. Let's do those things. But just
kind of looking around the NFC and just trying to
figure out, you know, who's got warts and if you
look at if we're just looking, you know, just cursory
fashion at the standings. Cowboys, Cards, Falcons, Commanders, Saints, Giants.

(46:08):
Those are all teams that currently sit below the Minnesota
Vikings from a standing's perspective. Now we have to go
to Dallas at some point and get that w But
for the most I don't see the Cowboys jumping up
and finding their way into a playoff spot. And so
you got to play the numbers game. Seven playoff teams,
division winners, three wild cards. It still feels like, still

(46:29):
very confidently that there will either be three teams from
the West or there will be three teams from the North.
And who are the teams above us? Well, the Panthers,
I mean they just have a quarterback problem. We saw
the Saints. Saints gave up like tow and change on
the ground to man young guy and mister Swift a
few weeks ago Rico Dowdell as that thing hits midnight
and turns back into a pumpkin. They couldn't run. They

(46:52):
lost after the thrilling victory, thrilling, it's doing a lot
of heavy lifting there in terms of the winning Lambeau.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
They lose at home to the Saints. The QB's bad.
The whole thing sucks. They're gonna fade out.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
But then we start getting to these teams in the
West and specifically in the North, and I know they
got run up on by the Rams. The Rams, by
the way, if we're talking about who has warts, I'm
having a hard time finding warts with the Rams, by
the way, as they're doing typical McVeigh ramp up. Having
turned the boat ball over in three games. The defense
is super stout and getting better. Stafford hasn't looked better.

(47:27):
It seems like in a Rams uniform. Then he's flying
around right now. They just ran it up on the Niners,
who are six and three. Everybody's hurt. But the advantage
for the Niners here as we look ahead, is a
schedule that features the Brissette led Cards, It features the Panthers,
it features the Browns, it features the Titans, it does

(47:50):
have the Colts on there gonna be a toughie, but
they're in a situation right now where Shanahan's group doesn't
require building belief. That is a strong group that should
believe at all times. But there are also beneficiaries of
a schedule that really back half light and works in

(48:10):
their favor. So a team that has Wartz, but a
team that seems very poised to secure a playoff spot.
And that just lends me now to what we watched
last night. Because Jordan Love, Jordan Love in these Packers,
we get to see him in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
When the run game, I mean not that.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
It's ever necessarily truly explosive, but when you're not getting
five yards of carry, when you're not moving man, and
Jordan Love doesn't have that obvious answer, that obvious and
Tucker Kraft I feel like has had become that obvious answer,
that obvious solver done in the past game when you
don't have that, the kid felt un looked felt and

(48:52):
looked uncomfortable last night. And it was a lot of
getting off of a read quickly finding the next one,
looking for the most obvious and safe option, and I
think that put him in a ton of bad spots.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
I'm not, you know, with the with the Elton Jenkins.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Injury, interesting to see how severe or how long lasting
that is. Elton's damn good and and this O line
has done a really good job in front of Jordan
this year, So I'm not even putting that fumble on
him per se. I mean, how about Edger and Cooper
punching that thing out of out of Jalen hurts his
hands early on as well. But they're when you're talking
about warts and a defense that you know the secondary.

(49:29):
If the defensive front isn't doing its thing, the secondary
can be had. And when you have a quarterback that
doesn't have an obvious answer and there's a lack of
comfort there if you take away any sort of uber
efficient running, I think the Packers are in trouble and
potentially a target at whitch to shoot. Vikings got to
have their say in this with a couple of games
ahead with the with the Green and Gold. But that's

(49:50):
a team that has warts and is in a playoff spot.
And if you're a Vikings fan looking ahead, that's a
team to pay attention to our border.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
Rivals when it comes two potential calamities within the conference
or Wartz as you wait it out. I don't care
how the Eagles won. The Eagles won, yeah, and Jalen Phillips,
the former Dolphin, played with his hair on fire. I
mean you talk about a new lease on life. I
think you had both their fumble recoveries. You talk about

(50:18):
a new lease on life. You leave that awful situation
in Miami and you go to that team off a
super Bowl victory, and you get to play a lot.
I mean, holy cow, and I wonder he will looked
all pro last night. So they will grind away and
they will win more than they don't. Nor to mention
the Rams did. Just remember the have and the have

(50:41):
nots begin to separate themselves the Sunday or that week
after Thanksgiving, and what you do in front of it matters,
But the Sunday after Thanksgiving through December in early January,
that's where the calamities end for a lot of them,
and the goals and Rams the lines to a certain extent,

(51:02):
they're beginning to separate themselves a little bit. Seahawks might
be in that conversation. I just don't know enough about them.
Right now, it's ten o'clock. You're listening to nine to
noon