Bonus Seifert! - Bumper to Bumper 12/30/25 Hour Two

Bumper to Bumper with Dan Barreiro!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hewitt the Fan welcome some great shows to Mystic Lake Amphitheater,
Guns n' Roses August eighth, Leonard skinnerd and Foreigner August sixteenth,
Motley Crue August twenty first. Go to details on upcoming
shows on our concert page kafan dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Key Recounter, Kevin Seaford.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
In studio, guards Ian for Barrero today, Brett Blake Moore
here as well. Lou Nanny will join about ninety minutes
from now his weekly Tuesday appearance on Bumper to Bumper
Questions for Seaffert, Bradshawn, Brian Kava and text line sixty
four six eighty six.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
More likely to be.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
With the Vikings next year Brian Flores or Harrison Smith.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
You know I wrote earlier in the week about whether
either one of them would be back based on what
I just said about head coach. You know, the possibility
of Brian Florest being a head coach and my doubt
that there's going to be a situation where, uh, somebody
offers him a better option as a defensive coordinator than
the Vikings will I'll say it's more likely to be Flores.

(01:24):
You know, Harris Smith has not wanted to talk about
his future. And you know, each of the past few
years has kind of felt like this, where he's getting
emotional after games and like and he it's funny, he said,
the everybody's reading into that, and he said the other days,
like that's been an issue, Like I'm actually a lot
more emotional than people realizing. My dad told me when
I was a kid, I had to cut it out,
and you know, and so I don't, like, it's hard

(01:48):
to know if that really means anything, or he's just
feeling sentimental, you know, because they played a good game
and the fans were very supportive and so, you know,
and so and he's had a few times these past
few years where he took it into March in terms
of whether he really wanted to play or not. And
you know, I remember when Brett Farve used to talk

(02:08):
about this, and he would say, like, you get to
the end of the season and you can't imagine yourself
going through I remember it well again and then you
kind of you, in his words, you start to get
the itch, you know. And in his case, it wasn't
until June or so after his retirement. But uh, I
think there's a greater chance that Harris Smith retires, then

(02:30):
Brian Flores leaves, but stranger things have happened.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, you mentioned I'm glad you reminded me of the
Harrison Smith speech. Basically, I think every Vikings fan had
to love that what he said.

Speaker 6 (02:41):
Yeah, I'm sure you were.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Yeah, And because I was, I didn't see a lot
of that game.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Doesn't sound like I missed a lot other than the
halftime show and my guy Rosmer, we're gonna talk about him, Okay,
that didn't acquit himself too well until the game was
on the.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Line and these nails for five yards.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
He picks up the first style and gets into positive
passing territory.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
But yeah, you're right.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I was convinced last year in the playoffs after they
lost to the Rams, like he's crying, crying, and it's
like that's it, it's over. And so I was stunned
that even got this year out of them. But he's
still playing pretty well. I feel like he's played better
the last month or so. Is that Am I just
wishing that?

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Or is that? No?

Speaker 5 (03:23):
He definitely has made more plays from impact plays, and
he's and you know, he had the personal health issue
over the summer and he said the other day that
that at you know, that wiped out basically all his
off season, you know, strength workouts, and so he was
definitely starting when he missed the first few games, and
then the next few games, it was definitely on a
deficit and he was on a pitch count, and he
really didn't become a full time player again until after

(03:46):
the bye.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (03:47):
And then that I think it still took him some time.
There was weeks when he come in the locker room
he just looked exhausted. Yeah, and so but he built
it back up, and I'd say this past month or
so between this arrangement he had with Flores in terms
of picking from a group of possible calls, and that's
put him himself in a lot of really good positions

(04:08):
to make plays and just what looked like spry, fresh legs.

Speaker 6 (04:12):
I don't know how he accomplished that.

Speaker 5 (04:16):
Given the way the years started, but he appears to have,
you know, very fresh legs for this time of year
and his age, and so that has been notable as well.
And so the previous years with with Flores, he hasn't
necessarily been like this great playmaker that you know or
the hitman that you remember in terms of just blowing
people up all the time. But he's really become a

(04:38):
very different kind of player and one that you know
can still be very effective and the other night proved it.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I like this text because it's just a statement and
that you take it wherever you want. This is from
Brian to the Bradshawn Bryant camp Inn text line six
four six eighty six Garrett.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Bradbury And I'm not even fact checking this.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
I'm with Garrett Bradbury, Ezra Cleveland and ed Ingram will
be in the NFL playoffs.

Speaker 5 (05:04):
So ed Ingram's with Houston and Garrett Bradberry Patriots and Patriots,
and Ezra Cleveland is with the Jaguars.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
So yes, uh so how are they starters for NFL teams?
And we had no use for him and still have
offensive line problems? That's my question. Off the statement, I
kind of lie about out, but that's fair.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
People have noticed that.

Speaker 5 (05:25):
Yeah, and so I and I you know, ed Ingram
did not look very good to be like, there were
years there was I mean, it felt like they went
multiple years too long with him.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
As it was, he came up in a lot of
bad vikings talking points by federated mutual insurance.

Speaker 6 (05:40):
In terms of the draft and all that.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Yeah, and then I was watching him against Kansas City
and when at least when Chris Jones was lined up
over him, he was not faring very well. But clearly
he's been good enough to start for a team that's
probably gonna win it's if it doesn't win its division,
you know, it's gonna certainly make the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (05:57):
And so.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
And then Ezra Cleveland thing. I think he was just
not wanting to sign him to a contract extension, but
they end up signing Will Fryes a few years later
to probably a bigger one than Ezra Cleveland would have gotten.
But you know, there's a little revisionism there because I
think that you know, for as much as people talk
offensive line to the extent that they do, there was

(06:20):
a lot of Garrett Bradbury hate. There was a lot
of Ezra Cleveland hate, especially after that twenty twenty two
playoff game against the Giants when Dexter Lawrence just kind
of blew them up. And so, you know, just because
they're playing, I don't know if they're playing any better
for those teams than they did here. And so I
don't blame them for trying to upgrade at those positions.

(06:44):
Whether they executed well at that is another story. But yes,
that is a fact that all three of those guys
will likely be in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Ryan Kelly, Yeah, I mean it's got to be it doesn't.
I mean, this is it's a six now concussions.

Speaker 6 (07:01):
Yeah, three this year, total of six.

Speaker 5 (07:04):
You know, it's even like if you even if you
don't want to have the you know, very personal conversation
about you know, long term effects of brain injuries, and
people have their own research and their own opinion on
what they think that is or isn't, and how much
of a real thing that is or isn't. I happen
to think it's very real and very concerning. But you know,

(07:25):
he just you know, you can't go into a season
saying this is our starting center and right and he's
missed I think he missed eight games this year, and so.

Speaker 6 (07:36):
Or played a game, so he's gonna end up missing
nine and.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
It's just just not reliable enough from a physical standpoint
for them to go into the year next year.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
You wouldn't think at that position.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
I mean, most teams don't have two good centers because
just roster construction, and it's a hard position to find anyway,
and so I was, you know, they asked us this
week to cover the ESPN did to come up with
a you know, what's their biggest draft need? And so
I think there's a lot of positions where you could
you could talk about, but in terms of acute need,

(08:07):
that might be center, because I mean they you know,
they do have a backup in Michael Jurgens who will
be the starter. But when they had a choice, I
think they were going with Blake Brandell, who had never
played center before. And so that was in part because
they wanted Brandell on the field and in part because
they clearly didn't you know that there was that wasn't
a huge vote of confidence for for Michael Jurgens there.

(08:32):
So I don't know if they necessarily have next year's
center on the rosters. So from that perspective, it's one
of the most and it's and it's obviously an important
position as we saw because when Ryan Kelly did play
was really good, right, but it just didn't do it enough.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
How closely do you sit to Alec Lewis from the
Athletic at US Bank.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
Stadium Further and further away each week. No, I'm kidding
a couple of seats away. Usually it's it's me and
then your guy John Krazinski and then Alec and so
in Krazinsky hasn't shown up lately because I guess the
Wolves are in season. Yeah, so it's just been one
seed in between us.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Okay, so pretty close. I asked because I'm curious as
I can't call him a co founder of Brozemur Brownstones,
but he was an early investor. How is he How
did he take the performance? Did you notice any like
Sid Hartman muttering or swearing or throwing of objects when
our guy.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
With said there was different levels of denial because sometimes
a guy could be doing fine in his mind, but
the officials were just not letting it happen the way
it should, and so sometimes he would find fault there.
Sometimes it could be the coach's fault and sometimes it
was a player's fault.

Speaker 6 (09:38):
I think Alec is doing just fine.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
You know. The thing.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
The thing with Max is, you know, and you look
at people who have been you know, well, when he
first signed here, I think people responsibly said that this
is a guy that that one of the teams that
has some of the better quarterback evaluators and coaches think
could be a long term backup in the league. No,
no one with any level of responsibility or credibility in

(10:03):
this area, as you're hiding behind the monitor, thought that
Max Brosmer was.

Speaker 6 (10:08):
Going to be Yeah.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
Yeah, I appreciated the studio thought that this was like
the next Rock Party, even though I know that was
repeated in a lot of places and so and not
even just here and so. Uh, but that just I mean,
that didn't mean he was ready to do it right away.
We talked all this about, you know, how many years
it was going to take JJ McCarthy. As as good

(10:34):
as Max looked in training camp, relative to his what
he was doing against the third you know, string defense,
and the way he played in the preseason, there was
reason to think that there's something there, and I think
there probably is something there. But uh, this has been
about as bad of a two game start as you
can have. And I hope that because of those the

(10:55):
circumstances were that he had to play. There was no
other really options in that point, and so I hope
that those two starts aren't you know, debilitating to his career.
Arc You know even if the career arc was going
to be as a as a backup for a few years,
because I think there's something there, But in terms of
being ready to do it this year, that's it proved
to not be the case.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
When they needed a third down conversion. Who Yeah, he
sure did, and they put the ball in whose hands?

Speaker 6 (11:21):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (11:21):
And and he and and and I think I don't
I don't know. He he had thrown four interceptions against
the Seahawks, and it was just the complete and it
was just there, and some of it was just bad.
And so he very much played like someone who felt
like and maybe have been told I think he probably was,
do not turn the ball over.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
As long as you don't turn.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
The ball over, we got a pretty good shot here
with defense and special teams and running game. And so
he kind of played like somebody who was number one
goal And there was a list of one goal, you know,
only one goal in the entire sheet of paper was
to not turn the ball over. And that's how you
get to fifty one total yards and over the course

(12:03):
of an entire game.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
Is he the starter this weekend?

Speaker 5 (12:07):
I asked O'Connor that yesterday, and he said that they
would get him ready, but they would also get John
Wolford ready and Brett Rippan, who's back. I personally think
there's like zero benefit to playing you know, Wolford is veteran,
guy's right ripping fine, But like they're to me, And
as as we've talked about how consequence free this this
game is, I don't know if there's any any upside

(12:29):
to playing either one of those guys and and give
you know, unless you're worried about breaking Max, which I
don't think they are. And I don't think that's Carson No,
And I don't know, I mean, like from a mental
oh yeah, And I don't think that that's I don't
think he's near that and I don't think that they're
I have identified that as being something. But that would
be the one reason to not play him, is if

(12:50):
you think his confidence is so shattered that it would
actually make things worse and so, but I don't think
they think that's the case, and I would assume that
he would be the guy if if JJ can't.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
Go, can you hang for ten more minutes?

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (13:02):
I know, I know you want to get back out
on the roads.

Speaker 5 (13:04):
No, I think they're fine. Has anyone gotten back to
you on the text line about maybe we'll look at
the break.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
I mean they've basically confirmed what oh they did. Well,
you've confirmed is they need they need different chemicals. We
need people out there and it's been a day and
a half. Have some patient your Dinah's showing or spoiled.
I'm just trying to keep everybody safe. I drove in
a lot of times today. None of them were Redna. Yeah,
none of them were Redina. I do want to brought
it out a little bit, a couple more vikings texts
six four six eight six, But I want to talk

(13:29):
about just a playoff picture in general. Obviously there's some
big games this weekend. There was a great game on
Sunday night. We got to talk about the Bears because
I thought that was an awesome game, even though like
half the.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Team had the flu.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
A lot more to get to with Seafert, and we'll
do that in our final segment with him neck.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
We've got your shot to take us to this weekend's
border battle. All week long, all you got to do
a show. It's your purple preset. Sech KFN as a
preset on the iHeartRadio app screen shot it, post it
with the hashtag Kfan Purple preset to your social media.
Make sure you follow and tag KFN as well. Whinner
shall we dm? This Friday Full rules kfan dot com
Keyword Contest.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Final a few minutes with Kevin Seaford from ESPN ESPN
dot Com joining his usual Tuesday spot on the Bumper
to Bumper show Guardsian for brew Today, Luigi Lunani joins
about an hour from now. Brett Blakemore will have the
top five at five about forty minutes from now. Had
I told you on Tuesday, what would this have been?
Tuesday September tenth, or I guess Tuesday September ninth, if

(14:40):
I'm looking at it correctly. That the Vikings victory over
the Chicago Bears, in hindsight, maybe one of the most
impressive that they had all season, at least on paper
week one, that Monday night game.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
I think, what would you have told me?

Speaker 6 (14:54):
I did not think.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
I thought there were some interesting things going on for
the Bears, but they did not strike me as a
team that was going to win the division. And I
think they started owing to They lost the following week
the Lions. Yeah, and so I remember thinking, wow, like
after that outcome, maybe the Vikings only beating them by
coming back in the fourth quarter was not that as

(15:15):
impressive because they seem to be a dormat at that point.

Speaker 6 (15:18):
But they got it turned around.

Speaker 5 (15:19):
And you know, people have compared them to the twenty
twenty two Vikings that everybody just kept saying that they're not.

Speaker 6 (15:25):
That good of a team. They just keep winning. I
don't get it.

Speaker 5 (15:28):
But there's a very small line between that and being
a good team that just finds ways to lose.

Speaker 6 (15:35):
And so.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
They've certainly, I mean, I don't think anyone would doubt
right now that they're the best.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
Team in the NFC North.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
No, they are.

Speaker 5 (15:44):
I mean, like it's not like it's a Fluke Division
win or they should have you know, the Lions should
have done it, or the Packers would have done it.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
If I mean the the you know, the Packers were.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
Not good enough to protect that lead a couple of
weeks ago, and the Bears were good enough to to
overcome that deficit. And so you know, to me like that,
and I would not have guessed it. And even when
Dan asked me towards you know, but two thirds the
three fourths of the way.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
Through the season.

Speaker 5 (16:09):
I think I was still saying the Packers and so,
but that's why they play the games.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
What's interesting is well coaching matters obviously, Yeah, right, And
I'm trying to figure out because Caleb looked pretty good
the other night and Cale's played Okay, he made some
now he did, and whoever's doing the game, it.

Speaker 6 (16:27):
Was collins was hammering him.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
I thought there was that one throw where he scrambled
and the guy was wide old.

Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah, there was like two or three of those. Yeah,
and he nailed him every time he did.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
And he said that's the third time he's been wild helping,
like yeah, but he's going toe to toe with perty,
They're going up and down the field and Collinsworth loves everybody.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, so it was a little weird. But he's played
pretty well.

Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah, I mean he's he he's taken a big leap.
I don't think anybody would look at you know, if
if you've and I haven't, but the people I think
who have watched him play to play, you know, from
the start of training camp up to now, you know,
would not say that he has proved you know that
he's he's a going to be the greatest quarterback and

(17:08):
Bears history, even though that's not a long list of people,
and that's part of the point that but that he
has played much better and he did last year, and
he seems to be in a much better offensive scheme.
I don't think there's any doubt about that, and so
they're getting more out of him. You know, whether that
means he's going to be a guy who is good
enough to have a team make the playoffs most years,

(17:31):
or if he's going to be good enough to transcend
whatever level of team he's on and can and can
be the guy who wins you a super Bowl or
takes you to a Super Bowl, like I think that's
very much left to be determined. But he's certainly gotten
already to the level where he can be a big
part of a reason why a team makes the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
What is the Kyle Shanahan's secret sauce? How do they
just keep turning it out over and over again.

Speaker 5 (17:59):
Yeah, he's He's very good at at finding mismatches, at
setting up plays, a lot of things that people talk
about with with Kevin O'Connell as well. But I don't
think anyone would would doubt that that Shanahan's probably the
best at at being able to you know, to to
pick the right play at the right time, to set

(18:20):
up the right series of plays, to know intuitively what
a defense is going to be vulnerable to, to be
willing to uh and he has kind of pretty much
personnel say out there, so to be willing to be
so convicted in those things. Just that he spends money
on positions that you wouldn't if you were doing a

(18:42):
strict analytics I mean, they spend so much money on
running backs it's wild. But that's such a crucial part
of their offense, and not just running the ball but
throwing it to those guys as well. And so and
they've had some hits and misses. I mean when they
signed Jack McKinnon from here, and they spent a ton
of money to do it, and he ended up getting
hurt and so he wasn't able to fulfill those wishes.

(19:03):
But he, you know, he has that personal ability to
do that and just is just very skilled at being
able to call a combination of plays and and and
and and install a combination of schemes that that work
in the given week that they're doing.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Seahawks Niners for the number one seed is that the deal.

Speaker 6 (19:25):
Yes, uh yep.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Rams lost last night and so that's the tough one
for Seattle because they played in Charlotte on Sunday. So
they fly and this is part of just the tacks
of being in the Pacific Northwest. But they had to
fly all the way back across the country and then
have a short week and then fly again to San
Francisco for a shorter e flight.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
But Darnold has a chance to redeem himself though on the.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
He's already that.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
It's amazing how that's set up to be the exact
same thing, a road game to uh for all the
marbles he's already though.

Speaker 6 (20:00):
Matter what happens.

Speaker 5 (20:00):
The first is it the first quarterback in NFL history
to win thirteen plus games with two different teams back
to back. Because I mean, normally a guy who wins
thirteen or in this fourteen games doesn't leave such wild
It's probably a small sample size of people who ever
had that who won that many games and then went
to a different team. But it speaks to the unusual

(20:21):
nature of what all happened here.

Speaker 6 (20:24):
And you know, now coming up on ten eleven months ago.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
If San Francisco wins that game.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
I heard yesterday they could basically end the season on
a six game home winning streak and win the stall.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
That's what they are, five games whatever that Speaking to Shannon,
he's what he said after the games. We have an
opportunity to never have to leave San Francisco, you know,
And that's also true if if they get the number
one seed and lose, but they wouldn't have to leave either.
But they can they can go from week from the
second to last game regular season game of the year
through the super Bowl playing all their games in their

(20:55):
home stadium because that's where the super Bowl is this year.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
So what happened spens after the game this weekend for
the ESPN reporter. Yeah, you've got locker clean out day.
You always love that one.

Speaker 6 (21:07):
That's a big one.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
There'll be a press conference at some point within that
first week with the general manager and the head coach
where we try to pull out of them exactly what
they're going to do every day of the of the
free agency and the off season, and we'll see how
far they go there and and then it's uh, you know,
then we focus on the playoffs, you know, and see

(21:29):
if there's any other things we can do on different teams,
and but before you know it will be passed several
pass the Super Bowl, the Combine comes up a few
weeks after that, sometimes two and a half weeks after that,
and then we're off to the races.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Two quick texts for you before you head out. What's
more complicated in our state? Pure progression in the pocket
or preventative protection on our highways? Baseball's backed up? Brozemer
bumper to bumper. And then this one Paul from Maple
Grove must to settle everybody down. Snow removal operator checking in.
I'm coming up to a nineteen hour stint removing snow

(22:06):
and applying salt guards.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
You tell the people to settle down.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
We could only remove so much at once, and not
everyone gets to be first.

Speaker 6 (22:14):
Love you guys, Well, how do you feel now?

Speaker 4 (22:17):
I mean he's asking me to settle down?

Speaker 5 (22:19):
Yeaheah, Well no he didn't he see he asked you
to settle everyone else down, and here you're.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Up.

Speaker 6 (22:25):
The guy's been working nineteen straight hours.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah, well he's funny. He had time to text. I mean,
I'd get back to work. We got voice to text, right,
Blake I'm kidding, Paul, Thank you good keep keep working.
I'm sorry that the rain, you know, screwed it up
for us, and or all the things that that McCarthy
was having problems with, like the biomechanics. Remember we had
all those excuses forever. Like that's what I feel like
we're getting right now with the snow.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Noami.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
Well, I think simplified.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
Just get it off.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Yeah, it's I think it's gonna happen. It's gonna be warmer,
that's the big thing.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Drive safely home. Okay, thank you for coming in. Happy
New Year. Any New Year's plans? You rip it up
on New Year, don't you.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
I gotta work the next day, so I gottah. I
suppose you gotta keep it toned down, which is probably
what I would be doing anyway.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
Yeah, I'm with you there. Thanks Kevin.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
All right, Kevin Seffert from ESPN and EESPN dot com.
When we come back, How far Away We're gonna play
something called how far Away?

Speaker 4 (23:18):
Do you feel? You look tired too, Brett Blake more A,
You're gonna be all right.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
I've been here for a minute.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
You got a top five, and I feel like I've
done a nineteen hour ship.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah, that's okay, it's the same clearing snow and very similar. Yeah,
very similar, very similar. Well, we'll try to get you
through the next two hours. Got the top five and
five coming up, lu Nani at five point thirty, but
let me come back.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
How far away do we feel? It's your final.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
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Speaker 3 (24:12):
Guards Ian Bumper to Bumper Today, We've got World Juniors
tomorrow after Minnesota Wild Hockey tomorrow in the afternoon, got
best of on New Year's Day, and then I'll be
back for I think a ninety minute show on Friday,
because guess what we've got more World Juniors is December?

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (24:29):
Brett blakemore here as well. Lou Nanni will join about
an hour from now. The top five to five coming
up before we play a game called how far away
do you feel? I've seen this text A couple of
different times. We played the Brian Flores comments and read
the Brian Flores comments today based upon the Kevin Seffert
question do you want to be back here? And something
where Flores said, I've loved my time in Minnesota, and

(24:54):
internet sluiced and I think arsen List firefighters have been
parsing those comments.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
And then what does he mean loved?

Speaker 2 (25:03):
What does he mean.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Loved like it's past tense? Does that mean he's already
got his foot out the door? Does that mean he's
already got a secret deal with somebody else? Does that
mean he's leaving? I would cue the Mike Tice. Okay,
calm down. I think what he means is I have
loved it, and if I stay, I will probably continue
to love it.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
We don't have to make him mountain out of that
mole hill. Is that fair? I know you don't text
and talk more with flow than people know, but.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
I think I'm the furthest away from that.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
Probably, I think we're trying a little bit too hard
to read into what he's saying.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
He said, I've loved it here. It's been great. It's
been a good fit.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Football wise, and honestly, football wise, he's going to get
to do whatever he want said. Any stop that he
makes as a defensive coordinator, he's earned it. He's been really,
really good in the three years that he's been here,
and the performance they put on the other day was masterful,
and he's got so much control over what they run.

(25:54):
I don't think Koc's checking in a mini defensive meetings right,
doesn't seem like he's gone wonder it flows up to today.
I'm gonna go see make sure he's, you know, covering
this pressure package. Pretty sure he gets to basically run
his side and handle his ship with a p My
voice is weird today, so I want to make sure
I enunciate he gets to pretty no exactly for your sake.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
So he gets to do whatever he wants to do.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
He's picking the players that he wants in free agency
and presumably the draft, so he's got a pretty good
gig here. I will say, though, I do view him
as pretty indispensable moving forward, at least in the short
term for the Vikings. I know there's always another coach,
and I'd probably worry about who the guy is going
to be after the guy more than most people. But

(26:42):
I just I think he's one of the best. I
think he's one of its proof he's one of the best.
He was already hired as a head coach, which means
he had already done really good work before, good enough
to get a head coaching job. We know that it
was a disaster in Miami for a million different reasons,
some of them him, some of them not. He clearly
didn't want to have Tua as the quarterback. I'm pretty

(27:04):
sure he's been vindicated on that take. On that hot take.
He got overruled by the owner, as the story goes,
and they had to take two I think pick ten
in the first round. And even though my guy Mike
McDaniel he'll put his arms around Tua and just believed
in him so much. That worked for like a day
and a half or like a year and a half,
and now he's a two hundred and twelve million dollars

(27:25):
backup essentially, right. I think I saw that headline. He
signed a big contract, and he really hasn't been very good.
So I find it hard to believe that Flores would
find a better football situation than the one he has
already in terms of what he's allowed to do, the
leeway that he has all the input that he gets.

(27:48):
So if he's leaving, to me, it's for a head
coaching job or somebody just offers it because the Wilson
be stupid, and I don't think they would. I don't
think like financially it's going to be an issue. They've
never struck me to be like the pole Ads on
the east side of town, right the east side pole
Ads there, they spend money, they get money, and they

(28:08):
get breaks, and they got help from us to build
the beautiful palace, and I'm sure they got great deals
to build what they've built out in Egan there, but
they've never been afraid to invest in the team, So
financially it would seem like that's a no brainer. And
I just think I love the vibe about it right now,
and the fact that the defense has continue to play
so well pretty much all season when the offense has
been essentially a failure all season long even gives him

(28:33):
more leverage to say, Yeah, let's do the business side
of things and let's make sure I'm taken care of here.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, he ended up getting the last laugh when it
comes to to a turn the ball over. He was right, Yeah,
that turns out you've had that in the whole was
in the chamber for a while that. Yeah, not didn't
come up with that one. The one thing we fear
the most in this town is people taking our stuff
and people leaving for the coasts or the big markets.

(29:00):
You know, I was fearing caprice ofv I was biting
my metaphorical fingernails until that contract got done because I
was convinced he would want to go to and not rationally,
just irrationally, because that's what happens in this town. So
then when we get any evidence to that, regardless if
it's valid or not, we latch onto it like it's

(29:20):
confirmation bias, Like well, hey he said past tense. There
he goes.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
So I think that's just a part of living in
this town.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Need it not up a little bit because he's just
calm down. Yeah that's what I mean.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Just relax.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
It doesn't really mean anything.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
I'm not all that worried about it, and I think
he probably will end. I don't think he's leaving here
for another defensive coordinator job. I just think unless he
thinks the quarterback situation is so helpless and hopeless that
they're going to win five games again next season, and
he wants to go try to win a championship somewhere.
That's the only thing I could come up with. But
he even said the football stuff is working out. He
basically said it's the business stuff, right, which has nothing

(29:56):
to do with that. So I think everything's going to
be fine. I think everything is gonna be fine.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Now.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
If he gets offered a head coaching job, he's probably gone.
He should take it, depending on the gig, because he's
probably smart enough to know you really only get most
guys get one, some guys get two. Very few guys,
unless they have ridiculous success, get three cracks of being
a head coach, right, So I'm sure, and he has

(30:20):
said as much as well that he's gonna be pretty
picky about his next opportunity. I would imagine if he
wants to be a head coach. But I hope he stays.
I was telling somebody this past week as a fan,
every time they flash to him, and I'd probably said
this to you. Every time they cut to him and
the Vikings defense is on the field, I just feel

(30:41):
like something good is going to happen. He just has
like a vibe and an aura that I've got this.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
My guys have got this.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Hit Man's out there, Grenard's out, but Grenard's over there,
Gink's over here, Cashman's there.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Like we're good. Because who is the old Falcons head coach?

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Was it Smith? Yeah? Mike Smith?

Speaker 2 (31:03):
No?

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Smith was his name?

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Like as a contrast, and I think we played them
last year or two years ago. Every time they cut
to him. If I was a Falcons fan, I would
have been just terrified, like what what is going to happen?
This is another great example Matt Nagy back in the day,
like Zimmer nothing now, Zimmer was fine, nothing good.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
It took us to our last FFC Championship's.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
True, right, that's unquestionable.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
So but when they cut to those guys, you just go, well,
this is not going to work out. This is a
I have no confidence at all if I'm a fan
that this is a situation that's going to be beneficial
for me, us, the team, anybody. This sucks With Flores,
it's the opposite. It's just he's got it, figure it
out and I and he's got the guys, he knows
the team, he's scheming them up, especially if it's like

(31:48):
a young quarterback. He's going to just carve that guy up.
Six turnovers the other day against the Lions on Christmas
Day was snooping the wings. That's pretty good. And I
know the Lions aren't the Lions that they've been, but
they had a lot to play for that day if
I remember correctly right, and I think it was the
final playoff spot, and the flow Nami preceded the snow
Nami and ran them out of town essentially offensively. So

(32:10):
I just have so much confidence in him that it
would take a pretty special dude to replace that. So
I think they understand that. Obviously Koc understands that, and
hopefully he's back again next season.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
It's already started on the text line Ben and Roosevelt
text in wait until the Giants come calling, big city market,
here we go. It's I'm telling you there's just something
in the water here that we and maybe it's I
don't do Is this go back to Ortez? Does it
go back to KG like just people leaving us for
the big time markets. We're just terrified.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, I mean it all started I think in people
in Minnesota, if he's listening, could could maybe come up
with the origin story.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Better.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
But I'll just say for let's just take the Gophers
for example, my Gopher jobs. Lou Holtz leaving for Notre
Dame in the eighties completely ruined everything because he was here.
He was the one that said we should stay in
the Metronome, which set us back generations of fans. And
just now fifteen years in the Huntington Bank Stadium, there's

(33:10):
actually people like my age that have gone to school
at the U tailgated at the U. Now they bring
their families to the games and it's actually a pretty
fun vibe on a Saturday because the students are there,
They've got young alumni there. Now it's completely changed from
when I started. But that's where it started with Gopher stuff.
With Holtz, is he left for Notre Dame. Why wouldn't

(33:31):
so and so leave for Notre Dame? Or why wouldn't
so and so leave for you know, when Tubby Smith
was here or Richard Patino had different opportunities early on
in his tenures.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
PJ Fleck to you CLA talks, the PJ was, you know,
for five straight years, was linked to some job.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
And now Pj's been here long enough where if he left,
I would be bummed because selfishly, I like working with them,
and it makes my job harder to have to start
over with a whole new staff. And you know this,
I think he's done a good job here. I think
this job is really hard. And even talking to your guy,
Jason ac the next Wisconsin head coach at New Mexico,

(34:08):
he brought it up talking about the Gophers, saying it's
it's a hard place to win in general. He goes,
it's become even harder now that they've taken the West
Division away from all of us, and he said, I
think you see Wisconsin having some issues adjusting to life
without the West.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Like it's just it.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Was nice to get almost a free pass to Indy
for like a decade.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
But he at least you had that carrot and you
could yeah, right, and you say, and so they've so
he mentioned, like it's a tough place.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
But after like if PJ wanted to leave.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Now, let's say Kyle Whittingham didn't go to Michigan and
they got a couple of more nos, and all of
a sudden, they say, look, this guy's won a lot
of games at Minnesota and he's a culture guy, and
he's the kids are going to go to class, and
they're going to be good in the community, and they're
going to be pretty consistent. And yeah, the people always
love when he runs the ball on third and nine,
which he, by the way, hasn't done all that much

(34:58):
the last couple of years. When he had a good quarterback,
I'd understand said, look, you've given a decade like Matt
Campbell at Iowa State, right like he had some big
moments at Iowa State.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
He was there eleven years.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
I think like at some point you kind of get
over that paranoia and you get over that fear. But
I do think Holtz was the one that ruined it
for for Gopher fans. But you mentioned the leaving part
and it tripped me onto a Gopher thing that I
want to bring up quickly. And I don't know what
we may get to. How far away do you feel
it's pretty evergreen because our teams are always far away

(35:29):
and we've got maybe.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
We've got time to do it.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
But Anthony Smith, the All Big ten offensive line or
defensive lineman, announced after the game where he was completely dominant,
and I think showed why he's not playing in the
Mountain West. He's playing in the Big ten because he
completely just destructed a Mountain West team, which he should do, right,
But he was phenomenal, like so good sacks, batted down passes,
tackles for loss. He was great. He announced that he

(35:53):
was coming back for his final year. And I said
this on the Parent of Spare podcast earlier today. That
will drop at some point whenever I have time to
post it, because I just haven't had time to do
it today. We need to get over the fear of
people leaving us, just like with Flow here and just
like with whomever. Like most of the time, it doesn't

(36:14):
happen most of the time, and even if it does,
you'll probably figure it out.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
You'll be good.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
But I don't know if I ranted on this with you,
but in October everyone was telling me that Drake Lindsay
was just going to take the biggest bag possible. And
even though it's maybe the best quarterback that they've had
in a really long time, I enjoy him while you can,
because someone's going to pay him and he's going to
go to the portal and you're never going to see
him again. Well, Drake Lindsay announced like a week ago
he's coming back. Darius Taylor doesn't know if he's coming

(36:43):
back or not, but he's not going to the portal.
He said that last week in Phoenix. And Anthony Smith
has been getting calls for three years to go somewhere
else and he's coming back. So can we stop with
the laziness? Can we stop with the stupidity? Can we stop?
I'm not saying a player is never going to leave
Minnesota and get more money somewhere, or Brian Flores isn't

(37:05):
going to leave, but it doesn't happen. It's not as
automatic as people might think it is. So I think
we just need to get over that a little bit.
I agree, that's all.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, I didn't know you were going for me from.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
Are you never agree? You never agree with me on
college football?

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Well, I mean, yeah, there's in Minnesota. By the way,
quick to say that Bud Grant passed over Buddy Ryan
for defense coordinator, he left Chicago eighty five pairs, Well
that is though.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Yeah, that's okay, But that's a different that's a totally
different topic. Correct, that's not somebody leaving us, but it is.
But there's a whole other subset of paranoia in that.
Look at Denny Green's assistant coaches in the nineties into
Brad Childers's assistant coaches. Later, Denny Green on the staff
in nineteen ninety eight. I don't think Doungee was still there,

(37:51):
but he had been on the staff previously. Dungee I
think was in his first year in Tampa. Tony Dungee
won a Super Bowl after leaving Minnesota as the head coach.
Now he's Tony Dungee. Now, anytime there's an opening anywhere,
the joke around here is called Tony Dungee. People wanted
him to be the Minnesota football coach for the last
fifteen years. Like if PJ left today, somebody would say,

(38:12):
how come they don't give Dungee a look? He probably
wants to get back in. And I'm not even making
that up. Somebody would text it and they'd be serious.
That's Tony Dungee. Brian Billick was the offensive coordinator in
nineteen ninety eight. He won a Super Bowl two years
later with the Baltimore Ravens. They beat the New York Giants,
who beat the Vikings forty one donut in that NFC

(38:32):
championship game. Mike Tomlin was the defensive coordinator for Brad
Childress for one season. He won a Super Bowl I
think three years after that, and is still in Pittsburgh.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
Now this might be the final time, this could be ahead.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
But when he was a defensive coordinator here, I was
twenty five years old. I'm now forty three years old.
It's been a pretty good run. So we've had a
run of we kept the wrong guy. And I remember
thinking that when Comlin was here, like what a stud
he was? What uh you know, a leader he was.
Lieber has talked about it. Playing for him was pure electricity.

(39:10):
Everybody loved it. So there's that part of it too,
like sometimes the assistant in waiting, yes, you wish he
was going to be your head coach. Denny a little
harder because he won a bunch, but Childress for sure.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
Childress, for sure.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
I would have made that trade even at the time,
even in his first year, because there was just there
was always something with Childress.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
It was I talked about it with Seaford.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
It was guys get the head coaching job and all
of a sudden they're, you know, completely different person than
they were on the way up, and they feel like
they have to act a certain way and they rub
people the wrong way and even all the crap that
went on with FIV.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
So I don't know, do you think that's closer to
like a Tomlin with because Flora is to me, I
think of more there's two different There's guys who we
really value, who are really good in elite and where
words are going to leave us for New York or
LA or big time money. And then there's option B
where we let a guy go who we think was

(40:02):
nothing and they turn out to be really good, like
a like an Ortiz. I feel like this is more
in the Justin Jefferson crookaprisof paranoia more than it is
the Tony Dungeee. Yeahlin, because that's two different sets of
paranoia that we have to deal with.

Speaker 6 (40:16):
Yes, I said week.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
There was a run of players that went to bigger markets,
but KG had to be talked into being traded.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
KG didn't want to leave right away.

Speaker 6 (40:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
KG was a loyal guy, still is a loyal guy.
Welcome back and he's back in the organization in the
fold now, so that's good. But he had to kind
of be talked into it because he wanted to be
a one team guy for his whole career.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
But they basically said, we're never going to win here.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
We're just never gonna win here with you, you're gonna
be wasted and so, but that started it. Like Johan Santana,
they also had to trade. That was different because I
hope people are sitting down or have two hands on
the wheel and they're driving through these icy conditions. The
poll Ads weren't going to pay Johan Santana. I think
a seven year, one hundred million dollar contract is what

(41:00):
he ended up getting for the Mets. Now, fairness to them,
I don't think Johan pitched that entire contract. He threw
the one no hitter through like one hundred and fifty
pitches and was never the same guy. But the entire
time he was here, especially later on when he was
racking up cy Young's and was about to hit free agency,
everybody just kind of knew he was probably on his
way somewhere else. But it wasn't like his choice to

(41:21):
lead necessarily is because they traded him to the Mets.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
And Buxton probably not far far behind. What do you mean, well,
doesn't he on the way potentially mean they've talked about
it like, well, yeah, he's I've got my no move,
But yeah, he's more open to it than he appeared
to be at the end of it.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
And we'll see where this whole thing goes now that
Tom Polad's in charge the new pole Ad And I
hope it was a good Christmas for the pole Ad family.
I hope everything was okay and it wasn't too awkward
around the pole Ad family Christmas tree this year with
brothers Tom and Joe, you know, probably not exchanging gifts.
Hopefully they got somebody else for Secret Santa and they
didn't have to worry about what was going on there,
so you know, and then in that time or Teaz

(41:59):
left that was a poor choice.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
It was a we've had a run.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
We had a run there in the late oughts early
teens where it did seem like any time anybody left
here things would go badly for us and much better
for the team.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
That was receiving the player. So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
With Flow, I just feel like, unless it's a head
coaching job and it's a great situation, I feel like
he's coming back. I think everybody there knows how important
he is to the whole operation.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
I certainly think Koc gets that.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
I think Flores understands what a good situation he's in
in the fact that he basically gets to do his
own thing. So to bring it full circle, I don't
worry a ton about it, and I hope he's back
because I think he's done a really good job. Let's
get to the top five and five when we come back,
we've got lu Nani at five thirty.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Like I said, how far away do you feel? Is
something evergreen?

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Because history tells us we're going to remain far away
from everything. And when I say how far away do
you feel from a championship? Not a championship as much,
but like contending for a championship because as you know,
I tell you this all the time, Brett Championship it's
hard to come by, right.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Only one team wins them per year.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
One team wins them per year.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
History tells us it's not going to be us, no
matter how stacked the team is. And so all you
can ask for is are you in that mix? Are
you in the conversation, are you in the final four?
Are you in a championship game? And then you see
what happens after that? How far away do you feel
from all of those respective to the core four?

Speaker 4 (43:19):
Sports.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Here is what I want to get into at some point,
maybe today, maybe on Friday, not exactly sure.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well, we could get into it in the top five
and five because one team is inching ever closer.

Speaker 4 (43:29):
I have a feeling I know which team it is.
And Beyond the Pond was four hours ago.