More Seifert! - Bumper to Bumper 12/2/25 Hour Two

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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six four six eighty six six four six eight six
center text message to day Race plot.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Safer back with us from eaton Prairie Mall the Ashiel's location.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
I don't you'll have you.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We're on the main level. What's the section we're in
if people are looking, this is a big store.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Yeah, if you came in the main level, main door,
you just go right to your left and.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
We're right here, right right right.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
The unreal stuff basically which is apropos to the left
of the fish take given that's what guards.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
And I are wearing on real Uh. It's is nice,
isn't it? Parrel?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
You think they could get me a fancy embroidered bears
one like this too?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Do you have? Is it? Do you have?

Speaker 5 (00:59):
This is where it's black on black so nobody can
actually see what the what the I.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Love that style me too. We just wear what we're given. Yeah,
well this was yeah, this is not We're not my
desk when I say agree, it's me. Yeah, that's that's right,
that's it's a wonderful thing.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
So we've talked about tension level, and I think since
the last time we talked it about it, they've lost
a couple more games.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
So now we're sitting at four and eight.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Playoffs are pretty much we're not mathematically eliminated yet, are we.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
No, but it's like close less than one percent chance
less than one percent according to ESPN.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well that's last word.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
You know, you're you're you're what we'll let you know,
you're PhD s or you know, last word on any
of these deals. So is it palpable now is or
is it reached almost a point of Okay, we're past that.
We know we're not going to be a playoff team.
So now we kind of go in another gear and
we're not quite as tense as we were before.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
I don't, uh, well, entering last week, I didn't think
things were quite as tense. This game was so bad
offensively that I mean, like if you made a list
of every single NFL game that's been played for the
past two decades, in terms of the offensive production, it's
at the very bottom. It's like there's like ten thousand,

(02:15):
five hundred teams that have played offense in game going
back to and they're at like ten thousand, four hundred
and twenty or something. They're they're within a tiny one
percent of the absolute worst offensive games that have ever
been played in this Just to help yourself and so like,
I think that and not to rub it in, but
I think that just the level of the of what's

(02:35):
happened here if you start the halftime of the Packers game,
you know, through the Seahawks game, offensively, it's been at
such a low level that I think, I don't want
to say raise tension, but it's like it's it's it's
really a hit, you know, like that this is not
just like a season that's gone wrong. This is a
season that has hit an unprecedented, nearly unprecedented rut.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well you I think we quoted, in fact, you had
retweeted something about the is it the DVOA?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yes, yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
For some reason among you football wants that seems to
be one of the analytics that people believe in the most.
It got my attention because I think this was the
worst last the Seattle game was the worst DVOA reading
that the Vikings had had the last fifty years, and
it was offensively and it was twenty percentage points worse

(03:27):
than the second worst, which was a less Stecle game
in worse, okay even worse.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
It wasn't even close.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
And that gives you just an idea of it's the
depth of of how bad it's been. And the other
part of that was the Falcons game in week two. Yeah,
it was top ten also, you know, two of the
ten worst or two of the nine worst, a blast
of games in since most of the fan their fan
base has been alive and sevent nineteen seventy eight, How humping.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Must this be for the quarterback whisper?

Speaker 5 (03:57):
It's kind of yeah, I'm gonna address that story this week,
and just you know, and he did, you know, he
talked about it yesterday.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
You know, he brought up that you know you had.

Speaker 5 (04:07):
Basically what he was saying is that he's realizing he's
been too ambitious in the passing and sort of them
and not so like not as much but like the schemes,
like he like one of his skills I think, and
I mean this genuinely is that he can match the
routes and the concepts to the defenses that U that

(04:31):
are being played, and that's how you get open receivers flying,
you know, twenty thirty yards downfield. And we've seen a
lot of chunk plays in the first three years of
this offense, from whether it's Cousins, Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens
getting into Justin Jefferson twenty yards fields. We've seen that,
and that's sort of their offensive philosophy of how you
move the ball into scoring position. You've got to get chunks.

(04:51):
It's not just these tiny, you know, quick game type things.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
According not according to Ben Johnson, but it'll take six
yards on every run.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
And so what he said was like saying, yeah, right,
And and what he says is that he's realizing that, like,
despite what he might see is available to him, he
needs to gear down to what can be executed.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Basically, But shouldn't that have been obviously a little sooner.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
I think that's a fair observation because because that sounds
very much like, well, I don't care what I'm capable
of doing. By god, I studied hard this week, and
I see all these openings. And if your team, though
doesn't have the capacity starting with your quarterback to take
advantage of them. Then you have to, in at least

(05:35):
a short run, go to a different way.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
Yeah, and it might be that that's easier said than done.
I can't speak to like what the adjustment because they
have made some adjustments like they do. Like when I
was looking at it today, when you when you filter
all their plays for times when they were either tied
or or ahead, they have run the ball a lot
more than they did pass in previous in previous years,

(05:58):
and so like there has been that us there has
been some you know, they've pulled some of the concepts
that they that weren't working. So it's not as if
they've done nothing. But I think what to me and
it speaks We talked about this a few years ago
during sort of the Nick Mullens, Josh Dobbs.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Jaron Hall time.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Is that maybe you know the offense as it's built
and conceived, whether it matches an inexperienced quarterback of any
whether it's Max Brosmer, Jaron ha jj McCarthy.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Whether it's a journeyman or it's a rookie or second year.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yeah, like that, maybe that's not a great match either.
And that's probably part of what we're talking about. You know,
there's been a lot of success with guys who have
been in the league a long time, whether it's Cousins
Mullens or Sam Darnold, that when they've put an experienced,
slash young quarterbacks on the field to run even a
version of this offense, it's it's not working right.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, here's the stat I want, and maybe you'll tell
me you've already reported it or someone else has. What
I want to know is how different are we to
the average when it comes to pass run decision on
third and three or less over, let's just say the
last three years.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Does anybody have that it's gettable. I I've always looked.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
I've just been looking at like third and two and
third one or fourth and one, and they and they
are you know, I don't know where it stands right now,
but they definitely throw a lot more in those situations
than most NFL teams, and so like, I don't know
if it's like number one the most or number or
in the top five, but it's it's in the considerably
yeah more yeah than the we go But it's a problem.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Like and that's part of it.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
But like to me, like, that's that's a smaller part
of the larger picture that he's acknowledging that, like the
concepts and the and just sort of the idea of
how they're going to score points and how they're going
to move the ball, it isn't matching up with what
they're capable of doing.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Right now, I'm looking for the headline here to shut
this up. Give me a second, sure, I think I
can find it on the fly because it's related. You
don't have the comforts of this quarterback situation, No, I don't. Unfortunately. Oh,
here's the headline. This is a headline on an Alex
Lewis piece that's up right now. And I want to
see if you agree that the Vikings are already at

(08:14):
the point that he suggests they are.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Okay, here's your headline.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Vikings seem likely to return to all too familiar quarterback
market this offseason. So are we already a place where
you agree with that that when you factor in losing
another year of Justin Jefferson is prime that whether they
want to be or not, they're going to have to
bring in a veteran quarterback and spend some money to

(08:41):
do it. To legitimately at the very least compete for
the starting job and even more likely be the starter,
even if it's at the expense of JJ McCarthy's growth.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
Yeah, And I guess it depends on what qualifies in
that regard, Like, are they just looking for someone who
can start if JJ's not any good or that's what
I'm a do they need to do what the Colts
did and go out and get and pay seventeen million
or fifteen million.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
To get next year's Daniel Jones.

Speaker 5 (09:10):
You know, Daniel Jones himself will be a lot more
expensive than that next year he's he is, And who
that person would be, I don't know, Like the mac
Jones thing, you get trade for him, and but I
don't know if I'm quite at the point where I
say that they cannot go into next season with JJ

(09:30):
McCarthy as their starter. I just know that they have
to go into next season with a much better alternative
than they did. Going to training camp with a much
better alternative than they did. There was like this was
basically a no competition training camp and their needs was
that deliberate?

Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yes? Yeah? Was that a mistake?

Speaker 6 (09:50):
No?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
No?

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Okay, I think they wanted. I think, I really think.

Speaker 5 (09:53):
They wanted to sign Daniel Jones and had and thought
they were going to and then when he bolted to
the Colts, I think they were caught a little flat
footed or they they clearly didn't have a third option
after Donald you know, and Rogers whatever and so and
so they yeah and so are you waiting?

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, you're there. I'm just letting it pass over me.

Speaker 5 (10:14):
Yeah, I can't take the statute of limitations, like is
it what it's got.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
There's got to be the promise he's never going to
play again, so it's in perpetuity.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yes, forever. I've worried he's traumatized.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
But anyway, I know he's a tough guy.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
And I think.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
What I've been saying for a while is that it
would have been fascinating if Daniel Jones had come in
come back with the idea that he'll be there in
case JJ, because everybody was kind of in the in
the mode of like, JJ, he's going to be a starter.
If he gets hurt again, or if like for some
reason he can't throw a football straight or whatever, then
they'll have Daniel Jones. And that was, you know, the mode.

(10:49):
But It would have been interesting thinking back to training
camp based on how JJ performed, like Daniel Jones would
have probably been better than him. Like there's ways to
rig it, and there's ways to say, like, well they're
close enough that like if you know, I'm not gonna
like go if it's fifty one forty nine, I'm not
going to start Daniel Jones over JJ McCarthy's I get that,

(11:10):
but he might have been significantly better than him, and
that would have been really interesting ultimately, like not having
anything close to a competition or anybody that could challenge
him in any way and remind him you know that,
you know, you're not guaranteed of this forever. It was

(11:30):
to their detriment, Now did they If there was a mistake,
I think it was probably thinking that they had Daniel
Jones locked up when clearly they did not.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, well we've talked about that before.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
What's been reported I think is that we we offered
him one more, one million more.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah, but I don't know that's true.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
And obviously though he was smart, he read the tea
leaves that no matter what they tell me about it
having a chance to compete here, I wasn't gonna have
as much of a chance here as in.

Speaker 5 (11:59):
Any but they I mean, they clearly thought that they
could convince him that it was still a better situation
for him. Yeah, I'm back here and be JJ McCarthy's
you know, sidekick or whatever you know for a year
and then go do what Sam like, basically be the
San Francisco for Sam Darnold that before that he came
to the Vikings and so and there is a lot

(12:20):
of things to like about being in this you know,
if you're a veteran quarterback, A lot of things I
like about being in this position. As it turned out,
he would have played plenty because of the injury that
JJ had and and who knows what would have happen,
but he can on that.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
No, you can't count on that.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
And he made the right decision, he said that at
the start, like it was the right decision for his career.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
For sure.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
If you get a chance, if somebody is offering you
a chance, that you're probably going to be a team starter,
unless it's like a rebuilding team where you and so
bad that you know that you're gonna look terrible and
it'll ruin your career, then then you take it, all.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Right, let's get to the nitty gritty here. By the way,
can we go to twenty seven? We can't, Okay, So
as we look back now, did you, as one of
the media jackals, you and the rest of you guys
who are at training camp every day, did you guys
drop the ball to the extent that you couldn't really
evaluate him because there was nobody that good was there anyway?

Speaker 3 (13:19):
And when you if you look back on it out
and say, well, he.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Didn't win anything, and he didn't really look that good,
but we didn't have anything else to compare against, so
we maybe overrated the few.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Times where he looked decent. I mean, everybody can be
their own judge of it.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
I think that the local coverage was responsible and accurate.
I think that we did point out that there's a
fair bit of inaccuracies. I remember asking JJ about, you know,
his accuracy and why it was going the way it
was going, And first he said he thinks he's one
of the most accurate quarterbacks out there.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
And he asked, Jefferson, No, you're that, you asked, I
asked JJ.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
I'm sorry, yeah, right, Jefferson about No, I don't think
you know, not in training camp. But then he also
said that, like there's definitely some things that you know,
sitting out an entire year came back not as good
as it was before.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
And so I I.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
Personally, you know, maybe I'm just defending myself and the
rest of the crew for selfish reasons, but I think
that we if you, if you followed the coverage on
a daily basis and in total, you knew that JJ
had had a very had had an up and down
training camp, and because it wasn't like every throw was
sailing ten yards over people's heads.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
It was just that there was more than what you
would expect.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
And you also didn't you know, the entire offense seemed
to be in flux too, and so but it was
also okay, I think to give it some benefit of
the doubt and say, like this guy was did not
you know, play practice at all last year. He's never
you know, done a first team NFL offense, Like it's
okay to expect things to start off slow and grow.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Instead, it actually kind of got worse.

Speaker 5 (15:03):
Like I like, he was not as as poor as
we've seen him in his worst moments in these games.
It was there was nothing in training camp that told
you he was aren't, no, But there was nothing like
there was. There was nothing like like an entire because
nobody can hit the quarterback in training camp, but they
could rush, and so there was There was never a
time when when I was watching him with whatever experience

(15:25):
I have and saying like this could be really bad.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
It looked like it was going to be up and down.
And what happened.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
You know, in reality, mathematically like a lot of the
plays that in the games are not that bad. It's
just that like the five or six really bad ones
are the ones that tend to you know, you can
have five or six plays that that ruin the entire
game and those and we've seen that. So like I
don't have any you know, I guess at the end
of the year, I'll look back like I always do.
I don't have any regrets about not pressing the alarm

(15:54):
button on JJ, because I don't think it was as
alarming as you would think it would need to be
to produce the kind of season that end up producing.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Do you think they're left with no other conclusion if
they're being honest, but that they in fact did misjudge
how long it was going to take it. If you
still want to buy the premise that he can be
a really good quarterback someday. Is it fair to say
they misjudge this is gonna be one of those There's
seem to be two kinds of young quarterbacks right, Some

(16:25):
that can be plugged in almost immediately, and they're gonna
have ups and downs, but they're going to be pretty
good to very good almost immediately. And then there's the
ones where well, no, they need to sit two years,
maybe even a little two and a half years, and
then they've got to have a year where they're just
being they're allowed to play through their mistakes, and then
you get through to year three that might take off.

(16:48):
So it appears to me we already have enough evidence
that they misjudged, because there's no way off of fourteen
and three. I don't believe they thought it was going
to be this rugged, no correct.

Speaker 5 (16:59):
I think they they did too much projecting with him
at the at a time, you know, there's the NFL calendar,
is what it is. You have to make your decisions
at a certain time. At the time they're deciding on
Darnold and trying to get Daniel Jones and thinking about
Aaron talking to Aaron Rodgers. JJ McCarthy had not had
a single offseason snap yet remember how he ended last year.

(17:20):
It was like one hundred and eighty pounds, you know,
because of the all the weight loss that he had
during his rehab and all that. So you got a
guy that's basically at that time was just trying to
get back to his playing weight and was doing the
body individual throws like there was nothing. There was no
you know, nothing football wise that they could could could

(17:41):
use to project what he was going to be at
the time that they had to make the decisions. So
they projected that, you know, they could you know, Finnagel's
the right word, but they could conjure a good enough
performance out of him, even if he.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Was rusty with the people they put around.

Speaker 5 (17:57):
Him, even the yeah, and the coaching that they had, yeah,
and the and the things that they saw in training.
And I think we talked about this last week or
I talked to somebody about it, like last summer's training camp.
So twenty twenty four when he was a rookie was
nothing like what we seen there was Like he was
pretty I mean, he was on his way to potentially
challenging Sam Darnold for the starting job by the end
of that like it was really good and the era

(18:18):
was going up, and so he just didn't pick up.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Where he left off, uh, in a big way. So
is that so?

Speaker 5 (18:25):
And so what I'm saying, So what I'm and I
think he you know, he there's that more mental than physical,
it's both. I think he definitely. I think you know,
he said this in training camp. It hasn't really come
back to it, but he definitely, I don't rust is
not the right word, but he lost some of the
touch on his passes, you know, one hundred percent, And
you know, it was a really tough year to be away.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
From from football for all that time.

Speaker 5 (18:45):
And he's kind of talked a little bit about that,
and they like, ideally they wouldn't have had to make
any decision about the quarterback position until, you know, training camp,
but that's just not the way the NFL calendar works.
So they had to make a calculated rejection of where
he would be, what it would mean to have him
sit another year. You know, I have two straight years

(19:07):
of relative inactivity, and what it would mean to put
him sort of throw him into the deep end and
hope that the support system would would would be able
to take care of it.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Kevin Seffort is with us on location today our toys
for Tot's event at Shields in Eden Prairie. We will
be here until six thirty tonight. Louis will join by
telephone in about one hour. Part of what you guys
have to do, whether you like this part of the
job or not, I think, especially going forward the rest
of the season is almost daily, certainly.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Weekly, but maybe daily.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Take justin Jefferson's temperature, because we're all waiting for these signs,
you know, either obvious ones or subtle ones that he's
had enough and there's gonna be this moment where he
says I'm done. I've tried to be the good soldier,
but I'm done with it. So how do we interpret
how he seemed to be emotive and acting during and

(20:03):
after the most recent debacle.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
Well, I've only caught caught up a little bit on
on the during the game. I guess he was sitting
on the.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Cooler and away from the bench.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
But it's and that's happened in some other at the
end of some other games, or the implication is not.
Maybe I think he's been pretty frustrated at the field.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
At the end of games, you know, more than once
this year.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
This was the first time that he declined to speak
to the media, and there was it was a little
bit of a weird situation the way it's set up
in Seattle in terms of where the locker room is
and where the interview room is. And so I was
not in the locker room very much at all after
the game. I was in the interview room get to
get O'Connell and then to get Max Prosmer. And but

(20:43):
Justin's been doing this long enough, Like it wasn't like
he didn't realize any people didn't want to talk to him.
He chose not to And so you can only like, well,
we'll get him at some point, we'll ask him about it.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
You can only assume that he.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
Either didn't want to have to say the same thing
over and over again or was concerned about what he
might say.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
Those are the two options.

Speaker 5 (21:03):
My guess it's more of the former, right, He just
like he's been around long enough, Like if he were
the blow up kind of you know, in an interview
postgame interview guy like some at some point in the
past five years, that probably would have happened in six years,
and so I don't.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Think that he was like ready to blow kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
And if it ever came to be that he wanted
to have a fresh start, like I don't think he
would like stand in front of camera be the person
to do that, Like it would just be communicated to
the team and they would go from there.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
And so.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
There's no there's no public evidence that he's changed how
he feels about the organization or changed how he feels
about the situation. But when one after another after another
piles on, it just feels that much worse.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
So what's he make now or what's she gonna be making?

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Thirty Well, his contract is basically thirty five million a year.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
So when I asked you about this before, you've recoiled
at the whole concept. But I ask it again, now,
does there come a point where if you're going to
have a quarterback on training wheels that's going to take
a lot of time that it makes no sense to
continue to pay or to have a thirty five million
dollars wide receiver no matter how much a level.

Speaker 5 (22:14):
Well, sort of their whole team building concept is that
he's the franch he's the quarterback of the team. And
so I just story this past offseason about like, has
there ever have there ever been times in the NFL
history where you've seen a Hall of Fame, like a
big time Hall of Fame kind of receiver win a.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
Super Bowl with a quarterback that was whatever. And no,
the answer is no.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
If you look at all the Hall of Fame receivers
that won a Super Bowl, the only ones that won
it without a Hall of Fame quarterback, Like it is
Cliff Branch who was playing with Jim Plunkett, who was
is like a borderline.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Hall of Fame. Yeah, he was like, yeah, redemption guy.
So he came back very good.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
Yes, it's a long time ago, right, but for the
experienced fans, like he was a really good player. And
the other one's Art Monk, who one I think with
like Stan Humphries and and uh not Jay straight Mark
Ripping and so so he he's sort of credit by
Gibbs Jicks.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
And then they were a big run team, you know
and all that.

Speaker 5 (23:13):
But Hogs Hogs, we wouldn't uh countertrait all that kind
of at the Hogs here, you know, we're a passing team.
So it really like it's not. There's not a whole
lot of precedent in the entirety of NFL history for
Justin Jefferson or like with Jerry Rice have won a
Super Bowl without Joe Montage, like you go to the

(23:34):
very high levels. Randy Moss, hall of Fame receiver, didn't
win a Super Bowl and he did play with a
Hall of Fame quarterback in Tom Brady.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
And so uh, it's uh, it's a team.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
It's a team all like quarterbacks here, right and so
what so the team building concept would be, we're paying
Justin Jefferson is our franchise guy, and we're getting a
steal at the quarterback position because he's on a rookie
and that's and but you need to have the level
of performance and so clearly that's that makes it a
very uphill challenge.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
All Right, we got one more short segment with mister
Seffert before I think you've got stuff to go do.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Yeah, it's been a good hour with him. We'll get a.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Couple more questions in for Seafert Top five.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
And five you have to come.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Louis will join as well to talk some hockey about
your red hot Minnesota Wild Club. Are we back in
action tonight. I think we are. We I believe so
pretty sure we're back in action tonight, Edmonton. Blakemore reminds me.
So we'll get to all that with Luigi a little
bit later as well. Back in just a minute.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Right here in the fans, we're broadcasting live from Shields
and edon Prairie all day today for our annual Toys
for Tots broadcast presented by Unreal. Still some time we
get out there at least two hours, we collection donations
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Speaker 3 (24:49):
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Speaker 1 (24:50):
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Speaker 6 (25:01):
Don't it.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
All right?

Speaker 2 (25:26):
What else is there to talk about other than the
quarterback situation for this team? Kevin Schieffert At this point,
what's left? What's worth talking about?

Speaker 4 (25:36):
You know?

Speaker 5 (25:37):
I mean, I guess if you want to get really conspiratorial,
and you could say, like a season like this that
so much money has been spent on I think they
had what three hundred and fifty million dollars?

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Is what the what the payroll is? For sure?

Speaker 5 (25:49):
The owners cranky, so that would like I gain what
I'm It's like, there will be accountability, but will accountability
include people coming and going?

Speaker 3 (26:00):
And I don't have the answer to that yet. I
don't know.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
Both the coach and the general managers signed contract extensions
after last season. You don't often see anything along those
lines changing so quickly, but you know, I guess you know,
there's there's coaching staffs, there's scouting staffs, there's personnel staffs.
It's hard, I think, And you talked about asked about
tension earlier, and so I think everyone who has experience

(26:27):
in the NFL knows that often times, not every time,
but oftentimes when there's a season this disappointing and this,
you know, I guess catastrophic in some ways, given the
amount of money that's been spent, and given the amount
of work that might need to be done at quarterback
and other positions to kind of recover from it. That

(26:48):
often someone escapegoaded, or someone is held accountable, or something
has to be changed. You can't just run it back
and so or Sometimes they do, but often they don't.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Right.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
So the question now becomes through the course of the
next five weeks and into the into the start of
the off season, is who, if anyone, will be called accountable.
I don't have answers for you or speculation on that, probably,
but I do think that that's what we all need
to be thinking about and and wondering, you know what,
what will you know?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Typically the Wilfs, at.

Speaker 5 (27:20):
The end of the season, whether it ends without playoff
or in the playoffs or whatever, they have a sort
of high high end organizational meeting. It's often in New
Jersey in their offices there where the top people from
the various departments go. Sometimes it's just the coach and
the GM and somebody else or what have you. And
so that's where that all I think will probably get

(27:42):
hashed out, if there's going to be anything to hash out.
But we'll see, we'll see exactly, and I don't know.
I think there could be some variance in it based
on how these five weeks go. If they finish in
a way that tells you that it looks like they
finally figured it out, or the quarterback finally figured it out,
or they're going in the right direction and the plan

(28:04):
is good, then maybe it's not. The accountability doesn't stretch
into people losing their jobs.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
But we'll have to see.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Is it fair to say that if the Vikings had
avoided the big pick six that opened up the game
a little bit from a scoring standpoint, and let's say
somehow playing really conservatively, had eked out something like a
twelve to nine victory with a bunch of field goals,

(28:33):
that the big angle of the story would be well,
I mean Sam Donald, Yeah, he's looked pretty good much
of the season, but man, we didn't see all that
much in this game. If the angle you're looking for
is Sam donald revenge game, and he proved once again
that the Vikings screwed up not finding a way to
keep him because there was nothing about the Seattle offense

(28:55):
that impressed me much.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Now, again, that's one game, but would that have been
the angle in a way in Seattle.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
I've been following sort of the coverage postgame, and there's
been a lot of discussion about what it means because
it was like, was it two weeks ago when he
played the Rams and threw four interceptions and then they
had a decent game, and then this one, which I
don't think, you know, prompted a whole lot of confidence
and excitement, and I think in Seattle has prompted a
little bit of discussion of Like what we've talked about
here is that, you know, there's a lot of good

(29:23):
things about Sam and the way he can throw the
ball and create yards and touchdowns and wins in the
regular season, but what is his ceiling?

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Like can he can he be?

Speaker 5 (29:32):
Is he gonna end up being for Seattle what he
was for Minnesota to get them to the playoffs and
no further? And so that discussion there is already happening.
But there's a lot of teams, and we said this
last year too, a lot of teams that that would yeah,
it would be an upgrade to have even that level
of performance.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Who's the best team in the division? In the division?

Speaker 5 (29:54):
I you know, obviously the as you know, the Bears.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I don't know, pick the Bear they I'm not I
don't think they are the best team in the division, frankly, but.

Speaker 5 (30:05):
I think the Packers are and and I know the
Bears are on the top of the division and top
seed and all that.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
But however, it ends up working.

Speaker 5 (30:13):
Like I think the Lions have had just there's just
a lot of injuries there and they got kind of
desperate trying to get Frank rag Now at center, and
and then he turned out he was walking around with
a Grade three hamstring tear, which is basically when it's
off the bone, and so yeah, and so he's not
able to help.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
And so they've just had a lot of injuries. You know, Dan.

Speaker 5 (30:35):
Campbell, you know, pulled play calling from his offense new
offense coordinator in the middle of the season, and it's
worked a little bit better. But I think if I
had to pick a team right now that's most well rounded,
it's the Packers and and we'll see, you know how
you know, whether it's the Ying or the Yang when
they get to the playoffs. But to have a defense

(30:55):
like that that's.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Just you know, can be lights out.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
And to have a thoser like Micah Parsons, who can,
you know, just if a game is close, can take
over another team's offense. And to have you know, I
still think for as much crap as as Matt or
Matt Lioner, Matt there the Matt Lafleur has gotten for
the way he's called plays and managed the offense. I
still think they have a have a pretty good group

(31:22):
there and so all around, you know, they're the best
team in the NFC.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
I don't know, but in the division, I think they are.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Did Ben Johnson effectively silence the b m I debate
about which NFC North coach has the best BMI when
he took a shirt off after the Vike the Bears
Black Friday victory over the Eagles.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
Kind of blacked out when he did it, and he
it was.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
It was impressive.

Speaker 5 (31:44):
I'm glad he he he held up on it on
the bet that he had made, and so that was
I don't think we'll see many other coaches doing that.
It's funny like Dan Campbell probably is the is the
in terms of physical specimens. That's not that guy, but
who but he's not guy. Sometimes the guys that take
their shirts off are not the toughest. They're the guys

(32:05):
they want people to think they're the toughest.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (32:07):
True, and so Dan Campbell doesn't need to take is No,
that's very very true.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
But I think, yeah, I think Ben's I mean, KFC's
in there. Yeah, I think I mean and Obviously Packer
guy has got great.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
You haven't given up on this investigation and you refuse
to do some tenacious reports.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
I can't believe you guys haven't done that. Tory, you
have numbers for everything you should do. They should be
tested for their and there's a lot of hippo stuff
that go into that.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
We trying to work through the legal, uh calamities of it.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
Well, somebody said yesterday was the day before. In all honesty,
it would be much more fun if Andy Reid would
take sure for all the obvious reasons. Right, It's like,
screw it. I don't care that I'm not supposed to
on the bm I I'll take my shirt of.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
A spring break photo that you love, your favorite, the
greatest sports photo ever you've seen it?

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Right? I think so spring break photo.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
I don't get as excited about this whole ideas.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
You've got to you got to. You gotta understand Beilama.
He's a character, and he is a character to uh
to appreciate the What what I like about it is
it's that it's it's what they say about the Europeans.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
If he didn't make issues.

Speaker 5 (33:20):
He's showing me a photoshopped ESPN body issue.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
And tenth he's just living best life. He's bigger now
than he is then, Yeah that is that looks like a.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Well to me, it's the old European thing of I
envy the freedom that a lot of European men that
you know, go three bills have where they're at the beat.
I'm at the beach taking my shirt off. I'm not
going to apologize if I wait. You know, I'm not
trying to win any contests. I'm I'm comfortable with myself.

(33:56):
I think Europeans figure that out better. I think Beilama
does too.

Speaker 5 (34:00):
It needs to be something amongst KFE and hosts. Well
that's which which KFN host has the best BMI.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
That would be producers in there too. No, I know
that would be bad for all of us. It's all relative.

Speaker 5 (34:13):
Who has the best I'm gonna say if anybody, yeah,
that's true.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Somebody's gotta win, is what you're saying. There's not a
lot of great BM.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Well that was the famous what was the famous weight
weight off? It was between Charles Hallman and Who and
Gary Olsen from UH A former longtime pioneer press writers,
and the deal was they both were trying to lose weight.
So they did the old Okay, we're gonna, you know,
for the next six weeks, we're both gonna work on diets, whatever.

(34:38):
And then at the end of the six weeks, whoever's
lost more takes the other. I don't know whatever the
prize was. Yeah, the prize was, and I don't remember
who wanted. But one of them won it by gaining
less weight than the other. Neither lost weight, one only
gained seventeen and the other only gain ten.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
That is exactly the outcome I would expect in any
group of media people.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
So exactly.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Uh, well, thanks for coming to see us. Sure, we
appreciate you as always. Uh, and we'll chat with you
next week, I think after another Vikings setback, or is
this the week we get on the winning track.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Washington's having their own struggles, right, and whose quarterback for them?
I mean Mariota was good last week?

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Yeah, the jayde Daniels, I guess was throwing, but he
hasn't been cleared for contact yet, and so he would
you if you're Washington and he's your guy, like, would
you be rushing him back?

Speaker 3 (35:23):
I mean, he might play, it's still five games left.

Speaker 5 (35:25):
He might be able to play before the If he's
not cleared for contact on a Monday, we now play
the following Sun.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Don't think JJ, We do expect. We'll start, yes, and
who's the backup? That's what I want to know.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Is Brosemer the backup? Or is he number three? It's
a good question.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
I expect he would be the backup, but has not
been confirmed. He would have to put John Wolford on
fifty three in order to make him.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
The backup, so I guess they could.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
They could elevate him to beat from the practice squad,
but I expect Brosmur to be.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
There number two because I mean, JJ could get hurt
one snap away. I'm just gonna say Guy's not been
very durable. Yeah, so we'll see. Thank you Kevin C
for ESPN dot Com. Don't forget Top five Coming up
top of the hour, Louis by telephone to talk about
your favorite hockey team, the red hot Minnesota Wild at
five thirty.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Wild Fans, this is your season.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
You can experience the energy, the goals, the unforgettable moments
that Grand Casino Arena and get your tickets now, including
to Wild Stars December eleventh, Wild Capitals December sixteenth, Wild
dot com slash tickets to cheer on the Wild this season.
Wild dot com slash tickets.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
We have not talked much college football of yesterday or
today to this point. Let me ask you the number
one college football story, much to my sagrin, is not
Indiana University. It is, of course Lane Kiffin and moved
from Ole Miss to Louisiana State University. And by the way,

(36:58):
he's one of us, right he grew up here Bloomington,
Jefferson Jefferson Grad.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Yeah, yeah, is he?

Speaker 2 (37:03):
Also though, because of the time he spent the South,
has he come up invented a fake Southern accent as well?

Speaker 4 (37:12):
Kind of because I had Well, he brought it up
in his press conference yesterday or whatever it was, but
just being in Louisiana, he said it made him want
to talk like that.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
He called ed or oseron the old guy.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
And then just said go tigers like it's so you
want to make fun of Brian Kelly.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
But it must be in the water down there, all right.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
So the debate among media jackals, it surprised me a
little bit, but there's been a lot of There seem
to be a lot of jackals who aren't even necessarily
a huge Lane Kiff and fans who say they believe
he should have been allowed to coach. I don't know
what world they're living in, because I just think that's impossible.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, even if it sounds like a cool movie. Uh,
what do you make of that whole debate? It's stunning. Now.
One of the guys that saying it is Nick Saban.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, And isn't that didn't Saban get rid.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Of Kiffin for taking another job? I thought he did, Yes,
he was the offensive coordinators.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Oh isn't that a bit? It is? It's critical, it's bizarre,
it's strange. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
I don't understand it either, because as much as Lane
has rehabilitated himself allegedly, he's still a little sneaky.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
And if you're letting him hang around with all the
old miss guys, I mean, he's probably gonna take a
lot of them anyway after the season's done. No, there's
no world that now the guy who took the Florida
job is coaching Tulane through the end, like I think
when it's a smaller school, because everybody understands. Everybody understands
that that guy wasn't going to be at Tulane forever.
It's a great opportunity, but finish it with your team
and then move on. No, he can't coach. He can't

(38:46):
coach in the playoffs. If you wanted to coach in
the playoffs, stay at Old Miss not the first to
say it. It's it made no sense, no, no sense.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
I was surprised to the number of people who I
mean they wanted to believe in the story, yes, and
they were rooting for the story. I just don't know
how you could be angry with the folks at all
Miss who said we can't now, we can't do this exactly.
A lot of people have suggested the solution is to
move the clock. Is there a movable clock that could

(39:14):
have eliminated the possibility of this taking place in between
the end of the regular season and the start of
the postseason.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
We discussed this on the Apparentispaar podcast this week, but
Chips Goggins and Ryan Burns, I don't know what you do,
because everybody agrees the calendar is completely screwed up when
you have whether it's for a coaching search, a signing day,
or the transfer portal window which is coming up in
January now, and there's only one transfer portal window, so
everything will be firmed up by January. The only way
you do it is you have everything after the season.

(39:43):
But to do that, you have to almost move the
season to like August first. In all these games, yes, right,
because there is Everyone agrees that the calendar is completely
screwed up, that coaches have to decide this now. Like
last year, Penn State's backup quarterback entered the portal while
they are in the College Football Playoff and people say,

(40:03):
why is he doing that? Well, he knows he wants
to transfer and he's got to go find a spot
to play. I'm sure he would have loved to stay
at Penn State. I think James Franklin even brought that up.
He said, we love the kid, we understand why he's leaving.
He doesn't want to leave now. He wants to stay here.
But what's he supposed to do? He doesn't know him,
we're out. Is he supposed to just you know, if
he's going to do it the right way, he's got
to go into the portal now and find his next home.

(40:23):
So everyone agrees. I think that the calendar is all
messed up, But I don't understand. No one knows how
they can fix it. I don't think there's an easy solution,
is it?

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Also those Yeah, there's a lot of that, is there not?

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Also an important point to be made here though, that
we're all hypocrites in this regard. I mean we You
can utter the name Lane Kiffen and people will roll
their eyes. Oh my god, Oh here we go again.
I mean, how fascinated with himself is this guy? But

(40:56):
is it even really fair for any of us to
be surprised that these folks become, many of them as
self absorbed as they do. When it's on the twenty
four to seven news cycle, there's nothing but Lane kiff
and coverage like there's something significant through this whole episode
that's at stake.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
So you're gonna start believing the world revolves around you?

Speaker 4 (41:20):
Correct, of course, And as you know, there is no
more self absorbed group of people than college football. Know,
it's just it because it's self perpetuates. Especially in these
college towns. Everything revolves around them. And here's the coach
and they've got fifty people doing all the different things
for him. Of course he's going to feel that, Yeah,
why wouldn't he it's human nature.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
It's I just think if we really mean what we
say is they got to get over themselves.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
We got to get over them. Yeah. Now again you
got to cover the story.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
But it's these stories are reported like there's so much
more at stake than it really is.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
That poor Marty Smith, the reporter, basically just hanging out
in Oxford the whole time. That was the funniest part
of the whole weekend. They just kept going back to
us and he's trying to give the info and then
he's at the airport and it's But it's a I
guess I knew Lane KIFN was a big deal obviously,
but it is amazing to me even how much it's
broken through.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
And it's the LSU factor too. It's one of the
glitzy jobs.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
Yes, yeah, probably the top two or three jobs in
the country, but it has cut through. I mean, it's
up there with NFL coverage right now in the national
now one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
So is it also fair to say, is it?

Speaker 2 (42:25):
I don't have Lane Kiffin's resume in front of me,
but I thought I read that he has not won
a single postseason game of significance at any level yet
is that true.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
That would check out?

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, that would I'm not just gonna say that means
he's overrated, but it's just kind of ironic because yeah,
I know, what he did at Ole Miss was pretty
you seemed good and really in position one would think
to make a run, but he's never really made a run, no,
in all seriousness in the postseason.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Because he's had a fascinating career being a coordinator with
Pete Carroll right on those great USC teams. Then he
gets the Tennessee job, he gets a head job and
he's like thirty. Yeah, he gets the Tennessee job. Disaster.
That's a disaster. And then he you know, finds a
way with Alabama. Well, he got the USC job, he's
fired on the tarmac like. Then he gets thee Alabama,

(43:12):
He goes to the Nick Saban halfway House for reclaimed coaches,
rehabilitates himself. There gets the old Miss job, and he
did a great job at all Miss, I mean, unbelievable
job at all Miss to get them where they are now.
But yeah, he's been around so long you feel like
he's actually more accomplished than he probably is.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
But that's why it's it's crazy. He's such a big name.
All right, We've got Louis in about a half hour,
Top five at five. What are we going to talk about.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
We've got wolves tonight, We've got wild tonight, an honor
for the Great Wall of Saint Paul. And believe it
or not, we've got some twins steam that will not
be surprising to anybody but might be annoying.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Oh good enough, I look forward to it. All that
is next year in the Fan