Vikings Fanline: Vikings vs Bears 11-16-25

Eric Nordquist and Ron Johnson take your calls, texts, and talkbacks following the Vikings 19-17 loss to the Bears.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Time out for Vikings fan Line on the Minnesota Vikings
Audio Network. Your chance to talk about today's game with
the Vikings broadcast team. Joined the conversation on Vikings fan
Line by sending us a talkback through the iHeart app,
text the studio at six four six eighty six, call
eight hundred and three two oh five three two six,

(00:24):
or send us a message to any of our KFNS
social channels.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Now it's your turn. Vikings fan Line starts now.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
DearS kfans, Ron Johnson and Eric Nordquist.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Good afternoon, Welcome to Vikings fan Line. The Vikings lose
nineteen to seventeen. They fall to four and six on
the season. They've played five games at us Bank Stadium
this season. They won one of them. Wow, they lose
to the Bears are two and one in the division.

(00:58):
You appreciate that. But the a that things transpire to
us Bank today, I'm excited to hear.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Whether it's your phone calls.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
I got full phone lines, I got a ton of
talkbacks locked and loaded here the text machine as well.
Six four six eight six. Brad Shohn Bryant Kfan text Line.
Ron Johnson in the mixed momentarily but before we jump
into the calls and talkbacks, Harrison Smith was with Ben
Lieber in the locker room shortly after this one.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Felt cool about it.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
It was, you know, two hundredth regular season game for
Harrison Smith wearing purple and gold. Would have liked the
w the down trodden longtime Viking safety is with liber.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
All Right, guys, thanks a lot. I'm down here in
the Vikings locker room with Harrison Smith. Obviously, huge milestone
game for you, two hundredth career game.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I mean, let's just start there.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
I mean, I know the game didn't go the way
that you guys wanted, but you personally, how's it feel?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Is it surreal?

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Has it sunk in yet that you played two hundred
games as the Minnesota Viking.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yes and no, it's not really like something you set
out to do or like, look at I didn't even
know that's what it was, so I was told this week.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (02:03):
There's not a lot of you know, guys have that
have done it just with the Vikings, so to.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Be be a part of that group means a lot
to me.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
It was obviously, you know, memorable, having my my wife
and kids up there to to blow the horn before
the game. So but at the end of the day, like,
I'm here to play football and win games, So all
that stuff is nice, but trying to win well.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
Turning to the game, you guys, you guys didn't you know,
in my opinion, you guys played winning football on the
defensive side. You know, you gave up some yards on
the ground a little bit in the second half, but
you knew that was gonna happen because they like to
run the football. You guys end up getting the Caleb
a couple of times, two sacks on the one drive.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
But what did it take coverage wise.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Because we saw him multiple times where he had to
sit there and bounce around in the in the back there,
you guys caused a bunch of confusion, went into what
went into kind of confusing him in the back end.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
Really just just covering our our our assignment. You know,
I thought that the corners did a great job covering
all day, plastering, you know, because Kayleb's going to buy time.
He's he's one of the best at it, and he
makes some unbelievable plays back there to buy time. So
we just kept at it, and you know, really the

(03:17):
main thing I think we've seen the last few games.
We have to create some turnovers, and how do you
guys go about that?

Speaker 4 (03:24):
I know, it's one of those things like you you
talk about it, you preach it, you try to do
all the things during the course of the week, But
when it comes to the course of the game, it's
also one of those things you can't force as well.

Speaker 5 (03:32):
Right, Yeah, you know, especially when they start committing to
run the ball, it's going to reduce some opportunities through
the air. But you know, a couple of balls on
the ground today, Just find a way to get those.
Make something happen in the past game. But we're doing
a lot of good things. Just got to kind of
stay the course and keep grinding.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
What is it about this team in the fourth quarter?

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Even though I mean you go back to the to
the Bears game at Soldier Field Week one, you guys
are down similar fashion and started the fourth quarter and
then all of a sudden, there's another gear.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
What do you guys find that extra gear in the
fourth I don't know exactly. Some teams kind of have it,
some don't. This this team obviously has it. What we
have to do is find a way to start that
earlier obviously, and that's you know, different formulas for different teams,
But we got to find a way to start faster
and kind of create that fourth quarter feeling early on.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Is that sort of the message.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
I know you're going to have some time to think
about it in this next twenty four hours, but as
you guys get ready to go on the road to
play Green Bay another division opponent, like you as a leader,
what sort of things you can be talking about and
preaching to the rest of the team this.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
Week basically, you know, similar to what I just said,
it's it's not when games are you know, you lose
a game at at the buzzer on the field goal there,
there's always going to be plays you can correct. But
at the same time, like there's a lot of good
there and focus on that and tighten up a little
here and there, and like I said, start start faster,

(04:58):
just the feeling of of that fourth quarter. There's obviously
something with this group that gets going, so find a
way to harness that sooner.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
You know, again, I know you're not about personal accolades,
but congratulations on the two hundredth career game. You got
obviously a lot more attack in here, but congrats and
well we'll see you in Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Thanks Ben. All right, ask back to you.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
As Ben Lieber with Harrison Smith and in studio now
as we kick off fan line, Ron Johnson. You heard
Ben Lieber speaking to Harrison there and he says, felt
like you guys played some winning football on defense. I
didn't mention the sixteen to thirty two, the buck fifty,
the score, and the two picks from the quarterback. So
let's talk about the QB here and we'll start fan

(05:41):
line with Jeff and Stillwater. Jeff, Welcome to Vikings fan line. Jeff, Bye, Jeff,
Sorry about that. Let's go to Jermaine and Mancato. Jermaine,
Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 6 (06:00):
What's up, Norda, What's up? I appreciate you guys taking
these calls. I first just want to say, I know
after a loss doing this can maybe be brutal, so
I'll try not to pile on the negativity here too much.
But yeah, appreciate you guys doing this. But here's here's
where I'm at with this team and kind of what
I want to get your take on. I don't think
we're a good football team right now. And it's not

(06:21):
just about McCarthy. I mean, yes, he hasn't played well,
and he's he deserves some of the blame for sure,
But I think there's just something deeper going on. And
it feels to me like this is a you know,
a focus and a care issue. Like good teams make
routine plays in all three phases, right We're not doing that.
And when you've got like veteran guys like Harrison Smith

(06:43):
and Josh Mattelis missing tackles like on that crucial third
down because they're not wrapping up, or you've got guys
like Jefferson and Addison and Hockinson dropping routine passes that
they should make. That's that's not a talent problem. That's
that's a guy's not being mentally locked in problem. And
I think when it team keeps making the same mistakes
like that on offense and defense and special teams, that's

(07:04):
the textbook definition to me of a bad team. Good
teams don't beat themselves, and right now it feels like
this team just we aren't focused enough or don't care
enough to stop doing that. So I wanted to see
you know what you guys thought. Do you think it's
a focus issue or a care issue, because that's what
it feels like to me. This is a much different
team than we were last year in the way they're playing.

(07:26):
So that's my question. I'll hang up and listen.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Thanks guys, Yeah, I dig it.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Thank you, great call and man Cato of course, I
mean we only get great calls from man Cato my homeland,
and I appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (07:36):
Ron.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, you fix the false starts. Yep.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
I only had the ball for twenty three minutes, So
if they would have had six or seven false starts today,
I mean, that would have been unbelievable. But to the
point of Jermaine's call, the idea of a lack of
focus going beyond the qbright JJ McCarthy was putrid today
except for one drive.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
But you did see the drops.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
You did see, you know, Harrison Smith and and I
think I remember that play.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
It was third and long.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
I think Colston Lovelin maybe right over the middle, and
I mean it was just a straight olay. I think,
you know, I know, two hundred regular season games, that's
a sweet moment for Harrison Smith. And I love Harry
my goodness, He's got to offer more than just a
little feigning elbow as he falls to the ground in
front of him. A lot of that, and then you
have the Duverne kick return at the end. What do

(08:25):
you think about that?

Speaker 8 (08:26):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna say it's because it's
a bad team or they don't care that, you know,
like those plays happening, like the Justin Jefferson you know,
off the fingertips, the Jordan Addison off the fingertips, the
JJ McCarthy, the high thrown balls, Aaron Jones dropping earlier,
you know, TJ.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Hockinson, Adamot, the third down drop by Hawkinson.

Speaker 8 (08:44):
Yeah, like it was in the bread basket, you know,
and so and those are the type of plays that
bad teams can't win games with, right, So if you
want to call it a bad team, you can't win
a game if you're not making a place. Yeah, I
don't know the answer to that one. I'm not gonna
say it's players not being locked in. I think they are.
Like you don't show up for a football game knowing

(09:06):
that you could you know, you you could be hurt
in your career could be over. Like, you don't go
out there likes of days ago. In these situations you know,
I just I just think there's something fundamentally off with
like the mindset and the move. Like the moove just
seemed really off. Like the throws were high, so receivers
are you know, And then you know, you can see
Kevin o'conne kind of mouth and stuff. You can see
Jaj McCarthy like mad at himself. So you know, I

(09:28):
don't know if this is like hey, like cause everybody' say,
oh they need a players only meeting. I don't even
know if that's the answer. You know, it's just you
just gotta figure it out. Whether it's more time together
throwing the ball and filling the ball coming off that
quarterback's hands versus this quarterback. You know, it sounds simple
and easy, but again the lack of time together, the
lack of knowing when the ball's coming, is it time

(09:49):
to throw a fastball versus maybe a little change up
like all that little stuff like sometimes like Aaron Jones' drop,
should he catch it?

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, but Jaj McCarthy threw the ball way too hard.

Speaker 8 (09:58):
If he times it up and knows I got to
go here because this throw is not here, he throws
it a little sooner and a little bit you know,
more like catchable ball to a running back.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
It just feels like his secondary read or third read.

Speaker 8 (10:10):
It's very like last minute, like he's waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting,
and it's like the cover should tell you right away
that throw is not there, you know, like he almost
had a third interception, but the Bears defender killed his
own teammate and hit him, hit his helmet on his elbow,
which is why he let go of the ball like
he had the ball in his hands. He got hit
by his own teammate.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
So even that touchdown to Addison was late, yeah, and
he and it was just right, just wasn't Yeah, it.

Speaker 8 (10:32):
Was good body positioning by Addison and Wright kept kind
of falling forward. So again a fastball there, but a
late throw like it's the deep. But that interception, the
throw should have been earlier to justin Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
It's like he gets locked in on this.

Speaker 8 (10:44):
So again I'm not going to say, like to the
caller's point, I'm not going to say it's the players
not paying attention or not being locked in. I think
they are. I just I just don't really have an
answer for it. Like, honestly, it's just off, like something's.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Off Warren and Saint Paul Warren, Welcome to Vike fan line.

Speaker 9 (11:02):
Yeah, the most obvious thing of the whole game, it
was right at the end, how do you kick the
ball to all pro kick returner and just kick it
out of the end zone because there's always a chance
with DuVernay he could he's got big gameplay capabilities. That
was a huge mistake right there, because well when they

(11:22):
had that thirty five instead of where.

Speaker 10 (11:24):
They got it.

Speaker 9 (11:24):
That's one thing. This is what's happening to the Vikings
right now. It's very similar to when we had those
when we had our bad quarterback play, you know, with
McNab and Ponder and all that. What ends up happening
is when you start, uh, when you're when you got
openings and stuff, and you don't make those plays. It's
a domino effect not only on your offense, it also

(11:48):
goes to the defense. And I nobody can tell me
that Brozner couldn't make those short throwers. I think they
need to make, you know, what they what they need
to do is set set the rookie court back and say, okay,
you're going to have a game. Just to sit and
relax and calmdly, calm down, and I'd put brows that
are in. You wouldn't have anything to lose at this

(12:08):
pointless season. They're both of the same. Well, he's all
actually older. He wouldn't hurt the team at all, and
I think it would given him uplift. And he was
actually telling JJ out there on the side to be
seeing him talking. He was trying to help him out.
That's the move they should make, and I think that
would be the most feasible thing right now.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Hey, appreciate it, Warren, take care to his original point,
I kind of wish they would have boomed it out
of the end zone. Yeah, So the argument is is
you kill time and you cover correct right now, I'll
turn it to this.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
They just get it at the thirty five.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Twenty five ish yards fifty seconds, puts it into gets
it at gets it to the forty. So now we're
talking about a fifty eight yard field goal. Santos had
already missed one thirty five yards. Now we're talking inside
of fifty, right, they have that fifty seconds.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I think he got to kick it out of the
end zone. I do too.

Speaker 8 (13:07):
I just say, like you put the pressure on Kleb
Wobbs after drive down the field, like you have him
come out there. In the last couple of drives. The
defense had actually been playing really good. Yeah, like the
defense had figured it out, Jalen Redman, Tyron Ingham Dawkins,
like they were getting after the quarterback. Even the sack
by Van Ginkel. It was perfectly played. Like Jalen Redman

(13:27):
got in there. Gink did not lose content. Like the
minute he saw Caleb Williams, he like did not even
keep coming up the field. He went left saying, I
know this guy's going to keep runing to his right.
He played the statistics of here's what Kayler Williams does
when he leaves the pocket, and I think that would
have you know they had him. Now you're forcing him
in to throw a situation because they run the ball.

(13:48):
Now they got to start using those timeouts. You know,
give up a four or five six yard run. That's
that's not gonna hurt you. It's gonna make the clock running.
You have to call time out. So you know they're
going to be in a passive situation, which that's where
Flores thrives. When he knows they have to pass. That's
when his defense plays the best, and that's why I
would have kicked it.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Out the end zone.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
What do you think about the clock management down the
stretch in terms of because it frank left too much
time on the clock. McCarthy's best drive was the don't think,
just go drive when you absolutely had to have it.
I wonder if there's anything to that for the kid,
but at any rate, it's completion, completion, completion. The one
out of bounds, I guess was Naylor on the catch

(14:25):
streaking across. I don't know if he could have potentially
stayed inbounds. The Bears had two or three timeouts at
this point too, by the way, so not necessarily sure
you could have killed too much additional clock off of it.
But any any thoughts on the on the clock management
towards the end? Yeah, so earlier we need we need
the freaking touchdown.

Speaker 8 (14:43):
At the start of the second half, I tweeted out
Jay I was going to try to find the tweet,
but I basically tweeted out that JJ McCarthy needs a
simpler offense, Like.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
If somebody wanted to find that post.

Speaker 8 (14:53):
Where three Ron Johnson the number three number Ron Johnson
on Twitter? But I tweeted out that JJ McCarthy needs
an up temple offense. It was like in the second half,
and this was before the two minute drive because I
didn't honestly, at that point, I'm like, I don't think
this game is going to come down to the end.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
I really didn't. I was like, this, this is bad.

Speaker 8 (15:09):
And they found like the Bears found a way to
still give the Vikings a chance. Like it was and
Courtney Cronin said, like, I talked to Courtney and she
said the same thing. She's like, the Bears are going
to find a way to lose this game, and they
almost did, Like they almost found a way to lose
the game, and the Vikings found a better way. And
it was just like it was looking at JAJ McCarthy
with no thought process. Spread the receivers out, the read

(15:32):
becomes the coverage, meaning the minute you see the matchup,
you like, you know they're going to play off coverage.
Here's the throw that was way simpler in my opinion,
for him versus you know you gotta dig, you gotta
out and up like even the again red zone, right,
they run the Aaron Jones little bubble deal whatever off
the backfield. He's running the wheel route. Jajon McCarthy throws

(15:54):
a fireball at his face. He was and just get
it there, like, just throw it to them, like why
are we running that? Why are we running that?

Speaker 11 (16:03):
You know?

Speaker 8 (16:04):
I think last time it happened with Justin Jefferson, same
type of play will right with Justin Jefferson on need
to pick jj McCarthy fires it in there. Justin Jeferson
gives it a head taken off. Should be a corner
throw up in the air. Let Justin Jefferson out jump
the guy. You know, it seems like there's too much.
Let's trick these guys. Let's get our guys wide open
for a quarterback versus I got the best receiver.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
In the world right now in my offense.

Speaker 8 (16:27):
If I had, if they had Randy Moss, they would
not be doing these plays, I would hope not. Like
if they had Randy Moss lined up wide to the right,
and if they had Coaston Lovelin, if they had Coaston
Lovelin lined up to the left, They're not doing a
trick play. They're just gonna throw the fade. Like throw
the fade. That's it gets Let's be throw it run
a slant when they are simple.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
JJ McCarthy looks really good.

Speaker 8 (16:50):
When they are complex, he looks like he can't figure
it out at times.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
That's Ron Johnson. I'm Eric Nord Quiz. Vikings lose nineteen seventeen.
A walk off field goal by Cairo santos Uh finishes
off the Vikings, who are now four and six, one
in four at home in twenty twenty five full phone lines.
We're gonna go rapid fire with the calls around the corner.
Vikings fan line continues, This is Minnesota Vikings football.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
For Minnesota Sports the leader.

Speaker 12 (17:20):
Minnesota Sports Leader is FM one hundred point three, Dan
A Candy rasall the fan.

Speaker 13 (17:31):
Hey guys, Dawson from Foston, Minnesota. We're gonna get mad
at JJ for throwing the ball one hundred miles an
hour every single time.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
We had crucial drops play.

Speaker 13 (17:42):
After play, Addison for a big hitter, Addison on an
out route to the left side, and then Hockinson on
a big second down when we're trying to go down
and score.

Speaker 14 (17:51):
Come on, man, we gotta get it together.

Speaker 15 (17:56):
Paul in Southern California, This Viking team needs an enemy.
It's filled with not very smart players and coaching staff.
That cannot rise to the challenge.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
They blew it, they gave it away.

Speaker 15 (18:10):
They've got soft defense, they've got a multiple drops of receivers.
McCarthy couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. This is
ridiculous time for changes.

Speaker 16 (18:23):
Hey guys, why in the hell would we kick that
ball to anybody? Our kicker has the best leg in
the league. Kick it through the end zone doesn't make
any sense. Huge coaching blunder, thank you.

Speaker 17 (18:39):
Yep, just another poorly managed game by koc At. His
offense and QB rushing in that final drive. Didn't coach
up as players to stay in bounds. Naylor never should
have ran that ball out of bounds. Should have been
coached up to slide there, to get down and keep
the clock running. Again, poor coaching from the reigning coach

(19:03):
of the year.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Talkback machine Free, iHeartRadio app One more and then we'll
get to the calls.

Speaker 18 (19:08):
The way that JJ McCarthy was sailing balls over people's
heads reminded me just like Josh Freeman back in twenty
and thirteen.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Good times.

Speaker 18 (19:18):
Fortunately, tanking is going to be pretty easy. All we
got to do is start JJ McCarthy. The rest of
the way, Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Vikings lose today. Nineteen seventeen, the Vikings two and one
in the division split with the Bears. I suppose in
twenty twenty five, if you want to look for an
optimistic viewpoint to a four and sixteen, that's one in
four at home. Needed this one as in a muddy West,
in a muddy yer NFC North. You needed West, I

(19:48):
mean NFC conference. Excuse me, a muddy North division as well.
Needed a w today didn't get it to the phone lines,
Let's check in with how about Chuck and Iowa? Chuck,
Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Hi, how are you doing good? Thank you?

Speaker 10 (20:11):
Thanks for you there.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Hello, hey Chuck?

Speaker 10 (20:15):
Hello, Yes you hear me?

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Well what do you what do you got? Chuck?

Speaker 10 (20:21):
Can you hear me? Now?

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Would I calling? Because?

Speaker 19 (20:26):
Uh?

Speaker 11 (20:27):
I'm calling because of uh, you know, Koc has been
numerous for the last three or four years. He's let
the team kind of get away from him from what
I see.

Speaker 10 (20:39):
Uh, his his calls on on the field, you know,
third and one, when you're running the ball you know
very well, and then throwing passes. He's not working to
you know. We talk about his time management. We talk
about you know, everything he's doing wrong week after week
after week after week is a problem, and it's in

(21:01):
a big issue and this team is not going to
go any place with koc. He should turn the play
calling over to West Phillip so that he can actually
work with the quarterback and actually throw short slants to
the quarterback, I mean to the wide receiver so that
he can actually make some plays and get some yards

(21:22):
after catch. This play calling down the field and no
time is creating major problems for that team.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
All right, I appreciate it, Chuck, Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Ron. From a play calling perspective today, you could you
could almost feel where the head coach was like, you
guys want me to run, I'm going to run.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
I think Aaron.

Speaker 3 (21:44):
Jones had like five carries on that opening drive something
like that. Then he kind of got away from it
again as the game goes on, score line can dictate
some of that. You know, the kid QB was missing
so many wide open people today. I'll admit that I
wasn't digging deeply into situational thought processes in terms of
how the offense was was operating or wasn't.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
There was one though.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Where McCarthy the deep ball to Addison that he underthrows,
and then Addison has to become a defensive back to
keep it from being another interception. Yeah, the next that
was a second and two, I believe. And then on
the third and two, the Vikings had run for a
first down on third and two earlier in the game.
May have been like the first one in a McCarthy

(22:28):
game this year. He throws it on third down and
we're punting, and that was I mean, that was kind
of the only moment for me if we're going to
dig into the weeds. Other than that, I think this
the kid needed to hit the open receivers today.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Where are you at with it?

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (22:44):
He did.

Speaker 8 (22:44):
And you know, to your point though, looking at the
opening drive you talked about, you got Aaron Jones run,
you got Jajon McCarthy, Aaron Jones again, Jason McCarthy, Adam Theeling,
Aaron Jones again, Jason mc arthy, TJ.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Hockinson, Aaron Jones again.

Speaker 8 (23:03):
Incomplete pass, Aaron Jones again, incomplete pass.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
So you know, it's just like.

Speaker 8 (23:11):
What was the common denominator in between all those incomplete passes?

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Productive runs? Productive runs? And you're right.

Speaker 7 (23:19):
It's he through the freaking fastball to Aaron Jones on
the fade near side end zone. Yeah, that was the Yeah,
any touch on that thing, and it's six freaking points.

Speaker 20 (23:29):
Ron.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Oh and here's the thing about the Bears.

Speaker 8 (23:32):
So talking about runs, right, So the Bears run to
run to run to give Caleb Williams not a lot
on his plate. When you look at seven to ten
yard plays gained runs, right, forty three of those before
this game were the Bears. Forty three runs for seven
to ten yards. That was first in the NFL twenty sorry,

(23:52):
ten to twenty yard plays, thirty seven runs, thirty seven
run plays that were twenty to or ten to twenty
yards bear first, you know where the vikings were normal?

Speaker 3 (24:03):
I mean, I'm just gonna guess, like towards the bottom, Yeah,
pretty much not good.

Speaker 8 (24:08):
And that's that's what is the tough thing, because like
seven to ten yard passes for the Bears, thirty five
that was thirty first, Like, they're not trying to be
explosive in the past game. They're just like, look, Caleb,
you got legs, use them. Hey, our running backs are
really good. Impossible is he to sack by He's tough.
You got twice could have had him saxon time. I
think it was. Was it Tavi or Thomas or one

(24:29):
of them had him like dead to rights, jay War,
Oh my god, dead to rights and just whifted.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
He hit them with a spin.

Speaker 8 (24:37):
Move circle for all those you know video game kids
out there, hit the circle button on them and just
took off and it was like what like and again
jay Ward did nothing wrong.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Was just really good.

Speaker 8 (24:50):
But going back to what we talked about with the
run game, I don't know why he went away from it,
Like in a low scoring game like this where just
a little bit of a auction wins the game, yep,
be patient, like just be patient, just say hey, look,
let's Aaron Jones is going, Jordan Mason's going. He finally
at the end, like I think Sandra Bullet called him
at the end of the game and said, just run

(25:11):
the ball. Stop it all the trick plays in the
red zone. Run the dang ball, because he ran it
with Jordan Mason, and Jordan Mason scored a touchdown and
the crowd was like going wild, like they could not
believe they ran the ball in the red zone because everybody.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Wasn't that only two plays on that drive.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
By the way, both Jordan Mason has long return Mason
for nine will sell.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
So that's a Miles price. Give Miles price that touchdown.
It was a Miles price. There was a Miles Price drive.

Speaker 8 (25:35):
And then again most of the time, after a big play,
you know, you think, okay, we got we gotta strike here, explosive.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Let's let's throw it to the end zone.

Speaker 8 (25:43):
Because that's Kevin O'Connell, right, Yeah, three straight passes and
everybody's like, what are we doing? No, he ran the
ball and he got a touchdown out of it. But
then it go like why not do that?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Early on? You know, it was working, like you said
that first drive, it's working.

Speaker 8 (25:56):
It's like playing John Madden if you if the run
is working and this kid whoever's on the sticks can't
can't stop the run, why would I stop it? Why
would And if my quarterback is just throwing the ball
all over place, my receivers aren't making the tough catches
for him, and the easy catches either. Yeah, maybe just
run the ball a little bit because then that makes
play the action a little more viable. Like you can't
run play action if you're not going to continue to

(26:18):
run the ball, and that's that was the only strange
thing for me.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
One more call and then we paused. Dan and Austin Dan,
Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
At duper Cala.

Speaker 21 (26:28):
Fred Delicious absolutely got less.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
I can't sing.

Speaker 21 (26:34):
This team cannot play football. JJM was tough today, but
I helped the kid out. How many drop passes did
we have? The defense was okay, but almost to a man,
this was an indictment of the entire organization. We have
to turn it around. There's too much to talk about.
I'll hang up and listen.

Speaker 8 (26:55):
Man, he was so close to a bar, like that
was almost a bar because it's super kinds of fragilistic
xbil adocious, So he should have said something almost atrocious,
like its completely atrocious.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, see it runs. He's close. He was so close
to a bar. No, I appreciate that. And there's not
much to argue, like make like a tree and get
out of here. Uh.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Maybe next week we're at Lambeau, so we'll see what happens.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But Dan, I'm giving you a week. I'm giving you
an assignment.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Come up a new bit for next week, because my goodness,
is this thing getting hard.

Speaker 8 (27:30):
To break down. Was Jordan Love going to be out though,
as Malik William Willis went in. I don't know if
he ever came back, but Malik Willis went in for him. Well,
I saw Jacobs was ruled out.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
I didn't. I didn't see the Jordan Love thing. So
he's out.

Speaker 8 (27:41):
Yeah, he was out for a little bit. I don't
know if he came back. Me and Rosie saw him
go out.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
I'm out of the loop on that. And we're gonna
catch up because we're gonna pause. Vikings fan line nineteen
to seventeen. Vikings fall to the Bears teams four and six.
They're one and four at home. It's negative Lambeau on
the horizon. We're going to continue to break this thing
down Vikings fan line style. This is Minnesota Vikings football.

Speaker 12 (28:01):
The audio home for the Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, and Gophers
in Minnesota's home for sports is iHeartRadio and f M
one hundred point three.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Like said Minneapolis Saint Paul the.

Speaker 22 (28:11):
Fan Christopher Saint Paul here, I think this team is
out of sync with coaching, with quarterback play, with receiver awareness,
and with special teams. If we could be all in
sync at the same time, I think we could be

(28:32):
a really good team, but right now they're just out
of sync.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
They need to sync up.

Speaker 22 (28:38):
We need to catch balls when they're thrown well and
throw balls when they're in the position to catch them.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Think, so, everything's bad and if everything was better, the
team would be better.

Speaker 23 (28:51):
Well stated, Yeah, I don't care what anyone says, guys,
season's over. Oh as a Viking fan, I don't know
how I feel about what the next couple of years
are going to look like. To me, it's just going
to look like a slog. And hopefully he's something better

(29:11):
than dare I say Christian.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Ponder Deep Freeman references Ponder.

Speaker 24 (29:21):
KOs coached again he needs to adjust his offense for
his quarterback and why didn't he kick the ball out
of the end zone with less than a minute to
go in the game and let your defense win the game?

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Disappointing, very disappointing.

Speaker 25 (29:42):
This might be the first time I've ever said this
as a Vikings fan, but I'm glad that we lost
that game and didn't just snatch it at the end there,
because it would have delayed the inevitable. Living this lie
with JJ McCarthy as our franchise quarterback. He's not NFL ready.
He's injured people with his throws on offense and defense.

(30:03):
He's disappointing fans, teammates.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
I see, we need to bench him. This is it.
I've had enough. Talkbacks are fun, talkbacks are flying.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
This is Minnesota Vikings fan line. The Vikings lose by
a couple nineteen to seventeen is the final, final, second
field goal for Cairo Santos gives them the lead in
the W and they're seven and three. That's one of
those like I've heard of, like a lot of out
of sync And are we undisciplined? Do we lack focus?

Speaker 21 (30:33):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Ten weeks into the season, what is our identity? Well,
our identity is that we're undisciplined. We make mistakes, and
a team like the Bears who've been really good at
capitalizing on those mistakes. Man, they've only played teams, you know,
they're six victories fifteen forty one and one. The collective
record of the of the six teams they've beaten. Well,
they're now seven and three because we keep making mistakes

(30:55):
and the Bears took advantage of them. Ron Johnson's here
on Nordo to the phone lines Chase in Henning, Chase,
Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 10 (31:05):
Hey Ron, he Eric.

Speaker 26 (31:06):
Thankful that we have you after it doesn't matter how
deep we get put on Sunday, I'm thankful that we
have you guys.

Speaker 14 (31:13):
To put some lighty cane on the wound.

Speaker 26 (31:16):
And it's mostly been covered. But I just want to
see JJ start having fun. I look at him in college.
I've watched a lot of film, and I watch him
having fun. And I know that there's a lot of
moving parts and everything else, but it seems like a
lot of the overthrows, a lot of the double clutching
and the mistakes he's making, he's just not I don't

(31:37):
see him having fun at all. And I think until
he starts having fun and he has that connection with
his receivers where he's just out there playing ball, I
don't think we're gonna win very many games at all.

Speaker 9 (31:48):
And yeah, I don't know what the solution is.

Speaker 26 (31:51):
I'll leave that up to you guys.

Speaker 20 (31:52):
But what can we do?

Speaker 27 (31:54):
What can the coaches do?

Speaker 26 (31:55):
What can the players around him do to help JJ
start just playing football and just having fun and stop
worrying about.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
All the noise, What the media the people are.

Speaker 26 (32:05):
Going to say and just start playing ball. Thank you,
all shut up and all listen, thank you.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
It's difficult without being in the mind of JJ McCarthy
to know how much of that plays into it from
a mental standpoint.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Clearly, there are some functionals.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
Some some just straight to the fundamental side of things
that aren't working. So whether it's processing some of the
decision making again, the lack of touch on the ball
is creating an issue in some spots.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Better, I mean, he said at the podium, might just
be better. He just was on the podium. He said.

Speaker 8 (32:36):
He also to improve his performance. He said, I gotta
do better, period, Like he knows he has to do better. Absolutely,
Greg and Mound. Greg, welcome to Vikings fanline.

Speaker 28 (32:47):
Hey, hey, you guys doing doing good. Thank you, You're welcome.
I'm a super fan, right and you know, the main
reason I watch the games is a nice food spread,
and you know, barbecue ribs and some meatballs and some
cheese and crackers and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Anything else.

Speaker 29 (33:07):
My question is, well, you know, some bread, some crackers,
some you know, nacho cheese. You know, I got it going. Well,
My question is and again I'm asking a professional football
player because I have no idea is the yips a
real thing for quarterbacks or not?

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Oh, I appreciate the question and the call. Greg. Yeah,
I mean I can't lie.

Speaker 8 (33:32):
I mean i'd say, yeah, I don't think it's the yips,
but yeah, I think the yips are just confidence, right.
So what was the guy from a major league the catcher? Remember,
he couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher, and
he had to like recite Playboy, you know, the articles
in Playboy or whatever like you know, or the attributes
you know, like long walks. I was wondering when the
movie reference would count here, you know, like likes long walks,

(33:52):
you know, and then he's throwing perfect You know, I'm
not saying Jay McCarthy needs to go memorize Playboy magazine
like attributes, but he's got to come up with something
to calm him down. And there could be a lot
going on in his headset. You know, who knows what
that looks like. Because I wonder what Hardball was saying
to him, or Connor Stallions versus what you know, Kevin

(34:13):
O'Connell's saying to him, you know, is it like, is
it too much information because at Michigan there wasn't a
lot of information to be given. It was basically, look,
we know this coverage, we know the front, we have
the best running backs in the country. We're gonna run
the ball, and then when you throw the ball, Hey,
you got Coleson Lovelin, you got Roman Wilson, Like, just
drive it in there.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
And he made a lot of easy throws in college.

Speaker 8 (34:35):
I just feel like right now he might be overthinking
it because every time he throws it to the secondary route,
meaning like the trick play guy, he just goes to
the trick play guy, Like he doesn't look at the
entire play. Like some of those throws, if you see
the safety over the top, you don't make the throw.
So that's why I'm wonder where his head is. And
the Gophers shout out to the Gophers for this not
the game, but what they did in training camp with

(34:56):
Drake Lindsay is they put a GoPro Greg Harbot GoPro
on the quarterback's helmet because he wanted to see where's
the quarterback's eyes so he can go back and watch
the play in practice, watch the throw and see where
was he looking on this? So if he threw it late,
or if you threw an interception, or if he threw
it high, Like are you looking at what I tell
you to look at, which is look at the safety,

(35:17):
Come down to the flat route, Look at the flat route,
go up to this. You know the choice routes said
they worked well, but there wasn't a ton of them.
Run you know that used to be Kevin O'Connell's bread
and butter, the choice routes off the slide. We're not
seeing a lot of that. I don't know what's going
on with this offense, but it needs to be more
horizontal and less vertical like Oregon. If you watch the
Oregon game, I don't know if you did awesome horizontal

(35:39):
offense and then when it's time to strike, they got
two gigantic tight ends. They will strike down the scene.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
With you gotta set up, but you got to set
up the sideline. The sideline first.

Speaker 8 (35:49):
Make the six yard throw, make the four yard throw,
like be okay with the short throws. It's okay to
go nineteen for nineteen and not throw the ball further
than ten yards like golf did that a lot last
year and nobody was complaining.

Speaker 3 (36:04):
To the phone lines Nathan and Jan Hassen. Nathan, Welcome
to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 19 (36:10):
Hey guys, thanks for having me a lot. It's been addressed.
More of a play calling thing here, fifty seconds left.
CJ Ham is back. We get we're getting the push
up front today with the center with Jonavan Jackson left guard,
and our guys are big and they move well. I
would have loved to see like a power oh or
some type of you know, like stretch left there, just

(36:31):
just some type of run to chew the clock and
to set up a bit of a better pitch. And
I want the clock to be more of a focus
for KOC at the end of that game, especially with
today's kick rules, right, you get it at the thirty
five they need to go twenty five yards with a
lot of weapons. I would have loved to see that
fifty seconds used.

Speaker 11 (36:47):
A little more.

Speaker 19 (36:47):
And I know, you know, you never want to knock
on a touchdown, but just we were running the ball
well and you have already said, you know, we went
away from the run. I want to see the run
come back and the clock be a factor there.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Thanks guys, Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it, I will
say in their victories this year. I think the Vikings
average twenty six twenty seven rushing attempts in their losses,
it's eighteen. I think they had twenty two or twenty
three totes today. There was an early emphasis and they
got away with it. But yeah, to Nathan's point, earlier,
we did kind of talk about it. Just now they

(37:18):
have timeouts. I don't know how much time the Vikings.
You just can't get too cute in that spot. You
need six points. I wouldn't have minded a run in
that spot. But again, you're you're taking timeouts. This is
also we're looking back in hindsight. We got the kick return.
Do we take timeouts? Do we then kick it out

(37:39):
of the end zone? And then now they're at the
thirty five with fifty seconds and no, you can kind
of play, you know, the ripple effect of maybe a
different decision in this Choose your Own Adventure novel that
has us dropping off of cliffs left and right. With
this four and six record, But no, I thought there
was a better in totality.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
I thought there was a better focus on the run
than there had been.

Speaker 8 (38:00):
There's some quarterbacks though, that you play against that you're
thinking as an offensive coordinator. I can't leave too much
time on the clock, right Tom Brady, Drew brees Kechrick
mahomes See. I don't think Kayla Williams is. I mean, now,
he has had some cardiac moments this year, like they've
they've come from behind a lot this year. He won,
But I don't think Caleb Williams has earned that where
offensive coordinators or head coaches are thinking, oh, he's just

(38:23):
left too much time on the clock for Kayler Williams.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
By the way, how no Chicago.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Though, and it's going to be obnoxious because they are
the Bears in their arrival, but they did get that
Colston Lovelin bouncing off of safety against the Browns for
the long TD.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yep, he almost got again today.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
And then you had him running for the late TD
after the Giants punter. I mean they had to put
Russell Wilson in the game. I mean the Giants are
just cooked. But they get the ball at midfield and
like a minute fifty or something and Caleb runs in
the late TD to take the lead. Now they get
the walk off field goal today. You know, obnoxious to
clutch related conversations. Oh yeah, goodness, Well, let's pause and

(39:04):
let's let's regroup.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Because fan line continues. The team's four and six.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
They can't win at home, which is frustrating to say
the least.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Next up for them is Lambeau.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
But the Vikings at four and six, one and four
at home, they lose to the Bears today nineteen to seventeen.
I got full phone lines. I got a bunch more
talkbacks to play as we continue Vikings fan Line. This
is Kfan and the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network.

Speaker 12 (39:28):
Your home for all things Purple M one hundred point
three ks AN the fan.

Speaker 30 (39:43):
Than today you guys calling in from Washington, DC. To
be completely honest, my take on this game is JJ
McCarthy just needs to make throws. I think everyone calling
in here's overcomplicating it. If we make those first few
throws on the first drive.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
It's a completely different game.

Speaker 31 (40:00):
No one to blame but JJ on this one.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
A couple of double digit scoring drives allowed by the defense,
special teams, gaffes and penalties.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
Et cetera. Well, actually just too today.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
I don't know if we can put it all on
number nine, but I get where you're going with that
awful performance in totality. Sands that final drive by the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Afternoon Gentlemen Jr. And Portland, Oregon.

Speaker 32 (40:25):
Hey, I realized it's a loss, and we knew that
we were going to go through a lot of this
with JJ this year. But you know, my beef isn't
with what's going on in the offense.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Is not going on with the defense. It's our special teams.
They have consistently underperformed this year.

Speaker 32 (40:41):
And while I've seen definite improvements in the offensive line
and tells me the coach is going well, I think
it's time for us to seriously consider.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Finding a new special teams coach. Thanks, you're rid of
mister Daniels.

Speaker 33 (40:56):
The rest of this season is for Cardio, but there's
hope for next year. We'll have a last play schedule,
nine home games, hopefully not a West Coast Thursday night game.
Hopefully JJ is significantly better in year two. We still
have a lot of good players. Hopefully Quakey can nail

(41:17):
a draft.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
And away we go. Hey, guys, Jake from Mapleton.

Speaker 34 (41:25):
The biggest problem.

Speaker 26 (41:26):
Is Quazy the drafting ability.

Speaker 33 (41:30):
We haven't brought anyone in that can replace some of
these older guys, and that's gonna be an issue.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Going forward, sorry, rearing and something ahead right now.

Speaker 6 (41:40):
Injuries early in the season hasn't helped much, but the
depth is really.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Starting to show itself and lack thereof. So thanks a.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Lot, Thank you all talkbackers, Free iHeartRadio app Devin and
Indie Devin, Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 27 (41:58):
Hey, thanks to breaking my call.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Thank you.

Speaker 27 (42:03):
Yeah, lifelong Minnesota Vikings fans sat and watched Super Bowls eight, nine,
and eleven as a young fellaw and don't claim to
be an expert, but this is my team, and you know,
as far as I see, as far as KOC is concerned,
it's Kirk Cousins coaching my beloved Minnesota Vikings, and hopefully
it doesn't take six years to figure out that the

(42:26):
Vikings are not going to go anywhere the KOC as
a coach. Jay Mackin is who the football people said
he was. He throws those those fireballs all over the place.
He wasn't worth the first round pick, and the Vikings
did an extreme disservice not getting hardball.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
That's the head coach.

Speaker 27 (42:45):
That's all I got.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, I appreciate it, Devin.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Thank you, Mark and Breezy Point Mark, Welcome to Vikings
fan line.

Speaker 29 (42:53):
How you doing.

Speaker 35 (42:53):
Thank you for the call. I'm Mark from Breezy Point.
I just want to say that we need to stick
with JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 29 (43:03):
Kaos is a great coach and it's going to take
some time.

Speaker 35 (43:06):
And I've lived in Colorado for twenty years and John
Elway was coming up the same way that this young
man is. This young man has a lot of winning attitude.
We need to keep him and goal with this. This
is our team.

Speaker 29 (43:21):
We need to go with him. He will succeed.

Speaker 35 (43:24):
I guarantee you that, That's all I got to say.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
I appreciate him.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Mark.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Yeah, one guy get rid of Ko should add Arba.
Next guy's like Chao's terrific.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
I love it. Mike and Orlando. Mike, Welcome to Vikings
fan Line.

Speaker 36 (43:43):
Hey, I'm kind of going in between those two last calls.
I mean I think that I think the.

Speaker 27 (43:47):
Season is over.

Speaker 29 (43:48):
I think with two games.

Speaker 36 (43:49):
Against Green Bay, you've got a game against Detroit, a
game at Seattle, a game at New York, a game
in Dallas, you do play the Commanders at home. I mean,
the one or two losses are absolutely there, and that
gets you, you know, the seven to eight losses. But well,
I don't want to scare any fans, and I was
actually a big proponent of this guy. He wasn't given
a fair shot. I want to give you some statistics

(44:11):
on Tim Tebow through his first eighty two attempt threw
for six hundred and fifty four yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions,
with a quarterback rating of eighty two point one. Prior
to today's performance, one hundred and eight attempts for JJ
McCarthy six hundred and ninety three yards, five touchdowns, six interceptions,
quarterback rating of sixty five point eight with an average

(44:33):
attempt or an average completion yardage of six point four compared.

Speaker 10 (44:37):
To Chiebo's eight.

Speaker 36 (44:38):
Now, I'm just saying that we do need to give
McCarthy a fair shot.

Speaker 27 (44:44):
Tibo was never given a fair shot.

Speaker 36 (44:47):
So I'm glad that this season does look like it's
offer because JJ. There's no reason to make any other
move but to stick with JJ at quarterback and let's
see what happens. As far as KOs is concerned, I'm
quite amb erevalent. I'm a little bit frustrated with this season,
and you know, he's not going anywhere in the offseason.
We lost every game from here on out. But I'm

(45:09):
ambivalent right now. I'm a little bit numb after today's performance.
To be honest, I take a t bow comparison. Obviously
different quarterbacks, but just want to remind somebody of where
we are.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
No, I appreciate, I appreciate the call and the perspective. Yes,
very different qbs, but all in the same in the
same vein. And I'm not disagreeing with this and this
even today, sixteen to thirty two, a buck fifty two
picks and he's late, he's getting hit on the Bayered interception.
I just think it's a putrid throw on the pick
was Nashaun Wright?

Speaker 2 (45:41):
I mean, Nashaun Wright.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Is only playing because fifty members of the secondary it
feels like in Chicago are injured.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
And he's got a pick.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
He's got two interceptions, and one of them he took
back to the house on JJ McCarthy. It's insane, but
I appreciate the calls. Here's what we're going to do
is we are working your way towards wild hockey. It's
kind of a two topics Sunday in fact, so five
o'clock we're going to jump in the Minnesota Wild who
got a shutout with mister Valstead. They are hosting the

(46:11):
Golden Knights. That's at five PM. So we still have
several segments of fan line to go before we get
you to hockey, but we are going to say goodbye
to the greater Vikings Audio Network. Next time you hear
from us is eleven am on Sunday, another nooner, another
division game, but this time it's on the road. The
four and six Vikings are traveling to lambeau Field. That
is right from battering the Bears. We didn't get it

(46:32):
done today, so hopefully winning the border battle against green Bay.
We're going to cover this with sad Montaging at nine,
Power Trip Live at five point thirty, and work our
way to the boom a week from now against the
Green Bay Packers Flagship one hundred point three FM, the
Fan Free iHeartRadio app. You can continue to hear fan
line with Ron and I, but this has been Vikings

(46:53):
fan Line on Kfan and the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network
have an awesome Sunday.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Fan Vikings Fanline now continues on FM one hundred point
three Kfan and the Fan radio Network. Post game coverage
on the fan is presented by our broadcast partners, by
Will Shier, by Infinity, by TimberTech, and by your local
Chevy Dealers. Joined the conversation on Vikings fan Line by

(47:32):
sending us a talkback through the iHeart App, text the
studio at six four six eighty six, call eight hundred
three two oh five three two six, or send us
a message to any of our kfans social channels. Now
continuing to take your talkbacks, direct messages, and calls. This
is Vikings fan Line with Ron Johnson and kfan's Eric

(47:56):
norton Quist.

Speaker 20 (47:56):
What Up?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Welcome to Vikings fan Line.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
A half hour of Vikings conversation before puck drop. Minnesota Wild
hosting the Vegas Golden Nights and Vikings lose today, hoping
the hockey team gets two points and maybe that we
can end the day on a positive note because the
Vikings are now four and six. The Vikings are now
one and four at us Bank Stadium this season, so
they're not defending home turf.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
They just lost the division game. That hurts you make.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
The drive to go ahead late after I mean dismal, irritating,
You can insert your own adjectives. I think in terms
of the performance of the offense for the three and
a half quarters leading up to that go ahead drive,
But nineteen seventeen is the final after a long kick
return and then a field goal by Cairo Santos.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Ron Johnson's here on Nordo.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
Free iHeartRadio app talkback feature Let's hammer out a few
here talkbacks via the iHeartRadio app Let's go.

Speaker 34 (48:57):
All right, Vikings fans, All right, it's Jeff and Saint Paul.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Hey, Jeff Bears fan here. Oh but I live in
Saint Paul.

Speaker 34 (49:06):
Now I like that, so I listened to a lot
of k fan and pull for the Vikings when they're
not playing the Bears. First of all, Okay, shouldn't have
kicked us a ball? Yeah, fifty seconds, way too much
time left. Bears have been finding a way to not
Bears things up this year. I know you, Vikings fan.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Up two thirty seconds, Jeff appreciate. By the way, I
just have to be honest. For instance, if I lived
in Chicago, Jeff, you are much more mature and even
handed than I am. Because if I lived in the
Chicago Land area and I had to listen to the
score or listen to WBBM or whatever, I wouldn't root
for the Bears when they didn't play the Vikings. I

(49:50):
would root for the Bears to lose every single game.
That is the child in me, and I'm glad you've
risen beyond that to the talkback machine period.

Speaker 37 (50:00):
JJ first year, really his first year, and he's going
to grow into the position. I have all the confidence
that the team will jel and within a few years
we'll have success. My only worry is if our talent
will stay around long enough to find out.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Thanks enjoying the show, Thank you talkbacks.

Speaker 38 (50:25):
Hey Ron Nordo your ps guy here. I'm gonna go
full dad mode on you. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
I'm gonna hang up and listen.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Thanks you bs guy. Well put.

Speaker 14 (50:41):
After watching today's game and seeing where this team is currently,
I think the great Scott staff sums it up the
best home.

Speaker 39 (50:53):
Now I'm six feet from the end and I'm thinking, Hell,
maybe six speed ain't so fall down.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
I love it and I think you're right. Thank you
for the talkbacks. Keep them coming. Hey, Ron, can I
ask you this team loses today, They're six and four,
that's all negative. How how real do you believe? Because
last week Jefferson Addison seven catches twenty three targets, and

(51:27):
we're trying to read body language and to the to
the point, by the way, where Jefferson is even addressing
like attitude, level of frustration and such like. Those types
of questions were dominating his press conferences throughout the week,
and fans kind of fans are asking, did did Jefferson
like mail it in? You remember because he the two

(51:48):
picks and he didn't chase Malachi Starks across the field,
et cetera, and then he falls down on the one
that Humphrey grabbed later in the game. And talking about
the Ravens, of course, yep, step was see the kid
QBS throwing so many multi He's got so many multi
interception games.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
I have to specify the game in which the kid.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Throws two picks so that you understand exactly which one
I'm talking about. I'm talking about the Ravens game. My
point is, then fast forward to today. There were some
drops and some other things, kids missing wide open receivers
and such. How how difficult is it as a receiver
to avoid just I.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Mean, you're in it.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
You want to make that money, you want to make
the plays you want to score the points, you want
to win the game. No one's questioning that, or at
least I'm not, but man, i'd be irritated.

Speaker 8 (52:37):
Yeah, so you have to one, you have to draw
the outside noise because you know the people around them
are like, yo, you got to go, or Yo, this
is not good, bro.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Like what you know, Like.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
Could you potentially, like have a buddy who you're you're
just hanging out with during the week you're playing video
games or something like your buddies are going to even
be hitting you with are.

Speaker 8 (52:56):
You kidding with even if he likes if he's playing
like if you two k online and people know they're
playing with or against Justin Jefferson because we've seen now
NBA players playing with NFL players and so on, and
so even those guys are in a headset making comments.
You know, I think Justin Jefferson's team and him, they're
very smart to not allow that stuff to hit the internet.
You know, could you imagine Anthony Edwards if he had

(53:18):
to catch passes like this or deal with this like
he wouldn't you could not keep his mouth shut like
he would be talking non sty anything. Edwards doesn't care,
you know, what I mean, Like he'll call people out,
He'll he'll show frustration, he'll like he'll tell you exactly
like Justin Jefferson is kind of contained. But like in
the heat of the moment during the game and JJ
McCarthy said it, everybody's pissed off its stuff. You know,

(53:38):
even the kick return Kevin O'Connell got caught on camera
with the F bomb, you know, like, yeah, like it's
just it's it's just emotional. It's it's tough. But you
don't want to end up like AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts.
But but here's our I go with this, Norda. We
can put all the blame we want on some of
this stuff, but the simple stuff that makes all the

(53:59):
sense in the world, that doesn't make sense. And here's
why I go with this. On third down and one
to two yards to go, third down, one to two
yards to go. Who do you think is the worst
team in the NFL for conversion rate?

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Well, of course the Vikings are, because they throw it
all the time.

Speaker 8 (54:15):
Ten first downs, ten ten And the crazy part is
it's not like they haven't been there.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
What's that convert? So they're at thirty eight? Yeah, they're
at thirty eight percent, you know.

Speaker 8 (54:29):
But again it's it's how are you like twenty six
times down there and you're telling me you're only getting
ten first downs on third and one to two. Yeah,
you know, when you go look at another team, like
let's just say the LA Chargers because we're tricky though,
sixty five percent of the time they convert.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
The LA Chargers interesting because they run the ball, you know,
And that's not the top.

Speaker 8 (54:51):
The top, of course is you know, you got Miami
and Miami sucks.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Phillies should be up there, aren't they Phillies.

Speaker 8 (54:59):
Yeah, sixty eight percent for Philly the Dolphins on yet.
But here's the Dolphins only been in that situation fourteen times,
So it's kind of easy to have a high number
when you don't get there that much. But like the
Kamyne should be, like, you gotta have twenty or more
times in this situation to even comfort You're not big
enough to be on this ride Miami.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
But that's that's what I just.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
Wonder, is like when you have a powerback like Mason,
you have a fullback like CJ. Ham, you have a
tight end like Josh Oliver, you have an offensive Lineman,
like Christian Derris saw you have another one in Jackson.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
You have fries. Why are you not just running the ball?

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (55:30):
Well, like Kayleb Williams did those single quarter he didn't
even do the push push. He just did the quarterback
sneak old school with the way it was created back
when our grandfather's played football. Like, that's what the quarterback
sneak is supposed to look like, not a frigging dude
touching your button pushing you forward. That's that's created by
Philly because they're like, oh, we got an advantage, let's

(55:51):
let's push him forward, which is illegal, but whatever.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
I think it actually started when Sirianni was in Indy,
h I can.

Speaker 8 (55:58):
O c Yeah, well, Anthony when he saw the video
from Anthony Barr where he came up with that idea.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Nobody, I mean, Zim probably never would listen to him anyway,
but did you see that?

Speaker 8 (56:06):
He was like, what if he's just put a tight
end right behind a quarterback? Like there's a video of
him miked up on the sideline saying that there is. Yeah,
oh yeah, I tweeted it out. Hey, Mike's a smart guy.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Yeah, and he.

Speaker 8 (56:14):
Said, hey, what if you put a tight end behind
the quarterback is just pushing forward. And I think Harrison
Smith or er kids are sitting next to him and
they're like, they kind of do the like maybe, but
they're also like, dude, shut up, stop talking to me,
you know, but look here we are touch push. Anthony
Barr had created the toush push before it even happened,
and Mike Zimmer didn't listen to him.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
That's Ron Johnson. I'm Nordo.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
Max Fuller is producing a couple more segments to go here.
As we get we transitioned from a four and six
football team to a hockey team trying to make it
two in a row two days and ago. We dig
that with the Wild hosting the Vegas Golden Knights. Phone
calls and talkbacks continuing on plus your local Chevy Dealers
drive of the game as the Vikings lose nineteen to
seventeen to the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Today it's Vikings fan line on the fan.

Speaker 20 (56:59):
Ar Seriously, hey guys, it's Marshall and minnetaka. Not signing
Aaron Rodgers was organizational about practice. JJ McCarthy may turn
out to be the guy, but he didn't even practice
all year last year. He's twenty two years old. He

(57:21):
could have been practicing all year this year. Aaron Rodgers
was holding out to be on this team, a top
five quarterback of all time. No, he's not what he
used to be. But you can't tell me we wouldn't
have had three or four more wins with Rogers.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Behind that old line to start the season. Marshall, who
could have been trouble. But I get the sentiment here podcasts.

Speaker 40 (57:45):
This is Eric from Highland Park, just going to be
a hot take here, real quick, first.

Speaker 35 (57:49):
Time listener, longtime caller.

Speaker 15 (57:53):
Vikings going to sweep the rest of the season, playoff,
super Bowl, Let's go home boys.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
I like it.

Speaker 40 (58:00):
Okay, Hey guys, I've noticed that on the odd years
KOC and the Vikings have poor records and something happens,
either there's injuries or something and there's just a poor record.

Speaker 31 (58:11):
So take a look at it. Maybe I'm right or wrong,
who knows. The other thing is JJ is also a
new quarterback. And if you look at Bryce Young today,
like we've been laughing at him and here he had
three touchdowns and three hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
So we just have to be patient as well. So
let's be patient. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
Impressive work by the Carolina Panthers, establishing one of the
better running attacks in the NFL while assisting mister Young,
No doubt about it.

Speaker 41 (58:37):
Talkback machine, Hey guys, this is TJ from Bargo, North Dakota. Hey,
I'd like to talk about the special teams coach Ope.
This team notoriously has holding calls on kick returns and
then happened again today on a long return by Price,
plus the terrible kickoff that's set up the game winning
field goal. Maybe it's just me, but I think this

(59:00):
is part of the problem.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Also, thank you, Yeah, thank you, Yes, But I mean
they're just that cannot happen, TJ. That can happen special
teams gap, specifically the penalties that have taken some yards
off the table from Miles Price, who sand you know,
save for those two fumbles that he had, has been
I mean, just a revelation.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
In the return game for this team. One more talkback
and then we'll pause. Hey guys, Mike from Sales Saint
Paul here checking in. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 26 (59:30):
Uh yeah, I hate to rip on the kid quarterback.

Speaker 21 (59:33):
But I haven't seen a game like that since PA's
guy Donovan McNabb throwing grounders.

Speaker 10 (59:40):
It was bad, it was ugly.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
You hide the women and children, get them out of there.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Thank you for all the talkbacks today. We are going
to pause one more time. I'll give you the local
Chevy Dealers drive of the game, and then I guess
we're going to try and spin this thing in terms
of turning the page and looking ahead to Lambeau and
the Packers. There's another division matchup, it's the Border Battle
at Lambeau a week from now. But the team's four
and six. Are you starting to change your perspective to

(01:00:09):
just see how the QB does the rest of the
year and start thinking about the draft, Like I wonder
where heads are at in this moment. We'll chat a
bit about that as we put a wrap on Vikings
fan Line around the corner right here on the fan yea.
The final segment Vikings fan Line features the local Chevy
Dealers drive of the game. Thank you as always to
our local Chevy Dealers. And this one is going to

(01:00:31):
be well, I mean it's pretty obvious, right ten plays
eighty five yards. Team absolutely had to have it down
ten to six in the fourth quarter, and it culminated
with this.

Speaker 42 (01:00:40):
Macarthy shotgun first intent from the Bear's fifteen. Addison in
motion to the left, takes the snap. Now a four
man rush McCarthy to the end zone.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Yeah, Jo, listen, just in the nick of time. How
we're tied.

Speaker 42 (01:00:59):
Pets six Jane, JJ McCarthy, well done.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Mat made the score after reikerd hit the extra points
seventeen sixteen. That is your local Chevy Dealers drive of
the game. Thank you to the local Chevy Dealers. Sadly
they left too much clock for Caleb as it was
Cairo Santos with a walk off forty eight yard field

(01:01:26):
goal on fourth down and the Vikings lose nineteen seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
They're now four and six. Where's your head at?

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
Just a couple of minutes left here and then Minnesota
Wild hosting the Vegas Golden Knights.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Let's get two points tonight. That'd be sweet.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
Volstead I think two shutouts in a row in net.
I assume if he went last night it'd be gus
bust tonight. We shall see. But back to the Vikings
Ron just kind of final thoughts. This is a four
and sixteen where we got to be patient with the
QB who save for that final drive was dreadful today,
there's no other getting just JJ mccarth. Theat was dreadful

(01:02:01):
except for one drive. How do you change or maybe
you don't change your expectations. It's a border battle week,
Let's go beat the Packers. These ones always matter. You're
gonna find, you know, the get up level and the
compete high in these types of games always, but just
from you as as on the outset you're not playing
this weekend. How do you change or not change your

(01:02:22):
expectations for a team that needed that one today, didn't
get it, needed one last week against the Ravens, didn't
get it. Now they're staring at four and six, and
the idea of this muddy NFC finding your way into
a playoff spot just only continues to get smaller and
smaller in that mirror.

Speaker 8 (01:02:38):
Yeah, I don't know if you change your expectations at
this point, Like ten games in, JAJ McCarthy is probably
who they're gonna go with, right the Max Brosmer conversation,
I'm guessing you're gonna hear more of it depending on
how this game goes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
I'm just kind of ignoring that.

Speaker 8 (01:02:52):
And Twitter is gonna blow up about it. You know
people were booing during the game by the end of
the day. Jase McCarthy needs a simpler offense. I just
think like the up temples off at the end of
the game was perfect for him, Like he did not
have to think the defense backed up pretty much because
when you go up tempo, you can't really blitz.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
So I think that's the expectation for this week.

Speaker 8 (01:03:11):
You know, you just have to make it simple and
go out there against a Packers team who's a little
bit wounded, but you know they got to win as well,
so or sorry, they got to win and Vikings didn't.
So now you just got to kind of play for
pride at this point and hope you can back your
way into a playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
Thanks as always, man, good to see you, know you too.
I wish we had better news for you. Vikings lose
nineteen to seventeen. They are four and six. Next up
the Packers and noon or at Lambeau ten am pre
game right here on the Flagship eleven am pre game
on the Greater Vikings Audio Network, and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Then the boom at noon in Green Bay.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Vikings trying to beat those six three and one Bears
for Ron Johnson thanks to Max Fuller as well.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
I'm Eric Nordquist.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
This has been Vikings Fan Line on Kfan Fan Radio Network,
Vikings Audio Network, all.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Of that stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Right around the corner, the Minnesota Wilde are hosting the
Vegas Golden Knights in your home for all sports the fan.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Have a great night.