#92Noon! 11am Hour 11/11 Kevin O’Connell, Pete Bercich!

#92Noon! KOC - The Analyst

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pols Fans is a Timberwolves talk back Tuesday where you
got your shot at take us to the Saturday's print
inspired City edition games at the microphone on the Kfan
page of the iHeartRadio app give us your best dunk call.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Winners will be selected and emailed all day long.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Fullest of rules, kfan dot Com keywer Contest.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Welcome Back final hours upon us nine to noon and
patiently awaiting the arrival of head coach Kevin O'Connell. XES
and o's with head coach Kevin O'Connell on a weekly basis.
You hear it on Wednesday evenings of course, but it'll
be live nine to noon and these six and three Bears.
I thought we did a good job kind of kind
of laying out just some of the oddities of this

(00:48):
six and three Bears team. Next up on the docket
at noon or at US Banks Stadium, impromptu performance the
analyst and Chicago Land native Pete Bursich hanging out in
studio for a couple of minutes when we open the
show today, just kind of looking into the oddities of
the Bears. Whether this is a defense Pete that has
twenty takeaways a plus fourteen in the.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
Take give, No, they don't give it away.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
They don't give it away at all.

Speaker 5 (01:14):
They take it, but they don't give it.

Speaker 6 (01:15):
That's that's a the other side to that other edge
to that blade exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
And it's so they're they're very selfish, but apparently in
a good way from that part of things. But this
run game, man, it's like one hundred and eighty on
the ground over this four and one stretch since the bye.
Very different team, I think even than what we saw
week one at Soldier Field. What are some things that
pop for you with the Bears in town this weekend?

Speaker 6 (01:41):
All right? What do you want to begin to talk
about offensively? That offensive line? THEO benedet I believe is
how you pronounce it. Canadian kid played left tackle. He's okay, okay,
he'd be a guy to go after. Toony's good, Dolmond's good.
Jonah Jackson, we know of them. Darnell Wright is kind
of a jekylin hide where some you'll you'll see he's

(02:01):
He's the guy that you're gonna see the the Twitter
highlights on about him just killing people. Sure, but what
they don't show you are the five times he takes
a swing and a miss. Right, So yeah, a good front.
Not the best offensive line that we've seen, but but
certainly not bad. I think what stands out to me
watching them is just how Ben Johnson is, uh aggressive,

(02:25):
That's what's That's what he's trying to implement and change
with this with this Bears team. Fourth down and whatever,
we're going for it, we're you know, we we gotta
we get a turnover. They get a turnover against I'm sorry,
I had a fourth down stop right at midfield against
the against the Giants. What's the next play I'm sorry
was after a turnover?

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Go deep? Yeah, throwing it deep.

Speaker 6 (02:43):
DJ DJ Moore is the guy, right, So he's trying
to instill that attitude in this Bears offense. Take what
we saw in which we haven't seen out of Chicago
maybe ever so maybe since they invented the forward pass,
we haven't seen this type of you know, aggressive down
the field passing game from a Bears team, and he's
trying to get them to do that. We've seen the

(03:04):
Lions progress from you know, the loser Lions to what
they are now, and you're kind of seeing an unfold
in front of you. You know in front of your eyes
right now. So just a different attitude. All right, well
I got I've been up, I've been you surped.

Speaker 7 (03:18):
Yes you have that. Hey, thank you.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Pete Bursage at Pete Bursich I in the Sky podcast
on YouTube, not the Allen Parsons project, but the Pete
Bursage project. You can search via YouTube at Pete Bursige
five six and of course you can hear him Mondays
hopefully after a Vikings victory this upcoming Monday, thanks to
Sue Cup Manufacturing.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Always appreciate Pete Bursich's.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Inclusion nine to noon as as I get my head
out of the camera's way and uh we just we
we yield.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
The floor to the box. And the coach, Kevin O'Connell,
coach of the Minnesota Vikings, joins us each and every
Tuesday at about this time in the business we call
it x's And if you're hearing it live on Tuesday, welcome.
If you're watching it at Vikings dot com, welcome. If
you're hearing it Wednesday evening with the playback at x'es
and o's, welcome to you too. And the head coach

(04:11):
joins us, Now, how are the wife and kids. And
how are Bill and Suzanne doing well?

Speaker 8 (04:18):
No pool jumps this past weekend as you as you saw,
my dad after the Lions game jumped in his non
heated San Diego pool, as did your mom, just about
everybody did. But unfortunately, no no pool pool jumps this
past Sunday.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
But there was there was some pool jumping. Yeah there
was pool though, but no diving board.

Speaker 7 (04:42):
No, that's right, yeah, no it was.

Speaker 8 (04:44):
You know, they're doing well, kids are doing well, excellent,
fighting through a little got some got a sick kid
at home, but you know we're fighting through it a
little bit for you any listeners out there going through
the same four children?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Right, Yes, so you have sick kid, which means you're
going to have six sick kids.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
Zah, exactly eventually.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
But like a lot of things, it too shall pass,
like a lot of things. And and we welcome Kevin
to the show. Now let me ask you this question.
Bill and Suzanne plaid. Things are well, Leah and the
kids right on Chicago's plus fourteen and the take give
with the League best twenty takes.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
How's that happening?

Speaker 8 (05:20):
Well, I think they you know, they've given up some yards,
they've owned up some plays, but they have really, you know,
very similar to us a year ago.

Speaker 7 (05:29):
If you think about it.

Speaker 8 (05:29):
Defensively, we were leading the league in turnovers and it
felt like all those extra possessions gave us a lot
of opportunities to win games, you know, tight games, games
where we needed to you know, find a rhythm offensively,
and we were able to do that.

Speaker 7 (05:44):
And I think it's been very similar.

Speaker 8 (05:45):
You know, they've been able to force some big turnovers
and some big moments and it's ultimately led to it's
ultimately led to you know, those guys having chances to
win a lot of games. They've you know, Ben's done
a great job, you know, with that entire team, and
I think has kind of really centered on, hey, we're
going to force turnovers. We might give up a play
here or there, but we're going to be explosive in

(06:07):
forcing turnovers getting to the quarterback at times. They've got
a nice third down pressure package that's been very successful
for him, allowing them to get to the quarterback and
definitely a challenge, as we learned in the opener, it
took us a good bit there to find a rhythm
and then when we did, we were able to move
it and score.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
Dallas Turner.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
I heard the press conference yesterday and I'm you know,
how can the league look at that sack and find
any problem with it? And as a teacher like you are,
you're a coach, but you're a teacher, Well, how does
one teach and subsequently how does one learn to avoid
whatever one allegedly did wrong.

Speaker 8 (06:45):
Yeah, you're here a lot during training camp, Pa Pete,
I think you're here every day, but you guys will
see those guys doing drills on the heavy bag or
on the tall bags of getting to the you know,
simulating getting to the quarterback, you know, striking and legally
you know, understanding where the strike zone is. And then
the last phase of it that has become a big

(07:06):
part of the league of protecting quarterbacks is that you know,
you know, fully putting your body weight on top of
the quarterback is as he goes down. It's probably the
part of roughing the passer that you know, if if
a lot of the old school NFL fans and guys
that used to sack the quarterback a lot in the league.
I've talked to a lot of our former you know,

(07:27):
Vikings legends that look at that and say, how in
the world can that be a penalty? But the way
the line by line rule of rough in the passer
is now, it is indeed a penalty. And you just
got to try to find a way to slide, you know,
off to the side in any way, shape or form
now and it's very, very difficult to do. I've always
sounds like it's gonna lead to a face mask and well,
either that or you know, you're going to have a

(07:48):
guy missing some opportunities on sacks because they're you know,
trying to maybe start that process to slide to the
side early. Or quarterbacks, you know, unfortunately they do they
do move. You know, Jonathan Grenard, quarterback, didn't move. Jonathan
Garnard would have about ten sacks right now with how
much he's gotten to the quarterback.

Speaker 7 (08:05):
And that's just part of it.

Speaker 8 (08:06):
But it makes it very difficult for these guys to
play violently and physically and defeat blocks. And then when
they arrive at the quarterback, there's a whole new set
of rules that are in play, and they've been you know,
it's been a few years now, that rule and we understand.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
It, okay, well, and this is you know, this is
not like Paul Allen Homer announcer guy, because in the
game at Ford Field, honestly, I thought there were two
calls against the Lions that I thought were garbage, And
when Pete and I are calling the game, I'm like, well,
I don't get that man Hutchinson, whomever else it was,
So that this is just trying to get a hold

(08:42):
of it on a week to week basis, because we've
seen somebody sack hit and then huh they lunge their
body super heavy on top of the guy. That wasn't it,
And so okay, so now if you wrap up around
the waist on the sack, well your full body weights
still coming down on somebody.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
I I just don't understand. Well, I think the press conference.

Speaker 8 (09:06):
Yesterday, kay, we've had some you know, we had a
week to week instance of an interpretation of the rule
and you know, I not I know, it was discussed
a little bit and it ended up being, you know,
ruled a clean play when there was fast motioned down
by a receiver and uh, kind of a pseudo crack
black crack block on GAMEK on a screenplay. He ended

(09:28):
up making the play on the play. But we just
wanted clarity, So we got a little clarity, and then
we're told that was legal because of this, this and this,
so you know, and then we have a circumstance with
Adam Thielen there on a pretty critical down where you know,
based upon some of those interpretations, we're trying to you know,
we're trying to execute kind of a pick play there

(09:49):
and you know at ad or behind the line of scrimmage,
and you have to try to make that legal. They
determined it wasn't. There was a there was some levels
to it that kind of seemed like they were working
through it. But what I've learned in my four years
time is, you know, crew to crew there's going to
be just different interpretations of how they see, depending on formations,

(10:11):
depending on things it's happening fast out there. Those officials
have a very very difficult job. But I've just learned
that week to week, you know, the line could be
read from the rule book the same way, but might
be played out a little differently.

Speaker 7 (10:24):
And that's part of football.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
McArthur, your quarterback, who in your estimation, would be the
best quarterback in the history of Minnesota Vikings football all
the way back to sixty one. It would be fran
Tarkt fran Tarkenton hof right, so that that would be
the statistical and realistic right answer. In fran Tarkinson's first
four starts, he threw one touchdown in six interceptions. He

(10:48):
completed fifty percent of his passes in his yards per
attempt was a whopping five and a half five and
a half, fair to say, and he ended up in
the Hall of Fame. Fair to say. With young and
arians quarterbacks, there have been and will be performance related swings. Yeah,
is it just fair to say that?

Speaker 8 (11:08):
Yeah, I think it's just, uh, you know, there's gonna
be natural growing pains that sometimes unearthed themselves where you
know it could be the same rep from a practice
rep that was I mean, Jaja had an unbelievable week
of practice last week, maybe one of the best Friday
practices we've.

Speaker 7 (11:24):
Had around here in a long time. And and that
went for our whole team.

Speaker 8 (11:28):
But then when you get into the games and just
you know, snaps accumulating on top of each other from
a standpoint of you know, protections and you know, getting
hit as you're throwing on certain plays. Even when I
thought I thought our old line did a pretty decent
job protecting them and giving them some clean pockets. What
was the pocket movement like, did you move into some
issues where maybe there's three or four more completions if

(11:51):
we're not getting a block shot from one of those
d linemen as we're navigating the you know, the the
home base of the pocket, and that can our tackles.
We're doing a good job set in the width for
the most part, and sometimes it's a subtle climb instead
of two or three climbs, just things that as you
watch the tape, I mean, it's incredibly powerful learning moments,
and we're you know, we're talking about the player's fourth

(12:14):
start as you mentioned. But all of that being said,
I think he's really shown some real flashes of the
true competitor. And this guy is out there given absolutely
everything he possibly can. And as we've talked about, sometimes
it's not the scramble, you know and put yourself at
harm's way, it's just check it down to Hawkinson on

(12:34):
the back side of the formation for a game eight.
He did it a couple times in the game to
Jordan Mason on one Aaron Jones on another.

Speaker 7 (12:41):
Play action.

Speaker 8 (12:42):
They were combined games of twenty between the two completions,
and I hit the headset and told him that might
be my favorite play of the day right there. Wow,
just because it's just the understanding of a shot called
not necessarily meaning a shot taken completion mindsets, no matter
what the variation of the play is.

Speaker 7 (13:00):
And and it became.

Speaker 8 (13:02):
Difficult for our whole group, you know, being behind the chains,
you know, due to the self inflicted things that we
had pre snapped the other day. And you would have
loved to see some of those plays, you know, earn
first downs off of runs, maybe stack some more runs.
I would have loved to see it, because that's, you know,
what our plan was going into the game. But plans
are always something that need to be adjusted to try to.

Speaker 7 (13:24):
Win the football games.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Kevin with and you just mentioned it with with the
tip passes at the line, is it or as you
would say, block shots, is it mostly an offensive lineman's
job to present, as you would say, those block shots
to prevent that is? Or does most of it fall
on the quarterback?

Speaker 7 (13:44):
It's hard to put it all on the old lineman.

Speaker 8 (13:45):
We teach techniques to try to get hands down if
guys want to leave their feet. The next thing they
should find is the earth from a standpoint and d
lineman leaving his feet, we should be you know, legally
putting that player on the ground.

Speaker 5 (13:59):
Don't have somebody follow on him with the body wage.

Speaker 8 (14:03):
But it's also it's also you know, some of those
whether it's technique and fundamentals of eliminating some internal penetration,
some push, you know, away from the slide side.

Speaker 7 (14:13):
There was actually the throw.

Speaker 8 (14:16):
Where we jj maybe one of the most impressive throws
you know, we've had this year when he threw about
it was second and fifteen. He threw about a twenty
five yard strike to the front line and justin many
many times has come down with that ball. He didn't
in that case. But that was even following through some
of that push. But then other times there was issues

(14:36):
in the game where just the great initial pocket movement,
finding that home base and that safe space in the pocket,
but then continuing to allow that momentum to take him
right up into the back of either a Blake or
a Donovan or a Fries And then those guys Baltimore
was huge in the interior. They weren't really dynamic rushers,

(14:58):
but they affected the quarter by getting either push or
when they were blocked, they were getting their hands up
and getting their hands on some footballs, which were critical
because all all four of the block shots. You know,
you know, it's easy for me to sit back and
say they're all completions, but when you turn on the
tape and see, you know, Jordan Edison on a backside
indn't cut wide open, or yeah, you know the third

(15:20):
and third and three in the red zone before we
went forward on fourth and three, I mean, that is
a walk in touchdown up, you know, as he wraps
around that linebacker, which would have been a phenomenal progression
play by JJ. He did everything right, just a little
bit too much movement. And you know what, the first
thing he said yesterday when I was watching the game
with him was, you know, if I could just settle

(15:41):
down on that second or third hitch, and I you know,
got a big smile on my face and I said,
what do you think we're going to be working on
this week? And then that's that's where we're at right
now and having a blast doing it with him, but
we've got to find a way to win football games
at the same time.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
I mean, the way you just explain that and as
smart as you are, you can use that to your advantage.
You know what's happening in front of you. I mean,
now we're getting cute and tricky. Here hold the ball
a little longer, but like fakes and they go up
because we know everybody blocks your shots. Oh wow, you know,
and then something with it. I just said, that's generally
how people like you think. Taking something that it may

(16:16):
be bugging you're not working great, use it to your advantage.

Speaker 8 (16:19):
Hey, well, that's the thing with the block shots is
working great, And the result of the play end up
being such a stark contrast of what the actual reality
was and doesn't bode well for kind of you know,
digesting what happened. You know, either from the chalk you know,
where we stand on the sidelines, or from the stands
or up where you call the game.

Speaker 7 (16:39):
It doesn't make it any easier for any of us.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
M M.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
That's Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. This
is nine to now. We have a talkback coming a
little later on a talkback Tuesday for the head coach,
and he did mention fall starts, so end of the equation,
what what mostly played into the fall starts and do
we need former FBIA and Bill to investigate if the

(17:02):
Ravens were illicitly mocking cadence leading to the jumps.

Speaker 7 (17:06):
Yeah, they weren't at all.

Speaker 8 (17:08):
Now, I mean there may have been some move calls
and things because a couple of them, actually two of
them took place on the same the same play was
called where we were simply set in the front with
emotion and and trying to get another run off and
and uh, at the same time, JJ went through his
initial cadence to make sure we were good with the

(17:29):
run play that was called.

Speaker 7 (17:31):
We had a flinch, you know, both times, and they're just.

Speaker 5 (17:33):
A series of errors.

Speaker 8 (17:35):
But there was other examples. I mean, there was one
where you know, JJ had you know, he was thinking
about snapping this ball on a timely cadence where we
wouldn't let the motion get reset, and in his mind
he said one thing and and and when he got
to the line of scrimmage, he you know, that was
one that was called on him. And then there were
some other times where you know, we were trying to
communicate up front a little bit during said cadence and

(17:57):
there was just some confusion there. I think we've got
to have crisper huddle operation.

Speaker 7 (18:03):
You know, I'm a big fan.

Speaker 8 (18:04):
I've said this before of if the huddle is clean,
everybody breaks the huddle with total absolute certainty of play formation,
play motion, whatever it is, and ultimately have that you know,
clean huddle break. It normally leads to clean execution for
sure in the pre snap and we absolutely were totally

(18:24):
crushed by it the other day because they were all
on you know, like I said yesterday, five out of
the eight we're on earn first down or first down
where we were stacking momentum within a drive. And it's
been a theme all season long, is stacking positive plays
and when we do that, we're able to move the
ball and score with some pretty consistent performance. And then

(18:46):
when we have those and I certainly have my hand
in it, it is absolutely something that I've got to try
to find a way to limit those negatives that happen
post snap with the play call selections. And I absolutely
can continue to fit what this team this year does
well with how we call these games, but at the
same time, we need that total focus and absolute certainty

(19:09):
of what my job.

Speaker 7 (19:10):
Is pre and post snap.

Speaker 8 (19:12):
As an all eleven group, and good things happen for
the Vikings offense when we do that, and that's what
we're going to continue.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
To Chase Well said, the team's response off the Chargers
loss was terrific, and that of professionalism, efficiency and ferocity
likewise off Atlanta, Cincinnati paid for it. So I would
imagine you're absolutely expecting the same noon this Sunday against
the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 8 (19:37):
Yeah. I just know we've got we've got the group
that they'll respond, they'll band together there as they're as
focused as they've been all season long. And what I've
challenged these guys for even going into last week was
we need to start showing at this point in time
in the season that we've got that competitive stamina to

(19:58):
do it week in and week out consistently in games
without the lapses of times, in games where we allow
our opponents to recapture momentum if we have it, or
it becomes further and further away from our grasp.

Speaker 7 (20:11):
And that's where we're at in the season.

Speaker 8 (20:13):
And it's great to have the response, and I know
our guys will put together a heck of a week
of practice and be.

Speaker 7 (20:18):
Ready to go Sunday.

Speaker 8 (20:20):
But We've got to start seeing it consistently to give
us a chance to get to where we want to get.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
To before we close and get into some bears minutia
into the we're heading into the tenth game. Now, why
do you think there are just three interceptions? Like, why
do you think you guys have just three interceptions through nine?

Speaker 8 (20:41):
Yeah, it's obviously been a pretty big difference from last year,
all those extra possessions and those game changing plays. I
think we talk a lot about tips and overthrows and
we've had I think we had three or four the
other day where the ball was up in the air.

Speaker 7 (20:55):
And it finds the turf at us Bank Stadium. It's
just not.

Speaker 8 (21:00):
At least in the short term things that you know,
over the last few games you're thinking about as a
coach of.

Speaker 7 (21:06):
And I know Flow thinks about them.

Speaker 8 (21:07):
How do we continue to find ways to cause disruption
and see if we can get opportunities at the football.

Speaker 7 (21:14):
Those things have a way of working out.

Speaker 8 (21:15):
And if you know, if we if they awarded the
you know, the turnover margin winner at this point, you know,
I think a lot of teams would sign up for that.

Speaker 7 (21:26):
We would not be one of them.

Speaker 8 (21:27):
We want to go ahead and get this thing back
where it belongs. It's a very very important thing. I
look at every game with this year's team as a
line of scrimmage game from a standpoint of, you know,
our our fronts on both sides of the ball having
an impact on the other team's front, and then Pa,
we got to be all about the ball. We got
we got to start winning the turnover battle. We're thirty
three and four when we break even or better since

(21:50):
I've been coaching this team, and you show up to
the stadium even, and that's on us to keep it
that way or improve our standards there.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Chicago is oh and too. The year versus the NFC North.
The last five, the Bears out of the by four
and one, lost to the Ravens with Tyler Huntley not
Lamar Jackson. Last five, they've run one at one eighty
five eclipse under and eighty five yards eclip. What what's
that doing to help them win?

Speaker 8 (22:15):
Well, they're they're they're running the ball, They're running all
the complimentary plays off of their run game. I think
their O line has really gelled when you watch them,
you know, I think the acquisitions they made in the offseason.
I think their right tackles. You know, Darnell's turning into
one of the better right tackles in football, and they
and they they were able to kind of solidify that

(22:37):
left tackle spot that seemed to be kind of up
for grabs there for a little bit. But they're playing,
they're gelling, and then I think what that's allowing them
is not to be so drop back oriented in the
early downs. You're just you're seeing a lot more of
the deeper play actions. You're seeing a lot more of
the keepers, the movement game, the screen game off of

(22:58):
their run game. And you know what we've got to
try to do is stop that run game and force
them to be a little bit more of a one
dimensional team, you know, by putting them behind the chains
first and fifteen second and longs things like that.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yes, sir, uh Wide reserve wide receiver DJ Morris three touchdowns,
one receiving, one rushing, one passing. The Jefferson pass Sunday
was a beauty. How do you know when to run
tricks like that?

Speaker 8 (23:26):
Well, you're you're attempting to call them in uh, you know,
in moments where we've had we've had several called this
year where we just didn't get the look and we
end up, you know, canning the play, changing the play
to something else and coming back to it again and
trying to get the look and trying to get the look.
That was a little bit more of a longer yardage
situation where kind of a breather play for JJ where

(23:49):
he doesn't have to drop back and read the defense
and make protection calls, and we elicit the response that
Justin gets when we throw them the ball. Now, ideally,
you know, in a world where you get the exact
look you want for the play and there's one player
to block and you have three linemen to block them,
ideally you'd like to find a way to get those
yards to sub hurt and then we would have started

(24:09):
the game four or four on third down and what
does that look like? There was some frustration there just overall,
just you know, one or two guys just understanding a
little bit more about you know, what we were looking
for there.

Speaker 7 (24:22):
And that's on me.

Speaker 8 (24:23):
That's got to give the clarity to these guys, because
I know when I do it, they.

Speaker 7 (24:27):
Respond and perform.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Saving the best for last, it involves the Jalens first,
the guy on offense.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
Here's the talkback. Good morning, coach O'Connell.

Speaker 9 (24:36):
This is Corey from Thelouf, Minnesota. That Jalen naylor performances
past Sunday against the Ravens was absolutely electric. My question
for you is going forward, will opposing defenses have to
pay more attention to Speedy and will that open up
more targets for Jets Addison and Hockinson.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
Thanks for your time and I hope you have a
great day.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
Thanks Bob.

Speaker 7 (24:58):
Yeah, it's a great question.

Speaker 8 (24:59):
And really we've been you know, you and I have
talked about Speedy a lot on this show. Just any
chance I get publicly to talk about him, because it's
not always.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Since two preseasons ago when you featured him in the preseason.

Speaker 7 (25:10):
Yeah, it's just not always.

Speaker 8 (25:11):
The ball doesn't always find him, but it did this
past Sunday, and and and he was, you know, absolutely fantastic.
Some third down some big third down plays, some explosives
and and and Speedy is just playing fast, he's playing
through contact. He's getting a lot of one on ones
because of Jordan and Justin and TJ.

Speaker 7 (25:30):
And there's a lot of featured coverage to take away
some of those guys.

Speaker 8 (25:34):
Sometimes and Speedy goes to work in those moments and
we got to continue to give him opportunities to do that.
But yes, I think the second part of that question
is accurate. You've got to really decide, you know, when
we're able to throw the ball outside of our consistent
commitment to running the ball, you got to really decide
how you want to handle the weapons that we do have,

(25:54):
because justin Jordan Speedy, tj Aaron Jones out of the
backfield have proven to be playmakers that can change the
game at any time and really elicit a response from
the defense that helps kind of make everything go. And
we've just got to find a way to make those
plays eliminate the negatives. Run the football consistently, and when

(26:16):
we get to those weighty downs and those third downs,
those red zone opportunities like we did in the game
the other day, Jalen Naylor had two big conversions on
third down and he had a fourth down touchdown when
we absolutely had to have it to keep that game
within reach.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
And lastly, the Jalen's saving the best for last. I mean,
you know, the early part of the game, I think
he had six tackles in a quarter and a half
something like that.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Jalen Redmond was all over the place.

Speaker 7 (26:40):
He's been fantastic.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
The story is unbelievable if you get into the depth
of the blood clots and his best friend died at
age twenty three, and you know everybody gave up on him.
Carolina made it exposed him not a negative way, but
other teams can come get him. You know, he had
a calf strain. Couldn't figure out what was going on.
It was blood related. Quiet going kind of guy, but

(27:04):
he is just a rolling ball of butcher knives on
that defensive line getting around, specifically these bigger offensive linemen.
I thought in the first half, I thought, that's as
good a work against the run as I've ever seen
him do.

Speaker 7 (27:16):
And he's lined up absolutely everywhere.

Speaker 8 (27:18):
I mean, you've seen him at defensive end, you've seen
him at nose, you've seen him at three technique. I mean,
he is capable of just about anything. And we really
have needed that just with the versatility of Jalen Redman
allows Hargrave and Jonathan Allen to be not only in
their multiple spots they're comfortable at, but playing the play

(27:38):
style that we brought them here to do and that's
been big over these last couple of weeks seeing that
come to life. But I'm so glad you asked about him,
and he has been a phenomenal, phenomenal story. And if
you see him walking the halls around here, he's never
ever had a bad day, you know, since.

Speaker 7 (27:54):
I've had him.

Speaker 5 (27:55):
Same with Elijah Williams.

Speaker 8 (27:57):
It's it's it really is remarkable because those guys have Yeah,
you know, I've seen some d lineman now have some
bad days just because they got to be down there
in the trenches all day long. But Jalen Redmond has
had some swagger about him and his performances have been fantastic.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
Why why I.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Laughed when I mentioned Elijah up undrafted from Morgan State,
worked his tail op at the active roster. I don't
know if he had been on too many airplanes, you know,
It's like he was so wide eyed with these cities
teams get to fly to in the hotels and the wow.
I mean, he's just so authentic and fantastic, just like
Jalen Redmond, just like you tear it up this weekend,

(28:35):
all right, appreciate you and we will preview lambeau.

Speaker 5 (28:38):
Field next week.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
That's Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and
I'm Paul Allen. That's x's and o's.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
We'll be right back, And.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
You had to go crazy Wolves fans.

Speaker 7 (28:48):
The debut the Friends.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Inspired City Edition uniforms.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
It's happening this Saturday against the Denver Nuggets and you
could be there. Check out our contest page here. You
can win a parenting as a Saturday's game to be
the first experience of uniforms, the Prince Inspired Court, and
a whole lot more. Kf an dot com keyword contest
enter today.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Now we can't have the analyst for the Vikings radio
network stop by as buffer while the announcer waits for
the head coach to come down for x's and no's,
and then and then all of a sudden, well, well,
the reason I bring this up is because then we
just respectfully move Pete Bursig from a chair kind of
like it reminded me of a story you told this

(29:57):
morning at a speaking engagement you and I had together
at the museum about about well, why don't you share it?
It was about when you were at Notre Dame you
got benched or something like that.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
What happened. Well, here's a fascinating story. My sophomore year,
I'm playing. I'm playing middle linebacker with with Gary Darnell
as our defensive coordinator. It was four to three stack
blah blah blah. I had a great I ended up
starting nine games my sophomore year. Jim Flanagan and I
who ended up playing for the Bears and the forty
nine ers were fighting over to play linebacker. You know,
you win that battle, right, and you win that battle,

(30:30):
you play and you have a great year. And then
Darnell leaves and we bring in we bring in a
different defensive coordinator. Demetris Dubo's gets suspended, so I move
over to his spot. And then you go through three games,
Demetrius comes back and they leave the other guy where
he was, Tony Peterson, And then I'm like, okay.

Speaker 5 (30:45):
Well where am I going?

Speaker 7 (30:46):
Well happened.

Speaker 5 (30:47):
They're like, what exactly?

Speaker 6 (30:49):
What now? If I had gone and the team was
really good by the way, yeah, well yeah, I mean,
if we if we had a top three in the country,
if we had if something would have if I had
done something, I'd have been like, Okay, I get it.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
But nothing happened.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
So every time and I got we all got benched
a million times because lou would come down. You would,
you would literally get benched every every couple of weeks. Seriously,
he'd come over to the defense. He'd be like, yes, Sah,
get him out, get him out, coach, and then he'd
pull you out.

Speaker 5 (31:17):
Another guy comes in and then he'd leave and I'm like, hey,
just screwed up too. He just did the exact same
thing I did. But you're over there, so you know, right,
So it's so.

Speaker 6 (31:25):
And then every time I got benched, I went to
his office and I knocked on the door, I came in,
I sat down, I said, coach, what do I gotta
do to get back on the field.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
And then I'd just sit back.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Ye.

Speaker 6 (31:36):
I wouldn't listen to a word he said, I just
sit back. I just want him to know that it
pissed me off.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yeah, right now, as you shared this morning that every
seeded you made a mistake acting like that.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
Well, that wasn't the right way to act.

Speaker 6 (31:48):
Well, the thing, and I guess the thing was in
my point was you there's certain there's certain times in
life where those things happen. You have a choice, you
have you either you either quit, move on, do something else,
or you just keep going. And I just I chose
to keep going because I knew I couldn't live with
myself if I quit, if I put everything I got

(32:09):
into something it's like And that's why I brought up
the ninety eight the NFC Championship game.

Speaker 7 (32:13):
Right.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
I played special teams all the time, and then Eddie
McDaniel got hurt. So I was in there for you know,
I was done. I was toast. And when I got
kicked that field goal and I saw it go through it,
I was like, Hey, there's nothing more I could have
possibly done. And that really is the only way you
could live without having regrets in that regard. And so
just being too dumb to quit. That's the whole Rudy thing.

(32:35):
That was the whole point of the root of the
movie Rudy.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
Right.

Speaker 6 (32:38):
I know, his whole family, his brothers have done more
remarkable things than he did. Wait, Rudy was on the
team you were on. No, No, he was way before me.
But his one brother was his brother. One brother, Mark
was the wrestling coach of my high school. I just
say coach of the year many many times. His brother
Francis was an undercover detective and ran a gym.

Speaker 7 (32:57):
He held.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
Lifting records for his weight class. Right, and his other
brother was the first four time state champion and wrestling
in Illinois history.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
In high school, Dusty Roads the American Dream and they.

Speaker 6 (33:10):
Make the movie about him, about about the goofy one, right,
and I love him to death. I know him, you know,
and so but that's kind of the point in the movie. Yeah,
you know, just to you gotta be you just got
to stick through it, just a day longer, one day
at a time, a minute at a time, the whole thing.

Speaker 5 (33:25):
And you know, here we go and here we.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Are, so the Bears this weekend, and it causes me
to hearken to the Pete started as analyst for the
Vikings Radio network in two thousand and seven after Uncle
Joe Censor was the analyst O two, three, four, five
and six. So Childress comes in and uncle Joe does
a year and then he's like, I'm a back out

(33:48):
and do some other things. So then in rolls the
analyst Pete Persage, And every time the Bears are on
the schedule, one of the first things I think of
is the first game you called at Soldier Field, a
place you went to a bunch of times with your
game warn Mike Singletarrier, Wilbur Marshall or Richard Dent. Grew

(34:11):
up a Bears fan, eighty five Bears. You lived in
the city thirteen years old. Team wins a super Bowl.
It could be better, right, And now you're with the
Vikings Radio network after coaching for the Vikings for a
half decade and playing for the team X amount of years,
and of course the first game you have at Soldier
Field is just this high scoring bonanza with Peterson running

(34:34):
all over the place, Dwight Smith biting on a Devin
Hester double move. At me mad, you were so emotional
during that game. I'll never forget.

Speaker 6 (34:45):
And I think back about what he what they did
with Adrian Peterson and how he played, and then they're like,
all right, we're just gonna let him return a kick,
and then he takes it out to what the forties,
you know, I mean, it was unbelievable and long Well
walks off. Yeah, I'm still mad about the Devin. I mean,
what else was Devin has to He's a deep why
else would he be in there? He's gonna run a
vertical route. He's fast, he can't run curls and digs
and you know post comebacks this is what he does,

(35:07):
you know, So how dumb can you beat?

Speaker 4 (35:08):
You know?

Speaker 5 (35:09):
Remember how loud it was?

Speaker 2 (35:12):
And then Devin Hester walking out for the punts and.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
What's the bit, oh soldier boy?

Speaker 2 (35:18):
And he didn't like run out to a spot, No,
he like fout, floated, looked at the crowd it had,
and then there would be a punt return and of
course Heath Farwell would have gotten blocked in the back,
but no call and there goes devn.

Speaker 6 (35:32):
We talked to Anthony Barr yesterday for alumni bit, you know, Vikings,
and we were talking about the Bears game and stuff,
and he's he The first thing he brought up was
how bad the field was, right, and that was it's
much better now. But remember I remember back in the
day you go out there and the grass would be
ankle deep and you're coming up and and just pieces
and that that. But that was that's what clippery was

(35:54):
this year. Yeah, but that's what going to Chicago is, right,
it's a it's a.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
But it's worse now because they're moving to Arlington High.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
Well, we're gonna get Speaking of that, I remember the
Pontiac Silverdome. We used to go to Silver Drome, and
I remember when they when they finally decided what they
were gonna do, and they're gonna move it to Ford
Field in downtown. So the last time we went to Pontiac,
we're in the hotel, right, you jump out, what do
you do? You get on these big tour buses and
then tour buses are surrounded by what police cars and
you're just zipping on the side of the ramps and

(36:23):
you know you're right into the stadium, the police and
pont and I'm sorry it was I'm trying to remember
what town, Troy, the Silverdome was in whatever, Oh, Pontiac, Yeah, Pontiac.
They escorted us, but they didn't turn their lights on,
so they said, and we said in traffic behind the
cops the whole way there. Took us like thirty five
forty minutes to get that. I mean, it's just it.

(36:45):
I love that kind of stuff because the people in
Pontiac are like.

Speaker 5 (36:48):
Screw you, guys, you're the Lions. You guys want to
go downtown.

Speaker 7 (36:51):
Screw you.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
We're not gonna no more police escorts, no more of this,
no more of that. The stadium's falling apart, the whole thing.
And it was all that for a right to play
Barry Sanders.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 6 (37:00):
Yeah, no kidding, And those things are just I love
playing at the Silver Room. We played there one day
after one day after a Bruce Springsteen concert on a
Saturday night, and it was you couldn't see the rafters
because it was so much smoke still in that thing.
I did back then, circulate air. Come on, what do
you mean you know you go in the locker room
and it was all like a chain linked this and

(37:22):
just wires that, and it was so it was so spartan.
I mean, the tiles missing, no, you know, hot water thing,
the whole it was.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
It.

Speaker 5 (37:31):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 6 (37:32):
It was almost like going to Candlestick with how bad
I mean Candlestick was just a dump as a visitor
for sure, locker room, the whole thing. And and uh
about Dallas Texas Stadium, Oh yeah, that was something that
was ridiculous.

Speaker 5 (37:44):
It was. It was hot.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
I remember my rookie year ninety four going on there
for a preseason game. We flew down the day of
the game. We flew down the day of the game,
went to a hotel, sat around for two hours, and
then went to the stadium.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
I don't even remember. It was nine hundred degrees. Oh,
I know.

Speaker 6 (38:00):
It was the first game I ever cramped up. I
didn't see the field for the entire first half. I
got introduced to performance drugs in the locker room as
a professional, right, Like we take things in college, but
you do it when you went out party, and you
didn't do it when you were playing, right, because we
got tested and everything. So Scotty Adams, if you remember him,
probably maybe there might be two people listening there, remember him.

(38:20):
He had a he had a tackle box, a plano rapple,
a fishing box full of pills stuff. He's like, all right,
take some of these things. And I'm a rookie. I'm like, okay,
I'll take them. Before the kickoff, I'm I am just
feeling great. The holy problem was I didn't see the
field till the second half.

Speaker 7 (38:38):
H oh.

Speaker 6 (38:38):
So by then it was crash. It was a crash,
and I'm like, all right, roock money. Kiffin's like, okay, rookie,
get out there. You got you got all of it.
You're covering punts, kickoffs, whatever, And I remember cramping up
on the on the I never cramped before. And I
remember getting on the bus on the way back and
just had you know, You're sitting there and all of
a sudden, someone in the back stands up.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
And like yeah, You're like, oh, there's a cramp. And
I was one of them. It was those are the days, mat.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
When we get the opportunity to down memory lane, we
go with the analysts like we did this morning. It
was the Capitol Club, That's what it was called this morning. Yeah,
with the ped Lever and Pete Man some good stories. Share,
Thank you, Bud, see you soon, all right. See it
by Pete Versage at Pete Versage via Twitter. Final segment next, Hey,
thanks for the good times today. Everybody always a joy

(39:26):
coming over to Twin City's Orthopedics Performance Center and copyright.
Dan Barrero the host of Bumper to Bumper with Barrero
three to six thirty weekdays and on Sunday sermons. We
have some big knockers Tomorrow nine to noon, Courtney Cronin
with the Bears Focus. Tomorrow Courtney Cronin from ESPN will
join Lavelle e Neil the Third will be in studio

(39:48):
at eleven o'clock and I believe Chris Finch, head coach
of the Minnesota Timberwolves, will be joining tomorrow. Likewise, from
Mike Florio for Eric Nordquist, I'm Paul Allen. Thank you
very much, Brett Blake Moore for the production. Thank you,
Thank you Kevin O'Connell for joining at eleven o'clock today,
chatting out JJ McCarthy. PJ Fleck is next and skipping
the steps even if they're difficult, as PJ says, well

(40:11):
you just can't do that with JJ McCarthy. As Kevin
shared today, that was great. Thank you for listening. Bye
bye podcast Today's Paul Allen Show.

Speaker 9 (40:21):
We're listening back to previous show and interviews like going
to the iHeartRadio

Speaker 4 (40:25):
App, forkfan dot com.