Purple Positivity (Bears)

The Vikings look to bounce back this week as they take on the Chicago Bears, and Justin Ekstrom is here to bring you all the Purple Positivity you need!
Last week against the Ravens, the Vikings showed plenty of fight. The defense brought pressure all game long, and JJ McCarthy continued to show growth, even if the offense couldn’t quite finish enough drives to keep up with Baltimore. A few missed chances and some sloppy tackling made the difference, uffda.
This week? It’s a classic NFC North showdown with da Bears. Minnesota needs cleaner execution in the red zone and a little Midwestern grit to get back on track.
And of course, Justin rolls out his weekly favorite: “The Good, The Bad, and The Ekstrom” — where he highlights what worked, what didn’t, and the bizarre things that only he seems to notice.
Grab yourself a hot 7th Ave Pizza and buckle in… SKOL! 🟣💛

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beer-belly-sports-radio-network--5080802/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Get your vikings updates with just an extrom on purple
Positivity on peer Belly Sports radio network Brocket you buy
it up at the Avenue Pizza before pizza became trendy.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, this is just an extrohim
and I am purple positivity. Yeah, you know, backwards, whatever,

(00:21):
flip it script, whatever you want. Anyway, thanks to Seventh
Avenue Pizza, I get to do this again one more week.
Even we're a little less positive than we were a
week ago, definitely less positive than we were a few
weeks ago. How are we feeling, ladies and gentlemen, about
mister JJ McCarthy. Very divisive on the x verse formerly

(00:44):
known as the twitter verse, but holy cow, there are
moments where it looks like he has no idea that
he's in an NFL game, and then he goes around
and does something has like the most perfect throws at
the perfect time. Him and Jalen Naylor. That is a

(01:05):
stone cold third down conversion machine between them two. I
don't understand how we have that. We The Vikes get
in the spot where they need third and eight all
the time. That's just what they do. They pass on
third and eight, it's fine. But when they get into

(01:26):
third and two and you don't even look like you
want to run the ball. No play action, no hard draws,
no nothing. That's weird to me, especially when you're in
a spot where you have a chance to go for
it on fourth and two or fourth and one if
you only get one yard rushing, but your running backs
and your quarterback have been averaging six and a half

(01:48):
to eight and a half yards per carry on the day,
and you decide to not even really roll out, just
a straight up pass and a very low percent type
of thing. I don't mind the home run mentality. I
don't mind that, but at least look like you're going

(02:09):
to run the ball, at least pretend, just like throw
out an ephis pitch or something. Man. Every once in
a while you need in order to hit a home run.
You gotta make it look like you're going to try
for a base hit, so the pitcher he'll give you
something to hit, you know, like, sometimes you just gotta
do that. That's a baseball metaphor in a football podcast.

(02:32):
I don't even know if you call this a football podcast.
This is just a me rambling about nothing. You know
the Vikings lose to the Ravens. It's a game where I'm
telling you right now, if I would have recorded this
five or six days ago, like I thought about doing,
I would have absolutely been just freaking out a little bit.
Because I'm telling you right now, Kevin O'Connell looks like
he is out of his depth as an NFL coach,

(02:55):
like he consistently gets out coached. He convinced Harbaugh and
the Ravens to try in that game. In the first half,
you could have handed the ball off three straight times
and ran the clock out and you'd be up ten
to six. Instead they go three and out. It looked

(03:18):
like they added time to the clock instead of took
time off the clock. The end of the first half,
like all of a sudden, you know, you're like, oh man,
they can run this down to nothing, like they can
you know, whatever happened to doing like a delayed run
to see if you gain any yards to figure out
whether or not you want to start using timeouts and

(03:38):
then you know, try to score between before the uh
end of the half Like whatever happened to that? What's
wrong with that? That is a time honored tradition for
crying out loud, just like a delayed little handoff or
even just a regular handoff, just to see if you
get six or seven yards. Okay, game time, let's roll,
you know, like cause it's tough, they're gonna have to eat,

(04:00):
start using their timeouts or something like that. Instead, they
give the ball back to the Ravens and then that
defense turns into nothing like. I don't understand why it's
so easy on third and long for teams to convert.
I know they're considered one of the top five defenses.

(04:20):
I think going into that Sunday they were the best
defense in third downar situations, which baffles my mind. I
have no idea that's a point where the stats lie,
because from the last few games that I've been watching,
third or long seems like it's a coin flip whether
or not the Vikes stop the opposition. I don't understand

(04:41):
it anyway, Purple positivity positive, We're gonna go back to positive.
I'm positive that the Vikings have to show out just
a little bit better here. They beat the Bears in
Chicago last time. That was Week one. Obviously, Caleb Williams

(05:04):
looks like a four thousand yard passer. Still pretty awesome
that Chicago created a pope before it created a four
thousand yard passer. But still, you know, congratulations to the Pope.
Caleb Williams looks good ish, like there's times where he
looks like he's the number one overall pick from a
draft class in which had a lot of decent quarterbacks.

(05:29):
He also sometimes looks like he's not, so the Vikings
have to take advantage like defense more than likely not
going to have Grenard in there, which stinks they're so
much better with him. It's still weird that he whiffs
on a lot of those zero blitzes, like where he
just he comes in there and he whiffs on the quarterback.

(05:51):
He goes hi. Whatever it is we have seen that
Dallas Turner is not it. Anytime that he gets home
he gets flagged for something. I understand that some of
that was a bad One of those was a bad call.
Let's say the one where there was a third down

(06:12):
he gets the sack that was the end the half
and he did land on him though like it is
a penalty, but it's just a soft penalty. I hate it.
I know that straight hand was kind of behind behind
the kid. Dallas Turner man, you're running out of chances.
I mean, with Grenarda out, you're you're still gonna be
in that rotation a little heavier. Maybe they can find

(06:33):
a spot in which you can thrive. So I know
you can. It doesn't seem like you can thrive because
you don't have the drive I wanted so badly for
you to be good, especially since the first round draft
pick that my favorite team used could have been used
to double up and go get a guy in Drake May.
That seems to be NFL ready taking a excuse me,

(06:57):
taking a team that was supposed to be so of
rebuilding and make them the number one seed in a
stacked ass AFC. I know it's only mid season, it
is still early in my humble estimation, but this is
where teams start their push. This is where teams start

(07:17):
going eight to no to finish the season or eight
to one to finish the season and finish strong and
then win the Super Bowl like the Eagles did last year.
Like that's that's just what teams do. And a team
that I think has a possibility of doing that is
the Baltimore Ravens, in which the Vikings just lost too.
I think them getting back healthy, figuring out their defense,

(07:38):
getting offensive line that isn't complete Swiss cheese. They could
be one of the final four teams I still have.
I am still predicting them in being one of the
last two teams in the AFC alive. Whether it's the
Chiefs or the Bills, who looked not good. That AFC
looks tough. The NFC looks like a meat grinder. It

(07:58):
looks like with which ever team comes out of the
AFC or the NFC, like whichever they're gonna be tested,
true blue, like they deserve to be there, because right now,
I'm telling you, this looks like a meat grinder of
a season for every single team that's trying to make
the playoffs. Right now, the Vikings look like they're probably

(08:19):
like the twentieth best team in the league, which is
awful to even think because three, i'd say three is
weeks ago, I thought for sure they were a top
ten team. Now I have no idea what they are.
It stinks. So this is a I mean, this normally
would have been a get right game. They're only two
and a half point favorites from the line that I saw.

(08:41):
Recording this on a Friday took the day after hang
out with my kids. They're eating some breakfast, so I'm
gonna record this quick. But man, they looked great a
while ago. Now I have no idea what they look like.
Ken O'Connell doesn't look like an NFL coach, justin Jefersonings
because he's like the best player that the Vikings have

(09:02):
had on their team for many, many years, and it
looked like he did not want anything to do with
that game, and he's been addressing it. I mean, I
think he kind of had to because that effort. I
don't know what we saw, and I'll get into it
and the good, the bad and the extrum when we
end this episode. You know, I know someone's listening in

(09:25):
their car right now. I'll going just finish the fucking episode.
Please just shut up, you fat sow. Anyway, shut your
fat ass Braybe. I can't go around the corner without
walking into nine guys. You fucked. Oh man, if you
could tell me where that movie is for, that movie
is fantastic and that line is so good. Rocco is

(09:48):
such a good character in that movie. Oh my god,
that whole scene fantastic. I hope what's fantastic is this
week versus the Bears. The Vikes are gonna have to
play all three phases of the game two weeks ago.
They had a great performance against the Lions last week,
just the third phase, the punting and the kicking. And

(10:11):
I mean, what is Ryan Wright doing? Sometimes, like when
you need to just kick it as far as you
can possibly kick it, he'll kick a line drive straight
to the guy. And I mean, usually when you say
out punting your coverage, that's because you punted it too
far down the field where your guys can't even get there.

(10:33):
This time he outputed his coverage by like having a
one and a half second hangtime straight to the guy
sitting at like the forty yard line, where you're like, okay,
so now they only need twenty seven yards to get
a field goal before the half come on. Every once
in a while he gives us that thirty seven to
forty one yard dun't. Just don't. It's not even a

(10:56):
it's not even like a flub or anything like. It's
not like he was kicked with his shin. He used
his actual foot. I saw a couple weeks ago somebody,
I don't know if it's the Raiders punter, who wasn't
kiddy with his shit. That's what Ryan Wright seems like
he does every once in a while, which is also weird.
I know this is not sounding purple positive whatsoever, but now,

(11:17):
now let's get to it. I think the Vikes win
this week, and I actually have no reasoning as to why.
I just think they do. I have a weird confidence
that Justin Jefferson gets one fifty and at least one Tuddy.
I think Addison gets back on there. I think the
run game is a key to this, and I know

(11:39):
Kevin O'Connell hates running, but I think the run game
if Aaron Jones is healthy ish healthy esque, I mean
Jordan Mason, he was still averaging seven yards of carry too,
So I mean, you gotta get the ball to those guys,
even if it even if you're not running, it ties

(11:59):
it to him. Every once in a while. They're wide open,
and it doesn't have to be those long, elaborate types
of plays where it just looks like you're drawing something
up one way and then you go way back the
other way for a screen that gets seven eight yards.
The double pass to Justin Jefferson, You know, Justin Jefferson
gets in and throws it back to your who's supposed

(12:20):
to be your franchise quarterback, and you throw him in
there like a bullet ball against the defense that is
known to just like pin their ears back and hurt
anybody known to man, maybe not this specific defense, but
a Baltimore Ravens defense. It just I don't care how
bad that defense is. I don't want my quarterback running
after catching the ball against a Baltimore Ravens defense that

(12:44):
is kind of finding their form. So that I thought
that was peculiar in that situation too. But I'm not a coach.
I'm never gonna be a coach. I'm barely a podcaster.
But I think the Vikes win. I think the offensive line.
Let's say Kelly comes back and they have they're thirty
fourth different combination, but it just so happens to be

(13:05):
the combination in which they bought. They're paying one hundred
and seventy million for this year or whatever whatever it
turns out to be. It They're paying like really close
to one hundred million for that offensive line that has
not taken one snap together yet. If we get those ends,
like even even Brian O'Neil had a little bit of
trouble out there. I know he's got some lingering injuries.

(13:30):
Darisa's having some issues. Jackson's the rookie. I get that.
I understand all that. But if you get all five
of those starters together, it's gonna look a lot better.
Maybe they'll be able to run the football a little more,
which is weird because they've been running effectively. But maybe
it's the downs in which they're choosing to run is
making it peculiar. I don't know either way. I think

(13:52):
the Vikes win. I think I don't think it's going
to be fantastic looking. I think it's gonna be ugly
because it's a black and blue type of game. It's
a game in which you're favorite only by two and
a half at home. I saw it go up to
three and a half earlier this week. I think it's
back to two and a half now. A man, I
think the Vikes win. Give me something, gross, man, give

(14:15):
me twenty to sixteen, Like it's gonna be a weird.
It's not score agami, but it's gonna be like a weird.
They win by four ish, twenty to sixteen something like that.
That could be two touchdowns and two two point conversions
for the Bears as they're trying to get back into
the game. I hope the fights start off on fire
and then just stay that way. They're gonna need it.

(14:37):
That home crowd, it was weird, man. I saw people
headn't like they were probably just going the concourse because
they figured out they gotta take a time out. I
know a guy that actually just goes and sits on
the concourse and just breathes, does breathing exercises when the
Vikings do terrible that end of that first half last week. Man,
it's gonna be tough to forget, but you got it.

(14:58):
We're gonna have to forget it because you like played
yourself out of that game and I don't even know
how to describe it. And then in the third quarter, dude,
I was waving the white flag and we were still
winning the game. And that's the part where that's scary.
Three straight plays really changes the guy's mentality. Vice has

(15:18):
got back into it. I just hope this week we
want a full first half, get your defense something to
be proud about, because that defense played their asses off
again last week. There were still some situations in which
I thought they could have played a little better, but
with Grenardo out, I still think the fights get to win.
Let's go twenty sixteen and thirty six total points. That

(15:42):
means I'm going the under. If that's what you guys
care about, you're waiting for just an extrom to figure
out how you're gonna gamble your fortune away. Yeah, let's
rethink those life choices. Okay, time for the good, the bad,
and the extrum. Thanks to everybody, seven to Aven, New Pizza,
Matt Geffrey, Beier, Belly Sport. So the good is we

(16:02):
we just saw Justin Jefferson's worst game. That's that's the good.
It's gone like we're never gonna see that ever again.
That's the good. The bad is injuries, man Vikings, injuries,
bad bad, bad bad, and now they're blow five hundred.
That's the bad. I absolutely the good is Justin Jefferson.

(16:23):
You got that out of the way, because now we're
gonna see greatness. I think this week we're gonna see
one fifty and at least one Tuddy. I go, I go,
yeah a Tuddy. I just feel this is a Justin
Jefferson game. I think, you know, I think that's a good.
The bad is the injuries, the the Fike's injury bug.

(16:43):
It's just like everything is just kind of rough on
them right now halfway through the season. Just you can't
get worse. Please don't let it get worse. And now
the extrom what are we gonna do with the extram
It's that time of year again. Return your shopping carts.
This is gonna be a two fur on this one.
So if you are an asshole who is playing as

(17:07):
day perfectly healthy and you leave that shopping cart in
the middle of Walmart or middle of Target parking lot
and there's a little bit of snow, it's too much snow.
Those people don't get paid that. Come grab it, Bring
the fucker back to the receptacle, the area in which
the carts go, and double down on this one. So

(17:28):
I'm taking a potential for one in the future, but
this is starting to really upset me. When you're shopping
right now, it's a big time shopping season. Walk directly
across walk parallel to the lines of the crosswalk from
the parking area to Fleet Farm. Go straight across. Fleet
Farm is notorious for terrible because people parking like eight

(17:51):
half miles away just to get to there, and I
think they take a six and a half mile angle
and it takes you a day and a half to
get across that crosswalk. Somebody's just trying to park, or
somebody just bought their fucking TV and wants to leave
and go home and set that fucker up, And then
there you are, walking like I mean, the healthiest person

(18:13):
in the world should be able to walk directly across
to the crosswalk and then ninety degree angle. You don't
have to cut those steps. If you're a fat pile
of shit like I am, still do that anyway. I mean,
if you're saving those steps, you're just hurting yourself. In
the long run, you're actually adding years to your life.
Don't do that anymore. That's the extrom so the good
justin Jefferson. We're never gonna see that again. That's gonna

(18:35):
be good. That's gonna turn the greatness. The bad is injuries, Vikings,
injuries and their loss last week. That was just bad, bad,
bad bad, and the extram shopping season. Don't be jackasses.
Return the cart walk directly across the the No I'm upset,
like I got myself upset all of a sudden, walked

(18:57):
directly across that crosswalk. Do not do not, I repeat,
do not no angle, not even a jazz. The name
is only like a I don't give a shit. It
should be parallel. Those lines are there for you for
a guide. Parallel. Go parallel on those lines, Walk straight across,
get across safe, go in there and shop. When you
come out victorious because you bought what you want to buy. Yeah, yeah,

(19:21):
I'm rich. I have money now. I don't evenmore straight across,
straight across that cross swad. Okay, obviously win a little
bit of a tangent. But love you guys, both of
you that listen to this. Thanks a lot, beer, Belly Sports,
Thank you. Seventh Avenue Pizza. Right now, it's the seventh
Alvenue pizza time of the year. This is the perfect
time to go. I mean, if you want your house

(19:42):
a little warmer, get that oven going. But otherwise I'm
still sticking with smoking that bad boy cherry pellets right now. Actually,
I have a blend of pecan. Is it pecan or pecan?
That's a that's a discussion for another day too. Pecan
pellets and a mix of apple and cherry. Very delicious

(20:03):
for Seventh Avenue pizza, Love you guys, love everybody until
next week. Skull Bitches M.