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Speaker 1: Slash Vikings Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings drop.
Speaker 1: Head over to nurl dot com for more details. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: it's I and it is Bears week. Here on the tailgate,
Speaker 1: we have another fun show for you, comedian Brian Miller.
Speaker 1: He is from He is a Minneapolis comedian, but I
Speaker 1: wanted to have him on because I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: Vikings big win last week against the Falcons. I wanted
Speaker 1: to enjoy the Viking miss instead of talking to the
Speaker 1: other fan base this week. Also, hey, he is at
Speaker 1: ACME this week, the best comedy club in America Thursday, Friday,
Speaker 1: Saturday two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. Ticketlink will be
Speaker 1: in the bio here. You'll love him. He's been on
Speaker 1: The Late Late Show with Craig Fergus and he's fantastic
Speaker 1: tours all over the country. Check out him. Also, if
Speaker 1: you're listening on our podcast feed while you're here, make
Speaker 1: sure you give us a five star review. It really
Speaker 1: helps us out rating and review. Thank you guys so much,
Speaker 1: and in joy the show. The Rocket Rocket t here. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the tailgate.
Speaker 2: It is Bears week.
Speaker 1: Normally we have an entertainer who is a fan of
Speaker 1: the other team, but this week we're doubling down on
Speaker 1: the home team, ladies and gentlemen, because at ACME this week,
Speaker 1: well it's Brian Miller, fantastic comedian, Viking fan. I'm at
Speaker 1: the point where this is one of those weeks, Brian,
Speaker 1: where I didn't want to be troubled with the attitude
Speaker 1: and the trappings of another fan base. Sure, because of
Speaker 1: what happened on Sunday, I just want to exist in
Speaker 1: this moment with other Viking fans.
Speaker 2: And also this is nice.
Speaker 1: So people, there's a lot of people know you as
Speaker 1: a fantastic comedian. You're also a fantastic fiction writer. Sure,
Speaker 1: but you are also a talented sports editor and occasional
Speaker 1: sports writer for a local entity called Zone Coverage.
Speaker 3: And I used to live in Chicago and you used.
Speaker 1: To live in Chicago, which, well, let's not do it.
Speaker 1: Let's not let me dive into my opinions about the
Speaker 1: people of Chicago. Let's stick with how I'm feeling right now. Sure,
Speaker 1: there's this thing that happened on Sunday. So I was
Speaker 1: listening to Dan Barrero and Ben Lieber was on, and
Speaker 1: they played back the audio of a moment in Sunday's game.
Speaker 1: They started showing the Daily Leaders, the Sunday Leaders for statistics,
Speaker 1: and they showed Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson were one
Speaker 1: to two in the whole league. Crowd goes, not Jefferson's
Speaker 1: up on the up on the bench right, and then
Speaker 1: they put Donald up there, and the crowd goes ballistic,
Speaker 1: and Donald, who is really even has a moment of
Speaker 1: emotion like a break and really has has a piece
Speaker 1: of it. And I watched it on the TV broadcast,
Speaker 1: but in listening to it back when Barrero played the audio,
Speaker 1: it just hit different. It was this energy in the building.
Speaker 1: And our producer Jay, who's here today, he was in there,
Speaker 1: and I've talked to other people who are in the building.
Speaker 1: It was this thing that for me, as a Vikings fan,
Speaker 1: it felt so distant from the energy that has been
Speaker 1: around this fan base for so long. You know, it
Speaker 1: was in this moment where our old quarterback was in
Speaker 1: our building, where the defense throttled him and our new
Speaker 1: quarterback had the performance of his life, and specifically one
Speaker 1: where these two great receipts, Like it just felt like
Speaker 1: this confident noise slowly on this podcast, Brian and I
Speaker 1: understand I'm giving a Ted talk to start the show.
Speaker 2: This is like I was gonna.
Speaker 3: Say, IM gonna pop out for a coffee, but I'll
Speaker 3: be back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how's the tailgate going?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: You know, he had Jeff Foxworthy on last weekend, then
Speaker 1: this week turned into some weird like crowd noise manifesto
Speaker 1: that nobody really enjoyed. I think my point is anyone
Speaker 1: who's been listening to this show has heard me. I
Speaker 1: started the season. I'm not putting much on it. I
Speaker 1: just want to see some guys get better because all
Speaker 1: the cap space, like have the team and the roster
Speaker 1: go the right direction and we could be walking into
Speaker 1: something really cool next year. Then they take off and
Speaker 1: they start doing what I go, Okay, this is kind
Speaker 1: of gravy. This is fun where like there's a little
Speaker 1: bit of house money here. Enjoy this, and then the
Speaker 1: expectations come around, like, well maybe we need to take
Speaker 1: advantage of it. Now, this thing that has been happening
Speaker 1: since the Tennessee game, I just am believing more and more,
Speaker 1: and in a way that is different in the way
Speaker 1: I've believed in some teams in the past, you know,
Speaker 1: And I've heard other vikings say that. I just I
Speaker 1: don't know how to describe it or explain it. And
Speaker 1: it feels different than the belief in the FARV team.
Speaker 1: It feels different than the belief in ninety eight or
Speaker 1: the Keenom team that noise just like that noise just coalesced.
Speaker 1: This feeling I've had into like a more central ball
Speaker 1: in my gut where I went. I think this team
Speaker 1: believes in themselves in a confident way that is giving everybody.
Speaker 2: I don't know, it's just different.
Speaker 1: I don't know where it's going to end, but right
Speaker 1: now I have some weird different energy about what I
Speaker 1: think this team is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, when Atlanta took that early lead, you know,
Speaker 4: I think early in the season, or sometimes in my
Speaker 4: pessimistic fandom might have been.
Speaker 3: Like here we go, here we go.
Speaker 4: I was like, no, I was confident even when they
Speaker 4: looked really tough right right at the start. It was
Speaker 4: probably the worst stretch of the game for the Vikings really,
Speaker 4: and I was like, no, they're fun. They got this,
Speaker 4: and I just thought they would. And they they're playing
Speaker 4: like a really confident team. When you watch them, they
Speaker 4: just look credible. Like it wasn't just that the score
Speaker 4: reflect how much they won, and it wasn't like, oh man,
Speaker 4: they keep dropping those samsartal interceptions. He got lucky on
Speaker 4: four or five. He looked great, and everybody looked great.
Speaker 4: There is a unit.
Speaker 3: They're coalesced there as a team, and yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: Funny you say that that you didn't, And I because
Speaker 1: I felt the exact same thing. I'm literally I was
Speaker 1: watching on my phone because I'm like half cleaning the
Speaker 1: kitchen and doing some stuff, and I normally watch it downstairs,
Speaker 1: but so it's kind of the in between moments when
Speaker 1: I'm upstairs, so I've got the phone sitting here, and
Speaker 1: then the phone's there and I'm watching and you hear
Speaker 1: something happen. I had the exact same thing. I was like,
Speaker 1: why am I not worried about this? By the way,
Speaker 1: a game that historically for the Vikings, your old quarterback
Speaker 1: comes back to your building in a year where you're
Speaker 1: ten and you're like, oh, this is where it gets
Speaker 1: ruined for us. So I'm glad you felt that, because
Speaker 1: I it was almost an unrecognizable emotion for me during
Speaker 1: that game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've often talked about how Packers fans like the
Speaker 4: Packers team plane could crash into the side of a
Speaker 4: mountain into a fireball and all the green people in
Speaker 4: green bagel. Well, we got a fresh start next. I
Speaker 4: think we got a real good chance at a division title.
Speaker 4: Like nothing bad that can happen. In the back, they're
Speaker 4: always just like, oh, will be great, We'll be great.
Speaker 4: And as Vikings fans, I think we've been maybe and
Speaker 4: maybe we've conditioned ourselves because you look back and it's
Speaker 4: like you look at the Bears, for instance, and you go, no,
Speaker 4: that's a troubled fan base that sucks to root for
Speaker 4: that team.
Speaker 3: But I certainly am a bit of a pest.
Speaker 1: But they got a Super Bowl. I think it's Yeah,
Speaker 1: I talk about it all the time on this show.
Speaker 1: I think you know a personality around it's it's this
Speaker 1: is people are gonna puke in their mouth when I
Speaker 1: use this term, but uh, it's you know, they the
Speaker 1: term generational trauma. Sure, I do think it's I do
Speaker 1: think it's generational sports trauma. I think you grow up
Speaker 1: around a dad who you're eleven years old, and your
Speaker 1: dad goes.
Speaker 2: We're gonna blow it. Yeah, this isn't gonna end.
Speaker 1: Well, you're like, it just instills it in you, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think you have. It's kind of like if
Speaker 1: you grew up with a like an an alcoholic parent,
Speaker 1: you either Generally, people who grew up with like massive dysfunction,
Speaker 1: they don't kind of just all out. They either follow
Speaker 1: the dysfunction or they rebel against it really hard. So
Speaker 1: I think if you're a Vike, that's why there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of middle ground and Viking fans. They're either
Speaker 1: the people are like, yeah, we're gonna We're gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna be the worst ending ever, and then you have
Speaker 1: people on the other side who are like, how dare
Speaker 1: you question the guy who made the mistake?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: It's like whenever I see an instagram of someone who
Speaker 4: made a really elaborate gingerbread house, I'm like, how much
Speaker 4: did your dad yell at you back?
Speaker 3: And the day you know you have to go the
Speaker 3: other way, It's like I'm gonna be the most wholesome.
Speaker 3: But that's what this Vikings game was like.
Speaker 4: Was like seeing your angry dad laugh in a movie
Speaker 4: and you're like, dad never laughs, he smiling.
Speaker 3: What this feeling like? I think everything's gonna be okay,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how to project it forward. That's
Speaker 1: the problem. That's and I don't want to know how
Speaker 1: to project it for it. I want to be very clear,
Speaker 1: I'm still existing in this moment. I that feeling I
Speaker 1: had that doesn't necessarily make me think they're going to
Speaker 1: go on a deep playoff run. Sure, so you got
Speaker 1: a Bears team this week that is they look exhausted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they like internally exhausted. Where I don't think people I
Speaker 1: think in sports we don't often think about it as
Speaker 1: a workplace as much as we should. Where you think like, oh,
Speaker 1: the new coach, you get the bump and they do it.
Speaker 1: It's like, man, they fired their old coordinator, bumped their
Speaker 1: passing game coordinator up to their O coordinator, then they
Speaker 1: fired their head coach. The passing game coordinator, who is
Speaker 1: the O coordinator for three weeks is now the head coach.
Speaker 1: The decordinator is calling plays for the first time in
Speaker 1: his entire like eba flus was the play card, and
Speaker 1: then you walk into Kyle Shanahan's building and Jay sent
Speaker 1: me a screenshot of the first half statistics during the game.
Speaker 1: Three hundred and nineteen yards for the Niners, four total
Speaker 1: yards on seventeen plays for the Bears. And so that's
Speaker 1: a team to me that seems in that moment exhausted. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know what we're gonna get from them this week,
Speaker 1: but projecting it forward, I don't. I think you just
Speaker 1: go take care of business. I don't know what you
Speaker 1: can take out of the Chicago game. If you go
Speaker 1: in there and you throttle them. You should throttle an
Speaker 1: exhausted team. If it gets close, who knows, maybe their
Speaker 1: back tock begins to like, I'm not going to look
Speaker 1: too hard into this one. Well, obviously caring about this
Speaker 1: game on sure, very interested in Seattle, But can we
Speaker 1: see a continuation or a progression of the sort of
Speaker 1: execution we saw on Sunday? And if they do that,
Speaker 1: then I start going I really start to cement into
Speaker 1: this mindset of I think they can beat anybody on
Speaker 1: any given week, And then the question for me becomes
Speaker 1: can you do it four times against good teams potentially
Speaker 1: in other buildings, But I don't know. I'm in a
Speaker 1: weird place of confidence that I'm not quite ready to
Speaker 1: project forward with yet.
Speaker 4: Sure I can see that. And then with the Bears,
Speaker 4: you're talking about them being exhausted. I heard this incredible
Speaker 4: stat on the way over here. This is unbelievable. So
Speaker 4: seven teams are eliminated from playoff contention in the whole
Speaker 4: NFL NFL six of them are from the AFC, because
Speaker 4: of course the NFC is insane. Right now, if you
Speaker 4: take those six, those six bad teams, Okay, in the AFC,
Speaker 4: they have a combined record of I believe it is
Speaker 4: one in twenty five against the NFC. The only team
Speaker 4: in the NFC that has lost to one of those teams,
Speaker 4: the Patriots beat the Bears.
Speaker 3: The Bears are the only one to give it up.
Speaker 4: So like they're they're really in a tough spot because
Speaker 4: I mean, the NFC north unbelievable, unbelievable, and the NFC
Speaker 4: is so much better.
Speaker 3: So we're in the best division because.
Speaker 2: The NFC is so much better. But when you get
Speaker 2: to it's weird.
Speaker 1: It's like you have a seesaw right, and on one
Speaker 1: side you have twenty five kids and on the other
Speaker 1: side you have three kids, and.
Speaker 2: You're like, why is it balancing?
Speaker 1: Well, it's because the Chiefs and the Bills and the
Speaker 1: Ravens are very fat. You know, switch out the Ravens
Speaker 1: and the Steelers. Like sure, That's the interesting thing of
Speaker 1: like the NFC seems like from a parody standpoint and
Speaker 1: from a highlight like way, the percentage of teams that
Speaker 1: are good and competitive versus the FC. But when you
Speaker 1: get to the top, it's really really difficult.
Speaker 4: I think Detroit, Vikings and Eagles, though yeah, I have
Speaker 4: a lot of losses between those three teams.
Speaker 1: Here's what I will like, and I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to push off because Detroit is incredible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Bills obviously lost in a tough game against the Rams.
Speaker 1: If Patrick Mahomes didn't exist, Josh Allen, I truly think
Speaker 1: we'd be sitting around having the is this the greatest quarterback? Like?
Speaker 1: Is he on track to be the greatest NFL quarterback
Speaker 1: of all time? He's bigger than a linebacker. He's three
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns and three so like, I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: just a level of play on that side, and it's
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks, right, Yes, like the Lions and the Eagles,
Speaker 1: I'm very concerned about absolutely, but I just feel different
Speaker 1: about having to face Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. That
Speaker 1: just feels, in a one game scenario, like a different
Speaker 1: challenge than facing Jared Goff, even though ultimately the Lions
Speaker 1: might be the toughest out in the entire NFL.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, but the NFC is man, They're stout, and I
Speaker 4: just it's so funny that everything everything. The Bears also
Speaker 4: make a perfect contrast for the Vikings because if you
Speaker 4: remember after the preseason, it was like they finally got
Speaker 4: their quarterback, They've got all these draft capital, Like we
Speaker 4: were both supposed to be kind of quote unquote rebuilding teams,
Speaker 4: but the Bears were really supposed to be on the
Speaker 4: sweet side of the rebuild. This was supposed to be
Speaker 4: the like, well, they'll probably go to the playoffs, but
Speaker 4: like probably not make a deep run. And then the Vikings,
Speaker 4: I mean, we were like, man, it'd be nice to
Speaker 4: win six and a half, you know, the six games,
Speaker 4: seven games the Vegas was projecting didn't feel didn't feel
Speaker 4: disrespectful at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 1: But what I would say, what was interesting, you could
Speaker 1: just tell from a vibe of the team. You could
Speaker 1: just feel it pretty early on. Because I've said this
Speaker 1: a bunch, I think teams know who they are, Like
Speaker 1: when guys when when rookie quarterbacks walk in a building,
Speaker 1: it doesn't take like the players a few months ago.
Speaker 1: This guy has it or this guy doesn't have it.
Speaker 1: It's not like you know, in comedy, some comics are
Speaker 1: terrible for eight years and then at year eleven you're like,
Speaker 1: how are you the best comic in America?
Speaker 4: Yeah, people do take that weird jump subtimes. That seems
Speaker 4: it's like you, why did you try that for all
Speaker 4: those years before?
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like that happens in the NFL. We're like,
Speaker 1: this guy was like, I don't know, the sixty eighth
Speaker 1: best linebacker in the league, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he's a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 2: I just he figured it out in year nine, grew
Speaker 2: three inches.
Speaker 3: Very strange at age twenty eight, but here we have it.
Speaker 3: He's now a massive man.
Speaker 1: It's the other thing that's super odd about the Bears season,
Speaker 1: and you talk to any Bears fan. We had Daniel
Speaker 1: Vankirk on the show. You know, I think they were not.
Speaker 1: I think they all wanted to change at coach before
Speaker 1: this season. So there's probably a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 1: But if you just think about the trajectory of the season,
Speaker 1: right that hail Mary the jade and Daniels hail Mary,
Speaker 1: and which leads into the blocked field goal?
Speaker 2: Right yeah?
Speaker 1: If that, I mean, those are two so astronomically massively
Speaker 1: unlikely results in those plays, an end of game, game
Speaker 1: winning hail Mary and the important block I'm talking about
Speaker 1: that sent the Bears the wrong way. It was against
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers. It was forty six yards, which
Speaker 1: is even worse. By the way, this is your division
Speaker 1: number one rival.
Speaker 4: With a famously bad special teams unit for the last
Speaker 4: many years too. I mean, getting beat by the Packers
Speaker 4: on special teams is like a special insult.
Speaker 2: Well, so just think of that. Think of that.
Speaker 1: You know that veer off right where you go the
Speaker 1: Jaden Daniels hail Mary goes off this direction. Then a
Speaker 1: couple weeks later you get a field goal blocked against
Speaker 1: the Packers. You win those two games, you're at the
Speaker 1: forefront of playoff conversations. Then you have the comeback against Minnesota,
Speaker 1: which falls apart, then you have the thing against the Lions.
Speaker 1: That's why they're just such an interesting team. I don't
Speaker 1: know that everybody in the preseason was wrong about the Bears.
Speaker 1: I just think it hasn't come together. And that's why
Speaker 1: whenever I see Vikings celebrating the Bears misery or celebrate like,
Speaker 1: oh Caleb, you know he, I don't think you're shut
Speaker 1: your mouth like what you all your energy should be
Speaker 1: put into hoping that Ben Johnson doesn't take that job.
Speaker 1: All the pieces are there. I it has been ugly
Speaker 1: as of late, but I think this thing could have
Speaker 1: veered a different direction and they very much could be
Speaker 1: right now an eight and five football team.
Speaker 4: I mean, Kayleb Williams made a couple of throws against
Speaker 4: the Vikings that were just out of this world, that
Speaker 4: were Josh Allen like to your point of him being
Speaker 4: maybe the best, and so yeah, as a Vikings fan,
Speaker 4: I'm not I'm definitely not gonna talk too much smack
Speaker 4: about Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3: Assuming it might have been easy.
Speaker 1: I still I still take him number one, and it's
Speaker 1: not even close. I know everybody loves Jayden. He's younger,
Speaker 1: he's got all some of the things he does. I
Speaker 1: still he's still the guy. I take number one. And
Speaker 1: now that we now that we've talked our way all
Speaker 1: the way through Chicago, I think I'm going back to
Speaker 1: what going back to earlier and I was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: you got to take care of business with Chicago, and
Speaker 1: let's see if what happened against the Falcons can progress
Speaker 1: a continue or progress against the Seahawks.
Speaker 2: I want to add to that.
Speaker 1: I do think what the number one thing for me
Speaker 1: this week, and in addition, get a win however you
Speaker 1: need it, because that's where in the game of wins
Speaker 1: and losses, especially desperately begging for an opportunity for that
Speaker 1: last Lions game to mean something.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, let's put this on it. I want this.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're a fan, I think I want
Speaker 1: this game to look the way it should given what
Speaker 1: you saw. I get like, I don't want to see
Speaker 1: something weird. I don't want all of a sudden be like, ah,
Speaker 1: we gave up two flea flickers and we're.
Speaker 2: Down eight and a half.
Speaker 1: Like I don't teams have been running the ball a bit.
Speaker 1: I don't want them to come in and Caleb and
Speaker 1: the running backs and you do a couple you know,
Speaker 1: jet sweeps, and all of a sudden you're like, what's
Speaker 1: happening here? Make it look the way it should. I
Speaker 1: do think that's also a version of a progression of
Speaker 1: what we saw against.
Speaker 4: The felasure out of Curre essay. Because we've talked a
Speaker 4: lot about Kirk over the years.
Speaker 2: Don't do it. Don't do it to me?
Speaker 4: No, did you did you feel like that Falcons game?
Speaker 4: Because I feel like for a lot of people it
Speaker 4: like gave them a sense of closure, like a positive closure.
Speaker 3: Did you feel that closure?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Here's the thing I think Kirk has. You know, if
Speaker 1: you having been a part of the organization for longer
Speaker 1: than they should have let me at this point, you
Speaker 1: get a different energy, a different vibe, a different access
Speaker 1: to the way these buildings and teams and organizations work.
Speaker 1: And it's a stark reminder that like just Kirk was
Speaker 1: such a good human being, yeah, and such a good
Speaker 1: thrower of the football, right, And I think I think
Speaker 1: he's so interesting in that I don't know where else
Speaker 1: in NFL history you find a certainly a quarterback who,
Speaker 1: amongst fan bases has been so heavily debated everywhere he's
Speaker 1: gone and start Like often when guys are debated, they
Speaker 1: either silenced the debate, Like at one point Drew Brees
Speaker 1: was debated, Sure, right, yeah, and then pretty soon we
Speaker 1: all shut up and Drew Brees was no longer debated.
Speaker 1: And the opposite is app Sometimes guys are debated and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden they ain't playing anymore RG three,
Speaker 1: you know, and it just stops being a debate.
Speaker 2: Kirk is.
Speaker 1: So it's so rare that you see a guy play
Speaker 1: for as many years and travel to three Because, by
Speaker 1: the way, I have friends in Atlanta, and prior to
Speaker 1: this week, prior to the four interception performance, people were
Speaker 1: having the exact same divide in their fan base as
Speaker 1: we were having here. They have the Penix thing on
Speaker 1: top of it. So I don't much traffic in the
Speaker 1: you know where some fans are running with like looking
Speaker 1: at Sunday as like a demise of a guy and
Speaker 1: a validation of a take. But I have always Jay
Speaker 1: has heard me talk about this forever. I think the
Speaker 1: NFL is a math equation and it can be built
Speaker 1: a bunch of different ways, right, Like if you want,
Speaker 1: if you want a quarterback with a lot of money,
Speaker 1: a couple of things are gonna have to happen. You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to spread it out the exact right, And I,
Speaker 1: Lord knows, I shouldn't comment on how to build a
Speaker 1: football team, but I understand mathematics, right, If you're gonna
Speaker 1: pay a quarterback a bunch of money, you have to
Speaker 1: spread it out in the right way, and couple it
Speaker 1: with hitting on draft picks. I just I think that's
Speaker 1: pretty basic knowledge, right. And conversely, which is why you
Speaker 1: see all these guys. So many of these guys win
Speaker 1: super Bowls on Russell Wilson on rookie deal, Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: on rookie deal, Roethlisberger one on a rookie deal and
Speaker 1: then another one on a reduced deal. You know, when
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning goes to Denver, he's not on a high
Speaker 1: level like That's why you see a lot of these
Speaker 1: non Brady guys, and it's why it's kind of frustrating
Speaker 1: that when we talk about Brady, we don't discuss that
Speaker 1: he made the decision to take low salary cap hits
Speaker 1: for nearly the entirety of his career and he had
Speaker 1: more top There's a stat out there he had more
Speaker 1: Top ten defenses than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and like
Speaker 1: two or three other Hall of famers in the entirety
Speaker 1: of their career. He had more by himself. And that's
Speaker 1: not a criticism or I'm just saying that is what happened.
Speaker 3: Smart is what it is.
Speaker 1: So to spin all the way out and come all
Speaker 1: the way back, like to me, what Sunday was was
Speaker 1: you know, I thought when they moved on from Kirk,
Speaker 1: it's I think this organization has such a high reputation
Speaker 1: with players. We're seeing that with why Daniel Jones, like
Speaker 1: the way Lewis Riddick and all these other analysts who
Speaker 1: were former players. When Daniel Jones signed here, you saw
Speaker 1: the way they talked about the grades that we get,
Speaker 1: like this is a place people will want to be.
Speaker 1: And so I think the mutual parting of Kirk going
Speaker 1: this feels best for me, the Viking's going this feels
Speaker 1: best for you. At the same time, I do think
Speaker 1: seeing a talented guy come in on a one year
Speaker 1: deal and having our coach be who we thought he
Speaker 1: was and having that work that like that was the
Speaker 1: noise when you're feeling confident, like that's this thing, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is just different. This is a math equation that
Speaker 1: works for this version of this team, and I revel
Speaker 1: in that.
Speaker 3: That's That's what I meant.
Speaker 4: I don't, Yeah, I don't take it as a stick
Speaker 4: in it to Kirk, But to me, it felt like
Speaker 4: a validation of.
Speaker 3: Quasi's overall approach.
Speaker 4: I felt like, this is, you know, you can see
Speaker 4: the other path we could have taken, and Atlanta is
Speaker 4: kind of showing us the other path with the penix thing.
Speaker 4: We would have had the same thing potentially with JJ
Speaker 4: and Kirk and what do you do? But yeah, to me,
Speaker 4: it was just like they're on the right path. They're
Speaker 4: doing they're doing the right things in general.
Speaker 2: And I would I'll be curious.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody talks about Coach of the Year, which
Speaker 1: O'Connell is near the top of it.
Speaker 2: I'll be curious, And I don't. I don't read a lot.
Speaker 1: I just I'm the sort of guy who just winds
Speaker 1: up in comment threads throwing an MF or at somebody
Speaker 1: whose like user name is like.
Speaker 2: Packers star four four five.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this buzz is happening, and I
Speaker 1: think it's really hard because Howie Roseman is just all
Speaker 1: world continuously, I meane, between the Saquon and the.
Speaker 2: Cooper Cooper to Gen Cooper to John situation. But I wonder,
Speaker 2: I wonder if.
Speaker 1: The case is building for you know, GM of the Year,
Speaker 1: if Quazy is going to get some rightful do in
Speaker 1: that conversation, because I think the thing I heard him talk.
Speaker 2: In the offseason.
Speaker 1: I think he appeared on maybe it was Barrero, he
Speaker 1: appeared on something on KF and and he talked about
Speaker 1: this the collaborative approach. And I think if you've ever
Speaker 1: been any part of corporate America, you've heard some of
Speaker 1: these buzzwords, but just the way he does it and
Speaker 1: the way he did it in that moment, like it
Speaker 1: was a genuine like I remember hearing it and I
Speaker 1: called Ben Lieber and I was like, I just like,
Speaker 1: I'm so bought in on this, Like maybe I'm drinking
Speaker 1: the kool aid, but I am so bought in on it.
Speaker 1: And then I think what you're seeing in the season
Speaker 1: is an actual reflection of that thing that everybody when
Speaker 1: it first started happening, when they hired these guys and oh,
Speaker 1: you're going to be collaborative. I think you're seeing it
Speaker 1: because you trust your coach too. Instead of signing Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: who has this reputation, you trust your coach to have
Speaker 1: a journeyman that no one, no one thought would do
Speaker 1: anything close to what he's doing and a rookie. So
Speaker 1: that is you are collaborating with your coach.
Speaker 2: You're believing him.
Speaker 1: Lord knows they are collaborating with Brian Flores and what
Speaker 1: he wants. I mean, that's it's public record with some
Speaker 1: of the things that have been said. He loved Van Ginkel.
Speaker 1: He talked to the Eden Prairie coach about Cashman. So
Speaker 1: I just think how well all these new pieces Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: how well they're all playing, and how it all builds
Speaker 1: into this version of the way this team is built
Speaker 1: and the way they're succeeding in the moment and the
Speaker 1: way they did on Sunday. Like Sunday is one of
Speaker 1: those things like if he winds up in that conversation
Speaker 1: at the end that game where they go forty two,
Speaker 1: you know whatever, it was over the Falcons against their
Speaker 1: old quarterback in a bizarro world version of them, like
Speaker 1: it mattered I think that's kind of like this tipping
Speaker 1: point moment where if you weren't on board with Quacy,
Speaker 1: you know, what are you doing? It's an eleven and
Speaker 1: two football team with like not a lot of pieces
Speaker 1: from this year that are missing, and and and like
Speaker 1: like again, I'm very ted talking to people are used
Speaker 1: to me being worried. Brian, I'm jacked and credit go, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to give credit to someone and not
Speaker 1: let anybody else have it. So let's kind of move
Speaker 1: away from the quaisy thing. But like, dude, the undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent thing. Jalen Redmond, Jalen Redman's exactly, And after
Speaker 1: having the ivan pacing, like, what are we talking about?
Speaker 1: That's to have two guys on your squad when Pace
Speaker 1: comes back. If this Redmond trajectory continues to have two
Speaker 1: undrafted free agents that can perform at high levels, that
Speaker 1: is bananas.
Speaker 4: That is something I've always been jealous about Green Bay about,
Speaker 4: was it right? They're always really good at finding those
Speaker 4: an undrafted guys are those really late round guys, but
Speaker 4: they've never been great with free agent signings.
Speaker 3: And Graycy's doing them both. Yeah, whoa you put those together?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I think that people who had an issue with
Speaker 1: the early drafts. You know, I think the draft is
Speaker 1: such a crapshoot, and so I think, to me, when
Speaker 1: you're looking at like how good of a drafter are you?
Speaker 1: I think it's tricky because there's this whole business, like
Speaker 1: this media business built around the draft where it's an
Speaker 1: event and all the like who should you draft? And
Speaker 1: then like we all know the comical nature of giving
Speaker 1: draft grades on the night of the draft.
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2: It's so funny. It is so funny.
Speaker 1: It'd be like you have yourself and at the hospital
Speaker 1: they walk up to you your first kid and they're
Speaker 1: like a plus parenting for the next eighteen years.
Speaker 2: Like it's it's bizarre.
Speaker 3: It's funny.
Speaker 4: Actually, it reminds me. I was at Thanksgiving. There's a new baby.
Speaker 4: I have a new nephew, and everyone's looking at the baby.
Speaker 4: He's like six weeks old, you know, and they're going,
Speaker 4: I'll look at those look at those long arms. He's
Speaker 4: gonna be a starting pitcher, you know. Look at those
Speaker 4: long fingers. He's gonna be a piano player, you know.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, we're doing his athletic measurables at six
Speaker 4: weeks old. They can't even tell if a guy is
Speaker 4: gonna translate from college to the pros, you know. And
Speaker 4: also it's always so positive. No one's ever like a
Speaker 4: look at those long arms, He's going to reach the
Speaker 4: top shelf at the Amazon warehouse, you know, like everyone's
Speaker 4: always projecting with like, look at their positive.
Speaker 1: Look at that lengthy Torso they're definitely gonna ask him
Speaker 1: why he doesn't play basketball when he's nineteen exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like the projecting it that soon is like, everyone,
Speaker 4: take a breath, let's see what happens, Like, give him
Speaker 4: a minute.
Speaker 1: And so I mean, but I you know, a couple
Speaker 1: of that first draft, you got guys who are drafted.
Speaker 2: In the first second round who aren't on the team anymore.
Speaker 2: Absolutely that's case.
Speaker 1: But I think you have to, like, as a drafter,
Speaker 1: I think you take a larger sample because how hit
Speaker 1: and missed the draft is. You know, if JJ and
Speaker 1: Dallas Turner turn out, you basically have to take a
Speaker 1: three to four year run, yes, and then you wait
Speaker 1: five years and then you stack that up against all
Speaker 1: the other three to four runs in that time and
Speaker 1: the five years after that and so I'm not here
Speaker 1: to pump up or debate draft prowess, but I yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I'm riding high on that performance. Obviously I'm
Speaker 1: over here, like but I think it's it could be
Speaker 1: a tipping point in the season. It could be a
Speaker 1: tipping point and a bunch of narratives and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's really the former Viking fan in me
Speaker 1: that for some reason doesn't exist as heavy right now
Speaker 1: would be just sitting here going and then we play
Speaker 1: the Bears that we're supposed to beat on Monday night,
Speaker 1: and this will happen. But I just and that might happen,
Speaker 1: but I'm just not feeling that. So everybody, everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: think that, like I got must have got a psychiatrist.
Speaker 2: In the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: Even if they drop one in the next two weeks,
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna feel doom and gloom, dooming and gloomy,
Speaker 4: Oh for sure not.
Speaker 2: I mean no, I think I think it's how you lose.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, It is interesting.
Speaker 4: Both Chicago and Atlanta, we're in this period where we
Speaker 4: kind of saw two different paths in each other team.
Speaker 4: Each team was kind of a bizarre version of us
Speaker 4: in a different way, and so I think that's what's
Speaker 4: making the last game so satisfying in this upcoming match
Speaker 4: so intriguing.
Speaker 1: What I am very interested in is I would like
Speaker 1: us to win the next two games, and I would
Speaker 1: like the Packers to lose on Sunday to Seattle. I
Speaker 1: don't want to go into the last week of the
Speaker 1: season against the Lions having to win to keep Green
Speaker 1: Bay at Bay.
Speaker 4: That is exactly I wrote an article about that exact
Speaker 4: same phenomenon.
Speaker 1: I think it's either I want to be playing for
Speaker 1: the one seed or I want to be able to
Speaker 1: take it easy and press. Because Zach Martinez on the
Speaker 1: show and he warned us about this. He goes, teams
Speaker 1: who played the Detroit Lions often have a tough time
Speaker 1: the following week. Yes, very it's such a physic football team.
Speaker 1: And we lost the Lions and then short week Thursday.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing, like, Hey, we don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with that game. It might end up like
Speaker 1: if it's for the money, right, but I don't like
Speaker 1: it might be flexed out. You never know, You never
Speaker 1: know what happens. But I don't want to play on
Speaker 1: Saturday and have to really fight hard to stay in
Speaker 1: the five seed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then have to.
Speaker 1: Turn it against a very physical football team and then
Speaker 1: have to and they here's the thing about Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: I think you go, if, well, if they have the
Speaker 1: one seed locked up, are they gonna just I don't
Speaker 1: think so.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's how Dan.
Speaker 1: I think if Dan Campbell knows he has a bye week,
Speaker 1: I think Dan Campbell goes, let's run it out there
Speaker 1: and let's play real football and then we'll take our
Speaker 1: bye week.
Speaker 4: He's like, not only are we not resting our starters,
Speaker 4: Jared Golf's gonna be on roller skates the whole time.
Speaker 2: Yes. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean I think for this fan base, for this organization,
Speaker 1: and honestly for Sam Darnold, I can't imagine anything better
Speaker 1: than that Lions game being for the money.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean that, like, and that's that's the other reason
Speaker 1: you can tell I feel differently about this team. Is
Speaker 1: with right to change my mind over the next two weeks,
Speaker 1: uh is.
Speaker 2: I I want that challenge.
Speaker 1: I think, like I think back to the two thousand,
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Miracle year. That year we always felt like
Speaker 1: we got away with it every game. Yes, I remember
Speaker 1: the defense was so good. You're like, god, I just
Speaker 1: thank god they dropped that interception. We always felt like
Speaker 1: we got away with it. And so in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, like I just want I want the
Speaker 1: Falcons to win over the Eagles because I want it
Speaker 1: nar but like, I just want. I mean, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, if we have to win a super Bowl
Speaker 1: by other teams making mistakes, sign.
Speaker 2: Daddy up, bring on a mistake train. Yeah, I will
Speaker 2: throw the I will throw a parade.
Speaker 1: I'll tattoo mistake onto my my chest like I would
Speaker 1: just just horns coming out of each ends of the word.
Speaker 2: But I want the challenge.
Speaker 1: I don't want the And that's a rare position for
Speaker 1: my mindset for this team to be in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and what a great way to end the season
Speaker 4: two that would be you know, it's on a high
Speaker 4: point going against Campbell like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'd be great.
Speaker 1: It's high risk, high reward. Yeah, because you win it.
Speaker 1: I mean you're gonna you're gonna pull out all the
Speaker 1: stops in that game. You win it, you get the
Speaker 1: bye week, you get home field throughout, you lose it,
Speaker 1: you just gave everything you had, and you have to
Speaker 1: turn around and go play.
Speaker 2: I was talking.
Speaker 1: People are not worried about Tampa Bay at all. I'm
Speaker 1: just here to tell you. I know their defense isn't
Speaker 1: very good. I know everybody's hurt. I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I've watched a lot of Tampa Bay. I don't love
Speaker 1: the idea of playing Tampa Bay. And I don't like
Speaker 1: playing a guy like Baker Mayfield who has that weird
Speaker 1: like what they say, you know, that weird chip motivation.
Speaker 1: And Liam Cohen's a good offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's high risk, high reward, but I would just I
Speaker 1: would just I would like some clarity going into the
Speaker 1: last week.
Speaker 2: How selfish is that I'm over here.
Speaker 1: I would just like my eleven to two football team
Speaker 1: to know their fate.
Speaker 2: Could we just know our fate?
Speaker 3: Would that?
Speaker 2: Could you do that for me? Please?
Speaker 4: That I agree with you on Baker though, And I've
Speaker 4: always been a Baker fan, and I like that. I
Speaker 4: like that he's basically can you know this big crotch
Speaker 4: grab move that got him so you know in college
Speaker 4: everyone wasn't mad about I like that he's just been
Speaker 4: like basically doing the crotch grab for seventeen games every year.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: I just think he's a he's a treat and I
Speaker 4: would much rather not face him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny how just you know the NFL, so
Speaker 1: you work for a sports website, right, you know it's
Speaker 1: funny how the machine, how important narratives are to the machine, right,
Speaker 1: and and then how those narra's the machine is so
Speaker 1: big that those narratives overtake the part of the league
Speaker 1: that isn't the machine. Right, So like Baker's this guy,
Speaker 1: like both Baker and Darnold, you know, ousted out of situations,
Speaker 1: both wind up in Carolina disaster, both of them. And
Speaker 1: like I would say before Baker went to Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: outside of the guy who replaced him, I don't know
Speaker 1: that you find much of a lower approval rating, sure
Speaker 1: for a starting quarterback in the NFL from a do
Speaker 1: you like this guy?
Speaker 4: Not?
Speaker 2: Is he good?
Speaker 1: Do you you go to other fan bases who on
Speaker 1: his team? He goes, do you like this guy? And
Speaker 1: now I think you go, I think he has a
Speaker 1: It's like he rebuilt the football economy. He's got a
Speaker 1: skyrocket at approval rating. Same thing with Donald I think
Speaker 1: you know, when Donald's sitting in San Francisco, if you
Speaker 1: take a fan poll of approval rating and he comes here,
Speaker 1: I just think that's so interesting that I don't know
Speaker 1: that Baker is much different of a guy, and I
Speaker 1: always worry about his ability to be like I'm just gonna.
Speaker 1: I mean, they did in the playoffs last year. They
Speaker 1: just they have the ability to do it.
Speaker 4: He went from being Johnny and karate Kid to Johnny
Speaker 4: and coolbri Kai. Johnny's still the same, but the show's
Speaker 4: different around him, and all of a sudden he's the
Speaker 4: hero instead of the villain.
Speaker 3: I love him for that.
Speaker 1: I said at the beginning of the season, let's close
Speaker 1: on this, Well, no, because if we close on me
Speaker 1: talking about the progression of players that I like, this
Speaker 1: will be two hours more of a podcast and everybody back.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can sign up for size
Speaker 1: narrative novel every week. What do you think, like if
Speaker 1: I'm I've puked for this whole show where I'm at
Speaker 1: mentally and you've sat side saddle right honestly in this
Speaker 1: moment as we sit here normally, I asked the opposing guest,
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen this weekend. What's your score prediction I
Speaker 1: want from you because I'm not gonna do it. What
Speaker 1: is your real at this moment, with the information we
Speaker 1: have before we see these crucial next four games, where
Speaker 1: do you think this season is truly going.
Speaker 4: I think they're gonna drop at least one more, maybe
Speaker 4: two considering you know, maybe maybe it's just one more.
Speaker 4: But I just I think you gotta purely enjoy the season.
Speaker 4: I think this is one of the most enjoyable football
Speaker 4: seasons in Minnesota in a long time, and it's one
Speaker 4: of the most enjoyable football seasons for any team in
Speaker 4: a long time when you consider expectation versus reality. I mean,
Speaker 4: it's not quite greatest show on turf level, but certainly
Speaker 4: it was you know from the these guys are gonna
Speaker 4: be very good to these guys are super Bowl contenders.
Speaker 4: I think this the sky actually is the limit for once.
Speaker 4: Even it doesn't mean you're gonna get there, but it's not.
Speaker 4: We're not just hoping for like a whole team to
Speaker 4: get COVID all at once and maybe give us a chance,
Speaker 4: you know which, there was a time where I was
Speaker 4: like COVID could be the way, you know. So, I
Speaker 4: think it's just really important to enjoy this season because
Speaker 4: it's it's just pure enjoyment. We are playing with house
Speaker 4: money to such an insane degree. But I also don't
Speaker 4: think it's just like freakish either. So I I mean,
Speaker 4: I think that I think they'll beat the Bears by
Speaker 4: at least ten this week. I think I think they
Speaker 4: beat the Bears pretty soundly because like I said, I
Speaker 4: think the Bears are exhausted. I think then that the
Speaker 4: Seahawks and the Packers games are gonna be very interesting.
Speaker 2: I wonder if those will be games that tell the tale.
Speaker 4: I think so more because I think you the Lions
Speaker 4: that's gonna be tough, and that game who knows who
Speaker 4: starters are playing, that that game's two up in the air.
Speaker 4: I think the Bears game, I do think it's going
Speaker 4: to be I feel good about that. If the Seahawks
Speaker 4: and the Packers back to back, those are two interesting
Speaker 4: teams that they could beat, should probably beat, but are tough,
Speaker 4: and that are also defining their own paths in the
Speaker 4: close of the season too. So you've got a lot
Speaker 4: of those narratives of teams on the rise, like all
Speaker 4: clashing right at the end.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's what they say, last four games this season, right.
Speaker 1: It used to be December. Now the league is pushed
Speaker 1: back a week, so it's December January ish.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's I think it's fun.
Speaker 1: I think I will lean into this more and more
Speaker 1: because you know, you've got three or four division games
Speaker 1: down the stretch, which is a wild pace, and you
Speaker 1: see that around the league a lot.
Speaker 4: They almost overdo it, I think to a slight degree
Speaker 4: where they like they try to cluster all the divisional matchups,
Speaker 4: like right at the beginning.
Speaker 1: It feels more than I mean, I have no proof
Speaker 1: or evidence of this, but it feels heavier. The Steelers
Speaker 1: played all of their division games in the last like
Speaker 1: nine weeks of the season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Caago, Chicago, Green Bay, and Minnesota are just back
Speaker 4: and forth.
Speaker 3: It's all division games in the North.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I I think I'm I'm with you on the
Speaker 1: house money, but I'm teetering, like I said, in between
Speaker 1: that and a new set of expectations, which I think
Speaker 1: are fair, and I'm just trying to see where I land. Confidence.
Speaker 1: I really want what I felt after Atlanta. I want
Speaker 1: that to be what I feel going into Detroit. That's
Speaker 1: what I want. That That is selfishly again, Look, I
Speaker 1: just want to feel like we're one of the best teams.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I want to That's that is my.
Speaker 1: If I feel like that after Seattle and green Bay,
Speaker 1: regardless of how those games, because by the way, you
Speaker 1: can play a hell of a football game against a
Speaker 1: Seattle or a green Bay team and not have it
Speaker 1: go your way. Sure, So I want to see how
Speaker 1: I feel after those games, and then I'm going to
Speaker 1: reset how I how devastated I will be if and
Speaker 1: when this falls apart, even though I'm trying to tell
Speaker 1: people I won't be devastated that it's all house money.
Speaker 3: Sure, I don't think you'll be devastated.
Speaker 2: Well you don't.
Speaker 1: That feels like you For somebody who's known me as
Speaker 1: long as you have. That doesn't seem like you know.
Speaker 2: Me at all.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna do it for us here
Speaker 1: on the tailgate.
Speaker 2: Go see Brian this week. ACME Comedy Company.
Speaker 1: Shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday to Friday to Saturday.
Speaker 2: Go check him out.
Speaker 1: They'll be absolutely fantastic, best club, best comic and thank
Speaker 1: you so much. To Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. Hey, and thank you for listening on
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