Speaker 1: When you step into Lifetime, you won't just see the difference,
Speaker 1: You'll feel it. Experience it for yourself. Visit Lifetime dot
Speaker 1: Life for a complimentary guest pass, or stop by a
Speaker 1: club Lifetime the Healthy Way of Life partner for the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. You know, accountability would be the number one
Speaker 1: word I would kind of define with that, and if
Speaker 1: he made a mistake, he would own it. He was
Speaker 1: always the most prepared you could tell you about the
Speaker 1: work end the time in as a head go Jen
Speaker 1: is you know really the dcat for me? Feelman, I've
Speaker 1: been I was with my entire career and is a
Speaker 1: massively important figure in my life. I immediately think about
Speaker 1: those guys and just reached out them via text and
Speaker 1: just thank them for everything. Called him, I loved him
Speaker 1: and wished him nothing but the best. You're listening to
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings Podcast and this is episode one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty eight. I'm Tanta Meverett inside TCO Studios or
Speaker 1: radio room. I've got Gabe Henderson and producer Jay Nelson
Speaker 1: alongside me today and we have a lot to discuss.
Speaker 1: After an eventful week at Twin Cities ORTHOPEDICX Performance Center,
Speaker 1: plus we have a very special guest on the podcast today,
Speaker 1: former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway. But before we get to
Speaker 1: our interview with Chad, the Vikings finished the season eight
Speaker 1: and nine with no postseason birth. As a result, ownership
Speaker 1: made the tough decision on Monday to part ways with
Speaker 1: both general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer.
Speaker 1: Vikings owner Mark Wealth spoke on Monday, said letting them
Speaker 1: go was hard after Spielman had been with the organization
Speaker 1: for sixteen years and Zimmer for eight, but that is
Speaker 1: what had to be done, according to Wealth, to take
Speaker 1: this franchise to the next level. So, Gabe, Jay, I'm
Speaker 1: going to give you the floor right here, and I'll
Speaker 1: start with you, Gabe in your eyes, why do you
Speaker 1: think ownership made this decision? First and foremost, it's always
Speaker 1: funny when people say Gabe and Jay, because I have
Speaker 1: one older brother and his name is Jay. Oh wow.
Speaker 1: I had no idea. So when I say Jay, I
Speaker 1: was just like, it's talking about my brothers. Calling in later,
Speaker 1: you didn't know that's I'm going You've been Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: you're a big brother tv in. But um to your
Speaker 1: point of ownership making this decision. Um, I do believe
Speaker 1: it was a tough decision, but I remember to talking
Speaker 1: to Mark Wilf earlier this week, and the organization just
Speaker 1: needed to go in a new way. And I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say overstaying you're welcome is the case. But having a
Speaker 1: job or head coaching job in the NFL for eight years, um,
Speaker 1: things can get old, and things can go one way
Speaker 1: and then go the other way. You kind of it's
Speaker 1: kind of like leaving milk out out for a while.
Speaker 1: You can, but at the same time, sometimes that milk
Speaker 1: will spoil. The expiration date the expiration date, and sometimes
Speaker 1: the expert date. Expiration date is longer on certain certain cartons.
Speaker 1: In the other end, Uh, this was a long expiration
Speaker 1: date for Mike Zimmer. He served his time. He put
Speaker 1: a lot of milk in the bowls of cereal and
Speaker 1: a lot of people ate that bowl and was able
Speaker 1: to get full in the process, but still the milk
Speaker 1: went sour after a while, and that to mention that
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer didn't feed a lot of people. But still
Speaker 1: in the same breath, it was one of those things
Speaker 1: where you say, okay, Mike, like we appreciate what you did.
Speaker 1: He laid a foundation and there were expilment on the
Speaker 1: other end. He's been in part of this process since
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, and that for me personally, was
Speaker 1: the biggest surprise. I think a lot of people were
Speaker 1: surprised by that move, but I think Mark Wolfe he
Speaker 1: looks at it as Okay, well, we're not fully rebuild him,
Speaker 1: but we want to get the right leaders here in
Speaker 1: place to continue to build this, build the foundation moving forward.
Speaker 1: I did love when he talked about the rebuild and
Speaker 1: how they envisioned this team is still a contender. You
Speaker 1: think of the fourteen one score games this season and
Speaker 1: you think maybe the decisions would be differently if the
Speaker 1: game outcomes had just swung a few more in the
Speaker 1: right direction. But you know, it was interesting with it
Speaker 1: being my first season here and kind of looking into
Speaker 1: the career of Mike Zimmer, I didn't really realize heading
Speaker 1: into this job that he really, if you want to
Speaker 1: include this past season, had only been to the playoffs
Speaker 1: three of eight seasons, and I think when you look
Speaker 1: at the actual numbers itself, that to me speaks volumes
Speaker 1: because I think as an organization and ownership, you want
Speaker 1: better results than that. As a fan base. As an organization,
Speaker 1: as you know anyone working within this organization, the goal
Speaker 1: every season should be to be in postseason contention. And
Speaker 1: I think the fact that the last four seasons you've
Speaker 1: only been in the playoffs at once, and you know
Speaker 1: we made the run the way we did and lost
Speaker 1: in San Francisco in the divisional round, I think, ultimately
Speaker 1: that's on my end what I think it comes down
Speaker 1: to why ownership made this decision. Coaches come in, there's
Speaker 1: there's a pop of excitement, there's a pop of promise
Speaker 1: and hope for what their intentions are and what people
Speaker 1: feel this should be. And I think the first half
Speaker 1: of Zimmer's career here there was a ton of promise
Speaker 1: and hope. There was playoff appearances, kind of the ups
Speaker 1: and downs, winning division crowns at Green Bay, things like that,
Speaker 1: rallying together and feeling like there's a clear vision of
Speaker 1: what we're going to be for the future. I think
Speaker 1: given the way that the last half of his career
Speaker 1: as a head coach here has gone, I think the
Speaker 1: ownership kind of potentially looked at this and just said, listen,
Speaker 1: if we're going to do one, let's just get a
Speaker 1: fresh start across the board, because Rick has had his
Speaker 1: chance over the last sixteen years to help mold this
Speaker 1: football team where they needed to be. If the head
Speaker 1: coach was working with the players and talent that have
Speaker 1: been here, if they looked at it and said, if
Speaker 1: we're gonna get one brand new perspective, then let's do
Speaker 1: it both positions in order to see what we can
Speaker 1: get for the future. Because they looked at the results
Speaker 1: and said, it's just not good enough at this point.
Speaker 1: Like anywhere, whenever you have success early, it's hard for
Speaker 1: fans to wane back from that. So the fact that
Speaker 1: we made the playoffs in twenty fifteen, granted we didn't
Speaker 1: win that playoff game, the bar was already set high
Speaker 1: of like, okay, well this guy he missed the playoffs
Speaker 1: his first season, and Mike zimmer okay, twenty fifteen, Oh,
Speaker 1: we actually can do it. We didn't make it in
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, but twenty seventeen we go on that long run.
Speaker 1: So the expectation started to rise. And that's not to
Speaker 1: say that Mike zimmerdon then live up to the expectations,
Speaker 1: but once you have two seasons in a role where
Speaker 1: you kind of don't live up to those expectations. I
Speaker 1: think that that plays into the fact of, all right, well,
Speaker 1: we may have to look in a different direction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you are the third winning as coach of franchise history,
Speaker 1: but we got to continue to have that sustained success.
Speaker 1: And we appreciate you getting this there because we've tasted
Speaker 1: the success, so now we want more of it. And
Speaker 1: I think at this point, if you look at both
Speaker 1: Zimmer and Spielman, if you would have asked them at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season, what's your goals and what
Speaker 1: are your expectations, it'd be to win and be in
Speaker 1: the playoffs and be a postseason contender. And I think
Speaker 1: as as frustrating as this season was with the roller
Speaker 1: coaster with a lack of results the way you wanted,
Speaker 1: in the fact that you ended at eight to nine,
Speaker 1: I think that must have been part of the decision,
Speaker 1: just to say, you know, things have not worked out
Speaker 1: the way we've expected and what ownership's expectations are being
Speaker 1: championship contenders. They've said that from the moment that they
Speaker 1: walked in the door. Yeah, And I think that along
Speaker 1: with the fact that neither you know, the benchmarks were
Speaker 1: not hit for the season. That had to be part
Speaker 1: of the reason they were willing to part with people
Speaker 1: that have contributed this organization in many ways besides football
Speaker 1: for the last you know, almost over a decade at
Speaker 1: this point with Rick, and you think about what was
Speaker 1: on the line in the last three games. Yes, you
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to maybe save a couple of jobs,
Speaker 1: to maybe make it to the postseason and not make
Speaker 1: this season an eight and nine no playoff team. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had it was right there for the taking, and
Speaker 1: you saw the type of team efforts that came off.
Speaker 1: And I know, these guys play really hard, and they
Speaker 1: try hard, and they and they try to put themselves
Speaker 1: in those positions. But those last two games were just
Speaker 1: so tough, or three games rather, were just so tough
Speaker 1: to just sit back and know what was out there
Speaker 1: for the taking, and it wasn't taken advantage of. And
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of bad luck too, especially
Speaker 1: at that Green Bay Packers game and then a few
Speaker 1: games earlier in the year where we had a few
Speaker 1: players down. But every team in the league's dealing with
Speaker 1: the same stuff. Legua Zeolo with the same stuff, and
Speaker 1: I know ownership they talked about what Mark Wolfe talked
Speaker 1: about that earlier this week. Is they have provided the
Speaker 1: ample resources for these head coaches and for Rick Spilming,
Speaker 1: and they're going to continue to do so. And I
Speaker 1: think it showed this year with all these guys that
Speaker 1: signed one year contracts from P two to well just
Speaker 1: in general, all the free agents that we brought in.
Speaker 1: So I do believe they're going to be very gracious
Speaker 1: when providing resources, in which he said earlier this week,
Speaker 1: Mark Wolfe, So it's just a fact of when we
Speaker 1: provide these resources, we need you guys to hold them
Speaker 1: to your end of the deal and provide us wins
Speaker 1: if you go through and look at what the expectations are.
Speaker 1: I think from ownership is the fact that we should
Speaker 1: be a successful team and we should be able to
Speaker 1: compete six of our nine losses or the playoff teams.
Speaker 1: And I think if you expect to be in that
Speaker 1: echelon of teams that can compete that way, you can't
Speaker 1: have that kind of a record when it comes to
Speaker 1: playing at that caliber. I just it's extremely difficult, given
Speaker 1: relationships that my self and other people in this organization
Speaker 1: have had with both of these people over the years,
Speaker 1: to see them go. But if ownership is as strong
Speaker 1: as they are to say these are expectations, then I
Speaker 1: think fans should be somewhat excited given what the goals are,
Speaker 1: that they're willing to make a drastic change like this
Speaker 1: in order to try to achieve their goals. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: think the last thing it was that stood out to
Speaker 1: me about Mark Wolfe's interview is that he said they're
Speaker 1: looking for strong leaders, communicatings or communicators and collaborators who
Speaker 1: are aligned with building a positive, winning culture. So you
Speaker 1: look at that and you say, Okay, well, these guys
Speaker 1: have a vision of who they want and I think
Speaker 1: they'll take as much time as necessary to do so. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that was a three words that we heard
Speaker 1: not only from Mark wolf but in the exit interviews
Speaker 1: from Adam Feeling, Eric Kendricks, Brian O'Neill, everyone talking about
Speaker 1: needing more collaborative environment, a leader who's strong in their convictions,
Speaker 1: and in a lot of ways, it sounded like the
Speaker 1: players also as upset as they are about not having
Speaker 1: the consistency and the continuity of the head coach and
Speaker 1: GM they sounded like, you know, this is part of
Speaker 1: the league. They're willing to deal with this, and they
Speaker 1: hope that strong leadership, collaboration and communicators exactly, I think
Speaker 1: is what they're hoping and looking for. I wanted to
Speaker 1: point this out as one final point as to why
Speaker 1: I kind of think things developed the way they did
Speaker 1: this week is going back to when Mike Zimmer was hired.
Speaker 1: He was hired to bring in to revamp this defense,
Speaker 1: to make it that strong Vikings defense that you know
Speaker 1: the franchise has been known for for so long, and
Speaker 1: you hit twenty seventeen, where their first in total defense
Speaker 1: and their tops in the league in several categories. You
Speaker 1: think of twenty twenty one, it is statistically the worst
Speaker 1: season that Mike Zimmer's defense has had while in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and the decline of the defense doesn't really help the
Speaker 1: offense as well. I mean, Kirk Cousins commit comes in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen after the run, they want him continue that.
Speaker 1: But while they had that strong defense, they thought they
Speaker 1: needed a quarterbacks. They bring the quarterback in and the
Speaker 1: defense is declined since then. So it's kind of been
Speaker 1: just a recipe for where we are right now, eight
Speaker 1: nine and no playoffs. It's a bad mix in just
Speaker 1: that the offensive side when you would have your three
Speaker 1: and outs, puts the defense in a bad position to
Speaker 1: run at that point, and vice versa. If offensively things
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily clicking the way they need to and you
Speaker 1: need the defense just to make a stop. I mean,
Speaker 1: how many games, at the end of a game or
Speaker 1: at the end of a half, we're looking at the
Speaker 1: defense just to make a stop and to stop them
Speaker 1: from putting points on the board. And given all the
Speaker 1: one score games that we lost, I just think it
Speaker 1: was a bad formula all season long, between the defensive
Speaker 1: drop and the offense unable to sustain drives in the
Speaker 1: way that they needed. I just think it was not
Speaker 1: beneficial on either sides for both of those groups. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that you hit it right on that ghost
Speaker 1: hand in hand, like, yeah, you look at some of
Speaker 1: the defense the stats and say, well, they didn't stop
Speaker 1: the run or they didn't do this. Well, you have
Speaker 1: two drives where a team has seventy rushing yards and
Speaker 1: they ended up with one hundred and twenty. Maybe those
Speaker 1: two drives where they give up seventy rushing yards the
Speaker 1: offense went three and out. So there's so many things
Speaker 1: as far as momentum that we weren't able to take
Speaker 1: advantage of this year. Only two games stand out to
Speaker 1: me this year that we were actually able to control
Speaker 1: the momentum the first half of the Steller's game and
Speaker 1: then the second half of this Bears game this past week.
Speaker 1: And you look at that and say, well, if you
Speaker 1: put those two games together, you got a complete season,
Speaker 1: but you got a Super Bowl winners the case. But
Speaker 1: still like that's that's one of those things where you
Speaker 1: just say, well, we want a coach or a GM
Speaker 1: or somebody that that's in leadership to come in and
Speaker 1: it's an expert in helping sustain some of that momentum.
Speaker 1: That's what in my opinion, I feel like that's when
Speaker 1: coaching comes in. When you make a big play and
Speaker 1: then you strategize something to continue to build on that momentum.
Speaker 1: And we weren't able to do that. Yeah, we did
Speaker 1: have a lot of lash blaze. You look at the
Speaker 1: sack totals or our third down totals on defense say like,
Speaker 1: man like, we were really good, but still those momentum
Speaker 1: driven moments where you look at the coaches and say, okay,
Speaker 1: this is where you guys stepped in maybe add some
Speaker 1: extra boost here or blitz Here's that's where you say. Okay,
Speaker 1: I see what Mark Wolf and those guys were saying,
Speaker 1: and obviously Mark Will felt as strongly enough to your point,
Speaker 1: Gabe to go ahead and make the call on moving
Speaker 1: forward without Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer and not many
Speaker 1: people have the unique perspective in this situation, as our
Speaker 1: podcast guests this week, former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, who
Speaker 1: spent his entire eleven year career here in Minnesota. The
Speaker 1: Vikings drafted him in the first round of the twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen draft when Spielman was the newly promoted director of
Speaker 1: player Personnel. Plus he spent his final three seasons as
Speaker 1: a Viking with head coach Mike Zimmer. So we are
Speaker 1: so excited to hear from him. Here is Chad Greenway.
Speaker 1: Vikings fans, you know him and you love him. It's
Speaker 1: Vikings legendary linebacker Chad Greenway. Chad, happy birthday is in order.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here on your special day. Yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. I figured, I figured, why not if
Speaker 1: nothing else going on? The kids are at school, it's
Speaker 1: sunny out, it's almost forty degrees, you might as well
Speaker 1: jump on the podcast. So it is great up vodka
Speaker 1: in the giftback tonight. Oh, it's always in the bag. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I as I coach you guys off air, obviously,
Speaker 1: I'm coaching my girls team tonight, my daughter's team, and
Speaker 1: then after that I have a board meeting after host.
Speaker 1: But it's virtual. So what happens off screen in a
Speaker 1: virtual meeting happens off screen, and there may be some
Speaker 1: cock jilks. I'm a fan. I've got my great duck
Speaker 1: sitting on my bar cart right now. So looks rather
Speaker 1: nice there, very nice. Well, it's funny though. You mentioned
Speaker 1: you're mentioning sunny and forty and every I tweeted out
Speaker 1: the other day about it's hitting thirty and people are saying, oh,
Speaker 1: so warm today. I'm like, this is this isn't warm?
Speaker 1: I have to know, are you a short sky when
Speaker 1: it hits forty? Oh honey, you're so new to this?
Speaker 1: When when when it goes negative ten on? Yeah, with
Speaker 1: the wind at negative twenty five and you just get
Speaker 1: that thirty at thirty feels like you're feeling today. Thirty
Speaker 1: feels like fifty, right, thirty feels like fifty feels amazing
Speaker 1: outside you could throw a little hoodie on. You might
Speaker 1: have a light jacket on top of that. But for
Speaker 1: the most part, you are living the dream. You get
Speaker 1: to actually enjoy the outdoors instead of the negative ten
Speaker 1: and you can't that I am, um. You know, I
Speaker 1: grew up in South Dakota. I'm very used to the cold,
Speaker 1: extreme cold, extreme wind. So you know, this is just
Speaker 1: part of it. Um. You know, I don't know why
Speaker 1: I live here. I love we love it here. We
Speaker 1: love the school, we loves raising the families. There's so
Speaker 1: many There's so much more to life than the weather, um,
Speaker 1: And it's all about finding ways to enjoy it and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and live your best life in it. And
Speaker 1: about ten degrees chat, I think you'll start to see
Speaker 1: people popping the tops down on their convertibles and driving
Speaker 1: their Harley's out. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I didn't know if it was thirty seven or seventy
Speaker 1: three today. And then I looked at the car washers
Speaker 1: on my drive to work and I was like, why
Speaker 1: is every single car washing Minnesota flour right now? That's
Speaker 1: a great as a great indication of where people the
Speaker 1: car wash line the cars are coming out of the garage,
Speaker 1: out of hibernation in order to try to try to
Speaker 1: wake up this gracious you guys are killing me. I
Speaker 1: will never be a shorts person in forty degrees, just never,
Speaker 1: never make shorts and tall Thanksgiving and then whenever it's
Speaker 1: reasonable to come out of hibernation. So I'll think about it.
Speaker 1: We're not too far off. I'll think about it. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I do like the sun being out today, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: It's nice to see the sun out after such a
Speaker 1: tumultuous week over here in the Minnesota Vikings. You know, Chad,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know the news by now that Rick
Speaker 1: Spielman and Mike Zimmer have been relieved of their duties
Speaker 1: here as head coach and GM. And I know that
Speaker 1: you have long relationships with Spielman as well as Zimmer
Speaker 1: playing under them. What was your initial reaction of the
Speaker 1: news when you heard about their departures. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, the initial news is I guess I'm nut shocked. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you've been the NFL for a long time and around
Speaker 1: the business, and yeah that you're ever shocked by decision
Speaker 1: from and the organization. You start to do the mass
Speaker 1: and you realize that, you know, Zam has been here
Speaker 1: for eight and Spielman's been here for what's sixteen yea,
Speaker 1: And you realize that in respect, the will giving them
Speaker 1: enough time to really implement their plan, get the right
Speaker 1: people around them, the personnel, the coaching staff, everything in
Speaker 1: place to be successful, and if the will feel like
Speaker 1: it's time to move on as owners, you know, you
Speaker 1: feel like, okay, we gave this the best shot. You
Speaker 1: kind of respect that decision. It wasn't like a you know,
Speaker 1: maybe like the Dolphins, where it's a two or three
Speaker 1: year dealing done and you don't get really a chance
Speaker 1: to really see what that coaches all about him the
Speaker 1: long term. So I respect that, but the initial reactions
Speaker 1: obviously just you know, it sucks. I mean, there's no
Speaker 1: other way around it. If we love you know, I
Speaker 1: loved him, love I love him. When he came in.
Speaker 1: I played for him for three years. M Spielman. I've
Speaker 1: been I was with my entire career and is essentially
Speaker 1: a massively important figure in my life, just because he
Speaker 1: has been so good to my family and my career
Speaker 1: and everything that we stand for, and he's been a
Speaker 1: massive part of that. So I immediately think about those
Speaker 1: guys and just reached out to be a text and
Speaker 1: just thank them for everything, told him I loved him
Speaker 1: and wish him nothing but the best. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: the next part you feel is is all the all
Speaker 1: the waves from that massive splash continue to affect others.
Speaker 1: Right There's there's assistant coaches and gas and guys that
Speaker 1: don't have massive buyouts that now have to find new
Speaker 1: jobs and new teams and new opportunities and you have,
Speaker 1: you know, in some cases wives and girlfriends and kids
Speaker 1: and school decisions and all sorts of just stuff, right,
Speaker 1: just life stuff to hit you right away, you know.
Speaker 1: And and it's tough, and um, you know, they know
Speaker 1: what they're getting into. And a lot of people will
Speaker 1: will claim that everybody's making all this money that it
Speaker 1: becomes easier, Um, but not everybody is. You know. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a massive, massive thing and somebody's life to
Speaker 1: lose a job like this, especially in such a public arena. Um,
Speaker 1: So I just wish those guys nothing but the best.
Speaker 1: They're incredible people, incredible coaches and leaders, you know, and
Speaker 1: you don't you don't stand as long as they have
Speaker 1: in the NFL without being that. So I wish them
Speaker 1: nothing but the best. Yeah, that's one thing that I
Speaker 1: would say a lot of fans forget, or a lot
Speaker 1: of people involved with this outside of the building forget,
Speaker 1: is that these these guys are Humanum where there's the coaches,
Speaker 1: g am front office, all these guys, like you said,
Speaker 1: a families and and more importantly, this is what they
Speaker 1: love to do. This is how they make a living
Speaker 1: for their family also. So just with that said, I
Speaker 1: remember talking to to Zimmer earlier before the season started
Speaker 1: and I asked him. I was like, well, I told him.
Speaker 1: I was like, Zim, I heard you got a little
Speaker 1: bit softer ever since you got two grandkids. And the
Speaker 1: first thing you said it was like yeah, I am,
Speaker 1: but still not to my players. So as a former
Speaker 1: Zimmer player, how would you describe Do you have a
Speaker 1: story about you guys this time together or maybe even
Speaker 1: Rick Spielman. Yeah, I describe him as accountable, you know.
Speaker 1: Accountability would be the number one word I would kind
Speaker 1: of define with that, and he led that way with
Speaker 1: his with his own approach. I mean, if he made
Speaker 1: a mistake, he would own it, you know, if he
Speaker 1: if he made a bad call, he would own it,
Speaker 1: and he would own it in front of everybody. He
Speaker 1: was always the most prepared. You could tell he put
Speaker 1: the work in the time in US as a head
Speaker 1: coach and as a you know, really is a DC
Speaker 1: for me. You know, I came in, I had played,
Speaker 1: I'd played for eight years of the organization under one defense.
Speaker 1: Zimmer comes in and kind of implement this wholesale change
Speaker 1: and mentality and approach, and I kind of had to
Speaker 1: reinvent myself in year nine into a different type of
Speaker 1: player and really take new coaching and news type of coaching.
Speaker 1: You know. Adam Adam became my linebacker coach who was
Speaker 1: a few years younger than me. Um So, you know,
Speaker 1: really had to navigate some things when they came in.
Speaker 1: And it was interesting because at that same time, I
Speaker 1: got asked take a pay cut that same year, and
Speaker 1: um so it was a lot going on in my head,
Speaker 1: you know, as a leader and a team captain and
Speaker 1: all these things. And the new coach comes in and
Speaker 1: the GM aster a pay cut, you have all these
Speaker 1: kind of negatives, and it remotivated me and re engaged
Speaker 1: me into my career and I decided to stay and
Speaker 1: finish a Viking, and that all worked out, and I
Speaker 1: learned to respect Zim's approach, and you know, to the
Speaker 1: point where I think his approach not only can can
Speaker 1: win in this league, but is the necessary way to
Speaker 1: handle things and people and these kids come out of
Speaker 1: college now, is on true accountability and um and he
Speaker 1: did in a couple of ways. I mean the one
Speaker 1: that the best example is my first training camp UM
Speaker 1: with him. We're on a man Cato and you know,
Speaker 1: if you weren't familiar, you guys probably be familiar with
Speaker 1: me and kay to layout, but just you know, three
Speaker 1: grass fields right side by side by side. There's a
Speaker 1: stadium kind of on the end. So he's standing by
Speaker 1: the stadium and I won the far grass field. You're
Speaker 1: talking like two and a half three fields away, and
Speaker 1: we're going through defensive walkthrough. Is the morning walked through
Speaker 1: like ten am. And we're out there going through the
Speaker 1: stuff we had installed the night before in that morning,
Speaker 1: and all we hear is just them like with this
Speaker 1: little little limp walking across the field, you know, and
Speaker 1: just screaming like nobody knew he was. It was too
Speaker 1: far away even understand. And like we we go through
Speaker 1: a couple more plays, and he finally gets over there
Speaker 1: and he set up he wanted to play, set up
Speaker 1: that he was yelling at and I was playing. I
Speaker 1: was playing. I was on the field that time. And
Speaker 1: it turns out he was screaming at me. And what
Speaker 1: he laid out was like my alignment was like six
Speaker 1: inches off, like too far to the inside. And again,
Speaker 1: I'm thirty years old, I've in my ninth year. You know,
Speaker 1: at that point, I have like nine hundred career tackles
Speaker 1: or more like, you know, I knew what I was doing,
Speaker 1: but he had to make a point, and it was right.
Speaker 1: He was right. But the point is that you have
Speaker 1: to be exact in this business, and six inches matters,
Speaker 1: and um and your alignment matters, and all these details matter,
Speaker 1: and you have to study and know and understand. And
Speaker 1: if you don't know, if if you don't know, everybody's
Speaker 1: positioned right knowing your own, but also and everybody else's
Speaker 1: that you can't hold each other accountable in that way.
Speaker 1: And then you go on to watch tape as a
Speaker 1: team or a defensive unit, and you would be held
Speaker 1: accountable on the video, on the video, and and I
Speaker 1: just all those things lead together and his points were
Speaker 1: all active because this business no different than this team
Speaker 1: this year or every every year, is everything's so tight
Speaker 1: and the margin of error is so slim that you
Speaker 1: have to be exact and you have to be perfect,
Speaker 1: and you're never gonna be perfect. You have to try.
Speaker 1: But he also just you know, he led that way
Speaker 1: by with his with how he handled his own business too.
Speaker 1: I mean, he'd be so hard on himself for missing
Speaker 1: something or not seeing something, and um, you know, in
Speaker 1: my estimation, he always put it on himself when he
Speaker 1: needed to. Chad. You mentioned that Zimmer's approach is a
Speaker 1: winnable approach. So what do you think happened the last
Speaker 1: couple of seasons where it just felt like the team
Speaker 1: wasn't achieving to what their expectations were. I'm not there right,
Speaker 1: having been around the team in two years because of
Speaker 1: COVID and other reasons, and you don't really know and
Speaker 1: understand less you're there right. So it's hard for us
Speaker 1: to really say, even for you guys in the building,
Speaker 1: to really to really pinpoint it right. You can you
Speaker 1: can point to personnel or guys not making plays, or
Speaker 1: coaches not getting guys ready, or coaches having wrong and
Speaker 1: there's all sorts of things you can kind of point to. UM.
Speaker 1: I always thought that Zim's approached on being defensive first
Speaker 1: and calling the plays as a head coach maybe held back,
Speaker 1: held himself back from being the type of head coach
Speaker 1: he could have been rather than D you know, just
Speaker 1: like a DC mentality. Um. But the point is that
Speaker 1: that was his baby, right, and that's what he wanted.
Speaker 1: That's where he really really cared about. So and he's
Speaker 1: an excellent DC. But I think it's always a combination
Speaker 1: of things in the NFL. You can never just point
Speaker 1: to one thing. Players have to play. We know that
Speaker 1: defense can win, right and but but it comes down
Speaker 1: to every NFL season comes down to games that you
Speaker 1: win or lose by five points or less. And we've
Speaker 1: just been losing too many games at the end right opportunities,
Speaker 1: you know, kirks and the offense drives you down, and
Speaker 1: you get chance for a kick, you miss kirk and
Speaker 1: offense drives you down. You fumble the ball, you loose,
Speaker 1: you lose the ball, you loose. You know, there's so
Speaker 1: many things. You know, you score too early, defense can't hold,
Speaker 1: they score, you loose. There's just so many ways to
Speaker 1: lose in this business. It's insane and all these players
Speaker 1: you're playing are so good, so it's hard to pinpoint
Speaker 1: you answer your question directly, but it's always a combo
Speaker 1: of things. And I think that the games you point
Speaker 1: to that are an indictment on the coaching staff would
Speaker 1: be an away game at Detroit that you lose that
Speaker 1: you have to win, not just not necessarily being prepared.
Speaker 1: And I always thought this year, and not to be negative,
Speaker 1: but I felt like this year we played more not
Speaker 1: to lose than to win, and that approach just comes
Speaker 1: back to by you in this league. Yeah, you didn't
Speaker 1: make a good point though, with defenses being so reactionary,
Speaker 1: how you hear Eric Kendricks just just pretty much anybody
Speaker 1: in the defense is side of the ball saying the
Speaker 1: defense is always a half a step behind because you're
Speaker 1: always reacting to what offense is doing. They kind of
Speaker 1: got the heads the heads up, or they end they
Speaker 1: know what they're going to do before you know what
Speaker 1: they're going to do. So you kind of look at
Speaker 1: that in the same approach when it comes to this
Speaker 1: new GM and coaching higher like the ownership knows what
Speaker 1: they're going to do. We have to react to that.
Speaker 1: So when you were a player and you had to
Speaker 1: react to I guess what ownership's thought process on bringing
Speaker 1: in a new coach. What was the thought process for you?
Speaker 1: And what should the thought process? What do you think
Speaker 1: the thought process is for some of these players that
Speaker 1: are about to go through it. You look at it
Speaker 1: both decisions. Right. With Spielman coming in, it was interesting
Speaker 1: because in OH six I actually got drafted by fran
Speaker 1: Foley who was hired. He brought it to Steve Hutchinston
Speaker 1: van Leeber had my draft class, and then he literally
Speaker 1: gets let go, like the Tuesday after the draft. They
Speaker 1: found the discrepancy in his resume, they let him go.
Speaker 1: Rip comes in under the kind of the triangle of
Speaker 1: power and becomes sort of the pseudogm and decision makers.
Speaker 1: So you have that whole play right where now you
Speaker 1: have guys with a new GM coming in that maybe
Speaker 1: that GM just surely doesn't like doesn't like him as
Speaker 1: the players and like his style is like his play now,
Speaker 1: so you you're maybe future as a Viking could be
Speaker 1: up in up up in the air end, you don't know.
Speaker 1: And then you have the coaching piece, right, So now
Speaker 1: those two need to align. And obviously you're hiring GM first,
Speaker 1: and then the GM is gonna be processed part of
Speaker 1: the process behind the coach. So if you're a game
Speaker 1: and style of play isn't getting them align with the
Speaker 1: new staff right, it's it's probably a real problem for you.
Speaker 1: And there's probably guys in the roster right now they're thinking,
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to get a new coach in here
Speaker 1: because maybe it'll maybe it'll amplify my ability to play
Speaker 1: under this new new team. So my thought was always this,
Speaker 1: It's like I got to bring my best every day,
Speaker 1: no matter what. It's the league, I mean, every practice game,
Speaker 1: somebody can take your somebody can take your snaps, somebodyn
Speaker 1: take your job, and there try to pay somebody to
Speaker 1: do it cheaper, right, And you have to have that
Speaker 1: approach every day. So my biggest thing was always be
Speaker 1: around the building. You know, off seasons, I rarely left
Speaker 1: for a couple of vacations here or there. I was
Speaker 1: always around. I always worked out there. I wanted people
Speaker 1: to see me. I wanted to I wanted to have
Speaker 1: conversations with the coach. I want to have conversation with
Speaker 1: my position coaching GM, we get to know them, understand them.
Speaker 1: And in my contract negotiations with Rick and Rob, it
Speaker 1: was it was about what else do I bring to
Speaker 1: this team besides just my ability to play. You have
Speaker 1: to be good football players the NFL, but what else
Speaker 1: do you bring? Community support, leadership, captain mentality. I mean
Speaker 1: you can talk to you can talk to the team,
Speaker 1: you can talk to the coaches, you can you can
Speaker 1: go to events and be in the community. And it's
Speaker 1: just there's so many ways to lead and be an
Speaker 1: example in pro football than just being a good football player.
Speaker 1: So um, I think if take all those things into
Speaker 1: account when you look at who's coming in, and I
Speaker 1: would research as a player, like what are these gms
Speaker 1: and coaches standford, Where have they been where they had
Speaker 1: success and try to mirror, you know, what they're asking
Speaker 1: me to do. Interesting as you say for a player
Speaker 1: to be available, because it's usually coaches saying that they
Speaker 1: should be available. So that's that's interesting. You say that
Speaker 1: when a new coach comes more players should try to
Speaker 1: make themselves more available. Oh my god, I thought it
Speaker 1: was just obvious. I mean it, you know, I blew
Speaker 1: my l out No. Six, So I lost my first year,
Speaker 1: So coming back in No. Seven, like I knew, as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to be a starter. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure everybody understood that I was in it to win
Speaker 1: it and being a part of this organization. And and
Speaker 1: you do that by saying, yeah, I'm gonna go. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to you know, Saint John's my favorite vacation
Speaker 1: spot for two weeks after the season, and but then
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be back and I'm gonna I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: out anyways. I might as well workout a facility where
Speaker 1: people care about my success, right and no, my body
Speaker 1: needs and no knows my ailments and my my issues.
Speaker 1: And yeah, the weather is not as great as southern California.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it's about building your career
Speaker 1: and building it the right way and you know, elongating
Speaker 1: your career in a lot of cases as well. So
Speaker 1: I found this to be very valuable. No, that's my experience.
Speaker 1: That's great insight. I think that's that's much appreciated. It
Speaker 1: really didn't think about that before, but it's a great point. Um.
Speaker 1: I know that there are six head coaching jobs open chat.
Speaker 1: There's Vikings, Bears, Jaguars, Broncos, Giants, and Dolphins. Then you
Speaker 1: have three general manager positions Vikings, Bears, and Giants. So
Speaker 1: where do you think this Vikings vacancy ranks in the league?
Speaker 1: Is far? Are as most appealing job out there? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about that questions I've been asked to
Speaker 1: a couple of times already. I think it's a hard
Speaker 1: question to answer because you don't know what they're looking for.
Speaker 1: Right is does that you know, look at Anthony Barr
Speaker 1: for example? Right, is Anthony Barr gonna be a part
Speaker 1: of our team moving forward? I assure as that cope is.
Speaker 1: But if he's not, with the salary catpechers and others,
Speaker 1: things like the defense may look a lot different with
Speaker 1: the different personnel that's not going to be available to it.
Speaker 1: So I think you look at the Viking's job and say, wow,
Speaker 1: we got a lot of ability here. Right. You look
Speaker 1: at our roster, a lot of big names that have
Speaker 1: a lot of ability. There's some years left in those legs. Right,
Speaker 1: you got candidates, you got Bar, you got Harry m
Speaker 1: you have a lot of great defensers, you have some
Speaker 1: young defenders. Dancer played really well at the end of
Speaker 1: the year as a young corner. So you have some
Speaker 1: really nice pieces. Um, you know, obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of holes. You got to you gotta be
Speaker 1: able to rush the pastor a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: better than we have been u the last few seasons.
Speaker 1: So you look at the defense and say, okay, there's
Speaker 1: some there's some pieces there. And then offensively, obviously have
Speaker 1: one of the best young receivers in the league in
Speaker 1: the history of the league. Yet you have Steeling who's aging,
Speaker 1: but good Thorne had a nice season. O line has
Speaker 1: got a lot of nice pieces, but has them building
Speaker 1: to do. Get one of the best running backs of
Speaker 1: football and a quarterback that can do that can make
Speaker 1: every throw and it's smart. So offensively, I like the pieces.
Speaker 1: I think it's a job that people are gonna want
Speaker 1: and are gonna want to seek out. The question you
Speaker 1: have to ask yourself is because we are one of
Speaker 1: the teams that fired both, will we get access to
Speaker 1: hire the other coaches? Because how many coaches are gonna
Speaker 1: be gone while wilst are doing it, while we are
Speaker 1: still doing a GM search. I think it's an interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, just a timing topic really to me, Like
Speaker 1: I love Flores, I think what he's done in Miami
Speaker 1: and his background is obvious that he's one of the
Speaker 1: if not the best candidates out there. But are you
Speaker 1: gonna get him? Is he gonna be around in ten
Speaker 1: days when we finally get the GM hired and get
Speaker 1: around to do a coaching search. Is that GM get
Speaker 1: out aligned with the same mentality the ownership has on
Speaker 1: how we move forward? Right? So it's just a lot
Speaker 1: of questions to be answers. So I think it's the
Speaker 1: roster that that looks really, really good, and I think
Speaker 1: it's the job that people would love. You just name
Speaker 1: a few people, a few things that can possibly affect
Speaker 1: this GM and coaching hire. But as far as just personally,
Speaker 1: what type of leadership I'm not even saying names, but
Speaker 1: just leadership in general. Do you hope to get out
Speaker 1: of this new hire? I am after kind of seeing
Speaker 1: how Zim went about his business and again loving Zim
Speaker 1: went through Leslie Fraser's staff, went through Children's staff. What
Speaker 1: I think too many coaches get cut up and is
Speaker 1: what got them there? Right? If I'm the OC at
Speaker 1: named the place and I got hired as the head
Speaker 1: coach because I was a good OC, does not mean
Speaker 1: that you need to be the OC. Just because you're
Speaker 1: an elite DC does not meeting be coming. You need
Speaker 1: to be the head coach. You need to be able
Speaker 1: to handle all things head coach related and you need
Speaker 1: to be get focused on that. And I love more
Speaker 1: of the CEO approach from a head coach and trusting
Speaker 1: who I hire as the O C and d C.
Speaker 1: And you see a lot of these guys that get
Speaker 1: hired in this right or wrong. You know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's some sort of historical view on that. I'm a
Speaker 1: complete idiot and my point is dumb, But the reality
Speaker 1: is that I just think from from a from a
Speaker 1: team from a team standpoint, the team is better when
Speaker 1: you have a CEO at the top beating both sides,
Speaker 1: and you have an OC and DC that trust, are
Speaker 1: trust in their positions that they can make the Blake
Speaker 1: calls in game, and the head coach is the head coach. UM.
Speaker 1: So I think from a leadership style standpoint, that's what
Speaker 1: I would like to see UM and see where that
Speaker 1: takes us. It sounds like you're you're lobbying for a
Speaker 1: guy like Mike Tomlin. He was here your first year,
Speaker 1: right and then he was a defensive coordinator. Then I
Speaker 1: guess he's been a distills. I had a coach since them, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so Tomlin, you know, he comes from a Tampa
Speaker 1: two system, comes up here for a year. You know,
Speaker 1: you sit in the interview room with Tomlin, You're like,
Speaker 1: you're going to hire it. Like I've never in any
Speaker 1: fat of the world met a guy that can motivate
Speaker 1: somebody better than Mike Tomlin. Just incredible. So I was
Speaker 1: with him in Fred Puggish's basement. Fred Puckis is my
Speaker 1: linebacker coach um the day he flew out to go
Speaker 1: interview for that Steeler's job, and I can promise you
Speaker 1: he had no idea that he was gonna get hires.
Speaker 1: He did not think in a million years to Sunday
Speaker 1: that he wasn't get that job. And sure enough he's
Speaker 1: got it and still has it and deserves it. Is
Speaker 1: one of the best coaches and probably history. But you
Speaker 1: think about it, he comes from a system that gave
Speaker 1: the opportunities in Tampa too. He comes up to Minnesota
Speaker 1: to intlement that system. He goes to Pittsburgh and doesn't
Speaker 1: run that system. He goes there and is just the
Speaker 1: head coach and so you think about that. So he
Speaker 1: got it. He only got his opportunity because of the
Speaker 1: system that kind of gave it to him, right, Derek
Speaker 1: Brooks the whole Tampa defense, and then and then he
Speaker 1: gets the opportunity to be a head coach and says, well,
Speaker 1: the DC there, I can't what was the DC's name.
Speaker 1: He's there forever Lebo Lebo was there, and he's like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not smarter than this guy. Like, let let him
Speaker 1: do his thing. I'll be the head coach. And a
Speaker 1: way they go and they win for years. So I
Speaker 1: do like that mentality. So what does a new head
Speaker 1: coaching hire? What kind of challenges do they find? And
Speaker 1: not only connecting with the younger players on a roster,
Speaker 1: but also veteran players that I've around for a while
Speaker 1: that kind of know what the mo is to work
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Yeah, And I think it's it's actually
Speaker 1: probably even a hard question for me to answer, because
Speaker 1: you know, the kids come out of college or just
Speaker 1: they're different mentality than when I when I came out
Speaker 1: with and and the guys that were on the team
Speaker 1: when I came in were even older school mentality than
Speaker 1: I had. Right, So it's it's you know, I come
Speaker 1: from the world of you know, as a farm kids
Speaker 1: like you get you show up, you bust your ass
Speaker 1: as hard as you can, and you you grind and
Speaker 1: you know the best put your best portport every day.
Speaker 1: And and I don't know that that's necessarily the mentality
Speaker 1: or maybe it's just overhyped that the kids are changing
Speaker 1: coming out of college. But one thing I do is,
Speaker 1: if I get hired as the head coach, right, I
Speaker 1: need to hire people around me that can handle a
Speaker 1: lot of those a lot of those situations, because they're
Speaker 1: gonna be more hands on than I am. Right, So
Speaker 1: the people around me have to be able to handle
Speaker 1: that situation. Um. But at the same time, you have
Speaker 1: to be able to you know, a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of times gets gets knocked for having too much
Speaker 1: of an old school mentality, right, And that may be
Speaker 1: that may or may not be true. Um, But I
Speaker 1: look at what's what Afference has done down in Iowa City,
Speaker 1: and he's had to change with the times in a
Speaker 1: lot of cases right where he's had to become progressive
Speaker 1: in his mindset because he knows that if he stays
Speaker 1: grounded in nineteen eighty eight, like he's going to get
Speaker 1: taken out of a job. He's not. He's not progressive enough.
Speaker 1: So I do think you need to find even if
Speaker 1: it's a coach that's older and has an older school mentality,
Speaker 1: you have to have somebody who's willing to budge off
Speaker 1: of that and be a little bit more flexible and
Speaker 1: learn to understand how kids are just different now than
Speaker 1: you work thirty years ago. So my takeaway from that is,
Speaker 1: are you going to put your hat in the ring
Speaker 1: on this one? According to Twitter, you know you're a
Speaker 1: very popular choice. Well obvious would be the best choice
Speaker 1: to read a job obviously, I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: think the girls team will let you will let you
Speaker 1: take this one. I am a pretty darn successful girls
Speaker 1: basketball coach and I actually do love it. It's funny
Speaker 1: because I've honestly never even had I've never dreamt of
Speaker 1: coaching football. I've never thought about coaching football. I was
Speaker 1: a basketball player first that was just really good at football.
Speaker 1: So now I get to do what I love and
Speaker 1: get to coach my kids, and I do love it.
Speaker 1: And you know, I retired when Madden was nine. Um,
Speaker 1: she's fourteen now and coming in JR own as a
Speaker 1: as a basketball player herself, and you know the timing
Speaker 1: of my career, and what I appreciate the NFL for
Speaker 1: more than anything is allowing me to spend time with
Speaker 1: my kids and raising my kids when it matters the most.
Speaker 1: And so I'm enjoying the heck out of that. You're
Speaker 1: striking me as a guy that runs one three one
Speaker 1: press and your daughter's youth leak that calls one through
Speaker 1: one on any half court zone, because that means you
Speaker 1: can't coach half That means you can't coach man to
Speaker 1: man defense. So I love it. I love to press
Speaker 1: and run up and down. Um. I think basketball is
Speaker 1: more fun when when it's played at the high tempo.
Speaker 1: So we we will mix it an honest in full
Speaker 1: court zone and full court man to man. I got
Speaker 1: a couple of zone man combos. Um. You know you
Speaker 1: come from a background like mine with football and you
Speaker 1: can get real creative and zone defense. Um. But I
Speaker 1: love the excellosa hoops. Um. And I think what I
Speaker 1: love more than anything is and especially I've never coached boys,
Speaker 1: but what I love about girls is they really care
Speaker 1: about getting better and they care about the coaching and
Speaker 1: they really want to take it to heart and get
Speaker 1: and improve. And I've seen I've coached two separate groups
Speaker 1: now my eighth grade daughter's group up until last year
Speaker 1: and then now my fifth grade daughter's group, and it's
Speaker 1: just so fun to give a kid a task and
Speaker 1: improve on something, to see him see him take that
Speaker 1: and get success, and then it gained confidence and independence
Speaker 1: from that. It's just it's just awesome. So I'm having
Speaker 1: a lot of fun doing that, that's for sure. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, mostly just also a taxi cab for the
Speaker 1: kids driving around from event to event and so but
Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun. Yeah, No, she's and she's
Speaker 1: very good. You guys, if you ever, you know, want
Speaker 1: to catch a game, I was sure it would be
Speaker 1: a good one to catch because Madden is a very
Speaker 1: talented athlete, that's for sure. I've seen some highlights on
Speaker 1: Twitter before I think, yes, yes, yeah, she's good. She
Speaker 1: plays varsity in Minnesota, which is allowed. You can middle
Speaker 1: seventies kids can play varsity hoops there, says their second
Speaker 1: year of varsity. You've got a nice team at Province Academy.
Speaker 1: We're having a lot of fun chasing her around. So
Speaker 1: m Yeah, it's fun because all my girls are crazy
Speaker 1: into sports, um, soccer, hoops, track, and so they keep
Speaker 1: us busy, very very busy. Well, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for taking the time, especially on your birthday, Chad, for
Speaker 1: joining us here on the Minnesota Vikings podcast. Chad Greenway,
Speaker 1: thank you once more. Happy birthday, Happy birthday. Thanks Jed.
Speaker 1: Like I said in the lead in before the interview,
Speaker 1: such a unique perspective for someone who has been with
Speaker 1: Rick Spielman and understands Mike Zimmer more than many who can,
Speaker 1: you know, be a guest on this podcast. Really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he knows this organization almost better than anybody who's been
Speaker 1: through the highs of the highs and the lows of
Speaker 1: the lows and understanding both of those guys, and Rick
Speaker 1: Spielman and Mike Zimmer what they meant to this franchise
Speaker 1: and organization. He's a guy that can talk about that,
Speaker 1: and it was interesting to hear what he had to
Speaker 1: say about what he hopes in a new coach or
Speaker 1: a new GM and how that correlates to what Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin is We're not sure what ownerships. That's a great story.
Speaker 1: That really was a lot of insight and I wasn't
Speaker 1: expecting that one at all. I just knew Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: was here his first year, but I didn't know like
Speaker 1: the in his basement, So that that that's that's interesting
Speaker 1: because Mike Tomlin, he only had one year as a
Speaker 1: coordinator previous then he was I think a dbast coach
Speaker 1: in Tampa Bay won a Super Bowl there like you,
Speaker 1: he said, with Derek Brooks in that Tampa two defense,
Speaker 1: and that kind of established him when he got here
Speaker 1: and then boom, he got that job. And clearly it
Speaker 1: is because he just knows how to ace interviews and motivator. Motivator.
Speaker 1: Good thing we beat the Pitsburg Stellers this year. We
Speaker 1: can hepfily talk about Mike Tomlin right now, but more
Speaker 1: importantly chat but he's in the playoffs, So I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Chad Greenway, great guy like him. All of us are
Speaker 1: just waiting to see what this next move is going
Speaker 1: to be. We'll continue to put out more episodes this
Speaker 1: offseason and be sure to be on the lookout this
Speaker 1: week for more Vikings Entertainment Network content, whether it's online
Speaker 1: or on the app. Just because the team is not
Speaker 1: in season right now doesn't mean we will not have
Speaker 1: more kind for you interviews insights into what is going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes here at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance
Speaker 1: Center during this time of change. Gabe, I know you
Speaker 1: have an exciting interview coming out soon. Yeah. I've had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to sit down with Vikings owner team president
Speaker 1: Mark Wolfen talk about just some of those decisions and
Speaker 1: just his thought process on what the future could look like.
Speaker 1: I tried to curtail it more so to like what
Speaker 1: the media we're not talking about. Yea, the Vikings can
Speaker 1: have exclusive and that will be coming out most likely
Speaker 1: today or tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that.
Speaker 1: That will be a really good interview. He was very
Speaker 1: energetic and very positive as far as the steps moving
Speaker 1: forward post Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman, Well, that's what
Speaker 1: we like to hear. Plus, we'll have expert interviews with
Speaker 1: ESPN's Courtney Cronin and Kevin Seaffert, as well as NFL
Speaker 1: Networks Tom Pellasero coming out within the week. So be
Speaker 1: sure to tune in YouTube, Vikings dot com or the
Speaker 1: app to get the latest Vikings Entertainment Network content. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening to the podcast. Right now.
Speaker 1: We will hopefully have another episode for you very very soon.
Speaker 1: Alongside producer Jay Nelson and Gabe Henderson, I'm Tatum Everett
Speaker 1: and for now, skul Vikings