Speaker 1: Are You kidding Me? The laugh is by the analysts
Speaker 1: on the Vikings radio network, Pee Versa. The are you
Speaker 1: kidding Me? Is yours truly, Paul Allen, the play by Playboys,
Speaker 1: and the Minnesota Vikings beach the Indianapolis Colton overtime thirty
Speaker 1: nine thirty six whereg Joseph walked off from forty his
Speaker 1: third walk off winner for the Minnesota Vikings and first
Speaker 1: in fifty five weeks. And not only are the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings NFC North champions with that victory, they completed the
Speaker 1: greatest comeback in the history of the National Football League
Speaker 1: and had to overcome a lot of self inflicted wounds
Speaker 1: and a lot of things that went against them. The
Speaker 1: last time the Minnesota Vikings beat the Indianapolis Colts, Pete
Speaker 1: Bursach was in his third year out of Notre Dame
Speaker 1: playing against the Colts at the Metrodome in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 1: Coming up on the postgame report, you will hear from
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell and Kirk Cousins. You also will hear Kevin
Speaker 1: O'Connell's post game locker room speech with the T shirts
Speaker 1: and the hats for winning a division title. Analyst just
Speaker 1: stream your consciousness on the What an unbelievable game. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's an unbelievable game. And it's really been an unbelievable season,
Speaker 1: and this game, it was every bit, if not more
Speaker 1: exciting than the game in Buffalo. But what a different type,
Speaker 1: what a different style, a different type of a game.
Speaker 1: The way this thing unfolded. You know, you have you
Speaker 1: have Taylor out for the Colts. Yeah, you know, he
Speaker 1: played maybe a player two in the beginning, ye and
Speaker 1: then came out and you're looking at this going, this
Speaker 1: is the best opportunity that you have against any team
Speaker 1: in the league right now to win this division. And
Speaker 1: then you go ahead and get a punt block for
Speaker 1: a touchdown, right you just you you you fumble, You're
Speaker 1: you're moving the football finally, and then you fumble it.
Speaker 1: And you know, so much of today, though, unlike Buffalo,
Speaker 1: was self inflicted. But the cool thing is is it's
Speaker 1: not in life what happened to see you, but how
Speaker 1: you react to it. And despite all the mistakes, despite
Speaker 1: all the bone headed plays, this team had enough fortitude
Speaker 1: did not only just turn this thing around, but come
Speaker 1: back and win a game that no one has ever
Speaker 1: done before. No one, no team ever in the history
Speaker 1: of the NFL had come back from where this team was.
Speaker 1: I mean, and and then now you would you're ten
Speaker 1: to oh and one score games. I mean, it's like
Speaker 1: I forgot about the whole thing. The whole thing is
Speaker 1: is just is truly truly remarkable. Yeah, and you know, Tip,
Speaker 1: I mean, we can get We'll get six. I mean
Speaker 1: considering considering we had, we had probably I think we
Speaker 1: had somewhere around fifty yards of offense going in a halftime.
Speaker 1: I mean, that turnaround is unheard of, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: this it's everything. Everything today is unheard of. But um,
Speaker 1: but this team, whatever that is that you need, the
Speaker 1: you know, the never given up hanging in there. This
Speaker 1: team has it, man boy. And then when they come together,
Speaker 1: they come together. I mean justin Jefferson, kJ Osborne, Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 1: the offensive line toward the end, I mean, just just
Speaker 1: an unbelievable effort by everybody, you know, and um, and
Speaker 1: granted it's a regular season game that wins the NFC North,
Speaker 1: but it had a Minneapolis miracle feel to it. You know,
Speaker 1: the team's down thirty three zero and the way the
Speaker 1: fans were trying to jump into the radio booth banging
Speaker 1: on the glass with the coaches next to us. I'm
Speaker 1: just really happy that the fans at us Bank Stadium
Speaker 1: got to experience something like we got to experience at Buffalo,
Speaker 1: you know, because I'd say ten thousand people left, you
Speaker 1: know when easy right, Yeah, when they when they were
Speaker 1: down thirty three. And by the way, teams leading by
Speaker 1: thirty points or more in a game in the history
Speaker 1: of the National Football League were one thousand and five
Speaker 1: forty eight and one into the game. It's now one
Speaker 1: thousand and five, forty eight and two. The Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: beat Indianapolis thirty nine thirty six in the one thousandth
Speaker 1: game in the history of the team, and it was
Speaker 1: one of the most thrilling games in the history of
Speaker 1: the team. Gabe Henderson and Ben Lieber have winning formula
Speaker 1: and here are their thoughts. Well, um, before we start
Speaker 1: between the lines, fuel by get read these shirts pretty
Speaker 1: much state that's sweet sleep. I mean we run the North.
Speaker 1: Zadarius Smith has walked by and said, who runs the North?
Speaker 1: We run the North of Minnesota Vikings winners today thirty
Speaker 1: nine and thirty six over the Indianapolis Coats and Dib man,
Speaker 1: this was the wildest, greatest, craziest, I'm most unbelievable game
Speaker 1: I've ever seen in my life. Um, the Bills game
Speaker 1: back at you know a couple of months well back
Speaker 1: in November, I was like, okay, I'll never see another
Speaker 1: game like this. This game said, hold my beer? How
Speaker 1: do you Where do you start when it comes to
Speaker 1: describing this unbelievable, largest comeback in NFL history when today
Speaker 1: for the Minnesota Vikings, Well, I think that's where we start. Um,
Speaker 1: it's historic. I mean there's there's no bigger, more, no,
Speaker 1: no more grandiose word that you can think of. Was
Speaker 1: it epic, yes? Was it unbelievable, Yes, it was historic.
Speaker 1: I mean we've never seen this in NFL history. And
Speaker 1: you know, a ton of props obviously to the players
Speaker 1: and the coaches, the fans here at the stadium, But
Speaker 1: my goodness, I mean to go through what we watched
Speaker 1: in the first half, which is maybe some of the
Speaker 1: worst football I've seen any team play. To go three
Speaker 1: and out on offense to start the third quarter, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, one series, another series, another touchdown,
Speaker 1: another defensive stop. It was everything that could go right
Speaker 1: went right, and we won a historic game. It was
Speaker 1: a tell of two half. Yeah right. The Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: had a block punt, Well had a punt block for
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts touchdown, then to write again before the half,
Speaker 1: Kurt Cousins stores a pick six down thirty three to zero.
Speaker 1: At halftime, the Minnesota Vikings kJ Osborne. They starts storming back.
Speaker 1: kJ sixty five yard catch and it's like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is the kJ We've been asking for all Yeah, finish
Speaker 1: this game one hundred and fifty seven yards. How would
Speaker 1: you just describe the comeback? When did you know that
Speaker 1: this comeback was in full throttle? I didn't know until
Speaker 1: really the end of the game. I mean it was
Speaker 1: it was like late in the fourth quarter, Mike, We're
Speaker 1: really gonna do this, you know. I really think, in
Speaker 1: all honesty, when we were down two scores and I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, we're moving the ball. They did get conservative,
Speaker 1: you know. I do think if I'm a Colts fan
Speaker 1: and be like, guys, come on, like yeah, step on
Speaker 1: their throats, all those proverbial things like but keep your
Speaker 1: foot on the gas pedal a little bit. They did
Speaker 1: get conservative. They tried to pick it back up, but
Speaker 1: that whole momentum thing. This went against them. When we
Speaker 1: got down two scores, I'm like, well, now we can
Speaker 1: score another touchdown, and we can get another stop, and
Speaker 1: then we can score and get a two point conversion.
Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of things still had to go right,
Speaker 1: but when we were down two scores, that's when I
Speaker 1: thought it was very possible. Man. I'm most proud because
Speaker 1: I'm most proud of this defense because of the fact
Speaker 1: that we're down thirty three D zero and they only
Speaker 1: give up three points in the second half and halftime.
Speaker 1: Going into the half, the Indianapolis Coats had two hundred
Speaker 1: and nine first half yards, second half overtime one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty one. Yeah, your thoughts on the effort in
Speaker 1: the second half, I mean, I think that we didn't
Speaker 1: do a great job on first down. I mean it
Speaker 1: was it was four or five six yards on first down.
Speaker 1: And the disheartening thing was we knew everybody knew watching
Speaker 1: this game that they were gonna play a version of
Speaker 1: four minute offense. We're gonna try to grind the clock out,
Speaker 1: and we still couldn't stop them on first down. I'm like, guys,
Speaker 1: what are we doing? Like we know they're going to
Speaker 1: run the football. But we get the second down and
Speaker 1: we bowed up, and all of a sudden, now our
Speaker 1: second down defense was was legit and we're stopping them,
Speaker 1: and now we're like, okay, well, now the third and four,
Speaker 1: third and five, you have a fighting chance at that.
Speaker 1: So our second down defense in the second half was awesome,
Speaker 1: and that really was a difference in this game, and
Speaker 1: we dialed up some pressures that actually got home. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then on the offensive side of the ball, you
Speaker 1: just talked about the defensive schames, the offensive schames, the
Speaker 1: fact that we caught a screenplay down one score thirty
Speaker 1: six to twenty nine to Dalvin Cook that goes for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. How would you assess Kevin O'Connell's and West
Speaker 1: Phillips play calling on the offensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: in the second half. Well, I actually just talked to
Speaker 1: him for Kfan Radio and I asked him as a
Speaker 1: very similar question, and his answer to me was, there's
Speaker 1: a point in the game where I stopped thinking about
Speaker 1: plays and started thinking about players. Wow, And I started
Speaker 1: he really had to focus on where do I want
Speaker 1: to get the ball? Who do I want to put
Speaker 1: the ball? The ball on the hands of and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna design plays. We're gonna come up with plays.
Speaker 1: And he even made that, you know, said one time,
Speaker 1: he's like, you know, there's a couple weeks drew up
Speaker 1: in the dirt. Yeah, you know. So I think that
Speaker 1: he really had to dig deep into the playbook and
Speaker 1: even outside of the playbook to come up with ways
Speaker 1: to get the ball in his playmaker's hands. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, great job by him, great job by Wes
Speaker 1: Phillips by staying present, you know, not mentally freaking out
Speaker 1: thinking like oh, this game's over. You know, they just
Speaker 1: kept their head down. They just knew, like, all right,
Speaker 1: one more first down, one more big play. And for
Speaker 1: those guys to stay present and stay positive, that was
Speaker 1: that was big. That was a difference maker. People were
Speaker 1: gonna go home talking about, you know, the Greg Joseph walkoff,
Speaker 1: which without thinking about Justin Jefferson going for another hundred
Speaker 1: yard game. kJ Osborne, we just talked about him. But
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook ninety five rushing yards, ninety five receiving yards.
Speaker 1: I would like to say this is his best game
Speaker 1: this year as a Minnesota Viking. What were your thoughts
Speaker 1: just on his game change, game defining plays today. Well,
Speaker 1: we've seen at times they used Dalvin in the passing game,
Speaker 1: but I think all of us are clamoring to see more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and and again I think this is one
Speaker 1: of those situations. Going back to Koc's quote to me
Speaker 1: was he knew he had to get the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands and not so much in the run game
Speaker 1: because the game was lopsided. You are going to have
Speaker 1: to throw to win. So I hope that that's a
Speaker 1: recipe going forward. You know that we have a really
Speaker 1: talented guy that has incredible vision, you know, elite speed,
Speaker 1: and he can break tackles. He's as good as any
Speaker 1: wide receiver that we have on the field. And you
Speaker 1: talk about the mismatches that creates. Let's see if we
Speaker 1: have a little bit more Dalvin Cook spread out of
Speaker 1: this offense. Man, I would love to see that because
Speaker 1: that offers up so much. I mean, it puts the
Speaker 1: defense on their toes because they had the count for
Speaker 1: so many different guys and understanding that that gives Kirk
Speaker 1: Cutsins more options again to throw the ball. Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: four hundred and forty seven passing yards today, fifty three attempts.
Speaker 1: He's not stopping right now, He's on a roll. Right now,
Speaker 1: do you put their hand? I guess my question for you,
Speaker 1: do you give Kirk Cousin the keys and say, Kirk,
Speaker 1: you will take us as far as we as far
Speaker 1: as we want to go. Yeah, I mean we saw him.
Speaker 1: We saw him making a lot of checks at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. We saw him assessing the defense and
Speaker 1: trying to put our offense in the best possible situation
Speaker 1: for success. Is as much this is as much freedom
Speaker 1: as I've seen an ownership that I've seen out of
Speaker 1: him in quite some time. And you know, again, our
Speaker 1: offensive line did a great job. I know that we
Speaker 1: give up some sacks and then and that's a really
Speaker 1: good defensive front. Again. You know that's a top ten defense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, we played six top ten defenses this year,
Speaker 1: so we got to give them a credit. They did.
Speaker 1: They did a lot with They have a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: a lot of skill over there. But when you are
Speaker 1: asking a running back to step out of the backfield,
Speaker 1: you're giving up some chip opportunities, some past protection opportunities.
Speaker 1: You get hackets and split out. It just left our
Speaker 1: five guys to block their best guys and our guys
Speaker 1: up front stepped up. So if we can get that
Speaker 1: performance out of our offensive line and we get Bradberry back,
Speaker 1: and we get and we get Kirk Cousins dealing like
Speaker 1: he's dealing and getting this often spread out look out, oh,
Speaker 1: look out, and look out next week because next week
Speaker 1: is a white out game against the New York Giants,
Speaker 1: so that the end zones would be painted white, the
Speaker 1: Vikings would be wearing white jerseys the first time ever.
Speaker 1: And now you got a white suit. I don't have
Speaker 1: a white I don't have a white suit. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what I'm going to wear, like a
Speaker 1: white white polo. Maybe I don't know. We'll figure something out.
Speaker 1: But one thing that we did figure out today was
Speaker 1: how to win and the Minnesota Vikings again and understanding that,
Speaker 1: you know, there's always these false narratives about who the
Speaker 1: Vikings are, their identity, blah blah blah blah blah. If
Speaker 1: you go, if you went on Twitter during the first half,
Speaker 1: that's what a lot of people thought about. The Vikings
Speaker 1: now scoring thirty two straight points wearing this shirt, wearing
Speaker 1: the NFC Nord Championship hat, what do you have to
Speaker 1: say about this Minnesota Vikings stag. Honestly, don't don't care
Speaker 1: about any narratay wants to say. Right, they're winning games
Speaker 1: and winning, winning is infectious, and winning sometimes it's hard
Speaker 1: to do in this league. And we just keep winning
Speaker 1: and we're gonna find ways to win, and we're champs.
Speaker 1: Maybe we're champs. So hopefully we can get another win
Speaker 1: next Saturday, Next Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, I guess the New
Speaker 1: York Giants, right, here's a white out. We already clinched
Speaker 1: the North. Let's continue to keep that two seed for
Speaker 1: Ben Liebert, Ryan O'Neill. My name is Gabe Henderson, and
Speaker 1: for this NFC North defending champ Minnesota Vikings team. Thank
Speaker 1: you again for tuning into another edition of Between the
Speaker 1: Lines fueled by Gatorade Schools go Ho kJ Osborne sixteen targets,
Speaker 1: ten catches, a career best one hundred and fifty seven
Speaker 1: receiving yards, and a touchdown that jump started the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It did, and you know, and that's and that's kind
Speaker 1: of the thing, you know, And I remember back in
Speaker 1: ninety eight when we were fifteen and one and things,
Speaker 1: you know, we weren't always going our way. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say it was as bad as today, but instead of
Speaker 1: kind of saying here we go again, we'd all look
Speaker 1: around and be like, all right, who's gonna be the
Speaker 1: person to pull us up today? Who's gonna be the
Speaker 1: one that turned this thing around? Yeah? And I really
Speaker 1: got you really got to give a tip of the
Speaker 1: captain kJ Osbourne. I mean he was he made some
Speaker 1: key plays at some unbelievably key times early to get
Speaker 1: this Viking team back in the swing. And once everybody
Speaker 1: get back on board and jumped on it was, you know,
Speaker 1: pedaled in the metal the rest of the way. And
Speaker 1: you know, for the Colts, they're they're in neutral, they're
Speaker 1: just trying to burn the clock for three quarters of
Speaker 1: this football game and then to get an overtime and
Speaker 1: have to you know, revive an offense. That's not easy,
Speaker 1: that's not easy at all to do. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: but kJ uh, you know, he you know, he can
Speaker 1: go put his head to his pill and I knowing
Speaker 1: that not only did they leave a mark on, you know,
Speaker 1: on the NFL in history of the NFL, but he
Speaker 1: had an unbelievably huge part of it. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson has an unbelievably huge part of everything the
Speaker 1: Vikings do. He finished with one hundred and twenty three
Speaker 1: yards in the touchdown. Now and getting that one twenty
Speaker 1: three with that Minneapolis miracle like feel to it. Who
Speaker 1: caught the game winning the miracle winning touchdown pass from
Speaker 1: Kingdom Stefan Stefon Diggs Well with one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: three yards, Jefferson passed Diggs today for the ninth most
Speaker 1: receiving yards in the history of the Minnesota Vikings. Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook with then with ninety five yards receiving and a
Speaker 1: sixty four yard touchdown. I mean, the way you explained
Speaker 1: it on KFA end of the Vikings radio network inside
Speaker 1: the fifteen, what he did, holy can it was. It
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. And and we've seen Dalvin do that where
Speaker 1: he just refuses to go down, and that was that.
Speaker 1: You know, that was not you know, schematics win in
Speaker 1: the day and this and then it was simple will.
Speaker 1: It was just pure absolute will to not go down
Speaker 1: and to bring that thing all the way into the
Speaker 1: end zone. I mean, it wasn't he wasn't free and
Speaker 1: clear those last twenty five yards probably he made about
Speaker 1: four or five you know, cults miss him before they
Speaker 1: finally brought him down in the end zone. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've said it before, but Dalvin Cook, I think is
Speaker 1: the heartbeat of this offense. He is the guy that
Speaker 1: you can count on win loser dropped, however, any of
Speaker 1: the He's going to be that that that pillar of strength,
Speaker 1: and he showed it on that play. I mean just
Speaker 1: it was one of those things where hey, just keep
Speaker 1: feeding the ball. We saw him do kind of the
Speaker 1: same thing at the end of that Buffalo goanme where
Speaker 1: he was basically unstoppable toward the end and he had
Speaker 1: just had a different level than everybody else around him.
Speaker 1: And the guy's on the sidelines see that, the defense
Speaker 1: sees that, everybody sees that, the fan see it, and
Speaker 1: it just fuels the fire for a comeback that, you know,
Speaker 1: like one of a kind. It's never happened. Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 1: is two one o and overtime head coach of the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. Interestingly, was drafted the same year Colts quarterback
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan was drafted two thousand and eight. Matt was
Speaker 1: the third overall pick ninety one picks later San Diego
Speaker 1: State University, KOC was taken by Belichick. Well, now Koc's
Speaker 1: coaching a Division champion Minnesota Vikings team. Here's this postgame presser. Sorry, guys,
Speaker 1: the water is an absolute necessity for me right now.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll let everybody file in here, But I
Speaker 1: just want to commend our team, our entire organization. It
Speaker 1: took everybody today after playing, you know, our worst half
Speaker 1: of football all season long. I'm trying to do everything
Speaker 1: really in our power to lose the football game. We
Speaker 1: came back in at halftime, and our team had a
Speaker 1: decision to make. Our coaches had a decision to make.
Speaker 1: I thought our captains the way by the time our
Speaker 1: coaching staff, you know, came out to our players and
Speaker 1: to give them the pseudo plan for the rest of
Speaker 1: the half or for the second half. Guys like Patrick Peterson,
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins, Eric Kendricks, Adam Feeling, Brian O'Neill, CJ Hamm. Really,
Speaker 1: I'm sure missing somebody, but Dalvin Cook to who I heard.
Speaker 1: I heard our leadership telling our guys we've been here before,
Speaker 1: maybe not that much, maybe not the need for the
Speaker 1: largest comeback in the history of our league. But this
Speaker 1: team believes in each other and we just had to
Speaker 1: go try to play good football regardless of score. We
Speaker 1: just had to try to play good football and just
Speaker 1: see if we could apply some pressure to our opponent
Speaker 1: before it was all said and done, and we were
Speaker 1: able to do that. So we set a goal to
Speaker 1: win this division at the very beginning of training camp.
Speaker 1: We have not talked about anything else besides winning the division.
Speaker 1: We knew how important that would be for our organization,
Speaker 1: our team. Now we've got to take this moment both
Speaker 1: the the things that we clearly need to correct early
Speaker 1: on in this football game, but see if we can
Speaker 1: harness the energy that it takes to set a record
Speaker 1: like that and and compound that moving forward to have
Speaker 1: more complete performances, which is what this team is always
Speaker 1: on the strive to do. And I need to do
Speaker 1: a better job as a head coach, demanding, you know,
Speaker 1: our standards for recorders to continue to give ourselves a
Speaker 1: chance to continue playing as long as they'll allow us
Speaker 1: to play this year. Giving you guys an injury update
Speaker 1: justin Jefferson. It was a rib chest contusion. He's feeling
Speaker 1: pretty good right now. Um, you know he was able
Speaker 1: to obviously come back in the game and help contribute
Speaker 1: in a huge way to winning that football game. Um,
Speaker 1: and we'll I'm sure he'll be sore, but we'll keep
Speaker 1: you guys posted how he does. And then we just
Speaker 1: had three players cramping Christian dare Saw, Patrick Peterson and
Speaker 1: kJ Osborne. Career day for kJ, a huge day for
Speaker 1: Christian dare Saw to come back and and be a
Speaker 1: major part of that being able to score like that
Speaker 1: in the second half. You need your offensive line to
Speaker 1: show up and and and handle their business, which against
Speaker 1: a really good front they were able to do. So
Speaker 1: with that, I'll open it up to you guys like
Speaker 1: this do for the Mint to shake up of your
Speaker 1: team going forward. Well, we've had a few, um that
Speaker 1: I think you can build on, and I don't think
Speaker 1: maybe we get it done today unless we had moments
Speaker 1: like Buffalo or Detroit or you know, Washington or you know,
Speaker 1: I could list off a few you guys know, um,
Speaker 1: and I just when you got the right kind of guys,
Speaker 1: you know. And we'll continue to improve and stress the
Speaker 1: importance of individual offense, defense, special teams, group improvement, and
Speaker 1: then our team understanding how we can avoid setbacks like
Speaker 1: we had early on. You know, we can we can
Speaker 1: list those. The list is very large from the things
Speaker 1: we did poorly in the first half. But I will
Speaker 1: never discount this team's ability to overcome and continue to
Speaker 1: play play for each other. Um. Sometimes the culture stuff
Speaker 1: gets challenged in our league, but you don't win a
Speaker 1: game like that without it. Now, we got to continue
Speaker 1: to work and continue to improve to be the best
Speaker 1: possible football team we can be through the rest of
Speaker 1: the month of December and now we know into January.
Speaker 1: How do you wrap How do you wrap your head?
Speaker 1: The NFL is one hundred three years old. This is
Speaker 1: the greatest comeback ever, surpassing that Buffalo Houston playoff game.
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you wrap your head around that? Yeah, Chris,
Speaker 1: It's it's hard, man, it's hard. Um, I really have
Speaker 1: UM at this point when you're trying to do something
Speaker 1: like that and um really offensively. Uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: were you know, in a lot of cases creating things
Speaker 1: and a lot of cases getting players, uh, seeing what
Speaker 1: kind of looks we could attack to just kind of
Speaker 1: generate maybe some things we didn't talk about or practice,
Speaker 1: but our guys handling it. And how about our quarterback. Uh,
Speaker 1: you cannot win the football game the way we had
Speaker 1: to go win it without your quarterback, UM playing at
Speaker 1: an incredibly high level willing. We talked last week. I
Speaker 1: thought he tried him and Justin tried to will us
Speaker 1: to win that football game last week. UM, I think
Speaker 1: we just watched him do that. Uh, you know, amongst
Speaker 1: the other phases of our football team, when we had
Speaker 1: to have it after a game like this, I'm absolutely
Speaker 1: exhausted right now. I'm not gonna lie to you. UM,
Speaker 1: all the above, all the above. Now, it's it's just
Speaker 1: I cannot say enough about our fans. I mean, although
Speaker 1: I felt it and heard some of the um, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the rightly do displeasure with our team in
Speaker 1: the first half, the moment that we could get some
Speaker 1: you know, enthusiasm back in this building, no matter how
Speaker 1: far fetched it seemed that we would come back. Our
Speaker 1: fans were right there and you felt them. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And then shoot, when I don't know if I've heard
Speaker 1: a building like that like we did in the end,
Speaker 1: and that energy is what has really pushed us all year,
Speaker 1: and when we need them the most, they were at
Speaker 1: their best it's when did it move from far fetched
Speaker 1: to this is happening in your mind? I think before
Speaker 1: I think when we were able to get the two
Speaker 1: scores and get it, then they get that field goal,
Speaker 1: But in my mind, I still thought three touchdowns and
Speaker 1: a two point, which we kind of knew we were
Speaker 1: gonna need five, you know, five touchdowns anyway. But then
Speaker 1: when they got that field goal, Um, I just knew
Speaker 1: it was possible, just because the momentum we were building
Speaker 1: weren't just for the plays and the success we were having.
Speaker 1: I thought there were other things off of some of
Speaker 1: the things we were able to do. Dalvin cooking the
Speaker 1: pass game I thought was huge. That screen was a
Speaker 1: you know, season defining kind of play when in that
Speaker 1: moment where you had to have it, I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, justin continuous, continually U continuously going over the middle,
Speaker 1: making critical catches, willing to you know, go attack the football,
Speaker 1: and I think we got to protect him a little
Speaker 1: bit better. Um, it's great to get the flags, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just moving forward, that's his coaches as well.
Speaker 1: It's not just anybody else out there, but he's too
Speaker 1: important to our league. Um. It seems like a weekly
Speaker 1: occurrence at this point. UM. But yeah, it was about
Speaker 1: that moment, keV. And then it was just about kind
Speaker 1: of making sure that you look too big picture at
Speaker 1: any particular moment in that second half, and we're doing
Speaker 1: a disservice to reality. Still at that point, as you
Speaker 1: said you needed five touchdowns, I mean that like, I
Speaker 1: know that mathematically that's the case, but that sounds like
Speaker 1: a lot like Yeah, Patrick Peterson, I'll never forget it
Speaker 1: as long as I live. I walked out to address
Speaker 1: the team before we went out back and went back
Speaker 1: out there, and I just overheard him walk over towards
Speaker 1: the offense say we're gonna get stops. You just need
Speaker 1: five touchdowns, that's nothing. And it was a nice little, um,
Speaker 1: you know, moment for me to lead right in off of.
Speaker 1: And I said, Pat, you're exactly right. You know, that's
Speaker 1: that's what we needed at the time. And and you know,
Speaker 1: it was probably the most motivated I've been to kind
Speaker 1: of challenge our players just so that they just knew,
Speaker 1: regardless of the outcome today, that first half was not
Speaker 1: good enough and will never be acceptable to have that
Speaker 1: kind of performance, UM, regardless of the outcome today. UM,
Speaker 1: And and nobody's happier to be NFC North champions, and
Speaker 1: the way we earned it, I think it'll stick with
Speaker 1: a lot of us for a long time. But but
Speaker 1: there's still a lot to go back and make sure
Speaker 1: that we rectify and continue to improve to get a
Speaker 1: roster full of guys in the headspace where when you say, hey,
Speaker 1: we only need five touchdowns, they believe it and they
Speaker 1: don't kind of just say yeah whatever. Yeah. First and foremost,
Speaker 1: you got to believe it yourself, because I think the
Speaker 1: one thing in this league is if you're not authentic
Speaker 1: and real, those fifty three guys in there will notice.
Speaker 1: I've built that up with these guys over a long
Speaker 1: period of time, so they knew both at halftime and
Speaker 1: at the game. After the game, um, they know I
Speaker 1: mean every word I say to him, no matter what
Speaker 1: in any moment, go to or bad. I'm gonna consistently
Speaker 1: be me every single day because I just don't know
Speaker 1: any other way, And then I can trust that I've
Speaker 1: got the right guys here in the leadership of our
Speaker 1: football team. Ben, I don't know if you can say
Speaker 1: enough about some of those guys throughout our season, in
Speaker 1: the different moments and I'm not just talking about those
Speaker 1: eight captains. I'm talking about the twenty two plus players
Speaker 1: that receive votes to be captains on our team. We
Speaker 1: talked about kJ a little bit, but for him, like
Speaker 1: the season he's had, maybe not get involved sometimes, to
Speaker 1: have a ten catches, one hundred and fifty seven and
Speaker 1: to kind of get you guys started with that first touchdown.
Speaker 1: What did that mean? Because even yeah, I told I
Speaker 1: told kJ a few weeks back that, but his time
Speaker 1: was coming regardless, just with how our offense is evolving
Speaker 1: and his value to us, I just knew it would happen,
Speaker 1: and I didn't necessarily envision it maybe this scenario that
Speaker 1: played out today. But think back and some of those catches,
Speaker 1: some of those conversions, his willingness to catch, getting north,
Speaker 1: the yards after catch, I mean, just critical critical plays
Speaker 1: for our team. And then people won't see some of
Speaker 1: the blocking that he did, you know, helping spring some
Speaker 1: of those underneath completions. You know, I thought he was
Speaker 1: great on the bubble game, you know, something as little
Speaker 1: as catching and converting first downs, and you know with
Speaker 1: at TJ and Adam out in front, blocking form, just
Speaker 1: little things execution wise that our guys, did they gave
Speaker 1: us a chance to extend the chance to win the
Speaker 1: football game, Because that's all you're really looking for, is
Speaker 1: just eliminating the other team having a chance to put
Speaker 1: us away. And if they don't do that, our guys
Speaker 1: are going to continue to fight and we're going to
Speaker 1: grind it out till they tell us there's no more
Speaker 1: ball left to play. What you observed from the two
Speaker 1: Sullivan possible fumble returns for touchdowns that water, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: could feel why he was so frustrated the first one.
Speaker 1: The first one, you know, they just ruled forward progress stopped.
Speaker 1: And when they do that, UM, doesn't matter if I
Speaker 1: agree or disagree with the call. There's it's out of
Speaker 1: my hands at that point. I cannot challenge that UM.
Speaker 1: And then I was able to challenge the other one,
Speaker 1: UM and and get that ball out and get that
Speaker 1: ball back um. Some of those stops defensively we had.
Speaker 1: We just kept on urging them to keep going at
Speaker 1: the football see if we can change a game, which
Speaker 1: we thought we did at that one point, but but
Speaker 1: unfortunately we didn't. And then, uh, you know, I just
Speaker 1: Sully's one of those guys that just keeps battling. Um.
Speaker 1: He's veteran players, smart, tough, and and you don't you know,
Speaker 1: you don't win a game like this and hold the
Speaker 1: team to three points in the second half without guys
Speaker 1: like Sully Um, you know, gutting it out. If you
Speaker 1: had to hear all week about your defense and how
Speaker 1: bad they have been playing recently, what does it say
Speaker 1: for them to only give up one offensive touchdown today
Speaker 1: and kind of battle like they did. Yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: think we did anything to help them. So if we're gonna, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, as a whole sit back and and over analyze,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we need to analyze how how
Speaker 1: poorly we did a job at supporting them today, both
Speaker 1: special teams and offense. So I'm really proud of our defense.
Speaker 1: You don't come back from any game like this and
Speaker 1: hold a team to three points. We had to be
Speaker 1: aggressive with some decision making early on game short fields,
Speaker 1: and they you know, even though we didn't help them,
Speaker 1: those guys never flinched. They never looked to the other
Speaker 1: phases of our offense or defense or sorry special teams
Speaker 1: and shoot, I thought ed in the second half really
Speaker 1: timely pressures losing pat p for some stretches there and
Speaker 1: guys still tighten it up, and um, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of people had a hand in this one, but
Speaker 1: our defense, we don't get it done today without those guys.
Speaker 1: This game, yep, we would have We would have won
Speaker 1: the division if at all was that in your head
Speaker 1: in overtime? It was very much in my in my head,
Speaker 1: and that's why that last time we got the ball,
Speaker 1: we started to drive out with a run um and
Speaker 1: we were able to All I wanted to see is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, can we get a get a new set
Speaker 1: of downs? Can we can? We? Very not conservatively is
Speaker 1: the wrong word, because I feel I felt strongly about
Speaker 1: the calls, but can we eat some clock but yet
Speaker 1: still have a mindset of when we get that first
Speaker 1: first down? Um, I trust Kirk coleheartedly in those moments,
Speaker 1: and he made a couple of huge throws to flip
Speaker 1: the field and then we had a chance to even
Speaker 1: down to the very end. You're saying to yourself, should
Speaker 1: we you know? But I think there's moments where says
Speaker 1: a lot about your confidence in your team, regardless of
Speaker 1: how any particular phase has been up until that point.
Speaker 1: I wanted to win this football game I thought our
Speaker 1: team had earned the right to try to win the game.
Speaker 1: And how about Greg knocking it in from what was
Speaker 1: it forty and and no doubt or as soon as
Speaker 1: it hit his foot, I knew it was in previous possession.
Speaker 1: I think you punted it was like a fifty eight
Speaker 1: or fifty nine yard field. Go yeah, And that point
Speaker 1: in time, with the clock being where it is, I
Speaker 1: thought our defense, like I said, had played well enough
Speaker 1: to maybe try to pin them and see if we
Speaker 1: could get the ball right back. It took a huge
Speaker 1: stop for those guys to do that. Maybe that you know,
Speaker 1: they drove the ball down the field a little bit
Speaker 1: on us, but our defense bowed up when they had too.
Speaker 1: And that was really another reason why, even at the
Speaker 1: clock being where it was and trying to be aggressive
Speaker 1: with my timeouts there, I just wanted to give our
Speaker 1: team a chance to completely grasp It'll be nice to
Speaker 1: look back and say we won this football game. It
Speaker 1: would have been great to win the division with a tie,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing like winning it the way we did,
Speaker 1: set in a record and winning the football game. Kevin
Speaker 1: Kirk makes a couple throws in a tight covers there,
Speaker 1: I guess when you're in your own territory and over time,
Speaker 1: what's going through your mind. You see him kind of
Speaker 1: put the ball into a tight spaces there, rings how
Speaker 1: much is that him doing that or how much is
Speaker 1: that you kind of telling him, Hey, it's okay to
Speaker 1: be aggressive. No, I mean he knew. I don't have
Speaker 1: to say a whole lot. I'm trying to generate not
Speaker 1: so tight coverage with some of the things I'm calling,
Speaker 1: and I just thought that his poise, his demeanor, his
Speaker 1: accuracy where we needed the most. I think back to
Speaker 1: some huge plays Ben that we're not his first progression,
Speaker 1: second progression. The guy's up front doing a great job
Speaker 1: giving him an extra click in critical moments to get
Speaker 1: backside to TJ on the two point or find that
Speaker 1: dagger to to add him there in that two minute
Speaker 1: drive late, I mean, if I mean that's a that's
Speaker 1: three or four on the progression backside, trying to high
Speaker 1: load defenders and this guy just knipes a beautiful throw
Speaker 1: to his guy Adam in that moment. But but Kirk
Speaker 1: deserves a huge amount of credit for, like I said,
Speaker 1: willing our team. Regardless of the plays that are called.
Speaker 1: That guy just keeps playing at a high level, and
Speaker 1: he was a huge part of us winning this game.
Speaker 1: Is there any one moment, big or small you think
Speaker 1: might be both cemented in your memory from this Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's hard. It's really hard for me to There's so
Speaker 1: so many in my mind, but I wouldn't want to
Speaker 1: sell any anyone, particularly or short. But I mean, you
Speaker 1: can just go back through and look at some of
Speaker 1: the plays offensively, defensively. You know that that really changed
Speaker 1: the you know, minute to minute play to play. It
Speaker 1: felt like the narrative of this game was ultimately changing,
Speaker 1: and our guys just continue to apply pressure. We got
Speaker 1: a lot of things to fix, but ultimately I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys very much, but this, this one will stick
Speaker 1: with me for a long time. I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: my football team and our coaching staff. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins thirty four of fifty four, four hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty yards, four touchdowns, technically five because he threw his
Speaker 1: twelfth pick six. It went to Julian Blackman, a safety
Speaker 1: for the Colts, but he had four to vikings. He
Speaker 1: got picked off a couple of times. The second one
Speaker 1: was a ridiculous Jayalen Ragers situation where he stopped running
Speaker 1: at the five. Here's what Kirk had to say after
Speaker 1: a thrilling Division winning three point overtime victory. I mean,
Speaker 1: credible game. I think that the fact that our defense
Speaker 1: only give up three points in the second half was critical.
Speaker 1: Reminded me of the Eagles game when the same thing.
Speaker 1: We were down and they just didn't give any points
Speaker 1: in the second half. And I had to remind myself
Speaker 1: of that as we were playing, knowing that if our
Speaker 1: defense can do that, they allow you to hang around
Speaker 1: and keep getting mecking it. You know. I think the
Speaker 1: fact the fans stayed at the end and provided so
Speaker 1: much energy, UM is a big deal. There was one
Speaker 1: time where they were doing the skull chant and I
Speaker 1: was I was surprised that they were still in it
Speaker 1: the way they were, UM, and so grateful that there
Speaker 1: that they were there with us all the way through
Speaker 1: it to the end. UM. Great to obviously, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: show that there was no quit and to keep playing
Speaker 1: hard and and um finding a way. And then it's
Speaker 1: just so important that UM, you know this is this
Speaker 1: is one step and a much larger goal, and it's
Speaker 1: an important step. It's a step that you talk about
Speaker 1: when when you go to training camp and the season begins.
Speaker 1: But um, um, you know there's obviously more to go. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, kJ I thought it was phenomenal today. He's
Speaker 1: a guy that he could he could do that every week.
Speaker 1: But you've got Justin, You've got at him, You've got TJ,
Speaker 1: you got Dalvin, you got Alex Mattison. Um. And so
Speaker 1: it's it's been hard to get him the football as
Speaker 1: much as he deserves it and has shown the ability
Speaker 1: to uh to deserve it. So he's a guy that
Speaker 1: all season long, I've kind of felt, you know, we
Speaker 1: need to get him more targets, get him more opportunities
Speaker 1: because he's the real deal. It's just been hard to
Speaker 1: to get him as involved as he was today. And
Speaker 1: he showed it today what what he's capable of. I
Speaker 1: have total confidence him to be an elite, elite receiver
Speaker 1: in this league. Um. So great to win, great to
Speaker 1: come back. I had no idea it was the largest
Speaker 1: in NFL history. Um something like that doesn't happen to
Speaker 1: average people. UM. So I'm proud of the way the
Speaker 1: group did that, and um um, I just gotta keep
Speaker 1: building from here and there will be an enormous amount
Speaker 1: of things to correct. So take any questions you have
Speaker 1: story with the jacket and what would you have born
Speaker 1: have to come back that My wife dresses me so
Speaker 1: uh I I she put it. She put it out
Speaker 1: last night and I looked at her like I don't know,
Speaker 1: and uh she nodded, you got to do it. So
Speaker 1: uh So here we are. Um so it's uh yeah,
Speaker 1: fun jacket. You know there's guys that have been crying
Speaker 1: in there, and I don't know what you went to
Speaker 1: put in there, but you got the sense that guys
Speaker 1: had this ball. They were reflecting on the season and
Speaker 1: their whole careers that can end the fact that they
Speaker 1: got to this point. How did it strike you when
Speaker 1: you got in there at Yeah? What I what I've
Speaker 1: learned is you need to enjoy it because, um you
Speaker 1: work so hard. I mean think about two days training camp,
Speaker 1: OTA's you know, meetings, you know, the hours you put
Speaker 1: it on Wednesday Thursday as you prepare to have these
Speaker 1: moments that might come around you know, once a once
Speaker 1: a season, once a decade. You know, with the comeback
Speaker 1: like that, you need to enjoy it. And so you
Speaker 1: just want to make sure that you're taking it in
Speaker 1: and and thanking everybody who participated and um and soaking
Speaker 1: it in as opposed to just you know, quickly moving on.
Speaker 1: I just think it's healthy to pause for a moment
Speaker 1: and enjoy it. I don't even know. Um, it's been
Speaker 1: in our closet a little while, honestly, but I don't
Speaker 1: I don't even know when we got it. My wife
Speaker 1: could answer that probably was there any moment in the
Speaker 1: second half where maybe you started to feel real like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is going to happen. That's a great question, because
Speaker 1: I was asking myself that, like, at what point does
Speaker 1: it become a normal NFL football game? Um? And I'm
Speaker 1: off the top of my head here, when we cut
Speaker 1: it to was it fifteen? When we cut it to fifteen,
Speaker 1: that's when I felt like maybe there were twelve minutes
Speaker 1: left something like that. I thought, this is this is
Speaker 1: right there? Um um. And then again it keeps going
Speaker 1: back to the defense getting us the ball back, holding
Speaker 1: that we know we gave them short fields, so we
Speaker 1: made it hard for our defense to hold up the
Speaker 1: way they did, and they still did. Um. And then
Speaker 1: when you think about you know, solely returning a couple
Speaker 1: of fumbles for touchdowns. It didn't happen. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's another thing you kind of overcome. Um to get
Speaker 1: to where we did as a veteran leader, what were
Speaker 1: you saying to the team and what were your thoughts
Speaker 1: kind of at halftime? Um? My thoughts weren't great at halftime. UM.
Speaker 1: I just felt like we were we were losing in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways and it wasn't It wasn't it
Speaker 1: wasn't good. Um. You know, Patrick Peterson made the comment
Speaker 1: we only need five touchdowns, and I didn't know if
Speaker 1: he's being sarcastic or what. When I looked at him,
Speaker 1: he was serious. Um. I think his point was we're
Speaker 1: not going to let them score anymore, so if you
Speaker 1: can get five touchdowns, that will be good enough. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a I'm kind of a one
Speaker 1: play at the time guy. So my mindset is like,
Speaker 1: just tell me the first play of the second half
Speaker 1: and let me go execute that as well as I can,
Speaker 1: and then you tell me the second play once we
Speaker 1: get there. So whenever I've been a part of comebacks
Speaker 1: like we've had it through the years, that's kind of
Speaker 1: the way I operate. It's just, you know, one play
Speaker 1: at a time and let's not get too far down
Speaker 1: the road. He said that though, did you like five touchdowns?
Speaker 1: Did that feel realistic? Give yourself? I mean, you know, fairness,
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen very much. Well, they were, they were
Speaker 1: kicking our tails, you know. So you know it's one
Speaker 1: thing to say when you need five touchdowns, that's difficult
Speaker 1: to do. It's even more difficult when you have been
Speaker 1: struggling the way you've been struggling. Um, you know, this
Speaker 1: is a this is just reminded again today. This is
Speaker 1: a crazy league and you just gotta play at one
Speaker 1: played a time, enjoying it. In one game, you win
Speaker 1: your first division title, you put up I believe a
Speaker 1: career high yardage total, and you have the greatest come
Speaker 1: back in NFL history. What is this like? Um? I
Speaker 1: mean it was it was. It was a great day
Speaker 1: to come back and win the way we did. And
Speaker 1: um and um, you know you're gonna enjoy it. You're
Speaker 1: gonna build on it. Um. I think it's fun to
Speaker 1: look down and see that Dalvin had one hundred ninety
Speaker 1: yards from scrimmags Justin had twelve catches. For one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty. You know, kJ Adam caught a touchdown, made
Speaker 1: the biggest play at the end there to to get
Speaker 1: us in field goal range. So um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: great to get so many guys involved and and have
Speaker 1: so many people contribute, and um, you know, just proud
Speaker 1: of the way we kept fighting and played. But there's
Speaker 1: also a lot of stuff I'm not proud of, you know,
Speaker 1: the way we played game. There was no other game
Speaker 1: on it's national Yeah, well it's lousy everywhere I'm watching
Speaker 1: social media, people that don't care about the culture vikings
Speaker 1: a year are jumping on saving are you watching this?
Speaker 1: And too soon? If you guys realize you just played
Speaker 1: a game that people are going to literally talk about forever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Buffalo game. You know, maybe as well we may
Speaker 1: have topped the Buffalo game with this one. Who knows. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a fan of football, and walking off
Speaker 1: the field when someone said it was the largest comeback,
Speaker 1: I thought of Frank Reich and Bills and the Titans
Speaker 1: and Warren Moon in that game and Buffalo, and I
Speaker 1: thought it couldn't have been It couldn't have been bigger
Speaker 1: than that comeback And somebody told me it was. I
Speaker 1: still I don't know the numbers, but I was like,
Speaker 1: really it was bigger than that one, because that one
Speaker 1: still to this day, I always wonder how did that happen?
Speaker 1: But um um, obviously it's a result space business. So
Speaker 1: when the result goes the way you want, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's throwing over time there. When you forced the punt,
Speaker 1: what's your thought process in terms of how aggressive do
Speaker 1: I want to be even to tie? Yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: know all this. In like ten seconds before we get
Speaker 1: the ball back, Chris goes Chris O'Hara, our QB coach,
Speaker 1: because we're gonna run it to start. A tie wins
Speaker 1: the division. And I looked at him like I would
Speaker 1: have been nice to know that like at least ten
Speaker 1: minutes ago, maybe three days ago. You know. So I'm
Speaker 1: talking on the field, like a tie wins the division. Well,
Speaker 1: you got options here. He called the run and uh,
Speaker 1: and then he the second call didn't coming very quick,
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of sitting there like maybe he's going
Speaker 1: for the tie. And then he then he called the
Speaker 1: drop back, I think, and I thought, no, he's he's
Speaker 1: gonna go forward. And and then we went from there,
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was just crazy to have a chance
Speaker 1: for a tie to win the division. We still able
Speaker 1: to get down there and win the game, which what
Speaker 1: we wanted. If you guys hadn't completely become I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm self aware enough, Jim to not wear this, so
Speaker 1: probably myself on self awareness, I think, and that would
Speaker 1: not have been the right play that Houston Buffalo Games reference.
Speaker 1: So you were like four or five. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: watched NFL Networks, So I'm curious, like how like, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's such a momentous moment in NFL history, and I'm
Speaker 1: curious how like a locker room, a few people who
Speaker 1: aren't old enough to have experienced it live, like even
Speaker 1: are aware of those type of you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many guys are aware of that, but uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a fan of football, and I mean
Speaker 1: I watch when games come on, Like the other day,
Speaker 1: the twenty thirteen NFC Championship game is on between Seahawks
Speaker 1: and Niners. You know, I'm watching that as a student
Speaker 1: of the game, you know, because that's a that's a
Speaker 1: game in a stage I want to play and I
Speaker 1: want to watch that. So whenever those games come on,
Speaker 1: I always try to take take something from them and
Speaker 1: make myself a better player. Important to kind of at
Speaker 1: times take a second and enjoy it. I mean, how
Speaker 1: hard is that for you? Um? Yeah, to take it
Speaker 1: all in sometimes. Yeah, I'm not wired that way. I'm
Speaker 1: kind of wired to what's next, What's next? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to enjoy the process. I want
Speaker 1: to enjoy the product, and so you know I don't.
Speaker 1: What I want to do is get to the end
Speaker 1: of my career. And Cooper is uh, you know, is
Speaker 1: grown grown older and you look back and you said
Speaker 1: I missed it. You know, I didn't enjoy it while
Speaker 1: I was going through it. So I want to make
Speaker 1: sure sure that you know, I can play long enough
Speaker 1: for him to remember it and really be a part
Speaker 1: of it. But also, um, um, you know to look
Speaker 1: back and said I didn't miss it while I was
Speaker 1: in it, And now that it's over, I can say
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it, got everything out of it I could.
Speaker 1: So moments like this you want to enjoydown to Dalvin
Speaker 1: and how how great cool are these? Like one? Play
Speaker 1: in your eyes? Here Bub the same way too. It's
Speaker 1: a great play call. First of all, incredibly well blocked
Speaker 1: to get a screen like that off. And then it
Speaker 1: was Dalvin showing why he's Dalvin Cook to be able
Speaker 1: to not only get a big play there, but but
Speaker 1: finished with a touchdown. And I'd love to see ezer Cleveland.
Speaker 1: They're basically willing him into the end zone as well. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought that play encapsulate a lot of who Dalvin is.
Speaker 1: And I said to him in the locker room, I said,
Speaker 1: I've I've been a front row seat for your best
Speaker 1: plays in your career over the last five years. That
Speaker 1: might have been my favorite. Um. So it wasn't a run,
Speaker 1: it was a catch, but he had a couple other
Speaker 1: big catches today, and UM, you know, it's fun to
Speaker 1: think back on all the all the times I got
Speaker 1: to see him be special player in this league and
Speaker 1: then to think that's probably the top one for me.
Speaker 1: It's fun. Joseph's kick went through the uprights. What was
Speaker 1: the first thing you did, or who was the first
Speaker 1: person you talked to or whatever. I'm not sure. I
Speaker 1: was looking at the video board to kind of be
Speaker 1: able to see the angle of the ball, and then
Speaker 1: U it might have been justin he was standing up
Speaker 1: on the bench. But yeah, it's just a memory that
Speaker 1: for a long time Christmas traditions. You're looking forward to
Speaker 1: this week with your family. Well, playing on Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: will be interesting because then you get Christmas Day, you know,
Speaker 1: to really enjoy Christmas. But you know, we got the
Speaker 1: tree up. We've had the lights up since November first,
Speaker 1: got the day call around the house and Cooper went
Speaker 1: went over the tree the other day when my wife
Speaker 1: wrapped a few presents a little early, and he was
Speaker 1: going to open it that morning and we said we
Speaker 1: got wait like twelve more days, and he kind of
Speaker 1: lost his mind, like what do you mean? I gotta
Speaker 1: wait twelve more days? So, you know, probably not the
Speaker 1: best idea to wrap the presence early put them under
Speaker 1: the tree. All right, thanks guys. Before we get to
Speaker 1: Ron Johnson's three takes, the Minnesota Vikings defense has been
Speaker 1: much maligned and there there's been a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about it, not only season long, but specifically this week,
Speaker 1: after allowing at least four hundred nine yards to offenses
Speaker 1: five consecutive games. Well, the Colts scored thirty six, but
Speaker 1: it's a bastard number. They got seven on a block point,
Speaker 1: they got seven on a pick six and they got
Speaker 1: fifteen from kicker Chase McLaughlin. The defense gave up one
Speaker 1: touchdown today, Peter, Yeah, they and they know those early
Speaker 1: stops in the red zone, you know, those are the
Speaker 1: ones that you know, are are are just amazing. The
Speaker 1: Colts were one of four in the red zone, right,
Speaker 1: we were four of four. Soon those three stops at
Speaker 1: this defense came up with force and field goals. You know,
Speaker 1: they allowed they allowed this comeback. And they were putting
Speaker 1: some bad spots too, fake fourth down, fake punt that
Speaker 1: didn't go fourth down. We tried to you know, run
Speaker 1: it and didn't get it. We actually lost yardage. They
Speaker 1: were put on some short fields today and they hung
Speaker 1: in there. They were much more aggressive, you know, Harrison
Speaker 1: Smith blitzing a lot more right at the end of
Speaker 1: the game, a zero blitz. I mean they I think
Speaker 1: that's the trend that we're gonna see over these next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. It's just the and into the playoffs
Speaker 1: for sure, is to say, hey, you know what, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna just gonna roll the dice. We're gonna pin
Speaker 1: our ears back, We're gonna get aggressive, and we gotta
Speaker 1: make something happen, so Darius was unblockable at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. Zadarius Smith is And you talk about
Speaker 1: Dalvin on offense being the heartbeat, Darius Smith is absolutely
Speaker 1: the heartbeat of this defense. He and Harrison Smith. He's tough.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's out there bad all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the same thing for Harry. Harry. Harry, despite him
Speaker 1: being you know, you know, five hundred years old, is
Speaker 1: still out there just leaving everything on the field. And
Speaker 1: now our corner situation's gonna have to get figured out.
Speaker 1: And you know, uh, there's a lot of there's a
Speaker 1: lot of headwinds, no question about that. But you've got
Speaker 1: a guy like Zadarius to be there to lead this team.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think I gotta tip the cap
Speaker 1: the quaisier Dolphamenza for bringing him in this offseason because
Speaker 1: he's a huge piece of the puzzle of this team.
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter played his best game of the season. He
Speaker 1: did he needed to. I mean, did you know Daniel
Speaker 1: I think is still brooming himself getting himself into that
Speaker 1: outside linebacker position. But yes, he absolutely made an impact today.
Speaker 1: You know, despite being questionable going into this game, he
Speaker 1: goes out there and lights it up and does you
Speaker 1: know it's a great job. There's a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of guys on the defense. D Alvin Tomlinson did
Speaker 1: an unbelievably good job against the run, I think throughout
Speaker 1: the entire day. So there's a lot of really good
Speaker 1: defensive performances mixed in with all this. RJ Ron Johnson
Speaker 1: three takes with the postgame report and there they are,
Speaker 1: Thanks Pa, Well, this is Ron Johnson Company from the
Speaker 1: cafe and studios, and the Vikings are nf C North champions,
Speaker 1: as everyone has pointed out, but you just gotta say
Speaker 1: it again. It just sounds so nice. You got to
Speaker 1: say it twice. The Vikings are NFC North champions. How'd
Speaker 1: they get there? Well, here's my three takeaways. At donontell
Speaker 1: he found away and when I say he found a way,
Speaker 1: everybody was so down on this defense. But he gave
Speaker 1: up one touchdown a day, just one touchdown held the kicker,
Speaker 1: five field goals held on the field goals one for
Speaker 1: four in the red zone. There were some other touchdowns,
Speaker 1: but they were not his fault on defense. Special teams
Speaker 1: had won and then Kirk Cousins had to pick six,
Speaker 1: so Ed Donton Detell found a way. He had no
Speaker 1: one hundred rusher, no one hundred yard rusher, he had
Speaker 1: no one hundred yard receiver. The quarterback through for under
Speaker 1: two hundred yards. All that has to go to the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. Looks like the guys were listening to the
Speaker 1: assignments they were getting after the quarterback. There were some
Speaker 1: blitzes in there, and they got and they got them
Speaker 1: on the ground. That's the big key about a blitz.
Speaker 1: You can blitz. If you don't get the quarterback on
Speaker 1: the ground, it doesn't matter. So it's my first takeaway.
Speaker 1: My second takeaway. Kirk Cousins man back to back four
Speaker 1: hundred yard games, four TVs four different receivers. He mounted
Speaker 1: the biggest comeback in NFL history. Being down thirty three
Speaker 1: points in the first half third quarter, the woes were over.
Speaker 1: Started off the season some of the worst third quarters
Speaker 1: we've ever seen. But today's third quarter, hundred and forty
Speaker 1: five passer raiding two touchdowns for that Vikings offense. That
Speaker 1: was huge and that was a big reason for this
Speaker 1: Vikings comeback. Kirk Cousins was dialing up the passes, he
Speaker 1: was taking chances and just some of the play calling
Speaker 1: from Kevin O'Connell in the third quarter. It was almost
Speaker 1: like they knew, if we don't score in the third,
Speaker 1: if they have the third quarters, they've had another games,
Speaker 1: they don't win this game. So that two touchdowns in
Speaker 1: this third quarter probably probably the best third quarter they've
Speaker 1: had all season. And then my third takeaway, of course,
Speaker 1: it always goes to a receiver. I gotta give kJ
Speaker 1: Osbourne some props. kJ Osborne deserves the game ball for sure,
Speaker 1: he deserves possibly NFC Offensive Player of the Week. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be tough though, with Kirk Cousins from four hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty yards but ten catches, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: seven yards and a touchdown. But this is why kJ
Speaker 1: Osborne is my big takeaway. This is his first one
Speaker 1: hundred yard game in a purple uniform. That's huge. Hats
Speaker 1: off to that young man. First NFL one hundred yard game,
Speaker 1: sixteen targets, same amount of targets is Justin Jefferson. So
Speaker 1: kJ Osborne is putting his bid in to be that
Speaker 1: number two receiver. But now Kirk Cousins, he knows he
Speaker 1: has a true three headed monster with Justin Jefferson Adam
Speaker 1: Thieland and kJ Osborne. All three can get it done.
Speaker 1: All three can put points on the board, and all
Speaker 1: three at any point can give you ten catches and
Speaker 1: over one hundred yards. And kJ Osbourne today was his day.
Speaker 1: Hats off. I'm Ron Johnson and these are my takeaways
Speaker 1: from this thirty nine to thirty six overtime victory. And
Speaker 1: the Vikings are NFC North champions. Back to you guys
Speaker 1: at the stadium, all right, So the Minnesota Vikings complete
Speaker 1: the greatest comeback in the history of the NFL and
Speaker 1: beat the Colts thirty nine thirty six. They were down
Speaker 1: thirty three. The previous greatest comeback was thirty two points. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: orchestra by Frank Reich, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts,
Speaker 1: fired a month and a half ago. Well, his colts
Speaker 1: got beat thirty thirty nine thirty six, and um we
Speaker 1: get the Giants as NFC North champions Christmas Eve at noon.
Speaker 1: What kind of a week is this going to be
Speaker 1: for the Vikings. Well, you gotta get healthy and you
Speaker 1: get you had the full week, right, so you know
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. You know you're not playing in
Speaker 1: a short week against a team that had to buy
Speaker 1: so that was a huge advantage for the Colts. Right there,
Speaker 1: you're gonna face an offense that is very i think
Speaker 1: pretty similar, heavy on the run, uh more mobile of
Speaker 1: a quarterback. The other they're gonna depend on their quarterback
Speaker 1: to to move around a little bit. But the Giants
Speaker 1: have had problems in the secondary, and teams that have
Speaker 1: problems in the secondary against our offense, man, it could
Speaker 1: be you know, it could be a big day through
Speaker 1: the air for the Vikings. But you know, hopefully you
Speaker 1: learn and everything that happens in his life that you learn,
Speaker 1: and that you came back and you you you beat
Speaker 1: a Buffalo Bill's team that an improbable will come back
Speaker 1: and win and then you stub your till the next week.
Speaker 1: Well you did it again, which is awesome. That's the
Speaker 1: main thing. But lets you gotta learn, you gotta develop,
Speaker 1: You've got to understand what's ahead of you this week.
Speaker 1: So these guys need to start working on recovery right now.
Speaker 1: In closing, you know something special happened when Don Cousins
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins father walks four sections over to the front
Speaker 1: of the voxbox to high five of us all after
Speaker 1: his kids team comes back and executes the greatest comeback
Speaker 1: in the history of the National Football League. Well done
Speaker 1: to everybody involved for Pete versage. I'm Paul Allen. That's
Speaker 1: the postgame report. Your Minnesota Vikings are NFC North champions.
Speaker 1: And here's Koc in the locker room right after the game.
Speaker 1: We set out a long time ago talking about doing
Speaker 1: one thing and one thing first before we talked about
Speaker 1: anything else. Congratulations NC chimp change. But what I love
Speaker 1: about it the most, all right, when we came in
Speaker 1: this locker room at a halftime, it couldn't get much worse.
Speaker 1: We couldn't have done more to allow that other team
Speaker 1: to win the football game. But I just felt it.
Speaker 1: I felt each and every wanting. I felt the captains
Speaker 1: with your seas on your chest, understanding that we were
Speaker 1: about to go breaking all time regular season or playoff
Speaker 1: record for comeback victory. When I tell you guys, man,
Speaker 1: I tell you guys, I love you. Oh. I meet
Speaker 1: it from the bottom of my heart, and that will
Speaker 1: never change. I will ride with this group to tell it.
Speaker 1: I want to play more great it tight, and then
Speaker 1: I want to hear you guys celebrate the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two NFC North my god,