WEBVTT - The 2009 Minnesota Vikings: One Pass Short of Glory 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.640 Greetings and Welcome inside the latest Special Teams with Jason 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.960 Smith and Mike Harmon podcast. We take a look back 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.520 at a very special year in sports, very special team 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.360 in that special year. This week we look at the 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.000 two thousand and nine Minnesota Vikings. No, they didn't win 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.839 at all, but my goodness, did they give us a 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.200 year to remember. It was Brett Farve his best year 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.360 post post Green Bay rather and we'll get into the 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.000 Jets in a little bit, because you know, I got 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.600 Jets a little bit away station. This is one of 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.280 those memorable teams that did not win a championship. And look, 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:58.880 as we do things on special teams, that's kind of 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.279 where we go. Sometimes it teams that win it all. 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.560 Sometimes it teams that don't win but are incredibly memorable. 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.840 And we saw an NFL rule change because of the 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.959 two thousand nine Minnesota Vikings that we still have today 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.640 rule changes. The craziness of Brett Farve, which is the 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:19.600 overriding topic for the season, The way this roster was assembled, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.560 some stars that as you and I sit and talk 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.200 about this, uh, this team looking back a decade, you 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.360 still had many guys still traversing the sidelines of NFL rosters. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:35.080 I mean, pretty pretty exciting stuff that, you know. I 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:39.280 just remember the Brett farrv himming and hawing really infuriated 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.080 a lot of people, including me. So and and since 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.520 it's all about me, that's really what it comes down. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.680 Because he couldn't get out of the bleeping NFC North. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.640 You know, Well, here's the thing he goes through before 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.600 the two thousand and eight season, yet another I think 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:55.680 I want to retire. And the Packers had had it 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.000 with him, and we talked about Brett Farve because it's 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:00.000 back when I was doing All Night on ESPN Radio, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.880 and we had talked about Brett Farve every day and 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.520 it was great because it was about something on the field. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.240 It was a controversy on the field. Should the Packers 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.920 let Brett Farve play, should they let him go, should 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.320 they trade him? And it was different, which what's what 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.160 made it fun. They finally decided to move on. They 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.160 trade him to the Jets in two thousand and eight. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.560 He plays two thousand and eight, He has a great 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.680 year until he tears his bicep. The Jets can't win 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:28.120 in December and he moves on, he quote retires again 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.200 and you think this is it for Brett Farve. But 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.320 then again, it's never it for Brett Farve. I mean, look, 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:36.280 I think in two thousand twenty one, he's gonna come 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.079 back at fifty three years old. He looks like he 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.520 yoked up Santa Clause running around. I mean, come on, 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.960 But Farv decides in two thousand and nine after he 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.000 retires from the Jets at the end of two thousand eight. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.079 I mean, phase were great. For when he was a 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.679 quarterback with the Jet was phenomenal. He beat the Patriots 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.880 in a big Thursday night game in New England. He 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.960 beat the Titans when they were undefeated. The Jets were 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.160 eight and three, and I thought, they're gonna win the division. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.280 We're going to the playoff. It's far far, far far 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.880 of my whole life was Bred Farve. I was doing 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.600 things in fours just because his number was four. It 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.200 was incredible. And then he tears his bicep and he 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.200 can't throw the football anymore. The Jets don't win, and 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.120 then okay, Bred Farve has done. The Jets realize we 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.200 have to move on, we have to get to somebody else. 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.560 But then slowly you start to hear the rumors as 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.240 the winter turns into spring bred Farv, who had wanted 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.639 to go to the Minnesota Vikings when he first was 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.160 let go from the Packers, but the Packers weren't gonna 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.240 let him go to an NFC North foe. He decides 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.880 to come out of retirement and sign with the Minnesota Vikings. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.160 With ten years to look back at this, you can 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.720 easily see bread Farve and the long game he played, 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.760 whereas I want you to let me go with the Packers, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:49.600 and I wanted to let me go to the Vikings. 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.040 Packers said we're not gonna do that because it came 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:53.920 down to trade to him to either Tampa Bay or 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.280 the Jets, and they picked the Jets. But I guarantee 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.520 you the long play with Farv was, you know what, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.840 I'll go play someplace else for a year, I'll retire again, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.160 then I'll get to Minnesota because I can't get to 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.400 Minnesota now, but I want to go play for Brad 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.400 Children's we had a relationship with before Brad Children's was 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.880 the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and you knew 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.800 that's what he was gonna do. He comes out of 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.640 retirement and suddenly he gets where he wanted to be. 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.680 He went somewhere else for a year, and then he 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.640 gets the Minnesota Vikings and he wants to exact revenge 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.839 on the Green Bay Packers, and it becomes the story again. 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.480 Far for the Jets was a huge story, and now hey, 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:32.960 it's continuing his first year with the Vikings. I just 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.680 don't know that he's ever gotten the proper credit for 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.880 the mcinvelian genius and being able to come right back 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:44.760 into the division, or enough blame for something that right now, 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:49.839 players get absolutely brutalized on social media and throughout all 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.120 media when they orchestrate a power play of getting out 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.360 Anthony Davis wanting to go to the Lakers, Lebron James 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.760 holding everybody how much everybody universally loved bread Farm outside 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.160 of Tames in the NFC North, everybody loved bread But 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.800 see that he was always the funny scenario of you 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.560 know that guy that you respect, right and see all right, 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.120 he keeps beating us a man. He's fun to watch 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.960 because it's so unconventional and the arm strength and the 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.000 gambler style throws whatever. As a guy growing up in 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.640 Chicago Bears fan, you just watch and you'd marvel at 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.800 what he'd do. And then of course he passes the 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.000 baton to Aaron Rodgers, and it's more of the same. 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.040 What is its seventeen and four in the last twenty 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.000 one games against the Bears. But it's it's just the 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.000 idea that you know, you're you're terrorized by this guy. 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.159 You kept waiting from to maybe put your uniform on, 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:44.840 and and and the cycle, but instead you you appreciated 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.320 the talent. But I don't think he ever got one 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.640 or the other right. Even elway from not not coming 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.440 into the Colts or Eli Manning for forcing the trade 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.120 out of San Diego, they at least there's blips on 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:01.080 there and stains on the it was are you gonna retire? 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:02.720 And that was the whole thing, is that that's where 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.280 the only backlash he had came from was again, you're 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.080 not We don't know if you're gonna retire again. Really, 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:08.880 you don't know if you want to play again. I 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.839 was trying to punish for fantasy magazines. Man, I needed 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.640 that information. But now, well this is back when fantasy magazines, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.640 oh we gotta publish in March. Well, I have to 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:19.880 because that's when the magazine is publishing. I don't know, 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.000 I gotta, I gotta get it in before the draft. 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.440 But that was now. Now when in retrospect you look 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:27.880 back at things a decade ago, a decade in in 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.000 the rear view mirror, and it was okay, this was 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.400 just a strategy to get to the Minnesota Vikings. He 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.000 only retired from the Jets because he had to retire 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:37.760 so he could then get to the Vikings. And he 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.920 really didn't want to be a Jet. No, he didn't, 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.360 He didn't him. He was a great for a little while, 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.240 but that there are reports out of New York that 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.080 that even the players got a little sick and tired 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:48.719 of him because he would have like his own office, 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:50.760 like Eric Mangini, who was a coach, would give him 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.880 his own office. He didn't really hang out with the 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.480 guys as much. He wasn't quite the the guy they 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.320 expected him to be when he joined the team. Well, 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.400 but that's just it. The difference between and and we 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.480 watch it now, the old quarterback, right, the difference between 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.279 how Tom Brady is with his teammates that are half 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.080 his age and what Brad Farve was right because essentially 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.960 you had the same dynamic. But all you ever hear 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:17.080 is how integrated Brady is with the team and wanting 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.600 to know the guys. Hi, I'm Tom Brady. Is how 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.480 he welcomes them to camp. Right, he goes and finds 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.280 and seeks them out versus Farv and you know, it's 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.040 his world. Here's a pair of wranglers here you go. 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.960 What what what? What? What do you like? A thirty? 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.160 Here you go? Yeah, let let met you those right there. 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.280 You know, if they just cut him off into George, 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.480 they can recreate the top gun volleyball. You know, if 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.400 your beard is getting a little gray, I can give 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.440 you that. You know, you can kind of brush it 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.240 through and then you can kind of look younger. No 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:47.280 one can tell. So Farve joins the Minnesota Vikings, and 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.840 he joins the head coach. He wanted to join in 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.480 Brad Children's You're a guy. I like this because I 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.480 was one of the few people in the world with 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.920 a Brad Children's impressure. You may be the only guy 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.320 with a Brad Childrens impression. I can't say I've ever 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.320 heard another. Ah. We have to make sure on offense 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.600 that we uh throw the ball down field a little 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:13.880 bit more and uh put more points on the board. Uh, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.600 and that's a pretty good Brad Childrens senior offensive assistant 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.280 your Chicago Bears. So Farve joins the team and it 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.320 becomes the story in the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings become 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.040 page one news. And this is a team that is 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.240 already loaded and ready to go. This is a team 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.959 with Adrian Peterson in his prime, Sydney Rice who became 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.280 a star receiver with the with the Minnesota Vikings that year. 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.000 That's the guy that five turned into a star receiver. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.720 Visanthe Shanko, who well had the speaking of big in 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.680 the locker room. He had that, but we won't talk 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:53.600 about that. Uh, that's a film After Dark. Brian McKinney, 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.959 Steve Hutchinson, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, all Pro Bowlers. This 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.400 was a star studded team who drafted Percy Harvin in 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.200 the same year and then he became a weapon. And 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.720 so this was everything far of ever one. And I 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:08.840 have the big receivers, I got the fast receivers. I 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.040 have the running back I always wanted. This is it. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.400 This is everything he ever had in Green Bay and 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.960 now He's got everything all at once, all rolled into one. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.120 I mean you look at that defensive front, which has 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:21.079 been the trademark of the Minnesota Vikings for as long 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.880 as I can remember. At this point, it's that same 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.280 build from the inside out. And then this, you know 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:32.400 they drafted load Hold load Load load Hold. Yes, so 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.720 he becomes a starter and as a rookie top top 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:39.360 pick alongside Percy Harvin guys, and like Harvin, goes on 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.040 to win the Rookie of the Year award when it's 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.600 all said and done, but for far of orchestrated, perfectly 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.400 finds himself in a beautiful situation. And I always like 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:53.000 the name load Holt that I would want to be 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.400 Jason Loadholt. Yeah. I mean there's there's a lot of 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.920 ways you can go, a lot of careers. The Minnesota 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.560 Vikings are now paid one news. How is Brett Farve 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.960 going to fit in? Is he going to get revenge 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.200 against the Green Bay Packers? Can he bring the Vikings 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.600 to the Super Bowl? So while this is happening, what 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:18.040 else was happening in two thousand and nine? It was 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.800 the Miracle on the Hudson as Sully was able to 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.400 save everybody's life. The plane that was attacked by birds 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:25.880 and the engine was able to land in the Hudson. 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.559 Everybody gets out. Years later, Tom Hanks plays him in 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.439 a movie. Kind of a surreal kind of experience. I'm 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.480 sure for him. Every time I go to the Universal 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.520 Studios back line, there it is. There's this grade. We 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.280 filled that up with water and Sully, and let me 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.199 show you a picture of Sully. Bernie made Off played guilty. 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:47.520 Surely after that, I realized, Oh, now I know why 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.400 the Mets can't sign anybody. Oh because they were in 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:54.000 on the Ponzi scheme with Bernie made Off, never forced 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.840 to sell the team, but going away, you know, you 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.679 know money. Now it's we're still struggling. You know, you 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:03.840 made you made it to the World Series. I know, 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.720 despite that, It's like, despite all their efforts, the Mets 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.760 made it to the kind of deal on Jacob deGrom 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.840 this offseason. I mean, come on, if you remember, it 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.880 was Thanksgiving weekend when Tiger Woods car hit a fire. 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:18.400 Hydrinton Allen Nordegren came out with a golf club and 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.439 suddenly tiger Woods world turned upside down. He admitted to 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.600 many affairs and his life has never been the same. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.320 Ten years ago. Uh, you know, I remember him. He 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.520 was in a onesie posing for a photo with you 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:34.800 with the international team that you know, well, I mean, 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.720 he's trying to humanize himself, you know. I remember going 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.280 to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo very shortly after, 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.120 because that's came out. And there's a scene in Girl 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.480 the Dragon Tattoo. Sorry spoiler alert, there's a scene in 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.800 which character is getting chased out of a house, gets 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.760 into a car, and another character grabs a golf club 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.880 on the way out and bashes in the rear window, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:00.960 which is the story what happen with Ellen order going 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:05.400 to talk? So that happens, and it's a very tensely 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.120 like A Girl the Dragon Tattoo is a really great movie, 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.960 and it's very silence of the lamb's escates, and this 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.200 is a really tense scene. And I just laugh in 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:15.040 the theater. I look at my wife and we laughed 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.200 to each other. Nobody else has left, and look at 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.000 me like, what are you laughing at dude? What's wrong 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.440 with you? I go, this is the Tiger Woods thing? Wait, 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:26.679 oh my god. Ripped from the headlines Modern Family debut 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.680 that year sweets has did Farmville? I still get requests? 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.079 Blank blank blank do you invite you to play Farmville? Oh? Yeah, yeah, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.800 I never got I never went down that dude, just 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.199 maybe want to get off Facebook. It was also the 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.040 year that Kanye West told Taylor Swift, I'm gonna let 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.680 you finish but Beyonce and one of the best videos 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.679 of all time, which is still a surreal moment. You 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.600 got a lot of run for Kanye West. Yeah, I 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.199 would say in his life that's one of the three 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.520 biggest things they'll ever be known for. That's probably true. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:58.880 He got gold Digger was one of the best hip 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.000 hop songs ever, and then you have them I'm Gonna 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.200 let you finish well. I like the fact that at 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.920 the end of twenty nine he's running around like painted 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.240 like the silver guy you would pose for a picture 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:14.640 with Hollywood. Tell me I'm wrong. So that's the magical 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.760 year of two thousand and nine ahead for the Minnesota Vikings. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.360 Two games that had the world's attention. A playoff game 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.760 that has ramifications even ten years out. That's coming up 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:45.920 more right here on Special Teams Week one of the 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.520 NFL Season one thing was on the minds of every 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.000 football fan. How is my local team going to do? 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.280 And how was Brett Farve going to play his first 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.200 game with the Minnesota Vikings. All kinds of hype on 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.520 the team he's wanted to. He looked looser, he was happier. 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.960 His first game against Cleveland, he just threw for a 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.439 hundred and ten yards, I mean, very underwhelming, but did 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.719 throw for a touchdown. They win. Week two, just a 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.199 hundred and fifty five yards, two touchdowns, but they're two 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.200 and oh so far. Brett Farve is a little underwhelming 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.840 throw in the football, but they win a couple of games. However, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:29.200 Week three, things changed for Farv and the Vikings. Immediately 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:34.600 he launches a thirty two yard touchdown pass with two 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.880 seconds left to play to Greg Lewis to win and 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.280 really launch the Vikings legend to beat the San Francisco 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.520 forty nine and wind up winning the sp for Best 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.600 Football Play. Far jumping around in everybody's arms after it 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.480 was one of those passes that you see far throwing. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.680 You go no, no, no, no, no, oh yes, wow, 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.000 what a great play. Because Greg Lewis is running along 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.280 the back of the end zone. There's players there you 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:01.920 know that you still want to make sure there's enough 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.600 time because maybe you can get one more play, but instead, 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.080 thirty two yards out, Farve completes it. Now he's a 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.160 legend in Minnesota after just three weeks. But said, it's 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.400 it always takes that one big play to get your 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.480 role in and and because you do have Adrian Peterson, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.040 you don't have to be the forty passes the game 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:22.640 Brett Farve that you were towards the end of the 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.840 run in Green Bay, right, you can move on and 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.640 change the structure. And you're still learning these young receivers 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.720 because he didn't sign with them still fairly late, right 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.000 right as camp began, so you didn't have the offseason workouts. 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.040 So you build from there. But for for Brett Farve, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.720 it's it became one of the signatures because you knew 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.680 he was gonna keep gunning. Right. We celebrate guys like 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.080 at least you know you and I, as as we 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.760 do our show on Fox Sports Radio, we celebrate guys 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.080 like Jamis Winston. You don't know what the next pass 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.600 is gonna look like, And that was Brett Farve, Right, 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.520 that was Brett Farve. He's gonna win or he's gonna 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.680 lose because he's gotta try to find that guy and 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.440 needle in the haystack and and try to gun it 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.520 through two defenders. He'd make for a good video game 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.600 or horror film, I think, or maybe like an action 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.000 film where he's like throwing footballs through guys. But I 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.400 still remember what was the the NFC championship game he 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.320 threw seven picks against against the Was it the falcon 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.280 taking through seven interceptions? Yeah, that's dude. Come on, man, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.440 stop trying to throw a football over that mountain, Uncle Rico. 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.880 Stop doing it. No time to rest for Bret fog, however, 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.320 as the next week was his rematch or first game 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.960 against the Green Bay Packers. When he joined the Jets, 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.480 the Jets did not play the Packers. But now he 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.800 gets the Packers. He gets his old team. But this 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:45.800 is at home. Things are going to be okay, And 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.040 things were okay. Packers win the game thirty to twenty three. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.160 Bret Farve has a good game. He gets booed by 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.680 fans in Green Bay that traveled all the way up 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.000 to see the game. He winds up throwing for two 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.400 yards and three touched sounds and now far of his 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.680 four and oh he wins his first game against the Packers. 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.360 It's like he's winning the divorce. He's winning the breakup. 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.639 He had a very fun interview after the game was 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.560 over on National TV. Was a Sunday night game and 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.520 it was all right, Packers, you thought they were gonna 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.240 come through. They couldn't they win the game and now 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.520 far of his winning the breakup, and Packers fans are 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.639 just incensed, well because the thing about it was, you know, 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.399 owing to the competitor, and what he meant to that 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.120 city and that franchise is how he'd go and celebrate 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:36.560 after a touchdown. Right, He's slapping the offensive lineman upside 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.320 the head, he's sprinting down the field and pointing at 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.920 the wide receiver, all those things that if they're the opponent, 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.200 normally you're you're ticked off, and now if you're the Packers, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:50.080 you're really ticked off, because not only did he go 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.560 away and even if he said all right, he finally 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.040 got where he wanted to, but he had a torn bicep, 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.040 and then he comes in and he shreds you like 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.840 he did to the efficiency of seventies seven completion rate, 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.800 which he never touched uh and three touchdowns. So for 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.320 the path for the for the Packers, for the Vikings, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.359 it's three and oh four and oh five and oh 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.400 and it's boy, they could go undefeated, they could challenge 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.680 the Dolphins. Market was it was all Brett Farv all 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.919 the time. And this is you know, in the middle 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.960 of my run at all night and at ESPN, and 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:28.200 it really was far of overload. Look, we're talking about 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:29.520 the Vikings so far. We talked about some of the 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:31.600 players on the team and how well they played, and 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.960 I get that, but I want people to remember that 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.920 it was about one person. This this season and this 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:44.639 entire incarnation of the Minnesota Vikings was about Brett Farve. 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.239 We didn't talk about Adrian Peterson, but we didn't talk 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.280 about other players. Peterson in two thousand and nine ran 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.800 for yards. He had a big season eighteen touchdowns, which 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:55.520 is his career high. And it was oh ye had 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.439 Adrian Peterson. Yeah, he's pretty good. He was. He was 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.199 coming off a great rookie year. Zoia's second year in 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.560 the league too, so it's like, what's he gonna do 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.359 for an end care that doesn't matter old number. Their 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.200 third year in the league, form where Pin during the 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.120 rookie card. He was coming off the sevred yard season, 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.479 which was his best one up until that point, and 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.119 it was we've never been talked about it because it 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.119 was all about Brett Farve. Far far far. So the 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.240 Vikings wind up dropping one to the Pittsburgh Steelers, maybe 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.159 in a look ahead game because Week eight was the 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:32.560 big show down when they played at Green Bay and 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:37.600 this was all the hate for Brett Farve out in spades. 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:41.719 The signs at the game were insane. You saw signs 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.080 that called him trader, that called him Judas. It was 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.840 everybody hating Brett Farve. It was now, we're gonna beat 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.160 this guy. And there's not many times in my life 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.080 where I felt afraid for a player on a football field. Know, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.040 it's a football game and there's security there and everything else, 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:58.960 but I said, boy, something could happen to Brett. I 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.720 could see somebody running on the field try to add, Brett, 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.280 you think you're so good that it was that kind 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.360 of atmosphere at Green Bay. Well, we just look at 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.240 in the decades since, how much different in basketball and 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.760 in the NFL, Guys changing teams all the time, right, 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.760 normally it was especially for a quarterback. You didn't last 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.120 that long for one, I mean the whole iron Man things, 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.760 the other legend of farv, but just the idea that 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.200 you'd still be well enough to come back after such 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:33.920 a long career there and and become the villain. People 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:38.679 conveniently forget the ownership and general manager's side of things, 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.359 because eventually, you know, you've got Aaron Rodgers and mothballs. 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:43.960 You've got to do something with it. Oh, they were 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.520 happy at this point because okay, well but they still 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.160 it wasn't that things are bad for us, because they 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:50.959 had Aaron Rodgers who would go on to have an 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:54.520 incredible career, win a super Bowl. But it was still 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.600 you wanted to leave us. We loved you for so 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.919 long and we all, oh, all the way back to 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:01.879 or rookie year or either you're in the mid nineteen 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.680 nineties and now you were sure you wanted to play, 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.560