Latest / Hangin' Out with Bob / The Minnesota Vikings’ “rollercoaster” season in 2025 (with brothers Dave and Tom Edholm)

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The Minnesota Vikings’ “rollercoaster” season in 2025 (with brothers Dave and Tom Edholm) · Hangin' Out with Bob

• 0:07
  Okay, welcome to Hanging Out with Bob, podcast
• 0:11
  hosted by me, Bob Edholm. Thanks for joining
• 0:17
  us and let's get started. Well, now that the
• 0:22
  2025 football season is over for the Minnesota
• 0:25
  Vikings, we're going to talk about the highs
• 0:27
  and the lows that went along with it. For the
• 0:30
  record, the Vikings finished with nine wins and
• 0:32
  eight losses, which was good for third place
• 0:35
  in the NFC North division. But it wasn't good
• 0:38
  enough to qualify for the playoffs, unfortunately.
• 0:41
  Joining me to talk about the Vikings' 2025 season
• 0:44
  are my brothers, Dave and Tom Edholm. If you've
• 0:47
  been listening to my previous podcasts, you've
• 0:49
  heard Dave, Tom, and I talk about growing up
• 0:52
  in the 60s and 70s in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.
• 0:55
  as well as the two -part episode we recorded
• 0:57
  about the Minnesota Gophers football teams from
• 0:59
  the Murray -Warmath era, like 1954 to 1971. So
• 1:04
  Dave and Tom, welcome back to Hanging Out with
• 1:06
  Bob. Good to be here. Full disclosure here, my
• 1:13
  brothers and I are lifelong Vikings fans. Well,
• 1:16
  I was eight years old when the Vikings played
• 1:18
  their first season in 1961, and Dave was just
• 1:21
  shy of his seventh birthday when that season
• 1:23
  began. Tom was born in November of 1962, so he
• 1:27
  missed almost the first two full seasons. The
• 1:30
  point is, we've followed the team closely and
• 1:32
  we're still waiting for them to win a Super Bowl.
• 1:35
  That's been the hardest part about being a Vikings
• 1:37
  fan. Dave, Tom, and I are just three of the millions
• 1:40
  of Viking fans around the state, around the country,
• 1:43
  and around the world who've had their hearts
• 1:45
  broken year after year after year by their favorite
• 1:49
  football team. Even worse, it's been nearly 50
• 1:52
  years since the Vikings have even played in a
• 1:55
  Super Bowl. And since 1977, they've lost six
• 1:59
  NFC Championship games. Of those six losses,
• 2:02
  a couple of them have been truly heartbreaking,
• 2:05
  both of them in overtime. The first loss was,
• 2:07
  well, you know what I'm talking about guys, it
• 2:09
  happened in 1998. The worst. The worst ever.
• 2:12
  Low water mark. That was against... Atlanta.
• 2:15
  Yep, yep. And then the second loss was in 2009
• 2:19
  against the... New Orleans Saints. Right. A game
• 2:23
  that was marred by five Vikings turnovers. I
• 2:26
  remember especially interception by far. The
• 2:29
  bounty game. Yes, yes. And 12 men in the huddle.
• 2:33
  Yes, yes. And this will blow you guys away, but
• 2:36
  based on estimates from the U .S. Census Bureau,
• 2:39
  over 3 .2 million of Minnesota's 5 .9 million
• 2:42
  residents were not yet born when the Vikings
• 2:45
  last played in the Super Bowl in January of 1977.
• 2:48
  That's roughly 56 percent, more than half of
• 2:51
  the state's total population. And while these
• 2:53
  figures represent the general state population
• 2:56
  and not the specific Vikings fan base, the large
• 2:59
  number indicates that a majority of Minnesotans
• 3:01
  have never seen their home team compete in the
• 3:04
  NFL's championship game, the Super Bowl. Pretty
• 3:06
  sad, right? But I digress. Dave, Tom and I are
• 3:10
  here to talk about the Vikings' 2025 season.
• 3:13
  So without further ado, we're going to talk about
• 3:17
  each of the 17 regular season games the Vikings
• 3:19
  played in 2025. But first, Dave and Tom, Let
• 3:23
  me give you four numbers in descending order
• 3:25
  and see if you can tell me the significance of
• 3:27
  each number, okay? First number, 65. 2025 season
• 3:33
  was the Vikings' 65th season in the National
• 3:35
  Football League. Okay, the next number, 21. J
• 3:40
  .J. McCarthy's passer rating? Good try, good
• 3:43
  try, good try. Average point total. Actually
• 3:48
  it was a 21st season under the ownership of Ziggy
• 3:52
  Wolf. 21 years already. Next number, 10. Okay,
• 3:57
  it was the Vikings 10th season of playing their
• 3:59
  home games at US Bank Stadium. Already it's been
• 4:02
  10 years. Wow. And then finally at the number
• 4:04
  4. These are tricky but they all make sense once
• 4:07
  I explain it. It was a Vikings fourth season
• 4:10
  under the head coach general manager tandem of
• 4:13
  Kevin O 'Connell and Kwesi Adolfo Mensa. Is that
• 4:16
  pronounced right? I only go by Kwesi, I always
• 4:18
  forget about it. How do you pronounce it? Kwesi.
• 4:20
  Kwesi, okay. Okay, just one more thing about
• 4:24
  2025 before we start. Let's go back to earlier
• 4:27
  last year, several months before the regular
• 4:30
  season began in September. In fact, let's go
• 4:32
  back to 2024 just for a second, the previous
• 4:35
  season. Do you remember the Vikings record in
• 4:37
  2024? 13 -3? No. 2024, they were 14 -3. That's
• 4:43
  when Darnold was the quarterback. 2024. Oh, I'm
• 4:46
  sorry. I was saying in 2023. Oh, they were 14
• 4:49
  -3. They played 17 games. And they missed out
• 4:52
  on a chance for home field advantage when they
• 4:54
  lost to which team in the final game of the regular
• 4:56
  seasons? Lions. And then they lost to which team
• 4:59
  and where in the wild card playoff game? The
• 5:02
  Rams. And what was that game played? In Arizona,
• 5:06
  right? Right, because of the wildfires in L .A.
• 5:09
  Anyway, a disappointing, frustrating end to what
• 5:11
  had been a pretty good season in 2014 and three.
• 5:16
  So after things earlier in 2025, like the NFL
• 5:20
  scouting combine, the franchise tag period, the
• 5:24
  free agency period, the NFL draft. the off -season
• 5:28
  workouts or OTAs, the mini camps and so on. How
• 5:31
  are you guys feeling about the 2025 season? Do
• 5:34
  you think the Vikings could build on the success
• 5:36
  of 2024? Or were you kind of expecting them to
• 5:39
  maybe slide a bit in 2025? I thought they'd slide
• 5:42
  just based on the quarterback situation, you
• 5:45
  know, so. Yeah. I didn't think they'd slide this
• 5:48
  much, but I thought they'd slide. Right, right.
• 5:50
  But I still kind of had some confidence and faith
• 5:54
  that somehow, you know, the quarterback whisper
• 5:57
  Kevin O 'Connell was going to somehow turn McCarthy
• 6:00
  into a good NFL quarterback. And you weren't
• 6:03
  alone. I think a lot of us were hoping the same
• 6:05
  thing. And it made some pretty significant free
• 6:08
  agency additions, especially on the offensive
• 6:10
  defensive lines. Can you guys name the two tackles
• 6:13
  that they signed, the defensive tackles? I can't.
• 6:17
  Yeah, Allen and is it? Hargrave? You're right.
• 6:21
  Yeah, it was Jonathan Allen and Jevon Hargrave.
• 6:24
  Although I don't think either one of them really
• 6:26
  lived up to the billing that they were hoping.
• 6:28
  And then they also signed two offensive linemen.
• 6:31
  Can you name those two? Is that Kelly? Kelly
• 6:34
  and Fries. Yeah. Yep. Ryan Kelly, the center.
• 6:36
  And Will Fries. And Will Fries. And poor Kelly
• 6:38
  had what, three concussions during the season?
• 6:41
  Right. He probably might be done with football,
• 6:43
  so. And as you mentioned, Dave, just a second
• 6:46
  before, I think a lot of us were pumped up about
• 6:47
  the anticipated debut of J .J. McCarthy. He'd
• 6:51
  been their first round rookie quarterback in
• 6:53
  2024, but he missed the entire season because
• 6:56
  of a preseason knee injury. And like you said,
• 6:58
  with a quarterback, or what they call a quarterback
• 7:01
  whisperer in Kevin O 'Connell, we were thinking,
• 7:02
  hey, maybe he can do it. Right. He did that with
• 7:05
  Darnold. Yeah. Yeah. That's what everybody's
• 7:08
  hoping. OK. On to the 2025 NFL regular season.
• 7:14
  Again, the Vikings finished with a record of
• 7:16
  nine wins and eight losses. Their games included
• 7:19
  two international contests across the pond, if
• 7:22
  you will, and several games with close finishes.
• 7:26
  And the Vikings did close the season by winning
• 7:27
  their last five games to finish the season one
• 7:30
  game above 500. And here's a summary of each
• 7:33
  of the 17 games the Vikings played in 2025. Okay,
• 7:39
  week one, September 8th, 2025. A Monday night
• 7:42
  football game on the road against the Chicago
• 7:45
  Bears. Tom, in your best announcer or news presenter
• 7:48
  voice, please give us a headline for this game.
• 7:51
  JJ McCarthy rallies the Vikings in the fourth
• 7:53
  quarter of his debut for a 27 -24 win over the
• 7:56
  Bears. Yep, a wild start to the season. Vikings
• 8:04
  trailed the Bears 17 -6 entering the fourth quarter,
• 8:07
  but they scored 21 unanswered points for the
• 8:09
  win. So the Vikings start out 1 -0 with a narrow
• 8:13
  road victory over their division rivals on Monday
• 8:16
  Night Football. Always a good way to start the
• 8:18
  season, right? What were your biggest takeaways
• 8:20
  from the season opening win for the Vikings,
• 8:23
  Tom and Dave? What were your thoughts on that
• 8:25
  first game? Well, as I recall, McCarthy did have
• 8:32
  some moments late in the game. I think that he
• 8:36
  ran a touchdown in and he looked shaky in many
• 8:41
  respects. But I actually figured, like a lot
• 8:44
  of people did I think, after that game that he
• 8:48
  had Moxie, that he was the type of quarterback
• 8:51
  that he was a winner at Michigan and that he'd
• 8:55
  somehow figure out a way of getting it done.
• 8:57
  I kind of was hopeful after that. I thought maybe
• 8:59
  this kid's got the it factor where he's a winner.
• 9:04
  I was hoping that the same thing would come true
• 9:07
  as the game. That was also Ben Johnson's first
• 9:10
  game as the NFL head coach and look at him now.
• 9:13
  I mean he had a great year. Any other thoughts
• 9:16
  Tom? I would agree with that. Concern was the
• 9:23
  first three quarters. Yeah. Yeah, that's right
• 9:25
  as you know, I get it it was kind of his first
• 9:28
  official NFL start and and whatnot and you know,
• 9:33
  basically a rookie and we expected a few bumps
• 9:36
  in the road, but the fear was that that would
• 9:39
  continue and even with the solid fourth quarter,
• 9:42
  right? I also recall Caleb Williams had some
• 9:47
  what at the time were very typical errors on
• 9:50
  his part, his rookie season. He just seemed to...
• 9:53
  He helped us out. Yeah, he helped us out a lot.
• 9:55
  And he seemed like when it really required a
• 9:59
  really big throw, he blew it. And so I was kind
• 10:01
  of thinking, well, maybe this guy's the opposite
• 10:05
  of J .J. McCarthy. Maybe he's somebody who just
• 10:08
  doesn't have it, doesn't have the it factor or
• 10:10
  whatever. But I guess as the season wore on,
• 10:13
  maybe... Right. Well, what gave me what turned
• 10:16
  out to be false hope is they did this all on
• 10:18
  the road. I thought they went in Chicago and
• 10:20
  they just completely dominated the fourth quarter.
• 10:22
  And I thought, wow, this is really cool. And
• 10:25
  the way the season went on, though, it kind of
• 10:28
  turned out just the opposite for both teams.
• 10:30
  Yes. All right. On to week two, September 14th,
• 10:36
  2025, a Sunday night football game, the home
• 10:39
  opener against the Atlanta Falcons. Or is it
• 10:42
  Falcons? Potato, potato, okay. Dave, in your
• 10:47
  best announcer or news presenter voice, please
• 10:49
  give us a headline for this game. Falcons trampled
• 10:53
  J .J. McCarthy and the Vikings 22 -6 behind Bijon
• 10:57
  Robinson's running and a dominant defense. Yep.
• 11:04
  So their home opener on Sunday Night Football
• 11:07
  no less, the Vikings struggled on offense and
• 11:09
  suffered a decisive loss. managing just six points
• 11:12
  against the Falcons. The Vikings record fell
• 11:15
  to one and one. And guys, what were your biggest
• 11:18
  takeaways from this Vikings home opener and the
• 11:20
  loss to Atlanta? I actually have a couple. I
• 11:25
  remember, you know, thinking that J .J. McCarthy
• 11:28
  and Michael Pennex, who was the starting quarterback
• 11:31
  for Atlanta. The last time those two met was
• 11:34
  in the national championship game. And obviously,
• 11:37
  J .J. McCarthy ended up getting the best because
• 11:40
  Pennex was Washington's quarterback. So I remember
• 11:44
  that. The other takeaway that I had was just
• 11:46
  what a great player B. John Robinson was. I had
• 11:50
  never seen him. Is he from Texas Tech or something?
• 11:53
  Texas. I think he's from Texas. don't, you know,
• 11:58
  recall following him when he was a collegiate
• 12:00
  player. I just thought he was really one of the
• 12:03
  best running backs I'd seen since Adrian Peterson.
• 12:07
  He's just a very talented player. Yep. No, for
• 12:10
  sure. Yeah, that was terrible. Well, when you
• 12:14
  look at what the Falcons did the rest of the
• 12:16
  season, too. And just, you know, kind of going
• 12:19
  back to the heartbreak of 98 losing to them.
• 12:22
  Yes. And then all the way back to the 73 season
• 12:26
  when we started nine and all. That's right. The
• 12:29
  day before my 11th birthday, we lost to Bobby
• 12:31
  Lee on Monday Night Football. That's right. Right.
• 12:34
  And broke the on. I guess that was my first recollection
• 12:38
  of crying myself to sleep over them. I literally
• 12:42
  did. My dad let me stay up and watch the whole
• 12:45
  game. And then we lost. Well, the undefeated
• 12:48
  streak was over and I was just. Oh my gosh. I
• 12:52
  could be wrong, but I'm almost convinced of our
• 12:56
  first Super Bowl season, which was the 1969 season.
• 13:01
  didn't we lose to the Falcons that year as well?
• 13:04
  Yes, okay, they lost the season open to the Giants
• 13:07
  with Fran Tarkenton, then they won 12 straight,
• 13:10
  and then the last game of the season, they'd
• 13:12
  clinched everything, home field and all that
• 13:14
  stuff, but they lost in Atlanta to the Falcons,
• 13:17
  and Norm Van Brocklen was coaching. Wow. So the
• 13:19
  former Viking coach beat them. We've got a bad
• 13:22
  history with the Falcons. They have trouble with
• 13:24
  Atlanta. Now back to this game this year with
• 13:27
  Atlanta. I still remember the day after the game,
• 13:30
  Dan Barrero, he's got a radio show in the Twin
• 13:32
  Cities. He said he was afraid that J .J. McCarthy
• 13:36
  was traumatized after that. He really struggled.
• 13:39
  And in fact, he got hurt in that game because
• 13:42
  he missed the next four or five starts, right?
• 13:45
  It was just a bad Sunday night and they stunk
• 13:48
  out. No, I can't recall. Did McCarthy get hurt
• 13:50
  where he had to come out of the game? I don't
• 13:52
  think he did. I think he just said that he was
• 13:55
  hurt. That's it. Oh, here we go. Well, yeah,
• 13:58
  this is frustrating. Okay, week three, September
• 14:03
  21st, 2025, a Sunday noon kickoff game at home
• 14:08
  against the Cincinnati Bengals. And Tom, how
• 14:11
  about a headline for this game? Viking sail past
• 14:14
  the bumbling Bengals 48 to 10 and Carson Wentz's
• 14:17
  debut behind a pair of TVs on defense by Isaiah
• 14:20
  Rogers. Whose name we never heard again after
• 14:27
  that game. But anyway, about this game, the Vikings
• 14:31
  bounced back strong with a dominant offensive
• 14:34
  performance against Cincinnati. They cruised
• 14:36
  to a huge win at US Bank Stadium. The Vikings
• 14:39
  defense wasn't too shabby either, forcing four
• 14:42
  first half turnovers by the Bengals. And the
• 14:44
  Vikings improved their record to two and one.
• 14:47
  What were your biggest takeaways from this blowout
• 14:50
  win, guys, against the Bengals? Well, Bengals
• 14:52
  are not a good team, obviously. And I think that
• 14:55
  was the first game that Burrow missed as well.
• 14:58
  Yeah, Burrow didn't play. Who is their backup
• 15:01
  again? Oh, gosh, I forgot now. I can't even think
• 15:03
  of his name. But yeah, obviously Rogers to, you
• 15:08
  know, return. Those two teams were huge. Wasn't
• 15:11
  that record -setting too, because he did it like
• 15:14
  in a half? Yeah, it was both. One was an interception,
• 15:18
  the other was a fumble return. Okay. 87 yards.
• 15:21
  Yeah, and he was NFL player of the week. And
• 15:24
  then like you guys both alluded to, I didn't
• 15:26
  hear his name except when he got burned. He made
• 15:31
  the remaining games. Jake Browning, that was
• 15:35
  a quarterback for the Bengals. Out of Washington,
• 15:39
  I think, right? But anyway, the... Yeah, I know.
• 15:44
  And I mean, Wentz actually looked somewhat serviceable
• 15:47
  in that game. And after the way McCarthy looked
• 15:50
  against Atlanta, it's like, hey, here we go.
• 15:52
  Well, we all know how that ended up. Jordan Mason
• 15:55
  rushed for a couple of TDs in that game. And
• 15:58
  Rykert, he made that 62 -yard field goal in that
• 16:00
  game. That was just before half. That's the longest
• 16:04
  field goal. Sure. At least in US Bank, I think.
• 16:08
  Wow. Wow. So yeah, so things are thinking, okay,
• 16:10
  this is this is a real Vikings team. Well, yeah,
• 16:13
  you were thinking that it was I mean, it was
• 16:15
  a home game the week before against the Falcons
• 16:17
  and obviously a huge letdown and then everybody's
• 16:20
  thinking of myself included that. Wow. Good bounce
• 16:24
  back. Yeah, really good bounce back. So and then
• 16:29
  let's go on to week four, if we must. September
• 16:32
  28th, 2025. on the road against the Pittsburgh
• 16:36
  Steelers. A Sunday morning kickoff at 8 30 a
• 16:39
  .m. Minneapolis time that is. Dave why don't
• 16:42
  you give us a headline for best game. Steelers
• 16:45
  hold on for a 24 -21 win over Vikings in the
• 16:48
  NFL's first regular season game played in Ireland.
• 16:56
  Yep it was the NFL's first regular season game.
• 16:59
  It was held at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.
• 17:02
  The locals there call it the Croaker. It's an
• 17:06
  old stadium too, it's like over 100 years old.
• 17:08
  They've expanded in that stuff. But the Vikings
• 17:11
  lost a close but definitely winnable game to
• 17:14
  the Steelers and the Vikings record fell to 2
• 17:17
  -2 on the season. Now I know this is an early
• 17:19
  game so you guys might have been at mass or sleeping
• 17:22
  in or whatever but what do you remember of this
• 17:25
  game? What were your takeaways from that? My
• 17:27
  takeaway is I've never liked European games.
• 17:31
  Never. I mean, it doesn't matter who's playing.
• 17:34
  I mean, especially if the Vikings are playing
• 17:36
  in the European game, it means if you're going
• 17:38
  to watch it, you have to get up early. But I've
• 17:40
  never been a fan of it. From the get -go, I think
• 17:42
  it's kind of a money grab or a promotion grab
• 17:47
  by the NFL. I don't know, I don't know how many,
• 17:50
  maybe the fans in Europe look forward to it,
• 17:53
  but I don't know of too many, you know, American
• 17:57
  NFL fans that think it's a great thing. I could
• 18:01
  be wrong, but I just don't like them. It might
• 18:02
  be fun. I don't have the disposable income for
• 18:05
  it, or I don't want to spend it on it, but I
• 18:07
  suppose maybe it's fun to go there for a game,
• 18:08
  just to say you did. Maybe, yeah. But I think
• 18:13
  it's successful financially. I mean, those games
• 18:16
  are sellouts. For sure. people to go, but it's
• 18:20
  tough on the players that travel. I mean, they're
• 18:21
  playing in the morning. I prefer to think of
• 18:25
  a stadium like Wembley as being the place where
• 18:28
  they had live aid in 1985, and I almost think
• 18:31
  that that tarnishes the memory having an NFL
• 18:35
  here. Well, a couple of things about that game.
• 18:39
  First, they lost Aaron Rodgers. who was always
• 18:41
  a big rival when he was with the Packers all
• 18:43
  those years. And he threw that 80 -yard touchdown
• 18:45
  pass to Metcalf. I remember in the game, I was
• 18:47
  like, what? And the Vikings couldn't move the
• 18:50
  ball. They really struggled. Although, they made
• 18:54
  it close. I mean, Carson Wentz did try to bring
• 18:57
  him back toward the end. But then I remember
• 18:59
  he got like a grounding penalty or something
• 19:02
  and lost it down. And then the fourth down -temp,
• 19:05
  it was incomplete, and that was it. Well, if
• 19:07
  I remember right, that game was the first game
• 19:10
  when it started getting dinged up, too. It was
• 19:12
  only a second start. Didn't he take a pounding
• 19:14
  from the Steelers' defense? I think we had already
• 19:17
  started to have some offensive line issues. And
• 19:21
  yeah, it was just... Just watching that game
• 19:26
  a little, I remember of it probably because I
• 19:28
  was half asleep, was that neither team would...
• 19:31
  Very good, right? I mean, it was kind of like,
• 19:34
  yeah, neither of these teams are going anywhere.
• 19:37
  It's true. Turned out to be correct on that.
• 19:39
  The records were pretty similar, too. I think
• 19:41
  that the Steelers snuck into the playoffs like,
• 19:43
  was it? They were nine and eight. Nine and eight,
• 19:46
  yeah. Same record as us. That's a good call.
• 19:49
  Yeah, yeah. Both very mediocre teams. Okay, week
• 19:55
  five, October 5th. 20 -25 on the road against
• 19:59
  the Cleveland Browns, another Sunday morning
• 20:02
  kickoff at 8 30 a .m. Minneapolis time. Tom,
• 20:05
  give us a headline for this game. Jordan Addison's
• 20:09
  late touchdown gives the Vikings a 21 -17 win
• 20:12
  over the Browns in London. Yep, on the second
• 20:19
  straight Sunday morning, at least here in Minnesota,
• 20:22
  the Vikings secured an international win in London.
• 20:25
  It was called Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They
• 20:28
  defeated the Browns in a tight game to improve
• 20:30
  their record to three and two. And here's a fun
• 20:33
  factoid, the Vikings became the first team to
• 20:36
  play NFL International Series games in two different
• 20:39
  countries in the same season, Ireland and England.
• 20:43
  So the Vikings got that going for them. So they
• 20:46
  double down on the dumb. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah.
• 20:50
  What are your thoughts about this game? I mean,
• 20:52
  they won, which is good, but There were a lot
• 20:55
  of things that happened that game that I wasn't
• 20:57
  real thrilled about. Well, I mean, just the fact
• 21:01
  that we only won 21 -17 over Dylan Gabriel. Yeah,
• 21:06
  it was his first NFL start. I mean, that kind
• 21:10
  of was a... for what was coming down the road.
• 21:15
  I thought we were, I mean, sure they have Miles
• 21:17
  Garrett and whatnot, but yeah, that was just,
• 21:21
  yeah, we won, but. And Stefanski was their coach
• 21:23
  at the time, but so. Rinaldo's coaching the Atlanta
• 21:27
  Falcons. I saw that, yeah, he's the head coach.
• 21:30
  Crazy as that, but yeah, just again, another,
• 21:34
  even though we won, it was one of those games
• 21:35
  you get done watching and you just don't feel
• 21:37
  that good about it. So yeah, we'll take the win,
• 21:40
  but man. They didn't look very good. It was less
• 21:42
  than 30 seconds left in the game. They would
• 21:44
  have lost. And then the other thing I remember
• 21:48
  is Jordan Addison was on double secret probation.
• 21:51
  He missed some kind of walkthrough and he didn't
• 21:54
  even play in the first quarter. And then he ended
• 21:56
  up getting the winning touchdown pass. That's
• 21:58
  weird too because Addison really doesn't. That's
• 22:01
  not typical of him. Yeah. Yeah. He's never in
• 22:04
  trouble. He never does. Okay. Well, we could
• 22:09
  do, you could do a whole podcast. I'm Jordan
• 22:12
  Addison. I'm Jordan Addison. Bad decisions in
• 22:15
  general. I know. I know. All right. The Vikings
• 22:19
  had their bye week in week six. So on to week
• 22:23
  seven, October 19th, 2025, a Sunday noon kickoff
• 22:27
  game at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 22:30
  Dave, how about a headline for this game? Jalen
• 22:33
  Hurts jump starts the Eagles by passing for 326
• 22:37
  yards and three TDs and a 28 -22 win over the
• 22:40
  Vikings. If I'm not mistaken, didn't he have
• 22:46
  a perfect quarterback rating for that game too?
• 22:49
  It was probably his last great game of the year.
• 22:52
  He just did everything perfect. So yeah, it was
• 22:55
  their first game back at the US Bank Stadium
• 22:57
  in four weeks. They're playing at noon, which
• 23:00
  I like. I like games that start at noon. Coming
• 23:02
  off a bye week, so you think they rested and
• 23:04
  all this stuff. But they lost another winnable
• 23:07
  game. this time to the defending Super Bowl champion
• 23:10
  Eagles, and it dropped their record to 3 -3.
• 23:14
  Let's talk a little about this one, guys. What
• 23:15
  kind of takeaways did you get from this loss?
• 23:17
  Yes, this was up until this point in the season
• 23:21
  as disappointing as the Falcons' loss was, and
• 23:24
  this one was a closer game. I started to think
• 23:27
  at this point in time that the Vikings were in
• 23:29
  trouble. That the fact that Hertz just played
• 23:35
  like a perfect game against them. I thought that
• 23:37
  their defense is not that good. Yeah, it was
• 23:41
  a very disappointing kind of hard game to watch.
• 23:44
  They only had one touchdown in six red zone trips.
• 23:51
  The turnovers, I mean, talking about costly,
• 23:54
  he had two interceptions, right? Was it two interceptions?
• 23:58
  And one was for a touchdown. So yeah. Well, and
• 24:01
  when you look at the fact that Philly's offense
• 24:04
  struggled all year. And that's the one game Hertz
• 24:09
  has a perfect quarterback rating. I mean they
• 24:11
  were bottom half in yards per game and points
• 24:14
  per game. And they were like several times they
• 24:16
  had him in situations like third and long and
• 24:18
  he'd always complete a pass. He'd always let
• 24:20
  them off the hook. So, frustrating. That was
• 24:23
  kind of the Vikings Achilles heel this year on
• 24:25
  defense was third and long so we couldn't stop
• 24:27
  anybody. It wasn't just them. I mean there were
• 24:30
  a number of times. How did Barkley do in that
• 24:33
  game? I can't recall. I don't think he had a...
• 24:36
  No, it wasn't so much the running game. It was,
• 24:39
  it was Hertz's passing, you know, that had 326
• 24:43
  yards and a perfect rating. I forgot about the
• 24:46
  turnovers too by Wentz. Yeah, yeah, that was
• 24:49
  a tough game for them. Okay, week eight, October
• 24:54
  23rd, 2025. Thursday night on the road against
• 24:58
  the Los Angeles Chargers. And Tom, give us the
• 25:02
  headline for this dismal game. Chargers dominate
• 25:05
  the Vikings 37 to 10 as Justin Herbert throws
• 25:07
  for three TDs. Yeah, they had an embarrassingly
• 25:15
  weak offense by the Vikings that game. Well,
• 25:18
  that was once his last game, right? Yeah, that's
• 25:20
  where they It looked like his arm was great.
• 25:24
  O 'Connell was getting criticized for keeping
• 25:27
  him in the game. You tried to kill him or what?
• 25:30
  He was just taking a pounding. That was his last
• 25:34
  game. The Chargers had a nice season this year
• 25:37
  in some respects, but I think we saw in the playoffs
• 25:40
  they weren't a great team. Well, again, just
• 25:43
  like us, they lost their two starting. Tackles,
• 25:47
  I mean they had a right injuries offensive line
• 25:49
  too. And yeah, he showed in the playoffs, right?
• 25:52
  Right, but they scored 37 against the bike. So
• 25:56
  yeah, you're thinking, you know, well, I think
• 25:58
  they still I think alt was still playing then.
• 26:01
  Oh, I think you're right. I think he came back
• 26:03
  for that game. Yeah. Yeah. And before he got
• 26:05
  hurt. Yeah, right. He's in anybody's but still
• 26:08
  it was that was a really poor offensive. That's
• 26:12
  what I remember is our offenses couldn't do anything.
• 26:15
  Right. Right. Yeah, Herbert had three touchdowns,
• 26:18
  227 yards passing, and he rushed for 62 yards.
• 26:21
  Yeah. So as I recall, too, that game was played
• 26:25
  at SoFi Stadium, wasn't it? Yeah, same. And I
• 26:27
  remember, you know, the The Rams, I think, get
• 26:30
  decent crowds, but I don't know how well they
• 26:33
  charge. I remember seeing a few empty seats in
• 26:36
  that game. I was looking that up just out of
• 26:38
  curiosity. The Rams draw a lot better. San Diego,
• 26:43
  sorry. The Los Angeles Chargers, they've got
• 26:46
  a fan base, but it's not as big. And I think
• 26:49
  that's the type of team where a lot of visiting
• 26:52
  teams, their fans will come to the game because
• 26:54
  they get tickets and they can get nice weather
• 26:56
  and all that stuff. And the Vikings, I think,
• 26:58
  did have quite a few fans at that game. Yep,
• 27:00
  they do. Well, I remember it was in San Diego.
• 27:03
  when the Chargers were playing at that soccer
• 27:05
  stadium for a couple of years. It was always
• 27:08
  the visitors that had all the fans. Like, 10
• 27:11
  % were pulling for the Chargers and the other
• 27:14
  10 % were pulling. Yeah, it was a small soccer
• 27:17
  stadium. Well, and then I remember, I could tell
• 27:21
  that wasn't their night because, I don't know
• 27:22
  if you even saw it, it happened early in the
• 27:24
  game, but Blake Cashman, the linebacker for the
• 27:27
  Vikings, had intercepted a pass. and returned
• 27:31
  it for a touchdown, but it was ruled and incomplete,
• 27:34
  I think. It got overturned. And not only did
• 27:37
  the San Diego, here we go again, not only did
• 27:40
  the Chargers get the ball back, but they scored
• 27:42
  on it. So it was like a 14 point swing. They
• 27:47
  dodged the bullet and drove all the way down
• 27:49
  the field. So it's just a bad night. I don't
• 27:53
  think there's much more I want to say about that
• 27:55
  game. That was just bad. They were three and
• 27:58
  four after that game. Okay, on to week nine,
• 28:04
  November 2nd, 2025, day before your birthday,
• 28:07
  Dave. And our anniversary. And your wedding anniversary,
• 28:10
  right? It was a Sunday noon kickoff game on the
• 28:13
  road against the Detroit Lions. So Dave, why
• 28:15
  don't you give us a headline for this game? JJ
• 28:17
  McCarthy throws for two touchdowns and runs for
• 28:20
  another score in his return as Vikings beat Lions
• 28:23
  27 -24. Yeah, the Vikings actually snapped a
• 28:31
  five -game losing streak to the Lions. They'd
• 28:33
  won five straight against the Vikings. And I
• 28:36
  didn't realize it until after the game was over,
• 28:38
  but seven of the last ten meetings between the
• 28:40
  Vikings and the Lions have been decided by one
• 28:43
  scorer. So they've been close every time they've
• 28:45
  played, most of the time, except that last regular
• 28:48
  season came last year, I think. But in this particular
• 28:51
  game, the Viking defense was able to pressure
• 28:53
  Jerr Goff, the quarterback, a lot and force a
• 28:56
  number of key stops. At the same time, the Viking
• 28:58
  offense relied on a solid running game and some
• 29:02
  timely plays from J .J. McCarthy. That was actually
• 29:04
  a good game for him. They said he's never lost
• 29:06
  in Michigan, like he never lost with the Wolverines.
• 29:10
  And then when you went to play against the Lions,
• 29:11
  he had a good game again. But the win gave them
• 29:14
  a record of four and four. So how about some
• 29:16
  takeaways from from this game? What do you remember
• 29:19
  most about that? It's kind of a schizophrenic
• 29:21
  team. I mean, I think all of us would agree that
• 29:26
  that gave you a little shot of hope at that point.
• 29:29
  Did that make this four and four? Yeah, yeah,
• 29:32
  yeah. So you're thinking, well, maybe maybe they
• 29:35
  will turn it around and maybe we'll be a playoff
• 29:37
  team. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, got
• 29:42
  us back to five hundred. Right. And the Lions
• 29:47
  were still considered. I think a favorite at
• 29:50
  that time, even though they had stumbled a couple
• 29:52
  times. So I was like, okay, well, let's see where
• 29:57
  it goes from here. And unfortunately, it didn't
• 30:00
  go the way we wanted it to after that. But it
• 30:06
  gave me some hope based on the fact of, if I
• 30:10
  remember right, too, we held Gibbs. and Montgomery
• 30:14
  their backs to very little stat -wise and the
• 30:18
  pressure they got on Goff and it's like well
• 30:20
  maybe they figured something out here. And it
• 30:22
  was great too at the end with the Vikings they
• 30:25
  kind of sealed the game they had a McCarthy threw
• 30:28
  a pass, was it to Naylor? Who was the wide receiver?
• 30:30
  But that kept the ball for the Vikings and Detroit
• 30:33
  never had another chance to get the ball back.
• 30:35
  Right, right. How many times have we seen that
• 30:37
  happen over the years? Like never. Yeah, yeah,
• 30:40
  yeah. So again, they gave us false hope. You
• 30:42
  know, I got the record back to 500. OK, now we've
• 30:44
  got it. Now we've got it. So. OK, week 10, November
• 30:49
  9th, 2025, a Sunday noon kickoff game at home
• 30:53
  against the Baltimore Ravens. And Tom, what's
• 30:56
  your headline for this game? Ravens win third
• 30:59
  straight game, get three takeaways to take down
• 31:01
  the Arab prone Vikings 27 to 19. Yeah, Arab prone
• 31:08
  is right. Even though it was a home game. This
• 31:11
  is the thing. The Vikings committed eight false
• 31:15
  start penalties against the Ravens at home. Yes,
• 31:18
  almost unheard of it. In fact, that was the most
• 31:20
  by home team in the NFL in 16 seasons. And what
• 31:24
  could have should have been a windable game,
• 31:25
  the loss dropped the record to four and five.
• 31:28
  So well, four and five. And that was our third
• 31:30
  loss to a team who at the end of the year got
• 31:33
  rid of their coach. Right. That's a great point.
• 31:36
  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Ravens. Wow. Wow. I remember
• 31:40
  O 'Connell. He usually keeps his emotions in
• 31:44
  check, but you could just tell that this was
• 31:46
  just eating them alive, all those false starts.
• 31:50
  He looked visibly shaken. Tom, you've coached
• 31:54
  football and you had a son who played quarterback.
• 31:56
  Was McCarthy throwing these guys off? Was it
• 31:58
  his cadence? How can you do that eight times?
• 32:01
  I think a lot of them were by O 'Neill, who's
• 32:04
  one of their better offensive linemen. He got
• 32:06
  called for at least three times for false starts.
• 32:10
  Don't you guys not a counter? What that speaks
• 32:15
  to, I mean, you should be able to, every quarterback's
• 32:18
  cadence is slightly different, but at the same
• 32:21
  time, that's just a sign of an undisciplined
• 32:24
  team. I mean, you shouldn't, you can see one
• 32:27
  or two or three, but what's that? Seven? Eight?
• 32:31
  Yeah, at that point, that's not just because
• 32:34
  the quarterback's cadence is off a little bit.
• 32:37
  That's right. Yeah, that was bad. Yep. Yeah,
• 32:41
  it was actually one of Jalen Naylor's, they called
• 32:43
  it his breakthrough game. He actually had 124
• 32:46
  yards receiving and a touchdown in that game.
• 32:48
  And we haven't mentioned him as yet, but the
• 32:50
  Vikings best receiver, Justin Jefferson, just,
• 32:53
  well, the whole season was just, he got his thousand
• 32:56
  yards. But we had like two touchdowns for the
• 32:58
  season. And he either had passes that were thrown
• 33:02
  to him over his head or out of reach or he didn't
• 33:05
  get targeted because he was triple covered or
• 33:08
  something. It was just a bad deal that game.
• 33:10
  So yeah, so the record went to four and five
• 33:12
  after that loss. So that's a buzzkill. OK, on
• 33:17
  to week 11, November 16th, 2025, another Sunday
• 33:21
  noon kickoff game at home against the Chicago
• 33:23
  Bears. And Dave, if you want to give us a headline
• 33:26
  for that game. Bears beat the Vikings, 1917,
• 33:30
  with the game -ending field goal set up by Devin
• 33:33
  D 'Urvernay's 56 -yard kickoff return. Yeah,
• 33:41
  that was... Yeah, of all the... frustrating bad
• 33:44
  wins that could have been maybe the worst. Because
• 33:46
  look how both teams went after that game, too.
• 33:49
  Yeah. What difference that could have made. And
• 33:52
  the Bears got revenge from week one, you know,
• 33:54
  when the Vikings beat them there. So they came
• 33:56
  up. Yeah, the Vikings had a 17 -16 lead with
• 34:00
  just 50 seconds left to go in the game. But that
• 34:03
  kickoff and yeah, Devin Daverney. Were there
• 34:07
  50 seconds? Yeah, something like that, less than
• 34:09
  a minute. Yeah, 50 or 50, yeah, less than a minute.
• 34:11
  I remember watching it on TV, I couldn't believe
• 34:13
  it. I actually listened to it on the radio and
• 34:16
  my wife, who's not a big football fan, but she
• 34:19
  said, oh, they took the lead or something. I'm
• 34:22
  sure we're all going, there's still way too much
• 34:25
  time left. As it did turn out, I think that kickoff
• 34:30
  return obviously made it more like a chip shot.
• 34:34
  That's not to say that... They wouldn't have
• 34:37
  come down and somehow driven it. The NFL is incredible
• 34:41
  how quickly things can change. But who scored
• 34:45
  the winning? Did we kick a field goal? Was that
• 34:49
  what happened? Well, no, they got a touchdown
• 34:51
  with 50 seconds left to go. And who scored that
• 34:54
  touchdown? I forget who on the Vikings scored
• 34:57
  that touchdown or what the... McCarthy threw
• 34:59
  the pass. Was it Naylor? It could have been Naylor.
• 35:03
  It could have been Addison, but it wasn't JJ.
• 35:06
  Or no, it was Hockenson, wasn't it? Oh, maybe.
• 35:09
  Maybe it was. Before he went down, right? Well,
• 35:14
  I don't think he officially went down. He just
• 35:16
  disappeared. That was an 85 -yard touchdown drive
• 35:20
  to put him ahead. 17 to 16 with 50 seconds left,
• 35:24
  and then I kick off. 56 yard return, and then
• 35:28
  a few plays later, Kyro Santos, that's the kicker
• 35:32
  for the Bears. I was driving through, driving
• 35:36
  to the airport, and I was hoping that I was gonna
• 35:40
  miss the traffic. That's what I was thinking
• 35:42
  about as I was listening to it, but yeah, that
• 35:45
  was an ugly loss. Yeah, that would have improved
• 35:48
  the record to five and five. We would have made
• 35:50
  the playoffs. And Chicago would have fallen to
• 35:52
  six and four, but instead they were seven and
• 35:54
  three. And I think that gave them a lot of confidence
• 35:56
  after that. They wanted a role. I remember Thanksgiving
• 35:59
  day or the day after they went to Philly and
• 36:01
  just whipped them in Philly. I mean, they gave
• 36:04
  them a lot of confidence. All those come from
• 36:05
  behind wins. OK, on to week 12, November 23rd,
• 36:12
  2025, another Sunday noon kickoff. on the road
• 36:15
  against Green Bay Packers. Tom, what's your headline
• 36:18
  for this game? Something called Emanuel Wilson
• 36:22
  runs for 107 yards in two TVs as Packers pound
• 36:25
  the Vikings 23 to 6. Was he like their third
• 36:32
  team running back? Yeah, Jacobs was out. Yeah,
• 36:35
  it was, yeah. Again, a Minnesota team making
• 36:38
  a hero out of someone no one's ever heard of
• 36:41
  before were famous for that. That was just appounding
• 36:44
  too. They were horrible. They got a couple field
• 36:47
  goals from Rikard and that was it. Was this close
• 36:51
  to the elimination game? I mean, did this eliminate
• 36:55
  us? No, no, that came just not too long after
• 36:58
  that. But, you know, that made them four and
• 37:02
  seven to Packers. And by that time, for all intents
• 37:05
  and purposes, they were done. That was terrible.
• 37:08
  You know, Jordan Love for Green Bay had a decent
• 37:10
  game. He was 14 to 21. And this Wilson had 107
• 37:14
  yards. McCarthy, yeah, 12 of 19 for 87 yards
• 37:20
  and two interceptions. And right here to our
• 37:23
  All -Pro kicker, he got two field goals. 52 and
• 37:26
  59 yards outdoors in November. That's pretty
• 37:29
  good. That's pretty good. Now that must have
• 37:31
  been right before Packer Badger Week. Was that
• 37:34
  before the Badgers played here? I think it was.
• 37:38
  I remember this game because the day before...
• 37:41
  I went to the state championship high school
• 37:44
  football game. Oh, yes. Yep. Tom Madigan. Right.
• 37:47
  And I remember after the game, he said, I don't
• 37:50
  think the Vikings are going to win at Green Bay.
• 37:53
  I agree with you. I'm not optimistic at all about
• 37:55
  it. It was the week before. It would have been
• 37:59
  the next week. If we had the Badgers. That's
• 38:02
  right. We got trounced in that game. Yeah, just
• 38:06
  a bad game. Bad game, so. Okay, on to week 13,
• 38:13
  November 30th, 2025, a late Sunday afternoon
• 38:17
  game, Minneapolis time at least, on the road
• 38:19
  against the Seattle Seahawks. And Dave, what's
• 38:23
  the headline for this game? Seahawks blank Vikings
• 38:26
  26 -0 for their first shutout victory in 10 years.
• 38:34
  I just remember poor Max. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:38
  Max Brosner started the game. And I remember
• 38:42
  the Vikes were actually driving. But Seattle,
• 38:47
  as we've seen, has a great defense. But I remember
• 38:50
  he was just running for his life on that pick
• 38:52
  six that he threw. Where he kind of threw it
• 38:56
  sidearm and it was really a bad decision. Well,
• 39:00
  I don't think he was, I think he was trying to
• 39:03
  throw it away. Yeah. But he was falling down.
• 39:07
  Right. I've often wondered, because obviously
• 39:10
  being a golfer and everything, we're rooting
• 39:12
  for him, right? Right. hell of a way to start
• 39:15
  your first oh yeah against that defense on the
• 39:17
  road on the road in that environment right but
• 39:20
  how long after the ball left his hands do you
• 39:23
  think he realized like oh Four interceptions
• 39:29
  on the day, too. Four interceptions. Yeah, we
• 39:31
  were all pulling for him, because I think he
• 39:33
  is a golfer, but oh my gosh, what a terrible
• 39:36
  debut. Yeah. Not only was it Seattle's first
• 39:40
  shutout in 10 years, it was the Vikings' first
• 39:42
  shutout loss since November of 2007. Wow. Any
• 39:46
  guesses as to which team shut them out? Oh. I
• 39:50
  had to look this up. It's nothing I remember,
• 39:52
  but as soon as I say it, you go, oh yeah, of
• 39:53
  course. 2007. Well who is still... Well it was
• 39:59
  against the Packers. They reported nothing to
• 40:01
  Lambeau. Favre of course was still playing back
• 40:03
  then. He threw three touchdown passes. They had
• 40:08
  a running back named Ryan Grant. He rushed 25
• 40:11
  times for 119 yards into TD. And Vikings running
• 40:15
  back Adrian Peterson actually got hurt in the
• 40:18
  third quarter that game. Had a knee injury and
• 40:19
  left. And that was back when Brad Childress,
• 40:23
  Chilly, was a Vikings head coach. And the starting
• 40:26
  quarterback duties back then were split primarily
• 40:29
  with Tavares Jackson and Kelly Holcomb, remember
• 40:32
  that name? But the third guy, he actually started
• 40:34
  this game because of injuries. Remember Brooks
• 40:38
  Bollinger? Sure. Did he play at Wisconsin? He
• 40:40
  was a badger. Creighton Durham Hall. Creighton
• 40:43
  Durham Hall. Oh, that's right. Minnesota kid.
• 40:44
  That's right. He actually coached Creighton for
• 40:46
  a couple of years. He coached Hill Murray for
• 40:48
  a while too, yeah. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken,
• 40:52
  Bob, that was Farve's last year in Green Bay
• 40:55
  2007. Yeah, he was at the Jets in 08. Oh, at
• 40:58
  the Jets and he came to the Vikings. Yes. And
• 41:00
  I think that the last pass he threw with the
• 41:04
  Packers was a pick in a playoff game, I think,
• 41:08
  against the Giants. Yeah. So again, with that
• 41:11
  loss, the Vikings record fell to four and eight.
• 41:15
  Um, just, just an ugly game, uh, five turnovers,
• 41:20
  full interceptions and a fumble. Ernest Jones
• 41:23
  was Ernest Jones, the fourth, not to be confused
• 41:25
  with the third. He's the one that intercepted
• 41:28
  Brosmer's pass and went 85 yards for a touchdown.
• 41:31
  And, uh, yeah, Brosmer threw four interceptions.
• 41:34
  He got sacked four times. They did have 170 yards,
• 41:38
  but they weren't able to score. So it was just
• 41:41
  terrible. Well, you think about, you think about.
• 41:44
  Speaking of the Seahawks, you think about the
• 41:46
  Niners last night. I mean, yeah, that's true
• 41:48
  You know, obviously extremely banged up. Yeah,
• 41:52
  that defense is really good. Yeah, they are good
• 41:54
  In fact, I'm surprised it had that that shutout
• 41:57
  over the Vikings was their first in ten years
• 41:59
  Yeah, cuz they had good years. Yes before anyone
• 42:02
  Super Bowl. Yep Some at some point there would
• 42:04
  have been shutouts, but I guess not. Yep, but
• 42:07
  they're tough It's tough. It's really tough to
• 42:09
  shut a team out in the NFL. Yeah, I mean You
• 42:12
  really got to be either great to the offense
• 42:14
  as we really had. Well, if Brosmer wouldn't have
• 42:16
  thrown that pick or would have thrown it away,
• 42:19
  I think we would have gotten a field goal. We
• 42:21
  wouldn't have gotten it because we were pretty
• 42:22
  deep in their territory. Oh yeah, it was very
• 42:24
  deep. Yeah. Yeah, it was first and goal, I think.
• 42:26
  Right. Well, it was a close game at that point,
• 42:29
  too. Yeah. So, yeah, just kind of how the momentum
• 42:32
  swung. Yep, yep, yep. It was over. Okay. Okay,
• 42:38
  week 14. We're getting through this, guys. We're
• 42:40
  getting close. This was on December 7th, 2025,
• 42:44
  a Sunday noon game at home against the Washington
• 42:46
  Commanders. Tom, what's your headline for this
• 42:49
  game? McCarthy and the Vikings rebound with a
• 42:52
  31 to nothing win over the reeling commanders
• 42:55
  who lose quarterback Jaden Daniels to injury
• 42:57
  again. But what a terrible year for him too.
• 43:04
  What a grisly injury too. His elbow was dislocated.
• 43:09
  Elbow or something? Yeah, it was terrible. But
• 43:11
  he was so good last year as a rookie. I mean,
• 43:13
  they went to the NC Championship game, but this
• 43:15
  year was just a disaster for him and for the
• 43:17
  whole team. I mean, it was good to see him. come
• 43:20
  off of getting shut out and shut the next team
• 43:23
  out. The commanders were terrible. Even when
• 43:29
  Daniels was in the game, he wasn't very effective.
• 43:33
  It almost looked like he didn't want to be there.
• 43:36
  I agree. They had been eliminated maybe at that
• 43:41
  time and were we officially out of it at that
• 43:43
  point? Not yet. The win improved their record
• 43:48
  to five and eight. if it proved as a word and
• 43:51
  the commanders were three and ten after that
• 43:53
  loss so well it was bad but yeah and see McCarthy
• 43:57
  actually statistically had a good game He didn't
• 44:00
  throw any picks. He had three passing touchdowns,
• 44:03
  which was nice. And Aaron Jones ran for like
• 44:08
  76 yards. The commanders struggled, though. The
• 44:12
  Vikings forced a lot of turnovers, so that helped
• 44:15
  them. In fact, we mentioned him at the start.
• 44:18
  Jevon Hargrave actually had a fumble recovery,
• 44:21
  and they capitalized on that turnover as well.
• 44:25
  It was just nice to see him win again. I mean,
• 44:26
  these last four straight, it was totally cool.
• 44:29
  It turns out the Seattle loss was actually the
• 44:32
  last one in the season. That's just hard to imagine,
• 44:34
  but it's true. All right on to week 15 December
• 44:40
  14 2025 Sunday Night Football on the road against
• 44:44
  the Dallas Cowboys and Dave what's your headline
• 44:46
  for that game? McCarthy's resiliency and three
• 44:49
  total touchdowns lead the Vikings to a 34 -26
• 44:52
  win over the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
• 44:59
  This is probably the most surprising game of
• 45:01
  the year for these guys. I mean the way things
• 45:03
  were going, I didn't think there was any chance
• 45:05
  they'd beat Dallas on the road on Sunday night,
• 45:08
  but they actually played pretty decent. And McCarthy,
• 45:12
  is that where he did the gritty after he snuck
• 45:14
  it in? He made a great fake. He went untouched
• 45:18
  into the end zone, and then he did the gritty
• 45:20
  when he got there. McConnell didn't like that.
• 45:23
  He's told not to do that. But anyway, that improved
• 45:26
  the record to six and eight. which was a good
• 45:28
  deal, I guess. I think the other thing that it
• 45:32
  really did prove is that the Cowboys were...
• 45:36
  very average, or even below average team this
• 45:39
  year. They were just not very good. And that
• 45:42
  actually, I remember now, they actually were
• 45:44
  eliminated by the time they played this game,
• 45:46
  because the games that afternoon, whoever won
• 45:49
  or whatever, mathematically eliminated the Vikings
• 45:52
  that day. So, yeah, that was, like I said, they
• 45:57
  played pretty well, you know, to win the game.
• 46:00
  And do you know who caught both of his touchdown
• 46:02
  passes, McCarthy? It was Jalen Nader. Nailer.
• 46:06
  Nailer, yeah. Huh. Yeah, Jalen Nailer. I keep
• 46:09
  wanting to call him Jordan Nailer. Jalen Nailer.
• 46:11
  Is he going to be back next year, by the way?
• 46:13
  I don't know. I was thinking after the latest
• 46:16
  deal with Addison. They should probably try to
• 46:18
  sign him. Yeah, well, keep nailing it. Addison
• 46:20
  Watt. Yeah. Well, like I said, I guess a win's
• 46:24
  a win. You don't ever want to knock that. And
• 46:27
  statistically, just trivia, that was Harrison
• 46:30
  Smith's 200th start, that game, when he played.
• 46:36
  All right, on to week 16, December 21st, 2025,
• 46:40
  a Sunday noon game on the road against the New
• 46:42
  York Giants. And Tom, what's the headline for
• 46:44
  this game? J .J. McCarthy gets injured. Just
• 46:50
  about every one of these. J .J. McCarthy gets
• 46:53
  injured as the Vikings win 16 to 13 and the Giants
• 46:56
  their ninth loss in a row. This is one of the
• 47:03
  ugliest games I think I ever saw I was watching
• 47:05
  it But I kept thinking there must be other things
• 47:07
  that could be doing right in this game And I
• 47:10
  think we all thought McCarthy was capable of
• 47:12
  looking horrible until we saw Jackson dart play
• 47:15
  that game He didn't he didn't so they didn't
• 47:22
  throw a pass right they didn't yeah the defense
• 47:24
  yeah the first 17 plays were all runs they didn't
• 47:27
  just amazing And then when they did try to pass
• 47:31
  a couple of times, you saw why they weren't passing
• 47:33
  very often. Yeah, the Giants are terrible. We'll
• 47:38
  see now that they have Harbaugh if they can turn
• 47:43
  it around. I actually think they will. I think
• 47:46
  Harbaugh is a pretty class act and I think he'll
• 47:49
  eventually help them. Maybe not right away. Good
• 47:53
  acquisitions, a free agency in draft. And you
• 47:56
  mentioned the headline, McCarthy got hurt again.
• 47:59
  That was the time where he, who was the golfer
• 48:02
  that played for the Giants that returned for
• 48:04
  touchdown? Oh, oh, oh, gosh. The safety. Tyler,
• 48:07
  Tyler, Nubin. Nubin, yeah. That's what it was.
• 48:10
  Tyler Nubin. It was a fumble. McCarthy got hit.
• 48:12
  Yeah. Somebody missed a block or somebody, you
• 48:14
  know, blitzed and it fumbled. Right. And he was,
• 48:18
  he was done for the game after, after that play.
• 48:21
  Yeah. Yeah. The defense really is what helped
• 48:23
  the Vikings in that game. Yes. You know, Rosemary
• 48:26
  went into play, but I don't think he set the
• 48:28
  world on fire either. But Nubin, you know, obviously
• 48:31
  a NFL player with NFL talent, but I'll still
• 48:35
  never forget a couple of the meltdowns he had
• 48:37
  with the Gophers. Oh, yeah, yeah. Just some epic
• 48:41
  meltdowns. The game against Northwestern. And
• 48:44
  then there was the Illinois game. Just unbelievable.
• 48:48
  Anyway. All right. So that made him seven and
• 48:51
  eight. On to week 17, Thursday, December 25th,
• 48:56
  2025, Christmas Day, in a late afternoon game
• 49:00
  at home against the Detroit Lions. Dave, what's
• 49:02
  the headline for that game? Vikings eliminate
• 49:05
  Lions from the postseason with defense dominating
• 49:08
  23 to 10 victory, racking up six turnovers and
• 49:12
  five sacks. Yeah, that was a bizarre game too.
• 49:18
  I mean, against a team that could have gotten
• 49:21
  into the Super Bowl last year. they didn't but
• 49:23
  I mean they were they were just an incredibly
• 49:25
  good team and man they struggled this year and
• 49:28
  the Vikings defense looked phenomenal I know
• 49:30
  it's like wow they did well it kind of made it
• 49:34
  pretty evident that how important Ben Johnson
• 49:37
  was to that offense yeah yes yeah no question
• 49:41
  they missed him because they basically had the
• 49:44
  same team same offense yeah St. Brown was back
• 49:48
  for that game I think I mean Yeah, they had some
• 49:51
  great offensive talent. Thank goodness for all
• 49:56
  those turnovers because Max was in the quarterback
• 49:59
  again and he got sacked seven times in the game.
• 50:04
  What did he throw for? How many yards? Well,
• 50:06
  the Vikings had three net passing yards. That's
• 50:09
  right. Oh, that's right. And they won the game.
• 50:12
  Well, but Brosner got the win, right? Oh, yeah.
• 50:15
  He did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He played
• 50:17
  that game because they said McCarthy was. Not
• 50:20
  again, so. And a fourth straight win for the
• 50:23
  Vikings, which was nice. They got back to 500.
• 50:27
  And I gotta be honest, when they had lost that
• 50:29
  shutout game to Seattle, I wasn't sure they were
• 50:31
  gonna win another game. I think they might just
• 50:33
  tank. I think all of us kinda said that. Yeah,
• 50:34
  looked at the schedule and thought. I mean, some
• 50:37
  people were saying tanks, we can get a good draft
• 50:39
  pick and that stuff. But I'll give them credit.
• 50:41
  I mean, they could've easily said, you know,
• 50:43
  I'm done. But they did come back and win five
• 50:46
  straights, so. Alright any other thing thoughts
• 50:49
  on this game? It was kind of weird playing at
• 50:51
  Christmas because we live in the Twin Cities
• 50:53
  We didn't have to watch a game on Netflix. It
• 50:56
  was on channel 4 which was nice, right? Because
• 50:58
  the trouble with streaming games I don't know
• 51:00
  about you get you for stream games or do you
• 51:02
  watch? Okay. Yeah, like when you stream a game
• 51:04
  you can't flip channels You got to get out of
• 51:07
  the app and then you know this stuff and I hate
• 51:09
  that. I've done it on Peacock a few times. Sometimes
• 51:12
  you get the wheel, although I think they've improved
• 51:15
  greatly with streaming. Sometimes you get the
• 51:19
  delays a little bit. But this one I was able
• 51:22
  to watch on the network on Channel 4, so it wasn't
• 51:27
  so bad, but it just seemed kind of strange playing
• 51:29
  on Christmas Day on Netflix. All right on to
• 51:36
  week 18 the final week of the 2025 NFL regular
• 51:39
  season a Sunday noon game at home against the
• 51:42
  Green Bay Packers and Tom What's the headline
• 51:44
  for this? Viking screws pass resting Packers
• 51:48
  16 to 3 for their first three winners McCarthy
• 51:50
  exits again with an injury It sounds like we're
• 51:57
  ripping on McCarthy and maybe we are yeah, it's
• 52:00
  like He was in the news like every time he did
• 52:02
  play, it was either good or bad, you know, something
• 52:04
  going on. So, you know, this game though, felt
• 52:08
  like a pre -season game. Right. I mean, like
• 52:11
  I said, Packers were resting everybody. The Vikings
• 52:13
  just wanted to finish above 500, but it's like,
• 52:16
  I remember listening on the radio up to that
• 52:19
  game, has there ever been less enthusiasm for
• 52:21
  a border battle game than this one? I can't recall.
• 52:24
  I do recall there was a game. Against that we
• 52:28
  played against the Packers sometime in the in
• 52:30
  the 2000s But I couldn't tell you when when I
• 52:33
  think we started Joe Webb It was very late in
• 52:37
  the year. Yeah, but I think there was more riding
• 52:39
  at it This was the most uninterested Viking Packer
• 52:43
  game that I've I that I can really recall Well,
• 52:46
  I didn't even I didn't even watch the game Well,
• 52:48
  that game you're talking about with Joe Webb
• 52:50
  wasn't that where we played them back to back
• 52:52
  that we went to Lambeau for the first playoff
• 52:55
  game and Ponder was hurt. Oh, right. That's right.
• 53:00
  We just got shellacked. Yeah. Yeah. But Webb,
• 53:03
  Webb had that. But remember, everybody was hopeful
• 53:08
  that he was going to do the triple threat thing.
• 53:10
  And he actually did that for a game or two where
• 53:14
  he was very successful. And then he everything.
• 53:17
  just the wheels fell off well he had a really
• 53:19
  bad fumble in that game if i remember right he
• 53:22
  was carrying the ball like a loaf of bread i
• 53:24
  don't know i just remember he especially that
• 53:27
  playoff game it was just oh man well i heard
• 53:30
  you said described here that they tried to make
• 53:32
  joe webb play they they they schemed it as if
• 53:37
  Christian Ponder were the quarterback. I mean,
• 53:39
  Webb had different skills, but they had him playing
• 53:42
  as if he were Christian Ponder, passing when
• 53:44
  he could have maybe run. They could have made
• 53:45
  some plays, but they didn't anyway. And he said,
• 53:48
  this game, like I said, there was, it was like
• 53:52
  the least meaningful border battle game of all
• 53:54
  time. I remember. Well, who was their quarterback?
• 53:56
  The Packers, what was that? Was it True or something
• 53:59
  like that his name was? Oh yeah. Yeah, this year,
• 54:02
  I know. I think that was his first starter. Yeah.
• 54:05
  Oh, yeah. And I remember just to avoid a shout
• 54:07
  out, I remember Lafleur had him kick a field
• 54:09
  goal in the final. It was literally the last
• 54:11
  play of the game. Right. I remember watching
• 54:12
  it on TV and the network and they had to go to
• 54:16
  zero and they put final up there. But Lafleur
• 54:18
  had called the timeout just so they could get
• 54:20
  the three points and get a shout out. Right.
• 54:23
  Right. Oh, gosh. And Lafleur, normally, it seems
• 54:25
  like you see the guy always looking anxious on
• 54:28
  the sidelines or walking really fast. He had
• 54:30
  like, no. He was either bored or just totally
• 54:34
  at ease during that game. It just didn't matter
• 54:38
  to them. I do recall Bob talking about the border
• 54:43
  battle that kind of popped in my head. Didn't
• 54:46
  Lynn Dickey play quarterback for the Packers
• 54:49
  back in the day? When we had season tickets and
• 54:52
  didn't he just get crushed on some play or something?
• 54:56
  That was when the Vikings were obviously kind
• 54:58
  of dominant in the division. I remember that
• 55:02
  the Packers didn't stand much of a chance back
• 55:04
  in that era. They were down for a few years.
• 55:09
  I guess the one good thing about this game, as
• 55:11
  you want to say, is Jefferson got his thousand
• 55:14
  yards. They did get that for him. I remember
• 55:18
  there was a nice applause for C .J. Hamm. That
• 55:21
  probably is his last name. And Harry. And Harrison
• 55:24
  Smith. They both got a chance to shine, you know.
• 55:26
  Yeah, and that's cool. And that was fun. So at
• 55:28
  least they ended on a good note. Right. Thanks
• 55:33
  for your comments on these things, these games,
• 55:36
  Dave and Tom. I wanted to do something real quick.
• 55:38
  I want to share an article that was in the Pioneer
• 55:40
  Press. Maybe you read it, too, but it listed
• 55:42
  the five plays of the 2025 season that cost the
• 55:45
  Vikings a shot at the playoffs. OK, and I'll
• 55:47
  do this in descending order. Number five. They
• 55:53
  call it the Jalen Hurts Escape Act. That was
• 55:56
  a game on October 19th. That's when Vikings had
• 55:59
  kicked a field goal. They cut the deficit to
• 56:00
  21 to 19 against the Phillies. If they could
• 56:05
  have stopped the Eagles, they would have gotten
• 56:06
  the ball back. Maybe they would have taken the
• 56:08
  lead. But instead, Jalen Hurts made a play on
• 56:11
  third down to move the chains, and the Eagles
• 56:13
  took control. It was third and long. Yeah, it
• 56:17
  was. And you threw it to A .J. Brown. Like third
• 56:19
  and 19. to AJ Brown. That was a difference. Number
• 56:26
  four, they're calling the Carson Wentz penalty
• 56:30
  that game against the Steelers. It looked like
• 56:32
  the Vikings were about to force overtime trailing
• 56:35
  the Steelers for most of the game. They'd cut
• 56:36
  the deficit to 24 -21, had the ball back in the
• 56:40
  final minute when Wentz got whistled for intentional
• 56:42
  grounding. There was a Russian named Nick Herbig
• 56:45
  for the Steelers and he beat Blake Brandle with
• 56:48
  a stunt and he got to, you know, he was getting
• 56:51
  to win so Wentz just threw the ball away but
• 56:53
  it was grounding and then, and then. That killed
• 56:56
  the drive. They didn't even get a chance to tie
• 56:59
  it. Number three, oh yeah, the Miles Price fumble.
• 57:06
  That was the November 9th game against the Ravens.
• 57:09
  The Vikings had been doing a pretty good job
• 57:10
  on Lamar Jackson for most of the game, at least
• 57:12
  in the first half. Then they kicked a field goal
• 57:14
  early in the second half to go up 12 to 10. So
• 57:17
  the Ravens are up and they kick off to the Vikings.
• 57:19
  And Miles Price, who had some good moments junior,
• 57:22
  he fumbled. Yes. And then the Ravens got the
• 57:24
  ball and took advantage and they went up 19 to
• 57:27
  10 and went on to win 27 to 19. But they said
• 57:30
  that Price fumble was a big. That was that was
• 57:33
  a big play. And he and he he of, you know, Viking
• 57:37
  return men over the last decade or two decades,
• 57:41
  he he shows some real promise. I mean, he's he's
• 57:43
  got that. Yeah, he's got he's elusive. Yeah,
• 57:46
  but that was a costly fumble. Yep. Number two,
• 57:52
  the J .J. McCarthy strip sack. That was the September
• 57:55
  14th game against the Falcons. Vikings were just
• 57:58
  they were only trailing 12 to 6 at the time at
• 58:01
  the start of the fourth quarter. And they had
• 58:02
  the ball near midfield. He's thinking 12 to 6.
• 58:05
  I mean, this court touched on they literally
• 58:06
  go ahead. Well, in that play, McCarthy got strip
• 58:10
  -sacked by Zach Harrison, the defensive end for
• 58:13
  the Falcons. And then that set up a field goal
• 58:16
  to put the Falcons up 15 -6. And then they went
• 58:19
  and got another touchdown. So it was 22 -6, and
• 58:21
  the Vikings never scored again. But it was significant
• 58:24
  because it was the first time McCarthy really
• 58:26
  showed that he was going to be a work in progress.
• 58:29
  He was having a bad game. And he had two interceptions
• 58:32
  in that game as well. And then finally number
• 58:36
  one and we talked about this that was the Devin
• 58:38
  DeVernay kickoff return against the Bears in
• 58:41
  November 16th because they had a 1716 to lead
• 58:44
  or 1716 lead with less than minutes to go and
• 58:47
  DeVernay is DuVernay I think okay, okay, okay
• 58:52
  Devin Double D And then, of course, after that
• 59:02
  return, then they kicked the field goal to win.
• 59:03
  But that, I think that would have been a big,
• 59:06
  that was a big play. And I can see that would
• 59:07
  be the number one play. But were there any other
• 59:09
  plays? I can't think anything just off the top
• 59:11
  of my head during the season thinking, man, if
• 59:13
  they could have just gotten over the hump on
• 59:16
  that, it would have made a difference. But we've
• 59:18
  talked about so many things. Maybe there's nothing
• 59:20
  else that jumps out at this time. I think the
• 59:22
  biggest thing that jumps out at me About the
• 59:26
  whole season is a the the brain trust basically
• 59:30
  going into the season With their the quarterback
• 59:34
  plan they did now. I think that they thought
• 59:36
  they were gonna be able to resign Jones Oh Daniel
• 59:39
  Jones, and it didn't work out and their plan
• 59:43
  B was not very good obviously And then injuries
• 59:48
  right offensive line and particularly I think
• 59:51
  what hurt us Even more than that was, there was
• 59:56
  a number of games, can't remember exactly how
• 59:58
  many, where both Van Ginkle and Cashman were
• 1:00:01
  out hurt. And that definitely affected our defense
• 1:00:05
  in a big way. Van Ginkle is a really good player.
• 1:00:09
  When those guys came back, I think, I don't know,
• 1:00:13
  we'd have to look back, but I think when they
• 1:00:15
  came back is when we went on the winning streak.
• 1:00:20
  so yeah they were kind of pivotal but um but
• 1:00:24
  again just going into the season with i mean
• 1:00:28
  they signed once in august yeah he was not in
• 1:00:31
  their plans and you know the last minute i mean
• 1:00:34
  god bless max brosmer right right you know and
• 1:00:38
  as a third string emergency right right he's
• 1:00:41
  fine spot there but yep um Yeah, just it. I mean,
• 1:00:46
  there was a reason once has been with six teams
• 1:00:48
  in six years. He. Right. Yeah. And everybody
• 1:00:52
  wanted him to succeed. I mean, he has support.
• 1:00:55
  He's like a great guy. Yeah. Any most jerseys
• 1:00:59
  for sure. No, I think everybody was. Yeah, it
• 1:01:03
  wasn't like we didn't like him. Yeah. Right.
• 1:01:05
  It was just really poor by the front office to
• 1:01:09
  not have. I mean, they almost had to, you can
• 1:01:13
  talk all day about they should have resigned.
• 1:01:15
  I get why they didn't. Once you commit, make
• 1:01:18
  a... top 10 pick of a quarterback. Yeah, you
• 1:01:22
  got to you're going with it. Right. So I get
• 1:01:24
  that. But at the same time, he could get hurt.
• 1:01:27
  He might underperform, which he did, which he
• 1:01:30
  did. I know both a number of times and there
• 1:01:33
  was just their backup plan was awful. You know,
• 1:01:36
  looking back on it now, it looks really dumb.
• 1:01:38
  It's like, how could you? Why did you do that?
• 1:01:41
  How do you how do you not recognize what I remember
• 1:01:45
  about this season and what I remember about JJ
• 1:01:47
  or a couple of things? First of all, he's very
• 1:01:50
  cocky. I mean, I saw on a number of interviews
• 1:01:55
  where he's just, he's super cocky, which on the
• 1:01:58
  one hand, you want a quarterback to kind of have
• 1:02:00
  that cockiness and that confidence. But the other
• 1:02:03
  thing, how did they miss that badly on how badly
• 1:02:07
  he misses on his passes? How did they, I mean,
• 1:02:12
  yeah, it was actually. almost embarrassing. I
• 1:02:16
  mean, you look at a Drake May, you look at a
• 1:02:19
  Bo Nix, you look at any of these quarterbacks
• 1:02:22
  that are left, look at Brock Purdy, those guys
• 1:02:25
  put the ball right on the button all the time.
• 1:02:27
  They just do, and his misses were bad, and they
• 1:02:31
  talk about his form. You know, I don't know.
• 1:02:36
  I don't think the future looks that bright for
• 1:02:38
  him. Tom, you and I were texting all season long
• 1:02:40
  during games, just for the benefit of listeners.
• 1:02:43
  The three of us never saw a game together. We
• 1:02:45
  were never, like, in the same room. But almost
• 1:02:47
  every game, we always had our phones. And we
• 1:02:50
  were sending stuff back and forth. And I remember,
• 1:02:52
  Tom, you'd said this a few times in your text,
• 1:02:54
  is you can't teach accuracy. Well, you can't
• 1:02:56
  coach accuracy. You either. Right. Yeah. And
• 1:02:59
  you can't. You just can't. No matter what O 'Connell
• 1:03:01
  would say about his footwork or the ways he goes,
• 1:03:04
  he was just off. In fact, it wasn't a play, one
• 1:03:08
  of these five plays, but I thought that game,
• 1:03:10
  which was in Baltimore? where his passes were
• 1:03:13
  so off. He had guys like Jefferson and Addison,
• 1:03:18
  that stuff, where they were wide open, and the
• 1:03:19
  passes were like way over their head. There was
• 1:03:21
  nobody that could get his head. How could you
• 1:03:23
  miss by that much? And he did, he did that consistently.
• 1:03:29
  a few really nice throws. But the problem is
• 1:03:33
  he's about one out of five. And you can't do
• 1:03:37
  that. I mean, that'd be like being a Major League
• 1:03:40
  Baseball pitcher where one out of every five
• 1:03:42
  pitches he throws is a strike. It doesn't work,
• 1:03:44
  right? No, for sure. And so unless he, you know,
• 1:03:49
  and there was all these theories that maybe all
• 1:03:53
  the coaching of his technique and footwork is
• 1:03:56
  what just let the kid play right you know yeah
• 1:03:59
  no that's right because even after they started
• 1:04:02
  letting him kind of play a little looser he still
• 1:04:06
  was doing the same right thing right so right
• 1:04:10
  Yeah, and again, that's not something generally
• 1:04:13
  you can teach someone or coach into them. So
• 1:04:17
  going forward, I don't have a great feeling about
• 1:04:21
  it, but we'll see, I guess. We'll see. They're
• 1:04:23
  not going to cut them. They're not. Not yet,
• 1:04:26
  not yet. But I tell you what, if they roll with
• 1:04:30
  him again next year, first they better have a
• 1:04:33
  way better backup plan, if not else based on
• 1:04:36
  his injury history. Right. if he does play a
• 1:04:41
  lot and performs the same way, I mean, you can't.
• 1:04:44
  Right. You're gonna have to say, hey, we swung
• 1:04:48
  and missed, which has been... Quezzi's MO since
• 1:04:52
  he's been here, his drafts have not been very
• 1:04:56
  good. Lewis Seen was his first draft. I don't
• 1:05:00
  think he played, did he play at Darwin? Well,
• 1:05:02
  he had a terrible leg injury. Well, yeah, he
• 1:05:04
  got injured in a preseason game, I think, didn't
• 1:05:06
  he? I thought he got hurt over in London. Yeah,
• 1:05:09
  I think you're right. It was early in the year,
• 1:05:12
  I know, but yeah, he never did anything. And
• 1:05:15
  that Dallas Turner looks like he's going to be
• 1:05:17
  a decent player. He progressed this year. Definitely.
• 1:05:20
  They had a good year this year. Darryl Stock
• 1:05:22
  can stay healthy. Yep. And this guard from Ohio
• 1:05:25
  State, Jackson? Yeah. He's pretty solid. Mattelis
• 1:05:28
  is a good player. I think Mattelis is a good
• 1:05:31
  player on defense. Well, I can't cover anybody.
• 1:05:33
  But I mean, he is terrible. He got beat so many
• 1:05:36
  times. He's just not fast enough. He can't keep
• 1:05:38
  up with tight ends. You know, he's a good tackler.
• 1:05:44
  Yeah, you know, but in coverage and Flores's
• 1:05:47
  scheme now and for us probably be gone anyway,
• 1:05:49
  but You know, yeah, it's uh, yeah, I mean when
• 1:05:54
  you look back we have the apparently the world's
• 1:05:57
  greatest kicker anyway, which is good, you know,
• 1:06:01
  and there's some bright spots on the roster,
• 1:06:03
  but Like I say it this year was really I think
• 1:06:08
  the perfect example of just how important the
• 1:06:11
  quarterback position is. And when you look at
• 1:06:15
  how important it is to have a competent backup,
• 1:06:17
  because when Purdy got hurt, Mack Jones came
• 1:06:21
  in and played pretty darn well and kept them
• 1:06:23
  on track for the playoffs. And well, I don't
• 1:06:28
  know, can you really call it a drop off from
• 1:06:29
  McCarthy to Wentz? It was kind of just more of
• 1:06:31
  the same, right? Right. One was older, but yeah.
• 1:06:38
  You know, and I get it, good quarterbacks aren't
• 1:06:41
  just hanging around waiting for work. They all
• 1:06:44
  have it. So it's really tough to, that's why
• 1:06:46
  you'd hope you can find a Purdy or even a Brosmer
• 1:06:51
  or something where are they going to start for
• 1:06:53
  you? No. the quarterback goes down there at least
• 1:06:56
  a serviceable right right backup i mean how many
• 1:06:59
  times this year were you were you uh who is our
• 1:07:03
  who is the guy a couple years ago that was our
• 1:07:06
  backup that actually came in and did okay um
• 1:07:09
  oh i know you're talking about josh uh the guy
• 1:07:12
  with the hair without no no um oh yeah yeah he
• 1:07:15
  was a gunslinger he wasn't afraid to throw it
• 1:07:17
  no matter who you're talking about i can't think
• 1:07:20
  of his name yeah i know you mean i know you mean
• 1:07:23
  Mullins. Yeah, Nick Mullins. Wasn't afraid to
• 1:07:27
  wing it, that's for sure. I mean, there were
• 1:07:29
  times when Wentz, especially after he started
• 1:07:31
  getting banged up, where's Nick Mullins for God's
• 1:07:35
  sake? Josh Dobbs was the other guy who had that,
• 1:07:38
  didn't he have like a big win against the Saints?
• 1:07:41
  Oh, he had a couple. A couple of touchdowns.
• 1:07:43
  I mean, he's a really good runner. We were all
• 1:07:46
  thinking, wow, this is cool. And his parents
• 1:07:49
  came to a game and you're thinking this is really
• 1:07:51
  awesome. And then he He was a rocket scientist.
• 1:07:54
  Literally. And then he fizzled. Yeah, he fizzled
• 1:07:58
  big time. But I think, like I say, going forward,
• 1:08:05
  and then it comes back to the same thing. How
• 1:08:07
  many times have we said this at the end of the
• 1:08:09
  year? We've got to do something to shore up the
• 1:08:11
  offensive line. Every year we talk about that.
• 1:08:16
  We could use, although, you know, our D -backs,
• 1:08:21
  Harry would definitely have lost a step this
• 1:08:22
  year. He had a couple of good games, but, you
• 1:08:25
  know, we could use some more strength on the
• 1:08:27
  back end of the defense. We, Hargraves and Allen
• 1:08:30
  did nothing. They didn't hurt us, but they didn't,
• 1:08:34
  they weren't game changers by any means. There's
• 1:08:36
  a lot of holes to fill and we're not the only
• 1:08:39
  team that has a lot of holes to fill. But yeah,
• 1:08:42
  they got their work cut out for them in the off
• 1:08:43
  season for sure. Good discussion guys. I'm gonna
• 1:08:48
  give you guys the last word now if if you were
• 1:08:50
  say you were the coach and GM Either one you
• 1:08:53
  can be either one But what would you try to do
• 1:08:56
  to make the Vikings better squad in 2026? I try
• 1:08:59
  to trade up so we could get Mendoza. Oh Wow,
• 1:09:03
  yeah from Indiana. Yeah, I mean because yeah,
• 1:09:06
  you look at him you look at Carson Beck And then,
• 1:09:09
  I don't know, McCarthy didn't have to throw that
• 1:09:12
  much on a national championship team. They were
• 1:09:14
  more of a running team. You look at those guys
• 1:09:17
  and just how good they actually are. I mean,
• 1:09:19
  that Chambliss, that kid from Mississippi. I
• 1:09:22
  don't know. He's only about 5 '8", but he's a
• 1:09:26
  good player. He's a really good player. He has
• 1:09:29
  a really good touch on the ball. Yeah, I don't
• 1:09:32
  know. I don't know if I'd want Mendoza just because
• 1:09:36
  I don't know if I could take his post game interview
• 1:09:37
  for a whole season. Only if he wins every game.
• 1:09:43
  You lose, forget it. We'll find out in a couple
• 1:09:46
  of days if he's going to suffer a loss this year.
• 1:09:52
  There's 32 teams and every team is doing the
• 1:09:54
  same thing. What can we do to be better next
• 1:09:56
  year? I think that a lot of times you do have
• 1:10:00
  to hit on some really just outstanding linemen,
• 1:10:05
  whether that be defense or offense. I think that
• 1:10:07
  over the years that we followed these guys, line
• 1:10:10
  play means so much. And I think the Vikes have
• 1:10:14
  been delinquent in that area. I just don't think
• 1:10:16
  that they've been that good. Well, I mean, when
• 1:10:19
  you look at and a lot of this had to do with
• 1:10:22
  quarterback play, but. Just the lack of production
• 1:10:25
  from the best wide receiver in the league, right?
• 1:10:29
  Yeah Well, you could I mean a lot of things affected
• 1:10:33
  that line play the quarterback obviously, but
• 1:10:36
  Hawkinson definitely He fell off and he got hurt.
• 1:10:39
  Yeah, he's never been the same He hasn't been
• 1:10:44
  the same he doesn't block well, he doesn't get
• 1:10:47
  open. Yep you know, Naylor is a decent player,
• 1:10:51
  Addison's okay, but he probably won't be here.
• 1:10:54
  I can't see that. I can't see them extending
• 1:10:57
  him with the off -field stuff. But yeah, I mean,
• 1:11:03
  if you're the front office, like you say, every
• 1:11:06
  year there's 31 other teams that are trying to
• 1:11:08
  do exactly what you're doing. But I really think
• 1:11:12
  that if they... they have to still concentrate
• 1:11:17
  on the trenches. Because really, when you look
• 1:11:23
  at the amount of time that whether it was McCarthy
• 1:11:27
  or Brosmar or Wentz, they had zero time to do
• 1:11:33
  it. And to throw a guy like Brosmar in who has
• 1:11:38
  no experience. You got, I mean, what is it, the
• 1:11:43
  old three second deal, right? That's what you
• 1:11:45
  got. You got three seconds to make a decision.
• 1:11:46
  He had like 1 .2 seconds. I know, I know. And
• 1:11:52
  it's critical. Look at a guy like Bo Nix. I mean,
• 1:11:55
  Bo Nix is talented. He can run. He can get out
• 1:11:58
  of the pocket. But he didn't get sacked yesterday.
• 1:12:03
  They didn't sack him one time. Yeah. Yeah, the
• 1:12:07
  Bills defense is not that great. And look at
• 1:12:11
  last night's game. Purdy had zeroes under duress
• 1:12:16
  the whole game. So if you don't have and you're
• 1:12:20
  going to run into those D lines that are just
• 1:12:23
  those defenses that are just really, really good.
• 1:12:26
  But yeah, it just shows you. I mean, we were
• 1:12:29
  getting. Our, you know, our quarterbacks this
• 1:12:32
  year were getting rushed by teams with not very
• 1:12:36
  good. I mean, it wasn't like we were playing
• 1:12:39
  the, you know. Well, weren't we talking after
• 1:12:43
  we watched Pittsburgh get eliminated by Houston?
• 1:12:47
  You know, somebody like Danielle Hunter, I mean,
• 1:12:49
  dominant. defensive player who's playing, playing
• 1:12:52
  on who knows? I mean, Houston, Houston has a
• 1:12:55
  kind of defense that can take them to the Super
• 1:12:58
  Bowl. And why did we let him go? Did we let,
• 1:13:00
  and I don't think we came up with an answer.
• 1:13:02
  Was it because of Cousins? No, he wanted 20 mill
• 1:13:05
  a year and they weren't going to pay him that.
• 1:13:07
  They got Grenard to kind of replace him. That
• 1:13:10
  was the whole thing. Yeah, well, Grenard and
• 1:13:12
  Van Ginkle, you know, for a lot cheaper. It was
• 1:13:16
  a dollar thing. Right. And every team has to
• 1:13:19
  deal with that. That's why they have a seller
• 1:13:21
  cap. Yeah. And, you know, the interesting thing
• 1:13:25
  about that is, and that's where you're, what
• 1:13:28
  doesn't get talked about much, everybody talks
• 1:13:32
  about the general manager, right? It's your scouting
• 1:13:35
  department. I mean you find these diamonds in
• 1:13:39
  the rough, right? Occasionally sure Who said
• 1:13:43
  who is it defensive lineman for us this year
• 1:13:46
  this Redmond, right? Oh, right. He's probably
• 1:13:47
  defensive lineman. Yeah, he's better So, you
• 1:13:52
  know good on them for finding out. Yes, like
• 1:13:55
  you need to Hit on three or four guys like that.
• 1:13:58
  Right, right Hey, there's a little bit of luck
• 1:14:02
  involved. Oh, sure. Sure. You know, it's it's
• 1:14:06
  really hard to win in the NFL. It just is. It
• 1:14:10
  is. It's really it's really tough to win a Super
• 1:14:12
  Bowl, which is which is why I think maybe. boomers
• 1:14:16
  like us look at a guy like John Harbaugh or Tomlin
• 1:14:19
  getting fired, and you're kind of going, wow.
• 1:14:23
  That seems kind of weird that they would let
• 1:14:25
  those guys go, because they're both Super Bowl
• 1:14:28
  winning coaches. But yeah, that's kind of the
• 1:14:32
  way the league operates. Well, competitive and
• 1:14:36
  the fan base wants teams to win now. We talked
• 1:14:41
  about. you know the Wisconsin Badgers should
• 1:14:44
  they have let go of a guy like Paul Crist like
• 1:14:47
  and you know I mean uh but yeah fan bases and
• 1:14:53
  owners I think and and universities want to win
• 1:14:56
  now so that's kind of what they do yeah well
• 1:14:59
  I mean you look no further than the current state
• 1:15:03
  of you know college football right right you
• 1:15:06
  know I mean they're paying quarterbacks for exactly
• 1:15:13
  the same deal. I mean, how would you like to
• 1:15:15
  be, unless you're like the top one or two or
• 1:15:19
  three recruits nationally as a high school senior,
• 1:15:23
  I mean, all your Blue Blood programs are looking,
• 1:15:28
  again, for the win now quarterback, they're all
• 1:15:30
  looking for transfers. So it's completely turned
• 1:15:36
  it upside down as far as how teams are built.
• 1:15:39
  But yeah, it's our Amazon culture. Red is now,
• 1:15:45
  now, now. We have zero patience for anything
• 1:15:49
  anymore. And that's where, I guess, if nothing
• 1:15:52
  else, maybe give the Wilfs a little bit of credit
• 1:15:54
  that they do stay the course, you know, more
• 1:15:57
  than some owners and some organizations that
• 1:16:00
  are just poorly run. See the Raiders and the
• 1:16:02
  Bronx and whatnot. You know, like I say, there's
• 1:16:07
  a little bit of luck involved, but I really think
• 1:16:09
  they need to focus on A is, is McCarthy and scouting.
• 1:16:13
  Yeah. There's scouting that you have to, we have
• 1:16:16
  to shore up the line. Yeah. We got to, we got
• 1:16:18
  to shore up the trenches and then hopefully they
• 1:16:20
  can coach McCarthy up a little bit. Like I say,
• 1:16:25
  I don't know how you stop them from sailing balls,
• 1:16:27
  10 yards over. I don't either. Yeah. I know it
• 1:16:30
  was a lot over the summer or something. Just
• 1:16:32
  to get together. Well guys you did a great job
• 1:16:37
  of great insights and good good talk on all this
• 1:16:39
  stuff really appreciate it This is fun. I think
• 1:16:42
  it was very therapeutic for me It was it was
• 1:16:45
  not the easiest season to follow these guys and
• 1:16:47
  I guess I'm kind of happy for them They at least
• 1:16:49
  finished above 500 and had some pride toward
• 1:16:51
  the end of the season because they had nothing
• 1:16:52
  else to play for it seemed like so But thanks
• 1:16:54
  again for joining my podcast guys Oh, thank you.
• 1:17:02
  And again to our listeners, thanks for hanging
• 1:17:04
  out with me, Bob at home and my brothers Dave
• 1:17:06
  and Tom at home. We hope you join us for the
• 1:17:09
  next episode of hanging out with Bob wherever
• 1:17:11
  you listen to your podcasts. And until then,
• 1:17:13
  bye.