Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Hello and welcome back to the Skullcast. My name is Asher Whitmer, and I'm here with my brother Christopher. We enjoy talking football.
We happen to be Vikings fans.
Whether we are grateful that we were born into this destiny or born into the location where that was the natural gravitation of our fandom, or whether we're not, I don't know. The jury's out on that. It probably will be our whole lives, but I would say we're probably feeling better than we have all season long.
After the Vikings put together for the first time.
Oh, how far are we in 13 games, 14 games.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: We just finished week 15, I think.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Week 15, 14 games. For the first time this season, the Vikings offense puts together two consistent and good games.
Now we'll get into all of that. We'll get into, uh, they were against some of the worst passing defenses in the league. We'll, we'll discuss all of that and some of the online conversation and chatter around people's perspective of JJ and nine and Kevin o' Connell and the gritty and all that, all the different stuff.
But before we get further, I just want to say if you have enjoyed the. The school cast, if you want it to continue into future seasons, go ahead and like and subscribe it to the channel. Leave a comment, tell us where, what team you're cheering for, what your take on this NFL season. It's somewhat weird, a weird season.
Go ahead and. And drop a comment. The other thing I want to just give a heads up I out on the onset is we typically record these in the mornings before families are going, before our families are doing too much.
Today our schedule's a little different. We decided to do a midday recording, but we'll be in and out with kids, which we've done some before, but that is the nature of this channel, of our.
Our hobby commentary on NFL and the Vikings. So with that intro, Christopher, how are you feeling after.
After two of I would say McCarthy's best games. That, that one against the Commanders was his best game of the season, and he followed it up with an even better game. And I, I actually agree with, with Jud Zogad from Purple Daily when I, I disagree that the Commander's game means nothing. And we talked about that a little bit last week, how like bad teams don't beat, don't shut out bad teams. So they did what they. What they should have done. What they. Yes, it's a bad defense. You should go slaughter a bad defense. And they did that.
But I agree with Judd in The sense that that is more meaningful because he followed it up with an even better game against a slightly better defense. A slightly. A team that is fighting for a playoff spot.
And as they continue to stack these games together, they play the Giants this coming week. Again, it's a bad team. They're a dumpster fire. Yeah. So he should be able to follow it up with another good game. And that's what we want to see. That's what development is.
I don't know why we cheer for anything else or, like, downplay it. Oh, you know, it's.
This isn't anything to be excited about because he did good against a bad team.
All that to say, obviously, I'm feeling pretty good. I think it's something worth celebrating about. I am going to get into my frustration how quickly even Purple Daily can oscillate from McCarthy's A bus to now like Vikings have found their franchise qb. We'll get into that discussion. But what's your takeaway as. Or how you're feeling midway through this week after two good wins by the Vikings and specifically by McCarthy?
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Well, I'm thinking about your comment about.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Being.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Our being born in the region and that, you know, pushed us towards being Vikings fans and about how if either of our parents would have been sports fans, we'd probably be packers fans.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Or Bears fans or Bears fans.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: I don't know if that's a positive, if that would be a positive to my life or a negative, but I.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: We. We would have seen a Super bowl in our lifetime.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: That's true. Did the Bears. The Bears won a Super bowl in 2003 or whenever?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: 2,000 with Red Crossbar. Well, they don't think.
I don't think they won. Did they win the last one they were in?
[00:05:33] Speaker A: I was thinking it was one of those random quarterbacks. Like, that wasn't.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: They were in a Super bowl in 2006, but they didn't win it. They haven't won since 86.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: All right.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: How do I feel? I. I feel.
I think I feel pretty. Pretty medium. Like I'm not. I'm not like, excited. I think. I think there's this.
The NFL off season is long and arduous and.
And in some ways it's. It's one of the more interesting off seasons just because the NFL has done a really good job at hyping up the draft. And. And then you have, like, OTAs and you have free agency, you have OTA, you have the draft, you have OTAs, you have training camp. And so you can really follow your teams, but I really hate the anticipation of. It's like, well, we don't. We just don't know until.
And if this year has been such a dud, because just right out of the gate it was like, oh, it's going to be one of those types of seasons. And.
And so I'm not looking, you know, I'm not super excited just because season's coming to an end and it's been a bit of a dud season and. And so it looks really long and I really just don't know. Like, I think I'm encouraged. It's always exciting when the Vikings win, and in that sense, I'm looking forward to these games.
I'm very curious how J.J. mcCarthy, like, I expect him to have another good game. I'm very curious how the last two will go versus Detroit and then den Denver and then Green Bay.
Can you hear the tantrum happening in the background?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah, right now I can, but I think when. When we. When I edited the AI will take the background out. Okay.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: I.
I think that if. I think that. That the jury is still out on McCarthy, obviously, and I. And I think my position right now is he's playing really good. I think they're answering a lot of questions that I had.
Um, I think this Cowboys game in particular was more impressive than the commander's game just because McCarthy truly won the game for the Vikings. Um, obviously, like, people made plays, the defense did all right, but it wasn't. It wasn't like they were just playing from, like, a dominant lead the whole time.
Like, if he doesn't make a couple of those throws, they don't win the game.
And so that's encouraging. I like seeing that. I like seeing him have fun.
I think as far as, like, he can't.
He basically can't fall apart.
Like, like, if we get into, like, the Bears and the packers and it's just back to the same old thing where it's like, oh, like, against. Against these better defenses who are still fighting for playoff positions.
He is just back to like, the Packer, the Packers game in, like, week 12 or whatever it was.
I think that would be pretty concerning. I don't think I would say the Vikings should, like, move off of him necessarily, but it would. It would just be more discouraging of like, oh, man, the progress that we wanted progress. We started to see progress, and now we're just like, right back. It feels like every turning stone is like, oh, we're right back to where we were felt. Felt like, you know, and I think I would, I would, a lot of questions would, would come back and then I would have a lot of questions going into next season of like, okay, what is, what is our plan to develop him?
Are we going to take, you know, I'm kind of, kind of just rambling here about my thoughts about McCarthy in general.
Yeah, I think, I think a lot of that is unknown. And I think when we record in week 17 and 18, I'll have a better perspective of the things I'm ruminating about right now.
I think right now that Cowboys game is incredibly encouraging, and if he can build on that, then we definitely have someone who we could develop. I think, uh, whether or not it's all his fault, whether or not it's Kevin o' Connell's fault, whether or not, like, I think, I think I'm going to continue to like, say, I think we need to have patience. I think that the Vikings should give him competition and stick with him into 2026 and have someone who is competitive enough that if it's just if the floor starts to, to fall, they could turn to.
Because that, I think that was, is my big criticism this year was like when, because when in Bryce Young's rookie year, they sat him for a couple weeks, he came back and he played well and he's had, he's, he's been improving year over year.
It just felt like the Vikings weren't prepared for that this year, and he kind of ended up getting that a little bit.
Um, I don't know. I'm just kind of rambling now. Not, not a lot of organization to my thoughts.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I, I am not the, I do not get.
So I had the Vikings 11 and 6, not winning the division, but going to the playoffs and getting a playoff win.
That was born largely because of where I thought Kevin o' Connell was at in his coaching journey.
I expect those kinds of things.
I've seen some stuff floated that, like, if Kevin o' Connell starts as head coach for the Vikings next year, it will be the first time since Gruden in 2018 or 19. I think that a head coach has started a fifth season without a playoff game, a win.
And I'm just like, to, to me that's noise, that's irrelevant and it's missing critical context. I, I, even with my expectations, I have to just acknowledge how, how hard, like, I don't think we even media gets how hard it is for rookie QBs to be developed. Yeah, and Minnesota wins out. They end with a 500 record nine, nine and eight is what their record will be. Jaden Daniels was 11 and six obviously really good. Or were they? No, they were 12 and five.
CJ Stroud I believe was 10 and seven his rookie year or his first year starting already they are six and eight. McCarthy obviously is just four and four.
I believe he's four and four and eight starts.
But that six and eight record is better than the number one overall picks record or even the number two picks record. In their first year of starting. Both of them went five and 12.
And so there, there's just so much that this is all shaped around Vikings fan and national media thinking that based off of the 14 and 3 season, Vikings should be able to build off of that and then go deep into the playoffs and Super Bowl. And I just think something that we have not loud and clearly acknowledged is those were entirely unrealistic expectations there. None of us should have been expect. Nick Wright was right to to put the Vikings in dead last. I think he should have had the Bears in dead last. Last year he had the Bears going to the Super Bowl. So I think those expectations of first time QBs, that they're going to be bottom of their division, that's more realistic. The Jaden Daniels, the CJ Strouds are the anomalies.
And even then as we see it, it doesn't always. I, I do think the Texans are perhaps the most slept on most dangerous team right now in the NFL that could don't let them into the tournament, let's put it that way. They, they could go deep and that's largely because they have, I would say they have the best defense in the league. But CJ Stroud has playoff success, a certain level of that already under his belt. Having said all that, the year's been hard for him. The year's been hard for Jaden Daniels. The year's been hard for even Caleb Williams.
Though the Bears as a whole are experiencing success. Drake May is obviously taken leaps and bounds. I would say he out of the gate was the better looking QB of all of them. Bo Nixon is, is looking very good. Maybe they are the best team in the afc.
The, the Broncos. But all, all I'm saying is where I don't know that any of those quarterbacks have even 34.
No, obviously they don't have 34.
What are we at? 17 plus 14. So they're at 31 starts in their career.
I can't tell you if C.J. stroud has more than that starts. But I, I don't even know If CJ Stroud is a good qb, I can't tell you if Jaden Daniels is a good qb. I can't tell you if Drake May is a good qb. I thought he was.
I. I had seriously been reconsidering. You know, the Patriots might be the favorite for the super bowl, but he didn't look that good against the Bills, and He had a 21 lead and couldn't get a passing game going, and the Bills don't have that particularly good of a defense. And so all of this. All of this to say that again, and we've mentioned it before, Kurt Warner said it heading into the season, JJ McCarthy has the most pressure coming into the season of any QB in the NFL. And I just think that's true.
Is it rightfully true? I don't know, but. But I am so tight. Did you hear that bell?
No, I'm not sure what that is.
Sorry, I had to send a message to my wife here.
So all that to say that. I just. I think.
When was. What game was it where McCarthy before. Where he got the concussion? Was that the packers game where he only had, like, 67 yards?
[00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause then Brosmer played the Seahawks.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Yeah, Brosmer played the Seahawks. Like, that is the.
The bottom of the bottom. And then obviously the. The team as a whole, they get shut out against the Seahawks, and that feels like it's even worse.
But I think even. I mean, we had a huge part of the fan base running with a conspiracy that. That KOC is specifically withholding Brosmer because he doesn't want Brosmer to do better than McCarthy. And all of this, which was so weird, like, now you. You see, like, Brosmer in training camp, look decisive, look strong, look good, and then just looks crazy, like he's totally lost against the Seahawks.
I think the Vikings staff is.
They know who their guy is.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: And.
And it's just an example of how. How challenging it is for these rookie QBs to come into the league and. And be able to start strong.
And then the narratives changed weirdly, because that. That narrative was like, Koc likes McCarthy and wants him to do well, wants to hide his flaws. And now there's the narrative that Koc is kind of irked by McCarthy and, like, is taking jabs at McCarthy, is. This is just.
This is the weirdest in my lifetime following someone even I had here to talk about, like, Chris Carter, like, going out of his way to speak critically of JJ and about very weird things.
I just don't.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: He's an Ohio State alum.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Is He. See, I think, like, so much of this comes back to McCarthy being a Michigan.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:08] Speaker B: Like, has McCarthy played bad? Yes.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Was I.
Can you laugh at me for thinking the Vikings should win a playoff game this year? Yeah, like, I, I underestimated how hard it was. But is McCarthy a bust?
No. McCarthy's like, do we have problems? If he looks like he did against the Bears and the packers the rest of the season? And to your point, if he, when they play a playoff caliber team again, he looks bad, that's going to be discouraging. But I just don't get why we're so quick to have a solid conclusion on him when some of these guys who are playing really good.
I'm not sure we can have a solid conclusion on them yet either.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I, I think you make all good points. I think, I think one thing is like, McCarthy is a bit of a weirdo. And I, and I, I, last week I said that, you know, I think. Say that clearly. I think clearly he, he's liked by, like, I think, I think o' Connell likes him. Is like, either, either o', Connell, like, kind of likes him and, and it's like a, like, fatherly thing or, or he is, is like. There are some things that have.
I've gone back and forth about. I think I'm, I'm settling into. I think, I think OConnell's just a coach and, and I think it was Matthew Caller kind of went off on about this on his podcast. He's just like, oconnell's a coach and he's very wordy and, and he'll so like. And he also knows that the Vikings are an engaged fan base. And so ever since he's been here, he's tried to like, peel behind the curtains and to, to show and, and kind of coaches the audience and in order to do that, also ends up kind of critiquing his player, which is the only player people ask about. Like, if we were, if we were asking about Donovan Jackson, Kevin o' Connell would end up critiquing Donovan Jackson too. But nobody's asking questions about, hey, how did, how did you think Donovan Jackson played, you know, in this situation or whatever.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Can, Can. Can I just pause? Yeah, yeah, really quick. And like, I guess I'm.
People say McCarthy's a weirdo. How explain. And is that same. Similar, similarly to the whole mechanic.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Quarterbacks are weirdos.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: Is that, is that just like, is that a narrative we're, we're generating among ourselves? It, like, how is he much more weird than anybody else. I get. He. He does have a. A history of mental. Mental struggles, and so he was pretty vocal about meditation and some of the. The mindset shifts that he's gone into for his game, but that's actually not that abnormal for Brock. Purdy himself had some conversation around that as well.
For. For guys at that level of professional, like, it's. It's very common for superstars to go through mental struggle.
I'm not meaning to say McCarthy is for sure a superstar, but I'm just saying, like, that. That exists at a superstar level, at successful level, even. The whole thing of, like, of Kevin O' Connell critiquing McCarthy, I, like, I'll watch some of these press conferences and, Or. Or more what's happened is I hear people talking about this and I'm like, oh, interesting. And then I'll go and listen. What did Kevin o'. Connell.
I'm like, I don't see it. I'm not see, like, how is he critiquing McCarthy any more than he did Darnold or Cousins or. Or to your point, like, people are asking about it and, and, and. And the whole narrative was that Ko is trying to protect McCarthy. Is he trying to just respond and show like. No, I, I actually do see it. Significant areas. McCarthy needs to grow in. I'm not trying to protect him or what. Like, I don't. I just think there's so much focus on every little move McCarthy does that we as a fan base and me and media as a whole, have become weird in our grappling for critiques and for conclusions and judgments. And I'm just like, is. Are things actually that weird? Because, yeah, Cincinnati Dolphins, Browns, those are teams falling apart. Yeah. And you hear about it from players.
And every time we hear players on the Vikings talk, with the exception of Adam Thielen.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: They. They have his back and they're supportive of him. And I'm just not convinced that people are so distraught internally as. As it's made. Yeah. So I say all that to, to force you to say, say More.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: So. 2 Responses. I want to respond to what people are seeing as critiques because I think I've. I've come to disagree with them, but I see what they're saying.
And then I also want to respond to the weirdo comment. I think. I think he's a little bit of a weirdo in, like, in like a lovable sense. Like, like, in.
In. In the sense that, like, most quarterbacks are kind of quirky. They're a little bit in their head. Like, like, we, we think of quarterbacks as super cool. Like, oh, like you're a high school quarterback. Those quarterbacks probably don't actually make it very far. Like, the, the. The Burroughs and the Brady's and the Mannings are. Are guys who are nerds and obsessed with football.
And so they're, they're like taking care of their body and they're. They're eating.
Like, like you hear about some quarterback diets and you're just like, what in the world? Like, you're eating.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: Even the way Patrick Mahomes walks around.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Like, just like, like he's like in. So quarterbacks in general just are just kind of different.
And, and so you hear. So when you hear like McCarthy coming in, he has, he has a baby face. He looks very young.
And he's talking. He's given. He's given like Jalen Hurts type quotables, you know, and he's like, I'm just like a. I'm just like a cork or I'm just like a bottle of wine about to, you know, pop or whatever or. He said that? Yeah, he.
It was.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: I think it was that one after.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: So, you know, obviously you have the nine thing after the Lions game and then you have. It was either either in that same week or is after the packers game or recently.
He, yeah, he described himself as like, you know, he. He thinks he's like a cork about to pop.
And it's. But then it's just these like, just. I think the. I. I think based on how people respond him. I think people around him like him. I think the audience looks at him and are like laughing at his face. But like, you see, you know, you see on his Instagram, like he posted.
He posted some pictures of recent games and had had the song over, playing that. That's Life by Frank Sinatra.
And you know, just kind of this subtle like, hey, like I'm. I'm going to ignore the haters type of thing. And Eric Wilson commented just the symbol 9 on his Instagram. And like a couple of his other teammates were commenting and stuff and, and you see them in the locker room.
He came in and this is the one. One thing. One most recently where I, I watched it. I just had to crack up because I was like, guy's a little bit awkward, but like, they clearly love him. He walked in and he's like, where are my big boys at? And. And then hands them the big. You know, and doesn't really know what to say. And it's just like, just throws them The. The game ball that I think NBC gave him. And I always.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: I always get a kick out of when he's calling his teammates boys because, yeah, he's the youngest one of them.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: He's the youngest one. He has a baby face, you know, but you see. You see them, they don't take it belittlingly. They, you know, Brian Oneals, you know, is the one that catches it and is, like, laughing and, you know, so I think there is, like, just a quirkiness about him that I think is part his personality.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: You know, he.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: Harbaugh is also, like, a weird guy, and so he really looks up to Harbaugh, and.
And he's also 22. Like, I think the nine thing was mostly being 22 and wanting to really, like, you know, rev your engines or whatever and be like, oh, yeah, like, I'm. I'm nine. Not expecting that, you know, he'd go out the next week and kind of embarrass himself.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: I think that you've seen Justin Jefferson's interview with.
I forget his name. That guy from.
Is it Yahoo Sports.
He's. He goes on the Rich Eisen show and hosts every now and then.
Short little dude.
His name is slipping. Oh, Justin. He. He specifically said the nine thing. Andrew.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Andrew Siciliano, I think.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
The only reason I said short little guy is because he himself has talked about it.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Yeah. No, no, he's like.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: He. He talks about how short he is.
I'm a short little guy, too, compared to.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: I didn't. Yeah.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: The guys in the ice, the.
But Jeff, did you see that?
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:29:21] Speaker B: No.
Jefferson's like, I think people blew it way out of proportion.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: He's like. It's like.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: He said exactly what you were saying, that it's. He said. It's like me calling myself jets or Jettas. Like, an athlete needs to have a switch where they. Yeah, they turn it on and game time.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: And I think, especially guys, I think McCarthy and.
And Jefferson are both kind of introverted naturally.
And for sure. I know. I know Jefferson for sure is. But, like, McCarthy might not be introverted, but he.
He, you know, he's talking about his mental health struggles and stuff. And so, like, there is a sort of difference, like a reservation, I think, that they would have off the field. And when you. When you're an athlete who needs to go on the field and, like, have your adrenaline pumping and stuff, I think for both of them, they, like, enter into these different personalities, what they describe as different personalities. I think I would tend to be like, it's Just a different aspect of who you are that you're tapping into. Maybe. But like.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Which is like, I, I was listening or actually reading. I didn't listen to the quotes from that. But Kevin OConnell's comments in regard to that, I, I think Kevin O'Connell is responding out of his faith.
And maybe I'm wrong, but his response was kind of like, yeah, sort of whatever. Whatever McCarthy needs to do. It's just really important for. To O' Connell that McCarthy can be his authentic self. And that's been, first of all, Kevin OConnell's message from the very beginning.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: I've also heard Kevin o' Connell talk at different faith events, and that's a pretty big thing that he's passionate about in sports, is helping guys.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: I don't know how he worded it exactly, but, but. But the framing coming more from like, God made you who you are. You don't have to be something else.
Obviously, I'm projecting in. I don't know for sure, but when I saw the quote, when I was reading the quote, I was like, oh, I've heard that kind of language from Kevin o' Connell before. And it would make sense because that's how I would view it if I was. If I'm coaching my sons or thinking in terms of myself or whatever is like, yeah, there's. It's helpful for a shift, perhaps.
But my, My.
My view and theology of man in relation to us being made in the image of God is.
Is we like, yeah, I wouldn't want us to think that we have to be somebody else in a moment of whatever. I don't know. Maybe I'm reading all into it, but made me wonder if.
If media is reading koc's version of discipleship as critique of, like, oh, I don't really like that alter ego, but actually a Christian coach is trying to help his new budding QB be grounded. I don't know.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I certainly think that that probably influences OConnell, OConnell's entire approach to coaching.
I, I think I was to. To address like, some of the.
The critique stuff.
I think some people saw, like, o' Connell has gone on like, Paul Allen and different places and like, oh, shoot, what was. When Kevin Seifert shared a clip of him on Paul Allen's midweek show where he was. He was going into detail about something with McCarthy, and he was just going into detail. That just felt a little bit like extra.
Like an extra amount of information that I don't remember him.
I Mean, he was having a good season with Sam and so, and Sam is also like a six year vet, so there's probably fewer things to critique about. But you know, I think some people have read some of those comments as O' Connell kind of creating separation between himself and McCarthy to kind of like signal to the world, maybe to the Wilfs or whoever that like, hey, what's going on?
Is McCarthy like, we're, we're giving him all we could. He's kind of in some post, post game press conferences. He's kind of said as much of like, you know, we've, we've given, you know, given him all we can as coaches and he just needs to, you know, complete that play or work on that mechanic or whatever. I, I, I could pull up some, probably some specific quotes and press conferences.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Are you, I think, Are you.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: I think I can see that critique. There's been a number of them. It's, it feels like they're there for like five or six weeks. It was like every, every week there was something, I think I can see that, that of like, ooh, like, is like, did he have to like, say that publicly? Is he creating separation? I think I'm, I'm pretty satisfied with the perspective of Matthew Koller where he's just like, he just chalks it up to a coach being a coach and kind of being it publicly. Like, if a coach coaches publicly, it's going to feel to the audience like he's critiquing and he's just coaching. And so I do what I also think I've stopped, I've stopped like leaning into that. But it is something that like, yeah, I'm thinking about. It's like, oh, if there is drama in, in the spring, I am going to go back and be like, oh, maybe there was a little bit more to that than.
Yeah, than I thought.
[00:35:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And I want to, I want to cloak everything that I've been saying in the sense that like, I'm obviously not in there in the locker room. Maybe my take is wrong.
I just don't quite see why we have like, it feels like we're, and I'm, I'm using a general we.
Yeah, sorry. I have something to deal with here.
Sounds like they resolved it themselves.
I, it can feel like people are grasping at things to have to, well, to blame for the, the missed expectations for one thing. But then even because if, if you ride it for what I think it really is, it's actually a really boring season for the Vikings.
They're, they're not like nobody's getting fired, nobody's falling apart. There's like, that.
That gets media attention. That gets all the things.
They're not going to the playoffs. If they win out, they lose ranking in the. In the draft picks and all that schedule placement for next year. And like, those are like, it's. It's kind of this boring thing. And what I think is top of mind for Kevin o', Connell, and I think he has developed a really good culture where this is true, which is why you see the whole team rallying behind McCarthy. But Thielen was out. I don't think Thielen was quite interesting developed in this culture. And this is, this is what I think it is.
I think in Kevin o', Connell, it is development first, championship next.
Development first, championship next. And for everybody else, for us as a fan base for Media, everybody thinks OConnell's championship, it's blitzkrieg on championship. He's gonna do what, you know, job protection to whatever. But I think Kevin o' Connell is very focused on development and, And I think he's prepped the team. Like, when we. He. When we've heard him talk about things in the locker room back when Cousins was still here, like, he's talked about building towards something and he, like all of his speeches have that language. And, and what stands out to me is his players have that language, too.
The, The. The Aaron Joneses, the Justin Jeffersons, the Jonathan Gunards, the.
Who was it recently? T.J. hawkinson. Different guy. Like, guys who could take their own little shot aren't. And they're very much in that mindset. And I'm. I'm guessing, like, I haven't dug deep into it. Obviously, I wasn't present to interview Thielen on anything, but I'm. I'm guessing Thielen wasn't quite ready for that. That.
That he wanted. Because even. Even a little bit, you said something earlier like having a better plan to fall back on.
Like, in some ways I'm. And, And I get your point about, like, Bryce Young was benched for a little bit. I, I definitely think there should be some sort of competition in the off season to kind of push and nudge McCarthy, but I'm also.
I think it's okay for. For Kevin OConnell's legacy to be riding and dying on JJ right now.
And let's let him, as the kids say, let's let him cook.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: What's going to come out in a year or two, I think we should see in the game the Final week against the packers.
How does McCarthy look?
And there I can already hear it, the excuses. Well, the packers are checked out because of all the injuries and they're not, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever. But we'll see in these final weeks is there development? Is there wise decision making? Is there a freeness?
Which is why I think it's ridiculous that now we have the whole controversy over the gritty like McCarthy's.
Every athlete's going to be their best when they're free and when they can just play with their own joy and delight. How many times have we watched Justin Jefferson's first touchdown in the as a pro and he starts his gritty at the 10 yard mark or the maybe it was within the 10 yard but he's not in the end zone when he starts his gritty. And nobody critiques that and all that to say I'm. I'm kind of spewing again. I think the, I think the focus is development and I think Koc has probably been very vocal about that and things he's saying to press and in public he's already said to people privately and so they're not necessarily.
I'd be surprised if JJ's seeing Ko's interview with Paul Allen and be like why are you talking about that?
Because he's probably already heard it and yeah maybe even agrees with him. I don't know.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: I don't that he's heard it.
Like that would be like coaching malpractice 101.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: It feels like yeah, any kind of leadership malpractice. The I agree that that quarterbacks are a little quirky and weird.
I was going to say something about McCarthy in response to that.
Williams, Kevin. Caleb Williams.
Just this week somebody asked if it was a ill advised throw to DJ Moore throwing on the run and Caleb Williams.
Does anybody remember what Caleb Williams did most of last year?
Believe he led the league in interceptions, didn't he?
His response is no, I can make any throw.
[00:41:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:52] Speaker B: And we as fans sit there and laugh right? Like sure, yes. His record is 10 and 4 right now. So he has the space and his touchdown to interception ratio is practically flipped.
I'm actually wrong on that. He only 36 last year.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Only 36 intercepts left the league.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: Oh that's. That's actually pretty good.
[00:42:15] Speaker B: He led the league in sacks.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what it was.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: Which also yeah makes sense why he wouldn't have as many. He probably had pretty high incompletions too. Like he.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: His completion rating is actually worse this year. He was 62.5.
And he's at a 58 completion percentage this year.
Already has more touchdowns, significantly fewer sacks.
68 on the year last year, 23 so far.
So. Yeah. But my point being, we've seen enough plays of Caleb Williams for that to be really strange.
And I wish I could remember what I was going to say about McCarthy. But, yes, QBs are weird.
I'm not trying to downplay the fact that is McCarthy really weird? When I asked how is he weird? I was intending to ask a comparison question of, like, how is he any more weird?
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:43:18] Speaker B: Than any other qb Or.
Or any more.
Even. Even the whole nine thing. Like, athletes. I've heard a lot of athletes. Athletes talk about that in, in various.
In various sports. But the thing.
[00:43:34] Speaker A: The thing that maybe makes him a little bit easier to target is that he's. He's very genuine.
He's just an incredibly sincere person. Like, he.
He wants to impress. I think he wants to impress. Kevin o'. Connell. I think he wants to impress.
I would imagine he wants to impress. Like, you know, the media and the fan base and Jefferson. But yeah, like, he, he. And you can kind of read that he's. He's not. He's either purposefully or just incapable of hiding the sincerity, of wanting. Of wanting to be impressive. But I think, to be fair to him, also wanting to be great. Like.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: And that reminds me what I was going to say about him that I couldn't remember. He. He definitely is, as he currently stands, something I have myself pondered.
I've seen accusations of narcissism. Like, he's an incredible narcissist.
I.
When I saw that, I was like, is he. Because it was, it was. Right. I think it was during. During the packers game. There was a clip of him, like, slapping up his wide receivers and trying to amp him up or something. And he was obviously doing bad.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: People took that as narcissism.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know why. Like, if it was him, I don't know. They thought. Jade, Justin was upset at him because Justin's kind of saying something and there's so many different ways you might have.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Been upset at him. I think that's okay.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Well, I also. I would have said it looked like Jefferson was trying to get him to calm down.
[00:45:24] Speaker A: Oh, interesting.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: So some people thought it was like, calm down as in don't think too highly of yourself.
The way I read that was like, hey, let's keep at it. Let's keep going. Like, don't get discouraged. Like, that was kind of How I. Obviously, we didn't. You can't hear the.
The.
The voices, what they were saying, but just kind of the demeanor of what it looked like. Um, but maybe Justin was upset and that's fine. Like, that's. That kind of thing needs to happen for some reason. Like, the Eagles can be a drastically dysfunctional team and, like, vocally talking to media about each other, and everybody's like, oh, they're going to be fine. But then the Vikings aren't even doing that, and everybody's trying to come up with like, oh, it's just falling apart in the inside. I don't know that people are quite saying that, but it's just. It's amusing to me how.
Back to my point, though, in his sincerity, which is kind of how I'm reading it right now, I can see it. It is that piece of like, is he a narcissist or is he just really sincere and a hard worker? I think he's really sincere, and I think he's a really hard worker, and I think he's going to do quite well.
But he's not doing very well right now.
And his level of optimism and sincerity come. Can come across, especially in the face of. Of his own flaws right now. It can come across as.
It's like, don't be so optimistic about.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: Yeah, we.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: We all get.
It's. It's sort of like. This is kind of a weird analogy, but there's a. There's a. A YouTube guy who's quite overweight.
I forget his name. I think you know who I'm talking about. His name is Caleb, but he's. He's goofy and he, like, creates these goofy little clips.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: I think an. I know what you're talking about.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: The comments are full of people just trashing him. Like, this is not funny. This is not like, you should go work out or like, he kind of pokes fun at his own weight sometimes, but then he's also had videos talking about his journey of accepting himself and stuff. And I've. I just kind of in the shadows, have been intrigued by how much vitriol he gets.
And his. Yes, his stuff is goofy. Sometimes I don't.
It doesn't click with me.
A lot of times it's like, oh, me and my brothers do this to each other. It's just kind of funny and goofy. But I think there's something that makes people really uncomfortable when we think you need to look, like, really trim and fit. Right? And here's a guy who's not, and he's Totally comfortable in his own skin, and he's having a good old jolly time. And that, like, brings out our insecurities and whatever. And I. I wonder if there's not a similar thing happening where we expect you to be Patrick Mahomes, J.J. like, you're going to save this franchise and just be amazing, and you're not. And yet you're totally okay in this process, in this journey where you're at, and you're super optimistic. And it's like, I don't know what to do with that. And so I have to call you names or think of things.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: I think. I think.
[00:48:48] Speaker B: Or maybe he is a narcissist.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: I think some of the hate. I think. I think they have very different personalities. I think some of the hate that Caleb Williams got could fall into some. Some of that as well.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:49:04] Speaker A: Like, people really hated him, like, expressing kind of, you know, feminine characteristics or whatever, which I think is just layered with problems.
[00:49:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: And it's. It's different, but there is. There is like, a sort of, like, when. When people are okay just being themselves, expressing themselves differently. I need. I need to help.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: Yeah, go for it.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: Felt like there was one more thing I was gonna say about.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:49:42] Speaker A: Just responding to what you said quite a while ago about talking about Kevin o' Connell going into a fifth season.
And I think it was Jon Gruden's brother, Jay Gruden, who was the last one to do that without a playoff win.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: Or was it Jay? I thought it was John.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was Jay.
The. The thing, like, I've been thinking about this because.
So Luke Brown with Lockdown Vikings has compared, like, different stats this season to other seasons that got coaches fired and.
And then also seasons that got quarterbacks back benched. And. And like, up until. At least up until like, the Commander's game, he's been tracking this along the way up until the Commander's game. It was trending to be a season that, like, every other time the Vikings have, like, hit these metrics. I think he was tracking, like, EPA and different, you know, analytics and stuff.
And.
And like, any time the Vikings had done those types of numbers before that season, the head coach had gotten fired.
And he wasn't saying that Kevin o' Connell should get fired or would get fired. He was just kind of tracking it and finding it interesting. And I was thinking through. I was like, yeah, but, like, okay, so this season has been really bad. And, like, our, you know, EPA has been bad.
Dvoa. And I don't Even entirely understand all of these things. But.
But I have never felt, and I don't think anyone has really, anyone who knows anything has really genuinely thought that Kevin o' Connell would get fired.
I think there were a couple of weeks there where it was like, is he on the hot seat?
But, you know, I think at this point, especially if they play well out the rest of the season, there's no way Kevin o' Connell's getting fired. And I was trying to figure out what is different because, like, yeah, like, there is like, a degree of like, four years, you know.
You know, Brian Dable didn't make it as long.
Like, I don't. Are any of his. Any of his other, like, coaching classmates still coaching?
[00:52:23] Speaker B: McDaniel is. But he's very likely.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah, and I was trying to think of, like, what. What is different? And I think it comes down to, like, yeah, we've. We've had some good winning seasons, and it's not just like, average season. We've had, like, 13 and 14 win seasons.
[00:52:46] Speaker B: The Kevin O' Connell's record compared to his other coaching class, there's no comparison. Yeah, like, Dave all wasn't anywhere close to what Kevin o' Connell has done. Even though Day Ball beat him in the playoffs.
[00:53:01] Speaker A: Right. In the playoffs.
[00:53:03] Speaker B: Keep going.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: It's that playoff piece that's missing and which is significant.
But I think the thing is the culture. I think the thing that Kevin o' Connell brings to the table is the culture.
And I think I was really upset at him.
I think it was after the Seahawks game where I was just like, I thought maybe he had lost the, the, the locker room and et cetera, et cetera. And the fact that they've come back and they, they haven't given up, they're still playing, they're still in it. You know, you hear some of the things that his player, the players are saying and like, the emotion that they're feeling, and it's clear that he.
He still has the locker room.
And, and that's. I think that's the difference, because you look at guys like, look at guys like McDaniel. Although, I mean, one could argue that McDaniel hasn't lost the locker room because they, they did kind of come back and were playing.
But like, yeah, guys like Brian Dable, you know, Nathaniel Hackett, wasn't he also in that coaching class?
[00:54:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:24] Speaker A: The guy who got the Chargers job, like, all of those guys just. Or like last year with the Patriots.
Mayo, Gerard Mayo.
You just look at those guys and they, and they there's nothing.
There's nothing inspiring about them as people, which is, you know, there's not anything particularly inspiring about, like. And this is Uncle Asher.
There's nothing particularly inspiring about, like, Nick Sirianni or whatever. But.
But these guys.
[00:55:02] Speaker B: What.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: Oh, it's a picture of Nana. Yeah.
I think for me as a fan, it is having, like, Kevin o' Connell having that kind of locker room feeling like it would feel very differently even if we had won the last couple of games. It would feel very differently if it felt like guys were just playing for their paychecks or, like, playing for their, you know, next contract or whatever, which is no doubt a big part of why people are still motivated.
But you also do see guys like Harrison Smith. I mean, I think about Thielen, who, on one hand, he's indicated that this is his last year. And so, on a very practical level, I don't blame him asking to be released, why he went to the Steelers. I mean, maybe he just wanted to play with Aaron Rodgers.
[00:56:01] Speaker B: But that's. I don't. I don't blame him either for asking to be released. But why. Why he chose the Steelers, then.
[00:56:07] Speaker A: But then you see. You see a guy like, is he. Does he.
[00:56:11] Speaker B: The Bills could have used him.
[00:56:12] Speaker A: Does he provide a significantly more value to.
To a team than, like, Harrison Smith would? Like? They're both kind of old. Neither of them are particularly dominant anymore.
If anything, I think they have different personalities.
[00:56:30] Speaker B: Smith.
[00:56:31] Speaker A: I think Smith is pretty content to just ride it out with the Vikings, but different personalities.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: Smith. Smith's strength this year, I think, has less to do with what he actually does on the field and more, like, how he directs defense and, like, gets guys into positions.
Whereas Thielen, like, I don't. I don't know where Thielen was. Whenever the ball showed up, he was dropping it.
Anyways, I'm kind of critical, obviously.
[00:56:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Thielen. Yeah. And whatever. Yeah. All that. All that to say, though, I like, would Oconnell's ability to keep a locker room last past five seasons.
I doubt it. In, like, at some point, as an ownership group, you do have to say, like, hey, we like you. We like what you bring. But, like, we don't want to spend half a decade, you know, trying this out. Like, we're here to win championships. Like, you know, the Wolfs. The Wolfs aren't young people anymore. Like, they. They want to return on their investment, obviously, but they probably also really want, like, a championship.
[00:57:41] Speaker B: The Wolfs, just the name sounds like an older group. I don't know why.
They were obviously young at some point and still named Wolf, but yeah.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: They'Re from New Jersey.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: Interesting.
No, I, I, I completely agree. And excuse me, I think Kevin o' Connell quite frankly brought in a whole philosophy of development that I don't know that they've all had in New York or that McDaniel has in, in like from the very onset, McDaniel, they went out and got Tyreek Hill and McDaniel was like, oh yeah, let's, let's do like. It's been all about having these superstar players on and that's not really been Kevin o'. Connells. And there's been a lot of critique of how they, how they've drafted and whether or not they're successful and so forth.
And I think some of that is fair to a degree.
But I think for the most part, like, when you look at the franchise as a whole, Kevin o' Connell has had a philosophy of building something, which is what I'm like, part of why I'm saying I think, I don't think he's on the hot seat.
I don't, I think it would be foolish to just call it quits right now.
Everything was derailed when McCarthy got injured. Not that he would have been starting last year, but the whole development process to his first starting season was delayed a year. And, and then it's, it is a little bit more of a crash course in sports spring training. I always think baseball in a training camp as opposed to if they could have been doing all that stuff in practice last year.
And so there's, there's all these different facets.
Having said all that, I completely think it is entirely fair for, for Kevin o' Connell to be on the hot seat, as it were, going into 2026.
Not, not because I think like, I, I guess I'm kind of arriving there at a different place because Kevin o' Connell is building for something and developing something and if it, if it's not progressing to a championship, then obviously is at some point that's going to call for his job.
And that's kind of why I'm like, I'm, I don't, I don't know that I'm interested in them going out. I'm, I'm just looking at Twitter here now. A tug of viola is the number one landing spot for him is the Vikings.
The Vikings, jets, every Land Raiders, Steelers.
[01:00:23] Speaker A: I mean, Burrow is also. Publix Burrow's number one spot is also projected to be the Vikings.
[01:00:30] Speaker B: Like, yeah, And. And I don't know that I feel like.
[01:00:36] Speaker A: I don't think I would.
[01:00:37] Speaker B: Some offline interaction about this Burrow.
Yeah, I would. I.
I don't think the Vikings are a quarterback away from a Super Bowl.
So my question with Burrow is what are you not going to be able to fix in your offensive line, in your. In your cornerbacks, the secondary of defense? Like, what. What's not going to fix. Aaron Jones isn't getting any younger. So who's. Who's going to be your primary running back or your complimentary running back to Mason if you bring in a guy like Burrow?
But could Burrow do well in a Kevin o' Connell system? I think so, but I'm not. I'm not super anxious for that. I really believe in Kevin o', Connell, and if he can't come good on the development plan, then I'm not sure that he should be the Vikings coach.
[01:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:01:28] Speaker B: Does that make sense kind of how I'm like.
I'm not. I don't know if I want Vikings to be like, we need a Super bowl with Kevin o', Connell and he needs to do whatever he can to get a quarterback that can do that. It's like if Kevin o' Connell missed and can't develop the guy he drafted, then maybe he shouldn't. Maybe he's not. It's. It's sort of like I would have been extremely disappointed in Kevin o' Connell if he did not adjust his scheme the, the last two games he has had. And Purple Daily has done a good job of breaking this down. Like his. His scheme is dramatically different.
[01:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:07] Speaker B: He goes from what, 70, 75%?
You know, I should. I'm talking away here. I've got some kids dealing with issues and they forgot my wife has got. So I should.
[01:02:18] Speaker A: They're just out there.
[01:02:19] Speaker B: I should go see what's going on now. Let. Let me.
We should close this out to you. We're going. Let me. Let me be right back.
Yeah. So what I was saying was elite coaches change to the quarterback, that they have the personnel they have.
And so I would have been disappointed if it was the kind of thing where, where Kevin O' Connell moves off of McCarthy and he's going to find somebody who can run his scheme. I've been grateful to see how he's changed. Instead of so much 13 personnel, he's running.
I'm sorry.
Instead of so much 11 personnel, he's running more 13 personnel, which allows them to have better pass protection. Do some more in the running game. And so forth.
So, yeah.
All that to say, I want to see how this season ends, how Kevin O' Connell adjusts, how McCarthy adjusts.
Is. Is Kevin Oconnell's career as a Vikings head coach writing or dying, riding or dying on his ability to develop McCarthy, perhaps. And I.
I'm okay with that. I think.
I think that's how it should be.
[01:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. But I think maybe, obviously, you know, one. One thing that people caution about, you know, comparing him to Josh Allen and whatnot, is that Josh Allen is, like, one of one, I think.
And so I don't. I'm not saying that McCarthy is Allen, but.
But I would imagine that more. More quarterbacks.
There were more.
No, not. Not right now.
More than we realize. There are more quarterbacks than we realize who should not have been bus. Who did not have to be bus. I think, is what I'm trying to say. Like. Yeah, and I do think that there's a certain amount of patience. And I think one thing that I'm enjoying, and this is like, the silver lining, is that we have an organization who is patient, who is willing to wait half a decade because it is unlikely that you're going to hit, you know, a Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers or a Joe Burrow who is just incredible out of the gate.
And so I'm pretty. Yeah, I'm pretty happy and excited to.
To wait and see. And.
And I think. I mean, with the full offseason, you know, hopefully these next three games, he's not getting injured.
That would completely change everything if he does. But, you know, he'll have a full offseason. He'll be able to work with a quarterback coach on his mechanics versus last year where he was just rehabbing.
Yeah, he'll have, you know, hopefully. Hopefully Justin Jefferson won't be, you know, out of camp with a hamstring and, you know, maybe they'll be able to build some chemistry and stuff.
[01:05:43] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Well, let's. Let's just do a quick run through.
[01:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Forgot.
[01:05:50] Speaker B: Just to show the people.
Maybe we won't take a lot of time, but I was just gonna. I was gonna show like this. This was our prediction of the division.
And we can get a little chuckle out of how.
How backwards it's going to be.
[01:06:10] Speaker A: Mine is. Mine is going to be perfectly backwards.
[01:06:13] Speaker B: I said the Bills or you said the Bills were going to meet the Eagles in the Super Bowl. I said the Chargers were going to meet the Lions in the Super Bowl.
[01:06:24] Speaker A: This was.
This was three weeks or like two weeks. In to the season.
[01:06:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think there had been three weeks of games.
[01:06:35] Speaker A: The Chargers win over the Chiefs doesn't seem as significant anymore.
Yeah, I think I was. My, My positivity was largely like that. They had two.
[01:06:44] Speaker B: They were.
[01:06:44] Speaker A: They had started out so dominantly, I still think.
[01:06:48] Speaker B: I think. And we were talking about this offline a little bit. I could be totally wrong, but I think the Chargers are better than their record shows.
They've just dealt with a ton of injuries, and so, yeah, maybe they're going to be injured and they'll be last year's Lions. They get bounced quick.
Um, I'm not sure that the Broncos are as good as their record shows. They. A lot of people are like, man, you know, they barely lost those two games. They'd be undefeated. And there's a good three or four games that they barely won. And it could have gone the other way as well. And, and, yeah, it'll be interesting. Maybe they'll end well. You smothered me. Any ground that I made on you the week prior, you took it right back this week. Or maybe I gave it right back. I don't know how it is, but I went eight and eight. You went 13. Three.
We are. Oh, dear. Why did that do it that way?
[01:07:46] Speaker A: It went in all different.
[01:07:48] Speaker B: All different angles. I have to fix that for the first time all season.
I've been waiting for the Vikings to do two consecutive weeks where they show up. And now they have a. An opponent that. An opponent that I think they can beat.
And so I'm going to go.
[01:08:11] Speaker A: This isn't the first time that you've predicted them, is it?
[01:08:16] Speaker B: No, no. I, I. The first time is a comment about, oh, I see consistency.
[01:08:22] Speaker A: I was like, there's no way.
[01:08:24] Speaker B: Oh, no. I think I predicted them to beat the, the Steelers and the Browns and the Eagles. I think I went into that game thinking they could beat the Eagles.
[01:08:34] Speaker A: I think we both did. I don't.
[01:08:37] Speaker B: And the Bears. I, I had them beating the Bears as well, but both. Both times. But obviously that didn't work out.
[01:08:44] Speaker A: We almost did. If it wasn't for that special team snafu, we'd still be in this playoff contingent.
[01:08:51] Speaker B: Oh, I forgot about that.
I have the Jaguars beating the Broncos. I think the Jaguars are one of the most. One of the more intriguing teams to track down the stretch.
Yeah, it'll be interesting.
[01:09:05] Speaker A: Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence is playing really well.
[01:09:08] Speaker B: So, yeah, we'll see. We'll come back next week.
Whoops. Just show you all.
If you didn't know that I developed this in Canva Hit Escape to get out of my screen share, and that just got me out of the full view. Okay, well, thank you for riding with us in our commotion and our argumentation and our excitement and back and forth and our exasperation of Vikings fan base and an hour and 18 minutes worth of. Well, actually, when you're watching this, it'll probably be less because there's a good chunk we can cut out.
[01:09:46] Speaker A: Quite the year.
[01:09:47] Speaker B: We'll see you all next week.
[01:09:48] Speaker A: Yep.
