Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Hello and welcome back to the Skullcast, where we are two brothers who enjoy talking football and and are Vikings fans. And so we spend most of our time talking about the Vikings, hashing the Vikings, grieving the Vikings. And today, if you missed it, in our last episode we introduced season two. You can go back and watch that episode. I'll link it in the description below. But we just had reflection on the preseason training camp, how it's gone so far as we anticipate the season starting next week already in this episode we want to dive into what happened at the end of the kind of fairy tale would you call last season fairy tale? Like it was fairy tale in the sense of it went better than we expected. For sure it wasn't fairy tale in the sense that it. Everything went right or yeah. But we're going to evaluate things. Minnesota fights for first place in the conference and gets blown out the end score. Wicked was worse than it actually looked for most of the game. Like they, I believe it was still a like within 3 points leading into the, to the last third. What is it? Last 4 minutes, last 5 minutes of the third quarter. And then Detroit started pulling away and so Minnesota drops to Detroit. They end up needing to play the next week and then they get blown out by the Rams to end their season. And so for as good as the season was, they won 14 games. Sam Darnold was really good. Better than what people expected.
The defense was strong, a top five defense which we pretty much thought they would be by the end of the, by the end of the year. For as good as everything was, it was just this embarrassing collapse. And so in this episode we're going to kind of dissect that a little bit. What went wrong and what do we hope to see changed? And now that we've seen preseason, we've seen their offseason moves. By the way, since the time of our last recording, the there have been some trades done that we know the quarterback, the quarterback room is set. But there's a couple positions we're still like what's going on with wide receiver depth, cornerback depth. We're anticipating more trades before the season starts just because of, of some of the trades that Kwesi has done. Trading away Harrison Phillips did that I think that happened since our last recording and trading away Sam Howell, getting, getting some six round picks for both of those. Did they get a fifth round for, for Hal? Yeah, I can't remember.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: I think it was like a conditional fifth round from Philly.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. So yeah, obviously they're they're prepping for something. Hopefully. Hopefully they're not going in the season, just leaving some of these positions thin. But for the most part we can see what they've developed, what they've corrected in the off season and then how that went in training camp and preseason. And so. So do we think there's going to be a change here? Yeah, let's just dive in. Christopher, I'll. I'll let you start. When you reflect back on that Lions game. Was that January 5th? It was January something. And then the Rams game. What. What are your thoughts? What are things that. Where does the blame lie? What happened? You know, the Lions game. Just to set the stage a little bit further. The Lions game in the middle of the season was. Was really close. They. They won by a field goal and won by two points. Like they were down by one and kicked a field goal and I think had. Had Darnold had an interception in that game. I can't remember. But yeah, the final game of the season did not. Was not near as close. Why. Why wasn't that what happened?
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Sorry. Before I get into that, some breaking news. It won't be breaking by the time this episode releases, but the Minnesota Vikings have traded for Adam Thielen.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Are you serious?
Yeah. I have been refreshing my Internet Twitter page waiting for this.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: To adam Schefter like 10 minutes ago.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: So it actually did happen. What did. What did they give for it?
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Panthers get a fifth round and a fourth. A 26 fifth round and a 27 fourth round in Thielen and Vikings get Thielen. Interesting.
Yeah, yeah. By the time this episode releases, that'll be old news. But that's interesting. It definitely affects our conversations.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Last year. Last year in Detroit. I.
Excuse me. I mean, I think, think if. If you followed any of the Vikings off season moves, you're probably well aware of, like Kevin o' Connell came out after the game and was like straightforward. He's like, we need to. I forget how he phrased it, but basically we need to improve our O line. And I think that that kind of like a lot of the weaknesses of. I guess that was after the Rams game. I'm thinking kind of at the very end.
Yeah, that. I guess the Detroit game, man, I am converging those two games now.
Detroit was very much kind of a Sam Darnold blue. What do people say? Blue screen of death kind of game, I think. Was it that game or was that the Rams game? I'm mixing the two up.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: No, yeah, yeah. To set the stage. Like Sam Darnold, which. I was surprised. I remember being surprised about. About this stat. Going into the Detroit game, Sam Darnold held the ball well. I can't remember if it was the longest of all the current starting quarterbacks, but it was. It was one of the longest. He was known for taking a fair amount of sacks, for holding the ball long, but under the blitz, he was the best. I forget completion percentage or passer rating or whatever. Like, under the blitz, he was incredible. And we saw it. I don't know if you remember that Seattle game. I think it would have been two weeks earlier where he was phenomenal. They were blitzing him and he did really well. Even Green Bay brought a little bit of that. But. But what's his name, the defensive coordinator of the Lions.
Why can't I remember?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Glenn.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Aaron Glenn.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: And Aaron Glenn.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Like, they, they. They threw the whole.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: They were leaving, what, like three or four players in the back to guard the receivers, and they were rushing everybody at Darnold. And it just. Yeah. Created that. You've seen ghosts kind of. Yeah, yeah, It.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: It was definitely a thing. Where Detroit, the division rival, played him earlier in the year, I think, kind of exposed some things for Sam Darnold and. And, yeah, I just remember. I remember the receivers being wide open and Darnold just like, missing them and.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: And Jefferson had a rare drop in that game. Yeah, I think it was his only drop of the whole season in the end zone.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: So there was just some real pivotal. Like, I think. I think we drove down the field a couple of times, should have been able to punch it in, and then it would just. Nothing.
And the defense was playing decently well, but then at some point, they just couldn't hang on, and Detroit kind of ran away with it.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Goff. Just to throw this in as well, for context, Goff. Goff did not have necessarily a very good game. Jameer Gibbs eventually took off and had a pretty good game, but it was very close. Through two thirds of that game, it was. It was still anybody's game.
It just. It felt like it wasn't going to be the Vikings because of how Darnold was playing. Like, it. Things just weren't going well. They should have been up by a score or two. And like you said, throwing. Throwing over people or Jefferson had to drop, and it was just not looking like what we had seen even against.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: The Lions before nine was the final. Was the final score. I forgot that. That. That it was. I hadn't. I Hadn't actually pulled up the game. I forgot it was that bad.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: But it was. I mean that. It again, that looks really bad.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: I want to say it was 10 to 9 with five minutes left in the third quarter, but I could be wrong on that. Do you have the box score?
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Yeah. 07, first quarter, six three and a second quarter going into the half. So it was 10, six. They didn't score a single touchdown. And then it was 17, 13. I mean going into the fourth quarter the game was within reach.
And then they scored two touchdowns.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Thirteen. What do you mean?
[00:08:48] Speaker A: I'm sorry. Seventeen, nine.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I. How do you. So maybe, maybe we need to just take both games in conjunction because when we watch that, like my criticisms of the coaching staff come largely after what the Lions did was put on tape like you should have expected now that the Lions exposed. And I was pretty sure watching that game, I was. Was like they're playing their Super Bowl. I did not expect the Lions to be able to go on. And largely because the Lions were so thin defensively, they had to do that. They had to blitz. And once everybody knew what they were going to be doing, Jaden Daniels was obviously ready for that and had a phenomenal game against them the next week and knocked him. Yeah, blew him out for the. To knock him out of the playoffs. But my disappointment with the coaching staff of the Vikings was that they go into that game against the Rams and it didn't look like they were prepared for the blitz. Like it didn't look like they were had any game plan for what to do and they should have known that was going to happen. But to. To back up to the Lions game a little bit, was that. Did Aaron Glenn out Coach Kevin o'? Connell, Is that what happened? Obviously he gets a head coaching job. So a lot like even though the, the Lions defense is not that good, they have perhaps the best defensive player in the NFL. He was injured last year. But they're not top of the league in any specific metric. But the way they ended their season, the Vikings season and beating out for the. The first seat that kind of got Aaron Glenn on the map. Got them on. As you know, obviously Ben Johnson was very much on the map with his, with his offensive schemes. Like were they out coached? Was it. Was it a collapse on Darnold's part? Like Darnold just fell apart. And it's kind of an example of how Kevin o' Connell can only do so much. But depending on what you do in the moment, was it a lack of scheme on Koc's part that there wasn't more rushing that they didn't do better. I remember, I think Cam Akers had a Fairly, fairly significant 65 couple explosive plays. Yeah, I guess kind of as you reflect on, even before we get to the Rams game, is there like, is there criticisms Connell that should have been addressed or even a Flores. But I, I personally don't put a lot of blame on Flores for the Lions game because when you keep your, when the defense keeps your team in there that long.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: If the offense isn't doing anything, eventually it's going to catch up and the other team's offense is going to break loose. But. Yeah. What are your thoughts?
[00:11:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, I think the Lions game, I remember thinking this last year like kind of walking away and thinking the Lions game was I think primarily just a fault of the personnel and, and the quarterback. I think, I think if, if there, if there would be one criticism and like if this doesn't happen this year then, then I think I would be pretty critical of Kevin o'. Connell. I mean it, there's a lot of, there's a lot of things that would go into whether or not I think this is a bad thing this year. But like not having a well established running like rushing part of the offense to me was, was a weakness in that game, but not the primary weakness. Like, like I think if Sam Darnold would have had a little bit more decisiveness throughout the whole year, but especially in that game, I, I think it would have, it would have come out differently. And like you said, like 17 going into the fourth quarter, 17 to 9. That game is very much in reach. All you need is a touchdown and a field goal.
So yeah, it was like a. Defensively I think they were same old Vikings. Like I don't know that we can really pin anything on them but yeah, just the inability.
Yeah, I, I think, I don't know to kind of sum that all up. I don't know that I would pin the blame on the coaching staff as much as the way the, the roster was structured with kind of a weak O line, a really weak O line. And we didn't, we didn't have Darasaw. That's not on really anybody. The state of the O line towards the end of the year was just weakened because Derrissa had gotten injured and then, and then our running backs were like Aaron Jones who had kind of been struggling all year with just kind of load management type stuff because he's older. He had had a good year but he just was clearly wear. The season was wearing on him and Cam Akers just, I mean Cam Akers played fine but he, he couldn't carry the whole. So I think what I'm saying is like first and foremost if, if Darnold would have made those completions like he was 18 for 41. If he would, if he would have made those completions and I think some of that is his own blue screen of death, death seeing ghosts and some of that is that he didn't have any sort of help against that blitz, you know.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Yeah, there was also a lot of. And this is not why the Vikings lost if they would have played a competitive. And you're going to see this in big stakes games. Think. I think I prefer refs letting players play but the Lions were very touchy on the receivers and there, there were, there were a lot and you know, obviously as a Vikings fan looked at that as like there, there were missed PIs. So I'm not saying that to bear blame of that like oh, because of the missed PIs. Vikings would have won if it wasn't that way. I have more of a gripe with that call of the strip sack against Stafford. We'll talk, we'll talk about that in a bit. But, but when guys are covered and they're, they're that the defenders are that much in your receiver's face it, it's hard like you don't, you're not going to throw at, you're not going to be as comfortable throwing at them. So a lot of. Not only was the blitz coming but then they're, they're. I guess, I guess it was cornerbacks but those protecting the receivers or guarding the receivers were covering them fairly heavily. Although I do remember like there was a pass to Addison I think where he was wide open in the corner of the end zone and it sailed over him. So yeah, some of that stuff was just Sam Darnold because. And that's the other thing. Darnold had a beautiful deep ball and we remember in Week 2 against the Niners he throws that. I think it was like 50 some yard airball to Jefferson. Jefferson takes it for 97 yards as a touchdown. Like he was really good with stuff like that but he did not do well at mid range passes.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: And if you remember the Chicago game in. I can't remember if it was the one in which one was first in Minnesota or in Chicago, but I'm pretty sure it was the one in Minnesota. They shut down like there it looked as though Their goal was to shut down the deep ball and they forced Darnold to throw mid range balls and he had a poor completion percentage in that game. Minnesota still won. Chicago was weak enough offensively and even defensively that, that they beat that game. But I remember watching that game and, and realizing like this is if, like if people are watching how to shut down this offense, Chicago just set a blueprint because you force the mid range throws. Darnold can't do that. He's not very good at that. Which to jump ahead a little bit makes me excited to see a couple things that's something McCarthy's really good at is a mid range ball. And his deep ball is not as bad as people think thought it was either. Training camp has shown he's got a pretty nice deep ball as well.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I was. Well, sorry, bumped my mic.
I was thinking the same thing, just about McCarthy being able. Colin coward had like stupid criticisms of McCarthy because Colin coward doesn't know anything about local teams.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Or. He's also a big Darnold. He's a big Darnold fan. So I think he. Miss.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah, he's been a big Darnold fan, I think since Darnold was drafted. And so he has a lot of stock in Darnold and has to keep that stock high.
But it was, yeah, it was weird because all of the beat guys, local guys were saying like, McCarthy's arm looks great. It looks strong, Colin. And then you turn to Colin on national platforms and he's like, guys, you know, doesn't have a strong arm, whatever. But the thing that McCarthy does have is he has like a zip to those mid range throws. And that is, I mean, you think about it, the Jaguars game last year, I think it was the Jaguars where they, they like drove down the field four times and it all. Was it four times or three times?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: They.
Four times they all.
That guy, I forget his name, but he came in because Reichert was injured and he kicked four field goals.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they didn't necessarily. And then there, there were also a couple interceptions or maybe one interception, but three, I think.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Three intercepts? Well, two.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: I think it was. I think it was two in the red zone. Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Cause it was, it was like the, the. I remember thinking like the Vikings are hot because they kept just driving down the field and then they get in the end zone and Darnold would stall out. And so I think. And. And then also was it that game where Aaron Jones dropped one. But I just remember I think that. I think that was a turning point because o' Connell just didn't trust Aaron Jones. And oftentimes having. Having those running backs be able to, like, pick up short yardage in the red zone is important.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. John Parker. Romo came in for just a few weeks while Reichert was injured, and his first game, he kicks four field goals. They win 12 to 7. I think it was a pretty bad game.
Yeah. Yeah. So I kind of. When I look at that Lions game, I. I tip my cap to the Lions. They brought a scheme that nobody was expecting. You know, how many people. When you have a really injured defense, especially your defensive line, how many people are going to expect you to then blitz and throw the. Throw the whole book. They exposed Darnold.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: And, yeah, I do think there are things that could have made it better. O' Connell could have had a stronger run game. You have some rare things, like Jefferson dropping a pass. The. The Lions shut down. The deeper balls, force Darnold to play mid range, and he's not good at that. But where it. So that's humiliating. They lose 31 to 9. So it just looks like Detroit is dominating. It looks like this is Detroit's year. They're going to go.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: It was. It was so deflating, too, because it was the packers game where Darnold comes back and they, like, put him on the shoulders and there's water bottles getting dumped, and it was so exciting. And everyone was like, oh, this is their Super Bowl. So we're like, no, no, we're. We have a proven record over this season. We're going to go in. And I mean, that's what should have happened as Vikings fans were super pessimistic.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it at that point, like, Darnold had had a really good December. You had. You had that game. If anything, the defense looked a little iffy. You wondered if the defense is as good as it was because they were up, I want to say, three touchdowns. Again, I could be wrong, but I think they were up three touchdowns against the Packers. And then by the end of the game, it was. I. I think they won by two points. So the packers came back and made it close, but.
And Darnold had that game against the Seahawks where he's scrambling and throwing darts into the end zone to Jefferson and Addison. And it. It just looked really good. It looked. It looked like you had a complete package, and then everything just falls apart heading into the Rams game. Again, for context, it was played in Arizona because the fires were going on in la. And so you have the Rams, who should have been, in theory, haggard, not very well prepped because not only was the week disrupted because of the fire, so their practice and preparation wasn't like it maybe would have typically been. But then they, they did the game in a different location and so they have to travel as well. They no longer have the home game. And yet that game from the get go looked like Minnesota was the one with, with dealing with disrupted schedules and, and, and seem to be zero adjustments for what you knew the Rams were going to be bringing in the blitz package. And, and that's where my, like, that game is when. So Teresa's like, me and the boys enjoy watching football and, and most of the season I would either watch it myself or listen to it on my phone. But towards the end when things were looking really good and up, the boys started watching with me. And then those final two games, Theresa decided she's gonna take up knitting.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: No, not the.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: Sit down and watch it with us.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Not the two worst games of the year.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: The two. It was horrible. And especially like, I just remember sitting there and my boys are like speaking death over the situation. They're like in the first quarter, like, oh, the Vikings are going to lose, aren't they? And I'm sitting there like, man, this just does not look anything like I've been talking to the family about now.
And now they, they're watching and it's like, okay, Dad's little.
A little over the top here. What are your. Yeah, I mean, we've, we've already kind of touched on it, but what are, what were your thoughts as you watched the final playoff game then against the Rams?
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Well, I don't know that I had many thoughts while I watched it other than, of course, you know, of course this is how it ends. I remember. Yeah, it's. It's just that feeling of like, as a Vikings fan, it's like, it's like, of course it ends this way. It's like, you know that that's like being dramatic and it's, it's Vikings fans trauma and things that I, that I hate and push against in this fan base.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: And.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: And then you just walk away and you're like, yeah, but it, it's still true.
And it's like, and it's not like a reinforced fat nail biter kind of heartbreaking end. It's just embarrassment. It's just they didn't even show up.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Which is how like, like, you have to understand with like, I know every sports fan, every sports fan says that they have trauma, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it is true. But our type of sports trauma is that we just, you know, embarrass ourselves on national television. That's how our Super Bowls went, a bunch of them. That's how some of our NFC championships went. Obviously, we have some. Some decent NFC championships, but it's just always this, like, stupid way of losing. And so when. When we talk about. It's just like, oh, yeah, of course it's the Vikings. You know, this is how it always ends. Like, it's difficult to describe how just, like, embedded that is into your psyche when you get into the playoffs.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: And then. And then we have the. The Minneapolis miracle, which is an incredible playoff moment. And then we have, what, 28 to seven against the Eagles, who went on to win the Super Bowl. So it's just like, every single time, it's just this.
So that's what I was feeling and thinking. I wasn't really thinking too much about the game itself, but I do remember kind of reflecting on it and listening to people after the season last year. And, yeah, I think it was that Vikings game, especially, where I was much more critical of the coaching staff for some similar reasons that you said. There is, like, this thing. This thing of, like, I know that we had a good December, but I. I also just feel like every single year of Kevin OConnell's tenure has just ended in these kind of pathetic ways. Obviously, his 20, 23 season kind of fizzled out very, very slowly because we didn't even make the playoffs. And we were. We had, like, Kirk Cousins was out, and Kirk Cousins was on a heater. I honestly think we would have hit, like, 11, 12 wins that year if Kirk Cousins had stayed in.
And the year before that, it was more. The defense kind of flopped. So. So there's. There's things. Reasons that you could explain it away, but it just. There is just this feeling of, like, I just want to end on a high note. I know you can't end on a high note in sports, because even if you have an incredible year, unless you win the championship, you're gonna walk away being like, ah, that was a bummer, you know? Cause you're gonna lose, you're gonna get eliminated. But I just want to walk away and be like, yeah, that was hard fought. They fought till the end. The other team was just a better team. Like, I just want to be able to say that the other team was just a better team.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And not have the Giants game.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yeah, the Giants were not a Better team. You can see it from how the two franchises have progressed from that game. That game gave Daniel Jones a massive contract and Daniel Jones is on his third, third team.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: And to be fair, the Rams were the closest contenders to the Eagles last year in, in the playoffs. Like, even compared to the Super Bowl. Like, so the Rams probably were a better team. It didn't feel like they were that much of a better team, to your point.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: But yeah, yeah, and I also. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think, I think, I think there's a, there's a dynamic of walking away from feeling like this year is going to depend a lot more on the coaching. And I say that knowing that we essentially have a rookie quarterback, like, don't.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: You think that's, that's why though, like this, this is kind of the prove it year in my, in my opinion.
Sorry, you were in the middle of the thought. I'm going to throw a question at you here, but I'll let you finish your thought.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know that I had much more to the thought. I think, I think, yeah, I, I there. It's, it's just statistically unlikely that a first year starter, you know, will go to a, go to a Super bowl. And I, I would think we, you know, in order for me to be like, feel like progress was made, we would have to at least win, you know, a playoff game.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: And I think that that's doable when it matters. Yeah.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause, yeah, like it's, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of like the criticisms of Tomlinson who's, you know, always had a winning season. You know, he's been coaching for 20 plus years or whatever it is. And if I was a Steelers fan, I would be, I would feel so frustrated because I would feel like I'm in this like endless loop of he's an incredible coach, but, but then they don't win when it matters and I just don't want to be in that loop. And I feel like after. What is it? Is this the fifth year, Fourth year with Kevin o'.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Connell. He's heading into his fourth.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. With Kevin o', Connell, a fourth year of great, you know, great regular season and then a flop in the playoffs. Even if there's all these reasons we could point to, it would, it would feel kind of sad.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. No, I, I, I am like last year I was a big fan of o' Connell and very much thought he deserved every bit of the coach of the year, and I still do. I am Still a big fan of Kevin o' Connell and Brian Flores, I think they are, when it's all said and done will be reflected back on of the best head coach and assistant coach duos and coordinators of their time. Kevin o' Connell has won a Super bowl as a coordinator. He's done wonders with backup or mediocre QBs. But I do very much feel for myself I have a microscope or some heat on Kevin OConnell's Back in the sense that I think this year either this year vindicates as like yes, things, things are progressing well. It's been building for something. He just, you know, in 20 with the Giants, they had a, they had a defense like butter. Like people could just go right down through them and, and score. And then you have super conservative Kirk Cousins who's checking it down when he needs to be getting a first down, you know.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: And then you have Darnold who's KOC has already done wonders but he does get skittish and doesn't know what to do sometimes and Right. We see that well now, now we have the guy KOC drafted. What is that mentorship and relationship going to be like? Are we going to see the confidence and the good decision making and all that that we should expect to see him be able to do in picking out a draft pick? But I guess one question to end on and just to touch again, they've addressed a lot of their holes. The offensive line having a run game, they bring in Jordan Mason and now that's paired with, with Aaron Jones and it sure feels like they're going to do more of a run game as of this morning. They get Adam Thielen to cover for Addison while he's out and then man, what a package to have Jefferson, Addison and Thielen and Naylor as wide receiver plus Hawkinson plus Josh Oliver has been doing fairly well in in as a tight end in training camp. So that offense should look good. But a question I want to throw at you is O' Connell comes from the Shanahan McVeigh kind of tree. And the gist of that west coast offense seems to be to pull up such schemes that the quarterback doesn't have to play off schedule. Every decision, every play is just simple. They come back to the huddle or the sideline feeling like, wow, that was easier than I expected it to be. Like this is just simple, do you think? And again, obviously McVeigh and O' Connell won a Super Bowl. Shanahan has yet to win a Super Bowl. He was offensive coordinator in a Super bowl, gave up a huge, huge lead to the Patriots, where again, if they had run the ball more, they probably win that Super Bowl. So Shanahan has some of his own now. He is a big. With the Niners, he's been pretty big on running the ball. He has McCaffrey. But I guess my question is, is it possible to set up such a good structure for your offense that you don't need a Superman? Because even when you look at the Eagles, part of why they win is they had a, you know, their superman was that defensive line pushing. They also had Barkley, who was so threatening that the Chiefs made it their sole goal to shut him down. And that's really the only thing the Chiefs did in that super bowl was they shut down Barkley. And so is it. I guess my question is, is there something problematic in what seems to be a great scheme for mediocre and QBs who. Who maybe have a hard time breaking onto the scene? Is it actually somewhat problematic in big state games when you need someone to rise to that superman type posture? And I guess then the question is, can McCarthy be that or is there anybody? Obviously, I think Jefferson can be that in some ways, but you can only do so much as a wide receiver.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Restate the question again.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: Is the scheme that seems to be easy for young or. Or struggling QBs, is that part of the problem when it comes to playoff games and big state games when you're going to be seeing a ton of stuff that you didn't see before and you need kind of a Superman even, like, even if that superman is not the qb, but you have such a threat in one area that they just totally try to shut that down, which opens up the play for other things.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Yeah, you cut. You cut out a little bit in some of that question, so I won't make you rephrase it again, but I.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: Think, I mean, I can rephrase it. We could edit it out.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: I do think that there, there is clearly like. Like, I think. I think it comes down to. To rushing for me. Like all of those.
All of those schemes. Like. Like the scheme is clearly good. Like the system is clearly good because Shanahan, McVeigh all have had massive success with it, gone to multiple Super Bowls each.
And o', Connell, you know, is still a little bit to be known. I think lafleur is also from that system. Yeah, I think the Bengal, Zach Taylor, the Bengals coach, was the.
I think it was the predecessor to o' Connell for the Ram Rams. OC he's gone to a Super bowl, lost it. So like, out of, you know, out of all of those guys, multiple Super Bowls, even beating the Chiefs in, the Bengals beating the Chiefs and then, and then McVeigh's the only one. O' Connell are the only one who actually succeeded in winning a Super Bowl. So in some ways, I think, I think the system, the scheme is obviously good and it's obviously like somewhat evergreen because it's, you know, a track record of like 10 plus years or whenever the Falcons went to the super bowl and lost it. Think. I think to me it's like if we can establish a good running game and then combine that with like this incredible defense that we keep hyping it up because I think it deserves hype. Like, I think it's, it's worth it. Um, you know, it improved last year over the year before, and I think it improved. I think it'll improve this year over the year before. So, like, combine those two things with, with maybe an adjustment of like, hopefully just a better running game and a really solid O line. I think, I think they could, they could do something with that. Whether or not this is the year. Like, like there's, there's part of me that's like, oh, all of those factors are only happening this year and I don't know that we should necessarily plan for them because like, next year Flores could be gone and so then maybe the, the defense wouldn't be there. But I, you know, the Eagles, I just think, yeah, the running game for me is the big thing is like the way the Eagles beat the Chiefs was a solid running game and they're tush push.
I don't think that's outside of the realm of possibility of like, who like does feel like the Vikings are mimicking the Eagles somewhat in their roster construction. Not necessarily in that they went out and got Barkley, but that they're really emphasizing the O line. And, and I was thinking about this the other day and now I'm blanking on some of the other comparisons that I had, which is a little bit embarrassing. I can't think of some of the other comparisons I had. Like, it's not, it's not a one for one, but like they, they're very similar teams, I think in the sense that they have just like a really well rounded rosters. And not necessarily saying that. I'm just talking structure. Like, I'm not necessarily saying that they actually run them the same. And so I think, I think, I think of the Vikings as potential of being a sort of hybrid between that sort of McVeigh, Shanahan system and end. Like a sort of Chiefs Eagles.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: Roster construction.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. It definitely seems like o' Connell is. And that's one of the things we saw right away when he lets go of Ed Donahue. Is that his name?
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Donahue, Donatelle?
[00:36:27] Speaker B: I think that Donatelle. I think Donahue is a last name of some people in a town I grew up in. I don't know why that came out. Donatelle, like, he lets go of him, goes and gets Brian Flores, who's been a big. I don't think anybody would undo or redo that decision. And then again, o' Connell making it very clear at the end of the season we need to fix the interior of our line. And then they go out and do that like he and Kwesi seemed to be. And even the fact we were whatsapping about this last night, or was it a couple nights ago? But the fact that Kwesi is willing to move on from draft picks, I don't fully understand. And we don't have to get into this right now. We'll bring this episode to a close. But I don't fully understand the criticism of Kwesi, first of all, because it's actually not that abnormal that only a handful of picks from a year become anything substantial, meaningful for your team. But I also think it's a sign of them being able to recognize early, like, this guy is not a good fit for us. He's not going to be good here. It would be really frustrating if, like, what happens with the Minnesota Twins, you know, those players would go on with other teams and do really well and so forth. But so far we're not seeing that. I mean, the, the Eagles just waved Louis Sign, who was one of our, one of the Vikings first. Was that 22 or 23 when he was a 22, the number one pick.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: And so in order to bring on Sam Howell, so obviously sign is or seen, however you say his name is not turning out to be well. And so I think this leadership, this. What do you call it, administration regime does well at recognizing when they've made mistakes and then they're. They go and address them. And so it's exciting to see how things are going to be. I don't, I don't think they're going to win a Super bowl this year. I, I don't even really want that kind of expectation on McCarthy. I do have high hopes for them. I do want to see them win a playoff game. And we're going to get into all of that and more in our next episode. We're going to go through and we're going to project predict the end of the season record for the Vikings as well as the whole NFC north. And then we're going to go through all of the Week 1 Games and predict the winners and losers of those. So if you enjoy these conversations with us, go ahead, drop your thoughts in the comments below, subscribe to the channel on YouTube or we also have an audio version available. It should be on any place that you can get access to podcasts. Go ahead and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode. But yeah, I'd be curious to hear if you're a Vikings fans, what are things you guys are looking for in the 2025 season?
If you're not a Vikings fan, feel free to share your thoughts. We may or may not be in agreement with them, but that's what makes sports fun is people don't always agree. So join us in the next episode and we'll see where Christopher and I agree or disagree on what the outcome of the season will be.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: Sounds good.
