Happy Thorsday, everyone, and welcome to Skoloholics, your home for Minnesota Vikings Discussion! Every day you can join us for the latest Minnesota Vikings news, lots of Minnesota Vikings talk, also NFL news and updates, and most anything else you may have on your mind. At Skoloholics, the real action is in the comments, so if you haven’t checked out the comments section yet, sign up and join the conversation.
Vikings Conversation & Random Thoughts
We emptied a property yesterday in Jamestown, a two story house plus a basement. There was a lot of stuff in there, we probably moved 40 cubic yards of junk out to the dumpster, and most of it was hauled up or down stairs to get it out of the house. Add in the fact that it was well below zero, and it made for a hard day of work. I haven’t been that tired since back in my road construction days. It felt good, but man, I was tired and sore. I guess I’m not 20 anymore. Hey, at least I don’t have to hit the gym. Also, some breaking news, it’s supposed to get above zero in Bismarck today for the first time in many days, which has felt like weeks. I’m ready, man.
The talking heads are all convinced that the Vikings are going to place the franchise tag on Sam Darnold. As I said yesterday, I really don’t see this happening unless the Vikings are either A) unsure of J.J. McCarthy’s recovery, or B) planning to tag and trade Darnold. The Vikings’ GM and head coach have both expressed their desire to build a team around a young quarterback on a rookie deal. That plan is pretty senseless if you have a $40 million backup quarterback on the roster. I guess we’ll see, but I don’t see them putting the franchise tag on Darnold, or anyone else this year. I’ve been wrong before, though.
Vikings News
Vikings.com has a Vikings 2025 Free Agency Tracker where you can keep up with all the team’s latest signings and roster moves. They also have a Vikings 2025 Mock Draft Tracker version 3.0. My opinion is that mock drafts are mostly a joke and a waste of time, but I’ll keep that opinion to myself. Oh, whoops.
Former Viking punter Chris Kluwe protests as poorly as he punted. Kluwe was arrested after a MAGA plaque protest after a California city council meeting, and he referred to MAGA as a Nazi movement, per Fox Snooze News. That’s a good way to win people to your side, refer to the other side as Nazis.
NFL News
Fox Sports reported that the NFL salary cap is to rise significantly, and is projected to be between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. I guess inflation is still a problem?
CBS Sports has a free agency primer for all 32 NFL teams.
The Eagles have promoted Kevin Patullo to be their new offensive coordinator, per NFL.com. Patullo was the team’s passing game coordinator and assistant head coach.
From NFL.com, Lions DC Kelvin Sheppard says he wants a nasty, tenacious D in Detroit. Uhhhh, I’m not sure they can be much dirtier than they’ve been.
Media Selection
Here’s a Missing 411 episode about Ovando MT, something close to home. This series is put together by former detective David Paulides who investigates disappearances in our National Parks, he has some really interesting stuff. Enjoy!
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New thread for you. If one of you moderator full test time to update it, that would be great. I posted it from my phone.
Puxatawny Phil was right for a change.
It’s freezin out here…
It’s 0° this morning, absolutely beautiful. Supposed to hit 30 today. I’ll be out in a T-shirt.
Welcome to Friday
Crap… Canada wins…
Well it is only Hockey so it is not that important.
McJesus with the wrister.
Unless they become the 51st state.
Then USA won….
2-2 at end of regulation. Overtime!
Tied 2-2 at the end of the second… come on guys! Finish!!!
USA just scored in the second period to go up 2-1. Let’s go USA!!!
Team 51st State scores 1st in Boston.
Think they did that last time as well, didn’t change the outcome though.
#nojinx
It is so ridiculous that the liberals so confused the issue of gender, that our Government had to issue official guidance and definitions on what a man and a woman are.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeremyfrankel/2025/02/20/hhs-guidance-on-defining-biological-truths-n2652533
the sad thing is why people can’t just accept that gender (sex) is not the same thing as ‘sexuality”. Although for the majority of us, it is
Kash Patel confirmed as FBI Director.
Maybe he can clean that place out and make it great again.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kash-patel-seante-confirmation-vote
The Democrats in the FBI went after Trump relentlessly to try and prosecute him, discredit him, and destroy him. Crossfire Hurricane was a completely illegal effort to take Trump down politically. Comey wanted to wear a wire into the White House, to entrap the President. The Dem’s position that Patel would politicize the Bureau for Trump, is so galling it makes me want to vomit.
So speculation has it the Vikings are going to wait until after the draft to extend KAM.
“From what I [understand], they [are] taking the [approach of], ‘Hey, we need to see another draft class here and kind of get a better gauge or a better pulse on what this thing is from your side of the house, because we know what it is from the coach side of the house, and we like that.'”
https://thevikingage.com/minnesota-vikings-foolish-if-kwesi-adofo-mensah-report-true
I think KAM has drafted 23 players in his first three drafts, and a lot of those guys have played significant snaps for us, and are still on the roster. The Cine pick was a disaster, especially since we could have had Kyle Hamilton. I haven’t invested any energy though it looking at how well his draft picks have performed overall.
I think he got ‘played’ the first draft.
If that due to ‘slicks scouts’ or ‘new to the job’ the important thing is that ‘he got better’.
i still chuckle at a few people on the DN who try to say we didn’t need both Cine OR Hamilton, because we have been set at safety for a while now….
yeah…WE DON’T NEED AN ALL PRO SAFETY D’ok
I mean, we are kind of set at safety for the last couple years. Where would he have played?
guard??
All over the field, like he does for Baltimore. He lines up as a linebacker and a Safety, and is huge impact player. He makes tackles all over the place, and offensive coordinators have to game plan for him. How many safeties in the league do you think have that level of affect on OC’s?
Sounds like Hitman who has been on the team the last couple of years, or Metellus. I know he’s a good player, but I don’t think he would have made a big difference to this team over the last couple of years. Would it be nice to have him going forward? Absolutely, but you can’t draft for 3 years from now.
That’s reasonable. The Wilfs have learned from their mistakes. They extended Childress way too early, and kept Spielman far too long. KAM hasn’t proven himself yet, but he hasn’t completely screwed the pooch either. Wait and see seems to be the best approach.
So it this next draft going to make that much difference?
One where we currently have a few picks.
Where we don’t know how the players turn out for a few years.
I know Free Agency will play big as well.
I’m thinking it may be more of a “how much and for how long” than “will they or won’t they”.
For the democrats blaming Trump for the aviation incidents in his first 30 days (which is ridiculous in the extreme) they fail to mention there were 57 aviation incidents in Biden’s first 30 days in office, compared to 35 in Trump’s first 30 days.
“The facts, while admittedly interesting, are ultimately irrelevant to the situation”
I’ve seen that stat but I’ve also seen this.
Not sure about the conflicting reports.
But this year is one of the LOWEST on record dating back decades.
If you consider the lower numbers of flights due to covid for Biden’s 1st year, it is surprising how much better it has been this year.
Don’t bring up relevant facts. That is being a Nazi.
The Nazi were big on facts??
That is a fact that I didn’t know.
Come on SoCal. If you disagree with me you are a Nazi. Haven’t you learned anything from the current culture?
The fact is I didn’t disagree with you.
I asked a question about Nazi facts thereby exercising my Weaponized Free Speech.
*Maybe that was my mistake, I will report to re-education camp.
Duh, didn’t you know the holocaust occurred because of a weaponization of free speech? Too much free speech literally caused the Holocaust.
Thank you for this data DE. It is valuable. Let’s look at it from the perspective of Trump’s first 30 days, which began on 20 January. 62 events in January, works out to exactly two per day. I don’t know how many of the 62 occurred on Trump’s watch, but in February, we are seeing a reduction of incidents, with 1.3 incidents per day.
January 21st.
Inauguration date.
Makes sense.
First 20 days of January in an election year is previous president.
Math probably checks out.
Yep. I think the four years of Congress not properly budgeting the FAA so they could have the required number of air traffic controllers on-hand, coupled with DEI hiring requirements that eliminated people applying for these jobs, is what the American public recognizes as what’s really going on here.
Pretty crazy news for those of you keep up on the quantum computing development world.
But I thought Kirko was the only good guy in the NFL???????
You mean other NFL players are good husbands/dads and do things for others?
Who knew?
Many dozens of players are doing great things for their community. Dalvin Cook was particularly awesome in this regard.
I’d say hundreds.
Yeah, I’d agree with that.
John Sullivan, Chad Greenway, Kyle Rudolph, Stefon Diggs, many many many players
Yep. Great people giving back to the community.
What are you guys doing over there?
I really hate this state. I hate the cold weather, I hate the politics, I hate the very high taxes.
That is how I felt about Commifornia, except for the weather part.
Wish I could rec this 50 times.
Move to PA. great hunting and fishing, reasonable taxes, we have winter, but mild compared to MN. Only downside is we are close to NJ and NY.
I am thinking a golf retirement community in either AZ or FL.
Wife has other ideas, so I will die in this frozen wasteland.
My wife is the opposite, would leave tomorrow if we could.
“You’ll own nothing…and you’ll love it.”
Iowa has made a proposal to buy the nine counties on the southern Minnesota border. I really wish this would happen.
Not that I have a dog in the fight, but I would love to see some changes in states. No big changes have happened in a long time. It would just make interesting history.
Communist governments don’t like to give up territory.
They also don’t like to feed their citizens.
But, they are all red counties, communists do like to maintain their power.
The National deficit is currently about $840B a year. That’s how much more money the Government spends, than it takes in. I honestly believe DOGE can eliminate that, and get us to not only a balanced budget, but a position where we are able to begin actually paying down the debt.
Once they get into the Pentagon and Social Security the amount of savings will jump up by quite a bit.
Of course the howling by the Deep State will get that much louder as well.
How dare you push for taking Social Security payments away from all of those 150 year old people. Do you know what they have been through?
Well Vampires don’t need as much, how much do coffins and blood cost after all?
I thought garlic was used to keep Vampires away?
Why would they need garlic??
LOL.
Good point.
Pretty sad that we’re willing to pay dead people, but we won’t take care of our veterans.
Hell, its flat out ridiculous that we pay NON citizens and other people of the world before we pay our veterans.
Total disgrace.
Not to mention people in Red States still trying to recovery from Hurricanes and flooding.
And once that is done, they need to enact a balanced budget act, so this can never happen again.
The balanced budget act of 1997 was an omnibus legislative package enacted by the United States Congress, using the budget reconciliation process, designed to balance the federal budget by 2002. This act was enacted during Bill Clinton’s second term as president.
It worked, and garnered budget surpluses, but politicians failed to stick to it after 2002.
U.S. vs Canada tonight in Hockey. I have a feeling it will be another fight fest, and I hope we come out on top.
The players invited DJT to the game. He stated that he couldn’t attend and will call them before the game.
I could just see the fake news claiming that he ‘incited violence’ if he was actually at the game.
If Trump solved world hunger, the fake news would complain he was making everyone fat.
But Bobby Jr is making everyone healthy again.
Yeah and now poor kids won’t be able to have birthday parties because he wants food stamps to not be good for junk food.
The parents will just use cash for junk food the way they now use their cash for booze and cigarettes.
I think his heart is in the right place, I hope he can be effective.
LOL, yup.
I actually fell like it’s going to be a regular hockey game. I hope the US wins, but I would not be surprised to see the snow Mexicans come out on top.
Is it wrong to call them Icebacks?
Bobby Hull had CTE.
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/43918445/hall-famer-bobby-hull-had-cte-researchers-find?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4bb945d78644b3a943f21
Time to stop all checking and fights in hockey.
If they stopped checking and fights in hockey wouldn’t it just be soccer on ice?
Pretty much
@but its for the safety of humans@
If it is a choice between soccer/hockey/golf and no sports I would take no sports.
Everyone should stay indoors and never interact physically with another human being. Plus all indoor spaces should be one level so no one can fall down the stairs. We should stop using hard plastic, wood or any metals to make furniture or appliances so no one can hit their head on a hard surface. I’m sure I’m missing something, but I’m sure when I become Benevolent Potentate, I will be able to make this a better, safer world.
I really like Vance as Vice President. Compare him to Kamala. He’s represented our country and our principles on the world stage, very adroitly, and very assertively, with great clarity. He is such a strong voice for our Nation. Kamala is a joke.
What would happen if this was said by Fox News about Obama or Biden????
These people are running “against the grain” when it comes to the will of the people. The majority of Americans share Trump’s views, and support his agenda. The more these folks rant and rave, the more the American public looks at THEM as the actual problem in the country.
Hey, we said the same thing in different ways! (Yours was more eloquent.)
Lets hope so.
The more they do this as the better/safer America gets, the faster Americans are going to have their eyes opened to their lies and rhetoric. The last four years already did that in a big way, which is why he won the election handily.
Report came out that the electorate is majority Republican for the first time in a long time.
I agree with your take.
We will see if that is the actual case in 2026.
If I was talking to anyone who holds the position Chris Matthews holds, I would say this to them:
Trump’s agenda is founded in working to make the country safer, more secure, and more prosperous. He has already secured the border, making us more secure and safer, he is rounding up illegal aliens and deporting them, also making us more safe, and secure. He is eliminating waste, fraud and abuse from federal Agencies and Departments, working to cut the deficit. He has made deals with Saudi Arabia and Japan and others, to bring in over 2 trillion dollars in new business investments, to make us more prosperous. He is working to end the war in Ukraine, and find a way to get the $350 Billion dollars we gave Ukraine to support them back, and also end the war in Gaza. All this in a few weeks. What have the liberals done in the last 20 years to make this country safer, more secure, and more prosperous. Not a thing.
They’ll never spin it that way, even if true. That’s the scary thing I think more people are waking up to these days. They’re questioning why the Democrats are opposing such things, especially after being caught in so many lies the last 6 years +.
People have to say those words to their face, in public, repeatedly, and tell them frankly that we reject their perspectives. Be simple, be direct, and be assertive.
I wish everyone had Vance’s ability to do that.
I think that voice is growing stronger every day.
I can’t believe that people still watch the network news media. It’s like reading the Enquirer.
Exactly.
I haven’t watch TV news for almost a decade now.
Same.
Same. Bullshit and propaganda is all you get from those “news”.
I used to go to CNN every day for US/world news. Once Trump won the first time it was like a switch was turned on and everything was how evil he was. I stopped going because it was so overtly biased.
Then I went to Fox News. Same thing happened when Biden won. I stopped going there.
Now I’m lost and have to scour for news that’s trustworthy. I’ve tried Ground News, which isn’t bad. Mostly I find things passed on from X posts and such.
subscribe to this. You’ll get an email every morning with the world news, no bias.
https://link.join1440.com/click/38682605.385022/aHR0cHM6Ly9qb2luMTQ0MC5jb20vP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9MTQ0MC1zaGFyZSZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1kZC1zaGFyZSZzaGFyZT10cnVlJnVzZXJfaWQ9NjZjNGJiOTQ1ZDc4NjQ0YjNhOTQzZjIx/66c4bb945d78644b3a943f21D41e37402
I’ve been using this for quite a while now, I love it.
I clicked on it. Was Austin Powers and his Swedish pump supposed to come up?
Yes
I agree that they lean right.
But I would say they are far more accurate than anything else on cable.
I would say it is probably over 2 decades for me. I know, I’m a natural leader.
The deficit is this country’s biggest problem. If that isn’t fixed, we’re done. I don’t see how anyone can look at our financial position and not see that it’s a catastrophe. The interest payment on our debt is the country’s third-largest expense. That’s just the interest payment, paying that does nothing to touch the $36+ trillion deficit, and we’re adding to that every year. Bidet added nearly $8 trillion in 4 years.
It needs to be fixed immediately. It may already be too late. Countries are ditching the dollar, and the dollar being the world’s reserve currency is the only thing keeping the country afloat.
I agree GF. Politicians have driven the debt ceiling up, and up, and up, and never cut spending in any serious manner in my 70 years of life. For the first time ever, we have a President who sees the deficit as the greatest threat to the existence of our Nation, and is doing something about it.
Yep.
It will be interesting to see how much debt will be reduced.
I’m not real optimistic, but this might be the last chance to get started on it.
If the admin can get us operating in the black by the end of his term, it will be a win. If he can reduce the national debt even a little, it will be a grand slam.
About 90% of the politicians in Washington should be voted out. Rand Paul and a select few others should stay, but the rest need to go. They’ve all contributed to this mess.
Ah, the Kluwe debate days. What memories. Not good memories, but memories. Also, if you are going to be highly opinionated, you need people skills to encourage others to join your opinion. Calling people Nazis reveals that your people skills are lacking.
You just insulted the entire state run media complex and 48% of America.
nothing wrong with a healthy, fact based discussion. There are a lot of good questions we could discuss about Trump and his approach (and goals). But very few Trump opponents want to have that discussion. Easy to yell “Nazi” or “facist” or “racist”. Then you don’t have to spend too much energy thinking
Yes, rhetoric is all we hear.
Yup, those were the days. One of the major blowups back in the day. That one, the stadium debate, the AD spanking debate, Pete’s list, etc. I loved those blowups.
And all of the discussions were rational and level headed. No one got emotional at all.
My not be a terrible idea to bring him into camp and give another shot.
The fact that he has bounced around the league the last two years probably makes it an unlikely possibility.
I think he could do well in B’Flo’s system, and if he put on 20 pounds of muscle, he should be more durable. His biggest weakness was his size.
Yeah, he got beat a few times, but that was in Donetell’s system, who is to say it was Cam’s fault, altogether. A lot of our DB’s got beat in that crappy defense.
I remember the Kluwe discussion years ago. Was he a hero or an idiot?
Now we have more data on the answer.
Liberals paint themselves as courageous heroes standing up for what’s right. The problem is, they’re so far left, they don’t actually know what’s right.
My vote is firmly on the latter. Kluwe was an idiot, and still is an idiot.
Shitty punter, too.
Yup, that too.
I once thought he was intelligent, but the statements he makes prove otherwise. I don’t mind someone with a different opinion, but the guy is a moron. Demands tolerance while being completely intolerant. I honestly haven’t seen him make an intelligent argument. He’s just a blowhard.
To me, if you really believe in something, you try to sway others. The way this guy talks alienates others & drives people away from what he pretends to believe in.
Good morning, SKOL!
FTP!
Happy Thorsday!
Happy Thursday!
Unstable Loser.
These are all spoon-fed liberal media talking points. Help me understand how people actually believe this stuff. The typical “MAGA” supporter I’ve met wouldn’t know what 3/4 of that stuff even means let alone support it.
At least he dressed up for the occasion.
Maybe he is going for the Bill Belichik look.
Maybe he is going for the
Bill BelichikJohn Fetterman look.Either that or he was gonna knock off a liquor store.
He looks kind of rough. That “social engineering activist” must be a tough life.