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Vikings Discussion & Random Thoughts
Happy Monday Tuesday, everyone! I took yesterday off since kiddo was out of school. The weather was mostly crappy, so we didn’t do much other than play some Minecraft and Fortnite. We also ate well, we grilled tenderloins for dinner, and we made homemade monster cookies (gluten-free, of course), it was a good weekend. My wife is in Minneapolis getting some recall work done on her vehicle, so prayers for her safety probably wouldn’t hurt. She’s going to try to stick to the suburbs, but that’s no guarantee anymore.
It was a somewhat wild weekend of football. I thought the Bills would topple the Broncos, and I thought Darnold would turn into a pumpkin, so I missed on both of those. I felt bad for Stroud, kid looked defeated out there against that ferocious defense, but it was fun to see Danielle Hunter have success (and Darnold). Something else I thought was funny was that Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram were both playing in that game, and both are having decent seasons after looking horrible while playing for the Vikings. Sheesh. I’m guessing the Super Bowl is going to be a rematch of Patriots-Seahawks, but you never know what’ll happen.
Vikings and NFL News
Hey, cool! Former Viking and Gopher, Ben Williams, has been recognized for making a positive impact, from Vikings.com. This is really cool, we got a chance to meet Ben, he’s a really cool guy, and I’m not shocked that he’s being recognized for something positive. He’s actually slimmed down a lot since the pic below was taken, but he’s a BIG fella.
Vikings.com looks at receivers and tight ends in their 2025 Vikings Position Recap.
From Yahoo Sports, Brian Flores got a second interview for the Steelers’ HC position. Dammit, I’m happy for him, but I don’t want to see him leave the Vikings.
The Indiana Hoosiers held off Miami to win the College Football Championship, per NFL.com.
The Packers will be looking for a new defensive coordinator, as the Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley to be their new head coach.
Media Selection
Great conversation here between Stephen Barteltt and John Kiriakou.
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Would be a good fit – that town is crazy about defense. Offense is a distant after thought.
But if they are looking to actually mix things up and have CHANGE, then that doesnt make sense and he’s not a good fit. They still have no QB or offensive identity. Which makes me think this is their Rooney rule check box and they go with someone else.
Fun while it lasted, I guess…
The first order of business at the moment for the Vikings is the salary cap. Cutting Hockenson post June 1, would save us $16M but we’re $49M in the hole, using the Over The Cap (OTC) figures. It’s gonna take a whole lot of shuffling to get us enough cap space to operate. Jefferson counts almost $39M against the cap, Jonathan Allen counts almost $24M, Brian O’Neill counts just over $23M, while Darrisaw, Hargrave and Greenard are just over $21M each. That’s about $150M against the cap for 6 guys. If we kept Hock, it’s another $21M.
KAM and his accountants need to sharpen their pencils.
Normal business, will be handled with minimal drama.
Yeah, just get rid of the top 6 contracts, and we’re good.
Guys who will be cut for performance, age, or injury reasons:
Hargrave, Jones, Kelly, that probably gets them w/in 10 mil or so
VG, O’neill can be pretty easily restructured
Question is, what do you do with hock and Greenard, I like both but not sure either are worth what they’ll be paid with their injury histories, and Hock not really being involved in the offense, they’re both probably candidates for restructures and maybe cut or traded for Hock
Greenard is definitely at risk. $18.8M savings for a post 1 June cut. Dump him and Hock and that’s over $34M in savings.
If Flores leaves, Kwesi should see if he can get McDermott to come here and be the DC.
McDermott will probably get one of the other open HC jobs unless he wants to take a year off.
Yea, he’s been a HC too long. Not going to take a coordinator job.
Well, that’s good…
Don’t worry, he still has plenty of time to get arrested for something before the 26 season starts.
Tigers don’t change their stripes.
I wonder if I can bet on that somewhere.
There should be an over/under on Addison getting arrested before August.
Jump to 7:25
JJ stats with actual context instead of raw numbers
All QB’s play hurt. I recall this same mental masturbation/cherrypicking with Ponder. Classic case of if you take out the bad plays we got the next Joe Montana.
I can’t wait for us to sign him to a $50 mil/per with all money guaranteed after a mediocre 2026 campaign.
McFragile™ (trademark mine) or if you prefer McPonder™ (trademark just_rob)
Mr. Positivity as always. Who hurt you MT? You were so much more enjoyable to discuss with back in the DN days.
Nobody here I assure you.
It was the dumbasses calling the shots in Minnesota that had no viable option for a backup QB, sailed the McCarthy ship right into the teeth of the storm with no preliminary work in the harbor, and then just had to win out the last five meaningless games to save their jobs.
Yeah, in hindsight It appears there were too many cooks in the kitchen when it came to decisions on the QB room and it eventually lead to a lot of “Fuck it, we ball” moves that seemed reactionary which is not how you run things. IMO if lessons aren’t learned from this past shit show of a season, then heads will start rolling. That being said, I still approve with the plan on paper the team had, draft young QB, fix cap, build around that, its just our drafts have been abysmal and our big spend on FA also failed. That’s all hindsight but I like the idea.
I want JJ to do well, and still am rooting for him.
However, this is pure cherry picking stats to make him look good.
Happens all the time here with Kirko as well.
JJ has not consistently played well, even when healthy. At times he looks ok.
He did improve this year.
Maybe next season he sucks less. However, if he gets injured again (Likely) it does not matter.
I want results vs stats.
And thats fair, as do I. He mentions in the video these are cherry picked stats, to preface anything. I agree, if he cant stay healthy, it doesn’t matter. Thor says that as well. Its more so that he deserves a little more time, not alot, a little.
I saw this:
“Caleb Williams is the first quarterback in Chicago Bears’ history to surpass 4,000 passing yards in a season (reg season + playoffs)”.
Took 19 games, but he did it…
To put this in context, Cousins achieved that stat 7 out of 8 seasons from 2015 to 2022, with all but one season being 16 games (2022 was 17).
Well, hang the banner for fingernails magoo
Yeah… the Caleb hype continues.
Bears fans: “We (pretty much…kinda…sorta) had a 4,000-yard passer, everyone!”
And both have the same number of play off wins
Edit: can down vote for facts all you want, thems the facts regardless
The Bears haven’t had good QB play since Sid Luckman and have never developed one. Can see why their fans are a little excited.
It is the Bears after all.
There is the fact that they play at Soldier Field and once the winds of November come slashin’ it’s hard to pass the ball.
Stans when you mention raw QB stats and iron man awards. KirkDefenseSyndrome is a hell of a thing to have. Perhaps DMT could help.
Wasn’t that the “context” line used to sort of put down Williams stats?
It’s the doughnut not the hole.
Don’t worry about the three Amigos hating on Cousins… they have KDS so bad that they go crazy whenever something remotely positive about Cousins is posted. Even when it’s a comment used as context as you said.
How about this one… Cousins is 2 passing TD’s behind John Elway for 14th all time, and Elway played in 50 more games than Cousins at this point.
Kirk still sucks.
You have issues Surly, but I still like you. Grin.
History and previous Dem Presidents do not matter to current crop of Woke/Lib/Dims. Only their current feelings matter including ‘Orange Man Bad’.
I think he’s the next Steelers HC
Steelers fans better hope he is over McCarthy. Woof.
He might be their next coach. But they are giving about 6 candidates a 2nd interview, some pretty strong candidates like McCarthy and probably Harbaugh.
But there seems to be more and more HC openings every day, each one is another chance for BFlo if he is willing to lower his standards.
Harbaugh just had his introductory news conference as the HC for the giants, so he’s out, McCarthy doesn’t really for what they look for historically, which is younger guy even if unproven
Opps,
I meant the ex-Bills coach McDermott
Yeah, he’d be a decent candidate as well there
Carson Beck looks like he cooks meth in his mom’s trailer.
Who doesn’t?
He’s a punk also, sore loser. He went right to the tunnel after losing. Mendoza was looking for him to shake hands, but he left the field.
Miami QB? The one who graduated two years ago and wasn’t even taking any classes at Miami??
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/miamis-carson-beck-turns-heads-stunning-admission-about-attending-classes-college-athlete
He was too busy helping his GF make movies.
That article makes him out to be a great future NFL QB.
He might be. The NCAA was ok with him so he was just going by the rules that are in place.
Men are from Mars… women are from Venus…
All the other genders came from Uranus.
I single-handedly managed the successful upgrade and deployment of a new environmental illumination system with zero cost overruns, and zero safety incidents.
Changed the light bulb in one of the living room lamps.
‘zero cost overruns, and zero safety incidents’
No wonder you no longer work for the government.
Laughing…
They could not have written a better script. In fact if they had presented this one in Hollywood it would have been rejected as too unbelievable.
Interested to see what Mendoza does in the NFL.
Laughing…
If a girl is pretty enough she doesn’t need any brains.
Since pretty girls are all psycho because they are given everything their entire lives if they had to use their brains then you would end up with a ‘Smart Psycho’, which would be even worser.
Another one of those MT anecdotes. We were in the market for a used luxury sedan, had never even sat in one before, about 8 years back. While vacationing in Hilton Head, we decided to take a drive one day to nearby Lexus and Mercedes dealers to view their respective flagship sedans. Of course we were dressed the part of vacationers in shorts and flip flops.
Stopped at Mercedes first, the starched salesman came out as we were peering at the window sticker on an S-class. Told him we were vacationing (and thus very unlikely to purchase on the spot), looking at sedans, wondered if he could give us any info on an S-class. His simple answer was “they’re the best”. He then pointed out we were driving a Ford Focus which was our rental. Asked if he could give us any more information on reliability, comfort, road noise, and he just gave us a grin and said if you have any serious questions I’ll be inside. Full disclosure we appreciated the honesty, that he had better things to do at the fairly quiet middle of the day.
Drove a half mile to the Lexus dealer and started looking at an LS. Same scenario, only this salesman opened the car, popped the hood. “They’re the best”. Answered a couple of questions, pointed out that I knew more about the chassis then he did, and said really the only way to know is to take it for a drive, want me to grab the keys. We declined to drive it as we weren’t going to buy that car.
Three months later we did a trade of my M3 at the Fargo Culvers for a used LS460 coming out of the twin cities. First time I drove a Lexus sedan was on the interstate coming home. Still have that car.
We own a Mercedes Sprinter conversion van. I got a call one day from the regional representative (there was an issue with the local MB dealer in Billings forgetting to tighten the transmission pan bolts when they changed the fluid), and she asked if I would do a quick survey on MB quality and service. I retold that story and said I would never own a MB vehicle if it wasn’t part of an RV conversion, simply because that salesman in SC was so unpleasant.
I was wondering what type of car Ms Gone Fishing drove that she had to all the way into Murderapolis to get recall work done. Bismarck is a decent sized city, figure it must be some exotic, foreign type.
IIRC he posted pics once of an Acura.
Could be, Acura shows ‘no results’ when searching for a shop near 58504.
I would have asked the MB salesman where the closest BMW dealership was. I had a finance manager, at a local car dealership, tell the salesman we were working with that we would never be able to afford a new vehicle. It took me years to even go into the dealership. I am now friends with most of the salesmen and only buy vehicles from them. The finance manager is no longer there.
Eric Wilson had a great season but is now a free agent.
The Vikings obviously want him back and one would think Eric would want to come back as well.
But what if BFlo moves on? Does Eric want to go with him?? I am pretty sure Coach Flores and his new team would love to have him there. Can the Vikings offer him enough Moola to convince him to stay. I certainly hope we can keep them both.
https://thevikingage.com/minnesota-vikings-may-have-no-control-over-re-signing-free-agent-they-can-ill-afford-to-lose
QB draft class in 2027 is going to be sweet. I say let Wilson go, our offense is going to be horribad…maybe we can get a top 5 draft pick?
I am starting to see the wisdom of MT philosophy.
Next season will suck. Go ahead and roll out McFragile until he gets hurt again.
Take the 5 win season, and start over.
Vikings will still get it wrong though….
At least we have a chance with a high pick in 2027 to get it right. Finishing 9-8 outside the playoffs gives us squat.
I would happily cheer the team on to 0-17 if it gets us Dante Moore (Oregon).
Meh. I am in full on doom mode. If they got Dante Moore, he would die in the airplane crash on the way to the twin cities for the press conference.
So, can Mendoza fix the Raiders?
I think the Vikings will end up with Rodgers. He will be the “veteran” QB. It will end sadly and probably prematurely when our OL gets Rodgers broken in two.
However…watching Rodgers cuss out guys in KOC’s warm and fuzzy environment could be fun for awhile.
Laughing…
Think Rogers stays with Steelers.
But Cousins will get cut by Falcons and Vikings will pick him up on a cheap contract.
That is possible, too.
FTFY
That would be up to our future HOF GM on price.
That aside, our GM better get the QB situation figured out though.
LoL on Future HOF GM.
I expect doom next season.
Rogers is and should retire. He has no business being on an NFL roster anymore. The Steelers offense was all passing behind, at or 5 yards from the LOS, he had the lowest DOT of any QB in the NFL this year. No, no, no. Enough with this madness.
I agree. Rodgers should have retired awhile ago.
He would be put in a timeout and have to stand in the corner and face the wall,.
I think they’ll bring in Jimmy G as “competition”/mentor plus he already knows…
Exciting game last night. I thought for a minute that the Hoosiers would Viking it up and lose at the last second, but their defense held up. Good for them. It kind of gives me hope that some of the second (or third) tier B1G teams can maybe actually do something one of these days.
I’m guessing it will be LA and NE in the superb owl.
I pulling for Darnold. Rams vs. Seahawks should be a pretty good game.
I don’t know what to think about NE and Denver. Probably NE but Payton is crafty.
I don’t know if Denver can overcome losing Nix. Although after watching their game this weekend, I don’t buy into the Bo Nix hype. He looked fairly pedestrian.
He makes a few solid plays a game, mostly he just doesn’t screw up very much. Don’t know if his backup is capable of that, Vegas doesn’t seem to thing so.
Nix has talent, but is still working on consistency. He throws several balls that he shouldn’t, and that is what he needs to work on. He has the arm talent and brain to be a really solid NFL QB. He has to rein in some of that youthful exuberance though.
Stidham isn’t great. He does have some arm talent though. He can make throws if he has time.
It is today.
It is always today.
Yeah until today becomes tomorrow and yesterday at the same time
Good morning, SKOL!
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Congrats to Indiana, nice win.
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