Minnesota Vikings season preview from Running Aces Casino

Minnesota Vikings season preview from Running Aces Casino

[Music] Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. I just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. All right, we’re live on the Purple Daily YouTube channel and at Running Aces off 35 just on the north edge of the Twin Cities and a bunch of Vikings fans and Purple Daily listeners are hanging out with us here. Thank you guys. Yeah, we got the sports dad, Jud Zilgad. I’m Phil Mackey. We have our mustache producer, Declan Goff, here. And we also have football starting, actual NFL football in less than an hour. So, we’re going to hang out here, talk some Vikings. We have a a live open mic. So, if anyone has any takes, any uh feedback Friday on a Thursday, if you have a write that down prediction, whatever it is, this microphone is We appreciate Running Aces for being our host tonight. Uh this renovation is incredible. This is a 53 foot continuous LED screen with all sorts of sporting events on including us. Yeah. Very frightening to see us that big. I will say this, one of my dream jobs is to be in charge of every TV like that. Yeah. Like I’ve always said this, I should be hired a nighttime job as a television sports consultant because I’ll know where every game is. Like at a bar, like at a sports book, like Yeah. Well, at a bar, I used to think a bar. This would be the big leagues of that job. But this would be the job, right? You’d have to start you off at a smaller sports bar just to make sure you know what you’re doing. I don’t You know what? The rookie ball affiliate of that. See, here’s where you’re missing it. Here’s where you’re missing it. I’d come in right away. Yeah. I’d come in right away and I’d be calling shots about what to put on. You got to have like you got to be aware of your time zones too, right? You got to go east coast, Midwest games, sprinkle those in and then as soon as the West Coast game start, you got to start those. There’s nothing worse than a bar that doesn’t know or a sports book that doesn’t know. I’ve been to Vegas and found faulty sports books. Yeah. I mean, this is this is very well organized here. You’ve got the the main football game here that’s going to start soon. You’ve got the there’s like the kind of the racing, you know, cuz we’re live horse racing out here. Harness racing. A given. Uh and then you I think there was some tennis cuz there’s not like a ton of football on tonight. I told you it was probably 10 years ago and my wife and I were out in Denver and we ventured out kind of toward I don’t know we went out west by like Red Rocks Amphitheater and there was a couple little small bars as you’re driving through and we got hungry and it was a Sunday I think it was a Vikings by week and we went to a sports bar on the fringes of Denver that had labels on every TV that said here at noon or whatever time it would be not noon out there for like this game is going to be on this TV at this time and then after that game is over it’s going to be this game and there was somebody literally in charge of changing those channels. Highly organized operation. That’s awesome. That’s exactly how it it and when the game ends, bang. Yeah. You got to be on the next game. I loved uh when I was in Hawaii for the honeymoon watching the Vikings beat the Falcons last year and the 8 a.m. kickoff and then the 300 p.m. Sunday night football game starting Hawaiian time. So then by 7:00 your football is done and you still have a few hours left like in your evening. Oh, it was great. Then do you find yourself craving football then at like 7? I don’t feel like it’s too early. No, because because I just cuz it’s 8:00 a.m. So you wake up and it’s you’re in paradise. So it’s not like a problem waking up early and you just you start your day and I I loved it. I I was all What if you drink too much on Saturday night? Well, that would be a problem. Okay. Or you could just drink earlier and then go to bed at like 9 or 8 a.m. I the West Coast when you were in Seattle, I think you had the ideal start times. It was Yeah. 10:00 a.m. So the noon kickoffs were 10:00 a.m. Yeah. 8. I don’t think I And then the 1:00 p.m. was the late window. And then 5:30um 5:30. Yeah. That would be kind of nice. And you’re kind of done by 9. That’s true. But anyway. Yeah. And we have an injury report, by the way. So yeah, there’s one thing to talk about off this, too. There is kind of I don’t know. I feel kind of I’ll explain it. Ah, sports dad’s got this. Sports dad’s got this. So, yeah, the Vikings. So, today is the first day of the season, including training camp, where they have to tell you what the injuries are and then and then designate did they practice, did they not, were they limited in practice? And then they’ll have one tomorrow and then one on Saturday and Saturday they’ll make the declarations like doubtful, questionable, etc. Right. Correct. So, uh, this one, we’ll start with Christian Derasaw, I think is the headline on this, did not practice today, right? Xavier Scott, who’s the third running back, ankle, didn’t practice. That’s okay. Harrison Smith, illness, didn’t practice. Yeah, that’s a person. And then Elijah Williams, who was a Mr. Mano candidate there. Hamstring didn’t practice. Jaylen Naylor, hand full participant. Andrew Vaninkle, it’s a neck injury, we found out. Oh. Oh, I don’t like that. But it’s full participant. That’s good. But Dean’s right. Hate to hear Nekerback I do not like at all. My years of experience in the medical world of football. I don’t like neck. What’s funny is he had he had the uh Liz Frank issue before coming to the Vikings. Right. So it was a which is like in your foot toe heel foot problem. So now we have a neck problem with him. What the hell happened? Yeah. But he but but he was a full participant. Well, he played football and uh got hurt. How nervous should we be that Christian Darasaw did not practice? All right, so here’s my guess. I’m worried. Okay, first of all, it’s a wonky schedule. So, they actually practiced on Wednesday, but they didn’t have to have an injury report. And according to according to everyone, okay, Christian Darasaw took all the snaps. And so then today, see, and this is pretty consistent with training camp. I don’t think they were going to have him run through two consecutive days of full practices. That’s You’re not making me less nervous about his availability at what I’m saying. Well, first of all, this at all. Okay. Well, first of all, he can’t practice backtoback days with 5 days to go until the first game. First of all, it’s not a given. He he will play, but second of all, I think that this is their their ramp up attempt with him. The other thing is I can safely tell you from things that I heard in training camp that Kevin Oonnell not above playing some games as well with the Bears as far as who’s going to play. Now, now I’m not saying he’s driving this, but I’m saying I don’t think he minds the fact that the Bears right now sitting at their Bears table are having the same discussion that we are, which is is he going to play? Um, Okonnell has been pretty obsessed, as far as I could tell, with Jaylen Johnson’s status for the Bears. Okay. Like like a month ago or 3 weeks ago, he was trying to find out if Jaylen Johnson was going to play. And the defensive back with a calf/g groin issue. Is that all one connected injury? Are those two separate? It says calf/g groin. He was limited in practice. So apparently his whole lower body is just in peril right now. And evidently the Bears uh hadn’t given out much information about that and Okonnell was like miffed because he was trying to find out. But anyway, long story short, I’m not surprised Daras did not practice. To me, the most important thing is how much does he practice on Saturday? Cuz if I’m not mistaken, they’ve got sort of a weird day off on Friday. So now they’re going to practice on Saturday. If he goes through the entire practice on Saturday, my guess is he my guess is he is listed as questionable no matter what. And but I think he plays if he practices in full on Saturday. But in terms of this being like a mind game with the Bears, no. The Are you saying that Kevin Oonnell is trying to get the Bears to spend like five extra hours preparing for Justin school to be the starting left? I’m saying it’s a byproduct of the ramp up. I think that they were going to have uh Darasaw practice in full on Wednesday, take Thursday off because to play his position, you don’t need to go through I I mean, we’re now in game week and those practices work on certain things, but Christian Darasaw has done this before. Uh I don’t think Okonnell minds the fact though that the Bears are going to be like, I wonder if Christian Darasaw will play or not. It’s just all games. But at the end of the day, I think Darasaw, unless there’s a setback, I think he plays. So, and so Saturday will be the last practice. Correct. Correct. So, but doesn’t he have to be at least a limited participant? Like, if he’s a no practice and he officially Yeah. He’s officially out. Well, he would be you can you can not practice all week and still play. Yeah. But, um, it would be a red flag if he didn’t pra like I don’t think he’s going to not practice and then play. I’m going with That’s why that’s why it’s a red flag to me that he didn’t practice like this at I’m going with wait till Saturday. My guess is he is I think we eliminated probable because it was so stupid from the injury report. Okay. So now it’s questionable, doubtful or out. And so we wait probable is no longer a designation. It’s been out for like four years. They got that about four or five years because the assumption is yeah, no belief you’re going to play. So So my guess is he’s questionable. Um but I also think they’ve been very, how can I use a sports term word? intentional about how they’ve done things with Darasaw. I think this is more of the intentionality that Kevin Oonnell put easy. We’re very intentional with the Vikings. Okay. Intentionality. It is funny they like had probable for so long cuz I think it pro was like well then what are we even doing correct is it’s if I said I’m probable something to my wife. She like just tell me you’re in or you’re out. Cuz if I say questionable this is fine. Like we don’t we don’t know. We don’t know which one. It is 100% a curb situation. Can you go out on Friday? Probable. Probable. Yeah, you should. It should You should have to designate like an injury designation for social events, right? Yeah. The a the family Thanksgiving gathering. Doubtful to probable. Um somewhere between questionable. I might stay home. Yeah. Um how do you I I’ve seen this this there’s a nugget kind of floating around. Not even nugget. It’s a fact that’s been floating around that uh like Bears fans love to latch on to this that offenses over the past couple years Yeah. have scored like 120ome points in four games off of Brian Flores’s defense. Y do you put any stock into that with Ben Johnson new team versus I mean it’s it’s his system, but it’s a little different when it’s the Lions running your system versus the Bears. How much stock do you put into this narrative that I’ve seen a lot the last two days? Ben Johnson owns Brian Flores. Well, first of all, I think it’s really an interesting discussion because I also think we need to talk about the time of the season that Brian Flores faces teams. So, there’s a reason why I think in week 18 of last season and then in the first playoff game against the Rams, those teams had success. Yeah. And it’s because you’ve watched so much film. And to go back to a conversation that I think we actually had during another unplugged uh in the springtime, you know, Shawn McVey, part of the reason why the Rams lost that last game of the regular season was McVey blew it off and said, “We’re going to spend two weeks preparing for the Vikings.” So Ben Johnson in his first game as Chicago coach in the first game when there’s going to be unscouted looks left and right. I think that mitigates the ability of him to say, “I know what Brian Flores is going to do.” Here’s another thing though that no one’s talking about that I think is incredibly important. Sing it. Ben Johnson has never been a head coach for a National Football League game in his life. Yeah. There’s a lot of logistical things that that are just Okay. uh timeout management, game flow, all all the different things you could train wreck in the last four minutes of a half, right? If you decide, believe it, I’m going to go talk to Caleb Williams right now on the bench and turn your back. And I’ve seen this done and it’s a terrible idea. Turn your back to the action. Mhm. No one is coaching the team at that point. The plane is flying itself. It’s true. But I mean, I’ve seen like you can go back there with a tablet and you can talk to him, but you are you are essentially no longer having a head coach. Yeah. Yeah. And I don’t know if this goes for Ben Johnson, but our our buddy Warren Sharp, he came on with us uh earlier this summer to talk about the Viking season last year. What are things that maybe you should be looking for this year? So, the Vikings defense last season allowed up opening drive scores in just three of 17 games, which was the second best figure in the NFL. That defense helped the Vikings to a 26 and4 record when made favorites under KOC, which was number one in the NFL. Wow. Conversely, the Bears offense last year scored on just two of 17 opening drives, which was the worst mark and worst efficiency in the entire NFL. Plus, the Bears allowed 4.9 sacks per turnovers per game last year. Meanwhile, the Vikings averaged 4.8 sacks per takeaway. So, like a fast start. I think I think we’re gonna see it probably pretty right away if if the Vikings are able to sack Caleb Williams or if the opposite obviously if if the Bears march down with ease. I think Phil’s question is right that Ben Johnson probably does have a little bit of Brian Flores’s number. Yeah, maybe. I I I just think it’s uh I think there’s so many things here and question marks on both sides that I don’t know because you can’t you can’t apply in some ways, right? I mean, Jared Goff, who Phil has been on the Goff bandwagon forever now. That’s a great name. I I’m always ahead of the curve on things. People People laugh when you’re not. People laugh and Except when you’re not and then you’re not. But anyway, Jared Goff has turned into a really good effective I mean, that guy came in to this stadium. The Vikings took a lead. The Vikings looked early in that game against Detroit here like they were going to run away with that game and the Lions sort of in golf in particular calm things down, right? So, I don’t know. Could the Bears come out hot and score a touchdown and it’s not going to be a disaster? Absolutely. I think there’s also a real question here about Caleb Williams. You can sort of hold against him some of the stuff that we know and JJ McCarthy what we don’t know. And I think in some ways you might have a game, at least in this case, where you’re literally hoping that the guy or or you want your guy to manage the game the best, right? Like manage the game the best. Don’t don’t screw it up the best. Is that another way to phrase that? And you’re going to have to make some throws, but you know, at the end of the day, if you go into Chicago and and I think we talked about this on PD this morning, you run the bleep out of the ball, you complete a few big passes and you win, take your pick, 20 21 to 17. We’re not going to get on the show and be like, well, I’ll tell you what, we expected the uh the greatest show on turf. Yeah, that’s the thing. I mean, it’s like defense, people in national media, especially has lost sight of the plot. It is flashy that Caleb Williams and JJ McCarthy are playing against each other in week one with Ben Johnson. So, it’s it’s this clash of young quarterbacks, two top 10 draft picks, offensive masterminds, and that’s the thing that everyone’s talking about. And there are a lot of people now, I mean, Get Up spent a segment this morning on that game. It is an ESPN game, but at no point other than maybe a passing mention did they touch on the real reason why, like the number one reason why the Vikings could win the division or get to 11 or 12 wins and make noise, it’s the defense. And uh I just feel like first year system, first year head coach, first game head coach against a quarterback that was awful trying to play on schedule last year and took the most sacks in the league. Y I’ll take Brian Flores’s fully formed defense with two new interior pass rushers over whatever the Bears are going to try and do on Monday night. Yep. I agree completely. And I also think that that We had a close one there on the the harness race right there. Oh, we did. Yeah. Look at that 3/4 track split too, man. 129.1. What would the Raz score be for the Look at that. Well, those horses have big time Raz. Yeah, I’m not getting near that horse. Raz and RZ. That’s right. I forgot that Declan’s deathly afraid of horses here. Scare the bleep out. You know what, Dean? It’d be nice if you would go out there and get on a horse. What if What if we had not on the horse, but what if we had you just in one of the harnesses kind of behind the horse? I think I am more interested in that harness than I am riding the horse. I mean, you’re going to get you’re going to get mud kicked up today probably. You know what? No, because those back legs are going to still kill me. I I No. Well, and here’s the thing, too. Off center. That guy is good. So, he makes it look simple. Easy. Yeah, I would be. If you got on there, my guess is you tumble right off the bat. Yep. Yep. No offense. I just think No, that’s what would happen. I don’t want that that to happen to me. Anyway, it’s Vikings defense. So, Vikings defense. So, to go back to that, I’m with you first of all, and again, this is where I’m curious, too. Like, we’re going to get our first look at at an interior and offensive, too, but that’s completely revamped that’s going to have depth now, right? Like if I was to go through the defense and say, “Okay, what am I confident in and what might scare me a little bit?” The defensive line I’m confident in and I’m excited. The linebackers, I actually am excited. I I think Eric Wilson is going to play a sneaky role on passing downs. I think he’s going to play. He’s a great special teams player, but if you look at his statistics or his advanced analytics against the pass, he’s pretty good. And of course, Pace is not. So, I be would not be surprised there. And like the only thing that really I guess scares me a little bit is or scares me is the cornerbacks. Now if Harrison Smith doesn’t play and I would say he’s tracking not to play, uh it’s going to be interesting because you’re going to get Matelis I think playing a deep safety. You’re going to get obviously my guy Theo Jackson and then does Jay So here’s the question. Jay Ward fill the Matelis role or does Jay Ward fill the Harrison Smith role? And it might not be ideal, but again, if you dial up the pressure, that’s going to cause Caleb some problems. Yeah. Uh, we’re going to make this mic live here. I want uh Jason Harmon from Before I Die, Twitter Vikings Superstar over here. I want to throw because you’re going to be at the game on Monday. So, we have a few questions for uh for our guy Jason. Anybody else who wants to jump here, too. Did you guys know Jason named his first son case? And that’s not coincidence, right? Kirk. Yeah, that wasn’t a coincidence. Correct. As I It is live show appearance. I couldn’t even find the mic. So, well, now you know where it is and how to use it. You can find Jason on Before I Die with Leighton who’s in the house here somewhere. I saw Leon in a booth by I think he’s at the tables currently. Or he’s at the tables right now. Yeah, Leighton’s a regular at running aces which is Yeah, he was explain my first time he was explaining it to me and apparently he’s an expert. So, yeah. By the way, give it up for Jason. He moved from Arizona to live in Minnesota. He’s such a big Vikings fan. That’s right. That is literally the reason why your family moved here by the way. Pretty much. Yeah. So, uh, did you name your child after Case Keenum? Yes. So, I had made I had made a guarantee. It’s important. This is important context. So, this was 2022. How’d your wife take this? Uh, a magical season and the Vikings actually flew us out for the playoff game that year. And I made a promise on the news that if we won the Super Bowl, which was in Arizona, if you guys remember, that I would name my son either Kirk or Justin. Kind of in hindsight, I’m glad my son is not named Kirk. Um, for many reasons. It doesn’t It doesn’t age as well as we lost. And my wife’s like, “Hey, no Vikings names.” And she came up with the name Casey. And I was like, “Hey, can we nickname him Case?” She’s like, “Yeah.” And I was like, “Bingo.” And she didn’t realize why. And then she remembered when I took her to the museum in Egan cuz she wasn’t a Vikings fan till she met me the Case Kingdom story and it was too late for her then it was already you kind of you kind of like tricked her almost. She tricked herself and I just went with it. So So she fell right into the trap is what happened. She set the trap and fell into it all on her own. Okay. If the Vikings if the Vikings win the Super Bowl this year and you have a second child. We already have a second child. Keep up, Phil. Oh, sorry. You have two children? Yes. Okay. If you have a third If you have a third child’s name, Grace, which is I know it rhymes, but we picked that out before we had a son. It’s a family name. So, now we’re just kind of stuck with it. Just both kids having basically the same name almost. So, are there any players on the team uh that you would consider naming your future third child after? Is my question. In case my wife is watching, no. Um, for purposes of my own, I think AVG might might maybe not Van Ginkle would be a terrible first name, but Andrew just keep Harmon. Yeah, I don’t know, man. Good. It could be it could be like part of a middle name, too, you know, like Gangster or something. Van Ginkkel, Harmon. I don’t know if that has the right flow to it, but you could but you couldn’t go wrong. If they win a Super Bowl, though, you could not go wrong with JJ cuz you got Justin Jefferson and JJ McCarthy. And my wife’s name starts with a J as well. Together we are all Yeah. It’s for you. We’re doing this for you. Uh, have you been to Soldier Field before? I have not. I’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ve heard some people say it’s basically Philly and some people say it’s like the nicest stadium like as far as welcoming crowd they’ve been to. I’ve heard half and half, but I’m expecting I have a lot of good friends in the Bears community from Twitter. So, I’m expecting them to be super welcoming. I’m going to the tailgate, so that’ll be nice. Okay. So, I don’t know what half told you that it’s a welcoming community, but they lied. Um, especially for a Monday night game cuz they they’ll be in that parking lot by 1:00 and they will be liquored up. So, um, yeah, you might want to I’ve always advised people to wear Viking gear sparingly for games like in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Yorks. Yeah. Like even Jets, Jets fans, are they in New York? Why would you have to be uh Giants? Jets fans who go. Giants I feel like Giants fans get kind of aggro. Jets fans are brut Jets fans who go are brutal. They’re they’re like taking out their own 40 years of angst on other head. Yeah. It doesn’t matter what what the source of angst is. But but I’ve always Yeah. I would advise I’m not saying Chicago. I’m not saying it’s a complete freeforall, but first of all, when it starts with a prime time game, you got to be careful. Yeah. Cuz the prime time people been drinking since the morning. It’s Yeah. And Bears fans are I would call them aggressive. Head on a swivel is what Jud is telling me, Jason. Head on a swivel. Well, I mean, I’m just telling you, may maybe tone down the Vikings gear just a little bit. You know what that No, it’s it’s before I die, not before I go to Soldierfield safely. So, we’re going to go in. As long as we get a win, we’re good. We We don’t want an unfortunate incident to cause your demise before the 2025 or 2026 Super Bowl. We uh before we uh say goodbye, we did make our predictions officially this week for we made the whole like all 14 playoff teams. Uh Vikings record and how far do you think they they go this season? Well, it’s funny cuz we did this on our Tuesday episode and I also had 11 and six. Yeah, I think they’re going to start 5-0. I think that middle of the season or mainly October gauntlet’s going to be pretty rough. Uh but I have no reason to believe they can’t make it to the Super Bowl. Now, it depends on who they match up against. I’ve seen a few people project the Ravens. I think that Ravens game, is that late October or November? It’s uh Yeah, it’s it’s part of that they hit they hit that by week after they start 5 and0 and then they it’s like seven brutal games out of eight and then the Bears are the other one in there. I think that is the toughest matchup personnel wise the Vikings will have this year. I think having Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry is the top duo to go against such an effective defensive line and pass rush and linebacker core. Yeah, I think whoever, if that is the Super Bowl matchup, I think whoever wins the regular season game loses in the Super Bowl. So, you want them to get beat by the Ravens in the regular season. Correct. However, I believe that it’s still true. When the Vikings play the Ravens, if they beat the Ravens, it’s guaranteed so far they make the NFC Championship game in minimum. So, we might have to we might have to beat the Ravens and just get as far as we can and see what happens. That’s the crazy thing about so it it started with a listener sent the AFC North information of whenever they play the AFC North which was 98 2001 and then every four years 05 09 you either if you’re the Vikings fire the coach or go to the NFC Championship game with no in between. But but further soothing suggests if you if you hone in on the Ravens result specifically when they beat the Ravens it’s NFC Championship game. when they lose. That’s incredible. The Raven The Ravens game in particular though is exactly why you made the majority of the moves that you made in March and the trade for Mason was made for a game just like that. Cuz if you can’t stop the Ravens with what you’ve got now, that’s an issue. This is like when uh when uh Greg Maddox purposefully gave up a home run to Jeff Bagwell in a meaningless regular season game just so when he faces him again in the Super Bowl, he knows to throw a completely different pitch and you’re not going to be able to expect cuz I’m going to throw him 3 months later a similar count, similar situation and he’s going to think it’s the same pitch. But I’ve got him. Bang. That’s the Super Bowl. I love it. Mhm. Yeah. I got high hopes. I’m a big believer in McCarthy. I think Monday, everybody on Twitter, I’m sure you guys may have experienced this, either, you know, doom or gloom one way or the other. I think it’s going to be a pretty pedestrian stat line. I’m guessing 210 a touchdown. If we can get out with no turnovers, I think we’re good. But don’t expect too much. Unless Jaylen Johnson’s out, then things might get kind of spicy. Who knows? But I I expect maybe 200 yards. The most the most important thing in that stat line is going to have a lot less to do with McCarthy and a lot more to do with Okonnell. It’s going to pass rate 100%. That’s the That’s RPR. If you if he starts if Okonnell goes away from that at all, we got a problem. Like there’s a discussion. Yeah. I think Jordan Mason could score. I think he’ll score the first rushing TD of the season. I think Aaron Jones, you saw multiple times last year, he’d have these breakaway uh breakaway runs and get brought down right before the end zone. Then he couldn’t pound it in. I think that’s also specifically why you got Jordan Mason finish the job in the red zone. And I think we’re going to see that Monday night, you know, but I I I the line of thinking have a run and what they did at Michigan with JJ McCarthy that he’s never been unleashed and at some point you’ll get there. I also think there’s so that’s like the the angel on Kevin Oonnell’s shoulder saying, “Hey, okay, just manage the game, lean into the running game, the defense, ball control, etc. Limit chances for mistakes.” But the devil on his shoulder, which has won out play calling wise for three years, even with like backup quarterbacks with Sam Darnold, though they ran the ball more kind of Sam Darnold still threw a ton of passes last year. Y I think once he gets into his play calling bag after the first like 15 scripted plays, I think there’s a chance he could if if if things start well, you could see like 35 passes from JJ McCarthy. Can I add in a bold prediction? Cuz you actually just inspired me. I don’t know, Dex, if it’s too late to add this to write this down or even how that would work, but we can make it official. I’m going to add in JJ McCarthy’s first touchdown pass will be 40 plus yards on play action. Yeah. Listen, so my prediction was cuz Jud said, “Hey, we’re run the ball the first play, whatever.” I think the first play out of the gate is going to be a play action 20 yards in the air or more cuz the whole world thinks he’s a handoff merchant of they’re going to ease him in, insulate him, they’re going to pound the run. If that’s what the world thinks, then what should you do on your first play? Aaron out. Fake fake handoff to Aaron Jones. Drop back. Find uh maybe Adam Thielen sitting 25 yards down the field. How about TJ Hawin? TJ Hawkins. If if this gets to be too much, there will be a conversation. I’ll tell you that right now. You’re already bracing for this. If he throws more than four passes, Jud’s going to be like, damn it. Judg substack.com today. I did a piece on this exact thing. And you did not add this much to the run to have the coach get this is a this is a huge thing. I we can talk about McCarthy and that’s great but it’s an enormous thing that he embraces the run as well. I’m not saying don’t don’t pass. I’ll give you the the parallel in my opinion the ideal first two games 2009 Favre he he came in he was he was not he he was boring. Now they had Peterson. You don’t have Peterson, but you do have a good run game. You’ve got an interior offensive line that hasn’t been this good in forever. Right. Maybe since exactly. And so I think if you get he said at the time and Brett I think was us, but we said he’s managing the game as Okonnell said at his I think season opening press conference. If you can’t manage a game in this league, you’re not going to win. Imagine how much big victory those first two games in09 would have been if they would have cut Brett Favre loose. The games didn’t have to be that. I don’t remember what the final scores second game that year. I know Cleveland at Detroit. It was at Cleveland at Detroit. San Francisco here and then we were off. Yeah, that s the ending to that San Francisco game is what kind of unleashed everything for Favre and set things on course cuz it it kind of look you’re watching that game play out and thinking maybe he I don’t know he’s not cooked but maybe and then all of a sudden Favre rolls out to his right. Greg Lewis gets the ball around there and just throws a missile. Yeah, him like kind of circling the ball around a defender. That’s because his hands were are huge. Just palming that football. Co Pepper would have fumbled that ball into his little tiny hands. Yeah, my hands, man, are too small. Uh Jason, thanks for coming up, man. Before I die, we will be on Tuesday. We’ll be recording while I’m in Chicago still hopefully happy. Um don’t want to be miserable. Um, but we will be recording Tuesday and that episode will release later that day. So for your Vikings follow-up, turn into these guys, turn into Before I Die and we’ll see you guys this season. Jason Harman North family. Yeah, Before I Die weekly on the Purple Daily YouTube and podcast feeds, wherever you find Purple Daily. Uh, and we’re I think we already did the national anthem. So like football is going to start soon. We’re going to we’re still hang out here for another 15 20 minutes uh with Purple Unplugged. I want to I want to bring some Vikings fear-mongering to you from ESPN.com. Okay. And you guys tell me if Bill Barnwwell brings up as objectively as we can look at this. Okay. Is Bill on to something here or is he on something with a reality check or on something? So he says for 2025 out of the playoffs. He says they missed the playoffs. Vikings fans are sick of hearing about their record in one-score games. But when you go from 9 and0 in 2022 to 4-8 in 23 and then back to 8-1 in one-score games last year, it’s going to be a significant part of the conversation. Uh he goes on to he he goes on to make two main points that the Vikings record in one-score games is not sustainable and it’s going to come back crashing to earth and I think it was a plus 12 turnover margin is also not sustainable that they will not be able to force as many turnovers and prevent as many turnovers from happening and those those statistical mathematical reasons are why the Vikings are going to miss the playoffs. Is he on to something or on something? That’s a fun new segment by the way. We should do that. I do like that. I do like that. Uh so I agree that it’s probably very unlikely for them to be undefeated or you know go eight and one again in the one score game. That that is true. It’s it’s like almost impossible to replicate that or assume that you can replicate that. But going four and eight that is a problem. So basically could you go I don’t know five and four? Can you not be like completely awful in those one-sore games? Yeah, I think I think there’s going to be regression. It’s it’s just more of can you not completely fall off the table? Can you can you go to the mean, not just regress all the way to the opposite end of what is the mean? I I’d love to ask Bill Barno, what is if they’re going to regress to the mean, what is the mean? Here’s the thing I don’t understand. Like, I get the theory behind this, but one thing I don’t get is, and Chip Scoggin and I talked about this today on Purple Access, this league is built on one score games. Mhm. So like one score games are happening all the time. Most of the spreads are one score spread because it’s what the league wants. And by the way, it it can be great fun. I guess when you’re saying, well, they’re they’re going to regress. Okay, then then you like what’s your reasoning why? If they’re a good team, like it feels very arbitrary to just say year to year to year. And look, 2000, if you watched the Vikings in 2023, one of the reasons why they regressed was early on fumble problems and then Kirk got hurt. So yeah, I feel like this is um I feel like this is if I’m doing if if I’m assigned if sports dad’s assigned to write about all 32 teams and I’m told, you know, you find your trends, right? I’m going to say, well, that team that team won nine one score games. They’re not going to do that again. Is that all 32 teams.judsubstack.com? Well, I would probably do that. Yes. Yes. And then I’d have all these subscribers. It’d be great. I’d be rich. I could retire. Actually, I don’t want to retire. But anyway, yeah, I find this I find this to be a very convenient stat and I get where it’s coming from, but I also don’t think it delves into the reality of this league is built on one score games and the good teams win one score games, right? Okay, so to suggest that one score game record is just blowing in the wind of luck and boy, you’re so fortunate to have been over the two seasons where they won 13 and 14 games. I think it was a combined 17-1 in one score games. That that just as easily could have been 1 and 17 and you got lucky. No, like you said, almost every spread across the NFL, pregame spreads of like what how many points is each team favored by is a single score spread, two points, two and a half, six and a half points, right? So, if you are a well coached, talented team and you are good up front and you have a good pass rush, those are things that lead to being good in close games. Correct. And also, Brian Flores’s defense, there is a history of forcing a ton of turnovers cuz you’re creating chaos and pressure and quarterbacks making quicker decisions than they want to, which leads to mistakes. So, like could this is the problem with this line of thinking. The Vikings won 14 games last year in part because maybe some of these areas were a little overinflated and and and they’re going to come back to Earth and people are doing this with the Lions, too, who won 15 games. They’re saying, “Okay, for these reasons, the Vikings going to be a 14- win team or the Lions going to be a 15 win.” Sure. And they shaving like six wins off the total three, right? Boy, maybe this comes back to earth a little bit. And that comes back to Earth. Okay. maybe instead of 14 wins, it’s 11, right? They’re skipping past 12, 11, 10 down to seven or eight wins and missing the playoffs. And that’s my problem with the thinking. I also think that there is a discussion to be had that this division is going to be so tough as well. Like I do think there’s going to be not the Bears because I’m not convinced on them at all, but I think among the Lions, the Packers and the Vikings. I think one of those teams is going to miss the playoffs because this division there are going to be teams that get their butts kicked on a weekly basis, not on the scoreboard, but physically. And someone’s going to have injuries. Like I I’m not buying that all three teams with schedules as tough as they are are just going to make the playoffs. If you want to tell me that’s why you think the Vikings are going to miss the playoffs, I’ll listen to it. But do I think that they’re going to come out again a fumbling? And by the way, that’s on you. a fumbling buffoon penalty-filled like team? No, I don’t. So, like I don’t know. It just there are some things about trying to analyze the numbers and trends that make a lot of sense to me, but there’s some things where I just feel like you’ve got 32 teams on your plate and you got to come up with a reason why. And I mean, well, in in Bill’s defense for us, like we cover one team heavily and that’s a lot. Yeah. And also, and we did we did this exercise on the show today. You’re you’re you’re picking seven playoff teams in an NFC with a lot of competitive teams. Yep. With the Eagles who won the Super Bowl, the Lions who have come close to winning a Super Bowl for a couple years. The Packers who are good and added Micah Parsons. Someone has to win the NFC South. Someone’s going to win the NFC West. And there’s like the Seahawks, right? So, there’s like four or five teams that aren’t going to make the playoffs. And so you’re Oh, well JJ McCarthy has never done this before, so just Well, that’s easy to write them off. Yes. Or they were 8-1 in one score game. So is, let me flip the question this way. Is there if they don’t make the playoffs, all right, and let’s leave some room for that just I know that the audience doesn’t want to hear that, but let’s say they don’t make the playoffs. Uh, is there any nonplayoff making scenario that would leave you guys feeling good about the season and into next season? Or would it just be an abject failure period if the Vikings missed the playoffs? It’d be a huge disappointment and and it’s I I you don’t want to like crutch well they had injuries but like I think in your line of questioning here you’re kind of saying they’re they they’re mostly healthy you know there might have been an injury near the end of the year but like if you can’t it on an injury you can’t blame it on an injury what went wrong and it was probably which not make you feel good which would make you feel the worst and Max Bromer comes in to replace him at some point but if he play well and wins three games and you have a Brock party situation good yeah but But to play devil’s advocate or to go on the Barnwell side, it’s because yeah, you you didn’t close out games you probably should have won. And if most games are already one scorecore games, and again back to Warren Sharp, like head coaches that have had cover rates against the spread for every active head coach, Kevin Oonnell has covered the spread at a higher rate than Andy Reid, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll, John Harbaugh, Shawn McVey, Nick Serriani, uh Kyle Shanahan, like he he is covering the spread in the majority of his games, too. So that I know what Barnwwell is saying, but again my bigger question is if it goes down, what does that average mean? And answer your question, I think it’s m if McCarthy just looks like crap. That would make me feel pretty pretty bad. I think if they miss the playoffs, it is a massive failure. And I think it would start in their building with being upset about it. Like you don’t do what they did in March and miss the playoffs and like accept that. It’d be one thing if they had said JJ McCarthy is going to start and we are a team that we’re good but we’re not going to make a lot of additions because our our year our window starts in 2026 which by the way a year ago we talked about as being a possibility but no unless you get guys hurt left and right which happens to one or two teams per year if not more. But if you are healthy and you lose close games and let’s assume then that you’re also uh you’re not only not winning the turnover battle, you’re losing it and you have penalty problems. That is a massive disappointment. I I mean the Vikings have set themselves up that uh if they’re not a playoff team, at least inside the state, I think there’s going to be a lot of people who think it’s a a big failure. But that’s what’s funny is agreed. I agree. It’s It’s hard to find a scenario where they could they could miss the playoffs, feel like, yeah, they missed the playoffs, but everything’s everything’s great going into next year, but that’s the local feeling. Nationally, it’s almost expected that they’re it’s going to be a fight for them to get to the playoffs. This is this is one of the widest gaps going into a Viking season of what local fans feel. And there’s always a gap, right? You always feel like the team you follow and are a fan of is like two or three wins better than the national projection in most cases. But this is one of the biggest I think gaps and I keep going back to listen man a year ago this team had a 6 and a half or under mark and Sam Darnold was about to be the starting quarterback for 17 games. They won 14 games and we’re playing for the one seed in week 18. Yeah. So I I’m sorry if I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around six fewer wins, injuries not included in 2025. The only I think the only real disappointment outside the playoffs of course because they’re 0 and2 with Kevin as a coach, but I think the only regular season disappointment you know Connell’s first three years was the Kirk healthy start in 2023. Yeah, cuz that team played some dumb football. A and I mean they lost fumbles. The the great uh clip that Netflix had in quarterback I think it was of Okonnell yelling at the team from outside the locker room. They picked it up. It was really good. But he was not happy. But yeah, but I mean because once Kirk got hurt, that team was playing well. Once he got got hurt, it’s not an excuse, but go out and get Josh Dobs, who Okonnell worked with and it was okay, but it was a bit of a lost cause and a bit of a run there. So yeah, the history to me what Okonnell is, is he 37 and 17, I think, or 34 and 17 in the regular season. So any expectation that like McCarthy is going to just be a complete bomb coach blows it I think is a bit of a stretch. Did you see so the Eagles had their like Super Bowl celebration there and did the team come out for it? I think the team did not come out for Yeah. Nicki said we’re not coming out. I Okay. In some ways I like all right we’re on to the next season. It’s us dude allow for like 10 minutes of once in our lives. We’re not guaranteed to ever win this once in our lives. Let’s watch the come down and take a deep breath. Football people, there is no joy after the champagne been consumed the day after the Super Bowl. You these co these coaches love the mind games. I guarantee you he’s telling his team, “Everybody wants to celebrate us. We haven’t done acted like he didn’t know that there was going to be a ceremony to the Yeah, he is. But I I’ll tell you what, man. Cross These guys get paranoid. It is incredible. Like sensible people start to get like that. And it is I can’t remember the last football coach maybe leasure. God bless him because he’s the greatest guy of all time who didn’t just get goofy. Yeah. He was kind of just a normal human being and and maybe that was part of the reason why he sort of failed as a head coach and never got you almost need someone who’s a little psychotic. That’s what Exactly. to to lead a room of 53 guys. Exactly. Yeah. Um, so well gentlemen, this football game is about to kick off here from running aces. The football game and so we’re going to unplugged and we’re going to college game on here, huh? Georgia Tech and Colorado. I didn’t even know that was playing. Is that live right now? Oh, and Twins White Sox off for another hour. That’s That’s Oh, they’re going to start. Oh, that’s too How many are going to be in that stadium? We have more people in here right now than Target Field. Yeah. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. And all sensible. Anyone that goes to the Twins game tonight has lost all comments. And either some running aces swag to give away. We have four. I don’t know how we want to do this. Um yeah, I mean if you I simply if you are interested in some running aces swag us after the show here and we got some running aces swag. So thank you all for hanging out ates tonight. runacases.com for thank you the unplugged YouTube audience for our crew over here too Tim and Ross Brendle yeah Jud Zulgad the sports dad Phil Mackey Declan Goff here may we never be on TV this big again I’m staring myself we just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die thank you ball. [Applause]

Minnesota Vikings season preview from Running Aces Casino; Vikings injury updates as we head towards Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, starting with left tackle Christian Darrisaw; Does Ben Johnson have the Vikings number; Plus we take questions from Vikings fans and more on Purple Daily.

https://skornorth.com/DONATE — Support the students and staff at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis

Subscribe to our channel for more Vikings content every day of the week!

https://www.youtube.com/@FlagrantHowls — Subscribe to our new YouTube channel for Flagrant Howls!

Support our sponsors:

https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-skor-north — Use promocode SKOR at Underdog Fantasy for a deposit match

https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PURPLE10 — Use our code to get 10% off tickets! (Max $20) Restrictions Apply

https://renaissancefest.com/ — Get your tickets to the Minnesota Renaissance Fest!

https://www.standardheating.com/ — Contact Standard Heating & Air for HVAC services

https://gamedaymenshealth.com/minnetonka-mn/purpledaily/ — Find your maximal self!

https://www.parkdental.com/ — Schedule your next cleaning at Park Dental

https://minnesotarusco.com/ — Let Minnesota Rusco handle your next home remodel

https://www.roku.com/ — Elevate your television viewing with a Roku TV

https://FederatedInsurance.com — Where it’s Our Business to Protect Yours!

https://www.blackstackbrewing.com/ — Check out BlackStack Brewing in St. Paul.

https://OmahaSteaks.com — to get 50% off sitewide during their Red-Hot Sale Event. And use Promo Code PURPLE at checkout for an extra $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. See site for details. A big thanks to our partner, Omaha Steaks!

WHERE TO FIND US:

Purple Daily on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/purple-daily-a-minnesota-vikings-podcast/id923544550

Purple Daily on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gP5J0KGDpXRDMoUeGistO

The SKOR North app on Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/skor-north-mn-sports/id529143109

The SKOR North app on Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.espn.tc&hl=en_US&gl=US

Follow Judd on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/jzulgad
Follow Mackey on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/philmackey
Follow Mackey on Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/philmackey
Follow SKOR North on Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/SKORNorth

#MinnesotaVikings #NFL