Hello everyone, and welcome to the Week 14 Minnesota Vikings postgame roundtable here at Daily Norseman. The Vikes are coming off a surprising shutout win over the Washington Commanders, with J.J. McCarthy looking better than he had before in any full game.
Can the Vikings turn this into a streak? Before we look ahead to that, and next weekend’s matchup with the Cowboys, how about we ask the boys a few questions about the game that just happened this weekend?
Let’s talk to it:
Question 1: On a scale of 1-100, how surprised were you with how Sunday’s game went?
Brandon Warne: I’d say
about a 75. This is obviously not how Washington planned for things to go, but I thought an emotional game with the return of their leader/quarterback would lead to a little more resistance than they showed. It was a good win, all things considered. The team’s draft position is basically tied to how J.J. McCarthy plays from here out, which feels about right.
Christopher Gates: A solid 80, honestly. I picked the Vikings to lose, but I thought there was a chance they could beat the Commanders. I did not expect them to come in and blow their doors off. The Commanders took the Broncos, who would be the #1 seed in the AFC if the season ended today, to overtime in Denver last week and would have won with a better two-point play call in overtime and got Jayden Daniels back this week, so I thought everything was rolling in their favor, particularly with how bad the Vikings looked in Seattle. But, to their credit, the Vikings circled the proverbial wagons and got themselves a victory by simplifying things on offense and putting together their best defensive performance of the season when they needed it the most. Kudos to everyone who got this team ready to play on Sunday afternoon.
Craig Williams: Shocked by the Vikings winning? 20/100. Shocked by the 31-0 final score? 99/100.
Warren Ludford: About 70. I didn’t expect a blowout, but on further review the Commanders were on the road with nothing to play for except maybe maintaining a top draft pick slot.
Sam Buegler: 85. I was expecting it to be a rough game, but for the Vikings to come out on top. For it to be utter domination was quite surprising. We have seen them do this before to bad teams – Bengals – but I didn’t think we would see that kind of performance again.
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Question 2: On a scale of 1-100, how did your perception of J.J. McCarthy change after Sunday?
BW: My heart grew three sizes that day. OK, so I was never The Grinch when it came to JJM, but I was starting to wonder. Still, I felt like a year off, and then prolonged gaps between games meant he was going to be rusty for sure. Was it rust? Is he just bad? Or like most things, is the truth somewhere in the middle? I think he’s going to be a good quarterback in this league, but I think he needs to start processing things from short to deep rather than the other way around. With that, the shorter throws should help him learn to put more touch on the ball. At least this is what I’m hoping.
CG: 1. My perception of McCarthy or “Nine” or whatever we’re calling him this week has been the same all along. It’s way too early to be completely “out” on him at this point, and the sort of offense the team had going on Sunday is the sort of offense they should have been running all season. The routes were significantly shorter, McCarthy was getting the ball out quicker and making better decisions, and the offense was moving the ball on the ground as well. I’m not sure why it took 14 weeks to shift to this style of offense, but this is what we should see for the rest of the season going forward and then, maybe next season, we can move the young quarterback along to something a little more complex.
CW: Perception changed a little, 5%. It’s consistency the team desires and we’ll need to see if for 4 quarters in a competitive game.
WL: 30. It was progress that I hoped would have come sooner, but progress nevertheless. McCarthy made mostly routine throws with good accuracy overall and no interceptions for the first time in his young career. And he didn’t get hurt. But it came against a poor defense with nothing to play for, in favorable game circumstances, and in a simplified, run-heavy offense. Still, he needs to walk before he can run, so to speak, and showing he can play a clean game and move the offense is a step in the right direction.
SB: 40. Seeing that he was able to make improvements over the week, and come in with a good performance. I have been on the side of sticking with him, so this just further helps to reinforce that. He showed that he can be better, and now we need to see some consistency next week.
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Question 3: What do you think about Adam Thielen’s “found my passion for football” comments?
BW: Not worth the paper they’re written on. He caught one ball on Sunday. They put a microphone in front of him. What else was he supposed to say? This is right up there with “I’m just happy to be here.” This will be as forgettable as the Randy Moss tenure with the Titans.
CG: Whatever. Guy should have brought his passion for football with him from Carolina. The Adam Thielen story was a nice one, but he didn’t exactly cover himself with glory on his way out of Minnesota either time he was with the team. He can finish out this season, sign his one-day contract to retire as a Viking, and come back for his Ring of Honor induction in a couple of years. I don’t know if he’ll make the playoffs in Pittsburgh, and at this point I’m not sure if I care, either.
CW: Thielen is irrelevant now. He dropped almost as many passes as he caught this year. He was a really good player for the Vikings in the past.
WL: Adam Thielen can always be counted on to say the “right thing” in his press conferences and has always been a company man in that respect. Of course, it feels better to win and be in the playoff mix, but whether Thielen’s newfound passion translates into fewer drops and consequential play over the last four games of the season in Pittsburgh remains to be seen.
SB: Man. What are you doing? Like, I get the idea of it, but to come back and say that, then have a game where you had one catch for four yards is annoying. It definitely burns some of the goodwill you had left from MN fans and makes all your talk of how excited you were to be back feel a little hollow.
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Question 4: @DAL, @NYG, vs. DET, vs. GB — the Vikings are 5-8 right now; they will finish X-X? (solve for both X)
BW: I think they’ll finish 7-10, then everyone will split. But seriously, I think it’s a win over the Giants and an upset in one, but only one, of the other three. I think they can hang with Dallas. If they do and take care of business against the GMen, the last two weeks could be a lot more fun than they have any business being for a team that’ll almost certainly finish under .500.
CG: 6-11. I didn’t think they would win another game all year, honestly. Now, I think they get a win over the Giants in a couple of weeks and that’s it. I’d really, really love to see them potentially knock Detroit out of the playoff picture and/or keep Green Bay from potentially locking up the #1 seed in the conference, but those hills might be too steep to climb for this team at this point. I’ve never gotten the concept of cheering for your favorite team to lose, to be honest. I’ll be cheering for them to go 4-0 the rest of the way, but I’ll be expecting 1-3.
CW: 7-10, going to predict some fun games and some not so fun games. Dallas, Detroit, and GB will be fighting for their playoff spots.
WL: I’ll go with 7-10. One more win over the Giants would seem to be the worst-case scenario, but there is a possibility that the Vikings finish strong if McCarthy can be a good game manager and the defense continues to play well and produce some turnovers. They could also win out; none of the teams remaining on their schedule are juggernauts this year, but I doubt they will be consistent enough to finish with more than two more wins.
SB: 7-9. I think we will win two games, but I honestly don’t know which two it will be (editor’s note: that would be 7-10). It could be any of them. It wouldn’t shock me if we lose or win out either way; this team has just been so strange and inconsistent, but I can see us splitting the final four.
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Question 5: Besides the Vikings, what’s the most surprising storyline for you as a football fan this season?
BW: Well I was going to go with the Chiefs when I sent this out, but as you’ll see, that’s a pretty popular thought. I guess…..I have to go with the Bears. Yes, it’s probably me coping by pointing out their record in close games and their point differential, but if I had to listen to how fake the Vikings were last year and early in KOC’s tenure, they’ll have to listen to me do the same for the Bears. Still, it’s been a season to remember in Chitown, no matter how they fare the rest of the way.
CG: Gotta go with the fall of the Chiefs. The AFC West will have a new champion for the first time in about a decade, and it really feels like the Mahomes/Reid dynasty is coming to an end or, at the very least, is going to have a significant pause. Of course, now the Patriots are back, and it looks like they’re going to be good for a while again, but none of their players are dating Taylor Swift. I mean, not yet, anyway.
CW: The fall of Kansas City. They don’t look nearly as good as the team that has been to five (and won three) of the last six Super Bowls.
WL: The collapse of the Chiefs and Ravens and kind of the changing of the guard in the AFC to some extent. High-priced quarterbacks are beginning to really cut into the rest of the roster in many cases.
SB: Drake “Drake Maye” Maye. I liked him a lot pre-draft and after last year, but he has taken such a leap this year that I don’t know if anyone saw coming. They have an easy schedule, sure, but the way he has been playing is lights out.
