Morning Joes

After most professional sporting event, participants need and are granted a cooling off period before the media is allowed to enter the locker room and interview them. It’s because emotions are raw and the players need some time to collect themselves before talking to the media/public. Well, following the Vikings lost to the Los Angele Rams in the Wild Card playoff game 27-9 last Monday night, Purple Nation needed a cooling off period before looking forward to next season . . . again. And the writer of this piece counts himself among them.

It could have been different. The Vikings made several marches into the Red Zone, but they came away empty-handed after two failed fourth down conversions that put them behind the 8-ball of the near-best offense in the league. It was still a game early into the third quarter despite the conversion problems (the Vikings 3-for-16 in 3rd- and 4th-down conversions), but the Vikings’ lack of finishing drives caught up with them and the Lions ran away with it.

The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25 on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, and as is their fashion, they turned a dominating performance into a stomach-churning, nail-biting, last-minute win to keep pace with Detroit Lions atop the NFC North division. At 14-2, the Vikings now must beat the Lions next week at Ford Field and they will become the top seed in the NFC and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But it almost didn’t happen.

If (at the season’s start) you didn’t have the Vikings at 13-2 on your wish list when Santa comes calling, it’s okay, nobody did, but we all got it anyway. The Vikings travelled to Seattle and outlasted the Seahawks 30-27 in a hard-fought (sometimes ugly) game on Sunday afternoon. The win keeps the Purple in a tie with the Detroit Lions atop the NFC North Division with two games remaining, and they pulled ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles (who lost to Washington) in the race for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. Let’s go!

There was a white-out in Minnesota on Monday, but it was inside U.S. Bank Stadium rather than out. And it turned into a blowout, as the Vikings hammered the visiting Chicago Bears with a sluggish but ultimately dominating 30-12 performance. It was always pretty, but in the end, the Vikings, newly minted 2024 playoff participants, handled Caleb Williams and the Bears and took care of business pulling into a tie atop the NFC North with the Detroit Lions.

When the clock started ticking for the fourth quarter in Sunday’s Vikings game versus the visiting Atlanta Falcons, Vikings fans were likely nervous as Kirk Cousins, returning to his former home, had pulled his new squad into a 21-21 tie at the end of the third. But the Vikings offense, thanks to the Purple passing game (which had been great all day), put up three scores to run away from Kirko Chainz and his charges on the way to a Vikings 42-21 victory. The win, their sixth straight, put the Vikings at 11-2 on the season, still in second place in the NFC North Division but on the cusp of clinching a playoff berth.

The Minnesota Vikings, the league’s newest Cardiac Kids, beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-22 in the last minute at U.S. Bank Stadium. In a game in which the Vikings did not lead until those last minutes, the defense made the plays to secure the win versus a decent Cardinals squad. Now at 10-2 and remaining tied for the third-best record in the league—the Vikings are moving closer to a coveted postseason spot.

The Minnesota Vikings went to weird and wacky Solider Field and eked out a quirky 30-27 victory over the Chicago Bears to improve to 9-2. It was pretty at times and ugly late, but that’s the way of the Vikings in Chicago. They now have five wins in a row at Soldier Field and are coming off a 3-0 road trip, which is a nice bit of momentum for this squad embarking on a three-game homestand to position themselves for the playoffs. 

On Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings beat the hapless Titans in Tennessee 23-13. They didn’t dominate, although they could have, but it puts them at 8-2 and still one-game behind the Lions in the NFC North. That’s the good news. The bad news is a leaky secondary suddenly susceptible to the long ball; a defense benefited greatly by some questionable calls by the refs, the cupcakes on the schedule are done and the Vikes must next travel to Soldier Field, where strange things happen.

The final score in Jacksonville on Sunday resulted in a 12-7 Minnesota Vikings win over the Jaguars—but that in no way describes how it got there. The Vikings adopted a local strategy as age-old as their purple uniforms: play down to your opponent. They had the highest time of possession of any team this season and put together multiple double-digit-play drives but didn’t score a touchdown—because they turned the ball over three times. You shouldn’t be able to win that way in the NFL, but the Vikings were fortunately playing the lowly Jags.

The Minnesota Vikings beat the Indianapolis Colts 21-13 at USA Bank Stadium to improve to 6-2 and a game behind the Lions in the NFC North. That’s what the agate type in the paper will tell you. But the reality was the defense once again led the team to victory while the offense spent some time shooting themselves in the foot. The offense eventually put up 21 points in the second half, but three turnovers on the game could have spelled disaster.

As great as the opening quarter of the season was for Minnesota, the second quarter has been equally bad. The Vikings can play in the first quarter of games, but soon after that things begin to unravel. Add to that a season-ending knee injury to their best offensive lineman, Christian Darrisaw, and the Vikings’ trip to LA was anything but sunny. They may have come into the softest part of their schedule, but the Purple appear to be playing their softest football of the season. Things need to change quickly.

The Vikings’ perfect season has ended, but it is far from over. The Detroit Lions came to town and put together four consecutive scoring drives in the middle quarters, and that put the Vikings behind the 8-ball. They did battle and retake the lead in the fourth quarter with a scoop and score by Ivan Pace, but the offense didn’t hold up their end of the deal by getting a couple first downs late and the Lions win with a field goal.

The Vikings can separate themselves a bit from all NFC North challengers with a home win over the Lions and help to put away all the doubt that creeps in for Vikings fans when watching their favorite team in the second halves of games this season. The Vikings start fast and struggle out of the locker room in the second half and then hang on to win . . .  every time. That last fact of being undefeated is great, but the route taken there is slightly unnerving.

The Vikings did it again! Yes, they beat the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau by a score 31-29 to remain unbeaten at 4-and-0 and alone atop the NFC North Division. But what seemed like déjà vu’ all over again was they made it difficult. The Vikings busted out to a very dominating 28-0 lead before muffing a punt, giving up a touchdown and ultimately scrambling to the finish line. We have seen this in the past (and to be honest maybe feared it happening again on Sunday), but at least the Vikings won the game and kept their record unblemished. Sam Darnold had another very good performance, throwing three touchdown passes. Jordan Addison returned from injury and celebrated by scoring touchdowns as a rushing and a receiver and the defense played lights out (for three quarters, anyway). In the final minute, the Packers were a recovered onside kick away from breaking the Vikings’ and their fans’ hearts (letting them know what it might feel like to be on the other side of an epic comeback like their 2022 comeback against

The Vikings are for real . . . and their defense is lights out. They hosted Vikings-South, the Houston Texans—and were anything but hospitable, dominating them to the tune of 34-7. Quarterback Sam Darnold threw four touchdown passes (for the second time in his career, first time without an interception) and the Vikings defense confused Texans QB C.J. Stroud throughout, leading to three sacks and two picks. By the time this one was done, the previously undefeated Texans were handed their first loss of the season in dominating fashion.

kings weren’t flawless (two turnovers of their own, plus giving up 399 yards on defense), but they beat a very good Niners team, which should turn the heads of those who maintained that all they did last week was beat the lowly New York Giants. While that is true, the perception on this team is chanding. Lead by a much-improved defense, and a revitalized Sam Darnold under center, the Vikings are becoming a team to be reckoned with in the NFC North.

The Vikings opened up the 2024 season with a very decisive 28-6 win over the New York Giants on the road. All the questions were answered—at least for this week—but more questions are on the way. Quarterback Sam Darnold had one of the best games of his career (opening the game with 12-consecutive completions for his first time as a pro) and throwing two great touchdown passes. He looked better than his career reputation would have us believe, and so Vikings fans can get excited about the season going forward . . . at least until next week.

Oh, and if you like a little spice in your podcast, tune into this one as Craig talks about his Star Tribune piece on former head coach Mike Zimmer that has everyone else talking. There was plenty of buckshot in the story and even more on the VT podcast when he talks about it. Skol!

Speaking of that roster, the Vikings completed their cutdowns on Tuesday to get to that magic number of 53, but their work is not done.