Before we break down this performance by the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, let's just let this sink in for a second. The Minnesota Vikings are a fourteen and two football team and control their own destiny. They have a chance to beat the Detroit Lions next week on the road, and if they win that game, they are the number one seed in the NFC. These are all facts that we know, but let's just let this sink in for a second. Remember Sam Darnold, the guy that we signed last offseason to a one year, ten million dollars deal to be a bridge quarterback. Remember that. What was your reaction when the Vikings signed Sam darn to be that guy? Go back several months, almost a year, and think about, Okay, we're bringing in Sam Donald. He'll probably last five games, then he'll bring in the rookie and we'll set off into the sunset fourteen and two. Donald's completely changed his career trajectory, whether that's with the Vikings next season or some other football team, and they are competing for the number one seed in the NFC. All right, enough of that wishy washy talk. Let's break down the Vikings win. They win twenty seven to twenty five in a game that was eerily similar to the game that they played earlier in the season against the Green Bay Packers. Same formula. Vikings early lead, offense is rolling, Daviense is shutting down. Jordan Love up early, thirteen three at half time up twenty seven to ten. Green Bay can't do anything offensively, green Bay can't stop the Minnesota Vikings defensively, and then late in the game, the Green Bay Packers go on their late run and give themselves a legitimate chance to try to win this football game, down to three timeouts and the two minute warning, and the Minnesota Vikings close out the Packers twenty seven twenty five in a game that ended up being way more thrilling than it should have been. But let's just talk it about the game and what stood out. So Number one first takeaway is this, Sam Darnold, how can it not be thirty three for forty three, three hundred and seventy seventy yards, three touchdowns, one pick, a QBR of seventy nine point six, and a passer rating of one hundred and sixteen point one. You know what's funny is that we are starting to see the temperature in the room change regarding Sam Darnald and his future with the Minnesota Vikings. You know, coming into this season, the plan the Minnesota Vikings had, and this is not guesswork, this is the plan. You sign Donald to a one year deal, you draft a quarterback, you're gonna put that quarterback, and eventually that's the plan and the plan entering the season. Donald was always going to be QB one, regardless of how McCarthy played in preseason game number two or preseason game number three, and maybe mid season to make that switch depending on how Donald is playing well. Donald has completely flipped the future plans within the Minnesota Vikings organization because of how he's played this season. Donald, in this football game, was tearing up the Green Bay Packers. They had no answer for him in the first half. And in that third quarter, second quarter of Vikings put up thirteen points, third quarter of Vikings put up fourteen points. Donald was hitting Naylor, he was hitting Jefferson, hitting Addison, Hitten, Hockinson, and he is so good at moving around in the pocket and well one, he's good at scrambling, but he's also so good at making a slight change in his footwork a slight movement in the pocket and finding a wide receiver for a touchdown. Case in point, the Jordan Addison touchdown. A guy got around Brian O'Neil. He steps up into the pocket, makes a quick jerk to the left and quick jerk to the right, gives himself, buys himself a second more time, and that's just enough time to hit Addison in stride on the numbers for an easy touchdown, throw and catch. It's those simple things that Sam Darnald is so good at that we are seeing for the first time in his career because he's got a good head coach, great head coach, great organization, and guys that can throw him the football. Also credit to the Minnesota Vikings offensive line for keeping Donald upright almost the entire game. He took one sack in this game, so credit the Minnesota Vikings offensive line for protecting him and giving him a clean pocket and allowing him to make throws to the wide receivers and running backs. One thing that needs to be pointed out here is the brilliant scheme of Kevin O'Connell to utilize a legitimate threat in Jalen Naylor and Darnold for finding him. It was planned for Jalen Naylor to have a big first half against the Green Bay Packers. He used Jefferson and Addison to get what he wanted with Jalen Naylor. And I think Naylor gets forgotten because we got Addison and Jefferson and Hockinson. But when Addison was injured the first few weeks of the season, it was actually Jalen Naylor that stepped up in his absence and scored touchdowns. This was actually Naylor's sixth touchdown catch of the season. So he is a talented wide receiver, probably the most talented wide receiver three in the NFL. What's because And that's crazy because not only did the Vikings have a superior talented wide receiver three, but they the most talented wide receiver two in the NFL, Jordan Aison. He would be wide receiver one on a lot of football teams. And now that Donald trusts Addison, it doesn't have tunnlevision towards Jefferson the entire game. We are seeing Addison flourish week after week after week, and that's why we're seeing the Minnesota Vikings offense reach new heights. So the fact that Donald found Naylor multiple times in the first half. He had five catches eighty one yards, one touchdown for thirty one yards. He had five targets, So Naylor was a premium part of the Minnesota Vikings offense in this game. And I know that because Naylor really hadn't been focused on much recently on the Vikings against the Seahawks, one catch against the Bears, one catch against Atlanta, no targets against Arizona, two targets against Chicago, two targets against Tennessee, two targets. This was Jalen Naylor's first five target game that he had since Sunday, October twentieth against the Detroit Lions, in which he was targeted five times. But earlier on in the year, he had touchdowns in the first three football games of the year against the Giants, San fran and Houston when Addison wasn't healthy. Jalen Naylor had a touchdown grabbing each of those games. So he has talent, he has the ability to make plays. And with the Green Bay Packers playing so well defensively recently, and they showed the graphic on television, they were ranked as the best defense in the NFL the last five weeks of the season or the last five weeks, Kevin O'Connell utilized a guy that they would not be expecting to have a big game, Jalen Naylor, and he stepped up big time for the Minnesota Vikings in the first half. And also Donald, he found him two. Donald found Naylor wide open for a big touchdown, which was actually I'm pulling up a stat here by one of the Packers reporters for ESPN NFL Nation, Rob Dmowski. He said this, and I'll share this screen with you if you're watching on YouTube, and I'll read it. This is something that was the first completion of thirty plus air yards allowed by the Packers this season. Per ESPN stats Info, Green Bay foes were all of thirteen with three interceptions on such throws this season. Entering today, the Packers were the last team in the NFL to allow such a completion this season, and that speaks to the Packers' defensive dominance. For not allowing a single bomb until Week seven team of the NFL regular season is remarkable stuff. But it's also just as remarkable that the Minnesota Vikings were able to exploit one of the Packers' strengths and turn that into a touchdown in this football game. So got to give credit to o Donald Naylor, the Minnesota Vikings offensive line, Jefferson Addison Hockinson, the Vikings offense was rolling and something that needs to be addressed and talked about, because I've seen some people pointing out that Donald is only playing the way he's playing because of the receivers that I just mentioned and because of the tight end Hockinson, the offensive play color Kevin O'Connell, And my response to that would be, yeah, that's a part of it. What great quarterback does not have an elite wide receiver. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice is still considered one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. Steve Young had Jerry Rice, Tom Brady had Randy most for a few years, but had Rob Gronkowski for almost, you know, the entire second half of his career. Of his career, look at every single great quarterback. Joe Burrow, he's having one of the best seasons of quarterbacks ever, had Jamar Chase, Patrick Mahomes. He doesn't really have a guy. Travis Kelce doesn't have a wide receiver he's necessarily thrown to. Right now, but all the Super Bowl runs, Travis Kelcey's right there, Hall of Fame tight end. So I don't want to come with these excuses for Donald while he's got Jefferson in that what great quarterback did not have a great wide receiver to throw the ball to. Donald's fortunate that he's got multiple guys to throw the ball to. But let's not you know, pooh pooh Donald because of the guys he's throwing the ball to, when every single great quarterback that's ever lived has had great wide receivers to throw the football to. So let's stop with that nonsense. Late in the half, second half, I should say, and Donald throws an interception, the Vikings are up, well were they up twenty to three? I think? And Donald throws a pick in the Vikings territory, which is a bad pick. That's a bad pick. That's a case where it's a bad pick is you threw a pick and they're in scoring range right away. It's one thing to throw a pick on a bomb and it's basically a punt or a pick on a third down or a fourth down, and you know you're throwing it up for grabs and you're trying to make a play, that's one thing, But to throw a pick in your own territory is not A bad pick is a bad pick, especially when you're up twenty to three. And that gave the Green Bay Packers life. But what was so cool about this situation? Packers scored touchdown twenty to ten. This was a game changing drive on the Minnesota Vikings. Momentum shifts to the Packers. Vikings up twenty to ten, and Sam darnald next drive leads the Minnesota Vikings down the field for an easy touchdown to Cam Akers on a screen pass. That's a situation where a lot of quarterbacks in the league would melt and fall apart, and Donald rose to the occasion and led the Minnesota Vikings down to a game ceiling touchdown that ended up being the game sealing touchdown twenty seven points. They won twenty seven to twenty five. So that drive cannot be overlooked because the momentum had shifted and the Packers finally got something going. And it would have been easy for Donald to go into check down mode and say, you know what, I threw a pick, Let's rely on the defense. Let's just escape out of this game alive. And he led the Minnesota Vikings down the field, went five for five and completed a touchdown pass to Cam Akers on a screen. If you don't want Sam Donald back next season on a franchise, take on a contract, excession, whatever it is. I don't know what you're looking at anymore, because this guy has shown the traits of a franchise quarterback. His mobility in the pocket, his arm strength, his pocket awareness, his ability to scramble when he needs to, his ability to find multiple wide receivers down the field, his toughness he's been playing hurt for a lot of the season. His likability. Players in the locker room love him. What else could I mention about Donald? Could go on and on his leadership ability. Donald has shown everything that Minnesota Vikings fans and the Minnesota Vikings organization. He has shown everything that this franchise has been looking for forever and finding a franchise quarterback. Every time we have a good run, it's a nine to five or a seventeen case. Keenum, we had a guy fall into our lap in his prime who was looking for a destination to stay and he found one, and now we want to risk getting rid of him for a rookie quarterback coming off a second knee surgery, a guy that's never played before. After a guy who's in his prime has now thrown for thirty five touchdowns and twelve picks. It just makes no sense anymore if you think the Vikings should part ways with Sam Darnold because he has shown everything that you would want in a franchise quarterback. Vikings defense late in the game, Jordan Love did what Jordan Love did last time. He padded his stats and he ends up finishing with one hundred and eighty five yards nineteen for thirty one touchdowns, zero picks, three sacks, eighteen yards loss, eighty three point five QBR, ninety one point seven passer rating. In that third quarter, though, when the Vikings were dominating, Jordan Love ten for eighteen sixty four yards. The Packers' offense could not do anything against the Minnesota Vikings defense for the first three quarters of that football game, and that's why they lost. Sure, they made a comeback, they made it look nice. It was a thrill thrilling end of the game. But the Packers could not move the ball on the Minnesota Vikings defense the first three quarters, and that's that the Vikings defense was brilliant again. Dallas Turner has another sack, they have their they have another takeaway in the first half, first quarter, first drive of the game for the Packers, which was huge, and they pull off another high school musical celebration which Fox could have wait for for some stupid reason. They should have known that was coming. Like they've done this all season long, from celebrations like the parent trap to they had another legendary one last week that I can't recall right now, and they have this high school musical celebration, Like that's a big air on Fox. But the Minnesota Vikings defense steps up again and delivers and shuts down a Packers offense that was recently rolling. They had scored thirty points in five straight games coming into this ballgame. And my one of my concerns entering this game was that the Packers were hot and that they would continue it going into this Vikings game. And you know what, They're gonna beat the Vikings at US Bank Stadium. And you know what I was wrong, And I think what I did in this situation is I overlooked who the Packers were playing during this win streak. They played San France. They sucked this year. They scored thirty in on them. They played Miami Dua can't play on the call. They scored thirty there. They played Detroit, they scored thirty one. Well, their defense stinks. They're all hurt. They place Seattle Gino Smith gets hurt. They've put up thirty. They play the Saints, Okay, they stink. They put up thirty. So all of these Packers wins recently have come against bottom feeders in the NFL, and I overlooked that, and I thought they would defeat the Vikings, and I'm happy to be wrong. The Minnesota Vikings defense shut down the Green Bay Packers for seventy five percent of that football game, and really the only thing that got them going was a Sam Darnold interception in the third quarter. So the Minnesota Vikings defense braveled to them for making plays and for doing things that nobody expected they could do before the season started. Game changing moments. I love talking about game changing moments because these are plays that get overlooked at the end of the day, that nobody remembers, that nobody goes back and said, oh, remember that play in the first half. So this is my game changing moment, segment that nobody remembers the brand Powell muff punt. He muffs a punt. The Minnesota Vikings are dominating defensively. It could have been something that changed the game around. It would have been easy for a Packers player to jump right back on it, but Powell gets it back. It's a game changing play. That's number one. Number two on my list is the re Rekerd field goal before halftime. Fifty five yard field goal misses. The officials give the Minnesota Vikings the benefit of the doubt call in off sides on one of the field goal blocking Green Bay Packers defenders, and it looked a little sketchy when they showed the instant replay. It did not look like a holding or an out holding and off sides it looked like a clean play by the Packers defense. And you saw Matt Lafloor getting in the officials here. He hated the call, and that set up Rekerd from fifty and he knocked that one down. That's three points. The Minnesota Vikings won by two. That cannot be overlooked when you look at and just react to this football game, because you know it's a play at the end half. Who really cares on so many other three plays that's a three point swing. He missed the first one. The officials bailed the Minnesota Vikings out and they win by two. That cannot be overlooked. Another thing you can't overlook in this game, Packers fourth and two, down seven to three at this moment, go for it, Packers receiver. It would have been a tough catch, went off his hands, though Trefferson r Addison would have had that one. So those are three game changing plays that I mentioned in this game that you won't hear from anywhere else that completely shifted the trajectory of the football game. They're small first half plays that you know, no one really remembers because it wasn't a touchdown play and it wasn't a sexy catch by Jefferson or a defensive stop by Blake Cashman. But the margins of air in these football games are so slim that you take a look at these moments and you look back on them and it's like that changed the course of this football game. It wasn't a score, well the field goal was. It wasn't a highlight play that you're gonna see on sports Center or ESPN. But these plays changed the game and helped the Minnesota Vikings win this tightly contested battle late in the fourth quarter and ultimately win twenty seven to twenty five thanks to an incredible case by cam Akers. Also Capitol Conald trusts Sam Donald with everything second and eleven, putting Donald on the run, he guns it to Jefferson catches it. That's high quality execution right there, that's high quality execution. Jefferson drops that or Donald missfires, clock stops third and eleven, Packers have two timeouts. The Minnesota Vikings might lose that football game if Donald miss fires or Jefferson drops it. Coach trusts him and the Minnesota Vikings ultimately end up winning that game. Cam Akers saves the day what they catch near his tippy toes, and he played a vital role in this game. So credit the Minnesota Vikings for going out and getting him this season and bringing him back to the Purple and Gold Sosoda. Vikings win twenty seven, twenty five, fourteen and two, and next week will ultimately decide if the Minnesota Vikings will play another home game this season, whether they're fourteen and three or fifteen and two. This season has been a heck of a ride and a season that we will not forget for a long, long time. What a game, what a run, what a quarterback, what a head coach, what an organization. Thanks for watching, and thanks for making this podcast a part of your day.

Before we break down this performance by the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, let's just let this sink in for a second. The Minnesota Vikings are a fourteen and two football team and control their own destiny. They have a chance to beat the Detroit Lions next week on the road, and if they win that game, they are the number one seed in the NFC. These are all facts that we know, but let's just let this sink in for a second. Remember Sam Darnold, the guy that we signed last offseason to a one year, ten million dollars deal to be a bridge quarterback. Remember that. What was your reaction when the Vikings signed Sam darn to be that guy? Go back several months, almost a year, and think about, Okay, we're bringing in Sam Donald. He'll probably last five games, then he'll bring in the rookie and we'll set off into the sunset fourteen and two. Donald's completely changed his career trajectory, whether that's with the Vikings next season or some other football team, and they are competing for the number one seed in the NFC. All right, enough of that wishy washy talk. Let's break down the Vikings win. They win twenty seven to twenty five in a game that was eerily similar to the game that they played earlier in the season against the Green Bay Packers. Same formula. Vikings early lead, offense is rolling, Daviense is shutting down. Jordan Love up early, thirteen three at half time up twenty seven to ten. Green Bay can't do anything offensively, green Bay can't stop the Minnesota Vikings defensively, and then late in the game, the Green Bay Packers go on their late run and give themselves a legitimate chance to try to win this football game, down to three timeouts and the two minute warning, and the Minnesota Vikings close out the Packers twenty seven twenty five in a game that ended up being way more thrilling than it should have been. But let's just talk it about the game and what stood out. So Number one first takeaway is this, Sam Darnold, how can it not be thirty three for forty three, three hundred and seventy seventy yards, three touchdowns, one pick, a QBR of seventy nine point six, and a passer rating of one hundred and sixteen point one. You know what's funny is that we are starting to see the temperature in the room change regarding Sam Darnald and his future with the Minnesota Vikings. You know, coming into this season, the plan the Minnesota Vikings had, and this is not guesswork, this is the plan. You sign Donald to a one year deal, you draft a quarterback, you're gonna put that quarterback, and eventually that's the plan and the plan entering the season. Donald was always going to be QB one, regardless of how McCarthy played in preseason game number two or preseason game number three, and maybe mid season to make that switch depending on how Donald is playing well. Donald has completely flipped the future plans within the Minnesota Vikings organization because of how he's played this season. Donald, in this football game, was tearing up the Green Bay Packers. They had no answer for him in the first half. And in that third quarter, second quarter of Vikings put up thirteen points, third quarter of Vikings put up fourteen points. Donald was hitting Naylor, he was hitting Jefferson, hitting Addison, Hitten, Hockinson, and he is so good at moving around in the pocket and well one, he's good at scrambling, but he's also so good at making a slight change in his footwork a slight movement in the pocket and finding a wide receiver for a touchdown. Case in point, the Jordan Addison touchdown. A guy got around Brian O'Neil. He steps up into the pocket, makes a quick jerk to the left and quick jerk to the right, gives himself, buys himself a second more time, and that's just enough time to hit Addison in stride on the numbers for an easy touchdown, throw and catch. It's those simple things that Sam Darnald is so good at that we are seeing for the first time in his career because he's got a good head coach, great head coach, great organization, and guys that can throw him the football. Also credit to the Minnesota Vikings offensive line for keeping Donald upright almost the entire game. He took one sack in this game, so credit the Minnesota Vikings offensive line for protecting him and giving him a clean pocket and allowing him to make throws to the wide receivers and running backs. One thing that needs to be pointed out here is the brilliant scheme of Kevin O'Connell to utilize a legitimate threat in Jalen Naylor and Darnold for finding him. It was planned for Jalen Naylor to have a big first half against the Green Bay Packers. He used Jefferson and Addison to get what he wanted with Jalen Naylor. And I think Naylor gets forgotten because we got Addison and Jefferson and Hockinson. But when Addison was injured the first few weeks of the season, it was actually Jalen Naylor that stepped up in his absence and scored touchdowns. This was actually Naylor's sixth touchdown catch of the season. So he is a talented wide receiver, probably the most talented wide receiver three in the NFL. What's because And that's crazy because not only did the Vikings have a superior talented wide receiver three, but they the most talented wide receiver two in the NFL, Jordan Aison. He would be wide receiver one on a lot of football teams. And now that Donald trusts Addison, it doesn't have tunnlevision towards Jefferson the entire game. We are seeing Addison flourish week after week after week, and that's why we're seeing the Minnesota Vikings offense reach new heights. So the fact that Donald found Naylor multiple times in the first half. He had five catches eighty one yards, one touchdown for thirty one yards. He had five targets, So Naylor was a premium part of the Minnesota Vikings offense in this game. And I know that because Naylor really hadn't been focused on much recently on the Vikings against the Seahawks, one catch against the Bears, one catch against Atlanta, no targets against Arizona, two targets against Chicago, two targets against Tennessee, two targets. This was Jalen Naylor's first five target game that he had since Sunday, October twentieth against the Detroit Lions, in which he was targeted five times. But earlier on in the year, he had touchdowns in the first three football games of the year against the Giants, San fran and Houston when Addison wasn't healthy. Jalen Naylor had a touchdown grabbing each of those games. So he has talent, he has the ability to make plays. And with the Green Bay Packers playing so well defensively recently, and they showed the graphic on television, they were ranked as the best defense in the NFL the last five weeks of the season or the last five weeks, Kevin O'Connell utilized a guy that they would not be expecting to have a big game, Jalen Naylor, and he stepped up big time for the Minnesota Vikings in the first half. And also Donald, he found him two. Donald found Naylor wide open for a big touchdown, which was actually I'm pulling up a stat here by one of the Packers reporters for ESPN NFL Nation, Rob Dmowski. He said this, and I'll share this screen with you if you're watching on YouTube, and I'll read it. This is something that was the first completion of thirty plus air yards allowed by the Packers this season. Per ESPN stats Info, Green Bay foes were all of thirteen with three interceptions on such throws this season. Entering today, the Packers were the last team in the NFL to allow such a completion this season, and that speaks to the Packers' defensive dominance. For not allowing a single bomb until Week seven team of the NFL regular season is remarkable stuff. But it's also just as remarkable that the Minnesota Vikings were able to exploit one of the Packers' strengths and turn that into a touchdown in this football game. So got to give credit to o Donald Naylor, the Minnesota Vikings offensive line, Jefferson Addison Hockinson, the Vikings offense was rolling and something that needs to be addressed and talked about, because I've seen some people pointing out that Donald is only playing the way he's playing because of the receivers that I just mentioned and because of the tight end Hockinson, the offensive play color Kevin O'Connell, And my response to that would be, yeah, that's a part of it. What great quarterback does not have an elite wide receiver. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice is still considered one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. Steve Young had Jerry Rice, Tom Brady had Randy most for a few years, but had Rob Gronkowski for almost, you know, the entire second half of his career. Of his career, look at every single great quarterback. Joe Burrow, he's having one of the best seasons of quarterbacks ever, had Jamar Chase, Patrick Mahomes. He doesn't really have a guy. Travis Kelce doesn't have a wide receiver he's necessarily thrown to. Right now, but all the Super Bowl runs, Travis Kelcey's right there, Hall of Fame tight end. So I don't want to come with these excuses for Donald while he's got Jefferson in that what great quarterback did not have a great wide receiver to throw the ball to. Donald's fortunate that he's got multiple guys to throw the ball to. But let's not you know, pooh pooh Donald because of the guys he's throwing the ball to, when every single great quarterback that's ever lived has had great wide receivers to throw the football to. So let's stop with that nonsense. Late in the half, second half, I should say, and Donald throws an interception, the Vikings are up, well were they up twenty to three? I think? And Donald throws a pick in the Vikings territory, which is a bad pick. That's a bad pick. That's a case where it's a bad pick is you threw a pick and they're in scoring range right away. It's one thing to throw a pick on a bomb and it's basically a punt or a pick on a third down or a fourth down, and you know you're throwing it up for grabs and you're trying to make a play, that's one thing, But to throw a pick in your own territory is not A bad pick is a bad pick, especially when you're up twenty to three. And that gave the Green Bay Packers life. But what was so cool about this situation? Packers scored touchdown twenty to ten. This was a game changing drive on the Minnesota Vikings. Momentum shifts to the Packers. Vikings up twenty to ten, and Sam darnald next drive leads the Minnesota Vikings down the field for an easy touchdown to Cam Akers on a screen pass. That's a situation where a lot of quarterbacks in the league would melt and fall apart, and Donald rose to the occasion and led the Minnesota Vikings down to a game ceiling touchdown that ended up being the game sealing touchdown twenty seven points. They won twenty seven to twenty five. So that drive cannot be overlooked because the momentum had shifted and the Packers finally got something going. And it would have been easy for Donald to go into check down mode and say, you know what, I threw a pick, Let's rely on the defense. Let's just escape out of this game alive. And he led the Minnesota Vikings down the field, went five for five and completed a touchdown pass to Cam Akers on a screen. If you don't want Sam Donald back next season on a franchise, take on a contract, excession, whatever it is. I don't know what you're looking at anymore, because this guy has shown the traits of a franchise quarterback. His mobility in the pocket, his arm strength, his pocket awareness, his ability to scramble when he needs to, his ability to find multiple wide receivers down the field, his toughness he's been playing hurt for a lot of the season. His likability. Players in the locker room love him. What else could I mention about Donald? Could go on and on his leadership ability. Donald has shown everything that Minnesota Vikings fans and the Minnesota Vikings organization. He has shown everything that this franchise has been looking for forever and finding a franchise quarterback. Every time we have a good run, it's a nine to five or a seventeen case. Keenum, we had a guy fall into our lap in his prime who was looking for a destination to stay and he found one, and now we want to risk getting rid of him for a rookie quarterback coming off a second knee surgery, a guy that's never played before. After a guy who's in his prime has now thrown for thirty five touchdowns and twelve picks. It just makes no sense anymore if you think the Vikings should part ways with Sam Darnold because he has shown everything that you would want in a franchise quarterback. Vikings defense late in the game, Jordan Love did what Jordan Love did last time. He padded his stats and he ends up finishing with one hundred and eighty five yards nineteen for thirty one touchdowns, zero picks, three sacks, eighteen yards loss, eighty three point five QBR, ninety one point seven passer rating. In that third quarter, though, when the Vikings were dominating, Jordan Love ten for eighteen sixty four yards. The Packers' offense could not do anything against the Minnesota Vikings defense for the first three quarters of that football game, and that's why they lost. Sure, they made a comeback, they made it look nice. It was a thrill thrilling end of the game. But the Packers could not move the ball on the Minnesota Vikings defense the first three quarters, and that's that the Vikings defense was brilliant again. Dallas Turner has another sack, they have their they have another takeaway in the first half, first quarter, first drive of the game for the Packers, which was huge, and they pull off another high school musical celebration which Fox could have wait for for some stupid reason. They should have known that was coming. Like they've done this all season long, from celebrations like the parent trap to they had another legendary one last week that I can't recall right now, and they have this high school musical celebration, Like that's a big air on Fox. But the Minnesota Vikings defense steps up again and delivers and shuts down a Packers offense that was recently rolling. They had scored thirty points in five straight games coming into this ballgame. And my one of my concerns entering this game was that the Packers were hot and that they would continue it going into this Vikings game. And you know what, They're gonna beat the Vikings at US Bank Stadium. And you know what I was wrong, And I think what I did in this situation is I overlooked who the Packers were playing during this win streak. They played San France. They sucked this year. They scored thirty in on them. They played Miami Dua can't play on the call. They scored thirty there. They played Detroit, they scored thirty one. Well, their defense stinks. They're all hurt. They place Seattle Gino Smith gets hurt. They've put up thirty. They play the Saints, Okay, they stink. They put up thirty. So all of these Packers wins recently have come against bottom feeders in the NFL, and I overlooked that, and I thought they would defeat the Vikings, and I'm happy to be wrong. The Minnesota Vikings defense shut down the Green Bay Packers for seventy five percent of that football game, and really the only thing that got them going was a Sam Darnold interception in the third quarter. So the Minnesota Vikings defense braveled to them for making plays and for doing things that nobody expected they could do before the season started. Game changing moments. I love talking about game changing moments because these are plays that get overlooked at the end of the day, that nobody remembers, that nobody goes back and said, oh, remember that play in the first half. So this is my game changing moment, segment that nobody remembers the brand Powell muff punt. He muffs a punt. The Minnesota Vikings are dominating defensively. It could have been something that changed the game around. It would have been easy for a Packers player to jump right back on it, but Powell gets it back. It's a game changing play. That's number one. Number two on my list is the re Rekerd field goal before halftime. Fifty five yard field goal misses. The officials give the Minnesota Vikings the benefit of the doubt call in off sides on one of the field goal blocking Green Bay Packers defenders, and it looked a little sketchy when they showed the instant replay. It did not look like a holding or an out holding and off sides it looked like a clean play by the Packers defense. And you saw Matt Lafloor getting in the officials here. He hated the call, and that set up Rekerd from fifty and he knocked that one down. That's three points. The Minnesota Vikings won by two. That cannot be overlooked when you look at and just react to this football game, because you know it's a play at the end half. Who really cares on so many other three plays that's a three point swing. He missed the first one. The officials bailed the Minnesota Vikings out and they win by two. That cannot be overlooked. Another thing you can't overlook in this game, Packers fourth and two, down seven to three at this moment, go for it, Packers receiver. It would have been a tough catch, went off his hands, though Trefferson r Addison would have had that one. So those are three game changing plays that I mentioned in this game that you won't hear from anywhere else that completely shifted the trajectory of the football game. They're small first half plays that you know, no one really remembers because it wasn't a touchdown play and it wasn't a sexy catch by Jefferson or a defensive stop by Blake Cashman. But the margins of air in these football games are so slim that you take a look at these moments and you look back on them and it's like that changed the course of this football game. It wasn't a score, well the field goal was. It wasn't a highlight play that you're gonna see on sports Center or ESPN. But these plays changed the game and helped the Minnesota Vikings win this tightly contested battle late in the fourth quarter and ultimately win twenty seven to twenty five thanks to an incredible case by cam Akers. Also Capitol Conald trusts Sam Donald with everything second and eleven, putting Donald on the run, he guns it to Jefferson catches it. That's high quality execution right there, that's high quality execution. Jefferson drops that or Donald missfires, clock stops third and eleven, Packers have two timeouts. The Minnesota Vikings might lose that football game if Donald miss fires or Jefferson drops it. Coach trusts him and the Minnesota Vikings ultimately end up winning that game. Cam Akers saves the day what they catch near his tippy toes, and he played a vital role in this game. So credit the Minnesota Vikings for going out and getting him this season and bringing him back to the Purple and Gold Sosoda. Vikings win twenty seven, twenty five, fourteen and two, and next week will ultimately decide if the Minnesota Vikings will play another home game this season, whether they're fourteen and three or fifteen and two. This season has been a heck of a ride and a season that we will not forget for a long, long time. What a game, what a run, what a quarterback, what a head coach, what an organization. Thanks for watching, and thanks for making this podcast a part of your day.