#554: Minnesota Vikings INEVITABLE CHALLENGE

Published Jan 9, 2025, 1:01 PM

Minnesota Tim discusses the Minnesota Vikings' upcoming game against the Los Angeles Rams amidst the devastating fires in Los Angeles. He emphasizes the importance of prayer for the affected community and reflects on the Vikings' successful season, highlighting the challenges of potential coaching changes, particularly regarding Brian Flores, who is a sought-after head coaching candidate.

Welcome into the show today. Thank you for making this podcast a part of your day, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on Appleer, Spotify, hit that subscribe button or follow button wherever you are watching or listening, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for going on this journey with me. All Right, a couple of things to talk about today. The Minnesota Vikings face off against the Los Angeles Rams on the road on Monday Night football. And first things first, the devastating fires in Los Angeles which is now ripping through Hollywood and which has become a disaster for thousands and thousands and thousands of people. The fire is basically zero percent contained. They have no water, They fire hydrants, don't have anything in them, yet they're caught.

I don't quite understand the whole thing.

They want firefighters fighting this thing, yet they have no water to fight this thing. How does that make any sense? Maybe I'm wrong on that, maybe there's something that I'm missing, but every single report that I read is there is hardly to.

Zero water. It's like, okay, and.

Then you're calling on these firefighters to fight this fires with what Obviously they don't have much because these fires are ripping through Los.

Angeles, and.

The NFL made a statement and said that they're going to be following the situation closely, and if the situation continues to get worse, which it is by the day, it is by the hour, they are going to move the game to Arizona.

So here's the statement by the NFL.

The NFL's priority is the safety of the Los Angeles community. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of the first responders. Our hearts are with Los Angeles and everyone affected by the fires. We continue to prepare to play the Vikings Rams game as scheduled Monday night at Sofi Stadium. As with all games, there are contingency plans in the event at change in location is needed. In this instance, the game would be played on Monday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, if necessary. We will continue to closely monitor the developments in the area and will remain in contact with public officials, both clubs and the NFLPA. I don't know how this game does not get moved to Arizona. When you read the stories, you read the reports, and things are getting worse. I was just reading this morning that it was ripping through the Academy Awards.

Building where those are held.

So before we address the next topic that I want to talk about, let's pray for the Los Angeles community. Because this is a faith based Minnesota Vikings podcast, like faith is my foundation, Jesus is my Lord and Savior of my life, and I always want my faith to reflect what this podcast is about.

And something that really bothers me is when I.

See organizations say sending our thoughts, sending our hearts.

To this place.

And there's nothing wrong with that, I guess, but I like to send our prayers to specific places like this because it is devastating. So let's pray, Dear Heavenly Father, we just lift up the people that are suffering in California right now, and Lord, in this moment, we pray that those that have lost everything and those that are evacuating, we pray that they would already know you and that they would lean heavily on you during this time of numbness, difficulty, challenging challenges. And for those that don't know you, we pray that the purpose through this situation would be so that they could know you, that they would hit rock bottom and have nowhere left to turn but to turn upwards towards you. So, Lord, I just pray that hearts would be changed, that minds would be changed, and that relationships with you would get stronger, and that relationships with you would start for the first time this devastation. Lord, do you have a purpose. You can move, you can make miracles happen. You pray all these things in your most amazing name, Jesus Amen. All right, So continue to pray for the families and the people in Los Angeles because it's devastating.

All right. That's start of my next topic.

The Minnesota Vikings or fourteen and three this year, and with that comes its own challenges. Now, it's not necessarily a bad thing, because what this means is that the Minnesota Vikings had a really, really, really good football team. It happens to every great organization that goes on a run like the Minnesota Vikings are going on. You look at the best teams in football, the Detroit Lions, the Minnesota Vikings, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, They're all going through the exact same thing right now. And what is that NFL teams looking for head coaching and general manager positions are interviewing all of the non head coaches on those football teams. Joel Brady for the Buffalo Bills, Ben Johnson for the Detroit Lions, the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator, Matt Nagy for the Chiefs, and now Brian Flores for the Minnesota Vikings is being interviewed by the Jaguars, by the Raiders, by the Jets, and by the Bears. So Brian maybe I said the Bears already, I can't remember, but Brian Flores is a hot head coaching candidate and he was last year.

I think he was interviewed by the Arizona Cardinals. But he's got the.

Thing over his shoulders, the lawsuit because of what happened with the Miami Dolphins, which will take any hot head coaching candidate and make him not as attractive for an opening position, because what team wants to deal with that.

No one, that's the fact.

No one wants that distraction or potential distraction to come into their organization. So now that the Vikings are hot and are fourteen and three, Brian Flores is getting the calls from other NFL organizations to come and try to be their head coach, and Flores has been very open and honest about it. He wants another head coaching opportunity. He wants to be.

The man in charge.

And if you're another team looking for a head coach, Brian Flores has to fit the top of that mold because you look at his reputation as a defensive guy, and you look at what he's done in Minnesota, you look at what he did with the Miami Dolphins, and now you could argue the point that you know he's learning under Brian Flores how to get a good offense, and he'll bring a good offensive coordinator in and you now he wants Brian Floyes is learning under Kevin O'Connell, and he'll bring in an offensive guy that reflects that and he'll create something similar. All that stuff makes the case stronger for Brian Flores to be the next head coach of some other football team in the NFL. And the Minnesota Vikings will have a difficult challenge this offseason if Brian Flores leaves, because we've seen both ends of the spectrum. We've seen the ed donad Tells of the world be the defensive coordinator in the Minnesota Vikings defense just get torched week in and week out, Daniel Jones torching the Vikings defense in the playoffs round. And then we've seen the other side of it, Brian Flores dialing up these intense defensive schemes that throw off almost every single opposing quarterback, from Aaron Rodgers to Caleb Williams to whomever else is the quarterback for the week. We've seen so many quarterbacks struggle against the Minnesota Vikings this season because of the challenging scheme that Brian Flores presents.

So it is going to be a challenge for the.

Minnesota Vikings to replace Brian Flores because of what he has done. But happens to every great team. And if you don't want your defensive assistants to leave, go eight and nine. If you don't want your assistant coaches to go away, go five and twelve and fire him.

Anyways, So it's a good thing.

It's a compliment to the Minnesota Vikings organization, but it is a challenge because now every team wants your assistant coach. Every team wants that coach that is on a great team because people believe in the proximity to greatness. The Vikings are great this season fourteen and three. The Lions are great, Bills Chiefs are great teams. Well, then that must mean that their assistant coaches are gonna bring greatness over to our program. Because they were just great last season doesn't necessarily mean that. I mean, there's plenty of coaches that have left great situations and then got fired somewhere else.

And the Minnesota Vikings that's what they did with Kevin.

O'Connell or Rams went on a run, they won the Super Bowl, and then the Minnesota Vikings bringing Kevin o'conna as their next head coach even though he wasn't even calling the plays on the Rams. He is the opposive coordinator under Sean McVay and that proximity to greatness theory got to learn under McVeigh, and the McVeigh coaching tree is growing and growing each and every year. But Minnesota Vikings brought him in anyways. Of course, he had some responsibilities as the offensive coordinators to plan and to prepare for the opposing team, but he wasn't calling the plays on Sundays.

Sean McVay was. Vikings brought him in anyways.

Turns out he is an offensive genius and he is a brilliant offensive mind. But that's just the way things work in the NFL, and the Minnesota Vikings put themselves in a position for other NFL organizations to pluck assistant coaches all over the roster, like Josh McCown. He's going to be gone soon. He's going to be an offensive coordinator or head coach somewhere soon in the NFL, and with that comes big challenges on the Minnesota Vikings organization to replace those guys. It's inevitable and it was always going to happen when you have as good a record as the Minnesota Vikings have this season. So it's a good thing, but it is an an inevitable challenge facing the Minnesota Vikings this offseason and next season to replace the quarterback coach, the defensive coordinator with high quality guys, because what we don't want to happen is you got a great defensive guy and then you drop back down to the ed Donantels of the world. It's a challenging, stressful hire to bring in the right guy to replace someone that was a genius. So that's the challenge facing Kevin O'Connell and the Minnesota Vikings organization this offseason. If Brian Flores does indeed leave to take a head coaching job somewhere else. All right, thank you for watching and thank you for making this podcast private day. If you haven't subscribed it, hit that subscribe button. Appreciate you all. Thank you for going on this podcasting journey with me.