Vikings Postgame Report: Vikings Win 29-22 After Bears Claws Back | CHI | Week 5

and your hearts right now. But the bottom line is, the Minnesota Vikings are four and one a day the Green Bay Packers lost in London to the New York Giants. So you get some breathing room with that four and one and they win twenty nine twenty two when Cam down Unseler steals the ball from his former teammate a Mere Smith Marsett and wins the game. Peter, are you okay, Yeah, I'm fine. But and you can't make those things up right. I Mean, the other thing is is this the last

couple of weeks. You go to London, you play a road game there, you play a Monday night game in Philadelphia. I mean, it's been a lot of travel, a lot of back and forth. We choose not to take the buy early, decide to say, hey, we'll take a home game, We'll play one of our division rivals, and you know, you come out all guns blazing. And I think the key the takeaway from all of this, Paul, is really we stopped ourselves today. You know, you know hat tip

of the Bears. You know, they they they they hung in there, came back, found a way scrappy way to get a lead. We had one turnover, they had a you know, on site's kick that didn't work. But the bottom line is is that we hung in there and found a way to win this football game, and when we needed it from our offense, we got it. Um, they really didn't stop JJ. Again, it's a matter of us just stopping ourselves. I think, Paul, the interception didn't help.

So add all those things together you come out with the type, you know, type football game. And Kirk Cousins began the game as Peaches referenced a team record seventeen of seventeen and in the first half, Justin Jefferson had one hundred thirty eight receiving yards, which means he finishes with one fifty four. So when it comes to the first half and the second half, twelve catches, one fifty four at the end of the bottom line equation for JJ, who, by the way, did throw a pass to Dalvin for

twenty three yards and it was sweet. But with Jefferson, you know, when we're watching these replays, he is open, you know, but sometimes there's pressure on Kirk and whatever leads to JJ not catching passes when he's open. One thirty eight in the first half, and you finish this

thing with one fifty four, that's weird. It is weird, Paul, and I think the one thing to keep in mind is the fact that if you have if we go, if we're going against a team that doesn't have the athleticism at corner to roll up and jam and slow down JJ at the line of scrimmage, they're gonna have a long day. And the Bears definitely did not have that athleticism in their backfield, and we made them pay

for it, especially early on in this game. I mean, this offense was a well oiled machine going all the way into jest about just before the half, you know, just before the halftime, and the only thing that slowed us down we're penalties things like that on ourselves, and so that's a it's a great thing to see the It's also great to see the running games start to emerge Dalvin Cook not just being efficient but being explosive.

We're still waiting for that really big long run. I think seventeen yards is still the longest run that we've had all year. Madison doing a great job, you know, out of the backfield. He had one drop it comes back later, and a key reception for a first down. So when when we were just executing, executing the play that's called, we were up and down the field on them. So that's a good sign. It wasn't as if the Bears blew this thing, you know, when we were doing

what we do. You know, our offense was unstoppable. Coming up on the postgame report following an exciting twenty nine twenty two victory at us Bank Stadium over the Chicago Bears. Where by the way, the Vikings are undefeated at home, and they're undefeated through the first half of the division swing, and that includes a victory over Green Bay, which now has two losses. You will hear Kevin O'Connell's press conference, Kirk Cousins press conference also three takes with Ron Johnson.

Then right at the end Kevin O'Connell's very exuberant post game locker room speech to the team. But let's begin with Ben Lieber and Gabe Henderson and Between the Lines. Welcome to a winning edition of Between the Lines, fueled by Gatorade, the Vikings victorious over the Chicago Bears twenty nine to twenty two. My name is Gabe Henderson. Alongside Ben Lieber and Ben we were just talking about how

the game just ended. Cam Dansler stole the ball away from Amirisith Marsett, who was drafted by the Vikings a couple of years ago. He stripped him like he owed him money. I've never seen a walk off by a cornerback ever since I've been covering of the NFL. What were your thoughts on that last play of the game. First of all, you said you were nervous, and then Viking fans, I wasn't nervous at all. I was fully confident that our defense was going to make the stops

and make the plays. But you, my friend, you had some nerves and yet I still got hair though, so I think that's that's the main thing. But when Kirk Cousins threw that interception the second to last drive of the game. I was worried that how are we going to bounce back? And we bounced back that last drive five or five on third down. What did you see on that last drive offensively that stood out to you for this Vikings offense, Well, we crushed it on third down.

I don't think that we ever had a super long third down. Everything was like third and four, third and five. So I think that is meaningful where we're not having, you know, big time yards to gain in those situations. So I just thought that they were they were poised. You know, the whole offense was just poised. There wasn't

a lot of scrambling going on. At least the feeling for me on the side adeline as I'm watching the game, it was surgical, it was methodical, very much like the game opened up with the first three drives by putting twenty one points on the board. There was there was no hesitation, no panic from this team. I think that that really matters. And head coach Kevin O'Connell talks about their Gritton resilience. I think five games in we definitely saw that throughout this game, and we saw that on

the last drive. But I feel like, I mean, I'm just gonna be honest here, I feel like that Groten resilience some somewhat warranted because we were up twenty one to three, right, so you would say, okay, let's let's put it, put our throat in their throats and let's continue to score, score on touchdowns or kick a field goal. The momentum shift right before the half. How did you assess, you know, just how the first half ended for the Vikings, I mean, coming off the first two drives where they

scored on scored twelfth lay touchdown drives. Well, you know, going back to the to the previous games, we were really good offensively at the end of the first half, which we talked about, which was a departure from the last season. So now all of a sudden we get into this game. We scored twenty one and then all of a sudden, you know, we can't put the ball in the end zone. We are faultering, faultering at the

end of the first half. They pick up all the momentum at the end of the first half and then they continue that into the second half. So that's the adversity part that we're talking about. Not only is adversity sometimes how you handle success, which we didn't handle success after those first three drives, and then it's about how you bounce back, and I thought they bounced back in a way that shows you know championship caliber that again,

there was never a panic. Obviously, they made some adjustments the Chicago Bears. They went to a different safety look, a lot of single high safety. Early in the game, they brought another safety down in the runbox because they thought we were going to run the ball so much we were able to kind of pick them apart. Then in the second half they went a little bit more too high safety look. So that means that we just have to dink and dunk our way down the field.

We can't take some bigger shots. So good adjustment by them, but ultimately better adjustments by us, Better adjustment by Kirk Cousins. Also in this game, if you three wind back to last week, getting on the plane after land to win, Christian derrisaw put his chain on Kirk Cousins, and I feel like we saw a different Kirk Cousins to start their first half. Seventeen straight completions to start the game today,

that's a Vikings franchise record. And then fast forward to the second and last drive he extends a play or gets a first down conversion on a third and five. What were your thoughts on just his play today. I thought he'd just looked crisp. You know, you look at those seventeen for seventeen on the passing completions. Every time he got to the top of his drop, he was He had that little bounce to him, a little bounce, a little swagger to d and everything was as quick.

His eyes was like first read, second read, get the ball out. I don't think that he held the ball for more than three seconds on any one of those completions. He was decisive, he was accurate. He knew that all he had do was just throw the ball to an open receiver and let those guys do all of the work, don't try to do too much. And you couple that with you know, some running, some running with from Dalvin and Madison, and you've got a perfect balance to this offense.

They had rhythm. They used tempo as well. Second play of the game, they go up, no hot, they use tempo, get to the line, assess the defense, bark out an audible. Put your offense in the best situation. I thought, for at least those three drives did a good job of getting the calls into him so he could get lined up and make the calls on the field man. That's a really good point Before we talk the running game. I gotta give Justin Jefferson a shot out twelve receptions

one hundred and fifty four yards today. Somehow best they care about guarding him on the first half. I feel like they did they watch film of him before. I don't know, but to your point, they made adjustments in the second half and they, I guess limitsed Justin Jefferson so let less than fifty yards in the second half. But Dalvin Cook got going in the second half. In my opinion, this was probably Dalvin Cook's best performance today.

How would you assess the way he was able to get on the edges and run the ball today, Well, not only on the edges, but he was able to kind of carve some some runs on the inside part of the defense as well. He was just doing things that you know only Dalvin can do. And we talk about his vision, the way he's able to skate and sort of float through the defensive line. Um, I thought he played phenomenal. I was I was still waiting for that one, that one big pop, you know, the one

big home run hit. But like I said, in the second half, they changed their defensive philosophy. They went to more of a two safety look, which is really hard. I mean, it's hard in the passing game to to really take the top off. And also, um, it doesn't allow for a lot of home run hits on the ground because there's two outlets or two safeties in the in the in the back end of the the defense that's

going to stop those things. So, m we made the right adjustments and Dalvin, uh, you know, he was doing Dalvin things. Yeah, Dalvin is going to do Dalvin things. Moving to the defensive side of the ball. We went up to twenty one to thrown offense. Then the Bear score nineteen un answered points. How would you assess this?

I guess bend but don't break defensives game for this Minnesota Vikings defense today, I mean it worked for you know, most of the first half, and I think you know that we walked away with like forty five total yards given up in the first half. And then obviously they made some adjustments. We talk about it time and time. Again, I just don't think that we're blitzing the right way. I don't think that we're calling the pressure years the right way and really executing some of the things and

getting some of these guys free. We might be blitzing, we might be bringing a fifth guy, or we might be bringing a fifth guy and dropping a guy and still bring a four man rush. It's just not really working to the way we hope it to work. You want a free rush when you when you sacrifice your defenders like that late in the game. I thought we

did do a good job of that. They had a drive towards the end of the game where we called three run blitzes and stuffed them at the line of scrimmage, not necessarily tackle for loss, but some short yardage gains. So we start we start to dial up a little bit more pressure. I just like to see that a little bit more so we're not bending all the time. And I feel like a lot of that was due

to Justin Field. It's just athletics as them also. I mean sometimes when we blitzed them where we were able to get to the quarterback justin p Field, it's just made Justin Phield type plays. Spinning out of the pocket using his four four speed to get a first down. But at the same time, I do agree with you with trying to get more bends, which so you don't have to bend as much later in the game. But defensively, my last question for you for the defensive side of

the ball is where do we go from here? Right, we're at a point now where the Vikings are starting to get these close wins. The last few games have been close. In my opinion, I'm not sure why because we should just blow these things out. But how would you assess the way this defense is starting to progress? And I guess hold when it really matters, well, I

guess to your point about about justin scrambling. Okay, what's concerning is, and this is where I think it's going to help our defense is our rush lanes aren't the most disciplined. You know, some of those times we had four man rushes with a little bit of a twist game going on, and we're just kind of stuck on the blocks. We're late with our eyes to get to get off of the blocks and make a play on the quarterback as he's kind of skating around inside that

the pocket we have Kyler Murray coming up soon. You know, we have Josh Allen coming up soon, you know, after the bye week, you know, a week possibly too possibly too one next week, and a little bit of Teddy Bridgewater if he's in there as well. We're going to

face a lot of mobile quarterbacks in this league. So I think that not only do we have to pressure a little bit more, get a little bit more strateiug about what types of pressures we're gonna bring, but we have to do a better job when it comes to the rush lanes. If you're just gonna rush four guys, those four guys have to count because seven guys in coverage, the odds are you're you're gonna cover up those guys. You're gonna cover up those receivers. So you're gonna have

quarterbacks that are going to run. So those four guys up front gotta do a better job. Got to do a better job. But more importantly, this Vikings team is four and one heading into the Miami Dolphins game next week. Hopefully we get another win. But more importantly, Ben, I'm just going to enjoy this win, yeah, with the hair that I have in my head. So I'm not stressed as much anymore. It's not going great either. I think it's looking pretty good. The hairline is pushing back a

little bit. But we're gonna push forward to the Miami Dolphins next week for Ben Lieber. My name is Gabe Henderson. Thank you again for tuning into another edition of Between the Lines fueled by Gatorade Skull Sku. Thank you, Gabe. You know, the team's four and one. Clearly, there are a lot of things that need to get better, including finding JJ like every single time he's wide open for

a touchdown. But how long can can people or us or anybody continue to say, Yeah, but you're not going to continue to win if these four things continue to happen. They just keep finding a way to close on these victories. Yeah, they really do. And you know, on a day and you well, you come off a game in London where

special teams really carried the day. Um, you know, I think outside of that recovered on site's kicked, they struggled a little bit, right, A block field goals, a long missed field goal, I mean, any you know, scoring on either one of those drives would have changed the complex complexion of this game toward the end so some opportunities there that were missed. It's just a matter of like

putting it all together. Paul and I think if this team comes out and keeps, you know, hanging in there and battling and put put an entire game together and all three phases, um pretty solid football team. And by the way, the next time we play both the Packers and the Bears, it's gonna be January and it's gonna be outside, so it's gonna be a different type of ball game. That's why it's so important to go three and o the division early. You have a game up,

you know you're five into this. It's it's exactly where you'd hope to be, and that's exactly where we are. We ran into a bus on Philly, let's face it. Outside of that, this team has found a way to win every football game. And hat tip to Kevin O'Connell's staff and the players. Hey, Pete and I are not going to be mad at you if you're saying, hey, if you keep throwing interceptions to Kendall Vildoor his first interception of his career and through thirty eight games, you're

not going to continue winning. Your kicker is one of five from fifty plus. Keep doing that, you ain't going to continue to win. Justin fields two hundred eight passing yards, keep doing that, and you ain't going to continue to win. Say anything you want. All they do is continue to win. Let's hear from Kevin O'Connell. Here's this postgame press conference.

Very hard thought, tough football game. I thought, you know, across the board, our team continues to shoot show you know, levels of grit and resiliency that should bode well for us. Don't necessarily think we found that fourth quarter of consistent ball that we're looking for. But you know, as we've learned, it's not easy to do in the NFL against teams with different scheme variations and the competitiveness. You know, that's okay, but we're still going to continue to work tiressly to

have that. Excuse me, but once again, very very proud of the way Kirk battle to the end, leading us back once again to get the lead back in the fourth quarter of a game, as well as our defense not only getting the strip sacked there, but also then you know, able to take the football away to allow us to take a knee for a victory in front of our great fans. I thought they were phenomenal again today.

Three divisional home games down in front of them, being a huge part of willing us to these victories late. You feel the belief out of them. I just want to give you guys a quick update on a couple injuries. Ty Chandler suffered a broken thumb and he'll be out. We'll let you guys know timeline wise, but we'll get

that fixed up. And then a Caleb Evans is in the concussion protocol, so we'll absolutely follow everything from a protocol standpoint what absolutely is in the best interest of the player and get him back when when he is medically cleared. And then just to give one more update on Lewis. He did arrive back to the Twin Cities last night. He's doing well. He's in great spirits. He

told me he's gonna be watching the ball game. I'm gonna give him a call as soon as we get out of here, and then hopefully we get him back into our facility at some point soon to get him around our guys. But with that, I'll open it up to you guys. In first place in the division at this point after five years, it doesn't mean anything right now. No,

it really doesn't. UM. I just think it just means that, you know, we're four and one after five games, and we've learned a lot about our team through five games. But I think what we've learned should really help us do two things in my mind, have confidence moving forward that we can win football games that are hard fought and competitive in this league, but ultimately that we can can still continue to chase UM consistency across the board, playing you know, our philosophical way that we think we

can win a lot of football games with UM. I can obviously do better for our team, you know, making sure that you know I can help with some of those rolls throughout the game. But but inevitably they are going to happen in this league. That's part of NFL football, and we'll continue to chase that and push our players.

But the best part about it is they're the ones talking about it, not so much us needing to, you know, be banging them over the heads where it They are telling me, our leadership is telling me what we're striving for, So I feel good about it. At some point, it's out there for us to win. The coin tents you take the ball for the first time and we wait into that. Yeah, I just thought, you know, we knew we wanted to play you know, a lot of the things we talked about, uh, you know on Wednesday and

Friday with you guys. I mean, I just wanted to be aggressive. But there's no rule that says that you can and try to set the tone to play complimentary football with your offense. We've got so much confidence in our quarterback, our group, our coaching staff on offense to help put together a great plan that you know, the easy parts really call them the plays, and watching our guys have the plan come to life. Um, I thought we were really good on third down. Kirk was dialed

in from the jump, had a great rhythm to him. Uh, you know, they kind of morphed throughout the day how they were defending us a little bit, and he adjusted seamlessly for you know, a team record seventeen straight completions early on and then and then I could have done a better job helping our offense out a couple of times there when we were unable to get points. And then I think Kirk would love to have that you know, keeper throwback that was intercepted. But for the most part,

it was a it was an aggressive decision. I know, the analytics folks, um might you know, get angry with me at times for stuff like that. But when it works out in our favorite's obviously a good thing, and we'll obviously circle back and make the decision we think is best for our team. Each and every week there's acision at third five at the end or take we're

on a huge play. Yeah, I thought it was just a huge play twelve or fifteen on third down for the day, and our quarterback deserves a ton of credit for that, as well as feel linement up up front giving them time, and then our guys consistently winning on

the perimeter. Kind of a mix of man and zone, some disguised man that you got to react post snap, post snap two really playing quarterback today as far as playing the game post snap, throwing completions, being accurate, and then the details of our guys, whether it's IRV or kJ or obviously Justin and Adam, Um, you know, getting vertical, you know, yards after catch. I just thought there was a bunch of hidden yardage in this game that you'll

go back and see that. Really, it's a great test to a testament to our players and their ability to understand how we're being defended and then as it adjusts throughout the game. Um, they're they're they're a really smart group. The exotic plays that you called, I'm wondering if that if we can read anything into that that that you feel a step better about your offense and how it's executing. You get the fleet flicker at the past, Yeah, I you know, I wish we could have got a little

bit more out of that flee flicker screen. But no, it's just it's all situational for me. Um. Sometimes those players are going to come up and on early downs, early downs, no huddle, then they're going to be you know,

chunks that we need to get back. We're in kind of a long yardage situation right there after a penalty we went back to you know whatever, it was, second and ten M. I think I think our team can handle a lot, and because our quarterback can handle a lot, we're trying to find that right balance between giving them the tools for success and then ultimately allowing them to

play within the offense. We want to be with great comfort and confidence in what we're doing, and it's it's really about all eleven and how they're executing that allows us to continue to build on where we're at. We got a long way to go five games in UM, but we're really seeing some of our philosophy come to life.

You look at a game like this when you're up with that big in the first half and say, this is what we should kind of turn into a role actually win or is it just kind of a nature of the league where a lot of these are going to come down and the last a couple of plays.

I think it's both. I think there's some things that I go back to and can point to that, you know, maybe could have helped contributed a couple those early down kind of negative runs that kicked us behind the chains and then ultimately led us to kind of need to be a little bit more you know, conservative with some

of those third down calls. But like I said, twelve or fifteen, you know, we were able to battle back from some of those long, longer yardage situations and at least give ourselves a chance a couple chances at field goals there that didn't work out, But ultimately, you know, I just got to continue to do a better job being Razor sharp for our guys for four quarters. And that's where I really do when I tell you it

starts with me. You know, I want to set the tone for our group because I've got so much confidence and our guys, we're putting out their offensively, defensively and special teams to go perform. Mentioned the seventeen for seventeen with Kirk, but they were also like I mean, I think almost every one of those was too a pretty open receiver. Yeah, wondering like are you seeing and evolving nature across the board of understanding of scheme or execution of scheme or was that just a good matchup for

you guys or why was there so many openers? Yeah, I think it has to do with I think Justin, you know, really kind of as the game went on there, Justin was able to attack someone on one coverage early on, and then they kind of settled into a little bit different philosophy defensively. And that's what I meant by Kirk making that seamless change to understand what the picture was looking like pre snap, possibly post snap change into a

different defense. And then ultimately the respect that people have for our skill players they're playing so fast or running off the ball and then Kirk being decisive like that. It leads to great chances and examples of yards after catch, and you don't have to throw it over people's heads

all the time to generate explosives. Some people just won't allow that, and that's when we kind of have to lock into a mode of all five eligibles coming to life, attacking coverage within depth, and our guys just have done a tremendous job. And we've learned from some early times during the season where maybe me especially have learned to kind of adjust in the real time and just let

our guys play football. Are you aware that that was a team record seventeen in a row, and are you aware when it's going on that, hey, he hasn't had an incompletion. Yeah, somebody told me at halftime. I had no idea. It just felt like he was playing really well and the ball was coming out and very decisive and really taking advantage of the plan that we kind of put together. He's going to continue to have comfort and also continue to have a say in what we

do offensively. I want him comfortable with not only the plays I do call, but him and I spend a lot of time together, and if there's plenty of them that I can take a red pen too and gone to the old play graveyard. That's okay too. But I want whatever comes out of my mouth on game day to him have ultimate clarity because where he's at and where he's headed in this offense. I feel very, very

good about Kirk Cousins defense played today. It seems like they kind of continue to a then but then come up with big plays and the big moments, Like yeah, I thought I thought it was you know, it was kind of a back and forth there, a little bit a couple of loose plays that kind of helped extend some drives for them, But I thought they were physical upfront. I thought ed did a great job kind of mixing personnel to try to take away what we thought was

coming with different personnel grouping. Saw some different guys in there at times, both on the front and you know at the you know, in the secondary linebackers, just to try to fit with how we want to play and turn guys loose in those situations. Thought that contributed to the strips act there towards the end of the game, and then ultimately Cam going to get the ball but just like offensively, there's a lot of things we can

do better. Special teams is the same. You know, I thought we could be cleaner there, you know, But I think for the most part, complimentary football means a lot of things, and sometimes it means picking each other up or playing off of the momentum of those other sides, and just continue to want to see more consistency out of our group. But it's great to be able to say that after another win here at YO Spank Adam was saying that you spent a lot of the offseason

really emphasizing execution in the late games. Yea, what do you see in this group coming together that has allowed them to just keep keep their heads about them and even whether things are going good or bad, if to finish like you have with some of these games here, Yeah, I think, you know, especially for our offense we've played that we've got We've got some guys that have played a lot of football together and learned a lot along the way about each other. And the scheme is one thing.

But you know what allows a lot of that to come to life is my comfort not only in Kirk as our quarterback, but those guys up front to give him enough time and then our guy's execution, I mean, very very similar to play to what we had a little bit different variation, but it's very similar play even at the end of the half that kJ catches there, you know, gets the yardage we need and we you know, we show that as long as the defender doesn't knock the ball out of our hands, we're gonna, you know,

at least have a chance to kick a field goal at that point. Those are little plays that although it didn't work out, I care about the process at which we've continued to show great understanding of how to close out halfs, how to be aggressive at the end of half, but also go win a game when you have to however you have to do it, and I think that bodes well for our team in the future. How do you feel about how do you feel about being three

and oh in the division? And how weird is that all your home division games are now over and then all the other the road ones are late in the air. Yeah. We talked a lot to our team in training camp about we're gonna get three opportunities to play at the you know, in the greatest home environment in the NFL against divisional teams to start the season. Let's make sure we use that. So I'm proud of our guys for

doing that. I'm proud of our fans and what they've been been like for us here at home, like I said, willing us to some of these victories, and and just being just a tough, tough environment to come in and play out for a road team. Now, we've got to you know, we'll take our home games whenever we can get them, but we gotta be able to like we did last week, traveling and taking our outfit on the road. We got to go try to win a lot of football games on the road against some really tough teams.

Little relays you mentioned, you know, with the dancer play at the end, he also he starts running but then he goes down. Yeah, And so I know that's small and the overall scheme of things, but not small to me. To what extent do you kind of coach that and talk about that? And we've seen games around the league go right after that point sometimes? Yeah? Had he not done that? Yeah, Ryan Cordell, Mike Petton, they do a great situational Masters meeting every single week for our team,

you know, and It's very, very important. No matter how little or a little time we have in a stress busy week coming off of a long trip, we've got to have that meeting because they show we have a saying.

The tape makes itself because you can every Sunday in this league you can watch teams win and lose games with little decisions that they make either when they have the ball in their hands when they don't, how to go get it back, how to manipulate the clock, how to be great at the end of the two minute and at the end of the first half. But I think those guys do a great job teaching, and our players are you know, Friday morning early those you look up there and you got guys on the edge of

their seat just wanting to learn football. And I think it's a huge part of what we do here. And like I said, Ryan Cordell has been phenomenal with me on game day as well as you know with our team with Mike Petton right there with them. Question Cam's answer is coming up with plays last couple leaves. Is this something that you saw coming? I mean that you're expecting from multiple plays. I just think Kim's a talented player, and I just continue to tell him, be confident in

your abilities. You can get around the football when we when we're competitive and trying to be tight in our coverage and trying to fit into the scheme and our disguise, but ultimately go play football and be physical. He's been great in the run fit. He's been great tackling pet Pee as well. Those guys are a huge part of us being able to hold our shelves but still play a lot of single high coverages because we're asking them

to do a lot of different jobs. But at the end of the day, making tackles and getting the ball out and being physical. Pet p blocking a punt, you know earlier, blocking a field goal early this year. I almost had another one today. I just I like where those guys are at, and we'll continue to mix our scheme up build as the season goes on. And I'm proud of the way Cam play. That's why I gave

him a game ball today. That's koc. Kirk Cousins finished the day two ninety eight, passing a touchdown and an interception. The touchdown went to jail and Rager on a shovel. That is Jailn's first touchdown. Wearing ow Our colors and a noted sneaker Tom Brady like fashion, Kirk Cousins sneaked for what turned out to be the game winning touchdown.

He did it from a yard out, the eighteenth rushing touchdown of his career, and Kirk Cousins after the game had this to say, great to get a win, Great to get to four and one, be a divisional opponent, went a home game. Um, you know, that's really what we're here to do. What, um, what it's all about. So winning was huge, and um, I thought for much of the game, you know, our offense played at a

very high level. Um. You know, it's never gonna be perfect, and today, uh, you know, there were some times where we started bartow, but Mum, for much of the game played at very high level. And I also felt that a lot of the success in the first half was just a really good planned by our coaches, putting us in some pretty good positions to uh to be effective and uh, you know, kind of putting the win at

our back for us. So I thought that was a great job by them, with the game plan coming out fast and the way they attacked and uh, um, you know, we obviously, uh, and we need to play better for quarters, so we need to play better through the stretch of the game, so that um, um, you know, we can pull away and uh and not live in these games,

you know, in the last two minutes. So UM, that'll be the challenge moving forward is how can we you know, if we were to get out ahead of somebody, how can we just pull away and and uh and not not linger. But UM, I can take any questions. Yeah, what was it about the game plan they colis? Oh, I just think the way that uh that our staff prepared for it and the way they planned to attack. Um, you know, the mix of running pass, the play action screen game, the uh no huddle, the um you know,

the red zone plan. Uh, the run game was effective. So uh you know, it's any time you're effective usually because you're being pretty multiple and and uh and not leaning any one thing too much. But I just thought that, um, you know, after the first couple drives the start we had, I look back at the plays and you're like, well, you know, I felt like I'm being put in a position to be successful, you know, and that's uh, that's a great feeling, you know when you realize your coaches

are kind of putting the wind at your back. Talk about your hot start, and were you aware that you broke Tommy Kramer's record most consecutive team record, most consecutive completions. Yeah, I saw the graphic when it came up because I'm just sitting there watching the game, like seventy thousand other

people in the stadium when I'm on the sideline. But it felt like we'd only thrown about eight passes to me when you know they had said that, so um, you know, you just kind of play, you're not really thinking about it, and so it was. It was a productive day. Great to see the production on third down.

I think that's been a place that we want to be better and need to be better to win, and the last two weeks have been better, and so that's been encouraging to see you run of completions like high school, college, any other time. I have no idea. I have no idea. Certainly, you want to pride yourself. I'm being a high completion

percentage guy, you know, within reason. I think sometimes it's a it can be a stat that, um, you know, you can misuse, but I think completion percentage tends to reflect, you know, making good decisions, getting through your progressions, being efficient, staying ahead of the chains. And so I think it's it's a good sign that your offense is operating efficiently if your quarterbacks completion percentage is higher court for the third and five at the end the decision don't rhyme, yeah,

you know, tucking and running. Yeah, I think it was two man. So that already gives you a chance as a quarterback to run because there's nobody man on you. Um. I felt Adam get bear hugged. He was really my number one guy on the route, and he got bear hugged, and I said, he's not getting open. And then Earth kind of got mugged as well getting off the line.

So uh, and then the rush, you know, I just felt somebody across my face and rather than progress to the backside to Adam and or Justin and kJ, I knew it was two man, kho. I had a chance to run and felt the rush kind of across my face and I'm just gonna take off here and try to get it. And um, you know, usually you have us a slide, but when it's you know, third down and you're down there, you gotta gotta find a way

to get across the line speak third and one. I'm trying to recall how much you can You don't do that a whole lot to you. Um, I mean, we do what we have to. You know, we snuck last week against the Saints for first down and then we snuck here. But again, you know, quarterback on a sneak. I mean it's not it's not really me as much as that's that's Garrett, that's Ezra, that's Ad, that's CD Brian.

I mean, I think CD provided a great late push with the way he kind of came down and um, and so that was that was obviously an enormous play that the call all the way or did you haven't it looked like you were kind of in shotgun for ZEC. Yeah, yeah, direction or what. Yeah, it's gonna just based on what you're seeing there. Yeah, in that case, there were a few options there. There were a few options, yep. So

we were able to get that one in. Kirko coach was just saying how much faith he has in you to make decisions pre snap, to to kind of go through a post snap like the synergy that you two are developed, feel like just that you know, no, you're in you the way that he does. Yeah, he's really been that way from day one. I will say that you said it. You know, we're developing. I think we're getting there. I would tell you that after being in a system for three us years, three different play callers,

but a similar system. You know, I'm not where I was at the end last season in that old system. So but we're developing it. We're getting there, and I'm excited about that continued growth. And we have to keep showing that. You know, we got to get to the buy and look back and feel like we are every

week taking another step towards that synergy. And he certainly is in my corner, and I think that makes it makes for a great help as a quarterback at seventeen through seventeen at the stage there is that like a confidence or something, you just feel that you can put the ball pin quite. I mean, you feel that all of a sudden you're hot. I really didn't. I think it goes back to again, the coaching, the plan when you're just dropping back and going where your reads take you.

But they're giving you number one open and players are separating and the run game is giving you favorable opportunities to throw the ball. It just kind of all converged on putting me in a position to be successful. But no, I don't think I was ripping it into brutally tight windows or having to throw, you know, and kind of be at this hero. I think when you do that, it's because everything around you is giving you this opportunity

then to be successful. But if you go back and watch those seventeen throws, I would think you'd see they're very automatic, which I think My point is it says a lot about the plan the coaches and my teammates kind of putting me in that position. We're kind of going off of that. What did you see them do differently with Justin in the second half after Yeah, they were open partment first sent Yeah, I think probably a little less single high, a little more split safety, maybe

a few more pressures here and there. Um, you know, the rush got home a couple of times in the second half. But I will say that we just didn't run off plays in the third quarter. You know, they start with it and then we get the ball. We got a good field position, converted a first down, and then on a third down trying to get the ball out to Earth, they hit my arm and you know, whether it's a fumble or incompletion, you know, had to

settle for kicking a field goal there. And then we didn't get the ball back really to the fourth quarter, so you know, you only have like, you know, six plays or whatever it was run in that third quarter, which I think just doesn't give us the opportunities that those twelve plus play drives in the first half gave us. We see on that exception. Yeah, I M that was an example of allowing previous plays to influence your decision

instead of just running the play in a vacuum. I had taken that that flat route so many times, and a couple of times last week a time earlier in this game with Earth, the guy was open elsewhere, and I kind of was allowing those previous plays it starts to try to hunt something up that really I should have just said, you know, let's just play this in a vacuum in its own entity and take the guy that's opening the flat and settle for a shorter game if it's a shorter game, instead of trying to use

previous reps to hunt something up that really wasn't there. Part of that developing in a new offense. Yeah, I think what's tough is like me, I'd love to say, oh, it's a you know, I threw a pick because it's a new offense, But when you look at it's like, I mean, I've run bootlegs my whole career. I mean that that was just another bootleg that I've run a thousand times. And so all I can say there is, don't allow a previous clip where you think you might

have had something and you settled for the checkdown. Don't allow that to then make you on the next place, start to look for that when it isn't there, start to feel like, oh maybe I'll get it. You know. Just treat each play as its own entity. Quarterbacks and teams are measured up and in how you perform with

those last minute drives. Are the factors there that you're seeing developed which this team and with you that you've almost embraced those times now that you look forward to having an opportunity with the confidence level of this team, well,

I think you always embrace them. Um, you know, you always until the clock says zero, you're really feeling like you've got a fighting chance and been a part of too many games where you know you have the odds against you, but with timeouts and some clock, you find a way to get down there and get points, whether kicking it or scoring a touchdown. So you kind of

always keep hope alive. And with the players we have as well, you keep hope alive because you expect guys to make plays and give you a chance until the clock says zero. And we kind of learned it the other way too. When you have a lead. You know, the teams in the NFL, I'll tend to find their way back and so you have to keep playing and

every play matters so much. Being three and oz in the division and how odd is the schedule this year with all the home games early and all the division road games, right, Yeah, it's a it's a it's a great start. It's a great start, and uh that's all it is, though, And we're gonna be talking each week here and all the way through to January, and you know that's where really when it matters is we got to finish strong. But um, it's a great start and

we got to build on it. When you're running that no hudden, when you're running that no huddle, I think sometimes people have a misnomer that it's a hurry up and in your case, yeah always yeah, curious, like what are you guys doing in that sort of period when you get on the line and then you sometimes you back away, like what's that? I think it's just an opportunity to kind of um, keep going, keep keep the

momentum going in our favor. Uh, kind of going back to that wind at your back field where you're playing downhill in a good way where you kind of got momentum and you just kind of keep that tempo going and apply pressure. That's really what you want to do there. And so it's been I think it's been effective for us. I think it's important each week, how we do it, when we do it, why we do it, what we're looking to do with it. Those are the questions each

week and a game plan that are important. And that's where I say the way the game plan fit this week and the way it got designed by our coaches, it just would appear it was really strong, you know, the first two drives of the game of the way they designed it and then the way it was executed by the guys. Any part of it. Keep the defense from substituting. Yeah, if we sub, then they get to sub.

They can substitute for like if they're tired, correct, well said, I mean they can take an injury, but which seems do But yeah, it does allow you to hopefully play fast. The fatigue goes both ways. But if we can be conditioned at a high level, we can use that to apply pressure to a defense. But they know that, and so if we sub, they sub. And so that's all those conversations of hey, I know you're tired, but you guys stay out there so we can keep going, keep

our foot on the guests. You convert it five third downs on the seven team play, go ahead drive. Just how does each one of those conversions kind of change what you think you'll be able to do? Yeah, third down conversions are such a big, big part of why you win or why you lose, you know, and they get a big emphasis every week in your preparation. You spend basically a whole day on Thursday trying to lock that in. And again it goes back to so many pieces at the work. Design needs to be good, it's

got to be well protected. Guys got to get open and separate versusor coverage and we've got to find it and throw it. And then you know, you gotta have a mix of running past. You gotta stay in third manageable. I think we had ten third downs five or less. You know, we're in third and eleven all game. That's different conversion than third and one. So staying in third and manageable, being productive on first and second down to give you that fighting chance on third down really helps

a couple of times. To Davis Derris, I just burry, yeah, I mean, yeah, how have you seen him develop here? And what kind of confidence do you have in him holding down that edge for you? Yeah, I'm excited about him. Um. You know I made a comment earlier this week about how you don't even know he's there. And at one point in today's game I felt him he uh, he was upset about something, whether it was a snap count or a call or he got fired up. And I remember thinking, like, I like this, Like I like I

like feeling his edge a little bit. And you realize you start to get that, I think because he's starting to realize, you know, what it takes, what it looks like, what to expect as a player in this league, and and seeing that from him, you know, you start to feel like this guy's a vet, you know, more than a young player, and he's only going to get better, and so really grateful we have him and the way he's he's improving, the way he's working every week. Thank

you cousins. Thirty two or forty one. He had a big run at the end of the game, by the way, to get a first down. It was only five yards, but they needed it badly. What did you think of Kirk's game? Well, you know, I think Kirk obviously the way he started it out, and you gotta give some credit to the Bears. He started playing a little bit of two man uh in the back end, and that's where some of the routes and some of the wide open receivers kind of dried up a little bit. And

we talked about it during the broadcast. There's gonna be a point in time when you see two man what kills two man? When a quarterback pulls the ball down and scrambles. And it wasn't, like you said, a twenty yard run like we saw out of fields, im fields

an unbelievable athlete. It was the timing of it right and the Bears felt like it was long enough on third down they could get away with the two man offensive line doing a pretty solid job, I think throughout the entire day, especially early on, and that's what you see out of this offense when it has a rhythm, right, when it has that rhythm going, it is it's second to none because you have so many weapons. So I think we saw a glimpse of that today, right, we

saw a glimpse of that today. It's just a matter of keeping that foot on the gas pedal, right, keeping keep pressuring this Bears team, keep making them do some things that they don't want to do. Because they could not stop the run and the pass at the same time. They had a sacrifice one for the other. And we're gonna run against run, up against more defenses out of that way. Ron Johnson with Fox nine as part of

the postgame report, RJ has three takes. Thanks. This is Ron Johnson coming to you from the KFA in studios, and this is my three takeaways from today's Vikings Verse Bears game. Well, let's just jump out with the first one that to me was really glaring. Why on third down in the first four games, the Vikings offense was thirty one point five percent on converting third downs. Today's offense for the Vikings versus the Bears was lights out

twelve or fifteen eighty percent. The play calling look glorious. Kirk Cousins looked confident. He started the day off awesome, and it paid off. When you're talking about third downs, what does that mean? Vikings offense stays on the field, Vikings defense gets to rest. The Bears don't have a chance to get Justin fields going. And it showed when the Vikings went up twenty one to three, they were on top of it. That is what this team's gonna need going down the stretch to be a lot more

consistent on third downs. Yes, they were converting first downs because they were getting a lot of first downs on first second down, but you know, when you get to that money down, third down, the defense wants to get off the field. The Vikings offense did not let that happen.

My second takeaway, I would love to talk about Justin Jefferson twelve catches, one hundred and fifty four yards, no touchdown, got a two point conversion, didn't gritty because why gritty on a two point We know when the Griddy's coming to a touchdown, But no, that's not my take number two. Take number two is Cam Danceler never gave up. Cam Danceler is a microcosm of this season so far, which is a never give up attitude. This team never feels

like it's over. Cam Danceler missed the tackle by on a Mere Smith Marsett, his former teammate, his friend, and then Amir Smith Marsett. Instead of trying to get out of bounds in a two minute situation, he tried to get a little bit more and Cam Dancer came right back up behind him. I don't know if he didn't

fill him coming behind him and ripped the ball. He ripped the ball in the hearts out of not just a Mere Smith Marsett, but the Bears fans and Cam Danceler because in the past you've seen Cam Dancer make some mistakes and big moments at the end of games. When you think about the Seattle game and DK Metcalf, when you think about the Lions game and backing up into the end zone and giving up a touchdown, Cam Danceler, because we've all heard Paul Allen with the what are

you doing? Cam Danzler, Well, today, Cam Danceler, you are the hero. You won the game. And he is building on a great season so far, playing within the scheme. Yeah, there's been some been but don't break moments. But he's getting better and better and he's growing more and more confident. dB is all about swagger. At the cornerback position, you gotta have swagger, and Cam Danceler is dripping in swag and he showed it today with the never give up attitude on that last play of the game. And then

Kirk Cousins, He's in the record books people. That's take number three. Kirk Cousins seventeen for seventeen to start the game off seventeen consecutive passes. That's Kirk cousins best start of his career ever, which means Kevin O'Connell is doing something right. But that's also a Vikings record seventeen executive passes. Previous record holder was Tommy Kramer, and Kirk Cousins has

broken that record. So everybody raise your glass, celebrate, congratulate Kirk Cousins on Twitter, Instagram, whatever you do, if you book, face it or Facebook it, either way, congratulate Kirk cousins because he has now put his name in the Vikings history books with the seventeen for seventeen And that is my three takeaways from the Vikings Verse Bears game. Back to you at us Bank Stadium on the field, PA, and we purposely saved the best for last. You can't

make it up. I mean, if you listen to KFA and you're home for Vikings football, you'll hear most of not all of us say that a lot. You can't make it up. Seriously, you can't make this up. Former Viking a Mere Smith Marsett cut into the first game picked up by the Bears. His first reception goes for a big fifteen yards and the Bears are in business until Cam Danceler, a close friend of the Mere Smith Marsetts, rips the ball from said receiver and wins the game

biggest play of Cam's career. A week after Cam made the previous biggest players of his career, singled up against Chris o'lave and knocked the ball away late, very late in the game. Are you kidding me with that play? No? And for Cameron Dancler, we you know we've talked about it before. Where for him to get to that next level. He has to stay on the field. He has to keep making plays. He has to see what offenses do.

And sneakily on that play, he was doing the right thing, meaning cut off a Mere Smith Marsett from the sideline to keep that clock moving. A Mere Smith Marsette made a cut back to the inside and Dancler actually went down to a knee, went down to the ground, but he didn't give up. He got back up and chased and Is Harrison Smith. That slowed down a Mere Smith Marsett enough for Dancer to get back in there and

rip that ball loose. And he, like you said, Paul, he just basically stole it and turn it and ran the other way. And what a fabulous heads up play, an effort play for Cameron Dancer. That's exactly what he needed right now. And hopefully he'll continue to improve, continue with the consistency, get better and better and better, you know, and then by getting Andrew Booth back and by the end of this year you might have some depth at

the cornerback position. That's pete versas analyst for the Vikings Radio Network. Work on the radio as usual likewise for Ben Leeber with between the lines and the kfa N Vikings radio network. You will hear us on kfa N next week from South Florida as the Vikings take on the Miami Dolphins. It is a noon central kick and the Dolphins were annihilated today by the New York Jets. So the Vikings, on a three game winning streak, had to play the AFC's Miami Dolphins in hopes of heading

into the by on a four game winning streak. So many things about which to be positive and bring excitement. I'm Paul Allen, speaking of excitement. Here's your head coach, Kevin O'Connell the locker room following the spine jingler first and foremost. He did it again, but this time he said, a franchise record for receptions in his first three years with the ball club. I have a female and be giving me a lot of these balls. Many seventeen straight

completions start today. All we talked about doing was doing your job all day long. This guy let us like he has who are fourth victory Kirk cousin? This one I might really enjoy right here. Okay. Eight tackles. Eight tackles, including when we say don't get the ball, that's exactly what it looks like one