The Vikings Just Saved Their Season! | 'Stinkin' Truth Podcast'

Mark Schlereth (0:00)

We had to wear pads in December, and that's not fair. Can you be any softer?

SPEAKER_2 (0:09)

From coast to coast, when it comes to football, Mark Schlereth and Mike Evans are talking nothing but the Stinkin Truth.

Mike Evans (0:17)

This is a leadership issue. This is an optics issue. This is your quarterback.

Mark Schlereth (0:22)

There's certain things that always tell the truth. Physicality in the run game always tells the truth.

SPEAKER_2 (0:28)

Yoga pants always tells the truth. Now, here's your hosts, Mark and Mike.

Mark Schlereth (0:37)

Hey, welcome in to the Stinkin Truth Podcast alongside Mike Evans. I am Mark Schlereth. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day, however you consume us, whether you download us, Apple, Spotify, however you get your podcast. Thank you so much. You watch us on our YouTube channel at The Stinkin Truth. Thank you for that. Or you listen to us on the Odyssey Radio Network. We appreciate you guys so much. Make sure you share with families and friends and make sure you subscribe. Mike, how are you, buddy?

Mike Evans (1:03)

I'm great. It was a highly anticipated, very news filled NFL trade deadline. Let's get right into it. The biggest story, Kirk Cousins, leaving the Raiders, going back to Minnesota. And I think for a lot of Minnesota Viking fans who were quite content to say bye bye to Kirk Cousins not that long ago, are now regarding him as the football savior coming back to save the Vikings.

Mark Schlereth (1:32)

And so many people reached out to me when Kirk Cousins left, right? Like, thank goodness that bum's gone, right? He couldn't win in prime time. He's not gonna take us to the promised land. He's not gonna win a playoff game. And now it's like, thank you Kirk for coming back. Thank you.

It is remarkable. It's a great trade. You know, I found myself watching Monday Night Football, Buffalo Vikings and watching this Vikings defense and thinking to myself, they are wasting one of the great defenses in NFL history. That defense is remarkable. They flashed up on Monday Night Football on the screen with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Number one in this, number two in this, number one, number one, number two.

The whole defense was just littered with ones and twos. I mean, it is unbelievable. And I started thinking about, think about the 85 Bears or the 2000 Ravens or the 13 Seattle Seahawks with the Legion of Boom or the No Fly Zone or the Broncos in 2015 You've got that style of defense and you've got the offense that is, you know, I mean, that thing was like a pop gun offense, right? It was just awful. And now all of a sudden you've got credibility on the offensive side of the ball because Kirk Cousins comes back and he can operate KOC's offense, right? He can operate that offense. He knows that offense. There is going to be some brushing up without question, but Kirk is so smart. He will be able to operate that thing from the line of scrimmage and at least give them a semblance of some offensive ability so they can complement that defense. They don't have to be great. They don't have to lead the league as an offense. They just have to be competent and they have been competent all year long.

Mike Evans (3:26)

You think about those great defenses you just mentioned. The quarterback play those teams got, the Broncos of 2015 had Peyton Manning granted at the end.

The Legion of Boom had Russell Wilson still very much in his prime. He was young at that time, right? You know, even a Brad Johnson, you know, with Tampa, Jim McMahon, okay? But what the Vikings had just wasn't going to get it done.

Mark Schlereth (3:48)

No, it just certainly wasn't. And when you look at that, you just look at the history of heavy blitz teams. Like heavy blitz teams historically have been, they're going to blitz you, they're going to bring pressure, they're going to play man behind it. And if you can pick up the pressure and you win your one-on-ones, man, it is big play after big play after big play. But when you watch the Minnesota Vikings, man, they populate the entire line of scrimmage. So now all of a sudden, it's like playing against a goal line front, right? You got everybody up there like, oh, what are we going to do?

Like, which takes you out a lot of your run game, right? It takes you out a lot of the things that you think you can run in that. And then they're bringing some guys, they're dropping other guys, they're moving here, and guys are dropping in their zones with eyes on the quarterback. So they're getting pressure, right? But the eyes are on the quarterback, so they have the ability to break on the football. And then they're forcing you to dump it out like hot, bam, and then they're going to rally and have guys dropping into that hot area to make tackles and get you off the field in third downs. It is, it's remarkable to watch how tied together they are, how good they are as a defense. And it would have been a shame if they went down with this great defense and offensively they couldn't compliment them one iota. So great move by the Minnesota Vikings. And I think this takes them, I didn't have them even at six and two, without making this move, I didn't have them as a playoff team.