Bye week comes at good time for Vikings after big comeback win
By Jeff Diamond, former Vikings GM who is co-hosting Monday Night Purple with Joe Anderson this season on News Talk 830 WCCO. Next show is Tuesday, December 3 live from 6:00-7:00 pm at B-52 Burgers and Brew in Inver Grove Heights with defensive lineman Stephen Weatherly and another player guest. Jeff also co-hosts Purple Sunday Postgame with Henry Lake.
The bye week is hitting the Vikings at a great time as they need the break to get healthy and recharge for the stretch run with five regular season games remaining and then hopefully on to the playoffs.
Five starters were out at the end of last Sunday’s thrilling comeback win over the Broncos. Pro Bowlers Adam Thielen and Harrison Smith head the list as they are rehabbing hamstring injuries. Thielen has missed three games while Smith was hurt late in the Denver game and had to watch the Vikings secondary and his replacement Jayron Kearse make several great defensive plays to hold off Denver’s attempted late rally.
Guard Josh Kline is dealing with a concussion and he has played well for the Vikings offensive line this season. Nose tackle Linval Joseph, a force in the middle of the Minnesota defense, is recovering from minor knee surgery. And Anthony Harris, who leads the team with three interceptions, missed the Denver game with a groin injury.
Injuries always are a challenge for NFL teams as the season progresses and the healthiest teams obviously have the best shot at playoff success. The Vikings have a tough schedule over the last five weeks so they hope to have all hands on deck beginning with a difficult Monday night road test on December 2 in Seattle.
They’ll face Seahawks quarterback with MVP candidate Russell Wilson and his 8-2 team. It’s a rematch of the worst game last season for the Vikings offense when they were defeated 21-7, also on a December Monday night in Seattle. I’ll preview the Vikings-Seahawks matchup next week and give my keys to a Vikings victory that is critical for their chances to win the NFC North over the Packers.
It was after that Seattle game last year that Coach Mike Zimmer fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and made Kevin Stefanski the interim OC. With assistance from offensive advisor Gary Kubiak, Stefanski has done a great job blending a much improved running game (No. 3 ranked) with the new zone blocking scheme and a strong passing attack led by Kirk Cousins. Stefanski and Kubiak have helped Cousins to elevate his performance over the past seven games and he’s currently the NFL’s No. 2 ranked passer (114.8 rating with 21 TD passes and only three interceptions).
Zimmer said of Cousins’ second half play against Denver in which he threw three TD passes to lead the comeback, “Kirk played fantastic, probably his best game since he’s been here.”
Cousins’ strong season has him being mentioned as a League MVP candidate along with Dalvin Cook, who has now topped 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career (he’s run for 1,017 yards, second to Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey).
So for the Vikings players, coaches and staff and for Vikings fans—enjoy the bye weekend, catch your breath after the Denver thriller and cheer for the 49ers to beat the Packers Sunday night in the Bay Area. A Green Bay loss would leave them tied with the Vikings for first place in the NFC North at 8-3.
Then the challenge for the Vikings will be to stay tied or ahead of the Packers heading into the Monday night showdown on December 23 at U.S. Bank Stadium where Minnesota is 5-0 this season.
Around the NFL Observations:
1.Speaking of 9-1 San Francisco, QB Jimmy Garoppolo is having a solid season and the 49ers defense is highly ranked (No.2). But we’ll have a better idea after the next three weeks if the 49ers are Super Bowl contenders or pretenders. They have a killer upcoming schedule, starting with the Packers and then they play at Baltimore and New Orleans. That’s three straight games against teams with a current record of 8-2, quite the challenge.
2. My take on the Myles Garrett helmet-swinging incident in last week’s Browns-Steelers game: people who know Garrett say it was out of character for him to lose it and attack Steelers QB Mason Rudolph as he did but he deserved the season-ending suspension that could carry over into 2020 . He could have seriously injured Rudolph when he hit him in the head with a helmet.
I also think Rudolph should have at least been fined or suspended for one game as he escalated the confrontation by grabbing at Garrett’s helmet as they wrestled on the ground. I also thought Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s three game suspension was excessive as he was defending his quarterback when he fought with Garrett and it was appropriate that the NFL reduced it to two games on appeal. Overall, it was an ugly incident that has no place in football.
3. Mitchell Trubisky’s nightmare season: the Chicago QB is now 3-5 as the starter this season for the disappointing Bears. After losing to the Rams, Chicago is out of the NFC playoff race unless they win their last six games which is unlikely since they face four winning teams including home games against the Cowboys and Chiefs and road games at Green Bay and Minnesota (the season finale). Trubisky was pulled late in the Rams game and Coach Matt Nagy claimed it was due to a hip injury. Trubisky’s passing and rushing stats are down significantly compared to his Pro Bowl season in 2018 when he played well. He’s lacking confidence and his supporting cast is not as good as last year—on offense and defense.
But sorry, Bears fans who think Trubisky should be cut or traded. It’s not going to happen with a 25-year old player picked second overall in 2017 and who the Bears traded up to select. And Chicago would have over $9 million of dead money against their 2020 salary cap if they let him go. After watching Trubisky last season, it’s clear he has the talent to have a long career as a quality NFL quarterback. He just needs to be coached up by Nagy and to not feel overwhelmed by his draft status or the Chicago boo-birds. He just can’t be expected to play at the superstar level of Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson who the Bears passed up in that draft.
Jeff Diamond was the NFL Executive of the Year in 1998 after the Vikings' 15-1 season. He also is former president of the Tennessee Titans. He does sports/business consulting, media and speaking work including corporate and college speaking on Negotiation, Management, Leadership and Sports Business--contact him at diamondj4@comcast.net
