Jeff Diamond’s Vikings & NFL Insider · Talk North Podcast Network

On JJ, JJ, Vikings & Bears

·31 min·2 clips

Jeff Diamond says the Vikings "should have beaten the Ravens" because 13 penalties and a 3-0 turnover loss buried them.

The show opens by framing the week as a big one for the Vikings and for the NFL around them. Jeff Diamond joins as the former Vikings general manager to work through the matchup with Chicago. The Ravens loss is the starting point. From there, the discussion moves into how strange and uneven the season has felt. The hosts note that the Vikings are 2-0 in the division. That matters because two winnable division games are sitting right in front of them. The idea is that a good stretch could put them at 4-0 in the division. That would leave the season in a much different place. The conversation then turns to J.J. McCarthy. His season has been up and down. The team has been up and down too. That is part of why the Bears game matters beyond one week. A long sponsor segment runs through the middle of the episode. After that, the analysis comes back to the football. The run game is the clearest point of disagreement. One side points out that Minnesota was getting good yardage when it handed off to a running back. The numbers from the game are laid out plainly. The offense averaged 5.7 yards per rush on those handoffs. Even so, McCarthy threw it 40 times. He ran it five times himself. The team finished with only 13 running back handoffs. That imbalance is treated as the wrong choice. The reaction is practical rather than dramatic. The point is that the game script did not justify moving away from the run so quickly. The Bears defense is then framed as a unit that has been worn down lately. That opens the door for Minnesota to move the ball. The prediction is a Vikings win. The score call lands at 30-26. The reasoning is that both teams should score. Chicago is described as a little overrated. The Vikings are expected to settle down and play better. The episode closes by pointing out the larger payoff. If Minnesota handles this one, the following trip to Green Bay becomes a much more interesting test.

As heard by us

A clear Vikings breakdown that centers the run-game imbalance before the Bears matchup.

This Vikings discussion keeps its feet on the ground. The best part is the football itself: the host points to Minnesota averaging about 5.7 yards per rush on running back carries, then wonders why JJ ended up throwing 40 times while the ground game was working and the backs got…

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Why you'd press play

For Vikings fans who want the division math behind a winnable week.

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