These 2 QB's are kinda the talker for this week...

https://www.bovada.lv/sports/football/nf...2509142020

CHICAGO – One Vikings running back held court with media at least three separate times in the visitor’s locker room late Monday night at Soldier Field.

The other Vikings running back’s locker was emptied fast, and he exited to the team bus before being caught for comment on his big night.

One hauled in a pass for the longest touchdown of the game. The other led both teams in rushing yards as the Vikings beat the Bears 27-24.

Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason have distinct differences in their personalities and play styles, but both brought critical boosts to the Vikings offense in its comeback win over the Bears on Monday night.

The joint performance was one the Vikings envisioned when they acquired Mason via trade with the 49ers in March, as they added a rusher who could bring physicality and more evenly split reps with Jones in order to keep both fresh.

While the exact dynamic of the new tandem started to become clear in training camp, it entered full focus in their first game together: Jones, the multi-faceted threat able to be another set of reliable hands in the receiving game for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and Mason, the wrecking ball of a back who can and will destroy a defender or two for some extra yards.

“That boy’s a bruiser out there,” Jones said of Mason, who left the locker room quickly. “He’s not easy to take down. ... It’s definitely a blessing to play with a back like that — somebody to take a little bit of the load off of you as well.”

Mason’s first carry didn’t come until the Vikings’ third drive of the night, after they’d exited the field three-and-out twice before.

He popped off a pair of 6-yard pickups to move the chains for the Vikings for the first time. The Vikings closed the drive with a 31-yard field goal from Will Reichard.

Mason never broke free into an open field — his longest rushes were for 18 and 19 yards — but if he’d been given one, it’s hard to imagine he could’ve been stopped.

“It’s just so fun when you watch a guy run, and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not a tackle,’” McCarthy said postgame.

Mason finished with 15 carries for 68 yards. Jones carried eight times for 23 yards, and the Vikings’ remaining 29 rushing yards came predominantly from McCarthy.

Jones’ bigger contributions Monday came in the receiving game.

He caught all three of his targets, good for 44 yards, and the 27-yard touchdown that gave the Vikings their first lead in the fourth quarter, with 9:46 remaining.

The scoring route was one McCarthy and Jones executed successfully a few times throughout training camp; Jones breaks out of the backfield around right tackle Brian O’Neill and heads deep, slanting outside the numbers after about 10 yards up the field.

“We’ve been practicing,” Jones said. “It’s funny, after we ran it, [offensive coordinator] Wes [Phillips] goes, ‘That’s been in the queue. We’ve been practicing that one.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re 100% right.’ This shows you practice pays off, and I’m just glad they trusted me in that situation.”

Jones said the success of the play comes when head coach Kevin O’Connell decides to call it at just the right time. Jones lines up wide to go deep on some other plays, like the one that ended up drawing a 42-yard defensive pass interference on Bears safety Nahshon Wright in the first half. It’s starting the play in the backfield that throws defenders off. Typically, he runs an out-breaking or flat route if he’s not at the line for the snap.

McCarthy said he wished he dropped it more in stride for Jones so he hadn’t needed to turn away from the defender to score.

Over at least the next two weeks, as No. 2 receiver Jordan Addison remains out because of suspension, the Vikings are likely to call on Jones to have a heavier presence in the receiving game.

They did so last year while Addison was out because of an injury, but didn’t have a complement like Mason to keep the ground game anchored.

O’Connell said he probably should’ve dialed up more rushing attempts in the first half Monday. The Vikings were trying to minimize third downs, or at least third-and-longs, for McCarthy in his debut.

But it sounded like he saw what he needed to trust Mason and Jones to deliver as a backfield pair.

“Having Jordan’s physicality with keeping Aaron as fresh as we could, and then being able to use him as a weapon in the pass game as well, it kind of came together in a way when we needed it most,” O’Connell said.

STRIB

Whaddya think about our new Left Guard?
===
In his NFL debut for the Minnesota Vikings against the Bears on Monday Night Football, rookie left guard Donovan Jackson earned an 88.1 pass-blocking grade, which was the best among all NFL guards in Week 1. He finished with a 66.9 run-blocking grade and an overall offensive grade of 74.3, making him one of the top-performing Vikings offensive linemen. 

PFF Grades for Donovan Jackson (Week 1)

• Pass-Blocking: 88.1
  
• Run-Blocking: 66.9
  
• Overall: 74.3
  

• Jackson did not allow a single pressure on 25 pass-blocking snaps. His 88.1 pass-blocking grade was the best among guards in Week 1.
  

• While his pass blocking was the standout feature, his run-blocking grade of 66.9 showed he also performed well in the run game.
  

• His 12.5% defeated rate was the second-best among all rookie guards.
  

• He was considered one of the top-three offensive players for the Vikings, along with RT Brian O'Neill and C Ryan Kelly.
  

I like these from KOC, especially after we win lol!

Lot of open WRs all night, thought we were very lucky Williams accuracy was really poor in the 2nd half and that we were containing him in the pocket.  I just have never seen Murphy as a great cover corner which is why I would not have given him that contract, wish we gave that money to Bynum instead.  Thought he was giving up a lot of space.  We got by last night, but unless the DL puts pressure on the QB like they did last night most downs, they are not good enough as they are.  

And perhaps the biggest question for the secondary is whose idea was it to cut Nahshon Wright?  6'4" CB that we traded Booth for, could not have gotten at least an invite to off season practices with the group of CBs on this roster?  Not saying he is a pro bowler, but surely he could have made this CB room.

Have you tried Cowherd's Schadenfreude this morning? It's delicious. 

Running the ball out of the end zone 8 yards deep was the decision that ultimately sealed the game.  We had to get the clock past the two minute warning as it was the difference between them getting the back with an additional 40 seconds and put them in a position where one pass could get them into FG range.  Aikman kept talking how important it was for Bears to score before the two minute warning and talked about Bears kicking it to end zone, but never brought up option for Vikes to run it out.  In the past, not sure our coaching staff would have even been thinking like that or would have taken the conservative approach to kneel on it that deep.  Good to see us playing the game the right way there.

Thats a big one and my heart fell when I saw him gimp off the field like that.

Edit: MRI today, we should know more by end of day.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1965408144936300747

They are talking about it on Get Up on ESPN, Mike Greenburg said this is his guy. Just fluffy stuff on a very fun Tuesday victory morning. Just think of it as a little candy and don't buy in too hard.  But all KOC has done is win a lot of games with whatever QB he's had in Minnesota. Now he's got his piece of clay.

Oh by the way, I'm going to be the Candy Man today on this board. Better get your insulin shots if you are going to open a thread of mine today.

My head’s still spinning. And not from the 5 Modelos I stress-slammed last night. Such a wild, weird and confusing game with so many good and bad performances. But my two biggest takeaways are this.

1. Early on Caleb Williams was running around like a greased chicken, breaking ankles and killing our defense every time he had the ball. But then the Vikings made some kind of adjustment on defense that forced Caleb Williams to play more from the pocket, which he’s clearly not very good at. That was huge. 


2. After the pick 6 I told my son it’s snowballing and it would take a special performance from a QB with a lot of mental toughness and a little amnesia to come back from this, and I’m just not sure we can expect that from a kid who’s 4 years older than YOU and playing in his first NFL game. And then it happened. The focus was unreal. He never showed comeback savvy at Michigan only because he never had to, not because he didn’t have it. He's going to make mistakes. He'll throw more picks, even another pick 6 or two, but I think we got our guy and that feels really good.