1st & North: Week 9 recap, Week 10 ahead

The trade deadline has passed and there is a familiar face heading back to Minnesota to lead the Vikings offense. Hello everyone and welcome into First and North. I'm Cassie Carlson here in Chicago. Joining me this week on the show we have Jennifer Hammond from Fox Detroit, Lily Zhao from Fox Milwaukee and Pierre Nugent from Fox Minneapolis. Pierre, of course we're going to you first. Vikings traded for a quarterback. Kirk Cousins back to Minnesota for a third round pick. What'd you make of the big trade this afternoon? Are we still only a 30-minute show, Cassie, because I've got about 60 minutes worth of Vikings content for all of you here. Yeah, this is a move that Minnesota absolutely had to make, whether it was Kirk Cousins or somebody else. After what we saw Monday night against the Buffalo Bills, it was clear that Minnesota had no choice but to find some sort of upgrade out there in the market at the quarterback position, and they find it in Kirk Cousins, who makes his way back to Minnesota. And what a weird turn of events it is. For this franchise, a couple of years ago, the Vikings low-balled Kirk Cousins, they draft J.J. McCarthy, they bring in Sam Darnold, they let Sam Darnold walk, they bring in Daniel Jones, Daniel Jones walks, J.J. McCarthy has a very much up-and-down season last year, they bring in Kyler Murray to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job, they trade J.J. McCarthy for a fifth-round pick, and today, they circle all the way back. To Kirk Cousins in exchange for a third-round pick. This franchise at times feels like a chicken running around without its head. It's simply stunning what we've seen here in this development for the Minnesota Vikings. But there's no question about it, Cassie, that this is a big upgrade at the position for Minnesota. Kirk gets to walk in. He knows the offense very, very well. He has a great rapport with Justin Jefferson. And you cannot waste the effort from the defense this year. This Brian Flores-led group. It's clearly a Super Bowl-caliber defense, and this franchise looked at it and thought to themselves, there's no way we can waste this year. We have to do something at quarterback. They went out and did it today with Kirk Cousins coming back to Minnesota. Yeah, I feel like everyone was saying, we're going to find out how legit the Vikings franchise is based off of today's trade deadline. And they also reportedly inquired about Justin Herbert, Daniel Jones, and Geno Smith. Do you feel like they got the best option available with Kirk Cousins, given the entirety of the situation? Well, I mean, I think Justin Herbert probably would have been real nice for everybody to have here in Minnesota. But I think Kirk Cousins makes a lot of sense for why I just said, you know, he has familiarity with the offense. He can walk right into practice tomorrow and pick up this thing like it's riding a bike. So, yeah, I think this is a good match now. I'm old enough to remember when a couple of years ago there were a lot of Vikings fans saying we need to move on from Kirk Cousins. I don't really want to see Kirk Cousins back in a Vikings uniform. Well, now out of sheer desperation, I think every single Vikings fan that was at U.S. Bank Stadium is probably willing to get in their car, go to the airport, and pick up Kirk Cousins and deliver him to TCO Performance Center because it has been that bad when we're talking about quarterback play. It has been that bad here in Minnesota to start the season. Now, what do they do with Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz moving forward? I think we'll find out, but I don't think there's any question about it that Kirk Cousins is going to be the starter and Kyler Murray very likely. We'll be the backup moving forward. Yeah, Kirk Cousins was in Minnesota from 2018 through 2023. That's six seasons. Let's rewind back to last night because that Vikings-Bills game on Monday Night Football as the Bills won 23-6. We saw Carson Wentz start in place of Kyler Murray, who's dealing with a hamstring injury. Had an 8.9 quarterback rating. That was the lowest in a single game since 2019. Let's listen in on the locker room reaction. Anytime you've got a great defense like that, I mean, you know. All the things, take care of the ball, sustain drives, all that stuff, that's kind of complimentary football for a defense that we have. But at the end of the day, when they're playing as good as they have been, you know, as an offense, as the guy pulling the trigger tonight, I feel terrible. I feel a pit in my stomach that I let those guys down. In no way, shape, or form was tonight acceptable. I'm just not even close offensively to. To what we want to be, I'm not sure what the key is, whatever the key is we got to find it and make sure that going forward we're not having the same issues and coming back to this camera and talking about the same things. It's definitely a difficult moment, frustrating moment, seeing how well this team could be, but the offense at this very moment is kind of holding this team back. All right. So Justin Jefferson, his frustration has shown over this season at points. Have you seen any reaction from players, whether it be on social media or whatnot, or even defensive players who are excited to finally have an offense that hopefully can keep up with what they're doing on the other side of the ball? I personally haven't seen any reactions from the players online just yet, but I have to imagine that Justin Jefferson is grinning from ear to ear at this point, thanking the heavens that he's got a quarterback in there that can get him the football. Because like I said earlier, Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, they have a great rapport with one another. And Justin Jefferson was putting up some of his best numbers of his career when Kirk Cousins was the quarterback. So Justin Jefferson has to be thrilled with this move. Absolutely thrilled, and I wouldn't blame him whatsoever because, yes, he's right. This unit has been holding this team back all year long. They had the benefit of an easy schedule in the early portion of the season. They were able to take care of business against some of those bottom-tier teams. But moving forward now, beginning this Sunday in Green Bay, the competition gets even more difficult. The Packers are on Sunday. The Niners are the following week. And now that the Vikings have Kirk Cousins, you can look at those two games and think to yourself, So while this team actually can. Can possibly win both of those games with Kirk Cousins now as the quarterback. If it was going to be Kyler Murray or Carson Wentz, I don't think anybody would have given the Vikings a chance against either of those teams with those quarterbacks. Yeah, this is not great news for the rest of the division who now has to take on the Vikings who are a legitimate threat on both sides. But with the loss. Last night, to the Bills, the Bears do jump to first place in the NFC North, despite being 0-2 against division opponents, but it's still crazy that every team in this division has at least six wins. The combined record is the best of any division through the first nine weeks of a season in the Super Bowl era, so we are looking at the best division in the NFL history. Right now, it's only going to get better, it seems, as the season comes to the most exciting part, I should say. Let's talk about the Bears. They came away with a close win against the Bucs on Sunday night. It was not a pretty game whatsoever, but they were able to pull it out at the end. And after the first two offensive drives, we kept saying Caleb Williams was humming. Then he threw a career-high four interceptions. He hadn't thrown a pick since week two against the Minnesota Vikings, and he said he was just trying to throw two of them away. One was a dumb decision. One ended up getting tipped. Just uncharacteristic for the quarterback who's never had turnovers and interceptions really in the history of his playing days. And so a teaching moment for Caleb Williams, who obviously is going to have bad games. It's something they'll look at with Ben Johnson as they enter their week 10 bye. But he said he's not going to stop throwing the ball. When he goes through something like this he's always going to be known as a gunslinger. He's going to trust his receivers. We're hoping it was a one off because prior to this he was entering MVP conversations. I think the credit goes to the defense who was lights out on third down yet again held the Bucs to just two of 12 and Bucs off those four picks. Only translated to three points, and so the defense is the one that had came up big, and I think we're starting to see like we've seen with the Packers, like hopefully the Vikings are looking to see a well-rounded team on both sides of the ball. And as we talk about a well-rounded team, we go to Lily. Lily, after the week nine games, we look at Caleb Williams' four interceptions. And then Jordan Love, who just jumps him in the MVP odds. And Micah Parsons said he's on a Hall of Fame trajectory right now. If he plays like he did against the Patriots every week, he definitely will be. Yeah, I mean, what we saw on Sunday from Jordan Love against the Patriots is something that I think every Green Bay fan was salivating watching him. It was some beautiful football out there from Jordan Love. And what I think we expected from him following in the footsteps of Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre, Love had a spectacular Sunday and he was unstoppable. And listen, the game plan, I think, for every team moving forward is to stop Christian Watson and Matthew Golden and get to Jordan Love. But guess what? That didn't happen. At all, Jordan Love again found some seams, ran in a touchdown right there, and he was able to obliterate Christian Gonzalez in this Patriots secondary. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden, at will, were just catching footballs left and right. It was a dominant performance. Packers have not put up 45 points in the regular season in about three to four years, so it's been a while since this offense has been able to hang 40-plus on an opponent in the regular season. It is something they look to stack upon. It has been a fun offense to watch. I think Jordan Love is getting into a groove. And guess what, guys? Toyotathon is upon us. This is when Jordan Love plays at his best. So look for more success, hopefully Sunday, against that Vikings defense, which is very stingy. But Jordan Love playing some of his best football right now. And Christian Watson and Matthew Golden combined for 335 receiving yards. Watson was averaging 24.4 yards per catch. Let's listen in on the Packers after that win. I can't ask for much more, you know, I think that, you know, at the beginning of the year when we were going through, Thank you. Obviously not being the team that we wanted to be, I think that he was still doing everything that he could to play his best ball and doing everything that he could. So just to see him continue to stay even, keeled throughout the season, whether it's positive or negative, you can't ask for a much better leader, a much better quarterback. We feed off each other. Um, you know, Whenever he get going, I get going, it kind of just go back and forth. And, um... I think when we on the same side of the ball, man, it make it even better. You know what I mean? You got to pick one. Flowing. That's what it feels like. It feels like you're just in that flow state and just finding ways to get guys the ball. But definitely just feels like you're flowing. All right, Lily, when we're talking about this Packers team, we're talking about an offense which has a top 10 EPA and a top 10 defense as well. Where does this Packers team rank in the most complete teams you've seen in recent years? The crazy part is I think they're getting there, but they're not there yet. I mean, you're talking about an offense that does not have a run game at this point. Josh Jacobs will be out for a while. He will need surgery on that fractured ring finger. And so they don't really have a traditionally good running game, and their offensive line is still figuring it out. So I think they're a good football team. They're working towards becoming a complete football team. But what I think they made strides in outside of watching Jordan Love sling that football is the fact that Kevin Zeitler was finally able to play at right guard. They moved Lake and Tomlinson over to left. left guard and it looked like a more complete offensive line. Sean Ryan, the regular starting center, is working his way back from an ankle injury. So if those guys were in the right spots and Sean Ryan can return, it could be a better offensive line. But behind him, though, who runs the football without Josh Jacobs? Caleb Johnson is going to get a couple shots here and there. Pierre Strong Jr. So they're working towards that, Cassie, and I don't know if they're going to get there this year with that run game. But Anything is possible when you have Jordan Love slinging the football and this Packers defense playing at a high level with Micah Parsons on his way back. All right, Jennifer, let's go to Detroit. Lions capped off an emotional week with a win over the Dolphins where Jack Campbell was on everyone's minds, his jersey hanging in his locker. Players wore number 46 into the game, and there was only one game ball given out. Okay, listen, game ball's going to freaking Jack Campbell. Yes, sir. Just wanted to say how incredibly proud I am of everyone in this room, all you players and the coaches. This has been a hugely emotional week. You all hung together, stuck together, leaned on each other, and look what we did. We won. It was great. I'm so proud of you all. I saw Jack a couple days ago, and he was worried about all of you. Well, I know he's not now. I know he's as proud of you as I am. So, awesome job. Congratulations. We're all proud of you and with you. All right, onward, man. Let's break it down. What a play, defense. Four, boys. Okay, okay, okay. Boys, that's four. That's four. Make it five this week. Stick together. Stick together. Keep leaning on each other. Love you, boys. One, two, three, one, two, three. All right, Jennifer, how have you seen this team rally together over the last week to go down to Miami and get a win? Yeah, it's really been incredible, Cassie, and let me just start by saying what Sheila Fertaham said just shows you the class of her as an owner going to see Jack and visiting him in the hospital. So many of the teams, so many of the players have been there to see him, and Dan Campbell has been among them, and Dan Campbell wanted to make it crystal clear as well that he has not spent any time talking with Jack about football. They just want him to return to a normal life. As a player who has full mobility in his upper body, which is slowly coming back. The other thing that you need to know about that jersey, that number 46. It was the Lions' fourth straight win to get them to six wins on the season. So if you're into numerology, like I am just a little bit, there is some symbolism there. The other thing they said is that that jersey is absolutely, and the locker that sits between Malcolm Rodriguez and Derek Barnes in the visitors' locker room and at home, is also going to travel everywhere they go, and that means to Germany this week. So the Lions defense really has put on their hard hats. They have gone to work. Over the last four games, they've allowed an average of 15.5 points per game. After starting the season as one of the worst and most poorest passing defenses, if not the worst in the league, they've absolutely turned things around. And you talk about the Green Bay Packers and their performance against the Patriots on Sunday night. The Detroit Lions held Watson and Golden to under 100 yards combined. They also did a really good job against the Vikings, holding them to just 15 points, 17 for the Packers. So this defense has totally come on. They have been playing lights out. And it was poetic as well in that first play, the first defensive series against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. It was the three linebackers starting in kind of honor of Jack Campbell. Derek Barnes, who was wearing the green dot, Malcolm Rodriguez, who also played his most career snaps in five seasons in Detroit, filling in for Jack, and as well, Trevor Naaske. They combined all three of those linebackers for the first tackle, so it really was a special day for the Detroit Lions, and they are determined to continue playing that kind of defense, because we've seen Calvin Shepard, the Lions' D.C., go from literally the hot seat to one of the hottest defensive units. In the NFL over the last four games, which they've all won. Yeah, Calvin Shepard gave a great speech in the locker room a couple days ago. We need to take a timeout. Packers will be without Josh Jacobs once again, and we get the latest in Green Bay on the running back situation that Lily was just talking about when we return on First and North.