Bercich Breakdown: Are 6-0 Vikings most disrespected team in NFL?

Time now for the Bursitz Breakdown, and we bring in Vikings audio analyst Peter Bursitz. Your Minnesota Vikings are 6-0, but Pete, this could be the most disrespected 6-0 team going into this Lions game. You're just telling me moments ago all the so-called experts are giving this to Detroit, saying that the Minnesota Vikings will not prevail and they will be handed their first loss of the 2026 season. Yeah, there's no shortage of bulletin board material this week if you want to dig. I mean, yeah, I was referring to a panel of five guys. I think there are all five guys, whatever, in the NFL. You know, the NFL sends stuff all the time, and they're picking their winners and losers for the week, and it was lions across the board, which is just, to me, so interesting with the way this team is. Found ways to win. Thank When you look at the schedule that the Lions have played, I mean, outside of the Bills, their schedule is not much different than the one that the Vikings have played. And we're number one on defense, and they're number two on offense. But I don't know why. you. The offense is weighted so much heavier than the defense, so to speak. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's just interesting to me. And we'll see how this all plays out. And, you know, for us offensively, you just got to get yourself into a rhythm. You look at what the Vikings are sitting at right now, and you look at this offense because that's what everybody is looking at right now. And the third down conversion rate last week against Indianapolis, I think was three of 11. But really, you could go farther back if you unpack this. It's what's happening on first down that's setting up these third downs that are third and seven, third and eight, third and nine. And that's really hard for any offense to convert. So what has to happen earlier in a possession for the Vikings? Where is this not going? I know we're married to the run now. But is that what's putting them behind the eight ball, that these runs aren't successful on these early downs as much as they need? Well, I mean, you look at both Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, they're averaging 4.2 yards per carry, and Jameer Gibbs is averaging 4.6. So it's not just a huge divergence there. I think it comes down to consistency, Jim. I mean, all across the board offensively right now, uh, you, you're getting mistakes, whether it's a jumping off sides or missing a block or getting beat quickly on a pass rush or being collapsed into the quarterback's lap or being beat on a stunt underneath, letting a guy cross your face. You know, those things are happening, you know, very, they're just happening consistently. And it's almost like every guy. On the, on the offense has a play or two where they're deficient and you, you know, you, you multiply one or two or three plays across 11 guys. Now you're talking about a third of the game, right? So it's just consistency. Not necessarily that they have to do more than what they're already doing. It's just doing it without the failure rate. You know what I mean? Being more consistent, because that's a characteristic, I think, in and of itself. I mean, the guy I talk about all the time is Bryant McKinney. I mean, Bryant McKinney would go out and you would leave him on an island against one of the best pass rushers in the league, and he would have an unbelievably good day. Then two weeks later, he'd go up against a guy where he should dominate, and he wouldn't. It makes it so hard to game plan. It makes it so hard for the coaches to figure out who and when can we count on when there's inconsistency up front. So the Joe Huber thing is going to be interesting to see how he turns out because he's been a pretty stalwart part or at least the consistent part. And when that's your issue, having new guys in, changing guys up front due to injury, that all affects it and can make it worse. So, yeah, just more consistency all the way across the offensive front, I think. And then, you know, Kevin O'Connell says a lot, you know, we're not far away. We're not far away. I mean. You look at that catch that Jauan Jennings had that was just off of his fingertips, right? I mean, that one would have changed the game. We had a first down to Justin Jefferson where Kyler Murray couldn't follow through. I mean, you could just go through five or six plays right off the top of your head. That would have really, I think, changed everything, changed numbers, changed a lot. We're just not as dynamic of an offense as we used to be where we're going to have... 20 and 30, 40-yard receptions deep down the middle of the field that are going to make up for these kinds of mistakes. But then again, when we were explosive like that, we were turning the ball over a lot more. So it's a take-give, and you've got to find that sweet spot. And right now our offense just has to be brutally efficient in how it operates for it to put up points. All right, you look at the trade deadline, and we talked about this on an earlier episode We're going to talk a little bit more in this episode about... Nolan Deasley, and this is his opportunity to put his mark on the team. The trade deadline isn't until November 10th, but already a lot of big moves, and it seems like everybody's moving to the NFC. All these linemen are coming into this conference. And these are teams that the Vikings are going to have to deal with if they want to get to the Super Bowl. They've got to get by the Bears. They've got to get by the Niners. They've got to get by Seattle. Those are teams that will probably be there at the end. What does it say to you that the Vikings let these linemen go through? Maybe they did make an offer, but it wasn't the right offer. Or do you think that they're waiting for something else and maybe running back? Everybody's talking about a running back that may be the missing piece to help this offense become more consistent. How did you read what you've seen thus far? You know, you look at what the Bears did today with the big trade with Tennessee. I mean, they feel like they're pretty close to having a team to go all the way. And, you know, just... Giving up two first-round picks, that's a lot. We just played a team in the Colts that did the same thing to get Sauce Gardner, and they're also getting rid of guys left and right. Quenton Nelson, they send in the Seattle Seahawks. Yeah. You know, so a lot, I don't know all the terms on that one. And Buckner, too. Yeah, and then they get the Forest Buckner and send him to San Francisco. So, yeah, it's, yeah. It's like, you know, Tennessee and Indianapolis are like racing to the bottom. So it's, so it seems right. Indy's got to make up for first round picks that it's given away if they truly want to get into rebuilding phase. So I don't know. It's just teams. It's just interesting to see how important or how much movement now, I mean, you know, the, the trade deadline was never really a big thing a few years back, but now all of all of a sudden it's kind of, you know, becoming a big thing and, you know. Going into the preseason, everybody was talking about the Rams and what they were doing, what they did up front. And right now they're struggling. So it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to fix everything. I know it's frustrating as a fan because you see other teams doing things and improving, but you're just looking at it from today. You've got to look at it from the long haul, right? And what are you giving up? And who knows? We just don't know what's been offered, what calls have been made. Uh, you know, what deals have been put out there this, you know, so to make a sweeping judgment, like, Hey, we're not doing anything. We're not even, you know, we're not going to do anything. It's like, well, Yeah, maybe we were trying and just didn't feel like giving up the farm for somebody right now. So, yeah, it's a tough thing. Yeah, I mean, that price the Bears paid could have ramifications down the road. Not only one giving up the two first, but the money that they're going to take on now in salary. It's a great story. He's getting a boatload. He averages $28-29 million. Per year for another, I think, three years. So that's a lot of salary to take on. Plus, you're losing two first-rounders. So we will see how that plays out. But you look at this Vikings team and Justin Jefferson. You know, we know how he normally gets the football. But does Kevin O'Connell have to look at different ways to get the ball into his hands? He's only had one 100-yard game, I think, in the last 17. And he's averaging around 60 yards per game right now. Are there other ways to get him the ball? Or is that just gimmick stuff and nothing that can really be done consistently? Well, his last 100-yard game was October 5th of last year against the Browns when we were in London. Carson Wentz was the quarterback. We're back. Yeah. The targets is where you really got to look. And, yeah, we're a shorter, more controlled passing game, which means more slants, more things like that, quick outs. Not what Justin Jefferson has, what we've seen out of him for the last five years. So there's some adjustment that's going to have to be made. And that's, I think, what we're witnessing in real time with this offense is just... Trying to figure out how do you get the ball in the hands of your players. I mean, we early on last week against the Colts got a lot of passes to Jordan Addison early. Quick screens, things like that to get your athlete the football in space to make something happen. So we're going to we'll probably see a lot more of that. Thank you. And as we get a better feel for how defenses are going to defend us, the problem we have is we're running the football a lot. But teams are still giving us the too-high-safety kind of a look. And you're not getting the obvious one-on-ones across the board that you can say, all right, you look up, you see a press coverage, one-on-one, deep middle safety. You're like, all right, here we go. It's going to go deep to Jefferson. Those things aren't necessarily... as obvious as I think you'd want them to be. So when that happens, play action really becomes a big deal when defenses show you that two-eye safety look because that safety is disguising. He's out of position by disguising. He's going to need to make up ground if indeed you hand off the ball and if indeed you run it. Uh, and then that's going to get him out of position if you decide to play action and throw it. So the perfection of that play action game is going to be a big part of it too. And again, we're seeing that in real time as well. So it's kind of a whole new system, a whole different way of attacking, um, that we're trying to, that we're trying to come up with, but yeah, the routes are going to have things. A lot of things are changing, uh, in real time. All right. One positive note, right? You said that the panelists all picked the Lions to win on Sunday, but you also mentioned that this Vikings team knows how to win. They're not, you know, blowing you off the charts going like, wow, that was unbelievable, what a performance, but they know how to win. How important is that when a team now has developed the confidence? Because you can go back to last year. This is now 11 straight games that this team has won. And to have that mentality of, you know what? No matter how ugly this is, we know someone's going to step up and do something to get us out of here with another W. Yeah, and what you bring up, I think, is something that I experienced in 1998. I mean, we went down to Tampa Bay and lost. But... But I think it's all about when things go wrong, because they're going to go wrong. But when things go wrong... With that 98 team, it was a matter of, all right, who's going to step up and do something? Who's going to make a play, and how are we going to win this game? But we're going to, some way, shape, or form. We're going to figure it out. When you are a losing team, when things do go wrong, you have a tendency to go, well, here we go again, right? And just that subtle twist in attitude. Is, is a huge difference, right? And it's a huge difference. And then with this Lions team, it's not, I mean, it's not a secret. Jared Goff is having an MVP type of a season, 14 touchdowns, zero interceptions. Um, I mean, it's, I mean, the, the amount that he's one of two qualified quarterbacks to not have thrown an interception this year, he and Jayden Daniels, that's it. I mean, there aren't a lot of, in that ratio of 14 touchdowns, And not throwing an interception is a mark that's been rarely eclipsed in this league. But the secret, as we know, is getting pressure on Flores. We've won the last two games, the last two matchups against Detroit. In both games, Jared Goff was sacked five times. So we just, we know what we need to do, right? You want to make Jahmyr Gibbs block as much as possible. Because when he's not blocking, the guy's unbelievable. I mean, his numbers are equally gaudy. I found this little nugget about Jahmyr Gibbs that he has 5,919 scrimmage yards and 58 scrimmage TDs, meaning no punts or kickoff returns, in his first 55 career games. There's only one other player in the history of the NFL that can eclipse those numbers, and that guy is Chuck Foreman. How about that? Really? Yes. Wow. I never got to see Chuck play, but I've had so many people come up and talk about how, well, you know, when I became a Viking fan, it was Chuck Foreman and Chuck Foreman, and I think now I get it because Jameer Gibbs is such a dominant player right now. Both he and Jared Goff are just, you know, they're unbelievable. And then Amon Ross St. Brown has been as consistent as he's always been. Uh, and that's what, that's the wave that they're riding right now. And so you've got to disrupt that. You've got to interrupt that. They are a timing run after the catch offense. So you've got to disrupt that timing. You've got to tackle, and then you've got to make Jared Goff feel uncomfortable. So how do we do that? Well, with guys with skill sets like Van Ginkel, Van Ginkel has always been a big key in all these Lions games. When we, when we beat the Lions, Van Ginkel has been. A big part of that defensive effort. So I expect the same on Sunday afternoon. Yeah, because we saw that last year, like you were mentioning. Vikings got in his face. They turned the ball over a ton. I mean, it was crazy how the defense tormented them and made the Lions' offense look so ordinary. That's necessary. Swinging back to the trade deadline. Position-wise, what do you think would benefit this team the most? Like you said, Huber's a little nicked up. Aaron Jones nicked up a little bit. Not getting the defensive pressure out of the middle that you'd been hoping for or at least consistently game in and game out. If you had to just pick a position, we'll leave the names off the table. I'm not going to be on the same table, but... A couple of spots, then, just because, you know, fans want to know this, so I'm helping them out because they're pulling their hair out trying to figure out where this Viking team can step up or will they step up. Yeah, I mean, the question is... Is, is, is... The offensive line, with Donovan Jackson being out, you've lost a body there, so you want to replace that maybe in some way, shape, or form. Who exactly you're going to get and how you're going to bring him in and what you're going to have to give up, that's all. Uh, that's all part of it. Uh, the running back. I mean, Jonathan Taylor, obviously he's the guy that everybody's talking about and be able to bring him in would be, would be amazing. It's just a question of how much do you have to give up to get him? Uh, he'd be a big part of this offense and the ability to make the running game, not just good, but explosive at the same time. He's one of the best screen catchers, uh, in the NFL. He's so he's dangerous as a receiver to, um, a guy like that would change. How effective your play-action-passing game becomes because a lot of eyes are going to be on him. So, you know, a move that way would probably have the most impact and the quickest impact. Again, all of this, though. is underneath the cloud of what do you have to give up to make that happen, right? And, you know, who's the judge of that? You don't. And even when the deal's made, you don't know, right? I mean, the Chicago Bears have to just make sure that the moves that they make, that he stays healthy, right? So you've got a good football player, but can he stay healthy? 30 years old, you know, two first-round draft picks. Right now, I mean, if they go and win the Super Bowl this year, everybody's going to say, oh, great move, you know, that was it. But if not, then what, right? So you just don't know, right? You just don't know. When the Vikings gave up all those picks for Herschel Walker, I'm sure a lot of people thought, you know, there were people saying, yeah, we're running back away from being an unbelievably good team. Well, you know, it didn't quite work out that way in hindsight. So I don't know. It's that it's. That part of it's so emotional, it's so tough, but they're all very hard to work out. No doubt about it. All right, Pete, thank you so much for the time. We really appreciate it. Look forward to seeing you Sunday here on Fox 9 early morning. Game day live, then the game. You'll be on the audio call on the Vikings Radio Network along with Paul Allen, Mr. 500. And Sunday night back here at Fox 9, we will see you for Vikings postgame tonight. Thank you so much for the time, Pete. Appreciate it. Thanks, Jim. Take care.