Week 14 POSTGAME Roundtable: Vikings See Red, Down the Commies

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Week 14 Minnesota Vikings postgame roundtable here at Daily Norseman. The Vikes are coming off a surprising shutout win over the Washington Commanders, with J.J. McCarthy looking better than he had before in any full game.

Can the Vikings turn this into a streak? Before we look ahead to that, and next weekend’s matchup with the Cowboys, how about we ask the boys a few questions about the game that just happened this weekend?

Let’s talk to it:

Question 1: On a scale of 1-100, how surprised were you with how Sunday’s game went?

Brandon Warne: I’d say about a 75. This is obviously not how Washington planned for things to go, but I thought an emotional game with the return of their leader/quarterback would lead to a little more resistance than they showed. It was a good win, all things considered. The team’s draft position is basically tied to how J.J. McCarthy plays from here out, which feels about right.

Christopher Gates: A solid 80, honestly. I picked the Vikings to lose, but I thought there was a chance they could beat the Commanders. I did not expect them to come in and blow their doors off. The Commanders took the Broncos, who would be the #1 seed in the AFC if the season ended today, to overtime in Denver last week and would have won with a better two-point play call in overtime and got Jayden Daniels back this week, so I thought everything was rolling in their favor, particularly with how bad the Vikings looked in Seattle. But, to their credit, the Vikings circled the proverbial wagons and got themselves a victory by simplifying things on offense and putting together their best defensive performance of the season when they needed it the most. Kudos to everyone who got this team ready to play on Sunday afternoon.

Craig Williams: Shocked by the Vikings winning? 20/100. Shocked by the 31-0 final score? 99/100.

Warren Ludford: About 70. I didn’t expect a blowout, but on further review the Commanders were on the road with nothing to play for except maybe maintaining a top draft pick slot.

Sam Buegler: 85. I was expecting it to be a rough game, but for the Vikings to come out on top. For it to be utter domination was quite surprising. We have seen them do this before to bad teams – Bengals – but I didn’t think we would see that kind of performance again.

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Question 2: On a scale of 1-100, how did your perception of J.J. McCarthy change after Sunday?

BW: My heart grew three sizes that day. OK, so I was never The Grinch when it came to JJM, but I was starting to wonder. Still, I felt like a year off, and then prolonged gaps between games meant he was going to be rusty for sure. Was it rust? Is he just bad? Or like most things, is the truth somewhere...