Vikings win caps off winning weekend for Minnesota‘s sports teams

CATHY WURZER: Did you see that pass by Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold yesterday? He launched that thing from his own team's end zone to the other end of the field, where wide receiver Justin Jefferson was ready for it.

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

- He's got Jefferson. It's a footrace down field with Brown. Shifting gears, getting a block. That's six. 97 yeards. Holy smokes.

[END PLAYBACK]

CATHY WURZER: Yes, indeed. My gosh. Darnold led the Vikes to a 23 to 17 win against his former team and the defending conference champions, the San Francisco 49ers. And across football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, it was a shockingly winning weekend for Minnesota teams. Wally Longfellow, Eric Nelson are here to explain what's happening. Do I sound like a typical Minnesota fan? I do, don't I? I mean, the fact that everyone won is just kind of a shock for me, but yeah. Wow.

ERIC NELSON: You're captain sunshine, Cathy.

WALLY LONGFELLOW: Yeah. Occasionally, it happens, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Occasionally. Yes. OK. So that Vikings game, that was a heck of a game, Wally Longfellow.

WALLY LONGFELLOW: Yeah, they played well in a place where San Francisco does not play well. The 49ers have not beaten the Vikings in Minnesota since 1992. So it has been a long time. But the Vikings, I think, again, as we talked about last week, it was the defense that really put the boot to the butts of the San Francisco 49ers. Six sacks of quarterback, Brock Purdy. They had six pass deflections, eight tackles for loss behind the scrimmage.

They really made a difference, the defense. They blocked a punt. This was CJ Ham, the fullback for the Vikings on special teams, blocking a punt. They did a lot of things right. Now the vikings did have two key turnovers that could have added to their score. The Sam Darnold interception, he was intercepted in the first half as they were driving. I think it was down at about the 10-yard line was the interception.

And then late in the game, Aaron Jones on a screen pass fumbles at like the 1-foot line. I mean, he's a foot away from getting into the end zone that probably would have put it away. That was like late in the third quarter when that happened that that would have changed probably the trajectory of that fourth quarter and given the Vikings a big lead.

But give the Vikings defense credit again as they stopped the 49ers. On a late drive, they forced them to go for three, and then they recovered the onside kick at the end of the game. And then one last note. I think that Viking offense with a long drive to put the vikings up by nine was a key portion, a key part of the game.

They drove the ball and got it down to like three minutes to go, and they kicked the field goal and put the vikings up by a score of 23 to 14. And that essentially was game, set, and match right there. So 2 and 0, what can you say?

CATHY WURZER: Wow. OK, Eric, what do you think? And Justin Jefferson, is he OK after that?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. Well, if you believe what he says. JJets, of course, had the that home run heave, a 97-yard touchdown catch from Sam Darnold. And as you said, Cathy, I mean, Darnold showed a lot of poise for standing in his own end zone facing a defense that is among the top two or three in the NFL.

But he threw a great arc on that ball, and JJets caught it at the logo. And then he ran about 50 yards and got a great shadow block from Jalen Nailor inside the five-yard line to get him into the end zone. But it's a quad injury, and he believes he will play Sunday against the Houston Texans.

And if you want to be optimistic, I'll drink the purple Kool-Aid. Maybe we have a Super Bowl preview coming to Minneapolis Sunday, Cathy. Houston is 2 and 0. Minnesota's 2 and 0. And the Texans are a very good team. They knocked off Chicago last night, 19 to 13, down in Houston. They run a defense that is a mirror image of what San Francisco runs. That's because their head coach, DeMeco Ryans, came from San Francisco.

So the vikings are going to see a very similar look when they face the Texans. They're also going to see an old friend, Danielle Hunter, who had an outstanding career here in Minnesota as a defensive end. He's now with the Texans.

But I want to give the kudos to Brian Flores because I talked to a couple of Vikings after the game yesterday. Among them, Cam Bynum, the safety. And he says Flores, the defensive coordinator, likes to create chaos and mayhem.

And that's what the Vikings have done in the first two weeks against the New York Giants and San Francisco. Brock Purdy's very good, the quarterback for the 49ers. But I don't think he was ever comfortable yesterday because Minnesota was caving in the pocket.

And I think Flores would probably get another head coaching job in the NFL. He used to be in Miami. But he's suing the league. So I don't know when that's going to happen or if it's going to happen. But you know what? It's Minnesota's gain.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Hey, we'll continue to speak of football here. Gophers look good on Saturday too. I mean, 27-0, Nevada? What are the highlights of that game, Mr. Longfellow?

WALLY LONGFELLOW: Well, Darius Taylor had another good game. He ran for 124 yards, a couple of scores, caught a touchdown pass. Kerry Brown on defense, a couple of interceptions for Minnesota. And I think, again, going back to what I said about the Vikings, the Gophers defense came to play again. They've now put up back to back shutouts for the last couple of weeks. It's the first time since October of 1962--

CATHY WURZER: What?

WALLY LONGFELLOW: --that the gophers have had back to back shutouts. They'll play Iowa this week. Now Iowa, a winner on Saturday over Troy, 38-21. So Iowa is 2 and 1, their lost to Iowa State. The Gophers also 2 and 1. That game will be at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Gophers, of course, losing to North Carolina in the opener.

And this is for the battle for coveted Floyd of Rosedale Trophy. The pig is at stake. And the Gophers currently own the pig from a year ago when the first time in the PJ Fleck era, they went down and they beat Iowa. And of course, it was semi-controversial. Don't ask Eric because he thinks that the punt return should have counted, apparently.

A controversial win nonetheless, but a win. And the Gophers currently own Floyd of Rosedale. So we'll see if they can hang on in their first Big 10 game of the season. That is Saturday, 6:30 PM, and that's on NBC. So it's on free TV.

CATHY WURZER: See, there you go. And Eric, I don't know. What do you think? Can the Gophers keep Floyd?

ERIC NELSON: I think they definitely have a chance. Iowa does not have the most explosive offense. I know they scored 38 against Troy, but Troy is not Minnesota. But it's a huge rivalry. There's probably going to be 10,000 to 20,000 Iowa fans who flock up I-35 and stage their biannual coup d'etat of Huntington Bank Stadium. So there's going to be a lot of black and gold in the venue. One other Gopher nugget, because Wally mentioned they haven't had back to back shutouts since '62, which happens to be their last Rose Bowl season.

CATHY WURZER: True.

ERIC NELSON: Well, the Gophers are going to Pasadena to play UCLA, October 12th. And that'll be the first trip to SoCal to play in the Rose Bowl for Minnesota since those days because UCLA's home venue is the Rose Bowl.

Well, the LA times is reporting that a minimum of 10,000 Minnesota Gopher fans are going to be in the greater Los Angeles area, making a pilgrimage they weren't sure they were ever going to make again. Now this isn't the actual Rose Bowl. It's a regular season game.

CATHY WURZER: Yes.

ERIC NELSON: But hey, why not go, right? It might be the only chance Gopher fans get.

CATHY WURZER: That's right. OK. So give me your best 30 seconds on the Lynx. They're finishing up the regular season in just a few days. They got a shot at being top seed.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. They're hotter than the weather right now. They've won six in a row. They're 29 and 9. They have the second best record in the WNBA. They knocked off New York Sunday in Gotham City. Napheesa Collier, 18 points, 13 rebounds. They play at Connecticut Tuesday. They host the LA Sparks on Thursday, final game of the regular season. The playoffs start Sunday. Do not sleep on the Minnesota Lynx.

CATHY WURZER: We shall not. We shall not. Thank you, gentlemen. Always a pleasure.

ERIC NELSON: See you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Have a good week. See ya. Wally Longfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine, the co-host of the Sports Talk Show 10,000 Takes on radio and TV. Eric Nelson is the other host of that said show and Minnesota Vikings NFL reporter for CBS's Eye on Football and Sirius XM.