Disappointment for Lynx, Vikings fans overshadow Loons win, and other sports news

CATHY WURZER: Well, wouldn't you know. Another Minnesota championship has slipped through our fingers. We started today's show by talking about the WNBA final, where last night the Liberty beat the Lynx in overtime. There's been kind of a dustup online-- not kind of, it is, it's there-- about the officiating. And Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve suggested in a news conference that the refs had unfairly decided the game.

Vikings fans are also nursing a disappointment after a narrow defeat to the Detroit Lions yesterday. Soccer fans, at least, they have a reason to celebrate. The Loons finished their regular season Saturday by beating St. Louis 4 to 1.

Joining us to walk us through all of this Minnesota sports news are our sports gurus, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Gentlemen, we talked earlier to La Velle Neal about the Lynx. And Wally, I'm going to start with you. Do you think that Coach Reeve has a legitimate beef, that the title was stolen from the Lynx?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. And I watched the press conference last night, Cathy, after the game, and she made a great point. Obviously, she felt like-- and many others felt like-- there was not a foul when Breanna Stewart was going to the basket. And she mentioned, of course, she ends up making the two free throws and forces overtime because the Lynx were ahead by 2 at the time.

But the point that Cheryl Reeve made-- and I completely agree with-- so they reviewed it. They have video review available to them, but it's the officials on the floor that are reviewing it. What her point was that there should be a third party. Like in the NBA, they have somebody in New York who is off site, who goes over the video.

She doesn't want-- and I completely agree-- she doesn't want the officials on the floor to have to overrule themselves. She wants a third party to look at it. Because if you call the foul, you want to admit to the whole world that you were wrong in a key moment? No. That should be done by somebody else, not any of the officials on the floor. And I agree with her on that. I think that she made a valid point.

Obviously, I saw a tweet from LeBron James afterwards, and he said something to the effect-- with a curse word in there-- that let the players decide it on the floor. So yeah, they lose the game. They end up-- a great season, obviously-- but I think disappointed because they should have and could have had. And every coach will tell you this, too.

There are other points in that game where they could have played better, and they would have won the game had it not come down to that last call by the official. But when you get a call by the official with just a few seconds left in the game, and you're winning, and it forces overtime-- I mean, they could have played better in overtime. But there are other things to consider. So anyway, there you have it.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you, Wally Langfellow. I was a little surprised, Eric Nelson, yesterday to see that the Vikings just didn't get it done. Detroit beat them at UC Bank Stadium, that last minute field goal. Was it just too much to ask to have a team that was undefeated at this point?

ERIC NELSON: Well, Cathy, historically, there's only been one perfect team in NFL history, and that was the '72 Miami Dolphins, who went 17 and 0. If you're going to run the table now with all these extra games, you got to go 20 and 0. That would include winning a Super Bowl. So that probably wasn't in the cards.

Don't underestimate these Detroit Lions, though. They were in the NFC Championship game a year ago and lost to San Francisco on the road. Now, I think the Vikings stack up with the Lions. This was a physical, competitive game yesterday that had a lot of seesaw moments, but it was a dagger defeat for the purple as they lose it 31-29.

I mean, they go up 10-0, and they've outscored the opposition this season in the first quarter 58 to 3. And then Detroit just roars back with 21 points in the second quarter. The Vikings regained the lead late in the fourth quarter. Ivan Pace Jr. had a 36 yard scoop and score on David Montgomery's fumble, so there's 5:50 left on the clock.

The Vikings have a 1 point lead then. They decide to go for 2, but that play fails. Sam Darnold threw an incompletion to Justin Jefferson, so Detroit had plenty of time to get the ball back. Actually, twice they did. And on their final drive, the Lions moved it down behind Jared Goff, who had pinpoint accuracy all day for the Lions, Cathy.

Their quarterback, he's excellent. 22 of 25 for 208 yards, a couple of touchdown throws, and they got it into chip shot range, basically, for Jack Bates, their kicker, who connected on a 44 yard gain winning field goal for Detroit. So what does this mean?

Well, the Vikings may have picked a bad year to be very good because the NFC North, all four teams, the quartet in the north, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota-- they're all in contention for winning the division and making the playoffs. So right now, Minnesota's tied with Detroit at 5 and 1.

I would say this. The Vikings got to put this in the rear view mirror quickly. They have a short week. They travel to Inglewood, California, to play the LA Rams on Thursday Night Football. The Rams don't have to do any traveling. They played at home yesterday, got a win over the Las Vegas Raiders, so they're just going to sit and wait for the Vikings to arrive. LA's 2 and 4, but they're banged up.

And it's a homecoming, too, for Sam Darnold, who played at USC, and Kevin O'Connell, the head coach. He was Sean McVay's offensive coordinator when the LA Rams won the Super Bowl a few years ago. So I know that McVay does not want to get beat by the guy who is his protege, so to speak. So it'll be an interesting game Thursday night out there in Inglewood, California.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, no kidding. Say, Wally Langfellow, I want to know a little bit here about the T Wolves. We have about, what, a minute left here, or something like that. But the regular season begins tomorrow. They're going to be in LA. Gosh. How are they looking?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I mean, I think the question is going to will the new players, Julius Randle specifically, DiVincenzo, the other player that came in the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns, what are they going to look like this year with those guys? They have the talent. They're very deep. Interestingly, they play tomorrow night. As you mentioned, they play the Lakers tomorrow night on national television, on TNT.

And of course, that's LeBron James and his son Bronny. So it'll be the first time in NBA history a father and son-- assuming Bronny gets into the game-- will play in the same NBA regular season game. They played in the preseason game together against the Wolves. Well, actually, Bronny played, but LeBron didn't. But this time, they will play together, so that an interesting sidebar.

But as for the Wolves, I think expectations are high. You were in the Western Conference Finals last year. You make a big trade. I guess we'll just see how it plays out. If those guys can gel with the rest of the team that they have, they'll be just fine. They'll be in contention this year, no worries.

CATHY WURZER: OK. And then before you go, Eric, Wild won their two games last week. They're going to play Florida tomorrow. I think their season's going so far pretty well, don't you think?

ERIC NELSON: I would say so. And Florida is going to be a huge test because the Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions. But Minnesota has won a couple games on this season long seven game road trip, so that's a good sign. And the Wild are just the fifth team, Cathy, in NHL history to not trail in regulation through each of their first five games in a season.

So they've won three, and they've lost a couple in overtime. Expectations aren't that high for the Wild. But you know what? They weren't for the Vikings either at the beginning of the season, so maybe the Minnesota Wild will surprise us and go on a run. But it is very early. I do want to caution the listeners. There's a lot of hockey left to be played.

CATHY WURZER: That's for sure. OK, guys. Have a good day. Thanks.

ERIC NELSON: See you, Cathy.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Wally Langfellow, the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine, co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and the Minnesota Vikings NFL reporter for CBS's Eye on Football. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now.