Why Rich Still Doesn’t Know What to Make of the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are 5-0, and Rich is the first to admit he still can't figure them out.

"I still don't know what to make of the Minnesota Vikings. I'm sorry," Rich said on the show. "I know they're five and oh, and you are what you are in this league."

What he can make of is one throw. Kyler Murray found Justin Jefferson in the back of the end zone, boxed in by the sideline, the end line, and three New Orleans Saints. "That was a hell of a throw," Rich said.

It was the moment Rich started to see something. "When he made that throw, I'm like, all right, now I can see," he said, and the studio finished the thought: Murray is starting to get his groove back. Building a rapport between a quarterback and a receiver like Jefferson takes time, and this looked like progress.

Rich also figured Jefferson has to love the arrangement. The crew briefly tangled over which "JJ" he meant, Jefferson or McCarthy, before landing on the receiver. The point stood: Jefferson has to love that Murray is going to give him a chance on throws nobody else would attempt.

The context makes it more impressive. Rich pointed to a return from an ankle injury and the pieces that were missing. Jordan Addison was out. Aaron Jones is the starting running back while Jordan Mason sits on IR, and Rich said Jones has done a very good job, even with a stretch where he left the game for a bit.

Then there's the defense. Rich noted that Tyler Shough had an easier time against Atlanta, and that was a brutal night for him too. This one was called Shough's worst performance as a pro.

"The defense in support of an offense that continues to get better makes the Vikings very dangerous," Rich said.

Jefferson spoke glowingly about his quarterback after the game. "The off-schedule plays that he made, scrambling and using his feet to create those first downs and just creating that momentum for us, it was definitely big for us," Jefferson said. "When it comes to a play that doesn't look like much, he's making something out of nothing. That goes a lot for us."

He added that it's exactly what the team expected from Murray. "So he played tremendous," Jefferson said. "We just got to finish those drives, with those two fumbles that we had."

That's the asterisk Rich keeps circling. Minnesota hasn't finished a lot of drives yet. But the Vikings keep finishing off opponents, which is, as Rich put it, "I guess all that matters."

They sit at 5-0, same as the 49ers. Rich may not know what to make of them, but the record has stopped waiting for him to decide.