Twin Cities media spends about 12 minutes every Wednesday forming a semicircle in front of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Unlike game days of late, nothing spooks Kirk inside this pocket. He sidesteps any issue with grace, downplays all negative trends with ease and always anticipates the weekly "IS THIS A BIG GAME!?" blitz by calling himself a broken record for saying they're all big games.
This week, the "big game" question needed more oomph. Twenty-four hours after John DeFilippo's 306-day stint as new-school Vikings offensive coordinator ended when he was fired by coach Mike Zimmer, Sunday's game against Miami at U.S. Bank Stadium suddenly felt more than just "big."
It feels desperate. Like George Clooney begging his boat to ascend that giant wave. Like Judy Garland trying to open the cellar door with that twister bearing down. Like a ready-made Super Bowl contender with an $84 million quarterback trying to avoid going 6-7-1, surrendering its playoff fate to similar underachievers and staring at the possibility of more heads rolling alongside DeFilippo's at season's end.
So, Kirk, what say you? Does this week feel "desperate?!"
"I don't think so," he said. "We're the sixth seed right now. If we win these next games, we're in the playoffs. Every game counts as one. No more. No less. I don't think we need to view it any differently."
Yeah, under normal circumstances, we'd buy that. But the head coach just fired his offensive coordinator while sitting in that sixth seed. And replaced him with a quarterbacks coach, Kevin Stefanski, who's never called a game.
The move feels desperate. Not saying it won't work. Just saying the gamble makes Vikings headquarters feel like a place where job security could dwindle to people named Wilf and quarterbacks making $84 million win, lose or draw.