The Vikings’ decision on Saturday to activate quarterback Sam Bradford for Sunday afternoon’s playoff game against New Orleans would seem to indicate QB Teddy Bridgewater’s days in Minnesota probably are finished.
What will be intriguing against the Saints, considering Sunday is do or die for the Vikings, is how long coach Mike Zimmer waits to hook starter Case Keenum if Keenum falters. Bradford, remember, sliced up the Saints 29-19 in this season’s opener, passing for 346 yards and three touchdowns.
Al Molde, the retired former athletics director at his alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus, coached Sean Payton when Molde was head football coach at Eastern Illinois from 1983-86. Payton was a record-setting quarterback for Molde for four seasons.
On Sunday, Payton will coach the New Orleans Saints against the Vikings in Minneapolis.
“Sean was an amazing player, but also a student of the game,” Molde said Thursday. “He spent time in the film room and knew coverages, but he wanted more all the time, ‘show me more, teach me more about coverages,’ and he was able to pick people apart.
“He was the quarterback who kept his uniform the cleanest of any of the quarterbacks I’ve ever had — he just never got touched. He checked at the line of scrimmage and got the ball off to our receivers at the right time. It was an amazing time with him for four years.”
Molde, 74, who resides near Battle Lake, Minn., and Payton remain close friends. The two were to chat at the Saints’ hotel in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday evening after team meetings.
Payton recruited QB Drew Brees to the Saints from the San Diego Chargers as a free agent in 2006. That didn’t surprise Molde, who said Payton helped him recruit at Eastern Illinois.
“We always gave Sean our top recruits to host on campus,” Molde said. “And I can’t remember a case of one of those guys not signing with us. He was a Pied Piper, did an incredible job — he just loved it.
“His best recruiting job — and I think he would acknowledge it — was with Drew Brees in 2006. When he invited Brees to come to New Orleans, he personally handled that visit, and you’ve seen the results. Much has been said about that relationship between Payton and Brees.”
Molde, who is from Montevideo, Minn., and Payton enjoy a similar relationship. After the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV (2009 season), Payton sent Molde a life-size replica of the Lombardi Trophy.
Brian Gutekunst, the new Green Bay Packers general manager and son of ex-Gophers head coach John Gutekunst, gets high praise from former longtime Vikings director of research and development Mike Eayrs, who did the same for the Packers until retiring.
“Brian is very intelligent, very articulate, has a winning personality and great communication skills, but the thing that most impressed me about him is he has an amazing attention to detail,” Eayrs said.
Eayrs and Gutekunst were together with the Packers for 14½ years and collaborated on projects.
“Brian had things in his scouting reports that he observed that I thought offered great insight into how players would play, but even more importantly, how they were going to interact in the locker room,” Eayrs said. “He’s a great talent evaluator, but in addition, he’s really great at evaluating the fit of the player into the team and the scheme.”
Eayrs witnessed Gutekunst rise from a Packers scout to GM.
“Outstanding person,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eayrs, who graduated from West Concord High in southeastern Minnesota, is in the process of moving from Green Bay to Lake Elmo.
“I’m really looking forward to becoming a resident of Minnesota again,” he said.
Speaking of the Packers, Bleacher Report lists five former players, including Pro Bowl former Gophers star Jim Carter from South St. Paul, who belong in the Packers Hall of Fame. The others: Tim Harris, Brian Noble, Rich McGeorge and Mark Lee.
Kernal Buhler, the former Vikings marketing whiz, has School Space Media digital network covering 54 Twin Cities boys and girls basketball teams this month.
U.S. Bank Stadium could set some sort of record for decibel levels when the Vikings host the Saints.
“It’s hard to think about because that place is so electric for regular-season games — I’ll be excited to see that environment for a divisional-round playoff game,” Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said.
Rudolph said the Minneapolis stadium is the loudest he’s played in.
“And I can imagine it will be even louder on Sunday,” he said.
Credit Bryan Harper and Patrick O’Connor and a crew of 60 for the Vikings SKOL Vision jumbotron show, recently voted the best in the NFL, for making U.S. Bank Stadium the loudest and most difficult venue for opposing teams to play in. SKOL Vision uses 20 cameras and nearly two dozen replay sources as prompts with music to make the stadium as loud as possible.
How loud? Saints quarterback Brees is expected to have to resort to hand signals to call plays against the Vikings on Sunday.
Rudolph and some teammates attended Monday’s Timberwolves victory over Cleveland and LeBron James.
“(James) is the best in the world — that’s why we’re all here tonight,” Rudolph said.
Tyus Jones, who is becoming a popular Timberwolves point guard, said he was aware that James was in hot pursuit when he slammed his highlight dunk — his second of the season — to a thunderous reaction from the sellout crowd.
“I knew he was behind, trailing the play, because that’s what he does, looks for those chase-down blocks,” Jones said. “So I told myself I’m going to try to dunk because he erased one of my shots earlier.”
Jones, 6 feet 1, dunked a few times in high school at Apple Valley but not during his celebrated one season at Duke.
Following the Wolves-Cavs game, Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler was wearing a Todd Gurley II jersey while rooting for Georgia in the NCAA title game against Alabama.
“My agent got it for me — he would have gotten fired if he didn’t get it for me,” said Butler, adding he got the jersey on Saturday, two days before the big game that Alabama won.
Ex-Timberwolves coach Kevin McHale will be analyst for TNT’s “Players Only” NBA telecast of the Cavs-Spurs game on Jan. 23, with Shaquille O’Neal working in studio.
It looks like ex-Gophers football coach Jerry Kill is headed back to Southern Illinois to work in a liaison-development capacity, the same position he held at Kansas State before becoming offensive coordinator at Rutgers last season.
Tracy Claeys, who succeeded Kill at Minnesota, couldn’t be happier as new defensive coordinator for Mike Leach at Washington State. Claeys will be a perfect fit for Leach.
There’s talk that entry to U.S. Bank Stadium for ticket holders to the Super Bowl will be staggered in groups to reduce congestion.
Steve Sir, the former Cretin-Derham Hall basketball sharpshooter, won the world three-point shooting contest in China last fall. These days, Sir, 35, competes professionally in three-on-three tournaments throughout the world.
That was ex-Timberwolf Kris Dunn scoring 32 points for the Bulls in a 127-124 victory over Dallas the other day. It appears the Wolves’ trade of Dunn and Zach LaVine to Chicago last June for Jimmy Butler, who should be an all-star next month, will benefit both teams.
The Patriots remain favorites (2-to-1 odds) to win the Super Bowl, followed by the Vikings (15-to-4), according to Bovada-Las Vegas.
It looks like 6-4, 215-pound senior Jake Wieneke from South Dakota State via Maple Grove High will be a Day Three pick in April’s 2018 NFL draft.
Local NFL draft expert Shawn Zobel has a new web site out, sidelinepass.com, that’s terrific.
After averaging 24.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in three London Lightning games, former Mr. Basketball Minnesota Royce White, 26, was named the National Basketball League of Canada’s Central Division Player of the Week.
Chris Voelz, 68, the former Gophers women’s athletics director, is executive director of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.
Twins Kyle Gibson, Trevor Hildenberger and Zack Granite appear at a Dunkers breakfast Friday at the Minneapolis Club.
Former major league umpire Tim Tschida has been added to the head table for the Original Old Timers Hot Stove baseball banquet Jan. 22 at Envision in Oakdale.
Ex-Vikings running back Ted Brown on current Vikings running backs Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon: “I like the one-two punch. Murray’s that big power back, straight-ahead guy who doesn’t dance a lot and is capable of catching the ball out of the backfield — that makes him pretty dangerous.
“McKinnon’s that little scatback that everybody’s got.”
Don’t be surprised if a St. Thomas-St. John’s men’s basketball game is used as a practice game for the 2019 NCAA Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium. The St. Thomas-St. John’s football game at Target Field last September attracted a Division III record crowd of 37,355.
Former NFL MVP ex-Viking Alan Page and the current Vikings get a nice spread in this week’s Sports Illustrated.
Northwestern University hit a grand slam with the hiring of former Woodbury star Louis Ayeni as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for his alma mater.
Former Twins manager Tom Kelly headlines the Mounds View Diamond Club fundraiser banquet Jan. 28 at Vadnais Heights Commons.
Condolences to the family of Frank Sime, the classy former Minneapolis Edison All-City pitcher who died at 73 from a massive heart attack last week.
DON’T PRINT THAT
The way it looks now, if Vikings quarterback Case Keenum doesn’t flop against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, he might be able to land a $45 million ($17 million guaranteed), three-year free agent contract to remain in Minnesota.
The guess here is that Sam Bradford, 30, and Teddy Bridgewater, 25, will leave as free agents. The oft-injured Bradford probably could expect a one-year deal elsewhere worth about $8 million
guaranteed; Bridgewater, his reliability still unknown, maybe $5 million guaranteed. Both deals would include incentives.
Possible sites for Bridgewater include Buffalo, Washington or home-state Miami. Bradford could end up in Buffalo or Denver.
The Vikings will continue to develop QB Kyle Sloter, 23, but would be expected to sign a veteran to back up Keenum.
NFL quarterbacks with Super Bowl experience are 35-19 in playoff games against QBs who haven’t played in a Super Bowl, Sports Illustrated points out. The Saints’ Drew Brees has that experience; Keenum does not.
Brees, the future hall of famer who turns 39 on Monday, on Sunday plays in his 13th post-season game (7-5 record). Keenum, who turns 30 next month, is making his first postseason appearance.
It’s hard to believe, but people in the know say eccentric ex-Viking Randy Moss is being seriously considered to replace Jon Gruden on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
Next in line for a NBA maximum contract similar to the $147.9 million Andrew Wiggins received from the Timberwolves is teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who can become a restricted free agent after the 2019-20 season. For what it’s worth, Towns’ family — his parents live in Minneapolis during the season — enjoys Minnesota.
“I love Minnesota,” Towns Sr. said.
If Joe Mauer, who turns 35 in April, has a season this year comparable to 2017 (.305 batting average, .384 on-base percentage, 71 runs batted in, .998 fielding percentage), he might be able to expect a $30 million, two-year extension beginning in 2019.
Mauer’s defense at first base will count favorably for a new deal.
It’s not going to happen, but it would have been fun for the Vikings to have ex-QB Brett Favre, who allegedly was targeted for bounty when the Saints defeated Minnesota in the 2009 NFC championship game, address players with a revenge speech before Sunday’s game.
Although Adrian Peterson is under contract for $3.5 million for next season, the Arizona Cardinals aren’t expected to bring back the former Viking and future hall of fame running back whose last two seasons have ended because of injuries. Bruce Arians recently retired as head coach, and the Cardinals are rebuilding.
Dave Lee, WCCO-AM’s franchise, has agreed to a two-year contract extension.
Ex-Twins pitcher Johan Santana, 38, who resides in Bonita Springs, Fla., and has been out of baseball for five years, is still getting $5 million a year for three more years from the $137.5 million he signed with the Mets in 2008.
During a seven-season stretch (2003-2009), Santana won 111 games. During Clayton Kershaw’s past seven seasons, he has won 118 games with the Dodgers and is on a hall of fame track. Meanwhile, Santana this year might not receive the required 5 percent of hall of fame votes to remain on the writers’ ballot.
Former Twin Jim Kaat tweeted he had a nice chat last week in Florida with Barack Obama about their Chicago days, the former president when he lived and worked there and Kaat when he was pitching for the White Sox.
A bomb-sniffing dog made the rounds several times at Target Center before the Timberwolves-Cavaliers game Monday night.
There were several bodyguards for the Cavs’ LeBron James at Target Center, but most teams have them for top players these days.
Twins 2018 won-lost prediction: 86-76.
Ex-Viking Herschel Walker, 55, said on ESPN radio last week that he still does 3,500 sit-ups a day.
OVERHEARD
Karl Towns Sr., father of the Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns, 22, asked how long it might be before his son becomes an NBA all-star: “In my heart, he’s always going to be that. I think that he’s playing at an all-star level right now. But right now, it’s about winning.”
