Inside The Vikings

Kirk Herbstreit forgets Vikings while naming NFC's best teams on TNF broadcast

The Vikings somehow slipped Herbstreit's mind on Thursday night.
Will Ragatz|
Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Kirk Herbstreit attends the game between the LSU Tigers and the Southern California Trojans at Allegiant Stadium.
Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Kirk Herbstreit attends the game between the LSU Tigers and the Southern California Trojans at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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During the fourth quarter of Thursday night's 49ers win over the Seahawks, Amazon Prime Video color commentator Kirk Herbstreit wondered aloud if San Francisco is still the best team in the NFC. As he named some of their top competitors in the conference, one notable team slipped his mind.

"If I ask you who the best team in the NFC is, not right now, but when you look at the roster and you look at their potential, I still think San Francisco, especially if they get Christian McCaffrey back," Herbstreit said to partner Al Michaels. "Who else besides them? You could bring up Dallas, you could bring up Green Bay, Tampa, there's some good teams out there. But if San Francisco's healthy, they're still a force in this NFC."

"Agreed," Michaels said.

The general point about the 49ers still being "a force" in the NFC is accurate; they're a very good team that's going to be a tough matchup for anyone in the playoffs. But who else besides them, Kirk? How about the 5-0 team that just beat San Francisco less than a month ago? The Vikings, the NFC's lone undefeated team, went unmentioned by Herbstreit as he threw out some of the contenders that came to mind.

The three teams he did choose to mention were also interesting. The Cowboys, Packers, and Buccaneers all made the playoffs last year, but they're currently the 7, 8, and 9 seeds in the NFC. The Packers just lost to the Vikings in Green Bay a couple weeks ago. Dallas and Tampa Bay have been blown out this year by the Saints and Broncos, respectively. Herbstreit also forgot about the Lions, who belong in the top three with Minnesota and SF, as well as the resurgent Commanders and Falcons.

I'll mostly give Herbstreit a pass since he's primarily a college football guy, broadcasting live sports is a difficult job, and sometimes things escape you. But to some degree, this feels like an example of Sam Darnold and the 5-0 Vikings still having more to prove to be at the forefront of people's minds when they think about NFC contenders. The perception they entered the season with can be hard to shake.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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