The Skolney Blog

BILLS 23 VIKINGS 6 The 2026 Minnesota Vikings have what might be the greatest defense they've had since the glory days of the Purple People Eaters.  The 2026 Minnesota Vikings have what might be the worst offense they've had since...well...before I was born at least, and maybe ever. Monday night was an absolute grotesquery (I'm inventing a new word), a primetime embarrassment of the type that maybe doesn't get a coach fired in the moment, but that will mark the moment it became an inevitability. Every week feels like grasping at a new straw regarding the state of this offense. First, it was hoping Kyler Murray gets more comfortable. Then, it was hoping the offense gets fully healthy. Then it was hoping things would click after the bye. Then, it was hoping facing weak defenses would help. The latest was hoping a switch to Carson Wentz would work. Well, Carson Wentz just played one of the worst games by a QB in Vikings history. So what's left to hope for? We all knew ...

LIONS 19 VIKINGS 15 The Minnesota Vikings lost a football game Sunday, something that hadn't happened in roughly 11 months. I expected them to. I mean, they weren't going undefeated. They weren't sweeping the division. Facing the Lions on the road is a tough game. Losing this one is hardly shameful.  But here's the thing. The Lions have one of the worst defenses in football, and we're further depleted during this game. And the Vikings finished with 15 points. This just isn't getting any better. The early vibes were bad when the Vikings opening drive ended with a deep shot to Jordan Addison that had pretty clear DPI that went uncalled, and then Will Reichard missed a long field goal. But the Vikings' defense went to work and did their thing against the Lions' challenging offense. Detroit moved the ball a little bit but was not explosive. Andrew Van Ginkel got 2 ½ of the Vikings 4 1st half sacks. James Pierre nabbed the 1st interception of the year from Ja...

2006: By 2006, Martin Scorsese was legendary not just for his body of work,  but also for not ever winning an Oscar for his work. He should have won by then, of course, probably many times over. He had even been making some films that to many felt like blatant Oscar bait. And those films were not that satisfying. So, instead of doing period pieces and biopics, he went and did just a badass, cool as fuck crime movie...and finally won for it. The Departed is a remake of a foreign film called Infernal Affairs, retrofitted into a Boston setting complete with thick accents. The target is a mob boss, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson gnawing the scenery in his last great performance). He has a mole in the police department, played by Matt Damon. And the police have an undercover against in Frank's crew, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The bulk of the story is how each guy maintains their cover when almost every encounter could blow it. The film sizzles like all great crime movies. ...

In theaters: THE SOCIAL RECKONING Many years after The Social Network, a film that's very good if a bit overrated (the people who talk it up as one of the greatest films of the 2000s so far are nuts), comes this sequel, which only carries over writer turned director Aaron Sorkin.  I have no idea what purpose this film serves. While the previous film was all about the beginning of Facebook, this is a smaller story of a whistle-blower (Mikey Madison) and a journalist (Jeremy Allen White) exposing how Facebook cares more about engagement and clicks than it does about its users. I mean...yeah...duh. Even if we didn't know this, we knew this. FB has been a cesspool. There's a basically useless storyline here with Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong in for Jesse Eisenberg) preparing to testify to Congress. The Madison-White stuff is fine, I guess. Mikey is a soothing presence. But this film is so inconsequential, and the ending is treated like Facebook was an evil entity that got defeated....

VIKINGS 16 COLTS 10 November will dawn with only one undefeated team left in the NFL, and that team is the Minnesota Vikings! Off the bye, and facing a fading Colts team (which I picked to make the playoffs...hardly my worst prediction this year *cough*Chargers*cough*), the Vikings went about their usual 2026 business, winning a game in rather ugly fashion. But winning. I had hoped that coming off the bye and with the healthiest roster they will have all year, the offense in particular would look sharp. It didn't. The opening drive showed we were going to have another muck fest. We wasted another really good Myles Price return by running up the gut with Aaron Jones over and over, including a 4th and 1, and getting stuffed. A short time later, Jonathan Taylor (future Viking?) burst for a long TD run, and the Colts grabbed the 7-0 lead. A familiar pattern played out after this. The Vikings offense was occasionally able to move the ball, but only got field goals. The defense bounced b...

VIKINGS 23 SAINTS 13 I had high hopes coming into this Vikings season. I picked them to win the north, after all. But I never thought the Vikings would hit the bye week at 5-0. I thought 3-2 would be a solid start. Instead, they remain one of only 3 undefeated teams left (49ers and Chiefs the others). The latest victim: the New Orleans Saints. The latest venue: the Superdome, site of the Vikings' last playoff win and site of the single greatest injustice this franchise has ever suffered. Vikings fans have been perpetually mad so far this year, fretting over the offense being inconsistent to put it mildly. But there was tangible progress made in that Dolphins game last week. Kyler Murray had a terrific 4th quarter, and his positive momentum carried over to this game. Murray was incredibly sharp for much of this game, but especially early on. He hit on his 1st 12 passes and led two good drives. Problem is that the Vikings only got 3 points out of them. Following a Will Reichard field...