Editing Episode 613

{{EpisodeInfobox
| number      = 613
| title       = The Ring Cycle
| hosts       = Arif Hasan, James Pogatshnik
| guests      = Lorin Cox
| type        = Regular Season
}}

'''Norse Code Episode 613: The Ring Cycle''' was the week two preview episode, opening with a discussion of a viral battle commander efficiency chart and Arif's emerging interest in submarines, before moving into an extended Bears preview interview with Lorin Cox of Locked On Bears and Cox Sports 1. The mailbag covered the grammar of broadcast sign-offs, the PFF grade controversy surrounding Caleb Williams, the Ring Cycle as a metaphor for the 2026 Vikings season, Ed Sheeran's band refusing to perform on moral grounds, and the appropriate amount of condiments on a hot dog. The episode title came from a listener question placing the Vikings at the Walküre phase of Wagner's Ring Cycle.

== Overview ==
The cold open centred on a viral chart plotting historical military commanders by total battles fought and War Wins Above Replacement. Napoleon Bonaparte occupied the upper-right corner, alone, in the manner of Mahomes on every efficiency chart from 2020. Robert E. Lee was placed on fraud watch. McClellan's positive WAR was described as borderline insanity. George Washington was identified as a system commander. Arif noted the chart's exclusion of Genghis Khan and any Mongols, and expressed a nascent interest in submarines. James noted he had gotten into smoking meats but had not forgotten his roots of watching the History Channel back when it covered history rather than pawn stars. The interview with Lorin Cox followed, with the mailbag running shorter than usual.

== Bears Preview: Interview with Lorin Cox ==
Arif interviewed Lorin Cox — formerly of PFF (seven years, part-time), currently of Locked On Bears and Cox Sports 1 ("like Fox Sports 1, with a C," a tagline Cox was made to wait the entire episode to deploy) — ahead of the Vikings-Bears week two matchup.

=== PFF and Caleb Williams ===
The interview opened on the controversy around PFF grading Caleb Williams 22nd in week one despite him finishing third in EPA per dropback, fifth in passer rating, and third in success rate. The primary issue was a play nullified by offside: Williams threw a red-zone interception to a defensive lineman who appeared to be lined up offsides rather than jumping. PFF graded it minus-1.5; Sam Monson suggested minus-1.0 would have been more appropriate. Cox confirmed: the issue was less the individual play evaluations and more the conversion from PFF's plus/minus system to its 0–100 scale, which amplified small disagreements into a much larger final grade discrepancy. Williams' adjusted grade (correcting the two contested plays) would likely place him around 11th–13th, not 22nd. His percentage of positively graded plays was 17th; his percentage of negatively graded plays was 15th best. The play-by-play reality was a smart, decisive game built on checkdowns and completions rather than heroic throws, which the 0–100 conversion struggles to capture.

=== The Bears Offence ===
'''Offensive Line''': Braxton Jones at left tackle is a placeholder until Ozzy Chapilla (second-round pick, patellar tendon injury, returning ahead of any medically reasonable schedule) is ready to play. Jones is inconsistent and cannot anchor reliably but will not derail the game plan. Garrett Bradbury is a downgrade at centre from the retired Drew Dalman. Right tackle Darnell Wright dealing with a minor knee injury but expected to play. The line was assessed as clearly worse than last year but not bad.

'''Running Backs''': DeAndre Swift was extended during the week on what Cox described as fair market value. He is demonstrably better than during his Detroit years — getting downhill, taking available yards rather than bouncing outside, no longer the elusive-but-slow mystery that his speed metrics never fully explained. The Swift/Kesi Monongai pairing was discussed: Swift is more well-rounded, slightly better blocker and receiver out of the backfield; Monongai is more north-south, better contact balance, and — contrary to perception — pulled away for a 61-yard run, suggesting he is faster than people think while Swift is slower. Both have the opposite of their nominal reputations. Roschon Johnson was assessed as a bust from the fourth round.

'''Receivers''': Colston Loveland identified as the most important weapon — fast, athletic, a legitimate wide receiver alignment option, currently receiving linebacker and safety matchups that will narrow as the league adjusts. Luther Burden is the most explosive player with the ball in his hands. Jaidyn Alexis made the roster as a blocker who gets rewarded with end-zone targets — one catch, one yard, one touchdown in week one. Jaylen Coker and Ted McMillan were noted as genuinely good players held back by having Bryce Young delivering the ball.

'''Run Scheme''': The Bears were first in the NFL in outside zone percentage in week one — over 50% per Sumer Sports, with 75% zone overall per PFF. No inside zone. No power. No counter. Arif identified 291 rushing yards, 39 attempts, 7.5 yards per carry, and six rushing touchdowns against the Panthers. Cox noted the genius of the scheme is that it looks radically different to a defence on every snap despite being structurally identical: different formations, different alignments, different motion looks, wide receivers working back across the formation that could be jet sweeps, fake jet sweeps, play-action, or run-fits — all designed to make it impossible to just key on "outside zone, running right."

'''Caleb Williams vs. Brian Flores''': Williams was the second-most-blitzed quarterback in week one after Jordan Love. He graded slightly worse against the blitz than against non-blitz looks, partly attributed to zone coverage behind Panthers blitzes giving him no clean answer when his first read wasn't there. Cox noted his real improvement was decisiveness on checkdowns — a weakness last year — and the question for week two is whether he maintains that under Flores's specific brand of pressure or reverts. Arif flagged that Williams attempted the third-most deep balls in week one by volume despite the 55% blitz rate, and that the Vikings had been number one in the NFL in preventing deep shots last year. Ben Johnson's 5-1 record as coordinator/head coach against Flores was contextualised: the two games as Bears head coach were eighth and ninth in best defensive performances allowed across 52 Johnson-coached games, and Jared Goff understands the Flores defence in a way that is probably not easily transposed onto Williams.

'''MVP Odds''': Williams had jumped to second in MVP odds behind Josh Allen, ahead of Lamar Jackson. Cox: good value, not a confident pick. The award is narrative and momentum-driven; voter fatigue with Lamar and Allen exists; but if Chicago's formula keeps emphasising the run game, Goff never won an MVP in Detroit for the same reason.

'''Best Quarterback in the Division''': Cox: Caleb Williams for output and situation. Jared Goff in a vacuum, individually — better quarterback today, worse situation.

=== The Bears Defence ===
'''Missed Tackles''': 24.2% missed tackle rate in week one, second in the NFL behind Denver (26.1%). Nine of fifteen missed tackles were on receivers after the catch. TJ Edwards missed four — the most in a single game in his Bears career. Tyreek Stevenson missed three. Rookie Malik Muhammad missed three. Cox was not panicking but noted that missing tackles in man coverage compounds more severely than in zone, because there are fewer nearby defenders to clean up.

'''Pass Rush''': Bears were eighth worst in pass rush win rate. Pressure arrived late in plays, after quarterbacks had gone through one or two reads — valid pressure but not disruptive pressure. Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Dio Odengbo ("motivated Dio Odengbo" was a Bears fan offseason meme that Odengbo himself has leaned into with a smile), Daniel Hardy. Neville Gallimore, Grady Jarrett (34, injured last year), Contavious Street (starting because the Bears traded Jervon Dexter for peanuts rather than extend him), and sixth-rounder Jordan Vandenberg — described by Arif as generating the kind of one-and-a-half-sack game in 2027 that will make people lose their minds. Former Viking James Lynch also in the rotation at both edge and defensive tackle.

'''Linebackers''': TJ Edwards and Devin Bush. Bush had at least one viral rep where a guard simply folded him backwards and he collapsed onto himself; PFF grades suggest he may have been the worst blitzing linebacker in the NFL in week one. Edwards is fine but missed four tackles. Cox assessed the linebacker room as the one supposedly reliable position group that did not look reliable.

'''Secondary''': Jalen Johnson (best training camp of his career, overly aggressive in week one, jumping routes, expected to correct), Tyreek Stevenson (the top concern against Justin Jefferson), Malik Muhammad II (best coverage performance week one of the three corners, also missed tackles), Dylan Thienemann at safety (first-round pick, Arif had noted him being mocked to the Vikings all offseason; Cox was high on him in the draft, assessed him as a safe floor pick with an unknown ceiling, gave up a touchdown on a play against Darren Waller that was flagged for OPI), Xavier Woods/Cam Lewis battling for the other safety spot. Kyler Gordon remains injured. Full health: a pretty good group. Current state: untested.

'''Special Teams''': Torrey Taylor, the fourth-round punter recruited as a weapon, forced a muffed punt via his banana ball spin technique, but the overall weapon promise remains undelivered. Cairo Santos hit two kickoffs short of the landing zone while apparently attempting a knuckleball technique. Bo Gardner from Georgia is the rookie long snapper. Cairo Santos described as reliable in the Hell League for not missing extra points.

=== Score Prediction ===
Cox reluctantly picked the Bears with low confidence, citing PTSD from week one last year when JJ McCarthy went full number nine in the fourth quarter. He assessed Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores as a combination he trusted more than Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen, and noted the Vikings' quarterback volatility as the largest swing factor. He could not envision the Vikings starting 2-0 with Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz.

== Mailbag ==

* '''Leon''' — Over/under on Justin Jefferson slips on the grass: Arif set it at 2.5, suggesting the market might move to 3.5 as bettors forget how often this happens. Also from Leon: an explanation of the grammar behind "For X, I'm Y" as a broadcast sign-off. Arif: it is a fronted adjunct, evolving from radio's "Reporting for NPR, I'm Ira Glass" — over decades of use, the reporting-for construction was compressed and then the prepositional phrase moved to the front, becoming "For NPR, I'm Ira Glass," and eventually drifting to name the co-host instead of the institution. The meaning has loosened to the point where it functions as a conventional sign-off form with the original grammatical logic largely dropped.

* '''Osman''' — Over/under seven games until a Brosmer appearance. Arif: the over. Kyler is moving through the concussion protocol quickly and could play this week. If he returns and then Wentz and McCarthy both stay healthy for the remainder, reaching Brosmer requires a three-quarterback domino that is unlikely in the timeframe. The comparison to last time: then, Brosmer was QB3; now he is QB4, and Kyler is more likely to return from injury than McCarthy was.

* '''Kenneth Allen''' — What can we realistically learn from a game with Wentz starting against a Ben Johnson offence? Arif: the Ben Johnson vs. Flores record is a Lion's-era Goff artefact, not a system advantage worth extrapolating. Things to actually watch: Dominique Orange's snap count, whether Jonah Jackson's strong week one translates, whether Jordan Addison gets targets, and the safety/nickel corner usage — James Pierre as nickel, Jay Ward at safety, Theo Jackson and Josh Metellus in various sub-package combinations.

* '''James (unattributed)''' — Robert Kraft has been banned from performing at Gillette Stadium. What can the Wilfs ban, and on what grounds, to ensure the Vikings get their own happy ending? Arif: accuse Ben Johnson of something using the loosest possible definition of anti-Semitism to ban the Bears from US Bank Stadium. For Jared Goff: attribute a Ryan Gosling film role to him and ban him on those grounds. Nobody will be able to tell the difference.

* '''LeVar Bolsharif''' — Concussion corner: does a fencing response correlate with severity? Arif reviewed a Pitt/NFL study of 57 players: fencing response group cleared to play in 10 days on average, non-fencing response group in 9 days — no statistically significant difference. Symptom scores, cognitive scores, and balance scores also did not differ between groups. Selection bias caveat: a fencing response always triggers independent neurologist evaluation; non-fencing responses that are evaluated are the ones obviously severe enough to flag. Two identical head injuries may not be captured equally. Conclusion: medically, a fencing response does not appear to predict longer recovery in the NFL data available. There is an optical problem with Kyler returning quickly that is separate from the medical question. Also from LeVar: an itemised moral inventory of Arif's recent conduct including editing a "keep gambling" article (Arif: it said playing favourable odds, not gambling; there is a difference, and it is the entire piece), podcast episode descriptions, reposting Pat McAfee's music (Arif: it was a critique, not an endorsement), and promoting BetterHelp. James: this is not news. LeVar has been listening long enough to know there was no golden era.

* '''Nolan Taylor''' — For the Ring Cycle corner: at what point in the Ring Cycle do we find the 2026 Vikings? Arif: Die Walküre — the third produced but second in the cycle's intended order. In that opera, twins separated and reunited fall in love; the gods, angered, pursue punishment; the Valkyrie intervenes to save the couple and faces divine retribution as a result. The 2026 Vikings are at the moment of committing an as-yet-unidentified unspeakable sin. They will escape initial punishment through some heroic act. They will then face an even greater punishment, probably around week 17 or 18.

* '''Kyle Segall''' — Since Arif (who puts ketchup on hot dogs) is replacing James with Drew McGarry (who hates mayo), what awful mustard takes will be unleashed? Arif: ketchup on hot dogs is correct and normal, particularly given the salt-and-fat content of a hot dog pairing well with something vinegary and slightly sweet. Also excellent on hot dogs: diced raw onions, and various mustards — not French's bright yellow, which has limited application, but brown mustard enthusiastically, and Dijon for the genuinely controversial take. He once spent Christmas making a range of homemade mustards with his brother and then-girlfriend — varying spice levels controlled by the timing of water and acid addition to the mustard compounds — and brought them to his brother's in-laws' house. He will not apologise for any of this. James: he came around on mustard on hot dogs after vendor hot dogs in New York. Stone ground is very good.

* '''Damian Bolsharif''' — Which of Ed Sheeran's support acts will Arif be most disappointed not to see perform? Arif: his band ('''Beoga''', pronounced "Bioga," an Irish group). Context: Macklemore dropped Ed Sheeran's tour over political grounds. Ed Sheeran declined to cancel the tour himself, citing the band and crew members who depend on the income. His band responded by dropping out anyway, along with three other support acts. Arif noted the act of hiring Irish support acts and then taking a neutral stance on the events of the moment was, with hindsight, a scheduling error, as the Irish are famously very pro-Palestinian. Several tweets praising Macklemore's principled stance also noted that his music was not good, which Arif found excellent. One tweet described it as the first time the tweeter had to separate the art from the artist because the artist was good.

== Key Bits & Lore ==
* The 2026 Vikings are at '''Die Walküre''' — poised to commit an unspeakable sin, destined to be saved by a heroic act, and then face an even greater punishment approximately around week 17–18
* Napoleon Bonaparte occupies the upper-right corner of the battle commander WAR chart, alone, in a manner compared to Mahomes on every 2020 efficiency graphic
* Robert E. Lee is on fraud watch; McClellan's positive WAR is borderline insanity
* Arif is developing an interest in submarines and expects this to intersect eventually with texting Michael Kist
* Lorin Cox's tagline — "like Fox Sports 1, with a C" — was held the entire episode before being deployed
* DeAndre Swift is faster than people think; Kesi Monongai is also faster than people think; this is the entire scouting report
* Arif makes homemade mustard at Christmas. Brown mustard is correct. French's bright yellow is acceptable in limited contexts
* "Motivated Dio Odengbo" is confirmed canon in Chicago Bears lore; Odengbo is in on the joke
* Ben Johnson vs. Flores record (5–1 as coordinator/head coach): artefact of Jared Goff understanding the Flores defence, not a system advantage transferable to Caleb Williams
* Lorin Cox reluctantly picked the Bears. He noted he could not imagine the Vikings starting 2-0 with Wentz and Murray

[[Category:Episodes]]
[[Category:Season 2026]]