Vikings applied for 'Bring It All' trademark two days before loss to Bears

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of The Cooler, where it feels particularly good to write 2019 on all dates. Let's get to it:

*According to trademark attorney Josh Gerben, the Vikings filed an application for the phrase "Bring It All" just two days before their crushing 24-10 loss to the Bears on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

You might recall they tried a "Bring It Home" campaign last year, in hopes of playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium. The campaign was good; the 38-7 loss at Philadelphia in the NFC title game was not.

In any event, here are a few suggestions for alternate phrases the Vikings might want to trademark in light of how things transpired at the end of this season:

Maybe bring some? This is far more polite to our Minnesota sensibilities and gives everyone — players, fans, coaches, even media members — a convenient out if things don't go as planned. Eh, we brought some. What more do you want?

If you want to get some, you gotta bring some. OK, this is obviously just an excuse for me to post to that old Tim Brewster motivational video. But it would look good on a towel.

Bring a paper bag. Maybe this one is a little too harsh considering the Vikings finished with a winning record, but that game against the Bears was hard to watch and might have been more pleasant at least under the cloak of anonymity.

All brought some; some brought less. Sort of a variation here on the poignant war memorial phrase, "All gave some; some gave all."

Anyway, these are just some ideas. There will be a long offseason to think about them before anything is finalized for 2019.

*Speaking of the Vikings, here is a very interesting fact I found while sorting through the season: According to ESPN's Total QBR metric — which attempts to assign a value to a quarterback's overall contribution to games and seasons — Kirk Cousins was the second-best QB in the NFC North. But the order of quarterbacks in the division is not what you would imagine. Here is their ranking:

Mitchell Trubisky, Bears: No. 3 in the NFL, 72.8

Kirk Cousins, Vikings: No. 14, 62.0

Matthew Stafford, Lions: No. 22, 54.0

So yeah, the second-year QB who has taken his share of heat was third in the NFL in that metric. The other three veteran, highly paid guys were mediocre.

Cousins was good in the passing department, coming in at No. 9 in clutch-weighted expected points added on passes. But he was dead last out of 33 qualified QBs in run points added after being a respectable No. 16 in 2017 with Washington. Cousins not being able to make plays with his feet was a big disappointment this year, particularly given the offensive line's struggles.