First of all, Bengals backup quarterback Brett Rypien, a former Viking who is also going back to Minnesota Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12), offers a Robert Redford wink straight from The Sting.

"No," he deadpans when asked if he is any help to Jake Browning this week after practicing against the Vikings a month ago in this past training camp.

Secondly, Rypien, who has been in the NFL for seven years and been with as many teams, has a doctorate in pro quarterbacking, and knows exactly why what Browning did last Sunday in relief of Joe Burrow was so hard and great.

"I don't think people realize how hard that is to do. Coming into a game cold," Rypien says. "People try to compare it to being a relief pitcher. It's not even close. It's way harder than that. Because you're throwing to moving targets and guys you haven't played with and running plays you've never repped live. It's extremely difficult. I mean, he came in and won the game."

Won the game? He hadn't taken a real snap in two years, and there he was leading an NFL Films 92-yard drive in the last minute.

"Unbelievable," Rypien says.

Browning, as every Cincy schoolkid knows, is no stranger to a start and a win against the Vikings. In the "You Never Should Have Cut Me Game," back on Dec. 16, 2023, much like he did last Sunday against the Jaguars, Browning willed a fourth-quarter game-winning drive at Paycor Stadium that beat the Vikes in overtime.

If the great safety Harrison Smith plays for the first time this year this Sunday, Browning faces three-fourths of the same secondary. Also in the lineup that day was Cincinnati-bred linebacker Ivan Pace. But that's it as far as familiar faces.

And what should be good news is bad news. The Vikes have the same defensive coordinator in the highly-decorated Brian Flores, who is never the same.

"Being on the other side, you can see why he's had a lot of success, causes a lot of problems for the offense," Rypien says. "The unique thing about Flo is it seems like every year he's evolved based on the personnel he has at hand. His greatest strength is that he's able to use the personnel he has in the best way possible. And he puts guys in the best position to be successful."

Browning has a great Flores sounding board at Paycor. There's not only Rypien, but there's also right guard Dalton Risner, who started last year's Wild Card Game for the Vikings. Plus, there's Bengals cornerbacks coach Charles Burks, a Flores protégé who held the clicker for him during a year Flores was the head coach in Miami.

But, as Burks says, he's got his own gig this week. Start and end with all-universe wide receiver Justin Jefferson, and, besides, Burks knows head coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher have prepared plenty for Flores in the last seven years. Twice against the Dolphins (0-2). Twice against the Steelers (1-1). Now twice with Minnesota (1-0).

But everybody knows it won't be the same.

"He's one of those coaches you can go against him a lot of times, but can get caught off guard by something," Risner says. "You just have to be alert and have to be ready and prepared.

"He's ultra-competitive. His players buy into what he does. His players love him. He's got dogs. He knows the right guys to get."

Who Flores has this year is two new formidable two-way veteran tackles in Johnathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, who have nearly 90 career sacks combined. In 2024, they drafted outside linebacker Dallas Turner in the first round and signed big-time Texans edge rusher Jonathan Greenard after his 12.5-sack year. He kept it up with a dozen more in 2024 and has one this year.

"I think they just change a lot game to game," Browning says. "I think it's a game plan defense, where you can watch all the film you want and they're going to present some different looks on Sunday. It's just how do you react to that and being able to make the adjustments that you need to."

One thing you do know about Flores. He's bringing the heat

Since '24, according to Next Gen Stats, the Vikings have the highest blitz rate in the league at 41.4% of drop-back passes. Their 136 pressures on blitzes in the same span are second.

"It seems like they kind of run it like an offense, where they'll come to the line with a couple different calls. They want to get into the perfect call, just like an offense," Browning says. "Obviously, the defensive coordinator has been there for a while now, and has some creative stuff. They've got some guys who have been in the system for a long time, and they're good."

Showing mastery of his own scheme, no one has been better against the blitz than Browning. According to the NFL, Browning's 126.3 is the best career passer rating against the blitz among quarterbacks with at least 50 passes in the last three years.

Last week, he was perfect against the blitz (158.3) and threw his two touchdowns against it, which gets you back to that preparation on a bench you never know if or when you're leaving.

Bengals quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe, who was the assistant in Browning's '23 run, says prep is his best trait as a backup.

"He's always prepared. He always has the mindset he's going to play whether he's the starter or the backup," Kragthorpe says. "His preparation level is really impressive. Just doing his part in helping Joe whenever he was the backup."

The numbers confirm the preparation. He's not Joe Lee Burrow. But he was there when needed in '23, a year Browning had a higher completion percentage (70.4) and averaged more passing yards per attempt (eight) than Burrow (66.8, 6.3).

For Browning, preparation has meant survival. If he wasn't prepared, he knew he'd be gone like all the other undrafteds.

"There's not really anyone in the building that's like, 'This is my guy, I need to make this work because I stamped this guy,'" Browning says. "It's like, 'Yeah, if this guy doesn't work out, I'll just grab another one.'

"If you look around the league, there's not a lot of guys that are undrafted that kind of have the same path. I think it's unique, but at the end of the day, it's 'what have you done for me lately.' You need to go play well and I'm pretty focused on that."

Sunday's assignment is tough enough with Flores' deep reservoir of looks amplified by the din of U.S. Bank Stadium.

But it's not coming in cold.

"I think," Rypien says, "it's one of the hardest things in professional sports."