Same old, same old

For Vikings fans who watched Minnesota teams consistently fail to win on the road during the waning days of Dennis Green’s regime and during Mike Tice’s entire coaching stint, the stench wafting from Denver Sunday afternoon for three-plus quarters must have smelt sickeningly familiar.

In a game the Vikings had to win to keep its slim playoff hopes alive, Brad Childress’s Minnesota Vikings looked a lot like the ones Tice and Green used to lead to slaughter on the road. On offence, except for the first two drives – the Vikings looked limp, played scared and couldn’t move the ball. On defence, the unit was out schemed and outplayed, tackling poorly and giving up large chunks of yardage through the air and on the ground. With just eight minutes left in the game, the Vikings were down 19-3 and looked to be ending yet another season with a whimper.

A furious fourth quarter rally, the result of some brilliant play by – gasp – quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, allowed the Vikings to tie the game 19-19 and send it into overtime. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the traits that allowed Jackson to drive his team down the field for two fourth quarter touchdowns and the two-point conversions – keeping plays alive with his legs and attempting to make plays when there appeared to be none available – doomed the Vikings in overtime when Jackson fumbled in the midst of trying to throw a pass while being sacked when he should have just hit the turf. The Broncos recovered and on the next play kicked a 30-yard field goal to win the game and eliminate the Vikings from the playoffs.

Much like the Washington game one week ago, this game was lost in the first half by the Vikings via multiple self-inflicted wounds. There was Chester Taylor’s two fumbles, there was Troy Williamson’s drop of a sure-fire 72-yard touchdown pass with no Bronco defender within 15 yards of him, there was E.J. Henderson’s helmet-to-helmet unnecessary roughness penalty that aided Denver’s first touchdown drive and there was an offence that could only score three points against a less-than-stellar Broncos defence.

Thanks to Washington’s easy 27-6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Vikings would have been eliminated even if they had beat Denver. But a road win and a 9-7 record would have been a much more satisfying end to the season for the Vikings and its fans. Instead this makes it the sixth season in the past eight without a playoff appearance and another winter of wondering what moves – if any – the team is going to make to turn the Vikings into the elite NFL team its fans crave.

Since 2000, the franchise is a decidedly mediocre 62-66. The firing of Tice and hiring of Childress hasn’t changed the overall win-loss results on the field the past two seasons. Perhaps next year is the year. The Vikings certainly have some nice talent in place and the chatter among the fanbase is with a bold offseason move or two (trading for Donovan McNabb? Signing free-agent-to-be corner Asante Samuel?), the team is ready to take off in 2008.

But the same thing could be said about the six other NFC teams that finished either 8-8 or 7-9 this season. What’s worrisome is the Vikings might not have a lot of salary cap room to outbid other needy teams for the really appealing free agents. Nor do they have a coach who is known as Mr. Warmth or appears to be a great salesman who can win over free agents and get them to sign in Minnesota.

And the Vikings 2008 schedule looks to be much tougher than the 2007 schedule was. Minnesota will be playing a second-place NFC schedule, plus its games against improving divisional foes and four games against AFC South opponents, which includes three playoff squads (Indy, Jacksonville and Tennessee) plus the 8-8 Houston Texans. There won’t be many gimme games on the Vikings schedule in ’08.

And for a team that showed once again against Denver that it is still too one-dimensional on offence and defence, the Vikings will have to have a very productive offseason bringing in some new players through trades, free agency and the draft in order to become the kind of team that wins more than seven or eight games a season. Anything less and you can even expect the Vikings to take a step or two back in 2008.

On Deck: Our last call outs of 2007

Friday's Two-Minute Drill

Vikings fans are wearing a lot of long faces these days. A 32-21 loss by their favourite team in a must-win game will do that to a fan base. But with all the grumpiness and negativity going around, let’s not forget the Vikings were not eliminated from playoff contention Sunday night – the chance just got a lot slimmer.

But a chance is still a chance and it sure beats where the Vikings were sitting this time last year, at 6-9, out of the playoffs and a couple of days away from mailing it in at home against St. Louis. There’s still plenty of justification for tuning into Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos and rooting for the Vikings. If the Vikings win and Washington somehow loses to the Double A team the Dallas Cowboys are going to field by the time the second quarter of that game rolls around, Minnesota is in the NFC playoff derby.

Yeah it’s improbable. But it’s not impossible. So here are a few players and matchups to stew over leading up to Sunday.

Tarvaris Jackson
That Jackson played terribly against Washington wasn’t surprising. Vikings fans knew he had it in him. But the timing of the performance was what really blew. If Jackson was going to stink it up one more time, the Broncos game was the one to do it in, after the Vikings had beaten Washington and clinched a Wild Card playoff spot. If Jackson plays mistake-free football and completes the odd throw to someone in a purple uniform in the first half, the Vikings probably win that game.

What’s been disconcerting about Jackson’s play the past two weeks is watching his mechanics go awry when a little pressure is applied. His first throw against Washington was a clear example. As Jackson dropped back to pass, a Washington defender rushed into a gap to his left. That defender didn’t really get close to Jackson but with a clear lane to the quarterback, Jackson got jumpy anyway, failed to extend his plant (left) leg as he wound up to throw and the ball sailed on him and went way over the head of a wide open Robert Ferguson. At least five yards behind Ferguson was Freddy ‘Love Boat” Smoot, who got an easy interception and returned it deep into Viking territory.

At that point, Brad Childress seemed reluctant to have Jackson throw another pass. The play calling got more conservative and the Vikings ran on every down you would expect them to run on and only passed when it was absolutely necessary. Washington had an easy time stopping this offence.

Besides making good decisions when throwing the ball, Jackson has to be sound mechanically if he’s going to rebound from his recent spate of poor play. Proper mechanics will result in more passes that are on time and on target, which should result in more completions and produce some first downs. Not only should that make Jackson a more productive and confident player, it will also take some of the pressure off the team’s struggling running game.

Adrian Peterson
Superman’s not dead. But opposing defences have found his kryptonite and it’s employing eight-man fronts, stacking the box with a combination of defensive lineman, linebackers and safeties. In his last three games Peterson’s had 43 carries for a 108 yards.

While there’s been a lot of blame put on Jackson and the Vikings play calling for not passing defences out of this defensive strategy, Peterson’s highly paid blockers have mostly escaped any blame.

But consider this. The Vikings like to run out of a formation that sees them employ their five lineman, either Visanthe Shiancoe or Jim Kleinsasser lined up on the left side and Tony Richardson leading the way the way for Peterson. That’s seven blockers right there. Yet opposing defences are completely clogging any running lanes and are not getting pushed back at the line of scrimmage even though they have just one more defender than the Vikings have blockers.

The Vikings blockers have been getting pushed around the past three games. Sure, Jackson needs to complete some throws early against Denver to make them respect the pass (something that could be tough to do against Champ Bailey and Dre’ Bly) but the Vikings lineman, tight ends and fullbacks need to do a much better job blocking as well. They need to maul the guys they are blocking even when the Broncos put eight in the box to stop Peterson.

Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall
Against Washington, the Vikings allowed Todd Collins to complete 22 of 29 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns even though Collins’s throws can be timed with a sundial.

Denver quarterback Jay Cutler has a bazooka for an arm. So if the Vikings corners couldn’t make any plays on Collins throws, they won’t be anymore successful with Cutler gunning the ball to his receivers. The Broncos also have more talent at wide receiver than Washington has. Brandon Marshall has been one of the top receivers in the NFL this season and Javon Walker is also very good when healthy. The problem with Walker is that he’s rarely healthy, although he will be playing in this game.

Antoine Winfield probably won’t play due to a shoulder injury, which doesn’t help matters for the Vikings pass defence. And Cutler, despite his doughboy physique, isn’t the statue Philip Rivers and Eli Manning are, so blitzing him to force bad throws might not work as well as it did against Rivers and Manning.

This will be a tough matchup for the Vikings defence. Expect the Broncos to throw the ball a lot even though they have a running game that ranks higher statistically than their passing game.

Elvis Dumervil
I mentioned earlier that Tarvaris Jackson’s mechanics fail him when he’s pressured in the pocket. Thus, it’s crucial to Jackson’s success that the Vikings offensive line makes him feel secure and comfy when he drops back to pass Sunday.

In order to do that, it will be necessary for the Vikings to obliterate the Broncos leading sacker Elvis Dumervil. The defensive end has 11.5 sacks this year and he plays on the right side, so it will be Bryant McKinnie’s job to keep Dumervil away from Jackson.

McKinnie’s pass blocking has been much better the second half of the season. However, he’s a huge guy who often struggles against speed rushers like Philly’s Trent Cole or Leonard Little of St. Louis. Listed at five-foot-eleven and 260 pounds, Dumervil is a speed guy.

Like a lot of big tackles, McKinnie has a hard time holding his blocks for long, which is a problem when facing a player like Dumervil who has a good motor and won’t quit on plays. McKinnie also can get beat to the outside by defensive ends and when that happens, he often tries to push his man off his path so the defender doesn’t get a direct route to the quarterback. Often the extra half second the push affords is enough time for the quarterback to step up in the pocket and make the throw or take off and scramble before being sacked.

But McKinnie sometimes whiffs on his attempts to push the rusher off his route, which often leads to a bad outcome for his QB. Another of McKinnie’s faults is he sometimes doesn’t bother to hustle and follow the rusher and finish him off once he’s given the defender a push. And when McKinnie doesn’t do that and his quarterback holds onto the ball too long, the defender has time to recover and sack the quarterback or hurry the throw. Watch how McKinnie handles Dumervil. It’s a key matchup.

On Deck: Tee time or playoff time?

It's been nice knowing you

Five catches for 39 yards isn’t a game the vast majority of NFL wide receivers should be happy with. But if you’re Troy Williamson in 2007, you probably take a different view.

And those were Williamson’s stats in Sunday’s miserable 32-21 loss to Washington. The five catches tied running back Chester Taylor for the team lead in that statistical category and were the most Williamson has had in a game all season. His very modest total of 39 yards on those catches was also the second highest yardage total he’s registered this year.

Williamson was only playing because rookie Sidney Rice was sidelined with a sprained ankle. Williamson, picked seventh overall in the 2005 college draft by the Vikings, had not dressed the previous three games. In the first of those games, the after affects of a concussion kept Williamson in civvies. But in the following two, it appears Vikings head coach Brad Childress elected to dress Aundrae Allison – a rookie who’s been a non-factor much of the 2007 season – over Williamson, a veteran who’s been a non-factor for much of his three-year tenure with the Vikings.

Clearly Childress has seen enough of Williamson. The assumption is Chilly and the Vikings will cut all ties with the former South Carolina Gamecock at some point in the offseason. But on a team where the words “underwhelming”, “pedestrian” and “mediocre” are always used to describe its wide receiving corps and with the potential free agent pool at the position not exactly brimming with talent, did Williamson’s play against Washington give the Vikings any glimpse of a player who deserves one more chance?

In at least one area you could argue that Williamson did show enough to merit a spot on the Vikings roster in 2008. Of the eight balls thrown his way against Washington, Williamson was wide open on seven of them and slightly open on the other – a long ball from Tarvaris Jackson that he caught about four feet out of bounds – even though he was often covered by Washington’s top corner, Shawn Springs.

On the passes thrown to him, Williamson was able to use his biggest asset – speed – to get on Springs quickly, get the corner’s hips turned and then cut back to his quarterback sharply, creating plenty of separation between himself and his defender as the pass sailed his way. That Williamson was able to do this consistently against a solid cover corner is noteworthy - getting that kind of separation has been a problem for Vikings receivers since Randy Moss was run out of Winter Park and is one reason the team’s passing offence has been such a failure since 2005.

Williamson’s big malady from last season also seems to have been solved. Whether it was the eye checkup at Nike headquarters, the hard work put in catching an extra 13,000 balls during the offseason, or simply regaining his confidence, dropped passes have not been an issue for Williamson this year. The guy is no longer the NFL’s version of Roberto Duran.

But patting Williamson on the back for being able to run 12-yard comeback routes and rediscovering how to catch a pass is not what the Vikings had in mind when they drafted Williamson. What they had in mind was somebody who would develop into a number one receiver, to be the Vikings go-to-guy in the passing game and a game breaker of sorts.

Unfortunately, even after just three seasons, Williamson doesn’t look like that guy.

One of Williamson’s biggest faults is that even though he’s listed as 6-foot-one and 203 pounds – a decent size for a receiver – he isn’t nearly physical enough by NFL standards. One of Williamson’s supposed strengths coming out of college was that he was great at running after the catch, a skill that should make him a perfect fit for Childress’s version of the West Coast offence that demands its receivers excel at that skill.

Williamson has yet to flash that ability at the pro level. He’s easily tackled by the corner covering him once he catches the ball far too often. He’s not able to make the first defender miss. In fact, Williamson often looks like he’s bracing himself for the hit instead of making a move to run with the ball once he catches it. This might explain why Williamson also hasn’t performed well returning kick offs.

And there are other subtle aspects where Williamson doesn’t measure up. On two occasions Sunday night, NBC analyst John Madden called out Williamson for poor technique on his routes. One time was on the previously mentioned long bomb thrown by Jackson. The other was a 13-yard catch-and-run play where Williamson was penalized for being the first Vikings player to touch the ball after stepping out of bounds.

On both plays Madden pointed out Williamson lacked awareness of where he was and that he was running too close to the sideline. This was particularly problematic on deep throws – something Jackson struggles with anyway – because, Madden explained, it gave Williamson’s quarterback no room to lead his receiver away from the defender with the throw.

That kind of technique seems pretty basic and a flaw an NFL wide receiver should have easily corrected a long time ago. That Williamson is still making these mistakes makes you wonder what other, more difficult, aspects of the game he struggles with. And the eventuality that he will ever become the impact player the Vikings hoped he would be has to be seriously questioned because in his third season – the season many football junkies say is the one where NFL wide receivers blossom – Williamson is about to have the poorest statistical season of his career. And he’s done it on a team that, with the exception of Rice, has the worst collection of wide receiving talent in the league.

Williamson turns 25 in April, so don’t worry, he’ll find work somewhere in the NFL in 2008. Former number one draft picks always get a second chance. But unless he has the game of his life Sunday against the Denver Broncos, expect it to be his last in a Vikings uniform.

On Deck: Friday’s two-minute drill

The Grinch That Stole Christmas

Was it Washington or Tarvaris Jackson that potentially stole an NFC Wild Card berth and Christmas from the Minnesota Vikings and its fans?

Certainly Washington's defence, its third-string quarterback Todd Collins, its running back - the always eloquent Clinton Portis - and lots of other Redskins players I could name, all had sterling games and played a big part in a 32-21 win over the Vikings Sunday night.

But this game was lost in the first half where the Vikings got down 22-0 and for that, head coach Brad Childress can blame Jackson.

Everyone knew Washington defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was going to load up his defenders to stop the run and make Jackson beat them through the air. What Childress needed was for Jackson to be patient in passing situations, take the throws that were there, not panic and not make dumb mistakes that turned into turnovers and helped Collins, Portis and company out with short fields to score points from.

Instead, what Childress got was a two-interception half from Jackson and plenty of other ill-advised and inaccurate throws as the Vikings offence laid as big an egg in the first-half as you could possibly lay in front of a home crowd and with a playoff spot for the taking.

But as bad as Jackson stunk in the first half - and he stunk horribly - one can also take issue with Chilly and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell's game plan in this one. The Vikings insisted on running the ball into the defence's eight-man fronts, a tactic that's failed miserably for three weeks now. It was only in the second half, with the game basically out of reach, that the Vikings offensive brainthrust abandoned that tactic and tried to spread the Washington defence out with some three and four receiver sets - something NBC analyst John Madden was quick to point out.

The Vikings had success moving the ball this way and Jackson looked a lot less lost. What isn't clear is whether that success was due to Washington playing a softer, prevent-type defence so as not to give up big plays, or whether Jackson and his receivers had something to do with it.

Whatever the answer is, Childress and his offensive staff will have to at least consider using this strategy at the start of next week's game against the Denver Broncos. I'll be amazed if the Broncos don't copy what the Redskins defence did, what the Bears did the week before and what the 49ers did the week before that to stop the Vikings running game. If that's going to happen, it's time for Chilly to adjust the run-first makeup of this team somewhat - if weather conditions are favourable next Sunday in Denver.

After the last two games Jackson's had that must sound insane. But its just as insane handing the ball off to Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor so they can run into holes that do not exist. The way defences are playing the Vikings, they have to pass to be able to run. There may be no other way.

That's all the analysis I have the stomach for right now. But what really should scare Vikings fans is that not only does their team have to win on the road, in Denver, next Sunday to keep the playoff hopes alive, it will likely have to depend on a Dallas Cowboys team with absolutely nothing to play for to knock off Washington. And that Cowboys team will likely be led most of the game by the nearly 40-year-old, immobile and weak-armed Brad Johnson.

How much are you willing to bet that's going to happen?

On Deck: Did Williamson buy himself another year in Minnesota Sunday night?

Mechanically inclined?

Note: This post was supposed to be the start of a complete Minnesota-Washington two-minute drill game preview. But the holiday season has stalled writing progress on the blog this week – something I’m hoping will be solved next week.

Of all the factors and individuals that will play a part in the outcome of tonight’s game, Tarvaris Jackson is the real key – barring another 300-yard, three touchdown performance by the Adrian Peterson/Chester Taylor running back combo - to any success the Vikings will have against Washington.

That’s what makes him the player to watch and monitor tonight.

There’s no hiding that Jackson’s play was extremely spotty against Chicago on Monday Night Football. One big concern: Jackson’s decision-making was suspect as the second-year player reverted to his early-season struggles between-the-ears.

But besides the poor decisions he made throwing the ball, Monday Night Football analyst Ron Jaworski highlighted another hole in Jackson’s game – mechanics. And after watching the Bears-Vikings game again Wednesday night on NFL Replay, it was surprising to see how often Jackson’s throwing mechanics were out of whack considering he’s currently a starting quarterback in the best football league on Earth.

I never played organized football. But I do know that there are certain things you can’t do if you want to throw a football, or any object, well. Jackson exhibited many of these “things” against the Bears.

He threw off his back foot. He failed to step into his throws. He failed to get his shoulders squared on throws. He failed to keep his upper body straight while throwing on the run. And he continued to jump in the air to throw (something I haven’t seen another quarterback do in the NFL, ever, I think) when any defender got so much as a hand on his jersey.

What seems to happen when Jackson does these things is that when he feels some pressure in the pocket and gets harassed a bit, everything he’s learned about proper mechanics through film study and drills since the Vikings drafted him are forgotten. Instead, Jackson plays on instinct and does what comes naturally to him, stuff he’s probably done since he first started playing football as a kid.

Jackson could get away with those flaws in Pop Warner, in high school and at Alabama State because he was always the best athlete on the field. But now that he’s in the NFL, he’s playing against an entire league of guys who were always the best athletes on their college and high school teams. He can no longer get away with the flaws and make plays. Instead, he makes mistakes that hurt the team.

In the previous four games before playing the Bears, Jackson’s mechanics were better, as were his decisions, and that made a lot of Vikings fans think he may have turned the corner into becoming a legit NFL quarterback. However, his play against Chicago shows Jackson has a ways to go before he gets to that level – if ever.

When the Washington defence and its coordinator Gregg Williams bring the heat on passing downs Sunday – and you know they will – Jackson has to stay mechanically sound when the pocket breaks down and the game speeds up for him. If he doesn’t, it’s going to be another bad day for him and likely the Vikings as well.

On Deck: Mission accomplished or not?

All apologies

I wanted to make a quick post this morning to explain the lack of new stuff on the blog this week. Christmas season, plus a busy work week, plus family commitments have left little time for writing any updates to Grant's Tomb. I will have a two-minute drill preview of the Vikings-Washington game posted here at some point in the next couple of days. It might be later today or Saturday. But I can't say for sure when it will be, so I'm not making any promises other than it will be posted before Sunday's game.

For the loyal readers of this blog, I ask you to hang in there, this is only temporary.

Winning - warts and all

Coming into Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bears, the Minnesota Vikings were riding a four-game winning streak. In those games, the Vikings jumped out to early leads, rarely trailed and with the exception of the Oakland Raiders game, the contests were over by the fourth quarter and sometimes sooner.

In those games Vikings second-year starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson looked calm, made good decisions and rarely had that panicked look he showed in his early season starts as the Vikings scuffled to a 3-6 record.

But as Jackson continues to be force-fed the job as an NFL starter by coach Brad Childress, one of the big unanswered questions was how would Jackson perform when the game was tight and all was not going well for the Vikings. Could Jackson continue to stay calm, make those good decisions and play well enough to lead Minnesota to a win?

The answer to that important question as the Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 20-13 under the prime-time glare of Monday Night Football was, well, ... we’re not quite sure yet.

Yes, Jackson led the team to two, second half touchdown drives as the Vikings came from behind to win and held onto sole possession of the NFC’s second Wild Card playoff spot. And yes, Jackson threw for 249 yards – a season high – and made some nice throws against a Bears defence determined to stop Adrian Peterson. But Jackson was also picked off three times – two of them on horrible throws – and showed the suspect decision-making and inaccuracy that had Vikings fans wringing their hands earlier in the year.

Jackson’s second interception was the kind of play that will have his doubters reciting, “I told you so” the rest of the week. With the Vikings offence struggling in the first half and having already turned the ball over twice, Minnesota was down 6-3 with less than a minute to play. On second and 10, Jackson dropped back to pass, the pocket collapsed and the young QB, in a panic to make something, anything, happen, heaved a horrid 26-yard air ball that the Bears Nathan Vasher easily picked off and returned to the Minnesota 12-yard line. The Bears scored their only touchdown of the game two plays later.

This is the kind of throw one might expect a freshman high school quarterback to make but not an NFL quarterback that Childress is hitching his head-coaching career to.

Mistakes happen. Turnovers happen. But this pass was more than a bad throw. It was a serious error in judgment and the kind of brain cramp Jackson made all too often (see week two's Detroit game) at the beginning of the season. It was the kind of decision-making Viking fans hadn’t seen from Jackson as the Vikings squad won its previous four games.

However, in those games, the Vikings were in control most of the time. The scores were lopsided. Against the Bears, Jackson and the Vikings offence faced some serious adversity for the first time in a while. They trailed until early in the fourth quarter. Jackson was largely responsible for that. For a team that will have to win on the road in a pressure-packed situation if they do make the playoffs, Jackson’s play against the Bears was disconcerting.

Luckily for the Vikings, Chicago quarterback Kyle Orton one-upped Jackson in the shoddy play department. There was much talk last week from the Bears and Orton on how he was a better player than the one who made his last start – against the Vikings – in 2005. But with ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser ridiculing him repeatedly (and often doing the same to Jackson), Orton looked every bit like the guy who completed 51.6 per cent of his passes, threw for just over 1,800 yards and threw 13 picks to go with nine touchdowns in 15 starts back in 2005. Orton threw for only 184 yards against one of the NFL’s worst pass defences - despite throwing the ball 38 times.

Just like in 2005, the Bears simply asked Orton to not lose the game for them. But Orton didn’t comply. Rarely did he throw the ball beyond 15 yards and the one shot he took down field, was a bomb he threw off the wrong foot and put too much air under, which Darren Sharper intercepted to seal the Vikings victory. The Bears 13 points were gift-wrapped by the Vikings. They scored 10 points off Jackson interceptions and the other field goal came when the offence was given a short field when Rashied Davis returned a Ryan Longwell squib kick off 34 yards to the Vikings 43-yard line.

Some other key stats that sum up the Bears offensive futility under Orton - they had only 11 first downs, went one-for-14 on third downs and had nine three-and-out non-drives. Credit the Vikings defence for playing well. But credit Orton’s poor play as well.

During the Vikings somewhat improbable five-game winning streak that has them at 8-6, Minnesota has faced a lot of Kyle Orton’s. They get another one next week when they play a Washington team led by Todd Collins. But a word of warning to Vikings fans wearing rose-tinted glasses: If the Vikings do make the playoffs, the run of playing against the Orton’s, the Dilfer’s and the Collins’s ends. Playoff teams quarterbacked by players named Matt Hasselback, Tony Romo and Brett Favre will replace them.

Those teams will move the ball on the Vikings defence. Those teams will score some points as well. And the Vikings won’t be able to get away with another three-interception performance by Tarvaris Jackson and win.

On Deck: Your weekly call outs.

Friday's two-minute drill

Here's GT's weekly Friday preview of the Vikings upcoming game. It's a little later than usual but here on Friday nonetheless.

The Hester problem
The Vikings absolutely have to keep Devin Hester – ace returner – in check Monday night. The Bears dynamo has returned five kickoffs and punts for touchdowns this season, including an 89-yard touchdown on a punt return in the first Vikings-Bears game in October.

Teams facing the Bears have had to make a decision now that they're sure Hester’s production was not a one-year aberration. Do you risk kicking to the guy? Or do you simply boot every punt and kick off out of bounds and just take the loss in the field position, gambling the Bears offence can’t make you pay.

I’m not fond of the latter strategy even though the Vikings struggled with kick off coverage against San Francisco last week. I liked what the New York Giants did two weeks ago, when Hester averaged only 5.3 yards on three punt returns and had just one kick off return for 19 yards.

The Giants refused to kick anything high and in the middle of the field to Hester. What the Giants kickers did was angle everything towards a sideline. That forced Hester to run in only one direction because that’s the only option he had. It’s a lot easier to corral Hester when the other team takes away half of his real estate. I’d like to see the Vikings take the same approach on Monday. But considering Childress is a conservative guy by nature, we’ll probably see the Vikings just kick everything out of bounds.

It’s the safe strategy when you’re up against an offence led by a guy who hasn’t played since 2005. I just don’t think it’s the correct one.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder
By the way, the “guy” at quarterback for the Bears this week is Kyle Orton. I bet you had forgot all about him. The Bears sure did as Orton makes his first NFL start since 2005. Orton's teammates have been talking him up leading up to the game. The company line is Orton’s excited to be getting another shot, he knows the offence inside out and is a better quarterback than he was in ’05. The Bears sound like they believe Orton is going to get the job done against the Vikings.

My predictions haven’t been very good lately but facing Orton doesn’t have me worried. If Orton’s such an improved player, why hasn’t he been able to beat out Rex Grossman or Brian Griese, particularly this year when the Bears quarterback play has been poor?

Anything’s possible when the Vikings are involved but I welcome seeing Orton in there. I expect he might start out the game okay, completing a bunch of short, low-risk passes as Leslie Frazier’s defence plays it safe early on. That might lead to a few field goals. But eventually Orton is going to have to do more than that with his arm. Much like we saw with Trent Dilfer last week, when that time comes, I don’t think Orton has it in him

What happened?
The Bear’s running game has been terrible all season (31st in the league) and its quarterbacks have thrown five more interceptions than touchdown passes. Yep – the Bears offence has done its part to get Chicago where it is today.

But the defence that was so good the past two seasons hasn’t been much better. Chicago hasn’t been able to defend the run (24th in the NFL) or the pass (26th) very well. When the Vikings beat Chicago 34-31 on Oct. 14, it was largely thanks to Adrian Peterson’s two legs. But the Vikings have been a bit more balanced in how they move the ball during this four-game winning streak. Stopping the Vikings offence is not as simple as stopping the run anymore. At least it hasn’t been for four games now. The Bears are about to find that out.

Bouncing back
The Vikings won easily last weekend even though Peterson only had three yards on 14 carries. But that was against the San Francisco 49ers. A similar performance against an underachieving but occasionally dangerous Chicago team might not turn out as well for the Vikings.

How did the 49ers stop Peterson? The explanation given by Vikings players and coaches this week was that the 49ers used lots of corner run blitzes, allowing guys like Walt Harris and Nate Clements to get into the Vikings backfield untouched and take down Peterson before he got outside the tackles with all pistons firing. However, there weren’t many holes to run through when Peterson ran inside either, nor were there many for Chester Taylor. I’d say the offensive line didn’t have its finest day run blocking and that had a great deal to do with Peterson’s stat line.

But Peterson also didn’t look like himself against the 49ers. He seemed a couple of steps slow and that makes me think his knee might be bothering him. I’ll be watching him closely Monday night to see if we get the Peterson Vikings fans saw against Detroit or the Peterson they saw against San Francisco.

Another game, another test
The results have been great lately but Vikings starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson still has a big selling job to do before he gains the trust of Vikings fans. And don’t expect the Bears to treat Jackson and the Vikings offence any differently just because he’s had a few good games

The Bears defence still figures to do all it can to stop Peterson and Taylor. You would too if you had given up 311 rushing yards the last time you played them. That may or may not work. But if it does, Jackson is going to have to take to the air to move the ball. A month ago that was a scary thought. Now it’s much less scary. Another strong game by Jackson will gain him more respect among Vikings fans. It should also mean another Vikings win.

To the point
The Vikings have won the last three games by 20 or more points. How much do you want to bet that streak continues?

Even when all factors point to an easy win (opponent starting its third-string QB, with a crappy running game and nothing to play for) in the NFL, it rarely turns out that way. My gut feeling is this game will be closer than I’d like it to be. And expect Orton to be prominently involved in the result – but in a good way for the Vikings.

I’m looking for the Vikings to keep on rolling. But I’m also bracing for the Vikings to win by a touchdown or less and for my fingernails to be chewed off completely by the time the game is over.

On Deck: Prime time postmortem

This week's call outs

Not-so special teams
Up until Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers had some of the NFL’s poorest kickoff return numbers. No matter, Maurice Hicks had not one, but two, 55-yard kickoff returns against the Vikings. Both returns were season highs for Hicks and the 49ers.

The Vikings get Devin Hester on Monday and he returns both kickoffs and punts for the Bears and is the NFL's best at both. He also might be the best offensive weapon Chicago has right now. Quite simply the Vikings must stop him. But in allowing Hicks a couple of long kickoff returns, the Vikings special teams is not inspiring much confidence among the team’s fan base.

Second half intensity
The Vikings scored 27 points in the first half against San Francisco and looked pretty good in doing so. So what happened in the second half? Let’s face it – the Vikings mailed it in. It was horrible to watch and if you’re a Vikings fan, troubling.

Five games ago this team got undressed by the Packers 34-0 and was 3-6. Four wins later (against teams that hardly rank among the NFL’s elite) the Vikings decide to go on cruise control for an entire half. If the goal of the Vikings is to emulate teams like Indianapolis and New England and win a Super Bowl someday, this isn’t the way to get the job done. I don’t think you would be seeing the Colts or Patriots mail anything in. One hopes the Vikings players aren’t getting big heads from reading all the positive press they’ve been getting.

Ray Edwards
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

That’s the only word I have for Ray Edwards, who got a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's anabolic and related substances policy last week. Its not like Edwards is Dwight Freeney. But he does lead the Vikings in sacks. He’s also had a knack for making key plays this season – whether it was knocking the ball out of Jon Kitna’s hand and forcing a fumble that killed any chance of a Lions comeback two games ago, or taking down Daunte Culpepper for a safety in the win over Oakland, or recovering a J.T. O’Sullivan fumble for a touchdown against the Lions in week two.

His absence hurts the Vikings at a time when the team is making a push for the playoffs. And the nature of his suspension should give the Vikings coaching staff reason to wonder how much they can count on Edwards in the future.

We can’t be sure Edwards tested positive for steroids because the NFL isn’t specifying what banned substance they found in his system. But if it was steroids, they aren’t a whole lot different than marijuana or cocaine - you can get as hooked on steroids as you can on cocaine.

Is Edwards the kind of guy who thinks he needs steroids or other illegal substances to give him that supposed “edge” over other players that he can’t get naturally? If that’s the case, more trouble and more suspensions could follow for Edwards, which could sabotage a promising Vikings career for the second-year player.

Robert Ferguson
On the eve of the big Detroit game, I wrote that I doubted Tarvaris Jackson could be a guy this year who could complete 20 passes, throw for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Of course, that’s pretty much what he did against Lions in a 42-10 Vikings win.

Then on the eve of the 49ers game, I wrote that I wouldn’t mind seeing Ferguson sitting in favour of teammates Troy Williamson and Aundrae Allison for the rest of the season because he hadn’t made a play all season. Of course, Ferguson went out and had his best game as a Viking, catching four passes for 57 yards and grabbing his first touchdown pass of the year – and only the third by a Vikings wide receiver whose name isn’t Sidney Rice.

Thanks for making me look bad guys. Now I have to figure out what Viking to light a fire under for Monday’s game against Chicago.

The media – again
Last week it was Fox announcer Joe Buck touting the Vikings as a contendah’. Now SI’s Peter King is bullish (his words) on the Vikings and writing that our boys could be a serious threat to Dallas's or Green Bay’s Super Bowl plans.

Look, I’ve been happy with the Vikings play during this four-game winning streak that’s giving U.S. sportswriters a purple boner. But I wouldn’t be much of a Vikings fan if I didn’t try to bring some pessimism to all the good vibes. The combined record of the four teams the Vikings have beat during the winning streak is 22-30 and they’ve lost to both the Packers (twice) and the Cowboys this season.

I’m not backing off my opinion that the Vikings maybe, possibly, could be the third-best team in the NFC right now. But just because they’re better than Seattle or Tampa Bay doesn’t mean the Vikings can take down the Cowboys or the Packers on the road. So, cool it with the Vikes hype, Peter. We Vikings fans are uncomfortable with such talk.

Of course, if Jackson keeps on playing the way he has been lately....

The Vikings salary cap
Sticking with Mr. King, in his Monday story on the CNN/SI website, Mr. Starbucks runs down how much salary cap space all 32 NFL teams have heading into this spring’s free agency period.

King doesn’t say where he got his figures but he has the Vikings ranked a surprising 24th among NFL teams with $14.88-million in available cap space in 2008. Divisional rivals Green Bay (18.37-million), Chicago (19.80-million) and Detroit ($23.50-million), all have more cap room.

This is surprising because all the articles I’ve read in the past six or seven months have maintained the Vikings would be $25-30-million under the cap and had the money to be a player – if management chose to – in the 2008 free agency derby. Not so, according to King.

If King’s numbers are accurate, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the free agent pool at positions where the Vikings have the most need (wide receiver, defensive back and, until four games ago, quarterback) is not rich in talent. So, not having as much cash as other NFL teams might be a good thing for the Vikings. They can’t afford to overpay for a player’s services and that makes it unlikely they will make another Fred Smoot-like signing.

But it does mean the Vikings will have to draft wisely from rounds one through seven in April and also be able to mine some hidden gems among the thousands of undrafted college players available after the draft is over. The Vikings haven’t done a very good job of that in recent history (something I hope to delve into this week in another post). But the Vikings past two drafts gives fans hope that those days are over.

And considering the Vikings cap space in 2008, they better be.

On Deck: Rough Diamonds

Pick your poison

The San Francisco 49ers defence made a decision. Facing a Minnesota Vikings team with perhaps the best pair of running backs in the NFL and a run-heavy offence led by an improving but still green quarterback, the 49ers followed the strategy that had worked very well for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Vikings seven weeks ago.

The 49ers put eight and sometimes nine defenders in the box, tried to neuter the Vikings rookie sensation Adrian Peterson and steady veteran Chester Taylor and force Tarvaris Jackson to beat them through the air, something they obviously doubted Jackson could do.

Save for a backbreaking 84-yard touchdown run by Taylor, the 49ers mostly accomplished the first goal. The Vikings only managed 117 yards on 31 carries, a pedestrian 3.8 yards per carry. But despite stuffing the Vikings running game for the most part, San Francisco’s defence was still gashed – in the first half at least – because Jackson did indeed beat the 49ers with his arm. As a result, the Vikings cruised to a 27-7 win that put them in the lead for the second wild card playoff spot in the NFC.

Although it came against the now 3-10 49ers, the fact that Jackson and the Vikings passing attack had more to do with this win than its running game should put playoff-bound NFC teams such as Seattle, Green Bay and Dallas on notice. If Minnesota joins them in the NFC playoff derby, a completed forward pass is no longer an impossible dream for this team. And that makes this Vikings squad a very dangerous foe.

After Kevin Williams 18-yard interception return gave the Vikings a quick 7-0 lead, Jackson continued to make his case that the Vikings don’t need to bring in a quality veteran next year or draft a new quarterback of the future in the 2008 draft.

On the team’s first two offensive drives, the Vikings surprised the 49ers defence by passing more than running. On those drives, which resulted in a field goal and a nice 19-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Robert Ferguson, Jackson completed seven of 11 passes for 87 yards. The Vikings offence looked almost as crisp as it did against Detroit a week ago.

But what was noteworthy this time around was that unlike the Detroit game, Jackson did his damage despite the fact Peterson and Taylor were only able to muster 14 yards on seven carries during those two scoring drives. That the Vikings could have had two scoring drives with its rushing attack managing only two yards per carry would have been unthinkable only six weeks ago when Jackson was routinely producing clunkers like his 9-16 for 72 yards performance in an October loss to Dallas.

However, during this four-game winning streak Jackson has completed no less than 70 per cent of his passes. This development is as surprising as it is exciting for Vikings fans. Jackson is simply a different player these days.

The coaching staff now trusts Jackson to throw more than five-yard slants and screen passes. He is also making sound decisions, recognizing blitzes, where they are coming from and where to throw the ball. Jackson stats against San Francisco (16-25, 163 yards, one touchdown pass) won’t remind anyone of Brady or Peyton Manning. But it’s worlds away from where he was as recently as the San Diego game.

And his stats would have been much better if his receivers had not dropped – by my count – five very catchable balls. If Jackson can keep up his remarkable growth as a quarterback, brighter days could be ahead for the Vikings in 2007. That’s because with a bonafide passing game, it will have the balanced offence that can keep drives alive, score points consistently and keep the usually overworked defence off the field. That formula should translate into more wins for the Vikings – even against the elite teams of the NFL.

However, as good as the Vikings looked in the first half against the 49ers, they looked almost as bad in the second. With a 27-0 lead, the Vikings came out with absolutely no fire in the second half and seemed reluctant to bury San Francisco. It was bad enough that the half dragged on for two hours, forcing me to listen to JC Pearson and Matt Vasgersian longer than I cared to. But watching a Vikings team with no pulse and no killer instinct during that period was disturbing. You can get away with playing like that against a clueless 49ers team quarterbacked by Shaun Hill. But against a good team like Green Bay or Dallas, leads – even big ones – cannot be taken for granted.

I was also troubled by Peterson’s performance. Last week against the Lions he looked great and showed no ill effects from the right knee injury that cost him the previous two games. But against San Francisco he looked much slower and didn’t have the Superman burst and explosiveness we’ve grown accustomed to. And it goes beyond his pathetic stat line (14 carries for three yards???) For the first time Peterson looked ordinary - human even.

Granted there weren’t many holes for him to run through but I have to wonder if his knee was bothering him more than he and the Vikings were letting on last week. I’m crossing my fingers that it was just one of those games for Peterson. However, his performance does worry me as the Vikings close in on its first playoff berth since 2004.

On Deck: Our regular calls outs

Friday's two-minute drill

Beware of the trap
The Vikings are on a roll. The San Francisco 49ers are not. The 49ers have lost nine of their previous 10 games after a 2-0 start. The head coach is losing his cool. The players are down. Even on the road, this should be a game the Vikings win comfortably.

But these are the Minnesota Vikings. Whether it’s been the Jerry Burns teams from the late 80s and early 90s, Denny Green teams or Mike Tice’s squads, the Vikings have had a nasty of habit of going on the road against an opponent they should beat (and had to beat) only to somehow lose.

Some of those ugly losses of recent vintage include the Nate Poole game (Do I even need to tell you who the Vikings were playing and when?), the Randy Moss-walks-off-the-field-before-it's-over game (against Washington in 2004) and my personal non-favourite – the 24-14 loss in 2004 to a Bears team quarterbacked by Chad Hutchinson.

This contest against the 49ers looks like another one of those games. Many sports writers call this a “trap” game – where a better opponent gets caught looking too far down the road, takes a lesser opponent for granted and loses to that opponent. I have a hard time believing this Vikings team, even while riding a modest three-game winning streak, would take any team for granted. But for whatever reason, the Vikings have played poorly in similar situations many times. With wild card spot within grasp, the Vikings can’t let it happen this Sunday and certainly not to a team like the 49ers.

A tale of two quarterbacks
Trent Dilfer gets the start at quarterback for San Francisco with Alex Smith down and out with arm miseries. The sight of Dilfer behind centre makes me almost as giddy as if Joey Harrington were playing. Dilfer’s had a lot of miserable performances against the Vikings over the years, particularly when he played for Tampa Bay.

Dilfer hasn’t done much to distinguish himself this season. He’s got one win in six starts. He’s completing just 53 per cent of his passes. Last week he threw four interceptions in a loss to Carolina. His offensive line isn’t very good (he’s been sacked 26 times) and his best wide receiver is Arnaz Battle, who is questionable for Sunday’s game. The 49ers offence is a mess.

On top of all that, whatever arm strength Dilfer ever had appears to be shot. I watched the replay of the 49ers win over Arizona on the NFL Network last week. Dilfer rarely threw anything beyond 15 yards and even those throws had little zip on them. The 49ers offence was even more limited than the Vikings has been. The game plan consisted of handoffs to Frank Gore and dump off passes to Gore in front of the Cardinals linebackers. For some reason the Cardinals had great difficulty stopping this.

I’m confident that defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will come up with a game plan to negate Gore and force Dilfer to make plays downfield with his arm – something he shouldn’t be able to do. You can also expect Frazier to blitz Dilfer liberally. Antoine Winfield also looks like he’s nearly 100 per cent healthy and will play Sunday. That will help.

While the 49ers try to get by with Dilfer, Vikings starter Tarvaris Jackson is doing just fine of late and is even earning national accolades for his play the past three games. I’ve been reading stories all week on how Jackson has suddenly “got it” as an NFL quarterback.

Jackson has certainly looked like a different player the past three games. Gone are the scattershot throws and the happy feet in the pocket. That’s been replaced by a more accurate, more decisive, more confident and comfortable-looking Jackson. But I think it’s still a bit foolhardy to believe Jackson’s suddenly turned the corner when a few weeks ago it looked like he didn’t know where the corner was. I think we can expect a serious dip in his play any game now. That’s just the way it is with young QB’s. And that’s what worries me in this 49ers game - that it happens this week and costs the Vikings a victory.

One thing that Jackson has done consistently for a while though is avoid interceptions. He’s thrown just two picks in the six games he’s appeared in since his horrible four-interception game against Detroit in week two. Jackson needs to keep this trend going against San Francisco because the 49ers best chance to win is for Jackson to implode and turn the ball over frequently. That is largely why the 49ers beat the Cardinals two weeks ago, even with Gore having a monster game.

Ray, say it isn’t so?
How big of a loss is the suspension of Ray Edwards by the NFL for four games for running afoul with its policy on steroids?

I’d say it’s fairly big. Not Pat Williams big but significant enough to have a negative impact on the Vikings defence. The Vikings defensive line does not do a great job pressuring the quarterback and Edwards has been the team’s most consistent pass rusher all season. So the pass rush likely will be affected. Edwards has also held up fairly well playing the run, which is important when you know the 49ers want to feed the Vikings a steady diet of Gore if they can get away with it.

The suspension also leaves the Vikings suddenly thin on depth along the defensive line. Erasmus James hurt his knee again against Detroit and is iffy for Sunday’s game, backup tackle Fred Evans will be sitting out the game due to a suspension and fellow backup Spencer Johnson is bothered by a groin injury. Brian Robison and Jayme Mitchell will get the reps Edwards would have got and they say they are ready for the extra workload. I like both players. But I like Edwards more.

I’m also taking the explanation provided by Edwards’s agent that his client was taking some workout supplements he believed were legal under NFL standards with an extreme amount of skepticism. This just sounds too much like the excuses given up by a host of other athletes to save face when they’ve been caught using banned substances.

But even giving Edwards the benefit of the doubt here, isn’t it his responsibility to make 100 per cent sure whatever supplements he’s putting in his body are legal under NFL standards? Is there not a list of these supplements and products he could have consulted if he had any doubts? However you slice it, it’s a dumb move by Edwards and one that will cost him four games and cost the Vikings an important cog in their defence.

All day Aundrae
Aundrae Allison probably doesn’t have to worry about being inactive anymore this season. The NFC’s special teams player of the week likely secured himself a role on the team with his 103-yard kick off return for a touchdown against the Lions. Allison even showed he might be able to contribute as a receiver by turning a couple of short throws from Jackson into big gains by tacking on large chunks of yards after the catch. This is the sort of skill Chilly supposedly wants from his receivers.

But what receiver will be inactive over the next four games to make room for Allison? Will it be the injured and unproductive Troy Williamson or the healthy and unproductive Robert Ferguson?

I’d prefer to see Ferguson sit. It’s true Williamson’s no hell as a player. But he’s fast, his hands have been fine this season and he does have that one 60-yard touchdown catch to his name, which is one more play than Ferguson’s made this year.

But I’m guessing Ferguson will get to keep on dressing. Childress seems to like the veteran and the coaching staff has been talking up his blocking skills of late. Or maybe Chilly will find some way to dress Allison, Ferguson and Williamson.

Weather watch
The weather can be dicey in San Francisco in December. One thing that can level the playing field between two teams of differing skill levels is wet and soggy field conditions – as we saw in the Monday-nighter in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Lots of rain on old Candlestick Park (I can’t get used to calling it anything else) could make it tough for someone like Adrian Peterson to be at his best and could turn this game into a turnover-fest.

But after checking the weekend forecast for San Francisco I’m happy to report it is calling for a mostly sunny day on Sunday, with temperatures around 54 degrees and only a 10 per cent chance of precipitation. The Vikings won’t be able to blame the weather if they lose this one – only themselves and the 49ers.

On Deck: Contenders or pretenders?

Tuesday's call outs

As this blog’s two regular readers noticed yesterday, Monday’s call outs didn’t happen. But given the Vikings performance against the Detroit Lions, I don’t know who I could have called out anyway.

Still, a regular feature is a regular feature; the show must go on; yadayadayada. But I’m thinking in light of the Vikings stellar play recently, it’s wise to change the format of these regular posts to include calling out the good and not just the bad.

So today, I bring you the new and improved version of Monday’s call outs – only it’s being brought to you on Tuesday because I was a slacker yesterday.

Aundrae Allison
Aundrae, where have you been all my life?

Even with a minimal amount of opportunities, it seemed pretty cut and dry to most Vikings fans that you were the team’s best option to return kick offs now that Adrian Peterson had better things to do. However, the coaching staff didn’t seem to agree and kept force-feeding us Troy Williamson in that role. You’ve even been inactive for five of the Vikings 12 games this season.

Well, I’m thinking that situation changed for good on Sunday when you returned that kick off 103 yards for a touchdown. And you even doubled your season output of catches, including one that you turned into a 35-yard gain.

Robert Ferguson – enjoy your time off for the rest of the season.

The Lions-Vikings officiating crew
The challenge the Vikings won regarding the Jon Kitna incomplete pass/fumble late in the third quarter was one of those bizarre review situations. It was ruled an incomplete pass, then challenged by Brad Childress, then overturned and then ruled a fumble. The only hitch was that even though the Vikings recovered the ball, the Vikings didn’t get to keep it.

I think I understand why. Once the play was ruled an incomplete pass, the play was dead and so no recovery could occur, even though it was ruled a fumble during the review. It was a wacky sequence. However, we got no explanation of that from the head referee at the time, which led to some head scratching among Vikings fans. Thankfully, the Vikings were already up 42-10 and it wasn’t a crucial moment.

Still, a detailed explanation of rulings such as these should be required of the referee. In fact, every NFL referee should be forced to take a one-week course on how to properly explain a controversial or obscure ruling during an NFL game. Naturally, the king of rule explanations – Mike Carey - would teach the course.

Joe Buck
During the Giants-Bears game, Fox flashed some running back stats or the current records of NFC teams in the playoff hunt (I can’t remember which), at which point the network’s number one play-by-play guy, Joe Buck, proclaimed that the Vikings “were a team to be reckoned with.” Or something along those lines.

Joe Buck hasn’t called a Vikings game all year. I don’t know if he called a Vikings game last year. Now he’s telling the football world to watch out for those Vikings? That Vikings bandwagon must be getting pretty crowded when even Joe Buck is jumping on it.

The stadium issue
Sitting here in the Great White North a few thousand kilometres from the Twin Cities – I’m Canadian, so we go by the metric system around here – I don’t pretend to know the whole history behind the ongoing stadium debate for the Vikings. I’ve always assumed that the inertia currently gripping the situation would get settled in due time and the Vikings would remain – as the team should – in Minnesota. I’ve assumed that because that’s generally what happens in these stadium battles.

But I write “generally” because it doesn’t always turn out that way. And the news that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty informed the Vikings and the NFL this week that the team’s stadium proposal won’t get state funding in 2008, concerns me that the Vikings might be on the move once the Metrodome lease runs out in 2011.

From what I’m reading it’s estimated it would take four years to build the stadium Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has in mind. But without any state funding (expected to be around $700-million) to build the nearly $1-billion facility, construction won’t start in time for the Vikings to play in a new home by 2012. And with the expired lease and no new stadium to play in, that opens the door for Wilf to back up the moving trucks and take the Vikings to Los Angeles, Portland, or wherever, if he so chooses.

It bothers me sometimes that owners of sports teams expect public funds to build facilities that will make the owners even more money than they are making now. But that precedent has already been set in other jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada (and in Minnesota, in the case of the Twins), so I’m not offended Wilf is asking for the same treatment for arguably the state’s most popular sports franchise.

That doesn’t mean Minnesotans and their elected representatives have to give in to Wilf’s demands though. Besides keeping local construction workers busy for four years, what is the long-term benefit of building the Vikings a stadium and keeping them in the state for the foreseeable future?

Governments give big businesses financial help all the time – they do it to keep those businesses where they are and the jobs that go along with them. Well the NFL is big business. Minnesotans need to decide what’s the economic impact of keeping the Vikings in Minnesota. How many jobs does it create? How many tax dollars does the franchise bring in to state and municipal coffers? What’s the Vikings net effect on the economy?

Perhaps an objective study on this has already been done. And if it hasn’t, it should be. But while I’m sure the Vikings are an important part of the state’s cultural and social fabric now after 40-plus years of existence, if the owner of this franchise is asking for a large amount of public funding to help a business that does the state’s economy more harm than good, then Minnesotans should probably take a pass on this one.

And if Zygi Wilf decides to move the Vikings because the people make that decision, that will sting for Vikings boosters living in the state but at least you can take solace in knowing you will have $700-million more to spend on roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.

Minnesota Vikings - scoring machine

We’ll see what those curmudgeons on the Internet who claim to be Vikings fans have to complain about after this one. Maybe the interception by Tarvaris Jackson deep in Detroit territory with the Vikings leading 42-10? Perhaps the fact the Vikings coverage team allowed Detroit’s Aveion Cason to average about 27 yards per kick off return?

You can nitpick if you want but it’s hard to give the Vikings anything but an emphatic two-thumbs up for their performance in a 42-10 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. It was the kind of all-around solid performance that was pretty much a dream come true if you’re a fan of the purple and gold. And in this three-game winning streak that’s fueled a playoff push for the Vikings, the team has scored 29, 41 and 42 points, respectively – the kind of point production that brings back memories of Denny Green’s 1998 Vikings offensive machine, not the Brad Childress-led Vikings.

But while there is plenty of praise that could be heaped on plenty of Vikings players in this one, this was a game where Minnesota had to answer two very important questions.

The first, and arguably most important, was how healthy and how effective would super rookie Adrian Peterson be in his return to action after missing two straight games with a knee injury?

The other question was whether Jackson would continue to build on two straight solid quarterbacking performances for a team begging for some quality play from that position?

The Vikings got an emphatic “yes” to both questions against Detroit, which bodes well for the team’s playoff chances as it evened its record at 6-6 and has a slate of opponents in its final four games that can only be termed as under whelming.

But that’s getting ahead of things. First of all, Peterson looked great. I wasn’t in favour of him playing this game, figuring it was still too soon to insert a guy who three weeks ago tore a knee ligament. But it appears Childress made the right call.

Peterson showed no problem making his patented hard cuts and gyrations, including one ridiculous juke during a second half 13-yard touchdown run that left Lions safety Kenoy Kennedy, his shoes and his jock lying on the Metrodome faux grass. Also encouraging was that Peterson didn’t look any slower even though he was wearing a bulky knee brace for the first time in his career. He also ran just as hard as ever.

With the game out of reach after Peterson’s second touchdown run of the day early in the third quarter, Childress wisely decided to give his meal ticket the rest of the day off. By then the score was 42-10 and Peterson had already done his damage (15 carries for 116 yards) and posted a higher yards per carry average (7.7) in this game than his already eye-popping season average of 6.4. Welcome back, Adrian Peterson.

But perhaps just as impressive as Peterson’s play in his return - and every bit as encouraging and important - was the play of the Vikings second-year quarterback Jackson. It was a day of firsts for the Alabama State product. He posted his first 200-yard passing performance of the 2007 season, his first two touchdown pass performance of his young career and for the first time ever looked like a legitimate quality NFL starting quarterback – someone capable of beating a team with his arm and not simply being a game manager.

Jackson looked extremely comfortable against the Lions. Except for the aforementioned interception in the third quarter as the Vikings were driving for touchdown number seven, Jackson made good decisions, threw the ball accurately yet again and with plenty of zip.

Another important element in Jackson’s growth that was evident against New York last week and was even more evident this week was Jackson’s improving pocket awareness. Once upon a time, Jackson looked alarmingly skittish and indecisive there. But now he isn’t holding the ball too long and has learned to simply step up in the pocket to avoid a sack and get his throws off unmolested.

Jackson is also finally making use of another weapon in his arsenal – his legs. Earlier this season, Jackson looked reluctant to scramble, as if he was scared the coaching staff would ream him out if he took off running and didn’t hang in the pocket and throw the ball. But in the last two games, he’s trusted his own instincts and is taking off when it’s clear there’s no one to throw to. This is a good thing. Jackson is a big guy. He’s a quick guy. His scrambling ability can get the Vikings first downs and keep drives alive. He just needs to learn how slide feet first before he sustains another concussion.

If Jackson can continue his surprising progress, Childress may finally have his kick ass offence. The offensive line, which brutalized the Lions all day, is finally starting to live up to its hefty pay stubs and reputation as one of the leagues best. We all know the damage Peterson and Chester Taylor can do when handed the ball. It’s been competent play from the quarterback and a real; live passing offence that’s been holding this team back from playoff contention this year. But that may be changing and Sunday’s performance against the Lions was the latest example that Jackson is finally getting it. It comes at a good time for the Vikings.

And with a defence that already has been mostly good for two seasons now, it seems legitimate to ask if the Vikings might be the third best team in the NFC at this point in the season. Such talk would have been laughable after the 34-0 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau. But now, not so much.

Minnesota certainly isn’t in the class of Dallas or Green Bay. But they’ve already stomped on one of the wild card leaders, the 8-4 Giants, and I’d favour them over the 6-6 Arizona Cardinals, who currently hold down the second wild card spot. As for the NFC West leading Seattle Seahawks and the NFC South leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers – the two squads the wild card teams would likely face in the first round of the playoffs – you could make a case the Vikings are playing better football than those two teams right now. The Vikings would be a formidable first-round matchup for either team.

But first the Vikings have to make the playoffs. They have shot. Who would have thought we’d be discussing this subject four weeks ago?

On Deck: Monday call outs