Friday's football post

I’ve decided to junk the “two-minute drill” title for my Friday posts. It seems everybody tries to give these Friday columns some catchy name. I never really liked “two-minute drill” title – it was too obvious. But it was also all I could come up with at the time. So I’m going with something that is not as catchy and even more obvious – Friday’s football post.

Now for some thoughts about Sunday's game.

Vikings – Lions
As a Vikings fan, I often talk myself into upsets. And this game is an easy one to talk myself into. You’ve got a Detroit team with all those losses and they played the Vikings close last year. The Lions must be due for a win, right?

It could happen. But my key concern after Detroit named number one pick Matt Stafford as its starting quarterback was that he’d pull a Matt Ryan, team up with Calvin Johnson (who really, really scares me) and give the Lions an offence that was just good enough to make up for its awful defence in this game.

I didn’t see Stafford’s debut against New Orleans last Sunday, but here is Football Outsiders' write-up on the rookie after his three-interception performance against the Saints:

Stafford appeared to get a copy of the playbook with only one route written in for each play, since it was the only read and progression he seemed to go through. Every criticism we heard of Stafford coming out of college -- that he wasn't mobile enough, that he relied on his arm too heavily, that he was prone to bouts of inaccuracy because of inconsistent mechanics -- came out against the Saints. And it's not like the Saints have anything resembling a good pass defense. It's not fair to judge Stafford based upon his first start, so we won't, but things did not look good out there.

Stafford may make some impressive throws in this one. He does seem to have a strong arm, and in Johnson, he has a big, fast target to throw to. But he should make some impressive mistakes, too, especially if the Vikings pass rush is as effective as I expect it to be on Sunday. The Lions also won’t be facing Gus Frerotte, whose 1/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio and overall craptastic play had a fair bit to do with how close those two games were last year.

Brett Favre might not throw six touchdown passes against Detroit on Sunday like Drew Brees did. But I can see him throwing two or three, mixed in with a couple of Adrian Peterson touchdowns and maybe one from Chester Taylor as well. That should be plenty of offence against Detroit, especially if the Vikings hold the Lions under 20 points, as they should.

The Vikings are too good – on both sides of the ball – to lose this one, no matter how much I talk myself into it.

Vikings 31 – Lions 17

NFC North predictions
This is kind of late, but here is how I see the NFC North shaping up this season.

Packers 11-5
Vikings 10-6 (wildcard)
Bears 9-7
Lions 3-13

Honestly, this is what I thought before all the football cognoscenti starting fawning over the Packers. I hope I’m wrong. But these predictions are based on the Vikings shaky quarterback situation, the Packers excellent offence and Dom Capers improving the Packers defensive performance.

I felt Capers – not Jay Cutler, Stafford, Percy Harvin or Favre – was the most important acquisition made by an NFC North team in the offseason. So what impact is Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator having on the Packers D? Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders breaks down some of the blitzes Capers threw at the Bears in the season opener. Read it and tell me you’re not terrified thinking about how the Vikings offensive line is going to deal with this stuff in a couple of weeks.

Facial hair
So what do you think of Chilly’s beard? The mustache look never did it for me. As ESPN’s Bill Simmons once wrote (although I’m not getting his exact words right here), the old look made Childress look like the kind of guy who liked to slap around hookers after hours for kicks.

Anyway, I’ve always wondered how football players could take someone of Childress’ physical stature seriously when he starts talking about football. He looks like he should be teaching a high school history class.

I like the scruffy beard. It makes him look tougher, more in command. However, I do realize growing a beard won’t make him a better coach, or better at challenging calls or calling plays during the two-minute offence. So what am I trying to get across here? I have no idea. But I do like the beard.

When ex-athletes write
Access Vikings has spiced up the look of its site and it even features some new blogs not written by the paper’s staff, including one from ex-Viking linebacker Matt Blair.

I have no recollection of watching Blair play, although I must have since he retired after the 1985 season. Still, I’ve always liked him, perhaps because he was good at blocking all those field goals, back when the Vikings special teams was actually good and contributed to wins instead of losses.

Blogging by athletes is hit and miss. But I’m going to keep checking out Blair’s to see how it develops. Basically, I’m looking for a lot of “insider” knowledge about what’s it like to be an NFL player and an NFL player in Minnesota in particular. This week, Blair delivers – writing about the preparation NFL players put in during the regular season back when he played. It’s pretty interesting.