Drink it in

It’s been a while – 2004 to be exact – since a Vikings quarterback has dropped back to pass the ball and I’ve thought, ‘We’ve got ‘em.’

Yet that’s how I felt Monday night watching Brett Favre – the Minnesota Vikings Brett Favre – slice and dice his old team in a sweet 30-23 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

I don’t think it’s homer hyberbole to say Favre was sensational in this game. He made every throw you’d want a quarterback to make. There was plenty of smoke on the fastball – even the long throws – and he was deadly accurate.

And for the second straight week, Favre answered the question I, and plenty other football fans and writers, had after watching him play prior to last weekend’s 49ers game, namely – could he win a game with his arm anymore? Well, with the Vikings two best offensive weapons of the first three games (Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin) having little success against the Packers, Favre went out and threw for 271 yards, completed 77 per cent of his passes and threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions.

Prior to acquiring Favre, it’s hard to imagine the Vikings winning a game like this with Peterson bottled up as he was. This is what the Vikings have lacked, balance on offence, the threat of moving the ball with the run and the pass. For all my skepticism about this move from the get-go, Favre appears to be giving the Vikings the offensive Holy Grail. Look out NFL if it continues.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give the Vikings offensive line a lot of credit. The pass protection has been spotty so far this young season, but the Packers pass rushers barely touched Favre in this one. Without that kind of pass protection, it’s doubtful the old man would have been as effective as he was.

On the defensive side of the ball, I imagine some people will focus on the fact Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers threw for 384 yards and the Packers moved the ball quite effectively against the Vikings for much of the game.

That is a concern. But the Vikings defence also sacked Rodgers eight times, recorded a safety, forced two key turnovers deep in Vikings territory and had a huge goal line stand in the third quarter when the Packers were close to cutting into a 28-14 lead. The unit gave up a lot of yards, but it was also as responsible for this win as much as Favre and the Vikings offence was.

So overall, not much to complain about here. However, if you will indulge me for a brief moment, I must say that when you are up by 10 points with just over three minutes left in the game, and your opponent has no timeouts left and you’ve decided to go conservative with basic runs the previous two plays, RUN THE FUCKING BALL ONE MORE TIME AND KILL SOME PRECIOUS TIME OFF THE CLOCK!

Throwing a low percentage deep ball to Bernard Berrian at that point was doing the Packers a huge favor. It almost cost the Vikings a well-earned lead. But I don’t blame Brad Childress or offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell on that play. I think this was a case of Favre doing one of his wacky gunslinger-type moves. As great as he played against Green Bay, it might be time for Chilly to have a short chat with the ole’ country boy about game management again if that was the case.

But I’ll stop it right there with the negativity. The Vikings are 4-0, in first place in the NFC North and it looks like they’ve (finally) got a passing game.

Life is good. Being a Vikings fan right now is good. Drink it in, people. Drink it in.