* When Bryant McKinnie makes the Pro Bowl, it's time to drop this sham.
* After being in the top five most of the season, the Vikings have dropped to #10 in Football Outsiders' latest DVOA rankings – thanks to their performance against the Chicago Bears Monday night.
The offence is ranked 10th, which seems a little low. The defence is ranked 19th, which seems way too high.
* Sports Illustrated's Peter King and the National Football Post's Matt Bowen aren't bullish on the Vikings anymore. You can check out both stories here and here.
Bowen writes that the Vikes are in danger of being a one-and-done playoff team. I wouldn't say they are a one-and-done team. But they definitely look like a classic "win-one-at-home and-then-lose-the-next-one-on-the-road" playoff team.
* And while the Vikings have plenty of things to worry about, Adrian Peterson's latest fumble makes me wonder if he'll ever be the sure-handed runner we'd all like him to be.
I was checking out some comments at the Vikings Gab blog today and one person remarked about the difference you see in how Percy Harvin handles the ball when he's being tackled compared to Peterson.
Now Harvin's going to end up handling the football about 250 times less than Peterson this year, but in just under 110 touches this season, Harvin's fumbled once.
And if you watch him when he's being tackled, you see why. Harvin almost always keeps the ball close to his chest and if an opponent so much as lays a fingertip on him, he immediately secures the ball with two hands. Harvin still gets multiple yards after contact and is a load to bring down – just like Peterson – but he holds onto the ball.
Too often Peterson doesn't and his problem seems to be twofold. One – he's got a bad habit of holding the ball in one arm away from his body, a position that makes it easier for opponents to rip the ball away from him as Hunter Hillenmeyer did on Monday night.
Two – he doesn't seem to have great awareness when he's in a crowd of defenders, or in a position where he's about to be tackled, to get the ball in a more secure body position and then fight for extra yardage.
Peterson is in his third season and he still does these things. It's all correctable, just like Randy Moss' laziness and Daunte Culpepper's inability to read a defence should have been correctable. But those guys never did correct their mistakes and I've got a feeling Peterson will never correct his. It will be that one nasty flaw that will have football fans say, "Adrian Peterson was awesome, but ...."
It always seems to be that way with the Viking greats.
* By the way, Minnesotans, can you tell me what's happened to Patrick Reusse? It doesn't seem right to have the Vikings tanking and not have the ole' Star-Tribune curmudgeon columnist telling us all he told us so.
Did he get fired or something?
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Coming up small
I started writing this post at halftime, so certain was I that the Vikings had no chance of coming back in this one and that they were about to suffer their third horrendous defeat in a row on the road.
So here were some basic questions I felt Brad Childress and his staff needed to quickly answer as Minnesota trotted into the visitor’s locker room down 16-0 against the 5-9 Chicago Bears.
* Can anyone on this team tackle anymore? Jay Cutler bowling over Madieu Williams pretty much sums up the Vikings defensive tackling the past four weeks.
* What has happened to the pass rush? Kurt Warner, Matt Moore and Jay Cutler have not faced much duress in the pocket when facing the Vikings defence this month. If the Vikings front four can’t harass the quarterback, this unit gets torched, particularly on the road.
* Can anyone on the Vikings defence intercept a pass? On the second play of the game, Cutler throws a pass right into Ben Leber’s chest plate. It’s a bullet and Leber’s a linebacker, so we shouldn’t expect too much, but if Leber makes that makeable play, the Vikings get the ball deep in Bears territory and maybe it’s a different first half. Nobody on this defence has even what I’d consider decent ball skills. It's one reason why this unit struggles to create turnovers.
* Why can’t the Vikings find a way to get the ball to Percy Harvin lately?
* Where has the Vikings third down prowess gone? The past two weeks it seems the Vikings have gone one-for-whatever on third downs after being one of the top teams in the league most of the season in this important stat.
* Can Brett Favre play well outdoors in cold weather anymore? We’ve all seen the stats and Favre will have to play well if the Vikings have any chance of winning a game on the road against, say, Philadelphia. So far in this game, he isn’t disproving the "Favre-can’t-play-in-cold-weather" theory.
Obviously, things changed quite a bit in the second half of this game. But forget for a minute the comeback. Forget Favre’s fine play in the second half. Forget Sidney Rice’s great touchdown catch and the fact that if Adrian Peterson just steps out of bounds instead of deciding to fight for a couple of needless yards on that overtime screen pass, the Vikings probably win this one.
Instead, think about whether you really believe this Vikings team can beat a quality opponent on the road – in the playoffs – when two weeks in a row it hasn’t been able to beat non-quality opponents on the road.
And also remember that most of the questions I had heading into the second half were not answered in a positive way by the Vikings even with the gritty comeback effort.
Regardless of how the Vikings fare against the New York Giants next Sunday, we know the Vikings will play at least one home playoff game and I’m confident they will win that game, at which time some observers will be duped into thinking the Vikings are Super Bowl contenders again.
But on the road – outdoors and probably even indoors – this Vikings team is too shaky on the offensive line, too shaky in pass coverage and probably too shaky in the coaching department, to win a game or two away from the Metrodome, which it looks like it will have to do to reach the Super Bowl.
Sure, we can hope it will happen and we will certainly cheer hard for it to happen. But really, in our Viking fan heart of hearts, after what we saw tonight at Soldier Field against a bad Chicago Bears team, we surely must know now it isn’t going to happen.
So don't be duped in the next couple of weeks.
So here were some basic questions I felt Brad Childress and his staff needed to quickly answer as Minnesota trotted into the visitor’s locker room down 16-0 against the 5-9 Chicago Bears.
* Can anyone on this team tackle anymore? Jay Cutler bowling over Madieu Williams pretty much sums up the Vikings defensive tackling the past four weeks.
* What has happened to the pass rush? Kurt Warner, Matt Moore and Jay Cutler have not faced much duress in the pocket when facing the Vikings defence this month. If the Vikings front four can’t harass the quarterback, this unit gets torched, particularly on the road.
* Can anyone on the Vikings defence intercept a pass? On the second play of the game, Cutler throws a pass right into Ben Leber’s chest plate. It’s a bullet and Leber’s a linebacker, so we shouldn’t expect too much, but if Leber makes that makeable play, the Vikings get the ball deep in Bears territory and maybe it’s a different first half. Nobody on this defence has even what I’d consider decent ball skills. It's one reason why this unit struggles to create turnovers.
* Why can’t the Vikings find a way to get the ball to Percy Harvin lately?
* Where has the Vikings third down prowess gone? The past two weeks it seems the Vikings have gone one-for-whatever on third downs after being one of the top teams in the league most of the season in this important stat.
* Can Brett Favre play well outdoors in cold weather anymore? We’ve all seen the stats and Favre will have to play well if the Vikings have any chance of winning a game on the road against, say, Philadelphia. So far in this game, he isn’t disproving the "Favre-can’t-play-in-cold-weather" theory.
Obviously, things changed quite a bit in the second half of this game. But forget for a minute the comeback. Forget Favre’s fine play in the second half. Forget Sidney Rice’s great touchdown catch and the fact that if Adrian Peterson just steps out of bounds instead of deciding to fight for a couple of needless yards on that overtime screen pass, the Vikings probably win this one.
Instead, think about whether you really believe this Vikings team can beat a quality opponent on the road – in the playoffs – when two weeks in a row it hasn’t been able to beat non-quality opponents on the road.
And also remember that most of the questions I had heading into the second half were not answered in a positive way by the Vikings even with the gritty comeback effort.
Regardless of how the Vikings fare against the New York Giants next Sunday, we know the Vikings will play at least one home playoff game and I’m confident they will win that game, at which time some observers will be duped into thinking the Vikings are Super Bowl contenders again.
But on the road – outdoors and probably even indoors – this Vikings team is too shaky on the offensive line, too shaky in pass coverage and probably too shaky in the coaching department, to win a game or two away from the Metrodome, which it looks like it will have to do to reach the Super Bowl.
Sure, we can hope it will happen and we will certainly cheer hard for it to happen. But really, in our Viking fan heart of hearts, after what we saw tonight at Soldier Field against a bad Chicago Bears team, we surely must know now it isn’t going to happen.
So don't be duped in the next couple of weeks.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Very quick hits
I posted my Vikings-Bears preview on Christmas Eve.
Because of the timing, plus the fact a month ago I wrote I wasn’t going to blog for the rest of the season, I don’t think many readers read it.
So here’s the preview again. I’m not optimistic.
Sunday thoughts
– I don’t feel quite so bad about the Vikings getting thumped by the Carolina Panthers now. At least the Vikes were in that game for three quarters.
The good news in all this, of course, is the Panthers play New Orleans at home next week. And if the Vikings can take care of business in Chicago, beat the New York Giants at home next Sunday and Carolina pounds the Saints (note: they’ll have to do it without Steve Smith, who broke his arm against the Giants and is done), the Vikings not only get a first round bye but home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves.
– Running backs who arguably are having better years than Adrian Peterson include: Cedric Benson (1,251 yards, 4.2 ypc); Thomas Jones (1,219 yards, 4.3 ypc) and Ryan Grant (1,,202 yards, 4.4 ypc).
God, I want Peterson to have a 300 yard game against the Bears. It seems like we haven’t watched him break a long run since, like, his rookie season.
– I thought Access Vikings Judd Zulgad had an interesting post Sunday publishing excerpts of what some of the big-name NFL analysts had to say about this week’s Brad Childress/Brett Favre brouhaha. (Nice to see Chad Greenway and Brian Robison getting some love as well.)
I find Jon Gruden’s comments the most interesting and enlightening and that’s only partly because his views line up with mine on the issue.
As anybody who’s watched Gruden do a game this year knows, Jon loves Favre. However, it’s still interesting – Favre bias and all– to read that Gruden thinks any friction between the Vikings head coach and quarterback is not what is going to lose the Vikings Monday’s football game.
Instead, he points out what will result in another loss is if the Vikings continue to run and pass block the way they have two of the past three weeks.
Because of the timing, plus the fact a month ago I wrote I wasn’t going to blog for the rest of the season, I don’t think many readers read it.
So here’s the preview again. I’m not optimistic.
Sunday thoughts
– I don’t feel quite so bad about the Vikings getting thumped by the Carolina Panthers now. At least the Vikes were in that game for three quarters.
The good news in all this, of course, is the Panthers play New Orleans at home next week. And if the Vikings can take care of business in Chicago, beat the New York Giants at home next Sunday and Carolina pounds the Saints (note: they’ll have to do it without Steve Smith, who broke his arm against the Giants and is done), the Vikings not only get a first round bye but home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves.
– Running backs who arguably are having better years than Adrian Peterson include: Cedric Benson (1,251 yards, 4.2 ypc); Thomas Jones (1,219 yards, 4.3 ypc) and Ryan Grant (1,,202 yards, 4.4 ypc).
God, I want Peterson to have a 300 yard game against the Bears. It seems like we haven’t watched him break a long run since, like, his rookie season.
– I thought Access Vikings Judd Zulgad had an interesting post Sunday publishing excerpts of what some of the big-name NFL analysts had to say about this week’s Brad Childress/Brett Favre brouhaha. (Nice to see Chad Greenway and Brian Robison getting some love as well.)
I find Jon Gruden’s comments the most interesting and enlightening and that’s only partly because his views line up with mine on the issue.
As anybody who’s watched Gruden do a game this year knows, Jon loves Favre. However, it’s still interesting – Favre bias and all– to read that Gruden thinks any friction between the Vikings head coach and quarterback is not what is going to lose the Vikings Monday’s football game.
Instead, he points out what will result in another loss is if the Vikings continue to run and pass block the way they have two of the past three weeks.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Your 2009 Christmas Eve football post
Vikings – Bears
Are the Chicago Bears the Vikings opponent in Monday night’s matchup? Or is it Soldier Field?
A football field can’t complete passes, run for touchdowns or sack quarterbacks. But the fact is the Vikings are 2-7 at Soldier Field this decade, with some truly horrendous performances coming in those seven losses. So I never look forward to a Viking game at Soldier Field. And I don’t think the Vikings do either. Okay, Adrian Peterson probably does, but that’s about it.
The forecast Monday night is calling for a high of 29 and a low of 10 in Chicago (those forecasted temperatures are listed in Fahrenheit, not Celsius, my fellow Canadians.) It will probably be windy as well. Such a forecast wouldn’t be a problem if this was the 2007 or even the 2008 Minnesota Vikings. But the 2009 Vikings have become a pass-first team and on a cold night with the wind knocking down Brett Favre’s passes and the Vikings offensive line unable to open any holes for Peterson, the Minnesota offence could struggle again.
For me, this game will be all about the Vikings offensive line. We can worry about the Vikings defensive performance against Carolina on Sunday – the missed tackles and Matt Moore torching them in the fourth quarter – but when the offence has 11 drives that last six plays or less, well, it’s hard to win that way.
I blame a lot of non-production against Carolina on the Vikings offensive line.
The Vikings offensive line has to dominate this game. It has to finally open some holes for Peterson to run through and it has to give Favre some time to throw the ball. And it can’t commit false start penalties and holding penalties that short circuit promising drives.
The Bears don’t have anyone like Julius Peppers to throw at our offensive line and the Bears are banged up with nine players on the injury report. Some of the wounded players (Lance Briggs, Adewale Ogunleye) are key guys who either won’t be playing or are doubtful to play against the Vikings.
The injuries on defence – coupled with Jay Cutler fresh off another woeful performance and the Bears unable to run the ball – indicates this game should not be difficult for the Vikings to win.
But we all thought the same thing last week against Carolina. This is a late December game at Soldier Field and the Vikings seem to have lost their mojo.
I’ve got a bad, bad feeling about this one.
Bears 24 Vikings 17
The Favre/Childress tiff
You’ve likely read lots on the Brad Childress/Brett Favre drama this week and you’ve likely wondered lots if it has already scuttled a rare special season for the Vikings.
This post by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert actually made me feel good about the whole thing. Seifert points out Chilly has had several run-ins with Favre this year, most of them coming when the Vikes were red-hot and being mentioned in the same breath as the Colts and the Saints as the league’s best team.
So I don’t worry that Chilly is going to lose the locker room because it appears he has no control over Favre. I also don’t worry this is somehow going to cause the Vikings to morph into the Lions.
The Viking players have known what this relationship is about for a long time. When your head coach meets Favre at the airport and personally drives Favre to the Vikings’ facilities, it's pretty clear Favre is going to be handled differently than other players. This was never your typical coach/player relationship, and up until three weeks ago, the rest of the Viking players handled it just fine.
Despite what Kevin Seifert writes or Ed Werder says, if the Vikings lose to the Bears Monday night, it will have nothing to do with any of this nonsense. It will be because the Bears were better on that night than the Vikings. The same goes for rest of the season.
Here's Mike Lombardi's take on it, by the way.
It ain’t all bad news
Football Outsiders Mike Tanier names Percy Harvin and Phil Loadholt to his All-Rookie team.
The selection of Harvin isn’t surprising. The selection of Loadholt? If you put a lot of stock in how he played against Carolina, then it is.
Personally, I’ve been happy with Loadholt’s play. I also agree with Tanier that Loadholt is a better pass blocker right now than a run blocker. It was supposed to be the other way around. But no matter, despite Loadholt’s struggles last Sunday, I think history will show Loadholt was a pretty good pick.
Ho, ho, ho
It’s Christmas time and if I had one wish for all Vikings fans, it would be for the Vikings to beat Chicago convincingly Monday night and then kick off 2010 with a win over the New York Giants.
Perhaps I should wish for you all to have a safe and enjoyable holiday season, but a couple of Viking wins is where my head is at these days.
Are the Chicago Bears the Vikings opponent in Monday night’s matchup? Or is it Soldier Field?
A football field can’t complete passes, run for touchdowns or sack quarterbacks. But the fact is the Vikings are 2-7 at Soldier Field this decade, with some truly horrendous performances coming in those seven losses. So I never look forward to a Viking game at Soldier Field. And I don’t think the Vikings do either. Okay, Adrian Peterson probably does, but that’s about it.
The forecast Monday night is calling for a high of 29 and a low of 10 in Chicago (those forecasted temperatures are listed in Fahrenheit, not Celsius, my fellow Canadians.) It will probably be windy as well. Such a forecast wouldn’t be a problem if this was the 2007 or even the 2008 Minnesota Vikings. But the 2009 Vikings have become a pass-first team and on a cold night with the wind knocking down Brett Favre’s passes and the Vikings offensive line unable to open any holes for Peterson, the Minnesota offence could struggle again.
For me, this game will be all about the Vikings offensive line. We can worry about the Vikings defensive performance against Carolina on Sunday – the missed tackles and Matt Moore torching them in the fourth quarter – but when the offence has 11 drives that last six plays or less, well, it’s hard to win that way.
I blame a lot of non-production against Carolina on the Vikings offensive line.
The Vikings offensive line has to dominate this game. It has to finally open some holes for Peterson to run through and it has to give Favre some time to throw the ball. And it can’t commit false start penalties and holding penalties that short circuit promising drives.
The Bears don’t have anyone like Julius Peppers to throw at our offensive line and the Bears are banged up with nine players on the injury report. Some of the wounded players (Lance Briggs, Adewale Ogunleye) are key guys who either won’t be playing or are doubtful to play against the Vikings.
The injuries on defence – coupled with Jay Cutler fresh off another woeful performance and the Bears unable to run the ball – indicates this game should not be difficult for the Vikings to win.
But we all thought the same thing last week against Carolina. This is a late December game at Soldier Field and the Vikings seem to have lost their mojo.
I’ve got a bad, bad feeling about this one.
Bears 24 Vikings 17
The Favre/Childress tiff
You’ve likely read lots on the Brad Childress/Brett Favre drama this week and you’ve likely wondered lots if it has already scuttled a rare special season for the Vikings.
This post by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert actually made me feel good about the whole thing. Seifert points out Chilly has had several run-ins with Favre this year, most of them coming when the Vikes were red-hot and being mentioned in the same breath as the Colts and the Saints as the league’s best team.
So I don’t worry that Chilly is going to lose the locker room because it appears he has no control over Favre. I also don’t worry this is somehow going to cause the Vikings to morph into the Lions.
The Viking players have known what this relationship is about for a long time. When your head coach meets Favre at the airport and personally drives Favre to the Vikings’ facilities, it's pretty clear Favre is going to be handled differently than other players. This was never your typical coach/player relationship, and up until three weeks ago, the rest of the Viking players handled it just fine.
Despite what Kevin Seifert writes or Ed Werder says, if the Vikings lose to the Bears Monday night, it will have nothing to do with any of this nonsense. It will be because the Bears were better on that night than the Vikings. The same goes for rest of the season.
Here's Mike Lombardi's take on it, by the way.
It ain’t all bad news
Football Outsiders Mike Tanier names Percy Harvin and Phil Loadholt to his All-Rookie team.
The selection of Harvin isn’t surprising. The selection of Loadholt? If you put a lot of stock in how he played against Carolina, then it is.
Personally, I’ve been happy with Loadholt’s play. I also agree with Tanier that Loadholt is a better pass blocker right now than a run blocker. It was supposed to be the other way around. But no matter, despite Loadholt’s struggles last Sunday, I think history will show Loadholt was a pretty good pick.
Ho, ho, ho
It’s Christmas time and if I had one wish for all Vikings fans, it would be for the Vikings to beat Chicago convincingly Monday night and then kick off 2010 with a win over the New York Giants.
Perhaps I should wish for you all to have a safe and enjoyable holiday season, but a couple of Viking wins is where my head is at these days.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Desperation move
A month ago when I decided to stop blogging for the rest of the season, the Vikings had won 10 of its first 11 games and in the one game they lost, the Vikings were arguably the better team, yet blew it on two turnovers improbably returned for touchdowns by 250-pound Pittsburgh defenders.
And since I started my blogging hiatus, the Vikings have lost two of its three games and shit the bed in both losses, creating a tsunami of panic among the Vikings fan base.
So obviously the problem with the Vikings is not that the defence can no longer tackle, that its secondary can no longer defend the pass, that the offensive line can no longer open a hole for Adrian Peterson, and that its 40-year-old quarterback can no longer stop throwing interceptions – it's that I'm no longer blogging about them.
Well, I'm back in the Vikings time of need. When they go on their improbable Super Bowl run, I expect to receive a ring and a Super Bowl bonus.
Seriously though, I've got a two week break during the Christmas season, so that gives me enough time to get back to blogging a little bit about the Vikings.
Anyway ....
One thing that always bugs me when the Vikings are having a strong season and then lose a game is how much stock Viking fans put in those losses. (I guess we do the same thing when they win, but back to my point ....) So naturally on a night when the Vikings got stomped by a 5-8 team, everyone is going beserk.
However, the Vikings are guaranteed to finish no worse than 11-5 and have already won the NFC North. They will host a playoff game and they will win that game.
But this year isn't about winning a playoff game, not when you've brought back Brett Favre and played so well for three quarters of the season and raises Viking fans' expectations. The 2009 season is about getting to the Super Bowl.
Which is why next week's Monday night game against Chicago is critical for the Vikings. If they win at night, on grass, in the cold and in a venue where they tend to struggle even when the Bears aren't very good, then I think we can still feel good about the Vikings Super Bowl chances.
But if they struggle and don't win, then this season probably isn't going to turn out much differently for the Vikings than any other season the team's had. I really, really hope that isn't the case.
And since I started my blogging hiatus, the Vikings have lost two of its three games and shit the bed in both losses, creating a tsunami of panic among the Vikings fan base.
So obviously the problem with the Vikings is not that the defence can no longer tackle, that its secondary can no longer defend the pass, that the offensive line can no longer open a hole for Adrian Peterson, and that its 40-year-old quarterback can no longer stop throwing interceptions – it's that I'm no longer blogging about them.
Well, I'm back in the Vikings time of need. When they go on their improbable Super Bowl run, I expect to receive a ring and a Super Bowl bonus.
Seriously though, I've got a two week break during the Christmas season, so that gives me enough time to get back to blogging a little bit about the Vikings.
Anyway ....
One thing that always bugs me when the Vikings are having a strong season and then lose a game is how much stock Viking fans put in those losses. (I guess we do the same thing when they win, but back to my point ....) So naturally on a night when the Vikings got stomped by a 5-8 team, everyone is going beserk.
However, the Vikings are guaranteed to finish no worse than 11-5 and have already won the NFC North. They will host a playoff game and they will win that game.
But this year isn't about winning a playoff game, not when you've brought back Brett Favre and played so well for three quarters of the season and raises Viking fans' expectations. The 2009 season is about getting to the Super Bowl.
Which is why next week's Monday night game against Chicago is critical for the Vikings. If they win at night, on grass, in the cold and in a venue where they tend to struggle even when the Bears aren't very good, then I think we can still feel good about the Vikings Super Bowl chances.
But if they struggle and don't win, then this season probably isn't going to turn out much differently for the Vikings than any other season the team's had. I really, really hope that isn't the case.
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