Vikings search for redemption Sunday against Tampa Bay

Minnesota vs. Tampa Bay

I’ve been waiting since about 5:15 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time) last Sunday for the chance to see the Vikings to erase the stench of their second half performance against the San Diego Chargers.

I don’t know if Sunday’s home opener will be it, though. I haven’t seen a Vikings offence look more hopeless than it did in the second half of that Chargers game in the past decade. And that’s saying something since I remember the 2006 game at Lambeau Field against the Packers that the Vikings lost 9-7, with the touchdown coming on a pick-six by Fred Smoot (remember him?)

But that 2006 team had no Adrian Peterson. Billy McMullen, Troy Williamson and Travis Taylor were playing wide receiver and a way-over-the-hill Brad Johnson and a rookie Tarvaris Jackson were playing quarterback. With that kind of “talent”, the offence should have been brutal.

The 2011 Minnesota Vikings have Peterson, Donovan McNabb, Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe – even Michael Jenkins is an upgrade over guys like Taylor and McMullen. They shouldn’t be worse than the 2006 offence. But they sure looked like it last Sunday.

When you’re building a house, it’s essential that it have a strong foundation. The same holds true for building an NFL offence, and that foundation is the offensive line. The main issue here is the Vikings have allowed their foundation to crumble. The line has gone from average (in 2006) to abominable (now) and the offence is going to have a hard time scoring points most Sundays. It’s hard to win that way.

Here are some other things for Vikings fans to worry about as Sunday’s game approaches:

Josh Freeman
The Vikings play a lot of good quarterbacks this season. Aaron Rodgers twice. Jay Cutler twice. They face Matt Stafford twice – who appears to be on the verge of entering the good/very good level. They’ve already faced Philip Rivers and we saw how that turned out. Drew Brees and Matt Ryan are also on the docket. The Vikings will also have to defend Cam Newton and Kevin Kolb, who had strong 2011 debuts.

The Bucs Josh Freeman also qualifies as a good, maybe very good, quarterback. He’s young, he’s big, he can run and he can throw. For a defence that has issues in the secondary, this is not a great matchup for the Vikings.

Kellen Winslow
This guy isn’t a great matchup, either. Last week, Chargers tight end Antonio Gates had great success against the Vikes. Winslow is faster than Gates, almost as big and has pretty good hands. He should have a productive day on Sunday.

LeGarrette Blount
Blount was once suspended 10 games in college for punching an opponent. In his first year as a pro, he became known as a guy who breaks a lot of tackles instead of trying to break jaws. We all saw the Vikings defensive unit had problems tackling Chargers running back Mike Tolbert and the 243 pounds he carries. Blount is taller, faster and a few pounds heavier than Tolbert. Uh oh.

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Now that I’ve spent about 500 words extolling the virtues of Tampa Bay, you’ll be surprised to read that I do feel the Vikings will win this game. The Bucs have beaten the Vikes the last four times they’ve played them, so the law of averages are in Minnesota’s favor.

The game is also in the Metrodome, and, oh, great big ashtray, how I’ve missed you. A few weeks ago, ESPN’s NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert wrote about how effective the Vikings have been in the Dome in recent history. They do seem to play a foot taller there. If they can get off to a good start on offence, keep the crowd engaged and loud, the home team will be energized by the home crowd and the Bucs will be bothered by it. Maybe it will be enough to cause a few extra penalties for the visitors and a few mistakes that could turn the game in the Vikings favor.

My prediction: Vikings 23 – Bucs 20

One other thing ….

ESPN 1500’s Judd Zulgad comes down hard on Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian in his Thursday article. It’s a fair assessment. We all hoped for better coming into this season, but Berrian’s been a non-factor for two seasons now and that isn’t going to change. Last season he had three games with no catches, four games with one catch and four games with two catches. Now he’s started off 2011 with no catches in the season opener.

I’m fairly certain if Berrian were playing for any other team, he would have been released, or at least benched, a long time ago. But the Vikings feel they have no choice but to play Berrian, so they say nice things about him – as head coach Leslie Frazier did during the offseason – and keep trotting him out there.

But Berrian has no value anymore. If the Vikings are going to throw deep balls, throw them to Harvin. He might not be 6’4, but he's fast and he will compete for the ball. Or maybe Randy Moss would play for us again. The guy is a kook, but before I went on a long blogging hiatus last winter and spring, I had a post brewing where I was going to make an argument that the Vikings should consider signing Moss as a number 3 receiver. Most fans would consider that a joke, but the real joke is Berrian’s play.