With respect to Patsy Cline (or Gnarls Barkley, for this generation), the recent Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints was the epitome of "Crazy".

This is my first post on this blogging system, and really, could I have picked a better game to start my Vikings coverage with?!  What I will do in this post is try to summarize and comment on the events that took place on the field on Monday night, with more in-depth commentary coming in later posts.  Here goes:

Before the contest started, I gave my family members my prediction: Saints 35, Vikings 24.  With the way Drew Brees was playing and the athleticism of Reggie Bush, I didn't see any way in which the Vikes could possibly slow them down.  In the first quarter, that was EXACTLY what happened.  The Saints quickly drove down the field (which didn't take long, considering that their kick returner Thomas got them into Vikings territory right away) and scored a TD on their first drive, Brees to Devery Henderson.  Then, in typical Vikings fashion, the Purple had to punt on our first possession, and the Saints began driving again, with Brees finding receivers that were wide open by yards.  The Saints' second drive stalled out at the Vikings' 28 yard line, though, and Martin Grammatica came on to attempt the field goal.  Now, if you know anything about the NFL, you will know two things: Grammatica has been kicking forever, and he is no longer the "Automatica" he was in Tampa Bay long ago.  So, in order to make long kicks he must kick the ball in a low, line drive fashion (instead of just booming it like most guys do).  This occurred, a Viking player touched the sailing sphere, and it landed flush in the arms of Antoine Winfield, who quickly returned it for a score and tied the contest 7-7.  Given the chance to go up 10-0 on one of the worst offenses in the NFL, the Saints failed to capitalize (or did the Vikings succeed?!).

Continue reading "Crazy"

While watching my Vikings play the Saints the other night, I was treated to one of the most hilarious moments I have ever had while watching an NFL game.  I don't exactly remember when in the game this was, but at some point a defensive lineman from one team jumped into the neutral zone and made the offensive lineman from the other team move.  The penalty should clearly be for offensive false start (as a defensive player is only penalized if he touches an opposing offensive player before the snap), and that is exactly what happened.  However, it was the way in which the much-maligned Ed Hochuli made the call that was so hilarious to me.  A few years ago, the NFL began cracking down on their officiating crew, most notably to get them to thoroughly explain each call made on the field.  Thus, Hochuli's statement about the false start penalty: "A defensive player jumped into the neutral zone before the snap, but that does not excuse the offensive player from false-starting, resulting in a 10-yard penalty".  I love it!!  Perhaps it was just the lateness of the hour or my lack of sleep at the time, but I found the in-depth description of that play to be absolutely hilarious!

Continue reading "One Hilarious Moment"

Coming off a fortunate victory over the New Orleans Saints on MNF last week, and playing a team (the Detroit Lions) that we have had complete domination over for pretty much their entire existence, the Minnesota Vikings had ever excuse to be supremely confident heading home to tame the Lions.  Of course, this being the Minnesota Vikings, nothing quite ever goes exactly according to plan...

During the first half of yesterday's contest, here are how the Vikings' drives ended up: Punt, Punt, Fumble, Punt, Punt, Punt, Punt.  The offense (as has come to be expected) was completely inept, with the defense having to score the lone Vikings points of the half by "executing" a safety.  Even then, though, you really can't give credit to the Purple, as Lions starting QB Dan Orlovsky (making the first start of his NFL career) ran nearly the length of the endzone before realizing that he was out of bounds.  I almost felt bad for the youngster, as he was completely overwhelmed being backed up in his own endzone.

Continue reading "Despite Safety, Win Over Lions Is Anything But"

As the Minnesota Vikings left the field in the first half of Sunday's lackluster contest against the Detroit Lions, Vikings fans reigned down boos on their Purple.  Midway through the second half, chants of "Fire Childress!" could be heard booming through the Metrodome.  With the type of anemic offense the Vikings have had over the last three years, there is good reason that Childress should be doing no more than updating his resume by now.  On the other hand, the Vikes ARE 3-3 this season and tied with Green Bay and Chicago (next week's opponent) for first place in the hapless NFC North.

Continue reading "If I Were Ziggy..."

In my previous post, I made the case that Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress should be fired after this Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears, regardless of the outcome, and former St. Louis Rams coach Scott Linehan should be installed.

However, I also realize that this is a move so unlikely to happen that it's almost a moot point.  The Wilf family has shown extreme patience with Childress since his hiring, and I admit that it is a bit unorthodox to fire the head coach when competing for a division championship.  So, with the likely prospect of having Childress donning the headset and play sheet for the rest of 2008, the focus should probably be on how to fix the Vikings' offense.  First, though, one must understand the current strategy (however unsuccessful) the Vikings use to try and breach the end zone:

Continue reading "Fixing The Vikings Offense"

Back in the late 1990s, I remember being confidant of the Vikings special teams unit.  While they did give up the occasional big return (but who doesn't?), they were generally very good in that area.  What set them apart from others, though, was return man (on kickoffs and punts) David Palmer (pictured above).  Now, this was at a time in the NFL when return "specialists" had not yet been catered to yet, so most returners were either starting cornerbacks or fourth and fifth-string wide receivers (like Palmer was).  Palmer was quick enough to turn on the burners when needed, and slippery enough to elude even the craftiest of tacklers.  Over the course of the game, the Vikings could usually be counted on to rack up more return yards than the opposing team.

Continue reading "Nothing "Special" About It..."

Before I preview this Sunday's Vikings-Bears matchup this Sunday, there is one more area of the Vikings I would like to discuss...their pass defense.

For a short history lesson, the Vikings have had a porous pass defense for a good many years.  Even in the 1998-2000 years, when the offense was racking up the points and wins, the defense would almost certainly give up 250 yards through the air and a few scores.  Things only got worse during the Mike Tice era, when the "McCombs Administration" would not spend a time on the defense.  As Brad Childress put together such talent as Pat Williams, Antoine Winfield, Darren Sharper, and Dwight Smith (until the whole sex-in-the-stairwell thing), the overall defense seemed to improve, but teams (starting with the New England Patriots on a fateful Monday night in 2006) began to realizing that all you had to do to beat the Vikings was pass, pass, and then pass a little more.

Continue reading "One More Weak Link"

As I will likely be in church up until moments before the opening kickoff of the Vikings-Bears game tomorrow, I would like to quickly give my predictions as to what will transpire at Soldier Field:

As much as I want the Vikings to beat the Bears on their own home turf, I just don't see it happening tomorrow for two reasons: First, the Bears actually have a better offense than the Vikings this season (quite a mind-boggling statement if you have followed the Bears the last few years).  They finally have a QB, in Kyle Orton, who can move the team down the field, and that is pretty much all a team needs to beat the Vikings.  Plus, RB Matt Forte is a tough runner (in typical Bears style) who will not be deterred by a few early stuffs by the Williams duo (which is always a good possibility).

Continue reading "Week 7 Preview: Too Much Speed, Too Tough On The Run"

In my previous blog, I predicted that the Chicago Bears would defeat the Minnesota Vikings in large part because of the Vikes' terrible pass defense.  Thus, while I did not expect a 48-41 final score, that is pretty much EXACTLY what transpired at Soldier Field:

The game actually started out on a very positive note for the Vikings, as Adrian Peterson capped off their first drive of the game with a touchdown lunge at the goal line.  Of course, the Bears (helped by the inability of the Vikings' kickoff team to execute a successful squib kick to keep the ball away from Devin Hester, thus gaining them tremendous field position) also scored on their first possession to knot the score at 7-7.

Continue reading "Wek 7 Review: How Did We Lose? Let Me Count The Ways..."

In my previous post, summing up the Vikings/Bears contest of last Sunday, I touched on the multiple areas in which the Vikings failed to put that game in the "W" column, including offense (four interceptions thrown by Gus Frerotte), and special teams (two mangled plays that led to Bears touchdowns).  However, in this post, I would like to lay the blame where I strongly feel it sorely belongs...on the pass defense.

A quick history lesson....the Vikings' defense began to deteriorate in 1998, when Red McCombs took over as owner of the franchise and was too interested in used car shows in Arlington, Texas to spend any money renovating the d-unit.  By 2001, the defense was horrible, and pretty much stayed that way until 2004.  Duante Culpepper and Randy Moss (among other offensive players of that time period) needed to score at least 30 points a game to have a shot at winning (and often times even that wasn't enough!).

Continue reading "Laying The Blame On Its Rightful Place"

After that debilitating loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will not return to a game-day field until November 2nd, as a result of their Week 8 bye.  While most of the players are enjoying a week's vacation before hitting the pads again next Monday, the coaches are by and large breaking down film and studying schemes in order to determine how to fix the lethargic Viking offense (or at least how to repeat last Sundays' yardage totals without shooting themselves in the foot with stupidity).  However, whereas most pundits consider the Vikings' toughest part of the schedule behind them, I would beg to differ.  Coming out of the break, here are the next four teams the Vikings have to face:

Continue reading "Seize The Day"

An NFL team's bye week (especially if it comes as late as Week 8, as the Vikings' has this season) is always an interesting time of the football season, more so for a losing team, as every facet of the franchise is picked apart and evaluated in order to find that winning formula that will carry the team to victory after the short layoff.  Being a fan of the Vikings, I am no different in my thinking, as I would quickly like to comment on the success of our two starting quarterbacks this season, and pronounce a verdict on who should remain the starter for the rest of the season (or until injury or ineffectiveness render another a change necessary):

Continue reading "The Lesser Of Two Evils"

This week, news reports have been circulating that Daunte Culpepper, former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, and (most recently) Oakland Raiders, has been working out for the Detroit Lions, and Detroit coach Rod Marinelli is considering Pep to replace the struggling Dan Orlovsky.  Gus Frerotte is the starting QB for the Vikings.

In other news, Scott Linehan (former Vikings and Dolphins offensive coordinator and Rams head coach) sits unemployed.  Brad Childress is (still) the Head Coach of the Vikings.

To me, those two paragraphs above make about as much sense as the phrase "jumbo shrimp".  The Vikings desperately need some consistent offense, right?  Well, here's the simple solution...bring back both Linehan (Head Coach) and the Pepper (QB).  Now, before you start calling me crazy, just hear me out:

Continue reading "Blast(s) From The Past"

An article (written by the venerable Minnesota sportswriter Sid Hartman) appeared in the Star Tribune newspaper the other day that I was very intrigued by.  Here is the link...

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/33551839.html?elr=KArks:DCiU1PciUoaEYY_4PcUU

 What I was most surprised about was how the Wilfs (both Ziggy and brother Mark) feel completely confident in their chosen Head Coach, Brad Childress.  To me (and maybe I'm just reading into things too much), I don't see how ANYBODY could be COMPLETELY confident in Chili to this point in his tenure.  I mean, what has he shown that has the Wilfs so "impressed" with him.  The offense still (by and large) stinks, the defense has gotten worse (especially against the pass), and the special teams are now horrendous.

Continue reading ""Without A Doubt"? I Think Not"