NFC NORTH CHAMPS

CONGRATS!

I'd also like to send a congrats to AP for his rushing title! 1760 yards!


AP looking at the jumbotron for would be tacklers

We won the game,
we won the division,
we are hosting PHILLY

and now for something completely different

People who don't like CHILLY still complain to me. WTF?! Ticky tack- about how we wasted 15 seconds at the end of the game or the QB draw play on 4th and 1. People who hate T JACK will say he threw that un-timely interception.... and? your point ? ( I liked the draw play, TUCK just made a good hustle play)

Like I always say, I am just glad the players AND coaches don't get so freaked out and down every time a mistake or miscue happens or we never would have kept fighting all those games this year, showing resolve and pluck, and winning the division.

I'd also like to point out to the rubes that we don't always know why things happen on the field, maybe T JACK freaked out and burned that final time out because he needed a second, maybe the head set malfunctioned, maybe he noticed he didn't have the right players on the field. No coach would intentionally do that, obvious no?! I noticed us try to hike the ball and get them on a penalty for too many men or offsides which was cheeky and would have gotten us 5 yards closer... but annoyingly the refs wouldn't let us it seemed.

HOW CAN PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT CLOCK MANAGEMENT WHEN WE HAVE HAD SO MANY COME BACKS AND GAME WINNERS? SO WINNING THE GAME AS TIME EXPIRED ISN'T PERFECT CLOCK MANAGEMENT?

You can't convince people to stop being negative or seeing things as half full when they only see them as empty- and I won't try. I will just say that I feel sorry for those people.

Here we have "good coaches" with arguably more talent then our team, Dallas and Tampa Bay, choking big time, you also have the Patriots not making the playoffs as well!!! Those two teams were picked to win it all this year! And people are STILL down about Chilly. (Dumb asses)

Hey assholes- we are the 3rd seed in the NFC, after starting out 1 and 3!

And all the players who made plays today, guess who brought them in as free agents.. go ahead. Take a wild guess.

Berrian's TD, AP's, SHANKS catches, WADE's... ALL free agents CHILLY signed.
(Not to mention Jared Allen, Chester Taylor, HUTCH etc.)

-NEXT WEEK-

We need to force some turnovers for pete's sake! Where have our interceptions and forced fumbles been hiding?? I am not so worried yet as we just played two really really good ball control bang and bruise running teams but still..

We need to GET to the QB next week... our blitzes looked like blintzes!

And one last thing. TAVARIS please stop doing this!

Please put your balls away when you are being hugged

MY DADDY ALWAYS SAID...

You know there has been some useless speculation going around about if so and so's mishandling was a "muff" or "fumble."  In our game, in the PACK game...

I think all this could be cleared up if you just listen to what my daddy used to say.

"Son, I don't care if it's a muff or a fumble you dive on it either way!"

Memo to VIKES-

 if it's loose! dive on it

Open Letter to A.P.

Hi...

So we all love you. You're purple Jesus after all. We love how you "finish runs" but we are all getting worried about your fumbles etc. Like they said on TV last night. You seem to be "trying to hard."

I watched the guy from Carolina run, he ran for 20 yards down the sideline, saw 2 DBs coming and just walked out of bounds. If you already have the first and the only thing bending, twisting, spinning, reaching out or hurdling will get you is another .74 yards, please don't do it. Just cover up the ball and "keep the drive alive."

Not only will this reduce your league leading fumble ratio, but it will also reduce the chances of you getting hurt. (Or hurting someone from the opposing team)

Adrian Peterson... Purple Jesus... you're the "one"

PSALM #28

Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

JOB #28

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold [where] they fine [it]...He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

Remember the "5 points of pressure rule." I am not sure what it means, but I have a feeling it has to do with two hands while holding it into your body. Look at rugby players, they lateral the ball hundreds of times, no problems. So why can't you be as proficient?

Thanks and good luck. 

THE GREAT NEGATORS

IT'S not an extinct crocodile dinosaur. It's what our scary looking red colored commentator* man referred to as fumbles. Say no more. Let's skip ahead, for now, to the really annoying non call at the end. We won't talk about T-JACK's insane performance, SHANKS crazy handles or BERRIAN AND PURPLE JESUITS fumbles... not today... Here for all of you to peruse is the proof that it was indeed interference by the DIRTY BIRDS #24.

(special thanks to Xander Man for his quick photoshop efforts)

Sidney Rice gives D. Foxworth a congratulatory hand shake for making the playoffs

I am too annoyed and pissed off right now to expound on the game. I am proud of our guys though. They showed a lot of heart and fight. If we make the playoffs I'd be real scared going into the dome. I don't think we will keep gifting wins for teams like we did today or against the COLTS or TITANS - two division winning teams we went toe to toe with early in the season.

Add this English transplant to my list of least favorite ATLANTA athletes. He's right up there with Jamal Anderson and Mark Lemke. Congrats domonique with an "O"! You're a wanker as they say in your hometown of OXFORD, ENGLAND.

WANKER!

CONGRATULATIONS SHANKS! You get my game ball, leading the league in receiving yards this week!

* Brian Baldinger the scary looking commentator

Let's get a Stadium!

Dear Vikings Fan:

As the Vikings push toward an NFC North title and the NFL playoffs, we are asking you to join our team to help secure a new home for Vikings football.

While the State of Minnesota steps up to face current economic challenges, the Vikings stadium project will deliver thousands of jobs when an economic boost is desperately needed.

It is our expectation that the Vikings will move forward in 2009 with a discussion at the State Legislature about resolving the stadium issue. With only 30 home games left until the Metrodome lease expires in 2011, we need to rally Vikings fans and supporters to ensure that our voices are heard as state leaders tackle this important issue.

Please click here to join our team and be part of the stadium solution. Being part of Minnesota Momentum will keep you updated on important stadium developments and let you know how you can help resolve this issue.

Please visit MinnesotaMomentum.com to find out more. Thank you for your time and consideration, and thank you for joining our team.

Sincerely,

Bud Grant
Vikings Hall of Fame Coach
Co-Chair, Minnesota Momentum

Larry Spooner
Vikings Fan
Co-Chair, Minnesota Momentum

Since AP has set the club record for yards in a season...

Here is a list of my all time favorite and least favorite Viking RBs  (In Order)

Favorites ( I never saw Chuck Foreman play really much so...)

• Adrian Peterson
• Terry Allen
• Chester Taylor
• Robert Smith
• Rick Finney
• Leroy Hoard

Least Favorites

• Darrin Nelson
• D.J Dozier
• Herschel Walker
• Ontario Smith
• Alfred Anderson (just never liked him)

Here is proof that I am cured of VIKINGS NEGATIVITY SYNDROME

I sent this to a blogger on the VIKES site just before the bye week.  It's fun to look back at the week of doubt knowing what we know now.  So many fans were fed up and losing hope.  At the same time you had teams like Buffalo and the SKINS and Dallas dominating. Ha!  

In my humble opinion it's a team that is on the verge of getting it all together. we have yet to have a "solid game" we always have some dumb turnovers, penalties, some bad call or some un-characteristic weird play (see punt drop)

you have to believe that we will "nip that shit in the bud" regardless of chilly and his gang (my take on chilly is very neutral, i think they get too much credit and too much blame, as do quarterbacks) and their efforts.  these guys are all evolving as one group.. like 11 dingo's that are hunting a gazelle and they have to work together and if one of them messes up, well, they all starve. I think our team is hungry! i really do, and I am not being a homer... I am just using common sense.

Sure we all had big expectations, so have the dallas fans. they have no excuse, at least we have excuses =p

Keep your head up.. I think the bye is perfect timing and the vikes will come back with some new wrinkles to give us a few more three and outs on the defensive side.. a few more looks on offense.. a little more flair.

very quietly berrian is on pace for 1000 yards. shankoe is on pace to have a solid year.. AP is on pace for like 1500 yards.. our defense is slowly climbing the charts.. im not big on stats but it's indicative of our aptitude and skill set.

We have a team that could easily beat any other team. so remember the shitty giants we killed last year, remember the wild card steelers who ran rough shot to the super bowl, remember the 87 vikes who beat the 13 and 2 niners and 12 and 3 saints  etc.

"it's too early to call!"

It's not over yet.. but I can smell the Post Season and it smells like astroturf and Grain Belt Premium.

Vikings - Cardinals (week 15)

Well, what a great game.. almost "nerves-free" aside from the blocked field goal that could have spelled a comeback if we didn't buckle down and score again. That was a huge 10 point swing and made me nervous. Our next possession we made some plays and finished them off with that beautiful "pump and go" route by WADE. The announcers mentioned how CHILLY said "We could get HOOD (their CB) on a double move" and they did. I just wanted to mention that as it has 100 percent to do with scouting, preparation and execution. Something the CHILLY haters should acknowledge. (Though there are fewer and fewer grumbles these days) This is how the end of that play and drive felt inside all of us.

"Get Some" was heard shouted from a rabid Vikes fan in the upper deck

I won't touch on all the obvious points, the huge Vikings crowd, the almost perfect play by Tavaris Jackson, Jared Allen's continues rampage etc. It's hard to write a blog after such a good win, without just regurgitating what is already in the papers.

The term "ran roughshot" comes to mind... all you box score fanatics can see how we dominated. I think the most beautiful thing about the game was that we finally looked like the team we were all envisioning before the season started. I can't think of a player who did not contribute to the win. Everyone did their job, very well at that, so we had a comfortable win over an extremely pass happy team.

I though they'd pass for 400 yards on us easily... get 2 or three touchdowns and 3 field goals. I think the rest o the league is starting to get scared because look at what we did to their passing game. We nullified it. Sure, they had that one big play, when we blitzed, then missed 3 tackles. Good individual run by urban, all those yards were "after the catch." Other then that, we didn't allow any deep balls and we had great pressure on Warner. Probably the best pass rush of the season actually. Keep in mind Warner is known for his savvy decision making and quick release yet we caused all the disruption. We forced him to make a lot of those 2, 4 and 8 yard routes, forced a lot of third downs, and we hit hard as soon as the catches were made. We did a really good job of mixing up the blitzes, four man rush and the zones. It was the best game plan all year. I hope we do it more often. We looked real good with our nickel and dime packages. Which is a huge relief.

And now for the obvious... How nice was that fly route TD to BERRIAN? What a great throw. And the punt return was lovely too. So many exciting plays we looked scary. I liked the TD pass to TAYLOR as well. Executed perfectly.

I am confident about next weeks game against the Falcons. There is no way they will be able to rush TURNER 32 times against us and be effective. I anticipate we will test MATT RYAN like he's never been tested in his career and cause some turnovers. ( Though Tamp Bay only managed one sack yesterday) Then on our side of the ball we will give them the usual teasing of AP and CHESTER and throw in the odd deep ball. On paper we match up really well and we always play solid at home if it's not against the Lions.

Chicago will have their hands full with Green Bay. Hopefully the PACK will do us a favor and clinch the division for us... but a five or six game winning streak sure would be nice right now! We could finish 11-5. Who knew.

IT'S OFFICIAL ALL YOU FANTASY STAT ADDICTS. WE ARE TWICE AS BITTER AS THE REST OF THE NFL FANS!

I pasted this from a RANDBALL blog on the Trib web page.

According to the popular but unscientific ESPN.com coach ratings, Brad Childress’ approval rating continues to languish at 37 percent. Every other team that is a sole leader or co-leader of a division — Denver, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, the Jets, Miami, New England, Arizona, Carolina and the Giants — has a coach with an approval ranking of at least 64 percent (and that low mark belongs to the Patriots’ Bill Belichick, which is absurd. All other coaches are 75 percent or higher, thus making them all double Childress’ number).

So there we have it... I would think the only people who have "choked" more then us in the past 20 years are obviously the BILLS. Yet even they seem to be "over it." I know we had a terrible owner, some underachieving years with MOSS and PEP with no defense and 35 million free to spend which we didn't... though TICE took some blame, most people were smart enough to blame McCombs. I guess we never recovered from those seasons? I never liked DENNIS GREEN, i thought he always got out coached in the playoffs and never built a solid defensive unit after DUNGY left.

It will be interesting to see how this year finishes and if us winning the division translates into an extension for CHILLY. I just want some consistency and I feel like every year we get closer and closer to being an "elite" team and most of our studs are in their prime or young. (Besides BIRK and HUTCH) Each year we improved under CHILLY's boring but stern guidance.

So... interesting nugget that was. Just thought i'd share. Any thoughts why even though we are in first place, have some great skill players, are 8 - 3 in our last 11 games and may clinch the division as early as this weekend why there is still so much angst and disgust out there towards CHILLY? He will never be a colorful fan favorite like Herm Edwards , Chuckie, Cowher or Tomlin but he is doing a lot of positive stuff... all the while showing no insecurity or care towards the lack of fan support which, to me, is a sign of a quiet, confident leader.

Holmgren reluctantly congratulates CHILLY on his dominance in low approval ratings.

I guess your awful season just isn't good enough Holmgren!

Duante and fumbles and Lions, Oh my! (week 14)

Purple Jesus Saves (franchises)

Good Win.

Instead of doing a re-cap of the obvious... I'd like to say a couple things about the Childress Regime. Today he had that questionable decision to take a penalty making it 3rd and 25 instead of 4th and 10. Other then that, he coached (and the coordinators) a solid game plan. I liked the play calls, a few in particular that still stand out are the swing pass to AP for 15 in the 4th as well as the screen to Taylor on a key 3rd down. Not to mention T Jacks TD pass, where SHANKS faked a run block, got up and ran a route. It was a designed play action roll-out and it worked this week as opposed to last week when on the same play FREROTTE took a sack for a loss of ten. The wrinkle they put in it as well as T JACKS ability to buy a half second more time with his feet made it more effective I think.

T-Jack did a great job, he did what he was supposed to and made plays. I didn't see much of a change in the offense play calling when he was in though we did experience more success running. No logical reason explains that, i think it was just execution by the players.

Sharper led the team in tackles, he had 8. He also got his obligatory TORCHING by a deep route and gave up a TD. I will reiterate, i'd rather have a young guy with speed going on reactions then a "safety" who's lost his step anticipating a throw but not being able to break it up. (or at least stop the TD!) Not a good sign when your top tacklers are in the secondary but at the end of the day, we held them pretty good. We had 2 turnovers giving them a short field, could have had 6 and we didn't let them get into the end zone a couple times... we even had 2 fourth down stands.

Dumb people would blame their coach for the loss, for going for it on 4th down etc had it been our team, but i think it was the right thing to do. If PEP can't take his 280 lb body half a yard then they don't deserve a first down. I always see other coaches make more controversial decisions then ours has and no one says anything. I'm convinced that even if we went to the super bowl people would be asking us to fire Childress, and even though T Jack proved he has the ability when he plays within himself to be a good QB, people will say "he sucks" I honestly think these people lack the ability to admit when they're being irrational or biased and or proud to the point where they will never change their stubborn minds even when the football being played on the field contradicts it so clearly that a 5th grader would see it.

I was shocked at how much negativity i got today during the game. Sure, it wasn't pretty and it was too close for comfort, but what did people expect? A Blowout? why? what evidence is there to support that outcome? They almost beat us at our house, they're desperate for a win, and they have a few playmakers (who made plays i.e Calvin Johnson from PEP) so I wasn't shocked at all... i was relieved!

We did "what we were supposed to do" We did not let them back in it, we did not go 3 and out in the 4th and most importantly we over came our mistakes from the first half.

Shanks had a good game, and Jared Allen gets my game ball. It's hard NOT to take AP for granted the way he seemingly gets 100 at will every game but he sure needs some new gloves or something. (memo to santa)

Casual fans will look at the box score and judge us, call us lucky... say we don't have killer instinct etc but I see it differently. I think we showed poise and perseverance as we finally broke ahead and held on to the lead despite losing Allen for a few series and our starting QB.

I was expecting the LIONS to do a fake FG or PUNT here or there, or an onsides kick, but they didn't. I think it was an odd mind set, if you're gonna go for it on 4th down a couple times then why not do an onsides kick or fake fg? I bet Chilly would have. (haha)

I like our team, we can play with anyone and beat anyone when we bring our "A game". I do not know what is going to happen at the QB situation or with our Williams brothers but i will go on record here saying even if we lose them and T Jack starts we can still finish 10-6 etc and win the division.

There is not a team in the NFC that isn't afraid of us.

My props...

1. Longwell went 2 for 2 including a long one (important)
2. Our WRs all caught a couple first downs each!
3. T-Jack showed poise and didn't throw a pick
4. Jared Allen had 2 huge sacks
5. Duante PEP showed he still has shake. He did a Garcia-esque job against us today
6. Offensive line only allowed 2 sacks and gave AP/Taylor good holes
7. We had a record 5 offsides/encroachments! good job.

Childress points out to the haters that we are 8-5

Why our record IS impressive

Simply put - strength of schedule.

We lost to 3 clear play off / division leaders and two "solid" teams.

They have a combined 39 and 21 record.

None of the games were "blow outs" and in each loss we "lost the game" more then we got beat.. The Tamp Bay game was the soundest defeat, even though it was close score wise, then the Tennessee game. (where we had 4 turnovers)

I'd also like to point out the we BEAT the saints on the road, and Jacksonville.

Having said that... Sure I wish we had a prettier record right now but I am happy over all. Let's keep it going and beat Detroit to get to that aesthetically pleasing 8 and 5.

From there we can fantasize about 11-5 or 10-6

Which is pretty hot after starting out 1-3 !!

WILLIAMS BROTHERS SUSPENDED EFFECTIVE TODAY

The four-game suspensions for Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams have been upheld. NFL confirmed the Williams will be suspended without pay for four games. League spokesman Greg Aiello sent an e-mail saying,

“The players violated a long-standing provision of the policy relating to the use of diuretics and water pills, which serve as masking agents for steroids and are potentially dangerous to the health of players.” Also suspended were three New Orleans Saints players, Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith. Bryan Pittman of Houston was also suspended. If the Vikings qualify for the playoffs, the Williamses would be reinstated on Dec. 29.

IM NOT AS WORRIED AS MOST PEOPLE. PATS BACK UP IS A SIMILAR BIG MAN...

he isnt as agile etc but he is huge and can plug holes. it also means we will tweek our coverages and blitzes and stunts etc. there is a drop off obviously but it's not like we're putting two pee wee hermans in. i think it could be a blessing in disguise, imagine if/when we make the playoffs.. they come back well rested and eat people up!

ENJOY YOUR VACATION WILLIAMS BROS! AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE MADEU

Vikes - Bears (week 13)

Ah... another nice comfortable finish. It's a great feeling.

I won't expound too much on the obvious stuff today - just a few quick interesting factoids.

Then some fun trash talking and philosophy, all in the family of course- with my favorite chilly hater(s)(ss)(ssssss).

Oh hell, let's start with the fun stuff. But first, something to get their blood boiling.

lets do a pic of him "smiling" since we WON!

Now, as a reminder, I am not a huge blind , loyal supporter of Chilly, he is human, he makes mistakes.. but I am a loyal hater of all the rubes out there who hate on him ticky tack and blame him for everything.. who week after week carry this grudge to the point where now, even at 7-5 and in first place, they have the nerve to send me texts complaining about things even a 5th grader would disagree with. What am i talking about, who?

My boy Ol' Skirty. I'd like to preface to him "you started it."

He texted first. He said CHILLY made some bad play calls on our first possession inside our own 5 yard line. Here's my recap

• first down - hand off to AP to the right, he didn't hit the designed hole, tried to bounce it out, lost 2 yards. no worries... that's AP
  
• second down - (and 12 to go) Play action, dump off to AP in the middle, he dropped it. Would have been at least 5 if not more assuming he broke the next 3 tackles. it happens
• third down- draw play- gain of 5 yards, got us enough room for Klewe to punt. (SMART move me thinks)

So not but a few minutes later we are in the same situation.. now in fairness, i had just told my friend "what do you expect a 98 yard play or drive?" about the three and out we had. But i felt the players didnt execute the offense.. and "every coach in the league doesn't take chances when you're pinned on your own 2" i reiterated. I even told him not to hold his breath for a long pass play as we have had troubles throwing it deep and Frerotte's arm seems shaky.

Well, we all know what happened, we got Frerotte enough time to throw and he saw Berrian in single coverage and threw it to him.. sure, Tillman made a wrong move but even so, single coverage and we "took a shot." If they bat it down or fall over, not our problem, our problem is making the play call, the protection, the throw and the catch. and we did all that.

Naturally i texted him "there's your 98 yard play, beeotch" and he had the nerve to say "their DB messed up, NOT a good play call" and that's when i made a mental note to bring this to my tribune of 7 loyal Crom readers.. (you guys)

for real? wtf? huh?

AHEM!

On first-and-10 from the 1, Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte dropped back to pass and found Berrian way ahead of Tillman, who had dipped inside and left Berrian wide open. Frerotte hit him in stride as the duo combined to tie the longest offensive scoring play in NFL history.

The Bears sat stunned on the bench, with Tillman shaking his head in disgust.

Corey Graham, playing the other cornerback spot, described the play from his view.

"They pumped one way and came back to [Berrian] on the backside," he said. "Just a good scheme by them ... a good play. They knew that we cheat over. It's just a good call.

My take ---->the point is that we even had a WR running a fly route in the first place, instead of blocking a potential CB blitz.. the point is we took a little chance calling a pass in the first place.. and you know what? Just having Tillman out on that island with Berrian might have been all we needed.. one guy choked, the other made the play. and according to my friend Ol Skirty, it all starts with play calling. so why, in this case, where we have two of the exact same situations, does CHILLY not get credit if you're gonna blame him for the previous possession inside our 5? Doesn't this count as a "controlled experiment" in a 5th grade science class?? It got my bunsen burners bubbling!

(this is what trainers use to repair AP when he gets dinged up)

I am just putting this in print to see if he, at a later date, will rescind his illogical rants and show me he has any amount of objectivity left. He even went out of his way to quote a fellow patron at the Vikes Bar ( Bar None on 3rd and 12th NYC) as saying "the players outplayed CHILLYs coaching.." As if he was hindering them not setting them up for success. (along with the other coaches of course)

That really shows how dumb the avg. fan is, even my fellow viking fans. If you, like MY FRIEND OL SKIRTY, couldn't stop yourselves from spouting negative rants at the first sign of adversity, well.. you're a rube! You go on calling for Chillys firing.. I am gonna keep my level head clear and enjoy the ride. Shit happens.. tips, bad calls, no calls, make up calls, fumbles.. bad play calls, great play calls. You have to know when to give credit and when not to. The bears made some great plays today, we made more. I bet my friend Ol Skirty thought that screen we ran was a bad play call, even though we completed it and had 3 blockers and real estate EXCEPT Urlacher beat two of them and made a great play and kept it to no gain. THAT happens...

Im not one to say I told you so, i do't get any satisfaction out of it.. i just get saddened at people who carry grudges and negativity like the CHILLY haters. I could go on and on, hell, look at LOVIE smith's decisions today.. look at "MANGENIUS's" decisions today... look at the zen master Homlgren. (if you don't have a weak stomach) Pssh! stop playing fantasy football and learn that the NFL is more then points and yards.

With that said, boy didn't we score some points and make some yards!

Interesting factoids.

• 177 yards rushing. (168 after the first hit i think, don't quote me though)
• 34 to 26 time of possession
• jared allen - 3 sacks
• Chester Taylor - 3 spin moves.. he sure loves that circle button
• AP had three different blood types on his jersey. (none matched his) good job!
• darren duller, i mean, sharper, got an interception! wow. Yippy! Hooray, the drought is over! He made a play, sure it was thrown right to him but still.. he made a good read. HOWEVER I will be writing a "blow up his spot blog" tomorrow about how he messed up twice big time and is too old i feel. If the NFL had a designated hitter position maybe he could do it.. well, behind Winfield and Griffin of course but.. i digress. (bench him.. did you see everyone get all excited for him after the play like he just made his first interception of his career and not JUST the season)

That's it.

We won! first place.

WE HAVE TO BEAT DETROIT.. it's a huge game momentum wise and "gut check" wise.

Tune in for my anti-sharper blog soon... put that negativity towards a player who deserves it.. not a coach who drafted AP...

The current playoff teams Tampa Bay, Washington and Arizona all drafted before we took AP at 7th. Can you name who they took? If AP was such a "sure thing" then why didn't he go before 2 lineman, a receiver and a DB? We also drafted Greenway... got chester, hutch, jared allen, madeu williams, Berrian all on CHILLYs watch. Stop hating

ViKINGS - jAGUARS (WEEK 12)

vs

Big Picture

Good win, on the road, everyone contributed,(kinda) no major gaffs on defense or special teams... good stuff. I wonder how many JAGS fan are mad at Del Rio... or want Tice to take over haha. Good Riddance! Stats that stick out...

• Ryan Longwell made a 54 yarder and was 3 for 3
  
• Antoine Winfield had 372 tackles
• We were plus 4 on turnovers
• Frerotte rushed for a career high 3 yards on 5 carries! (i consider that 5 sacks btw)
• We outscored them 13 to 2 in the second half (we gave them the safety)
  

Little Picture

Here are a few positives and negatives. Then at the bottom, a philosophical question! or two!

Positives.

• Frerotte- He took his lumps, almost had a 3 knockdown TKO but when it counted, in the fourth, he did his job and got the Vikes 10 points to "finish the game" ( I say this knowing he had a bad INT and real poor decision to take that sack on the first and goal)
• Rushing Defense - Held Taylor, Gerrard AND Jones-Drew to 35 yards on 14 carries. ( I know they were pass happy but still)
• Passing Defense did well.. withstanding 45 passing plays and forcing 18 incompletions and 2 pics. Sure they got 300 yards but a lot of that was Jones-Drew's shifty ass. a lot of RAC.. "bend but don't break"
• Overall Defense forced 2 ints, 3 fumbles and had four sacks that led to viking points.
• Winfield - MVP, say no more. had 317 tackles (ok, he had 11.5) and forced that fumble
• Ryan Cook- We only heard his name called once, and that was to inform us he got replaced =p
• Reverses to berrian - good way to get him the ball since the other team isn't allowed to cover him before we snap it (since he cant get open after the snap)
• Taylor played great. He gets my game ball

NEGATIVES

• Clearly our receivers have a hard time beating man to man coverages. This is the third week in a row when they got silent, leading to many hurries, knock downs and coverage sacks. Forcing lame "dump offs" to the FB. (lame!)
• Pass Rush - though we got 4 sacks "officially" we didn't have enough pressure. It seems that are 4 down lineman are just clunky. very talented but we dont have any speed on the edges and no one that can "track down" an even remotely mobile quarter back. Just like Garcia last week, Gerrard was able to buy a LOT of time with his feet. At least we didn't have any late hits this week... if we didn't get the lead cushion we had, they would have ran more, play acted more, and made our line look even more one dimensional
• Inconsistency from Frerotte is nerve racking.. Wade had his customary drop... Sharper was quiet again.

Despite his great swim move, ALLEN couldn't catch up to the elusive tackling sled

QUESTIONS FOR VIKING FANS!
(I think #1's a no brainer)

1. On a first and goal from the 2, we ran a play action roll out - option. It was defended great, both receivers were covered and Frerotte had no running angle.. he held the ball trying to make a play and got sacked for a loss of 8. Was this a BAD PLAY CALL by Chilly or a DUMB DECISION by Frerotte??
2. What's your guess as to why AP was out the first two series?

My answer to 2 is either discipline for something yet un-benounced to us, being late to team bus, over sleeping etc or maybe because he had a bad cold.

WE GOT BEAT FAIR AND SQUARE (TAMPA BAY - WEEK 11)

VRS

Well, I 've already got the texts coming in...
"bad play calling"
"awful coaching"

I blame sharper! read why at the bottom!

But first...

No one in vikings land can accept a defeat. We got beat fair and square. Sure you can say AP got interfered with on that one throw by brooks.. but that's really all you can complain about.

Our guys did NOT step up today, no one did.

We had two "chances" to try to march down the field and go up one with a TD but we didn't. (if you can call having to get a long TD drive against a great defense a chance) The best play our sorry bunch of receivers made today was to not let them intercept passes. (nice play wade- good penalty) But Bobby Wade did a real dumbass move by not getting the first down and instead losing a couple yards to get out of bounds on one of those drives. (when we had over three minutes left) That set up the next 3 futile plays. this is where everyone is mad about the coaching... shoulda ran, shoulda passed yada yada bleh snore. never mind how good tampa bay is or that our guys can't get themselves open. it's becoming an alarming trend. so we turn the ball over on downs. thanks wade.

Our defense stepped up, they missed a FG, second chance with over a minute from our 36. Taylor fumbles. game over.

I would like to write today how AWFUL our receivers must be. Look at last week against the Packers.. they didnt do ANYTHING last week, except RICEs 2 yard cath. yippy. then look at this week. How many coverage sacks and pressures did tampa bay get? at least 4 sacks were due to receivers not getting open! Blitz, no blitz, it didn't matter. Our line played like crap.

I have already been called a homer today, for shooting down people's gay arguments that we lost cuz of the coaching. it's just a joke to me. this is not madden football. you can't EXPECT a team to march down the field against tampa bay, especially with a very avg offense consisting of an old QB with an arm that gets weaker and weaker and a bunch of useless receivers. we have one weapon right now, AP.

But he isn't superman.


OUR LONE BRIGHT SPOT TODAY... AP!

I liked that they put him in to return the kick though, nice move.

Those fumbles in the second half killed us, but i give our defense a lot of props to hold them like they did. we just didnt have it today, we ran out of luck, and tampa bay clearly deserved this win.

I hope Berrian and wade, rice, shiancoe even are in the locker room asking questions of themselves the last couple weeks. In this league, were all the rules favor the route runner there is no excuse. and we saw quite a few 2 and 3 receiver sets so im really disappointed with them..

and again, the O line was avg today.

It's real frustrating to see players not make plays.

OH, WHY I BLAME SHARPER..!

I think sharper is done. he hasn't made one play all year.. he is losing it for sure. That 3rd and 25 they converted on us?? pathetic! Their TE was the only receiver with in 25 yards of sharper so he has no excuse to come over and help out leber late. he should have picked that off or at least blasted their tight end. he arrived late. what the hell was he expecting? what was he doing? besides being useless. is he EVER gonna make a play? Who cares how many interceptions he has had in the last 10 years! can he get one this year?

You make that play an incompletion and they have a long fg attempt! And we have the lead for the rest of the game

I blame him more then anyone for this game.

Bleh. aaaarrrgh.

I hate accepting that we're just an avg football team but we are just that.

5 and 5.

Definitely not one of the elite teams.. man, imagine if WE had GARCIA. pssh. we'd be great.

He played awesome today, hats off to him! Good game plan and good win for tampa bay, they deserved it.

I think the people who bitch and moan about the "play calling" are the real homers, the ones that never seem to hold the players accountable, like if we had a different coach we'd "fer sure" be undefeated. When you ask them for specifics they rarely can make one good point, it's like trying to disprove jesus to a jesus freak. you can't argue with people speaking in hypotheticals.

So you people complain all you want and think that we should be doing better, that we deserve a better record.

We dont. We are where we should be.. it's a log jam in the nfc north. Im not complaining.. lets improve and maybe give t jack a chance.. frerotte is becoming more and more marginalized

Vikes - Packers

SAYS IT ALL!


I didn't really write a blog about that game. We all saw it.. a few great plays by our guys. AP willing us to victory after he ate humble pie bitching childress out for not going for it them fumbling when they did..

Taylors run was hot, after the catch..

And then they missed the FG. wide right.

It's not luck, it's football. We got a great, important rival win. I was too exhausted to talk about it for a few days.. I also noticed all the vikes groups were pretty quiet. I am sure they will be alive and well after the next game if we lose

Props to jared allen playing too! and the two safeties haha.. awesome

VIKES -TEXANS

Pretty straight forward game. Solid.. Not the best ending but solid.
We "made plays" when we needed to. The Texans offensive unti is no slouch.

Things I liked.

we only had 3 penalties.
we only had one turnover (an unlucky one at that)
we ran the ball well
we "took shots"
BERRIAN contributed again, Shiancoe did, and RICE got a nice TD

OH! WELCOME TO THE VIKES MR MADEU WILLIAMS!

you get my game ball. great INT and great HIT.

It's funny how there isn't much to talk about after a solid win. I think our team "finally" played up to expectations. Everyone did their jobs, the players, coordinators, the special teams.. the REFS =p

Literally.. AP did his thing, BERRIAN had two big catches, JARED ALLEN got sacks. they did on the field what they do "on paper"

Not a lot out their in chat rooms either... very little strings at all. So let's just keep it going. I think all the VIKES FANs are holding their breath.. "wait and see" what happens with GB at home.

LETS JUST WIN IT! How about some motivational pics for the rivalry?

Empircal evidence? that CHILLY is NOT to blame?

I did some stat sifting over breakfast after reading rubes online at the Star Trib whinge about play calling. Here are my findings and retort to said Rubes.

"It sure is easy to sit and talk smack in hypotheticals.. as if the plays you run in madden would work in real life.. it's so easy to move the ball and score in the nfl right?

If you go game by game 90 percent of our drives stall due to turnovers or penalties or drops. NOT PLAYCALLING..

All defenses have an advantage in the red zone, there is less space to cover, it doesn't mean we're predictable if we have to settle for a field goal every now and then...

even with all the griping and moaning we still have a top ten offense and we've played A LOT better defenses then a lot of the teams that avg 10 or 15 yrds more yards a game then we do.

It just makes me laugh. Chilly has done option plays, fake field goals.. gone on fourth downs at mid field as much as any other guy.

And for "plays longer then 20 yards" we are THIRD in the NFL and it's not cuz of AP.

so get your facts straight. you can laud the dolphins and their progressive offense all you want meanwhile they're like 25th in scoring.

here are some odd stats.

the vikes are 5th in penalties, and 26th in plus minus (turnovers)

i think those stats back up what I am saying pretty good.. better then you're arguments with hypotheticals"

Now
I know people will say that the coach is responsible for penalties but I think that's another lame cop out, that he has to instill professionalism etc. You can only do so much... some people are stupid or slow or just suck (ryan cook tends too)

Now let's right the ship, reduce drops, penalties and turnovers and get back to winning

Chilly's Press Conference (post bears - pre bye)

(From Mike Wobshcall @ VIkings.com)

As for today’s press conference, which comes on the heels of a 48-41 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, here are a few of the notable highlights:

 

-- The Vikings came out of the game okay injury-wise, Childress said. But he did mention that several players will be in this week during their time off to treat injuries. When pressed about any significant injuries, Childress said there were none that he would note.

 

-- At 3-4 after Sunday’s loss to the Bears, there is a disappointed and bitter fan base in Minnesota. The Vikings acquired a number of high-profile players in recent offseasons and they entered 2008 with the reigning rookie of the year, but that hasn’t yet translated to sustained on-field success. And Childress made it clear that no one inside of Winter Park is happy with the current standing of the football team, either. “There’s nobody in this building that is happy with the standard right now that we’re playing at. I think the good thing is it’s recognized by the members of this football team. And they want to be better, they want to improve, they’re all pulling for each other; so I will continue to look for that improvement.”

 

-- Childress also verbalized a list of areas where the team will look to improve. The list consisted of the following areas: turning the football over; taking it away (from other teams); offensive, defensive, special teams penalties; and explosive plays, getting them on offense and denying them on defense.

 

-- A bye week typically means time off for players and coaches. It’s a time for the team to heal from injuries, recharge the battery and refresh the mind. This year the Vikings bye comes in Week 7, significantly later than Childress’ byes in his first two years. This is advantageous because it gets the team through a large portion of the schedule before a break, leaving nine games left instead of 11 or 12 (as in previous years).

 

As for the bye and what he’d like the players to do with their time off, here’s what Childress had to say: “If we’re going to take this time off, they have to use it appropriately. For some of them it’s down time, not being on a schedule, letting their bodies heal a little bit. I mentioned to the guys who were there yesterday, a Week 7 bye is a little bit longer into the season here, so they are beat a little more than a three week bye or four week bye. So they understand for the long haul here, for the nine games that comprise the rest of the season, they’re going to have to be fresh, they’re going to have to be fresh mentally. Some of it is to step away and not even think about football; there’s nothing wrong with that.”

 

-- Childress was asked about safety Madieu Williams, one of the high-profile free agents the team signed this past offseason. Williams was injured his neck at some point before the season and has not seen any game action as a result. Here’s what Childress had to say about Williams: “Based on how he’s moving, I’d say he’s got a chance to contribute some here as he comes out of the bye. It’s all been a process with him; with healing, and getting the cardio back to where it needs to be and back to the football-type of movements and then last week introducing some of the collision-type stuff that has to go on that you have to be comfortable with. You don’t want to do full-speed contact work for the first time in an NFL football game…he’s relatively close; he needs to have a good bye week.”

 

-- A reporter asked Childress to characterize the communication patter than exists between himself and ownership on a weekly basis. Childress said that he typically speaks with either Zygi of Mark Wilf “a couple times a week,” depending upon their individual schedules. “There’s pretty good open dialogue about where we’re at as a team; what injuries we think we’re dealing with; what personnel,” Childress said. “Last week obviously there was pretty good dialogue about where we were at the inside linebacker position and what were some of the things we were going to do at that position to fill the void; what moves we were going to make at the end of the week with some people to fill up that 45 (-man roster); who was going to be up and who was going to be down. We talk about all those things. Obviously as owners, they have the right to know and it’s important that you explain the rationale.”

 

That’s it for now, but be sure to check back to the vikings.com and the Vikings Blog continuously this week for more updates and information about the Vikings and the bye week.

Here's why i don't hate CHILLY

Chilly counts the fans he has left (not including his family)

I listen to all the press conferences.. read all the blurbs.  He never makes excuses, he holds himself accountable.. as you are supposed to.  He has never said we were a great team, he has never said we'd make the playoffs, he never  promised us a super bowl.

He always tells the truth and he doesn't sugar coat. 

Meanwhile fans with their naive expectations sit and trash him.. now let's look at Denny Green - THERE was a guy who'd make excuses, who had too much pride, who was stubborn. There was a guy who refused to be accountable.. now THAT was annoying.

Bud Grant was over rated.  Les Steckle sucked.  Mike Tice was a inside joke by McCombs.. but he did OK considering he had the lowest paid team in history.. My favorite was Jerry Burns, anyone know where I can find his rant defending Bob Schnelker and his "give up play"

So are people just mad at CHILLY because of our record- they thought we'd be 6 and 1 right now? We'd have the best defense in the league and a really good offense?  Stats don't mean anything, neither do rosters on paper.  Injuries, luck, penalties, turnovers, drops all affect the Ws.  Look at dallas right now.  New England.  Ouch

We got a solid team making the transition into a real good team.  I am content.  If  the rubes would actually listen to the press conferences and read the quotes they'd realize chilly is smart, candid, and even at times, funny.

Sure he's "un-proven" but that doesn't mean anything.  Our team doesn't quit and they don't moan about CHILLY so neither do I

Sure he's a funny looking guy.. an odd duck but he's not inept like people make him out to be.

this kid should hold a chart over HIS face

I am actually more happy then sad about yesterdays VIKES - BEARS game

I woke up today real pleased. I don't know why. Am I the only vikes fan who feels this way? Im happier with our loss then I would have been if we won a similarly ugly 10 to 7 "battle" and i think this is why.  

Now don't get me wrong, I know every game counts and by the end of the season this "could come back to haunt us" I'd also like to preface that I hate to lose and I spend most close viking games to nervous to eat towards the end and tend to have my whole day ruined if we lose... but having said that. After clearing my head with a hot date and some video games and movies and waking up to go to work and reading the box score on the way to work I was like. WOW. We lit those guys up. 

WE were a Juggernaut yesterday. Over 400 yards and moving the ball at will at times. 28 first downs? against a pretty damn good defense (even with their sub D-Backs) I thought "so all we need to do is not fumble the ball in our end zone, on our 5 yard line and not give a INT return to our 6 yard line and not have 8 penalties for 85 yards and we can win some games?" Really- that's all we have to do.

Because yesterday we FINALLY saw AP break one... We saw BERRIAN make some really nice grabs.. WE saw SHANKOE make his money.. Bobby wade do his thing (drops aside) and we saw some draw plays work, some 3 receiver sets.. a nice screen. We played from behind against defense designed to limit our passing and still passed. We saw defenses designed to stop our run and still ran. We saw JARED ALLEN get two sacks and make some nice plays. Hell, even Napolean harris had 5 tackles. In other words.. we saw most of the people do what they're supposed to do (except our safeties.. is SHARPER over the hill?) and were betrayed by "role players"and our normally smart consistent QB.

Everyone is entitled to one or two bad games (Except T JACK) so I can live with this.. SO LONG AS WE DON'T DO THIS KIND OF SHIT ON A SYSTEMIC BASIS EVER AGAIN. let's hope we got all the bobbled snaps, dumb holds, stupid personal fouls, fumbles, and interceptions "for no good reason" out of the way!!

MY DARRIN NELSON "BUFFALO 66 STORY"

I have a funny "Buffalo 66" like story about Darrin Nelson.  I think I carried a grudge against him for like 10 years after that one ill fated game at RFK.. one day I was at the Loring Bar, drunk.. and I walked into the main area on a Thursday.. back then it was French night,  all the European people would go there.  It was nice to talk to euro girls.. anyways it's always full.  Nowhere ever to sit SO there I am with some friend (i cant remember who) and I look over and who do I see? A nice black fella smiling at me.  I was like "Wow, you never see that in this bar on french night.." 

I got a little closer and noticed he was with 2 hot girls.. then I realized it was Darrin Nelson. I, in my drunk state.. saw red.

I was gonna go up to him and say something, idk what.. but I wanted to get it off my chest. So as I got right up to the table he stood up, all 5'6 of him.. and he flashed that cheesy huge grin and said in his Emmanuel Lewis voice "Hey, you want our table, we're just leaving?" Being a true blue Minnesotan I had to be taken aback at his politeness and sincere gesture- all my rage just melted away like snow in May. 

I was sort of stunned and thought to myself, "damn, that dude couldn't haul in one touchdown for us that ill fated day but he's getting two for himself tonight. psssh." So off he goes but as he was about to exit the main room I noticed his hat on the floor and I was like "Yo, D, your hat" and I flinged it to him.. it hit him right in the chest and he bobbled it onto the floor. hahaha. SMH

Relive the agony

I rank that loss as our worst, followed by 98 followed by the loss to Arizona to get knocked out of the playoffs 5 years ago or whenever that was... I saw the '78 Dallas game finally (I saw it when I was five but didn't remember anything) and I don't feel it was so bad.

My take away from this game (if the bears don't mind sharing)

The bears aren't who we thought they were... and we put ourselves on the hook!

what a weird arena football game we had today

I am gonna go on the record and say that the special teams gaffs, literally giving them 14 points in like 4 seconds.. are NOT the main reason we lost (though it did help get us away from our game plan) And I don't blame the coaches at all, anyone who does is just a dumb ass.

We saw two very un-characteristic things happen today.

1. Our defense got used and abused and rarely stopped the bears. We did get a couple timely sacks and the one fumble hit... but we had no pressure most of the game and only forced one or two punts the whole game before they just tried to run the clock out on us and punted once more. Why don't our blitzes ever work??!? Maybe we should try something new? or just never blitz. Are our players that slow?

this hurts.



2. Frerotte's first two interceptions were both to our "studs" in one on one coverage against their inexperienced corners (who had 4 picks) you can't fault him for his read, but his passes were errant and more to the defenders then our receivers.

This just goes to show you how dumb the pre-game analysts are, they assume with Tillman out that whoever replaces him will make mistakes, and they assume that the game was gonna be 10 to 13 and be a defensive battle. they don't know anything.. they all predicted the Dallas rams game to be a blow out. well they were right - except Dallas got blown out

The saddest thing to me about this loss is that we did a real good job of running the ball and WE stopped them from running the ball.. yet because of the 14 gifted points and some key big plays our D gave up, we had to play catch up.. yet even then we had success but you can't expect our offense to score 48 points.. as it stands, they scored 41! before the game i would have taken that and assumed a win by two touchdowns.

What we learned from this game..

AP is actually as awesome as he is supposed to be and rarely disappoints me. He's such a blessing to our team... his TDs were both awesome and he turns 2 yard losses into 3 yard gains regularly...can we PLEASE block better?



Matt Forte isn't that impressive.. he just benefits from a great offensive line and solid passing attack that benefits him. You could put any number of RBs in at his position and i reckon they'd have similar numbers.

Kyle Orton is a baller. period.

Our blitz sucks and I am starting to question Leslie Frazier's schemes and over all ability

I think over all we had a good offensive game plan and that we adjusted to the situations pretty well.. I think the coaching staff did ok for the most part.. I know some people will criticize that one possession in the red zone were we ran three times and settled for a field goal, but we did the exact same thing a few times on our last TD drive and it left us with a lot of third and shorts instead of third and longs... i know you all liked going for it on 4th the first drive and AP's 2nd and third effort to get that TD and prolly hated the roll out on fourth and shot in the third quarter.. i think it was a good call but they had it covered and i think AP shouldn't have been the receiver, since he's keyed on, would have been better to have the FB the receiver. I also think Frerotte shoulda tried to run for it.. really sucks we cant have T JACK step up a little more.. we could have had him run for a couple of third down conversions easily this game. oh well.

Frerotte had 4 ints, they were all his fault. sucks.

Our defense gave up 34 points. sucks. 34. to Kyle Orton. might have been more with out Marty Booker's drops.

Same old story, we find a way to make it hard on ourselves.. we do shit you never see.. i don't blame Gordon for trying to block the gunner, you're taught to let the ball bounce inside the 10 and he was blocking.. it bounced super weird and high and hit his hand.. and the Punter's drop, how dumb was that. wth?!?! you just cant prepare for that crap.

we fought back hard and stayed in it though, i give them credit.

so we're 3 and 4 going into the bye.. we need to come out and get a solid performance with no gaffs and a win against the Texans..

nothing to fear, we're still in it.... let's hope our "NEW " LBs can get into the system now with this bye and hope they can contribute throughout the season.. they did well considering though Chicago's TE ran rough shot

America's Game - The Missing Rings - 1998 Vikings

I am glad I watched the show. Though it was hard knowing what it was all leading to, I enjoyed listening to John Randle talk his talk, Cris Carter too.. I can't say I enjoyed Dennis Green's takes. He always sounded like a bullshitter to me - and I resent that he never made any efforts to improve our defense after our 15-1 season.

The fun thing about watching highlights of the game for me was the stuff we forget. Sure we all remember "taking a knee" at half and who could forget Gary Anderson's only miss of the whole year, "wide left." But some things I forgot that I'd like to mention. Randy Moss' dropped TD in the second half.. and our defenders drop of a certain INT in the end zone on the Falcon's game tying drive.. if he would have held on to that, we win.

So it brought me back to the now, and the coaching vs who's making plays discussions and who is ultimately accountable. I think the vikings as a team collectively lost that game. Robert smith did his thing.. Cunningham. there were a couple turnovers on each side of the ball... People forget that the Falcons were 14 - 2 that year. They were a very good team but I always felt they were worse then their record and that Chanlder was over rated, Jamal Anderson even.

If only we could have had players brought in during the following years like Atlanta had, the Ray Buchanans, or Aneas Williams from the cardinals types but Denny Green didn't bring in one blue chip defender after that, nor draft one. IT isn't forgivable and it is why we squandered that offense that we had for a few great years.

We won a lot of games that year 40 to 30, 34 to 28 etc... We ended up losing to the rams twice i think in the coming years, each game in the 40's... And who could forget losing to the NY Giants 41 to 0.

Awful.

If you want to go down memory lane.. go here.

article about the game

I miss John Randle.. and Moss obviously. I am so grateful we have AP. Let's hope we can turn him into a total threat like Reggie Bush or Brian Westbrook.

I wonder if we are gonna change up our blocking schemes.. my favorite plays involve going outside left or right with a pulling guard or two...

enjoy the game tomorrow!

Let's go back in time, and let's say we fired Chilly

and lets say WE hired wisenhunt, or jim zorn or mike smith for christs sake.. all of you would have been bitching - all no names or former players or people with ZERO head coaching experience. you’d rip the franchise for not hiring someone with a REP a blue chip coach.

they’re all doing really well.

lets take some of the coaches i like a lot.. herm edwards, holmgren. 

their teams suck

lets take shanahan two years ago, im sure lots of fans wanted a "new direction"
last year denver sucked.


this year? theyre playing good football, maybe getting lucky, but his "fan approval" is high

i loved mike tomlin, wanted to hire him... im happy for his success. OF COURSE HE DID INHERIT AN AWESOME TEAM.

obviously winning means the most, it shuts up a lot of rubes, but I feel strongly that coaches get too much blame AND too much credit. (see deny green "too much credit" who’s players got to the playoffs despite him not because of him, green got out-coached in the playoffs every year. 41 - 0?)

I do not sit around and endorse Brad Childress - but i do indict all those rubes out there who sit around and blame him for the losses AND "ugly wins"

its just like politics - "you guys" will see it how you want, like a McCain supporter vs an Obama one, like people polarized over the OJ verdict, whatever the bias is, it’s really really hard to shake of.. everyone has short memories

no one cites AP’s two fumbles or ryan cooks drive stopping penalty on the 1 yard line, the blame the coach like he’s "all responsible"

and part of that is due to the stupid cheesy cliche press conferences where the culture of the coach being the one "accountable" for anything that happens to "his team" goes through but i find it all a little too bullshitty.

how come coaches can removes themselves from a players behavior off the field in one second, blame the player and have no accountability (more then maybe taking a "chance" signing a "troubled player") yet on the field, if someone fumbles or throws a pick-6, after the game you always hear the coach mumbling some bullshit, instead of just CALLING THE PLAYERS OUT.

it’s a team sure there is order and a pecking order. the coach and coordinators call the shots and ON GOOD TEAMS, the QB can do lots of audibles.. but i think the coaches should have a license to tell the truth and call people out in public.

if AP knows he almost chocked the game away, as witnessed by him praying and crossing his heart "our father" at the end of the game, if the television crew knew AP almost chocked away the game, as proven by them having a camera ISOLATED on AP to get his reaction when the FG went through, why cant all you dumb ass haters understand that too? that the oweness was on him MORE then any other player?

sure, "we win as a team, and we lose as a team" and that’s true BUT it’s just naive to hold EVERYONE accountable or JUST ONE PERSON accountable which is what happens when rubes and haters say the vikings lost and it’s all CHILLYs fault.

it’s just b.s.

either you have an IQ and you can replay the game in your head and see what turnovers and penalties and defensive breakdowns cost us the game (or referee calls=) or you can’t.

so you can waste your time hating on childress all you want, wont change anything. he has demonstrated a learning curve and is getting more and more solid and his "questionable" calls have had no impact on our wins and losses whatsoever this year so its moot.

it’s pointless to talk about playcalling mainly because we dont know who calls what and when nor do we know what the defense is calling.. it’s like trying to prove or disprove jesus, all speculation.

it’s an argument i now I CANT WIN because even though we got over 400 yards last week people still bitched and moaned about the "play calling"

anyways, lets hope the vikes can get the run going against a tough chi defense, i like our guys, we have more big play capability then they do, they’re missing booker and matt forte! =p as well as tillman and their safety. all they have is hester. i hope the bears are who i thought they are. 

A few words about the "experts"

Yesterday's VIKES game, and as another example, the INDY - RAVENS game, are perfect reasons why you as a fan, or a fantasy football player, shouldn’t look at STATS or RECORDS and try to hypothesize.

(or the REDSKINS -ST LOUIS GAME!)

I get so tired of people who said "we were gonna blow the lions out", or who said the ravens DEFENSE would shut down INDY’s passing attack because the ravens are number 1 against the pass etc. or who were dumb enough to bet the spread in the redskins game.

why we were expected to win today...

We’re at home, we have a great rushing offense, the lions have the worst defense etc.


why we might lose...

we just came off a big win and might let down.
we had a "short week" yada yada blah bore snore

it’s allll bullshit

The lions defense played stellar today, they OWNED our offensive line.


PURPLE JESUS almost choked the game away for us, he gave back a potential 14 points by fumbling twice in scoring position, no one EXPECTED that.


DETROIT blocked a field goal, no one EXPECTED that.


DETROIT sacked us 5 times in the first half, no one expected that.


THE REFS GAVE us two really bad calls, the fumble that wasn’t a fumble, and more importantly, they bailed us out at the end with a phantom pass interference call. i couldn’t believe it.
and NO ONE expected that, right??


what’s my point here? why am i ranting?

BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T HAVE THESE DUMB EXPECTATIONS BASED ON USELESS STATS THEN YOU WON’T BE SO UPSET THAT WE WON A GAME IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.


i have not even read the other VIKINGS strings, no reason to, I'm sure it will be a lot of negativity, and that’s fine, we played like shit. but i don't want to hear about bad play calling, i don't even want to read it, or "why didn't chilly go for two instead of one to tie it 10 to 10.." i have no clue. i don't care.


I know we had over 300 yards passing and AP had over a 100 rushing and yet only one touchdown.. why?

AP fumbled twice at the tail end of scoring drives, Ryan Cook got called for holding when TAYLOR ran us to the 1 yard line. that’s 21 points.


I think watching pre game shows is a joke, i don't even bother, they’re wrong more then half the time about everything.. absolutely everything.


I feel sorry for people who didnt start peyton manning today because he was playing the "number one defense against the pass" today

and props to you guys who started berrian

save yourselves the headache of trying to figure out who is gonna win and lose, that’s why they play the games..

I am glad we won, great win.
it’s a W

Our defense made stops in the fourth quarter, like 3 three and outs in a row i think.