Archive for December, 2009

When the Pro Bowl rosters were finished being revealed Tuesday night, a league-high eight Vikings had learned they were invited to participate in the Miami festivities, which are scheduled this year to be held the week between the conference title games and the Super Bowl. Among the selectees were such stars as Brett Favre, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Adrian Peterson and Steve Hutchinson, all guys who’ve made it multiple times.  Then there was first-time selection Heath Farwell, chosen as the NFC’s special teams player, and first-timer Sidney Rice, chosen for a break-out 1,000+ yard season at receiver. And then there [...]

Another loss, but I think we learned something really important from this one… 1.  The disparity between the Vikings‘ offensive performance in the first half vs. the second half was stark and, I think, incredibly revealing.  Here’s the best way I can sum it up:  In the first half when we ran our little bunched-up running plays trying to establish our physical presence and all the rest of that Chilly stuff, we looked inept, and ended up falling behind 16-0.  In the second half when Chilly realized he was about to lose again and had no choice but to open [...]

Call it the comeback that wasn’t. After the Vikings fell behind 16-0 at the half, the offense came to life in the second half, thanks mostly to Brett Favre, who led the team on five scoring drives, tying the Bears at 23-23, then again at 30-30. The big problem was the Vikings’ kick coverage.  Two huge Bears returns set up a pair of answering touchdowns, keeping them from dropping out of the game. It was 30-23 Bears when the Vikings got the ball for one final possession.  Favre drove the ball down the field and into touchdown range, and was [...]

Three things needed to change for the Vikings to turn their late season fortunes around against the Bears: 1.  Better tackling. 2.  Better run blocking. 3.  More offensive rhythm overall. Fail, fail and fail. The first half vs. the Bears looked a lot like the second half against the Panthers.  The running game couldn’t get going for the Vikes.  The defense gave up too many big plays.  Brett Favre got pressured.  Basically, everything went wrong. Meanwhile, the Bears overcame their own ineptitude and racked up 16 points.  They finally found the formula for winning with Jay Cutler: Play a team [...]

The Viking Age moved to a better server today. This was a very long and tedious process, but the good news is that TVA is going to be running faster as well as some other benefits. Here are somethings you will need to do: Your comments were moved, but You will need to create a new username and password Your username should be available You can now comment by just signing in with your Twitter account too (Facebook coming soon) Thanks for everyone working with us on this one. I know it might be a little bit of a pain, [...]

Tonight’s game against the Bears is the first for the Vikings since the apparent season-long unpleasantness between Brad Childress and Brett Favre became a matter of national discussion.  So it seems appropriate that the game should be showcased nationally, on Monday Night Football. A lot of people will be tuning in to tonight’s game hoping to see some sideline drama between Chilly and Brett, but I hope they’re not holding their breaths.  Coach and quarterback will both be extra-careful now in making sure any issues that crop up between them are worked out discreetly away from the cameras. Now that [...]

The Vikings aren’t the only team giving their fans reason to worry going into the playoffs. After looking practically unstoppable for the first 13 games of the season, the New Orleans Saints this afternoon dropped their second in a row, losing 20-17 to the allegedly hapless Buccaneers in overtime.  This a week after falling to the Cowboys for their first loss of the season. And, perhaps most disturbingly from the Saints’ point-of-view, both losses happened at home. For the Vikings, a Saints loss means one important thing:  the #1 seed in the NFC is still in play. Obviously, the Vikings [...]

For the Packers to clinch a playoff berth today, two things had to happen:  a Green Bay win over Seattle in Lambeau Field and a Giants loss at home against the Carolina Panthers. As things turned out, there would be little suspense in either game.  The Panthers jumped all over the Giants early, behind noted Viking-killer Matt Moore, and ended up stunning New York 41-9 in their final game at Giants’ Stadium.  The Packers, meanwhile, had little trouble with Seattle, going up 24-3 at the half on their way to a 48-10 dismantling of the Seahawks. Clearly, there was no [...]

A few things became obvious to me as I pored over rosters and stat sheets trying to devise my All-Decade team for the Vikings: 1.  I was not going to find a worthy second wide receiver to put behind good old Straight-Cash Randy. 2.  We have really sucked at right tackle for a long time. 3.  The defensive players we’ve fielded over the past few years are vastly better than most of the crud we ran out there during the Dennis Green/Mike Tice era.  Greg Biekert anyone?  Sam Cowart?  Darrion Scott? 4.  I miss Raonall Smith.  Just because of his [...]

In his press conference yesterday, Brad Childress attempted to downplay the dust-up between him and Brett Favre, chalking it up to the usual stuff that goes on between players and coaches, and rejecting the notion that their much-publicized sideline confrontation was in fact “heated.” Unfortunately for Chilly, the truth of things appears slightly different than the version he would have us believe. The truth of things, according to Sean Jensen (via PFT), is that Chilly was more than a little miffed by what went on with Favre during and especially after Sunday night’s debacle.  He was, in fact, incensed. So [...]