Archive for January, 2010

The Vikings‘ domination of the NFC Pro Bowl roster has gone from impressive to downright embarrassing. Eight seemed like enough, until Percy Harvin was added as the kick returner.  Nine then seemed plenty…until today’s announcement that Antoine Winfield has been elevated from alternate to reserve, a move necessitated by the injury to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the Cardinals‘ playoff loss to the Saints. For those scoring at home, that gives the Vikings 10 Pro Bowlers. Winfield gets the nod despite missing six games with a bad foot, and not exactly playing up to his usual high level after he returned. Given [...]

So much for the hot team theory.  The Vikings messed up the Cowboys and will face the Saints in the NFC Title Game.  Let’s look back before looking forward… 1.  Everyone was saying this game would be all about the pass rush, and everyone was right.  The final tallies:  Cowboys, 7 QB hits, 3 sacks; Vikings, 10 QB hits, 6 sacks.  But it wasn’t just the number of times the Vikings hit Tony Romo, it was when they hit him, and what happened after they hit him.  In the first half, hits on Romo resulted in two lost fumbles, and [...]

It’s everywhere, even the Vikings locker room after a huge win over the Cowboys.

The Vikings are back in the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 41-doughnut. The primary credit for the Purple’s massive 34-3 win over the Cowboys in today’s divisional round playoff game goes to the defensive line, which completely dominated the Cowboys’ offensive line.  Ray Edwards whipped up on Dallas in the first half, sacking Tony Romo three times, and even in the second half after Edwards left with injury, the Vikings kept the pressure on, forcing Romo to throw a key interception, contributing to his total of 3 turnovers on the game. Offensively, the Vikings were unable to [...]

Vikings got a ton of heat on Tony Romo in the first half. Rope that calf Jared!

Much of the talk during the week was about the Vikings‘ defensive line and how they’d have to step it up and get pressure on Tony Romo. In the first half vs. the Cowboys, the Vikes’ front four did more than just get pressure on Romo:  they pounded him, hounded him and otherwise knocked him off his game.  Romo ended up fumbling three times in the half, helping the Vikes to a commanding 17-3 halftime lead. If game balls were handed out at halftime, Ray Edwards would get it for the Vikings for his relentless assault on the right side [...]

The Vikings take a 7-0 lead on a gorgeous touchdown pass from Brett Favre to Sidney Rice.

Today is what the Vikings signed Brett Favre for.  Today is why they endured all the media scrutiny and ancillary silliness.  Today will decide if all the tension and strife were worth it. Today, the Vikings will play their second playoff game of the Brad Childress era.  The difference between this playoff game and the last is, this time, they have a quarterback who gives them a chance to win. Today, the Vikings franchise can take a major step toward finally capturing that elusive first championship.  It seems appropriate that their opponent for this day of destiny should be the [...]

Earlier on Saturday, the Associated Press announced that it has awarded its coach-of-the-year honor to Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals. The 50 sportswriters polled for the award gave 20 1/2 votes to Lewis, more than Sean Payton (11 1/2), Norv Turner (9), Jim Caldwell (7) and Andy Reid and Ken Whisenhunt (1 each). Conspicuously absent from the tally of other coaches receiving votes was the Minnesota Vikings‘ Brad Childress, who despite leading the team to a 12-4 record and a #2 seed in the NFC, was shut out. Perhaps appropriately, Childress received exactly the same number of coach-of-the-year votes [...]

Generally speaking, a team would prefer to have all the spots in its line-up locked down going into a gigantic playoff game.  Unfortunately, such is not the case for the Vikings a day ahead of their showdown with the red-hot Dallas Cowboys. Two positions at least are major question marks headed into one of the biggest games in the history of the Vikings franchise, one because of health, the other because of ineptitude. Both happen to be in the secondary, an element of the defense that needs to be on top of its game considering who the Vikings will be [...]