Archive for November, 2010

While participating in a charity event at a children’s hospital, Kevin Williams gave his thoughts about the Vikings’ current dismal state and what might be done to improve it. “We can’t sit there and dwell on the past,” the defensive tackle said. “We’ve got to try and get better. We’ve got seven games left to do that. We can’t go down any worse that we are right now. Got to keep pretty much upbeat and try and dig ourselves out of this. We’ve still got a slight glimpse of a chance. Another loss would be real bad for us as [...]

In the wake of Sunday’s bad loss to the Bears, it came to light that Brett Favre had experienced pain in his right shoulder before the game.  Favre was able to play without taking a pain-killing injection, but seemed to be hampered in his ability to throw downfield, as evidenced by a pass to Percy Harvin that came up short (but did result in a pass interference call).  Fears are now being expressed that the pain could be related to the surgery Favre had on the shoulder ahead of the 2009 season. Now, Favre reportedly plans to visit with the [...]

It’s difficult to imagine even the most optimistic of Viking fans believing the team still has a chance to make the playoffs after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Bears.  It isn’t just that the Vikings fell to 3-6, it’s the way they lost the game.  The team’s two alleged great strengths – the running game and the pass rush – both failed to show up in a must-win contest.  Adrian Peterson had his most unproductive performance of the year, rushing for only 51 yards on 17 carries.  And the defensive front, despite playing against an offensive line that had been [...]

A lot of people thought Brad Childress would’ve been fired had the Vikings lost last week to Arizona.  After the Vikings beat Arizona, the same people wondered how many more losses it would take for Zygi Wilf to jettison his embattled coach. Six losses, apparently, won’t be enough to do it.  After today’s frustrating defeat at the hands of Chicago, the Vikings’ sixth in nine games, Wilf told ESPN’s Ed Werder he is not considering firing Childress. Note that this remark was made before the Dallas Cowboys, who just got rid of coach Wade Phillips and replaced him with offensive [...]

It wasn’t meant to be today for the Vikings at Soldier Field.  Offensively they could never get anything going.  Adrian Peterson had his worst game of the year running the ball, and hurt the passing game with a couple of terrible plays, including a slip that allowed Lance Briggs to pick off a Brett Favre pass.  The passing game overall was clearly hurt by the lack of front-line receivers.  The Vikings’ only legit wide-out, Percy Harvin, was bottled up by the Bears defense except for one long pass play where the safety never got over to help, leaving Harvin wide [...]

We were looking for the Vikings to come out against the Bears today with the same energy they showed at the end of the Arizona game.  Initially, it looked like that energy was there on offense, allowing the Vikings to score a field goal the first time they had the ball – their first points of the year on their opening possession.  However, despite moving the ball well, the Vikings were not able to capitalize with points.  Red zone playcalling was again an issue – especially Brad Childress‘ decision to yank Adrian Peterson with Minnesota driving toward the end zone.  [...]

Last week’s comeback victory over Arizona was a nice little win, but it will be rendered more-or-less meaningless if the Vikings can’t follow it up with a victory today against the Bears.  A smattering of plucky performances isn’t enough to get you into the playoffs:  at some point you need to get on a serious roll, and the Vikings have now reached that point.  The schedule sets up for them to do it, starting this afternoon against a Bears team that, despite being over .500, hasn’t convinced a lot of people that they are a serious contender.  The issue for [...]

It was up to Sidney Rice to decide if the Vikings would activate him off the PUP list by today’s 3 PM CST deadline, making him eligible for tomorrow’s key tilt with the Bears.  After practicing Saturday, the receiver, who spent the entire off-season rehabbing a hip injury only to end up having surgery too late to make it back for the season, decided he would not chance it.  So, Rice remains inactive. The Vikings will go into Sunday’s game with no Rice, Percy Harvin coming off another migraine episode, Bernard Berrian nursing a groin and Brett Favre on the [...]

There is a chance that on Sunday the Vikings could have their anticipated full 2010 receiver corps together for the first time all year.  But it doesn’t look like a good chance. As of now, it appears Percy Harvin will be the missing piece to the receiver puzzle when the Vikings take the field Sunday against the Bears.  The dynamic and somewhat hot-headed young star missed two days of practice with a migraine flare-up, and despite making it back to Winter Park on Friday, is still experiencing lingering effects from the attack.  As a result, Harvin is listed as doubtful [...]

The Chicago Bears are the opponents this week for your 3-5 (but hopefully surging) Minnesota Vikings.  To gain a little more insight into our second-most-hated rivals, I dropped five questions on Adam Oestmann from Chicago Bears Huddle: The Viking Age:  Julius Peppers was a huge off-season acquisition for the Bears. How much of an impact has he had on the defense? Chicago Bears Huddle:  Great question! And, I’m actually going to try and answer it without writing an entire column on Peppers’ impact on the Bears’ defense: Speaking in terms of sacks, Peppers’ numbers have been disappointing. However, there are [...]