Is Frazier doing all the right things as head coach?

Olof:

Leslie Frazier is absolutely doing a great job for the Vikings. He knew the time was right to end the McNabb era and give Christian Ponder his chance. And look how Ponder responded! He almost beat those durn Packers. He also made the right call getting rid of Bernard Berrian. That man was becoming a huge distraction. You can’t have guys with bad attitudes poisoning the locker room, especially when you have a young quarterback. Leslie gave both McNabb and Bernard every chance to contribute and neither guy stepped up, so…OUT OF HERE! Leslie doesn’t mess around, as Bryant McKinnie also found out. Oh and let’s not forget about the Chris Cook situation. What a horrible position that young man put his coach and teammates in. He deserved to get suspended. Leslie has handled that perfectly as well. The message he’s sending is clear: If you’re a malcontent or a miscreant, forget about playing for the Vikings. It’s a new day in Minnesota thanks to Leslie Frazier.
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Olof:

What a joke! Leslie Frazier has been coaching for 15 minutes and already we’ve made up our minds that he’s not the guy? Give the dude a chance over-reacting Viking fans! In case you haven’t noticed they’re running a whole new offense with a new quarterback and a re-tooled offensive line. It’s going to take time for all that to gel. It’s not Frazier’s fault Bryant McKinnie showed up overweight. It’s not his fault Zygi Wilf spent money like a drunken sailor for years and put the team in cap purgatory, meaning they couldn’t fix their receiver corps or secondary. And it’s definitely not his fault Brad Childress mismanaged the QB position, leaving the team without an heir apparent coming into the year. Frazier had no choice but to pick up a QB like McNabb, otherwise the veterans would’ve revolted. Was Joe Webb going to make it work? Christian Ponder? Frazier needs time to bring this whole thing together with his guy McNabb at the helm. Trust me, Leslie knows what he’s doing. He has a master plan for getting the Vikings to the Super Bowl. Build around Adrian Peterson, develop a young QB (slowly), fill in the roster holes with free agents and watch the wins start rolling in. It was never going to take off right away, so stop getting your underwear in a bundle about a couple of losses.

Nils:
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The Purple were 4 of 11 on third downs yesterday.  The third down story reflects the story of the entire game. For the most part the Vikes had manageable third downs in the first half: 3 & 6, 3 & 5. By and large our beloved Purple did not put themselves into 3^rd and long in the first half. The second half was the complete opposite. They rarely were in third and manageable. We would all agree they have to convert the manageable third downs.

Because the Purple were not able to convert they were obviously putting the Bolts offense on the field. And when on the field the Chargers chewed up clock. Ironically, I think that is the approach the Vikes would like to employ. I think the Purple would like to chew the clock with the running game and keep opposing offenses off the field. But the Bolts pulled the switch a roo. They were the ones controlling the clock yesterday.

The Vikes had the ball for a total of less than 8 minutes in the ENTIRE second half yesterday. 8 minutes total.

Musgrave came under much criticism for his playcalling yesterday with what seemingly looked like: run, run, pass, punt. It certainly seemed like the Purple could run on the Bolts D. The Vikes did rush for 6.1 per. Yet the offense seemed disjointed and could not get into any rhythm. The offense seemed out of sorts the entire afternoon. Then when we needed som Mo’; Webb came in and the out of rhythm nation that is the Minnesota offense sputtered into a 3 and out. It begged the question whether Webb coming in at that point was scripted or a gut call?

Regardless, your beloved head football coach nailed it. The second half Vikes were not the same as the first half Vikes. We call that inconsistency. We were abysmal on third down and need to convert and execute when called upon. I’m looking at you BB. That said, we need to put our beloved Purple into successful positions. I’m looking at you Bill Musgrave.

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