Oct 24, 2010; Green Bay, WI, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) holds the football as Green Bay Packers safety Nick Collins (36) grabs his leg during the game at Lambeau Field. The Packers defeated the Vikings 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

The Packers on Wednesday bade a fond farewell to their long-time safety Nick Collins. No doubt this was a tough decision for Ted Thompson and Co. on a personal level, Collins being a heckuva dude and all that, but it wasn’t a tough decision on a football level given Collins’ 2011 neck injury, the subsequent surgery and the resultant uncertainty over his future.

Normally I wouldn’t spend any time sweating over a Packer personnel move but this one does have potential ramifications for the Vikings. And no I don’t mean they should or will go out and sign Collins. This offseason has been all about dumping useless, injured old veterans, not picking up new ones.

No, the ramifications have to do with the draft. The loss of Collins opens up a big hole in the Packers’ defense, and we know the Packers don’t like filling holes with free agents, so the new safety is likely going to come through the draft. The Packers pick 28th overall which puts one safety prospect right in their sights. And that guy happens to be someone the Vikings are also possibly targeting with their own 35th overall selection.

Harrison Smith is the man in question. Numerous highly authoritative draft gurus including Mel Kiper have mocked Smith to the Vikes at 35. The only other real competition for Smith was believed to be New England who draft 27th and 31st, at least until Bill Belichick gets done trading picks around. But with Collins now gone for real, the Packers have to also be considered in the mix for Smith. In fact they may be the front runner.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to commit suicide if the Packers snatch Harrison Smith away from the Vikings. I think Smith is the smart choice at 35 if he’s there but other guys make sense too including Trumaine Johnson, Josh Robinson and perhaps even Janoris Jenkins. It’s just that, to me at least, Smith seemed like the surest bet to make an immediate positive impact on the wretched secondary, just given his experience and talent and the nature of the position, and it’s sort of annoying that now it appears the Packers will get him first.

But of course the Packers have other needs too besides safety. They could use a good pass rusher – or two, or three – or a defensive tackle or an offensive lineman. So it’s no lock that Smith will be the pick. But if he is the pick, well, that will just be one more thing for Viking fans to hold against the Cheeseheads. As if they didn’t already have enough.

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Favre’s defenders might point out that, even despite Brett’s struggles, he nearly led the Vikings to a comeback win.  And yes, it’s true, the Vikings did miss winning the game by a few centimeters of Percy Harvin‘s foot in spite of everything.  And it’s also true that the referees made some questionable calls, including reversing a Visanthe Shiancoe touchdown that could easily have been ruled a good catch.  And it’s true that Brad Childress deserves some heat for pulling back the reins at the end of the first half when the Vikes had a chance to perhaps tack on a few more points.  And there was that hanky-panky with the stadium reply on the Andrew Quarless touchdown that Childress might have challenged but didn’t get a chance to see.  All of that factors in: but, the fact remains that Favre’s bad throws in the second half hurt the Vikings far more than anything else that went wrong.  Those throws resulted from a combination of factors, some mental, some physical, some preparation-related.  And they all point the way to the same all-too-obvious truth:  Brett Favre is now hurting the Vikings more than he’s helping them.
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There’s no such thing as an easy win for the 2008 Vikings.  Even when they seem to have a game well in hand…well, something always has to happen to make things tight.  And so it was for today’s game with the Packers:  The Vikings went up 21-10 in the third after Gus Frerotte hit Chester Taylor in the flat, and Taylor made a great move on the linebacker and raced 47 yards for the touchdown.  Not only were the Vikings well ahead on the scoreboard, but they were dominating the stat sheet too.  The defense spent the first half harassing Aaron Rodgers, even forcing the quarterback into a pair of safeties.  And though Ryan Grant was able to rattle off a couple of decent runs, the back was not much of a factor.  And then…yes, there’s always got to be an “and then” for this Vikings team.  And then Gus Frerotte got picked off by Nick Collins who returned it for a touchdown, making it 21-17.  And then, after a stalled Viking possession, Will Blackmon returned a punt 65 yards to make it 24-21.  As fast as you could say “What the frack just happened?”, the Vikings had squandered all of their hard-won lead.

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