Nov 25, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph (82) with the ball during the second half against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The Bears won 28-10. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

As of right now the Vikings are on the outside looking in as far as the wild card spot. The Seattle Seahawks and the Packers have those two spots locked up right now with a better head-to-head record. The Vikings could’ve have thrown a wrench into things with a win over the Bears, but we all know what happen there. The Vikings have lucked out though. Out of all the teams competing for the wild card spots, none of them won. The Seahawks lost in to the Dolphins with a last second field goal. The Packers lost big on Sunday night against the Giants and the Tampa Bay buccaneers were handed a loss by the Falcons. With week 12 gone the NFC wild card spots are still locked up by the Packers and Seahawks. The good news is that the Vikings, Seahawks and Buccaneers now have a record of 6-5. If the Vikings were able to win yesterday they would be in the playoffs as of today. I still may be reaching for this season to continue, but they still do have a shot. The Vikings are getting help from other teams. The problem is they need to help themselves. Somebody on the team needs to step up and take the reigns. Week in and week out the Vikings are a team that isn’t sure whether they want to be good or just wait for someone else to do it for them. With a 2-1 record against divisional rivals, the Vikings are still in good shape to make noise. Next up is the Packers. The packers have only two rushing TD’s all season and are struggling with protecting Rodgers. The Bears take on the Seahawks and the Buccaneers play the Broncos. The Vikings could gain a game on the Seahawks and Bucs with a win against the Packers. Like I said, the Vikings are getting help from the league…they just need to help themselves.

1. About Those Effort Comments…

There’s one sure-fire way to make fans even more angry after a loss where you blow a 17-point halftime lead, and that’s to suggest you didn’t try hard all the way to the gun. Percy Harvin dropped perhaps the most controversial comment along these lines, saying, “You can chop it up as whatever you want. We’re just going to say we didn’t play hard all the way to the end of the game.” So when did the Vikings start phoning it in? Straight away at the start of the second half or later on after it became clear their defensive approach of not rushing the passer, playing incredibly soft zone coverage and missing tackles was not going to get the job done? I can’t crawl inside the players’ heads and know what they were feeling during the game, so I can’t say for sure if Percy is stating a fact or just picking an incredibly bad way to express frustration. I do know that if you’re a player and at some point during a game you become too mentally or physically drained to give a full effort anymore, it’s better not to admit that especially if you lose. Obviously Percy learned nothing from Brett Favre.

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1. LeGarrette Blount

This guy is an absolute tackle-breaking monster – the stat “yards after contact” should just be renamed “Blounts.” If the Vikings want to avoid giving up lots of Blounts to Blount, they need to wrap up a lot better than they did last week against San Diego and Mike Tolbert. Did I mention that E.J. Henderson has a knee issue and might not be able to play? So Blount against our crap defensive tackles with no E.J. Henderson roaming the middle at linebacker and guys like Jamarca Sanford trying to come up and make sticks? Yeah that sounds promising.

2. Tampa Bay’s Offensive Line

I’m looking forward to seeing our pass rush against Tampa’s offensive line. They’re not a great pass-blocking line and last week Detroit put a lot of heat on Josh Freeman (when he was actually on the field and not on the sideline dealing with cramps). The rush from Jared Allen, Brian Robison and various blitzers last week really frustrated Philip Rivers at least in the first half, and I expect a greater level of frustration for Freeman. The heat should be ratcheted up even more against Tampa because the game is at the Dome where it will be loud and where Allen/Robison will be that much quicker off the ball thanks to the turf.

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