Vikings 17 Falcons 24

I sometimes wonder if there is another team in the NFL that is as frustrating as the Vikings. For at least two years the Vikings have played games where they appeared to completely outplay their opponent, yet lost because of literally one or two plays.

Yesterday against the Falcons, the Vikings backed up that reputation to the extreme. They coughed up four fumbles and lost despite mostly containing Michael Turner, dominating the Falcons offense in the second half, and having some really nice performances on offense. It is the kind of game that one can't really take anything from; Minnesota looked so good in so many parts of the game, but those four fumbles pretty much wreck the entire week for them.

The Falcons looked good on their opening drive. They came out in a no-huddle offense and marched down the field pretty easily, helped by a couple Vikings penalties. They went up 7-0. Chester Taylor then fumbled the ensuing kick-off, and brought it out only to the 10-yard line. But, miraculously, Tarvaris Jackson looked very sharp in leading a 90-yard drive that ended with a Visanthe Shiancoe touchdown. The Vikings defense settled down and forced a three-and-out. Then the game got stupid.

Bernard Berrian decided not to call for a fair catch with a man in his face, and bobbled the ball. Atlanta recovered and took advantage of the short field to take a 14-7 lead. Minnesota responded with another long drive. Then Adrian Peterson lost the ball at the 17 and gave Atlanta possession. Later in the half, the Vikings were at midfield and Peterson tried to close his arms around a handoff that wasn't there yet, and Atlanta again recovered a fumble. Lucky for the Vikings, Atlanta was content to let the clock expire and settle for a field goal, leaving the score at 17-7 at half. 

The second went almost exactly the same. The Vikings opening drive again looked sharp, until Jackson was sacked and the ball somehow flew backward 20 yards. Atlanta went three-and out.

The Vikings got one first down, but then Matt Birk snapped the ball too early, and Tarvaris Jackson didn't see it. He chased it down and the Vikings were forced to punt. Atlanta took over at their own 49, and used the short field to score another touchdown. This score was perhaps the last straw in the game; Ryan fumbled the ball at the goal line, and two Vikings failed to pick it up before guard Justin Blalock fell on it for the Falcons. 24-7 Atlanta.

From that point on, Atlanta did not earn a first down, while the Vikings tacked on about 150 more yards of offense, but could muster only 10 points. The no-call on a deep pass to Sydney Rice, a play that was surely pass interference, is hard to complain about after the Vikings had already given the game away.

And now both John Clayton and Michael Silver are calling for Gus Frerotte. One of my biggest pet peeves is national sports writers talking about games they didn't watch. These two clearly looked at the stats, saw that Jackson was credited for two fumbles (even though one was obviously Peterson's fault), and now are saying Frerotte will give them a better chance to win. forget the stats (they were pretty good for Jackson). Here is the difference between Jackson and Frerotte right now: Yes, Jackson turned the ball over, but it was kind of flukey play, more of a physical mistake than a mental one. go back and watch Frerotte this entire season. He makes terrible, indefensible mistakes every single game. He throws balls into spots that he shouldn't even be looking. When Jackson plays bad, he tends to get sacked a lot and throw a lot of incompletions. But he isn't playing bad right now. He is throw great balls, and running effectively. And one thing is sure: Jackson can make a lot of throws that Frerotte cannot. Fact.

Adrian Peterson needs to either be benched or fined. You cannot be an NFL running back and fumble this much. He is costing the team victories. He is much more at fault in this game than Jackson. Every running back from Pop Warner and up is taught to keep his arms open until the ball is put into his stomach. Peterson couldn't even do that Sunday. He needs to start running like he knows there is a football in his hands. Unacceptable.

Vikings 34 Bears 14

Disclaimer: This post is coming straight from the Minnesota Vikings fan in me.

Last night's victory over the Chicago Bears at the Metrodome was quite possibly one of my favorite Vikings games ever.  That is notable for a couple reasons: One, this year's team has been one of the most frustrating to watch, ever. Two, I don't think I can say that about any other game in during the Brad Childress-era. The Vikings, for the last years, have won ugly, and lost uglier. They are that team that should be winning, but can't seem to hold things together for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Sure, there have been some good ones with Childress. His one win over the Packers, this year, 28-27, was a nice win. Last year we saw a rash of blow-outs: The Vikings won 35-17 over San Diego, 41-17 over the Giants, 42-10 over the Lions, and 27-7 over the 49ers. In 2006, some wacky special teams plays helped us go 2-0 to start the season with wins against Washington and Carolina.

2002-2005, the Mike Tice years, had a slightly different feel. We were more of an underdog then, with much lower expectations. Simply put, everybody knew we were bad. The defense was awful. The 2002 season saw the team drop to 3-10 before winning the last three games in super exciting fashion: A last-second, 53-yard field goal from dinosaur kicker Gary Anderson, a make-or-break two-point conversation by Daunte Culpepper that lifted us over the Saints, and then a two-point conversion stop for our defense against Detroit in Week 17. 2003 was a disappointing year, but full of big wins on the way to 9-7. 2004 saw the vikings beat Green Bay in the Wildcard round. Enough said. 2005 saw a six-game winning streak.

Last night, the Vikings defied everything I have believed about them for years. They over came an early deficit. They pressure the quarterback for the entire game. They scored a 99-yard touchdown. They picked off Kyle Orton three times. They did all of that in one game. If that doesn't sound like much, then you haven't been paying attention to the Vikings for the past six or seven years.

If you get a chance to watch the highlights of that game, watch the end zone view of Bernard Berrian's 99-yard touchdown. I have rarely felt such pure, wild joy while watching football as I have been feeling watching the crowd realize how open he is with the ball in the air. The camera then follows his path to the end zone, and the Vikings bench is absolutely going nuts.I felt that way on the field twice in my playing career.

My senior year, we were the top dogs in our conference, and expected to go undefeated. We lost the first game. Our first home game, the following week, was against Stoughton. We were up by maybe 10 points in the fourth quarter, when our huge fullback suddenly burst through the line and ran alone 60 yards for the game-sealing touchdown. Zac Pettit was one of those guys who was bred for football, short, wide, and always looking to hit something. We were in a jumbo package, so I was on the sideline. When he got through the line and there was nobody in front of him, our entire team went nuts, and I felt a little choked up as I sprinted to meet him and everybody else in celebration. It was the start of a 10-game winning streak.

When I played club-football at Marquette University, we were the definition of rag-tag. We had about 20 guys on the team, some who hadn't ever played football. One of the guys was named Jason Harding. He was 27 or 28, and hadn't been enrolled at the University for at least five years, but played anyway. He started at wide receiver opposite of me, and played in the nickel package. 

We generally got beat up. Our small, unorganized team was going against 60-man junior varsity squads from schools around Wisconsin. The athleticism of those guys alone was enough to make it nearly impossible to win, especially since we hardly even practiced. On one long, demoralizing drive, some 19-year-old quarterback threw a pass into the end zone, and Harding picked it off. He was not that fast anymore at 27, but he somehow managed to rumble 101 yards into the end zone, probably our only score of the game. I remember going completely insane as he ran, for what felt like 15 seconds, down the opposite sideline. I lost my voice just from that play, screaming at him to score.

And that is the feeling the Vikings game me last night. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Jared Allen was incredible, and Adrian Peterson continues to prove that he is the best running back in the game. Gus Frerotte really only made one or two bad throws, and the secondary was great, other than the long touchdown they gave up in the first quarter. And a huge goalline stand.

In summary: An awesome game, one that might ease the sting of our eventual collapse. Without Kevin and Pat Williams, the Vikings might win only one more game this year. Tough, but at least we had this moment.

Wrong Again

Incredibly, I was mostly correct on my Week 12 predictions. 12 of 15 right so far. And who would have guessed Oakland would crush Denver? 

I'll skip trying to explain myself, since I didn't get to watch any of the three games I got wrong. A quick recap: The Jets beat Tennessee 34-13. I've been very hesitant to give the Jets any credit. They now deserve it, probably did before, too. Cleveland beat Houston 16-6 in a game that wasn't that important, and I was clueless about. I don't feel bad about it. And, as I said, Oakland beat Denver 31-10 in a game where the Raiders attempted only 12 passes.

Moving on, if you know me at all, you know that I hate Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column (and read it every week). Strangely, King has a ton of Mike Tice info sprinkled throughout this week's version. Not important. He also has Kurt Warner leading the NFL MVP race. Uhhh...

The most interesting part was his analysis of the Buccaneers having Adrian Peterson "figured out." King picked the brain of the ageless Derrick Brooks. Referring back to Buc's Week 11 19-13 win over Minnesota, King says "Brooks and the Bucs did a good job on Peterson." Apparently he contacted Peterson about the Bucs "success" against him, and Peterson acknowledged that they "did a great job staying true to their gaps. Good strategy."

King, while ignoring the fact that Peterson had a nice 4.5 yards-per-carry average and didn't even have a carry in the 4th quarter, his most productive quarter for most of the season, says that the Bucs success was due to their having thrown a "front-seven net around Peterson on every logical running down." So, in case you have never watched or played football, the way to stop a running back is to plug all the possible running lanes, and (presumably) tackle him before he runs forward. Maybe King's next column should include a section where Rodney Harrison explains that the way to beat Peyton Manning is to knock the ball down when he tries to throw it to his receivers.

King apparently will be expounding on this scoop later this week with a column devoted just to Brooks and Peterson. That should be a hoot. Let's hope he actually gets to some X's and O's in that one.  Oops, this just in—Alex Rodriguez is less productive when you throw the ball past him instead of letting him hit it. And double covering Randy Moss (ahem, Miami) keeps him from catching as many passes. If your 7-year-old son is trying to shoot baskets in the drive way, and you stand in from of him and bat the ball away as it leaves his little hands, he most assuredly will not score.

King might want to consider the fact that Tampa Bay controlled the ball for over 20 minutes in the second half. That is probably the best way to stop the other team's offense.