The Vikings Passing Attack Comes Alive

With the Vikings offense playing as well as it has in years, I thought it would be interesting to compare how the passing game has fared through five games the last five seasons (or, essentially, the five years since Daunte Culpepper's last good season, 2004). With help from Pro-Football-Reference, I put together the following:

In 2005, Culpepper had an awful first five (which turned into seven) games before eventually blowing out his knee against Carolina in Week 8. After five games, Minnesota was 1-4, with losses of 37-8 to the Bengals, 30-10 to the Falcons, and 28-3 at the hands of the Bears (the week of the 'Love Boat' scandal). Culpepper was the main culprit in this dismal start. His 12 interceptions and three lost fumbles amounted to an average of three turnovers a game. But, since the Vikings were down and passing a lot, the receptions were high.

2005	G	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
Culpepper	5	181	113	62.7	1256	4	12	62.8
	G	REC	YARDS	AVG	TD
Wiggins	5	26	203	7.8	0
Taylor	5	20	252	12.6	2
Moore	5	14	125	8.9	0
Williamson	5	13	201	15.5	2
Robinson	5	12	200	16.7	0

Brad Johnson took over for Culpepper after his 2005 injury and almost led the Vikings to the playoffs. He won the job in 2006 without a challenge, and Johnson and rookie coach Brad Childress led the Vikings to a 3-2 record. Again, the Vikings couldn't manage to score touchdowns, and Johnson had more interceptions than scores. Travis Taylor and Troy Williamson led the team with a modest 18 catches each, but Jermaine Wiggins and Chester Taylor had 17 each, keeping the passing game on about the same pace as in 2005.

2006	G	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
Johnson	5	170	107	62.9	1128	3	4	78.3
	G	REC	YARDS	AVG	TD
T. Taylor	5	18	243	13.5	1
Williamson	5	18	256	14.2	0
C. Taylor	5	17	118	609	0
Wiggins	5	17	143	8.4	0
Moore	5	13	90	6.9	0

The 2006 season ended miserably, with rookie Tarvaris Jackson having to playing all four December games (starting two). Jackson was the Vikings starter on opening day in 2007, but only made it two games before being knocked out with an injury. Kelly Holcomb started in games against the Chiefs and Packers, both losses, before Jackson returned in Week 6 and 'led' the team to a 34-31 victory over the Bears at Soldier Field (actually, Adrian Peterson had touchdown runs of 67, 73, and 35 yards; Jackson was 9 of 23 for 136 yards and one touchdown).

The 2-3 Vikings had completed only 77 passes (Brooks Bollinger was 3 out of 4), and Bobby Wade was the only player with more than 11 catches. Again, the Vikings had thrown more interceptions than touchdown passes (3 to 6).

2007	G	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
Jackson	3	79	39	49.4	465	2	5	49.8
Holcomb	2	67	35	52.2	427	1	1	70.9
	G	REC	YARDS	AVG	TD
Wade	5	18	203	11.3	0
Rice	5	11	119	10.8	1
Peterson	5	10	175	17.5	1
Shiancoe	5	9	107	11.9	0
Williamson	4	8	134	16.8	1

Again in 2008 the Vikings made a quarterback change within the first month of the season. This time, it was not due to injury, but instead, Jackson's dismal play in the Vikings Week 1 and 2 losses. Gus Frerotte started in Week 3, holding the team team steady through a 20-10 victory over Carolina. After three Frerotte starts, Minnesota was 2-3 (with a third win on the way against Detriot), and, for the first time since Daunte Culpepper's historic 2004 season, they hadn't thrown more interceptions than touchdown passes: Jackson and Frerotte had combined for three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Meanwhile, Bobby Wade and Bernard Berrian were off to quick starts, despite missing one game each, and Visanthe Shiancoe, with two touchdown catches, looked like he was overcoming a 2007 season full of drops.

2008	G	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
Frerotte	3	107	60	56.1	316	2	2	74.2
Jackson	3	60	31	51.7	692	1	1	65.7
	G	REC	YARDS	AVG	TD
Wade	4	21	216	10.3	0
Berrian	4	17	305	17.9	1
Shiancoe	5	12	145	12.1	2
Peterson	5	10	61	6.1	0
Taylor	5	9	55	6.1	0

Of course, the below 2009 stats should speak for themselves, especially the touchdowns. The receptions column actually is roughly the same, but the way Favre is spreading the ball around is impressive, and has been a huge factor in the Vikings 5-0 start. Though difficult to quantify, the effect of keeping Adrian Peterson out of the top five receivers on the team should be noted. If the Vikings can continue to have this much success throwing the ball without having to increase Peterson's touches, that should bode well for the rest of the season. (I am among those who thinks Taylor should be getting more carries, but it is hard to argue against giving the ball to the best player in the NFL.)

Favre's passer rating is 26 points higher than the second best five-game mark in the last five years (Johnson in 2006), and his two interceptions are the lowest for the Vikings during the last five years. And hey, just for good measure, Tarvaris Jackson is 4 for 5 for 82 yards, maybe the best five-pass stretch of his career.

2009	G	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
Favre	5	149	103	69.1	1069	9	2	104.1
	G	REC	YARDS	AVG	TD
Taylor	5	21	187	8.9	0
Berrian	4	19	216	11.4	1
Harvin	5	18	233	12.9	2
Rice	5	17	233	13.7	2
Shiancoe	5	13	116	8.9	3

Lastly, I thought it would be interesting to see how Brent has done in his first five games each of the last five seasons. Favre has attempted far fewer passes in his last two seasons through five games than he did in the previous three seasons as a Packer. Notice that as a Jet and Viking, Favre's passer rating is over 100 through five games, which he didn't do from 2005-07 with Green Bay.

	G	W-L	ATT	COMP	%	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
2005	5	1-4	186	120	64.5	1256	12	8	87.6
2006	5	1-4	203	115	56.7	1275	7	5	76.7
2007	5	4-1	210	141	67.1	1527	9	4	94.7
2008	5	3-2	157	112	71.3	1124	13	6	103
2009	5	5-0	149	103	69.1	1069	9	2	104.1