This was an ugly game. It will turn up on Wikipedia as the definitive video illustration for both “ugly” and “futile”. Unlike the last match-up between the Vikings and Packers at the Metrodome, there are no positives to dwell on: it was an old-fashioned butt-whipping. It was so bad that the Vikings looked pathetic against the Green Bay backups. According to a tweet from Jeremy Fowler, this is the Vikings’ worst loss since “a 51-7 clubbing by San Francisco on Dec. 8, 1984”.
For next week’s game, the Vikings are going to be starting the press corps in their secondary: injuries against Green Bay included cornerback Antoine Winfield with a fractured clavicle (probably ending his season), safety Husain Abdullah with a concussion (his second of the season), and cornerback Cedric Griffin just being himself (playing on two reconstructed knees). What would have been even more depressing for Viking fans — if the sportscasters had bothered to mention it — was quarterback Christian Ponder heading to the locker room for X-rays (negative, thank goodness).
Dan Wiederer of the Star Tribune:
By night’s end, Green Bay’s pinball scoring spree had produced a decisive 45-7 victory, the most lopsided victory in series history and most impressive in how easy it seemed.
Life at the top of the NFL must be nice.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the NFC North, the Vikings continue to experience all the agonizing headaches of a below-average team with so many flaws it’s hard to know which to correct first.
“We took this one on the chin,” tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said. “And we’ve got to man up. We didn’t come to play. They outplayed us. Period.”
Update: Ted Glover thinks the problem is so deep-rooted that it requires a total reboot, not just tinkering:
To address the bad drafting, especially on the lines, either the Vikings need new scouts, a new method at evaluating talent, a new guy to make the final decision on who to pick on draft day, or all of the above. I understand that the NFL draft is a total crapshoot, but the Vikings miss way more than they hit on mid round picks. Successful teams do not; it’s about 50-50 or better. The talent and depth on the Vikings will not improve until the drafting does, it’s just that simple. And then it will be up to the coaching staff to get them ready for the game.
[. . .] a team’s preparation is directly related to coaching. And coming out of a bye, against your biggest rival on Monday Night, I have never seen a Vikings team look this unprepared. Well, the defense played well for about a quarter and a half, but other than that? They looked awful. The discipline is atrocious, they are schematically owned play after play, on both sides of the ball,and at some point during the game Leslie Frazier just gets this thousand yard stare, folds his arms across his chest, and seems to mentally check out. I’d hate to see what would happen if the players didn’t like playing for Frazier, as they all professed during training camp.
The Emperor has no clothes, kids. Think about this for a minute — the two starting cornerbacks for the rest of the year are now Asher Allen and a hobbled Cedric Griffin, with the worst safety tandem in the NFL backing them up. The defensive line can be pushed around, and the linebackers can’t cover anyone coming out of the backfield and have forgotten how to tackle. On offense, the best offensive lineman is 34 with a bad back, and other than Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, there are no playmakers. But it doesn’t matter, because Christian Ponder is running for his life the moment the ball is snapped, because the Vikings have, for at least the third year in a row, the worst offensive line in the NFL.
Like I said earlier, I wish I had an answer. But I don’t. This organization needs a philosophical change, from the top down. I doubt Wilf will do that, though, as this team is two years removed from the NFC Championship, and as an organization they keep telling themselves they are a team that has enough talent to compete for the playoffs.
