The Vikings’ season is over, but the chatter carries on. Jim Souhan, however, looks at the surviving playoff contenders and draws an interesting conclusion:
An apology is required.
Yes, one may eventually be asked of Vikings coach Leslie Frazier for building a coaching staff filled with people who have either been demoted or have yet to prove they can succeed at their current jobs.
Today, though, let me be the one to offer the apology.
I’m sorry, Leslie, for questioning whether your vintage football philosophies could work in the modern world.
I’m sorry for questioning whether your vision of the bareknuckle 1985 Bears had skewed your perspective on the NFL in the Year of the Mayan Prophecy, when passes flew in NFL stadia like locusts in the Old Testament.
Whether your coaches and players will be good enough to win remains in doubt, but your philosophies will be on display all day Sunday, in the NFL’s conference championship games.
Three of the four remaining teams play black-and-white football in the age of 3D color. Sunday provides proof that Frazier’s vision of winning with a powerful running game and a stout defense doesn’t necessarily require that he undergo Lasik surgery.
While the current Minnesota Vikings management goes through the fire-and-hire cycle for the coaching staff who finished the 3-13 season, it’s perhaps of some value to recognize how important the junior coaches can be to ensuring long-term team success. At the Star Tribune, Jim Souhan lists the rather stellar cast of assistant coaches former Vikings head coach Denny Green assembled at the start of his tenure with Minnesota:
After Roger Headrick hired him away from Stanford, Green assembled a staff that included Tony Dungy, Tom Moore, Monte Kiffin, John Teerlinck, Ty Willingham, Willie Shaw and Brian Billick. Green even brought in two players, Mike Tice and Jack Del Rio, who would become NFL head coaches.
At the time, nobody knew just how impressive that list of names would become.
Dungy rehabilitated a sagging career as Green’s defensive coordinator and became an outstanding head coach.
Tom Moore coached receivers for Green. Not until he mentored Peyton Manning as the Colts offensive coordinator would his methods gain fame.
Monte Kiffin coached inside linebackers. He would become one of the great defensive coordinators in NFL history.
Brian Billick coached tight ends. He would win a Super Bowl while running the Ravens.
Willie Shaw coached the secondary for Green; he would become an NFL defensive coordinator. His son now coaches Stanford.
Ty Willingham would become the coach at Notre Dame and Teerlinck would coach the Colts defensive line for Dungy when they won the Super Bowl.
Coaches are not the total answer: even the best coaching staff in the world is limited by the skills and talents of the players they have to work with. But a good player can elevate his game with the assistance of good coaching. The quality of your coaching staff will make a difference to the total performance of your team.
Okay, I admit I’m stumped: the Minnesota Vikings had a putrid 2011 season. They lost games they should have won and they barely managed to win the games they should have dominated. I get it that the defence was clearly a problem and that changes were going to have to be made. What I don’t understand is that the only coach on the defence whose unit played well is the very first coach to be fired:
“This is what they wanted,” Dunbar said in a phone interview with the Star Tribune. “Coach Frazier told me the ownership wanted to go in a different direction. And for me, that’s fine. As football coaches, we know we’re all migrant workers and we go where the jobs are. Now, my job in Minnesota is over.”
Dunbar joined the Vikings in 2006 when Brad Childress became coach and helped the defensive line establish a reputation as a sturdy, run-stopping unit. Pat Williams, Kevin Williams and Jared Allen all earned Pro Bowl invitations while playing under Dunbar. And this season, despite the well-documented struggles of the entire defense, the d-line may have had the most solid season of any Vikings’ position group, ranking 11th in the NFL against the run. The Vikings also tallied 50 sacks as a team with defensive end setting a new single-season team record with 22.
Still, after a 3-13 finish, Frazier has vowed to shake things up and make significant changes to his coaching staff. Dunbar’s exit is likely just the start of the revolving door at Winter Park.
Dunbar said he wasn’t able to diagnose the root cause of the Vikings’ 3-13 freefall.
“I’m a position coach,” he said. “I’m not a coordinator. I’m not a head coach. When I look at what I did with the Minnesota Vikings, my piece of the puzzle was to make the defensive line play as well as they could. We played well against the run. I think we finished No. 11 against the run. And we finished No. 1 in sacks. And the guy I coached led the league in sacks with 22 on a team that really didn’t have a lead the last eight games of the year. So I thought that was my piece of the puzzle. I can’t worry about running backs, defensive backs, receivers, linebackers. When you do it, you focus on your job, put your piece of the puzzle in and go from there.”
If your defence was putrid — and it was, between injuries and legal issues — someone has to be seen to pay, but why is the only guy whose players more than earned their salaries the first one to go? I just don’t get it.
The season ended just the most appropriate way possible: with a loss featuring dumb penalties, inconsistent play, and a not-quite-NFL-record-setting sack total from Jared Allen, the only Viking going to the Pro Bowl this year.
Tom Pelissero is predicting some swift changes in the coaching staff now that the season is done, almost certainly starting with the firing (or demotion) of defensive co-ordinator Fred Pagac:
With the final regular season game tomorrow, the Vikings will close up shop until the run-up to the draft. John Holler looks at the current roster and points to obvious areas of need that must be addressed before the start of the 2012 NFL season.
The game at Washington was never going to change much in the playoff picture: neither team is going to the post-season this year, but both teams were playing for pride. In the end, the Vikings won despite losing their starting quarterback and all-world running back on sequential plays. The win was a bit of a palliative for a doomed season, but the injury to Adrian Peterson sets next season into question.
Christopher Gates dips into his history texts to find the best way to describe yesterday’s game:
Pyrrhic victory (PIR-ik VIK-tuh-ree) n. A victory that is offset by staggering losses
The term “phyrric victory” is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who did battle with the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea in 280 B.C. and the Battle of Asculum in 279 B.C. In both battles, the Romans suffered greater casualties than Pyrrhus’ army did. . .however, the Romans had a significantly larger base from which to draw troops. So, in essence, Pyrrhus’ victories came at too high a price, as he even went so far as to say that another such victory would be his undoing.
That’s pretty much what we saw today at FedEx Field in Washington, D.C., as the Minnesota Vikings fought like hell when it would have been easy to roll over, and got themselves a 33-26 victory over the Washington Redskins. The victory guarantees that they will a) not be the single-worst team in Minnesota Vikings’ history in terms of win-loss record, and b) no longer eligible for the top overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
While I still think Christian Ponder will develop into a good, dependable NFL quarterback, I’ve been a fan of Joe Webb since he was drafted. I’m delighted to see that he is getting the opportunity to showcase his diverse skill set, and I’d be even happier if the team can work him into games more regularly.
A few weeks ago, I said “If you really want to have your team’s quarterback enjoy an early Christmas gift, there’s nothing better than setting up a date with the Minnesota Vikings pass defence: your quarterback’s stats will improve dramatically after just one game!” I also predicted “Next week, it’ll be Drew Brees racking up a personal best passing performance for the New Orleans Saints.”
Drew Brees’ performance against the Vikings on Sunday wasn’t just brilliant, it was historically brilliant. According to the experts at NFL.com (via @DanBarreiroKFAN), Brees on Sunday became the first QB in NFL history with a game of 400+ yards, 5+ TDs and an 80%+ completion rate with no INTs. In other words, Brees’ gashing of the Vikings’ defense today was arguably the most incredible such mauling in the entire long and storied history of professional football.
Update: To say that the Vikings secondary is awful is merely acknowledging reality:
Here is Quarterback A: 69.1 completion percentage; 31 TD passes, 6 INTs; 110.8 passer rating.
Here is Quarterback B: 71.5 completion percentage; 37 TD passes, 11 INTs; 109.1 passer rating.
Quarterback B is Brees. Quarterback A is a combination of everyone who has thrown a pass against the Vikings this season. Yes, that includes Brees and Aaron Rodgers (twice), who are having phenomenal years.
But essentially the Conglomorate known as Quarterback A is having — at the very least — a Pro Bowl season. And if you want to go deeper, the 110.8 rating would be the 8th-best single-season passer rating in NFL history were it one QB. So you could say QBA is having an historic season.
Update, the second: Christopher Gates on the toxic waste pit masquerading as the secondary:
If Sean Payton had wanted Brees to throw for six hundred yards and seven touchdowns, he could have, and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing that the Vikings could have done about it. Because this might be the worst secondary in Vikings’ history. Worse than the Willie Teal years. . .worse than the Wasswa Serwanga/Robert Tate years. . .worse than any collection of secondary players in the 51 seasons that the Minnesota Vikings have been playing football.
Of all the current defensive backs on the Vikings roster, I can’t think of a single one that should feel confident that they’re even going to be on the team next season, let alone playing a significant role. That may sound like hyperbole, but I’m really not sure that it is. I mean, I don’t count Antoine Winfield in that, because he’s done for the year, but really. . .and nobody’s a bigger Winfield fan than I am. . .the guy turns 36 before camp next season. How long can you rely on him?
Chris Cook? The odds are just as good that he’ll be in prison in Week One of the 2012 NFL season than they are that he’ll be in the NFL. Husain Abdullah? Possibly, but now he’s fighting a concussion, and you can never really gauge how well a guy is going to come back from that. Outside of that, there is not one guy in this secondary that should be under the impression that their job is secure. Hell, right now our best defensive back. . .by a significant margin. . .is Benny Sapp, a guy that was watching games at home on his couch three weeks ago.
Update, 20 December: This picture explains why it’s a bad idea for Minnesota to try to come up with trick plays:
Yep. That’s Joe Webb, backup quarterback, faking a hand-off to Christian Ponder, starting quarterback. On a team that includes Adrian Peterson, the best running back in football. I loved this comment at the Daily Norseman from dsludo:
CP7 and Musgrave convo
CP7: What’s the play call?
BM: Derp
CP7 What are you talking about coach?
BM: Derp Derpity Derp
CP7: Fuck it, I’ll be the running back
BM: Derpity Herpity Derp
CP7: Webb you shotgun this shit. AP get back to the sidelines where you belong, while fucking over everyone’s fantasy team. Loadholt pretend you’re an NFL caliber Olineman.
Ready break.
CP7: Damn coach that didn’t work
BM: Derp it again
CP7: Seriously?
BM: Do I look serious, I SAID DERP IT AGAIN BITCH.
The game seemed to be getting out of hand on the Vikings’ very first play: a defender got past Phil Loadholt to hit quarterback Christian Ponder before Ponder had any idea he was there and stripped the ball away. The ball bounced into the end-zone and Detroit recovered for the touchdown. The Lions continued to build on their lead, getting to 21-0 before the Vikings could put together a scoring drive of their own.
Between interceptions and fumbles, Detroit scored 24 points off turnovers, most of them unforced. Things were going so badly for Christian Ponder that he was replaced with backup Joe Webb early in the second half. That upset the defensive scheme that Detroit had been using (Ponder can run, but is still limited with a hip injury — Webb is an even better runner than Ponder), allowing the Vikings to mount a comeback that almost succeeded. The last play of the game saw the Vikings on Detroit’s 1-yard line, only to fumble away the ball which Detroit finally recovered fifty yards upfield.
If you really want to have your team’s quarterback enjoy an early Christmas gift, there’s nothing better than setting up a date with the Minnesota Vikings pass defence: your quarterback’s stats will improve dramatically after just one game!
The Vikings head to Detroit to challenge the Lions’ fifth-ranked passing attack with a depleted secondary that’s been embarrassing the past seven games.
How embarrassing?
Well, for starters, it’s allowed quarterbacks to complete 71 percent of their passes with 18 touchdowns and no interceptions. And the Vikings have one of the best pass rushes in the league.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the Vikings have used four left cornerbacks, three free safeties and been forced to use nine different combinations in the secondary.
“We talked in depth about it the last couple of days and what we can do to try and help our guys on the back end,” Frazier said Wednesday. “We’ll try some things. You can only do what you can do, but we’ll try to offset what’s happening with some of the quarterbacks that we’re facing. This is a pass offense that we’re facing (on Sunday).
This week’s lucky recipient of a possibly career record passing game? None other than Detroit’s Matthew Stafford. Next week, it’ll be Drew Brees racking up a personal best passing performance for the New Orleans Saints.
If nothing else, it was a far more entertaining game than anyone expected. Percy Harvin had a career day, Kyle Rudolph had a highlight reel catch for a touchdown, and Devin Aromashodu stepped up and had a great day receiving. Christian Ponder set a new Vikings record for passing yards by a rookie quarterback, but also threw the game-sealing interception in the final minutes.
Aside from two bad decisions, Ponder played well enough to win and the Vikings could have won the game if the secondary had played even slightly better. Missing three of their top four cornerbacks, and two of their top three safeties, the secondary is cover-your-eyes awful. It’s hard to express just how wide-open Denver’s receivers were during the game. Tebow didn’t have to throw anything difficult, because the Vikings weren’t covering his receivers.
In a move that was only surprising for its timing — that is, that it took this long — the Minnesota Vikings placed quarterback Donovan McNabb on waivers yesterday afternoon. McNabb had been brought in on a one-year contract to give the Vikings some veteran leadership while rookie Christian Ponder got familiar with the Vikings’ playbook and the speed of the NFL game.
As the first half of the season showed, the McNabb who joined the Vikings in training camp wasn’t the dynamic player of Philadelphia Eagles vintage, but the fading player the Washington Redskins benched in favour of Rex Grossman. The Vikings didn’t give up a lot to get McNabb (a sixth-round pick in next year’s draft and a conditional pick in the 2013 draft), but it’s hard to say that they got their money’s worth from the deal. McNabb’s only positive in his games as a Viking was that he didn’t turn the ball over much. As a negative, his arm strength and accuracy were lacking — he seemed to be aiming at his receivers’ feet when he wasn’t bouncing the ball to them.
McNabb always seemed like a good person and he had been a great player for over a decade, but he’s now a poster child for how quickly NFL players go from first string to backup to retired. He apparently doesn’t think he’s done yet, but based on his play in Minnesota, a team would have to be absolutely desperate to sign him now. [Insert snide comment about Chicago or Houston here.]
Update: Ah, now I think we have the real reason that McNabb asked for his release:
From the moment the Donovan McNabb was granted his release on Thursday, speculation centered on whether the veteran quarterback had lined up someplace else to play.
Turns out McNabb wasn’t even getting to practice the same way with the Minnesota Vikings anymore.
Multiple NFL sources told 1500ESPN.com on Friday that McNabb had been relegated to running the scout team in recent weeks, and it’s believed he asked for his release after being informed he would be No. 3 on the depth chart for the rest of the season, beginning with Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos.
The change meant McNabb, 35, would have had virtually no chance to get back on the field this season even if something happened to rookie Christian Ponder and he would have given up even more snaps in practice to second-year pro Joe Webb, the only other quarterback on the roster.
Cullen Loeffler was expected to be placed on the injured reserve list, after sustaining a second injury in Sunday’s game that can take up to six weeks to heal. His replacement was signed by the Vikings yesterday. The other players going to the IR list were less anticipated:
The downward spiral continues at Winter Park.
If it seemed things couldn’t get much worse for the Vikings, who are off to a 2-9 start and threatening to become the worst team in franchise history, they’ll now enter the final month with four key contributors lost for the season.
On Tuesday, a quartet of starters — receiver Michael Jenkins, long snapper Cullen Loeffler and safeties Husain Abdullah and Tyrell Johnson — were all placed on injured reserve, another major gut punch to a team that is sinking fast.
To fill the holes, the Vikings re-signed receiver Stephen Burton to the active roster and also agreed to terms with long-snapper Matt Katula and safeties Jarrad Page and Andrew Sendejo.
The loss of Jenkins registers as the most surprising news. The eight-year receiver, who had 38 catches for 466 yards and three touchdowns this season, suffered a knee injury at some point during Sunday’s 24-14 loss in Atlanta.
In other news, you can tell when your team is just playing out the string when both the fanbase and the professionals start talking about draft prospects with five games left in the regular season.
Yesterday’s game had some great work by Percy Harvin, fewer rookie mistakes from Christian Ponder, and random guys pulled in off the street playing in the Vikings’ secondary. Okay, that last part isn’t quite true, but when you’re playing your fourth-best corner against the opponent’s number one receiver (at least, until he leaves the game with a shoulder injury), and your third-best safety (until he leaves the game with a hamstring pull), it’s going to be a long, long day for the defence.
In traditional Viking style, Harvin entered the record books, but not in a good way: his 104-yard kick return is almost certainly the longest in NFL history that didn’t conclude with a touchdown.
After Sunday’s mistake-filled outing against the Oakland Raiders, Minnesota sits at the bottom of the NFC North division with a sad 2-8 record. On top of the loss, Adrian Peterson was injured in the second quarter and did not return to the game.
If the season ended today, that’d merit a top-four pick in April’s NFL Draft. Only Indianapolis (0-10), Carolina (2-8) and St. Louis (2-8) have matched the Vikings in the loss column, and at least the Colts have a valid excuse.
No one circumstance can bear the blame for penalties, turnovers and missed opportunities that continue to haunt the Vikings week after week — save for the reality of a second consecutive lost season that has eviscerated any sense of urgency in the locker room.
“It’s a difference from last year, just being in there,” receiver Percy Harvin said. “Everybody has a high spirit. We were just talking about it before this game. One of the coaches pulled me to the side and was like, ‘This doesn’t feel like a losing team.’”
No, but they’re playing like one. Not always for 60 minutes, but for stretches long enough to cripple them — even against a Raiders team that hemorrhaged 117 yards on 12 penalties, had a field goal blocked and fumbled when it was trying to run out the clock.
Christian Ponder’s 37-yard strike to Visanthe Shiancoe up the seam set up a 1-yard touchdown throw to Kyle Rudolph on the next play, pulling the Vikings to within six with 5:08 to go. The defense forced a punt but the offense stalled, with Tyvon Branch breaking up Ponder’s out-breaking throw for Harvin on fourth-and-8.
“We just kept making mistakes, especially me,” said Ponder, who threw three interceptions. “I kept making mistakes, kept turning the ball over. You can’t win games that way. I’ve got a lot of learning to do.”
There were times during the 2009 season you could have argued that the Vikings were the best team in football. Today, they are contending to become the worst.
Well before they lost to Oakland, the Vikings, a dubious stew of uninspired coaching and overrated talent, had blown their chance to contend. Beating the Raiders would have been like putting Neosporin on a broken tibia.
When you’re as bad as the Vikings have been, winning the odd game accomplishes nothing.
Losing offers hope.
The Vikings now have a realistic chance of landing the second pick in the 2012 NFL draft.
That should be their goal. The way they played for most of Sunday’s game, they should be up to the task.
Tom Pelissero has the task of going through the tape of Monday night’s game against the Packers, doing the stats and assessing the play of the team. It’s not a happy job:
Here’s the tale of the tape from the Minnesota Vikings’ 45-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers, with grades on a scale of 0 to 5 in parentheses:
Quarterbacks (1)
Packers DC Dom Capers pulled out all the stops to chase and confuse QB Christian Ponder (62 snaps), who looked truly flustered at times for the first time in his young career. Using 11 different combinations of blitzers and mixing man and zone coverage behind them, Capers sent 28 patterns (rushes involving inside linebackers or defensive backs) in Ponder’s 36 dropbacks (77.8%), including the last nine in a row despite leading by 30-plus. MLB Desmond Bishop blitzed most frequently (13 times), followed by CB Charles Woodson (seven), BLB A.J. Hawk (seven), subpackage CB Jarrett Bush (six), FS Morgan Burnett (three) and CB Tramon Williams (one). The result was three sacks, 17 total QB pressures, three passes batted at the line and a 16-of-34 passing line (47.1%) that could have been worse if Ponder hadn’t stuck several tough throws into traffic. A flat-footed strike up the seam for 33 on third-and-4 was as good as it got. Ponder made one terrible decision, turning a flea-flicker into an interception for Williams even though the Packers had the right defense to defend it. Woodson missed chances for two more interceptions — one on a late crossing throw, the other when two players collided in pattern. A fumble caused by LOLB Clay Matthews’ sack was recovered by a teammate. Ponder scrambled twice for 17 yards. It seemed like Capers was in the Vikings huddle with the way the Packers kept taking away bootlegs, screens and other manufactured plays. One of Ponder’s three “explosive” completions and 38 of his 190 passing yards (20%) came on the final drive, after Green Bay had pulled several starters. The rookie has long way to go, but don’t they all? Joe Webb (three) took a counter option for 6 yards on his lone snap under center and played two snaps at receiver, catching his first NFL pass for 9 yards on a long drag against Woodson on third-and-18.
The rest of the article is just as depressing as this. The highest mark he hands out is a bare (2) to the defensive line. The receivers and the defensive backs each got half a mark, which may be too generous. You may have the best running back in the NFL (and I think they do), but if you can’t pass and you can’t stop your opponent from passing, it is not going to make enough of a difference.
The Vikings’ season is over, but the chatter carries on. Jim Souhan, however, looks at the surviving playoff contenders and draws an interesting conclusion:
