The acid-penned Jim Souhan points out the difficulties facing the Vikings this season:
For months, the Vikings’ opener at New Orleans, in a rematch of an epic NFC title game, in the home of a city believing the Saints offered proof of its rebirth, felt as consequential and symbolic as Christmas.
Turns out it was more like Halloween — a holiday signifying little, featuring loud costumes and leaving half the participants with queasy stomachs.
Ugly and overhyped as it was, the Vikings’ 14-9 loss to the Saints doesn’t mean much. Losing on the road to a championship team early in the season is hardly fatal. It was just another Fleur de Loss in “The City That Doesn’t Sleep In Its Own Bed.”
What the loss means is that the Vikings suddenly have little margin for error. They haven’t dealt with this predicament previously with Favre at their helm.
Last year, they started with easy victories over Cleveland and Detroit, stole one from the 49ers and started the season 6-0. The early winning streak gave them immense confidence and a cushion in the NFC North that allowed them to survive unsightly late-season losses at Arizona, Carolina and Chicago.
In fact, that early winning streak obscured the Vikings’ struggles on the road under Favre. Including the end of last season, the playoff loss at New Orleans and Thursday’s loss, the Vikings have lost six of their past seven road games with Favre under center, a strange occurrence given his experience.
As I’ve enumerated before, the Vikings were lucky to return so many of their 2009 starting players and key backups, but luck had a lot to do with their early season last year. They’re not as lucky this time around, and it’ll be easy for bandwagoners to bail in coming weeks. The Vikings still have the talent to go deep into the playoffs — once Favre gets into synchronization with his wide receivers. That will take a few more games, if last year is a guide.
