Quotulatiousness

December 15, 2014

Vikings let a late lead slip away at Detroit

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:31

The underdog Minnesota Vikings visited Detroit on Sunday to play the Lions for the second time this season. The first meeting between the two teams was a completely one-sided win for Detroit: Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw three interceptions and was sacked eight times during the game. This time was supposed to be different … and it was, but not quite enough. As the game had few playoff implications (the Vikings’ slim chances were dashed on Thursday), the broadcast wasn’t available in the Toronto market, so I again had to follow the game through Twitter, and the first half sounded great. Teddy Bridgewater was having an amazing first half (15 of 18, 168 yards and 1 TD), and the Vikings built up a two-touchdown lead by the middle of the second quarter.

Teddy’s game after the second score wasn’t as impressive, as he was picked off on back-to-back throws which the Lions turned into 10 points. In the duel of the kickers, Detroit’s Matt Prater managed two more field goals, while Blair Walsh had one short attempt blocked and missed on the other two (from 53 and 68 yards), which turned out to be the deciding factor in the game.

The Vikings defence did enough to keep the game close, as 1500ESPN‘s Andrew Krammer says:

The Lions gained just 32 yards on Detroit’s first five possessions, limited by a Vikings’ defense that held Matthew Stafford without a first down in the first quarter.

Stafford didn’t get any breathing room until Teddy Bridgewater tossed his first interception, which set the Lions up at the Vikings’ 11. Stafford cut into the Vikings’ lead with a seven-yard touchdown to Golden Tate just two plays later.

“Thought we did some good things,” Zimmer said. “When you’re playing a team that has that much explosive weapons, you have to pick your spots in all the things you do.”

With cornerback Xavier Rhodes shadowing Calvin Johnson, the Vikings were mostly able to neutralize the Lions’ best screen blocker and jumped the short passes to Tate, starting with a one-yard gain on a 3rd-and-2 attempt to end Detroit’s first possession.

“Third downs was obviously a key today,” Zimmer said. “But they made enough plays to win the game.”

Detroit ultimately converted just 2 third downs the entire game, but one came on a 17-yard screen to running back Joique Bell in the second half that led to a Matt Prater field goal. Prater’s 33-yard chip on the next drive gave the Lions a 16-14 lead that stood as final after the Vikings gave up 138 yards on 23 plays before Detroit tried to run out the clock.

The Vikings finished with no sacks for just the second game under Zimmer, but they still held Stafford to his lowest yardage total (155) since a Dec. 8, 2013 loss in Philadelphia (151).

“Hopefully this will springboard us into the kind of football team I want to have,” Zimmer said.

October 13, 2014

Detroit’s second win at Minnesota in 17 years

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:44

For the second week in a row, Minnesota lost against a divisional rival in an ugly game. While the score didn’t get out of hand, thanks to a stouter defensive effort, Detroit’s front four were getting to Teddy Bridgewater far too quickly and it clearly affected his play. After the first drive for the Lions, the Vikings defence held up quite well, but the Vikings couldn’t get anything going when they had the ball. As a few sites mentioned, over the last two games, the Vikings have given up more sacks (14) than they’ve scored points (13). I don’t think it’s mathematically possible to win anything under those conditions.

The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover isn’t handing out any gold stars to the team in this week’s summary:

Matt Kalil And The Matadors: If last week was kind of rock bottom for the Vikings franchise as a whole in 2014, the offensive line caught up with everyone else against Detroit. Kalil was a sieve, but the entire line was absolutely mauled by the Lions. Maul … Lions … please tell me you saw what I just did there. Kalil, Charlie Johnson, John Sullivan, Vlad the Impalee Ducasse, and Phil Loadholt each got pantsed, repeatedly, by somebody on the Detroit defensive front. Ziggy Ansah was particularly terrifying today, and if Kalil and company don’t get it figured out, like right now, Teddy Bridgewater isn’t going to last three more games.

Teddy Bridgewater, QB: Teddy didn’t have a lot of time to set up and throw today, but he also held the ball and seemed a lot more tentative, at times, than he was against the Falcons. Granted, he was under pressure all day, and eight sacks is unacceptable, but I would argue two of them were on him for holding the ball. His first interception was a terrible, terrible decision and throw, but I’ll cut him some slack on the other two, as they were tipped or went through the hands of a receiver. And if there was something that kind of bothered me, other than the stuff I’ve already talked about, it seemed that Bridgewater seemed to go to his checkdown guy an inordinate amount of time today. Maybe it was because he was the only guy open or he didn’t have time to find a guy downfield (quite possible), but it was still somewhat troubling.

Cordarrelle Patterson And the Drop A Ball Trio: It’s pretty tough to climb and crawl back in to a ball game when your three primary targets — Patterson, Jarius Wright, and Greg Jennings — are 50/50 at best on whether or not they’ll catch a pass or drop it. When Bridgewater did get time and was able to make a throw, it was iffy on whether or not these three — or anyone not named Chase Ford or McKinnon, actually — would hold on to the football. As bad as the Vikings had played, they were only down 10 well through three full quarters of play. But yeah, poor blocking and an inability to catch the football killed any realistic chances the Vikings had to get back in the game.

Jeff Locke, P: Jeff Locke pretty much blows. When the Vikings need a good punt to flip field position, he can’t deliver. When you give the opponent an average starting position of the 30 or 35 yard line, you’re not doing your job. At all. Meh.

The announcers for the game were flat-out terrible, and I lost track of the number of times I’d be correcting them on players’ names and even which coaches worked for each team. I guess in some ways it matched the offensive ineptitude on display for Minnesota. 1500ESPN‘s Andrew Krammer and Derek Wetmore reported from the stadium after the game:

December 31, 2013

Vikings start search for new head coach

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 11:36

I was away for a few days, celebrating our 30th anniversary, so I didn’t get to watch the final game at the Metrodome between the Vikings and the Detroit Lions (see Arif Hasan’s summary here). I was also away from my computer when the news came down that the team had fired head coach Leslie Frazier. I wasn’t surprised that Frazier took the blame for the awful 2013 season, but it also wouldn’t have surprised me greatly if they’d decided to keep Frazier. The problem was really at the quarterback position, not the head coach (although Frazier and his staff certainly made some mistakes). One of the big mistakes was on display during the game against the Lions: the outstanding performance by Cordarrelle Patterson … in whom the coaching staff had so little confidence that he barely saw the playing field for most of the season.

Even with the best running back in the game and a rising star at wide receiver, the Vikings could only do so much with the quarterback floundering. I liked Christian Ponder when he was drafted, and I’d hoped to see him grow into the kind of quarterback you can build a franchise around. Instead, Ponder regressed to the point that benching him was a kindness. Matt Cassel was an excellent signing as a backup and did quite well when he was called upon to take over the starting role. I hope he decides to come back for the second year of his contract (which can be voided by either the team or the player). I still don’t understand what happened with Josh Freeman…

The Vikings have the 8th overall pick in the 2014 draft, and would have had the same pick even if they’d lost the game to the Lions because all the teams above them in the draft order lost on Sunday. The obvious choice with that pick would be a quarterback (Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M has been the common prediction for the Vikings in early mock drafts). There are certainly other needs that could be addressed if all the “can’t miss” quarterback prospects are off the board by then, including cornerback, linebacker, safety, defensive end, and nose tackle. I’ve even seen fantasists floating the idea of trading Adrian Peterson to the Rams for their two first-round picks. I guess having had multiple first-rounders in the last two years has spoiled the draftniks.

Before the news of Frazier’s firing, John Holler explained why it was likely to happen:

If the Vikings fire Leslie Frazier today, it’s not because he isn’t a good head coach. He is.

It won’t be because his team quit on him. They didn’t. At a time when pragmatic fans were thinking it wouldn’t be so bad if the Vikings lost all their remaining games when they were 1-7 at midseason, the Vikings went 4-3-1 in the second half – the best record in the division, as well as a 2-0-1 record against the NFC North in Act II of their annual meetings.

It won’t be because his players didn’t have his back. They do. If you were to ask anyone who has spent any amount of time with Frazier to define his character, you wouldn’t hear a dissenting opinion. If the Vikings had a 36-12 record over the last three years and players were asked if Frazier was a better coach or human being, that 12-win average would pale by comparison.

Frazier is a good coach. He is an exemplary man.

The Vikings are going to undergo a significant overhaul in the next few months and, at the moment, it doesn’t appear as though that is going to include Frazier. Have the Vikings succeeded under his watch? The empirical evidence says no. Given that 8-7-1 won the NFC North, it can be argued that the Vikings were more snake-bit than dismal.

But, in a bottom-line world, over the last three seasons as head coach, Frazier has a regular season record of 18-29-1 in 48 games and is 0-1 in the postseason.

If the thought process at Winter Park is based on a belief that Frazier can be the person to mold the young core of the Vikings team moving forward, he will be back next year. But, in the NFL, lame-duck coaching contracts are rarely fulfilled. Change is constant in the NFL. Players come. Players go. Coaches come. Coaches go. Unfortunately, character isn’t a consideration. If it was, Frazier would have been given a vote of confidence.

He didn’t get it.

In the end, it’s not personal. It’s only business.

Frazier’s firing got almost unanimous response from the Twin Cities sportswriters who’ve been covering the Vikings:

Update, 2 January: Cordarrelle Patterson just won the Offensive Rookie of the Month award, having been the first rookie to score at least three rushing and three receiving touchdowns since Roger Craig in December, 1983. He’s the fourth Viking to win ORotM, joining Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, and Percy Harvin.

Patterson was also named to the All-NFC North team:

Even if several players got spots because they were the best options in a mediocre division, the Vikings’ group of all-division players did provide highlights. Patterson was the best kick returner in the NFL, leading the league with a 32.4-yard return average and becoming the only player in the league to return two kicks for touchdowns. Peterson finished fifth in the NFL with 1,266 rushing yards, despite carrying only 18 times in the final four games and missing two with groin and foot injuries. And Robison had the best year of his career, finishing with nine sacks and ending the year second in the NFL with 81 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

It’s tough to find too many snubs on the Vikings roster. The biggest one might be punt returner Marcus Sherels, who surged at the end of the season and finished third in the NFL with a 15.2-yard return average. Sherels, though, was up against a strong field; every punt returner in the NFC North had a touchdown this season.

December 20, 2013

The NFC North and the inexplicable Detroit Lions

Filed under: Football, Humour — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 00:02

Remember that highly accurate cartoon Draw Play Dave Rappoccio drew a few weeks ago, showing the true state of the NFC North:

DrawPlayDave - The NFC North

He’s got an expanded version of that up at his site as a full strip, and provides this additional information:

The NFC North is like wacko world these days. The Bears lose Jay Cutler, have a terrible Defense, and then Josh McCown opens up the McOWN ZONE and suddenly the Bears are on top. The Packers lose Aaron Rodgers for the year, tie with Minnesota, have a terrible defense, trot out the likes of Scott Tolzein and Matt “around the league in 80 games” Flynn and they have managed second place and have a chance for the division. The Vikings are a pile of trash with an aging defense and no good option at QB. Yet they just blew out the Eagles. And AP wasn’t even playing. Not even Toby Gerhart was playing.

But the biggest WTF has been the Lions. When Rodgers and Cutler both went down and the Vikings being bad and the Lions in first place, it was like the football gods visited Detroit and said “Here. I’m sick of those cheese mongers in Green Bay. Chicago is overrated. Nobody wants to live in Minnesota. Here Detroit. You never have nice things. have the division. On us. Silver Platter. All you gotta do is win a few games”

And Detroit was like “Nah, I’m good”, then took a big steaming dump and started rolling around in it. They were basically handed the division and are now in third with 2 games left. How can a team with as much talent as the Lions have just crap the bed like this? I know, I know, “Lol lions, lol Detroit” but step back and look at them. They have the best WR in the game. They have a very competent though not elite QB in Stafford, who has stayed healthy. Their defensive line is absurd. Reggie Bush has been doing things. How did this happen?

September 11, 2013

NFL still not serious about player safety

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 10:00

Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh has a long history of abusive play: he’s been fined several times for deliberately attempting to harm other players (Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith and Houston’s Matt Schaub, both during Thanksgiving Day games, and now his illegal hit on Minnesota’s John Sullivan during Sunday’s game). ESPN1500‘s Judd Zulgad says the league “dropped the ball” in the latest incident:

In Suh, the NFL has a repeat offender and a player who has tried to injure opponents. That means they have the perfect man to make an example of at every turn.

The fact Suh is a key part of the Lions’ defense is even more of a reason to do this. He has lost the right to ever receive the benefit of the doubt.

For this hit, the NFL should have fined Suh $100,000 and suspended him for one game.

The league should have then informed Suh that the next time he thinks about throwing a questionable block, stomping on someone or delivering a questionable hit that the fine will be $150,000 and the suspension will be two games.

The third time, he will be out $200,000 and the suspension will be three games.

This will give the Lions far more incentive to make sure that Suh cleans up his act and if he can’t then he will cheap shot his way right out of the NFL.

September 9, 2013

Vikings start season with bad outing in Detroit

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 08:36

The Detroit Lions did just about everything they could to be good hosts: they kept providing the guests with opportunities to take extra advantage of mistakes, miscues, and assorted errors, but the Vikings seemed equally determined not to take advantage. The first half ended with the Vikings in the lead, but Detroit having demonstrated that they could move the ball pretty much at will and only bad luck and individual player errors kept them from being at least a touchdown ahead.

The (very) short list of Vikings who looked like they came to play football on Sunday included Jerome Simpson (who had his best receiving performance since he joined the team with 7 catches for 140 yards), Jared Allen, Harrison Smith (but more in the second half), and Blair Walsh … that pretty much rounds out the top ten. The rest of the team ranked somewhere between “adequate” and “cover-your-eyes awful”. Even the NFL MVP from last season had a relatively pedestrian outing. If you take away Adrian Peterson’s first run (78 yards for at touchdown), he didn’t even manage to average one yard per rush after that (15 yards on 17 carries). None of Minnesota’s three first-round draft picks had a memorable day (Sharrif Floyd was in the rotation at defensive tackle and had a pass deflection with those tragically short arms, Xavier Rhodes had a couple of penalties at corner, and Cordarrelle Patterson was given few opportunities to return kicks on special teams and had only one reception).

Reggie Bush, Detroit’s latest running back addition, had a great game both on the ground and through the air (90 yards rushing and 101 receiving). The absence of Kevin Williams at defensive tackle gave Bush lots of opportunities to showcase his elusive running style. As noted by a few commentators, the lack of Antoine Winfield on running downs was quite apparent (in two games against Detroit last year, Winfield tallied 20 tackles). A partial explanation for the poor defensive outing may be that they spent most of the first half on the field, but that doesn’t excuse the overall performance.

1500ESPN‘s Judd Zulgad and Jeff Dubay have a rant:

Christopher Gates of the Daily Norseman:

Truth be told, if the Lions could have stopped shooting themselves in the foot in the first half, this game probably would have been decided significantly earlier than it was. They botched a field goal attempt on their opening drive, had what looked like a touchdown catch by Calvin Johnson overturned (on what was the right call). They had a touchdown taken off the board thanks to a personal foul penalty on Ndamukong Suh on what should have been a pick-six by DeAndre Levy off of a deflection by Simpson. Detroit wasn’t really that far away from putting up a 50-spot in this one. . .the Vikings were relatively lucky that things were as close as they were, given the circumstances.

It was an ugly loss for the Vikings on Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, and it was truly a group effort. Hopefully this team can get themselves together before next Sunday at Soldier Field. . .a place that, incidentally, they pretty much never win at. Getting into an 0-2 hole not just in the overall standings, but in the division, after the first two games of the season is going to be a pretty tough hole to dig out of.

Can the Vikings learn from this loss? Sure, they can. Will they? Unfortunately, we have to wait seven days to find out.

The Star Tribune‘s Jim Souhan is losing patience with Christian Ponder:

Let’s cut through the enabling fog: Ponder cost the Vikings a potentially important victory Sunday, and he should have taken full blame.

At the helm of an offense featuring the NFL MVP, an excellent offensive line, a Pro Bowl tight end and a dramatically improved receiving corps, Ponder filled the role of neither inspired leader nor adequate facilitator. He didn’t make winning plays, and he didn’t avoid losing plays.

Facing a defense intent on stopping Peterson, he threw three interceptions. One would have resulted in a defensive touchdown if not for a despicable personal foul by the NFL’s dirtiest player, Ndamukong Suh. Ponder was saved from a fourth interception and another touchdown return when Lions defender Bill Bentley dropped a Ponder pass with nothing but fake grass between him and the end zone.

Don’t believe what Ponder’s apologists will tell you about the team sharing blame, and don’t look at the stat sheet, which showed 18 completions on 28 attempts for 236 yards. Perhaps the scariest aspect of Ponder’s performance was not his oh-no-he-didn’t throws. It was that even his completions looked shaky.

August 12, 2013

Trick kicking, Norwegian style

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:44

Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column has lots of nice things to say about this young man:

For the sheer story-telling of it, Havard Rugland has to be this morning’s winner. He’ll tell his story at The MMQB in detail Tuesday, but the short version is this: Soccer player from a small town in southwest Norway, enchanted with American football. Ordered a football online in early 2011, began kicking it for fun, made a YouTube video of him powerfully kicking a football, Norwegian TV picked it up, it got some buzz on American TV, and the Jets invited him for a tryout late last year. Detroit tried him out, then signed him last spring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBWxJdlxWvM&feature=player_embedded

“I scored some points in a real football game,” Rugland said from the Lions’ facility Sunday, still sounding incredulous about it all in his quite-good English. “It is such an incredible feeling, when that first kick went through.”

It showed. For a third-quarter first-preseason-game field goal, Rugland’s 49-yarder engendered huge emotion on the Lions’ sidelines. Linebacker Stephen Tulloch lifted Rugland in the air, and the team gathered ‘round, pounding him on the pads and helmet. It’s hard to have a feel-good, memorable moment in a first preseason game, but this was certainly one.

November 12, 2012

Vikings defence emerges from witness protection program to mug Detroit 34-24

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:24

All the early signs of team collapse were visible: top cornerback out for several weeks with a broken arm, top receiver out for at least a week with an ankle injury, team morale fading after two ugly losses… and in spite of all that, the Vikings managed to pull a quite convincing win out of the hat. The top performance for the Vikings was Adrian Peterson’s 171 yards on 27 carries, while Detroit’s Megatron (Calvin Johnson) tallied 207 yards receiving on 12 catches. The most pleasant surprise of the day was the very impressive debut of wide receiver Jarius Wright, whose first NFL reception went for 54 yards and his second reception was the first TD of the game.

Christopher Gates at the Daily Norseman:

Had I told you earlier on in the day that not only would the Minnesota Vikings not have Percy Harvin for their game this afternoon against the Detroit Lions, but they would complement that by allowing Calvin Johnson to go over 200 yards receiving and to get just his second touchdown reception of the year (and his first from Matthew Stafford) … how many points would you have told me the Vikings would lose by?

Well, it turns out that they didn’t lose at all. In fact, they won the game by ten points, with the Lions getting a touchdown towards the end of the game for purely cosmetic purposes. Sure, Stafford got over 300 yards passing, and Johnson went berzerk as I mentioned … but in the end, it didn’t matter. The Minnesota Vikings did what they had to do when they needed to do it, and they swept a divisional opponent for the first time since 2009 as a result. So how did it happen?

October 1, 2012

Vikings beat Lions 20-13 in Detroit

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:17

Minnesota finally broke the longest in-division losing streak in the NFL, having lost 11 straight divisional games up to yesterday’s visit to Ford Field in Detroit. The Vikings never trailed after Percy Harvin took the opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown. Later in the game, punt returner Marcus Sherels went 77 yards to score a second special teams TD. Adrian Peterson got his first 100-yard rushing game of the season, and Christian Ponder continued his zero interception streak going for another game (but it was the defence and special teams players who won the game … with a lot of help from Detroit’s butter-fingered wide receiving corps).

(more…)

December 12, 2011

Vikings’ fumbles start and end game at Detroit

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:55

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.

(more…)

December 8, 2011

What early Xmas gift can you give to your favourite NFL quarterback?

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:30

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.

September 26, 2011

Vikings blow big halftime lead: this is not a repeat of the last two weeks

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 09:22

Oh, wait. No, it actually is a repeat of the last two weeks. This time the team had a 20-point lead to fritter away, and the Detroit Lions had to go to overtime to win.

Christopher Gates sums it up nicely:

The Vikings took a team that had been averaging 37.5 points per game over the first two weeks of the year and won by 45 points the week before, and held them off of the scoreboard in the first half. In the first thirty minutes of play, they held that offense to 50 total yards.

And then, in the second half, it all happened again. . .Stafford tore apart a soft zone again. Adrian Peterson got hardly any touches in the second half again. Percy Harvin, like many of us, spent a great deal of the second half throwing up. Donovan McNabb did very little in the second half.

Jim Souhan renews his call from yesterday to bench Donovan McNabb and give Christian Ponder his first NFL start:

This is what a football apocalypse looks like: Fans jeering, players screaming on the sideline, coaches making irrational decisions, players committing destructive penalties, and a proud group of veterans collapsing in the second half for the third consecutive week while their owners beg for a new stadium.

The meaningful portion of the Vikings’ 2011 schedule concluded on Sept. 25 at the Metrodome, as they blew a 20-point halftime lead and lost in overtime, falling to 0-3. Only three teams since 1990 have made the playoffs after starting 0-3, and none of them was outscored 67-6 after halftime in their first three games, as the Vikings have been.

[. . .]

So it’s time for the Vikings to start thinking of “Ponder” as a noun, not a verb.

The decision to sign veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb made sense. If he played well, he could guide an ambitious team into the playoffs. If he didn’t, he could buy time for rookie quarterback Christian Ponder to develop.

Having failed at the former, McNabb has already accomplished the latter. Ponder has had a full training camp and three game weeks to learn the Vikings offense.

[. . .]

McNabb is not solely responsible for the Vikings’ woes, but he is the only member of the organization whose demotion could prove beneficial. You can’t fire a head coach or coordinator three games into their tenures, and changing left tackles has never inspired a team or changed the direction of a franchise.

The Vikings will play at Kansas City on Sunday. Giving Ponder his first NFL start there would make sense. The Chiefs are 0-3, and Ponder, having played at Florida State, may think that all of the Indian symbolism was put in place to welcome him.

Eric J. Thompson tries to put it in perspective:

Yep folks, that’s what the 2011 season has come to already. Bad attempts at humor to deflect pain from the worst 0-3 start imaginable. And when I say “imaginable”, I mean it — because you couldn’t make this sh*t up. Seriously: outscoring your opponents 54-7 in the first half only to be outscored 67-6 after halftime?! And all of that incredible ineptitude without committing a single second half turnover? You couldn’t even lose like that on purpose if you were playing Madden. We’d all be amazed if we weren’t all so damn depressed.

But fear not, fellow Vikings fans. I’m giving you an out. I’m saying right here and now, before the calendar even turns to October, that it’s OK to emotionally check out from expecting anything for the 2011 season.

Now before you jump all over me in the comments section calling me a sell out or a fair weather bandwagon jumper, let me explain. I’m still going to watch all 13 Vikings games that remain on the 2011 schedule, and I’m still going to vehemently root for them every step of the way. I’ll still be extremely pissed when they lose and I’ll still be overjoyed when they win. It’s in my DNA, whether I like it or not. But I am officially done believing that this season will result in anything else but watching other NFC North team(s) in the playoffs after Week 17 is completed. It’s awful to admit, but them’s the facts, folks.

September 22, 2011

Detroit Lions favoured over the Vikings this Sunday

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:44

It’s actually a rare thing for Detroit to be the favourite when playing the Vikings at home. It hasn’t happened for quite some time. In fact, the last time they were the favourites was in week three . . . of the 1981 season.

Usually, when Minnesota sees Detroit coming up on the schedule, they can mark a win for that week. That is no longer true: Detroit has been improving at about the same rate that the Vikings have been disintegrating. They beat Tampa Bay at home in the season opener, then hung a vicious 48-3 beating on the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend. They’re coming in at 2-0, while the Vikings are 0-2 having blown halftime leads in both games so far this season.

Judd Zulgad, now with ESPN1500.com, thinks that a Vikings loss this week means the team will have to accept that they’re in rebuilding mode — that the current team is on the downward slide and no quick fixes are available.

It’s going to be very hard for Frazier to reverse course now and tell anyone that it’s time to look to the future. He already convinced his players that he is all in and it’s very difficult (almost unfair) to ask any coach to give up on a season.

That means Spielman would be the logical candidate to be the bad guy and set in motion a rebuilding process that could land a top-five draft pick. Spielman doesn’t have the general manager title but he is the guy that must take the long-term view of what’s best for this franchise.

A loss to the Lions means the Vikings must begin thinking about when first-round pick Christian Ponder will be ready to replace Donovan McNabb at quarterback and when other personnel changes might make the most sense.

The Ponder for McNabb swap is the obvious one — and should only be done when there is a belief that Ponder is ready to take over — but there are other veterans who could be replaced in 2011 with an eye on making sure a younger player is ready to go in 2012.

[. . .]

It also would become important to begin plucking talent off the waiver wire each week, meaning a once valuable veteran might have to be shown the door. This approach would mean sacrificing a few potential and meaningless victories in the name of upgrading the roster for the future.

None of this would be pleasant for Frazier or anyone else associated with the Vikings franchise in the short term, but in the long run it likely would be the quickest and most efficient way to get back on track.

September 27, 2010

Detroit improves, but not enough to beat Vikings

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 08:36

Yesterday’s 24-10 victory was a result of two things going well for the Vikings: the base defence and Adrian Peterson. Peterson ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns (including a career-long 80 yard run), while the defence kept Detroit to three-and-out several times. All of Detroit’s points came from turnovers. Brett Favre had a less-than-stellar outing, with only 201 yards passing for one touchdown and two interceptions, being sacked twice and hit several other times.

On their first offensive play, the Vikings lost starting center John Sullivan to a calf injury. Ryan Cook looked quite good coming off the bench to replace him. Later in the game, Visanthe Shiancoe had a leg injury and left the field.

Minnesota’s passing game is still very much a work in progress: although Favre distributed the ball to lots of receivers, it was almost all short passes. The longest pass was the touchdown reception by Percy Harvin, and that appears to have been a defensive miscue, leaving Harvin uncovered.

It was the first NFL start for rookie cornerback Chris Cook, who was injured in the preseason and the first start of the season for Cedric Griffin, who is now fully recovered from his torn ACL in the NFC championship game.

September 26, 2010

Vikings-Lions . . . the NFC North’s basement dwellers

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:40

After missing going to the Superbowl by inches last season, the Vikings are on a two-game losing streak. They look nothing like last season’s dominant squad, and there’s a hint of desperation in the air. Normally, facing the Detroit Lions would be a gimme for the Vikings. It might still be today, but as Jim Souhan points out, things may be changing in Detroit:

The worst Midwestern franchise this side of the Timberwolves will play in the Metrodome on Sunday, and the Vikings may leave a trail of rose petals between the Lions’ hotel and the stadium, just to make sure they show up on time.

In a sink-or-swim league, the Lions have long been the Vikings’ water wings. Sunday, the Vikes have the privilege of facing a should-lose team in a must-win game.

Where would the Vikings be without the Lions? Bud Grant (26-8-1 against Detroit) might not be in the Hall of Fame. Mike Tice (8-0 against the Lions) wouldn’t have kept his job so long. Brad Childress (7-1 against Detroit) would have a lower approval rating than house mold.

The Lions are to the Vikings what the curtain was to the Wizard of Oz.

Here’s the problem for The Purple: This might be the last day for a long time they can treat the Lions like kitty litter.

It’s frequently said that football teams are built from the lines. No matter how good your quarterback is, if the offensive line can’t keep him upright long enough to throw the ball or hand off to the running back, you’re not going to win games. On the defensive side of the ball, the more pressure your linemen can get on the opposing quarterback, the fewer options they have and the less likely they are to score. Detroit has done a good job of building their defensive line for this season, adding Kyle Vanden Bosh, Corey Williams, and rookie Ndamukong Suh.

Minnesota has been having trouble keeping Brett Favre standing upright and wearing a clean jersey this season. The Lions are starting to become the kind of team opposing quarterbacks hate to face (they sacked Michael Vick five times in last week’s game against the Eagles).

And all of this doesn’t mention that Detroit appears to have a franchise quarterback (although injured for this game), a very impressive rookie running back, and a legitimate number one wide receiver. The kind of line-up the Lions have not been able to boast of since their glory days — and nobody seems to remember when those glory days might have been.

As Souhan says, maybe it won’t be this year for Detroit, but they have started to improve and may not be the cupcake of the NFC for much longer.

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