The Vikings turned in their first "It looks like a big monkey came down, took a crap, and out popped the Minnesota Vikings." effort of the season Sunday night. The Arizona Cardinals took the liberty of simply beating the Vikings to a bloody pulp in front of a national television audience in this one. It was supposed to be "Look at how great Brett Favre and the Vikings are!" Instead, it was an absolute clunker.
It started out well. Tim Hightower fumbled the football on the Cards first drive and the Vikings recovered and scored a touchdown. From there, it went downhill incredibly fast. Phil Loadholt injured his shoulder (he returned to the game, but I'll bet that he'll be listed as questionable for Sunday's game vs. Cincy). Then, Bryant McKinnie rolled his ankle (He returned as well, but it's something to keep an eye on).
Yet, the big blow came in the 4th quarter, when E.J. Henderson Willis McGaheed his leg after colliding with a teammate. Obviously, he'll miss the rest of the season, and you have to question his effectiveness for the remainder of his career at age 29 and two major surgeries to his leg.
To add insult to injury, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth proved why they aren't very good at their jobs. Collinsworth said, "Percy Harvin was a running back at Florida and was converted to a wide receiver once he got to the Vikings." Um, no. Percy was USED at running back at Florida, but he was a WIDE RECEIVER!!! Do your homework, idiot. I'm sure if Percy Harvin played for the Cowboys, they would have had his stats at Florida memorized.
Anyways, when I was watching this game, I was pretty ticked off. But when you think about it, this might be what the Vikings needed. This season was seeming way too easy coming into this game. Even the game the Vikings lost at Pittsburgh, they played well and probably should have won the game if it weren't for Chester Taylor dropping a screen pass. Consider what happened in this game...
- Brett Favre threw two interceptions in this game (He threw 3 coming in, and even though it was a lower scale, did this get the whole "Brett just sucked ass tonight" thing out of the way?)
- The Vikings running game was stifled (We'll talk about this later this week, but maybe the offense getting owned will open their eyes and get them refocused.)
- The Vikings looked overmatched and unprepared.
I may be stretching on some, but the Vikings finally had a bad game. It's the NFL, every team has this type of game and it builds character. With all do respect for the Saints, they're not going to win every game in which they play like crap. One of these times, the kicker will actually make a 20 yard field goal. They may throw a clutch interception. Like the '98 Vikings, they may jump a route and blow a coverage in the process. The Vikings are still a good football team, and this loss may build more character and make the team stronger.
Now, I'm not ignoring the huge problem at linebacker now that Henderson is gone for the season. However, the Vikings are more prepared to deal with this than they were last year. The Vikings drafted Jasper Brinkley, who a lot of people think the Vikings got a steal getting him in the fifth round. Brinkley is better than David Herron and Napoleon Harris. Will the defense lose a beat with E.J. out? You bet. But it won't be as bad as last year.
The way the season stands, the Vikings have 4 games to go (vs. CIN, @ CAR, @ CHI, vs. NYG). The Saints have a magic number of 3 to clinch home-field advantage in the NFC. If they keep having miracle wins, it will come back and bite them in the ass. The Vikings have a huge test vs. the Bengals on Sunday. If they get a win, all will be resolved and the Vikings can feast on two bad teams before the Giants game. Also, if the Vikings have to play until the final whistle it could benefit them. Sitting out their starters sounds like a good idea, but of the last 3 Super Bowl Champions (Pitt, Giants, Indy), they all had something to play for in Week 17. Interesting. This is why you play the games.
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