Yup, now I've lost faith in the Minnesota Vikings. A comment from one of my roomates reminded me of this. He basically said that all Packer fans have been sitting back and enjoying the ride. While Viking fans were flying high at 10-1 and ready to give Brett Favre the title of "God of all Minnesota Sports", the Packer fans knew. Brett Favre wasn't going to make it through the season.
To my admission, I didn't see Favre throwing 23 TD and 3 INT through 11 games. However, I knew this was coming as well. Brett Favre was going to tank at some point. The Packer fans are now having the time of their life as their team seems to be peaking (with the exception of the loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday), while the Vikings seem ready to fight each other rather than win games.
The last Viking loss, I tried to put a positive spin on it. Really, there were a couple positives in that Arizona loss, but all I can see from Sunday is negatives. Consider the following....
- Brett Favre was shut down again. I don't know if it's because Percy Harvin makes that much of a difference in the Viking offense or what (He played, but he wasn't very effective), but Favre couldn't find open receivers.
- Brad Childress not only refused to call a play that wasn't a three yard slant, he tried to pull the Vikings best option to win when they were up by a point. That's right, 7 to 6. Brad Childress got his Schmigel on as he wanted to put "The Precious" Tarvaris Jackson in and Favre told him to @#$% off. So Brett hasn't been throwing downhill huh? Well it doesn't help when you want him to throw three yard slants and nothing else.
- This entirely isn't on Favre, by the way. The offensive line was awful on Sunday. Bryant McKinnie didn't even show up to the game. I don't think that even if there was a pole nearby, that McKinnie would have been able to stop Julius Peppers. Favre didn't have time to look downfield even if Childress called something other than a 3 yard slant. They also didn't open any holes for the running game. Speaking of which...
- What the hell has happened to Adrian Peterson. I'm starting to wonder if he's overthinking when he gets the football. The coaching staff has told him to become more patient and wait for a hole to open up. He's also gotten a lot of attention for his fumbling problems. The same problems that plagued many great running backs at the beginning of their careers. In Peterson's rookie year, he just took the ball and ran. Now he's stutter stepping at the line of scrimmage waiting for a hole that the offensive line can't open up. I'm beginning to think that the coaching has ruined him.
- The defense doesn't escape this either. We can't tackle anything right now. Antoine Winfield is back, and that helps, but he also missed a routine tackle that sprung a big play in the fourth quarter. Jasper Brinkley is being exposed a little bit in the absence of E.J. Henderson, and injuries are starting to take a toll.
- The Vikings also looked like they didn't care if they won or lost. News flash! New Orleans LOST Saturday. If the Vikings would have won that game, they would be a game back of the Saints with a tiebreaker in hand. Now, the Vikings are going to have to pray they can hold off Philadelphia for the 2 seed in the playoffs.
This is all coming to a head in the playoffs. I am thoroughly convinced that the destiny for this team is a third matchup with the Packers, a team that is hitting their stride. If the Vikings can't pull together and finish strong, the Vikings may get another look at the greatest quarterback in the history of the universe Aaron Rodgers. As of right now, Aaron Rodgers is the sheriff in Green Bay, and the Vikings may about to be @$%^ed by the long @#$% of the law.
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