Vikings defeat the Pakcers 28 - 27

The Vikings won 28 – 27 over the Green Bay Packers.

I can only think of a handful of things that make me happier than watching the Green Bay Packers lose to the Minnesota Vikings. It was nice to see the Vikings outplay their opponent for the second week in a row. Obviously, there are things that need to be addressed. I’ll start with areas that need improvement before I get to the positives.

Gus Frerotte. I think it’s safe to say that was his worst game as a Viking. However, we need to be careful about how much we pile on him. Yes, he made three very unwise decisions to throw the ball when he shouldn’t have that resulted in interceptions. He also had several throws that went straight into the dirt (or turf I suppose…) not allowing his receivers the opportunity to make a play on the ball. However, he does a good job of seeing the field – which is why he is the starter now over Tarvaris. His throw to Chester Taylor for the touchdown is a great example. It was a simple check down as Gus was getting flushed from the pocket. He got it over to Chester and Chester made a great play out of it that gave the Vikes a touchdown. That’s part of what wins games. You want to not make mistakes, but perhaps more importantly you always want to give players the opportunity to make a play. Gus has some work to do, but I expect him to rebound after this game. Green Bay has arguably the best cover corners in the league. The secondary plays a ton of man and the corners do a nice job of getting physical with any receiver.

Special teams. I was very impressed with the special teams all game long until the end. Kluwe punted really well. Ryan Longwell hit the long field goal missing another. At the time it didn’t seem that missing that field goal would hurt. Of course, losing potential points can always come back to haunt you – as it did with the Vikings on Sunday. The punt coverage team did well until they gave up the punt that was returned for a touchdown. They had many shots to make a tackle on that punt return which is probably the most maddening. Again, they didn’t do as well as we would like, but the consistency is improving – albeit slowly.

Wide Receivers. I mentioned earlier how good the Packers secondary is. I meant every word of it, but at the same time that’s not an excuse for the Vikes wide receivers to get a free pass. Two wide receivers had catches for a whopping total of 4 catches (Bobby Wade had three and Sidney Rice had 1). Bobby Wade also contributed two drops to the effort (or lack thereof). Again, I understand that Gus missed on some plays that could have been. Berrian was wide open on one play and it bounced into Berrian’s hands. I still want to see more consistency from these receivers game in and game out. I should add that Shiancoe did have three receptions as well. Though he is a tight end, they do split him out from time to time. Even with Shiancoe’s yards though, they only had 31 yards receiving from their non-running backs.

Positives.

Everything else.

Offensive Line. If the offensive line continues to play like they did against the Packers, it’s going to be hard for anyone to stop the Vikes from making the playoffs. Gus will play better and with the time that the line is giving him, he will pick apart future opponents. Peterson had 192 yards rushing and most of those yards were not on the big flashy plays. His long was only 29 yards, which means that many of the yards were coming from 3-5 yard gains which is the result of the offensive line constantly pushing the opponent back. My game ball would go to either the offensive line or to the defense.

The defense. I don’t know that I can say enough good things about this unit after this week. This was the most dominant performance from this defense this year. It needs to be noted that they just shut down a very powerful offense from Green Bay. Green Bay’s offensive line is a good unit. They have one of the best receiver combos in the league. Aaron Rodgers is a heck of a quarterback in the making. I now understand why they didn’t want Brett Favre back in Green Bay. They wanted Aaron Rodgers to be the future and they didn’t want to do anything to prevent Rodgers from being the future. I can’t blame them at this point – Aaron is going to be a great quarterback unless something goes horribly wrong. Jared Allen played a very dominant game. The linebackers were everywhere – including two sacks. The backfield did well with the Packers receivers. It was just an overall solid performance from the defense. As mentioned before, these guys would get my game ball unless I gave it to the offensive line.

Running backs. When your backup running back is Chester Taylor, you’re in good shape. A.P. lit it up. It was yet another game where he didn’t have as much flash as he did last year, but he’s playing more consistent football. Chester contributed a touchdown on a catch to help the winning effort. Another solid performance from this talented duo.

Coaching. Yes, I am going to say that the coaching was a strength. I know many don’t like Childress, but I’m starting to see better game time coaching. Motivation I’m still not so certain about, but Childress and Darrell Bevell made some wise decisions on play calling. Leslie Frazier did well with the defense. The Packers had problems picking up blitzes and recognizing coverages. The only call I didn’t understand was when Childress called a timeout before halftime with about 1:18 on the clock and it was 2^nd and 7. I was confused why you don’t run the clock down. If you get the first down, you still have three timeouts to work with. They were on their 40. There was enough time to run a play and see what happens for 3^rd down. That timeout left time on the clock and gave the Packers the chance to get the field goal after the interception. On the other side of the ball, Green Bay made the worst call of the game by challenging the touchdown for Adrian Peterson. I don’t understand what he thought he could gain from challenging that. If you don’t get it, you lose a timeout which would have been helpful for them at the end of the game. If you do get it, you force Minnesota to lineup on the ½ yard line with a 1^st down. That allows the Vikings to run time off the clock and still almost assures the Vikes of a touchdown. I just don’t know what he was thinking in that situation.

That’s all for this week. It was a good victory for the Vikings. It’s good to see the team coming together. They now find themselves tied for 1^st place in the NFC North with the Bears. Next up is @ Tampa Bay.

It’s been a while since my last post, but I’m back now. The timing couldn’t be better. The Vikings won yesterday in a way I have been longing for all season. They won a game they should have one. They beat a team that they outplayed. They didn’t require the other team making stupid mistakes, the ref blowing a call, or even dumb luck to squeak away with a win in the final seconds.

I thought the offense looked good. The offensive line played well (for the second game in a row). The receivers caught the ball when they should have. Gus did well minus the one interception (hey, it happens to everyone). Peterson did his thing and Taylor did his. The play calling was decent and they set up some nice plays down the stretch as the game went on. You have to love what Bernard Berrian was able to do in the game. He is really starting to make some plays.

Perhaps the best thing in this game was the special teams. Kluwe had some great punts. Longwell was consistent like he always is. There were no miffed punts, blocked kicks, botched punt returns, etc. Everyone played solid football on the special teams side of the ball. Even the coverage units did a solid job.

The defense was what ultimately put this game away for the Vikes. Jared Allen recorded a couple more sacks to officially put this one in the books. Houston found only marginal running room. They did throw for a lot of yards though – which is definitely an area the Vikings will look to improve. Normally you hear offenses preaching about taking what the defense gives you. I felt that the defense did a good job of taking what the offense gave them. They played good solid defense – keeping the ball in front of them each play. Houston was forced to make good plays with smart, accurate throws to move the ball because the Vikings were never really caught out of position. The times when the ball wasn’t as on target as it needed to be or they tried to throw when they should have just let the play pass, the Vikings were able to capitalize.

Probably the best thing to take from this game is that there are things to take a look at and things to fix, but overall the Vikes played a solid football game. Hopefully they can continue that for next week against Green Bay…

Side notes:

There has been talk about Jared Allen’s sack total being too low. I wish people would forget the stupid stats. He is a great player and regardless what his sack total at the end of the year, he was worth what we gave up for him. He makes plays, forces fumbles, and just disrupts offenses. Not only does he play the pass well, but he’s an asset in the run game too.

In the football world, the thing that makes me the happiest is to see the Vikings win. However, second to that is watching the Packers lose. Both happened this weekend so it was a great weekend for me. Hopefully the same will happen next weekend too.

Cincinnati got their first win. This leaves Detroit as the only team without a win. Don’t you just feel bad for Detroit? If you sign with Detroit, you must REALLY want the money – or perhaps you want a chance to start? The way they go through personnel it seems everyone in Motown gets a shot at playing at some point or another.