Brad Childress

What a wacky game. Filled with twists and turns no one would have guessed, the Vikings were lucky to come away from the Superdome with their second victory under their belts. Here are some random thoughts:

• Going into the game I intended to focus the most on Childress’ playcalling. In fact, I was so bent on his potential firing I would have almost been happy if the Vikings had been embarrased. His performance on Monday night was filled with errors and mistakes, but a few great calls made up for them.The most obvious mistake of his, in my opinion, was not kicking the field goal on their first drive. It would have been a 54-yard kick, something everyone knows Longwell is more than capable of. Instead, Childress opted to try to pin the Saints back deep in their own territory, which failed. The Saints took over the ball just over 20 yards behind where the Vikings had punted from.
   
• What gets me, though, is why Childress choose to have Longwell kick a 53-yard field goal later in the first quarter. Is that his magic number? Anything over 53 yards is too far for Longwell to kick. Are you kidding me, Childress? Longwell jogged onto the field, nailed the kick (which would have been good from 60 yards), and calmly left. Not only is Childress inconsistent, but stupid as well.
   

• I was thrilled to see Bernard Berrian step up and prove that he is actually capable of making the big plays and is able to justify his huge salary. He had a total of 110 yards on six receptions. He was thrown to more than that, but Vikings fans must learn to take the dropped balls with the good. Had Tracy Porter not been covering him, Berrian would have had an ever bigger game. Porter made at least two great defensive plays which probably saved the Saints 50 yards. This kid is only 22 years old, but really had me impressed.

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  Bernard Berrian

   Bobby Wade also played a big role in this weird win. He had eight catches for 64 yards. Sidne Rice was inactive for the game, so Wade knew that he was the number two receiver and had to act the part.  

• There was purple in the Saints pocket all night. Minnesota did a great job of putting pressure on Brees and would have sacked him way more than once if Brees was less athletic and not as good as he is at stepping up in the pocket and scrambling. Antoine Winfield had the lone sack for the Vikings, which also resulted in a fumble recovery. Winfield had a superb game, recording eight tackles, one fumble recovery, and of course the blocked field goal he returned for the touchdown. He was the better of the two corners tonight…
   
• …which bring us to Cedric Griffith, who I am very disappointed in. Brees threw to him all day and Griffith was almost never in the right spot at the right time.
   
• Reggie Bush is fast. Almost super-human fast. The ESPN broadcast measured Bush’s speed to be over 22 mph at the peak of his bursts. My treadmill stops at 10 mph, which is a fast sprint. If you do the math you find that a 10-second 100 meter dash requires you to go 20.83 mph – which Bush was doing with full pads and the football. Crazy.
   
• Frerotte was very solid tonight. He looked very immobile at times, which is normal. He knew how to step up in the pocket and was only sacked once. His timing was great and he knew where the defensive linemen were. Save for one or two overthrows he was almost flawless. After one big completion to Berrian he was hit to the ground, where he stayed for about a minute. He didn’t miss a beat, though, and got right back up. Pretty impressive for a 37-year old. 
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  Adrian Peterson

  Adrian Peterson just had an off-night. He had the touches, but just couldn’t find anywhere to go. His average of 1.5 ypc was awful, but so was his final line of 32 yards. It was very refreshing to see that the Vikings to have offensive life without the best running back in the league.

• I’ll leave you with a sour note. The special teams coverage was bad. Beyond words horrible. Worse that Kornheiser’s analysis of a Monday Night game. Crueler to watch than a 1960 comedy flick. Really, really bad. On the eleven punt and kick returns the Saints had, not including fair catches or touchbacks, they averaged just over 32 yards per run-back. Including two Bush touchdowns, with another that would have been had Bush not tripped over himself. 
   
• That bring another point dealing with Childress. The situation: tie game early in the fourth quarter. Reggie Bush had just returned one of your punts for a touchdown, and another that would have been a touchdown if he hadn’t of tripped over an imaginary string. Do you punt to him again, or kick out of bounds? Childress made the decision to kick to the Devin Hester-esque Bush, who to no one’s surprise returned it for another touchdown. The decision in itself wasn’t the best, but the special teams coverage deserves the majority of the blame. Bush isn’t the best punt returner, but he looks like a superstar against the Vikings. Anyone looks like a superstar returning kicks and punts against the Vikings.