Its “Go Time” for the Minnesota Vikings. After a week off they meet a strong Cowboy team who appears to be peaking. So do the Vikings have a chance to beat the Cowboys? Not according to the national media and the sports writers. Although the Vikings are favored by 2 ½, due to home field advantage, they are looked at as the underdog. And they should be looked at as the underdog. The Cowboys are a hot team right now and have definitely played better football in the last month in comparison to the Vikings. However, the Vikings still have a good chance to win the game. There are several things that the Vikings can do in order to improve there chances at getting a victory.

1.) The Vikings need to get an early lead. The Vikings have shown late in the year that they do not do well when playing from behind. This is evident by the late year losses against the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and the Chicago Bears. Minnesota started slow in each of these games and did not appear to be comfortable in comeback mode. On the other side of this the Vikings have been a good frontrunner.

2.) The Vikings cannot afford to turn the ball over. Brett Favre has only had 7 interceptions this year. In 3 of their 4 losses Favre
had a total of 4 interceptions. This goes back to the first point that if the Vikings get an early lead Favre is less likely to throw an
interception. Adrian Peterson must hold on to the ball. Peterson has a terrible history of fumbling the ball.

3.) The Vikings must get to Tony Romo. A key to this is to stop the Cowboys running game and make them one dimensional. Tony Romo has been playing sensational as of late and has shown to be very elusive. The combination of Romo’s skills and a weak Vikings secondary can spell disaster for the Vikings if Romo is given time to throw. The Vikings must mix up their blitzes and put consistent pressure on Tony Romo. If not, Romo could end up with 4 touchdown passes or more.

4.) The Vikings must protect Brett Favre. The old football cliche is “it all starts up front”. Of course this cliche could apply for any football game. A good offensive line provides lanes to run through and also allows time for the quaterback to pass. A good defensive line shuts down the run and puts prerssure on the quarterback on passing downs. In Viking losses this year the offensive line struggled to protect Favre. If Favre isn’t protected and the the Vikings get behind, this game could possibly be over by halftime.

5.) Shutdown or limit Jason Witten. Witten has 94 receptions this year and is Tony Romo’s favorite receiver. With EJ Henderson out this presents a big problem for the Viking defense. Witten is the primary receiver for Romo in a lot of plays. With the combination of covering Witten and applying pressure on Romo, this could result in a “win, win” scenario for the Vikings. The Vikings cannot expect Jasper Brinkly to cover Jason Witten without any additional help.

The Minnesota Vikings haven’t won a playoff game since the 2004 season. The Vikings lost last year in the opening round of the playoffs and brought in Brett Favre this year with high expectations of at least going deep into the playoffs. This is a big game. Although the majority of the media favor the Cowboys, the Vikings still have a very good chance at winning this game. And if the Arizona Cardinals play as good as they did last week the Vikings have a chance of hosting the NFC Championship game next week. But enough with the talk and predictions, its “Go Time” for the Minnesota Vikings.

Paul Gantner