While I realize it’s delayed, I know you’ve read it everywhere else, and it’s gonna be short, but I’ve had an insane Christmas week. My parents visited from my home state of Iowa, as did my fiance’s father, and they didn’t leave until Monday morning. Because of all that, it’s been a whirlwind of activity getting back to work. For that, I appoligize. I will have much more in depth analysis of the playoff game than I will for this Giants game. Suffice to say, I was pulling my hair out while I watched Childress mess up the final minute of the game, waiting for Longwell to hit a 50 yarder for the win. I was a wee bit nervous.

Regardless of that, the Minnesota Vikings have won their division for the first time since 2000. That’s eight years. Wow. I was 15 the last time the Vikings hosted the first playoff game. How insane is that?

The Minnesota Vikings are finally coming around. After the collapse against the Falcons, I just knew that everything would go the Bears’ way and they would find a way to win the North. Fortunately, things swung the Vikings way and they don’t even have to SHARE the title. The Bears lost, the Vikings won; life could not be better on Sunday.

Since I know you’ve read about it everywhere else, I’ll touch on a few other things instead of the game on Sunday.

The Vikings play the Eagles in the second game on Sunday. That means we have to watch three other games before the Purple People Eaters take the field. That’s unfortunate. On the plus side, that gives Big Pat Williams an extra day, heck, even extra hours to heal up his bum shoulder. Suddenly it doesn’t strike me as so bad. While Brian Westbrook is a threat to catch the pass out of the backfield, he won’t be running as much as he would should Pat Williams play. Pat himself has said he will be playing in this game. Who am I to disagree?

This game definitely hinges on two people: Donovan McNabb and Tarvaris Jackson. The Eagle are coming off an absolute demolition of the Cowboys, so people are saying they will be “hot.” Guess what-these Eagles also tied the Bengals. Not to say the Vikings haven’t had their ups and downs, but in almost every game the Vikings were “supposed” to win, they did. The Eagles can’t say the same. If we can fluster McNabb (which will be tough), the Vikings pass defense has a shot. Tarvaris just has to play consistent, mistake-free football. If he can do that, the Vikings have a great shot.

If you look at the teams representing the NFC in the playoffs, is there really any that have talent much better than the Vikings? We’ve beaten the Giants (some backups in, yes, I admit that), the Panthers,  and the Cardinals. The Vikes should have beaten the Falcons, but fumbled seven times and lost four, and are playing the Eagles for the first time. If we take out Philly, I could actually see the Vikings having a decent shot.

Provided Childress calls the games well and Tarvaris Jackson doesn’t make mistakes.

Everyone says: “You have to be able to run the ball and stop the run in December and January.” You know what? That just so happens to be the Vikings specialties.

I’m starting to believe.

I suggest you join in.

Sorry for the lack of updates; had some company in from out of town so it’s been a busy few days. My parents, as well as my fiance’s father drove down from Iowa, and the five of us went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Vikings implode against the Falcons. There was a great deal of swearing between the lot of us.

One statistic defines this game: seven fumbles.

You absolutely cannot put the ball on the ground seven times, lose four of them, and expect to win. Adrian Peterson decided to personally put the ball on the ground three times, though the botched handoff was actually credited to Tarvaris. Regardless, you can’t win a game committing that many turnovers.

A positive note on the game; the Vikings were in position to make a play for overtime. It’s unfortunate that it came down to it, but the Purple People Eaters got hosed on a bogus non-call on Sidney Rice. Rice had his arm held down when he was going up to make a play on it. But the Vikings turned the ball over four times and still had a chance to win. I would not want to play Minnesota in the playoffs; if they put together a full game, look out.

Shiancoe had one of the best games in tight end history

Again, a game should never come down to a ref making or not making a call, but come on; that’s what they’re around for. Make the dang call when the rules dictate. The whole stadium could not be wrong, could they? After all, the Vikings out gained the Cardinals handily, 350 to 222. If the Vikings hold on to two, even one of those fumbles, the game changes entirely. It’s unfortunate when Jackson and Shiancoe had incredible games. According to Football Outsiders, it was the second best performance by a tight end in NFL history. Pretty good, eh? Too bad it came in a loss. For those interested, Shiancoe had seven receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns. It should be noted that every pass he caught resulted in a first down or a touchdown. Now if only Tarvaris could get a nice rapport with Bernard Berrian we’d be completely set.

Then Monday night, the entirity of the Viking nation was forced to cheer for the Green Bay Packers. Did anyone else feel really, really dirty about doing that? I kept telling myself we were using them, and that we were cheering for a Bears’ loss as opposed to a Packers’ win. Of course, the game ended horribly, my hopes once again crushed under the weight of irony. It’s my own fault for putting faith in a team and coach that are simply terrible. Thanks for crushing my hopes, Packers. Enjoy your couch watching the playoffs.

Of course, I can’t say that unless the Vikings actually make the playoffs. The “magic number” remains at one with one week left in the season. The Vikings get the Giants at home and the Bears play at the Texans.

Does anyone else have this horrifying sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach?

Matt Ryan - he should have died after the landing

The Giants won’t rest their starters; Coughlin didn’t do it last year and it worked out pretty well for the Giants. I don’t see him doing it this year, especially when his team already will get a week off because of the bye week. This is going to be a really, really tough game for the Vikings. Brandon Jacobs probably won’t play due to his knee, but Ward ran for 215 yards, and we don’t have Pat Williams. It could be an interesting day. I’m not real worried about the running game; after all, the Vikings held Michael Turner to 70 yards. That’s a very below average game for him. Eli will be the one we have to worry about.

The Bears, while not a good team, will beat the Texans. The Houston Texans are not a bad team at all; they just can’t play consistently. They beat the Titans, and then last week lost to the Raiders. They play well at home, but the Bears are not the Vikings; they will want to win and make the playoffs. I doubt they will commit four turnovers.

It all comes down to Sunday at noon for the Minnesota Vikings and the Viking faithful. Will it turn out well? We can only hope. The only thing I know for sure is that I’ll be there, every step of the way, cheering on the guys in purple.

As Andrew stated in his previous post, Tarvaris Jackson will be the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday when the Falcons visit the Metrodome. If you read my analysis of the Cardinals/Vikings game, you know I support this move by Brad Childress after initial hesitation. Why?

A few reasons:

1.) Gus Frerotte has been playing less-than-stellar football lately.

Since coming off the bye week seven weeks ago, Gus has thrown seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. While not terrible, he’s been wildly inconsistent; here are his quarterback ratings in that same span: 111.6, 53.4, 105.8, 56.3, 87.1, and 50.0. A few really good games sprinkled in with some other mediocre and bad games thrown in. His yards per game dropped off significantly after the bye week as well. In his first five games, his lowest yardage total was 204 yards in the first game against the Carolina Panthers. His most? The debacle in Chicago where he threw for 298. Since the off week, he’s topped 200 one time versus the Bears where he hit 210 yards. Every other outing since then has been below 200 yards.

In all honesty, I don’t think Tarvaris could have matched those first half of the season numbers, but the second half? It’s hard to see him doing any worse. We don’t have a lot of information to go off of, but from what we’ve seen so far, I think we are doing no worseby going with Tarvaris.

Gus Frerotte is a warrior, but his time has ended

2.) Gus Frerotte is reaching the sunset of his career.

Gus Frerotte is not an old man by normal standards, but by football standards he’s practically elderly. That’s not a knock on him; far from it. He’s done some extraordinary things with this Vikings team and had an amazing career. He’s just getting to the twilight of his long NFL journey. We have seen exactly what Gus Frerotte is capable of.

Tarvaris, on the other hand, is still very young. He’s 25 and in his third year of the National Football League. He is, as all the columnists love to say, “a raw talent.” He has all the ability in the world, with a strong arm, quick feet, and a ton of potential. He’s still growing and learning. You can improve ability to read defenses and decision making. Frerotte, barring some medical miracle/steroid use, cannot improve his arm strength or his ability to take a hard hit from a defender. Tarvaris can improve; Gus cannot.

3.) Tarvaris Jackson is on fire.

It’s undeniable when you look at his stats since he took over as the Vikings’ starting QB: Tarvaris Jackson is playing with fire. The best part? He’s not letting it affect his decision making. Last game, he wasn’t asked to throw much, but when he did, the passes were right on the money. He’s being accurate, checking down when necessary, and not trying to force it deep without checking his outlets.

Gus Frerotte started out great, but after the bye week, his production just trailed off. He got progressively worse, and defensive backs kept finding ways to intercept his passes. He just couldn’t get his old fire back. After he fractured his back, Tarvaris came in and hasn’t made a mistake.

Tarvaris Jackson and his hot hand

4.) The Minnesota Vikings have no idea what they’re doing at the quarterback position next year.

The Minnesota Vikings really don’t know the plan for their QB situation for next year. Finishing out with Frerotte will tell us nothing about Tarvaris who likely would have played his last meaningful snap as a Viking in week two. Now, Tarvaris is playing for his professional life. If he doesn’t impress Childress now, he would be regulated to a backup role for the foreseeable future. Believe me, he does not want that.

Frerotte, while doing something astounding, is almost done. We don’t need to see what he can do. He would not be the starter next year in any way. After Tarvaris’ outing in Detroit, I was curious at his improvement despite my defense of Gus. We’ll get another real look at him come Sunday.

5.) Tarvaris Jackson gives the Vikings the best chance to win right now.

A kind of summation: Tarvaris is hot, healthy, and fighting for his career. Gus is waning, injured, and finishing out a journeyman career. Give the ball to the one who is most able to win you games.

Right now, that’s Tarvaris Jackson.

Before I get to the actual game, I have to get something off my chest.

Last week, I said that Tarvaris Jackson wasn’t the answer. I said that Gus Frerotte should be the starter the remainder of the season. I said Tarvaris should not be in unless necessary.

Well, for one week at least, I had a nice lunch involving my foot. Still in there right now.

If my kid did this, I would disown him

Tarvaris Jackson should be the starter of the Minnesota Vikings from here on out. He’s proven to me, through this week and last week, that he can be a completely competent starter. He protected the ball, made great throws when necessary, and, oh yeah, had FOUR FREAKIN’ TOUCHDOWNS. Wow. That first one he tossed to Bernard Berrian was an absolute thing of beauty. Picasso couldn’t have drawn something better than that. For as tentative as I was, and admittedly, I still am a little, Tarvaris went out and (to use another sport’s metaphor) hit a grand slam. Maybe watching Gus from the sidelines fired the kid up. Whatever happened, I don’t care.

The game itself was a masterpiece of football. The Vikings finally put together a complete game, both offensively and defensively, with only two hiccups along the way. Like a machine that just needs a cog or two fixed along the way, they rolled through Arizona and made it look easy.

Although I personally missed it when it happened, Bernard Berrain decided to demoralize the Cardinals on an 82 yard punt return for a touchdown. Is there anything more heart breaking than watching a punt or kickoff get taken to the house?

Bernard Barrian gets his second TD on a great pass from Jackson

As Vikings’ fans, we know this. It’s happened (now) seven times to us this year, which incidentally is an NFL record. The Cardinals blocked a Ryan Longwell field goal attempt and took it back the distance thanks to Roderick Hood. While it was a pivotalpoint in the game, it turned out to be a garbage touchdown that didn’t mean anything.

The Vikings never relinquished their substantial lead, thanks to a quick strike from Tarvaris Jackson to Bobby Wade that was executed perfectly. Tarvaris pumped while Wade stopped for a second and the corner absolutely bit like he hadn’t eaten in months. Wade went deep and Tarvaris hit him directly in stride, just out of the safety’s reach for a 59 yard touchdown. If the Cardinals had any chance at a comeback, getting within 14 points after the field goal block, it was quickly squashed right then.

Adrian Peterson averaged 5.9 yards a carry and finished the day with 165 yards. It doesn’t matter what opposing defenses do, you just cannot stop 28. During this game, he eclipsed Robert Smith for the Vikings’ single season rushing record. It’s now set at 1,581 yards with two games remaining. He won’t hit his goal of 2,000, but 1,900 is definitely within reach. Barring some sort of meltdown, Purple Jesus should win the rushing title this year ‘running away.’ Ba dump, ching!

The Vikings, as a whole, had 239 yards rushing, Peterson and Chester Taylor combining for 231 of them on 38 carries. That’s 6.08 yards a carry between the two of them. When your offensive line is dominating the defensive line that well, you know you’re in for a good day.

The defensive line dominated the Cardinals’ offensive line as well. In the trenches, the Vikings took the game into their hands. Kurt Warner had someone in his face all day, was knocked down at least one-fourth of the times he dropped back (which was considerable - the Cards only ran it seven times), and was sacked four times. Two of those sacks came from the one and only Jared “Mullet-Man” Allen. While he didn’t register his sacks until late in the game, he kept the pressure on all day. Worth every dollar he gets. One other sack came from Brian Robison, and the other combined between Napolean Harris and Chad Greenway.

Bobby Wade sticks the proverbial nail in the proverbial coffin

Chad Greenway, once again, led the team in tackles. Why this guy isn’t getting more attention, I will never know. He is all over the field, and the one place I said he needed to work on, pass defense, he did outstanding. It should be noted that Sunday’s game put him over the 100 tackle mark for the year; he’s sitting at 101 with two games to play. Against the Cardinals he had seven tackles, five of them solo, half of a sack, and three pass deflections. He will be an All Pro very, very soon.

Like I said before, just a complete game from start to finish. Got on them early and kept on till the final whistle blew. It made me a happy, happy man.

Looking ahead, the Vikings’ number is now one. One win from the Vikings or one loss from the Bears and the NFC North title belongs to the Vikings for the first time ever. With Atlanta coming to town, it’s going to be a tough, hard fought matchup between two teams that pound it out on the ground and rely on their quarterbacks to make throws only when needed. Of course, with Pat Williams out 2-6 weeks with a broken scapula, Michael Turner just became a much happier man.

Nonetheless, the Vikings front four should put considerable pressure on the rookie QB. I think the Vikings have a very real shot, especially if they can put together a game like they had against the Cardinals. Even half the game they played would be sufficient to beat most teams. I like our chances.

Until next time.

Skol Vikings!

As the title boasts, that was a horrible-to-watch, ugly, massively underachieving game, but you know what?

It’s a win.

With that win, the Vikings improved to 8-5, guaranteeing themselves not to have a losing season, and still one game up on the Chicago Bears. The Packers, the great cheese head team that they are, got beat on a last second field goal by the Houston Texans. Always nice to see the Packers lose and the Vikings win, isn’t it? Like Christmas coming early.

A little commentary on the game itself:

GROSS.

DISGUSTING.

AWFUL.

A win. So we’ll call it even.

I give the Lions some credit; they were playing like they actual wanted to put a “one” in that win column. Alas, they remain on their pursuit of perfection, and honestly, I hope they get it. It’s a distinction worthy of the Millen era. And hey, they’d have the first pick of the draft in the post-Millen dynasty, and they can’t screw that up, can they? We’ll find out.

Savior of the Vikings?

As I’m sure you saw, Jared “I’m the toughest guy on the planet” Allen got the mother of all cheap shots in the second quarter. Gosder Cherilus decided to try and end Jared Allen’s career by putting a shoulder into his left knee while Allen was running across the field after the ball carrier. What the heck was the point of that? I can’t even fathom why he would do something so atrocious. Goodell should fine him at least $50,000 dollars for that nonsense. If it were up to me, I’d ban him for life. Then again, I’m a wee bit biased. Still, it was a dirty and completely unecessary attack completely away from the play. They reserve special places for people like that in the afterlife.

To those who would say it’s karma: forget it. Allen hasn’t attempted to end someone’s career at any point during his tenure on the Vikings. He had a few low tackles on Shaub, and he hit Aaron Rodgers on his head. It’s football. Let it go.

Rant complete. Let’s talk about something a bit more positive.

Jared Allen added two more sacks to his total this year, bringing it up to 12.5. I’ve said it every week for the past few weeks, but I’ll kep saying it.

That man is worth every penny we pay him. What a difference one defensive end can make. Good gravy Marie-he just never stops. He reminds me a lot of John Randle, only a little taller and smaller but he has that motor that never quits that’s so coveted on the defensive line position.

How bout that Tarvaris Jackson? He comes in when Frerotte goes down with back trouble, hands the ball off well, and then goes and throws…wait, he goes eight for 10 for 105 yards and a touchdown? Yes, yes he does. Is Tarvaris the savior of the Vikings? Will he lead Purple Jesus to the promise land?

Well, not quite. But hey, he filled in very well. He made smart reads, threw the ball in a way that made me drop my jaw (the spirals and power that kid has, man oh man); it makes me really sad that he hasn’t worked out. Jackson has all the raw talent in the world. He just needs to settle down, set his feet, and make the right reads. I was rooting for Jackson so much to make it, and it killed me when he got benched, but you couldn’t argue with the results. Frerotte did what he had to. On the flip side, Frerotte, while starting great, has had his production decrease steadily almost every week since week eight or nine. Should Tarvaris get the start next week?

No, I don’t think so. While it’s surely tempting to anoint him the starter after a good half of football, we must remember: it was against the Lions. The Lions are, in fact, terrible. They are 0-13 terrible. They’re playing for something now, but they are not a good football team. It’s commendable what he did, but Frerotte has played fairly decent against some good defenses. One of his interceptions wasn’t his fault; it was the luck of a batted pass. The other, while he missed the linebacker completely, was still an outright athletic catch on his part.

Visanthe Shiancoe earns his paycheck, scoring a TD for the Vikings

Adrian Peterson is the artist, and the football field is the canvas to paint his masterpiece. A little dramatic, I know, but can you argue? While he only had 103 yards, he still remains a man among boys. Just an FYI-that was Peterson’s eighth 100 yard game this year. Yikes. I’d consider him an MVP candidate, and I think he certainly should receive a few votes. He’s leading the league in rushing, and by a decent amount. Barring what Portis finishes with tonight, he should still be in the lead by a large margin. That just makes a Vikings fan feel real good. He won’t get it, because unless a runningback manages to get 2,000+ yards and double digit touchdowns, it’s a quarterback’s position to lose. Already vanquished Drew Brees of the Saints or future opponent Kurt Warner of the Cardinals remain the top two contenders in my book.

To recap: ugly win, but a win nonetheless. We’re still one game up on the Bears and in prime position to win this divison.

Up next: the Arizona Cardinals and their massive throwing offense. It’s in Arizona, which is probably good, because we can hope the weather can play a bit of a roll. Kurt Warner is dangerous in a dome as we saw with the “Greatest Show on Turf.” Definitely a winnable game.

Until then:

Skol Vikings!