Twin Cities, Minnesota Blog

It’s never been easy to be a Vikings fan but this year is more agonizing than most. We have plenty of talent but when they get on the field, they are often underwhelming.

Last week was a perfect example. Through nearly the entire first half against the Buccaneers, the Vikings appeared to have the game well in hand. Adrian Peterson was running the ball well and the defense was shutting Tampa Bay down.

But when the Vikings got the ball back with 47 seconds remaining in the half, they ran the ball. They didn’t even try to seize the opportunity. Still, they headed to the locker room with a 10-3 lead.

But the second half of the game was all Buccaneers; as so often happens, the opponent had clearly made adjustments while we hadn’t.

The Vikes had no answer to the tight end seam pass and they did not utilize Adrian Peterson. You’ve got the most talented running back in the league and you’re down in the fourth quarter and you don’t have Peterson on the field when you need him most? WTF?!?

Having only a handful of plays in the final quarter is no excuse for sitting Peterson. He should be on the field if for no other reason than seizing the attention of the defense. If you’re not going to actually use Peterson, at least use him as a diversion.

Yet again, this was a game the Vikings should have won.

And it is for that reason why this year has been an especially painful one for Vikings fans who have long ago learned pain management techniques.

If only…

If only the Vikings were more a bit creative offensively. If only the Vikings had started the season with Gus Frerrote at the helm. If only the Vikes made the most of the considerable talent they have. If only the Vikings displayed the killer instinct that good teams possess. If only the Vikings wouldn’t be timid when presented with an opportunity to put a dagger through the heart of their opponent.

So, yes, the Vikings are tied for first place in a weak division and despite uninspiring play, are poised to make a run at a division title. Being the true Vikings fan (read masochist), I will watch every game and enjoy what I can but it is so hard to get excited about this team.

This team does just enough to give you hope but not enough inspire confidence. One thing is sure, coach Brad Childress‘ future starts today against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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…and no, I’m not talking politics for a change. I’m talkin’ Vikings.

The Vikings have got to beat the Texans at the Dome today to build some confidence and start some momentum during stretch of schedule that will make or break their season. After Houston, the Vikes face the Packers at home, travel to Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, two tough teams, and come home to face their second division opponent of this stretch in Chicago. These next five games will determine Brad Childress‘ fate as our head coach.

Houston is considered a team on the rise, with an offense that is fifth in passing and 11th in rushing. But their four losses have come at the hands of tough teams and their three wins at the expense of weak teams. They have yet to win on the road. And their defense is 26th against the run.

Now, the Vikings are no powerhouse but they are better than Detroit, Miami, and the Bengals, the three teams the Texans have beat.

The offensive line had better show up today and Tahi will need his A game (and it’s open to debate as to whether he has one) if the Vikings want to talk away with a win today.

They’ll need to grind it out with long drives and heavy doses of Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor in order to take advantage of Houston’s weak run defense and to keep their dynamic offense off the field.

Though the mythical Madieu Williams is allegedly set to start for the first time this season, we have no idea what we have in the safety. And with our troubles at linebacker (the slow Chad Greenway and the still adjusting Napolean Harris), it’s probably best to try and limit the damage Matt Schaub and receiver Andre Johnson are likely to do to the Vikings.

The last two things the Vikings need to improve are the offensive playcalling and the abysmal special teams coverage units. Sadly, I have little hope that either will be any better than what we’ve seen thus far.

Here’s hoping for the win but I’ve learned not to expect anything from this team.

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Before the Vikings game against the Lions last week I suggested the Vikes may be a tease with a soft part of the schedule coming up. My reasoning was that they were a better team that their upcoming foes and they would therefore look like a much better team than they actually were.

That was a disastrously wrong assumption.

The Vikings squeeked through with a victory against a Lions team and rookie quarterback against whom they should have dominated.

It was a very tough game to watch because the Vikes were uuuuug-ly.

The question today against a Bears team that looks fairly good and against surprisingly competent play of quarterback Kyle Orton is whether the Vikings can simply play consistently and minimize the mistakes. If they do that, they’ll have a decent chance of beating the Bears.

First, will the offensive line improve? Seriously, is this the same line that so dominated opponents last year? It sure doesn’t look like it. That line could produce running lanes for Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor even against defenses determined to shut down the ground game. That hasn’t happened this year. Last year they provided enough room for an indecisive quarterback to find receivers. This year, they have trouble giving the quick-trigger of Gus Frerotte enough time to find receivers downfield.

While we finally have an answer for the absence of fullback Thomas Tapeh, the fact doesn’t excuse starting Nahfu Tahi at fullback. Tahi was simply brutal last week. He consistently either got stood up by defenders at the line or blocked the wrong guy or simply whiffed. Oh, yeah; and Tahi dropped a pass. I’d love to see Jimmy Kleinsasser start at fullback; that would do a great deal to improve both the running and pass game.

The Bears, like everyone else, will be determined to shut down Adrian Peterson so it is imperative that our receivers catch the ball. And is it too much to ask Bernard Berrian not to stumble when chasing down the long ball?

This is a winnable game that would put us on top of the division. The only question is if the Vikes go for the jugular or continue to muddle through the season.

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The Vikings enter a relatively soft part of the schedule, starting with today’s game against the winless Lions at the Metrodome, then to Chicago to play a 3-2 Bears team that may or may not be good (they beat a weakened Colts team in the opener, beat a disappointing Eagles squad, and dominated Detroit).

After the bye, we’ve got the Houston Texans and the Packers, both at home.

The Packers beat us in a close game in the season opener when Tarvaris Jackson was leading the team. Green Bay has two wins so far, the second of which came at the hands of the Lions.

The Vikings could easily go 4-0 during this stretch and face Tampa Bay with a 6-3 record. The question then will be are we really a 6-3 team?

Defensive Woes

Despite offseason upgrades, the Vikings pass defense remains poor. Jared Allen has brought more pressure on opposing quarterbacks but Ray Edwards has not been able to pay for opponents double-teaming both Allen and Kevin Williams. Our left end must be able to beat one guy.

Opponents have been picking on Cedric Griffin all season and that will not change. So, understanding how offenses are going to attack our defense, isn’t there some way we can get Griffin some help?

Our pricey free agent safety Madieu Williams has been AWOL all season. Rookie Tyrell Johnson has played as well as we could hope to expect for a rookie safety but he’s still been taken advantage of in a way I presume Madieu Williams would not.

Our biggest problem on defense, of course, is the loss for the season of E.J. Henderson at middle linebacker. We can only wait and watch to see how that plays out.

Offensive Hope?

The choice to start Gus Frerrote for the remainder of the season has given the Vikings a chance for a winning season when it was clear we couldn’t win two winnable games with Jackson at the helm.

But Bernard Berrian, our pricey free agent wide receiver, decided to show up just this last week; with him nursing an owie on his big toe, who knows how much we can rely upon him?

And, by the way, isn’t it important for your receivers to run the routes they’ve been assigned? Especially in an offense that requires precise route running?

Berrian may have caught a crucial touchdown last week, but he admitted the pass was not intended for himself and yet he still made a play for the ball. It’s a good thing he caught the ball because if the pass hadn’t been completed, he could rightly be criticized for brining his defender into the play.

Sydney Rice has missed the past few games while nursing a PCL injury and the running game has been bottled up of late.

Despite all that, we’ve been competitive for the most part, so there’s reason for hope.

Predictable Play Calling

The most exasperating aspect of coach Brad Childress‘ tenure has been the absolutely unimaginative offensive game plans. It was unbearable during Childress’ rookie year, when he insisted on three-yard passes on third and nine. Thankfully, it has gotten a lot better than that.

But the play calling remains unimaginative. Faced with defenses that refuse to allow Adrian Peterson beat them, the offense has turned more often to the passing game. Fair enough.

But when you’ve got one of the best players in the league, you’ve got to find a way to utilize him. Why are we not trying harder to get the ball to Peterson in space? Why don’t we send him out on pass routes to get him matched up with a linebacker more often? How ’bout sending him deep a few times? He’s certainly faster than most defensive backs in this league.

And why oh why are we not seeing both Peterson and Chester Taylor in the backfield at the same time more often?!? We’ve got two starting running backs; let’s use ‘em. Keep defenses off balance by making them pick their poison. Both backs can catch the ball; let’s use a mix of run plays, play action, screens.

Why were we running Peterson outside nearly the whole game last week when the Saints were missing their starting defensive tackle and the replacement is not an every down player?

Special Teams

Kluwe’s not the problem. He certainly can improve his directional punting but the Vikings missed four tackles on one punt return last week, many more on others, and faired poorly on kick returns when Kluwe was not on the field.

This unit has been weak all year. Maybe adding more veterans to the unit but who knows? Veteran receiver Robert Ferguson took an inexplicable angle on one of Reggie Bush’s TD punt returns last week that took Ferguson out of the play when he could easily have had a shot at the Saints’ running back.

So, given all this, will the Vikings simply be a tease again after the next four years or will we seriously have the contender we hoped for before the season began?

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So Reggie Bush’s two punt returns for touchdowns are all punter Chris Kluwe’s fault? Really?

It’s more than a little pathetic to see coach Brad Childress taking out his special teams coverage unit’s incompetence on one player of that unit, or, as ProFootballTalk.com (the blog the pros read) says, throwing him under the bus.

The coverage units have been woeful all year and most of it has to do with missed tackles. And by the way, the coverage units are just as bad when Kluwe is not on the field during kickoffs.

So, according to Viking Access, Childress is working out punters either for the purpose of signing one or to send a blunt message to Kluwe to get better at kicking the ball out of bounds.

That, and calling Kluwe out publicly, are pretty classless.

Kluwe has been a top-notch punter for several years. In 2005, he was the franchise. He doesn’t deserve the berating he’s getting.

Besides, the guy’s awesome at Guitar Hero (TwinCities.com via ProFootballTalk.com):

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It was a game the Minnesota Vikings had to win if they were to salvage the season. They managed to overcome mistakes, an often porous defense, an appallingly-bad special teams coverage unit, and predictable play-calling to pull out a 30-27 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

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That was a complete disaster.

Frerotte’s Gallant Effort

Gus Frerotte did everything he possibly could to win but dropped passes, poor protection, fumbles and penalties ensured the Vikings’ loss today.

Frerotte threw 43 times for 266 yards but four fumbles led to 21 Titan points and seven penalties kept the offense from ever really getting in rhythm.

Turnovers

On the Vikings’ first drive of the game, Tahi fumbled on the first series, giving the Titans the ball on the Vikings 33 yard line. Four minutes later the Titans had scored a touchdown to pull ahead 10-0.

Adrian Peterson ripped off a 28 yard touchdown run at the beginning of the second quarter to pull within three, but then fumbled later in the quarter to start a series, giving the ball to the Titans on the Vikings 11 yard line.

LenDale White punched it in to give the Titans 14 points off Vikings turnovers. The Vikings managed only three more points in the first half, and couldn’t capitalize on a late Titans’ fumble.

For all intents and purposes, that was the game.

Missed Opportunities

Bernard Berrian has hardly earned his salary thus far. He dropped several balls today. Worse, he got by his defender at one point but let a perfectly thrown ball slip through his fingers for what could have been a long touchdown.

He missed numerous blocks. Berrian may share with Troy Williamson the abiltiy to drop passes but he can’t hold a candle to the former Viking receiver when it comes to blocking.

Visanthe Shiancoe had a decent game, catching four balls for 47 yards. But, wide open on a seam route that may have been a little overthrown, rather than running to the ball and trying to catch it over his shoulder, Shiancoe turned toward the ball, ensuring he wouldn’t have a chance. Had he caught it, it would’ve been a touchdown.

Pass Defense

Again this year, the pass defense looks suspect. The front four got little pressure on Kerry Collins all day, allowing him–as those before him have done–to pick on Cedric Griffin all day long.

Griffin is the weak link in the defense. He doesn’t play within himself when tackling, consistently running too aggressively to the ball carrier and ending up either getting juked or sliding off the the guy because he’s over pursued.

And he’s just a poor cover corner, which is why he’s constantly getting picked on.

Special Teams Cannot Tackle

God do I miss Heath Farwell! The special teams coverage unit has been missing tackles all year long. The Titans returned kickoffs of 23, 29, and 52 yards, all three of which could have been stopped for short returns but for poor tackling.

Gus Frerotte’s Injury

Frerotte injured his left hand late in the game, leaving the field with it wrapped in a bloody towel as he headed for the locker room. We do not know the extent of Frerotte’s injury as of this writing, but if he’s out for any significant time, this season is probably lost.

Unless, you know, maybe Daunte is willing to unretire.

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That makes all the difference in the world, doesn’t it?, an accurate quarterback who makes sound, quick decisions?

It was amazing to watch the offense open up so drastically with Gus Frerotte at the helm. Suddenly the cameras are showing 30, 40 yards worth of view during plays. I’d almost forgotten what it looked like.

Frerotte’s ability to get the ball to his receivers 20, 30, 40 yards down the field made all the difference in the world. This is what he offense is supposed to look like.

Frerotte didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers early on, what with Visanthe Shiancoe’s obligatory drop of what would have been a long first down and Bernard Berrian’s failure to catch a catchable ball which resulted in an interception off the subsequent tip.

But by starting the game with the offense coming out firing, the Vikings demonstrated their ability to stretch the field, signaling to the Panthers that they would stack the box at their own peril.

While the Vikings’ first four drives ended in punts or a pick, the offense showed they had no fear of passes longer than ten yards. And that’s the most important thing the offense lacked under Jackson’s leadership, the ability to keep defenses honest.

Though the offense didn’t score a touchdown in the second quarter, they had a drive that ate up more than nine minutes that ended in a Longwell field goal.

Antoine Winfield’s sack, strip, fumble recovery and return for a touchdown gave the Vikings momentum and excitement heading into the locker room for the half.

On the Vikings’ first possession of the second half, under pressure from a blitz, Frerotte hit Berrian for a 48 yard reception to which Berrian did a very nice job adjusting for the catch. The drive ended with a 34 yard strike to one Visanthe Shiancoe down the seam who not only caught it, but shook off a tackle, made a cut, and raced to the end zone. Without dropping the ball.

Now defenses can’t solely focus on the running game.

And that’s what the Vikes did on their following drive, eating up eleven minutes and thirty-four seconds and capping off the drive with a field goal.

The defense, of course, was amazing, due in large part to the addition of Jared Allen. In addition to Winfield’s touchdown, the team sacked Delhomme five times and was in his face all day. They jammed Steve (Punk Ass) Smith at the line, keeping him to 70 yards receiving.

Ben Leber recovered a fumble and E.J. Henderson was an absolute rock star, racking up 11 tackles, three for losses, one of which was a highlight reel-worthy play in which he leaped across blockers to corral the running back behind the line.

The defense is so good that I’ve been saying all we needed was a quarterback that doesn’t suck. I’m not saying Frerotte isn’t good–he is–I’m just saying all we’ve needed was an average quarterback to win games. Luckily, we now have a good one.

Didn’t I tell you we’d be fine at quarterback?

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<IRONY>Clearly, my post-game blog post had an effect.</IRONY> Brad Childress benched Tarvaris Jackson in favor of Gus Frerotte today. The sun is shining today.

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Let’s call the Tarvaris Jackson experiment what it looks like, a failure.

I was hoping that last week’s inaccuracy was simply rust from not having played much during the pre-season. But it really didn’t look like rust; it looked like inaccuracy.

I had a lot of hope for Jackson after seeing his play before he was injured in the pre-season. He looked decisive, hit is receivers in stride, and if he still didn’t seem to have the touch on the long ball, at least it looked like he was making solid progress.

It appears not.

The thing with Jackson is that he’ll have streaks where he’ll play wonderfully but those streaks are short and woefully infrequent. For a coach who stresses consistency from all his players, the question this afternoon is whether he’ll hold his starting quarterback to the same standard.

I’ve long lamented that Jackson just has not found the touch for an accurate long ball. As a result, we don’t quite know what we’ve got in Bernard Berrian. More importantly, no one’s afraid of us making them pay for playing eight or ten in the box. When Jackson throws the long ball, he throws it practically straight up, creating a huge arc that gives defenders enough time to recover and forcing his receivers to slow down in adjustment.

Because it appeared Jackson was making progress in other areas of his game, I figured the long ball would come eventually. But Jackson has become inaccurate on practically every pass. He’s throwing behind receivers on the slant. He’s missing receivers on the out. He’s sailing passes thrown to receivers in the flat. He’s throwing passes at his receivers’ feet.

Jackson doesn’t seem to have a feel for how a screen pass develops and when he throws the screen, half the time the ball comes to the receiver at a downward slope and as a bullet. That’s a hard ball to catch.

Jackson never looks downfield on a swing pass. He stares at the running back from the snap of the ball and lofts a soft and airy pass to the back, giving defenders enough time to tackle the guy for a loss, or at best, at the line of scrimmage. The play is useless because Jackson doesn’t sell it.

The one play that has consistently worked for him, the play-action bootleg, has become predictable for that very reason. Defenses are on to it.

When your quarterback can’t make all–or even many–of the throws, you need to scale down the playbook to those plays he’s capable of executing. And that makes your passing offense predictable.

When you hold Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to 15 points for nearly four quarters and your offense plays most of the game in Colts’ territory yet you don’t score a touchdown, there’s something wrong.

When you’ve got an awesome offensive line (and TJax had plenty of time today), four talented receivers, and both Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor and you can’t score a touchdown, there’s something wrong.

When Adrian Peterson racks up 180 all-purpose yards (160 on the ground) and you don’t score a touchdown, there’s something wrong.

When the Colts’ entire offensive line are backups and starting tight end Dallas Clark is on the bench; when their starting defensive tackle is out, and Bob Sanders, their star safety, leaves the game yet you still lose, there’s something wrong.

When your defensive line is up in Manning’s grill all day and you get two picks and you still lose the game, there’s something wrong.

You can point to Ryan Longwell’s last, missed, field goal attempt. You can blame (and please do) the loss on Visanthe Shiancoe for dropping another touchdown. But this game should’ve been a blowout. The only reason it wasn’t was because our quarterback could not make Indianapolis pay for their obsession with Adrian Peterson.

I’ve said the Vikings should be fine at quarterback and I still think we can be. But the reason I said that is the presence on our roster of one Gus Frerotte. He’s a veteran quarterback who can read defenses and make sound decisions. He may not be all that mobile, but I’ll take accurate over mobile in an instant. He may not have the rocket arm of Tarvaris Jackson, but what good is power if you can’t put the ball in your receivers’ hands?

There is more than enough talent on this offense to win (if Shiancoe sticks to blocking) and win now. We don’t have to blow out opponents like we did back when Frerotte et. al. were playing pitch and catch with Randy Moss. We just need to score a touchdown or three and let the defense do the rest. It doesn’t look like we can do that with Jackson at the helm.

It’s time to free Gus Frerotte.

Unless you want to gamble another season on the chance that Jackson might develop into a starting-caliber NFL quarterback, never mind a franchise quarterback, then free Frerotte.

It’s awfully hard to have a winning season when you start it off 0-3 or 0-4. If you want to salvage this season, then free Frerotte.

If you want to be coaching next year, free Frerotte.

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