Week 7: Sammy and the Jets!

Sigh…New York media…all of these flavors and you chose to be salty. 

Then again, I’ll never need to go to the store for seasoning ever again, so thanks, I guess.

This one’s going to be short, because I am short on time this week.  I continue to drift further away from this project as I work on others.  In the meantime, the Vikings have pulled out a couple of big wins against Dee Reynolds…and another Dee Reynolds.  A couple of stupid birds.  Watch Always Sunny and you’ll get it.

Now, they face Sam Darnold, and I have no idea how this will go.  The season has been a roller coaster so far.  This is going to be Charlie Brown levels of wishy-washy, but I could easily see the Vikings winning this game, or lose it.  I really don’t know. 

I would call this a must-win if you want to have any kind of wiggle room in the second half of the season.  New Orleans comes up next week, and they will want revenge for the Minneapolis Miracle, and they are a much better team than the Jets, so you need to pick up this win to get to 4-2-1.  That way, even if the Saints get vengeance, you still have a positive record going into the game against the Lions.  Beat all three, and you’re sitting pretty at 6-2-1 at the bye.

After the Buffalo game, I think we all need to take things one game at a time.

Week 3: Whoops, we skipped Packer week!

Sorry about that...we completely skipped last week's tie against Green Bay, and the consequences that came from it.  Well, we have a new kicker, and Kirk Cousins appears to be the real deal.  I am still salty that the coaching staff took the ball out of Kirk's hands in the final few plays of overtime when he was dealing and probably would have thrown another touchdown to win the game.  Instead, the coaching staff decided that they could maybe trust a kicker who hadn't made a kick all day.

Spoiler alert: they couldn't...and that's why Dan Bailey is now our kicker.

Fast forward a week; this is a game you absolutely have to win with a short week to follow, and your next two games being against the Rams and Eagles.  Buffalo may very well threaten to join the 0-fer club, population Detroit (2008) and Cleveland (2017).  Theoretically, this should be the easiest game the Vikings play all year...but of course, the Vikings never make anything easy on themselves, so I'm not holding my breath on a blowout win.

The Vikes will probably make this game closer than it has to be.  Then again, it could turn out exactly like the Bengals game from late last year.  That's all I have to say about this game on short notice. 

Week 1: Captain Kirk (Cousins) Steers the Good Ship Skol!

It all begins again. 

In Week One, the Vikings embark on a long journey toward that glitzy new stadium in Atlanta, GA; and the team might very well be good enough to get there barring another year like 2016.

2017 saw the Vikings lose Sam Bradford and dynamic rookie Dalvin Cook by the fourth week of the season.  Other than them, the team stayed relatively healthy.  The end result was Stefon Diggs performing a miracle to exorcise the long-standing Bountygate demon and give the Vikings their first playoff win since then.  We won’t talk about the next week, though.

Indeed, the Vikings were unable to “bring it home,” but many people have suggested they could bring it to Atlanta.  After years of being mediocre, does anyone else enjoy the respect the Vikings get now from the sports media?  For a long time, I joked that the national perspective was “the Vikings are Adrian Peterson and no one else,” which was true, for the most part, except for the brief Favre era.  It is great that the Vikes actually get props and the conversation isn’t “well, the Packers are going to win the North, there’s no debate.” 

If the Vikings are supposed to be a Super Bowl contender, they have to come out and play like it in their home stadium, where they won 7 of 8 games in 2017.  I would go so far to say you can’t lose your home opener if you want to play in Atlanta in February.  I’m not ready to crown Jimmy Garoppolo king based off of a few wins last year.  If he gets the 49ers off to a 6-0 start or something like that, then maybe.

My prediction is that the Vikings make the playoffs again this year, and the only way they miss the playoffs is if 2016 repeats itself.  With the initial Kirk Cousins deal, we’ve got three years to make this Super Bowl thing happen.

Finally this week, there was a lot of talk after the Minneapolis Miracle that whatever “curse” had plagued the Vikings for decades, Stefon Diggs had stomped a mudhole in it.  If that’s true, than the Philly loss was “just a bad game.”  I said myself a couple of years ago that I thought the “curse” would end after 50 years.  Considering it started with the misplacing of the 1969 league championship trophy (Minnesota’s lone championship to date), that means…2019, when Super Bowl 53 is played.  Time to see if that prediction rings true.

Skol Vikes.    

Free Agency: Vikings Football; Special Kirk Cousins edition!

It is shaping up to be the decision that could shake the foundation of the Minnesota Vikings for years to come.  Find the right quarterback to steer a fundamentally well-built team on the right course toward Valhalla; in layman’s terms, sign the guy that might reverse nearly 60 years of heartbreak by guiding the Vikings to their first Lombardi Trophy. 

Vikings fans have been through this before.  In a well-remembered tale, longtime adversary Brett Favre donned the purple and gold for one magical season, and one that was anything but.  The less said about Donovan McNabb in purple, the better.  Josh Freeman?  I have successfully repressed that memory.  The current situation is different; while Freeman was a young man who could have stuck around if not for that horrendous Monday night game, Favre’s tenure was a short window-opening, and the window slammed shut on fans’ fingers in 2010.  McNabb was the NFL equivalent of a transitional champion in professional wrestling; someone with name recognition holding the belt until the higher-ups decide “the kid” (or another better quarterback) is ready.

In 2011, “the kid” was Christian Ponder, who ultimately didn’t pan out.  In 2014, the Vikings tried again with Teddy Bridgewater, who began his career in Week 3 after an injury to Matt Cassel (with Ponder still on the team at the time).  The jury is still out on Teddy after a horrific knee injury completely derailed any season he may have had in 2016 or 2017 after a reasonably successful, though not flashy 2015. 

Indeed, the biggest on-the-field crime of the Adrian Peterson era was not building all that well around him.  For a long time, Adrian carried the team to some pretty mediocre records, but without him things would have been far worse.  In many respects, the Vikings have had the same problem as the Packers.  While Green Bay has been recently exposed as a nearly-incompetent offense/team without Aaron Rodgers, the Vikings for several years would have been as incompetent without Adrian Peterson.  While the Packers have only managed one trip and one Super Bowl win with the career Rodgers has had, it is still one more than the Vikings have even sniffed since 1977; yes, the Raiders loss predates the entire Star Wars franchise by about four months.

For the Minnesota Vikings as a franchise and a fanbase frothing at the mouth for “just one before (they) die,” the Minneapolis Miracle— ten seconds which turned back decades of agony for one week— was nice but not quite nice enough.  In a season where the hype built on a weekly basis as every Minnesota fan knew they were hosting the biggest sporting event in the nation and one of the biggest in the entire world, they were ultimately left out in the cold, once again trophy-less and ring-less.  Let the “no rings” and “empty trophy case” jokes fly for another year.

Now, a decision needs to be made.  Free agency looms and the Vikings must decide who to bring back and who to add in order to position the team for another run at glory.  Fans do not want to wait another eight years just to win a playoff game.  Some were in high school when the Vikings beat the Packers in the 2004 wild card game.  Those same people likely sat in their dorm rooms watching the Vikings beat the Cowboys in the 2009 divisional playoff game. 

Oh wait, I’m describing my own experiences.  Moving on…

Losing via Bountygate hung over the franchise like a dark cloud, and the Minneapolis Miracle was the first playoff win for the team since that fateful night nine years prior.  Other teams win playoff games with great regularity, so why can’t the Vikings?

After leading Minnesota to 13 of 14 wins after a mysterious knee injury sidelined Sam Bradford, 

Case Keenum seemed like a solid choice to try again in 2018, but he’s off to a well-deserved contract and likely the starting job in Denver according to the latest reports.  Bradford, who got saddled to an injury-riddled 2016 Vikings team, is being pursued by the Buffalo Bills after they sent Tyrod Taylor to the Browns.           

Drew Brees was thought to be available, but only for a nanosecond, as the Saints signed him to a two-year deal that will likely have him finish his career there.  I am not looking forward to the potential revenge for the MM should the Vikings and Saints make the playoffs and face off again.

In the end, the only option at this point is to make a play for Kirk Cousins, and it sounds likely that the Vikings will land him.  The real question is how do you construct the team for a situation like last year if (God forbid) it happens again?  Honestly, Josh McCown at the right price wouldn’t be a bad option to have around for a year.  Or just keep Teddy as a backup and/or draft a guy.  You need some kind of insurance policy if things go dreadfully wrong.  Last year, the Vikings lost their starting quarterback and almost made it to the Super Bowl because they had such a plan in place.  I don’t think any of us could have predicted such a run for Case Keenum, but it certainly beats the daylights out of the alternative (Aaron Rodgers walks into A. Barr and the Packers’ season goes with him).      

With the NFL news cycle going crazy, free agency truly is the most wonderful time of the year.  Whichever direction the Vikings decide to take, I just hope it doesn’t take another decade to make it back to the NFC title game.

(Edit: It appears likely that Kirk Cousins will indeed sign a 3 year contract tomorrow.)

Super Bowl Week: We didn't bring it home, and now we need a quarterback AGAIN???!

Well, that sucked.  I don’t really have many words for it; the NFC championship game was over from the moment Case Keenum threw that pick-six.  And now the Eagles are playing in what could have been “our” Super Bowl.  We never really had a chance.    

(Okay, maybe that’s a little over-dramatic, but I tried writing this post immediately after the game ended and it was an emotional diatribe about how the Vikings are always a bridesmaid but never a bride and were never going to even make it to the Super Bowl until I was dead and gone.  Writing all of it out was cathartic, but I chose not to save it.) 

It’s just as well the Vikings fell short of “bringing it home.”  No one had ever done it, and now the team no longer has to worry about being the first.  Let that duty fall to…oh man…the 28-3 catastrophe themselves, the Atlanta Falcons.  With our luck, that will wind up happening.  It would, however, be sweet, sweet revenge to win the Super Bowl there on what would be the 20^th anniversary of a certain sordid event in Vikings history.

I, personally, am ready for the big game, but I can’t help feeling like this would all be 100 times more exciting if the Vikings had made it.  Then again, I’m enjoying the relaxing feeling of knowing there’s no chance for the Vikes to go 0-5 in the Super Bowl all-time by losing to Tom Brady.  Better to lose in the NFC Title Game than to think you’re all that, only to fall hard.

The next task for the Vikings will be choosing a starter; which feels like the opening moments of any Pokemon game.  Will they choose Bradford, Bridgewater, or Keenum?  Or, will they keep one of them for depth purposes and go out and catch a wild Kirk Cousins?  From the sounds of it, he’ll give us a chance if he feels the offer is right.  He obviously feels the situation is right.  Personally, I feel like he has huge potential to thrive in an offense with a healthy Dalvin Cook and plenty of weapons plus a defense that will hopefully return to form next year and get him back on the field shortly after he leaves.  That is, of course, if he wants to come here. 

None of this will come to a head until free agency, so that will be the next time this blog gets updated.  Until then, Skol on.     

NFC Title Game: To go boldly where no (host) team has ever gone before!

So, it’s time to put the miracle in the rear-view.  Now there’s a phrase used in everyday life.

The 2017 Minnesota Vikings have already made history after one playoff game.  If you believe that there is a curse specifically targeting the Vikings, they may have destroyed it with the Minneapolis Miracle only to encounter another one: something called the home field curse.

As we all know, no team has ever had home field advantage in the Super Bowl, and no matter how hard the NFL tries to play it (AFC being designated the “home team” as per usual rotation), if the Vikings make it, they will be the home team.  There’s no way around it. 

The other part of the “home field curse” is that no one had ever made it past the divisional round of the playoffs in the year their city hosted the big game; something the Vikings have already done thanks to Case Keenum and Stefon Diggs putting the Saints’ season through a table Dudley Boyz style.  The Vikings already conquered one part of the curse by being one of the few host teams to make the playoffs in the first place.  This is uncharted territory.  

Minnesota’s opponent on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles, are not a victim of this curse, because Philly has never hosted a Super Bowl.  But they, like the Vikings, have also never won one.  That is the best thing about the championship games this year; three of the four teams have never won a Super Bowl, and one of them automatically gets that shot regardless of results.

The Eagles are definitely powered down without Carson Wentz, but I would not sleep on Nick Foles.  The Vikings defense will have to be up to the task of stopping Philly’s ground game and making them a one-dimensional team.  The Eagles only scored 15 points against Atlanta, but they seemed to make all of the right plays at the right times.  Meanwhile, we needed a rookie to falter at the worst possible time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Mike Zimmer said “there is no damn curse.”  If that’s true, I expect a win on Sunday.

There isn’t much more to say except I really hope this isn’t the last Vikings Cavalcade this season to review one game and talk about the next one. 

I hope to begin the next post with “THE VIKINGS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!” 

I also hope to be able to start a Skol chant in public whenever I feel like it.  It’s all up to you now, Vikes.

Minneapolis Miracle, or "Vikings fans finally allowed to have a nice thing" Edition!

“Vikings gonna Viking.”

Those three little words were my simple response to how things had played out with 25 seconds left in the second NFC Divisional playoff game; the last football game of the weekend.  Yes, it was only a one point game at 24-23, but come on…this is the Vikings.  A missed pass interference penalty in 1975 in this very round ended what many people say was that team’s best chance to win a Super Bowl.  Even if we get into field goal range, there’s no guarantee Kai Forbath makes the kick (with apologies to Kai…he’s still a better kicker than Blair Walsh).

This team has had a recently awful track record with clutch kicks in the playoffs.  Gary Anderson hadn’t missed a single kick in 1998, and missed one that would have likely put the NFC title game away against the Falcons.  Blair Walsh missed the easiest kick of his life in the last playoff game the Vikings had. 

With all of that on our minds, why was this game any different?  We were about to lose to the freaking New Orleans Saints, the team that put a bounty on Brett Favre and were allowed to get away with it.  Of all the teams to lose to, only the Saints or the Packers (if they had run the table) could have hurt this much. 

But then, Stefon Diggs caught that pass and somehow stayed on his feet as two Saints ran into each other, giving him a free path to the end zone.  Before the game, if you had told me one of these teams would win like that, I would have assumed the Saints.  Because a receiver breaking free for a last-second winning touchdown after two defensive players collided seems like a vintage Vikings choke moment that may or may not have happened at some point.

Somehow, some way, the Vikings now have their miracle playoff moment, like Pittsburgh and the Immaculate Reception, which turned that franchise’s entire history around.  The Steelers won four Super Bowls in seven years following Franco Harris’s immortal play, so perhaps there are greater things in store for the Vikings even if they are unable to “Bring It Home” this Sunday with a win over the Eagles.

Then again, how do we know that the Minnesota/Minneapolis Miracle wasn’t the start of such a thing?  There’s only one way to find out; by tuning in to the NFC Title game at 5:40 p.m. on Sunday.  Here’s hoping if we win, we don’t need another miracle to do so.

And here's the miracle itself, one more time, because I will never get tired of this.

https://youtu.be/OKgUiBOpsZ4

Divisional: The Exorcist Edition!

The Vikings have been running a "bring it home" campaign detailing everyone for whom they want to win the Super Bowl.  With this weekend's opponent, I think a certain quarterback should be added to that list.  Yeah, you know the guy.  The guy Bountygate hurt the most; Brett Favre.

But enough about the past.  Today is about exorcising some demons.  Neither Atlanta or Philadelphia should have struck fear into the heart of either team playing this afternoon at USBank Stadium.  Therefore, it's my prediction that the winner of today's game will go on to beat the Eagles next week and represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

It's a pretty simple task, beat the Saints and go on to play a severely weakened Eagles team.  It has been eight years since the Vikings beat the Cowboys in the divisional round, and they haven't won a playoff game since (thanks, Blair Walsh).

But, it's also the Vikings, a team that is 17-28 all-time in playoff games.  I'd say it's time to turn things around.

Week 17: Eyes in front edition

Personally, I would have liked to see a blowout over the Packers, but 16-0 works just fine as a Christmas present.  It got us a win, and unless Philadelphia gets its mojo back in the playoffs, the Vikes possibly won't play outdoors again this season. 

But that of course means the Vikings need to win today.  I'm putting down today as a must-win, even though there's a chance Atlanta beats Carolina to accomplish the same thing.  Today's Cavalcade is going to be a short one, because there are not 86 different scenarios to visit.  Instead, we have just one: win and claim a bye.

There might be some scoreboard-watching today, but if the Vikings win, none of it will matter because they would get an extra week of rest and be prepared for the divisional round of the playoffs. 

I will share my thoughts on why this team has me believing again next week, whether they end up slipping to Wild Card Weekend, or they come through and get the bye.  Either way, as division champs, they'll play at home.  You just need to beat the Bears, and this defense has given up 7 points since losing to Carolina.  I've got to think we'll be fine.

It's a nice feeling to be going to the playoffs no matter what happens this week.  Beats the crap out of the alternative (2016, anyone?).  Skol!

Week 16: Have a holly, jolly Christmas, and kick the Packers in the rear!

The Vikings had been Kings of the North since beating the Packers and continuing to win week after week until Carolina, but Sunday the 17^th made it official.  The Vikings showed no mercy, pounding a team that clearly had no answers.  We even got to see Teddy step onto the field to a massive ovation.  It was a goosebumps moment.

Everything seems to be lining up for the Vikings to take one of the top two NFC playoff seeds by force.  With the Super Bowl being hosted by Minneapolis this year, it goes without saying that home field advantage is as important as it possibly could be.  However, you also have to have faith that this team could go on the road to defeat someone.  The next two weeks will be very intriguing.  I feel like the Vikings finish with no worse than 12 wins, and that’s if they slip up against a Packers team with no Aaron Rodgers.  The only two things tipping the scales in Green Bay’s favor for that game are the game being at Lambeau Field, and the fact that it will be very cold there tonight.

Zimmer should have the Vikings prepared to take this one.  A Vikings team that wasn’t quite as good as this one beat the Packers at Lambeau Field to take the division two years ago, and that was with a fully healthy #12.  Brett Hundley is going to have to play like Brett Favre for the Packers to have a chance in this game.  However, we should not count our chickens before they hatch.  The 1988 Vikings were in the midst of a season much like this one and lost to a much worse (4-12) Packers team 18-6…on a cold night at Lambeau Field in week 16.  They finished second in the division to Chicago and eventually lost to San Francisco on the road in the second round of the playoffs. 

Which just goes to show you there’s always a bad Vikings loss somewhere to remind fans to keep their hubris in check.  Yes, the Vikes might win by 30, but Hundley might surprise everyone.  Here’s hoping for the former.

And have a Merry Christmas, Skol Nation.

Week 15: Win and In, quite literally.

I think we had a collective freakout on Sunday.  It’s amazing how stressful a Vikings game can be, even when the team has 10 wins more than a week before Christmas Day.

(Speaking of which, Vikings-Packers, however much it ends up meaning, is on the 23^rd, not the 25^th.)

There are several ways to look at Sunday’s loss…the first since early October.  The first way is sheer panic.  We didn’t think much of it when the Vikings lost that ugly game to…Carolina in 2009, did we?  We already had the division sewn up; it didn’t matter.  Or so we thought.  The next week brought an unfortunate overtime loss to the eventual 7-9 Bears.  And the rest is history.

Another way to look at it is that this year’s game went better than that.  The Vikings got handled for much of it, but they overcame a bad performance to come back and tie the game late in the fourth.  If not for a long Cam Newton run on which Matt Kalil got away with holding, we might be talking about a nine game winning streak.  Overall, it was not a great game, as so many little things that hadn’t gone wrong for a while went wrong, and we can only hope the Vikings got a bad game out of their system.  Better now than in January, especially if the Vikings get a first round bye. 

The Vikings got a taste of losing, and it should hopefully keep them humble and hungry.  Adam Thielen even said that the team had forgotten what losing felt like, so the loss might be a good thing in the long run.  All I know is win this week and all is forgiven.  You’ll automatically clinch the division if you beat Cincy, meaning you wouldn’t have to play at Lambeau Field more than once this year.  If they end up making it, the Packers—who are the team it would hurt the most to lose against this postseason in particular (hypothetically)—would have to come to The Slatra House (Norse word for slaughter, meaning “to butcher”).  The same would be true for Detroit; a return trip to Minneapolis if they played the Vikings a third time at all.   

The media is probably looking at last Sunday’s game as the “Vikings aren’t for real” game, which is fine given that the team performs better when the media isn’t drooling all over them anyway.  Makes me wonder how the Packers or Cowboys handle it.    

Next week’s Cavalcade will be going up on Friday, as I am busy with Christmas stuff on the day of the Vikings-Packers game.  Hopefully I’ll be typing up a description of a division championship.

Week 14: Eight straight feels great, but how great?

I am oddly comfortable right now.  Christmas 2017 is shaping up to be a great affair with a first place operation within the division and (as of this writing; Saturday night) a team ranking first place in the entire NFC.  Now, things could easily change, but that Vikings-Packers tilt on Christmas Night (not Christmas Eve) should be very enjoyable if the Vikes have locked up a quality playoff spot. 

The big question is, when do we have that moment where dissention within the ranks starts to show cracks in the armor?  The Vikings struggled a bit on offense against the Falcons, but were able to grind out an eighth consecutive victory; something that only the greatest of Vikings teams have done historically.  There wasn’t much dissent to be had.  We all remember the Sunday night game (oddly enough, against Carolina) where Brad Childress and Brett Favre got into it; a game which ended up being an ugly 26-7 loss.

How about the Monday night game against Chicago that same year where the Vikings fell down 23-6, rallied to tie the game, but lost in overtime?  In seemingly every big time Vikings season, there exists a moment where the “football gods,” if you believe such a thing exists, seem to slap the fandom in its collective face and taunt us just like a Packer fan about having no rings.  This has happened consistently ever since the team first started winning playoff games back in the late 60s.

Am I foolish for bracing in anticipation of such a moment on a week-to-week basis?  Or, should I just give myself up entirely to this team and enjoy the ride with a squad that very well could be good enough to finally get that elusive first Super Bowl trophy?  It is a question I will continue to ponder as the season rolls on.  Are you guarding your heart, Vikings fans?  Or have you given in to the hype train? 

Week 13: 9-2 and, uh-oh, here comes that old familiar pain...

The Vikings are having a really good season.  With a win against the Lions on Thanksgiving ten days ago, the division lead is three games.  A victory against Atlanta today would basically clinch a playoff spot.  Everything is going well…and it’s quiet on the drama front concerning this team.  Too quiet.

That old familiar feeling is beginning to creep up on us again.  It’s a feeling that is all too familiar to Vikings fans and a question we have all asked from time to time; how will the Vikes let us down this year?  We lost Sam Bradford after one game (Bears game doesn’t really count) because his knee decided to break down.  We lost Dalvin Cook in week four to an ACL injury.  And yet the team is 9-2, in second place in the entire NFC with only those red-hot Eagles who never lose ahead of them.

I feel like this is the position all of us wanted to be in, but we all secretly dreaded it at the same time because the other shoe always drops on this team.  You need look no further than the heyday of the Vikings.  This team made it to four Super Bowls in the 70s and I don’t need to remind you what happened in those games.  This year, Minneapolis hosts it.  I have not personally even entertained the thought of the Vikings actually playing in their own Super Bowl for good reason.

The best option is to continue taking things one game at a time.  At this point, Vikings fans should just be happy the Packers aren’t leading the division.  Let the media make the comparisons to 2009 and, much to our chagrin, bring up Gary Anderson, Blair Walsh, and Brett Favre throwing across his body in the Bountygate game.  Unfortunately, until we win a Super Bowl, those three things are the legacy of the Vikings. 

Thankfully, we have five games left of regular season football to just sit back and enjoy a 9-2 season that could turn into something more.  Let’s go get those dirty birds today.

Week 12: Many Thanksgivings for a big Vikings win?

Case Keenum made a statement on Sunday.  Thankfully, whenever he makes a statement, the Vikings as a whole seem to follow, and they did in a 24-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams, whom everybody was hyping up as the next big thing prior to the game.

The game itself was a grinder; the Vikes only had a couple of great scoring opportunities prior to the fourth quarter.  One was a touchdown for Latavius Murray. The other two featured Kai Forbath doing his best Blair Walsh impression, which is hopefully just a phase. 

Regardless of how part of the game looked, the box score read 24-7 when it was all said and done, propelling the Vikings into the upper level of the NFL with an 8-2 record.  The Vikings already play again today (happy Thanksgiving, everyone) with a chance to go to 9-2.  If they win and indeed build a massive lead in the NFC North, the discussion will begin.  I don’t know about you guys, but I’m dreading this particular discussion: could the Vikings represent the NFC in their own Super Bowl?

I haven’t entertained the thought this entire year, and it’s a first for the team, as they went 8-8 and missed the playoffs the year that the Metrodome hosted Denver and Buffalo.  I’ve preferred to enjoy the season one week at a time, and it’s been a really good one in spite of knee injuries.  As far as the game today against Detroit, it’s a thrill to have the team play two years in a row on Thanksgiving after having not played since the game against Dallas years ago (no, not the famous Randy Moss game, there was another).

I’m simply hoping for a better result this time around.  I mean, half the team isn’t on IR like last year at this time, and the offensive line is simply better than the last two years.  I’m all for what Case is doing, but if this team ever becomes Teddy’s again, I think he’d do just fine behind an offensive line that won’t have him running for his life. 

Here’s hoping we can be thankful for a big Vikings win in a few hours.    

Week 11: Tune in this week for the next exciting episode; Spygate 2: Electric Boogaloo, or Keenum makes his Case!

Well, the decision to start either Case Keenum or Teddy Bridgewater just got a whole lot simpler.  It has been an interesting scenario, to say the least. 

Keenum came out looking like he knew this could be his last game if things did not go well against Washington.  If he was feeling any pressure like that, he handled it extremely well, two ugly interceptions aside.  My main concern coming out of this game is the defense.  Did Washington just give the rest of the league a roadmap to beating the Vikings defense?  The Vikings also thwarted the bye week curse from last season by winning after it.

The team is now 7-2, having won five games in a row.  If this feels vaguely familiar to you, it should; the team did the same under Teddy Bridgewater’s leadership in 2015, his last season in the league.  This team might be better than that team, given the injuries to leading RB Dalvin Cook and Sam Bradford, and they still racked up five wins to climb to first place in the NFC North.

The big storyline this week is the LA Rams.  They are also 7-2, which means they must fall if the Vikings are to be taken seriously as contenders.  This game will likely tell us a lot about both teams.  The other storyline is the fact that Greg Olsen, a future opponent of the Vikings, will be on the broadcast team.  It’s likely that nothing will come of this, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.  If the Panthers stomp the Vikings in a completely unrealistic way later this season (like 41-donut), we will all know why. 

It almost makes you wonder if there’s a conspiracy to stop the Vikings from hosting and playing in the Super Bowl this year.  Almost.  I mean, Bountygate happened.  So anything’s possible, really. 

Though, the fact that the team is actually good enough for a conspiracy to hypothetically happen feels pretty grand.     

Week 10: You say good bye week, now I say hello!

The bye week is over, and here we are.  Lots to talk about in this latest blog post.

There are rumors that Aaron Rodgers could come back for the Week 16 game, which works perfectly as a revenge angle…but the Packers had better win some games in the meantime or it won’t even matter.  There’s that pesky matter of the Vikings being 6-2, and the fact that two of their three NFC North opponents currently own tiebreakers.  

Before they worry about their State Farm Savior, they should think about winning some games first, especially since they would fall to last place if Chicago beats them this coming Sunday.  It’s hard to come back from three losses in a row, never mind four. 

The only way the Packers factor into any of this is if they win some games and the Vikings and Lions flounder.  As for our Vikings, we’ve got a sneaky tough one this week against the Redskins, who are only 4-4 but just upset Seattle.  It’s another important one, like every game, most of all because it’s a road game and the Vikes have a two-game cushion that we do NOT want to lose with the Lions having a tiebreaker over us.  If the Vikings can win these next two games, they will be in excellent shape.  I feel Detroit beats Cleveland, but wins this week and next week would put us a solid three games ahead.

The beauty of the NFL, however, is that nothing is certain.  Even at 6-2, there is a quarterback controversy brewing with the return of “Touchdown” Teddy Bridgewater.  Case Keenum has done an admirable job with the situation presented to him, and I still think the job is his to lose.  The rest of this season is going to be an interesting one, that’s for sure.  With the bad taste of last season post-bye week fresh in our mouths, here’s hoping that this year goes a lot better.

As a final point, I feel bad for Sam Bradford.  Thanks for giving us a chance in 2016, dude, and here's to a speedy recovery and possible return.

In the end, it’s all about winning YOUR games.  It’s a simple concept, really, and the Vikes are in a great place.  Now they need to fight to keep it.

Week 8: Insert clever London pun here!

Vikings vs Browns.  Perhaps the first early morning game in the history of the Minnesota Vikings, this one kicks off at 8:30 central time, and many people probably won't even read this post before kickoff.

The Vikes can't blow a game against a winless team...right?  Right? 

Let's hope so.  This feels like a major trap game being overseas playing three and a half hours before the rest of the league.  The good news is, the Vikings shouldn't have nearly as much trouble finishing drives against the Browns as they did against the Ravens.  If the Vikes finish even one more drive in that game, it's a blowout.

Much like the last game, I expect the Vikings to win this one handily.  However, this team likes to make everything much harder than it ever has to be, so I would expect more of a grind like the Ravens game.

Whatever way the Vikings get to 6-2, I welcome.  I only pray for no more major injuries going into a bye week that shouldn't ruin the season like last year.  This team needs every win they can get right now, because the schedule gets tough with five road games in the final eight weeks to close out the season.

As always, Skol Vikings.

Week 7 (2): The "did Packer fans not watch Bountygate?" edition.

Yes, last week was actually week 6.  Oops. 

Before we move on to discussing Baltimore, the initial question is in the title of the post.  Plus, it's hard for me to have too much sympathy for a fanbase that has been spoiled rotten for the past 25 years on quarterback play and quarterback health.  Without Rodgers to fall back on, possibly for the rest of the season, we get to see how good of a coach Mike McCarthy really is.

Seriously though, Packer fans...unless he makes a miraculous recovery, welcome to the world of practically every other NFL team that doesn't have a potential Hall of Fame quarterback to lead them.  Quarterback injuries happen; you've just been extremely lucky to avoid significant ones in most years.  Vikings fans felt their world come to a crashing halt when Teddy Bridgewater went down to a non-contact injury right before the season last year; there aren't many teams that are unluckier than us.

Anyway, onto Baltimore.  The Ravens at 3-3 are only a game worse than the Vikings, but they honestly don't scare me that much.  Not like the Packers pre-Rodgers-injury.  Also, the Bears beat them last week with a 113 yard performance from their rookie Mitchell Trubisky, which was by design.  Joe Flacco has been on the decline this season, and this is a very winnable game; though I know better than to guarantee anything as a Vikings fan.  Still, the Vikes should win this one as long as they stick to their fundamentals.

Teddy also came back to practice this week.  I think I'll be talking more about him in the coming weeks, though I doubt they'll rush him back to action unless Case Keenum starts to struggle. 

Then there's the London game next week with the Browns...more on that next week.  Here's hoping the next time this blog gets updated I'm talking about a 5-2 team.

 

Week 7: It's Packer Week! ...Yay?

Well, let’s dive right in. 

The Vikings enter the home portion of the 2017 Border Battle having endured about as much drama as a middle school theater club.  Despite feeling like half of the team is already on the Injured Reserve list, the Vikes are, in fact, over .500 at 3-2.

Were this any other week, I’d be thrilled at the prospect of a win, and 4-2 would look mighty fine after the way this season has begun for the purple and gold.  But, because of who we play, I am tempering my expectations as usual. 

The Packers are, again, winning games by the skin of their teeth this year.  This means that the Vikings, if they hope to win, need to control the clock and score the game-winning touchdown with virtually no time left in the fourth quarter.

We’ve got the defense to hold this team and this quarterback in check.  See last year, when the Vikings allowed just 14 points to Green Bay in the first-ever relevant game at USBank Stadium.  They’ve even done it at Lambeau Field, as evidenced in Week 17 of 2015, when they beat the Packers 20-13 after building a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.

So really, this game could go either way.  Seeing as how the team is still relatively healthy, there’s a chance.  A couple of turnovers could turn the tide in our favor.  After I spent a week shouting up at the sky, asking God why he hates Vikings fans after Dalvin Cook got hurt, McKinnon and Murray looked pretty good on Monday night, especially after Case Keenum came into the game and the passing game opened up a little.

Keenum and the Vikings’ offense should feast on this defense, but the Packers might just be able to rely on Rodgers to get a win.  It’s what they’ve done for the past nine years, and I’m surprised his back hasn’t broken from all of the times he’s had to carry an otherwise mediocre team. 

Anyway, here’s hoping the Vikings can put up a wall in this Border Battle and take a step toward keeping the Packers from invading Minneapolis in February.

Week 1: Villainizing the Saints, or, Cooking Up Trouble in Prime Time!

I promised myself that I would not go off the rails and predict a Vikings Super Bowl win in the one we host next February.  If the Vikings have a good year, we will hear enough steam on the subject from other people.

With that said, Monday’s season-opening game against the Saints was a lot of fun to watch.  At long last, the Vikings got some measure of revenge on the team that Bountygated the crap out of Brett Favre seven years ago.  Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs shredded admittedly one of the worst defenses in the NFL.  The really important part was that the Vikings kept one of the best offenses in the league from scoring the usual boatload of points they are known for.  Seriously, if the Saints had a defense that could rival a small college, watch out.  Considering they allegedly cheated to get their one and only Super Bowl, the fact that they have languished since 2014 despite an embarrassment of riches on offense is probably karma.

Many people would tell Vikings fans to slow their roll because playing such a horrendous defense is part of the reason 1-0 came surprisingly easy.  However, I say just enjoy the moment.  The Vikings are not known as the team that does the butt-kicking in prime time games, though they are 5-3 in such games since the loss to Arizona on Thursday Night Football in 2015.  Plus, for those who now hate Adrian Peterson, Monday’s game had to be especially satisfying as a certain rookie completely showed him up.

The true test comes against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, who will have a much better defense chasing after Sam Bradford, Dalvin Cook, and the previously mentioned Thielen and Diggs.  Minnesota should know where its beloved warriors stand after Week 2.  All in all, if the offensive line can actually block all season, this offense should be fine.