As a Vikings fan, I have been conditioned to brace for certain
things. I'm always waiting around for Cinderella's coach (no pun intended) to turn back into a pumpkin. How fitting, considering I'm writing this on October 31.
Teddy Bridgewater was supposed
to have his breakout season to establish himself as at least a solid quarterback
in the NFL. His passes in the preseason
were precise, and even his deep ball showed improvement, which was sure to get
the loud minority of fans unsatisfied with his play off of his case.
Then, Teddy got hurt in perhaps the most Vikings way
possible (yes, an even flukier way than Taylor Heinicke), and suddenly the 2016
season, as well as the entire future of the team was in doubt.
Vikings fans know better than anybody (except
maybe Browns fans) that it is not easy to find a franchise quarterback, no
matter how simple everyone else makes it look.
The Packers can go out and get Favre and Rodgers, the Falcons can get
Matt Ryan, the Colts can get Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, and so on and so
forth.
Teams like the Vikings have to wade through 20 guys before
finally finding someone who might fit the bill.
It was supposed to be Teddy.
The hope is that he can play again, at some point.
In came Sam Bradford, and through a combination of him and
Shaun Hill, the Vikings went 2-0 including a very satisfying win over the
Packers after months of their fans boasting about a ruined homecoming in shiny,
new UsBank Stadium.
Then, the Vikings beat a Carolina Panthers team fresh off of
losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.
Awesome, this might work out after all.
Wins against the Giants in prime time; this time with Odell Beckham in
tow (shut down by Xavier “Road’s Closed” Rhodes) and Texans followed.
5-0 into the bye week.
Nothing’s gonna stop us now, copyright 1987 by Jefferson Starship,
right?
Something’s gone wrong in the happy-go-lucky world of the
Minnesota Vikings.
As Carson Wentz broke out, I looked to the matchup against
the Eagles as a potential first loss.
Oh, it happened. Injuries finally
caught up to the Vikings, and Mike Zimmer’s “next man up” philosophy could only
go so far before Sam Bradford’s offensive line made Philadelphia look like the
1985 Chicago Bears.
Oh well, we said. We
shrugged it off. One loss to a team on
the rise isn’t the end of the world, right?
After all, the Vikings were in the same position as the Eagles with
Teddy two seasons ago, just trying to put some good games together and sell
some hope for the future. Though, Philly
might actually make some noise this year.
Well, the future is now.
The Vikings next lined up to play the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field,
which is always a struggle. But hey, the
Bears were 1-6, right? Easy money. 6-1, then on to Detroit for 7-1. Winnable games. Winnable games everywhere.
*whack*
I wake up from my unplanned nap and notice that the other
shoe has fallen. As usual, I say to myself. After covering up several flaws for five weeks,
the Vikings have gone 0-2 due to a laundry list of problems. Unfortunately, there is no “quick fix” for
what just happened. For Halloween, the
Vikings broke out the 1984 version of themselves and made the 1-6 Bears look like, you guessed it, the ’85 Bears. In front of the entire nation. Happy bleeping Halloween.
Again, through my years of watching Vikings football, I have
been conditioned to expect such turns of events. Mike Zimmer’s reputation as a great coach may
have taken a hit tonight. We can only
hope that the play of the team improves from here, but I wouldn’t be surprised
if this team lays another rotten egg at home against the Lions. Detroit has just become a scary team.
If the Ed Thorpe curse is real, it must be ending soon,
because the Vikings are really getting punched in the mouth right now.
Then again, if you had told me that this team would be 5-2 without Teddy, Adrian, or an offensive line worth a dollar, I still think I would have taken that; though I would have swapped out this awful loss to Chicago with a loss to a better team, because that was dishearteningly ugly.
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