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. 

Week Four: Cutting the Giants Down to Size, or: What? It's Week Four already???

Yes, yes, I know.

The season is already three weeks old.  This will return as a weekly blog starting right now.

Without further ado, here we go.

The 2016 NFL season has so far proven the old adage that you can’t script September. 

Oh, that’s not a thing?  Well it should be.

Just days before the NFL season was set to begin, Teddy Bridgewater collapsed at practice in extreme pain.  We didn’t know if Teddy had suffered some kind of freak bodily injury that could have either killed him or ended his career, but we did know it wasn’t good.

Enter Sam Bradford; former 1^st overall pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2010.  Some people panicked and declared the Vikings’ season to be over before it started, as they had when Teddy got hurt.

Cooler heads reminded everyone else that Sam Bradford, injury-prone underachiever he might be, was entering the greatest situation of his life; plenty of weapons at his disposal and a defense that makes grown men cry for mommy.

So far, cooler heads have prevailed and Bradford has done everything asked of him as part of a 3-0 start that hasn’t quite come the way Vikings fans may have expected, but we will certainly take it.  A little bit of national credit (and I do mean little...the excuse computer has been working overdrive) after being the Doomsday to Cam Newton’s Superman?  That was fun to watch.    

Of course, shutting up all of the Packer fans who told us for months that they would ruin our homecoming was pretty sweet, too.  Oh, and also getting a respectable game out of Shaun Hill in week one.

There are flaws in the Vikings’ offensive game, but if this team can still get better, this season could be a lot of fun.

Next up is the Giants on Monday Night Football.  Normally, I would dread such a game, but the Vikings have started a new streak: 3-0 in prime time games.  It is entirely possible that “the moment” under the lights is not a weakness to this team anymore.  One difference this season is that unless he does something stupid in the next few days, Odell Beckham Jr. will actually get to play this time.  The Giants also have a rejuvenated Victor Cruz and a rookie in Sterling Shepard who is contributing right away.  Trying to contain three talented wideouts could be a challenge.  Then again, don't most good NFL teams have at least two?  Hopefully, the Zim Reapers will be up to the task.

One of the stranger themes in the NFL over the past several years is that the Vikings defense loves to play Eli Manning…and most of that success was when the defense was not that great.  Last year was another example of why Eli must hate us by now.  After bludgeoning Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton in back-to-back weeks, what does Zim have planned for Eli?  I guess we’ll have to find out.

In Zim we trust.  Enjoy the season, Vikings fans.  It should be a fun one with games on Halloween, Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving, among others.

Vikings vs Packers: Little Brown Jug 2.0? The slow and painful death of a once-great rivalry.

Well…that Vikings game against the Packers certainly…existed.

With the puke in my sink as my witness, I have to say that we saw one of the worst losses in all of Border Battle history on Sunday.

What made this one so bad?  Was it the fact that the Vikings were more than willing to be the slump-buster for a wounded Packers team that fell behind them in the standings after an inexplicable loss to Detroit last week, handing back the keys to the NFC North in the process? 

Was it the seemingly one-sided officiating?  Yes, the Vikings’ penalties were mostly self-inflicted, but the Packers got off scot free with quite a lot (like nearly decapitating Teddy on a facemask). 

Or was it the fact that at 7-2, the Vikings had finally begun to look like a professional football team for the first time since 2012 (possibly 2009), only to lose badly to Green Bay and make all of this progress seem like a total fluke? 

It’s likely a combination of all three.  That, and there’s the fact that with so many green and gold fans living in Minnesota, the taunting certainly won’t stop anytime soon.  “We have Super Bowls and you don’t!”  “We have Aaron Rodgers and you don’t!”  “You thought you could actually beat us?  That’s cute!”  They might even steal a great line from Dodgeball; “We’re better than you, and we know it!”

Ahem…getting back to my earlier point, I think the worst part about losing to the Packers for the 15^th time in 20 games since 2006 is that the Vikings proved once again beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are simply not ready for the spotlight (though let’s be honest, this team’s entire history is built around not being ready for prime time).

This team can win games.  They proved that by winning seven of eight after that awful MNF loss to begin the season.  You can say whatever you want about “getting fat” on mediocre/bad teams; the Vikings are finally decent at winning games again.

What we wanted to see was progress.  A win against the Packers would have sent the Vikings’ playoff stock skyrocketing.  As I said last week, even a win over a wounded Packers team would have been huge.  It would have also provided the confidence to beat just about any of the tougher teams on the back seven (Atlanta, Arizona, etc).  If the Vikings are going to become a premier team in this league, they must be able to defeat the team that has run the NFC North since its inception in 2002 when the realignment happened.

By choking away such a huge chance on Sunday with awful line play and inexcusable penalties that we weren’t taking in previous weeks, fans will surely enter this week moaning, “If we can’t beat the Packers, how can we expect to beat Atlanta or Arizona or Seattle?”

The biggest question the Vikings need to answer beginning next Sunday at Atlanta is this; are the Packers just an Achilles heel like the Yankees to the Twins or the BlackHawks to the Wild? Or is this team lacking the ability to beat the elite? 

If the answer to the first question is yes, the Vikes might be able to do just enough to avoid a season’s on the line situation at Lambeau Field in Week 17.  After Week 11’s pathetic showing, it's clear we want no part of that.

Dawn of the Cavalcade: and so it begins...

Hello, Vikings fans, and welcome to the all-new Vikings Cavalcade website and blog!

The preseason has come and gone, and what a relief it is.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching any kind of NFL football, but this preseason seemed to go on forever!  With every game that passed, we saw some key players go down for the season.  The Vikings had five games this past month, and fans surely sweat a little whenever the first teamers, primarily Teddy Bridgewater, went through their reps.

The only thing Phil Loadholt, Kelvin Benjamin and Matt Elam have in common is that they will miss the entire upcoming season.  The Bears lost highly-touted rookie prospect Kevin White, and the Packers lost star receiver Jordy Nelson (whom I spent significant money to draft in my first-ever auction league).

I think it’s safe to say we’re all glad the preseason is over.  There is truly nothing worse than losing a player to an injury in a game that matters as much in the long run as you beating your buddy in a game of Madden.

Preseason Review

The Vikings looked solid in all of the right places this preseason.  Thanks to having five games, Teddy Bridgewater was never in play for too long and both offensive coordinator Norv Turner and defensive coordinator George Edwards were able to run several players through their respective game plans and get a solid look at whomever they wanted.

Teddy looked about as crisp as any Vikings quarterback I’ve ever seen in the preseason and he should make good strides this year.  If the Vikings can protect him on pass plays, I see the returns proving to be huge because of how poised he continues to look in the pocket.  With Adrian Peterson returning, the defense will have to respect the running game, which could help Bridgewater immensely.  Our QB has nothing to lose and everything to gain with one of the best in the game lining up behind him.

The first team defense looked very efficient through four games.  There were some big plays given up, but nothing made me panic and declare the 2015 Vikings a three-win team.  Mike Zimmer and George Edwards continue to shape the defense into their ultimate image, which might just someday emulate the Purple People Eaters of old.

San Francisco

What a thrill it is to open the season on Monday Night Football.  This is a chance for Touchdown Teddy to begin writing his legend.  It makes me think of other great Monday night moments for the Vikes, such as when Randy Moss silenced Lambeau Field in his rookie year.  Will he dazzle a nation watching with a long strike to Mike Wallace?  Will Cordarrelle Patterson finally show signs of returning to the player he was the second half of his rookie year?  And, what will AP do to redeem himself?

It’s hard to place a prediction for the purple and gold this season.  If everything goes according to plan, the Vikings should have an improved year under Zimmer in season #2.  However, these things hardly go the way we want in Minnesota.  Still, count me in the camp of hoping for the best.  There is no doubt the Vikings are on the rise.

I don’t really do score predictions, but I feel like if the 49ers are as bad as people have said, the Vikes should have no problem dispatching them on the road.  They have a rookie head coach and lost several players in the offseason, but the lights of prime time have not been kind to the Vikings lately.

In spite of what I just said, I think the Vikings win and return to TCF Bank Stadium 1-0 when the Lions come to town a week from Sunday. Oh, one more thing...

Skol Vikings!