Vikings Offense Struggles in Playoff Loss to Eagles

On to the offensive line. The Harvard alum looked more like a junior college dropout walking off the field after his snap in the fourth quarter barely got off the ground leading to a turnover when the Vikings had to have a score. He may have played his last game as a Viking. Perhaps the Chiefs will offer him a contract—they are in dire need of replacing their entire line.

Kyle Cook has to be replaced; he is awful. Personally, I think the Vikings should use their first round pick here. Any of the top 25 offensive linemen in the draft would be better than Mr. Cook.

The left side of the line is obviously great. McKinnie could get a half a step quicker, and his awareness could improve on running plays.

The Vikings must re-sign Jim Kleinsasser, who may be thinking about retirement. His value to the Vikings is too high to let him go to either another team or the golf course.

Perhaps more of a must than replacing the quarterback, the Vikings must expend at least one draft pick to get a receiver. I am not real impressed with anyone coming out of college, but getting a possession receiver is a must. I don't care who they get, so long as the guy can beat a corner to the spot in man coverage.

Last but not least is the quarterback. It's my humble opinion that the Vikings will not get to the NFC Championship, let alone the Super Bowl with him, taking snaps.

Yeah, he torched Arizona and moved the ball against the Falcons, but in the loss to Eagles, he looked like the "T-Jack" of the first two games of the season. He threw the ball behind receivers all game. One pass was so far behind Rice that it was taken to the house by Asante Samuel.

He can't read the defense, his receivers don't seem to be helping, which is not his fault, but he doesn't seem to hit the open guy when he has time and space. Don't get me wrong, he's got a cannon, and he's accurate down the field when there is single coverage, but he refuses to make throws when he needs to. When he does, his mechanics are so atrocious it's hard to watch.

He's quick but never seems to run when the situation calls for it. He was 15-35 for less than 200 yards passing, no TDs, and one interception. Those are the numbers of a high school QB for a pass-happy team that finishes the season 5-4, not the numbers of an NFL playoff quarterback.

As any responsible displaced Vikings fan would/should do every Monday, I listen to K-FAN (Vikings radio network) on my computer for my dose of Monday morning quarterbacking from the Paul Allen show.

As he does every week, he had Antoine Winfield on the show, and when asked about whether or not the QB for the 2009 season is already on the roster, the newly appointed pro-bowler replied, "Personally, I think the quarterback is on the roster," and, "I have a lot of confidence in T-Jack."

Now maybe that was just a cover because it was the day after a loss after winning the division. I doubt it though. Maybe they see something in practice that I don't, but to quote the great Pistons guard Allen Iverson, "Practice?! Practice?! You're talking about practice?!"

Frankly I don't care what No. 7 does in practice—I care about his ability to win games when all it takes is one drive to go ahead by five and cripple the Eagles' chances. I care about his ability to hit a receiver when he's wide-open on a slant or an out route instead of throwing it to the guy's inside heel.

Replacements, you may ask? Well, there is not a lot out there in terms of free agency. Kurt Warner would be a definite upgrade, but the downside may be too heavy to carry the upside. He's old, slow, and because he's still good, would cost too much money. Matt Cassel would be an option (as some other writers have talked about), but the Vikings wouldn't be able to afford him unless they freed up some major cap room.

If the Vikings could get a couple more receivers who could actually get open, then maybe they could stick with T-Jack. From what I've seen they need to get the receivers and stick T-Jack on the bench, because that is the role he needs to play.

There is a lot of time for the Vikings to make these important decisions. Vikings fans have to be hoping that the front office and the coaching staff will exhibit the same knowledge they espoused when building the team into a defense and running game first philosophy in this offseason.

I'll be checking back in with some offseason editorials, but until then we'll see you next year, Vikings fans.

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