The Vikings Come to a Fork In The Road

The 10-2 Minnesota Vikings will host Chad Johnson (I refuse to indulge his childness) and the 9-3 Bengals this Sunday.  The Vikes are at a fork in the road.  A win and last week is forgotten.  The Vikings fans (well most of us) well just flush those bitter memories down the toilet.  However a loss could be troubling.  Look at the Steelers.  They started out 5 weeks ago just losing a game, now it's compounded on itself to a five game losing steak.

The players and coaches for their part have said all the right things.  They appear to be focused and are not going to let the beatdown they were issued in Arizona hang over their heads.  We will see on Sunday if they are being honest or not.

I believe them.  This year's team seems to have a short memory.  They don't get too high with the highs or low with the lows.  They always seem to be focused.  Well, with the exception of last Sunday night, where they just seemed off.  But hey, it happens.  How come we are the only fanbase that can't come to grips with that fact?  How come the sky always has to be falling after a loss?  We are a good team, one poor showing out of 12 doesn't change that fact.  It's a long season and you can't expect your team to play sharp every single week.  Nor can you rely on amazingly good luck and amazingly bad calls to get you the "W", unless your the New Orleans Saints.  (I don't hate the Saints...I really don't...)

Adrian Peterson appears to be a man frustrated.  I think most of that stems from only getting 13 carries in a crucial conference game in December.  Perhaps it stems from the fact that Chilly and Bevell continually scheme AP out of the offense.  His carries are decreasing and we're abandoning the run game as soon as there's a run stuffed.  Why was AP so good last year and the year before?  We kept him in the game and kept feeding him.  I understand that we don't need to hand it to him 30+ times every game this year but we can't just freeze him out of the offense.  We need to keep our balance or we will be doomed come playoff time.  Teams that can find balance are teams that make deep playoff pushes.

At no point in time did I ever think I would be fretting about throwing too much under Brad Childress.  Seriously last year and the year before Chilly made Jim Tressel look like Steve Spurrier.  Amazing the difference a year can make huh?

Perhaps maybe the worst thing to come out of last Sunday's loss was having to hear media talking heads talk ad nauseaum about the "annual" Favre "collapse."  I am so sick of hearing about that already.  Look last week's loss really can't be pinned on Favre.  He certainly was part of it but it wasn't solely was his fault, nor was he the biggest problem.  And seriously if you look at the past 4 years has any quarterback been saddled with worse luck than Favre?  Last year he got hurt, the year before that his running game disappeared in the biggest moments and the defense collapsed.  And the years before that he was stuck trying to carry bad teams with an inept GM at the helm.

In my last column recapping the Cards game I didn't note the huge loss our defense suffered when we lost E.J. Henderson for the rest of the season.  I wish him the best of luck and a speedy recovery.  Rookie Jasper Brinkley will step up and fill that gap.  I don't mean to sound harsh but we lost E.J. last year for the season and our defense was fine.  I think we can recover from the loss of E.J.

Honestly we might play better without Terrell Johson at safety.  I do hope that Cedric Griffin can play though we need him.  I am not counting on Antoine Winfield playing ever again until I see him on the field.  Even then I want DNA confirmation that it's actually him.  How long have the Vikings been teasing us telling us that Winny was on his way back, only to see him in street clothes on Sunday definitely not playing.

The Bengals are stingy against the run allowing only 82 yards a game, which ranks them second in the NFL.  That being said their main run stuffer Domata Peko is out for this week's game so I am hoping that maybe we can get the run game untracked this week.  I have been saying that for over half the season now but eventually it will happen right?  I mean Adrian Peterson is too good to not just bust out one game right?  I hope so anyways.  I really never want to see Favre throw it over 30 times the rest of the season. 

After all, Favre is 40 years old.  We don't need him chucking the ball around 40-50 times a game.  We can't lose our balance come playoff time, it is so precious.  One dimensional offenses don't go far.  Ask the 2008 Minnesota Vikings.

The Bengals for their part kind of remind me of last year's Vikings, but a touch better.  They run the ball and stop the run.  Their pass defense is decent and their passing game is average.  I understand they have Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson but come on their season high in passing yards is 247.  So they're not exactly the New Orleans Saints.

The key on defense is obvious: shut down the run.  Stop Cedric Benson, or LJ or whoever they throw back there.  Another thing, do not let Chad get hold of a Vikings horn.  I would endorse Jared Allen mauling him if that happened.

Speaking of the Mulleted one where was he last week?  Where was any of the defensive line?  This can't continue we need pressure up front.  That is the key to our defense.  When the defensive line is getting pressure the whole defense works better.  Our secondary is not that strong we need good play from our front seven otherwise our secondary will collapse.

On offense isn't obvious what I believe.  I preach from the pulpit of balance.  It's not necessarily that I believe we need AP to "take over" but we need him to be involved more.  We need him to step up and at least be close to the AP of old. (a.k.a. last year)  Really though the problem isn't just AP, it's the offensive line.  They are simply not getting enough of a push up front.  AP is having to deal with defenders in the backfield almost every other play it seems like.  Also the playcalling is constantly having him bounce outside when there's simply no running lanes outside.  I think we need to shed ourselves of this "zone blocking scheme" it doesn't appear to be working.

So we have some problems but the good news is they are all correctable.  The bottom line is we still have, top to bottom, the most talented roster in the NFL, at least in my humble opinion.  We are a top three team in this league, 11 weeks of good play has shown that, one off week doesn't change anything.  That being said we need to be more focused this week and we can't let penalties and turnovers plague us.

A win clinches a playoff spot, and if it is coupled with a Packer loss we clinch the division. (You know the same division some in the media *cough Steve Young cough* want to start giving to the Packers.  You know the same Packer team we swept this year)  The world is not ending, the sky is not falling.  We are okay, we are okay. (At least that is what I keep telling myself)

As a Vikings fan I understand the underlying panic that starts to bubble up at a wrong turn.  However this year I have made a concentrated effort to not get like that.  This year has a different feel and I am embracing that.  Years like this don't come very often so I say we enjoy it.  Why fret about a future you can't control?  As a fan I take the clique approach of "one game at a time."  That's all I can think about.  If the other shoe drops so to speak and things fall apart then so be it.  We have been left with a lot of magical moments already this season and part of feels like this ride will be going for two months or so.

I will be back later in the week, faithfully giving my recap/other random shenanigans that I can think of.  This is an important week and I believe the Vikings are treating it as such. 

So until next time, Skol Vikings.