Viking Thunder

Vikings - Cause You Had A Bad Day

2011-12-23T12:46:00.002-05:00

Die Hard Viking Fan Page

Vikings Had A Bad Day

The New Orleans Saints led by Drew Bree's visited the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday and proceeded to beat the Hell out of them. The score, 42-20 does not reflect the carnage of what really happened on the field that day. Drew Bree's threw for over 400 yards, tossed 5 TD passes, had zero interceptions, was sacked zero times, and completed 80% of his passes. I will mention just one more stat, the Saints had 38 plus minutes in time of possession. The Vikings did lead in one statistic though. Penalties. The Vikings are quite excellent in that area usually blowing their slim chance at a win with an ill-timed penalty. False starts at home? Come on! (Same as it ever was)

Cue the musical score of Cause You Had A Bad Day.

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Webb Fask Mask

Consider last weeks game against the Detroit Lions. The Vikings come from behind and have a first and goal at the Lions 1 yard with 9 seconds to go trailing by 6 points. One yard and the Vikings win. What happens? Exactly! Webb drops back to his left, gets rushed, loses the ball all the while getting his face mask yanked and the Lions recover the ball. Thank God for that face mask penalty, the Vikings will get one un-timed down at the half yard line.

Hey, wait a minute, no penalty flag. The game is over. The Lions win. It was such an obvious call even the game announcers commented on the blatantly missed call. (Cause they had a bad day)

The Vikings had a very good chance to win that game. In fact, the Vikings lost eight of their games by 7 points or less. Talk about a bad day, how about an entire season. The Vikings are 2-12 and are on the verge of their worst season in their long history. I remember the Les Steckel days, but Hell, even he managed to squeeze three victories in between push ups and marathon sprinting.

What went wrong? (Take a very big inhale)

The Lockout:

I guess the NFL lockout hurt the Vikings. Yes, it hurt every team, but the Vikings had a changing of the guard, as Leslie Frazier took over as head coach. It is hard to instill a new philosophy to a team that is locked out.

The Grasping At Straws Syndrome:

With the lockout situation, when it was resolved, the Vikings had little choice but to pursue a veteran quarterback. Webb and Rhomer and the Rookie Ponder were the only play callers on the roster. In comes Donovan McNabb signing a one year contract. Donovan was supposedly hired to lead the team in 2011 to a playoff berth and teach the rookie Ponder and the first year Webb the ropes. (Talk about having a bad day, Donovan has had a bad three years)

The Injury Bug:

That's not all folks. The Vikings have been riddled with injuries this season. Yes, yes, all teams have injuries, however, the Vikings have Maytag repairmen playing in the secondary. Opposing quarterbacks pass at will on the defensive back field. Hell, even Tim Tebow went 15-20 against the Vikings.

Head Coach:

I am going to say it now Viking fans. Coach Frazier is in jeopardy of losing his job 10 minutes after the final whistle sounds at the end of this season. Coach Tice was informed that way when he was unceremoniously fired several years back.

The 500 Pound Gorilla In The Room:

Let's not leave out the stadium issue. The Vikings have just one more game under contract to play at the Dome. Their lease is up. And at this writing, no stadium deal is in place for the future. Methinks this does not bode well for the Vikings organization or its fan base. Wilf makes snap judgments, and he may just partner up with those guys in sunny California. Look for a quick decision in early January. The L.A. Vikings doesn't really have a ring to it.

The 2012 Draft Combo Platter:

The 2012 NFL draft. Vikings are at 2-12 and have the second pick in the draft. If the ball bounces funny, they could wind up with the number one pick. Do they select Andrew Luck and put to rest the Ponder experiment or do they trade the pick for a boatload of draft picks? Heaven knows the Vikings need help in all area's, except for running back.

The Lack Of Receivers:

Before we jump at the draft picks, lets look at what Ponder is working with. Besides Percy Harvin, who is playing hurt, Ponder has no one else to throw the ball to. The other receivers are on the team by default. Just imagine if we had another top flight receiver for Ponder to target? Look at all the good NFL teams, they have at least two if not three great quality receivers to keep defenses honest. Opposing players merely double Harvin and stack the line to stop Peterson and limit production for the Vikings. Hence, 12 losses, 8 of them by less than 7 points.

The Offensive Offensive Line:

The receivers are not the only concern. The offensive line, once a proud group that was the strength of the team, is not even adequate. Hutchinson sadly, is past him prime and is now merely an overpaid guard. The Vikings need to be aggressive this off-season and go after offensive linemen in free agency. LT, LG, RG, RT, and yes, even center. Also keep in mind that Peterson has been sidelined for several games. Gerheart is an adequate back up, but he does not scare the defense.

The Rookie Ponder:

Don't get me wrong, Ponder has made some ugly assed bone headed mistakes. But all rookies do, especially when said rookie had very limited action with the first string offense. Remember, McNabb was brought in and he took all the first string snaps to get caught up on the new offense. I truly believe that if Ponder had been the number one going into training camp, he would look a lot better right now.

Now just imagine Ponder in 2012, with a season under his belt, 10 games of experience, with a full set of OTA's, mini camps, and the incumbent in training camp. I agree with Tarkenton when he said that Ponder will be a great quarterback for the Vikings for the next 15 years.

The Sunny Side Up:

On a brighter note, someone who isn't having a bad day. Jared Allen has 17.5 sacks so far. He needs 5.5 sacks in the final two games to break the NFL season sack total of 22.5 held by Strahan. Allen has 100.5 sacks for his career and is second only to Reggie White for most sacks through their first eight seasons.

Allen seems to be just getting in stride with this team. He will excel at an all pro level for at least 4-5 more seasons.

Switching Gears:

At the beginning of the 2011 season, Viking Thunder was going to compare two former Viking players who jumped shipped. One on offense, one on defense and compare them to their counterpart on the Vikings. The players monitored are:

Teams: Vikings — Seahawks
Player: Michael Jenkins – Catches:38 Yards:466 TD's:3
Player: Sidney Rice – Catches:32 Yards:481 TD's:2

Note: Both Rice and Jenkins wound up on injured reserve the same week. With this part of the contest over, Jenkins and the Vikings clearly won that transaction saving millions of dollars in cap money not signing an injury prone Rice. (Rice has now been injured 4-5 seasons)

Teams: Vikings — Falcons
Player: Brian Robison – Sacks:6
Player: Ray Edwards – Sacks:3

So far, Robison has twice as many sacks than Edwards. Again, with only three more games left, it appears that the Vikings yet again made a very prudent and cap friendly move by not signing Edwards.

SKOL VIKINGS

Game #4 - Vikings Get Spanked By Chiefs

2011-10-03T01:02:00.000-04:00

Vikings Spanked Again

Last week I stated that since the Vikings were 0-3 with an almost zero percent chance of making the playoffs, perhaps some changes should be made. After all, the Vikings had double digit leads at the half of each game but were unable to put anything together in the second half. Plain and simple, they were out played and out coached.

But that all changed Sunday. The Vikings did not hold a double digit lead at half, in fact, they were behind 9-7. However, they still lost the games to the then win less Chiefs.

After the game coach Frazier commented that it wasn't time to replace Dovovan McNabb at quarterback but every position will be looked at. Leslie, let me give you some advice. (God, I hope he is reading this, otherwise his job will be in jeopardy)

Leslie, the Vikings are 0-4, only one team since the 1990 modern playoff system was implemented had made the playoffs. ONLY ONE TEAM. You brought Donovan in as a one year stop gap in hopes that the team was poised to make another playoff run like in 2009. You were wrong.

Permitting Donovan to keep the starting position is the death knell for your short lived head coaching job. Donovan is not the future, his one year contract says so. Letting him continue to play only hurts the future of the Vikings. What do you hope to accomplish in keeping Donovan as the starter? It is time to bench Donovan and begin the future right now. Leslie, give Ponder the starting job this Sunday. Making this move can save your job and could also save the stadium deal that seems to be all but gone.

If Ponder plays well, the fans will be happy, they will buy tickets and programs and beer. There won't be a television blackout. Perhaps even the Minnesota elected will see a glimmer of hope and sway their position and push forward the stadium bill. If Ponder plays well, you will have saved your job and the rest of the coaching staff.

Even if Ponder plays poorly, you can chalk it up to rookie mistakes and taking his lumps. You can argue that real time game experience is the best learning approach. Far better than watching from the sidelines. And, if Ponder plays poorly, at least you know he is not the future of the team but perhaps Joe Webb could be.

At the end of the year, you will know where you stand at quarterback. Either you have the real deal in Ponder or Webb and your draft could consist of the best athlete available. Or you can be on the clock for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes or trade for yet another aging over the hill retread to begin the cycle once again.

Leslie, face it. Donovan has lost it. Andy Reid realized he lost it several years ago. That is why he allowed Donovan to leave. So far, Reid is 100% correct. Donovan played horribly in Washington and continued the trend in Minnesota. If you continue to play Donovan, than surely, you will be fired.

Here are the facts. Mcnabb, when the game was on the line, threw four bad incomplete passes in a row to end the game. Donovan has not completed a single long pass yet. Do not count the short screen passes that the players ran for long gains. I'm talking about a 40 yard pass in the air that was completed. (To one of our players, not the defense) Donovan is inaccurate in passing. Always has been. why believe he will change now. Does Musgrave have a special magic wand to make him throw better? If he does, then he better god damn use it right away.

In essence, the next 12 games should be used to evaluate the talent, young and old on the roster and the coaching staff. Let the next 12 games be their resume. Play to win dammit, but experiment with the line up. Blitz more. Run more. Roll the quarterback out more. Whatever more. Quote the Raven Nevermore.

Leslie, your time is now. You may never be by this way again. (Seals and Crofts are stuck in my head) Make the most of your chance here. Make the bold move to insert Ponder. It may just change the future of the team. And yours....

I think I just heard Brad Childress snicker in the back round.

For 2011 Viking Thunder will compare two former Viking players who jumped shipped. One on offense, one on defense and compare them to their counterpart on the Vikings.

Team: Vikings — Seahawks
Player: Michael Jenkins – Catches: 16 Yards: 144 Points: 12
Player: Sidney Rice – Catches: 11 Yards: 188 Points: 6
Note: Sidney Rice did not play due to injury. (2 games injured)

Team: Vikings — Falcons
Player: Brian Robison – Sacks: 2.5
Player: Ray Edwards – Sacks: 0

SKOL VIKINGS!

claim

2010-10-28T18:39:00.001-04:00

LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

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