Vikings: It's Our Time
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What a game!! The Vikings stay in a great position to secure a playoff spot. If the Vikings win their final two games they are going to the playoffs. With a home game against Washington next Sunday, they would eliminate the Redskins with a win. That would leave only the possibility of New Orleans taking over the Vikings spot. The Giants are one game ahead, but if the Vikings, Saints and Giants finish tied, then the Giants lose out. Remember they went from ugly and pitiful to improving, to hopeful, to significant, to important to meaningful! This team has fought back into contention and is fun to watch.
Adrian Peterson quietly had a nice game, his first on MNF. Early on he couldn’t find a hole (mostly because they ran behind the right side) and then when we needed to milk the clock (starting at the 3-yard line with 8 minutes to go) he got a big run. Even Chester’s 31 yards, were well timed and meaningful. Peterson finished with 2 TD’s and 78 yards.
There were too many turnovers for the Vikings. Unfortunately, T-Jack’s first interception was ruled an interception. The ball was caught by Robert Ferguson and then dropped by RF89 right into Urlacher’s hands. Ferguson made up for it with a 71 yard reception later in the game. The fumble between T-Jack and AD was pretty ugly and then T-Jack’s next two INT’s were just mistakes he made. Maybe it was the pressure of Monday Night Football, but it’s unacceptable. Ron Jaworski pointed out many flaws in his mechanics that we all thought he had moved away from. This will be a positive momentum boost for Tarvaris. T-Jack is now 8-2 as a starter this season…wow.
Brooks Bollinger came in and made some quick plays right away. Watching the second Peterson TD, you could see that they almost muffed the handoff, but Bollinger figured it out and then pounded his way into the end zone for a two-point conversion. Jackson came back on the next series, settled down, and led the Vikings to victory.
Can you say enough about the Vikings defense? The middle of the defensive line stuffed every run that the Bears made; Kenechi Udeze (and Jayme Mitchell) had excellent pressure on Orton all game long, and even the secondary played a pretty solid game. Yes, Orton was in his first start in two years, and their Adrian Peterson is a backup, but we are still good defense. Darren Sharper finally got the first turnover with 1:38 to go in the game, and then ran it out and made it meaningful.
The Special Teams were just as fun to watch. I will say Devin Hester is fun to watch. He has a speed burst every time he touches it (sometimes they hold and block in the back). I just wish that he had fumbled that first punt return in bounds and it was recovered by the Vikings. The Bears did have great starting field position most of the night, but their offense was inept. Credit to Chris Kluwe, of his 6 punts, he had a long one of 60, and he nailed 4 inside the 20 yard-line. Hester did only average 7.2 yards per PR, and 14 yards per KR. Aundrae Allison should not lose his job, but he was not very pretty on KR.
Question: In the 3rd Quarter, you may remember that Marcus McCauley had a PR called back because Bobby Wade called a Fair Catch. Here is the question…how come we didn’t get 15 yards on that play? The Bear special-teamer interfered with his right to catch the ball, and I disagree with a no-flag.
Rule That Needs To Be Changed: Tarvaris Jackson injured his ankle after being pushed out of bounds. Brooks Bollinger ran onto the field and had to call a TO because there wasn’t enough time for him. How come there wasn’t an injury timeout? I understand the DET game where T-Jack ran off the field after being hurt ON the field, but being hurt because he was pushed out of bounds should yield an injury timeout. We should not be penalized for an injury, especially after Charles Tillman stayed on the ground for 8 minutes.
Purple Pride: Something Red McCombs never came up with all-purple uniforms. I actually thought they looked sharp. I know there is a mutiny against UNI-FORMS on , but I thought the Vikings looked good, and may do it again next week.
Whoever says bad things about Monday Night Football on ESPN is crazy. Mike Tirico is a great play-by-play guy, Ron Jaworski gives impeccable analysis, and Tony Kornheiser knows sports and has a comedy act that especially meshes with Jaworski. I really enjoyed the graphics, and just the subtleties that ESPN brought to the game. A+ for ESPN, and aside from being the SPOTLIGHT game next week, I really do not look forward to Michaels/Madden/Kraemer on NBC. The only highlights are Bob Costas and Keith Olbermann.
