San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 27
49ers 24
Here in the Twin Cities, Fall officially blew into town yesterday, literally. For a football fan, it's easily the best time of the year. Having spent nine years in Georgia and Florida from 1991-2000, Fall just never had the same majestic aura that we have here in the Upper Midwest. You should be watching Saturday College Football and Sunday NFL Football with the windows open and a nice cool breeze blowing in. Jeans and Sweatshirts should be required, and some kind of warm meal in the Croc pot stewing in anticipation for kickoff. That's the fall magic of football, and magic is what Favre provided in the Dome, this time for the Vikings.
The Reason He's Here
By now we all know the drama centered around Favre's arrival in Minnesota. Plenty of controversy surround said topic and many still feel he does not have what it takes anymore to lead the 2009 Vikings. His last second heroics at the Dome against the 49ers yesterday might have some of the nay-sayers doubting themselves, whether they openly admit it or not. Was he perfect, or even consistent (as I labeled him after week one and two) in this game? Absolutely not.Is he still a gamer when it's on the line and you need next to a miracle to win? Without a doubt, yes.
So on a day when Favre finally throws more than just check-downs, he now gets blasted for several incompletions (and let's face it, his over all passing yardage would have been considerably higher just off of Berrian's drops alone). The numbers that stand out to me though, are those in the 4th quarter where Favre went 16-27 for 192 yards and a touchdown. The final drive alone was 80 yards in under two minutes with no time-outs. That right there is the reason you take a chance on bringing him here. Besides, he's the 1st Viking QB to toss for over 300 yards since Daunte Culpepper and no Viking QB has ever provided a instant NFL Films game winning touchdown like the one he threw to Greg Lewis.
Three for Three
Percy Harvin is making a early case for NFL Rookie of the Year. He's had a touchdown in each of his first three games as a pro and his 101 yard kick-off return yesterday was nothing short of spectacular.Harvin was not even touched on the play, remarkable when you really think about it. The red flags that went up during the week because he missed practice - once again due to illness, momentarily got erased from everyone's mind. I know the wild-cat formation is getting old for some in the NFL, but I'd like to see more exotic offensive packages that get Harvin the ball in open space.
Still haven't played anybody?
Another negative remark I hear in regards to the Vikings are that they've played three crappy teams so far. Personally, I think Mike Singletary and the 49ers deserve more credit than that. He's quickly changing the dynamic and level of play in San Francisco and has them playing harder than they have in years. They are still the only team to truly contain Adrian Peterson and frustrate him to no end. Then there's the first two games, which were road games. While neither game started out the way one would hope, they both ended with strong second half performances and this team now finds itself sitting at 3-0. So I don't really want to hear that they haven't beaten anybody. Not in a league where the defending champs, a team many have picked to repeat, just lost to the Bengals and now sits at 1-2. And definitely not in a league where the Detroit Lions have already won a game this season!
Mistakes a plenty
The game on Sunday for the Vikings overall was sloppy. They are lucky they had Brett Favre's miracle throw to help them pull this win out. With a myriad of penalties, missed blocks/containment (see blocked field goal returned for a touchdown), and dropped passes (one of which lead to Favre's only INT thus far), they were very fortunate to win this game. Favre does not get a free pass in this area either. On a day where Peterson was contained, he slid back into the old gunslinger mentality and made a few questionable throws, one of which should have been intercepted. This team started off hot in the first quarter and then lost its swagger along the way. With a big game against the Packers on Monday night coming up, they need to find some chemistry that enables them to play four quarters of solid football. Looking ahead to the near future finds the Vikings playing the Ravens at home followed by the Steelers on the road and I guarantee that's three games in particular where these mistakes and lulls in play will equate to losses.
What's on Tap
It's Packer week, just another game, right!!?? Let's break this down a bit and see just how big this game truly is:
- Game against your hated Division rival....check
- Nationally televised on Monday Night Football....check
- 1st place in the Division on the line.....check
- Brett Favre playing against the team he led for 16 seasons....check
Yeah, I think this could be considered a pretty big game for both teams. I'm not even going to break this one down, we'll let the drama unfold next Monday night.
SKOL VIKINGS!
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