Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
Vikings 36
Bears 10
You might say that I took a chance on last week's What's on Tap segment, but I had a feeling and I went with it. The Bears are clearly no threat and as a franchise, they should be disgusted with themselves for giving up all the much needed future draft picks and money for Jay Cutler. Sure he doesn't have the weapons that Brett Favre and Drew Brees have - I get that and I'm tired of hearing it from the Bear apologists out there. That is not the problem with Cutler, he had all those weapons in Denver, yet still forced himself out of there. The guy is a not a leader, he has no passion and that's in plain sight for everyone to see. So in the end, the Vikings got the better of the off season QB sweepstakes, at least for this season.
M-V-P
What more can you do Brett Favre? The thing to watch now is, can he sustain this level of play in the final five games to capture his fourth MVP title. It will be tough and it will be close. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are playing out their collective minds as well and it's no secret as to why the top three teams in the NFL are the Saints, Colts, and Vikings. Favre chucked it up 48 times for 392 yards, 3 TD's, and once again, no interceptions. He went the entire month of November without throwing a pick. Brett Favre, a full month without a pick! If Marty McFly came to my house in his Delorean earlier in this decade and told me he would do this in 2009, I would have lost my breath laughing. Come to think of it, I would have died laughing after he told me he did it wearing Purple.
Purple People Eaters
Everyone is trying to coin a new phrase for the fearsome front four. I say forget it. After watching them play in those lovely throw back uni's, we have to keep the Purple People Eaters moniker. Aside from one drive where Cutler threw short little dump off passes all the way down the field (and to give credit when credit is due, that was a beautiful pass for the touchdown), the Vikings defense completely dominated the Bears. Of the 169 total yards the Bears gained, only 12 of them came in the second half. The Vikings got four sacks (two by Allen), two picks, and held the Bears to only eight first downs in the entire game. Just a dominating performance by this unit and one that seems to be hitting its stride. Not bad considering the fact that Antoine Winfield was able to rest yet another game.
Offensive Explosion
While the defense kept the Bears offense off the field, the Vikings offense enjoyed clocking a little overtime. The gaudy numbers speak for themselves: 40+ minutes of time of possession, 537 yards of offense and 83 total offensive plays ran in this game. I heard Childress say that anything over 60 plays in the NFL is ridiculous, so how do you label 83? Call it what you want, I call it amazing. Those are the kind of numbers I'd like the Vikings to have should they ever match up against the Saints in the Playoffs. I'm not sure what's getting into this team in the 2nd quarter, but in the past two games, they have scored 45 points before the half after starting a bit slow, going scoreless in the 1st quarter. Of course the opening drive of the game was looking to be a touchdown drive before Peterson put the ball on the carpet, which I'm getting to right about......now.
All Day Fumbles Away
As great as he is, as great as he still can be, it's hard to watch him fumble the ball. It's gotten to the point that when he gets piled up, I start praying that he holds on to the ball. I understand the notion that he fumbles so much because he touches the ball a lot and tries to extend plays too much (tries to hard is another way of saying it), but when it comes down to it, he just has to protect the damn ball. On his first fumble for example, he made his way towards the sideline and instead of switching the ball to the sideline side (away from the defenders), he kept it in his right arm where it was still exposed. Not only does this allow defenders to punch it out, it also provides for a high probability of keeping the ball inbounds for a defensive recovery.
While it's maddening to witness, I still say keep feeding him the rock. He's too much of a threat and Favre is having a MVP-like season because teams are still scared to death of what Peterson can do and still continue to stack the line.
ROTY
While Brett Favre has some work left thanks to the competition, I think Percy Harvin is clearly the leader for Rookie of the Year right now. I don't see anything stopping him from getting it. He's an amazing talent and it's scary to think of how good he can become. I know Favre had him study film of Wes Welker and his hours of study sessions are paying off. Like Sidney Rice, he's another young player that shows what can be when you become of student of the game.
Stud and Goat of the Week
Stud: Brett Favre - It was tough this week, and I hate giving this out to the same player in consecutive weeks, but it's not my fault he's playing out of his mind right now. The Bears were on a mission to stop Adrian Peterson, and for the most part they did. Because of that, Favre was able to pick the secondary apart and had perhaps the most quiet 392 yards I've ever seen. Mostly because of the way he spreads the ball around hitting Harvin, Rice, Shiancoe, Berrian, Taylor, and Peterson. He spreads the ball effectively, much like Drew Brees does in New Orleans.
Goat: Lovie Smith - Coach Smith gets the Goat for coming into this game with the game plan to stop Peterson and not worry about Favre. Has he been paying attention to Vikings this year? Has he watched enough film and realized that this is not the same Vikings of the past couple of seasons. Then again, I guess he'd rather see a 40 year old QB take them out instead of getting torched once again by Peterson. Also, in a game he called a must win for the Bears, where was the halftime adjustment? To come out and only muster 12 yards of offense is a disgrace. I know players have to make plays, but something that glaring is clearly a coaches responsibility.
What's on Tap
Time for another December trip to the desert. I'm sure the 35-14 drubbing the Vikings put on the Cardinals last year is still in the back of their minds, but let's not go too far with that. This is a different season and the Cardinals are after all, the defending NFC Champions. One thing that's not certain right now is if Kurt Warner will be playing. Without him I feel the Vikings win without question. With him, I still like the Vikings chances but you never know cause when Warner gets hot with the weapons he has, things can change in a flash. It will be interesting to see if Winfield gets some action this week. He will be needed because Larry Fitzgerald is one of the better game breakers out there.
Final Thoughts
I have a proud Daddy moment to share that involves the Purple. My two-year old daughter (turns three next month) has learned the Skol Vikings song almost word-for-word. Now I know you all think I'm forcing this on her, but I'm not. She's become interested from time-to-time when I'm watching Vikings games. She claims that she wants to be a football player when she grows up, just like the Vikings. She originally picked up the song from hearing the crowd on the TV (and let's face it, that song has been sung a ton this year thanks to Favre and Peterson). What I did was pull it up on the internet so she could hear it better and now she asks me to play the Skol Vikings song on the puter (that's how she would say it). What can I say, I'm doing something right, my daughter is already a Vikings fanatic before turning three. We can't lose this team to LA now, it's part of my relationship with my daughter!
Till next week,
SKOL VIKINGS!
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