Sunday, November 11, 2007

Staying on the Ledge: Packers 34, Vikings 0

Today's EMBARRASSING loss marks the beginning of the end for Brad Childress. Actually, this entire week marks the end. After a spectacular home win last week, the Vikings should have been all good feelings. But then Troy Williamson was treated callously by the Vikings after his grandmother died. And now the team has been utterly destroyed by the Packers. And Adrian Peterson got injured and did not finish the game.

I think the Viking players are this close to quitting on Brad Childress, and the rest of the season will be a complete and total bust.

Today's EMBARRASSING loss is a microcosm of everything that has gone badly for the Vikings during the entirely Childress era. Lack of talent at the quarterback and wide receiver positions left the Viking offense impotent. The Vikings could not mount any reasonable pass rush, and could not cover opposing wide receivers, and thus got destroyed by the opposing team's passing game. The Vikings even had some of the bad luck that has characterized this era, as (with the game already out of hand) Brett Favre threw a pass so bad that two Viking defenders should have intercepted it, but they ran into each other and the ball bounced into a Packer receiver's hands.

A shutout. 34-0. A horrible defensive performance. A horrible offensive performance. Adrian Peterson injured.

Among Viking bloggers, I've been one of the strongest supporters of Brad Childress. It's not that I've been thrilled with anything he's done. I've just blamed poor passing game personnel for the Vikings' struggles, and believed we needed more patience to see what Childress could build. But now we've seen 25 games. Now I'm convinced. This isn't going to work.

And the remaining seven games of the season could get worse. As Edgar says in King Lear,

"And worse I may be yet: the worst is not
So long as we can say, 'This is the worst.'"

If, as it appears, the team no longer plays hard for Brad Childress, he cannot return as head coach next season. I think this is it. I think the Brad Childress era is coming to an ugly close.

Be healthy, Adrian Peterson.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:56 PM

    it was about how an 8-1 team should beat a 3-6 team at home. i don't know how bad childress is but packers are a good team and other than that fluky TD at the end played their best game of the 8 i've seen this year.

    rk

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:04 PM

    Pro players are loyal to one another. The Williamson thing is "now fixed", but it is really not. Damage is done there and the players know how they are treated.
    Would Peterson have had his check held? I think not.
    A true class organization would not act like this.
    Forget adding McNabb cus he knows Childress system. We need a new system.
    We have no concept on offense, no apparent plan of attack. Seems like coaches randonly pick a play to try.

    Very frustrating.
    Where is anon with the FCN?

    ReplyDelete
  3. They should fire him tonite!

    ReplyDelete
  4. PV how bad is he hurt?

    Of course I start pulling for a guy and he gets hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:28 AM

    No "concept" in the world will compensate for these quarterbacks and these receivers. They can't play, period, and Childress is responsible, especially in regards to the qb position, for continuously bringing in guys who do not belong on an NFL roster.

    The first half really showed how crippled all other facets of a team become in the modern NFL if there is no passing attack. The 2nd time the Packers went for it on 4th down was purely an instance where the Packers had zero fear that the Vikings offense could do something with the terrific field position if the Packers turned it over on downs, so they decided they had little to lose by trying to convert on fourth down. Of course, Favre and his receivers know how to make something happen in such circumstances, even when the coverage is decent, so they did convert.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous2:14 AM

    Let's not forget about the defense. Can someone explain why Pat Williams was acting as an eighth defensive back all day? Favre could have thrown for 300 from a wheelchair today. The play where he fell down, leisurely got to his knees and almost completed a pass pretty much summed up our philosophy. Gotta be the first time in NFL history a team went with the Prevent from the first quarter on. If it was gonna be that kind of game, couldn't we at least have mixed in a little Punt Block?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:26 AM

    In a game where your best corner doesn't play, the other team has an outstanding passing attack, and you offense will likely struggle greatly, I understood what Frazier was trying to do, in making Favre take a lot of time getting down the field.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:07 AM

    Minnesota absolutely SHOULD have dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I wasn't worried at 13-0 as I thought Green Bay would jump out to an early, smallish lead and the Cikings would wear them down and beat them in the second half, but that was just embarassing. It renews my hate for Green Bay and begins a specific hate for Al Harris, who probably is a stupid stinky loser, but at least his mom thinks he's cool.

    (sigh)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11:00 AM

    Peter, the Packers are a good team. Why on earth would you think the Vikings SHOULD dominate them on both sides of the ball? One cannot discount interdependence in football. When your passing personnel don't belong on an NFL roster, the offensive line will very seldom look good against a defense with talent and competent coaching. When you are thin at cornerback, and your defensive ends are inconsistent in rushing the passer, a team with an outstanding qb and receivers will frequently have success.

    Everyone will make a big deal out of the Packers rushing the ball effectively, but it sure seemed to me that Frazier was selling out to prevent the Packers from going deep downfield. It may have worked, if the Vikings offense could sustain anything, but when your passing game is manned by the likes of Bollinger and Ferguson, you probably won't sustain anything on a lot of Sundays.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Vikes, within a period of about 3-4 years, made a %100 turnover in their defensive personnel. Nobody on the 2002 defense was on the team by like 2005 or 2006.

    Now we're at rock bottom at QB/WR, and that complete turnover has to happen (exception, Sidney Rice). Sadly, I worry that by the time that happens, the defense will stink again. Luckily E.J. Henderson and Kevin Williams are young and should be around a while.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous12:09 PM

    Boy, 2005 was a bad year for the Vikings. They traded a historically talented wide receiver for Troy Williamson in the first round, used another first round pick on Erasmus James, drafted no one else who is still on the roster, and let Brian Williams go for the pleasure of signing Fred Smoot for big money. Yuck.

    If Childress goes, their chance of getting McNabb in the off-season goes as well, but I certainly don't think they should retain Childress because they think he can help them secure McNabb. If Childress really thought that Jackson and Bollinger would give the Vikings a good chance to win eight games, you just can't have Childress coaching the team, McNabb or no McNabb. The Holcomb signing was pure desperation, after Bollinger looked so bad in preseason, and the fact that Childress had Bollinger on the roster from mid-season last year, and was surprised at the quality of Bollinger's play as late as this August says quite a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There's also no rule saying that McNabb can only sign with/be traded to a team coached by any of his former coaches. The Vikes can go after him regardless of who is coaching.

    Though I'd hate to see McNabb as our White Whale, who fans wait all season and part of the off-season hoping to get when it really isn't a possibility. There may be other options.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:22 PM

    It really becomes a terrible dilemma. It is extremely difficult to attract a good qb with awful receivers, even with Peterson in the backfield, and there is practically zero chance of attracting good receivers with awful quarterbacking. Also, the last thing I want is to see the Vikings lose enough games this year to qualify for a top ten pick again, or worse, a top five pick. Drafting at the top is just too darned risky in the salary cap era.

    ReplyDelete