Ill-informed Viking Draft Commentary

I don't watch a lot of college football (I would watch more, but when football takes away Sundays, Monday nights, and some Thursday nights of autumn, it's hard to give up Saturdays too), so it's a bit surprising to me that I've actually watched two of the Vikings' draft picks, Stanford RB Toby Gerhart and Minnesota linebacker Nate Triplett.

Toby Gerhart looked dominant in the games I saw, a bruiser with stamina that pushed tacklers backward and dragged them around. But I do have concern that he's a great college football player, but not even a good pro: after all, is he going to be dragging around NFL linebackers? Maybe, but I'm not sure. Furthermore, he wasn't used as much of a pass catcher: he might be a good player to spell Adrian Peterson, but he's not likely to really take Chester Taylor's place in the offense (which might be OK anyway: Adrian Peterson has developed into a better receiver, and there's that wonderful fellow named Percy Harvin, who can do a lot of things and finds himself near the sticks on a lot of third downs). I'm skeptical but hopeful: Gerhart might do some nice things with 5-10 carries a game this year.

I really liked Nate Triplett as a college player: I was at the Gophers' game against Air Force, and not only did he have the go-ahead fumble recover return for a touchdown, but subjectively he had about a thousand tackles, particularly in the open field against the Air Force option game. Is he athletic enough to be a productive pro? I'm not sure.

Regarding the Vikings' other picks, I like some of the position needs they went for. CB Chris Cook joins a secondary that often struggled last season: I think safety is a bigger concern than cornerback, but regularly adding DBs is practically a requirement for teams in today's NFL (cheers to the Vikes for adding Lito Sheppard earlier in the week). Offensive lineman Chris DeGeare could add depth to the offensive line, and frankly the Viking run blocking was a major disappointment in 2009.

Yeah, I need this. Like I need a tooth pulled.

There's no way this will make any of us feel good, no matter what the outcome. Please, NFL, just leave me alone.

Why old sports cards are awesome

My mom and dad are slowly making me move out my many, many shoe boxes of old sports cards currently in their storage room. As I've been flipping through them, I came across a 1992-93 Skybox card for Dallas Mavericks coach Richie Adubato. Because the spirit moved me, I flipped the card over to read this blurb on the back:

"Richie enjoys tennis, Broadway shows and shopping for ties."

These thoughts immediately came to mind.

--Surely Adubato is the inspiration for those "Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials, right? We've got no doubt about this now.

--In the past 15 years, how many times has anybody not related to Richie Adubato looked at the back of a Richi Adubato card? Once? Twice? I feel a little like I'm an archeologist that's the first living human to stumble into a long-buried tomb in centuries.

--Is this the greatest card blurb ever? Surely nothing can top this, right?

Overtime and the Saints

Some Saints, including Jonathan Vilma and Sean Payton, are complaining that the NFL changed its playoff overtime rule. Vilma in particular thinks it is a show of disrespect to the Saints.

For Minnesota Viking fans still not over the NFC Championship game (would that be all of us?), there is a lot to be annoyed with in some of those comments (especially those fans still upset by some of the officiating shenanigoats of overtime). I'd rather not do a line by line deconstruction, but I will make two points.

1. NFL overtime rules are unfair. Don Banks of Sports Illustrated notes: "59.8 percent of the games since 1994 -- when kickoffs were moved back to the 30-yard line -- were won by the team winning the overtime coin toss." Rules of a competitive game are supposed to be fair to each team. If you have a rule that gives one team a 59.8% chance of beating the other team based on a random event, that's not a fair rule in a competitive game. Within the rules of the game and the lines of the field, each team in a competition is supposed to have a fair chance at winning. A sudden death overtime with a coin toss does not do that. Is there any other such rule that fundamentally sways the competitive fairness of a game? Homefield advantage might (especially when loud fans affect playcalling), but there are rules attempting to make that advantage fair (everybody gets the same number of home and away games in the season--with rare exceptions--and teams earn homefield advantage in playoff games by achieving certain standards), and the rules of the game itself don't distinguish between home and away teams (except to determine who gets to guess at the random coin toss--in that sense it's the Vikings' fault because they guessed the random occurrence wrong). Let's be clear here: a team that loses the coin toss only wins the game 40.2% of the time. If two teams have played even for 60 minutes, does it make competitive sense that a particular rule would reduce one team's chance of winning the game down to 40.2%?

2. After the Trojan War, do you think the Greeks said things like "This is a real slap in the face. It's like people think we never would have won that war if we hadn't snuck in with that big wooden horse"? The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl! They vanquished everybody! Everybody is acknowledging that! Everybody is praising them for that! If they feel that they need reminding, they can go look at their Lombardi Trophy. If they feel people disrespecting them, they'll have Super Bowl rings to flash at them. Has the "Nobody believed in us" trope reached its absurd conclusion when less that two months after the Super Bowl the Super Bowl champ can make claims that they are being disrespected? They won the Super Bowl: nobody can deny that and nobody can take that away from them. Isn't winning the championship the point? Isn't that what makes you immune to those that hate, disrespect, or diminish you? When you win a championship, should you even care about those that would hate, disrespect, or diminish you? Do you really want to complain that people aren't acknowledging you as the legitimate champion enough? Isn't celebrating your victory, celebrating your championship, celebrating your defeat of everybody else, enough?

Oedipus wasn't a tragic hero; he was just screwed.

And so are we.

(By the way, I'm glad that the Vikings and Bills agree on things; I like when the 0-4 teams stick together on absurd and wrong-headed stances).

From inside this pothole I've fallen in, I can hear city officials making plans to fix potholes.

Whenever I come across a story about the NFL's proposed changes to overtime rules for playoff games, I sort of want to throw up.

Future Tense

part four in an erratic offseason of blogging

Perhaps my recent dream is pulling me back.

Today in my literature class, we continued discussion of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, a novel told (mostly) in the present tense.  I asked students to consider the effect of the present tense on the novel, and then offered my own idea.

Putting something in the past tense turns it into "history;" it crystallizes it, makes it firm.  When something is in the past, one can start to make meaning about it.  And when something is past (especially in a novel that starts in 1968 and continues to locate itself at various points until 2000), and it gets hardened into history, it can begin to feel inevitable (even if it is not).  It is similar to what John Fowles writes in The French Lieutenant's Woman:

"You do not even think of your own past as quite real; you dress it up, you gild it or blacken it, censor it, tinker with it... fictionalize it, in a word, and put it away on a shelf--your book, your romanced autobiography."

Locating a novel in a "now" has the effect pushing away immediate interpretations of meaning (for the characters, anyway, if not the readers).  It also leaves open possibility that past tense does not.  You might not think adding "ed" to your verbs could do that, but it can.

To illustrate this point, of course, I brought myself back to the NFC Championship Game.  During the game I was a mess, a nervous wreck, physically and mentally.  While the game was in a "now," the tension and possibility of the moment quite overwhelmed me.  But very shortly after it was over, and yes despair set in, but that tension was gone.  Once the game was over, it became the past, a history, another heartbreaking moment in the team's history, another gut-wrenching disappointment in a long line of them.  Then, I could start to make meaning of it.  Then it was fixed, and if not quite inevitable, it made sense (the fumbles, the 12 men in the huddle, the interception, the coin toss, the bad officiating).  It's not like those things weren't apparent as they were happening; it was that, while happening, we didn't know what they meant.  Now we do.  The book is on the shelf.

For now.  It finally needs to be said.

Maybe next year.

One dream is worse than the last

part three in an erratic offseason of blogging

Part of the schtick of this blog has always been that I care too much, but that on a rational level I know I care too much.  Well, I still care too much, and I still know it.  I continue to avoid following football news (I keep up from the periphery as not to miss anything big), but still things will come along to kick me in the ear.

And I still dream about the Vikings.

Last night I dreamed I went back in time.  While in the recent past, I bumped into the Vikings' skill position players.  I implored them: hold onto the ball tight.  In that game, fumbling could be your undoing.  Make sure to grip the ball tight and DON'T FUMBLE.

Apparently they listened: they proceeded to dominate the Saints.  In my dream.  In one vivid image, the Vikings were already leading 17-0 when they called an end-around pass, Percy Harvin hitting a leaping Sidney Rice in the back of the endzone.  In my dream.

Tell me, dear reader: if you dreamed like this, what would you do?

I still dream about this accursed team

part two in an erratic offseason of blogging

Last night I dreamed that the Vikings won the Super Bowl. I'll skip details (it was a little weird), but it was quite vivid. And I was just ecstatic. That's what I remember from the dream: grinning wide and feeling exquisite joy. But all along, I knew something wasn't quite right. I had remembered that the Saints won the Super Bowl. And I think I knew the joy I was feeling was short-lived, and I was bound to wake up.

And of course, I did.

Remains

part one in a sporadic offseason of blogging.

I spent the evening rubbing raw some wounds that had spent two weeks scabbing over, so if you don't mind, I have a few things to write. I feel like we gave it to the Saints, and the Saints took it from the Colts.

If you're curious
2009 marks the 12th time the Minnesota Vikings lost a playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl champion ('69, '71, '73, '74, '76, '77, '82, '87, '88, '89, '99, '09).

You might be surprised to learn that PV thought about the Minnesota Vikings while reading a poem.
From Milton's Paradise Lost:

I give not heaven for lost: from this descent
Celestial virtues rising, will appear
More glorious and more dread than from no fall,

Satan is trying to talk himself into something here. After being cast out of heaven during a disastrous failure to wage war against the throne of God, Satan suggests that when they finally do defeat God and take back heaven (a total impossibility), it will be much more glorious than if they had won without falling first.

This is what some might say to console Viking fans. Chin up: after all these disappointments, it will just be that much sweeter when the Vikings finally do win the Super Bowl. But there are two problems with this consolation. First, why the certainty that it will eventually happen? Ask Cubs fans how certain you can be that your favorite team will win it all in your lifetime. Second, weren't there already enough disappointments that would have made 2009 epically sweet? What, 48 years of existence with no championship wasn't enough? An 0-4 Super Bowl record wasn't enough? The endings of '75, or '87, (or if you'll only allow me the disappointments I've experienced) of '98 (especially!), of '00, of '03, weren't enough? We needed a more disappointment in 2009 to make it even sweeter in some mythical hopeful future?

I don't ACTUALLY believe this (not really)...
Some spiritual entities watching over sports won't allow a team to go 0-5 in the Super Bowl. There were three 0-4 teams: the Vikings, the Broncos, and the Bills. The Broncos weren't allowed to go back to their fifth Super Bowl until they were ready to win it, and the Vikings and Bills won't be allowed back until they're ready to win it.

If I think I took it bad...
My wife spent the last two weeks telling anybody who brought up football that she didn't want to talk about it. I thought I had used avoidance and distraction as a defense mechanism: she turned it into an art form (when we turned to The Soup to get away from our football thoughts, Joel McHale started with a joke about Brett Favre throwing an interception in the Puppy Bowl, so it hasn't exactly been easy to forget about). She really might have been more disappointed than I was. She barely looked up while I was watching the Super Bowl (we've watched each Super Bowl together since the Buccaneers beat the Raiders, which, considering the current states of those teams, certainly seems a long time ago), but she's already excited to watch the draft, which somewhat flummoxes me (she's hopeful, I guess). And she's currently encouraging me to keep up this blog.

And now the Saints won
I've avoided allowing myself to think about what I'd be feeling tonight if things had gone just a little differently (like, say, no 12 men in the huddle penalty). Luckily, my imagination keeps that thought abstract and distant, not quite so close to reality as it actually was. But usually after the Super Bowl I start thinking "Someday. Someday. Maybe even next year." I have trouble doing that now. I try to tell myself things though (we've got Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice!). And there are a lot of teams that won the Super Bowl the year AFTER their apparent best shot (the '96 Broncos were the AFC #1 seed but won the Super Bowl in '97,the '04 Steelers were a 15-1 #1 seed but won the Super Bowl in '05, the '05 Colts were a 14-2 #1 seed but won the Super Bowl in '06). But it feels as far away as ever.

Winter
It's constantly cold, and it's quickly dark. Another year without a Viking championship. It's Minnesota. But the Timberwolves are kind of coming around? They've won four straight, right? Right?

(public domain image--by William Blake--from Wikipedia).

Farewell (sort of, for now)

six updates below

1.

During the Vikings-Saints game, I felt more physical anxiety than I've ever felt during a game. I couldn't eat: my stomach was too fluttery (after the game I was famished). In the fourth quarter my lower arms started tingling. Late in the fourth quarter when it looked like they had a shot, water would fill up my eyes. The anxiety while the game was in doubt was intense.

So why, the day after, am I just going about life? I'm distraught, but why don't I feel an awful sense of spiritual emptiness? But I know why. It's simple.

I've been here before.

The feeling today is just so familiar. Once again, the Vikings are not going to win the Super Bowl this year. Once again, a potentially great Viking season ends in the most heart-rending way possible. I can deal with these feelings because I know them. If they had won last night, I'd be grinning like a psychotic all day, and I wouldn't even know what to do with the emotions I would be feeling. But this? I know this. I've been here.

2.

Things could go two ways. You know, 10+ years from now my kids might be getting their hopes up for the Viking season (assuming, of course, the Vikes don't relocate, the dread of which has been the undertone of this season's desperation), and they'll see signs that this could be the year. And I'll have to decide: do I let them feel their mad hope, or do I try to remind them that this is the Vikings, that they'll never actually win the Super Bowl, and believing they can will just leave them with disappointment? Even if it's not my kids, there will be a whole new generation of Viking fans that have merely heard of the '09 NFC Championship, for whom the '98 NFC Championship predates their birth (they'll learn about those things, perhaps, the same way I learned about the '75 Hail Mary game, from my dad and uncle and whole hosts of Viking fans who have never gotten over it). Will I be the old Viking crank? Or will I smile at their youthful exuberance? I fear it will be the former: a few weeks ago my nephew brazenly told me the Vikings were going to win the Super Bowl. You're young, I told him--you'll learn not to be quite so hopeful. But then, I was smiling as I told him that. I won't be the one to tear down the splendid dreams and passionate hopes of the young. Let them dream, let them hope.

But I fear they will relocate, and then who knows what will become of us.

I should be so lucky as to spend the next 50+ years being disappointed by the Vikings. But if they move to L.A., leaving us alone, even winning championships there (like the Lakers), then what? Then what?

That 12 men in the huddle penalty might have cost the Vikings a championship. And not winning a championship this year might cost Minnesota the Vikings.

3.

After this season, what can only be remembered as the Favre season, how do we recover the passion? I can't stomach the thought of the free agency period. I'll want to know who the Vikings draft, but I don't want to watch the draft. I don't want to blog through a training camp, reading articles about who is playing well and such. I don't want to blog for a week one regular season game. Not after this NFC Championship game. Not after being in position for a field goal attempt to take the Vikings to the Super Bowl. Not after all those turnovers ruined it all. Not after a freaking overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game. I can't get that passion aroused again--at least, not yet. Or maybe I just don't want to. It's not that I'm going to try will myself into becoming a "casual fan." It's just that I don't want to write about it anymore. I don't want all the periods of waiting. I don't want to devote all that time and energy (mental and emotional) again, just to have this happen again. In fact, I'll be preparing for fantasy football by purchasing a magazine a week or two before the draft (Hazelweirders know that, though practiced by more than half the league, this is a much laughed at strategy). I want to follow it all--I just don't want to develop ideas about it all. I don't want to write and organize, look at statistics or read speculation. And those sorts of things are rather a necessity for a football blogger, aren't they? I just don't have another offseason in me. And I think when the season starts, I just want to watch the games and try enjoy them, not try write about them afterward.

I still might want to write about the inane, the absurd, and the tragic of what it is to be a Viking fan. But that's something other than writing about the team regularly, and not anything anybody should want to stick around to read.

4.

If you want, you can think of me like Tom Joad or like Abed dressed as Batman on Halloween. Wherever a Viking fan is pacing the room nervously, I'll be there. Wherever fans try to convince themselves the Vikes can overcome an obvious weakness, I'll be there. Wherever two people are discussing the merits of the Vikings' nickel backs, I'll be there. Wherever a Viking fan tries to talk him/herself into a mediocre quarterback, I'll be there. Wherever a person panics during conventional special teams plays, I'll be there. Wherever people are planning their weeks around when the Vikings play, I'll be there. Whenever a Viking fan despairs that the Green Bay Packers will win a 13th championship before the Vikings win their first, I'll be there. Wherever somebody reads a work of literature then forces an explanation of what it means to Viking fans, I'll be there. Whenever somebody gets entangled in an absurd or tragic conversation about the Vikings, I'll be there.

5.
I feel a great desire to spend my time watching my favorite sitcoms. They never disappoint me.

If I watch Seinfeld, or Arrested Development, or Curb Your Enthusiasm, I know what I'm going to get. I'm going to laugh. I'm going to enjoy myself immensely. I'm not going to feel like the fates reached into my chest to grab my heart. I'm not going to feel like Poseidon kicked me in the nuts. I'm not going to struggle to fall asleep that night.

How I Met Your Mother may put it off and stretch it out for as long as they can, but eventually, Ted is going to meet his kids' mother (I told this to my wife and she said the show could get canceled unexpectedly before they get a chance for him to meet her. I found that implausible, so she pointed out that one of the actors could die. "Ted could die, Joe," she said. She said this. So watch out, Josh Radnor: a Viking fan is rooting for you to live).

6.

Or I could say it this way: the 2009 NFC Championship Game drove me from blogging.

7.
This needs to be said before I go. If as a fan you've witnessed your favorite team win a championship, and you're mocking fans of a team that has never won championships, and you're reveling in their misery and rubbing it in during the moment of their heartbreak, you're being a bully. There's no other way to say it. It's the haves making fun of the have-nots, and wanting them to stay have-nots.

You all know I hate the Packers, but remember: I hate them as a fan of a team with zero championships loathing a team that has won 12 championships. You better believe I dislike the Saints right now, but if their fans get to celebrate a title, then good for them, and if they suffer heartbreak, I won't be there to make fun of them for it. And if I ever have been in that role, I apologize.

To all those other long-suffering fans out there, I feel a deep kinship with some of you, though we've never met. May you be given what you are looking for. May you experience the great joy you long for. I may not root for your team, but I root for you.

8.
They were really setting up for the game-winning field goal, weren't they?

9.
So this is likely my last blog post here (though I'm a flake, and this retirement could be a Favre retirement). Thanks for reading.

The dream is dead. Long live the dream. Endure it. And someday, maybe, just maybe...skol.

UPDATES
My emotions are pretty raw, and thoughts are still coming to me. I'll update here throughout the week, and then it is my intent to at least take the offseason of blogging off (at least).

Addendum 1
I realized another reason I went from sickly anxious to relatively calm. While the game was still going on, it was the dread and hope of what could be. When the game was over, it immediately went into our canon of suffering.

Addendum 2
Packer fans have endured some very tough playoff defeats in the '00s, notably against the Eagles in '03 (4th and 26), the Giants in '07 (home NFC title game loss in overtime), and the Cardinals in '09 (you remember). But I would like Packer fans to try a mental game.

Imagine that, in your past, the '96 Packers had lost in the NFC Championship Game, and that Lombardi's Packers had lost those first two Super Bowls.

Imagine that is your team's history. Now imagine 4th and 26. Now imagine the '07 NFC title game. Now imagine that Cardinals game.

That is what it means to be a Viking fan.

Addendum 3
As the week has gone on, I've just gotten more and more sad. We were so close. Despite all the turnovers (without which we might have won handily), the game was tied, we had the ball, and we were driving, we were even setting up for the game-winning field goal (I trust Longwell indoors from 50-51 yards for a game-winner). And it was lost. We had the game tied and were setting up for a game-winning score, and now the Saints are in the Super Bowl and we've got another heart-breaker on the list.

When I step outside into a Minnesota January, I feel we are forsaken. If it didn't happen in the Bud Grant era, and it didn't happen in '98 (oh so close), and it didn't happen in '09 (oh so close), why shouldn't we give up hope? Why shouldn't we despair?

Addendum 4
I felt the most distraught during the game; as the week has gone on, my distress has decreased exponentially. Why? Because the game has moved into the realm of history. For me, history takes on the aura of inevitability, if not, of course, the reality of inevitability. It is now recorded and written--what happened is what happened.

That I think of the Vikings in somewhat literary terms contributes; it is as if the team is a combination of Greek Tragedy and Absurdist Drama (come see "The Minnesota Vikings," a collaboration of Sophocles and Beckett). Think about reading Romeo and Juliet. You might read it thinking Romeo and Juliet were so close to being together, that things were so close to being alright, that merely some bad luck and bad timing came between a happy ending. But the play is a tragedy written almost 400 years ago--Romeo and Juliet have never had their happy ending, and they've been playing out that so close drama for centuries. King Lear is tragic and depressing, but I'm more moved by the nihilistic despair of the play than by feeling for the fate of the characters: it is literature, it is intended as tragedy, and the sad demise of Lear and Cordelia cannot but be as it is. Quite obviously the '09 Vikings' season was not destined to its ending as a 400 year old work of literature is destined to its ending, but after a few days, that's now how it feels to me.

So while the Vikings could have, should have, and nearly did, win the 2009 NFC Championship Game, as time goes on it becomes a fixed Drama that can only end the way it did.

Addendum 5
Bill Simmons contributes to the conversation, with a great deal relevant to the comments thread discussions here and a great many parallels to what I've written about here.

Addendum 6
And I'm off on hiatus. Thank you for the many intelligent comments in this thread, both the complimentary and the critical. You have convinced me not to permanently abandon this blog; I now intend to return around August. Between now and then, if there is giant team news, or if I have any dreams about the team, or if any thoughts come to me that are insightful or amusing, I might post (but don't check regularly, as it won't be very regular at all). I was ready to turn away, but a few days going by and a lot of good thoughts in the discussion make me think it won't be permanent. Thanks for pulling me back.

Endure

I know this is going to sound really, really stupid, really, really melodramatic, but I'm half-serious.

Viking fans, go to a mirror. Look at yourself. Say these words.

"It's not my fault."

All you do is root for the Minnesota Vikings. All you do is invest emotional energy in the team. You can't do anything about them. It's not your fault that the players decided a fun contest for the NFC Championship game would be to see who could commit the most devastating turnover. It's not your fault that while in position for a long game-winning field goal attempt, the team committed an inexplicable 12 men in the huddle penalty, pushing the team back, leading to the QB forcing something to try gain some yardage back.

We just root. We know they'll disappoint us--we just add this game to the list. It's telling how much we've been through when we might actually have to debate whether this was the most heart-breaking loss in team history; it might actually rank THIRD (you tell me: is this worse than the '75 Hail Mary, or the '98 Gary Anderson game?). Every decade Viking fans get a gut-wrenching defeat. We just endure. It's not our fault.

We can still put on the purple clothes with pride, maybe even more pride. We endure. If you have Packer fan friends that want to mock you, just pull that Viking hat down a little lower and grimace. We deserve to have pride in our stoic endurance. We don't lose the games ourselves; we're just the ones that cry when the losses happen.

Then go hug somebody you love. Get up in the morning and remember it was just a football game, and that they're just a football team. Notice that the sun still rose, and go out and live your life however you live it. In two weeks, maybe you find the Super Bowl too painful to watch, or maybe you watch it anyway (a 55-0 Colt win would make me one iota happier). But just make sure to hug somebody.

Endure. We are Viking fans.

The dream is dead. Long live the dream.

How many oh-so-close moments can a fanbase take before we collectively give up? How many more of these moments do we need to endure? It gets harder and harder to get up in the morning and put on purple.

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

On the day of this day

For me, this barely feels like football anymore. It's something else. It's indescribable.

I believe in Reason. I scoff at superstition. Mostly.

After consultation, it was determined that tomorrow I should wear the same shirt that I wore last Sunday (my AP 296 t-shirt). So after wearing a different Viking shirt every day for 13 consecutive days, I will be doubling up for the first time in two weeks. But there's a good feeling about that AP t-shirt. It will be joined by Viking socks (they have holes in them, so I wear my peace socks underneath them), Viking boxers, Viking pajama pants, and maybe an undershirt (peace undersocks worked well, so a peace undershirt might help, too). When I go outside it will be with a Viking stocking cap.

I should note that I am an adult raising two children, and I have a job teaching at a university.

Are you superstitious? What are you currently doing to stave off insanity?

A Game Away from the Super Bowl

You don't need a game preview from me. There are only two games this weekend, so there are all sorts of sportswriters that can offer you game previews (I can fit it all in a parentheses: again rush the passer, again tackle well, and against the Saints' vulnerable run defense, this can be Adrian Peterson's playoff game to finally take over).

And you don't need me to tell you what this means, though I'll remind you. In their 49th season, the Vikings have never won a championship. They are 0-4 in the Super Bowl. They haven't even been to the Super Bowl since the 1976 season. Since the Minneapolis Lakers moved, Minnesota pro sports teams have won just two championships (the '87 and '91 Twins), and Minnesota's pro teams haven't even reached the championship round since the '91 World Series.

And you don't need me to tell you that the window to win a championship might not extend beyond this season, for a whole host of reasons. This is the Vikings' last best shot to win it all. You probably don't need me to tell you that I'm experiencing physical anxiety, that if I spend too much time dwelling on it I'll get nauseous, and that I'm fluctuating between the same emotions of hope and fear that you probably are, too.

Our beloved Minnesota Vikings are a game away from the Super Bowl. We've been here before. We can hope that this time things will be different. We can hope that this is the year that changes everything.

What This Could Mean

With a 407-326-9 record, with a winning percentage of .555, with 26 playoff appearances, with nine appearances in the NFL/NFC Championship Game, with four trips to the Super Bowl, the Minnesota Vikings are one of the most successful franchises in the league. It is, of course, incomplete. The Vikings have never won a championship. They are 0-4 in the Super Bowl. They have a proud tradition, a wonderful history, but no titles. It is a history both rich and empty

That's what this is about. We're going to learn if the story of the Minnesota Vikings is an Epic Quest, or some sort of Modernist novel about the futility of human existence. Winning a Super Bowl would be the capstone. Losing now would be one more oh-so-close moment for a franchise filled to overflowing with oh-so-close moments.

This might be another story about coming close but missing out. But this can be a story about redemption. Winning the Super Bowl could mean redeeming the 0-4 Super Bowl record. It could mean redeeming the ending of '75, of '87, of '98, of '00, of '03. It could change everything.

That's what this is about. That's what it means.

For the Fans

On Sunday, the Vikings played their last game in the Metrodome during what has been a dream season. Brett Favre quite likely played in his last game ever in the Metrodome during what has been a dream experience.

I see the Vikings' late touchdown pass as a bow to the fans: a thank you, and a last chance for the Thunderdome crowd to show its appreciation.

It's possible that Sunday is the last time the Minnesota Vikings will ever make their fans happy. I don't think they ran up the score, but came out for their bow.

Defense

The overwhelming impression I take from the Vikes' 34-3 victory isn't Brett Favre throwing four touchdown passes (though that was awesome), or Sidney Rice catching three touchdown passes (though that was spectacular). The memory I'll keep of this game is quite simple:

The pass rush.

When the Vikings weren't sacking Tony Romo behind the line of scrimmage, they were forcing him to scramble, making him hurry throws, disrupting his timing, and hitting him as he threw. When the initial pass rusher couldn't hit the mobile Romo, he at least chased him away where another pass rusher could get to him. Over and over again, the Cowboys couldn't provide a real offensive threat because the Vikings (particularly everybody on the line: Ray Edwards especially, but also Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Jared Allen, Brian Robison, and Jimmy Kennedy) were constantly in the backfield making it difficult for the Cowboys to run successful plays, and setting the Cowboys back in bad down and distance situations. The Viking offense made plays to get a lead, but it was the Viking defense that kept the Vikings in total control of the game, because Dallas couldn't mount any sort of comeback with Viking defensive linemen constantly bursting into the backfield.

When the Vikings pressure a quarterback like they did today, they are virtually unbeatable. They are also a joy to watch.

The Vikings are one game away from the Super Bowl. We'll need that pass rush to get us there. I trust Brett Favre. I think Adrian Peterson will get holes to run through. But we'll need the Vikings to rush Drew Brees to contain the Saints' offense.

SKOL

Vikings 34, Cowboys 3 (ESPN Box Score)

Vikings 34, Cowboys 3 !!!

The Minnesota Vikings saved their best defensive performance for the playoffs. Against a "red hot" team that was being picked by many, many pundits to win this game, the Viking defense shut the Dallas Cowboys down. With Bud Grant and Prince looking on and FOX of course insisting on showing Drew Pearson pushing off, the Vikings crushed the Dallas Cowboys.

The pass rush was relentless, coming from all directions and all sorts of players. It wasn't one player dominating: how often did one pass rusher make Tony Romo scramble so that another pass rusher could hit him? We saw plays behind the line of scrimmage from Ray Edwards, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Jimmy Kennedy, Brian Robison, and more.

The tackling was superb: Dallas was unable to make big plays by catching and running. Viking linebackers and defensive backs were generally superb at taking Cowboy runners to the ground. The Cowboys also never had a successful kick or punt return: the Viking coverage and tackling was outstanding.

Brett Favre threw seven passes to Sidney Rice, and Rice caught six passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns. On the two long catches, Rice was closely but poorly covered, and Favre threw perfect passes and Rice made what must have been difficult catches look easy. Rice continues to prove himself to be an elite wide receiver. For Brett Favre, a season in which he had another 30 TD season, another 4,000 yard season, another 12 win season, another division title, and his first 100 rating season, he also gets a playoff win against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Minnesota Vikings advance to the NFL/NFC Championship Game for the ninth time in franchise history. Today is a joyous day. Let us hope it is not finished.

Skol, my friends.

the playoffs are for horror.

AAAHHH!!!

Tom Powers is probably right (Pioneer Press):

"The fans are a wreck. They give off an odd vibe. On one hand, they've allowed themselves to get excited about the chances of this really being 'the year.' On the other, they half expect something terrible to happen. There is fatalism at work here. No question, Vikings fans are the new Red Sox fans. They wake up each day expecting disaster. There is a gloom over the happiest of circumstances."

PV's Cowboys-Vikings Preview

The 2008 Vikings made the playoffs with Tarvaris Frerotte playing quarterback. The 2009 Vikings didn't get Brett Favre to make the playoffs again: they got him to win playoff games. This is it. This is what it was all supposed to be about. This is the Vikings' chance to go to their first Super Bowl since the 1976 season, and to win their first Super Bowl ever. And it starts with winning one home game against a very good Dallas team that does well in just about every aspect of the game.

2009 Vikings
2009 Cowboys

Offensive things for the Vikings
Screens. The Cowboys have a good pass rush, and Brett Favre is good at screen plays. This seems like an excellent game to call a lot of passes to Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson, forcing the issue with Dallas's linebackers and defensive backs, making them make plays.

Running the Ball. Yes, the Vikings have been most successful when throwing the ball well this season. But the Cowboys' four game winning streak came against teams that lacked the commitment or ability to run the ball. Adrian Peterson is the best running back the Cowboys will have seen this season, and the Vikings need to use him effectively.

Protect the passer. I think that if you give Brett Favre time to find a receiver, Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe will get open and the Vikes will move the ball through the air. In my view the Vikings are effective with long passing and short passing, so if Favre is given time, the Vikes can take whatever the Cowboys are leaving open.

Defensive things for the Vikings
Discipline. The Cowboys run a lot of draws and fake draws. They run a lot of bubble screens, and they'll try to get running backs off tackle. They have a quarterback that can move. The Vikings defense (the scheme and the players) need to make sure they don't get drawn out of position.

Tackling. The Cowboys will get the ball to their playmakers in space: it is critical that the Vikings make open field tackles. Make the Cowboys sustain drives and convert first downs: don't give up big plays due to poor tackling.

Play well in the red zone. The Cowboys were 2nd in the league in offensive yards (ranking 6th in passing yards and 7th in rushing yards), yet they ranked only 14th in points scored. 2nd to 14th seems like a big disconnect: those numbers suggest the Cowboys are excellent and moving the ball but merely average at scoring points.

Cover the pass coverage weaknesses. The Vikes' vulnerability against the pass are the safeties and middle linebacker--the Vikes need to scheme to protect them.

Some other things
The Cowboy and Viking defense were tied for 26th in the league with only 11 interceptions. Brett Favre threw just seven interceptions all year, Tony Romo just nine. Both Favre and Romo have been known to throw interceptions, though, so the trends could break. Which way the trend breaks could determine the outcome.

If it comes down to a final kick, the Vikings have reliable Ryan Longwell, and the Cowboys have the less than reliable Shaun Suisham. Suisham could very well make a game winner if it comes down to one kick. But his lack of reliability also might lead the Cowboys into riskier options, like going for it on fourth down or pressing for a touchdown when a field goal could be got.

Thunderdome!
The Viking pass rush has been superb at home. Last week, the Cowboys were at home and still managed to commit stupid penalties, let the play clock wind down, etc. The Thunderdome noise can make a difference.

Nerves?

For most of the season, I thought I would be undone by the interminable suspense during the playoff period. However, I'm rather relishing this time before the Vikes' first playoff game. The reason is simple: as long as the Vikes are still alive in the playoffs, there's hope. If they lose, there's despair. Right now I can live with hope.

But I do know that Sunday morning will be a long, suspenseful period, and that I will be experiencing intense physical anxiety during the entire game (the best way I can describe the feeling I get during close Viking games: my stomach turns into a vacuum, and my heart is fluttering around as if ready to fall into that vacuum). I expect it to be dreadful during this year's playoff games.

Viking fans: how are your nerves doing?

Midweek Blizzard

In case you didn't notice, the buzz word for the Cowboys right now is "red hot." I hear it on TV so often that I wonder if the candy is paying for product placements. I mean, look at this.

Anyway, I'm wearing a different Vikings shirt every day this week, hoping to be rewarded for my faith. Sunday is going to be a nerve-wracking day.

The Viking future
I've written about my sense of desperation, as this certainly feels like the Vikings' last best chance to win a Super Bowl, for a lot of reasons (40 year old QB, the Packers' youth, the possibility of relocation during this decade).

But there's another perspective here, too. Next year the Vikings will still have two Hall of Fame quality defensive linemen in their primes (Jared Allen and Kevin Williams). They are extremely loaded and extremely young at the offensive skill positions (current ages: Percy Harvin 21, Sidney Rice 23, Adrian Peterson 24). They'll have some defensive weaknesses to fix (safety, possibly linebacker), and they'll need to improve the run blocking. But if the Vikes can put a decent QB under center after Favre goes, that QB should have success with guys like Peterson, Harvin, Rice, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe as targets. Right now I don't see any reason to think the Vikes can't compete to win 10+ games next season.

I expect the Vikings to be competitive again. But it doesn't change the reality: this is their last best chance to win a Super Bowl. They have an elite quarterback playing spectacular football. They have talent on defense, offense, and special teams. To get to the Super Bowl, they need to win two straight games on turf. This is it, and hence the desperation. If' the Vikes don't get a championship this year, I'll lose faith that they ever will.

Tackling
The league-wide completion percentage in 2009 was over 60%, with the top five QBs completing between 66.6% and 70.6% of their passes. In this league, there will be completions. And teams, at the level of personnel choices and at the level of defensive focus, need to do two things to succeed.

First, develop a pass rush. Rushing the passer can lead to sacks, throwaways, hurried short completions, and general discomfort. To play effective defense, you need to rush the passer.

Second, and perhaps just as important, you need to tackle receivers at the point they catch the ball. Your opponents will complete passes, but if you prevent them from gaining extra yardage after the catch, you have a chance to stymie drives. It drives me crazy when a team I'm rooting against completes passes short of the first down marker on third down, but the receiver gains the necessary yardage by running with the ball.

I think Arizona's defensive collapse against the Packers demonstrates the need for open field tackling of receivers. The Packers repeatedly made big plays when receivers were able to run a long time after catching passes, due to good moves on their own part, but also due to bad tackling, bad angles, and generally poor coverage that left them open with room to run. If the Cardinals just could have tackled, Green Bay would have struggled to catch up. They would have been forced to sustain drives with more completions, and their drives would have taken more time off the clock. By giving up a lot of yards after the catch, the Cardinals allowed the Packers to score quickly, and Green Bay got back into the game because of it.

The Vikings need rush Tony Romo on Sunday. They also need to tackle well. The Cowboys have a lot of pass catchers that are effective running with it: if the Vikes stop them cold where they catch it, they can stop some Dallas drives. Dallas also has running backs capable of making defenders miss, or running over them. They also have a good punt returner.

If the Vikes tackle well, I think they win the game. If they lose, I think it will be because against either the run, the pass, or on special teams (or all three), the Vikings fail to tackle runners when they have the chance.

Quarterbacks
In my view, the top six QBs in the NFC all made the playoffs (you could argue Eli Manning over Donovan McNabb), though not in the AFC (Manning, Rivers, and Brady yes, but Schaub and Roethlisberger missed the playoffs with 9-7 teams, though I suppose Carson Palmer rounds out the AFC's top six this season). There's something correlational in that: good teams tend to make their QBs look good. But it also highlights the importance of good passing for NFL success.

Links
Some Viking players have taken to calling Minnesota and the Metrodome "the hood. Whatever it takes (Star Tribune, Pioneer Press).

The Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press have two nearly identical stories on the need for Bryant McKinnie and Phil Loadholt to stop DeMarcus Ware and the Dallas pass rush (same focus, some of the same quotes). The articles are both fine, but it might make one wonder whether we need two major newspapers covering local sports about as much as you need to buy the hardcover and paperback editions of a book (and now you say, "And it makes me wonder whether we really need yet another Viking blogger, jackass." And I say "Well, I try to bring something different to the table with my incessant neuroticism." And you say "You mean incessant whining." And I say "I think of it more as fear and despair than whining, but OK").

The Week

Following sports is supposed to be fun, but during playoff time, it is more fun to be a casual fan without much vested interest in who wins. Fun? This is intense, anxiety-inducing, gut-wrenching, obsessively worried, fearful, passionate.

Why? Because this feels like THE window for the Vikings to win a Super Bowl. They can win it this year: the pieces are in place. But of course they might not. And if they don't, when will they? Who is playing quarterback next year? How much longer do some key veterans (Pat Williams, Steve Hutchinson, Antoine Winfield) have left? For that matter, how much longer will the Vikings be in Minnesota?

This is it: the Vikings need to win one game, then the next, then the next. If they don't, they very well may never win the Super Bowl. Brett Favre has elevated the franchise, given us this chance.

This Viking team can win the Super Bowl. But they might also lose next Sunday, and if they do, that's it. The dream season is over. There won't be any Super Bowl, there won't be any championship, Brett Favre will retire, and we'll continue another dreary Minnesota winter with a football team that has never won the Super Bowl. The finality of it all is intense. Today Green Bay's 11-5 season ended when an overtime fumble got returned for a touchdown. They win the game, maybe they make a deep playoff run. Instead it's all over. For a young team like the Packers, that certainly hurts, but they're built to be back in this situation again.

For a veteran team like the Vikings, quarterbacked by a 40 year old legend playing the best football of his career, to leave the playoffs so quickly would be devastating. As a fan, I might not recover. This feels like the last chance.

So it's "fun," yes. I mean, it's better than most things. But it's also an intense, anxious, fearsome time.

The Vikings play the Cowboys next week: the winner goes to the NFC Championship game.

Dallas

Watching the Cowboys whip the Eagles tonight, I decided to post a little scouting report. Should I forward this to Brad Childress? After all, he gets involved in my profession and I support him. But this isn't really a scouting report (gasp!), but just some observations for Viking fans to think about.

Here are the things the Cowboys have that could hurt the Vikings.

The Pass Rush
DeMarcus Ware and friend are good at getting to the quarterback, and the Carolina game showed that the Viking coaches are adverse to adjusting the offensive scheme to account for a dominant pass rusher. The Vikings do a pretty good job pass blocking, but it's a concern.

The Big Offensive Line
The Eagle defense is good, but the Dallas linemen were just ripping open holes for Felix Jones (who is the type of speedy runner that can actually hurt the Vikings' generally dominant run defense). I'd feel better if E.J. Henderson were there to plug the hole, but he's not. The Cowboys have a very good, very successful offensive line.

The Passing Game
Romo can scramble and he can throw deep. He's also got a lot of options to throw to. And the Viking secondary is the team's biggest weakness: when the pass rush isn't effective, good quarterbacks exploit the Viking defensive backs. The Vikes will need to have an effective pass rush (which they usually do at home).

Special Teams
The Cowboys have a good kickoff guy, which could hamper Percy Harvin's opportunities to set the team up with good field position. They also have a good punt returner.

There are also some specific things Viking fans can be encouraged about.

Discipline
At home, while dominating, the Cowboys still seem to commit a lot of procedural penalties, let the play clock wind down, and play sloppy with the football. What happens when they're playing on the road in very loud Thunderdome?

The Vikings don't blitz much.
The Cowboys destroy the blitz with all those quick passes, and they've got a lot of players that can get yards after the catch. The Vikes usually rely on the defensive line to generate pass rush, so there will be linebackers and defensive backs to get in the way of those passes and make the tackles when they're completed.

Wade Phillips
One of my dad's favorite parts of watching football seeems to be seeing the facial expressions and body gyrations of Wade Phillips (one of my favorite parts of football is when I get a little confused and forget who has the ball, and I'm watching the defense line up thinking it's an offensive formation, and I'm thinking "what on earth are they running here?" before seeing what I thought was the defense snap the ball. It doesn't happen often). The Cowboys are a very, very talented team, with incredible playmakers on all sides of the ball. I'm not so worried we're going to see the Vikings get outcoached next week, though.

The Cowboy Field Goal Kicker
If it's a close game, the Dallas kicking game will be really unpredictable.

Percy Harvin

Percy Harvin has been a spectacular player in 2009. As a receiver, he's been an awesome combination of big play guy (12 of his 60 catches were for 20+ yards, and he added two more 20+ yard runs) and reliable target in short and mid-range situations (42 of his 60 catches were for first downs). As a kick returner, he regularly set the Vikes up with great field position, not just from his 27.5 yard return average, but because the very threat of his explosive returns led opponents to avoid him with frequent short kicks.

Percy Harvin is also the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year (NFL.com). He and Sidney Rice (83-1,312-8) make up perhaps the most exciting young WR duo in the NFL.

The Best Quarterback Seasons in Viking History

Brett Favre 2009
68.4%, 4,202 yards, 33 TDs, 7 INTs, 7.9 ypa, 107.2 rating, 12-4 record

Daunte Culpepper 2004
69.2%, 4,717 yards*, 39 TDs, 11 INTs, 8.6 ypa, 110.9 rating, 8-8 record

Randall Cunningham 1998
60.9%, 3,704 yards, 34 TDs, 10 INTs, 8.7 ypa, 106 rating*, 13-1 record

Fran Tarkenton 1975**
64.2%*, 2,994 yards, 25 TDs*, 13 INTs, 7.0 ypa, 91.8 rating, 12-2 record

*league leader
**AP MVP

Based on regular season alone, who is the best?

Winter "Fun"

I'm going to be a bundle of nerves for these playoffs; it's going to be all sorts of anxiety and dread.

Share your playoff thoughts.

Singing Skol Once Again

After today, the Vikings' record on turf this season is 10-0, with an average score of 32.7 to 14.7.
On grass, they're 2-4, with an average score of 23.8 to 27.5.

That's one reason it's so important for the Eagles to lose today. If the Vikes get the #2 seed, they get a first-round bye, and any NFC playoff game they play will be on turf.

I mostly expected the Vikes to throttle the uninspired Giants; I'm much more nervous about this next game.

Now to root for the Cowboys as if they are the Vikings.

Edification

It's another stoic Minnesotan lesson. Do no get excited. Do not get your hopes up. You will be disappointed. There will be suffering.

I'm going to go pretend there's no such thing as football. Comment as you will.

Still on the Ledge

Hope to see you after the Chicago game.

Coming Off The Ledge

As the game got off to a very sloppy start, I thought that any other Viking team of the '00s would lose this game. As it turned out, this Viking game would too.

A team with one elite offensive player (Steve Smith) and one elite defensive player (Julius Peppers) might not be good enough for success over 16 games. What they can do, however, is hang with anyone an any given day. If those two players get hot (and Smith and Peppers were extremely hot against the Vikings), they can make plays offensively and defensively and disrupt anything an opponent might try to do.

This was an ugly, disgusting football game. The Vikings for some reason found no way to block Julius Peppers or scheme around him. The Panthers called very effective passing plays that allowed Matt Moore to find receivers. The Vikes got whipped on the road, at night, for the second time in three weeks. The run game was ineffective. The pass game was ineffective for a host of reasons (dropped passes, inaccurate throws, covered receivers, weak pass protection). The run defense was ineffective, and the pass defense was ineffective. It was an all-around miserable effort. If it weren't the second such game in three weeks, We could dismiss it as fluky. But the Vikes are starting to look like a lousy road team.

All three Viking losses have been on natural grass. So many of this team's talented players are effective with a speed game, and we've seen that game look much less effective on grass. If the Vikings do end up losing the #2 seed and have to go to, say, Philadelphia, they'll be in trouble. But if they get the #2 seed, they'll get to defend Thunderdome, and if they go anywhere, they go to New Orleans to play indoors. So that's something.

The day wasn't shot. The Packers lost and so the Vikings clinched their second straight NFC North division title. We'll get to see the Vikes with a home playoff game. And the Vikes don't have to be hot now; they need to get hot in 3-4 weeks.

Next week the Vikes travel to Chicago, a place where they've struggled even when they are the superior team to the Bears. Are the Vikings so good and the Bears so bad that this time will be different? It has to be.

It was a long week with a Viking game at the end of it, a green light across the water beckoning with hope. And now they don't play again until next Monday night. I feel lousy.

There's more to say, I'm sure, but I'll let you say it. The opposite of skol, Vikings. The opposite of skol.

National Friday League (week 15)

Viking-Panther Preview
2009 Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are 5-8: offensively, they rank 25th in points scored and 21st in yardage; defensively, they rank 19th in points allowed and 15th in yards allowed.

If you look closer at the stats, they're sort of an interesting bad team: they've got good pass defense but terrible run defense (they give up 4.6 yards per attempt), and offensively they've got a good running game but a terrible passing game. Frankly, I don't think a team with a bad passing game can beat the 2009 Minnesota Vikings. Even if the Panthers have success running, they're still going to be required to sustain drives with some passing conversions, and I don't think Matt Moore is going to get it done. I don't think the Panthers will complete many deep passes (the Viking pass rush can make that difficult), and they aren't good enough throwing the ball to consistently complete short and mid-range passes on third down.

But there is one player to fear: Julius Peppers. Peppers can take over and dominate a single game just as Jared Allen can. The Vikings will need to be effective blocking him in pass protection, not just to win the game but to protect Favre from getting roughed up. I mean, I was feeling comfortable about watching the Vikings handle a 5-8 team, until I realized "Crap, we have to face Julius Peppers." He can be a dominant force, who can change everything about the game.

The Vikings and Poetry
I've written about this poem before, and about Housman and the Vikings before. So I repeat myself.

On the last day of my literature class, I close with poetry that is about art. Mostly we discuss Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" and Rainer Maria Rilke's "The Archaic Torso of Apollo." I'm trying to bring some meaning to the course: each poet explores meaning in a statue, and I wonder how that can help us to understand how we're taking meaning from the literature we read.

I also assign A.E. Housman's "Terence, this is stupid stuff." In it, one voice addresses the poet, complaining that his poetry is too melancholy, and it should be more fun. The poet responds that if you want to have fun, then you should probably try drinking instead. Poetry, Housman suggests, has a different purpose:

Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.

Poetry, perhaps, is what we can use to prepare for the troubles we're sure to face in this world. Literature, perhaps, teaches us to know that we will suffer, teaches us to cope with our suffering, perhaps even allows us to find meaning in our suffering.

It is at this point I can't help talking about the Minnesota Vikings. We know things usually end badly--they always have before. When the Vikings are successful during the season, many a Viking fan thinks and may say "Alas, they're just going to blow it in the playoffs." We expect failure, and we prepare for failure. I like to think it is the environment that conditions us this way: we suffer the inevitable winter with icy stoicism, and so we are prepared to suffer the inevitable bad end of the Viking season. But we know that a happy ending to this story is chancy business; we're ready for the sure trouble.

Every year I think "This could be the year. This could be the year the Vikings finally win the Super Bowl." So far, I've always been wrong. The odds are against us, of course: 31 of 32 teams won't win the Super Bowl this year. And so I have to remind myself of Housman's lesson: "Luck's a chance, and trouble's sure." If we're wise, we need to prepare for ill. We can't put too much of our emotional well-being into the team, because the odds just aren't good.

Cheering for an 11-2 team that has a great quarterback, great offense, great defense, great special teams, it's hard to bring myself back down. Sometimes I need A.E. Housman to do that for me.

Link
At SI, Joe Posnanski on the Vikes.

Weekend
Meager fare this week, I know, but as Bob Newhart might say, I shouldn't even be doing this!

Have a good weekend, everybody. Except Panther and Packer fans.

Trailing Clouds of Heaven: Vikings 30, Bengals 10

ESPN Box Score

Thunderdome!
The Vikes move to 11-2 with a dominant homefield performance. They played great defense (210 yards, 13 first downs, and 10 points allowed). They again sustained long drives with good 3rd down efficiency (8/14).

The Vikes have had some spectacular victories; today it felt like the Vikings put on a workmanlike performance. Against a good opponent that came into the league with a 9-3 record and ranked #1 in points allowed, the Vikings played smothering defense and sustained drives with gutty running and short to mid-range passing. And I like these victories--a lot. They took on one of the AFC's top teams and crushed them 30-10, bettering them in nearly every aspect of the game.

I feel very confident about any home game the Vikings play; they're built to defend this dome.

Adrian Peterson
With 97 rush yards and 40 receiving yards, I think you could argue this was Peterson's best game of the season. He had better numbers against some lesser defenses, but the Bengals came into the game ranked #1 in rush yards allowed and #6 in rush yards per attempt allowed. His game today didn't rely on one or two long runs, but on consistent, powerful running. What I liked about his running today was how often his runs were picking up 3-6 yards. He wasn't getting stuffed: he was churning forward to put the offense in better situations (helped, of course, by some strong blocking).

When Peterson was out, Chester Taylor was making plays too (25 rush yards, 32 receiving yards).

Antoine Winfield
Ode to Joy! To see Winfield back and making solo, open field tackles, dropping ball carriers where they meet, warms this Viking fan's heart. Not only is he a spectacular player that instantly improves the Viking defense, but he is such fun to watch. He had nine solo tackles today, and he was a noticeable impact player throughout the game. He showed some rust on a few plays, but mostly looked dominant.

He is so important to this team. It is teams like Arizona or New Orleans, with good QBs and multiple WR options, that can exploit this Viking defense, and it is teams like Arizona or New Orleans that we'll probably see in the playoffs. Winfield makes everything better (the Vikes allowed 103 yards passing, no pass longer than 15 yards).

Jamarca Sanford
Sanford replaced Tyrell Johnson at safety today, and did an admirable job. I feel Johnson has been a major weakness of this defense: I haven't observed many positive plays, but have noticed many negative plays. It will be great for the Viking secondary if Sanford proves to be an upgrade over Johnson (and at the same time that Antoine Winfield returns and plays at his usual level).

Interesting note: today the Vikes started a rookie linebacker that was a 5th round pick (Jasper Brinkley, pick 150) and a rookie safety that was a 7th round pick (Sanford, pick 231).

Kevin Williams and Pat Williams
Another brilliant performance from the defensive tackles, penetrating the line of scrimmage and disrupting plays.

Hope restored
Coming off a bad road loss to the Cardinals (during which you could argue the Vikes played as bad as the Bengals did today), it was great to see the Vikings not only win, but control the game.

Skol. The Vikings are 11-2. I like to think even this guy is smiling today.

National Friday League (week 14)

Vikings-Bengals Preview
2009 Bengals
2009 Vikings

At 9-3, the Bengals may be the strongest opponent the Vikings have faced this season. Considering that you probably can't name a single Bengal defensive player, their defense is remarkably good (#1 in points allowed, #4 in yards allowed, #7 in net pass yards per attempt allowed, #6 in rush yards per attempt allowed. Now you're saying "Hey, Jackass: what's with this 'you' business? What do you know about what I know about Cincinnati's defense?").

It is at home and on turf that the Viking pass rush has been unstoppable this season. And offensively, the Cincinnati Bengals are noticeably average (#16 in points scored, #18 in yards, #16 in net pass yards per attempt, #23 in rush yards per attempt). The pass rush will be key: we've seen what a good quarterback can do to the Viking secondary when he has time to throw, and Carson Palmer is a good quarterback. If the defensive line hurries throws, bats down passes, and hits Palmer, the Viking defense will have a good day.

The Vikes are 6-0 at home and 8-0 on turf this season.

Here's what I hope: early on, the Bengals decide to test rookie middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley and try to run the ball. The Vikes will prove (again) that it is the dominant interior line of Kevin Williams and Pat Williams that really makes them difficult to run against, and also that Brinkley, however well he plays, will have good help around him from Chad Greenway, Ben Leber, and good run-tackling cornerbacks, and the Bengals will be in a long of 2nd and 3rd and long situations. With the loud Thunderdome crowd and a storming pass rush from Jared Allen, the Bengals could have trouble converting passes on those downs. I also hope that Adrian Peterson is able to break a few early long runs and be active in the receiving game, that Favre gets time to throw and that if the Bengals are able to well-cover one or even two of the Viking WRs, they're not able to cover the third. It's what I hope, but after last week, I don't know what to expect.

Cheer loud, thunderdome crowd.

Jasper Brinkley
Star Tribune, Vikings.com, Pioneer Press

Other NFL Games
Week 14 Schedule

Packers v. Bears. I want to see how Chicago defends Soldier Field against a good opponent in December. The Vikes go to Chicago in a few weeks, a place where they typically struggle even when they are the better team. Of course I want to see the Packers lose, but if the Bears are truly awful, well, that's OK for us too.

Broncos v. Colts. Indianapolis will be destroying my fantasy season by clinching the #1 seed as soon as possible and then resting starters. If this is their last meaningful game before the playoffs, may they go bananas.

Dolphins v. Jaguars. an important game in the chase for a Wild Card spot, between two teams that will be irrelevant by the second round of the playoffs. It's a game we're supposed to want to care about, but I really can't.

Chargers v. Cowboys. I've always liked inter-conference games featuring quality teams.

Eagles v. Giants. That NFC East division race is interesting, but I don't know if the games they play are actually interesting. I hope this one is.

After a Viking loss
This week I mostly avoided any football news. I didn't read any articles, check many stats, keep up with blogs, listen to sports talk radio, or watch much TV sports news. I checked some news sources just in case there was some big, relevant news I should really know about.

After a disappointing Viking loss, I don't like to pay attention to football. I throw all my energy into the other demands and joys of life, and try not to think too much about football.

I don't think there's anything to feel bad about in that: I don't have a moral obligation to read everything on the Vikings, good and bad. I don't get paid to write about sports. I try to follow sports for pleasure, and following a game with winners and losers brings enough non-pleasure. I don't need to read articles that will give me more non-pleasure. The most fun I have is watching the games anyway--I can take or leave most of the commentary during the week.

And I mean, what am I going to find out there? Just the summary of this was enough to remind me that if the Packers win their 13th championship before the Vikings win their first that I'll not only give up following football in despair of futility, but I might go into a philosophical tailspin and stop believing in anything, and someday you'll find an old stranger at the end of a bar by himself, sipping gin and muttering "Everything is permitted" (do yourself a favor: don't talk to him). OK, none of that will probably happen. But it might. And I would probably require a moratorium from football, whether for a few months or many, many months, I don't know. Even thinking about it causes a certain level of despair. I've got issues.

Weekend
Some jackass decided that it would work well to put the busiest time of the academic year during the most personally demanding month of the year, plus it would be cold, and there would still be football. It's caffeine and carb season, and an admittedly uninspired National Friday League post. Next week will probably be worse.

Have a good weekend everybody. Except Bengal and Packer fans.

Coming Off the Ledge: Cardinals 30, Vikings 17 (updated below)

ESPN Box Score

Seeing the Vikes play a dud game on Sunday night is brutal. Did you spend the day watching other football, getting excited? Did you have a full day's worth of anticipation for this game? How empty were you feeling in the fourth quarter?

A disappointed salute to the Cardinals: they beat the Vikes in every conceivable way tonight.

The Pass Rush and the Safeties
The pass rush from the defensive line has been masking some serious deficiencies in the secondary. If an opposing offense is able to neutralize the pass rush from the front four, a good quarterback can smoke this secondary.

It might be comforting to shout "But Antoine Winfield! Antoine Winfield!," but that really isn't helpful. For one thing, we don't know when he'll be back or how effective he'll be when he does come back. And just as important, Winfield isn't going to be coming back to play safety. Right now Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson are struggling to cover and to tackle.

If the front four can't get to the QB, then the Vikes may try blitz. That, too, can be shredded, since the safeties aren't that good and the nickel backs will struggle against good WRs, too.

Against a quality opponent, the Vikings must get a pass rush from the defensive line if they are going to be successful on defense.

The Cardinals were able to block the Viking front four tonight, and Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, and Larry Fitzgerald were able to run wild around the Viking secondary.

Favre
He looked rough today: throwing inaccurate passes flying past receivers, hitting defenders in the hands, looking uncomfortable in the pocket.

The panic of course is that any late-season struggles are signs of Favre's declining, exhausted body giving out. I'm not going to overreact to one bad game--that's just the concern. And I'm actually not worried about the interceptions terribly: that's regression toward the mean that still leaves Favre's INT rate incredibly low.

Playcalling
I thought the shovel pass in the red zone on 3rd and 4 was lousy. With a good QB and several good receivers, just let your QB drop back and try find an open guy.

I'm an advocate of abandoning the run when it isn't working and especially when you get down. I can't recall many games when Adrian Peterson was getting completely stuffed most of the game, and then later became effective. When the run isn't there, run calls are wasted downs. If you still want Peterson to make plays throw him the ball.

E.J. Henderson
It's hard to see Henderson go down. I hope the best for him personally.

The Vikes have been remarkably healthy most of the season, but losing their middle linebacker is going to hurt (just a guess: the Vikes are forced to play a lot of nickel anyway, so Ben Leber and Chad Greenway probably become the two nickel linebackers going forward. I don't know what they'll do in base 4-3 sets). They suffered other injuries tonight, but none appear as serious as Henderson's.

What the Vikings aren't
The Vikings are not competing with the New Orleans Saints for NFC juggernaut status. Though the Saints dodged the flying monkey poop today, they are the NFC's juggernaut. The Vikings aren't: they are a very good team, and they should still get the #2 seed, but they aren't a matching juggernaut. That doesn't mean the Vikings cannot beat the Saints in the playoffs, should we meet them; there are some features of the matchup that I think favor the Vikes. They're still a 10-2 Super Bowl contender.

Some good things
The Packers have a tough matchup with the Ravens tomorrow night; not that it could fully assuage tonight's disappointment, but seeing one purple-jerseyed team win in week 13 would still make us smile.

Percy Harvin is good. He frequently picks up first downs out of the slot, and his garbage-time touchdown weirdly encouraged me (it might have just been seeing a lively throw from Favre to remind me tonight was an aberration). When you have a player so great at catching a ball around the sticks on 3rd down, who can sneak into the backfield and rush the ball, and who can also go deep downfield and make plays, how does a defense stop him? Generally, they don't.

That, and Romeo Crennel's talking beer cans. That is hilarious.

Addendum: New Level of Anxiety
I just looked at the schedule: 8-4 Arizona's last four games are away against the 49ers and Lions, home for the Rams and Packers. They've got a shot at winning out, and if they do, the Vikes need to win three of their last four to keep the #2 seed. We've got a two game lead over the Cards for that first-round bye, but the Vikes' remaining schedule (Bengals, at Panthers and Bears, Giants) is tougher. So, if you were looking for anxiety, it's there now (the Cowboys and Eagles are each 8-4 too). The Vikes need to get that first-round bye.

Addendum 2
I feel lousy when the Vikes lose, and so the day after a Viking loss, I generally eat very healthy and get all sorts of work accomplished. So look out, Monday, PV is coming to get you!

Update 3

If you're looking for encouragement, here are some December box scores of recent Super Bowl teams.

2006: Jaguars 44, Colts 17

2007: Washington 22, Giants 10

2008: Vikings 35, Cardinals 14

2008: Patriots 47, Cardinals 7

2008: Titans 31, Steelers 14

These things happen.

National Friday League (week 13)

Sense of Urgency: from short term to long term
I don't feel the sense of desperation week to week that I'm accustomed to feeling with the Vikings. If you look at the NFC standings, the reason is simple.

The Vikings are currently chasing New Orleans for the #1 playoff seed in the NFC. Of course it would be preferable for the Vikes to get homefield advantage throughout the playoffs: Thunderdome is wonderful. But the Saints play in a dome, too: if the Vikes meet the Saints in New Orleans for the NFC title, I think the Vikes can win there (they beat the Saints there last season, when neither team was as good).

The Vikings have a two game lead over the Cowboys for the #2 seed and first-round bye, but the Cowboys also already have two NFC losses, and frankly I don't think they're done losing games. I'd consider it a disasterous collapse if the Vikings didn't end up with a first-round bye.

I'm not concerned about the Vikings winning the division (they have a three game lead over the Packers, plus the head-to-head tie breaker), and I'm certainly not worried about the Vikings making the playoffs. In all likelihood, they're going to have the #2 seed in the NFC. It's not like the last two seasons, when in the second half of the season every game was necessary for the Vikings' chances to even make the playoffs. The playoffs are a given, and it would appear the only real question is which dome team clinches the #1 seed.

So I haven't been watching games with desperate passion. Maybe that's because in the last two weeks they opened up fairly early leads in blowing out the Seahawks and Bears. Maybe the next time the Vikes are in a close game I'll get that empty-queasy stomach feeling (that is like an addiction: I hate that feeling, yet I crave it when I don't have it). But right now, I'm watching week to week with a sense of calm and peace.

But that must be qualified. I have much less anxiety during each game, but my football anxiety for the season is at an all-time high. I am absolutely anxious, nervous, hell, terrified for the playoffs. I fear the Vikings choking a home game in the division round (my nightmare of nightmares is a playoff loss to the Packers). I dread seeing them lose to the Saints. In every part of my football-watching being this season, I've had a sense of agonized fear.

I don't watch each game with anxiety. But I follow the team with the highest level of sports anxiety I've ever had. I love watching the Vikings, but I sense less pleasure coming during the playoffs. I'm going to watch each game with nervous tension coursing through my body, and my experience of joy if they win playoff games will feel a lot more like relief.

We're Viking fans. If you're a youngish fan, you remember the ending of '98, '00, and '03. If you're an older Viking fan, you remember four Super Bowls, and you remember '75. I've heard it and read it from numerous Viking fans--we're worried. It is when the team is the most successful that we most fear they are going to squeeze the life out of our hearts, because we've seen that movie too many times. The collective neurosis in the state of Minnesota during January will look something like this:


(image from HBO)

Vikings-Cardinals Preview
Minnesota Vikings
#2 in points scored, #5 in yards
#8 in points allowed, #8 in yards allowed

Arizona Cardinals
#10 in points scored, #10 in yards
#13 in points allowed, #24 in yards allowed

Maybe I'm overly influenced by last year's 35-14 win at Arizona, when Adrian Peterson rushed for 165 yards, Tarvaris freaking Jackson lit up the Cards with four touchdown passes, and the Viking defense held the Kurt Warner-led Cardinal offense to seven points. Maybe I look at the Cardinals' defensive numbers and see a mediocre defense that the Vikes can carve up. Maybe I know Matt Leinart started last week and may start again. Maybe I haven't seen the Vikings lose a game in several weeks, and know they're 4-1 on the road. Maybe I see the Cardinals are 2-3 at home and that weather won't be a factor, and know the Vikings aren't exactly going into the bowels of hell (why does hell have bowels? Does heaven have bowels?). Maybe I see that the Viking defense is finally peaking (their 29 point, 37 first down run of the past three weeks has pushed their rankings in points and yards to 8th) and that the Viking offense seems to be gaining 400 yards a game at will (they're averaging 390 a game). Maybe I'm letting all these things make me overconfident about this game. But maybe I'm just a fan with no control over things so it matters nothing at all (outside of my own sanity and propensity for disappointment) whether I'm overconfident.

Links
John Randle (pro-football-reference.com)

According to Football Outsiders, the Vikings are #1 in "variance," meaning their performance week to week has been the most consistent in the league. This embiggens me greatly. As you can see above, I live in terror that the Vikings are going to choke away a playoff game. While they still might, FO's advanced metric suggests that the Vikings have not been an up-and-down team, so maybe they're less likely to have a non-cromulent game in the playoffs. The Vikes are talented, and if they are also consistent, then they should do what they do in the playoffs (on a side note, while I find it irritating that some of the FO writers are openly antagonistic about the Vikings because they find media coverage of Brett Favre annoying, I still obviously check the site out for the statistics, and they do still occasionally offer some insights on the Vikes without also complaining about media coverage of Favre. Occasionally).

The Vikings are good on 3rd down (Star Tribune).

Brett Favre is good against the blitz (Pioneer Press).

A lot of Viking-Cardinal information (Vikings.com).

Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson has been struggling a bit. Jason at Defensive Indifference points out that he's averaged fewer than four yards per carry in four of his past five games, and largely blames the offensive line. Others have suggested that defenses are still focusing on stopping Peterson, partly accounting for Favre's spectacular play and partly accounting for Peterson's struggles--see, for example, this Pioneer Press article on the Bear game.

If it's true that teams are still focusing on Peterson, great! That means the Vikings are destroying opponents with the pass, and frankly I don't care how the Vikings destroy opponents. If they continue to load up on Peterson, then either Percy Harvin, or Sidney Rice, or Bernard Berrian, or Visanthe Shiancoe will get open frequently. And if they start focusing more attention on the pass, I think they'll fail (because it's hard to cover Percy Harvin, and Sidney Rice, and Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe on every play), and even so, then Peterson has a better chance to destroy opponents.

But I don't really think that's an explanation. As Jason points out, "selling out to stop Peterson" is what teams have "been doing that for the last three years." And after all, are teams not selling out to stop Steven Jackson? Are they not selling out to stop Chris Johnson?

I think the answer is simple: Adrian Peterson in his first three seasons is a boom and bust running back. He breaks off a lot of long, beautiful runs, but he also gets stuffed near the line of scrimmage quite regularly. He might develop into a more consistent runner, breaking off four, five, six yard runs regularly, but that's not who he is right now. Recently a lot of his carries have been "bust," but soon a lot of his carries might be "boom." It's the nature of a boom or bust runner: sometimes he'll be struggling, and sometimes he'll go crazy. He's second in the league in 20+ yard runs in 2009. He was first in 2008. He was tied for third in 2007.

A boom and bust running back can be frustrating. Luckily, the Vikings now have a great passing game that can sustain drives even when required to convert on third and long. I'd like to see more play-to-play consistency from Peterson (and hope he develops it), but I think the Vikings can win this year during Peterson's booms and busts.

Other Games of Note
Week 13 Games

Colts-Titans. I'd like to see the Colts lose a couple games, and the Chargers keep winning, so that in Week 17 Peyton Manning et al. still have a reason to help my fantasy teams (I just want them to score 49 points in defeat). It would be fun to see the Titans win out too. I guess. Sort of. What do I care?

Ravens-Packers. Take it to them, Baltimore.

Eagles-Falcons. playoff ramifications galore.

Cowboys-Giants. a division game with playoff ramifications--and either of these teams is always capable of a total dud.

Weekend
All grading papers and no football make PV a dull boy. It makes me so dull that I lazily paraphrase famous movie lines.

Have a good weekend everybody. Except Cardinal, Packer, and Saint fans.