Week 14&15: Vikings vs. Bengals & @ Panthers

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. Yes, it truly was the tale of two games over the past two weeks.

The Vikings rebounded from their ugly loss at Arizona to dominate a good Bengal team. However, they followed it up with their worst loss of the season by getting destroyed by a woeful Carolina team.

What is a fan to believe? Is this team the one they saw beat up on an AFC division leader, or the team that laid down against an inconsistent Cardinals team and a Panthers team that was 5-8?

In reality they are both. The Vikings are a very talented team; I believe the most talented team in football. But they are also a very flawed team, with the majority of the flaws on the sidelines.

Questionable decisions riddled this game. Peppers hit Favre hard all game long. To the point where they pulled McKinnie in the 4th quarter… why not give him some TE help instead?

With only one decent receiver in Steve Smith, all the Vikings needed to do was cover Smith and force a rookie QB to beat them by checking down and hitting other receivers. Instead the Vikings leave Smith in one-on-one coverage all day long. No changes, even late in the game. Smith’s line: 9 catches, 157 yards, 1 TD

In the 4th quarter with the score 19-7 the Vikings had the ball at their own 35 with a little over 8 minutes left. They are down by two scores (neither score can be a field goal) and it is 4th and 5. The obvious choice is to go for it right? It’s only 5 yards and it’s your last chance to get some momentum and steal the game back. But no, Childress sends the punt team onto the field signaling that he had given up.

But the biggest story from the game now tells us that Childress had given up long before his 4th quarter choice to punt. In the third quarter cameras caught a “heated exchange” between Favre and Childress. Today we now know that Childress wanted to pull Favre from the game. Was it because Favre was not playing well? Was it because he was getting hammered? No one knows except Childress, and I doubt he’ll divulge much as his next news conference.

Regardless, at the time the score was 7-6 with the Vikings leading. The Saints had lost a couple days earlier opening the door for a shot at the #1 seed. The Eagles are chipping at your heels challenging the #2 seed. And the thought is… let’s pack it in.

The only chance the Vikings have in the playoffs are to play their first game at home, and either play in a dome at New Orleans, or have the number 2 seed to host the NFC Championship if the Saints get knocked off. If the Vikings have to go on the road and play outdoors (like in Philadelphia) they don’t stand a chance.

All season I’ve said “we’ll know more next week”. At this point I don’t think we’ll know what this team is really about until that first playoff game.

In either case… interesting days ahead.

Skol Vikings!