Vikings Week 10: Cheese Stinks

The Minnesota Vikings escaped with a wild 28-27 win on Sunday to go as Childress would say, "We went 1-0 this week, that's all we could do." Actually Chilly got his first win against the Pack and avoided going 0-6 against the hated cheese heads. He received the game ball after Sunday's win from Zygi and probably gained a glimmering hope of retaining his job through the end of the season. I believe the Vikings need @ least 10-6 and make the playoffs for Childress to be retained. The reasoning is this. Look at the Childress era.....

• First year - 6-10 record. Brought in Steve Hutchinson via Seattle with a huge contract for an OL. Improved the running game w/ brining in Hutch and Chester Taylor via Baltimore. Defense showed vast improvement in becoming a run - stopping machine. Pass D was still ugly. Troy Williamson sucked.
• Second year - 8-8 record. Made possibly the best draft selection in Vikings history with Adrian Peterson. Could run the football and stop the run. Pass D still bad. Couldn't get the ball down the field in the passing game. Lost D Coordinator, Mike Tomlin to the Steelers. EJ Henderson develops into a Pro Bowl MLB. Were on the brink of the playoffs and blew a home game to Washington in late December. Troy Williamson solidified himself as the biggest bust in Vikes history. Can you believe Williamson and AP were actually both drafted 7th overall???
• Third year - 5-4 record as of 11-12-08. Zygi spent some money. Brought in Jared Allen (via Kansas City - gave him a huge contract and traded draft picks), Bernard Berrian (via huge free agent contract - stole him from the Bears) and Madieu Williams (via free agent from the Bengals). Lost MLB E.J. Henderson for the season, benched QB T Jackson, and have decided to role the dice with the veteran known as Gus.
  

We need to be 10-6 this year. The owner has done everything possible to improve this team. The coaching staff has to do their job. As one radio personality put it the other day, "Everygame though is a circus. Get ready buckle up Vikings fans, it's always going to be a wild ride." That is how I felt Sunday was - a rollercoaster that finally stopped. Here's this weeks positives and negatives

Positives

1. Goat to hero - AP kind of looked like Terrell Owens on the sidelines screaming at Chilly to go for it on 4th and 1 - . If AP doesn't come back and have 8 touches (6 rush and 2 pass) on the final drive for 64 yards and the game-winning TD - analysts would be playing that clip over and over. Chilly finally just put the Vikings on AP and OLines back and good things happened.
2. Jim Kleinsasser and Jeff Dugan - J Kleinsasser absolutely pancaked Aaron Kampman on AP's 29 yard game winning run. Dugan is back and made it easier to go with 2 TE sets and a 1 back set - and presumably put Tahi (our FB) on the sidelines which I am happy about.
3. Safeties and Pass Rush - We had pressure all day on #12 for the green and gold. 2 safeties and a sack each from Jared Allen, Napoleon Harris, and Brian Robison. Throw in an absolutely awesome knockdown by Ben Leber and I think we had Rodgers a little frustrated.

Negatives

1. Where art thou head, Gus? - Gus completely lost his mind a couple of times on Sunday. The most obvious was when Bobby Wade was absolutley open on a deep post with no one within 5-7 yards on him - a sure TD. Gus proceeded to throw the ball not the V. Shiancoe, but to the other team. The 3 int's can't happen anymore. He did throw 2 TD's - but I give more credit to C. Taylor and Sidney Rice on those than Gus. Gus completely kept the Pack in this game.
   
2. Punt Coverage - In this space I've dedicated enough time to this issue. We now hold an NFL record for giving up 6 returns for TD's. Should our special teams coach be back next season? I don't think so. What does it say about your punt coverage when the returner catches a punt 2-3 yards deep in the end zone - ummm he doesn't respect you and your coverage unit at all.

Next week it is off to Tampa Bay. I heard it said the other day, "It's hard to win @ that stadium w/the pirate ship." I agree with this statement. The Bucs are 6-3 and are well coached with Monty Kiffin and J Gruden (chucky) at the helm.