Stop me if you've heard this one before: It's a very disappointing season to be a fan of the Minnesota Vikings.
Seven games into a highly-anticipated year, the USS Viking is taking on water in ever-increasing quantities. Yesterday's loss left the team sitting at 2-5 and you'd be hard pressed to come up with any positives from the team's play. The quarterback was a bit better, but the receivers couldn't get open with enough frequency or hold onto the ball when they did. The defensive backfield played better than I anticipated, but that's likely the result of a gameplan focused on minimizing risk. As a result, the pass rush was nonexistent and Tom Brady had all the time he needed to chuck the ball around.
Now the schedule softens up considerably, but there is no indication that any turnaround is about to occur, at least not one of the magnitude need to reach 9-10 win neighborhood needed for the playoffs. Popular opinion has long held that the Vikings winning ways of the last few years were accomplished more IN SPITE of their coaching than BECAUSE of it. While I've tried to give Brad Childress the benefit of the doubt, pointing out that winning in the NFL is no easy task, things are starting to wear thin. It's the easiest thing in the world to throw everything at the feet of the coach when tough scheduling, injuries and just plain bad luck, so I'm trying not to be knee-jerk...but he's lost me.
There's no one among us who'd call him a great tactician, despite what we were told upon his arrival about the game plans he crafted in Philadelphia. There's no one who'd call him an inspiring or colorful leader, given his monotone press conferences and generally flavorless appearance. And he is certainly not the quarterback guru that some (most notably himself) appeared to think that he was, look no further than the ongoing charade that is Tavaris Jackson. But what you could say about Chilly is: He had control of the room.
In the game of ego management and millionaire motivation, key to any professional sports endeavor, Brad Childress seemed to know how to push the right buttons to keep his teams focused and ready to play. One can't overlook the huge upgrade in resources he had over his predecessors, or the self-inflicted wounds that his ego inflicted on offense by remaining undermanned at QB, but at least you could say he knew how to work with what he had. Over the last season and a half, that reputation has been turned on it's head, because like most of us fans out there, Chilly got desparate.
It started with Favre, and the new set of rules that were crafted for him. Continued into the swing for the fences that was Randy Moss this season. And it almost worked. Unfortunately the history books are packed with near-misses, and with today's release of Moss, following his press conference tirade after yesterday's game, the chickens have truly come home to roost. I don't know who made the call on bringing him back, but based on what has happened since he returned, Childress must've been strong-armed. You have to be one of two things to think that using Randy as a decoy was going to end in harmony: Naive or stupid. Contrary to popular opinion, I do not think Brad Childress is stupid, so I'm rather befuddled here.
I mean alert the media, Randy Moss went off in a press conference, why should this be a shock? If you don't get him involved in the gameplan, he's going to check out, he's going to pop off, that's what he does. Instead of heeding a decade of past history, you spent four games antagonizing the man. Again, what did you think was going to happen? Please don't take this as a defense of his behavior, anyone who's a fan of sports should find characters like this revolting. Randy Moss represent every ugly truth we don't want to acknowledge about our obsession with sports, every me-first jerk out there who gets special treatment because of their athletic abilities. But there are two things that need to be acknowledged here:
The offense was better with him here.
You bought the ticket, now take the ride.
Instead we cut bait, in "too little, too late" fashion. Instead of trying to salvage what we could out of a bad situation, by clearing the air and making a commitment to doing what should've been done, we gave up, throwing away a 3rd round pick in the process. This may help Chilly's bruised ego heal faster, but it's not going to help with winning football games. Rules have been bent and broken, team unity is most likely hanging by a thread, and things aren't going to improve any time soon. The coach has no clothes and has very likely lost this team. My apologies for that mental image.
At the end of the day Vikings fans, we probably are all getting what we deserved. We quite literally made a deal with the devil here and it backfired, trying to paper over it with a second unholy addition just made things worse. Brett Favre has been breaking our hearts for the better part of two decades, why should it change just because he's wearing a purple jersey? Randy Moss already quit on us once when he didn't like what was going on, why should the second time around be any different?
Things have been ugly, now they're just getting sad, but easier to handle when they were seen coming a mile off. The whole thing just brings a lot of fundamental questions to mind. Did Childress ever want Moss on this team in the first place? Would Childress still be coaching here at all if not for Favre coming to save him? Could Mike Tice, a guy everyone laughed at, have done just as well or better with all the resources the current regime has been handed? Which is more important, the success that's been had over the past couple years, or that fact that the seeming arrogance of the coach has led to the current house-of-cards situation?
Or is it all just pointless to ponder?
Times like this it's good to be a diehard, because there's always the chance to sit back, bide time, and wait til next year.
Showing posts with label Brett Favre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brett Favre. Show all posts
Monday, November 1, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Revenge of the 40-something former nemeses
Not sure if nemeses is a word, but I'm going with it. Nemesises? Nemesi?
Anyway, two old guys who used to make us eat their sh!t on a regular basis came through big yesterday, with Brett Favre returning to the Vikings (was late by a week in my call) and Jim Thome walking off the hated White Sox in a big game the Twins tried to lose 3 or 4 times.
Not much to said beyond that really, for the moment all is right with the Loserville world.
Unless of course you want to stop to think about imploding bullpens, overrated closers who cost us a top prospect, gimpy aging QBs unlikely to make it through the season, the fact that things never work out the way you expect them to in the NFL...
Okay, we'll keep it positive today, just don't get used to it, this will still end excruciatingly.
Anyway, two old guys who used to make us eat their sh!t on a regular basis came through big yesterday, with Brett Favre returning to the Vikings (was late by a week in my call) and Jim Thome walking off the hated White Sox in a big game the Twins tried to lose 3 or 4 times.
Not much to said beyond that really, for the moment all is right with the Loserville world.
Unless of course you want to stop to think about imploding bullpens, overrated closers who cost us a top prospect, gimpy aging QBs unlikely to make it through the season, the fact that things never work out the way you expect them to in the NFL...
Okay, we'll keep it positive today, just don't get used to it, this will still end excruciatingly.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Send in the clowns
Favre.
That single word, though often misspelled, elicits an instant reaction from any sports fan. Be it a wry smile, chuckle, or grimace of disgust, hearing the man's name spoken out loud, particularly when NFL training camp is underway, is going to draw a response. Given the events of today, that's only going to become more true in the coming weeks and months.
The old gunslinger is at it again, hitting the Internet so hard you would've thought it owed him money. One simple 3-word text message, insinuating what exactly is unclear, has literally set the world atwitter with speculation that he will once again retire, and that this time that retirement will stick. My initial reaction can be summed up quite simply here (don't worry, it's SFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vINCq_IAI
For the longer version, we have to step back, take a deep breath, and have a good look at what we're dealing with here.
Heee-hah.
Ready to continue? Good.
Shockwaves thundered across Vikings Nation today as Brett Favre announced he would not be coming back for a 20th NFL season...and then we just kind of went back to what we were doing. I mean come on, it's almost a year to the day that he said he wouldn't be playing last season, and there are still weeks of camp, just how gullible are we expected to be here? Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk nailed my feelings perfectly on the whole thing http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/03/our-take-brett-favre-will-play/
Sure the guy is another year older, sure he was banged up at the end of last season, but after sitting around forlornly for three weeks last season until he miraculously appeared...I just can't get too worked up over this. Maybe it's a money play, perhaps his ankle actually needs more rest, could be he's actually having some doubts. But after watching three years of Favreapalooza, I'm actually starting to think this whole act is for nothing more than his own enjoyment. It's like a hot chick who wants to be told she's pretty, you don't why why they ego boost is needed, but you're not getting anywhere without it. The whole Brett dance kind of gives a new meaning to the term "offseason pickup", I feel like I should by him a drink.
So until we know otherwise, the correct internal response is no response at all, but externally we should be gnashing teeth and rending garments in hopes of impression upon our 2009 savior just how much we need him back. And oh do we ever. As much as you tried to block the T-Jack Era out of your memory forever, he's lurking in the shadows, just waiting to jump-pass a wobbler into the arms of a cutting linebacker he never saw. I mean it's to the point we should just get him one of those Jedi training helmets from Star Wars and tell him to use The Force, because the only thing less trustworthy than a Brett Favre statement is a Tarvaris Jackson read.
And that's really the only thing that bothers me here, the lingering thought in the back of my head that this is EXACTLY how karma works when you're a Vikings fan. We snag the iconic QB of our largest rival, laugh our asses off as he whips them twice and wins the division, spend a whole offseason smugly licking our chops for round two...and then the rug gets yanked out from under us. Again, I don't think it WILL happen, but IF it happened, who better than Brett Favre to deliver the death blow? Who better than the face of Packer lore, coming grimly to tear our hearts out one more time? It wouldn't be just the loss of the coming season either. It will be the fact that the team wasted another two years not trying to find a QB, while playing just well enough to get Brad Childress extended, but not winning it all.
I'm honestly alright at the moment, but after a preseason game or two, it's pretty much a lock I wake up at least once, drenched in sweat and screaming, following a dream about T-Jack standing on a podium taking questions at the 2013 Vikings training camp.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The horror.
But hey, then I'll just remind myself not to worry, the hero on the white horse will be back soon, and hope will once again return to Loserville, at least for a little while.
That single word, though often misspelled, elicits an instant reaction from any sports fan. Be it a wry smile, chuckle, or grimace of disgust, hearing the man's name spoken out loud, particularly when NFL training camp is underway, is going to draw a response. Given the events of today, that's only going to become more true in the coming weeks and months.
The old gunslinger is at it again, hitting the Internet so hard you would've thought it owed him money. One simple 3-word text message, insinuating what exactly is unclear, has literally set the world atwitter with speculation that he will once again retire, and that this time that retirement will stick. My initial reaction can be summed up quite simply here (don't worry, it's SFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vINCq_IAI
For the longer version, we have to step back, take a deep breath, and have a good look at what we're dealing with here.
Heee-hah.
Ready to continue? Good.
Shockwaves thundered across Vikings Nation today as Brett Favre announced he would not be coming back for a 20th NFL season...and then we just kind of went back to what we were doing. I mean come on, it's almost a year to the day that he said he wouldn't be playing last season, and there are still weeks of camp, just how gullible are we expected to be here? Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk nailed my feelings perfectly on the whole thing http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/03/our-take-brett-favre-will-play/
Sure the guy is another year older, sure he was banged up at the end of last season, but after sitting around forlornly for three weeks last season until he miraculously appeared...I just can't get too worked up over this. Maybe it's a money play, perhaps his ankle actually needs more rest, could be he's actually having some doubts. But after watching three years of Favreapalooza, I'm actually starting to think this whole act is for nothing more than his own enjoyment. It's like a hot chick who wants to be told she's pretty, you don't why why they ego boost is needed, but you're not getting anywhere without it. The whole Brett dance kind of gives a new meaning to the term "offseason pickup", I feel like I should by him a drink.
So until we know otherwise, the correct internal response is no response at all, but externally we should be gnashing teeth and rending garments in hopes of impression upon our 2009 savior just how much we need him back. And oh do we ever. As much as you tried to block the T-Jack Era out of your memory forever, he's lurking in the shadows, just waiting to jump-pass a wobbler into the arms of a cutting linebacker he never saw. I mean it's to the point we should just get him one of those Jedi training helmets from Star Wars and tell him to use The Force, because the only thing less trustworthy than a Brett Favre statement is a Tarvaris Jackson read.
And that's really the only thing that bothers me here, the lingering thought in the back of my head that this is EXACTLY how karma works when you're a Vikings fan. We snag the iconic QB of our largest rival, laugh our asses off as he whips them twice and wins the division, spend a whole offseason smugly licking our chops for round two...and then the rug gets yanked out from under us. Again, I don't think it WILL happen, but IF it happened, who better than Brett Favre to deliver the death blow? Who better than the face of Packer lore, coming grimly to tear our hearts out one more time? It wouldn't be just the loss of the coming season either. It will be the fact that the team wasted another two years not trying to find a QB, while playing just well enough to get Brad Childress extended, but not winning it all.
I'm honestly alright at the moment, but after a preseason game or two, it's pretty much a lock I wake up at least once, drenched in sweat and screaming, following a dream about T-Jack standing on a podium taking questions at the 2013 Vikings training camp.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The horror.
But hey, then I'll just remind myself not to worry, the hero on the white horse will be back soon, and hope will once again return to Loserville, at least for a little while.
Friday, April 30, 2010
So who had April 30th in the pool?
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Veteran QB ponders retirement, gives the indication he'll be back for one more year, begins to hedge with doubts about his body's ability to handle the rigors of another season in the pros, only to ultimately return and deliver a stellar performance.
The NFL draft is a week past, teams have begun mini-camps and other such functions, so it must be time for another annual rite of spring, Brett Favre Wafflepalooza. Those of you holding April 30th tickets in the pool for the "First ESPN story casting doubt on Favre's return", please see the cashier to my left.
In a not-so-stunning twist, today also featured the "First non-denial denial of a story casting doubt on Favre's return", as posted on his website. If you were bold enough to anticipate both events on the same day, my hat's off to you, I myself had May 10th for the former, and didn't expect the latter to occur for at least 24 hours after that. It's almost as if #4 was anticipating the original report and had his response ready to go beforehand; if a person didn't know better, they could almost get the impression that Brett is somehow manipulating the media, which we all know is a ludicrous thought.
On a related note, we really need to get a font for conveying sarcasm.
So what does this mean to the average Vikings fan? As usual, only The Big (Former) Cheese himself can answer that, and he's not talking...at least not until late June/early July, and then only if you have a national talk show.(I wonder if he's ever used the phrase "need-to-know basis" when talking with Chilly?) My gut tells me this is the same drill as last year, setting up an excuse to avoid training camp under the guise of soul-searching about his return. Last year I made the mistake of taking him at his word when he said he was done, and won't be repeating it again. As eager as all of us are to resume the promising Tavaris Jackson Era, we probably should assume it will be delayed for at least one more season (Pretty sure no font is required for that one).
The more pressing question in my mind is, what is the ceiling for this team if he does come back? It's getting tough to be a Vikings fan after so many near-misses, because only one end result will be truly acceptable, it's Super Bowl or bust. Obviously this is a good team that was very close to that goal last year, but life in the NFL is not the linear progression that we see in other sports, where young teams progress from Competitive to Playoff to Contender to Champ. Things are more schizophrenic in pro football, one minute you're a contender coming off a great season, the next your QB is writhing on the ground as your season slips away or inexplicably losing his fastball and dragging the team with him down the tubes; look no further than the 2008 Patriots or 2009 Panthers if you doubt this.
Coming back strong in this league requires a delicate balance of players not regressing, draft picks contributing and above all, avoiding injuries. The Vikings did exceedingly well at the first two last season, and although they got a bit banged up, had relatively good luck with injuries as well. All in all, it was a pretty charmed life, and although I'm rarely confused for an optimist, from where I'm sitting it seems like pretty long odds that the dominoes are going to fall in place so well a second time around. At the end of the day, you'd have to be nuts to argue that the Vikings are a better team without Favre, but the more pressing question is, Are they good enough WITH Favre? All the double-talk and hand-wringing we're sure to see over the next few months could simply be the difference between 10-6 and 8-8, but hey, when you're the hot shooter, you've gotta keep tossing those dice, right?
It just feels like last season was the party and now we're dealing with the hangover that will be the lost 2010 season/Childress contract extension. Now I'm not one to complain, because it was one hell of a party, it's just a shame we couldn't close the deal and get laid, cause this hangover is going to be a killer for sure.
The NFL draft is a week past, teams have begun mini-camps and other such functions, so it must be time for another annual rite of spring, Brett Favre Wafflepalooza. Those of you holding April 30th tickets in the pool for the "First ESPN story casting doubt on Favre's return", please see the cashier to my left.
In a not-so-stunning twist, today also featured the "First non-denial denial of a story casting doubt on Favre's return", as posted on his website. If you were bold enough to anticipate both events on the same day, my hat's off to you, I myself had May 10th for the former, and didn't expect the latter to occur for at least 24 hours after that. It's almost as if #4 was anticipating the original report and had his response ready to go beforehand; if a person didn't know better, they could almost get the impression that Brett is somehow manipulating the media, which we all know is a ludicrous thought.
On a related note, we really need to get a font for conveying sarcasm.
So what does this mean to the average Vikings fan? As usual, only The Big (Former) Cheese himself can answer that, and he's not talking...at least not until late June/early July, and then only if you have a national talk show.(I wonder if he's ever used the phrase "need-to-know basis" when talking with Chilly?) My gut tells me this is the same drill as last year, setting up an excuse to avoid training camp under the guise of soul-searching about his return. Last year I made the mistake of taking him at his word when he said he was done, and won't be repeating it again. As eager as all of us are to resume the promising Tavaris Jackson Era, we probably should assume it will be delayed for at least one more season (Pretty sure no font is required for that one).
The more pressing question in my mind is, what is the ceiling for this team if he does come back? It's getting tough to be a Vikings fan after so many near-misses, because only one end result will be truly acceptable, it's Super Bowl or bust. Obviously this is a good team that was very close to that goal last year, but life in the NFL is not the linear progression that we see in other sports, where young teams progress from Competitive to Playoff to Contender to Champ. Things are more schizophrenic in pro football, one minute you're a contender coming off a great season, the next your QB is writhing on the ground as your season slips away or inexplicably losing his fastball and dragging the team with him down the tubes; look no further than the 2008 Patriots or 2009 Panthers if you doubt this.
Coming back strong in this league requires a delicate balance of players not regressing, draft picks contributing and above all, avoiding injuries. The Vikings did exceedingly well at the first two last season, and although they got a bit banged up, had relatively good luck with injuries as well. All in all, it was a pretty charmed life, and although I'm rarely confused for an optimist, from where I'm sitting it seems like pretty long odds that the dominoes are going to fall in place so well a second time around. At the end of the day, you'd have to be nuts to argue that the Vikings are a better team without Favre, but the more pressing question is, Are they good enough WITH Favre? All the double-talk and hand-wringing we're sure to see over the next few months could simply be the difference between 10-6 and 8-8, but hey, when you're the hot shooter, you've gotta keep tossing those dice, right?
It just feels like last season was the party and now we're dealing with the hangover that will be the lost 2010 season/Childress contract extension. Now I'm not one to complain, because it was one hell of a party, it's just a shame we couldn't close the deal and get laid, cause this hangover is going to be a killer for sure.
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