Casey Johnson
If you were surprised by Minnesota’s 20-9 loss at New Orleans on Sunday, I’d have to question how closely you’re paying attention to this Vikings squad. No sirs and ma’ams, Minnesota’s loss on Sunday was about as shocking as someone having health issues after choking down Big Macs every day.
With Minnesota still battling an emotional hangover after the Adrian Peterson news/situation, it was to be expected that a loud, bright, raucous atmosphere might not be the best environment for them. Most adults, I think, can attest to that not exactly being a preferable hangover recovery zone. Truth be told, any stadium probably would’ve been a bad place for the Vikings to be on Sunday, let alone a very difficult New Orleans Superdome. To clarify what I mean when I say “very difficult,” the Saints didn’t lose a single home game in 2013 and were a combined 20-4 over the last 3 seasons at home. So, even with Adrian Peterson, Minnesota would’ve had a tall task on Sunday. Without him, they had about as good of a chance of winning the game as I have of having a successful career as a pizza taste tester, which, given the fact that I am both lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive, is not very likely.
What is possibly surprising is the fact that I’m not going to dwell on the negatives of Sunday’s loss. Again, I wasn’t surprised by it, so why act like I was. I wasn’t surprised that Minnesota wasn’t able to run the ball effectively without Adrian (only 59 yards on 22 carries = 2.7 yard/carry average). I wasn’t surprised that Minnesota had trouble finding the end zone (settled for 3 field goals on drives that got inside the New Orleans 22-yard line). I wasn’t surprised that Drew Brees threw for almost 300 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Nor was I surprised that Minnesota started the game so dreadfully sluggishly. These things weren’t surprising because, as every Vikings fan knows, there is just an agonizing air of humiliation and negativity suffocating this team.
But take those bottles out of your hands Vikings fans because I’m going to give you some real medicine. The medicine and comfort that I offer is in the form of positivity. If you don’t remember what positivity is, just pretend that you’re a fan of Boston sports teams. After all, they win championships like they have a membership at Costco for them (in bulk).
You might be scratching your Helga-horned heads trying to think of what possible positives came from Sunday’s loss, but don’t worry baby birds, I’ll feed you (and yes, I totally stole that line from Daniel Tosh – still funny though).
Let’s start small and build to a crescendo. First of all, Minnesota’s defense actually played fairly well. If you take away New Orleans’ first 2 possessions, which I really wish we could, the Saints only scored 7 points over the final 3-plus quarters. Sure, Minnesota did relatively little to thwart the Saints’ vaunted passing attack, but in the rushing game, Minnesota held the Saints to a fairly paltry 3.4 yards per carry (108 yards on 32 attempts). And overall, it is respectable that the Minnesota defense held New Orleans to 20 points. The Saints came into the game 3rd in total yards per game and were averaging 29 points per game (although 2 games is not necessarily a significant sample size). In summary, though, it was a good enough performance by the defense to have resulted in a win, but the offense’s inability to score touchdowns near and inside the red zone doomed the Vikings.
But anyway, back to the positives. Minnesota played a fairly clean game. They should be happy with the fact that they never turned the ball over and that they only committed 5 penalties for 44 yards. Sure, one of those penalties was a regrettable (b.s.) unnecessary roughness penalty on Captain Munnerlyn that salvaged and stoked a Saints drive at the end of the 3rd quarter and start of the 4th quarter which resulted in New Orleans’ final touchdown and made the score 20-9. That penalty was called on a 3rd down sack by Munnerlyn, which would have forced the Saints to have punted but, instead, killed Minnesota’s momentum and hope.
Man, it turns out that it is hard to stay focused on the positives. Let me try to regain my momentum. The Matt Cassel injury, now stick with me here, could actually end up being a positive for this Vikings team. At the beginning of the season, it seemed that everyone and their grandmothers had an opinion regarding the quarterback situation and when we would/should see Teddy Bridgewater on the field. Well, now the mystery is over, as Mike Zimmer has no choice but to play the 21-year-old rookie quarterback (I guess, technically, he could play Christian Ponder…).
I believe that this is a positive because, if Minnesota is going to have a difficult/challenging season, which is how things are shaping out (although it is still very early in the season), why not let Teddy B. see the field? To be clear, I was in the Cassel camp to start the season, but things have changed so dramatically in just the first 3 games of the season that it seems like a very good thing that Bridgewater is going to have a chance to get real NFL action. After all, the future of this team in the next few seasons is only as bright as Bridgewater’s future. And if Teddy B. can continue to play like he did on Sunday, which is a big if given that teams will now have a chance to prepare for him, his future seems very bright.
Bridgewater’s 12 completions in 20 attempts isn’t exactly a jaw-dropping stat, but his instinctive ability to move around in the pocket, make people miss, and extend plays, all the while keeping his eyes down the field, was very impressive for a rookie quarterback. He had no deer in the headlights look, which is exactly what we got used to seeing from Christian Ponder. One game certainly is not enough to make any sort of long-term projection of Bridgewater’s career. That would be like guessing the ending of an M. Night Shyamalan movie in the first 5 minutes. But that is why the Cassel injury is in a way a positive (try telling Cassel that), as we will certainly get to see more of Bridgewater and whether or not he can continue to play well and improve from week to week.
Another positive was that Minnesota…..well, the Vikings did a great job of…..ok, so those were the only real positives that I could come up with. But hey, I have to try to remain somewhat upbeat. I mean, I have to write about this team every week, and it’s going to get old real fast if I jump on the negativity train headed for Loserville, U.S.A. this early in the season. After all, there will be plenty of time for that later. Let’s build up to it.
And who knows, maybe Teddy B. can take control of the train that is Minnesota’s 2014 campaign and prevent it from careening off of the tracks this early in the season.
common knowledge 