From KFAN.com

On the heels of an embarrassing 26-7 loss on national TV to the Panthers last week, and with a media spotlight shining bright on the conflict between Brett Favre and Brad Childress, the Vikings had a chance to redeem themselves on Monday Night Football in Chicago. They failed, losing a 36-30 heartbreaker in overtime.

The second half offered reasons for optimism, namely Favre showing he can play well on the road in December, as he led the Vikings on a 17-point comeback with a short touchdown pass to Sidney Rice at the end of regulation. The defense also stepped up, pressuring Jay Cutler and even forcing an interception.

But ultimately, the negatives far outweighed the positives, and with only one week remaining in the regular season, it’s officially time to mash the panic button. From offensive line issues to abysmal secondary play to Adrian Peterson’s chronic fumbling issues, the Vikings have gone from juggernaut to all-for-naught.

The dream is dying. With the loss, the Vikings drop to 11-4, tied with Philadelphia for the 2-seed in the NFC. But the Eagles own the tie-breaker, and if the playoffs started today the Vikings would be the 3-seed. The Vikings can slip as low as the 4-seed. The Saints have locked up the top seed.

Many people will point to the fact that anything can happen in the playoffs, citing the 2007 Giants and the 2008 Cardinals. But those teams’ performances stand on their own merits and have no bearing on the results of this year’s playoffs. Sure, anything can happen in the playoffs, within reason, but let’s be realistic; the Vikings are not helping their playoff odds with the performances they’ve strung together down the stretch. And things aren’t improving.

The Vikings have several glaring flaws that first jumped to the surface against the Cardinals nearly one month ago. A home victory over the Bengals helped mask some of those deficiencies, but back-to-back clunkers against Carolina and Chicago — arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL, with injuries — have reinforced the team’s imperfections.

Special Teams

Until recently, the Vikings special teams units were among the best, collectively, of any team in the NFL. On Monday night, however, pathetic special teams efforts cost the Vikings a win.

For starters, after scoring a touchdown early in the third quarter to cut the Chicago lead to 16-6, the Vikings allowed a blocked extra point. They clearly could have used that point later on…

Convert the extra point and we aren’t dissecting another loss right now.

Later in the second half, Bears kick return man Danieal Manning twice broke free deep into Vikings territory, setting up two touchdowns. Manning averaged 45 yards per kick return for the night.

Throw out every other Vikings flaw from Monday night. The special teams gaffes single handedly awarded victory to Chicago.

Secondary

Where to start? Antoine Winfield’s foot is clearly not 100%, because he has chased taillights for two straight weeks while his wheels spin on the gravel. Last week it was Steve Smith who burned Winfield on a 3rd-and-26 touchdown, and this week it was Devin Aromashodu who scored the game-winning 39-yard touchdown in overtime while Winfield lingered a few steps behind.

And what about safeties Tyrell Johnson and Madieu Williams? Both have made plays at times, but for the most part the Vikings have lacked impact and proper tackling technique from the safety position.

Cedric Griffin’s interception on Monday night was nice, but the Vikings secondary has come away with only seven picks on the season. There are four players in the NFL with more than seven interceptions, including Darren Sharper.

Adrian Peterson and the offensive line

Smoke and mirrors.

Statistically, Adrian Peterson will churn out a fantastic season. He has over 1,300 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns through 16 games. But of those 16 games, Peterson has averaged 4 yards per carry or more only six times. He’s rushed for 100 yards only three times. And he’s fumbled seven times, including the overtime cough-up that led to a game-winning touchdown for Chicago on Monday night.

Not to mention, Peterson — no thanks to an offensive line that rarely opens gaping holes — is the ultimate definition of a feast or famine back. No team in the NFL has more minus-yard or no gain runs.

Peterson has gone from being possibly the most feared player in the NFL to being almost entirely UN-trustworthy in late-game situations. He has also turned into one of the most overrated players in the NFL. And for the first time in his career, after spinning the chamber multiple times, one of Peterson’s fumbles cost his team a win.

Interestingly, Peterson was seen complaining on the sidelines that he “was down” when Hunter Hillenmeyer stripped the football. Unfortunately, Peterson obviously was not down. And instead of lobbying for a replay reversal, Peterson should probably lobby for Tiki Barber to show him how to stop fumbling.

Peterson is immensely talented. But it’s time to stop making excuses.

As for the offensive line, they’ve also struggled mightily in the pass blocking department as of late. After keeping Favre’s jersey relatively clean throughout the entire month of November, things have imploded in December, and it all culminated with Julius Peppers sending Bryant McKinnie to the bench last Sunday.

On Monday night, Favre was pressured throughout the entire first half and for much of the second half. When the Vikings completed a 17-point comeback, the offensive line seemed to find a temporary rhythm, but that quickly went away during the first overtime drive when Chicago sacked Favre twice. Favre even spiked the football in frustration. Who could blame him?

Brad Childress

Brad Childress’ role in this mess is difficult to gauge and dissect. Because he is the head coach, the team’s record and performance ultimately fall back on him.

And when it comes to Childress’ recent/ongoing conflict with Favre, regardless of who’s right, who’s wrong, who has more control over the offense, etc., the responsibility of communication and keeping the peace falls on the shoulders of the head coach as well. Childress knew in August (or should have known) that Favre is a strong personality who likes to improvise at the line of scrimmage.

On two occasions Monday night, with the Vikings inside the 5-yardline, Childress attempted to send in the goal line personnel package only to have Favre waive it off. The first time this happened, sometime in the third quarter, Favre’s attempt to keep a pass-happy package on the field failed. They used the goal line set, and Chester Taylor was stuffed for a 3-yard loss. On the very next play, Favre spread the offense again and hit Visanthe Shiancoe for a 6-yard touchdown pass.

Childress’ vision for this offense revolves around running the football, but for whatever reason, the Vikings have turned into one of the worst rushing teams in the entire league. That is not an exaggeration.

The run-first mentality will not work with this offense anymore. It may have worked last season, it may work again in 2010, but it doesn’t work right now. For the Vikings to successfully move the ball at will they must pass first, and that’s exactly what happened in the second half. Favre threw for 275 yards in the second half, and 321 yards overall.

There’s no shame in morphing into a pass-first offense. In fact, if the Vikings passed in order to set up the run, Peterson would likely see more daylight. But Childress appears stubborn, and the Vikings have one week to make tweaks before the playoffs begin. Falling into a 17-point hole before figuring out the optimal offensive strategy isn’t the best way to conduct business.

Can Childress gather his team, get everybody on the same page, and make a playoff push? The jury is out, but signs point to no.

From KFAN.com

Quite frankly, the Vikings’ performance on Sunday night was flat-out embarrassing, even if they did officially clinch the NFC North division crown, thanks to a Packers loss.

From Julius Peppers bull rushing Bryan McKinnie straight to the bench, to backup quarterback Matt Moore throwing for 299 yards and three touchdowns, the Vikings endured their second Sunday night disaster within a three-week span — a 26-7 laugher at the hands of a Carolina Panthers team missing its starting quarterback and both starting offensive tackles.

The game turned so ugly for the Vikings offense that Brad Childress, according to Brett Favre, attempted to bench the veteran quarterback in the third quarter, even though the Vikings led at the time, 7-6.

Favre was shown on camera several times in the second half looking less than thrilled on the sideline.

It remains to be seen whether a rift (or schism?) has emerged between Favre and Childress. The smart money says Childress probably just feared for Favre’s life. He took a beating at the hands of Peppers. But both Childress and Favre would probably agree that the offense has numerous flaws that didn’t seem to exist earlier in the season.

The Vikings offense, even with a 30-point performance against Cincinnati last week, appears to have lost its magic.

Favre, specifically, has done nothing to negate the notion that he plays poorly in December. In 11 games prior to December, Favre threw only three interceptions. With his fourth quarter pick against Carolina, Favre has now thrown four in December alone, versus only three touchdowns (none of which came on Sunday night). Not to mention, Favre also seems to have stopped connecting on deep passes over the last few games. His 63-yard pass against Carolina was on a dumpoff to Adrian Peterson.

Speaking of Peterson, does his 12-carry, 35-yard performance really surprise anybody at this point? In fact, it’s more of a rarity these days for Peterson to run for 90 yards and a touchdown. Peterson has crossed the 100-yard mark only three times all season, and he’s averaged more than five yards per carry only four times in 14 games.

Of course, much of the blame can be placed on an offensive line that seemingly comes equipped with flimsy, orange shovels while opponents operate heavy duty snow blowers. Rarely does Peterson get back to the line of scrimmage without having to juke at least one defender.

The Vikings used to pride themselves on pounding the football down the throats of opposing defenders. Now they rank near the bottom of the NFL in run game efficiency, and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to string together consistent drives.

And even when the running game stalled out at times earlier in the season, at least the offensive line kept Favre’s jersey clean during pass plays. That certainly wasn’t the case against Carolina. Favre was sacked four times, knocked down a few more, and hurried all night. When McKinnie could no longer handle Peppers, Childress put Artis Hicks into the game. He fared no better.

The Vikings gained only 237 yards of total offense on Sunday night, and they were embarrassed on national television for the second time this month. If playing your best football in December is a prerequisite for playoff success, the Vikings are in trouble. Luckily, no such prerequisite exists (see: 2008 Cardinals, 2007 Giants, etc.).

Stewart gashes Vikings defense

Cedric Benson knocked on the door last week, but the Vikings defense managed to successfully hold opposing running backs under 100 yards for more than two full seasons. The last running back to cross the 100-yard mark was Green Bay’s Ryan Grant, 36 games ago.

That streak came to an end late in the 4th quarter on Sunday night when Jonathan Stewart busted a 15-yard run to finish with 109 yards on 25 carries. Starting running back DeAngelo Williams gained only 13 yards on six carries before he exited in the first half with a sprained ankle.

The outburst by Stewart comes as no surprise, considering Carolina averages just under 150 rush yards per game. The two-headed monster of Williams and Stewart is among the best in the NFL. But considering that backup quarterback Matt Moore, who filled in once again for the injured Jake Delhomme, has done nothing in his young career to show that he’s capable of sparking an explosive passing attack, it was logical to think the Vikings defense would key in on stopping the Panthers’ run game.

In fairness, the defense did a decent job for the majority of the first three quarters. But all hell broke loose in the fourth quarter, with the Panthers rolling off 20 straight points. Moore threw for a career-high 299 yards and three touchdowns, and most of those passing yards came on underneath routes (with the exception of a 42-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith on 3rd-and-26).

The tackling on Sunday night reverted back to the pre-bye-week matador days. Safeties Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson religiously take bad angles and whiff on tackles, and Antoine Winfield had one of his worst games in recent memory. Linebackers missed tackles as well.

Did the time of possession hurt? Possibly. Carolina held the ball for nearly 40 minutes, so it’s understandable if the Vikings defense grew weary in the fourth quarter. But that’s not the excuse you’ll hear from Winfield, Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, Jared Allen, and Chad Greenway.

In fact, those men probably have no excuses. They know they played poorly as a unit down the stretch.

Homefield advantage was a long shot, even after a Saints loss on Saturday night, but now the Vikings can kiss it goodbye. And if they aren’t careful, they can kiss a first round bye goodbye as well. The Eagles are flying down the backstretch.

From KFAN.com

What a disaster.

At 2:45 on Sunday afternoon, with the Saints facing a possible 10-point deficit with just over two minutes to play in Washington, it appeared as if the Vikings had a chance to take control of their own home-field-advantage destiny with a win over the Cardinals on Sunday night.

Wishful thinking, perhaps.

Instead, the Saints pulled off a miraculous victory on the road. And the Vikings — who were thoroughly dismantled by Arizona, 30-17 — lost more than just a football game. Star linebacker E.J. Henderson suffered a broken femur and will be sidelined for a very long time.

After watching the Vikings plow though nearly every opponent (minus Pittsburgh) since the beginning of September, dodging serious injuries and bad luck, it was odd to watch everything come crashing down at once on national television.

This was supposed to be a showcase for the Vikings to show they are indeed the team to beat in the NFL, despite the two undefeated squads that currently sit atop the standings. Now, however, the Vikings can only use Sunday’s trouncing as a learning experience heading into the season’s final weeks.

The injuries

Henderson’s gruesome leg injury happened with just over six minutes remaining in the game. While pursuing RB Tim Hightower, Henderson began diving toward the ball carrier when Jamarca Sanford rolled into Henderson’s left leg, which was still planted in the ground. The injury was so horrific that NBC showed only one replay.

In the locker room, Ben Leber fought back tears during his post-game interview with KFAN’s Greg Coleman. This is, after all, the second time in two years that Henderson has suffered a season-ending injury.

Rookie LB Jasper Brinkley filled in at middle linebacker for the final six minutes, and he can expect to see plenty of playing time as the season progresses.

Earlier in the game, several other Viking players suffered at least minor injuries. Both starting offensive tackles, Phil Loadholt and Bryant McKinnie, left the field in the first half, but later returned (albeit, they weren’t 100%). CB Cedric Griffin suffered a vicious shot to the head in the second half and had to be helped off the field, and safety Tyrell Johnson also left the game with a head injury.

As a result of these injuries, the Vikings went deep down the depth chart, using youngsters like Brinkley, OL Jon Cooper and S Jamarca Sanford.

Not to mention, RG Anthony Herrera missed his second consecutive game with a concussion, and CB Antoine Winfield missed his sixth consecutive game with a foot injury. Winfield has been close to returning for several weeks now, and his status remains day-to-day. Leslie Frazier said this past week that Winfield suffered a setback the Friday before Chicago came to town.

The blowout

Even without the injuries, Minnesota couldn’t have envisioned suffering such a lopsided loss. The Vikings marched down and took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but that was really the extent of their highlight reel.

The Vikings secondary, specifically safeties Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson, had an impossible time covering Larry Fitzgerald, Jr. (8 catches, 143 yards, 1 TD) and Anquan Boldin (7 catches, 98 yards, 2 TD), and the defensive line wouldn’t have sacked Kurt Warner in a flag football game.

Warner finished 22-of-32 for 285 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He wasn’t sacked, he was barely touched, and he showed no ill effects from the concussion he sustained two weeks ago.

When the Vikings were busy beating up bad opponents like Detroit, Seattle and Chicago, it was easy to dismiss the importance of Antoine Winfield’s absence. But after going on the road and facing one of the NFL’s most high-powered passing attacks — something the Vikings will absolutely have to do again if they plan on defeating the Saints in the playoffs — it’s all too obvious why Winfield’s presence is desperately needed (if it wasn’t before).

Offensively, the Vikings have had a shaky run game all season long, much to the surprise of many who watch from afar. Minnesota has ranked near the bottom of the NFL in rushing efficiency, and they’ve tallied more no gains and minus-yard runs than almost every team in the NFL (only San Francisco gets “stuffed” more often).

In other words, if teams take away Adrian Peterson’s home runs, the Vikings have no run game to speak of. The Cardinals did just that, limiting Peterson to 19 yards on 13 carries. Take away Peterson’s long run of 11 yards and he went for eight yards on 12 carries. Chester Taylor and Percy Harvin combined for 43 yards on seven carries, but even that wasn’t enough to spark the ground game.

Many people probably shrug their shoulders and say, ‘So what? Just throw it to Percy and Sidney.’ But when the run game erodes into nothingness, and when trailing a good football team on the road, it becomes a lot more difficult to consistently move the ball through the air. Defenses tee off, and that’s exactly what Arizona did to Brett Favre, sacking him three times and intercepting him twice.

One could also make the argument Favre should have thrown two more interceptions.

He finished the game 30-of-45 for 275 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions — by far his worst game as a Viking.

The Vikings converted only 5-of-15 third downs, and they averaged only 4.6 yards per play, while generating only two gains of 20 yards or more. The Cardinals averaged 7 yards per play, and they also held Harvin to only 62 yards on three kick returns.

Going forward

Without the injuries, this loss would have been a fairly significant setback for the Vikings. Likewise, without the blowout, the injuries would have been a fairly significant stomach punch as well.

Together, they are difficult to swallow. E.J. Henderson is obviously out for the season, but beyond that, the Vikings have to hope that Winfield returns as soon as possible (like, yesterday), and that the players who suffered injuries on Sunday night do not miss any playing time.

On the field, the Vikings need better play from the secondary, from the offensive line, and from Adrian Peterson. Injuries play a part in all of the above, but all NFL teams deal with injuries on a weekly basis. Having a championship-caliber team usually means having solid depth.

The stagnant running game is a huge problem. The blown coverages and missed tackles that crept back into the mix defensively on Sunday night are also huge problems, not so much against bad teams, but against top offenses like Arizona, and eventually New Orleans, and maybe even Dallas.

At 10-2, the Vikings are still in prime position. Don’t hit the panic button after one loss.

Just don’t get too comfortable either. And after Sunday night, it’s hard to imagine anybody feeling warm and fuzzy.