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.

Before I get to the Vikings’ latest mudhole stomping, I’ve had quite a few people ask about off-season baseball projections and other baseball opinion requests.

In all honesty, I’m HIGHLY unlikely to do player projections again this year. Because I haven’t had the time or resources to automate my system, I do a lot of data entry. It’s grunt work. Hours of it.

Because of the work I’m putting in launching the Minnesota State Poker Tour, along with Minnesota Poker Magazine and KFAN duties, I just don’t have the time to devote to baseball research like I did in previous years.

Sorry! As many of you already know, you can find me tweeting about baseball almost every day (www.Twitter.com/PMac21). I’ll also continue to blog about the Twins as often as possible.

Here’s the Vikings week 12 write-up from KFAN.com:

Week 12 Review: Throwing it around the lot

From KFAN.com

In the locker room, following a 36-10 throttling of the Chicago Bears, a Vikings PR member walked over and handed a post-game stat sheet to backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who was in the middle of a conversation with Brett Favre.

When Jackson looked at the stat sheet, his eyes grew wide and his jaw hit the floor. He looked over at Favre, then back at the stat sheet in amazement. Favre simply smiled and shrugged.

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly what Jackson was looking at specifically on that stat sheet that caused such a wide-eyed reaction.

Maybe it was the 83 offensive plays Minnesota ran to Chicago’s 38. Maybe it was the Vikings’ 40+ minutes time of possession. It could have been Minnesota’s 537 total yards to Chicago’s 169. Or maybe it was Favre’s 392 yards passing, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Or the fact that five Vikings receivers had at least 50 yards.

Or maybe it was just a combination of all of the above.

In addition to the thorough drubbing of a division rival, Favre and his offensive teammates re-wrote several pages of the NFL and team record books on Sunday. Favre tied Jim Marshall’s NFL record of 282 consecutive games played. He also became the first player in NFL history to tally 500 total touchdowns. Visanthe Shiancoe tied the Joe Senser for the most touchdown receptions in one season by a tight end (8). And Ryan Longwell set a new team record for most career 50+ yard field goals made (9).

We’re running out of adjectives to describe these guys. They’re just flat-out unstoppable right now.

And let’s be honest, the offense wasn’t even clicking on all cylinders on Sunday. The Vikings committed 10 penalties, Adrian Peterson added two more fumbles to his naughty list, and the Vikings twice settled for field goals inside the red zone.

Still, they scored 36 points and put up over 500 yards of total offense. Combined with a lights-out defensive performance, the Bears never had a chance.

“This is the most explosive offense I’ve seen in my entire life,” Shiancoe said. “Players are playing at a high level, everybody. Favre is making terrific reads. It seems like everyone is getting open. Everyone is eating a piece of this pie, so we’re jus taking advantage of all the mismatches the defense gives us.”

The route to offensive success on Sunday, as it has been several times this season, was somewhat unorthodox given what we’ve seen under Brad Childress the last four years. Instead of pounding the run and letting Adrian Peterson shoulder the load, the Vikings are using the threat of Peterson to successfully throw the ball all over the field.

Favre threw 48 times on Sunday, completing 32 of those throws for 392 yards (10 yards shy of a career high), three touchdowns and zero interceptions. As mentioned above, five receivers (Shiancoe, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Chester Taylor) gained 50 yards or more.

“(Steve Hutchinson) and I were standing on the sidelines with four minutes left,” Favre said. “He came over and said to me, ‘Hey, I told you that you wouldn’t have to (throw) too much (this season).’ “I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll never believe you again on anything.’ I’m no fool. I figured we would have to throw it some. I didn’t come just to hand off. I love to play… I guess when you key on Adrian the way teams have… for us we’ve had to kind of shift gears at times and throw the ball, and it’s been pretty effective for us.”

On Sunday specifically, it may have looked like the Vikings gameplanned to air it out, but they didn’t necessarily intend on throwing it nearly 50 times. The Bears forced it upon themselves by some of the blitzes they were using, according to Brad Childress.

“I just thought we were getting a lot of tight fire zones and they were kind of leaving zones open. I told Bev (Darrell Bevell) the best way to move the ball right here is to throw it and throw it again. You can’t be belligerent,” Childress said. “You can’t smash your head against the wall. Typically that helps your run game a little bit. It’s just how they deploy and how they elect to take it away.”

It’s amazing to think back over the last couple years and appreciate how the Vikings offense has evolved — from a methodical, run-first mentality to a team that can essentially score 30 points using any approach.

“It’s fun, man,” said Artis Hicks, who filled in at right guard for the injured Anthony Herrera.  “Not saying anything against Sage (Rosenfels) and Tarvaris, because they’re great quarterbacks and they’re learning and they’re coming along, but Brett has the experience to know where guys are going to be. I think the biggest thing is that he knows if he gives them the ball, they’re going to catch it.”

As Favre alluded to in his press conference, the Vikings certainly don’t want to find themselves in two-minute drill situations with no timeouts like they faced against San Francisco. But it’s comforting to be able to beat teams in multiple ways.

And that’s what the Vikings have done all year.

Defense holds Bears to 12 plays, 2 yards in second half

Overshadowed by the offensive aerial attack was a defensive effort that stymied Jay Cutler and company all afternoon long. The Bears gained only 169 total yards all game, and they ran only 38 offensive plays. That’s almost unheard of.

“When you’re up multiple scores, it’s easier to play defense because you handicap the offense,” Jared Allen said, on the heels of a game where he tallied his first two sacks since Green Bay. “They have to play one-dimensional. They have to drop back and throw. And we were shutting down the run. Every game we go into, we feel that if we can make a team one-dimensional, then we have the matchups and we feel like we can win.”

The Vikings also forced Cutler to throw his league-leading 19th and 20th interceptions of the season. The 20th was a tipped ball that Allen intercepted, and the 19th was a spectacular diving effort by Cedric Griffin in the end zone.

The Bears even tried running no-huddle. While it may have tired the Vikings out a bit, it really didn’t do much to ignite the stagnant offense.

Not to mention, the Vikings defense is clicking without Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield, who sat out yet again with a foot injury. Childress said the team will wait until Winfield is absolutely 100%.

“All of us have stepped up,” Griffin said. “It’s a team effort right here. No man can do it by himself, and we are all doing a great job right now. The whole team is playing with a lot of confidence — offense, defense, special teams. We are doing a great job in practice, the coaches are giving us a great game plan, and we’re going out and executing.”

Peterson happy with win, disappointed about fumbles

Even though the Vikings are 10-1 and riding high, it’s fair to point out that Adrian Peterson still has major issues hanging onto the football. He fumbled twice in Sunday’s game, and he’s fumbled 15 times since the beginning of last season.

“It is something that you want to rectify,” Childress said. “We have a great drive going there in the first series and moved it down there in plus territory. Some of it’s keeping it high and tight, some of it’s churning for extra yards. Nonetheless, you can’t give the ball to them. You can’t do that.”

Despite answering questions about fumbling for nearly two full seasons (and rest assured, he’ll answer more this week), Peterson, at least up until now, has refused to do anything drastic to cure his fumbling illness. He also tends to be fairly nonchalant about the issue.

After Sunday’s game, Peterson sat in front of his locker for nearly five full minutes with a dismayed look on his face, clearly frustrated with the fumbles.

“Sometimes I think about it and I can be my own biggest enemy,” Peterson said. “How I run, I try to scratch for every yard. I just have to be more aware and now some guy is going to come in when they have me wrapped up and try to punch the ball out. It’s on me.”

Ultimately, Peterson says he cares more about winning than any individual accolades. But for a guy who has clearly fallen behind Tennessee’s Chris Johnson as the league’s premiere running back (at least for this season), the fumbling certainly won’t help his status going forward.

From KFAN.com

The Vikings brought an 8-1 record into Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, and despite essentially having clinched the NFC North while averaging over 30 points per game, many people still felt the Purple had yet to put together a complete, dominant performance.

That is, until Sunday.

“We just talked about how fortunate we were to be 8-1, and (I asked) for a show of hands last night, ‘Who feels like we played our best game so far?’” Brad Childress said. “There wasn’t a guy. It’s so important. How good are you? How good do you want to be?”

On Sunday, the Vikings showed they may just belong at the top of the NFL food chain. Beating a 3-6 Seahawks team 35-9 is certainly no great accomplishment in itself — some would say such a blowout is to be expected if the Vikings consider themselves contenders.

But the way Minnesota toyed with Seattle for 60 minutes in all three phases was a refreshing sight.

431 yards of total offense to Seattle’s 212 (much of which came during garbage time against Viking backups). Four yards rushing for Seattle (FOUR!). A 35-3 lead early in the 4th quarter. Zero turnovers.

Let’s just say it’s obvious that things are going well when a healthy Brett Favre can trade his helmet for a baseball cap in the third quarter and watch backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson guide the ship for the final 15-plus minutes.

“I feel like this was the most complete game of the season,” said Visanthe Shiancoe, who caught eight passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. “When it comes to all three phases — special teams, offense, and defense — we fed off each other today. A lot of momentum out there, and everybody had a piece of the pie I feel in this win.”

Indeed, everybody did have a piece of the pie, certainly offensively. Three receivers finished with at least 75 yards (Shiancoe, Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin). Four receivers caught a touchdown pass (Shiancoe, Rice, Harvin, Bernard Berrian). Both Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson ran for more than 70 yards. Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 22nd career four-touchdown performance, and he set a Vikings record by completing 88% of his passes (22-of-25).

“It was pretty efficient,” Favre said about his performance. “I think it was a good example of really utilizing everybody. Sidney didn’t have a 200-yard game. Everybody had a hand in it.

“We didn’t hurt ourselves, but I think there is so much more for us to achieve. That goes without saying. We obviously have put ourselves in a very good position, as we have every week. There is still a lot of football left to be played. Up to this point, our guys have no lost out focus. That has gotten us to where we are.”

It’s almost impossible to determine who the best team is in the NFL right now. Certainly the Vikings are in the mix, along with New Orleans, Indianapolis, New England, and maybe a couple others. But there’s no question the Vikings continue to grow and get better each week, and with the weapons they possess on both sides of the ball, it’s fair to say we probably still haven’t seen the peak.

“They demand — for real, no bull — they demand attention out there. You can’t ignore this (guy) going down the field,” Shiancoe said, pointing to Sidney Rice, and talking about his fellow offensive teammates. “Did you see him last week? Did you see him the weeks before that? You can’t ignore Percy, you damn sure can’t ignore Bernard, let alone Adrian in the backfield.”

Seattle head coach Jim Mora voiced a similar opinion — a feeling of helplessness, judging by his words.

“We played a good team, a very good team,” Mora said. “They are probably one of the most complete teams we have faced this year, offensively, defensively, and special teams, they are solid throughout.

“They do not have a weakness on their football team. They are good all around, they are big and physical and fast. There are a lot of good football players on that football team. We hope we could get a block made and spring something. They wouldn’t let us.”

And that leads us back to the question at hand.

“How good can you be?” Childress said, referring back to his Saturday night speech. “That is the push as we continue forward here. I saw that come to light in a bunch of different ways. I’m not going to say there weren’t negative plays or things we want back.

“They got nine (wins) and we got six more to see how good we can possibly be as we push forward here.”

Defense holds Seahawks to franchise low in rush yards

Over the last couple weeks, when trying to find leaks in a team full of body armor, poor tackling came to the forefront as one of the soft spots. The absence of Antoine Winfield definitely hurts, but coaches and players pointed to poor tackling as the main reason why opposing teams sprung big plays during the first half of the season.

Well, even though Seattle won’t be playing much football in January, the Vikings appear to have fixed some of their tackling woes by holding the Seahawks to a franchise-low four yards rushing (12 attempts).

Defensively, this was the second-best run-stopping effort in franchise history for Minnesota. In 2006, the Vikings held Detroit to -3 yards on the ground.

“We say it all the time — stop the run,” Ben Leber said. “This team (the Seahawks), I think they want to pass first and run second. We still came out with the attitude that we were going to stop the run. Our front four did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage.”

After leading the NFL in stopping the run for three seasons, the Vikings have actually fallen out of the top five this season in both rush yards allowed per game and per carry. And they’re well aware.

“It’s number one on our list of things we want to get accomplished for the season,” Chad Greenway said about stopping the run. “Our defensive front is so good that it’s something we should be there and be number one. We haven’t been there this year, so it’s good to have a day like today. We need some more of those if we want to get back in this battle.”

As if the Vikings defense hasn’t generated enough momentum over the last couple weeks, Winfield (foot) is likely to return against Chicago next weekend.

Let the crescendo continue.

News, Notes, Tidbits

- After it was announced to a sold-out Mall of America Field crowd that Brett Favre set an NFL record with 22 career four-touchdown performances, his receivers all ran over to congratulate him, and fans started chanting, ‘MVP, MVP, MVP!’

“It’s fitting,” John Sullivan said.

“He’s an incredible player. Nothing surprises me at this point. He’s the best player I’ve seen, and we know that if we protect him he’s going to make plays to receivers down the field.”

Favre has now thrown 21 touchdown passes to only three interceptions on the season. He’s on pace for the best year, statistically, of his career. Interestingly, Favre said he hasn’t always felt 100% confident.

“The fact that we are 9-1, you would think that my confidence would be sky-high,” Favre said. “It’s not that I’m not confident, but my wife would attest to this and actually Darrell (Bevell) would as well, he probably wouldn’t admit it. But going into this season and debating on whether or not to play… I let doubt and maybe some insecurities seep in.

“I’m getting back to that confidence that I had when I didn’t know any better. I was pretty good. I’m feeling more confident. I think I’m more of a realist at this age, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go out and turn it loose and play, because my arm feels great. Physically, I feel pretty good. I don’t feel like I’m 25, but I still feel like I can make a lot of the plays that I used to make. A key for me, and really for any player, is you can’t second guess. You’ve got to turn it loose, and this year I’ve been doing that.”

- Quarterback controversy, perhaps?

OK, no. But how about Tarvaris Jackson entering the game near the end of the third quarter and completing 6-of-8 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown? Not bad.

“I’m watching Brett Favre instead of other guys,” Jackson said when asked about how he’s progressed from last year to now. “Not to disrespect those guys (past Viking quarterbacks), they’re good players also, but Brett’s a Hall of Famer, and he’s done a great job leading our team to a 9-1 record so far. It’s a bit different being that I didn’t get benched this year. It was a coach’s decision to bring in a guy like that. You want to be mad, but it’s kind of hard to be mad.”

- Seahawks’ WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh had a front row seat to watch the offense he turned down in favor of a fat contract with Seattle this past offseason. The veteran receiver felt more comfortable with Matt Hasselbeck as his quarterback than either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels. Of course, had Houshmandzadeh known Favre was going to be in the mix, he may have made a different decision.

“I mean, I am human like anybody else,” Houshmandzadeh said. “I think about it, you know. But there is nothing I can do about it. It is what it is.

Houshmandzadeh had four catches for 36 yards on Sunday, and he was booed mildly a couple times during the game.

Must be tough to watch his former team (Cincinnati) and the team he turned down (Minnesota) headed for the playoffs while the Seahawks toil four games under .500.