The Morning After...

Thank God for the defense. After 3 ugly quarters of football in which the Vikings were down 2 TDs to the Lions, I was barely able to see straight due to massive Kool Aid consumption. I woke up 3 days later with a fuzzy memory of the defense leading the way in a 23-0 4th quarter and a Vikings win.

My fact checkers then verified that yes, in deed the Vikings beat the Lions 26-17. The LB corp lead the way with a combined 2 INTs, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 2 TDs. Not bad for a supposed weakness on the team. The rest of the defense was not left out of this party as the DBs recored 15 (13 solo) of the team's tackles plus 1 INT and the DL had 4 different players with a sack and Pat Williams' forced fumble.

That puts the Vikes at 3-2 heading into a bye that is NOT needed as everyone on the roster is healthy. But with the offensive stagnating maybe a week off and extra days to gameplan for Seattle is just what we need to continue this playoff push.

My gameballs go to...

• All 3 starting LBs - this group alone was +3 in the turnover margin and gave us 14 points.
• The starting D-line - 4 sacks for this group is encouraging and allowed the LBs to be in coverage more often.
• Chester Taylor - 123 yards with a 4.7 average helped to keep the offense moving.

Grades

Offense (C+) - the rushing game was solid and Brad was efficient, but Detroit had given up 30+ points in each of their last 3 games. For the offense to only put up 1 TD is embarassing. I need further analysis before I determine where I'm going to lay the blame for a lack of production.
QB (B-) - Brad had only 8 incompletions on 34 attempts and did creep over the 200 yard mark. But as stated, leading us to only 1 TD drive is disappointing.
RB (A-) - Chester racked up 123 yards for his biggest output since 2004. We need more games like this for Chester.
WR/TE (C-) - Travis Taylor lead the team in receiving yards but 44 is nothing to call your mom about. Our RBs had 12 receptions which left 14 to be divided amoungst 5 other receivers. Overall this group is performing worse than expected and nobody expected much out of them. The up and coming "go to guy," Troy Williamson had 2 catches for 11 yards.
OL (B) - the group did not give up a sack and opened holes just enough for Chester to accumulate his yards. All in all not a bad day for this group but the stats hide that this was still not a dominating peformance that we expect to see from this group at somepoint.

Defense (A) - as discussed the defense won this game. In fact I would argue that the defense is 5-0 this year. Not much needs to be anylized on this side of the ball. Holding any NFL team to 8 total yards rushing is outstanding!
DL (A) - 4 sacks and a forced fumble as they dominated the line of scrimmage.
LB (A) - 2 INTs, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 2 TDs to put us in the lead.
DB (A) - combined for 13 solo tackles and Sharper had the game clinching INT.

Coaching (B) - well prepared and penalties were down. But a lack of creative gameplanning after the 1st drive (or lack of adjustments after initial drive) help to stagnate the offense. But the defensive coaching has been better than we could have hoped for and this unit is quietly one of the best.

3-2, heading into a tough 2 game stretch before a much easier 4 game stretch of SF, GB, Mia, AZ. I think it is realistic to say we'll be 4-2 through those 6 games. But who ever gets anywhere thinking realistic or rationally. Vikes go 6-0 and head into Chicago 9-2 where we get retribution for getting screwed at the dome.