Official Vikings vs. Bears postgame discussion

2nd Year
320/526 60.8% 3284yrds. 205.3 per game 6.2ypp 17td 16int 76.9qbr


3rd Year
205/358 57.6% 2108yrds. 191.6 per game 5.9ypp 11td 15int 67.5qbr


Keep him or get rid of him?

Let 'em play on D. Man up. No more full speed wide receivers running a post past a linebacker dropping in zone, no 230 WRs or 260 TEs making easy catches in front of a 190lb defensive back and breaking the tackle. This shit doesn't work. QBs are too quick, too smart and have too many targets on the field for a 4 man rush to consistently get to them.

Musgrave needs to get out of his own head. If Peterson's running great, hand the ball to him on 2nd and 3 don't throw him a stupid shovel pass so he has to turn his back to the line of scrimmage and give up his biggest strength, vision.

They're over-coaching. Let the players play physical, man-on-man matchups, we'd be better off.

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Originally Posted by thorshammer

Another disappointing game for sure. I do wonder why we always seem unprepared to play these critical games. Our coaches seem to lack the ability to get our guys up for this type of game. We made some key mistakes again. I can't blame it on Ponder I still think he deserves more time. Our receivers need to catch the ball. If we win a couple more games we still will have done better than any of us thought we would. Ups and downs of a young team ... kind of expected.

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I concur! We're better than most of us expected, and it has been fun watching the wins.

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Originally Posted by singersp

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Originally Posted by marstc09

Careful. A certain thread starter will think you mean he is the answer to all our problems. I would like to see Webb play. Why not create some competition. It might wake Ponder up.

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Not sure which "thread starter" your referring to, but that certainly wouldn't be my choice.

You let Ponder finish the year, see how he does & move on with or without him. Same thing we should have done the last time.

Keeping him on the bench & letting Webb play the remainder of the year doesn't give you anymore insight on whether or not he [Ponder will pan out] that comes from playing. Keeping him on the roster an extra year or two without letting him start doesn't get you closer to the answer either.

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Not you bud. I agree we should finish the year with Ponder but I am just frustrated with him. Peterson just had 5 100+ yard games in a row. The first time in his career. I am sick of the talk about Ponder not getting help. TJoke had bad WRs, bad OL, bad coaching, etc. Enough of the excuses.

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Originally Posted by singersp

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Originally Posted by TheAnimal93

The game was lost when they forgot to hand the ball off to Peterson when they went down 18-3. Played right into their hands. game over.

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The problem isn't we forgot to handoff to AD. The problem is we don't have a consistently good passing game to compliment the run game.

The fact that so many people here believe that AD is our biggest playmaker & should get the ball damn near every time should send off sirens & red lights that our QB/passing game are flawed.

If we can't pass, game over. We aren't going to win a bunch of games just pounding the rock & abandoning our passing game. We have to have a good balance of both. Two of AD's top 4 games which netted 3 of his 7 TD's came with 17 carries & 15 carries. 5 of his 7 TD's came in games with 17 carries or less.

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Thank you! I tried telling the thread starter that today but all I got was that Ponder does not play defense. Quite odd.

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Originally Posted by singersp

The problem isn't we forgot to handoff to AD. The problem is we don't have a consistently good passing game to compliment the run game.

The fact that so many people here believe that AD is our biggest playmaker & should get the ball damn near every time should send off sirens & red lights that our QB/passing game are flawed.

If we can't pass, game over. We aren't going to win a bunch of games just pounding the rock & abandoning our passing game. We have to have a good balance of both. Two of AD's top 4 games which netted 3 of his 7 TD's came with 17 carries & 15 carries. 5 of his 7 TD's came in games with 17 carries or less.

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I should have elaborated and said it made the Vikings one dimensional at that point in the game. It was no reason to panic, it was still early in the game and then they decided that Ponder should sling the ball all over. The WR's did not help out like they should have and Musgrave's lack of imagination, the lack of feel for the ebb and flow of a game, and the lack of execution on the Oline is terrible. All a recipe for disaster. I wasnt implying to ground and pound only.

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Originally Posted by singersp

There's that ups & downs of a young team again.

Of all the mistakes made today, how many would you say were made by our 1st & 2nd year players? How many by our veterans?

People don't want to blame Ponder, so that leaves Rudolph, Fusco, Kalil, Smith & Jefferson as starters to blame (I may have missed a young 1 or 2 that got play time). I know Jefferson missed a few tackles, but Winfield & Greenway did as well. Our DL didn't get enough pressure & the youngest starter on the DL is Guion with 5 years experience, but 3 yr. Griffen got some play too.

Rudolph, I believe may have dropped a pass, but his play helped us, not hindered us. Kalil had a good game too. AD had 2 fumbles, but he has 6 years experience. Fusco, perhaps, but I don't think he was the only one on the front line letting defenders thru.

Perhaps it's Simpson who's the young guy to blame with all his drops? On 2nd thought he has 5 years experience.

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Let's not use the word a "young team."

Let's clarify this it isn't about young and old and it isn't about firing everyone.

We are a team that is rebuilding. We are not elite so we are building. Every team is in a constant state of building, we are just further behind the Bears, Packers, Atlanta, Giants, Niners and a handful of other teams out there. (At least we beat the motor city kitties twice)

I think that because we got off to a quick start everyone is expecting us to be a winning team. We were world beater when we beat the 49ers and we were who they thought we were when we got beat by the Colts. We are not elite or anywhere close to that. I am not saying anyone said we were, but it seems like there are expectations like we are. If we make the playoffs like this, we are a one and done team. I am still looking for a .500 finish. If we could squeak out a home win against the Bears and the Packers, we might have a chance for the wild card, but where would that get us. It gives us hope that we are better than we might be. It also gives us a chance at that prize we all have been waiting for, a Super Bowl victory. That is why we endure games like today, we hope for a chance.

I'd love to be the guinea pig for the Chip Kelly offense. Percy Harvin would be the best player in the NFL. And Ponder is plenty good enough to run the QB part. All he has to do is manage the game. Put the ball in the hands of our playmakers in no huddle hurry up style. Nobody would be a better fit than the Vikings. We wouldn't even have to blow up the team.

First order of business this morning is "tackling 101" Because we have forgotten how to achieve the high art of grabbing an opposing player and stopping him from running riot.

That game was an embarrasment of missed tackles, missed passes, pathetic coaching, and other issues too numerous to mention. As for the QB controversy, I think Ponder should sit!

Not because I hate him or his play, he is what he is an average QB with not much of a WR corp to play with, but because we need to find out what is behind him and how that will effect our draft going forward. imho the draft needs to consider if either a lights out WR or a franchise QB is where we put all our money next year but it has to be one or the other.

Simpson can sit permanent as far as I'm concerned. he has shown nothing to make me believe he can be a game changer, Wright is a keeper and someone needs to ask our defensive ends if they mixed up their calendars and they think this is pre-season.

i think it's only the second time in my life that i turned the game off, near the middle of the fourth quarter. Took my son fishing instead of watching the outcome. oh, how did we do fishing you ask? About as good a job as our WR's did holding onto passes, put it this way, came home and said, Honey, you better put that pork in the oven.....