Vikings vs Bears pick

* The key for the Vikings is going to be the line of scrimmage. If they are manhandled by the Bears D-Line like the Panthers D-Line they lose. They probably don't score double digits even. If the Tackles step up their game, the Vikings might have a chance.

*Can the Vikings bring consistent pressure. This is the first-time I have probably said this in 10 years, but the Bears have some weapons to worry about. With the emergence of Bernard Berrian, this is a team that can put points up. If the Vikings without their best edge-rusher can't bring consistent heat, it could be a long day.

This is the game- I don't really like the Vikings chances. I think the Bears have a better looking offense, this is not a misprint. I worry about the Vikings pass-rush. The Bears are the best team in the NFC in my opinion, and we see why today.

Bears 17 Vikings 10

Vikings vs Panthers Review

The Good:

-The Vikings Defense- who was just huge in the second half. If not for penalties in the first half they would have held Carolina without a touchdown. Carolina although lack firepower, needed to be shut down and they were. The Vikings also forced a big turnover in overtime, I count it as a turnover despite the technacality of the tuck rule. Napoleon Harris was the star of the Vikings effort including an incredible rush and sack at the 1 in the Third Quarter to keep the Vikings in the game.

-The Fake Field Goal- The Vikings just weren't going to score vs the Carolina D, the way things were going. This was a brillant, logical call executed to perfection. They used Carolina's aggresive kick coverage to their demise.

-Chester Taylor- He seems to constanly make the first guy miss. He also runs hard with good vision, once the O-Line gets in more synche I could see a 150 yard game in his future.

The Bad

-The return to the 50 by Deangelo Williams once the game was tied, the kick coverage there was almost a total buzz-kill. The Vikings have had mulitple breakdowns defending the return so far, which can not keep up.

The Ugly-

*The Vikings O-Line- They got mauled all day, granted vs a terrific Defensive front. But the investment they made deserves better returns. Bryant McKinnie and Marcus Johnson really need to step it up.

*Chris Gamble- What I just saw was quite possibly the most insanely idiotic play in the history of the NFL. If Gamble runs out of bounds at the 42, the Panthers go three and out,Then Jason Baker gets off a good punt, wish the Vikings luck driving the length of the field vs that D.

Ahead-

I view the Vikings as underdogs vs the Bears. But if the Line can pressure Rex Grossman, and the O-Line plays much better than this week. We could be looking at 3-0, and a really excited Vikings fan base.

Vikings vs Panthers Preview

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week.

I actually like the Vikings to knock off the Carolina Panthers at Metrodome and improve t0 2-0. This is partly due to Carolina's injuries (I.E. Steve Smith who with two bad hamstrings will not be the same player we saw in October of last year, if he even plays.). I see questions with Carolina's injuries at MLB-Dan Morgan, and LT-Travelle Wharton.

I see the Vikings receiving a big lift from a raucous home crowd on the Defensive side of the ball. I think we will see sacks by Erasmus James and Kevin Williams. Though I think we might see Kenechi Udeze struggle vs Carolina stud RT Jordan Gross. This pressure will end drives, and I think Jake Delhomme can be forced into turnovers. Carolina at the same time is going to have a hard-time establishing a running game against the Vikings big tackles.

The Vikings on Offense will be steady if unspectular. You will see a lot of Chester Taylor running left side, and Brad Johnson doing some play action. A match-up of concern is Julius Peppers vs Marcus Johnson. Although Johnson might actually hold-up better vs Peppers than some think due to his excellent athlecticism for a right tackle.

My thoughts are the home-crowd and steadier QB lead the Vikings to win a defensive struggle by a 13-10 score.

2006 NFL picks and Vikings pick

Ok it's a bit late but here goes.

-I agree with a lot of the national experts who expect a slow start 1-3 for the Vikings in the first four games. Then a rebound to end about 8-8 on the season. I expect we will see a lot of close loses, but not a lot of blow-out wins. This will disappoint the Vikings faithful. But the Vikings have a lot that needs to gell New Coaches, new schemes, and new players this season. My concern is that they have brought in so many veterans I wonder if the Vikings might have gotten into a endless circle where as young players include veterans decline and the team stays mirrored in medicority. I see the Bears as the class of the division and a 12 win team. In fact before the season I liked a Bears vs Patriots Super Bowl. This one though would have the Patriots winning. Though the New England part of that scenario doesn't look good after yesterday.

My AFC division picks are : NE, Cin, Indy, Den

Wild-Cards: Pit, SD

My NFC division picks are: Chi, Dal, Sea, Car

Wild-Cards: Was, Phil

NFC MVP: Brian Urlacher- Chicago Bears

AFC MVP: Tom Brady-New England

NFC ROY- Reggie Bush-NO

AFC ROY- Laurence Maroney-NE

Vikings vs Redskins preview

Here are my thoughts on tonight's game.

Unlike the 2005 Opener only good can come of it. Since I expect The Vikings to loss.

I just don't see thier D being good enough to hold the Redskins in check. The reason being while I think we will see an improved Vikings pass-rush. It is still a pass-rush that was inconsistent last year especially vs good teams on the road. I haven't seen enough this pre-season to convince me that Kevin Williams is back in rare-form. The ends are still unproven though I have really liked what I have seen there. But they will be staring at Jon Jansen and Chris Sameuls the entire game. The LB core is average at best in coverage. The CB's last year were quite disappointing, and Dwight Smith isn't great in pass-coverage. While I like the Vikings vs the Redskins rushing offense. I think the Redskins spread the field with three wide-receivers and Chris Cooley enough to damage the Vikings D to the tune of about 20 points.

The Vikings Offense will try to establish the running game and try. Especially the interior running game between Matt Birk and Steve Hutchinson. The Redskins will expect this though and play a lot of 8 in the box. If the Vikings O-line finally begins to gell we might see something tonight, but I am not counting on it. Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune sees a Vikings win due to the exploitation of Kenny Wright. Although Wright isn't as bad as he was with the Vikings. The Redskins can mask bad corners i.e. Walt Harris with their pressure schemes designed to bring pressure from all angles, this asks the questions can Brad Johnson exploit match-ups in the passing game. Tonight is going to be a night people are disappointed by the Vikings offense to the tune of about 13 points.

I like Scouts.INC prediction of 20-13 Redskins

Pre-Season Review

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

The Defensive Line- Very solid performances throughout the pre-season. They were even getting pressure in thier one bad Defensive series vs the Steelers. Kenechi Udeze and Erasmus James look on the verge of breakthroughs, and if Kevin Williams can return to form. The Defensive Line can be good enough to keep the Vikings in games.

Brad Johnson: I am still not a huge fan due to lack of arm strength and mobility. But he does make good decisions. He could lead a very efficent offense if the Running game can ever develop

Troy Williamson: He looks like he has really improved, I am looking forward to seeing how much he has improved during the regular season.

The Bad:

The Offensive Line- When you have Matt Birk return and sign Steve Hutchinson, you would expect to maybe see a better running game. But Artis Hicks also seems to be having trouble adjusting to the right side, and the Vikings running game has struggled. People are naive if they think it is Chester Taylor's fault. Shaun Alexander would have a hard-time running behind blocking I have seen so far. One big problem is that Bryant McKinnie just isn't that good a run-blocker. He is average in this area. So I think dreams of a vaunted Vikings left side are hard to imagine.

The Ugly:

Personnel Moves- Everyone who has ever read this blog knows what a fan I am of CJ Mosley who had three sacks in two starts last year. Mosley moved very well for a man his sized, and would seem with his pass-rushing skills an ideal replacement down the line for Pat Williams. But yet the Vikings traded him to get a back-up QB. While Mosley wasn't going to start, he should have played. But Childress for some unknown reason prefered Ross Kolodzeij an Arizona Cardinal Reject that he knew from the University of Wisconsin. While Kolodzeij was fine he had nowhere near the ability of CJ Mosley. But then they traded Mosley for the bad Brooks Bollinger of the Jets. Bollinger lacks an NFL Arm, and great size. While the Vikings needed to make an improvement of Mike McMahon who is beyond bad and terribly awful. They probably could have found someone as good as Bollinger after cuts happened. But the Vikings apparently didn't want to pay enough money to get AJ Feeley, I am not even making this up.

Then the Vikings decided we need a receiver lets sign "Alligator Arms" or wait I mean Todd Pinkston. He's terrible. He can't get off the line due to lack of strength, and he's afraid to take hits. Only Coach Childress would want him. But he is a good pairing with other Eagles bust WR Billy McMullen. Isn't there somone young like Jason Carter the Vikings could maybe give a chance to instead of these rejects.

If these are the types of moves that Brad Childress keeps making it doesn't matter how good a coach he is because in two years, the Vikings will have five win talent.

That's all for tonight. Look forward to next weekend to my season picks, and Viking vs Redskins preview.

Koren Robinson

Q: Assess the damage of the Koren Robinson situation as it applies to the 2006 Vikings?

A: It will hurt on the field, as Robinson was the most proven skill position player on the roster on a team devoid of skill position talent. Robinson had good size and route running ability. Two things that should come in handy in the West Coast Offense. There are serious questions whether Troy Williamson has the strength to be a Number one receiver in 2006. Although Williamson has had a fine camp. The Vikings will probably really focus on trying to get Jermaine Wiggins the ball now that Koren Robinson won't be with the team. Robinson was the only player with enough ability to maybe develop in 2006 into a player who might require double coverage. Are the Vikings a way worse team because of this loss? No. But this is an important piece that needed to be in place for the Vikings to escape medicority.

One More Thought

I should give my opinion on the end of the game, With the Vikings trying to score from the 20 yard line for the win instead of kicking for a tie.


I was at the game and I was going to leave at the end of regulation regardless of the outcome.
I think it's a pretty slim chance Ryan Longwell gets injured there which was the defense given on Vikings Fan-Line for that play. But if they are so worried about this why not bring another kicker in for the pre-season just to get some reps or have back-up Punter John Torp do the kickoff. At the same time it really accomplishes nothing to try to see JT O'Sullivan try to sketch out a win besides pride. I guess since I had enough as a fan and was going to leave it would be hypocritcal to not say it was fine. I would have been fine if they kept playing, just to give a few more guys a chance to catch someone's attention. The players out there probably would have still wanted the game to go till a winner was declared.

I should note the Colts went 0-5 last year in the pre-season and tore it up in the regular season, and the Bills teams of the early 90's were terrible pre-season teams yet constantly the class of the AFC.

So my opinion is Neutral

Vikings vs Raiders Post-Game

I will break this down via category

The Good: The D-Line I really liked what I saw especially from the book-ends of Erasmus James and Kenechi Udeze. This might finally be the year the Vikings effort is rewarded with a big-time D-line but there was more. They were the catalysts to no First-Downs coming at the hands of the first-team D. I also saw stuff I liked from back-ups Ross Kolodziej, Ray Edwards and CJ Moseley. This is the unit I am look forward to watching play Saturday Night vs the Steelers.

Greg Blue: The Physical safety finished with a sack and six tackles, and looks to be closing in on a spot on the roster.

Heath Farwell: A big time hit to go with 9 tackles, he is looking like a gamer.

Tavaris Jackson: He could compete to be the Number 2 QB. He showed impressive running ability to go with his live-arm. Jackson led a impressive two-minute drive towards the end of the first-half. I am looking forward to seeing his progress these next few pre-season games.

The Bad:

The Vikings Running game: For a team so committed to the run, the run blocking wasn't there all night long. With the exception of a Tony Richardson TD run. Chester Taylor averaged only 2 yards per carry and he could have averaged less if not for displaying some elusiveness. The Vikings didn't seem to run towards the vaunted left-side too much, although Bryant McKinnie is just an average run-blocker.

J.T O'Sullivan- While showing me more as a scrambler than I thought he would. But O'Sullivan still has trouble making quick decisions from what I could see and has to force throws and you can't do that in the NFL. The end is near.

The Ugly:

Chad Greenway: Made a really nice tackle on the play he got injured on. Greenway was coming along nicely in camp. It's too bad he suffered the injury that he did. EJ Henderson will be the starting WLB for the Minnesota Vikings in 2006.

Mike McMahon: Although he threw a nice deep ball to Marcus Robinson. He looked erractic along with the rest of the offense when he was in the game.

Special Teams: Too major break-downs in the first quarter a kickoff fumble and a blown kick coverage led to 6 Raider Points. That will be the difference between winning and losing games in 2006.