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What happened? Where are those hopeless Vikings?
Published 2:13am Wednesday, December 5, 2007It must be nothing less than stunning for the “put a fork in them, they’re done” crowd to suddenly see the Minnesota Vikings playing like a playoff team.
When Minnesota was blistered by Green Bay 34-0 a few weeks back and Adrian Peterson went down with a knee injury the future looked black for Brad Childress and the boys.
But the Packers actually did the Vikings a tremendous favor. They gave them a swift kick in the rear. The whole Minnesota organization got one where it counted, from Childress on down.
Childress (or someone who looks like him) has been calling some offbeat and exciting plays, Chester Taylor has formed a great 1-2 running punch with Peterson and the offense has been scored 112 points in three games — an average of 37.3 a game. Tarvaris Jackson is on the field and not screwing up. It looks like he might make an NFL quarterback after all if the fans give him some time. Credit Minnesota’s expensive offensive line with opening some nice holes.
The defense is also playing good football, something everyone knew they could do if they were given a chance to leave the field periodically and catch their breath. Antoine Winfield’s return will only help the defense, which was playing terrible pass defense while excelling at stoppng the run.
There are still a thousand things that can go wrong but look for the Vikings to continue earning their pay for awhile. They are 6-6 and all four of their remaining games are with teams they can beat — San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and Denver. Of course, Minnesota is not the only wildcard hopeful in the NFC. The Detroit Lions are falling apart but they are still 6-6, Ken Whisenhunt has his Arizona Cardinals at .500 and the New York Giants are 8-4.
Congrats to a number of outstanding young football players for receiving honorable mention to the Associated Press All-State team.
Fergus Falls lineman Josh Campion earned honorable mention along with Hillcrest halfback-quarterback Jared Schultz, Pelican Rapids quarterback Tydan Storrusten, Perham quarterback Marcus Hendrickson, West Central Area quarterback Kolten Lee, Pelican Rapids kicker Porfirio Diaz, Perham linebacker Nathan Schmitz and Verndale halfback Sam Moenkedick, who also made the team as a linebacker. These were only a handful of the outstanding young men playing football in the area this fall.
Speaking of people we are proud of, former Underwood head coach Jerry Lano and his football team recently added a second Illinois state championship trophy to the Dakota High School trophy case. His club won the state title in 2005 and recently defeated Westville 50-21 for the state’s Class 2A championship. Dakota was 14-0 on the season. Lano came to Underwood from Grand Meadow and coached some hard-hitting Rocket football teams.
