Vikings Suck
The Vikings got waxed by the Bengals today, 37-8. And that score is deceptively close, as the Bengals committed at least 17 penalties and went with a conservative offense for most of the second half.
The Vikings' collapse has been so complete, questions about the overall talent level of the roster aren't even relevant yet. In football, certain things have to happen in order to evaluate a team. The first is line play. If the offensive line collapses, the entire offense is going to look like shit, and ultimately the defense is going to collapse from being on the field or backed up on a short field all the time. That's what happened in Week One against Tampa Bay.
The other thing that can happen is that your team falls behind so far so early, the other team can just sit back on defense because they know you are going to pass. That makes it tough for the offense to function, and of course the D looks like crap too because they probably had something to do with you being in such a deep hole so fast.
Do the Vikings have talent? Sure, probably. But this isn't a team that's anywhere near the point where they can look at the roster and contemplate upgrades. This is a team that after only two weeks is on the verge of a lost season.
Of most pressing concern is Daunte Culpepper, who now has a quarterback rating like a barometric pressure reading. He's missed open receivers in both games, sometimes two or more on a single play. He's hurrying balls, acting like he's under pressure when he's not, and throwing balls that simply shouldn't be thrown. Remember when they said it was his team this year with Randy gone? Well, when Daunte sucks, the team sucks.
So far, Daunte sucks. There are a lot of fans in this town who are always waiting to take shots at Daunte. I've always figured there was a lot of old-school racism in those complaints; I mean, they were riding the guy when he was in the Pro Bowl, for gosh sakes. But now I expect that chorus to start full swing again. It's too bad, because you can tell the guy is just trying too hard. Bill Maas made a big deal today about how Culpepper had only seen one defense in his six years in the league because he had Randy Moss on the team. That's bullshit. You're telling me defenses played the same D for six years, even in the games this last year when Randy was out? Yeah, right. The guy's just pressing.
Pressing or not, though, the last two Viking games were some of the worst football I've seen, and that includes some real Viking stinkers over the last six years or so.
8:52:00 PM 
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