The 2011 Vikings Are Not The Worst Squad In History

• The Suck For Luck Foolishness
• Sucked Enough
• Jimmy Kleinsasser
• Jared Allen

THE SUCK FOR LUCK FOOLISHNESS

The Vikings didn’t suck enough for Luck, disappointing many of their misguided fans who were hoping they’d lay down in order to draft first. I guess I can’t blame fans for rooting for the Vikings not so much to lose but to improve their draft position.

I was hoping the Vikings would beat the Bears Sunday but I wasn’t disappointed they’ll draft third, either.

So, yeah, I get why fans would hope for the Vikings to lose some meaningless games but you’re just not thinking it through if you expect coach Leslie Frazier and his staff to try and lose. Losing is a habit you never want to acquire.

That would be setting about the worst example you possibly could set for a team and is hardly called leadership. A team needs to believe in their head coach and who can believe in someone who is actually trying to lose?

The drop in talent between the top three athletes in any given draft and the following three is usually pretty significant. Not that the Vikings wouldn’t get an elite player at best and a starter at worst if they’d beaten the Bears, but you’re almost guaranteed an elite player within the top three.

Nothing, of course, is 100% foolproof. By way of comparison, in 2005 the Vikings took wide receiver Troy Williamson with the seventh overall pick and in 2007 they took running back Adrian Peterson with the same draft position.

With the number three pick, we’re going to be at the top of the draft board across every round, so the 2012 draft will be much more important than usual to the team’s future.

The Colts and the Rams pick first and second, respectively, before us.

The Colts are expected to and would be stupid not to take Andrew Luck.

I would expect the Rams to take USC tackle Matt Kalil because their starting left tackle is none other than former Viking Adam Goldberg, who I doubt anyone considers starting left tackle material. That’s too bad, cause we could really use Kalil.

Given this likely scenario, however, if I were Leslie Frazier, I would heat up the rhetoric about competition at the quarterback position because the next most lusted after player for many teams would be Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. If the Vikings can create some doubt about how satisfied they are with Christian Webb at quarterback, they might be able to wrangle a trade for more picks. Likely suitors would include the Cleveland Browns, the Washington Redskins or maybe even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A trade with Cleveland would give them the fourth pick and a trade with Washington would put the Vikings in the sixth slot still likely give them a shot at a position of need, either LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, Iowa tackle Riley Reiff or Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

Considering Frazier couldn’t even hide his desire to get Jimmy Kleinsasser a touchdown during his finale game, though, I wonder whether the coach is even capable of such Childress-esque deceit.

SUCKED ENOUGH

They sucked enough, though, to finish with the third overall pick but even with that abysmal season, even though they’ve tied with the 1984 Vikings for the worst ever, they weren’t the worst ever.

As the Pioneer Press‘ Bob Sansevere has properly pointed out, even with a 3-13 record, Leslie Frazier’s 2011 squad cannot come close to the colossal incompetence of Les Steckle‘s 1984 Vikings. The ’84 Vikes were blown out of the water seven times by scores of 13-42, 17-45, 21-42, 3-34, 17-31, 7-51 and 14-38. This year, the Vikings have been blown out three times: 10-39 by Chicago, 7-45 by Green Bay, and 20-42 by New Orleans.

Most of the Vikings games have been close this year.

JIMMY KLEINSASSER

The Vikings never really had much of a chance to get Jimmy Kleinsasser in a position to score a touchdown in the final game of his career and that’s a damn shame.

Kleinsasser has been one of my favorite Vikings since he joined the team in 1999 because in addition to being a great guy, he was consistently the best blocker on the team. Watching him plow defenders around, game after game, has been a blast.

Yeah, blocking isn’t the most exciting part of the game but it is the most essential part of offense. For anyone who really loves the game, to see a player demonstrate such amazing skill so consistently for so long is a real pleasure.

Kleinsasser has been the Adrian Peterson of blocking.

JARED ALLEN

If you enjoyed nothing else this season, you can at least walk away from a 3-13 season with the pleasure of having watched one of the finest seasons by a defensive end in NFL history.

Jared Allen‘s 22 sacks fell one short of eclipsing Michael Strahan‘s 22.5 sack record season but he broke Chris Doleman‘s Vikings team record of 21 sacks.

The 22 sacks are the statistical testament to the remarkable season Allen has just completed but I think the best illustration of how he accomplished such a feat was when he was forced to take over long-snapping duties after Cullen Loeffler was injured.

Allen’s talent extended even to that position with the special teams unit not missing a beat due to the perfectly snapped balls Allen delivered and then being among the first down the field to tackle the return man. His devotion to being the best possible player at whatever position that is is why Allen just finished a record-setting season.

Savor it because it is highly unlikely he’ll be able to repeat such a season.

But never say never with this guy.

• Preview
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PREVIEW

I think the best we can hope for today from a competitive standpoint is…competitiveness.

The New Orleans Saints are in town and they have Drew Brees throwing to not just a deep and talented bench of wide receivers (Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Robert Meachem & Devery Henderson) but he’s also got a 6’6″, 260 lbs. tight end in Jimmy Graham that poses matchup nightmares and a running back in Darren Sproles who excels are a receiver. Brees hasn’t thrown an interception during the past four games; the Vikings haven’t picked off a pass since the Clinton Administration.

The only hope to remain competitive is to control the clock to keep Brees et. al. off the field for as long as possible. It’s good for the Vikings that Adrian Peterson will be back. Even if he’s not necessarily carrying the load, I’ll take an even combo of him and Toby Gerhart with some Percy Harvin sprinkled in to try and dominate on the ground.

Let’s hope Christian Ponder can come back with a strong game after his benching last week. And by strong, I mean making good decisions, getting the ball to his receivers on time, and not turning the ball over. It’s not surprising that a rookie quarterback would deliver the ball a tad late, which leads to incompletions as best and interceptions at worse. Getting your timing right is as much about experience as it is anything; Ponder’s holding the ball a bit too long because he’s thinking about what he’s seeing rather than reflexively recognizing what he’s seeing. That will come with tiem.

I have no illusions that it will be enough to walk away with a victory but, again, competitiveness is the best we can hope for today. But this Vikings team, despite being 2-11 and needing a whole lot of help next year, is sort of like the Minnesota Twins were before this year: You can’t count them out.

Former CFL receiving star Emmanuel Arceneaux will get his first taste of the NFL today and the Vikings will get their first taste of Manny Arceneaux during live action, so we’ll get to see whether or not we’ve got a diamond in the rough.

On defense, we just need to hang on and hope for the best. If Jared Allen and Kevin Williams and Brian Robison can get to Drew Brees early and often, they’ll be able to slow the Saints down but that’s one hell of a tall order, given how experienced and talented a quarterback he is and how quickly he can release the ball.

TRYOUTS

Manny Arceneaux wasn’t the only former CFLer at Winter Park this week. ProFootballTalk reports that the Vikings have worked out Canadian Football League Offensive Lineman of the Year finalist Jovan Olafioye. Olafioye was a member of this year’s CFL Grey Cup champion British Columbia Lions, where he’s played left and right tackle. The BC Lions’ website lists him at 6’6″ and 325 lbs.

He turned 24 last week yet he has two years of pro football under his belt.

The Dolphins have also given him a workout and he’s scheduled to visit the Browns, Steelers, and Jets, so he’s making the rounds.

Olafioye can obviously play up north and he’s got the size to compete in the NFL, so he could be a good pickup to hedge against the possibility of someone else taking USC tackle Matt Kalil in the draft and/or giving Phil Loadholt some competition to try and up his game.

Review: Vikings Week 14 Loss To The Lions

• The Positives
• The Negatives
• Stupid Cheeseheads
• Happy Belated Birthday

THE POSITIVES

Christian Ponder: Continued to fight through a brutal performance. Continued to make some plays despite a brutal performance. Lead two scoring drives in spite of a brutal performance. Was offered a measure of mercy by getting yanked halfway through his brutal performance.

Joe Webb: At the end of last season I said I’d be perfectly fine with the Vikings going into 2011 with Joe Webb as their starting quarterback. Sunday reminded me why I like him so much. Lions head coach Jim Schwartz admitted his team had no answer to Webb. Webb’s 65 yard touchdown run was remarkable simply for how effortless it looked for him to outrun the entire Lions defense with room to spare.

I don’t know whether or not Joe Webb can develop into a starting quarterback but it would not surprise me at all if he can. He’s not going to get that chance with the Vikings, however, and I’m fine with that because I am sold on Christian Ponder, Sunday’s performance notwithstanding.

It should be clear, though, that Webb deserves much more playing time than he’s been given to date this season. Bill Musgrave‘s a creative guy. Find a way to put Ponder, Webb, Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin in the same backfield and force defenses to pick their poison.

Musgrave should be as creative in getting the ball consistently in Webb’s hands as he has been doing the same for Percy.

Toby Gerhart: You know I’ve got my complaints about Toby Gerhart but over the past two games he’s demonstrating he can be an effective and punishing back when used properly. Ninety yards on 19 carries is pretty good for a back not named Peterson. That comes on the heels of last week’s performance against the Broncos in which he gained 91 yards on 21 carries. While I do like the idea of the one-two punch of Peterson/Gerhart, Toby might have more value to the Vikings at this point as trade bait.

Percy Harvin: Another game, another 156 all-purpose yards. The guy is simply amazing and it aches to speculate how good he could be with a legit deep threat opposite him.

Tight End Screen: That tight end screen to Visanthe Shiancoe that went for a touchdown was something to behold, all right. It was the perfect play call for the situation and it was executed to perfection. Absolutely beautiful.

Jared Allen: He’s back atop the leaderboard for sacks with 17.5 after notching three Sunday.

Never Say Die: Again, the Vikings were in it till the very end despite generously handing their opponent gift-wrapped mistake after mistake. It is encouraging to see that the team as a whole hasn’t given up even when there is no hope for nuthin’ this season.

THE NEGATIVES

The Score: They lost. So that’s one.

Christian Ponder: This was his toughest game not merely because of the many turnovers but because he’s made these mistakes before. It’s hard to put the blame for the opening fumble/touchdown on Ponder when Phil Loadholt‘s guy, Cliff Avril, came at Ponder practically untouched. Yeah, Christian could’ve stepped up in the pocket a bit but that turnover and touchdown should be squarely on Loadholt.

Ponder has only himself to blame for the other turnovers.

The first pass Alphonso Smith intercepted was thrown into triple coverage and lead to a touchdown. Ponder’s been there, done that. Smith’s second interception was on an out route and shouldn’t have been thrown because it was an easy pick-six for the defender. Ponder’s been there, done that.

The third interception was to Eric Wright and was caused by Ponder throwing across his body, a mistake even rookies (and Brett Favre) should not commit.

Though that interception did not result in any points, remember that the Lions also dropped two interceptions thrown by Ponder.

All in all, it was a rough day during which he made some nice plays in between the bad decisions. This is just a bump in the road.

Lorenzo Booker: I was half right the last time I commented on Booker’s game. I speculated the coaches didn’t trust him to not fumble the ball. I was wrong about the coaches. Three carries; two fumbles; one lost that lead to a score. And we thought Adrian Peterson had a problem.

Devin Aromashodu: Plunk. Nice catch off the numbers, there, Dev. NOT.

Cedric Griffin: It’s tough hate on Cedric after what he’s gone through with his ACL injuries but it’s true that he’s a shadow of his former self. It is amazing he came back so quickly from his first ACL, let alone coming back from two. But those injuries are sort of akin to Tommy John surgeries in baseball; it usually takes two years to regain your previous form. It will be interesting to see where the Vikings go with Griffin after the season.

The Officials: Missing the blatant facemask on the final play, sealing the Vikings fate. [WATCH]

STUPID CHEESEHEADS

I would like to take a moment to applaud the Green Bay Packers organization both for their brilliant business acumen and for royally screwing their fans.

Which, of course, I’m all for.

The organization has sold 185,000 (thus far) pieces of paper to Green Bay Packers for $250 each sheet, but which cost the team a mere 3 cents a sheet to make. The pieces of paper are called “shares” yet the holder of said shares obtains only the right to own the sheet paper they paid $250 for.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY

Happy Belated Birthday Sunday to rookie wide receiver Stephen Burton (22)!

The Vikings got screwed on this one; the Lions clearly committed a facemask penalty on Joe Webb on the final play that would’ve given the Vikings another play at the one yard line. Found at YouTube from CptKetchup07.

WHAT I’LL BE WATCHING

Christian Ponder: If he starts today, I’ll be interested to see how Ponder follows up his performance from last week, particularly his decision-making in the wake of his three turnovers against the Broncos. I’ll also be interested to see how he responds to playing with his hip pointer injury.

If he does go, Ponder will face a defense that is pretty battered. The NFL’s dirtiest player Ndamukong Suh is out because he’s serving a two game suspension for being a dirty player. Suh’s linemate, rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley has been suffering from an injured toe for most of the season, so he’ll be slowed if he plays at all. Defensive end Lawrence Jackson is out and safety Louis Delmas and corner Chris Houston are both doubtful.

If the offensive line steps up the way it eventually did last week, Ponder should have some time to attack a Lions defense that will likely send plenty of blitzes his way. Ponder demonstrated against the Broncos that he’s learning how to defeat the blitz by finding an open man that resulted in two touchdown passes.

Toby Gerhart: While you’d always prefer to have Adrian Peterson carrying the rock, it might not matter as much if the offensive line blocks as they did for Toby Gerhart, if Bill Musgrave calls plenty of north/south plays for him to run, and if Gerhart gets that head of steam going.

Especially with a defensive line that is soft up the middle without Suh and with a hobbled Fairley and a questionable linebacker Justin Durant, as well.

Percy Harvin: Musgrave has done a damn fine job of finding ways to get the ball in Harvin’s hands, especially in space, and I’d expect no less today. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Percy take more handoffs out of the backfield today.

Joe Webb: Whether he’s taking snaps for an injured Christian Ponder today or if he’s on the field in another capacity, I really would like to see him more involved in the game on plays that aren’t “weird,” as my friend Rick would call them. The pass Webb caught against Champ Bailey last week that was called back because of a cheap pass interference penalty would be a nice start, given our lack of depth at receiver.

Whoever plays quarterback today, though, will need to sustain long drives to keep Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford off the field for as long as possible.

Jared Allen: Allen wreaked havoc against the Lions during the last matchup so expect them to give him plenty of attention today. That means the rest of the line needs to step up. Kevin Williams has finally begun to come on, so that will help but Brian Robison has been underwhelming after a dynamic start to the season. Has he worn down or is he a one-trick pony that defensive tackles have figured out? Regardless, I wouldn’t mind seeing plenty of Everson Griffen opposite Allen today.

Asher Allen: Allen will be back, which should help the secondary, but not by much. Allen is 5’9″ and Calvin Johnson is 6’5″; whaddya gonna do? The best recipe for the Vikings secondary at this point is 1) An offense that completely dominates time of possession and 2) a ferocious pass rush that gets to Stafford early and often.

The Lions have dropped five of the past seven games, are undisciplined and beaten up. This is the time to face them with a chance of stealing a victory but after this season, how can you pick the Vikings?

Fran Tarkenton may have hated Brett Favre but he appears to love Christian Ponder. The Pioneer Press did a great interview with the Hall of Famer, who makes some great points about Ponder, especially when compared to Tim Tebow and Cam Newton, who are running college spread offenses while Ponder is running an actual NFL offense. Found at TwinCities.com.

The Minnesota Vikings host the Detroit Lions at Met Stadium for this 1970 regular season matchup. Found at YouTube from 63kraft.

Photo Courtesy Vikings.com

HAPPY THOUGHTS

Toby Gerhart: Gerhart followed a forgettable performance against Atlanta with an impressive one last Sunday.

He got better blocking against the Broncos and it seems like more downhill play calls. Gerhart is a far better player running north and south than he is when the play moves laterally, such as on a sweep. When he can build up a head of steam and hit the hole hard, he can do some damage like we saw when he ran over a Broncos linebacker. As the announcer pointed out, he seems he’s at his best when he’s got a lead blocker in front of him as well, so he can get to that second level.

Once there, he’s almost always good for 8-12 yards.

But it seems like that’s the best way to use him.

When there’s congestion at the line, such as in short yardage situations, he doesn’t do so well because he’s hasn’t got a full head of steam, he’s got to pick through defenders to find a hole, he has trouble getting low to the ground, and he hasn’t got much of a jump cut to bounce a run outside.

Put him out in space, one-on-one with a cornerback, and he almost always goes down. And he’s like a battleship when he’s got his back to the defense like when he’s catching a dump-off pass; he takes forever to turn it upfield.

Finally, his pass protection is iffy; he’ll miss blocks he should make and fail to identify blitzes.

He’s young, so he’s still got a lot of learning to do and should improve and he’s certainly got skills that can be exploited but if he’s a starting-quality running back, then he’s going to need a superb offensive line blocking for him because defenses will know what to expect with him.

All that said, I’m glad he’s Adrian Peterson‘s backup because he’ll continue to punish defenses when our star needs a spell.

Percy Harvin: The guy just continues to do it all, doesn’t he? You stop and think about it, and it’s absolutely remarkable that the guy can be that good on that little practice with a rookie quarterback.

It’s not like the Broncos didn’t know, first and foremost, that they needed to shut Harvin down. And yet he still catches eight balls for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

Ryan D’Imperio: As you know, I’ve been a big fan of D’Imperio from the start but that was largely because I was such a vehement anti-fan of his predecessor, Naufahu Tahi. Happily, the converted linebacker is turning into a decent fullback. He doesn’t just bounce off defenders as a lead blocker the way Tahi used to, he seems to be able to sustain his blocks, and did you see that beautiful chip he put on Champ Bailey on Harvin’s touchdown?

Kyle Rudolph: The rookie made an absolutely amazing catch [WATCH] that is the type of play you expect from a receiver like Randy Moss, not a tight end.

He was on his way to a touchdown on the ball Christian Ponder placed perfectly for him to run under in the front corner of the end zone and as a result drew a pass interference penalty.

What little we’ve seen of Rudolph this year demonstrates he’s got amazing hands and, once he’s able to block and run routes a little better, he’s going to be a pretty devastating weapon.

I’d expect Rudolph to have a break-out year in 2012. The Vikings also have rookie Allen Reisner–another tall, fluid tight end with good hands–on the roster and they recently re-signed Mickey Shuler (6’4″, 251 lbs), another tight end they clearly like but who slipped away from them last year.

Given that the Vikings obviously need to rebuild and given the youth at the position, I’d really be surprised to see Visanthe Shiancoe back next year and I wonder if this might be Jimmy Kleinsasser‘s last year as well.

As much as I love the Shankopotomous and what he’s capable of, on average, he’s also typically good for at least one dropped pass, one penalty, and one missed block a game.

I think the Vikings offensive line needs some help but I don’t know exactly how much help it needs. I wonder how far a top-five left tackle draft pick would go toward vastly improving the play of the whole line. If the Vikings are at number two or three, I don’t see how they can pass on USC’s Matt Kalil.

The other glaringly missing piece to the offensive puzzle is a legitimate deep-threat wideout. Imagine how deadly Percy Harvin would be if defenses needed to respect the long ball?

But, you know, I really don’t think the offense is that far away from being explosive.

It’s the defense we need to work on.

Photo Courtesy Vikings.com

On Sunday, I tweeted “Damn shame Ponder didn’t get a win out of the most impressive game of his career thus far,” to which @mnsotapop replied: “impressive? his turnovers had a little bit to do with loss.”

Fair point but I think it also contributes to why I thought it was his most impressive performance.

After forcing a safety on the Broncos first play from scrimmage, the Vikings got the ball back and put together a nice drive down to the Denver eight yard line before safety Brian Dawkins poked the ball from Christian Ponder‘s grasp.

Though the Vikings forced a three-and-out, the fumble cost the Vikings at least three points.

On the Vikings ensuing possession, however, Ponder didn’t recognize that Broncos linebacker Mario Haggan had dropped into coverage and through the ball right to him for a pick-six.

It may seem like a boneheaded play, and it is, but you’d be surprised at how easy it is for a defender to be rendered essentially invisible when you’re intensely focusing on something else. (Check out this psychology experiment to see what I mean).

That doesn’t excuse the pick, of course, but it is a mistake that is all too common for rookie quarterbacks.

So Ponder is responsible for two turnovers in the first half of the game, one of which handed seven points to the Broncos and the other may have taken at least three points off the board.

Yet he didn’t let those mistakes affect his play. He came back and matched the Broncos blow for blow, especially during a second half in which is defense’s backfield couldn’t stop a snail.

Ponder threw the ball 47 times on Sunday, 29 of which were completions for a 61.7% completion percentage, for 381 yards, three touchdowns and those two interceptions. If you hadn’t actually seen the two interceptions, those stats would be mighty impressive even for a loss. Ponder ran the ball only once, but that was a 12 yard gain to convert a third down. He took three sacks.

Ponder did all this while getting pummeled early and often and even when the offensive line pulled it together to keep him from getting ripped from limb to limb, they only offered him a modicum of protection, so he still didn’t have All Kinds Of Time, as the song goes.

The 32 points the Vikings scored Sunday were the most they’ve accumulated under his leadership.

Ponder sealed his team’s fate with another interception that resulted from another rookie mistake. He was trying to bait the corner into covering the front receiver so he could throw over him to the deeper receiver. But there wasn’t enough cushion between the two receivers and Goodman easily sank back between the two and picked off the ball.

You live and you learn.

If the Vikings defense in the second half played anywhere near the level of play they displayed in the first half, the Vikings would’ve won despite Ponder’s mistakes.

What we’ve got left in this season is evaluating what we’ve got to work with (and what we don’t have to work with) for next season.

If you want a silver lining it’s that we’ve found a young quarterback for whom the game is not too big, who appears to have the emotional, mental and physical characteristics to be great.

This game against Denver demonstrated that he can do a lot with little. He lead the Vikings to 32 points with an inconsistent offensive line that affords him precious little time to make decisions, no Adrian Peterson, and Percy Harvin as the only elite receiver on the field.

You put some more talent around him coupled with the invaluable experience he’s gaining this year, and he’s gonna be fun to watch next year.

Hell, he’s fun to watch this year.

Vikings rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph goes all Randy Moss by jumping up and over a hapless Denver Bronco defender to snag a Christian Ponder pass for a touchdown. Found at YouTube from johnificationfootbal.