Vikings Blow it Again

By Thunder Deucer

As we all know, through three games the Minnesota Vikings have exactly zero wins and three losses.  Throughout these three games they have held the lead for the vast majority of the games, and outscored their opponents 54-7 in the first half.

Jean Van de Velde choking at 1999 Open

We have seen collapses before, except, only in a game here or there, not in three straight contests to open a season.

Even those watching Jean Van de Velde were only subject to a couple hours of agony.  We get it every Sunday and if we work with Packer fans, Monday and Tuesday as well.

Barney Fife

There can be no doubt that the problem begins at the top.  There have been too many errors and questionable calls to not beg the question, Is Leslie Frazier our version of Barney Fife?

The most egregious mistake so far is ending the Tampa Bay game with three timeouts.  Has that ever happened?  Seriously, when the Lions beat the daylights out of the Chiefs I am sure a timeout was called.  Doesn’t one almost get called by accident (especially with this bunch of clowns) at some point?  How do you not do the math and know right away that you need to start using the timeouts because Tampa is going to score, one way or another.

Here is what Frazier said:

Leslie Frazier

“I really thought that we were going to stop them on defense, I really did, and make them kick a field goal or come up with a turnover. We had a chance for a turnover there in that drive at their goal line. I really had confidence that we would get a turnover or force a field goal.”

HUH?

I really don’t need to say more.  When I first heard this I would have thought it was a 10 year old kid who was just a huge Vikings fan…..nope, its our head coach.

Why have your two best players disappear at important times.  Adrian Peterson only got 5 carries in the second half against the Lions.  If you didn’t watch the game and just heard that you would assume that they meant 5 carries in the Vikings first DRIVE of the second half.  Maybe we don’t want to put too much on tape for our week 13 clash with the Broncos.

That brings me to Harvin.  In a very winnable game against the Bucs, Harvin was on the field for 30 of 65 plays.  Why in the world is one of your most electric playmakers on the field for less than half of your teams snaps?   Next time, can we just have him play the last 30 snaps so we don’t collapse again?

There have been other questionable decisions.  The past couple of years the Vikings have had weapons at Tight End.  Then Rudolph is drafted, yet the Tight Ends are hardly a part of the game plan.  Must be that “don’t put too much on tape” plan for week 13 again.

A Field goal could have, and should have been kicked against the Lions near the end of the 4^th quarter.  There are so many reasons for this, yet the Vikings decided to go for it, rather than take the almost automatic points.  For the record, if the Vikings are 3-0 and go for this and it works, they are brilliant.  But they are 0-3 and have been 1-17 on third down.  Sorry, you have proven yourself incompetent on third down, what makes you think 4^th down will be any better?

Most thought that the Vikings got it right with Leslie Frazier.  Through 3 games, it looks like they got it very wrong.  The Vikings have been the worst team in the league in the second half of games this year and have only scored 6 points in the second half of those 3 games, hopefully this isn’t Les Steckel Part II.

Les Steckel "Best Seller"