Purple Pride

Not much (anything???) bad can be said about the Vikes today. Solid in all facets of the game. While we bent quite a bit on defense we certainly didn’t break. And, while we did get our share of breaks good teams make their breaks. And, we also missed on a big gainer that Harvin had in his hands and dropped and on Henderson’s fumble recovery on which he would have had an apparent TD if he had waited for a blocker and/or made a good move on Boller. But, give Boller credit – that was one of the better QB tackles that you will see in space. Especially against a fast, agile and strong linebacker in Henderson.

It looks like Chilly was right, or close to it, when he said he had a kick*ss offense. I don’t think it is quite to that level yet but we are getting closer every week. Granted it was the Rams but their defense did not look terrible and they played solid against the Niners last week. Our offensive line play had improved dramatically so far this year which bodes well for the long-term. This should have been expected with two new starters. We are now starting to see open receivers all over the field and they have room to run after the catch. For years we have wanted to look like the Pats, the Colts or the Giants with creative play calling that stretches the “D” and creates openings and mis-matches and we are finally seeing it.

What I love is that what was supposed to be an “easy” game was an easy game. Over the past 10 years how many times have these types of games come down to the wire and, even when we won, been excruciating to watch? To put this in perspective just see a few games today – Dallas just went up on KC with 2 minutes to play – Pittsburgh only beat Detroit by 8 and Baltimore is losing (at home) to Cinci late in the game. Although, Cinci is much improved this year.

I still can’t believe what a difference it makes to have Favre, a real QB, leading our team. We all knew we had been hurting at QB since 2004 but I, for one, didn’t truly understand how bad the situation really was. No wonder our offense had been stagnant.

So, as the StarTribune today reflected back 20 years after the miserably failed Herschel Walker trade I find myself giving Chilly and the Vikings a TON of credit for building one of the best teams in the NFL. We have assembled a team loaded with All-Pros and Pro-Bowl players with many coming via key draft picks, free agent acquisitions and trades. They have made all the right moves: Favre, Harvin, Allen, AP, Hutchinson, Berrian, etc. and so on……

Comparing our acquisition of Favre – the missing piece – to Herschel is a beautiful thing. Not only did we not have to give up anything but, in the Packers’ effort to keep him from us they screwed themselves as we still got him but did not have to give up any draft picks to get him so we are better positioned to continue to build for the short-and-long-term. Beautiful…. Kudos Mr. Childress!!!!

SB