Yes, I know exactly what you're thinking, because I thought it for a while last night myself.

Nine months of preparation. . .millions of dollars spent. . .an off-season of lies perpetuated by the Green Bay front office and placed at our doorstep. . .and the Vikings go out and put up a performance like THAT!?

But there are some important things to remember here.  By the end of last night's game, the Vikings were down to their third-string left tackle.  When you get down to the #3 guy on the depth chart at any position, the result is usually going to be less than optimal, but I thought that Marcus Johnson actually held up pretty well at a spot that, I'm assuming, he hasn't gotten a heck of a lot of snaps at.  I'm not sure how severe the injury to Artis Hicks' elbow is, but whoever starts at LT this coming Sunday is going to have to deal with Dwight Freeney, so this is something that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.

The most important thing to keep in mind here is that this is, still, just one game.  Yes, it hurts worse and sucks more because it was a loss to Green Bay.  But there are still 15 more of these to go this season, and I have a feeling that things will be getting better the rest of the way.  Having my theory proven true hinges on the abilities of one man.

Brad Childress.

As of this moment, I've given up trying to figure out how Brad Childress constructs his offensive game plans.  The first half of last night's game was one of the single worst first halves of football I've ever seen.  Tarvaris Jackson had 7. . .yes, SEVEN. . .pass attempts in the entire first half, and only completed two for 16 yards.  Yes, we have Adrian Peterson at our disposal, and he was his usual God-like self last night, given the circumstances. . .but during the pre-season, we saw an improvement in Jackson's play.  Brad Childress told us all off-season about how Jackson had improved and was going to be a big surprise this year.

And then you go out in the first half and give him, basically, zero opportunities to make plays.

When I posted the injury report on Friday, I suggested that the Vikings would be wise to get Peterson and Chester Taylor out on the edges, as well as roll out Tarvaris Jackson frequently in an effort to get Green Bay's ailing defensive line to chase him around and wear themselves out.  Did we run a single time to the outside last night?  Was there a toss or a sweep play to be found anywhere?  If there was, I don't recall it.  When you have Steve Hutchinson and Matt Birk, two of the premiere "pulling" players at their positions, at your disposal, you should be running towards the edges a lot. . .and, for some reason, the Vikings seem to be content to just keep slamming people into the middle of the line repeatedly.

The offensive game plan simply MUST be more creative from this point forward if the Vikings are to reach the potential that we all know they have.  Granted, the absence of Bryant McKinnie plays a big part in that, but even with Hicks or Johnson out there at the LT spot, the Vikings need to start doing some different things with Jackson and with the best RB combo in football.

And yet, despite all of that and despite Brad Childress' terrible first half playcalling, the Minnesota offense outscored Green Bay's offense.  They actually outgained the Packers in net yardage, 355-317.  The Vikings had more first downs than Green Bay did (21-15).  Both teams were right around 40% on third-down conversions.  Tarvaris Jackson and Aaron Rodgers both had 178 passing yards and 1 passing TD.  (Granted, Rodgers looked far more efficient in doing so.)  It was truly a tale of two halves for Minnesota.  After letting the Packers win the time of possession battle in the first half, the Vikings had possession for a longer time in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half (12:08 TOP for the Vikings in the first half, 12:42 TOP in the third quarter).  There was a point in the second half where the Vikings had run 29 offensive plays to Green Bay's 3.

As is the case in the National Football League, one or two plays made the difference in this football game.  A few examples of such plays?

How's about back in the first quarter where the Packers' faced 3rd and 13 and ran a draw play to Brandon Jackson.  Jackson fumbled the ball forward, and it looked like numerous Vikings had a shot at recovering the football. . .but at the end of the play, Greg Jennings recovered for Green Bay on the other side of the first-down line, and the Packers kept possession.  A recovery there for Minnesota would have set them up at around the Packers' 30-yard line, and they likely could have gotten at least a field goal out of something like that.

The killer, of course, was Will Blackmon's 76-yard punt return in the third quarter.  That was a combination of a bad, line drive kick by Chris Kluwe and pretty terrible overall coverage by the Vikings' special teams.  Big returns will happen, of course, but usually Kluwe has significantly more hang time on his punts than he had one the one Blackmon took back.  Hopefully this won't become a trend over the course of the season.

Speaking of special teams, how much different could things have been had the Vikings recovered what was a perfectly acceptable onside kick by Ryan Longwell?  Granted, they got the ball back anyway, but if they could have set up shop in Green Bay territory (which is where they would have been, thanks to a dumb penalty on the Packers during the PAT after Adrian Peterson's TD run), they could have better capitalized on the momentum that they had built to that point.

Yes, last night's loss was disappointing, to say the least.  Yes, it's a game that the Vikings could have won.  Yes, Brad Childress is now 0-5 against Green Bay as the Vikings' head coach (and nobody is more infuriated with that than I am).  But it's only one game, and the time has come to move on and start looking forward to the home opener against Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully things will take a much different path than they took on Monday night.

With Tarvaris Jackson, Bernard Berrian, and Sidney Rice all watching from the sidelines, the Vikings took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third exhibition game of the 2008 season last night in Minneapolis.  As you'd expect, there were things that were good and things that were not so good about last night's performance.  That's what this here thread is for, so let's get to it.

What Was Good

The First-String Defense - Oh, so THAT'S what a pass rush looks like, huh?  I was confused. . .it's been so long since the Vikings have actually had one of those on a consistent basis that I had pretty much forgotten.  But yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's quite similar to what I expect the Four Norsemen of the Apocalypse to be doing all season long.  In the first half, the Steelers' first-string offense netted a total of 76 yards and three points. . .three points which were, unfortunately, pretty much set up by the Minnesota offense, but we'll discuss them later on.

Last night we saw Jared Allen blowing up double teams when they were thrown at him, the Williams' boys disrupting things in the middle as only they can, and Ray Edwards showing us that even though he might be the forgotten man on this defensive line, opposing defensive coordinators would be foolish to ignore him.  And we haven't even mentioned the depth on the defensive line, but it's pretty good, too.  If the Vikings can generate the kind of pressure with just their front four that we saw against Pittsburgh last night, they stand to be ready to take a mammoth leap forward.

Aundrae Allison - With the Vikings' #1 and #2 wide receivers sitting out last night's game with a toe injury and a stomach virus, respectively, the new #84 got some significant run with the first team last night, and he responded very well, leading all receivers with 5 catches for 56 yards.  The majority of those receptions came from the slot, which is where Allison is best suited to work.  His receptions covered 8, 11, 13, 17, and 7 yards, and all but one came before halftime.  With the Minnesota passing game looking to become a much bigger threat and with the other receiving options the Vikings have available right now, one has to wonder how Allison will get worked into the offense, but he's proven over the course of the pre-season that he definitely deserves to have his role in the offense increased.

Erin Henderson - I don't know how the heck Henderson the Younger wasn't a first-day draft pick. . .after all, that's where he was originally projected. . .but he's proving to be a very nice addition to an already talented linebacker group.  He tied again for the team lead in tackles last night with five, and also threw in a strip of Rashard Mendenhall to force a Steeler turnover.  With the injury to Heath Farwell, coupled with his performance to this point, it looks to me like the reunion of the Henderson brothers will last through the 2008 season. . .and possibly well beyond.

What Wasn't Good

The run offense - Yes, I realize that the Steelers are a very good defense, and that it's only pre-season. . .but Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor combining for 26 yards on 16 carries last night is rough.  Really, really rough.  For an offense that prides itself on its ability to run the football, such performances simply can't become the norm for this team if they're to live up to the expectations that they've been given.  Fortunately, I'm not terribly worried about this one at this point, and I think it's going to come together before the season opener.

Penalties - Ten penalties in a pre-season game, including three false start penalties on the opening drive. . .at home.  Blech.  Of the ten penalties, there were four false starts, two for defensive offsides, one for illegal formation, and three 15-yard penalties (face mask on E.J. Henderson, unnecessary roughness on Matt Birk, and roughing the passer on Letroy Guion).  At least 8 of those 10 penalties are easily eliminated (the false starts, the illegal formation, and the three 15-yarders), and they NEED to be eliminated before the first game of the regular season.  The Vikings are perennially among the league leaders in penalties, and this is a trend that needs to be completely reversed.

Quarterback - Not that Gus Frerotte was "bad," per se. . .but last night made me happy that he's our backup and not somebody we're relying on for the long-term.  Like I said, he had a decent game (save for the awful interception that set up Pittsburgh's only first-half score), but I don't want to see him out there more than a couple times in 2008.  I'd prefer to not see him at all, but with Tarvaris Jackson's injury history, that hardly seems like a realistic hope.

What do you all think, folks?  What did you like or not like about last night's performance?  Feel free to talk about it here!

We should be back with some more later on this afternoon.  Apparently TS Fay decided that she didn't want a piece of Gonzo and decided to take a track more to the north of where Mrs. Gonzo and I live.  (Or there was something in the atmosphere that made it go that way.  Hell, I don't know, it's just a theory.)  We'll see you then, everybody!

Well, after pimp-slapping around the resident Packer troll. . .well, former resident, anyway. . .it's time to get back into projecting the 53-man roster.

As the GM here, I've said that I reserve the right to change my mind about things at any given time.  Well, I have decided to make a change to the roster, based largely on comments and on what I've heard coming out of mini camp.  In my infinite benevolence, I've decided that Visanthe Shiancoe is worthy of a second chance to prove himself in Minnesota, so I'm going to include him on the roster.  Sadly, it means I have to cut someone to make that happen, and the guy that has to go is Naufahu Tahi, who I like a lot.  But, if Shiancoe is going to stay, I can't justify keeping that many TEs and FBs on the roster with everything else that's going to be needed.

So, with that change, the 2008 roster to this point looks like this:

QB Tarvaris Jackson
QB Gus Frerotte
QB John David Booty
RB Adrian Peterson
RB Chester Taylor
RB Maurice Hicks
FB Thomas Tapeh
FB Jeff Dugan
WR Bernard Berrian
WR Sidney Rice
WR Bobby Wade
WR Aundrae Allison
WR Robert Ferguson
WR Jaymar Johnson
TE Visanthe Shiancoe
TE Jim Kleinsasser
TE Garrett Mills

This brings us to the offensive line, a group that might be the best unit of its kind in the National Football League.  As with a lot of positions on this roster, there isn't a whole lot of drama at the top of the depth chart, but there could be some interesting decisions to be made at the bottom.  Here's everyone that's listed on the roster as we stand today:

As I've stated, we know who the starters are, but we'll start by taking a brief look at them anyway.

We'll start at left tackle with big Bryant McKinnie, who's been the subject of some hand-wringing this off-season ever since he felt the need to, allegedly, clubber somebody outside of a night club with a metal pole.  He's entered what's called a pre-trial diversion program, and apparently that could cause all of the charges against him stemming from the incident to be dropped.  Hopefully, for the sake of the Vikings, that's exactly what will happen.  Say what you will about McKinnie's deficiencies. . .and he does, indeed, have them. . .but he's a solid left tackle at the worst, and the prospect of either Artis Hicks or Chase Johnson starting in that spot should, for now, scare the crap out of any Viking fan.  He's been a devastating run blocker since Steve Hutchinson came to town, but is still prone to getting beaten by speed rushers.

Speaking of Hutchinson, the best left guard in the business has continued to prove that he's been worth every penny it took to sign him away from the Seattle Seahawks prior to the 2006 season.  He's an outstanding blocker on both the pass blocking and run blocking fronts, and has proven to be a great leader for this team as well.  I could go on about Hutchinson all day, but there really aren't a lot of platitudes that I could place upon him that you haven't heard a thousand times already, so we'll move on.  In conclusion, Steve Hutchinson is really, really, really, REALLY good.

Moving on to the center spot, we've had some intrigue here this off-season as well, with Matt Birk skipping a lot of Minnesota's organized team activities in protest of not being entirely happy with his contract.  2008 is the last season that Birk is under contract to the Vikings, and (amazingly) he's the last link the Vikings have to the 1998 team that went 15-1 (Birk was a rookie that season).  While Birk is getting a little bit older, he's still among the league's best centers when he's healthy.  He might be the best pulling center in the league, and he manages to make the right line calls the overwhelming majority of the time.  Will he be a Viking after this season?  Nobody knows for sure. . .but, as of now, he's still here, and there's no reason to think he won't continue to be outstanding.

A few weeks into the 2007 season, Anthony Herrera replaced Artis Hicks as the starting right guard.  It was at that point that a running game that was already very good managed to become even better, as Herrera showed a great nasty streak and blew open holes for Vikings running backs whenever asked.  The Vikings clearly feel that he's the long-term answer at right guard, as they rewarded his hard work with a 5-year contract extension last season.  Not bad for a former undrafted free agent that started on the Minnesota practice squad and busted his tail to get to where he is today.  Herrera has proven to be very solid, and will likely continue to get better.

Upon further review, I think that I was too hard on Ryan Cook over the course of the season.  For a guy that was playing his first full season at RT after playing center in college, he actually did a pretty solid job.  He didn't commit a whole lot of penalties, and his pass protection got more solid as the season progressed.  His run blocking, as you'd expect from a Minnesota offensive lineman, was very good throughout the course of the season, and he's also a solid young prospect that should continue to improve as well.  So, Mr. Cook, if you're reading this, I apologize for the majority of the bad things I said about you last season.

So, as I said, the starters are set. . .the question is, now, what are we doing for depth?

First off, I believe that Artis Hicks finds a way to stay on this roster.  Brad Childress imported him from Philadelphia in his first year on the job and, while he's not spectacular by any means, he does bring some versatility.  If you've read the site for a while, you know that I'm not a big fan of Hicks by any stretch. . .it's hard to remember an O-lineman that had as many drive killing penalties in a year as he did in 2006. . .but he's more proven than some of the other guys competing for spots, and Childress seems to like him, so he'll stay around.

Marcus Johnson, on the other hand, needs to go.  The last surviving member of the Vikings' 2005 draft class, he's never really played up to his ability or fit in anywhere in the Minnesota scheme.  When you draft a guy in the second round of a draft and, going into his fourth season, he appears to be a bit contributor at best, it's time to cut your losses.  Maybe he can be traded for a draft pick or something, but I'd be surprised by that.

And, since I'm running a bit short on time here, I'll just cut to the chase.  I might do an edit and come back to this later on, but for now, here's what I've got:

Starters:  Bryant McKinnie, Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk, Anthony Herrera, Ryan Cook
Backups:  Artis Hicks, John Sullivan, Chase Johnson, Drew Radovich

That's all for now, folks. . .like I said, hopefully I'll be able to come back to this later and expound on it a little further.  As it is, feel free to discuss, and continue enjoying your Tuesday!

In the off-season leading up to the 2006 NFL season, LeCharles Bentley was the hottest offensive lineman available in free agency.  Having shown the versatility to play both center and guard as a member of the New Orleans Saints, he was regarded as one of the better up-and-coming young linemen in the league.  Just hours after free agency started, Bentley was signed to a pretty hefty contract by the Cleveland Browns, where he was expected to be the anchor of a rebuilding offensive line.

Instead, he tore his patella tendon during his first practice as a member of the Browns.  The combination of that and a staph infection wiped his entire 2006 and 2007 seasons off of the books.  After he passed his physical the other day, the Browns cut Bentley after paying him $16.6 million to sit on injured reserve for two years.

Now, Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk is speculating. . .and I use that term very loosely. . .that Bentley could be brought in to Minnesota to compete for the starting center job and/or give the Vikings a reason to get rid of Matt Birk.

Boy howdy, where to begin with this.

As it stands right now, 12 June 2008, LeCharles Bentley couldn't carry Matt Birk's jock strap.  Hell, he might hurt himself just trying to pick it up prior to the actual carrying.  I know that Birk is in the last year of his contract and that things aren't entirely peachy between him and the front office at the moment, but going from Birk to Bentley would be a huge downgrade for the Vikings.  As far as providing depth, the Vikings have two promising young center prospects (2007 UDFA Dan Mozes and 2008 sixth-round pick John Sullivan) that could be groomed to take Birk's place should he depart Minnesota after this year, and Bentley doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would willingly accept being a backup.

As far as the guard spots are concerned. . .well, let's safely assume that he's not stepping in at left guard.  And the Vikings' front office didn't give Anthony Herrera a five-year contract extension last season so that he could back up a guy that hasn't played a down since 2005.

The only way that this makes sense. . .and, seriously, I'm stretching harder than a Chinese acrobat to make this reach. . .is if the Vikings are truly afraid of disciplinary action against Bryant McKinnie and are entertaining the thought of kicking Birk out to LT until McKinnie returns, in which case a veteran center might sound appealing to them.  But, even then, it brings up the problem of what you do with Bentley after Birk returns.

I usually don't have any problems with Mike Florio.  But I honestly think he's way, way off base on this one.  (Which, with my track record, means that Bentley will be a Viking by this afternoon at the latest.)  Really, though, I don't see any scenario where the signing of LeCharles Bentley would be a beneficial one for Minnesota.