The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Related Content

• Around the Horn: Baseball playoffs, Vikes vic and Wolves preseason romp

With the help of at least two terrible calls from the officials, the Vikings eked out a 12-10 home victory against a winless team playing an obviously overwhelmed backup quarterback this afternoon. If you just read the stats, you'll be pleased by Gus Frerotte's 300-yard game, Bernard Berrian's second straight 100 yards receiving, Adrian Peterson's 100 yards on the ground and Kevin Williams registering four sacks. So why are the Vikings fans who actually saw this game so despondent or livid over a turn of events that, with the Bears losing to the Falcons on a last-minute field goal, has the Vikes sharing first place in the NFC Central with those Monsters of the Midriff and the GB Packers?

Because it is more of the same underachievement that has typified the offense in the Brad Childress era. The gaudy numbers for both Frerotte and Berrian were highly inflated by a blatantly missed tackle on a slant pass to Berrian over the middle that resulted in a 86-yard TD. Otherwise, the offense needed a dubious 42-yard pass interference call to put themselves in position for Ryan Longwell's clinching 26-yard field goal in the final minute. Got that? Childress's much-mocked "Kick Ass Offense" needed a classic Lions bungle and help from the refs to come up with 10 points against a defense that had yielded 149 in its previous four losses. The two-point difference came on a first period safety (more on that in a minute).

Back to the interference call. With less than three minutes to play, the Vikes were down 10-9 and facing 2nd and 20 from their own 32 yard line. Frerotte's pass to Andre Allison was slightly long and both Allison and the defender stumbled trying to catch up to it, with the defender falling on Allison. But from all the replays, it looked as if the contact was very minimal--certainly much less than a 3rd quarter play where a Lion's receiver was bumped inside the 20 yard line by the Vikings' defender. So instead of 3rd and 20 from their own 32 with just over two minutes to play, the Vikes had the ball first and ten at the Lions' 26. The only thing left to do was run AP into the line a few times to wind down the clock and allow Longwell the relative chip shot to cinch the contest.

How bad was the pass interference call? Well, the two announcers mentioned numerous times that they disagreed with it, that it was a bad call, not even debateable. Personally, I thought it was an absurd call to swing a ballgame over--the contact was incidental. And the Associated Press report led off the game recap with "Detroit Lions cornerback Leigh Bodden [the guy flagged for interference] wants an apology."

That call will get the most scrutiny because of its timing and impact on the game. But it pales in comparison to the totally bogus ruling that Lions' receiver Calvin Johnson fumbled the ball after a long reception took him into Vikings territory. The Lions challenged the ruling. The replays clearly showed Johnson with his knee down (his whole body down actually--he was shaken up) and the ball still in his grasp by his hip. Only then did linebacker Ben Leber come in and rip the ball upward from Johnson, causing the "fumble." I mean, to say it wasn't close doesn't even adequately describe how horrible the call was--and the refs even had time to review the replays all of us saw on the tube. How anyone could justify the Vikings being gifted a turnover on that play-- rather than the Lions being in field goal range with a 10-9 in the 4th quarter--is beyond me.

The second line in that Associated Press story was "Minnesota Vikings fans want a new coach." Apparently there were numerous "Fire Childress!" chants at the Dome today. (I never heard them on the television.) I understand the fans' frustration. Everyone can see that the Vikings are loaded with talent. Peterson is a stud. The left side of the line--Birk, Hutch and McKinney--are all being paid like studs. Ditto Berrian. Yet the offense has totaled just 8 touchdowns in 6 games. Among the 16 NFC teams, only the winless Lions and the 1-4 Rams have scored fewer points. Only Adrian Peterson has scored more points than cornerback Antoine Winfield among non-kickers on the roster.

The Lions were a team that could have easily been rolled. Their quarterback, undrafted 4th year backup Dan Orlovsky, came into the game having thrown 45 passes in his entire career, compiling a QB rating of 39.7. He makes Tarvaris Jackson look like Gus Frerotte by comparison. And he was absolutely terrorized by the Vikes' D-line, especially K Williams. He ran out of the end zone for a safety in the first period--Minnesota's ultimate winning margin. On at least two other occasions, somewhat flushed out of the pocket but still with time to look downfield and get off a throw if he'd kept his cool, he essentially fell down rather than get hammered. Yes, the Lions exploited Henderson's absence and a couple of injuries to backup David Herron (plus the overpursuit of the Williams boys) to run effectively up the gut. But the Vikings' D still yielded a mere net-8 points, and created enough opportunities for the offense to exploit good field position and/or mount a momentum-sustaining drive--and what the D didn't provide, the zebras did.

It has become apparent that while Frerotte is a big improvement over T-Jack (which damns him with faint praise), the offense in general is being sabotaged by bad play-calling, a career-backup as the signal-caller and an overrated offensive line. Ryan Cook is a horrible right tackle, guilty of at least one holding call and an offsides that immediately preceded the pass interference blunder, putting the Vikes in an untenable 2nd and 20 on a crucial possession. Birk is fading. McKinney and Hutcherson are hardly dominant. Let it be said that while Mike Tice was not the greatest head coach around, Minnesota sorely misses his abilities as a line coach.

Peterson lost a pair of fumbles today--once right near the endzone--and should probably also come in for his share of abuse. But not by me. I can't believe how talented he is, and today's butterfingers were something of an aberration--he had lost only one fumble in the previous five games and wasn't a notorious fumbler in his rookie season. Another thing: After a steady diet of AP around end and in the end-tackle holes, the Vikes have increasingly been running him up the gut recently, between the guard and tackle or center and guard. And after impressing with his game-breaking speed previously, Peterson had one of his most productive days as a punishing, Earl Campbell-like back. He rang the bell of the Lions' Alexander so badly in that post-pass interference series that the Lions had to be charged a timeout while Alexander regained consciousness or remembered his first name while lying prostrate on the ground. There were also plenty of occasions where Peterson dragged a defender a few yards, or simply lowered his head and moved the pile three yards. Considering that this same guy can get you six in a split second with a sliver of daylight, and a rare two-fumble day, is not putting him in my doghouse.

It does need to be said, however, that ever since Childress took over, the team has has problems scoring in the red zone--the place where play-calling becomes especially important. Nor can we blame this problem on T-Jack any longer (which is a moot point anyway, because T-Jack was the prime example of Childress misjudging his talent).

The third sentence of the Associated Press story, after saying that the Lions' cornerback wants an apology and Vikes' fans want a new coach, is, "Neither party is likely to be satisfied anytime soon." This is true, and as it should be. Regardless of what you think of Childress, you don't replace an NFL head coach in the middle of the season unless you want to throw in the towel and/or you are a crazy old fool like the Raiders' Al Davis. Whatever you want to say about Childress, the guy has a pretty effective counter: "My team is in first place." Yes, if today's effort versus the Lions is any indication, that's a hollow state of affairs that will soon disintegrate. But the NFC North is there for the taking, and on a day when the Vikings played their worst game of the season, they moved forward.

Quick hits: The Red Sox ought to seriously consider shutting down Josh Beckett. Anyone who has seen his past two starts, especially after the two or three fairly dominant outings he made after coming off the DL in late summer, knows he's not right. Announcers Ron Darling and Buck Martinez tried to chalk it up to Beckett being rusty. "He's used to making 33 starts, having a routine where he pitches every fifth day," said Darling. Uh, no he isn't. This is a guy continually beseiged by blisters that cause him to take a week or two off on a regular basis.

What makes Beckett's last two starts especially concerning is that he wasn't exactly facing teams wielding hot bats. Yes, the Angels and the Rays have battered him for an amazing 18 hits and 12 runs combined in his 9 and a third total innings against them. But BoSox relievers allowed just 2 runs and 10 hits in 13 and a third innings in those same two contests. I know Tim Wakefield has been knocked around in both the postseason and by this Rays ballclub. But it may be time to throw the knuckleballer out there and see if he can give you a few innings before turning it over to a bullpen committee.

As for the Timberwolves, I'm not going to write too much about games I don't see. But the loss to Denver with Love and Jefferson in the same frontcourt is hardly a surprise. Even if the ballclub was weary, as coach Randy Wittman said, the Nugs sat Melo and don't have Camby and still put up 60 points in the paint while outscoring Minnesota 31-10 in fast break points--and this with a dual point backcourt of Bassy and Foye.