Minnesota Vikings Breakdown

Last Man Standing -- Vikings Head Into Bye Week 5-0

Vikings Training Camp 2016 - 039

After five weeks, the only undefeated team left in the entire landscape of professional football is the Minnesota Vikings. Starting quarterback, gone. Starting, Hall of Fame running back, gone. Starting left tackle, gone. Starting right tackle, gone. Despite all that, 5-0. At this point it's old news to talk about the greatness of the Vikings defense. Five weeks into the season, they are on a historic pace of shutting opposing offenses down. The Vikings defense has better defensive statistics through five weeks than the heralded, 1985 Chicago Bears defense. Let that sink in for a moment. ...

Minnesota Vikings Week 3 - Review, Preview and Talking Points

Teddy Bridgewater copy If expectations had been higher, the past few weeks would go down as one of the most painful times in Minnesota Vikings history. Fortunately, even the brightest-eyed and bushiest-tailed fans (like myself) only predicted an 8-8 season before kickoff in St. Louis. Now we can just savor the fact that if our season is on its way to a dark, sad place (like it probably is) we'll get a decent draft pick and won't have to get the let down of just missing the playoffs. The New Orleans Saints executed a textbook two-man high-low tackle on our scrambling Matt Cassel to put yet another foot injury on a Vikings quarterback...

Minnesota Vikings Week 2 - Review, Preview and Talking Points

Peterson greatest viking of all time

In my semi-professional opinion, nobody in Viking-land wants to read about the 30-7 route of our beloved team this past Sunday. Other than the painful reminder of how underwhelming the men in purple are without their star running-back, the game helped to put optimism on hold (and the bandwagon keys back in the drawer).
Adrian Peterson Apologizes
In a statement...

Minnesota Vikings Week 1 - Review, Preview and Talking Points

mike zimmer - vikings head coach 2014 training camp Nobody predicted that our Vikings would be walking away from St. Louis with a blowout win. Before Rams quarterback Sam Bradford re-tore his ACL, the most common prediction among fans was an 0-3 start to our season; but with Bradford gone a victory seemed possible, if not slightly likely. Yet, the thought that the Vikes would score over 20 points through the Rams defense seemed laughable, even by me. But then they went ahead and won 34-6.
A Skolded Perspective
Purple-clad Minnesotans don't let each other get too high off of wins,...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- Vikings Take Down Cardinals With Last Second Score

Vikings win preseason cardinals

With eighteen seconds left in the game while fans were chanting “Teddy!” Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater capped a desperation drive with a two-yard touchdown pass on a right fade route to second-year wide receiver Rodney Smith to steal back a 30-28 victory from the Arizona Cardinals. The Minnesota Vikings needed such a drive after an extremely strange ruling gave the Arizona Cardinals a touchdown on a scooped-up fumble with just over a minute left in the game. Of course, in preseason matches, the score doesn’t matter so much, but the situations do.
"Teddy was calm. He was smart. That...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- Training Camp and The Quarterback Battle

chad greenway vikings - minnesota vikings breakdown

It's hard to believe that actual NFL football games are mere weeks away. This is the time of the year when fans are full of bright optimism, that this is the year their team takes the next step. Many Vikings fans from my circles have just that optimism, believing that this year the putrid defense of last cannot possibly fare any worse than they did in 2013 (they really cannot). Can the team rebound from a paltry 5-10-1 season under the new regime of Mike Zimmer? I was down at training camp last week on the sidelines to snap some photos and get a chance to see the...

Disciplinarian Mike Zimmer Hired as Vikings New Head Coach

Mike Zimmer - Hired - Vikings Head Coach - 2014 - 9th Head Coach The Minnesota Vikings have landed their ninth coach in their long history after Leslie Frazier was fired at the end of December -- onto the Vikings head coaching throne now sits former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, a move that is being praised by almost all. I have not heard one negative thing about Zimmer since he was announced to be moving to Minnesota, from league writers, players, and even Hall of Famers like Deion Sanders. And I have to agree -- Zimmer seems like the perfect fit for this talented roster. Zimmer is a strict type of guy...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- "An Instant Classic" -- Week 14

Toby Gerhart - Vikings - Ravens - Snowstorm - 2013

The blizzard of a football game played between the Ravens and Vikings on Sunday had easily one of the most insane finishes I've ever witnessed. The game featured five touchdowns in the final two minutes and one second that had both respective fan bases thinking they'd just won the game in the final moments. Though Minnesota lost, this game is surely one all Vikings fans will never forget. And count your blessings, Adrian Peterson was not seriously injured when tackled on his ankle in the second quarter. Prayers answered. Up until the blitzkrieg...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- "An Unexpected Victory" -- Week 13

Adrian Peterson - Beastmode - Bears - Vikings - OT - 10000 yards - 2013

There have been few games this year that have been as entertaining as Minnesota versus Chicago -- the first matchup went down to the wire, the Bears scoring late in the fourth quarter to seal their victory. The second matchup was back and forth all game, Alshon Jeffrey and Adrian Peterson exchanging blows which led to an overtime session that was far less entertaining than regulation. The game really started to get interesting once Christian Ponder left with concussion-like...

Minnesota Vikings Breakdown -- "Kissing Your Sister" -- Week 12

Packers - Vikings - 2013 - Tie - Adrian Peterson

Well I can guarantee no one predicted a 26-26 Vikings/Packers tie on Sunday. Ties happen so rarely in the NFL, who would have thought one of the oldest rivalries in the league would come up so vanilla. As the saying goes, tying is like, "Kissing your sister." Both teams shot themselves in the foot enough on Sunday to justify not winning the game -- so I guess you could say neither team deserved to win. Despite a huge game from Adrian Peterson, 146 rushing yards on 32 carries, both season highs, the Vikings found plenty of ways to lose this game. Even with a 23-7 fourth...