Monday, January 02, 2006
Another Season...
...another disappointing Vikings season. Yes it ended far better than it started but they failed in many ways:
1. Failed to get the 11-12 wins necessary to take the North and get in the playoffs. Though admittedly they were close. In my estimation they could have won the Steelers and Ravens games, I'm not kidding either. If they manage to convert on their two chances the score is at least 18-17 they'd still lose but the momentum may have swung their way. That Ravens game just made no sense.
2. Offensive failure. Under Culpepper they were inconsistent and bad. Under Johnson they were consistent but average at best. Johnson helped a lot in regards to calming them down but they missed that big play possibility that the Culpepper to Moss connection provided. What really pisses me off is that Tice and Culpepper were hyping themselves up to be better without Moss. I thought yeah right before the season and I was right.
3. The running game. I always heard about how the Vikings had an "embarrassment of riches" at the HB position. But this year they were inconsistent. Either it was Onterrio Smith's pot problems, constant trade rumors for Micheal Bennet, Mewelde Moore apparently being a hypochondriac, or the always there but unappreicated Moe Williams the Vikings couldn't get a consistent running game going. Every so often you'd see Bennet or Moore have a possible breakout game only to have it go to waste the next game.
4. Just plain off-field humilation. The Love Boat thing, Tice's Super Bowl scalping, The Whizinator, etc. They made things worse and if the Vikings hadn't managed to get themselves into playoff contention I dunno if they team could have held togethor.
Things to hopefully look forward to next season:
1. A healthy and confident (if not jailed) Culpepper . I loved what Johnson did even if it was unspectacular but I feel if the Vikings can get Daunte back and in the groove he was in the last two seasons (he was an MVP candidate last season and he did it without Moss for much of it) their offense will be better for it. Culpepper needs to realize he doesn't have to force everything and carry the team on his back.
2. A consistent running game. As mentioned before they couldn't get anything out of it. Part of it was the fact that their O-line was hurt and for some reason Tice didn't want to use Jim Kleinsasser exclusively as a fullback but as a tight end/FB combo. Jimmy doesn't have the receiving hands to play a tough position like TE and when he was a FB helped Micheal Bennet achieve that great season he had a few years back.
3. Healthy and more experienced O-line. Without veteran Matt Birk they were just a mess for the most part. The first part of the season was especially bad as Culpepper had less time to find an open receiver than he did last year and so he forced a lot of bad passes. Next year hopefully they'll be able to protect him better.
4. The Defense. Its been years since I've been able to say "the Vikings have a damned good Defense." While they ended up ranked 21st the second half of the season had them well up there in terms of D and their turnover/interception ratio was in the Vikings favor. If they can get thier offense back up to speed with that defense this team may eventually make good this season's promises.
5. A new coach. I don't know who yet (I've heard Defensive cooridantor Ted Cottrel may be the top candidate) but hopefully he'll bring some discipline back to the team. I was very critical of Tice and thought he was unfairly fired this season after coaching them to a 7-2 record after that 2-5 start. But I didn't enjoy some of his play calling and his handling of players particularily the running game. Though he is fired I hope he catches on somewhere else because he still was a decent coach who may not have been ideal for the Vikings after Dennis Green. But he had 4 years to get it done and only manged 2 playoff games and a .500 record with two seasons where they had fast starts and crashed hard in the second half.
Well that's the end of the season. I'll watch the playoffs I suppose but not very intentely. The Winter Olympics are next month so that should be fun. Then baseball. Whoo.
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1. Failed to get the 11-12 wins necessary to take the North and get in the playoffs. Though admittedly they were close. In my estimation they could have won the Steelers and Ravens games, I'm not kidding either. If they manage to convert on their two chances the score is at least 18-17 they'd still lose but the momentum may have swung their way. That Ravens game just made no sense.
2. Offensive failure. Under Culpepper they were inconsistent and bad. Under Johnson they were consistent but average at best. Johnson helped a lot in regards to calming them down but they missed that big play possibility that the Culpepper to Moss connection provided. What really pisses me off is that Tice and Culpepper were hyping themselves up to be better without Moss. I thought yeah right before the season and I was right.
3. The running game. I always heard about how the Vikings had an "embarrassment of riches" at the HB position. But this year they were inconsistent. Either it was Onterrio Smith's pot problems, constant trade rumors for Micheal Bennet, Mewelde Moore apparently being a hypochondriac, or the always there but unappreicated Moe Williams the Vikings couldn't get a consistent running game going. Every so often you'd see Bennet or Moore have a possible breakout game only to have it go to waste the next game.
4. Just plain off-field humilation. The Love Boat thing, Tice's Super Bowl scalping, The Whizinator, etc. They made things worse and if the Vikings hadn't managed to get themselves into playoff contention I dunno if they team could have held togethor.
Things to hopefully look forward to next season:
1. A healthy and confident (if not jailed) Culpepper . I loved what Johnson did even if it was unspectacular but I feel if the Vikings can get Daunte back and in the groove he was in the last two seasons (he was an MVP candidate last season and he did it without Moss for much of it) their offense will be better for it. Culpepper needs to realize he doesn't have to force everything and carry the team on his back.
2. A consistent running game. As mentioned before they couldn't get anything out of it. Part of it was the fact that their O-line was hurt and for some reason Tice didn't want to use Jim Kleinsasser exclusively as a fullback but as a tight end/FB combo. Jimmy doesn't have the receiving hands to play a tough position like TE and when he was a FB helped Micheal Bennet achieve that great season he had a few years back.
3. Healthy and more experienced O-line. Without veteran Matt Birk they were just a mess for the most part. The first part of the season was especially bad as Culpepper had less time to find an open receiver than he did last year and so he forced a lot of bad passes. Next year hopefully they'll be able to protect him better.
4. The Defense. Its been years since I've been able to say "the Vikings have a damned good Defense." While they ended up ranked 21st the second half of the season had them well up there in terms of D and their turnover/interception ratio was in the Vikings favor. If they can get thier offense back up to speed with that defense this team may eventually make good this season's promises.
5. A new coach. I don't know who yet (I've heard Defensive cooridantor Ted Cottrel may be the top candidate) but hopefully he'll bring some discipline back to the team. I was very critical of Tice and thought he was unfairly fired this season after coaching them to a 7-2 record after that 2-5 start. But I didn't enjoy some of his play calling and his handling of players particularily the running game. Though he is fired I hope he catches on somewhere else because he still was a decent coach who may not have been ideal for the Vikings after Dennis Green. But he had 4 years to get it done and only manged 2 playoff games and a .500 record with two seasons where they had fast starts and crashed hard in the second half.
Well that's the end of the season. I'll watch the playoffs I suppose but not very intentely. The Winter Olympics are next month so that should be fun. Then baseball. Whoo.
