Coping With Adversity
Where would you rather find yourself? Looking at a
five game consecutive win streak, opening our 2016 season heading into the bye,
or would you rather have to face all of the adversity of this 2018 season that
has led us to today. It's time to stop beating ourselves up by reassessing
what we've accomplished up to this point. It's time to put this all into
perspective. This team is a force of reckoning (a very active ... not
passive voice)? If 1998 season teaches us anything ... it's that home
field advantage throughout the playoffs guarantees you nothing ... but being a
dominant professional unstoppable force ... well that's another
matter.
Now for a moment, try to imagine having to face Drew Bree's 2017 team that was
seen in the divisional round of last years playoffs. Now imagine having to
do so without our shut down cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Now subtract your
best offensive anchor in Riley Reiff garnered to protect Cousins blind
side. Now add to that list not having your most potent offensive weapon in
Dalvin Cook. Now let's add to that the uncertainty of having a kicker that
will secure either an extra point or a field goal (compare that to the
performance of New Orleans kicker last Sunday). Now add to that the
immaturity of a quarterback, who touches the ball on every offensive snap, that
cannot be relied upon to either secure the ball or to get rid of it when the
odds are clearly against making that play. Now add into that mix having to
allowing your all pro defensive end the time to heal by having to disappear for
a five week stint only to resurface just before having to play a revenge match
game versus what could arguably be the greatest threat that this team will face
in the NFC. Now take an additional moment & separate the twins:
Sendejo from Smith. Now just for giggles, let's mess around with Mike
Zimmer's brilliant 2 linebacker nickel & dime packages by having Anthony
Barr step out not to mention having to face the brunt of a full force 2-headed
running game with Barr out of that base defense. Now add in the still
vertical learning curve of Danny Isodora (to replace Easton), plus add in the 45
degree tangential learning curve of Brian O'Neill, not to mention having to flip
flop Rashod Hill from right to left tackle and we begin to see that picture
developing before our eyes. The league prognosticators have come to expect
Head Coach Zimmer facing & then dominating every possible curve thrown at
him but we have to face the reality of this "Snap Shot in Time".
In other words, all that is hell today ... may not be permanent in
time.
Now with all that on Coach Zimmer's plate ... exactly how many idiots would have
the thought that the Vikings would have even a sniff of a chance of being up 20
to 10 at the half ... which might have profoundly affected Bree's attempt to
effect revenge? However, that exact outcome was moments from
happening. Now compound it all together with the stew of having to endure
it all after the brutality of the first seven games of this 2018 season.
I'm almost afraid to ask Coach Zimmer, after dealing with all of this, if he
would flinch at the thought of having to play Russian Roulette where Zimmer's
plight is eerily similar to Gene Hackman's character in the movie, "The
Quick & the Dead", when he says, "After that ... Nothing frightens
me!". What is truly remarkable, after it all, is that it has all
compounded year after year on top of itself as last year schedule was far from a
picnic ... it's just been must worse ... at least up to
now.
Now consider an answer to a deeply puzzling question. We have a long &
sordid history of being upside down, that is except for that remarkable 1987
season. You might remember just after recording 3 scab game losses ...
this franchise was all but dead & buried too. Now compare 1987 to
the 1998 season where we are flying high right up to the moment of the
completion of the divisional round of the playoffs versus the Cardinals.
It was at that moment that John Randle suffered the knee injury that made him
almost completely ineffective versus the Falcons. How might that one
single event have changed the outcome of that championship game & what might
have followed? Sounds allot like taking out Brett Favre in the NFC
champion game of the 2009 season ... but I digress. The number of these occurrences
in our 57 year history brought forth the never ending question from my deepest
depths from what was at the time a very young lad. Why is it that our team
never appears to be peaking ... when it counts ... in the NFL's greatest
contest? At first, it was easy to blame the stars, as the luck of the big
dipper falls out as it is upside-down in January & February each & every
year ... but is it not the same for both franchises meeting in this
contest? The answer of course just might be that maybe we were never truly
worthy of that happenstance because the counter argument of these results can
only be nefarious as to its cause. What does this say about
our present state and how is it different from all other years? Yes, it is
different somehow and do we have the ability to cope with our present state as
the beginning & the middle of the season really doesn't matter ... does
it?
Maybe you
caught a glimpse of many of the Saints players after the game where you observed
something that was completely unexplained. What you saw were very stern
looks of vindication for last years playoff eviction notice but it was also
mixed with something very deeply hidden. The Saints could take solace
knowing they now control the tie breaker over the Vikings but there is little
solace to have achieved as these Vikings already have both 1/2 of a win &
loss added to their 2018 mark, so a tie breaker is meaningless.
Within the Saints is the thought that these Vikings just might be, or are now
dead & buried ... leaving them in the Saints dust, but the look upon their
faces indicated a very different message. Drew Brees has now been blessed
with the gifts of 2009 NFC championship game & now this most recent
victory. Upon both occasions the Vikings did just enough to shoot
themselves in the foot but it is clear that this franchise is not within their
rear view mirror ... we are instead directly splattered within their future
path. Sorry boys ... but the NFL viewer ship is crazy hungry at the
possibility of a rematch. The NFL is entertainment & it wants its
stars to twinkle during the playoffs. What is now very clear to everyone
with an NFL heartbeat is that without our tendency toward self destruction ...
there is nothing that can stop this team (short of the cheating ways of Tom
Brady & Bill Belichick).
So what have we learned up to & including this juncture and what are the
indicators of exactly where we stand. Well, maybe you missed it but 30
minutes before the 2018 trade deadline the Rams gave up a 2019 3rd round &
2020 5th round pick to acquire their defenses 7th first-rounder by picking up
Dante Fowler of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well maybe you're not familiar
with the NFL's greatest truism which is, "You cannot buy yourself an NFL
championship". The move clearly exposes the Rams as they are hoping
to fix something that was clearly exposed by this very Minnesota Viking
franchise. To the media, it's an attempt to simulate Mike Zimmer's yearly
draft acquisitions or moves of building this franchise through high-round
defensive draft picks but by comparison let take a closer look at the Ram's
recent move. The Ram's gave up those draft picks knowing that Fowler
couldn't displace playing time within the Jaguars, that he has a sordid history
with both discipline & injuries, and that Fowler is in the final year of his
contract knowing that no one would be picking up his 5th year option, thereby
becoming a free agent at years end. Throughout the Viking nation, this
sounds more like a Bradford-desperate-acquisition than it does about any sort of
Super Bowl run, even if the playoff games are played in Los Angeles. Even
being undefeated at this juncture, this weekend in New Orleans will go along way
at exposing the actual state of these Los Angeles Rams.
Now the Vikings sports beat reminds us of Mike Zimmer's statement of how the
Viking Nation is going to be quite pleased come February (2019), where they are
now cautioning our premature demise. When our head coach states that he's
quite content with his played hand, it comes off as being just left center of
being absolutely nuts, but we almost never understand the context, because Zim's
statement was both straight-faced & sober. Quite simply, he absolutely
loves the fight in this team, where we just got to get our mental aspects of
this game under control ... nothing more than immaturity. Regardless of
the age of this team or whether a player is playing within his prime ... they
are still learning how to play together as a team. They know that none of
these knuckleheads are virgins but that doesn't mean they are anything close to
great lovers of this rough & tumble sport. In short ... just because
someone handed you the keys to the Ferrari, on your honeymoon 2 months ago
(handed a brand new hot as hell wife) ... it doesn't mean your doing it, or
anything like it ... anywhere close to right. Sure, you might have got the
climax part, of the procreation step right, but that doesn't mean this team
isn't one false step from being kicked out the door for a very premature, or
performance attempt, at great foreplay. Is it just me ... or does it seem
like Flip is skipping a few steps here? Don't you know & realize that
there is a severe penalty for early withdrawal? It's time to table the
quick attempts toward the quick score for the pleasure of playing the game as it
was meant to be
played.
This team has everything in place. Stop chasing your own tail. Allow
us a moment to enjoy & savor the experience ... because we are not
interested in how quickly you can get your cigarette
lit.
Sure, the time management issue has once again blown open your doors after
playing the Saints but I'm almost certain this was missed. When playing
with a lead, you don't run your no huddle offense (quick pace), with time
remaining on the play clock. That offense needs to be shelved when it is
clear that you need to milk the clock of all its remaining time. Your
opponent is not only a team ... it's the clock. No team can be beat having
no time left on the clock but a miracle can occur with 10 seconds left on the
clock. Go ahead & try to deny doing this in New York.
You need to see a replay before issuing that challenge
... take the "soccer-flop" which is reasonable (just look at your
injury report). An injury time out or delay always seems to do the
trick. Being minus a player with the depth this team has is not a big
deal. Maybe you haven't noticed but that is exactly what they do all
the time to gain an advantage over this franchise. It's like a gift,
because New York looks at all questionable calls in the final two minutes &
they are certainly not timid about stopping the clock to get a call right
regardless of whether you, or the team that you're facing, has a remaining time
out or not.
The Viking Ghost Writer
http://MyVikingBlood.org
Date: October 31, 2018
