purplejokr

First off, I have to explain my absence so no one thinks that I have been away to hide... like some folks have done around these parts.

My birthday was the 5th of February. For my birthday, I decided that I wanted to go to the Caribbean and visit South America. So, I left on January 25th for Miami. I watched the NFC title game in a hotel room in Miami. After that I boarded Celebrity Cruise Line's brand new ship named the Equinox for an 11 day voyage around the Caribbean that included stops in Panama, Costa Rica, & Colombia. At the end of our cruise, I flew home on my birthday and watched the Super Bowl at a friend's place. I watched the Super Bowl bitterly, I might add.

I spend this week catching up with the things that went undone while I was away from my house as well as preparing for the upcoming semester of school.

So, yeah, had I not been away on vacation I would have checked in much sooner than today. If only to vent about what I felt was the problem with the Vikings and their performance against the Saints.

Vikings lose.

It wasn't even that they lost as much as how they lost. Fumbling the damn game away was just terrible. I could handle losing to a better team and even being blown out but to lose that way was just demoralizing.

The defense played its best game of the year against a fantastic opponent. The Vikings dominated the game statistically from beginning to end. It was the offense that committed 5 turnovers that just killed them.

As I am completely aware that this is a Bears' board and there is an unmitigated hatred for Brett Favre, I understand that most of you will blame Favre for throwing the game away. Sidenote: Which is funny to me because to the best my knowledge, Jay Cutler led the league in INTs this year yet Bear fan blames Jay for only a handful of INTs. LOL!

For me, a combination of red zone fumbles killed the Vikings. Turning the ball over and giving the Saints a short field was too much for the Viking defense to handle. Coupled with the Vikings putting the ball on the turf in the Saints' end. It was those fumbles that led to Favre making the throw late in the 4th across his body that was INT'ed. Man, that was a HORRIBLE play!

However, like I have said during discussions about Cutler's proclivity to throw INTs this season... This is what you get with a gunslinger at QB. Like Bear fan like to mention time and again, Favre is the INT King for a reason. I get that and there is no disputing that. With that said, I assume that Favre will throw an INT or two when playing a good team. What I do not assume are red zone fumbles by skill position players.

So, for me, Favre's INTs are a part of the equation. Just like Cutler's INTs are a part of the equation. I assume that Favre/Cutler WILL turn the ball over at any given time. I mean, 26 INTs and Favre's INTs over his career aren't anomalies! If anything, Favre's 7 INTs this season are the anomaly!

What I cannot wrap my head around is Peterson's, Harvin's, and Berrian's putting the ball on the turf. And where they put the ball on the turf! I mean, Berrian fumbled at the Saint 18 or something while Harvin fumbled at the Viking 26 or something. Those two turnovers are just killer. One led to 7 points for the Saints while the other potentially took away 7 points from the Vikings. Adding Favre's INTs puts the Vikings in an absolutely HORRIBLE position.

The amazing thing is that the Vikings were STILL in a position to win at the end of the game. All it was gonna take was a field goal and the Vikings were headed to Miami. The Vikings were STILL in the game even after seemingly EVERYTHING had gone wrong.

Many thanks to the defense for playing the game of their lives. I just wish the offense could have risen to their level. 6 damn fumbles just isn't gonna win a football game. Especially, when you add in two INTs.

Me ----> <---- Viking offense

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