Old dude, the Vikings seem to be getting a lot of love from the media lately, and it seems fairly deserved.
For a swarthy bunch of pillagers, they're quite photogenic. And it all seems like such a nice story.
Or is it? We will discuss the Vikings later, but we have other games to pick in college football.
I like college football. It's got a lot of spectacle and pageantry, and beyond that sometimes the football itself isn't too bad. I'm actually watching some football tonight. Your favorite team is playing.
Those jerks from Ohio? No, that's too strong. Let's try to be nicer for the new year. So, while Ohio State plays against USC tonight, we have some HYYYYYPPPEEE! upped games to discuss. Watch me work!
Orange Bowl: Beloved Wisconsin Badgers (-5.5) vs. The U, in Miami. The Badgers are playing what is a neutral site game, but really is a home game for the Miami Hurricanes. Wisconsin was 60 minutes away from sniffing the Rose Bowl, but thanks to A School in Columbus find themselves in Miami. The U is well-coached under Mark Richt, who I argue is the best coach in America for the improvement he has engineered by turning Miami back into a national title contender. Having said that I expect the Badgers to wear down Miami and show that Hurricane speed will lose to farm boy power. Wisconsin 35, Miami 20.
Some of those farm boys can move. And the war of attrition is going to be the key here. Miami struggled with teams that could get physical with them this year, and no team in college football is more physical than the Badgers, especially on the offensive line. The holes will open in the second half and Jonathan Taylor will get his yards and his points. Wisconsin 34, Miami 21.
Rose Bowl: Oklahoma Boomer Sooner (+2) vs. Georgia Bulldogs, in Pasadena. This game would never be a traditional Rose Bowl, but in the playoff era we have to make due. Baker Mayfield, the annoying Sooner quarterback who quit on Texas Tech when he couldn't handle competition, is ill and might not be at 100%. Georgia is a good defensive team who is the SEC team that deserves the right to be here on merit, after looking very impressive in the SEC title game. I expect Oklahoma to not score a whole lot of points, but to beat Georgia to hopefully set up a more palatable national title game. Oklahoma 28, Georgia 14.
Georgia will fool you -- they are more explosive than they seem. The key will be who sets the pace -- if the game is a track meet, OU will win. If it turns into a slog, favor the Dogs. Georgia 24, Oklahoma 21.
Sugar Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide (-3) vs. Clemson Tigers, in New Orleans. I swear to God, why do we need to see this game again? Clemson deserves to be here on merit, because they won their conference. I normally don't shill for A School in Columbus, but in what world do you allow Alabama, a team that coughed up a hairball against Auburn and did not even win their division into the playoffs over the Buckeyes, a team that won their conference and beat the only Power 5 unbeaten? The committee clearly views conference championships as a suggestion, and as a result these two semifinals are very regional in their interests, where us Big Ten and Pac-12 fans have no reason to care about who wins. I want Clemson to win so the SEC homers like Paul "ESPN Paid SEC Shill" Finebaum will see the light. Clemson 31, Tide Rolled 10.
Not that you have any opinion on the matter. I'm tired of Alabama, too, but they are pretty good. Can they beat Clemson? I think they can, but I don't think they will. Clemson will win this game with defense. It won't be a wild one like the title game last year. Clemson 24, Alabama 20.
Glorious Green Bay Packers (+7) vs. Detroit LOLions. The Packers are playing for pride this week, and it is a shame. This team looked good early in the year, but thanks to a boatload of injuries and questionable defensive schemes, Packers fans will go into next year knowing that the natural and correct order in the NFC North will return to normal in the coming year. I think the Packers play well and get to 8-8, and hopefully management fires Capers and brings in someone like Vic Fangio and gives the new guy total control of the defense. Packers 31, LOLions Going To LOLions 0.
I dunno. The Packers barely have enough players to play this game. I will be very interested to see if the Lions play hard to save Jim Caldwell's job. We should know the answer to that question pretty quickly. Lions 31, Packers 20.
Bear Down Chicago da Bearz Still Suck (+12.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings. Sorry, Gino. You know it's true. Meanwhile, on to the Purple. The Vikings are getting a lot of love, and their record says that all the love is deserved. Well, here is what the Vikings fans drinking the Kool-Aid won't tell you. Coming into this season, the Vikings schedule was ranked 27th in terms of difficulty, with opponent winning percentage of .453 based on 2016 records. This information is here. The scores of the Vikings games can be found on their team website. While I would agree that the Vikings have played well against the NFC South and their record is a fair reflection of their talent this year, when looking at the scores of their games one can clearly see that they have not exactly had many blowouts, and have won games based on making just enough plays. The NFC North overall has been down, as both the Packers and the Lions are going to miss the playoffs after making the playoffs a year ago. Also, the Vikings started 5-0 last year, and missed the playoffs with almost the entire roster core already being on the team, including Sam Bradford setting a league record for completion percentage. So, what I am trying to say is that although the Vikings are a good football team and a legitimate Super Bowl contender, the media is not telling you the whole story. The NFL is very much hoping for positive headlines surrounding the league, especially after a year filled with controversy about injuries, national anthem questions, injuries to star players, and flat television ratings. The Vikings are the perfect distraction in the eyes of the league, and thus it is in the interests of the league and it's media partners to talk up the Vikings as a distraction from those issues. I think the Vikings win, but we should remember that while the Vikings are a good football team, they are not really that much better than last year. Vikings 27, Da Bearz 17.
Sometimes you look better if everyone else looks worse. And at this point, the Vikings look better because they've largely avoided looking worse. They are a well-coached, disciplined team that will hit you in the mouth. That's always been a formula for success at every level of football, so it doesn't surprise me they have succeeded this year. I still think an NFC South team will break their hearts in the playoffs, but they aren't playing one of those teams this week. Vic Fangio, come to Green Bay! Vikings 33, Bears 14.
As God is my witness, the Packers will rise again and have their revenge. Ben out!
7 comments:
Any given Sunday, dudes... Bears beat the Steelers, the Panthers, and the Ravens... But I wouldn't put money on it.
I kind of figured that the Vikings must have a pretty good win percentage in one score games. Sure enough, 5-2. They will likely regress a bit next year if Bill Barnwell and his fellow travelers judge the universe rightly.
New Year's Day thoughts: Mark Richt should have spent the second half in the locker room. The contact with an official, and his attitude should have resulted in an ejection.
The OU head coach and/or offensive coordinator are responsible for the loss to Georgia. The play-calling in OU's last possession in regulation, and during the overtime was pathetically conservative. After having your Heisman QB almost single-handedly bring you back from a 7-point deficit, the Sooner brain-trust acted as if they had Trent Dilfer at QB.
Re the Vikings - the media is talking about their D being the "most feared"; it's a strange distinction. The D doesn't savage you with takeaways or sacks - though they're good at these. Instead, they choke you out. The overall record of their opponents going into the season may have been thin, but they made some pretty good offenses look feeble this year. So, are you more afraid of a grizzly bear, or a python? As for the Pack, there has long been a steady drumbeat of "fire Spielman" on the Vikings comment pages (to the point where I've suggested to one such commenter that 'it's been more than 4 hours, perhaps you should see a physician about your condition.' I checked out the Milwaukee Journal, though, a couple of weeks ago and they had an interesting article detailing how Spielman has, round by round, outdrafted Thompson for the last few years. Now that Ted is reassigned, let's see what turns up in training camp next July. Meanwhile, there has probably been no greater sigh of relief than that heard from Dom Capers' dog today.
I checked out the Milwaukee Journal, though, a couple of weeks ago and they had an interesting article detailing how Spielman has, round by round, outdrafted Thompson for the last few years.
I think that's true, but with a caveat. I'm certain the Packers wanted Kendricks, for example, but the Vikings snagged him before the Packers had their turn that year. The Packers also never had a chance to draft Xavier Rhodes or Harrison Smith. Where it gets more interesting is on guys like Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter. Having said that, Ted certainly missed on several picks, most notably Datone Jones, who couldn't even make the Vikings after getting jettisoned by the Packers. And further, the only guy on the Vikings who is a real fluke is Thielen. But as Branch Rickey said, luck is the residue of design, and I think Spielman has hit on a lot of picks recently.
As for the Vikings generally, I personally think they have a decent chance this year, but I think the NFC South teams are to be feared. Keenum has not made a mistake that has cost his team all season. We'll see what happens when the bright lights are on. I don't think he's Kurt Warner, but he might be Earl Morrall.
The South teams are good, but the Vikings beat everyone in the South this year except Carolina, and a case could be made that MN hurt itself more in that game than the Panthers did. They beat the Saints before the Saints D got things figured out (and while the offense was wasting time trying to get Adrian Peterson going), but IIRC, Atlanta was on a winning streak when the Vikings came to their place, and I think the Atlanta game was the one where the "choked out" description of the D came to mind. There weren't many big defensive splash plays in the game, but everything Atlanta tried seemed to come to naught, especially on third down. It might be more comforting if the Vikings led the league in sacks and take-aways; those are flashy thing that are easy to focus on, but that can be distorted by one or two huge games. Leading the league in scoring defense and 3rd down roadblocks reflects a season-long capability, even if we're not sure exactly how they did it.
We’ll see. The stars are aligned for the Vikings, but they always seem to break the hearts of their fans. If the Vikings lose, it won’t be because of their defense; more likely it will be something catastrophic on offense or special teams.
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