The Minnesota Vikings received some very good news at the start of the game against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. Kicker Nate Kaeding was being carted to the locker room for complications that ensued from an attempted tackle. He is out for the year with a possible torn ACL. That wasn’t enough for Minnesota to capitalize and steal a victory in Southern California.
The Vikings led by ten points at the half and things were looking up for the squad. Norv Turner has had notoriously slow starts in San Diego and this seemed to be more of the same. The game then was turned upside down as the Chargers scored seventeen unanswered points to finish the contest. The Vikings accrued twice as many yards in penalties than they did through the air.
I mentioned in a previous blog that Donovan McNabb was the worst quarterback in the NFC East last year and he will be in the NFC North this year. There couldn’t have been more convincing evidence presented than what transpired in week one. Michael Jenkins led the team with twenty six receiving yards. Philip Rivers threw for about three hundred more yards than McNabb. I haven’t seen numbers this one sided since I analyzed the Colts-Texans box score earlier today.
Adrian Peterson signed a seven year contract on Saturday that is worth one hundred million dollars. He was about the only one who showed up offensively for the Vikings. He attained close to one hundred yards even though there was no aerial threat posed to the Chargers’ defense. He is going to face stacked up defensive lines all season long if this lack of passing persists.
The depressing thing for Vikings fans is that the team only had one turnover, which took place on the first pass thrown by McNabb in purple. The reason for concern is that would explain the lack of points and production in the second half. The dismal results can solely be attributed to a lack of execution. There were no key injuries from the playmakers and the weather was gorgeous.
The Vikings are fortunate that they have a strong fan base because the Tampa Bay Bucs, their next opponent, played in front of a lackadaisical crowd during their opener. The team won ten of sixteen games last season and they are still not receiving support from the community. Minnesota will come out of the tunnel next Sunday to a full stadium and bedlam. This will be a tremendous boost and should even out things somewhat.
It is quite intriguing that there was much ado about the Vikings heading to a two tight end set. It is a valid idea since the team has three quality men in this position on the roster. Jim Kleinsasser, Visanthe Shiancoe, and Kyle Rudolph could start for the vast majority of organizations. The puzzling part is why none of them had a catch on Sunday. They would seem to be safe options for a new quarterback in an abbreviated session of training camp. A point of emphasis should be utilized on the field, not as a smoke screen.