After the roof caved in on the Metrodome (and the Vikings season and Brett Favre’s consecutive game streak and Tarvaris Jackson’s days in a Vikings uniform) last Sunday, the Vikings were forced to move a home game against the New York Giants to Ford Field in Detroit. While the venue change wasn’t the reason the Vikings got shellacked it wasn’t exactly a non-factor in the team’s overall flatness.
This week’s Monday Night Football game versus the Chicago Bears was announced to be taking place at least in the same city at the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium so the team could enjoy it’s final home game of 2010 at “home” (sort of). But now, the Bears are saying they’d rather not.
By Peter Christian
It was reported this morning that the Chicago Bears are filing an appeal to not to play at TCF Bank Stadium after reports that the grounds crew at the Gopher’s stadium may not be able to completely thaw the frozen Field Turf that currently sits under a couple inches of ice and a few feet of snow.
The problem with that appeal is that is was unnecessary. Oh and it makes the Chicago Bears look like a group of pansies.
Bears safety Chris Harris has been crying bitching pontificating about the field conditions on Twitter all morning long. His complaints claim that the field will be unsafe because a frozen field will be like playing on asphalt. While the field will be very unforgiving, publicly complaining about it just makes him look like a prissy figure skater rather than a tough football player.
Of course, the Bears pleading for a venue change isn’t completely because they’re worried about the surface.
No, the team is looking for an opportunity to play the game at a neutral field so as to eliminate any home field advantage that a 5-8 Vikings team with a 3rd/4th string quarterback might have. That’s right the team that’s 9-4 and leading the NFC North is trying to scheme and sneak it’s way into an easier win versus a team that has taken about 13 cannonball blows to its pre-season hopes and aspirations.
Of course, even sinking to the whiny level of filing the appeal wasn’t even needed at all since the NFL already had backup plans in place if TCF Bank Stadium was deemed unsafe or unready by the league by this weekend. Atlanta, New Orleans and Indianapolis have all been mentioned as back up locations if the campus stadium isn’t fit for play.
Instead of just preparing for the worst and hoping for the best, the Chicago Bears showed their lack of grit by metaphorically running to their Daddy, stomping their feet and yelling, “That’s not fair.”
If the league, in fact, does decide that TCF Bank Stadium isn’t properly suited to host the game on Monday night, you will get no argument from me (or, I would hope, most Vikings fans for that matter) but if the Bears continue to whine and bitch about the field in preparation for the game, then allow me to speak for the Vikings and their fans and say: