With their come from behind victory Monday Night the Minnesota Vikings eliminated the Bears from the playoffs. Their 20-13 come from behind victory in the second half on Monday Night Football sealed the fate of the Chicago Bears and put the Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, and the Philadelphia Eagles on the brink of elimination.The Vikings come from behind victory Monday showed just what these guys are made of. Although it was an ugly game, and Kyle Orton performed as usual, the Vikings defense crushed the Bears, and kept them out of the end zone in the second half, to come from behind and win 20-13.
Tarvaris Jackson had a good game in that he did not panic nor lower his head when he made a mistake. The young Jackson threw three interceptions and a number of bad passes, but managed to get his team in the red zone twice in the second half for a score. Minnesota went into the locker room down 13-6 at the half, thanks to some courageous play calling on the sidelines, followed by some great play making on the field. Minnesota started out on their own 27 yard line with :23 seconds left to play in the half. Jackson threw an incomplete pass to Robert Ferguson, then on the next play scrambled to the right and ran the ball himself from the Viking 27 yard line to the Viking 45 yard line. Jackson then drew an unnecessary roughness penalty, which put the ball on the Chicago 40 yard line. With :08 seconds left to play Jackson threw a complete pass to Sydney Rice for 10 yards, and Ryan Longwell kicked the field goal to put the Vikings down 13-6 at the half.
In the third quarter Minnesota's offense struggled most of the way until Tarvaris Jackson connected with Robert Ferguson for a 71 yard completion, putting the ball on the Bears one yard line. Rookie sensation Adrian Peterson then ran the ball in for the score with 4:58 left to play in the third quarter. Chicago went four and out on the very next series, and the Vikings took over on their own 35 yard line. Minnesota then drove down field and scored early in the fourth quarter to take a 20-13 lead. Tarvaris Jackson helped lead his team from their own 35 yard line down to Chicago's 8 yard line before getting injured. Brooks Bollinger came into the game and botched a hand off to Adrian Peterson, who ran the ball in the end zone anyway. The Vikings then tried a two point conversion and Bollinger ran the ball in for the two points.
Some gutsy play calling was going on all night. Chicago was 1/2 on fourth down efficiency and Minnesota was 1/1. When Minnesota got control of the ball with :23 seconds left to play in the half, they were expected to go into the half down 13-3. However, Brad Childress showed faith in Tarvaris Jackson, and he proved him right. Jackson threw one incomplete pass, ran the ball himself for an 18 yard gain and drew a penalty on the Bears. Jackson then connected with Sydney Rice for 10 yards to put Minnesota in field goal range. Ryan Longwell made the 48 yard field goal, and Minnesota went into the half on a positive note down 13-6. Then there was the two point conversion. I was surprised by this gutsy call, but the play worked and put Chicago in the position where they had to reach the end zone just to tie the game. It was some smart play calling by Brad Childress and his staff, combined with the "work horse" attitude by our Vikings that led to success.
Although Jackson did not look very good, he did complete 18 of 29 passes for 249 yards and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. Jackson also ran the ball 7 times for 25 yards. Rookie phenom Adrian Peterson ran the ball 20 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Chester Taylor carried the ball five times for 31 yards and no touchdowns. Combined the Vikings backfield ran the ball 34 times for 135 yards. The Vikings just could not seem to get anything going in their back field.
The passing game was what seemed to work. Although Jackson completed only 18 of 29 passes, he did throw for 249 yards. Jackson had some big strikes like the 71 yard pass to Robert Ferguson, a 26 yard completion to Jim Kleinsasser, and a 19 yard completion to Aundrae Allison. Jackson also completed six passes to Bobby Wade for 70 yards, two passes for 23 yards to Aundrae Allison, and two passes to Tony Richardson for 13 yards. Jackson completed one pass to Adrian Peterson, Sydney Rice, and Chester Taylor each, for 17, 10 and 7 yards respectively. The biggest black mark for Jackson was his three interceptions and being sacked twice; although both sackes were by Brian Urlacher, and Jackson never saw him coming either time.
This was not a great game for the Vikings. Although it was an ugly win, games like these happen in the NFL. Keeping in mind that we play the Bears twice a year and they know us better than anyone in the league, I still see us having a much better game against the Redskins. I see the Vikings coaches and players working much harder this week and get that win. Minnesota had come from the depths of destruction at 3-6, to posting a five game win streak. The last time the Vikings had a five game win streak was in 2005, winning from November 6th to December 11th. Minnesota is looking sharp and has a new confidence about them. Our Vikings are play off bound, and with a win this weekend against Washington, and a New Orleans loss, the Vikings will make the playoffs.
SKOL VIKINGS!!!!
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