Unstylish Vikings satisfied with win

JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - The Vikings' performance Sunday against the Jaguars won't earn them any style points, and it certainly wasn't aesthetically pleasing.

That didn't matter to the collection of players who dressed in the visitor's locker room at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. To the Vikings, their 30-12 victory over the Jaguars might have been their most satisfying of the season.

The reason? For once, the Vikings did not insist on making things interesting to the end. After getting their first five victories by an average of 4.6 points, the Vikings put their foot on an opponent's throat and were able to keep it there. Turning five Jaguars turnovers into 17 points made sure of that.

"We came in with the mindset that it doesn't have to be close," said Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who was held short of 100 yards rushing for the second consecutive game. "We can blow these guys out. It started off sweet. We got 14 points real easy. We just kept the momentum from that point on."

The victory kept the Vikings (6-5) in a first-place tie with Chicago in the NFC North. The Bears, who routed St. Louis 27-3, will visit the Metrodome next Sunday night in a nationally televised game. Green Bay (5-5) will try to keep pace tonight when the Packers play at New Orleans.

The Vikings beat the Saints at the Superdome in a Monday night game in October that featured plenty of interesting plays. Sunday's game might have topped that in the first quarter alone. The Vikings won the opening coin flip but deferred so they could get the ball to open the second half.

The Jaguars (4-7) started the opening drive from their own 28 with quarterback David Garrard in the shotgun formation. Someone should have told center Brad Meester. He thought Garrard was right behind him and snapped the ball to no one. Linebacker Napoleon Harris picked it up and went 27 yards, giving the Vikings a 7-0 lead 13 seconds into the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Jaguars' Brian Witherspoon fumbled and the Vikings recovered at the Jacksonville 28-yard line. Three plays later, Chester Taylor scored from 3 yards out to make it 14-0 with 1 minute, 41 seconds elapsed. Taylor was in instead of Peterson because the latter was benched for the opening two series after being late for a meeting Saturday.

"That was just crazy to start out the game like that," said Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte, who was sacked three times and left the game for one play in the third quarter after taking a hit to the head. "You're realizing that was [1:41] into the game and we're up 14-0 and all of a sudden it's like, 'Man, we have a long way to go.' "

Vikings coach Brad Childress called it "maybe the most different game I've been associated with," adding, "With two scores, 14-0, with 1:41 gone, in your wildest dreams you don't think it's going to be like that. But you don't turn those things back."

Childress also isn't about to turn back any road victories, even if this one did come against a team that is 1-5 at home and has lost the past two weeks in its own stadium. The Vikings "improved" to 2-4 away from the Metrodome and won their first game at an outdoor stadium since last Dec. 9, when they beat San Francisco.

Even Childress might have found it difficult to explain how the Vikings held a seven-point lead at halftime Sunday. Frerotte completed only three of seven passes for 19 yards, the Jaguars had 209 yards to the Vikings' 70, Jacksonville had converted five of nine third-down opportunities and held a time-of-possession edge of 20:21 to 9:39. The Vikings actually finished the first quarter with a 17-7 lead and minus-1 yard passing.

Despite their good fortune, the Vikings did not feel lucky during halftime, but they did see an opportunity. "We came in and said, 'All right, we ain't going down this road again,' " defensive end Jared Allen said. "We can put these guys away. We went out there and did it."

Part of the reason was because the Vikings started to get off the field on third down. The Jaguars started the game 5-for-7 on third down but then followed that by going 1-for-7.

The Jaguars' inability to hold on to the ball was a surprise, given that they had given up 17 points off only 10 turnovers in their first 10 games, the third-fewest points surrendered after turnovers in the NFL.

"I found that performance today to be totally unacceptable, and I've got to take full responsibility for not doing a better job of preparing my football team," said Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, who lost at home to an NFC team for the first time (10-1) in six seasons as coach.

It didn't help that Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee, who had missed only twice all season, had 46- and 38-yard field-goal attempts go wide left in the second quarter.

Late Sunday afternoon, however, Allen was more interested in looking ahead than back. The Vikings lost 48-41 in Chicago on Oct. 19 and need to win Sunday to even the season series and put themselves in the best position possible regarding tiebreakers.

"That is a game that we've got to have," he said. "We get to go home and play Chicago, a division game in front of our home crowd. Our only goal right now is we've got to get to 7-5, and this game meant a lot. We have to take this momentum and we have to carry this home. We owe Chicago a butt-whupping because of what happened defensively [to the Vikings] there. I'm excited for it."

Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com