vikings/nfl
Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Vikings postgame: 27-13 loss to Bears
Posted by: Chip Scoggins under Vikings, Bears, Brad Childress, Vikings offense, Vikings players, Adrian Peterson, Antoine Winfield, Bernard Berrian, Brad Childress, Brett Favre, Chad Greenway, Heath Farwell, Jared Allen, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice Updated: November 14, 2010 - 8:40 PM
CHICAGO -- Brett Favre summed up the Vikings predicament perfectly after a 27-13 loss to the Bears dropped them to 3-6.
"We’re running out of games," he said. "At the rate we’re playing, it won’t take but a couple more, and we’ll be out of it. And that’s just being honest. I don’t know how to sugar-coat it. If we don’t play any better than we did today, or we did for 56 minutes last week, the writing’s on the wall. So, I’d love to sit here and tell you something different, but that’s the way it is."
The mood in the locker room wasn't much different. The Vikings in reality have no more margin for error. They are not mathematically eliminated from anything yet, but they are hanging by a thread after this latest loss. Here was some reaction from the locker room:
-- Jared Allen: "Honestly, it’s gut-check time. It’s getting old, the same song and dance. Different game, same story. We’re just inconsistent. We’ve shown times of being really good. It really just comes down to playing with energy and effort and executing your job, and when we do that we’re pretty good. When we don’t, you see what happens. You can sit there and make excuses and try to explain away, but the bottom line is we lost a game in the division that we easily could have won. We easily could have won this game. So it’s time. Guys need to be gut-checking and see why they play this game and realize every day -- we still have what, seven games left? We’ve got four at home -- to go out there and put it on the line. It’s not good enough to practice hard all week. You’ve got to go out and put it on the line on the field and make plays."
-- Adrian Peterson: "Our backs are against the wall. We have seven games left. What are we going to do? Are we going to put ourselves in position to have a chance or are we going to tap out? I feel like the guys will get in together and get back on track."
Here are some notes and quotes from the locker room:
Forgettable day for Favre
One week after passing for a career high in yards, Favre had a day he would rather forget. He completed only 18 of 31 passes for 170 yards and one touchdowns with three interceptions and one fumble. He had a 44.5 passer rating.
Berrian sits
Bernard Berrian was in uniform but didn’t play a snap because of a groin injury. The problem was that Berrian informed the Vikings of this too late in the process and thus ate up a spot on the 45-man game-day roster.
"He was set to go, we had him up and I knew it was bugging him a little bit," coach Brad Childress said. "He said he didn’t feel like he’d be able to go. ... Whether it was the conditions or he got tight, cold, tweaked it again, I’m not exactly sure. He just said, ‘I can’t go."
Harvin re-injured
Percy Harvin re-injured his sprained left ankle during a fourth quarter kickoff return. "Same spot," Childress said. "All the things that are going on with that. He tweaked it." Harvin did not talk to reporters after the game.
Sidney Rice made the trip with the Vikings but remained on the physically unable to perform list.
"We went through yesterday morning to see how he came back from Friday’s practice," Childress said. "I’m not going to say we went to the 3 o’clock deadline but we had our mock game yesterday morning and just talked to him. He didn’t feel like he was able to go yet."
Rice has been practicing and must be activated by Nov. 24 or his season will be finished.
Offense struggles
How bad was the Vikings offense? Consider: They had 79 total yards, six first downs and three points in the second half. They converted only 1-of-9 third-down opportunities for the game, had four turnovers and went 0-for-3 in the red zone.
Cutler keeps plays alive
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