All NFL teams have off weeks. The Vikings had one on Sunday. 13 penalties, AD losing 2 fumbles, Chevell (Chili + Bevell) inexplicably calling a double reverse in the red zone when the offense had been moving at will. However, at no point on Sunday did I have ANY doubt that the Vikes would win. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt like that about a game I physically attended (I was as confident about this year's road game against the Rams). It was such a "nice" feeling.

Cut to Tuesday afternoon. I was listening to the Common Man on KFAN. He was talking about this study, conducted during a Ohio State-Michigan game. Based on my experience this weekend, the results seemed preposterous. To summarize, the conclusion was that fans tend to enjoy games more if they experience negative emotions during the games as long as their team wins. Initially, I thought "balderdash" (this isn't the word I actually thought of, although it did contain the letters b and s). Under normal circumstances, this initial thought would quickly be followed by another unrelated one, such as "better burger - Five Guys or In-n-Out?" and that would be the end of it. Apparently, this was a normal circumstance as that is exactly what happened.

However, after my train of thought jumped back to its original tracks, I realized there might be something to this. When the Vikings beat the Niners, Packers (TWICE!), and Ravens this year, I couldn't wait to see and hear more about it. With the possible exception of the first Packers game, each of these games was in serious doubt at some point. Contrast that to last Sunday. I couldn't have cared less if I heard postgame interviews or "expert" (I use that term loosely) analysis. Was the win over the Lions less enjoyable because they are a terrible team who had a snowball's chance on Sunday? Probably. But after what happened last year against an even worse Lions team, I'll take "nice".

Quick takes on week 10 and college FB:

  • Bill Belichek seems like he may be a rather unpleasant fellow. That said, I can't find that much fault in his 4th down decision. Mark Craig made some good arguments in support of his opinion - that Belicheck was "disastrously wrong". However, I have to take issue with one of them. Even though the Colts "only" had 2 drives of more than 72 yards, both happened in the 4th quarter. Both took less than 2 minutes (after the punt, the Colts would have had about exactly 2 minutes). I would assume part of Belichek's reasoning was that the Pats D had run out of answers and out of gas. Given the fact that the Colts seemed to be rolling and the Pats were on their heels, I actually think going for it was the right call.
  • TCU should be playing for the national championship. I'm not just saying that because (bias alert) I used to live about 2 miles from their campus. They have beat BYU and Clemson on the road. They just dismantled Utah; a team that destroyed Alabama in a BCS bowl last year, and whose only other loss in the last 2 years was to Oregon earlier this year. Usually, the top tier BCS schools seem to be a cut above their non-BCS counterparts. But Florida's not as explosive offensively. Texas has flaws that haven't been exposed due to the unusually weak Big 12. And Alabama has a serious question mark at QB. This should be the year a non-BCS school gets a chance. But they won't. Playoffs, please.