vikings/nfl

NFC North: Detroit is playing Baltimore. Detroit will lose, especially since our old friend Daunte Culpepper will be quarterbacking. I hope he can get the ball to Calvin Johnson, though, since he's on my fantasy team. Speaking of which, the fact that I have Ray Rice bodes well for me. But overall, this is a game between two (most likely) non-playoff teams. So, aside from fantasy football players, who cares?

The Packers play the Bears at Soldier Field. It's a big rivalry game but the Packers are significantly better than the Bears and seem equipped to handle the cold weather. I don't see how the Packers lose here, especially since the Bears have no heart anymore.

Speaking of heart, Green Bay has already received a break this week with the Steelers unbelievably losing to the Browns. Now that Pittsburgh is out of the playoff hunt, I doubt they will be playing with much heart in Week 15 against the Packers. Everything's coming up Green Bay.

Random Baseball Thought: Well the hot stove is heating up (pun intended). But did you notice that in all the trades and free agent signings, the Twins are barely mentioned? The very same Twins whose fans helped subsidized their brand new stadium that will be sold out most of next year. Glad that's paying dividends.

My Statistical Analysis (That Is Faulty And Most Likely Inaccurate): Well, when my formula predicts the Vikings get 119 rushing yards and they only end up with 62, you know it was a bad week. But that won't stop me from trying again! Here's my prediction for this week:

The Bengals get 213 passing yards and 109 rushing yards.
The Vikings get 236 passing yards and 103 rushing yards.
The Vikings beat the Bengals 23 to 20.

A close game. That prediction at seems plausible.

Jared Allen Quote of the Week: "I'd hate to be the Cincinnati Bengals right now.”

Jared said that after the Cardinals game, suggesting the Vikings are going to take their aggressions out on Cincinnati. I hope he’s right, but that’s the kind of quote I’ve heard other Vikings players say before a game and after they lose it just sounds like false bravado. Man, I’m sounding real negative right now. The Vikings need a win tomorrow to cheer me up because, really, it's all about me.

Bengals vs. Vikings: After the Vikings/Cardinals game I was convinced the Bengals were going to beat the Vikings at Mall of America Field. Then I heard some analysis and I’m not quite as sure. The Bengals rely on their running game and big plays from their defense to win games. The Vikings are excellent at stopping the running game which means they just have to take care of the football on offense and they should win. So when you put it in those terms it sounds good for the Vikings. But I’m not feeling a win.

The big reason I think the Cincinnati Bengals are going to win is because of this. I know that a lot of those players will play on Sunday, but they won’t be 100%. This game would be close if the Vikings were completely healthy. So all those injuries will likely tilt the game in the Bengals' favor. Oh, and I’m scared of Ocho Cinco against the Vikings' secondary. (Never thought I'd be afraid of a number, but there you go.)

Here’s the thing, if the Vikings lose against Cincinnati then it’s conceivable that they’ll be in a bit of a panic, play tight against Carolina and lose a close one there. After that you have the freezing cold of Chicago and an always dangerous Giants team. So the Vikings losing their last four games is a possibility in my mind, which means they could miss the playoffs.

Even if the Vikings do win a game or two, in losing to Cincinnati they would prove that they have trouble against better teams. That means a one-and-done scenario in the playoffs is definitely in the cards. Not winning a playoff game is not acceptable this season.

Now, my take may just be panic by a rube who is overreacting to one loss. I get that. I’m a bit of a Vikings fatalist and I try to not let that blind me, but I fail at that sometimes. My point is, if either going one-and-done or missing the playoffs entirely is a plausible scenario, why was Brad Childress already given a contract extension?