VikesCentric: Halloween starts the scary road ahead

It's Halloween, when all the little ghouls and goblins dress up in their scariest finery and head door-to-door to extract treats at the threat of tricks. We Minnesotans will gladly hand over any treats in hopes that the gods of All Hallows Eve accept it and they don't visit another Halloween blizzard on us. Anything but that.

The prospect of the skies falling on us this Halloween night is not as frightful as what lies ahead for the Minnesota Vikings. There are plenty of things to concern the 3-5 Vikings as they venture into the dark night of the second half of the season. Some might be legitimate fears, while others are just merely clever disguises. Let's see if we can discern the tricks from the treats.

What scares me on the schedule ahead: At Detroit and at Miami and home against the Packers.

The Lions will simply be tough to beat--primarily because the Vikings' offensive line hasn't improved a lot since last time these two teams met and Teddy Bridgewater was sacked eight times.

Miami is up and down, but the cold weather Vikings always drop a game in southern temperatures. The Vikings should be able to play with the Dolphins, but this game scares me.

And Aaron Rodgers and the Packers just know how to beat the Vikings. It won't be the beat down that the Purple experienced in Lambeau, but if Rodgers is healthy, it is enough to bury any dreams of a divisional title (if any still exist).

What doesn't scare me on the schedule ahead: Washington with RGIII behind center, Chicago at either venue and the New York Jets and their newest receiver/quarterback combo.

The Bears are a hot mess, imploding before our eyes. They are capable of putting up a lot of points at any time and the Vikings have not won in Chicago for a number of years, but Minnesota will be competitive with the Malingerers of the Midway. It won't matter how fired up Jared Allen will be, as Matt Kalil might just have his best games of the season against his former practice foe.

It will also be fun to see Percy Harvin return to Minnesota in his new costume, . . . I mean uniform. The Jets are not a very good team, and Harvin will make his first return to Minnesota since the Vikings traded him--hopefully with his tail between his legs. Harvin played one regular season game last year and it was against Minnesota. He should be healthy for this one and at his disruptive best as he clamors for the ball from Michael Vick to show the Minnesotans just what they are missing. Not many of us miss it anymore.

I am not sure how to feel about the Carolina Panthers game. Quarterback Cam Newton could run wild against the Vikings, or the Panthers could knuckle under. The Panthers' four losses have come against the Steelers, Ravens, Packers and Seahawks (plus a tie with the Bengals), so they have had a difficult schedule. Perhaps an ill, cold wind will greet them at TFC Bank Stadium and they will burrow into a corner like a frozen kitty-cat. Naw, they still kind of scare me.

Who is wearing a scary mask?

It appears that Donald Sutherland and his fellow pod people from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" have gotten to left tackle Matt Kalil. He doesn't resemble at all the player that was selected to the Pro Bowl two seasons ago. He recently got off the bottom of the Pro Football Focus rankings of tackles in the league, moving to number 71 of 72, but he still had an overall rating of -3.4. Is this the Kalil we'll see from here on out, or will he take off his mask and go back to playing the way the coaches say he can? This nightmare before Halloween needs to end for Kalil.

Of course, we can be sure it wasn't Rudolph on the field on Sunday, because Ford left the field with an injury, only to return later to catch two big passes on the pivotal final drive. If it were the unlucky Rudolph, the injury would have been much more serious (i.e. sports hernia, broken foot, hamstring torn from the bone) and he wouldn't have been able to return. We can only hope when Rudolph returns (potentially after the bye) that he has been infused with a transfusion from Brett Favre, the league's iron man.

Is it a trick or long-lasting treat?

Jerick McKinnon has been doing his best impersonation of Adrian Peterson of late. Since the fourth game of the season against Atlanta, when McKinnon started to get used more, he has averaged 17 carries for 77 yards per game—rushing for an average of 5.42 per carry. He has 13 receptions for 78 yards over that period and is said to be improving as a pass protector. The only thing remaining for him to do is break a couple long runs and get into the endzone—that would be a nice treat for fantasy football owners of McKinnon. As the Peterson saga continues, McKinnon is doing a decent job of replacing him. Is this a temporary trick or a treat that will last?

Similarly, defensive end Everson Griffen is morphing into the player he replaced on the defensive line, Jared Allen. Griffen already has eight sacks in as many games and is currently third on the list in the NFL. (Meanwhile, Allen in a Bears uniform is tied for 112th place with 1.5 sacks.) Griffen signed the big contract extension (which makes him more like Allen), has an extensively choreographed sack dance like Allen (which Cordarrelle Patterson says he mimics on the sideline) and is becoming just what the team was hoping he would become when they extended him. Now, if he would just grow his hair into a "skullet," the costume would be complete.

When Cordarrelle Patterson came to the Vikings, he donned jersey number 84 at wide receiver and some people thought it was wrong since that was Randy Moss' old number. He then started returning kicks for touchdowns, catching passes for touchdowns and even rushing the ball for touchdowns, and people thought he was masquerading as Percy Harvin. Then after an exciting run for a touchdown in the season opener, Patterson went into a shell and could hardly get a reception, making him as effective as the suspended Jerome Simpson. After 12 targets and six catches for 86 yards last week against the Bucs, Patterson started to look like himself. Is this the real Cordarrelle Patterson going forward or just a Halloween mask?

Injured quarterback Matt Cassel wheeled into the Vikings locker room on Wednesday, using a scooter-type vehicle to move around with his broken foot. He is back to doing things with the team as the hardware helps his foot to mend. While he waits, he has suggested another use for his scary looking foot:

"I've got wires actually coming out of my foot," Cassel told the Star Tribune about the means for holding the broken bones together. "So, I think for Halloween it will probably be a pretty good look."

Playoffs—the Vikings have a ghost of a chance.

As Bo Mitchell pointed out last week, if the Vikings could get to 3-5 (which they did with the victory over the Bucs), there was a precedent for making the playoffs. (One precedent.) And while the Packers and Lions are two and three games (respectively) ahead of them in the NFC North Division, the Vikings do have games remaining against those two teams that can help. But it will be tough to catch them. The Packers and Eagles are two wins ahead of Minnesota for a Wild Card spot and the 49ers and Seahawks are one win ahead each. So there is a chance there, also. But the Vikings will likely have to get to 9-7 or 10-6 to grab one of those spots, which calls for a great second half to the season. What a December holiday gift that would be, huh?

Head over to VikingsJournal.com where you can read Bo Mitchell's NFL Midseason Awards story and then join in the conversation on the Vikings Journal forums, where everything Purple is dissected and discussed.