Some of my favorite sports commercials are the beer commercials with the coaches dubbed in to create a post-conversation to their many tirades... Denny Green's is maybe the best. It was the tirade after a Cardinals' debacle, when they tossed away a giant lead in the second half.
We thought after playing well in Pittsburgh that we were 'for real'. Others told us we were not. Many Packers fans predicted that Green Bay would win. Most commentators went with the home team. Las Vegas spotted the Pack near three points.
But we are who we thought we were. Brett Favre hitting all receivers, four touchdowns to four different receivers. Adrian Peterson totaling near 140 yards in running and receiving. Percy Harvin returning kicks like Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. On the defensive side, Ray Edwards and Jared Allen were putting licks on Aaron Rodgers seemingly every time he threw in the first half. Linebackers like Chad Greenway had rock solid games tackling would be runners. The first half we played better than the Steelers game and it showed.
Sure, the second half did not go as well. The fumble off of the short kick-off put a tired defense right back on the field, and Green Bay marched. The pass rush let up late, and that exposed defensive back weakness. Paymah and Sapp did not have as good a game as last week.
But we won. We won because every time the Vikings needed first downs and/or scores, Favre and the offense delivered. Our O-line blocked very well, creating lots of time against the 3 or 4 man rushes that Green Bay attempted. With all that time, Favre found Berrian, Harvin, Shiancoe, Rice, and anyone else he looked for .. even Jeff Dugan. The Vikings ran circles around Bigby, the returning Packers safety who was going to "shore up" the secondary.
This kind of win brings in all the Vikings' fans. There are no more Favre haters. He has won them over. All of the Childress haters (and there are many) have quieted, as they realize there is probably a deep playoff run ahead. The national media can only tip their collective hat to us, as we destroyed the Packers in the national spotlight on Lambeau field.
We are who we though we were. Or at least some of us thought we were. The rest can now say they thought it too.
