Vikings @ Bears Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 2

[Lash Man]

IF THEY SELL OUT FOR THE RUN and you put in a fullback or tight end's hands, he could walk right into the end zone. Happened against the Vikings defense on
Martellus Bennett.

If you get that touchdown, you essentially win the game. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. And who cares about Ponder getting sacked? Walsh is 11-11
in 50 yards and I think only had 2 or 3 total blocks or misses in about 40 attempts. It doesn't even matter too much if he misses the field goal
because your opponent isn't going to go for the field goal with 3 minutes, 2 minutes warning, a time out and all the weapons they have.
They're going to PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. So you go for the freaking touchdown there!

That or every play is a run so you make your opponent burn every time out he has.

Exactly ! if your not going to nut up for the win then at least run the damn ball all three plays .

[Just Me]

Thing that sucks though, is had AD scored on that third down, this would be a non issue. It's because it didn't work that it's biting us in the a$$ now. Oh well, what can we do now. Although a pass on that 3rd and goal should have been the call...

I'm not saying it was the right call to run it, but what if Ponder throws an INT. Despite his good passes in the second half he still has the maddening habit of staring down his receivers. An INT there would have been brutal.

[Hunter Morrow]

But still, Peterson looked like he had an injured hand. If you are going to do run plays every time needs to be in Peterson or Gerhardt's hands. You can't wishy washy
out there. Do you want to take the game close to the 2 minute warning and make the Bears blow all the time outs or not? Because if you don't, you're calling pass plays to your full backs, tight ends and athletic guys like Patterson, Wright, Simpson and hell, maybe even Joe Webb to get in the end zone. You might totally sell out and even go for it on 4th down to keep your opponent on the 2 yard line or something.

[Demi]

The pick 6 was egregious but other than that he was 277 yards passing, great gutsy runs for first downs, 2 touchdowns.

And blown play after blown play. Pretty bad when announcers point out his incompetence a half dozen times EVERY GAME. Because he can't even consistently make high school level throws...

Sanford's penalty before the half was costly.

Sanford is a liability. Why is this guy still starting.

[soflavike]

Yea but if you listen to BB, he talked about how from a coaching point of view it wasn't really that bad of a decision. Its one of those that if it works out for you it was genius and if it doesn't then its stupid

Remember that Billick probably liked "the knee" back in 1998, too... Gutless.

[Canuck]

On a positive note weeden hurt his thumb and left the game today. We may have a chance

[johnpf12345]

ponder bites as does the coaching staff. last week down by ten with a few minutes left and you are throwing passes five yards or behind the line of scrimmage (or it could just be ponder throwing to the safety valve (I will not call it the 'checkdown' as he dips*&t only looks at the receiver hes going to throw to). then this week bungle upon bungle. Kick to hester all game except with 3 minutes left? he had 249 return yards with a quarter to go (bears all time record). And to run Peterson on third and goal from the 4?? I love AP but cmon, I bet NFL statistics would bear out that runs on third and goal from four yards out fail 80-90% of the time. At least give the team a chance to try and win. And agreed, as I mentioned in another thread, teach the damn team to down the ball on the kickoff (unless it went to Patterson) with 10 seconds to go. Could have completed (though unlikely with ponder as he would have thrown a three yard pass) a pass of 25 yards to the bears 40 which could take about 8 seconds if done properly and would have given walsh a chance at a 58 yarder. I'll take my chances with that over Carlson trying to run it and eating up clock.

[King James]

Guy, our team is just pure garbage. Nowhere else to put it.

-The special teams gave up over 200 yards receiving to Hester.

-Outside of those few turnovers, the Defense gave up a lot of yards as usual.

-Our QB, despite having a decent game, is holding our offense back by not being able to see open WRs or have patience in the pocket.

-Peterson fumbled on a key drive and made us lose more yards trying to reverse field on that one run play. But it seems like only "MVPeterson" can screw up without people complaining about it.

-Musgrave and Frazier, are probably the biggest reason why the Vikings will never be a serious team. We have a offensive coordinator who everyone in the league knows is the most predictable playcaller in the NFL. Outside of Peterson, he does not know how to create good plays for our other weapons to get the ball. And Frazier is a dud. He is freaking clueless. He puts his better players on the sidelines and let the garbage ones (Henderson and Mitchell) start.

This team fails on every side of the ball. We wont get better until we make some major changes.

[BGM]

I'm not saying it was the right call to run it, but what if Ponder throws an INT. Despite his good passes in the second half he still has the maddening habit of staring down his receivers. An INT there would have been brutal.

Passing out of a bunch formation would have been brutal, but setting them up with a playaction to AD and sending as many targets into the end zone as possible STILL seems a better idea. Of course, I do see your point. It's frustrating all around...

[VikingLord]

Aside from the pick 6, did Ponder really have a bad first half?
I don't ask in support of Ponder, I ask because (before the INT) I kept saying to myself that he was looking pretty decent out there.

I thought he had a pretty typical half for him. Locking onto receivers. Missed opportunities. Couldn't sustain drives. Certainly not all his fault, but then again, it never is. After a while one becomes somewhat desensitized to it all.

He had a better second half. He found open receivers. Made accurate throws. Gutsy run to try to pick up the 1st.

But this is typical for him. He giveth, and he taketh away. I need to see more of the 2nd half Ponder and less of the 1st half Ponder to turn me into a true believer.

[VikingLord]

Passing out of a bunch formation would have been brutal, but setting them up with a playaction to AD and sending as many targets into the end zone as possible STILL seems a better idea. Of course, I do see your point. It's frustrating all around...

How about just keep running AD right at them? That's what I would have done. Just friggin pound it at them and if they can withstand that more power to the Bears.

[PurpleKoolaid]

AD is playing pretty average this year other then the one big play. Ofc, the Oline is having problems, but face it, AD isn't putting the fear of god in anyone this year. Cant believe im saying that, but it doesn't seem to be the same AD. And the fumbles don't help.

[FPG]

AD is playing pretty average this year other then the one big play. Ofc, the Oline is having problems, but face it, AD isn't putting the fear of god in anyone this year. Cant believe im saying that, but it doesn't seem to be the same AD. And the fumbles don't help.

I've wondered about this... we may be really missing Felton out there because he doesn't seem his normal self. I know he's seeing 8-9 in the box, but he saw that last year too.

[mondry]

I've wondered about this... we may be really missing Felton out there because he doesn't seem his normal self. I know he's seeing 8-9 in the box, but he saw that last year too.

It's felton, he's the difference between clearing out the hole compared to line who's mostly just clogging it up.

[yezzir]

I've wondered about this... we may be really missing Felton out there because he doesn't seem his normal self. I know he's seeing 8-9 in the box, but he saw that last year too.

I disagree with both of you. Other than last year, he's had fumbling problems. (See 2009 NFC champ. game)

What AD has done with a bad QB, and a so far, bad O line is impressive. Not to mention 90% of defenses stacked to stop him alone.

With an average QB and play caller, this Vikings team could be really good.