I probably deserve some recognition for attending yesterday’s Vikings game. After all, the 4-9-1 Vikings are having a tough year, among the worst in franchise history.
I overheard a media colleague express his frustration earlier this fall. “I am thinking of staging my own death so I won’t have to cover them,” he said.
Driving to the game I heard on 1500 ESPN that Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart wouldn’t play because of injuries. Matt Asiata, the Omaha Nighthawks alum, was starting at running back. Injuries at the cornerback positions made Marcus Sherels and Shaun Prater starters.
Ugh. I pondered heading back home.
Downtown I walked in the cold across icy sidewalks and noticed fans headed to the stadium were muted except for chattering teeth. At least they could anticipate the warmth and cover of the dome. A year from now no such luck.
When the Vikings play outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium expect fans to get their snowmobile suits and ski masks out of mothballs. That’s the kind of gear once worn for December games at Met Stadium when Jack Daniel’s and a flask were best friends.
When I watched those games from the warmth of the Met Stadium press box, I thought the fans were nuts. If God wanted football to be played outdoors in December and January he would have told me. After all these years I am still waiting for the e-mail.
Consider the Philadelphia-based Eagles who the Vikings played yesterday. Fans in Philly throw snowballs at Santa Claus. The City of Brotherly Love is hardly a poster-child for the virtues of outdoor football. If the nation’s founders had foreseen such rudeness, they undoubtedly would have written the Constitution in Miami.
On my walk to the Metrodome I didn’t see Santa Claus but I did observe ticket hawkers experiencing a fourth quarter slump in business. A bad season and near zero temps don’t make for hot ticket sales. One hawker offered me seats on the 50-yard line. Another offered $50 if I would take his place on the street.
Just before entering the stadium I moved through security and recalled that no one ever checks me at Williams Arena before Gophers basketball games. The terrorists must be closer to downtown than campus.
Inside the dome the concourses looked familiar. I am surrounded by a lot of fans dressed in blue jeans that looked like proud owners of F-150’s. They also could teach me a thing or two about drinking beer before noon. I could teach them how to use words like “excuse me.”
Prior to kickoff I anticipated who will sound the Gjallarhorn. With a losing season that could produce less than five wins for only the seventh time in franchise history, I started processing candidates. I scaned the field looking for Mitt Romney, Ron Gardenhire, David Kahn or Tubby Smith. Nope, not good enough. Where’s 3-13 Les Steckel?
A guy who sits near me in the press box often has a meltdown because of the ear-busting noise that greets the Vikings when they come on the field. I asked if he worries about losing his hearing.
No response.
I wrote him a note.
He wrote back: “I am grateful to have my eyesight.”
Before kickoff the Vikings defensive starters are introduced over the public address system. “At cornerback, Shaun Prater.”
My noise sensitive neighbor quipped, “The fans aren’t booing. They’re who-ing?”
Josh Freeman was deactivated (again) for the game. The scoop about the quarterback who played in a Monday night game within days after being acquired from the Bucs and hardly seen since is a not to be missed story during the offseason.
Greg Jennings not only caught a first quarter 57 yard touchdown pass, he had 99 yards in receptions early in the game on his way to a total of 163. That 99 yard total before the second quarter ended topped his previous best for one game this season, 92.
During the first half Cordarrelle Patterson made perhaps the most exciting play of the day with a 13 yard run where he threatened to pass and then reversed his field. The Vikings marketing department probably couldn’t be happier with the rookie wide receiver.
With the Vikings holding a surprise 17-9 lead at halftime, attention turned to the announcement of the All-Mall of America team. The fans voted for the best Vikings players during the Metrodome’s era from 1982-2013. Percy Harvin, the choice for return specialist, was booed so loud there’s no need to text him with the bad news. The boos were heard all the way to Seattle.
Quarterback Matt Cassel, who in the first quarter completed all nine of his passes, stayed focused in the second half finishing with a passer rating of 116.6. The Eagles narrowed the score to 41-30 with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter but the Vikings answered with a touchdown to give Minnesota a 48-30 upset victory over a team that was supposed to win by a touchdown or more.
“How about those Vikings?” That’s how a happy Leslie Frazier began his press conference.
The Vikings coach said there’s no question about who his starting quarterback will be next week in the team’s next to last game of the season against the Bengals. He also wouldn’t second-guess anyone about the decision to stay so long with Christian Ponder as the starting quarterback this season.
Cassel came to the news conference dressed in a sport coat and wearing a Vikings cap. He also was wearing the same positive and patient attitude he’s had all season, regardless of whether he’s been a starter, sub or bench warmer.
In their last six games the Vikings are 3 and 2 with 1 tie. That’s the kind of mediocrity that characterizes the other three teams in the NFC North. If the Vikings had flirted with .500 all season, they would be in the chase for the division title.
On Sunday, though, they were a good football team with a hot quarterback, productive receivers and impressive defense. At least one fan, at this stage of a long season, would have preferred a loss. He voiced this: “If the Vikings could lose their last three games of the season, they would have no less than the No. 3 pick in the first round of next year’s NFL Draft.”
But why be surprised that the Vikings won yesterday. They’ve held us in suspense with all kinds of storylines most of the season including a week ago Sunday against the Ravens when the lead changed multiple times in the last two minutes. “They (the Vikings) haven’t been relevant, but they’ve been entertaining,” a fan said yesterday.
As I drove home from the game, the second to the last the Vikings will ever play in the dome, I had one concluding thought:
This was another entertaining Sunday.