It will be a surprise to many if Tarvaris Jackson doesn’t start at quarterback for the Vikings when they resume play on Sunday, October 14 in Chicago against the Bears. The guess here, too, is that Jackson starts the rest of the schedule if he avoids injury.
Jackson made a favorable impression in the season’s first game, a 24-3 win over Atlanta, but not so positive in game two against Detroit when he threw four interceptions in a 20-17 road loss. While Jackson has been recovering from his groin injury, Kelly Holcomb hasn’t done enough to win the quarterback job in losses to Kansas City and Green Bay when the offense produced just two touchdowns. Holcomb was off target with passes and at times appeared slow to make his throws.
Jackson, 24, represents an investment by team management who made an effort to scout and choose him in the second round of the 2006 draft. He also brings an athleticism to the position that most pro quarterbacks don’t have. Whether he can consistently play with poise, put more touch on his passes and make other improvements will have much to do with whether the Vikings can move toward a .500 or better season after their 1-3 start, plus create more box office interest in the team.
Encouraging is the improvement in athleticism the Vikings have made in their offensive personnel from last season. Jackson is night and day compared with 39-year-old Brad Johnson. While Chester Taylor remains in the plan at running back, coach Brad Childress is going to alternate him with explosive rookie touchdown maker Adrian Peterson, fifth in the NFL in rushing after four games.
Rookie wide receiver Sidney Rice made an athletic, leaping catch in the end zone for the Vikings’ only touchdown on Sunday against the Packers. Gone from last season’s team are wide receivers Billy McMullen and Marcus Robinson. Jim Kleinsasser has been replaced at tight end by Visanthe Shiancoe, a much more elusive runner.
While the Vikings continue to have more than half a million Minnesotans following them in the media each week, ticket sales are less than in the past when the franchise was selling out the Metrodome. A source reported that the next home games, against Philadelphia on October 28 and San Diego on November 4, aren’t sold out. Without advance sellouts, the games will not be televised locally.
Local TV executives, advertisers and Viking officials had to be pleased with last Sunday’s season high TV rating. With a border rival game and Brett Favre going for an NFL career record 421st touchdown pass, the game had a 37.9 rating in this market (compared with 28, 30.5 and 26.6 ratings for the first three games). A rating point is a percentage of households watching a particular program. More than half a million people followed the game on TV alone, not to mention other electronic and print media.