The Vikings may have to be successful in their stadium drive even with a mediocre team and public criticism of coach Brad Childress. It lessens the franchise’s image when the Vikings perform like they did last Sunday against Detroit and fans are chanting to dismiss Childress. The last Minnesota coach to be targeted with similar in-stadium chants was Glen Mason, who was fired following the Gophers’ 2006 overtime loss in the Insight Bowl against Texas Tech.
Childress talking about whether his 3-3 team is playing up to expectations after an unimpressive 12-10 win over Detroit: “Once again, I would go back and say that there are elements that need to get better and hopefully some of those things are improving. I know the pass game has made leaps and bounds. I think sometimes there’s frustration. ‘How come Adrian Peterson can’t rush for 300 yards every time we go out? He did it last year.’ He had 100 yards rushing, which is kind of the Litmus (test). He had 111 tough yards (against Detroit). He had some nice runs, some 10’s, some 12’s, 11’s. He’s not going to hit it out of the park every time, so I think that there’s the frustration that he’s getting held back. But I do see the pass game improving, I do see the defense getting better and better and I saw our special teams improve from last week to this week. That’s what you’re looking for, improvement and steady growth. (You want to) really be peaking and playing your best football heading down the pike at the end.”
Vikings’ safety Darren Sharper talking about 12-year veteran Ryan Longwell kicking the winning field goal in the win over Detroit. “We know Ryan can do that. He is a kicker that doesn’t change much when the pressure is on him. He is really calm and relaxed and an extremely consistent kicker. We know we can always rely on him to put it through for us.”
Watch out! The Vikings allowed Reggie Bush to return two punts for touchdowns in New Orleans earlier this month. Sunday in Chicago the Vikings must contend with Devin Hester, who coming into this season had returned four kickoffs and seven punts for touchdowns in his first two seasons in the league. In five games this season Hester hasn’t run either a punt or kickoff back for a score. In addition to being a return man, Hester is playing wide receiver where he’s going through on-the-job training. He’s caught 16 passes for 193 yards, a 12.1 average, with two touchdowns.
Peterson is third in the NFL in rushing with 563 yards, trailing Clinton Portis of Washington with 643 and Michael Turner of Atlanta with 597. Former Holy Angels High School star Larry Fitzgerald, now with Arizona, is third in the league in receiving yards at 546.
The Vikings rank No. 4 in the NFL in rushing defense, giving up 73.7 yards per game. Chicago is fifth at 74.3.
Among NFL receivers who have 20 or more receptions this season, the Vikings’ Bernard Berrian, the former Bear, ranks first in yards per catch average at 19.8.