Vikings @ Saints

There may be another Grand Jury indictment in Minnesota after the whipping the Patriots put on the Vikings last Sunday.

What?

Too soon?

Well, it wasn't pretty and it had the Packer fans gloating, I'm sure. Cassel "regressed to the mean" after his competent performance in week one. And, things aren't going to get any easier for him this week in New Orleans. For the offensive miscues and overall incompetence we witnessed (was Matt Kalil really a #4 pick?), surprisingly, the defense did not look that bad. I know an opponent scoring 30 points doesn't make the defense look good in the stat book, but remember that Cassel threw four picks (three of them converted into points) and we also had a field goal blocked that went for a touchdown.

The entire Internet was buzzing last week about the effectiveness of the "jet sweep" that gets a dynamic player like Cordarelle Patterson out on the edge to give him a chance to make plays around the corner. Cordarelle had 100+ yards rushing last week. Now, how many times did he get run out of the backfield this week (especially since Adrian was not around?) Guess. Go ahead, take a wild guess. Nope. Cut that guess in half. Nope. Cut it in half once more. It was ZERO. Not a single sweep (or any other play with Cordarelle in the backfield). Now, I'm certainly not criticizing Norv Turner, who has made the games more watchable than Bill Musgrave ever could. But, I'd love a peek into the justification for that decision.

But, let's also address the elephant in the room. Adrian Peterson. I am absolutely stunned that the Vikings decided to play him this week. It seems to me to violate any textbook prescription for dealing with crises or maintaining long term PR balance. The Vikings were roundly praised (in the media) for deactivating Peterson last week. They had the perfect opportunity to build on that and pretend to maintain the moral high ground by keeping him off the field and then reactivating after the four game deactivation (beyond which the Union would not allow deactivation). They could then have blamed Union rules for playing him in the fifth game. Meanwhile, they could have demonstrated that Peterson has started some parenting classes. It would have given fans an excuse to love the team and Peterson again and everyone would have been happy that the team had helped with the rehabilitation of a bad parent. Peterson himself released a nice and seemingly contrite statement where he acknowledged that he needs to change. He could have released another statement after a few weeks talking about his growth in counseling and how he has become a better man. Instead, the team completely blew it. They reactivate him to play despite all the accusations hanging over his head and coming off a bad loss that makes it appear that they are putting football wins over child security. Stupid. Did I say it was handled stupidly? And, just so I'm clear, I think this was the most stupid way of handling a situation that initially seemed to be well handled. Stupid. And dumb.

I know how I feel about the game. I almost hope the Vikings will lose and Peterson has an unremarkable game. Oh, and on another note, are the Vikings stupid? What if Peterson has a monster game. Do you think the fans will be delighted? No. Even the most ardent fan will have mixed feelings. If he does poorly, the team gets criticized for reactivating him for no reason. This is a no win for the Vikings and surely people on their highly paid staff could have foreseen this. Who really wants to see Peterson on the field and cheer for him (or the team) right now? No one I know. What can they possibly gain be reactivating him for the game?

Anyway, I'm relatively ambivalent about the game right now. I am certainly not going to be excited if they win and will just shrug my shoulders if they lose. Definitely don't come for the game this week. Come for the beer and company and the chance to have a meaningless debate about the stupidity of the Vikings. It will be a fun time. A fun time with beer and food. I have the beer and can always scrape up some food. Perhaps I'll make some eggplant curry from the fresh homegrown eggplant Nicole gave me.

I'm sure this will all die down in a few weeks. The right spin will be put on the situation (if someone on the Vikings PR team smartens up) and there will be another celebrity misbehavior unearthed by TMZ that will capture everyone's limited attention span. But something has changed. The enthusiasm with which some of us root for the Vikings will have faded. There will be a measure of discomfort in rooting for their success. The Peterson jersey will stay in closet. It will be washed but still feel a little bit too unclean to wear on Sunday morning. And deep inside our minds many of us would have lost something that drives a lot of fan excitement for what is after all just entertainment.

There are no heroes.