Anyone who foresaw a Vikings blowout raise your hands. I didn’t think so.
The Vikings saved their best game of the year for a time they really needed it and put themselves on the fast track to the playoffs, up one game on the Bears with two left.
It’s odd. All the oddsmakers picked the Cardinals — though they clinched their division only last week — though they’ve mostly beaten up on weak foes such as Seattle and St. Louis — though the Vikings needed the game more -- though the Eagles clobbered them a couple of week ago. Talk about the herd mentality.
Then again, I wonder how many Minnesota fans figured the Vikes would win this one on the road. Hard-core fans probably thought it was time for the team to blow it.
The Vikes needed a total effort — and got it. The defense beat up on Kurt Warner and got several sacks. (One of the Arizona TDs was on a return of a blocked field goal.) The offense ran and passed the ball at will. Tarvaris Jackson had his best day as a pro, hitting 11 of 17 for 163 yards and four (yes, that’s right, four) touchdowns.
Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor shredded the Cardinals’ run defense, with Peterson gaining 165 yards on 28 carries and Taylor 66 yards on 10 rushes. Taylor also scored on a pass.
The Vikings’ Bernard Berrian had a huge day, with a touchdown on a punt return and a second on a 41-yard pass from Jackson. Those were the first two scores in the game.
Also scoring were Sydney Rice on a six-yard pass and Bobby Wade on a 59-yard pass from Jackson.
The Vikes started the game off right. They were up 21-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 at halftime. The Cardinals made it interesting in the third quarter and probably made plenty of longtime Vikings fans cringe.
Fans like me. I admit that when the Cards narrowed the margin to 28-7, the ghosts of Vikings catastrophes past visited me. The missed call on Drew Pearson that gave the Cowboys over the Vikes in 1975. The missed Gary Anderson field goal, the first of the year, in 1998-99. The horrible Cardinals win that knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs in 2004.
OK, enough. Vikings fans know all this. Others don’t care.
What does this game do? It means the Vikings need only one more win or a Bears loss to win the division. The Vikes play at home against Atlanta and the New York Giants, while the Bears play Green Bay at home and at Houston, which beat the Titans on Sunday and is a hot team right now. With this win, the Vikings look like the team to beat in the NFC North.
I wonder if anyone has written about the fact that the final three teams in the Vikings schedule have infamous roles in Minnesota lore. The Cardinals, as I wrote, knocked out the Vikes by beating them on a last-second 25-yard pass by Josh McCown in 2004. (It looked to me like the guy was out of bounds.)
The Falcons beat the 15-1 Minnesota team in January 1999 in a game that featured the missed Gary Anderson field goal, the only one all year he failed to make. And, of course, the Giants beat the Vikings 41-0 in the NFC championship. One could ask how a team with Randy Moss and Robert Smith could fail to score, and you have to say that Dennis Green’s coaching job was among the worst of a good team in recent memory.
The Vikings are playing well at the end of the year. They have a great shot at winning their division. But two things are troubling.
First, how can you bench Tarvaris Jackson when he plays so well? Gus Frerotte would figure to be the starter after he’s recovered from his back injury, but the way Jackson is playing, you want him in there.
Second, the special teams gave up another touchdown. I believe that’s seven TDs allowed during the season, which could be a record. In any case, it’s horrible. Weak special-teams play will hurt the team someday in a big game.
But it’s hard to be very down on a team that played so well. If the Vikings play like this, they’re going to beat anybody.
