The Vikings chose about the worse time of the season to have two back to back prime time games, as the entire American public is getting to witness their implosion. The Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers this week, and I'm sure when Sunday Night Football picked up this game they were hoping for a part two to one of the most exciting games of the season last year, when Christian Ponder actually won a shootout against Aaron Rodgers at home to put the Vikings in the playoffs (Adrian Peterson coming nine yards shy of the single season rushing record didn't hurt, either). The quarterbacks are the same for this re-match, but the circumstances couldn't be different. This time, Ponder isn't coming in to prove to fans that he's the quarterback of the future, because this organization has already said that soon he'll be a quarterback of the past. The Vikings aren't close to the playoffs this time, and if the Packers defeat them at home the Vikings will be practically guaranteed to be out of the playoffs with six losses, even though the season will not even be halfway over. Leslie Fraizer is already looking like a lame duck, and one more egg on national television will all but ensure the Vikings will be hiring in 2014. At this point, it would just be great if the Vikings didn't embarrass themselves like they did in the game that got Brad Childress fired, when the Packers romped the Vikings 31-3. As always, here's the key questions coming into Sunday's game:
Offense
Does Christian Ponder have any confidence in himself anymore?
Christian Ponder gets to start again for the Minnesota Vikings, but I think he's well aware that he's not starting because the coaches want him too. Ponder has been on the bench now for the Vikings' past three games and standing on the sideline probably did nothing to help his skills. Ponder's biggest issue during his tenure with the Vikings was a perceived lack of confidence, which caused him to struggle to push the ball downfield or make big plays, and that confidence isn't likely to have skyrocketed while he was riding the pine.
More importantly, does this offense have confidence in him?
Besides just Ponder, how confident is the rest of this offense? They are starting their third quarterback in as many weeks, and I'm sure that no one on this team is happy about that. Players have to be getting fed up with the organization and the coaching staff changing things up week to week, and it's pretty possible that the rest of the offense just won't want to show up Sunday night. I can't really blame them, I wouldn't be happy if this team was starting Ponder again after he led you to three straight losses. The players know that starting Ponder is a backwards move, and who knows whether they'll still give maximum effort for him anymore.
How will Peterson's hamstring hold up, if he actually gets the ball?
Adrian Peterson missed practice this week with a hamstring injury, revealing to the media that it's been tight for the past few weeks and it's made him tentative running through holes and blocks. It's been clear that Peterson is not playing the same as he was last year, but of course part of that has to do with the regression of the offensive line and play calling that takes the ball out of his hands. The Vikings decided to throw 53 passes with Josh Freeman last week in his first start and only give AP the ball 13 times, even though the game was still close late. Will the Vikings use their best offensive player this week, the one that was responsible for getting them into the playoffs last year? I sure hope so.
Defense
Can this team hold Aaron Rodgers to a non-historic day?
Aaron Rodgers' passer rating when playing the Vikings is the highest in history for a quarterback against a single opponent. Rodgers has simply had the Vikings' number since he took over in Green Bay, the only notable slip-ups being when the Vikings swept Rodgers when Brett Favre first game to town. The Vikings should have plenty of intel on Rodgers by this point in his career, especially when they play him twice a year, so it's up to the coaching staff to actually adjust a find a way to slow that man down. Is that likely? Probably not, but if this staff wants to keep their jobs that's what they have to do.
Will this team be able to slow Eddie Lacy down?
During most of Rodgers tenure the team has been known to be very pass-happy, but now rookie runner Eddie Lacy has stepped up and provided balance to the Pack attack. Lacy was injured earlier in the season, but coming off on the Packers' bye he is averaging over 100 yards per game and is pulling ahead in the offensive rookie of the year race. Lacy's emergence has been especially important because many of the Packers' receiving threats have been injured, and Lacy has been able to take the pressure off the passing game. In order to find a way to win this game, the Vikings will have to stop the run (something they're supposed to be known for) via Eddie Lacy, and ironically actually force the ball into Rodgers' hands more.
Will the defense be able to take advantage of the Packers' limited stock of weapons?
The Packers' receiving threats are nursing some injuries right now, as receivers James Jones and Randall Cobb and both recovering for this team while tight end Jermichael Finley actually just got released from the hospital from a hit he took last week against the Browns. With these losses, the Packers' receiving corps is dangerously thin, and they've been forced to rely on second year player Jarrett Boykin, who was undrafted coming out of college and only has 14 NFL catches to his name. At tight end, the Packers will be starting fourth year man Andrew Qaurless. Have you ever heard of him? Of course not. Rodgers is playing with as talent poor a group of weapons as he had his entire career, and the Vikings need to take advantage of this fact if they want to come out ahead Sunday. Can this secondary step up its game? Against Rodgers, once again, not likely.
This prediction piece may seem a tad on the negative side, and that's because I'm simply in a pretty dark place right now when it comes to this team. The Monday Night debacle was one of the worst football games I've had to witness in my entire life, and now a short week to face the Packers at home doesn't exactly smell of success to me. I'm trying to keep my heart in this season, but already it's extremely attempting to simply look ahead and marvel at the possibilities a new coach and quarterback could bring. It's very hard for me to believe at this point that this team is going anywhere, and I'm almost dreading sitting through this game. If you want a better football experience this weekend, check out Oregon vs UCLA. It should be a great game, and one of those signal callers just might be wearing purple in 2014.
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