MinnesotaSportsScene.com

On Monday night, I took in the Vikings-Packers game at Joe Senser’s Sports Pub in Bloomington, and the atmosphere was nearly perfect, except for a number of obnoxious Packers fans who couldn’t win gracefully. There were plenty of promotional products available for the game, and my only real complaint is the waitress who didn’t want to give us the Monday Night Football special at 6:30 PM, even though the game was already underway.

As for the game itself, it was nice to see the Viking keep it close on a road game, during the first game of the season, but there were several worrisome signs. Most importantly was the one-dimensional nature of the offense.

OK, we all know T-Jack is playing hobbled; but if he can’t throw at all right now, sit him down until he heals and let our backups do the job for a game or two. What I saw was a quarterback who was hurried (thanks to O-line deficiencies), and started throwing dumb passes.

Also, we went away from the running game too soon in the second half and, considering that it’s the only facet of our offense that works right now, that worries me. It’s a bit too early in the season to start calling for the heads of T-Jack and B-Chill on a platter, but this is a team that could easily start 0-2 now, and that would be a shot in the tender bits for the rest of the season.

Either T-Jack needs to find his rhythm and get on track, or he needs to sit until he’s healed enough to play well. And if Brad Childress finishes this season still winless against the Pack, you can bet MinnesotaSportsScene.com will be leading the call for a new head coach. Three seasons of pointlessness is more than enough - if that’s what this becomes.

With no Vikings currently residing in drug treatment centers, it appears Zygi Wilf’s efforts to clean up the team’s image has been bearing fruit. Now that character is being managed, it’s time to consider the question of talent.

One potential weakness is at quarterback. Despite a decent record as a starter, QB Tavaris Jackson is still a question mark as a starter for the Vikings, carrying around an abyssmal passer rating, even though he improved during the team’s five-game winning stretch. The question is, can he improve enough to give an Adrian Peterson-fueled team the firepower it needs to win in the five-to-seven year window that Peterson’s career is likely to provide when it comes to going deep in the playoffs and make a Super Bowl.

Probably the most established name still out there is QB Byron Leftwich, formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars, most recently of the Atlanta Falcons. Leftwich has shortcomings but is considerably more experienced and could be a proficient enough caretaker to make plays and keep the team from losing off his own mistakes; but Leftwich wants to be an immediate starter, not a number two, and is certain to demand a meaty contract that would be substantial enough to force the team to give up on T-Jack altogether.

Probably not a direction the Vikings are ready to go just yet; look for them to draft a project QB in the middle rounds, perhaps late on Day One.

Coach Brad Childress saw his Minnesota Vikings drop the final two games of the season, robbing his team of a playoff turnaround to their season. After starting the season 2-5, the Vikings turned their season around more efficiently than a New York moving company, beginning with a big win against the New York Giants. After a loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings when on a six-game winning streak to reach 8-6 and be within two wins of the playoffs.

But the Vikings choked against Joe Gibbs’ Washington Redskins, putting them behind the eight-ball, as they not only need to win their final game against Denver, but hope that a Dallas team resting their starters for the playoffs could still beat the Redskins. Neither happened.

Despite an emotional, two-touchdown, two two-point conversion comeback against Denver to tie it up and force overtime, T-Jack fumbled the game away almost immediately, robbing the Vikes of even an emotional, moral victory of going out on a win.

And even with all this, Coach Brad Childress will be invited back for the third year of his five-year contract; his only hope is to immediately improve the quality of the team’s receiving corps; even Tom Brady would look average throwing to these stooges and greenhorns. Of the lot of them, only Bobby Wade and Sidney Rice have proved they deserve to be back next season.

Bill Clinton won the presidency with a four word motto that helped him stay on message: It’s the economy, stupid.

Perhaps when addressing the problems that remain with the Vikings this off-season, Coach Brad Childress would do well to adopt a similar catch-phrase: It’s the receivers, stupid! When going out on the free agent market for body shop supplies, that’s what we need to stock up on most on offense, not a new quarterback.

That will change once the Vikings rid themselves of receiving cancer, former first-round draft pick WR Troy Williamson and sign a key receiver or two who can actually catch the ball. The problem is not so much in inexperienced QB Tavaris Jackson as it is a dearth of talent in the receiving corps.

Sidney Rice looks like a keeper, and Bobby Wade’s not bad; we just need one or two more decent receivers to back them up, since Robert Ferguson is not a long-term fix. Wade finished the season with 54 receptions, Ferguson and Rice with 32 and 21 respectively. Williamson had only 18. Time for him to go, especially after two yet drops that could have been difference-makers against Denver.

Not even heroic QB Tom Brady would be able to win with this year’s group of sad-sack receivers.